Today’s News - Friday, February 15, 2013
• Not a very cheery news day for fans of Brutalist icons: preservationists concede defeat in efforts to save Goldberg's Prentice Women's Hospital (needless to say, Northwestern University is "pleased" by their decision).
• Rosenbaum reports that Rudolph's Orange County Government Center may not be saved after all (leave it to politicians...).
• Saffron says, "Given the trials that have befallen other important Brutalist buildings, it's not too early to start worrying about the future" of Philly's Police Administration Building (a.k.a. the Roundhouse).
• A planner brings "no timid plans" to a small Texas town: "Planning, in the absence of examining market conditions, ought to be considered malpractice."
• New images and more details re: Snøhetta's addition to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
• Weekend diversions:
• Speaking of SFMOMA, with "Lebbeus Woods, Architect" set to open, we couldn't resist Kwinter on Woods: "All that he did, said, or wrote, every ounce of work, was directed toward imagining and constructing a worldly city, and through this imagined city...a soul."
• Woods "drew complex worlds that wouldn't be out of place in 'Alien' tinged with a dystopian edge" (both with great images!).
• "White Cube, Green Maze: New Art Landscapes" at Yale "documents six unconventional museums, sculpture parks, and art spaces that defy "the titular 'white cube' of 20th-century curatorial tradition" (photographed by Baan, no less).
• The Art Institute of Chicago celebrates Picasso and his surprisingly extensive local legacy - including working with architects.
• Heathcote finds that Wentworth's "Black Maria" installation at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design "builds on all the particularities of this strange and new place."
• Sudjic on his "Extraordinary Stories about Ordinary Things" at the Design Museum: unless you know the how and why something is made, putting it "on a plinth in a museum as if it were a piece of mass-produced sculpture doesn't make much sense."
• Sokol cheers Hosey's "The Shape of Green": it's a "sophisticated rallying cry" and "a nascent toolbox for the next generation of eco-architects."
• Miller's "China's Urban Million" explores how China is fast approaching urban disaster: "We're creating a huge urban underclass of people who can't function in the society."
• Jacobs agrees with much (but not all) of "an improbably cheerful little tract" by futurist Alex Steffen: it's "less a work of revolutionary thinking than it is an updating of best practices. And that's precisely its value."
• Beck's "Principles of Ecological Landscape Design" offers "a daunting proposition": our ecosystems "will not endure without our conscious assistance."
• Weston finds much to admire in Pallasmaa's "Encounters II" - but it "relies heavily on cryptic terminology" that "tends towards the grandiloquent."
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Preservationists end suit to save Prentice Women's Hospital: ...conceded defeat..."we feel that the landmarks process has run its course"...Northwestern University...pleased by the preservationists’ decision...Prominent architects said the 1975 building was an engineering innovator in its time, but the cloverleaf design struck many people as ugly or dated. -- Bertrand Goldberg (1975)- Chicago Sun-Times |
Goshen Commotion: Paul Rudolph’s Orange County Government Center May Not be Saved After All: ...politicians on both sides of the controversy...now indicate that the rescue of [the] masterwork is not a done deal. By Lee Rosenbaum- ArtsJournal |
Roundhouse's Brutalist style is worthy of gentle treatment after police move out: Given the trials that have befallen other important Brutalist buildings...it's not too early to start worrying about the [its] future. Brutalism...is so out of fashion that almost all examples are considered disposable...You might not like [Police Administration Building] now. But I predict you will - assuming it survives. By Inga Saffron -- Geddes, Brecher, Qualls and Cunningham (1963) [image]- Philadelphia Inquirer |
Texas-size Thinking: Daniel Burnham would like Scott Polikov. No timid plans...[he] was bursting with big ideas – even for small places..."Planning, in the absence of examining market conditions, ought to be considered malpractice"...form-based codes regulate the types and characteristics of buildings, streets and public spaces, but let the market dictate the uses that go into those buildings. By Curtis Johnson -- Gateway Planning- Citiwire |
New Renderings Reveal Further Details of SFMOMA Expansion: Snøhetta's addition to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art will include a new sculpture terrace, a multipurpose performance and education venue, and a free ground-floor gallery. [images]- Architect Magazine |
Sanford Kwinter on Lebbeus Woods: In advance of an SFMOMA retrospective, the Harvard theoretician parses Woods' contributions: All that he did, said, or wrote, every ounce of work, was directed toward imagining and constructing a worldly city...and through this imagined city...a soul. [images]- The Architect's Newspaper |
Sci-Fi Stylings From A Legend Of Architectural Fantasy: Lebbeus Woods drew complex worlds that wouldn’t be out of place in "Alien"...His complex speculations and strange drawings eschewed kitschy retro-futurism for something more complex, his creations tinged with a dystopian edge... [slide show]- Fast Company |
Beyond The White Cube: Using Iwan Baan’s photography as an anchor, "White Cube, Green Maze: New Art Landscapes" at Yale School of Architecture Gallery documents six unconventional museums, sculpture parks, and art spaces...each of which defies the titular “white cube” of 20th-century curatorial tradition. -- Tadao Ando; Álvaro Siza Vieira; Tatiana Bilbao; Johnston Marklee; Weiss/Manfredi Architecture; Raimund Abraham; Kazuyo Sejima; etc. [images]- Fast Company |
The Art Institute of Chicago celebrates Picasso: “Picasso and Chicago” recalls the artist’s surprisingly extensive local legacy. -- William Hartmann/Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM); C.F. Murphy Associates; Loebl, Schlossman & Bennett [images]- Time Out Chicago |
"Black Maria" - Central Saint Martins, London: Richard Wentworth’s installation asks questions about public space amid the ceaseless human flux of King’s Cross...A timber theatre structure,...it builds on all the particularities of this strange and new place...audience will be a crucial part of the installation...“a place where anything could happen.” By Edwin Heathcote -- Stanton Williams; Gruppe [image]- Financial Times (UK) |
Breaking the mould: Unless you know something about the story of how it was made, and why and who used it, putting a chair on a plinth in a museum as if it were a piece of mass-produced sculpture doesn’t make much sense...150 objects from the Design Museum’s collection in "Extraordinary Stories about Ordinary Things"...each of which tells its own story. By Deyan Sudjic [images]- Financial Times (UK) |
Beauty That's More Than Skin Deep: "The Shape of Green" by Lance Hosey...leaves no case unturned for recognizing beauty as a valid consideration in green building...synthesis of research and design innovations that have been overlooked in many other books. He has crafted a sophisticated rallying cry and assembled a nascent toolbox for the next generation of eco-architects. By David Sokol- Architectural Record |
China Is Fast Approaching Urban Disaster: ...great influx is helping create the world's largest number of slum-dwellers..."The rules of the game are permanently stacked against them," says Tom Miller, author of "China’s Urban Million: The Story Behind the Greatest Migration in Human History"..."We're creating a huge urban underclass of people who can’t function in the society."- The Atlantic Cities |
Planet Savers: A new e-book by futurist Alex Steffen argues that cities are the key to environmental salvation...an improbably cheerful little tract called "Carbon Zero: Imagining Cities That Can Save the Planet"...less a work of revolutionary thinking than it is an updating of best practices. And that’s precisely its value. By Karrie Jacobs- Metropolis Magazine |
The Goal: Truly Sustaining Landscapes: "Principles of Ecological Landscape Design" by Travis Beck...offers a daunting proposition...based on the premise that human interventions have substantially altered the natural balance of our ecosystem to the point where their ability to function will not endure without our conscious assistance. By James Royce/Studio2112 Landscape Architecture- The Dirt/American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) |
Juhani Pallasmaa's Sense and Sensibility: His new book "Encounters II" asserts ideas of the phenomenological but relies heavily on cryptic terminology...With its repeated appeal to ‘essences’ - like that ubiquitous mystification the genius loci - such writing tends towards the grandiloquent. By Richard Weston [images]- Architectural Review (UK) |
One-on-One: Revolution in Architecture: Interview with Gregg Pasquarelli, SHoP Architects: "We never limit ourselves to simply designing an image. Part of our initial concept is always about knowing how something is going to be built." By Vladimir Belogolovsky [images]- ArchNewsNow |
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-- "Le Corbusier Redrawn - The Houses" by Steven Park: the only collection of consistently rendered original drawings of all 26 residential works
-- Fran Silvestre Arquitectos: House on the Cliff, Calpe, Alicante, Spain
-- Berger + Parkkinen: Ice Sports Center, Vienna, Austria |
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