Today’s News - Friday, May 31, 2013
• Goodyear ponders the "fight over the future" of Penn Station: Whether it results in a station that is fit for gods, or merely for rats, remains to be seen" (and Madison Square Garden's response to the MAS Design Challenge "pie-in-the-sky drawings").
• Kimmelman cheers "fresh thinking" about creating public space: "A beer garden made out of freight containers on an empty plot turns out to be a lot more popular and better for a city than a sad corporate atrium with a few cafe tables and a long list of don'ts on the wall."
• Birnbaum is blown away by the "remarkable transformation" of public spaces in Toronto, with landscape architecture "leading the charge."
• Hume hails the urban tree canopy that makes Toronto livable, and "provides over $60 million annually in ecological services," but bemoans the fact that it "is shrinking, and at the very moment when its benefits are most needed."
• David Gensler on the challenges in creating open spaces "for our crowded urban future - when there seems to be none left" (some nifty solutions!).
• Pedersen reports on Make It Right's new initiative to build LEED Platinum homes and a sustainable community in partnership with the Sioux and Assiniboine tribes of Fort Peck, Montana.
• Wainwright climbs aboard the Mary Rose museum "a pearl" that "evokes the mysterious drama of the hoard of relics that lie within - pity about the limpets" (great video tour with Chris Wilkinson and Chris Brandon, too).
• Russell roams Donald Judd's SoHo loft-museum: "It's an extraordinary achievement [by ARO and Melvin]. In a world where authenticity seems elusive, 101 Spring Street is a sublime corrective."
• Lubell questions Gehry's "thin skin" re: MOCA's "A New Sculpturalism": it "only reconfirms people's stereotypes about architects" (and rumors "swirling" that Mayne has replaced Mount, "although nothing has been confirmed").
• Ito's Pritzker Prize ceremony "was charmed - the speeches were short, gracious, and heartfelt," but while the jury isn't talking about Scott Brown, "everyone else is."
• A project in Rwanda takes Grand Prize in the 2013 CNU Charter Awards (link to great presentation of all winners).
• Weekend diversions:
• One we couldn't resist: Hartlaub says his favorite film so far this summer is the new "Star Trek" that imagines San Francisco in 2259: "The TransAmerica Pyramid looks like a garden gnome," and "somewhere in the 23rd Century, John King is rolling over in his grave" (cool pix, too!).
• Turrell takes over 2013 with exhibits in Los Angeles, New York, and Houston with a "no-holds-barred LACMA exhibition" and more (great pix!).
• "Floating Worlds and Future Cities: The Genius of Lazar Khidekel, Suprematism, and the Russian Avant-Garde" puts the spotlight on the artist, architect, designer and theoretician at the Russian American Cultural Center in NYC.
• MCNY's "Beautiful Way to Go: New York's Green-Wood Cemetery" examines the Brooklyn cemetery's astonishing 175-year history, and tells a complex narrative that links architectural, art, social, and cultural histories.
• Heathcote hails Postiglione's "The Architect's Home" as "a delight": "If one thing strikes you from this huge collection of architects' homes, it is their modesty...these are not the homes of wealthy egotists."
• Moore offers a (fab) eyeful from Elsmore's "Brick City: Lego for Grown Ups": "this is an opportunity to boggle at the obsessive ingenuity of what are known as Afols (adult fans of Lego)."
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Can New York's Penn Station Ever Be Great Again? There are few transit terminals...as dismal...The fight over the future of this incredibly valuable real estate in the heart of midtown Manhattan is just beginning. Whether it results in a future Penn Station that is fit for gods, or merely for rats, remains to be seen. By Sarah Goodyear -- Municipal Art Society of New York/MAS; Michael Kimmelman; Diller Scofidio + Renfro; H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture; SHoP Architects; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill/SOM [images, links]- The Atlantic Cities |
A Streetcorner Serenade for the Public Plaza: ...fresh thinking has focused on cheap, quick, temporary and D.I.Y.-style approaches to creating public space...A beer garden made out of freight containers on an empty plot turns out to be a lot more popular and better for a city than a sad corporate atrium with a few cafe tables and a long list of don’ts on the wall... By Michael Kimmelman -- Janette Sadik-Khan; Douglas Burnham/Envelope A+D; Snohetta; DSGN AGNC; Jerold Kayden; Tod Williams Billie Tsien [slide show]- New York Times |
City Shaping VI: In 21st Century Toronto, There is Momentum: If you want to see why cities are centers of energy, look at the remarkable transformation underway in Toronto...landscape architecture...is leading the charge in places like the city's Waterfront district... By Charles A. Birnbaum/The Cultural Landscape Foundation -- Claude Cormier + Associés; West 8; Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates; Maryann Thompson Architects; Janet Rosenberg & Studio; Schwartz Smith Meyer Landscape Architects (Martha Schwartz, Ken Smith, David Meyer); PWP Landscape Architecture; Oleson Worland Architects; Dunnington-Grubb [images]- Huffington Post |
Urban tree canopy makes Toronto livable: It's the time of year when trees come back to life and with them, the city...You can tell a lot about a city from the canopy it keeps..."Toronto’s urban forest...provides over $60 million annually in ecological services"...Yet Toronto’s tree canopy is shrinking, and at the very moment when its benefits are most needed. By Christopher Hume- Toronto Star |
Designing A New Town Square For Our Crowded Urban Future: ...one of the biggest challenges facing us today requires, perhaps, one of our best magic tricks of all time: Creating open space when there seems to be none left. By David Gensler [images]- World Cities Network (UK) |
Make It Right’s New Initiative: ...founded by Brad Pitt...will partner with the Sioux and Assiniboine tribes of Fort Peck, Montana to build 20 LEED Platinum homes as part of a larger sustainable community effort. The Fort Peck Sustainable Village project...in discussions with some of their frequent collaborators and advisors... By Martin C. Pedersen -- Graft; William McDonough + Partners; BNIM; Tim Duggan- Metropolis Magazine |
Mary Rose museum is a pearl - pity about the limpets: The Tudor ship's new home has the timeless sense of the ancient vessel, although the tacked-on pavilions are a bit of an anticlimax...hunkered down in Portsmouth's historic dockyard, evokes the mysterious drama of the hoard of relics that lie within. By Oliver Wainwright -- Wilkinson Eyre; Pringle Brandon Perkins+Will [video, slide show]- Guardian (UK) |
Donald Judd’s SoHo Loft Opens After $23 Million Makeover: ...stripped to its cast-iron frame and reconstructed...It’s an extraordinary achievement...The building and the art together form a complete work of art...In a world where authenticity seems elusive, 101 Spring Street is a sublime corrective. By James S. Russell -- Architecture Research Office/ARO; Walter B. Melvin [images]- Bloomberg News |
Editorial> Why the Thin Skin, Frank? Sam Lubell questions MOCA's and Frank Gehry's commitment to LA's architecture community: ...troubles surrounding..."A New Sculpturalism"...It seems that one man’s insecurity, and his intellectual differences with the show, are enough to jeopardize a whole community...only reconfirms people’s stereotypes about architects. -- Christopher Mount; Thom Mayne/Morphosis; Neil Denari- The Architect's Newspaper |
One Standing Ovation, One Outstanding Question: The Pritzker Prize jury members aren't talking about Denise Scott Brown. Everyone else is: ...Pritzker Architecture Prize ceremony in honor of...2013 laureate Toyo Ito was charmed...The speeches were short, gracious, and heartfelt...Whether and how the Pritzker committee will address the controversy remains to be seen.- Architect Magazine |
Rwandan Project Takes Grand Prize in 2013 CNU Charter Awards: -- University of Arkansas Community Design Center; Momin Mahammad; Torti Gallas & Partners; Opticos Design; Sottile and Sottile; Goody Clancy; Mithun; Duany Plater-Zyberk/DPZ; Calthorpe Associates; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM); Marlon Blackwell Architects; DTAH; etc. [link to images, info]- Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) |
To boldly grow: “Star Trek” imagines San Francisco in 2259: ...my favorite film so far in the young summer movie season — in large part because the filmmakers show in detail what the Bay Area is going to look like in the year 2259...The TransAmerica Pyramid looks like a garden gnome...Somewhere in the 23rd Century, John King is rolling over in his grave. By Peter Hartlaub [images]- San Francisco Chronicle |
London Festival of Architecture doubles in length: Festival will now fill the whole of June...the only festival that actively promoted positive change and improvement in the city’s public realm.- BD/Building Design (UK) |
A Year of Light and Space: With exhibits in Los Angeles, New York, and Houston, James Turrell is taking over 2013...“James Turrell: A Retrospective,” the no-holds-barred LACMA exhibition...Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, will unveil “The Light Inside"...Guggenheim Museum will open "Aten Reign" for which the artist will transform Frank Lloyd Wright’s iconic rotunda into one of his signature Skyspaces. [images]- Architect Magazine |
"Floating Worlds and Future Cities: The Genius of Lazar Khidekel, Suprematism, and the Russian Avant-Garde": the work of the great artist, architect, designer and theoretician and his role in the transition of Suprematism from painting to architecture, cosmic urbanization, and radical yet environmentally conscious city planning of the future; at the Russian American Cultural Center, NYC- Russian American Cultural Center (RACC) |
"Beautiful Way to Go: New York’s Green-Wood Cemetery" examines the Brooklyn cemetery’s astonishing 175-year history...tells a complex narrative that links architectural, art, social, and cultural histories; at the Museum of the City of New York through October 13. -- David Bates Douglass (1838) [images]- The Architect's Newspaper |
Through the keyhole of architects’ homes: The houses designed and lived in by their creators and what they reveal: "The Architect’s Home" by Gennaro Postiglione examines dozens of architects’ houses spanning the whole of the modern era...This book is a delight...These are not the homes of wealthy egotists... By Edwin Heathcote -- Victor Horta; Charles Rennie Mackintosh; Eileen Gray; Walter Gropius; Alvar Aalto; Sigurd Lewerentz; Peter and Alison Smithson; Eduardo Souto de Moura; Jorn Utzon; Le Corbusier; Bruno Taut; Jan Benthem; John Young; Adam Caruso [images]- Financial Times (UK) |
Lego rebuilds the world – in miniature: From Olympic Park to the Taj Mahal, Warren Elsmore has used the classic Danish bricks to build architectural masterpieces – and written a definitive book about it - "Brick City: Lego for Grown Ups"...this is an opportunity to boggle at the obsessive ingenuity of what are known as Afols (adult fans of Lego). By Rowan Moore [slide show]- Guardian (UK) |
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-- Saucier + Perrotte Architectes: UBC Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences / CDRD, Vancouver, Canada
-- "All the Buildings* in New York (*That I’ve Drawn So Far)" by James Gulliver Hancock
-- Santiago Calatrava: Oriente Station, Lisbon, Portugal
-- Toyo Ito & Associates: Tama Art University Library, Hachioji, Tokyo, Japan |
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