Today’s News - Thursday, July 18, 2013
• Pardon our over-use of exclamation points(!), but it's phenomenal day of impressive winners and shortlists (and some news that merits attention and a cool call for entries)!
• Heathcote, Merrick, Wainwright, and others weigh in on the Stirling Prize shortlist: nary a starchitect (or a London building) among them: "blockbuster building on the wane"; "it's 'excellent ordinary' buildings we need more of"; "refreshing for its wave of new names" that "puts women to the fore" (refreshing, indeed - and all are worth reading!).
• Four finalists in FAR ROC competition hail from NYC, Toronto, London, and Goteborg, Sweden (an international array of Honorable Mentions, too) - good news for Hurricane Sandy-ravaged Rockaways!
• +Pool Kickstarter campaign hit its goal, "but it should have been easier."
• UNStudio wins Yongjia World Trade Center Competition in Wenzhou, China, with a not-typical plan.
• 5468796 Architecture wins $50,000 Professional Prix de Rome that will "set the table for informal conversations about architecture" in eight cities on four continents.
• NEA hands out 2013 Our Town Grants to 59 projects that support creative placemaking.
• The 2013 R+D Awards go to eight (very cool!) projects, processes, and products (lots of images/info).
• The AIA's 2011 Latrobe Prize for "Public Interest Practices in Architecture" report now available (and well worth reading!).
• Two great teams in the running for the U.K.'s 2014 Venice British pavilion.
• A Perth-based team named to "present an 'alternative architectural reality'" for Australia's 2014 Venice Biennale pavilion.
• Kotkin explains why "Singapore needs a new sling," and the initial steps the city is taking to make it happen.
• A new study looks at the real - and high cost - of blight in Dallas.
• Another study looks at why it's so difficult to get things moving: "You would think that public agencies would enlist the services of AEC firms now more than ever to fill in the gaps left in shrinking departments. Instead, we are seeing declines" (blame it on the stupid sequester).
• In Hyderabad, India, a historic hotel collapses (killing at least 18): the "tragedy spotlights the precarious condition" of hundreds of the city's buildings: "While the authorities are busy pulling down run down buildings, no thought is spared for heritage structures - official apathy and indecisiveness have added to the pace of decay."
• Bremner criticizes plans to create a new ChristChurch Cathedral, calling it "depressing. If it does happen, then ignorance and cynicism will be seen to have won the day."
• On a brighter note, Dunlap gets a sneak-peek at Calatrava's WTC Transit Hub: "the most astonishing feature" is "that a structure of such colossal proportions should be devoted to unobstructed public use."
• Call for entries: Royal Adelaide Hospital Site Open Ideas Competition (international).
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RIBA Stirling Prize shortlist suggests ‘blockbuster building’ on the wane: ...tells us something about the state of the economy, society or culture. But quite what it tells us this year is tricky to ascertain. It’s a strong list, but it lacks an obvious blockbuster, a weakling or a single masterpiece. Most striking of all, not one selection is in London. By Edwin Heathcote -- Heneghan Peng Architects; Grafton Architects; Witherford Watson Mann Architects; Hawkins Brown/Studio Egret West; Alison Brooks Architects; Niall McLaughlin Architects [images]- Financial Times (UK) |
RIBA's Stirling Prize: For architecture's biggest gong, small is beautiful: The shortlist is admirable – it’s just a shame that designers of excellent but ordinary buildings are ignored...designs of the vast majority of...buildings that have gone up in Britain in the last decade are architecturally mediocre...building design is likely to get worse...it’s “excellent ordinary” buildings we need more of... By Jay Merrick -- Alison Brooks; Hawkins Brown/Studio Egret West; Witherford Watson Mann; Heneghan Peng; Grafton Architects; Niall McLaughlin [images]- Independent (UK) |
Stirling prize 2013: shock of the new as five first-time nominees shortlisted: ...also puts women to the fore: After years of being occupied by the usual big-hitters, this year's shortlist for the best building of the year is refreshing for its wave of new names...My choice would be for an unlikely outsider...(odds provided by William Hill). By Oliver Wainwright- Guardian (UK) |
Rykwert, Heathcote, Fraser & Slessor take on the Stirling Prize ‘low-key’ shortlist: "Though it’s an apple and orange situation...any one of the six deserves the prize"..."No icons, no starchitects and no London projects...a paean to modest ambitions and unsung architects...like trying to judge a volume of poetry against a cookery book..."- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
FAR ROC Design Competition for Resilient and Sustainable Development in the Rockaways Phase I Finalists: four finalists [New York City, Toronto, London, and Goteborg, Sweden] will each receive a stipend of $30,000 to aid in further development of their design proposal... -- Ennead Architects/LERA/Atelier 10/Hargreaves; Lateral Office/WXY Studio/Buro Happold; Seeding Office/Biber Architects/Robert Silman; White Arkitekter/ARUP/Gensler [images]- NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development / L+M Development Partners / AIANY/ Enterprise Community Partners / etc. |
+Pool, Kickstarter, And Why NYC Needs To Take A Chance On Young Architects: ...Family and PlayLab...achieved its goal, but it should have been easier...It’s a resounding demonstration of the public’s belief in young architects to rethink public space and manifest the untapped capital of waterways to benefit the common good. By Karen Wong/New Museum [images, links]- Architizer |
UNStudio Wins Yongjia World Trade Center Competition in Wenzhou: Unlike the typical world trade center—which usually represents only a concentration business or financial programs...has incorporated recreational and cultural facilities and residential units into their plan. [images]- ArchDaily |
5468796 Architecture wins $50,000 Professional Prix de Rome for "Table for 12: A Conversation in Architecture": ...will allow hosts from eight cities [on four continents] to set the table for informal conversations about architecture...will launch at the Winnipeg Design Festival in September 2013... -- Canada Council for the Arts- Canadian Architect |
National Endowment for the Arts Announces 2013 Our Town Grant Recipients: 59 projects to receive $4.725 million to support creative placemaking: ...grants represent a spectrum of types that fall into two broad areas: arts engagement, and design and cultural planning.- National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) |
The 2013 R+D Awards: This year, eight projects, processes, and products were deemed exceptional by the judges. -- Archolab; Akoaki; University of Virginia; KieranTimberlake(2); NADAAA; Artaic; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)/Case Design [links to images, info]- Architect Magazine |
2011 Latrobe Prize for “Public Interest Practices in Architecture” Report now Available: ...$100,000 grant for research...The study investigated the needs that can be addressed by public interest practices and the variety of ways that public interest practices are operating. [link to report]- American Institute of Architects (AIA) |
Shortlist revealed for 2014 Venice British pavilion: Two teams asked to work up proposals for “Absorbing Modernity: 1914-2014” theme...at the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale. -- David Knight/Oliver Wainwright/Finn Williams; FAT/Crimson/ Owen Hatherley- BD/Building Design (UK) |
Creative Directors for 2014 Venice Biennale revealed: A Perth-based team will present an ‘alternative architectural reality’...with an exhibition examining historical and contemporary unbuilt Australian architectural projects..."Augmented Australia 1914-2014" -- felix._Giles_Anderson+Goad [image]- Australian Design Review |
Singapore Needs A New Sling: The policies of the past may have worked impressively, but may not be as appropriate in the future...initial steps to humanize the metropolis are taking place...a remarkable expansion and improvement of green space, and attempts to decentralize work around the newer state housing estates and commercial developments. Steps to increase the size of apartments, repurpose aging shopping and office structure for housing... By Joel Kotkin- Forbes |
Editorial: What the high cost of blight in Dallas costs each of us: ...thousands of lives that have been hurt and opportunities lost by the failure to break this city’s cycle of poverty...a new study not only documents statistically what this newspaper has long contended, it goes an extra step by showing the significant financial cost that blight poses to taxpayers.- Dallas Morning News |
Empty pockets, full workloads: More states and localities must finance their own projects, leaving less to spend on outsourcing AEC services...You would think that public agencies would enlist the services of architecture, engineering, and construction firms now more than ever to fill in the gaps left in shrinking departments. Instead, we are seeing declines.- Public Works Magazine |
Heritage structures rot for want of care: The City Light Hotel tragedy spotlights the precarious condition of some of the hoary monuments in Hyderabad...While the authorities are busy pulling down run down buildings, no thought is spared for heritage structures, which the city is proud of...official apathy and indecisiveness have added to the pace of decay.- The Hindu (India) |
Scholar slates church over ChristChurch Cathedral demolition: Alex Bremner wrote extensively about the cathedral [in] "Imperial Gothic"...has criticised...plans to create a new cathedral...The church's desire for a new building is "depressing...If it does happen, then ignorance and cynicism will be seen to have won the day." -- George Gilbert Scott- New Zealand Herald |
A Transit Hub in the Making May Prove to Be the Grandest: ...main transit hall may be the most hopeful element at the [World Trade Center] complex...the most astonishing feature...that a structure of such colossal proportions should be devoted to unobstructed public use...a sinuously organic space that looks more and more like a modernist version of Gaudí as it takes form. By David W. Dunlap -- Santiago Calatrava [images]- New York Times |
Call for entries: Royal Adelaide Hospital Site Open Ideas Competition (international): redesign the vacated site and create an iconic place within the Greater Riverbank Precinct, Adelaide, Australia; Stage One: July 18 - August 28- Government of South Australia |
A Conversation with Gordon Young, Author of "Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City": Place is not always the result of the work of well-intended design professionals. By Kenneth Caldwell [images]- ArchNewsNow |
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