Today’s News - Thursday, August 29, 2013
EDITOR'S NOTE: Just a reminder that we're taking Fridays and Mondays off through August. We'll be back Tuesday, September 3 (see last item!). Happy Labor Day weekend!
• Badger delves into why some states are trying to ban LEED standards (politicians and lobbyists - why are we not surprised...).
• Woodman parses the 2013 Carbuncle Cup winner: it's a "triumph for the dark side," though "all six nominations richly deserved their shortlisting."
• Wainwright x 2: his take on the Carbuncle Cup for worst building: aside from it being "a bizarre Frankenstein concoction," it "reveals a wider problem with the standard of student housing."
• He, Merrick, and Woodman weigh in on Mecanoo's new Birmingham library: "Birmingham has a thing for bling" (definitely watch Wainwright's video) + "The children's library is superb, and the garden terraces are a masterstroke. Yet there are nagging faults" + Its "flashy exterior overshadows an interior that is rich in ingenuity and style. I have no doubt, it will operate terrifically well. I just can't stand the sight of it."
• The New York Public Library revisits Labrouste to rethink its hotly-contested plans - now the focus will be on "books, not atriums."
• Altabe x 2: she minces no words: when a museum's "overbearing mass" weakens a single artist's work, "you know the museum architect got it wrong" + The "rolling, undulating stripes of steel" planned for the Petersen Automotive Museum's façade meant "to convey road curves, instead "suggests rows of fender benders"; as with the "woozy zigzags" of London's Evelyn Grace Academy, "these architects know better."
• Fröbe compiles "the most beautiful examples" of Germany's ugliest edifices, describing them "with ironic affection."
• An uncertain future for the expansion of Tuscany's only contemporary art museum that only makes €30 a day: it "was born dead so what's the point of expanding it?"
• Bozikovic, on a brighter note, cheers the "subtle reinvention" as "the stock-in-trade of Canadian modernists" that has "left the country's historic centers in fine shape during North America's era of 'urban renewal.'"
• OMA wins a big one in Bogotá, master planning the city's new 680-acre civic center.
• Downey dons walking shoes to explore India's pop-up megacity for a Hindu religious festival: "How does this happen with such ease" - and what can it teach urban planners?
• Weekend diversions:
• In Melbourne, "Postcode 3000: A city transformed?" examines the impact and legacy of the planning policy, and "the city's transformation from bleak business district to one of the world's most livable cities."
• Kennicott cheers the NBM's Guastavino exhibition: "The grandeur of these works still leaves one in awe, and a little ashamed of the shabby airports and purely functional bridges we build today."
• If you're in NYC on Tuesday, the Center for Architecture is opening "Coverage: 75 Years of Oculus" (full disclosure: yours truly has served as editor for the last 10 years - stop by and say Hi!).
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Why Are Some States Trying to Ban LEED Green Building Standards? As the certification grows more popular, industry opposition to it is ramping up. To environmental groups, the sleight-of-hand tactic is actually more insidious than if industry were trying to politicize green building all together. By Emily Badger- The Atlantic Cities |
Carbuncle Cup winner 2013: A triumph for the dark side: This year’s worst new building, 465 Caledonian Road by Stephen George & Partners, hides windows behind a brick wall...all six nominations richly deserved their shortlisting. By Ellis Woodman [images]- BD/Building Design (UK) |
'Prison-like' student housing wins Carbuncle Cup for worst building: UCL [University College London] accommodation with windows facing on to walls reveals a wider problem with the standard of student housing...hulk squats...like a beached whale, trying to hide its copious grey flanks behind the dainty Victorian mask...it is a bizarre Frankenstein concoction... By Oliver Wainwright -- Stephen George & Partners; CZWG- Guardian (UK) |
Birmingham's new library is a modern behemoth that encases the past: 10-storey building of space and light with skin of metal hoops reflects the city's bijou and industrial history..."jewel-like" is not a phrase applied easily to big buildings. By Oliver Wainwright -- Mecanoo; John Madin (1974); Future Systems; Make; Foreign Office Architects (FOA) [images, video]- Guardian (UK) |
Is this the last hurrah for modern bookish bigness? Mecanoo has given Birmingham its own max libris, in which books are present, but more as fetish objects in interiors whose most important features are flexible floorplates...The design of the children’s library is superb, and the garden terraces are a masterstroke. Yet there are nagging faults...the usual modernist stumbling over crafted materials. By Jay Merrick- Independent (UK) |
Library of Birmingham by Mecanoo: The flashy exterior...overshadows an interior that is rich in ingenuity and style...its signature cladding is anything but...The disappointment would be less if the rest of the project were not as good as it is. It has been built on time and under budget and, I have no doubt, will operate terrifically well. I just can’t stand the sight of it. By Ellis Woodman [images]- BD/Building Design (UK) |
New York Public Library Rethinks Design: In Response to Critics, a New Renovation Plan Will Focus on Books, not Atriums: ...the library examined the renovation of the Bibliothèque Nationale...the Salle Labrouste...storeroom in 2015 will be opened to the public for the first time... -- Foster + Partners; Carrère & Hastings; Henri Labrouste; Bruno Gaudin- Wall Street Journal |
Architecture that flies in the face of its function: When a museum dedicated to a single artist’s work weakens the work’s impact with its overbearing mass, you know the museum architect got it wrong...Museum Tinguely in Basel, Switzerland...at least Jean Tinguely's art doesn’t sit in some classical revival temple-looking building...although Botta’s design...gets close. By Joan Altabe -- Mario Botta [slide show]- Examiner |
Buildings that fail their purpose: Architects for the [Petersen Automotive Museum] facade...are using rolling, undulating stripes of steel - reportedly to convey road curves...suggests rows of fender benders...plainly dizzying and reminiscent of London’s Evelyn Grace Academy with its woozy zigzag of steel and glass...these architects know better. By Joan Altabe -- Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF); Zaha Hadid; Frank Lloyd Wright [slide show]- Examiner |
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Germany's Architectural Atrocities: Germany is famous for its architectural transgressions. But according to a historian...celebrating the country's ugliest edifices, it's time we learn to embrace them...Turit Fröbe has compiled the most beautiful examples in "Die Kunst der Bausünde" (The Art of Architectural Sin). She describes the buildings with ironic affection... [slide show]- Der Spiegel (Germany) |
Why build a €8m expansion for a museum that only makes €30 a day? The future seems uncertain for the Centro per l’arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci in Prato, near Florence...“the centre was born dead so what’s the point of expanding it?” -- Maurice Nio/NIO architecten [image]- The Art Newspaper (UK) |
Letter from Canada: ...subtle reinvention is the stock-in-trade of Canadian modernists...This attitude left the country's historic centres in fine shape during North America's era of 'urban renewal'...today architects across the country are coping with the challenges of urban centres that are quickly growing larger and denser. By Alex Bozikovic -- Arthur Erickson; Mackay-Lyons; Frank Gehry; BIG/Bjarke Ingels Group; Diamond Schmitt Architects; KPMB; Teeple Architects; MJM Architects- Wallpaper* |
OMA Master Plan Wins Bogotá’s International Design Competition: ...selected to design the Bogotá Centro Administrativo Nacional (CAN) new civic center...Steered by partner-in-charge Shohei Shigematsu, the 680-acre mixed-use design occupies a footprint as large as Washington, D.C.’s National Mall... -- Gomez + Castro [images, links]- The Architect's Newspaper |
What Urban Planners Can Learn From a Hindu Religious Festival: Every 12 years, one Indian city balloons from a few million residents to tens of millions. How does this happen with such ease? “We call this a pop-up megacity...Can what we see here teach us something that will help the next time the world has to build refugee camps or emergency settlements?” By Tom Downey -- Rahul Mehrotra [slide show]- Smithsonian magazine |
"Postcode 3000: A city transformed?": Currently on show at City Gallery in Melbourne, this exhibition examines the impact and legacy of the Postcode 3000 planning policy...the city’s transformation from bleak business district to one of the world’s most liveable cities... -- Rob Adams- Australian Design Review |
Exhibit explores Gustavino family’s structural-tile technique: Light and graceful structures have withstood the test of time...“Palaces for the People: Guastavino and America’s Great Public Spaces,” a fascinating exhibition at the National Building Museum...The grandeur of these works still leaves one in awe, and a little ashamed of the shabby airports and purely functional bridges we build today. By Philip Kennicott [slide show, video]- Washington Post |
"Coverage: 75 Years of Oculus": ...will include original issues from the AIA New York Chapter's archives dating back to 1938, and trace the publication's history from an AIANY newsletter to the quarterly architectural journal it is today; September 3 - 23 at the Center for Architecture, New York City.- Center for Architecture (NYC) |
-- Estudi D’arquitectura Toni Gironès: Transmission Space for Megalithic Dolmen of Séro, Artesa de Segre, Spain
-- "Eastern Priomises: Contemporary Architecture and Spatial Practices in East Asia": shows us why architecturally interested heads should turn toward East Asia in the coming years; MAK Austrian Museum of Applied Arts / Contemporary Art, Vienna
-- OMA is Rem Koolhaas. Rem Koolhaas is OMA...one should not make the mistake of equating the two.
-- SANAA: 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan
-- Eduardo Souto de Moura: Viana do Castelo Multipurpose Pavilion, Viana do Castelo, Portugal- ArcSpace |
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