Today’s News - Monday, October 14, 2013
• ArcSpace brings us Sejima's 2003 House in a Plum Grove in Tokyo, a photographic tribute to Copenhagen, a travel guide to Stockholm, and a profile of Morphosis.
• Kamin feels "a punch in the gut" watching the demolition begin on Goldberg's Prentice Women's Hospital: "despite the post-industrial sheen of Millennium Park, Chicago can still unleash its old and infamous savagery. No other American city is quite so proficient at building landmarks and destroying them."
• Russell, on a brighter note, gives (mostly) thumbs-up to Meier's Teachers Village in Newark, NJ, "one of the poorest downtowns in the U.S.," and one of many "places most in need of such transformational investment, not the opportunistic junk they usually get stuck with (think casinos) that fails to ease entrenched poverty."
• Litt cheers new plans for Cleveland's Ameritrust complex, including Breuer's once-threatened 1971 tower, that is "a credible forward path" towards "fueling a downtown residential boom."
• Hume looks at how a "re-urbanized" Hamilton is rising "from its post-industrial ashes - while Toronto self-immolates."
• Q&A with Azaroff re: how "Hurricane Sandy recovery is inciting information sharing among the New York architecture community and design teams worldwide."
• Geeting cheers Philly finally finding the fit between too many and too few cars, having learned some "important lessons about humility and flexibility, preferring small-scale, inexpensive and reversible changes that can be tested, tweaked or removed without permanent consequences."
• A Swedish filmmaker's documentary is "deep-diving into the tension between the car industry and the urban biking movement."
• Nielsen and Brightman "find flaws in the Sustainable Sites Initiative accreditation process" that tend to favor projects using private financing over public funding, with hopes the "hallmark program" will be refined to be more inclusive.
• A California residence for autistic adults "hopes to become a model for like-minded experiments across the country."
• A project type we rarely see: a Belgian firm gets the rare opportunity to design two gas stations in Tirana, Albania, that "combine bold architectural forms with sensitive urban placemaking" (very cool!).
• How could we resist Baan's breathtaking shots of Hadid's Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku, Azerbaijan (the country "winning the architecture arms race" by spending about $6 billion/year).
• Brownell x 2 re: the Sydney Opera House marking its 40th anniversary: it "was the pinnacle and nadir of Jørn Utzon's career" + Q+A with Jan Utzon re: "the experience of working with his father to guide the project's future."
• Cramer ponders wither architecture theory has gone - but doesn't mourn it being replaced by students carrying "Design Like You Give a Damn" instead if ANY, and critical discourse "focused on green architecture, building science, and ethical design. The built environment, and civilization as a whole, stands to benefit."
• Harper "delves into the vortex of today's frantic click-driven online architecture media," making the "case for de-democratizing the architectural press."
• AHMM "bags" Met Police HQ make-over (the revolving Scotland Yard sign will remain).
• Eyefuls of winners in Building Trust International's PLAYscapes Competition (great fun!).
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-- Kazuyo Sejima & Associates: House in a Plum Grove (2003), Tokyo, Japan
-- The Camera: CphCph is a tribute to Copenhagen. To the buildings, the underground, the nights, the secret places, the empty spaces.
-- Travel Guide: Stockholm
-- Morphosis: Architecture surprisingly free of traditional presuppositions and classical lingo -- Thom Mayne |
As Prentice comes down, stakes rise on its replacement: Northwestern has a chance to replace Goldberg's innovative hospital with something better, but will it? ...the first visible evidence of demolition...felt like a punch in the gut...despite the post-industrial sheen of Millennium Park, Chicago can still unleash its old and infamous savagery...No other American city is quite so proficient at building landmarks and destroying them. By Blair Kamin -- Bertrand Goldberg (1975); Perkins + Will; Goettsch Partners; Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture- Chicago Tribune |
Goldman Sachs, Richard Meier & Partners Boost $149 Million Newark Project: ...one of the poorest downtowns in the U.S...Developers aren’t flocking here...Teachers Village is in progress...Struggling communities can almost never tap Wall Street stars and celebrated architects. Yet these are the places most in need of such transformational investment, not the opportunistic junk they usually get stuck with (think casinos) that fails to ease entrenched poverty. By James S. Russell -- KSS Architects [images]- Bloomberg News |
Geis Cos.plan for the Ameritrust complex is rescuing two Cleveland architectural landmarks: ...$250 million project...a credible forward path for an historically and architecturally important group of buildings...whose future has been in question for well over a decade...fueling a downtown residential boom...the Ameritrust complex has a chance for a new life never envisioned by George Browne Post [1908] and Marcel Breuer [1971]. By Steven Litt -- Vocon; Sandvick Architects [images]- Cleveland Plain Dealer |
Toronto and Hamilton switch prince-and-pauper roles: While Toronto self-immolates, a re-urbanized Hamilton rises from its post-industrial ashes..."it behooves us to see the big picture.” That’s something Toronto lost sight of long ago. In this city, the big picture is something you hang on a wall...Though undoing Hamilton’s painfully suburban recent history won’t be easy, the mayor seems determined to shift the civic culture to something more...than endless developer-driven sprawl. By Christopher Hume- Toronto Star |
Q&A: Learning From Rebuilding: Illya Azaroff: AIANY Design for Risk and Reconstruction Committee Co-Chair: The Hurricane Sandy recovery is inciting information sharing among the New York architecture community and design teams worldwide, says one of the architects leading the effort.- Architect Magazine |
Philly Planners May Have Finally Learned the Lessons of Too Many or Too Few Cars: Reflections on how Philadelphia’s attitude toward cars has changed... important lessons about humility and flexibility, preferring small-scale, inexpensive and reversible changes to the built environment that can be tested, tweaked or removed without permanent consequences. By Jonathan Geeting -- Ed Bacon; Community Design Collaborative; Brian Syzmanik/MAKE Architecture [links]- Next City (formerly Next American City) |
A New Documentary Explores the Politics of 'Bikes vs. Cars': What would it take for more cities to be a bike heaven like Copenhagen? Swedish filmmaker Fredrik Gertten is deep-diving into the tension between the car industry and the urban biking movement.- The Atlantic Cities |
Comment> Short SITED: Signe Nielsen and Terrie Brightman find flaws in the Sustainable Sites Initiative accreditation process: ...SITES requirements for certification...noticeably favor projects with private financing over public funding and unduly constrain ultra-urban projects...at least 100 points are potentially out of reach to a publicly funded, urban site...We encourage the SITES authors to make this hallmark program more inclusive of conditions to maximize its broad benefits. -- Mathews Nielsen- The Architect's Newspaper |
The Architecture of Autism: Sweetwater Spectrum, a California residence for autistic adults, hopes to become a model for like-minded experiments across the country. -- Kim Steele; Sherry Ahrentzen; Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects; Virgona & Virgona Architects [slide show]- New York Times |
Pumping it up in Tirana: The chance to build a petrol station is a rare opportunity for an architecture firm...Hence it was quite a treat for the Belgian office 51N4E to be asked to design two of them in Tirana, Albania...combine bold architectural forms with sensitive urban placemaking. By Andreas Ruby [images]- Uncube magazine (Germany) |
Who’s Winning the Architecture Arms Race? Hint: It’s the place spending an estimated $6 billion a year on it. Answer: Baku, Azerbaijan...The latest example: the Heydar Aliyev Center designed by Zaha Hadid, for whom it offered the rare opportunity of nearly total design freedom. -- Photographs by Iwan Baan- New York Times Magazine |
A Design Icon 40 Years in the Making: The Sydney Opera House was the pinnacle and nadir of Jørn Utzon’s career. But Jan Utzon is determined to end things on a high note: Before his death in 2008, Utzon and his son had developed a set of design principles that continue to guide the ongoing renovations. By Blaine Brownell [images]- Architect Magazine |
Q+A: The Utzon Legacy: Jan Utzon discusses the Sydney Opera House’s original design and construction, and the experience of working with his father to guide the project’s future: "I feel a great responsibility...to produce documents that as far as humanly possible will ensure that the right things shall be done to the Opera House." By Blaine Brownell -- Richard Johnson/Johnson Pilton Walker [images]- Architect Magazine |
The Silly and the Profound: Marshall Berman recently passed away, and Joseph Rykwert has just won the RIBA Gold Medal. Which makes me wonder: What ever happened to architecture theory? In both the academy and the workplace, critical discourse is focused on green architecture, building science, and ethical design...The built environment, and civilization as a whole, stand to benefit. By Ned Cramer -- Michel Foucault; Jacques Derrida; ANY; Cynthia Davidson; Peter Eisenman; Kate Stohr/Cameron Sinclair- Architect Magazine |
Buzzfeed, Bikinis, and the Big Rethink: The case for de-democratizing the architectural press: As an editorial coordinator at The Architectural Review, Phineas Harper is no stranger to the ins and outs of online publishing...he delves into the vortex of today’s frantic click-driven online architecture media...- Uncube magazine (Germany) |
AHMM bags Met Police HQ refurb: ...winning design for the Curtis Green building includes a new public entrance pavilion, extensions to the building itself and a series of new public spaces...The new building, to be known as Scotland Yard, will open in 2015 and the iconic revolving sign will be retained. [image]- BD/Building Design (UK) |
PLAYscapes Competition Results Announced: Set up by Building Trust International, the competition called for “professional and student architects and designers...to propose ideas which encouraged public interaction and turned redundant city spaces into fun creative places.” -- City of Cape Town; Lusiada University of Lisbon; etc. [images, links]- ArchDaily |
Op-Ed: Which "Past" Should Architects Embrace and Why? Posing Alternatives to Architectural Nostalgia: Witold Rybczynski's "How Architecture Works: A Humanist's Toolkit" might be his most urbanely written and sensibly organized - but his traditional definition of architecture’s past might be passé. By Norman Weinstein- ArchNewsNow |
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