Today’s News - Thursday, November 7, 2013
EDITOR'S NOTE: Due to circumstances beyond our control (etc., etc., etc.), we were unable to post yesterday's news...sorry 'bout that...
• McKean tells the fascinating tale of how Tokyo, "besieged by earthquakes, tsunamis and war, has learned a thing or two about bouncing back" and developed "sophisticated forms of urban resilience."
• Kamin finds Maki's 4 WTC to be a "gentle giant" at Ground Zero: "the subtle, self-effacing high-rise compels with its combination of sharply-honed, light-reflecting minimalist geometry and sensitive, city-embracing urbanism."
• Wainwright wonders whether the ambitious plans to revamp the Battersea Power Station might "ruin the brick beast" (an "army of wriggling mutant worms" included).
• Farrelly x 2: she is thrilled to see that "suddenly architecture is everywhere" in Sydney: "The stuff is crawling from the ground like cicadas after drought."
• She also sets her sights on Sydney's five worst buildings: they are "rude, greedy, and silly," with arrogance being the worst quality.
• Hatherley minces no words about new student housing and campus design in general in the U.K.: "stunning formal ineptitude"; "obvious dreadfulness"; "atrocious"; "grimness"; "banal" (need we say more?).
• Meanwhile, LSE sends its starchitect-studded shortlist back to their drawing boards: there were some "interesting ideas," but nothing "really outstanding."
• Brussat cheers Congress's shutdown of funding for the Eisenhower Memorial: "Keeping Gehry out of Washington would be a signal achievement - but modern architecture refuses to hop gently into the dustbin of history...it is by now too big to bring down without good luck, good aim and a lot of big rocks."
• No doubt he's cheering Houston voters' decision to not save the Astrodome: once "a symbol of the city's can-do spirit," it will most likely be demolished (preservation groups say there's "nothing more that could be done").
• Chipperfield loses the Geffrye Museum overhaul for proposing to demolish a nearby former pub - though a new architect, as yet to be selected, will have to stick to his master plan.
• Eyefuls of a newly-constructed FLW house on the Florida Southern College campus - done to the master's exacting detail (good news for the artisans - and fans!).
• Eyefuls of Weiss/Manfredi's new nanotechnology school that is "reshaping a formerly bleak part of the University of Pennsylvania campus" by "making it difficult to tell where nature ends and architecture begins."
• Volner and Gordon pen eloquent and engaging profiles of WSJ. Magazine 2013 Innovators of the Year: David Adjaye and Thomas Woltz (great reads).
• Hunt bemoans that "traditional skills are being lost by designers relying on computers": never mind that it's fast, low-cost, and great for sharing content - "for employers or universities looking at a portfolio from a candidate you can see almost immediately if they've actually spent any time working with real materials."
• The just-launched HumanProgress.org is a free website offering "reputable third-party data that focuses on a number of themes that underpin the steady march of human progress, including continued innovation, access to energy, the rise of Asia," and much more.
• Call for entries: 7th Annual International Design Awards in Architecture, Interior Design, Products, Graphics, Fashion (professional & student).
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How Centuries of Destruction Honed Tokyo’s Unparalleled Disaster Resilience: The city besieged by earthquakes, tsunamis and war has learned a thing or two about bouncing back...has developed sophisticated forms of urban resilience that have allowed it to flourish against considerable odds. By Cameron Allan McKean- Next City (formerly Next American City) |
4 WTC: Ground zero's gentle giant: 4 World Trade Center a respectfully restrained piece of complicated puzzle: ...the subtle, self-effacing high-rise compels with its combination of sharply-honed, light-reflecting minimalist geometry and sensitive, city-embracing urbanism. By Blair Kamin -- Fumihiko Maki [slide show]- Chicago Tribune |
Will the Battersea Power Station revamp ruin the brick beast? Rooftop penthouses, luxury shopping, three cinemas and a hotel &hellip the architects behind the London landmark's renaissance aren't short on ambition. But what of the building's soul? On the glowing Perspex model, it looks like an army of mutant worms wriggling...set to throttle it once and for all...just how much of its original brand will remain? By Oliver Wainwright -- Wilkinson Eyre Architects; Rafael Viñoly [images]- Guardian (UK) |
Inventive design to the rescue: Suddenly architecture is everywhere...The stuff is crawling from the ground like cicadas after drought...Sydney seems to be getting it: not just that design can make (as well as take) money. But that architecture is prime ordnance in the war against cliche. By Elizabeth Farrelly -- Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp/FJMT; Ed Lippmann/Richard Rogers; Harry Seidler; Jean Nouvel; Rachel Neeson/Neeson Murcutt Architects; Frank Gehry- Sydney Morning Herald |
Rude, greedy, silly: Sydney's five worst buildings: There are so many ways a building can be a bad building...Arrogance is the worst quality...This can manifest itself in rudeness to the street, unresponsiveness to climate and disregard of the public's gaze. By Elizabeth Farrelly [images, video]- Sydney Morning Herald |
Whatever happened to student housing? How did this toxic combination of ruthlessly stripped-down existenzminimum, system-building and stunning formal ineptitude come to be the norm? ...has the obvious dreadfulness...had much effect on the architecture of universities themselves? By Owen Hatherley -- Stephen George & Partners; TP Bennett; Daniel Libeskind; Brady Mallalieu Architects; Sauerbruch Hutton; RMJM; Hopkins; Make; Cullinan Studio; Sheppard Robson; Architects Co-Partnership; Wilson Mason; Alsop Architects; Steven Holl; O’Donnell & Tuomey; Porphyrios Associates; Feilden Clegg Bradley; etc. [images]- BD/Building Design (UK) |
LSE tells stars to think again: OMA, Rogers Stirk Harbour and Hopkins proposals not yet good enough, university says: A winner was due to be named this week but...“Each of the schemes [for London School of Economics Global Centre for Social Sciences] has got interesting ideas but there’s not one really outstanding scheme. There’s some further work to do by the practices....” -- Heneghan Peng; Grafton Architects [images]- BD/Building Design (UK) |
The ground game against modernism: ...Congress's shutdown of funding for the Eisenhower Memorial Commission's proposed modernist monument...Keeping Frank Gehry out of Washington would be a signal achievement...but modern architecture refuses to hop gently into the dustbin of history...since it virtually snuffed out classicism in the last century, it is by now too big to bring down without good luck, good aim and a lot of big rocks. By David Brussat -- Christine Franck [images]- Providence Journal (Rhode Island) |
Houston voters reject a plan to save Astrodome: Dubbed the "Eighth Wonder of the World," it was the first domed and air-conditioned stadium and became...a symbol of the city's can-do spirit...rejected a referendum...to turn [it] into a giant convention and event center, the stadium is likely to be demolished...preservation groups...said there was really nothing more that could be done.- USA Today |
David Chipperfield dropped from Geffrye Museum overhaul: ...seeking a new architect to extend its Grade I-listed home...expansion, which controversially included the demolition of a nearby former pub...new development will be based on Chipperfield’s 2010 masterplan for the historic site... [images]- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Unbuilt Frank Lloyd Wright House Constructed at Florida Southern College: ...will serve as a museum dedicated to the architect and his work on campus...the centerpiece of the college’s new Sharp Family Tourism and Education Center. [images]- The Architect's Newspaper |
Krishna P. Singh Center for Nanotechnology: The Art of Science: ...merges landscape with building, and sculpture with architecture, reshaping a formerly bleak part of the University of Pennsylvania campus...making it difficult to tell where nature ends and architecture begins. By Joann Gonchar -- Weiss/Manfredi; M+W Group [slide show]- Architectural Record |
WSJ. Magazine 2013 Innovator of the Year: David Adjaye's World View: With his plans for the Smithsonian’s African American museum and a host of other groundbreaking projects—from Manhattan to Moscow, London to Lagos—he is forging a new kind of global architecture...Rough in their materiality, muscular in their forms, his buildings communicate in a new cosmopolitan idiom... By Ian Volner [slide show]- Wall Street Journal |
WSJ. Magazine 2013 Innovator of the Year: The Expansive Designs of Landscape Architect Thomas Woltz: With his highest-profile project to date, the greening of New York City's $15 billion Hudson Yards development, he is tapping into the power of a well-designed urban landscape to reveal our shared history—and find a more harmonious future. By Alastair Gordon -- Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects [images]- Wall Street Journal |
Traditional skills are being lost by designers relying on computers: Working digitally can be fast, low-cost and has endless scope for creativity and sharing content - but...For employers or universities looking at a portfolio from a candidate you can see almost immediately if they've actually spent any time working with real materials. By Mark Hunt/University for the Creative Arts- New Statesman (UK) |
HumanProgress.org launches: ...a project of the Cato Institute...new, free, innovative website puts reputable third-party data together for students, journalists, and the general public...focuses on a number of themes that underpin the steady march of human progress including continued innovation, access to energy, and the rise of Asia - to name a few.- HumanProgress.org |
Call for entries: 7th Annual International Design Awards in Architecture, Interior Design, Products, Graphics, Fashion (professional & student); earlybird deadline (save money!): November 30- International Design Awards (IDA) |
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-- Kazuyo Sejima & Associates: Shibaura House, Tokyo, Japan
-- Alvar Aalto: Finlandia Hall, Helsinki, Finland (1971)
-- Diller Scofidio + Renfro: In the world of unorthodox artist-architects, few have made such an impact as New York City-based design studio... |
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