Today’s News - Friday, December 20, 2013
EDITOR'S NOTE: This will be the last newsletter in 2013. We'll be back January 2, 2014 (or perhaps Jan. 6 - we haven't decided yet). We wish everyone Happy Ho-Ho-Holidays and a New Year filled with grand adventures and great expectations fulfilled!
• Belogolovsky continues his ANN series One-on-One in a thoughtful Q&A with Colombian architect Orlando Garcia, who talks about why architecture is not exactly global and how good architecture and urban design can reach the greatest number of ordinary people.
• Weinreb dives deeper into the data to find out why no women made the cut in her "Pioneers of Sustainability" report: "Clearly, something went wrong."
• Dittmar disses (oh so politely) Feilden Clegg Bradley's Southbank Centre scheme: it "isn't wrong, it's just bland."
• Wainwright wanders the Shenzhen Biennale: it may be "an industrial wonderland," but the "curators have struggled to interpret the loose theme of 'urban border' through variously immersive, participatory, but often meaningless installations."
• Eyefuls (by Baan) of Wang Shu's first building since winning the Pritzker: it offers "a lesson in craftsmanship and material expression through an unfolding interior landscape" (indeed!).
• Jing Daily picks China's Top 5 Architectural Wonders Of 2013.
• Chaban x 2: he brings us eyefuls of what's planned for the Cornell NYC Tech campus on Roosevelt Island: with "top architecture and no fences," Bloomberg's "new genius school has a smart new look."
• He profiles Burney, "a soft-spoken British bureaucrat you've probably never heard of" who has "a bold new vision to NYC's architecture. He's Teddy Roosevelt meets Jane Jacobs" (and "experts are listening").
• Gareth Hoskins is tapped to overhaul Vienna's Weltmuseum (World Museum).
• Q&A with Valerio re: innovation being "table stakes for architects" and "lessons that entrepreneurs can learn from architects."
• Baillieu bids adieu to BD as she "gazes into her crystal ball for 2014 and beyond: if architects spent less time worrying about self-protection...and more time helping to foster a society where people understood what they do - this would help drive the profession back to a position of respect."
• Eyefuls of Faith & Form's 2013 International Awards for Religious Art & Architecture.
• Weekend diversions:
• Bozikovic finds the CCA's new show (with a mile-long title) a "fascinating" exhibition that "makes a case that modernist planners of the 1940s and 1950s were much more sensitive and practical."
• Berger explores the Art Institute of Chicago's "New Views: The Rendered Image in Architecture": it "does a good job of addressing" a lot of questions, such as "If architectural renderings are works of art, who owns them? Who gets credit? What, really, is a rendering?"
• Wilson is wowed by a Mendelsohn exhibition in Berlin: "his sketches reflect the extraordinary fertility and vitality of this architect's vision - and touch on genius" (great pix!).
• Wilk wonders at "Human-Space-Machine: Stage Experiments at the Bauhaus": Theatre at the Bauhaus" at Bauhaus Dessau that describes "a time in which technological advancement was both the enemy and the answer."
• The Holcim Foundation's new "The Economy of Sustainable Construction" examines "the relationship between commercial and sustainable values, and explores the paths that construction will take in the 21st century."
• Brussat cheers "Paradise Planned: The Garden Suburb and the Modern City" by Stern, Fishman, and Tilove: "Truly a château among books" with "hundreds of 'better suburbs' pictured so profusely and described at length in gracious prose" that "are truly glorious."
• Ciccone has a few quibbles with Arrenhius's "The Fragile Monument: On Conservation and Modernity": it "stays entirely in the waters of historic preservation theory," but should be "of interest to all those looking for a critical history of the field's origins."
• Gerst's "Buckminster Fuller: Poet of Geometry" is "a lovingly produced new tome" that pays tribute to Bucky's "mad genius."
• "Men At Lunch" is a new documentary that revisits the iconic 1932 "Lunch Atop a Skyscraper" photograph (atop the Empire State Building) and its links to the history of New York City.
• One we couldn't resist - 'tis the season, after all: an insane installation of Christmas lights in Australia that has reclaimed the Guinness World Record.
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One-on-One: Architecture is not exactly global: Interview with Orlando Garcia: The Colombian architect talks about how good architecture and urban design can reach the greatest number of ordinary people. By Vladimir Belogolovsky [images]- ArchNewsNow |
Why are there no women 'sustainability pioneers'? Women are better represented in green business than ever, but game-changers from the early days still get little recognition..."Pioneers of Sustainability" report...Clearly, something went wrong...I want to dive deeper into the data to identify how feminists such as us could author a report highlighting the achievements of six men and no women. By Ellen Weinreb [links]- GreenBiz |
Southbank Centre scheme isn’t wrong, it's just bland: Feilden Clegg Bradley’s proposal fits the emerging opportunist culture of the local area...using the tropes of the corporate office building and the urban retail venue to maximise floorspace. By Hank Dittmar- BD/Building Design (UK) |
Shenzhen Biennale: glowing stairs and metal-free bras are the Chinese dream: This exhibition of architecture and urbanism turns a derelict glass factory into an industrial wonderland. But why can't it tackle its theme of borders head-on? ...curators have struggled to interpret the loose theme of “urban border” through variously immersive, participatory, but often meaningless installations. By Oliver Wainwright [images]- Guardian (UK) |
Master Class: For his first building since winning the Pritzker Prize, Wang Shu gives a lesson in craftsmanship and material expression through an unfolding interior landscape....Tiles Hill is the culmination of a dozen years’ work by Amateur Architecture Studio on the Xiangshan Central Campus of the China Academy of Art (CAA) in Hangzhou. -- Lu Wenyu [slide show/Iwan Baan]- Architectural Record |
China’s Top 5 Architectural Wonders Of 2013 -- Steven Holl Architects; David Adjaye; Wang Shu, Liu Jiakun; Ai Weiwei; Mansilla + Tuñón; SANAA; Studio Fuksas; Rem Koolhaas/Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA); Ma Yansong/Dan Qun/MAD [images]- Jing Daily (China) |
Cornell NYC Tech campus to include top architecture and no fences: Roosevelt Island campus takes shape. School to foster high-tech economy is a Bloomberg legacy. The mayor's new genius school has a smart new look. By Matt Chaban -- Thom Mayne/Morphosis; Weiss/Manfredi; James Corner Field Operations; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM); Handel Architects [images]]- NY Daily News |
Commissioner of NYC Department of Design and Construction David Burney brings a bold new vision to city architecture: The guy calling the shots...is a soft-spoken British bureaucrat you’ve probably never heard of...He’s Teddy Roosevelt meets Jane Jacobs: Speak softly and carry a big T-Square...the first trained architect to hold the job, lets his buildings do all the talking. And experts are listening. By Matt Chaban -- Rafael Viñoly; Claire Weisz/WXY; Signe Nielsen; Janette Sadik-Khan [images]- NY Daily News |
Gareth Hoskins Architects scoops Vienna museum competition: ...has won an international design competition to overhaul Vienna’s Weltmuseum [World Museum]...€27.5million plans...will renovate all 29 galleries of the existing museum. -- Ralph Appelbaum Associates [images]- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
How an architect builds for forward-looking companies: Innovation is table stakes for architects...Joe Valerio shares lessons that entrepreneurs can learn from architects. -- Valerio Dewalt Train Associates [slide show]- Chicago Tribune |
Dear reader: I’m leaving BD. It’s been great and I’ll miss you: In her sign-off leader Amanda Baillieu gazes into her crystal ball for 2014 and beyond...if architects spent less time worrying about self-protection and looking back on the past with rose-tinted glasses — and more time helping to foster a society where people understood what they do — this would help drive the profession back to a position of respect. It’s a challenge I leave you with.- BD/Building Design (UK) |
2013 International Awards for Religious Art & Architecture: The jury was particularly impressed with the number of older buildings that had been rescued from complete destruction...This bodes well for the existing religious building stock. -- Tabuenca & Leache, Arquitectos; Acheson Doyle Partners Architects; Marlon Blackwell Architect; Adam Bresnick architects; etc. [images]- Faith & Form Magazine |
Urban planning: Lessons from the pioneers: A fascinating new exhibition at the Canadian Centre for Architecture makes a case that modernist planners of the 1940s and 1950s were much more sensitive and practical..."How architects, experts, politicians, international agencies and citizens negotiate modern planning: Casablanca Chandigarh" focuses on the work of two obscure planners who wielded great power: Michel Écochard...and Pierre Jeanneret... By Alex Bozikovic- Globe and Mail (Canada) |
Render-O-Rama: Philip Berger explores the Art Institute of Chicago's "New Views: The Rendered Image in Architecture": ...a whole series of questions that CLOG’s show does a good job of addressing...If architectural renderings are works of art...who owns them? ...And who gets credit? ...what, really, is a rendering?- The Architect's Newspaper |
Man in a Hurry: "3 Continents - 7 Countries. Works by Erich Mendelsohn from the Kunstbibliothek's Architecture Collection" in Berlin: his sketches reflects the extraordinary fertility and vitality of this architect’s vision...how these drawings compare favourably with today’s computer visualisations – and touch on genius. By Rob Wilson [images]- Uncube magazine (Germany) |
An Accelerationist Manifesto. "Human-Space-Machine: Stage Experiments at the Bauhaus": Theatre at the Bauhaus: ...scenes of early-20th-century fascination with mechanisation set the stage for the show, describing a time in which technological advancement was both the enemy and the answer. By Elvia Wilk -- László Moholy-Nagy; Walter Gropius; Oskar Schlemmer; T. Lux Feininger [images]- Uncube magazine (Germany) |
“The Economy of Sustainable Construction”: Inspired by the 4th International Holcim Forum, Mumbai, India...essays, reports, and case studies that examine the relationship between commercial and sustainable values, and explore the paths that construction will take in the 21st century.- Holcim Foundation |
Garden suburb as ‘Paradise Planned’: “Paradise Planned: The Garden Suburb and the Modern City” by Robert A.M. Stern, David Fishman and Jacob Tilove...Truly a château among books...Most of the hundreds of “better suburbs” pictured so profusely and described at length in gracious prose...are truly glorious. The allure of the solitary home reigns supreme. By David Brussat- Providence Journal (Rhode Island) |
Time Bandits: "The Fragile Monument: On Conservation and Modernity" by Thordis Arrenhius...never really dips into the historiography of technical building conservation...stays entirely in the waters of historic preservation theory...Still, [it] is a useful companion to the familiar texts of historic preservation, of interest to all those looking for a critical history of the field’s origins. By Patrick W. Ciccone- The Architect's Newspaper |
Paying Tribute to the Mad Genius of Buckminster Fuller: Some of the more outlandish ideas held by the iconic inventor and futurist are celebrated in a lovingly produced new tome by Cole Gerst...“Buckminster Fuller: Poet of Geometry”...unrealized proposals range from the bizarre...to the fantastical... [slide show]- New York Times T Magazine |
The Rise of New York City's Skyscrapers After the 1929 Crash: A documentary revisits the iconic 1932 'Lunch Atop a Skyscraper' photograph..."Men At Lunch"...director Seán Ó Cualáin explores the origins of this photograph and its links to the history of the city. [video]- The Atlantic Cities |
Christmas lights Guinness World Record reclaimed in Australia: A total of 502,165 lights adorn the Canberra house... [video]- Guinness World Record |
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-- "Gathered Sky” by James Turrell, Beijing Temple of Wisdom, China
-- The Presence of the Past: Peter Zumthor Reconsiders LACMA, by Kirsten Kiser |
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