Today’s News - Wednesday, March 5, 2014
• FLW's great-granddaughter pens a tribute to her mother Elizabeth Wright Ingraham, "an advocate for architecture and civic advancement."
• Betsky weighs in on the "architects' responsibility" debate: "Evil dictators and rapacious corporations make the best clients. But at a cost...Let's not single out Hadid - her firm is no different from every architecture office above a certain size."
• Krier argues that "it is traditional urbanism - not dense Modernism - that offers the solutions to the planet's ecological problems" ("pithy polemical illustrations" included).
• Two Vancouver urbanists offer 10 suggestions for encouraging civic engagement (#2: make events "less stuffy and more fun").
• Oman takes steps "to secure the participation of citizens in town planning and architecture" as some experts advocate low-rise building policies to "help spread out development and construction benefits" (sprawl must not be an issue - yet).
• Weeks reports on Ohio's anti-LEED legislation efforts; Alter argues it's the work of special interests for the plastics and chemical companies, and that it is openly biased toward the Green Globes rating system.
• Dunlap takes pix in the newest section of Calatrava's WTC transit hub: "How can a $3.94 billion building be made to look cheap? Clunky fixtures and some rough workmanship"; though some will probably be fixed, "the albino garden slugs" (a.k.a. lighting fixtures) "are going nowhere fast."
• Altabe has an alternative take on Gehry's Eisenhower Memorial: the "family thinks the design is too modern. Spoiler alert: it's not."
• An in-depth and fascinating report on "how Buenos Aires unclogged its most iconic street" (of 20 lanes!) - and remaking many of the surrounding streets: "Avenida 9 de Julio used to be a monument to cars. Now, it's reshaping the city as a monument to people."
• Nashville, on the other hand, is facing an "oddly ugly Bus-Rapid Transit debate" where "traffic and parking concerns have been rolled into an increasingly fraught class war."
• It is looking more and more like the ultra-sustainable Sainsbury's supermarket in Greenwich is going to be flattened (IKEA promises its replacement will be oh-so green - we'd call that green gall, perhaps?).
• Preservationists aren't buying Moscow's claim that the disassembling Shukhov Tower "might be the best way to protect its future."
• Hart cites two back-to-back merger/acquisition announcements (Perkins+Will/The Freelon Group and Shanghai Xian Dai Architectural Design Group/Wilson Associates) could point to a trend.
• Litt has a lively conversation with Viñoly as they stroll the Cleveland Museum of Art expansion: "He was less interested in discussing the project's architecture than in viewing it as philanthropic stimulus for the city."
• Q&A with Kaganskiy, the new director of the New Museum's newly named New Inc. incubator (applications for membership due April 1).
• Daum uses a Swedish church in Providence to delve deeply - and thoughtfully - into the history of the Nordic Classicists and why they "embraced the functionalism of the International Style."
• One of the longest continually inhabited shelters at FLW's Taliesin West is getting a makeover, with its now 85-year-old designer telling students: "Do what's fun."
• Rago's "On the Road" project makes a big splash in a Palm Springs pool (what fun!).
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Obituary: Elizabeth Wright Ingraham, 1922-2013: The granddaughter of Frank Lloyd Wright was an advocate for architecture and civic advancement: In addition to working for 65 years as an architect, she was an educator, scholar, and public figure...extensive work on behalf of women, energy conservation, and environmental awareness... By Catherine Ingraham- The Architect's Newspaper |
To Build or Not to Build: Architecture, Ethics, and Politics: Zaha Hadid claims she, as an architect, is not at fault for the deaths of hundreds of construction workers in Qatar. So who is to blame? Evil dictators and rapacious corporations make the best clients. But at a cost...Let's not single out Hadid...her firm is no different from every architecture office above a certain size. By Aaron Betsky -- Frank Gehry; Jean Nouvel; Rem Koolhaas [links]- Architect Magazine |
Leon Krier On Sustainable Utbanism And The Legible City: The angst of backwardness and its consequences: Reflecting on the huge changes that have occurred in London over his long career, he argues that it is traditional urbanism - not dense Modernism - that offers the solutions to the planet’s ecological problems. [images]- Architectural Review (UK) |
10 Lessons in More Engaging Citizen Engagement: With cities seeking to involve diverse voices in city-making to get beyond “the usual suspects,” Vancouver urbanists Brent Toderian and Jillian Glover examine how cities in their region are finding new ways to increase civic participation.- PLANetizen |
Omani identity in architecture is vital: ...authorities have set up Local Councils to secure the participation of citizens in town planning and architecture..."when traditional architecture is revitalised then often it shifts from being a tool to becoming a toy. The image of it becomes more important than the function"...The policy of low-rise buildings needs to be continued...This will help spread out development and construction benefits to a larger area. -- Awni Shaaban; Said al Saqlawi; Nikolaus Knebel; Nadia Maqbool al Lawatiya/23 degrees North; Muna al Farsi [images]- Oman Daily Observer |
Ohio Moves Closer to Banning LEED: The State Senate passes its anti-LEED legislation and sends it to the House further voting...Treehugger's Lloyd Alter...charging that the legislation is the work of special interests for the plastics and chemical companies, and that it is openly biased toward the Green Building Initiative's Green Globes rating system. By Katie Weeks [links]- Architect Magazine |
At Trade Center Transit Hub, Vision Gives Way to Reality: How can a $3.94 billion building be made to look cheap? Clunky fixtures and some rough workmanship in the underground mezzanine detract from what is meant to be breathtaking grandeur...Some flaws that are now visible can and probably will be fixed...The garden slugs, in other words, are going nowhere fast. By David W. Dunlap -- Santiago Calatrava; STV; Aecom [images]- New York Times |
An unexpected architecture story: an un-Gehry Gehry: The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial...was set to break ground two years ago. But it’s still buried in the planning stage because the Eisenhower family thinks the design is too modern. Spoiler alert: it’s not. By Joan Altabe [images]- Examiner |
How Buenos Aires Unclogged Its Most Iconic Street: ...about as bold as it gets when it comes to making can’t-be-missed statements about what urban mobility means today. The 9 de Julio Metrobus is a sort of transport surgery on the beating heart of the city — similar in ways to what New York City did...when it shut cars out of parts of Times Square...“Avenida 9 de Julio used to be a monument to cars. Now, it’s reshaping the city as a monument to people.” By Marcela Valente [images]- Citiscope |
Inside Nashville's Oddly Ugly Bus-Rapid Transit Debate: In Music City, it's the rich vs. the working class vs. the tourists: It's the first in-earnest attempt at reliable mass transit in Tennessee...traffic and parking concerns have been rolled into an increasingly fraught class war.- The Atlantic Cities |
Axe to fall on Stirling Prize-shortlisted eco-supermarket: The ultra-sustainable Sainsbury’s Greenwich store, which opened just 14 years ago, will now be flattened to make way for an IKEA warehouse outlet – unless a last-minute listing application succeeds...would be the youngest ever listed. -- Paul Hinkin/Chetwoods Architects; Stubbs Rich- BD/Building Design (UK) |
Moscow's Shukhov Tower Will Be Dismantled: ...the world’s first hyperboloid steel structures, an invention that would influence the world of architecture for generations...contend that disassembling the tower might be the best way to protect its future...claims, though, are being challenged by preservationists... -- Vladimir Shukhov- The Architect's Newspaper |
Arranged Marriages: Two recent deals point to a growing number of mergers and acquisitions among design firms: On March 4, Perkins+Will and The Freelon Group...said they would merge. The day before, Shanghai Xian Dai Architectural Design Group unveiled its acquisition of Wilson Associates, a 400-person interior design firm... By Sara Hart- Architectural Record |
Rafael Vinoly sees Cleveland Museum of Art expansion as philanthropic stimulus for the city: He was less interested in discussing the project’s architecture than in viewing it as an example of radical private investment in the rebirth of a struggling Great Lakes industrial city. By Steven Litt [images]- Cleveland Plain Dealer |
Julia Kaganskiy on the New Museum Incubator’s New Name and Plans for the Year Ahead: ...opened the floor to applications for its inaugural year...New Inc. will support members working at the intersections of the arts and technology. -- SO-IL/Florian Idenburg/Jing Liu); Gensler [links]- Artinfo |
Eric Inman Daum: Gloria Dei, in Providence: A Swedish Church in America: Though the Nordic Classicists were looking to early 19th century Neo-Classicism for form and inspiration, what they achieved was a kind of proto-classicism...by 1930, had embraced the functionalism of the International Style. But for a brief period, they approached the classical tradition in a relaxed manner as a “range of possibilities and not as a set of rules.” -- Martin Hedmark; Lars Israel Wahlman; Erik Gunnar Asplund; Ragnar Östberg; etc. [images]- Architecture Here and There |
Rebuilding a shelter in the desert — the Wright way: ...Lotus Shelter...is one of the longest continually inhabited shelters occupied by students at the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture in Scottsdale...after more than 50 years, it is getting a makeover...“Do what’s fun,” Kamal Amin told the five students...He built the structure alone in three days without sketching out the design. The restoration should be completed by May...- Arizona Republic |
Dive in: Exploring the Allure of the Swimming Pool: "On the Road," a yearlong series of curated public architectural projects...presented a group of pool-based installations this past weekend at The Amado, a newly renovated mid-century house-turned-boutique-hotel in Palm Springs...to explore the concept of leisure in design, as well as the physical qualities of liquid space... -- Danielle Rago [images]- Architizer |
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-- Shao Weiping: Phoenix International Media Center, Beijing, China. By Kevin Holden Platt
-- Sergei Tchoban & Sergei Kuznetsov: Museum for Architectural Drawing, Berlin, Germany. By Ulf Meyer |
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