Today’s News - Wednesday, May 28, 2014
EDITOR'S NOTE: We said we'd be back yesterday...we were wrong. Now it's mad catch-up time!
• Bierut, Walker, and Dunne pay eloquent tributes to Vignelli - our world won't be the same without him.
• Updates on the fire-ravaged Glasgow School of Art: the damage is "considerably less than we dreaded"; a "'small army' of 100 conservators volunteer" to restore it - and ways you can help.
• Saffron and Hawthorne weigh in on the 9/11 Memorial Museum: "The tone is not triumphal, but rather blandly neutral" (but "bring tissues") + its "relentless literalism" represents "a number of recent cultural trends coming unhappily together" that "winds up serving a kind of herd mentality" (with nary a place "to be alone with your own thoughts").
• Hume cheers Gehry's revised plans for Toronto's King Street West: "It is a tamer design, less flamboyant, but definitely more dignified" ("now I think it's more Toronto," says Gehry).
• O'Sullivan ponders the "undulating, diaphanous" (or "giant shower curtain") planned for La Samaritaine department store in Paris: "If this is what a landmark modern building looks like in contemporary Parisian terms, the city has indeed been starved of examples of good new architecture for too long."
• Benfield ponders why "we gravitate to older places" that "ground us in space and time. Change, but ask the right questions to ensure that change nourishes rather than diminishes the human experience."
• Steinberg explains the PennPraxis plan for Philly's phenomenal Fairmount Park: "It's consciously not Central Park. It's about water, not real estate" - and should be "fun and easy to use."
• Five finalists have towering plans for Gothenburg, Sweden (images are anonymous, but some are fairly obvious).
• Mecanoo lands a biggie: a new engineering campus for the University of Manchester (Penoyre & Prasad's role is still being fine-tuned).
• Four finalists in the final running to design the 11th Street Bridge Park in Washington, DC.
• Bittertang Farms makes hay with hay with its winning design for a temporary stage on Chicago's North Shore.
• Six local firms re-imagine an east London eyesore of a roundabout.
• A good reason to head Down Under: 2014 Good Design Festival aligns with VIVID Sydney.
• Call for entries: 2014 Faith & Form/IFRAA International Religious Art and Architecture Design Awards.
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Massimo Vignelli, 1931-2014: I learned how to design at design school. But I learned how to be a designer from Massimo Vignelli...taught me one of the simplest things in the world: that if you do good work, you get more good work to do...Massimo did good work. By Michael Bierut- Design Observer |
RIP Massimo Vignelli: The Iconic Designer Who Shaped a Century: Timeless is probably the best possible word to describe Vignelli's style, and that's evident in seeing just how long his work has stuck around in our cities, stores, and houses...a look back at 10 incredible designs...many of which were in collaboration with his wife and partner Lella Vignelli—and some of which you might have in your home right now. By Alissa Walker [images]- Gizmodo |
Obituary: R.I.P. Massimo Vignelli, 83, One Of The Greatest 20th Century Designers: ...best known for designing an iconic-yet-controversial version of the New York City subway map in the 1970s...helped shape the visual and cultural landscape of the 20th century... By Carey Dunne [images]- Fast Company |
‘Small army’ of 100 conservators volunteer to restore Glasgow School of Art: School’s board vows to rebuild Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s fire-ravaged library...damage is “considerably less than we dreaded”...more than 90% of the structure was viable and up to 70% of the contents had been saved...launched an online drive to raise £1m for its Mackintosh Building Fire Fund.- The Art Newspaper (UK) |
Glasgow School of Art Begins Its Recovery After Fire, And It Needs Your Help: The school has set up a fund to help restore the historic library designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh...there are two ways to help. [images, links]- Metropolis Magazine |
9/11 museum is an immersing experience: My advice: Bring tissues...National September 11 Memorial Museum actually does a heroic job of straddling the competing demands. You will almost certainly end up weeping...The tone is not triumphal, but rather blandly neutral... By Inga Saffron -- Snøhetta; Davis Brody Bond; Thinc Design- Philadelphia Inquirer |
At 9/11 Memorial Museum, a relentless literalism: ...an overstuffed answer to the appealing minimalism of the 9/11 memorial and its cascading pools...a memorial beneath a memorial inside a memorial...represent a number of recent cultural trends coming unhappily together...Paradoxically enough, a mania for individualism...winds up serving a kind of herd mentality...museum is missing one basic feature: the space to be alone with your own thoughts. By Christopher Hawthorne -- Snøhetta; Davis Brody Bond; Thinc Design; Local Projects; Michael Arad; Peter Walker- Los Angeles Times |
Revised Mirvish-Gehry design saves Princess of Wales Theatre: Frank Gehry's reworking of the King Street West proposal loses a tower and strives for “dignity” while including a hint of the architect’s wonky “Fred and Ginger” towers in Prague...“Three towers gave the scheme a sculptural quality. With two, it ain’t there. But now I think it’s more Toronto"...It is a tamer design, less flamboyant, but definitely more dignified. By Christopher Hume [images]- Toronto Star |
The Anxiety of Paris, Captured in a Single Department Store: A judge's ruling over renovations to La Samaritaine has the city wondering about its future...rebuild’s lovers saw this proposed veil as "undulating, diaphanous." For its haters, however, it was just a "giant shower curtain"...If this is what a landmark modern building looks like in contemporary Parisian terms, the city has indeed been starved of examples of good new architecture for too long. By Feargus O'Sullivan -- SANAA- CityLab (formerly The Atlantic Cities) |
How Legacy Architecture Shapes Our Experience of Place: ...our newer everyday architecture – our subdivisions, strip malls, office buildings – has been simultaneously bland and deadening in its consistency...We gravitate to older places because they ground us in space and time...they function pretty well, too...Change, but ask the right questions...to ensure that change nourishes rather than diminishes the human experience. By F. Kaid Benfield- Huffington Post |
Polishing Philly's crown jewel: Until now, remarkably, there hasn't been a strategic vision to guide development...The New Fairmount Park aims to rectify this by providing a guide for investment...unique among all big city parks in the world. It's consciously not Central Park. It's about water, not real estate...recommending a whole host of ideas from the micro-scale...to the grand...We organized the plan around some pretty simple ideas... By Harris M. Steinberg/PennPraxis- Philadelphia Inquirer |
Revealed: hat-trick of Brits shortlisted for 60-storey Swedish skyscraper: Concept designs by the five finalists...in the contest to design one of the tallest buildings in Scandinavia...a 200m-tall, mixed-use tower in Gothenburg. -- Zaha Hadid; Ian Simpson; SOM; Manuelle Gautrand Architecture; Wingårdh arkitektkontor [images]- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Mecanoo lands its largest ever UK job: ...a new £200million engineering campus for the University of Manchester...Penoyre & Prasad will work alongside Mecanoo, but Francine Houben said she was ‘still fine tuning’ the London practice’s role.- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Four Finalists Will Develop Designs for 11th Street Bridge Park in Washington, D.C.: Winnowed from a field of 41 teams...aims to re-cast an existing bridge as a park that spans the Anacostia River. -- Balmori Associates/Cooper, Robertson & Partners/Guy Nordenson Associates; OLIN/OMA/Arup; Stoss Landscape Urbanism/Höweler + Yoon Architecture/Robert Silman Associates; Wallace Roberts & Todd (WRT)/NEXT Architects/Magnusson Klemencic Associates- Architect Magazine |
Bittertang Farms sculpts hay into a North Shore theater for 102nd Ragdale Ring competition: ...won $15,000 to install a temporary stage for performances in Lake Forest on Chicago’s suburban North Shore. [images]- The Architect's Newspaper |
Rethinking Old Street roundabout: Icon asked six local architects to redesign the east London eyesore – here are the results. -- Alma-nac; Ben Adams Architects; Buckley Gray Yeoman; Farrells; Hawkins\Brown [images]- Icon magazine (UK) |
2014 Good Design Festival aligns with VIVID Sydney for second year running; through June 9- Architecture & Design (Australia) |
Call for entries: 2014 Faith & Form/IFRAA International Religious Art and Architecture Design Awards; deadline: June 30- Faith & Form Magazine / Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art and Architecture (IFRAA) |
INSIGHT: Anonymous Cities: The Erosion of Urban Identity: If we embrace the special characteristics of our American cities, we could begin to construct new projects that enhance the sense of place within the distinctly different urban settings that still exist. By Peter Gisolfi- ArchNewsNow |
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