Today’s News - Wednesday, July 16, 2014
• We are so saddened by the news that we've lost Randall Stout, and Giovannini's eloquent tribute reminds us why: "he translated his inspirations from nature into built form with unpretentious grace."
• On a brighter news note, a bit of foreign flair heads to NYC as Stierli is named MoMA's Chief Curator of Architecture and Design.
• Saffron sees the down-side of Philly's "over-success" as chains begin "colonizing" shopping districts "at a stunning pace - there is a numbing sameness" and "a risk that these big-money players could do more harm than good."
• King minces no words about what a bad neighbor, architecturally speaking, Kaiser Permanente's new Oakland hospital is: "It's an oversize, thin-skinned thud, massive in scale and anemic in tone. At least until you step inside."
• Lord Rogers minces no words about what he thinks of the call for "garden cities" to help alleviate the U.K.'s housing crises that will end up being not much more than "commuter dormitories"; better to build in the cities and put "brownfield first."
• Meanwhile, Transport of London shows off three "futuristic visions" to replace runways with "Heathrow City" - "in the increasingly unlikely scenario that Boris Johnson gets his way, and relocates the airport to the Thames Estuary."
• Wainwright worries that "skyline debate might end up being the least of our worries" as "the architecture giant" Aedas's Chinese clients "have their sights set on London, and they know what they want" (think mega-everything).
• If that's not a depressing enough thought, the University of Miami has sold 88 acres of "one of the world's rarest forests" to a developer who plans to build a mega-Walmart, along with 900 apartments and a few not-very-classy restaurant chains; needless to say, "the deal has left environmentalists and biologists scratching their heads."
• O'Sullivan says "other European cities would do well to watch Paris carefully" as the city plans to fine owners of vacant commercial buildings who don't convert them to residential use.
• Capps reports on a new web portal to connect potential developers with cities' distressed or vacant properties.
• Melbourne launches its own version of London's Serpentine Pavilion; Godsell is tapped to create the inaugural MPavilion.
• Davidson delves deep into why we "are still not sure how to care for" our Beaux-Arts buildings; case in point: the Frick expansion: "it would be a mistake to expand into another knockoff of a knockoff of a knockoff."
• The backlash broadens against plans for a Helsinki Guggenheim: the "final decision will be determined largely by the current open international architectural competition," with backers "counting on the power of design to transform the rancorous debate into an enthusiastic one."
• Kats has a lively Q&A with Selldorf re: her re-jiggering of the Clark Art Institute: "the most important thing is to identify what is perfect, what is beautiful, what needs to remain as is."
• An in-depth look at Bjarke's "NYC blitz": the "architectural wunderkind already has four projects underway and is angling for more," but his "celebrity and bullish confidence has garnered criticism."
• Winners all: Holl hauls home the 2014 Praemium Imperiale (and about $150,000 purse).
• The Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize narrows the shortlist of the best built work in the Americas down to seven.
• An impressive list of winners (and great presentation) of the 2014 Re-thinking the Future Awards.
• Two big winners of the 2014 Australia Award for Urban Design.
• Call for entries: Design Action 2014: Private Choice, Public Spaces to address the public-private interface of the last remaining abortion clinic in Mississippi.
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Obituary: Randall Stout, FAIA, 1958-2014: An environmentalist as well as an artist architect, he specialized in museums and cultural facilities that explored and developed the relationship between architecture and energy...Endowed with an easy-going personality and a Southern charm that never faded, he translated his inspirations from nature into built form with unpretentious grace. By Joseph Giovannini [images]- Architect Magazine |
Martino Stierli tapped as MoMA’s Chief Curator of Architecture and Design: ...currently a professor at the University of Zurich where he teaches the history of modern architecture...Barry Bergdoll...told AN, “I look forward greatly to [his] leadership...a creative, innovative, and astute historian and critic of modern and contemporary architecture...He brings a fresh vision to New York and to MoMA.”- The Architect's Newspaper |
Is 'over-success' in development hurting Philadelphia'? ...chains finally discovered the city, and now they're colonizing the shopping districts...at a stunning pace...there is a numbing sameness...there is a risk that these big-money players could do more harm than good. A hint of what is to come is visible in two new branches of Santander, a Spanish bank...For a city that is just getting used to success, a dull, lifeless bank is what "over-success" could look like for a long time to come. By Inga Saffron- Philadelphia Inquirer |
Kaiser Permanente's anemic new Oakland hospital leaves us a bit ill: It's an oversize, thin-skinned thud, massive in scale and anemic in tone...If nothing else, the complex is a behemoth that other municipalities should study - for pointers on what not to allow...At least until you step inside... By John King -- NBBJ [images]- San Francisco Chronicle |
Forget about greenfield sites, build in the cities: This housing crisis calls for new ways of planning that bring vitality to urban centres, not more commuter dormitories: The government has called for a new generation of "garden cities"...A panicked retreat to the 20th-century solutions of suburban sprawl and new towns is not the answer...there is clearly no urgent need to abandon the principle of "brownfield first." By Richard Rogers- Guardian (UK) |
Drones and homes replace runways in ‘Heathrow City’ plans: Architects have unveiled their futuristic visions...in the increasingly unlikely scenario that Boris Johnson gets his way, and relocates it to the Thames Estuary...envisage a technology campus, a factory for self-build homes and housing for up to 190,000 people...New London Architecture is hosting an exhibition of the proposals... -- Hawkins\Brown; Rick Mather Architects; Maccreanor Lavington [images]- Financial Times (UK) |
China town: meet the architecture giant with Asian designs on London: Aedas's mixed-use malls and elevated walkways might work in China, but will these mammoth towers blot Britain's capital? ...there is very little to stand in their way. “Our Chinese clients have their sights set on London, and they know what they want"...But at what cost to the city? ...the skyline debate might end up being the least of our worries. By Oliver Wainwright- Guardian (UK) |
Walmart planned for endangered forest lands in South Florida: One of the world’s rarest forests...is getting a new resident...plus an LA Fitness center, Chik-fil-A and Chili’s restaurants and about 900 apartments...a globally imperiled habitat containing a menagerie of plants, animals and insects found no place else, was sold this month by the University of Miami to a Palm Beach County developer...the deal has left environmentalists and biologists scratching their heads.- TakePart |
Paris Wants Landlords to Turn Vacant Office Space Into Apartments—Or Else: The city has a surplus of empty commercial buildings that could better serve as residences. And it plans to fine owners who don't convert...other European cities would do well to watch it carefully. By Feargus O'Sullivan- CityLab (formerly The Atlantic Cities) |
A New Portal to Pair Eager Developers and Underused Properties: OpportunitySpace is a website where city governments can link up with private investors looking for development data...and for residents to figure out who owns the distressed or vacant properties in their communities. By Kriston Capps- CityLab (formerly The Atlantic Cities) |
Melbourne launches architecture and design pavilion inspired by London’s Serpentine: Australia will soon have its own annual architecture and design hub...Sean Godsell commissioned to create the inaugural MPavilion in Queen Victoria Memorial Gardens...the first major project to be delivered by the recently established Naomi Milgrom Foundation. [image]- Infolink (Australia) |
Why It’s So Hard to Keep Beaux-Arts Museums Looking Beautiful: The plutocrats of the last Gilded Age left us unfathomable architectural treasures...but [we] are still not sure how to care for...most Beaux-Arts buildings are architectural Frankenstein’s monsters...All that tinkering has left an uneven legacy of splendor and scars...The Frick has a right to grow as it ages, and a record of graceful surgery. But it would be a mistake to expand into another...knockoff of a knockoff of a knockoff. By Justin Davidson -- Davis Brody Bond; McKim, Mead & White; Renzo Piano; Kevin Roche; Richard Morris Hunt; Gluckman Mayner Architects; John Russell Pope; Carrère and Hastings; Russell Page; Annabelle Selldorf- New York Magazine |
Helsinki Divided on Plan for a Guggenheim Satellite: ...the huge costs of the proposed development are stirring a backlash...final decision will be determined largely by a yearlong open international architectural competition...counting on the power of design to transform the rancorous debate into an enthusiastic one.- New York Times |
Q&A: Annabelle Selldorf On the New Clark Art Institute: "...the most important thing is to identify what is perfect, what is beautiful, what needs to remain as is. It’s equally as important to be critical and to be cognizant of what doesn’t work and why it doesn’t work.Did it never work?" By Anna Kats -- Tadao Ando; Reed Hilderbrand [slide show]- Artinfo |
Bjarke Ingels’ NYC blitz: The Danish architectural wunderkind already has four projects underway and is angling for more...What if power-broker Robert Moses and urban activist Jane Jacobs had a love child? His answer: the Big U, an eight-mile buttress that [HUD]commissioned to protect Lower Manhattan from another superstorm like Hurricane Sandy...But Ingels’ celebrity and bullish confidence has garnered criticism. By Christopher Cameron -- Bjarke Ingels Group/BIG- The Real Deal (NYC) |
Steven Holl awarded 2014 Praemium Imperiale arts prize: ...named as the architecture laureate [by] the Japan Art Association.- Dezeen |
Kenneth Frampton Announces Seven Finalists for Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize: The awards program, founded by Phyllis Lambert, Wiel Arets, and Dirk Denison, honors the best built work in the Americas. -- Herzog & de Meuron; Rafael Iglesia; Álvaro Siza Vieira; Smiljan Radic; Undurraga Deves Arquitectos; OMA/LMN; Pezo von Ellrichshausen [images]- Architect Magazine |
2014 Re-thinking the Future Awards -- Bjarke Ingels Group/BIG/DIALOG; UNStudio; HOK Houston; WOW Architects/Warner Wong Design; IDOM UK/Virender Khanna Associates; Biome Environmental Solutions; Sergio Sebastián Franco; FGMF Arquitects; Andrey Hodkevich; LMN Architects; RRA; Laboratorio Habitat XXI; Architecture Research Office (ARO); etc. [images]- Rethinking The Future |
Australia’s best new urban design: a Sydney pool and a new Canberra princint: Molongo Group/ Fender Katsalidis/Oculus, and Neeson Murcutt Architects/Sue Barnsley Design/City of Sydney were the two big winners at the 2014 Australia Award for Urban Design hosted by the Planning Institute of Australia...New Acton mixed-use precinct and Prince Alfred Park + Pool... [images]- Architecture & Design (Australia) |
Call for entries: Design Action 2014: Private Choice, Public Spaces to address the public-private interface of the last remaining abortion clinic in Mississippi; will be exhibited at Parsons on Fifth Avenue in New York City this September...will also travel; send your response to on a 5x7 inch postcard using both sides; deadline: August 30- ArchiteXX.org |
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10 Museums Worth Visiting: ...more than just containers that hold art collections, they are also essential instruments in town planning...Museums continue to be essential agents in creating new local identities and new urban centers. -- Atelier Peter Zumthor; Zaha Hadid Architects; BIG/Bjarke Ingels Group; Herzog & de Meuron; Ryue Nishizawa; Steven Holl Architects; Sambuichi Architects; SANAA; Tadao Ando [images] |
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