Today’s News - Tuesday, November 18, 2014
EDITOR'S NOTE: We didn't intend yesterday to be our floating no-news day - but the technology gods did. Tomorrow is our intended no-news day; we'll be back Thursday, November 20.
• ArcSpace revisits Zumthor's 1996 Vals Thermal Baths, and rounds up some of the best architectural exhibitions around the world this November.
• Lange cheers social media expanding "the audience for discussions about preservation," but bemoans "Modernism has yet to have its Penn Station moment...I hope that social media will be there to document that painful moment."
• Giovannini almost runs out of superlatives for Gehry's Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris: "no contemporary museum anywhere is more enchanting" - its "buoyant visual poetry speaks to the eye and body without words. You feel the building."
• Heathcote x 2: he's a little iffy about Piano's revamp of the Harvard Art Museums: "he has made something better. But is it better enough? The quality of the contents will make up for any architectural shortcomings. Whether Harvard - and Cambridge - might have expected more for their money is a different matter."
• He parses auction houses "commissioning buildings that allow them to compete with museums and galleries," but they should turn to "younger, more provocative architects and eschew the corporate blandness that still seems to plague them."
• Rauchwerger parses Piano's talk at Harvard, and his new museum: the "interior is indeed elegant," but the large, wood-clad box exterior "seems heavy in its context - almost clumsy and unimaginative."
• Beanland considers the proliferation of museums: "Perhaps the reason the number of museums is expanding so rapidly, is that we're creating more and more stuff which needs to be remembered."
• Eyefuls of Heatherwick's $130 million "treasure island" to rise on a cluster of mushroom-shaped columns on NYC's Hudson River shore.
• Campbell meanders Boston's Innovation District and finds it "has all the charm of an office park in a suburb of Dallas"; with a few exceptions, the district "is a serious failure of urban design."
• Florida has a few issues with a new report claiming NYC to be a new model for startup cities: "should aspiring tech hubs really emulate the Big Apple? Its boosters would do well to remember that it's still very much the new kid on the block compared to Silicon Valley."
• Hume cheers Ryerson University's new City Building Institute that "will focus on a multi-disciplinary approach to urban issues."
• King cheers a new San Francisco office tower that is "a fresh example of how the corporate and public realms can coexist - a glass tower that doesn't feel garish, a corporate shaft that doesn't feel like it was made in Manhattan."
• Cheers for "laid-back" Melbourne's "drunken geometries" and "colorful pixelated 'cloaks,' and mashing up post-modernism and deconstructivism to create 'a fabulous and distinctively new genus.'"
• Bernstein cheers the current "season of Michael Graves": Assessing his legacy is no small task. Graves has more types of projects than most architects have projects."
• Graves's Wounded Warrior Homes are models for "silver" architecture for an aging population.
• Sokol outlines new Social Equity credits as part of LEED v4.
• Green cheers SCAPE winning the 2014 Buckminster Fuller Challenge with Living Breakwaters for Staten Island, "considered one of the most promising systems-based designs for coastal resilience."
• Call for entries: Nominations for the 2015 National Design Awards + 2014 Chicago Prize: Barack Obama Presidential Library Design Ideas Competition + Bangkok: IAM Fashion Hub open ideas competition.
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-- Atelier Peter Zumthor: Vals Thermal Baths, Vals, Switzerland: ...might be one of the most iconic buildings in Swiss contemporary architecture. By Pol Martin
-- What's On? Architectural Exhibitions, November 2014 edition |
Saving Buildings with Social Media: Rather than tidy before-and-after images, it’s far more shocking to see the amount of work needed to take down a building...Thanks to a number of nationwide organizations...there has been a recent expansion of the audience for discussions about preservation...Modernism has yet to have its Penn Station moment...I hope that social media will be there to document that painful moment... By Alexandra Lange -- National Trust; Docomomo; The Cultural Landscape Foundation- New Yorker |
Paris Envy: Frank Gehry’s Louis Vuitton Foundation: ...no contemporary museum anywhere is more enchanting...puts Gehry back on center architectural stage, though it is not sure that [he] was ever off...He has reversed the usual architectural hierarchy and made the nonessential fundamental...buoyant visual poetry...one that speaks to the eye and body without words. You feel the building. By Joseph Giovannini [images]- Los Angeles Review of Books |
Renzo Piano’s revamp of the Harvard Art Museums: The makeover is long overdue but has the architect gone far enough? ...he has made something better. But, for a project costing $350m, is it better enough? The quality of the contents will make up for any architectural shortcomings...Whether Harvard – and Cambridge – might have expected more for their money is a different matter. By Edwin Heathcote- Financial Times (UK) |
Auction houses become sophisticated in their architecture: ..commissioning buildings that allow them to compete with museums and galleries...But it’s still clear that, with a few exceptions, they’ll need to become more sophisticated in their architecture, to commission younger, more provocative architects and eschew the corporate blandness that still seems to plague them... By Edwin Heathcote -- Diener & Diener; Aukett Swanke; Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands; David Kohn Architects; Richard Gluckman/Gluckman Mayner Architects; Annabelle Selldorf/Selldorf Architects [images]- Financial Times (UK) |
How Renzo Piano Does It, in His Own Words: A Review of the New Harvard Art Museums: "Well, very simple. I wasn’t alone"...The museum’s interior is indeed elegant...and in this respect Piano has undoubtedly delivered what he was invited here to do. The exterior architecture, however, lacks this lightness. The large, wood-clad box...seems heavy in its context...almost clumsy and unimaginative..."Buildings, in any case, deserve time to be judged, to become part of the city." By Daniel Rauchwerger [images]- Architizer |
Is there a future for the traditional museum? There are now 55,000 museums worldwide – double the number in 1990 – with a new one opening every day in China alone...can this trend continue? Perhaps the reason the number of museums is expanding so rapidly, is that we're creating more and more stuff which needs to be remembered. By Christopher Beanland -- Foster + Partners; Rogers Stirk Harbour; Caruso St John; Zaha Hadid; Herzog & de Meuron; Coop Himmelb(l)au; Michael Sorkin; Deyan Sudjic- Independent (UK) |
Thomas Heatherwick to build $130 million "treasure island" on New York's Hudson River: ...the 10,000-square-metre Pier 55 is conceived as an undulating landscape of performance venues and planting, built over a cluster of mushroom-shaped columns...funded from a donation by Barry Diller and his wife, Diane von Furstenberg. -- Heatherwick Studio; Mathews Nielsen [images]- Dezeen |
Innovation District needs a human touch: ...it’s rising so fast that every time you visit, another building seems to be erupting out of the ground...has all the charm of an office park in a suburb of Dallas...just at the moment when center cities, with their street life and density, are coming back into favor...towers look about as interesting as up-ended packing crates...Architects give up and settle for tiny gestures...This isn’t architecture. It’s accessorizing...district is a serious failure of urban design. By Robert Campbell -- Halvorson Design Partnership;David Hacin- Boston Globe |
Is New York the New Model for Startup Cities? Its rise has been remarkable. But should aspiring tech hubs really emulate the Big Apple? ...its boosters would do well to remember that it’s still very much the new kid on the block compared to Silicon Valley. By Richard Florida- CityLab (formerly The Atlantic Cities) |
Ryerson University’s City-Building Institute embraces complexity: ...will focus on multi-disciplinary approach to urban issues...How much better would planning and architecture be if...traffic engineers had the ability to see beyond turning radii, flow ratios and stop-line delays to larger issues such as mobility and the city itself? Sounds obvious, but in a world of rampant specialization and credentialism, those who know the most are often those who see the least. By Christopher Hume- Toronto Star |
S.F.’s newest office tower shows poise in a time of flash: ...535 Mission St...a reminder that, architecturally, a little restraint can go a long way...The saga of how this high-rise came to be is more complex than the design... a fresh example of how the corporate and public realms can coexist...shows less still can be more...a glass tower that doesn’t feel garish, a corporate shaft that doesn’t feel like it was made in Manhattan. By John King -- HOK [images]- San Francisco Chronicle |
Australian Architecture Scene Masters 'Drunken Geometries': Uncube just devoted an entire, glorious issue to exploring the current Australian architecture scene...While Sydney is still beholden to Mies van der Rohe-style modernism, laid-back Melbourne is wrapping buildings in colorful pixelated "cloaks," and mashing up post-modernism and deconstructivism to create "a fabulous and distinctively new genus"... -- Andrew Mackenzie; ARM Architecture; Peter Corrigan/Maggie Edmond; Ashton Raggatt; McDougall; Lyons Architects; Cassandra Complex [images]- Curbed |
The Mouse That Roared: During this season of Michael Graves, the architect's work is being celebrated in exhibitions and is the subject of a daylong symposium...Assessing [his] legacy is no small task...Graves has more types of projects than most architects have projects. By Fred A. Bernstein- Architectural Record |
Designing for Seniors and Soldiers, Toward a "Silver" Architecture: Going green is good, but could architects be doing more for two segments of our population? While the Wounded Warrior Homes aren’t designed specifically for “silvers,” they...possess many of the qualities of what Louise Aronson describes as a “silver” building... By Jimmy Stamp -- Michael Graves & Associates [images]- Smithsonian magazine |
LEED Adds Social Equity Credits to Rating System: ... the credits “will evolve based on project feedback over time....making them a much more fundamental piece of the rating system, instead of calling them out as separate.” By David Sokol- Architectural Record |
“Living Breakwaters” Wins $100,000 Buckminster Fuller Challenge: ...innovative project in Tottenville, at the southern tip of Staten Island, New York, will be first large-scale experiment with “oyster-tecture.” It has already been slated to receive $60 million...won HUD’s Rebuild by Design competition...considered one of the most promising systems-based designs for coastal resilience. By Jared Green -- Kate Orff/SCAPE / Landscape Architecture- The Dirt/American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) |
Call for entries: Nominations for the 2015 National Design Awards; open to U.S. citizens or current long-term residents; deadline: December 8- Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
Call for entries: 2014 Chicago Prize: Barack Obama Presidential Library Design Ideas Competition (international); deadline: January 10, 2015- Chicago Architectural Club / Chicago Architecture Foundation |
Call for entries: Bangkok: IAM Fashion Hub open ideas competition (international); cash prizes; early registration deadline (save money!): December 10 (submissions due March 16, 2015)- HMMD / Homemade Dessert |
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