Today’s News - Wednesday, February 18, 2015
EDITOR'S NOTE: We don't toot our own horn too often, but we're feeling rather celebratory - ANN launched 13 years ago today (bless the alarm clock gods)! Thanks to all our readers for so many years of making the effort meaningful and rewarding on so many levels...
• ArcSpace brings us a pile of books worthy of our attention.
• Garlock takes a long and fascinating look at the history and evolution of the public interest design movement that has broken down the "boundaries of what most people expect an architect to do."
• Garz offers a very thoughtful take on the legacy of Architecture for Humanity: its "demise has catalyzed an important conversation about the organizational infrastructure surrounding architects, designers, and planners working expressly for public good."
• Lee looks into AfH's closure: it "had trouble with the challenge that so many small businesses face - how to scale up in a sustainable way," but its "greatest legacy may be how it facilitated the participation of so many in socially conscious design."
• On a more litigious note, Chicago's Friends of the Parks threaten a suit to block Obama Presidential Library from possibly being built on public land + Heatherwick's Garden Bridge faces yet another legal challenge: "although attractive at first glance, on reflection the project is seriously deficient in a number of important respects."
• Lewis makes the case for why zoning is too often "a crude, ineffective urban design and architectural tool."
• Why what we see might not be what we get when the costs are added up for the Canberra Convention Centre's futuristic, "UFO-like" design by Fuksas/Guida Moseley.
• Siza saves his first building, restoring a 1963 restaurant in Portugal: it's "the happy ending to what could have been an architectural tragedy," though it now being "a luxury, reservations-only restaurant is a sore point for Siza."
• Hatherley takes us through the history of shopping mall design in Moscow "from the fin-de-siècle opulence of GUM to the Ballardian horror of Aviapark, and the city's fluctuating relationship with capitalism" (a great read!).
• Jacobs dives into the "speculative urbanism" swirling around efforts to reinvent the Los Angeles River that "has inspired planners, designers, and politicians to think big."
• Olcayto cheers Woodman taking the helm of the Architecture Foundation + Waite's Q&A with Woodman re: the future: "We must reward the faith architects have invested in the AF."
• Clemence has a most engaging Q&A with Odile Decq, "the eloquent rebel," re: her intentions behind her new school of architecture, and the state of women in practice today.
• Beanland offers a Mackintosh itinerary: RIBA's exhibition in London "delves deeper into the Mackintosh mind," but "there are plenty of other places to get the measure of the man."
• A good reason to head to Cape Town: Design Indaba 2015: Make. Change.
• Winners of the Design Within Reach Champagne Chair Contest (we'll take two of each, full-size, please!).
• One we couldn't resist (it's our party): Jon Stewart's Most Memorable Architectural Moments on "The Daily Show": Kamin vs. Trump "Seinfeud"; "Unnecessary Muffness" (Zaha is the "Georgia O'Keeffe of buildings"); and 1WTC vs. Willis Tower (though more about pizza, it's very funny - unless you're from Chicago).
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-- "Peter Zumthor: Buildings and Projects 1985-2013" by Peter Zumthor, Thomas Durisch: gorgeous five-volume Leviathan of a book set...
-- What's New on the Bookshelves? "HOT TO COLD: An Odyssey of Architectural Adaptation" by BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group; "Sigurd Lewerentz, Architect"; "Tokyo Void: Possibilities in Absence"; "Silent Form: E2A Architects"; "The Architecture of the Welfare State: CF Møller Architects" |
Good Design: A public interest movement redefines architecture: Whether they embrace the title of “public interest architect” or not...they’ve often been pushed against the boundaries of what most people expect an architect to do...“public interest design” has broken down barriers... By Stephanie Garlock -- Whitney M. Young, Jr.; Michael Maltzan Architecture; Theresa Hwang; John Peterson/Public Architecture/One Percent Project; Auburn Rural Studio; Architecture for Humanity; Perkins+Will; Toshiko Mori Architect; John Cary; Shigeru Ban; Michael Murphy/Alan Ricks/MASS Design Group; Bryan Bell/Design Corps; Kimberly Dowdell; SEED/Social Economic Environmental Design; Maurice Cox- Harvard Magazine |
Comment> The Legacy of Architecture for Humanity: While the loss of the organization should be mourned, many others continue its important work: AFH’s demise has catalyzed an important conversation about the organizational infrastructure surrounding architects, designers, and planners working expressly for public good. By Jessica Garz/Surdna Foundation -- Cameron Sinclair; Kate Stohr; Kounkuey Design Initiative (KDI); Hester Street Collaborative; Indigenous Design and Planning Institute (iD+Pi)- The Architect's Newspaper |
Good Intentions, Bad Management: Inside the closure of Architecture for Humanity: ...the overall arc indicates that the organization had trouble with the challenge that so many small businesses face - how to scale up in a sustainable way...Besides its projects, AFH’s greatest legacy may be how it facilitated the participation of so many in socially conscious design. By Lydia Lee -- Cameron Sinclair; Kate Stohr; Make It Right; Public Architecture 1%; Emily Pilloton/Project H- The Architect's Newspaper |
Friends of the Parks threaten suit to block Obama library in letter to president: While Obama has been using his executive power to create monuments across the nation – even a new one in Chicago - at the same time his foundation and the University of Chicago have encouraged the use of public park acres - not privately owned land - for his presidential center.- Chicago Sun-Times |
Legal challenge to stop Garden Bridge being built: Application lodged for judicial review into Lambeth council decision to OK plan: "This seems like a poorly thought through project which, although attractive at first glance, on reflection is seriously deficient in a number of important respects"... -- Thomas Heatherwick- BD/Building Design (UK) |
D.C. proposes limits on pop-ups: ...single-family row houses that have been expanded vertically...is a hot-button issue...reducing height and density limits...to suppress pop-ups is not only questionable policy, it is a symptom of the systemic weakness of conventional zoning for managing change. Zoning is in fact a crude, ineffective urban design and architectural tool. By Roger K. Lewis- Washington Post |
Winning designs for Canberra Convention Centre in doubt: Guida Moseley Brown and Massimiliano Fuksas’ futuristic design...in limbo as the costs of the ambitious project are weighed up...hinted of the possibility that the winners’ designs were sure to be altered...if the $700 million building was actually built, the current designs would only provide ”a sense of the sort of building” that would be constructed. [images]- Australian Design Review |
Time Machine: A Pritzker Prize winner turns back the clock: Álvaro Siza's restoration of his first building, the Boa Nova Restaurant and Teahouse [in Leça da Palmeira, Portugal], five decades after it opened in 1963, is the happy ending to what could have been an architectural tragedy...The project's conversion into a luxury, reservations-only restaurant is a sore point for Siza... [images]- Architectural Record |
Aisles of plenty: reading Moscow’s history through its shopping mall design: From the fin-de-siècle opulence of GUM to the Ballardian horror of Aviapark, the architecture of Moscow's shopping malls and the city's fluctuating relationship with capitalism...Constructivists themselves did more than dabble in mall design. By Owen Hatherley -- Alexander Pomerantsev; Vladimir Shukhov; David Kogan; Vesnin brothers; Alexei Dushkin [images]- The Calvert Journal (UK) |
Reinventing the Los Angeles River: A reimagined river promises to tie together a long disconnected city. How guerrilla planning and city initiatives are slowly turning the tide: ...highly speculative visions are being realized...the river has inspired planners, designers, and politicians to think big. By Karrie Jacobs -- Michael Maltzan; Mia Lehrer; Perkins+Will; Chee Salette Architecture Office; HNTB; Hargreaves Associates; A.C. Martin [images]- Architect Magazine |
Ellis Woodman's appointment is a good move for the Architecture Foundation: With Woodman at the helm, the AF can be a truly independent voice for London: It’s the second step in the right direction for the oft-troubled institution. By Rory Olcayto + Woodman Q&A: "We must reward the faith architects have invested in the AF." By Richard Waite- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Q&A: Odile Decq, the Eloquent Rebel: ...discusses her intentions behind her new school of architecture, and the state of women in practice today: In what ways does Confluence differ from other schools? "It will be a more transversal way of teaching, infused by other disciplines not usually associated with architectural teaching...It's preparing the new generation of architects...to do more...to educate the person as a whole, with a vision, a thinking." By Paul Clemence- Metropolis Magazine |
Charles Rennie Mackintosh: Explore the world of Scotland's most famous architect: ...a new exhibition in London delves deeper into the Mackintosh mind. And there are plenty of other places to get the measure of the man... By Christopher Beanland [images]- Independent (UK) |
Design Indaba 2015: Make. Change.: a better world through creativity; Cape Town, South Africa, February 20 - March 1- Design Indaba |
Design Within Reach Chooses Champagne Chair Contest Winners: ...competitors use only the foil, label, cage, and two separate corks from champagne bottles to create a miniature chair. -- Bruce Hirschman; Zach Martin; Jeffrey Burke Whitten [images]- Architect Magazine |
Jon Stewart’s Most Memorable Architectural Moments on “The Daily Show”- Architect Magazine |
Delicately Rearranging Intangibles in Public Space: The Art of Rogers Partners Architects+Urban Designers in "Learning Through Practice": A new monograph highlights transformative designs by a firm strikingly dedicated to re-enchanting public space. By Norman Weinstein [images]- ArchNewsNow |
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