Today’s News - Monday, May 4, 2015
• Campbell gives thumbs-up to the "glorious" galleries in the new Whitney, but it's something else from the outside: "It's not so much complex as it is incoherent. Well, New York isn't coherent, either. The Whitney fits right in."
• Lamster likes much about Piano's "inverted ocean liner moored awkwardly at the foot of the High Line" - it "adds a bit of intellectual heft to the increasingly intolerable fashion-meets-entertainment zone that is the Meatpacking District."
• Bozikovic finds an "odd amalgam of art, money, steel and style" in Piano's "ungainly machine - precision is in evidence on the interior, which has none of the clumsiness of the exterior."
• Davis: "Piano's appealing and thoughtful design is a very clear signal that it is not just another rash trophy. Its very wonderfulness is a chess move in the battle for museum supremacy."
• A most amusing Q&A with Saltz re: "the spectacle surrounding museums today," what the Whitney gets that MoMA doesn't, and "what the major New York museums would be like if they were your college friends" (the best part).
• Evitts Dickinson pens a most thoughtful piece about defensive architecture and its role in Baltimore, past and present: "The architecture profession, like our nation at large, is also in the midst of a soul-searching moment...what we build - and how we build - speaks volumes about who we are as a culture. Architecture is nothing less than mankind's values writ large."
• A touch of irony? Baltimore's National Great Blacks in Wax Museum gets the go-ahead for a Davis Brody Bond-designed expansion.
• Meanwhile in Milan, rioters "protesting what they see as the wastefulness and corruption" overshadow Milan Expo 2015 opening day.
• Haldane, in the meantime, feels the buzz in the Hive, Buttress's UK Pavilion for the Milan Expo: it's a "Willy Wonka-like journey" (great pix!).
• Saffron bemoans the loss of "another functioning, attractive, meaningful patch in Philadelphia's great quilt of buildings" giving way to "dreary, mini dorms - if we keep losing blocks of fine, textured buildings like Lancaster Mews, there will be no neighborhood left to revive."
• Johnston cheers Splash Adelaide, a "'fast and dirty' anything-goes approach to placemaking" where "any dead street is fair game for an experiment in bringing it to life" (as long as it doesn't break any laws).
• Hume continues to make the case for taking down a section of Toronto's Gardiner Expressway: it "is a mistake the city can't afford to repeat. The issue isn't how much should stay, but how much can go."
• From Israel, the sad saga of efforts to make Jaffa's old port a hot spot proves that "'if you build it they will come' is no sure thing" (meanwhile, "Tel Aviv's old port is humming").
• Heathcote hails Foster's Crossrail Canary Wharf station as "a bridge between two worlds," where the structure housing a rooftop greenhouse "pokes out between buildings like a silvery eel."
• Labine lauds a "visionary new plan" to rebuild Penn Station in its original form that would rectify "an appalling act of architectural vandalism," and create "badly needed civic space in a dreary part of New York City" - it would be "an act of civic redemption" (and cost less than Calatrava's WTC transit hub).
• A look at how NYC Mayor de Blasio has retooled Bloomberg's PLANYC to become the "more comprehensive" OneNYC that the city hopes will "fuse sustainability, social equity and resilience."
• Some big names chime in about plans to renovate Philip Johnson's Four Seasons restaurant, calling it "ill-advised" (turning the glass enclosed wine cellar into a powder room sounds pretty awful to us!).
• Nayar nails down why Miami has become "an epicenter for design" where "a serious flock of international talent" (a.k.a. starchitects) is "shifting the aesthetic of Miami's new buildings."
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Whitney Museum building by Renzo Piano gets its design right: ...the galleries...are glorious...all the right choices were made...as you see it from outside is something else again. It’s not so much complex as it is incoherent...It isn’t trying to be daring or avant-garde. Its architecture isn’t about architecture...a container of art that doesn’t itself seek to be a work of art...Well, New York isn’t coherent, either. The Whitney fits right in. By Robert Campbell -- Marcel Breuer; Cooper, Robertson & Partners- Boston Globe |
Renzo Piano’s new Whitney opens in NYC: ...inverted ocean liner clad in white metal panels, it is moored awkwardly at the foot of the High Line...adds a bit of intellectual heft to the increasingly intolerable fashion-meets-entertainment zone that is the Meatpacking District...a compelling venue for the display of art, one with its own quirks that is not a little bit indebted to its predecessor. By Mark Lamster- Dallas Morning News |
The new Whitney Museum of American Art: Odd amalgam of art, money, steel and style: ...an ungainly machine, clad in glass and enamelled steel but bristling with ducts and cooling shafts. Yet, it is what the future looks like...precision is in evidence on the interior...which has none of the clumsiness of the exterior. By Alex Bozikovic -- Renzo Piano [images]- Globe and Mail (Canada) |
Ben Davis On Why The New Whitney Museum Is So Visually Pleasing But Worrying For Art: If New York's museum competition were a horse race, Renzo Piano's appealing and thoughtful design would rocket it to the lead...one way to read the relatively unflashy exterior...is as a very clear signal that it is not just another rash trophy...Its very wonderfulness is a chess move in the battle for museum supremacy.- Artnet |
Why MoMA is a huge disappointment and the Whitney gets it: Q&A with Jerry Saltz: ...the spectacle surrounding museums today, the crushing realities of trying to be an artist in New York and what the major New York museums would be like if they were your college friends.- Southern California Public Radio (SCPR) |
Architecture's Role in Baltimore: Defensive architecture was the answer to the 1968 riots...How will architecture respond to the urban uprisings of 2015? The architecture profession, like our nation at large, is also in the midst of a soul-searching moment...what we build - and how we build - speaks volumes about who we are as a culture. Architecture is nothing less than mankind's values writ large. By Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson- Architect Magazine |
National Great Blacks in Wax Museum's $75M overhaul gets design approval: Baltimore’s Urban Design and Architecture Review Panel approved a design for the museum’s expansion...will span the length of the block...with a sprawling green space behind the museum. -- Davis Brody Bond [image]- Baltimore Business Journal |
Riots Overshadow the Opening Day for Milan Expo 2015: Hoards of rioters from the #NoExpo movement demonstrated in the center of Milan, protesting what they see as the wastefulness and corruption of the event. [images]- Architect Magazine |
The buzz and the bees: A journey into the Hive: Part-sculpture and part-landscape, Wolfgang Buttress’ UK Pavilion for the Milan Expo 2015 is both an experience for the senses and a reminder of the fragility of our natural surroundings...Willy Wonka-like journey. By James Haldane -- BDP [images]- Architectural Review (UK) |
Frenzied real estate market makes any building a teardown target: ...there goes another functioning, attractive, meaningful patch in the city's great quilt of buildings...Powelton Village may be a riot of architectural treasures...most buildings...have no historic protection...dreary, mini dorms are now popping up...if we keep losing blocks of fine, textured buildings like Lancaster Mews, there will be no neighborhood left to revive... By Inga Saffron- Philadelphia Inquirer |
How Adelaide revitalized itself through ‘placemaking’: Any dead street in the South Australia city is fair game for an experiment in bringing it to life...transformation is the product of simple and inexpensive strategies for activating its public spaces...“Splash Adelaide”...a “fast and dirty” anything-goes approach to placemaking...could break any council policy, but not break the law. By Stephanie Johnston -- Gehl Architects; Project for Public Spaces (PPS) [IMAGES]- Citiscope.org |
For Toronto, less Gardiner means more city: Despite what we've heard, the Gardiner Expressway is a cause of congestion not a solution: Despite what politicians, academics and editorialists say, the car has taken us as far as it can; the Gardiner is a mistake the city can’t afford to repeat. The issue isn’t how much should stay, but how much can go. By Christopher Hume- Toronto Star |
For Israel’s trendy shopping sites, ‘if you build it they will come’ is no sure thing: Tel Aviv’s old port is humming with boutique shoppers and gourmet diners, but Jaffa’s even older port is a flop despite its real boats.- Ha`aretz (Israel) |
Crossrail’s Canary Wharf station is a bridge between two worlds: Glassy towers contrast sharply with clumps of social housing in landscape of neglect...crowned it with an attenuated greenhouse...it is the roof, rather than the plants, that makes the structure stand out. It pokes out between buildings like a silvery eel. By Edwin Heathcote -- Foster + Partners; Gillespies [video]- Financial Times (UK) |
Rebuilding McKim's Penn Station: A visionary new plan not only rectifies an appalling act of architectural vandalism, but also radically improves...a critical transit hub, and creates badly needed civic space in a dreary part of New York City...Manhattan is already jammed with Modernist glass-and-steel abstractions, so a great new classical Penn Station would not only be big news, but also an act of civic redemption. By Clem Labine -- McKim Mead & White; Richard W. Cameron/Atelier & Co.; Institute of Classical Architecture & Art (ICAA [images]- Traditional Building Magazine / Period Homes |
New York City's plan to fuse sustainability, social equity and resilience: ...breaking down barriers to address interconnected social and environmental obstacles...Bloomberg put PLANYC in place seven years ago. The breadth and depth of the policy proposals since have become a model for cities in the U.S. and around the world...Now, de Blasio is making the plan more comprehensive...The new name is OneNYC - short for "One New York: The Plan for a Strong and Just City."- GreenBiz |
Starchitect Says Four Seasons Restaurant Renovation Is 'Ill-Advised': ...restaurant in the Seagram Building has been a hotbed of contention for building owner Aby Rosen, who really just wants to change the iconic Philip Johnson-designed room. -- Mies Van Der Rohe; Annabelle Selldorf; Robert A.M. Stern; Phyllis Lambert- Curbed New York |
Why Miami is an Epicenter for Design: ...more world-class architects designing luxury hotels, signature condominiums, high-profile cultural institutions, and even landmark garages here than anywhere else in the US...a serious flock of international talent - starchitects, if you will - began shifting the aesthetic of Miami’s new buildings. By Jean Nayar -- OMA/Rem Koolhaas/Shohei Shigematsu; Yabu Pushelberg; Zaha Hadid; Norman Foster; Philippe Starck; Herzog & de Meuron; Piero Lissoni; Richard Meier; Arquitectonica; Revuelta; Max Strang Architecture; BIG- Bjarke Ingels Group- Ocean Drive magazine (Florida) |
Delight & Design: "Provocations: The Architecture and Design of Heatherwick Studio": Wonder and joy pervade the exhibition and enchant its viewers. Skip - don't walk - to experience it...at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. By Julie D. Taylor, Hon. AIA/LA [images]- ArchNewsNow.com |
INSIGHT: West Street: A Little-Noticed Success: If a 19th-century method of moving traffic can succeed in a city as congested as Manhattan, it can work in many other cities as well. By Peter Gisolfi, AIA, ASLA, LEED AP- ArchNewsNow.com |
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