Today’s News - Tuesday, August 11, 2015
• ArcSpace brings us eyefuls of 7 factories that "disrupt the expected typology through playful and unexpected materials or challenge conventional forms."
• Keller pens a most thoughtful piece about Soleri's Arcosanti and dreams of arcologies and mega-cities - but "it's not clear that humanity is ready for the perfect architectural utopias - the fundamental problem with planned communities" is that "they often forget about the people who inhabit them."
• Hawthorne gets the scoop straight from the horse's mouth re: Gehry's L.A. River plan: "He thinks it could be turned into an entirely different kind of machine," though the "news that the mayor is handing off planning to Gehry's office is already upsetting longtime river advocates. Their skepticism is understandable."
• Walker x 2 re: Gehry's L.A. River plan: Why he is a "wrong," "strange," and "scary" choice for the project, especially when there's a master plan already in place: "In a city that is already stereotyped for choosing celebrity over substance, this is hyping fame over function. It's a decision that will come to haunt us."
• She has second thoughts after considering Hawthorne's analysis: "The tech he brings to the table and the team he'll bring together is sure to be top-rate. This might make Gehry less of a LA River master planner and more of an LA River mascot."
• Bernstein talks to Friedberg re: plans for a new World War I Memorial in Pershing Park: "The honorable thing would have been to come to me first"; the competition organizers consider it "a 35-year-old failed park," but if they "are advised to pay deference to the existing park, then we will."
• The Australian Institute of Architects' Kirk makes a case for why the proposed (gigantic) Brisbane casino should not be built in the historic government precinct: the project "should be a catalyst for regenerating an eroded city location and to heal an urban scar."
• Flanagan reports on the (yet again) revised Mecanoo/Martinez + Johnson plans for Mies's Martin Luther King Library in DC: "fixing the building's flaws within historic preservation rules has been the toughest challenge," and "the driver behind the biggest design changes."
• Twentieth Century Society's Brittain-Catlin continues to advocate for Robin Hood Gardens: "the physical state and the controversial aesthetics are not really at the heart of the question of whether RHG should be protected."
• King gives cautious thumbs-up to the massive 5M development in San Francisco's SoMa: "There's a lot to like in the conceptual plans. There's also no denying the awkwardness - the end result needs to feel like a dynamic outgrowth of its surroundings - rather than a real estate deal writ large."
• Bozikovic spends some quality time with Dykers and concludes that "Snøhetta is rewriting the rules of global architecture and landscape. Their work has no set style and no manifesto. It is visually bold, but shaped by observation and empathy."
• Google grows bigger in Boulder with a new 4-acre campus, but as the tech community cheers, others worry it will "exacerbate rather than mitigate our affordable housing and transportation problems."
• Eyefuls of New Zealand's shiny, new "kinetic" museum dedicated to sculptor Len Lye (lots of shiny!).
• The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden begins a two-year renovation that will "dramatically transform the garden and the neighboring Walker Art Center" (Gehry's two-story-high "Standing Glass Fish" is heading to his Weisman Art Museum on a long-term loan - still unclear if it will ever return).
• Zeiger's Q&A with Sinclair re: his new, for-profit "social impact practice," the Department of Small Works: "Why is it that people who are developing, leading, and implementing projects are expected to work for nothing?"
• AIA launches "Know Your Worth" campaign against unpaid internships.
• Call for entries: U.S. Department of Energy RFI for high-performance energy efficiency measures in commercial buildings + Research: Art Works: NEA grants to investigate the value and/or impact of the arts.
| |
|
|
|
To subscribe to the free daily newsletter
click here
|
|
7 Out-of-the-Box Factories: Some disrupt the expected factory architecture typology through playful and unexpected materials while others challenge conventional forms. -- SANAA; Zaha Hadid Architects; Peter Stutchbury; Foster + Partners; Renzo Piano Building Workshop; Santiago Calatrava; Richard Rogers and Partners (Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners) [images] |
Desert utopia: It might be pleasing to dream of arcologies, mega-cities, and space colonies - but no one can design the perfect human community: Despite Paolo Soleri’s best efforts [Arcosanti], it’s not clear that humanity is ready for the perfect architectural utopias he imagined...capitalism might be a more flexible force for innovation than the heavy-handed planning of futurists and architects...the fundamental problem with planned communities...they often forget about the people who inhabit them. By Jared Keller -- Foster + Partners [images]- Aeon Magazine (UK) |
Hydrology, not landscaping or landmarks, is focus of Frank Gehry's L.A. River plan: "I said I would only do it on the condition that they approached it as a water-reclamation project"...He thinks it could be turned into an entirely different kind of machine...news that the mayor is handing off planning to Gehry's office is already upsetting longtime river advocates...Their skepticism is understandable. By Christopher Hawthorne -- Olin; Henk Ovink; Geosyntec- Los Angeles Times |
Frank Gehry Is the Wrong Architect to Revitalize the Los Angeles River: ...[he] can surely lend some star power...But to me, that’s one of the first red flags - I worry that the project will be eclipsed by his fame...the city has actually had a master plan in place...Apparently his idea is a “broad reworking” of this plan, and that’s scary...In a city that is already stereotyped for choosing celebrity over substance, this is hyping fame over function. It’s a decision that will come to haunt us - perhaps just as much as the 1930s choice to cement the river over in the first place. By Alissa Walker- Gizmodo |
Frank Gehry Wants To Preserve the LA River's Infamous Concrete Walls: ...Hawthorne makes an excellent point...makes me think this move to bring on Gehry is more political than anything...The tech he brings to the table and the team he’ll bring together is sure to be top-rate...This might make Gehry less of a LA River master planner and more of an LA River mascot. By Alissa Walker- Gizmodo |
World War I Memorial Proposals Please Classicists and Anger Preservationists: ...the park already “expresses what we fought for in World War I...The honorable thing would have been to come to me first"..."it’s a 35-year-old failed park...If we are advised to pay deference to the existing park, then we will"...To lovers of classical design, the demise of [Pershing Park] may be a bonus. By Fred A. Bernstein -- M. Paul Friedberg/Oehme, van Sweden & Associates (1981); Charles Birnbaum/The Cultural Landscape Foundation; Justin Shubow/National Civic Art Society [images]- Architectural Record |
Brisbane casino will diminish government precinct: The Australian Institute of Architects believes the proposed casino should be a catalyst for regeneration, not disruption...How and why this project ended up in one of Brisbane and Queensland’s most important and historical sites is a lingering question...project should be a catalyst for regenerating an eroded city location and to heal an urban scar... By Richard Kirk/AIA Queensland Chapter President -- Cottee Parker Architects [image]- ArchitectureAU (Australia) |
Plans for renovating the MLK Library have changed to meet preservation standards: ...fixing the building's flaws within historic preservation rules has been the toughest challenge for designers, and those concerns have been the driver behind the biggest design changes. By Neil Flanagan -- Mies van der Rohe (1972); Mecanoo; Martinez + Johnson [images]- Greater Greater Washington (Washington, DC) |
Brutal beauty: the rich heritage that means these buildings must be saved: ...the physical state and the controversial aesthetics are not really at the heart of the question of whether Robin Hood Gardens should be protected. Instead, the continuing life of the estate is justified because of the sheer number of large-scale historical questions it plays a part in. By Timothy Brittain-Catlin/Twentieth Century Society -- Alison and Peter Smithson- The Conversation (UK) |
Big SoMa development project 5M on track for first vote: There’s a lot to like in the conceptual plans...appeal of intimate public spaces amid large-scale urbanity. There’s also no denying the awkwardness...They’d be abrupt signposts of the new economy within a stone’s throw of the single-room-occupancy hotels...the ambitious scale makes sense. But the end result needs to feel like a dynamic outgrowth of its surroundings - rather than a real estate deal writ large. By John King -- Sitelab Urban Studio; Tom Leader; Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) [images]- San Francisco Chronicle |
Building the future: How Snohetta is rewriting the rules of global architecture and landscape: ...carry themselves like a collective of filmmakers: Their work has no set style and no manifesto. It is visually bold, but shaped by observation and empathy...when Craig Dykers talks about narrative, it’s not a crutch; it is an added layer... By Alex Bozikovic -- Zeidler Architects; N45 Architects; Dialog- Globe and Mail (Canada) |
Google breaks ground on new 330,000-square-foot Boulder, Colorado, campus: Members of the technology community see the Boulder expansion as a natural progression...The project has not been without controversy..."may well exacerbate rather than mitigate our affordable housing and transportation problems"... -- Tryba Architecture- Daily Camera (Boulder, Colorado) |
"Kinetic" steel museum in New Zealand pays tribute to illustrious sculptural artist: Len Lye Centre in New Plymouth, Taranaki, NZ, stands as an emblem of the sculptural works and philosophy of...a prominent figure in the kinetic sculpture and experimental film movements...As an expansion to the Govett Brewster, the Centre is the only museum in the country that is dedicated to a single artist. -- Patterson Architects Associates [images]- Archinect |
Art is leaving the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden as two-year renovation begins: ...$33.3 million construction project that will dramatically transform the garden and the neighboring Walker Art Center, repositioning them as a gateway to the Hennepin Avenue theater district...Frank Gehry’s “Standing Glass Fish”...will be placed in the Gehry-designed Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota on a long-term loan. Whether it will ever return to the Walker’s campus is unclear without a dedicated site. -- Thomas Oslund & Associates- Minneapolis Star Tribune |
Q+A> Cameron Sinclair: Mimi Zeiger talks to Architecture for Humanity co-founder about his latest venture, the Department of Small Works...a decidedly for-profit social impact practice..."Why is it that people who are developing, leading, and implementing projects are expected to work for nothing?"- The Architect's Newspaper |
AIA Launches Campaign Against Unpaid Internships: The American Institute of Architects’ Center for Emerging Professionals has announced its newest campaign, called Know Your Worth- ArchDaily |
Request for Information (RFI): High-Performance Energy Efficiency Measures in Tenant Spaces in commercial buildings through the design and construction; deadline: September 30- U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) |
Call for entries: Research: Art Works: NEA grants to support research that investigates the value and/or impact of the arts, either as individual components of the U.S. arts ecology or as they interact with each other and/or with other domains of American life; deadline: October 20- National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) |
Nuts + Bolts #12: Hiring Interns? What You Need to Know: Architecture and engineering firms engaging unpaid interns can avoid liability in connection with their internship programs by meeting six specific requirements. By John Balitis- ArchNewsNow.com |
|
|
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window.
External news links are not endorsed by ArchNewsNow.com.
Free registration may be required on some sites.
Some pages may expire after a few days.
© 2015 ArchNewsNow.com