Today’s News - Thursday, September 10, 2015
EDITOR'S NOTE: Tomorrow is a no-newsletter day - we'll be back Monday, September 14.
• ANN feature: Bernstein finds Goldberger's "Building Art: The Life and Work of Frank Gehry" to be "a compelling biography - and yet it is also, to a great extent, a list of Gehry's disappointments."
• Stamberg talks to Gehry about Goldberger's "Building Art": he "jokes that the biography gets 'close' to capturing him - and that it even helped him learn a little about himself."
• Two teams from Barcelona and New York tied for first place in the competition to design a new home for the Bauhaus Museum Dessau.
• Perrault wins the 2015 Praemium Imperiale.
• London sets a date to review its tall buildings policy, but the "discussion may take place with press and public excluded."
• Villegas reports on Mexico City's new Torre Reforma, "a striking affair" with a pink 1920s Venetian-style mansion "fused at its base. It is the latest and arguably most blatant effort to counter criticism that this city is losing its historical charm" ("It represents us well, however ugly.").
• Green reports on Viñoly and OLIN's plan to reinvent a Silicon Valley mall into a 50-acre "hybrid retail, commercial, and residential hub, all covered in what they promise will be the 'world's largest green roof.'"
• Toderian offers "10 Keys to Making A Great City Plan."
• Saval offers a fascinating look at the University of Cincinnati's multi-billion-dollar "gamble" on "a murderers' row" of starchitects in hopes of becoming "a desirable, glamorous place to spend four years" - though it risks becoming "a campus that could be anywhere and nowhere."
• Thornton Tomasetti and Weidlinger Associates merge, with big plans "to establish a separate research-and-development entity."
• Call for entries: 2016 Palladio Awards for outstanding achievement in traditional design of buildings, landscapes, streetscapes, etc.
• Weekend diversions (and lots of 'em!):
• Speaking of Palladio: Perkovic ponders "Palladian Design: The Good, the Bad and the Unexpected" at RIBA London: it "asserts his continuing influence on modern, postmodern and contemporary architecture."
• A pictorial look at "the enduring popularity of 'Palladianism'": "A world without his legacy would be a 'very depressing one.'"
• Bayley, on the other hand, wonders if Palladianism has "been too successful for its own good. Modern Palladianism looks Soviet - stiff, dogmatic, ham-fisted and unlovely. I think this exhibition may prove something very unexpected in certain quarters and circles: Palladianism is defunct."
• Hume cheers "Shaping Canadian Modernity: The 1958 Toronto City Hall and Square Competition and its Legacy" - particularly Revell's winning design that "remains a powerful symbol of civic optimism and confidence, more compelling now perhaps than ever."
• Taylor-Hochberg finds the "feasible" and the "fantastical" in "Shelter: Rethinking How We Live in Los Angeles": "what is ultimately so satisfying is its optimism - no self-flagellating atonement required."
• In Hong Kong, "William Lim - Fundamental: 40 years of Design Inspiration from the East" includes an "eclectic mix of designs that have inspired him. To call him an eclectic collector would be an understatement."
• Corbu's Casa Curutchet in Buenos Aires hosts "Anthony Ames: Object-Type Landscapes" showing the architect's paintings, sculptural compositions, and porcelain pieces.
• The man behind Malaysia's "most recognizable mosque" unravels the mystery of its iconic "umbrella" dome as "Masjid Negara: 50 Years National Mosque" in Kuala Lumpur celebrates the mosque's Golden Jubilee.
• "Spring in Cambridge: the Visionary Drawings of John Devlin" at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia presents his "re-invented world based on hidden codes, symbols and ratios of an imagined island in Nova Scotia - a fascinating version of a newly re-imagined Cambridge."
• Doherty gives two thumbs-up to Rybczynski's "Mysteries of the Mall: And Other Essays" that "showcases the best and worst in architecture's history" with "lucid" essays (and "full of cocktail-party tidbits").
• Fretton finds Hatherley's "Landscapes of Communism" presents "the parallel but largely unknown world of Soviet architecture and planning in ways that will make you want to visit the places it describes - a pleasure to read."
• An excerpt from Newman and Kenworthy's "The End of Automobile Dependence," their third in a series completed over the past 25 years.
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Being Frank Gehry: Paul Goldberger's account of the architect's rise is also a tale of things not going Gehry's way: "Building Art: The Life and Work of Frank Gehry" is a compelling biography of perhaps the world’s most famous architect. And yet it is also, to a great extent, a list of Gehry’s disappointments. By Fred A. Bernstein- ArchNewsNow.com |
Frank Gehry's Lifelong Challenge: To Create Buildings That Move: Paul Goldberger and Gehry have known each other for some 40 years. Gehry jokes that the biography "Building Art" gets "close" to capturing him - and that it even helped him learn a little about himself...says his work can never be perfect; "by definition it can't because we're defective creatures." But that hasn't stopped him from creating inspired structures for decades. By Susan Stamberg- NPR / National Public Radio |
Two designs draw first place in Bauhaus Museum competition: Two teams, from Barcelona and New York, have been awarded joint first place in a competition to design a new home for the Bauhaus Museum Dessau ...It is not yet clear how the two winning designs will be developed to create the final proposal. -- Gonzalez Hinz Zabala/Roser Vives de Delás; Young & Ayata/Misako Murata [images]- Dezeen |
Dominique Perrault wins the 2015 Praemium Imperiale International Arts Award: ...the French architect who “treads his own bold path” with designs that “can be wildly imaginative &hellip [or] &hellip abstractly minimal” (The Guardian)...- Japan Art Association |
London to review tall buildings policy: ...after one of its own councillors said..."Skyscrapers are being crammed in and will be like passengers in a rush-hour tube, jostling against each other for space. It’s going to get out of control. The City should take a pause to rethink”...slated a review of the...policy for the next meeting on October 6. The discussion may take place with press and public excluded.- BD/Building Design (UK) |
Modern Tower Shelters a Piece of Mexico City’s Past to Counter Critics: As a symbol of heritage and change, Torre Reforma is a striking affair: a modern 800-foot skyscraper fused at its base with a pink Venetian-style mansion from the 1920s. It is the latest and arguably most blatant effort to counter criticism from conservationists...that this city is losing its historical charm...“It represents us well, however ugly.” By Paulina Villegas -- Ruben Ochoa; Benjamín Romano/LBR&A Arquitectos [images]- New York Times |
Silicon Valley Reinvents the Mall: Rafael Viñoly and OLIN are transforming Cupertino’s struggling mall into the 50-acre Hills at Vallco, a hybrid retail, commercial, and residential hub, all covered in what they promise will be the “world’s largest green roof"...design came out of extensive community engagement...aiming for LEED Platinum...To sweeten the deal, the developers will build a new $40-million-dollar elementary school as well as an innovation center, an “incubator,” for high school students. By Jared Green [images]- The Dirt/American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) |
10 Keys to Making A Great City Plan: ...a new city-wide plan for Abbotsford, British Columbia...officially dubbed "AbbotsForward"...has already been a rich opportunity to rethink the business-as-usual of municipal plan-making...and we're not done yet! In short, this is a plan worth watching. By Brent Toderian/TODERIAN UrbanWORKS/Council for Canadian Urbanism- PLANetizen |
If You Build It, They Will Come ... Won’t They? The University of Cincinnati is trying to raise its profile through a risky (but increasingly common) investment: expensive architecture: ...the most ambitious campus-design program in the country...The hope is that buildings by starchitects will turn the University into a desirable, glamorous place to spend four years...a financial gamble...also threatens...that the university will turn into a luxury brand...a campus that could be anywhere and nowhere. By Nikil Saval -- Frank Gehry; Michael Graves; Peter Eisenman; Bernard Tschumi; Thom Mayne/Morphosis Architects; Hargreaves Associates; Architecture Research Office (ARO); KZF Design; Henry Cobb/NBBJ; Studios Architecture/Harley Ellis Devereaux [images]- New York Times Magazine |
Engineers Thornton Tomasetti and Weidlinger Associates Merge: ...plan to establish a separate research-and-development entity...“to incubate, develop and market product and service innovation.”- ENR/Engineering News Record |
Call for entries: 2016 Palladio Awards for outstanding achievement in traditional design of buildings, landscapes, streetscapes, etc.; deadline: November 23- Traditional Building Magazine / Period Homes |
"Palladian Design: The Good, the Bad and the Unexpected" at RIBA in London: ...asserts the continuing influence of Palladio on modern, postmodern and contemporary architecture...abstract Palladianism, built without neo-classical decorative details, yet in accordance to the Palladian principles of proportion and form. By Jana Perkovic -- Erik Asplund; Charles Vandenhove; Caruso St John; Peter Märkli [images]- Artinfo UK |
Palladio: The architect who inspired our love of columns: ...the only architect whose style is recognised with a suffix in English...we explore the enduring popularity of "Palladianism"...A world without [his] legacy would be a "very depressing one...It gives people a sense of creating history." "Palladian Design: The Good, The Bad and The Unexpected" at RIBA London -- Charles Hind; Aldo Rossi; Stephen Taylor; Inigo Jones; James Gibbs; Richard Boyle; Arnold Thornely; Edwin Lutyens; Erith & Terry; Christine Franck; Erik Asplund; P Rose/P Lanken/J Righter; John Penn; Oswald Mathias Ungers [images]- BBC News |
Palladio was the greatest influence on taste ever - but his time is finally up: ...has Palladianism been too successful for its own good? What is certainly true is that, like Le Corbusier and Mies, Palladio was easy to copy, so spread like an infection...Modern Palladianism looks Soviet - stiff, dogmatic, ham-fisted and unlovely...I think this exhibition may prove something very unexpected in certain quarters and circles: Palladianism is defunct. By Stephen Bayley -- Caruso St John; Robert Adam; Quinlan Terry; Christine Franck; Stephen Taylor- The Spectator (UK) |
At 50, Toronto’s City Hall is still ahead of the curve: Finnish architect’s creation - both contemporary and respectful to ancient ideals - is the product of a spirit we’ve lost: ...remains a powerful symbol of civic optimism and confidence, more compelling now perhaps than ever...marked Toronto’s entry into the modern world. Sloughing off the muddy cloak of colonialism, the city declared its desire to be a player on the international stage, to be taken seriously. "Shaping Canadian Modernity: The 1958 Toronto City Hall and Square Competition and its Legacy" at the Paul Cocker Gallery. By Christopher Hume -- Viljo Revell (1965) [images]- Toronto Star |
Finding "Shelter" in Los Angeles' housing chaos: Some feasible and other fantastical...In the atonement vein...“we’ve run out of room and we’ve run out of options"...[show] is about forming new expectations of how housing and the city should interact...what is ultimately so satisfying...is its optimism...no self-flagellating atonement required. By Amelia Taylor-Hochberg -- Danielle Rago; Sam Lubell; Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects; PAR; Ma Yansong/MAD; LA-Más; wHY Architects; Bureau Spectacular- Archinect |
Hong Kong architect William Lim's all-embracing aesthetic on show: Exhibition includes eclectic mix of designs that have inspired him over 40-year career...To call him an eclectic collector would be an understatement. "William Lim - Fundamental: 40 years of Design Inspiration from the East," ArtisTree, Hong Kong -- CL3 Architects [images]- South China Morning Post |
“Anthony Ames: Object-Type Landscapes” at Le Corbusier-designed Casa Curutchet: ...the architect's paintings, sculptural compositions, and porcelain pieces...part of the official program of the XV Buenos Aires Architecture Bienal. -- Vladimir Belogolovsky/Curatorial Project- ArchDaily |
The man behind Masjid Negara’s iconic ‘umbrella’ dome: ...National Mosque is the most recognisable mosque in the country...Yet the earliest reactions to its design sketches weren’t ones of awe but of confusion...celebrates its Golden Jubilee...with a pictorial exhibition...we turn to the man behind its design to unravel the mystery of the dome. "Masjid Negara: 50 Years National Mosque" at the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur -- Datuk Baharuddin Abu Kassim; Azim A. Aziz/ATSA Architects [images]- Malay Mail Online |
The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia launches "Spring in Cambridge: the Visionary Drawings of John Devlin": ...brings to life Devlin’s time spent at England’s Cambridge University in the late 1970s...Following an encounter with mental illness...he returned home, where he began a creative journey after numerous years in and out of hospitals...he re-invented a world based on hidden codes, symbols and ratios of an imagined island in Nova Scotia - the artist’s fascinating version of a newly re-imagined Cambridge.- ArtDaily.org |
A layperson’s guide to architecture, arranged in clear, clean lines: Full of cocktail-party tidbits, Witold Rybczynski’s lucid essay collection "Mysteries of the Mall: And Other Essays" showcases the best and worst in architecture’s history...attacks narrow-mindedness...conforming to the avant-garde...“show dog” architects and their “iconic” buildings insensitive to context...dismisses competitions, and deplores utopian attempts to make over public housing without consulting those who will live there. By Mike Doherty- Maclean's (Canada) |
"Landscapes of Communism": A History Through Buildings by Owen Hatherley: In essence it is a book that describes the parallel but largely unknown world of Soviet architecture and planning in ways that will make you want to visit the places it describes and give you the means to look at them receptively...a pleasure to read...Stories of ideology and design are brought together with great intensity... By Tony Fretton- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
The end of the car dependent empire is upon us: Curtin University professors Peter Newman and Jeff Kenworthy have released..."The End of Automobile Dependence: How Cities are Moving Beyond Car-Based Planning." The third in a series of books on automobile dependence the pair have completed over the past 25 years, it explores phenomenons such as “peak car use”, the new era of urban rail, central cities being revitalised and the reversal of suburban sprawl. (excerpt) [images]- The Fifth Estate (Australia) |
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Colorful Condensations: Mikkel Frost’s CEBRA Toons: Can a single drawing sum up the complexity of a sizable built project? ...hand-drawn Toons...amalgamates various drawing techniques into playful architectural sonnets...communicate the insistence on a room for optimism, playfulness, and vigor in contemporary architecture. [images] |
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