Today’s News - Thursday, April 28, 2016
EDITOR"S NOTE: Tomorrow and Monday will be no-newsletter days. We'll be back Tuesday, May 3...in the meantime - Happy May Day!
• ANN feature: Bloszies' "A Filtered View #5" looks at how "the perfect client offers up enough fuel to run the design jets at the most optimum level."
• Beane delves deep into why there's been such a "change in tone" re: Calatrava's incredibly expensive transit hub: the city that approved it isn't the same as the one that built it, but "beautiful buildings and spaces are still important - a fact we often forget in discussions about the responsibilities of government to its constituents."
• Hawthorne has mixed feelings about Snøhetta's SFMoMA expansion: though it is "handsome, carefully intelligent, self-effacing and agreeable," there is "an odd sort of architectural fratricide in the way the new building treats the old one" (maybe they should have just "knocked down the older building and started from scratch").
• King weighs in on the "benefits and burdens of façadism": "if these design equivalents of a shotgun marriage become a default move rather than a last resort, the joke will be on all of us."
• Iovine gives thumbs-up to Gang's Writers Theatre, where the "showstopper" is an outdoor gallery walkway that is "experiential architecture of a high order," and neighborhood kids are welcome to do their homework in the lobby.
• A look at why wooden skyscrapers are "spreading like wildfire": they're "lightweight, sustainable and even happiness-inducing, according to some experts."
• Mattern offers an in-depth (and fascinating) look at Hudson Yards, "the test ground for the world's most ambitious experiment in 'smart city' urbanism" - and what it portends.
• Bliss parses a new study that "reveals that common methods for evaluating transit's impact on land values leave much to be desired."
• The new Populous-designed T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas takes "its visual cues from the natural surroundings" (Toshiba Plaza sounds so natural).
• Sorkin heads to China this summer as the USC American Academy in China's inaugural Research Fellow.
• One we couldn't resist: eyefuls of Modernist homes of pre-revolutionary in Havana: "Although some of the residences are falling into disrepair, their clean lines remain elegant" (truly!).
• Weekend diversions:
• A Copenhagen Travel Guide offers "an appealing mix of avant-garde and classical architecture and reinvigorated art and design scenes."
• In Montreal, "Partners in Design: Alfred H. Barr, Jr., and Philip Johnson" puts the spotlight on a "little-known aspect of the development of American modern design: the collaboration between these two visionaries and friends."
• Ross roams "Architecture of Independence: African Modernism" at Chicago's Graham Foundation and finds it to be, "in every way, the architecture of colonialism; the architectural manifestation of a kind of cultural Stockholm syndrome" - and a must-see.
• 3XN Architects take center stage at Berlin's Aedes Architekturforum.
• Higgins says hurry to see both "The New American Garden" and "Luminous Landscapes" at the National Building Museum: "Their contrasts, side by side, heighten the thrill of each one."
• Q&A with architect-turned-photographer Hoseguera re: his "Transition/On the Road" exhibition now on view in Venice.
• Mankad cheers Stratigakos's "Where Are the Women Architects?": "Her wry rejection of building metaphors [like "glass ceiling"] points to what I think is most interesting about this book: sexism manifests differently in architecture than other fields."
• Calys finds Lamb Hart's "A New Look at Humanism in Architecture, Landscapes and Urban Design" to be "a daunting book," but it "offers a perspective, while not new, that is in danger of being lost."
• In "A Burglar's Guide to the City," Manaugh "uncovers what breaking and entering can reveal about buildings."
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A Filtered View #5: Jet Fuel: The perfect client offers up enough fuel to run the design jets at the most optimum level. By Charles F. Bloszies, FAIA- ArchNewsNow.com |
Calatrava’s Extravagent Train Station and the Price of Beauty: The New York that approved the architect’s incredibly expensive transit hub isn’t the New York that ultimately built it: Why the change in tone? The city isn’t looking for poetry. It’s looking for infrastructure...beautiful buildings and spaces are still important to the city, a fact we often forget in discussions about the responsibilities of government to its constituents. By George Beane- Common Edge |
SFMOMA's expansion tries mightily but ultimately rings a bit hollow: ...performs a smooth lobotomy on the museum's existing building...In almost every other way the design is handsome, carefully intelligent, self-effacing and agreeable...Outside, as a presence in the cityscape...is even more apologetic about both its ambition and its bulk...There is both real deference and an odd sort of architectural fratricide in the way the new building treats the old one. By Christopher Hawthorne -- Mario Botta (1995); Snohetta [images]- Los Angeles Times |
Assessing the benefits and burdens of facadism in SF: ...facadism can be done poorly or done well. But if these design equivalents of a shotgun marriage become a default move rather than a last resort, the joke will be on all of us...when slivers of old buildings are saved for no real reason other than to make change seem a bit less abrupt, we lose the chance to do something all-new that’s distinctive. We also don’t show the past the respect that it deserves. By John King [images]- San Francisco Chronicle |
A Tech-Tudoresque Theater: Jeanne Gang’s Writers Theatre uses new technologies to create a welcoming space that, while large, remains intimate: ...a clever way to encourage residents to use the lobby in new ways...neighborhood children come often and are welcome to do their homework there...The showstopper, however, is an outdoor gallery walkway...This is experiential architecture of a high order. By Julie V. Iovine -- Studio Gang- Wall Street Journal |
Spreading like wildfire: Why wooden skyscrapers are springing up across the world: Lightweight, sustainable and even happiness-inducing, according to some experts, wood is being billed as the answer to creating greener cities. And apparently, it can be more fire resistant than steel. -- PLP Architecture- CNN |
Instrumental City: The View from Hudson Yards, circa 2019: The world’s most ambitious “smart city” project is here. Should we worry that New York City is becoming an experimental lab? The data we generate, based on determinist assumptions and imperfect methodologies, could end up shaping populations and building worlds in their own image...Are you worried yet? Or thrilled? By Shannon Mattern -- Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM); Diller Scofidio + Renfro; Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF); Rockwell Group; Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects; Thomas Heatherwick- Places Journal |
Does Transit Always Increase Land Value? Cities are harnessing future land values to pay for new infrastructure. But the research behind this approach may be flawed: ...a major study...reveals that common methods for evaluating transit’s impact on land values leave much to be desired. By Laura Bliss- CityLab (formerly The Atlantic Cities) |
Populous draws a crowd in Las Vegas: Taking its visual cues from the natural surroundings...the design of the T-Mobile Arena...not only accommodates a varied and complex program, but references its context and surroundings. [images]- World Architecture News (UK) |
Michael Sorkin named as American Academy in China’s inaugural Research Fellow: The urbanist, designer, and critic will begin...the “Made For China” project... -- Clifford Pearson; Qingyun Ma- The Architect's Newspaper |
The Strikingly Well-Preserved Modernist Homes of Pre-Revolutionary Cuba: Photographing history in Havana's Nuevo Vedado neighborhood: ...in the 1950s, there was a boom in construction for modernist architecture, for those who could afford it...Although some of the residences are falling into disrepair, their clean lines remain elegant. By Anika Burgess; photos by Stephen Allen -- Ricardo Porro [images]- Atlas Obscura |
AD's Copenhagen Travel Guide: An appealing mix of avant-garde and classical architecture and reinvigorated art and design scenes have made Copenhagen a hot destination. -- BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group; Julien De Smedt; Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects; Olafur Eliasson; Peder Vilhelm Jensen-Klint; Kaj Gottlob; Kaare Klint [images]- Architectural Digest |
"Partners in Design: Alfred H. Barr, Jr., and Philip Johnson": ...spotlights a crucial, though little-known, aspect of the development of American modern design: the collaboration between...these two visionaries and friends...traces the development of modern design from Bauhaus up to the influential MoMA exhibitions of the 1930s.- Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal / Montreal Museum of Fine Arts |
The architecture of independence? Or colonialism? "Architecture of Independence: African Modernism" at the Graham Foundation...is, in every way...the architectural manifestation of a kind of cultural Stockholm syndrome...Go see this show. The architecture is stunning, the research rigorous, and the images striking...But do so with one eye sideways, craning around the singular gaze presented to the complex questions that the exhibition raises. By Chelsea Ross -- Manuel Herz [images]- The Architect's Newspaper |
"Behind the Scenes - The Simplicity and Complexity of Architecture: 3XN Architects, Kopenhagen": ...an insight 'behind the scenes' of the making of architecture, exploring some of the less known stories, processes and people behind the glossy photos often used to depict architecture.- Aedes Architecture Forum/Aedes Architekturforum (Berlin) |
Preserving a fleeting art form: The garden: “The New American Garden: The Landscape Architecture of Oehme, van Sweden” is ending as another landscape design exhibition at the National Building Museum is in full swing. “Luminous Landscapes”...The two exhibitions have different objectives but at least one linkage...Their contrasts, side by side, heighten the thrill of each one. But hurry. -- Charles Birnbaum/The Cultural Landscape Foundation/TCLF; M. Paul Friedberg; Dan Kiley- Washington Post |
Interview with Ricardo Hoseguera: What inspired you to leave your career as an architect? What drew you to photography? "Architecture was a great foundation...It was a natural progression that happened quite organically, and once I found it, it stuck." "Transition/On the Road” on view at Stahl + Band, Venice [images]- Musée Magazine |
"Where Are the Women Architects?" by Despina Stratigakos: The general problem of male-dominated boardrooms is often described with building metaphors like “leaky pipeline” and the “glass ceiling"...Her wry rejection of building metaphors points to what I think is most interesting about this book: sexism manifests differently in architecture than other fields. By Raj Mankad- OffCite / Rice Design Alliance |
"A New Look at Humanism in Architecture, Landscapes and Urban Design" by Robert Lamb Hart: ...a daunting book; definitely not a light read...offers a perspective, while not new, that is in danger of being lost...Whether today’s young architects will cultivate their attention on the philosophical and scientific humanism underpinning modern architecture only the future can tell. By George Calys- San Francisco Examiner |
What Burglars Can Teach Architects: "A Burglar’s Guide to the City" by Geoff Manaugh uncovers what breaking and entering can reveal about buildings: He’s not interested in the act of taking other people’s things...but in what these felonies reveal about how people move within architectural spaces. By Jessica Leigh Hester- CityLab (formerly The Atlantic Cities) |
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Venice Biennale Curator Series: The Nordic Countries: Curated by David Basulto and...James Taylor-Foster, "In Therapy: Nordic Countries Face to Face" to explore and investigate architectural projects that have been instrumental in constructing contemporary Nordic society. By Robert Martin [images] |
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