Today’s News - Wednesday, October 19, 2016
• Kolson Hurley says it's time to ban the "relentless blandeur" of "glass-box architecture" (a.k.a. "glass boxitude") in Washington, DC. ("blandeur" and "boxitude" now our favorite new words!).
• Dunmall parses Zaha's "diamond in the sky" in Antwerp: its "sheer chutzpah" is "far from subtle, but then again, it isn't supposed to be."
• Medina cheers DS+R's new Columbia University medical school that "upends the typology's ingrained gloominess" with a "lively, if not swaggering, urban manner - a genuinely thrilling building that empathizes with its users."
• A look at India's "monolithic" Museum of Socialism "designed to exude empowerment."
• Civitas's Johnson weighs in on what Denver is "getting right - and wrong - about the current population boom": "dumbing down creativity moves us toward the lowest common denominator."
• A look at how some architects "plan to get Hongkongers walking. To be fair, Hong Kong is rather walkable already."
• Good - and bad - news for Mid-century Modernism: SOM offers an extensive study into the reuse of Bertrand Goldberg's "accordion-shaped" Elgin Laundry Building.
• Dukmasova delves deep into how and why Goldberg's 1966 Hilliard Homes in Chicago is "high-rise public housing that works" today: "His goal was to demonstrate that public housing didn't have to be bleak, ticky-tacky boxes."
• The U.K.'s 1961 Park Hill Brutalist housing project "has suffered a turbulent, roller-coaster ride subject to scorn and adoration"; it is now a listed building and being renovated.
• Not such good news for Robin Hood Gardens after "plans to save it were consigned to failure last August," and the next phase to rebuild begins.
• On a brighter note, it's refreshing to see Atlanta beginning to appreciate its mid-century heritage, once "resigned to irrelevancy without a second thought," and now being saved.
• Lavin takes a long look at why "the first and sometimes last thing an architect designs is himself," offering a fascinating history of architects' names and their "self-archiving impulse." (great read!).
• The U.S. and U.K. took a look at the state of architects' mental health. Now Australia has done the same, only to find "serious information gaps and concerns - which is particularly concerning considering the high-number of mental illness risk factors and triggers associated with the profession."
• WOHA is Maison&Objet Asia's first Singapore-based firm to be named Designer of the Year.
• Call for entries: Canyon View Accommodation (CaVA) Arizona + James Beard Foundation 2017 Restaurant Design Awards.
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Amanda Kolson Hurley: Glass-Box Architecture Has Held Sway in D.C. Long Enough: Ban the box.: Glass boxes are never eyesores, but that’s only because they never take any risks...The crime of the ornament-free glass box is its relentless blandeur. Its unwillingness to cause offense is, itself, slightly offensive...Glass boxitude is its own style... -- Norman Foster; Shalom Baranes; SHoP; Joshua Prince-Ramus/REX; Herzog & de Meuron; Annabelle Selldorf; Eduardo Souto de Moura- Washington City Paper (Washington, DC ) |
Giovanna Dunmall: Diamond in the Sky: Zaha Hadid Architects blends the historic and the futuristic for the Antwerp Port Authority’s new headquarters: The overall impact...is far from subtle, but then again, it isn’t supposed to be...It’s in the sheer chutzpah of bringing two such contrasting elements together that [it] shows its ambition. The juxtaposition is unsettling...but the engineering innovation it took to create the building pays off in sheer drama. [images]- Metropolis Magazine |
Samuel Medina: Incision Point: Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s newest Manhattan project for a medical school upends the typology’s ingrained gloominess: ...Vagelos Education Center at the Columbia University Medical Center...it’s...lively, if not swaggering, urban manner...Pellucid and eager to please, the lean tower evidently offered the architects the chance to indulge long-held but thwarted notions of space...a genuinely thrilling building that...empathizes with its users... -- SCAPE [images]- Metropolis Magazine |
Monolithic Museum of Socialism opens in India's Uttar Pradesh: ...dedicated to socialist political leader Jayaprakash Narayan...the JN Interpretation Centre...spread across six acres in the city of Lucknow...forms a huge triangle, representing the three main tenets of socialism...freedom, equality and brotherhood...designed to exude empowerment...-- Archohm; Design Factory India [images]- CLAD (Community of Leisure Architects & Designers) |
How To Think About Denver's Growth: Civitas president Mark Johnson on what we're getting right - and wrong - about the current population boom: Although he applauds the addition of a design review process...it’s produced some unintended results...with planned unit developments (PUDs)...many of them have a similarly uninspiring, monolithic look and feel..."dumbing down creativity...moves us toward the lowest common denominator"...Denver is far from alone...- 5280 magazine (Denver) |
Stepping out: how architects plan to get Hongkongers walking: Walkability is now a cornerstone of good urban design; but it’s as much about psychology as getting people from A to B: Walkable cities are the cornerstone of “new urbanism"...Its holy grail is a car-free city, to which several countries, including China, have publicly aspired...To be fair, Hong Kong is rather walkable already. By Peta Tomlinson -- Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture (AS+GG); Rocco Yim Suen-kee/Rocco Design Architects- South China Morning Post |
Reuse Accord: SOM proposes new use for vacant Bertrand Goldberg building: ...an extensive study into the reuse of the Elgin Laundry Building. The long span accordion-shaped structure...sits the former campus of the Elgin Mental Health Hospital...the space could be reused as a multipurpose recreational facility...without compromising the original design. -- Skidmore, Owings & Merrill [images]- The Architect's Newspaper |
The Goldberg variation: High-rise public housing that works: Bertrand Goldberg’s Hilliard Homes opened as a model community in 1966. It still is today: His goal was to demonstrate that public housing didn't have to be bleak, ticky-tacky boxes...Today the quality of life at the development flies in the face of conventional wisdom about high-rise public housing...a stroll through Hilliard today makes it seem like a utopia. By Maya Dukmasova [images]- Chicago Reader |
"I Love U Will You Marry Me": Brutalist housing project, Europe’s largest protected building, to be renovated: Park Hill in Sheffield, U.K. has suffered a turbulent, roller-coaster ride since its completion in 1961. Now a listed building...has been subject to scorn and adoration...currently being renovated... -- Jack Lynn and Ivor Smith; Urban Splash; Hawkins\Brown; Studio Egret West- The Architect's Newspaper |
Next phase of Robin Hood Gardens rebuild breaks ground: Swan Housing begins work on blocks by Karakusevic Carson Architects: ...£300m scheme to replace Alison and Peter Smithson’s...estate in east London....Plans to save [it] were consigned to failure last August... -- Metropolitan Workshop; Hawroth Tompkins [images]- BD/Building Design (UK) |
Rediscovering Atlanta’s Architecture: The Buckhead Branch Library: Inspired by the near loss of Marcel Breuer’s Central Library (and real loss of countless other buildings)...12-part series seeks to highlight buildings which Atlantans have resigned to irrelevancy without a second thought...the library holds its own...unabashedly facing the boom of the big city from high on a hill. By Michael Kahn -- Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects- ArtsATL (Atlanta) |
Sylvia Lavin: History for an Empty Future: The first and sometimes last thing an architect designs is himself...A history of architects’ names would be less a collection of biographies than an anthology of traces left by existences...As industrial modernization further alienated the architect-as-person from his productions, compensatory architectural signatures proliferated until even buildings themselves were signed.- e-flux |
Serious information gaps and concerns found in review of architecture’s state of mental health: New research commissioned by the NSW Architects Registration Board..."Literature Review Architects and Mental Health" finds that research on the mental health and wellbeing of those involved in the Australian architectural industry is lacking, which is particularly concerning considering the high-number of mental illness risk factors and triggers associated with the profession. [link to report]- Architecture & Design (Australia) |
WOHA founders bag prestigious design award: Architects Wong Mun Summ and Richard Hassell...chosen as Designer of the Year for 2017 Maison&Objet Asia...the first time a Singapore architect or designer has been awarded the title in the design show's history.- The Straits Times (Singapore) |
Call for entries: Canyon View Accommodation (CaVA) Arizona: propose a temporary accommodation space for visitors in such unique and delicate spaces as the Grand Canyon; open to architecture students and young architects; cash prizes; earlybird registration deadline (save money!): December 9 (submissions due February 3, 2017)- Arquideas (Spain) |
Call for entries: James Beard Foundation 2017 Restaurant Design Awards; deadline: January 27- James Beard Foundation |
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Fanatik Architecture Interview: ...one of the most successful architecture and design businesses in Second Life, an online virtual world...explore the world, build, create, shop and trade virtual property and services. By Kirsten Kiser -- Kendra Zaurak [images] |
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