Today’s News - Tuesday, November 21, 2017

EDITOR'S NOTE: We're taking a bit of a long-ish break for the Thanksgiving Day holiday, and will return Tuesday, November 28 (giving you extra time to puruse this rather long-ish news day). Happy Turkey Day to our U.S. friends and family!

●  Giovannini remembers our dear friend Kirsten Kiser and "the entrepreneurial and trailblazing career of the woman, architect, architectural curator, gallerist, bon vivant, and founder of ArcSpace.com - who understood early on the power of the internet to mediate and broadcast architecture" (fab photo of her with Corbu!).

●  Dietsch gives two thumbs-ups to SmithGroupJJR's new Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC: the "architecture soars in subtle and magnificent ways" by "injecting doses of modernism into the neoclassical warehouse to signal its new life as a museum" ("even skeptics wary of the founders" will be won over).

●  Speaking of D.C., a most impressive design team is creating "a new hospitality brand aimed at progressive millennials," combining a hotel and co-working space, aspiring "to be a press club, a sanctuary for intelligent thought, and a canvas for rising neighborhood talent" ("detox food" included).

●  Singh Bartlett walks "Beirut's wartime demarcation line," once "an overgrown wasteland of shredded buildings and shattered dreams, now a cultural pathway where a string of museums is erasing old boundaries, knitting the city together."

●  Wainwright parses four very different cities, from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia and San Francisco, to Calais and Jerusalem, that "reveal a shared experience: of human ingenuity against the odds" (with amazing photos from David Levene's new book "City").

●  Brownstein looks at how Seattle is moving "aggressively to confront the challenges of growth. It hasn't necessarily found all the right answers," but at least it's "asking the right questions."

●  Simon delves into social impact investment, "a trillion-dollar trend most people have never heard of - to prevent climate-related disasters, we need to invest differently - and it's "become increasingly accessible."

●  MAD Architects' Huangshan Mountain Village "looks like a UNESCO World Heritage Site" (with lots of flowery all-about-nature words - it hardly looks "unobtrusive" - looks a lot like MAD's Paris project - just sayin').

●  Who hasn't weighed in on the Architectural Association's layoffs, putting the beloved AA Files and exhibitions program at risk: Dyckhoff: "gruesome" and "madness" + McGuirk, Hatherley, Woodman, et al.

Everything old is new again - or gone:

●  Schneider takes a deep dive into how, "from the ruins of a retail meltdown, post-industrial playgrounds emerge" as a number of defunct 1920s Sears warehouses "have been resurrected in the image of the contemporary city - it pays to consider how the leftovers of a past economy can shape the next one."

●  Historic England calls out "exemplars" of disused textile mill projects that are "'shining a light' on successful regeneration projects that could inspire others."

●  On a less upbeat note, "time is running out" for the U.K.'s Alton Estate as Studio Egret West's redevelopment master plan calls for the demolition of "one of world's most important" housing estates.

Deadlines loom!

●  Call for Entries: Folly/Function 2018: Seats for Socrates Sculpture Park in NYC (always one of our faves!).

●  Call for entries (deadline looms!): Submissions for "SENcity": installations for the 13th Festival des Architectures Vives, Montpellier, France.

●  Call for entries (deadline looms!): European Centre for Architecture, Art, Design and Urban Studies/Chicago Athenaeum International Architecture Awards.

Weekend diversions (and lots of 'em!):

●  Cramer parses whether the new "Blade Runner 2049" stands up to the 1982 "sci-fi masterpiece": "There are moments of great beauty, but the film feels soulless, like a replicant, desperately searching for an identity of its own in the long shadow of its progenitor" (but "go see it anyway").

●  Abbott's take on "Blade Runner 2049": it is a "skillful blend of two distinct images of L.A. - as noir jungle and harbinger of the future - when 'La La Land' seems to be the new iconic L.A. film, the ambiance of 'Blade Runner' may seem a bit shopworn. Perhaps '2049' will change that."

●  Sisson talks to "Blade Runner 2049" production designer Gassner, who "explains how he visualized an update on one of film's most famous urban landscapes," and his "thought process behind updating a sci-fi touchstone (Brutalist architecture, the Barbican, Budapest's "colorful Secessionist architecture" included).

●  The Asia Society Hong Kong Center hosts M+ Matters' 3-day "REORIENT: Conversations on South and Southeast Asia."

●  Madsen cheers the National Building Museum's "Making Room: Housing for a Changing America" that offers "insight into flexible living arrangements - now more common than the nuclear family" (1,000-square-foot demonstration home constructed within the NBM included).

●  In Burlington, Vermont, "Imagining Home" presents ideal spaces as imagined by seven current or former homeless citizens, and rendered by architects: "Every single one of them started out saying, 'I want my design to be one that will help a lot of people - to provide housing for more than just me.'"

Page-turners:

●  Dittmar considers Jane Jacobs' "Vital Little Plans": "perhaps her radical notions can help address issues like the restructuring of work, the collapse of the globalist ideal, and the commodification of city land for investment."

●  Carl Anthony, "one of the first African Americans to get a Columbia architecture degree," offers an excerpt from his "The Earth, The City, and the Hidden Narrative of Race": it took a trip to Africa "to learn what I had not been taught in the nine years it had taken me to earn my professional degree."

●  Kolson Hurley's great Q&A with Ian Volner re: his "Michael Graves: Design for Life" that "tells of his arc from small-town obscurity to stardom, and how to reconcile the various sides of his architecture and character."

●  An excerpt from Volner's "Michael Graves: Design for Life" that highlights "how Graves became Graves."

●  Jansen hails Franklin and Howard's "Post-Modern Buildings in Britain": "sumptuous photographs and detailed texts reveal not only the lost language of post-modernism but also the richness of its ideas. Perhaps it's time for a comeback."

●  Budds picks "7 wild, wonderful icons" from "Post-Modern Buildings in Britain" that prove "Pomo's wackiness was an antidote for modernism's asceticism - decades after its heyday, it's finally getting its due."

●  With "Zaha Hadid Architects: Redefining Architecture and Design" (and "d-espite some notable omissions"), "the company she founded is hoping to further honor her legacy."

●  Smith's "Designing Detroit: Wirt Rowland and the Rise of Modern American Architecture" is "as formidable as Rowland's architectural work," and "is particularly refreshing in light of the numerous architectural porn books on Detroit's crumbling infrastructure."

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To subscribe to the free daily newsletter click here Joseph Giovannini: Remembering Kirsten Kiser: He recalls the entrepreneurial and trailblazing career of the woman who founded Arcspace: ...architect, architectural curator, gallerist, bon vivant, and founder of Arcspace, one of architecture’s first webzines...understood early on the power of the internet to mediate and broadcast architecture.- Architect Magazine Deborah K. Dietsch: Museum of the Bible architecture soars in subtle and magnificent ways: ...transforms a 1920s warehouse into a compelling, multimedia showplace for interpreting the world’s most read book...celebrates this industrial landmark - an anomaly within a federal precinct - by restoring original architectural elements lost over time...The results are strong yet simple, injecting doses of modernism into the neoclassical warehouse to signal its new life as a museum. -- David Greenbaum/SmithGroupJJR [images]- Washington Business Journal The opposite of Trump: New hospitality brand aimed at progressive millennials to launch in D.C.: ...will combine a hotel, co-working space and “cultural programming supporting the intersection of arts, consciousness and impact...Eaton D.C. will serve as a hub for journalists, pioneers and changemakers...aspires to be a press club, a sanctuary for intelligent thought, and a canvas for rising neighborhood talent." -- Sagmeister & Walsh; Project Projects; Gachot Studios; Parts and Labor Design; Avroko; Leong Leong; Kengo Kuma [images]- Washington Business Journal Warren Singh Bartlett: Walk the Line: Beirut's wartime demarcation line is now a cultural pathway: ...was an overgrown wasteland of shredded buildings and shattered dreams. Now the line...has become a place of encounter and exchange, where a string of museums is erasing old boundaries, knitting the city together. -- Renzo Piano; Youssef Haidar Architects; Dagher Hanna & Partners; Hala Wardé/HW Architecture; Antoine Nahas and Pierre Leprince Ringuet (1937)/Jean-Michel Wilmotte [images]- Wallpaper* Oliver Wainwright: The haves and have-nots: four cities in crisis: On the surface, Ulaanbaatar [capital of Mongolia], San Francisco, Calais and Jerusalem could not be more different - but for the people squeezed out by political upheaval or prohibitive rents, the urban 21st century looks disturbingly uniform: David Levene's photographs [from his new book "City"] reveal a shared experience: of human ingenuity against the odds. [images]- Guardian (UK) Ronald Brownstein: Can Seattle Handle Its Own Growth? The city is confronting multiple challenges that come with economic success: ...exemplifies the powerful current of economic vitality that is transforming many of the nation’s largest cities...also confronting a homelessness crisis, grinding traffic congestion, and a housing-affordability squeeze...Few cities have moved as aggressively...to confront the challenges of growth...It hasn’t necessarily found all the right answers, but it is ahead of most places in asking the right questions.- The Atlantic Morgan Simon: To prevent climate-related disasters, invest differently: Social investing is a trillion-dollar trend most people have never heard of: As Hurricane Maria - as well as recent disasters in Houston, Florida and northern California - have reminded us, nature is a very fickle, but also dependable force...we need to fundamentally change the economy, starting with the way that we invest...the practice of impact investment - investing dollars in a way that’s aligned with the social and environmental future we’d like to see - has become increasingly accessible.- Salon MAD Architects' Newest Residences Look Like a UNESCO World Heritage Site: Huangshan Mountain Village is a series of buildings meant to house tourists while seamlessly blending into its natural environment: ...a design which was meant to mimic the natural shapes of the environment...the undulating formation of Ma Yansong's structures mean that no two apartments are the same...outdoor balconies to look as if they are a series of tea fields... [images]- Architectural Digest Architectural Association accused of "destroying its own cultural mission" over redundancy plans: Staff cuts could put the publishing [AA Files] and exhibitions operations at the AA school at risk, prompting outrage from leading architects and writers...Not everyone was surprised by the news: Tom Dyckhoff: "gruesome" and "madness"; Circa Press: "mindless cultural vandalism"; Justin McGuirk; Liam Young; Owen Hatherley: "should be strenuously resisted by anyone interested in architecture"; Ellis Woodman; Irénée Scalbert; Charles Holland: seems spectacularly short-sighted"; Phineas Harper- Dezeen Benjamin Schneider: From the Ruins of a Retail Meltdown, Post-Industrial Playgrounds Emerge: ...Sears’s massive 1920s warehouses represent a triumph of post-industrial urbanism: ...six of the seven remaining plants have been resurrected in the image of the contemporary city...more recent plant rehabilitations place a greater emphasis on mixed-use development and placemaking strategies that integrate them into their neighborhoods...it pays to consider how the leftovers of a past economy can shape the next one. [images]- CityLab (formerly The Atlantic Cities) Historic England calls for new era of industrial regeneration: Heritage adviser flags textile mill projects by FSP FSP Architects, KPP Architects and Beckwith Design as exemplars: ...disused mills in the West Riding of Yorkshire alone could be converted to deliver up to 27,000 homes, or employment space capable of supporting 150,000 jobs...“shining a light” on successful regeneration projects could inspire others... [images]- BD/Building Design (UK) Historians warn of ‘grave effect’ of Alton Estate redevelopment: Demolition threat at ‘one of world’s most important’ estates: Time is running out...because a masterplan drawn up by Studio Egret West is in the final stages of public consultation before heading in for planning...Barnabas Calder, a trustee of the Twentieth Century Society...said the scale of proposed destruction was “completely inappropriate.” -- Levitt Bernstein [images]- BD/Building Design (UK) Call for Entries: Folly/Function 2018: Seats: design and fabricate public seating for the Socrates Sculpture Park - movable single or double outdoor seating for at least 25 people; $6,000 production grant; deadline: January 8, 2018- Architectural League of New York / Socrates Sculpture Park Call for entries: Submissions for "SENcity": 13th Festival des Architectures Vives, Montpellier, France, June 12-17, 2018: seeking 10 installations that reveal an intimate relationship between contemporary architecture, installation, and patrimonial site; deadline: December 1 [in English & French]- Festival des Architectures Vives (FAV) Call for entries (deadline reminder - deadline looms!): International Architecture Awards: to honor the best, significant new buildings, landscape architecture, and planning projects designed and/or built around the world; deadline: December 1- Chicago Athenaeum / European Centre for Architecture, Art, Design and Urban Studies / Metropolitan Arts Press Ned Cramer: The Replicant City of "Blade Runner 2049": Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi masterpiece...set the bar in film for cities of the future. Does the speculative urbanism of Denis Villeneuve’s sequel stand up? ...to maintain continuity, [he] brought back Harrison Ford, screenwriter Hampton Fancher, and concept artist Syd Mead. What he left behind was the original’s richness of detail, verisimilitude, and conceptual rigor...There are moments of great beauty, but the film feels soulless, like a replicant, desperately searching for an identity of its own in the long shadow of its progenitor.- Architect Magazine Carl Abbott: "Blade Runner 2049" and the Dystopic Los Angeles: The film’s impact comes from its skillful blend of two distinct images of L.A. - as noir jungle and harbinger of the future: ...opens 35 years after the original version...It helped fuel two decades of critical and dystopian depictions of L.A...The upbeat Southern California narrative was ripe for reversal...when "La La Land" seems to be the new iconic L.A. film, the ambiance of "Blade Runner" may seem a bit shopworn. Perhaps "2049" will change that. [trailers]- CityLab (formerly The Atlantic Cities) Patrick Sisson: Blade Runner 2049: Sci-fi’s neo-noir cityscape gets an update: Dennis Gassner explains how he visualized an update on one of film’s most famous urban landscapes: ...a Hollywood veteran responsible for the look of The Truman Show, Skyfall, and O Brother, Where Art Thou?...[his] thought process behind updating a sci-fi touchstone...He used the forms, shapes, and facades of Brutalist architecture, such as the Barbican in London...also drew inspiration from the streetscape of Budapest...Russian-built factories, as well as the Hungarian city’s colorful Secessionist architecture.- Curbed M+, West Kowloon Cultural District: "REORIENT: Conversations on South and Southeast Asia": part of the M+ Matters series of public talks and discussions; Asia Society Hong Kong Center, November 30 - December 2 -- Anupama Kundoo/Anupama Kundoo Architects; Aric Chen; Eko Prawoto/Eko Prawoto Architecture Workshop; Shirley Surya; etc.- e-flux Deane Madsen: Living Large in Small Spaces by 'Making Room': "Making Room: Housing for a Changing America" examines possibilities for better housing...Through analysis...case studies, and a centerpiece 1,000-square-foot demonstration home constructed within the NBM...visitors will gain insight into flexible living arrangements...now more common than the nuclear family...illustrates means of integrating adaptability through smarter construction and reconfigurable layouts... -- National Building Museum, Washington, D.C., thru September 16, 2018 [images]- Architectural Record "Imagining Home" Asks Participants And Architects To Design Ideal Spaces To Address Homelessness: Alison Cannon knew people experiencing homelessness were building these structures but she wanted to know why...seven people who were or had been homeless for their vision of an ideal home...enlisted local architects to draw up renderings..."Every single one of them started out saying, 'I want my design to be one that will help a lot of people - to provide housing for more than just me.'" Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, Vermont, thru December 31 [images]- Vermont Public Radio Hank Dittmar: Is urban planning squeezing the life out of our cities? Jane Jacobs argued against one size fits all solutions: "Vital Little Plans" made me think about her work in the context of the dramatic reshaping of our cities by global financial capitalism and property investment...reveals that her seemingly separate propositions about neighbourhood life, city economies, national wealth and ethics were really a connected effort...perhaps [her] radical notions can help address issues like the restructuring of work, the collapse of the globalist ideal, and the commodification of city land for investment.- BD/Building Design (UK) Carl Anthony: I studied architecture at Columbia. But I didn’t truly understand it till I visited West Africa: One of the first African Americans to get a Columbia architecture degree found his architectural identity in Mali: I wanted to arrive at a deeper understanding of the relationship between my chosen profession and the African and African American communities that I aspired to serve...to begin again and to learn what I had not been taught in the nine years it had taken me to earn my professional degree. [excerpt from "The Earth, The City, and the Hidden Narrative of Race"]- Salon Amanda Kolson Hurley: The Many Sides of Michael Graves: A new biography...tells of his rise from small-town Indiana to partnerships with Disney and Target, and how disability shaped his outlook: "Michael Graves: Design for Life" by Ian Volner...Q&A re: Graves’s arc from small-town obscurity to stardom, and how to reconcile the various sides of his architecture and character. [images]- CityLab (formerly The Atlantic Cities) Ian Volner: How Graves Became Graves: Excerpts from a new biography on postmodernist..."Michael Graves: Design for Life"...three pivotal moments, excerpted below, that show the influences that shaped Graves’ career and singular style. [images]- Architect Magazine Charlotte Jansen: Rebel revival: a new tome revisits British post-modernist architecture: ...the style's hybrid vocabulary was hard to define, but shaped a legacy that, though often overlooked or diminished, has been profound...Through sumptuous photographs and detailed texts..."Post-Modern Buildings in Britain" by Geraint Franklin and Elain Howard reveals not only the lost language of post-modernism but also the richness of its ideas. Perhaps it's time for a comeback. [images]- Wallpaper* Diana Budds: 7 Wild, Wonderful Icons Of Postmodern Architecture: Pomo’s wackiness was an antidote for modernism’s asceticism. And decades after its heyday, it’s finally getting its due. The results were often mind-boggling, as "Post-Modern Buildings In Britain" by Elain Harwood & Geraint Franklin shows...aims to raise awareness about these architectural treasures by introducing readers to their inventiveness.- Fast Company / Co.Design Zaha Hadid: How the 'Queen of the Curve' redefined our cities: ...while Hadid lives on through her neo-futuristic buildings, the company she founded is hoping to further honor her legacy with...""Zaha Hadid Architects: Redefining Architecture and Design"...Despite some notable omissions...offers insight into the Iraqi-British architect's unique take on form, function and geometry...presents a heavy bias towards the later, more polished stages of her career...also profiles 12 new projects which will be completed posthumously... -- Patrik Schumacher [images]- CNN Style The forgotten genius: Michael G. Smith writes a book about Detroit architectural legend: “Designing Detroit: Wirt Rowland and the Rise of Modern American Architecture"...is as formidable as Rowland’s architectural work...examines in detail, the life and prodigious career of Detroit’s premier, but virtually unknown, architect...book is particularly refreshing in light of the numerous architectural porn books which were published in the last five years on Detroit’s crumbling infrastructure.- Lansing City Pulse (Michigan)

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