Today’s News - Friday, January 5, 2018
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● Kamin pays tribute to FLW archivist Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer, who "wrote or edited more than 50 books about the buildings, ideas and career of the legendary architect - 'He is almost single-handedly the person who organized the archives,' said Bergdoll."
● Hawthorne makes a pilgrimage to Portman's Bonaventure Hotel: "As any nostalgist knows, the most depressing kind of architectural space is one that is slightly and tentatively rather than resoundingly out of date" ("intriguingly weird" and "cringe-worthy" considered).
● Dreessen makes the case for why "Canadian architecture needs the support of a national policy - if we're not careful to nurture our homegrown architecture talent, we'll soon find that all the buildings in Canada are being designed by others."
● Bozikovic cheers "Unceded," Canada's entry at the 2018 Venice Biennale: "Bringing an Indigenous voice to the world's premier forum for architecture could be a bold step in reconciliation - and a revolution in how we build."
● American designers don't have to "reinvent the wheel" - they can learn much from experienced mass timber designers in Europe and Canada, especially when it comes to helping "cities add housing rapidly, safely, and efficiently."
● Kim parses Leers Weinzapfel Associates' Olver Design Building at UMass Amherst, "the world's largest cross-laminated timber academic building - on track for LEED Gold certification and doing its job as a teaching tool, too" (with fab photos by Esto's Vecerka).
● Great Q&A with Beverly Willis re: gender equity, how she became a pioneer in the field, the goals of her foundation, and the recently-launched "Pioneering Women of American Architecture" website.
● Harvard GSD announces the six winners of the 2018 Richard Rogers Fellowship who "will conduct research on cross-disciplinary subjects ranging from property guardianship to large-scale prototyping of urban environments" (very interesting research proposals).
● Just when you thought you'd heard it all: A new arts nonprofit called MAGA (yes, that MAGA) is offering tours of Trump's border wall prototypes - and is petitioning to get them "recognized as national monument under the Antiquities Act of 1906" (an "unintended sculpture garden"?!!?).
Deadlines:
● Call for entries: Azure magazine's international 2018 AZ Awards.
● Call for entries: 2018 Ragdale Ring, a temporary, outdoor performance venue in Lake Forest, Illinois.
● Deadline reminder: Call for Presentations for the 2018 ASLA Annual Meeting & EXPO in Philly in October.
Weekend diversions:
● Page "unpicks the architectural inspiration behind" the "Star Wars" movies, and Lucas's "magpie approach to architecture" for his planets that, "in some cases, has come to influence our own."
● Betsky minces no words about what he thinks of Koolhaas's "BASE" at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam: it "has made a mess out of a great art collection - it shows the hubris of architects who think that they are something they are not. It is moves like this that give contemporary art history and architecture a bad name."
● Arieff, on a brighter note, finds "real optimism" in the Cooper Hewitt's "Access+Ability": it "reveals the challenge of bringing empathy to the marketplace," with "more than 70 products initiated by someone who either has a disability or has a family member who does. It's time for the market to catch up to the need"- and hire the designers!
● Wills also gives thumbs-up to "Access+Ability": it "reveals that a growing number of designers - including architecture students - have woken up to the needs of this often overlooked group, and demonstrates how designers have started to meet those needs with both skill and ingenuity."
● In Moscow, "AvantGardeStroi: Architectural Rhythm of the Revolution" at the Shchusev Museum of Architecture aims "to attract public's attention to the problem of the preservation of the Soviet avant-garde. Many of the buildings shown - despite being masterpieces - are actually under the threat of demolition."
● In Ann Arbor, Michigan, "Cloud/Bank" recreates the temporary installation designed by a Taubman College team for the 2017 Exhibit Columbus in Columbus, Indiana, that "features advanced manufacturing techniques in architectural design that are unique to Taubman."
Page-turners:
● Zeiger cheers the "encyclopedic" book "The Arsenal of Exclusion & Inclusion" by Armborst, D'Oca, Theodore, and Gold: it "arms citizens and urbanists with greater knowledge about the forces shaping our public spaces" with "an editorial tone that is forthright but not strident."
● Salingaros cheers Millais's "Le Corbusier, the Dishonest Architect," a "refreshing analysis, clarifying what has been hidden for decades"; if it had been "around for the last 50 years, it might have saved us from architectural and urban design mistakes, now ingrained in architectural and planning cultures."
● Bell, on the other hand, offers a "Brutalist book club," citing three "colossal compendiums of concrete architecture. Once a marginalized and maligned genre, brutalism has burst back onto the design scene."
● Budds rounds up "10 must-read design books to get you ready for 2018: Knowledge is power."
● Abbott revisits Burton's 1942 "The Little House" - the "anti-urban children's story everyone loves; Disney's 1952 version makes the city even more menacing."
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Obituary by Blair Kamin: Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer, archivist for Frank Lloyd Wright, 87: ...wrote or edited more than 50 books about the buildings, ideas and career of the legendary architect...“He is almost single-handedly the person who organized the archives,” said Barry Bergdoll.- Chicago Tribune |
Christopher Hawthorne: The wrong kind of time capsule: Notes on an afternoon inside John Portman's Bonaventure Hotel: ...the only people I know who go there are architectural tourists. And they tend to leave disappointed... As any nostalgist knows, the most depressing kind of architectural space is one that is slightly and tentatively rather than resoundingly out of date. An architectural sensibility 30 or 40 years old is often intriguingly weird; one 10 or 15 years old is usually just cringe-worthy.- Los Angeles Times |
Toon Dreessen: Canadian architecture needs the support of a national policy: The Ordre des architectes du Québec (OAQ) is actively consulting with the government on the establishment of a provincial architecture policy...our federal government should follow...it behooves us to invest properly and get the design right...if we're not careful to nurture our homegrown architecture talent, we'll soon find that all the buildings in Canada...are being designed by others. -- Dreessen Cardinal Architects- Globe and Mail (Canada) |
Alex Bozikovic: What Canada's entry at the next Venice Biennale really means: Bringing an Indigenous voice to the world's premier forum for architecture, "Unceded" could be a bold step in reconciliation - and a revolution in how we build: It's not principally a question of a formal style or of particular building types, but of a world view...2018 Biennale...has the loose theme "Freespace"...On a thematic level, "Unceded" may prove a good fit. -- David Fortin; Douglas Cardinal; Gerald McMaster; Eladia Smoke; Patrick Stewart [image]- Globe and Mail (Canada) |
Learning from Europe and Canada’s timber industry: As products like cross-laminated timber (CLT), nail-laminated timber (NLT), glue-laminated timber (glulam), and dowel-laminated timber (DLT) begin to make their way into widespread use, designers, engineers, and builders alike are searching for the best...applications...But rather than reinvent the wheel, American designers can look to experienced mass timber designers in Europe and Canada for key lessons...mass timber has the potential to help cities add housing rapidly, safely, and efficiently. -- Waugh Thistleton Architects; Ramboll; Acton Ostry Architects; C.F. Møller; Shigeru Ban; Michael Green Architecture; PLP Architecture [images]- The Architect's Newspaper |
Sheila Kim: Leers Weinzapfel Associates Designs the World’s Largest Cross-Laminated Timber Academic Building: The four-level glulam post-and-beam structure houses the architecture, landscape architecture, and Building and Construction Technology (BCT) programs [at the University of Massachusetts Amherst]: Students also gain insights from the environmentally conscious rain gardens and courtyard green roof...on track for LEED Gold certification and is doing its job as a teaching tool, too. -- Stephen Stimson Associates [images]- Metropolis Magazine |
Interview: Legendary architect Beverly Willis on gender equity in the building and design industry: ...how she became a pioneer in the field, the goals of [Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation] and her continued push for gender equity in architecture, and beyond, through education and research...In 2017, BWAF launched a website, “Pioneering Women of American Architecture"... [images]- 6sqft (New York City) |
Harvard GSD Announces Winners of the 2018 Richard Rogers Fellowship: This year's six winners will conduct research on cross-disciplinary subjects ranging from property guardianship to large-scale prototyping of urban environments: This year's winners hail from Switzerland, Japan, Australia, and the United States. -- Irina Davidovici; Peter Buš; Aleksandr Bierig; Alexis Kalagas; Kaz Yoneda; Cathy Smith- Architect Magazine |
Through MAGA group, artist Christoph Büchel is now offering tours of the border wall: ...MAGA is also petitioning to get the border wall prototypes recognized as national monument under the Antiquities Act of 1906...hey constitute an unintended sculpture garden willed into existence by the president and his supporters.- The Architect's Newspaper |
Call for entries: 2018 AZ Awards: an international competition recognizing excellence in design; all entrants may be considered for the Social Good Award and/or the Environmental Leadership Award; earlybird submission deadline (save money!): February 1 (final submission deadline: February 20)- Azure magazine (Canada) |
Call for entries: 2018 Ragdale Ring: a design-build studio residency leading to the installation of a temporary, outdoor performance venue in Lake Forest, Illinois; $15,000 production grant to fund the project and a 3-week design-build residency for a team of up to ten individuals; deadline: March 8- Ragdale |
Call for entries - deadline reminder: Call for Presentations: 2018 ASLA Annual Meeting & EXPO, October 19–22, 2018, Philadelphia, deadline: January 31- American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) |
Thomas Page: Building an empire: Exploring the architecture of 'Star Wars': Jabba the Hutt's palace on Tatooine...A combination of Byzantine shapes and clean Brutalist surfaces, it's an example of "Star Wars'" magpie approach to architecture...takes in Mayan ziggurats...Baroque, Art Nouveau, Modernist and Brutalist architecture, the Classical era and the early Middle Ages - and even the aesthetic of the Third Reich...we unpick the architectural inspiration behind various Star Wars planets, and discover how their design has, in some cases, come to influence our own. -- Ralph McQuarrie [images]- CNN Style |
Aaron Betsky: The BASEST Form of Architecture: After a recent visit [to the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam], Betsky thinks that Rem Koolhaas has made a mess out of a great art collection: Why care about a mere exhibition design in a faraway country? Because it shows the hubris of architects who think that they are something they are not...“BASE”...a labyrinth...What you get in the basement level is pure chaos...It is moves like this that give contemporary art history and architecture a bad name. -- AMO; Benthem Crouwel Architects [images]- Architect Magazine |
Allison Arieff: Designing for Access: “Access+Ability"...fills one with real optimism: ...also reveals the challenge of bringing empathy to the marketplace: Most of the more than 70 products on display were initiated by someone who either has a disability or has a family member who does. Frustrated by the lack of solutions created by others, these people were motivated by their own experience and need...The big discussion should be how to get more manufacturers, developers and companies to hire them to do it. It’s time for the market to catch up to the need. Cooper Hewitt, NYC, thru Septtember 3, 2018- New York Times |
Eric Wills: Cooper Hewitt Spotlights Design for Access: "Access + Ability"...many of the items...owe their creation to someone who couldn’t find a suitable product for their own use...also reveals that a growing number of designers - including architecture students - have woken up to the needs of this often overlooked group...exhibits help inspire considerable empathy...and demonstrate how designers have started to meet those needs with both skill and ingenuity. thru September 3 [images]- Architect Magazine |
Avant-Garde Architecture on Display in Moscow: The architectural story of the 1917 Revolution at the Shchusev Museum of Architecture: Amid a flurry of exhibitions devoted to the October revolution centennial, “AvantGardeStroi: Architectural Rhythm of the Revolution" definitely stands out...it tells a story of avant-garde architects of late 1920s-1930s...largely an educational exhibition, but it also has another purpose - to attract public's attention to the problem of the preservation of the Soviet avant-garde. Many of the buildings shown...despite being masterpieces...are actually under the threat of demolition. Thru April 1 -- Ivan Leonidov; Alexander Rodchenko; Konstantin Melnikov; Ilya Golosov; Moisei Ginzburg; Boris Iofan [images]- The Moscow Times (Russia) |
"Cloud/Bank": a temporary installation designed for the 2017 Exhibit Columbus in Columbus, Indiana...features advanced manufacturing techniques in architectural design that are unique to Taubman College; Ann Arbor, MI; thru February 11- University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning (Ann Arbor, MI) |
Mimi Zeiger: The City is a Weapon: How Design Controls and Monitors Public Space: "The Arsenal of Exclusion & Inclusion" arms citizens and urbanists with greater knowledge about the forces shaping our public spaces: ...encyclopedic volume by Tobias Armborst, Daniel D’Oca, and Georgeen Theodore with Riley Gold...They strike an editorial tone that is forthright but not strident...comes at a critical time when interest in the urban realm has moved beyond the innocence of tactical urbanism...The subject at its center is not necessarily the citizen, the urban designer, or the politician, but the city itself - a constructed phenomenon shaped by the weapons of our own design. -- Interboro; Toni Griffin- Metropolis Magazine |
Nikos Salingaros: Dimensions of Failure: A Review of "Le Corbusier, the Dishonest Architect" by Malcolm Millais: ...a refreshing analysis of a towering figure...clarifying what has been hidden for decades...Frustrating those who wish to protect his image untarnished, there is no saving grace in Corbu’s ideas or actual production...seeing the whole picture becomes as frightening as it is repulsive...This excellent book...should have been around for the last 50 years. It might have saved us from architectural and urban design mistakes, now ingrained in architectural and planning cultures.- New English Review |
Jonathan Bell: Brutalist book club: colossal compendiums of concrete architecture: Once a marginalised and maligned genre, brutalism has burst back onto the design scene: Photographer Simon Phipps’ "Finding Brutalism" is perhaps the most straightforward...Simon Henley’s "Redefining Brutalism" seeks the bits of brutalist architecture that are still relevant..."SOS Brutalism," a monumental survey of the more esoteric expressions of concrete architecture around the world, with a special focus on those that are threatened by alteration or demolition. [images]- Wallpaper* |
Diana Budds: 10 Must-Read Design Books To Get You Ready For 2018: Knowledge is power: "The Way To Design" by Steve Vassallo; "Never Use Futura" by Douglas Thomas; "SuperDesign: Italian Radical Design" by Maria Cristina Didero et. al.; "Post-Modern Buildings In Britain" by Geraint Franklin and Elain Harwood; "The New Urban Crisis" by Richard Florida; "Now You See It - And Other Essays In Design" by Michael Bierut; "The Strip: Las Vegas And The Architecture of the American Dream" by Stefen Al; "A Universe Explodes" by Tea Uglow; "Brolliology: A History of the Umbrella in Life and Literature" by Marion Rankine; "I Fought The Law" by Olivia Locher- Fast Company / Co.Design |
Carl Abbott: Revisiting an Anti-Urban Children's Story Everyone Loves: If Robert McCloskey’s "Make Way For Ducklings" anticipated Jane Jacobs, Virginia Lee Burton’s "The Little House" lined up firmly with Lewis Mumford: The book is charming...a beguiling visual style...the house is undeniably cute with windows as soulful eyes and its door as a nose. Its implicit message is anti-urban...Burton claimed that she was simply celebrating the pleasures of the country, not attacking cities...Disney’s 1952 version...makes the city even more menacing.- CityLab (formerly The Atlantic Cities) |
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