Today’s News - Wednesday, February 14, 2018
● We lead with Next City's amazing reporting from the World Urban Forum 9, which just wrapped up its 7 days in Kuala Lumpur, that focused on implementing "a bold New Urban Agenda" (plan to spend some time here!).
● Wainwright x 2: He visits The World, and considers "the return of Dubai's ultimate folly" - the "fantasy archipelago of 300 artificial 'countries' is back in business," though "it's hard to shake the sense of an Ozymandian ruin" (it's "a forlorn sight").
● He's much more positive about the "£3bn rebirth of King's Cross" that includes "dictator chic and pie-in-the-sky penthouses" by 35 different architects. "There's a touch of bling" and "youthful swagger. There are some howlers too."
● Moore parses the £1.5bn makeover and rebuilding of the BBC Television Centre into "a multifunctional, if mostly high-end, piece of city. It's a coherent and well-made piece" (though "good intentions are symbolized as much as achieved").
● On a smaller scale, Chicago's 1901 Bush Temple of Music Revived is now a 101-unit apartment community with a restoration that recalls the landmark's history as a piano showroom.
● Safdie is on board to design a new library for Boise, Idaho (currently housed in a 1940s retrofitted warehouse): "The city hopes to have a final, detailed design by early May. What Boise doesn't have is a firm plan to pay" for it.
● Sreenivasan visits post-Harvey Houston to "explore what changes leaders say are needed to avoid another disaster, and who should pay for them."
● K. Jacobs takes a deep dive into the RPA's "wonderfully contrarian proposal" to turn the roughly 8,400-acre New Jersey Meadowlands into a national park that "could keep 20 million New York-area residents above water" - it's "progressive, clear-eyed, and just a little dull" with "one jaw-dropping idea" ("'Road Warrior' chic" included).
● Barber rounds up "11 ugly urban underpasses now functioning as public parks" (very cool - too bad the designers aren't included).
● Dunlop's Celtic crossing proposal for a bridge between Scotland and Ireland continues to interest politicians.
● Kamin says that, as far as he's concerned, the John Hancock Center is still the Hancock, even though "the muscular, X-braced giant - a symbol of Chicago's urban might" now carries "the wet-dishrag name of 875 North Michigan Avenue. Is Carl Sandburg turning over in his grave?"
● Gerfen brings us a great presentation of the 65th Annual P/A Awards given to 10 projects that "are wondrous in their disparity, demonstrating architecture's undiminished capacity to both improve society and reinvent itself."
● One we couldn't resist: Eyefuls of "a new breed of digital artists combining photography with image manipulation techniques to bend, twist, and distort cities to their will" (wow!).
Deadlines:
● Sign up to participate in the AIASF EQxD 2018 Equity in Architecture Survey that "will dive into career metrics, cultural competence, and organizational justice."
● Call for Letters of Interest: 2018 ASLA Diversity Summit in D.C. in June, open to landscape architecture professionals of color in the U.S.
● Call for entries: Pocket Seat Design Competition 2018: design a seat that can be carried and used anywhere and everywhere by all age groups (can't be larger than 1 square foot).
● Early-bird registration (save money!) for the Society for Marketing Professional Services Annual Conference: Build Business 2018 in San Diego in August.
Happy Valentine's Day!
● 75 (mostly very cool) Valentines for architects and (architecture) lovers.
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World Urban Forum 9 / Kuala Lumpur: ...to implement a bold New Urban Agenda...Adopted last year at Habitat III in Quito, Ecuador...aims to ensure that urbanization’s benefits are distributed equitably and sustainably to city-dwellers everywhere. The effort couldn’t be more timely.- Next City (formerly Next American City) |
Oliver Wainwright: Not the end of The World: the return of Dubai's ultimate folly: Underwater bedrooms, ‘Lohan Island’ and snow all year round - a decade after it was scuppered by the financial crash, the fantasy archipelago of 300 artificial ‘countries’ is back in business. Has anybody learned anything? Surveying the barren spots of sand that dot the sea today - which, in aerial images, make it look as if the Gulf is suffering from a nasty case of acne - it’s hard to shake the sense of an Ozymandian ruin. Covering more than 5,000 hectares...the remains of The World lie as a mind-boggling monument to the spectacular hubris of a moment in time when anything seemed possible...After a decade in limbo, The World is back – with more ambitious plans than ever before. -- Bermello Ajamil & Partners [images]- Guardian (UK) |
Oliver Wainwright: The £3bn rebirth of King's Cross: dictator chic and pie-in-the-sky penthouses: Google HQ, boutique shops in old coal sheds, gasholders offering wedge-shaped flats at sky-high prices...the vast project comes together after 18 years: Across 27 hectares...employing 35 different architects to transform a gritty world of rails and warehouses into a polished vision of postindustrial regeneration...it’s shaping up to be one of the best planned....There's a touch of bling...youthful swagger...There are some howlers too. -- Eric Parry; David Chipperfield; Allies and Morrison; dRMM; Duggan Morris; Maccreanor Lavington; Demetri Porphyrios; Thomas Heatherwick; BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group; Wilkinson Eyre; Bell Phillips architects [images]- Guardian (UK) |
Rowan Moore: BBC Television Centre - the high life on Auntie’s doorstep: The redevelopment...into flats, shops, cinema, even a new Soho House, is well-made and thoughtful - just not daring enough: ...£1.5bn makeover and rebuilding...will be a multifunctional, if mostly high-end, piece of city...the best bits...have been restored...It’s a coherent and well-made piece, in contrast with what is a discombobulated area of London...Good intentions are symbolised as much as achieved... -- Graham Dawbarn (1960); Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM) [images]- Observer (UK) |
Chicago’s Bush Temple of Music Revived for Multifamily Residential: CEDARst Cos.’ newest restoration recalls Windy City landmark's history as a piano showroom: ...a 101-unit apartment community...The French Renaissance Revival building, also known as French Chateauesque, was constructed in 1901 as the showroom of the Bush and Gerts Piano Co...extensive restoration efforts...- Multifamily Executive |
Boise could land a world-renowned architect for its library: If the City Council approves Moshe Safdie’s contract, he and his team will work with Boise architecture firm CSHQA...Boise has been trying to upgrade or replace its main library for almost two decades...The city hopes to have a final, detailed design by early May. What Boise doesn’t have is a firm plan to pay for the new library.- Idaho Statesman |
Can Houston prevent disaster when the next storm comes? ...record-breaking rains and devastating deluge of Hurricane Harvey helped expose a disconnect between developers building on flood-vulnerable land and home buyers who might not have realized the risk: Hari Sreenivasan explores what changes leaders say are needed to avoid another disaster, and who should pay for them. -- Brett Zamore Design- PBS Newshour |
Karrie Jacobs: What if New Jersey’s Meadowlands were a national park? A greener Garden State could keep 20 million New York-area residents above water: ...a wonderfully contrarian proposal...progressive, clear-eyed, and just a little dull...one jaw-dropping idea. The Fourth Regional Plan aims to cope with rising sea levels by fundamentally rethinking the Meadowlands...Goodbye Turnpike! Goodbye parking lot! Goodbye eternally unfinished shopping mall! ...this national park would pair natural beauty with a kind of "Road Warrior" chic. -- Robert Freudenberg/Regional Plan Association; Adrian Benepe/Will Rogers/Trust for Public Land; MIT Center for Advanced Urbanism/ZUS/De Urbanisten; AECOM; Susannah Drake/DLANDstudio [images]- Curbed New York |
Megan Barber: 11 ugly urban underpasses now functioning as public parks: Transforming wasted space into community hot spots: Arguably the most famous urban adaptive reuse project in America, the High Line made industrial reuse cool and prompted a wave of creative development. -- SWA Group [images]- Curbed |
Politicians debate merits of Alan Dunlop’s Celtic crossing: Scottish minister for UK negotiations on Scotland’s place in Europe Michael Russell and Irish spokesperson on European Affairs Neale Richmond both backed further talks about a crossing..."I think it’s a great idea. It would open up my constituency; that’s the route I would like to see."- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Blair Kamin: As far as I'm concerned, it's still the Hancock: ...the John Hancock Center is no longer the John Hancock Center, at least officially...the building’s namesake insurance company asked that its name be removed...even Wikipedia began referring to the muscular, X-braced giant - a symbol of Chicago’s urban might - by the wet-dishrag name of 875 North Michigan Avenue. Is Carl Sandburg turning over in his grave?- Chicago Tribune |
Katie Gerfen: The Winners of the 65th Annual Progressive Architecture Awards: This year, the jury selected 10 projects that are wholly fleshed out and developed, but not yet realized in physical form: They are wondrous in their disparity, demonstrating architecture’s undiminished capacity to both improve society and reinvent itself. -- P/A Awards; WOJR; Young Projects; LTL Architects/Scape Landscape Architecture; Steven Holl Architects; Jon Lott/Para Project; NADAAA/Perkins+Will; Höweler + Yoon Architecture; Batay-Csorba Architects; Independent Architecture; The Los Angeles Design Group [images]- Architect Magazine |
The artists manipulating cities into works of 'architectural fiction': Architects are - sometimes to their dismay - confined by the limits of engineering. In turn, engineers are confined by the limits of physics. So perhaps the art world is better placed to push the boundaries of architectural imagination. Now, a new breed of digital artists is combining photography with image manipulation techniques to bend, twist and distort cities to their will...can offer new commentary on our cities, forcing us to reassess buildings and urban spaces in the process...The possibilities of the genre are wide-ranging. -- Victor Enrich; Laurent Chehere; Filip Dujardin; Xavier Delory [images]- CNN Style |
Speak Up: The AIA San Francisco Equity by Design Committee (AIASF EQxD) Launches the 2018 Equity in Architecture Survey: ...the third iteration of the biennial questionnaire will dive into career metrics, cultural competence, and organizational justice; deadline: March 16- Architect Magazine |
Call for entries: Call for Letters of Interest: 2018 ASLA Diversity Summit, June 22-24, Washington, D.C.; open to landscape architecture professionals of color in the U.S.; ASLA will pay primary transportation and two nights lodging; deadline: March 7- American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) |
Call for entries: Pocket Seat Design Competition 2018: design a seat that can be carried and used anywhere and everywhere...and easy to use for all age groups; cash prizes; earlybird registration (save money!): March 10 (standard registration deadline: April 10; submissions due April 15)- Volume Zero |
Society for Marketing Professional Services/SMPS Annual Conference: Build Business 2018, San Diego, CA, August 15–17: brings together clients, principals, technical experts, business developers, and marketers to learn from and challenge one another to think differently about business.- Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS) |
75 Valentines for Architects and (Architecture) Lovers: Spread the love! These 75 architecture valentines—handmade by ArchDaily readers from around the world—were chosen out of nearly 400 submissions.- ArchDaily |
ANN feature: Norman Weinstein: Educating Future Architects to Think Like Curious Clients: Expanding architectural education to include more about client consciousness is a key to enriching the profession.- ArchNewsNow.com |
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