Today’s News - Tuesday, March 6, 2018
● Kamin considers "the dilemma of development" and whether the Obama Center will "hurt those it's supposed to help. Displacement of low-income people caused by well-intentioned public works is one of the most vexing urban-planning problems of our time" (and still no community benefits agreement).
● Savic, co-author of "Unpleasant Design," visits Calgary, and warns that "hostile design" meant to control people's behavior is making it "an unwelcoming modern city."
● Historian and author Lewis parses the "Rebuild Penn Station" movement, and delves deep into the station's architectural history: "to understand why our current station is so bad, one must first understand why the original Penn Station was so good" (a fascinating read!).
● O'Sullivan cheers plans to give survivors of the Grenfell fire "a final say over the site's future" as a memorial, but the handling of the tragedy "remains a running scandal of official incompetence and indifference, broken promises, and ongoing hardship for the former residents."
● Parker takes a deep dive into the evolution of Heatherwick's "Vessel" at Hudson Yards, "a Doha-like cluster of towers on Manhattan's West Side," that includes an in-depth profile of "architecture's showman - he gives the impression of a child apprentice in Tolkien's Middle-earth."
● The story behind Nadia Bakhurji, Saudi Arabia's most famous female architect - "one of the first women in the kingdom to be granted an architectural consultant license" who "has campaigned for the advancement of women in engineering, education, and business."
● Fairs puts out the call to help "Move the Needle" with the launch of "an initiative to improve gender equality in architecture and design" + He looks at how design conferences are tackling gender equality + Ravenscroft looks at how women architects have long been ignored by prize juries - but how 2018 could be the year this changes.
● Hawthorne x 2: He explains how he "tried to crack the mysterious case of Frank Lloyd Wright's Los Angeles houses" in writing and directing "That Far Corner": "I've had some seriously reflective and even hesitant moments."
● Premiering tonight, the documentary "That Far Corner: Frank Lloyd Wright In Los Angeles" delves into Hawthorne's "provocative theory that these homes were also a means of artistic catharsis for Wright, who was recovering from a violent tragic episode in his life."
● As we await the announcement of the 2018 Pritzker Prize winner tomorrow, ArchDaily editors ponder whether the prize is still relevant (and who they think might win).
Winners all (except NYC):
● New York's loss is London's gain: the Storefront for Art and Architecture's Eva Franch is heading across the Big Pond to serve as the first woman elected to the post of director of the Architectural Association (sparking "a mood of optimism at the AA").
● Kamin introduces us to Yesomi Umolu, named curator of the 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennial - and the first "with African roots."
● AJ/AR announce Peruvian architect Sandra Barclay as winner of the Architect of the Year Award, while Paraguayan Gloria Cabral wins the Moira Gemmill Prize for Emerging Architecture, and Dutch artist Madelon Vriesendorp takes home the 2018 Ada Louise Huxtable Prize.
● Minneapolis-based Dream The Combine wins the 2018 Young Architects Program to design MoMA PS1's Summer Warmup courtyard with "Hide & Seek": the partners have "not yet produced a building-scale project, but the two architects seem content at working in the installation realm for now."
Deadline:
● Call for entries: Inaugural Dezeen Awards "celebrating the world's best architecture, interiors and design - low entry fees are designed to attract smaller firms."
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Blair Kamin: The dilemma of development: Will Obama center hurt those it's supposed to help? Displacement of low-income people caused by well-intentioned public works is one of the most vexing urban-planning problems of our time...[he] reiterated his opposition to a proposed community benefits agreement...on the grounds that community groups would fight each other over priorities...Unless the former president reverses course, it will be up to a variety of actors...to deliver on Obama's ideal of equitable economic development...aspects of the center still need work.- Chicago Tribune |
'Hostile design' makes Calgary an unwelcoming modern city, says architect: Architecture that controls people's behaviour can become 'extremely problematic,' Selena Savic warns: ...co-author of the book, "Unpleasant Design"...Most unpleasant or hostile design techniques are meant to make areas more pleasant to enjoy for their intended purpose - and are being sneaked into urban design without much public discussion..."The problem is that unpleasant design is always somehow beneficial...but it becomes extremely problematic when we start treating people like that."- CBC (Canada) |
Michael J. Lewis: Mighty Penn: On the “Rebuild Penn Station” movement, and on Penn Station’s architectural history: Today’s [station] represents something far worse than incompetent design...something so uniformly nasty can only be the result of deliberate design...there could hardly be a better test case for the prospects of reviving a humane and gracious architecture...to understand why our current station is so bad, one must first understand why the original Penn Station was so good. -- Justin Shubow/National Civic Art Society; McKim, Mead & White (1910)- The New Criterion |
Feargus O'Sullivan: Britain Plans a Memorial for Grenfell, a Tragedy That's Far From Over: Survivors will get a final say over the site’s future. Meanwhile, little has been done to prevent the same thing from happening again: ...the handling of the Grenfell fire remains a running scandal of official incompetence and indifference, broken promises, and ongoing hardship for the former residents...only 4% of British social housing covered in the flammable material have been stripped and renovated. Meanwhile, the trauma continues for the project’s residents.- CityLab (formerly The Atlantic Cities) |
Ian Parker: Thomas Heatherwick, Architecture’s Showman: His giant new structure aims to be an Eiffel Tower for New York. Is it genius or folly? The Vessel, in Hudson Yards, has 124 staircases and 80 landings. Heatherwick has said that, at a site where there is nothing else to commemorate, the Vessel can be a “monument to us"...He gives the impression of a child apprentice in Tolkien’s Middle-earth. -- Heatherwick Studio; Nelson Byrd Woltz- New Yorker |
The story behind Saudi Arabia's most famous female architect: Meet Nadia Bakhurji: ...[she] figured out that companies in the country weren’t ready to take on women in the workforce yet...she started her own business in 1989...called Riwaq of the Kingdom (ROK)...In 2007, she was one of the first women in the kingdom to be granted an architectural consultant license...she launched...Nadia Bakhurji Architectural and Interior Design Consultants (NBA)...Throughout her career, she has campaigned for the advancement of women in engineering, education, and business.- StepFeed ( Dubai, United Arab Emirates/UAE) |
Marcus Fairs: Help us Move the Needle on gender equality: This week we launch an initiative to improve gender equality in architecture and design, to coincide with International Women's Day. We're calling on readers everywhere to help + Design conferences tackle gender equality following protests and bad headlines + Tom Ravenscroft looks at how women architects have long been ignored by prize juries - but how 2018 could be the year this changes.- Dezeen |
Christopher Hawthorne: How I tried to crack the mysterious case of Frank Lloyd Wright's Los Angeles houses: What was I thinking? I have to admit that over the last few months, in finishing the job of writing and directing “That Far Corner"...I’ve had some seriously reflective and even hesitant moments...a number of historians...stressed not how much we know about Wright’s time in L.A. but how much we don’t.- Los Angeles Times |
Christopher Hawthorne: "That Far Corner: Frank Lloyd Wright In Los Angeles": The documentary also delves into the critic's provocative theory that these homes were also a means of artistic catharsis for Wright, who was recovering from a violent tragic episode in his life.- KCET.org (California) |
Is the Pritzker Prize Still Relevant Today? One day before the 2018 Pritzker Prize winner is to be revealed, ArchDaily’s editors discuss whether the prize still lives up to its hype...Patrick Lynch: There is a worry that it can be perceived as a "good ole boys" club...the widening of its criteria has been a good thing – I want to see more architecture from unexpected places, and give underserved voices a chance to be heard. Rory Stott: I think maybe all that's happened is they overcorrected in that direction.- ArchDaily |
Eva Franch set for AA directorship: Spanish architect Eva Franch i Gilabert is in line to be the next director of the Architectural Association and first woman to have been elected to the post: ...has for eight years been the chief curator and executive director of Storefront for Art and Architecture in New York..."there is a mood of optimism at the AA. We are putting our financial woes behind us and looking forward to an exciting time for the school."- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Blair Kamin: Architecture Biennial names Yesomi Umolu as next curator: A University of Chicago contemporary art curator whose work has explored the politics of the built environment will be the artistic director of the 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennial...serves on the curatorial advisory board for the United States Pavilion at the 16th Venice Architecture Biennale. Born in Lagos, Nigeria...[she] will be the first curator of the Chicago biennial with African roots...her first task would be to build a curatorial team. “I have a background in architecture"...she is “looking for someone more embedded in the field than I am.”- Chicago Tribune |
Women in Architecture Award 2018 winners announced: Peruvian architect Sandra Barclay [Barclay & Crousse] has won this year’s Architect of the Year Award while Gloria Cabral [Gabinete de Arquitectura] from Paraguay has won the Moira Gemmill Prize for Emerging Architecture: ...backed by the AJ and sister title The Architectural Review...Amanda Levete/AL_A won the 2018 Jane Drew Prize...Dutch artist Madelon Vriesendorp is the winner of the 2018 Ada Louise Huxtable Prize [images]- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Dream The Combine Wins 2018 Young Architects Program: The Minneapolis-based partnership of architects Jennifer Newsom and Tom Carruthers won the annual commission for MoMA PS1's courtyard with their proposal, "Hide & Seek": ...features nine "chords" of movable mirrors designed to alter perspectives within the courtyard...[The firm] has not yet produced a building-scale project, but the two architects seem content at working in the installation realm for now. -- Clayton Binkley/ARUP [image]- Architect Magazine |
Call for entries: Dezeen Awards launches: celebrating the world's best architecture, interiors and design; low entry prices are designed to attract smaller firms; earlybird registration deadline (save money!): April 11 (submissions due June 30)- Dezeen |
ANN feature: Vladimir Belogolovsky: One-on-One: Craig Bassam and Scott Fellows: "If a product is designed and crafted well, it should not go out of fashion." BassamFellows' "Craftsman Modern" is based on the partners' devotion to Modernist architecture, high-level craftsmanship, and the use of beautiful, natural materials. [images]- ArchNewsNow.com |
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