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Today’s News - Tuesday, April 3, 2018

● Hume explains why Toronto's new city planner "has his job cut out for him. Bad planning has left the city ill-prepared for the 21st century - to be fair," it's "an admittedly thankless task. Though nothing the municipal bureaucracy does is more fundamental than planning, neither is anything more political."

● One day, Handel Architects will find out what it's "like to design a major building in Boston that everyone loves" - in the meantime, even though the third version of its Winthrop Square skyscraper "is sleeker than the second," it's still back to the drawing board: "It's an exercise in politics as much as design."

● Lee Koe eloquently expresses her concerns about Singapore losing its "vernacular post-independence architecture in one fell swoop" - no matter what you think of the Metabolist/Brutalist/Corbusian-inspired architecture by "local architectural pioneers," these developments are "uniquely Singaporean" and "a public good under threat."

● Rogers Partners' public pavilion for Galveston's Stewart Beach will reorganize the mix of facilities and services - once parks officials get the "money from the federal RESTORE program created in 2012 in response to the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil spill."

● Meanwhile, can post-Harvey "Houston apply New York's big thinking on flood projects?"

● Mun-Delsalle's Part 2 ponders Nakamura's Kamikatz Public House in the "trashless town" of Kamikatsu, Japan - it is "truly the perfect example of how small-scale, low-cost architecture can embrace the grand dream of contributing to the creation of a sustainable social system" (click "Yesterday's News" back to March 27 for Part 1).

● Kafka delves into "how Forensic Architecture is harnessing the power of the public to investigate the Grenfell Tower disaster via an open-ended, crowd-sourced initiative - the first to be initiated by the agency itself."

● Moore cheers Feilden Clegg Bradley's "mercifully modest makeover" of South Bank's Queen Elizabeth Hall/Purcell Room that "revives something of Brutalist beauties' 60s soul, though certain details lack a guiding hand" (like "a bathetic splodge of blue carpet" seen on his tour with Crompton, the original architect).

● Miranda sees L.A.'s Wilshire Boulevard Temple as "leaning into the future" with a (leaning) event pavilion by OMA that "avoids copycat Byzantine forms in favor of fluid lines that gently echo aspects of the historic building."

● A look at what went into creating new algorithms and new techniques for the futuristic (to put it mildly) façade of Hadid's King Abdullah Financial District Metro Station in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

● First look at the Dutch Pavilion exhibition "Work, Body, Leisure" for the Venice Biennale that "explores the different forms of creativity and responsibility that architecture has in response to emerging technologies in automation" (looks very cool!).

● Makovsky parses "Take Shape," a new journal "devoted to architecture and politics - who says design publishing is dying?"

Winners all!

● A look at Metropolis mag's 2018 Game Changers, "5 remarkable individuals who are transforming architecture, design, and cities."

● Ohio-based Cañzares and Sang Delgado win the 2018 Ragdale Ring design competition with their "quirky" temporary outdoor theater called "Noodle Soup."

● Eyefuls of the 2018 Fairy Tales Architecture Competition winners, along with their "wonderfully crafted short stories and artwork" (great presentation).

Deadlines:

● Deadline extended for hospitality concepts in the 2018 Radical Innovation Awards: Rethink. Reimagine. Redefine.

● Call for entries: 2nd "Natian" Cup International Design Competition: A New-tech Led Intelligent Urban Life: Sustainable Design, Sustainable Life" for Suqian, China (big(!) cash prizes; winning entries could be built).

● Call for entries: Kemeri National Park Observation Tower Competition in Latvia, the "third-largest national park in one of Europe's greenest countries."

● Call for entries: Open call for curator of "Auditorium 18/19" lecture series on architecture, urbanism, and design at the STUK Arts Centre, Leuven, Belgium.

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Christopher Hume: Toronto's chief planner must articulate his vision for the city: Past chief planners, including Jennifer Keesmaat, have realized that communicating vision is the real purpose of the job...Gregg Lintern has his job cut out for him. Bad planning has left the city ill-prepared for the 21st century...to be fair, city planners merely advise council, an admittedly thankless task. Though nothing the municipal bureaucracy does is more fundamental than planning, neither is anything more political.- Toronto Star

For planned Winthrop Square skyscraper, a design challenge: What’s it like to design a major building in Boston that everyone loves...Maybe one day we’ll find out....trying to balance elegance worthy of a prime spot on the downtown skyline with the economics of a $1.3 billion construction project...third version...is sleeker than the second...which was widely panned...[developer and architect] need to do better to earn the board’s blessing...Much is expected of this building...city officials need to balance the quality of the building and...purchase price of the site, all without alienating neighbors...It’s an exercise in politics as much as design. -- Blake Middleton/Handel Architects [images]- Boston Globe

Amanda Lee Koe: If this is home, truly, it should look like home: Architectural heritage is a public good: Money can buy the gloss of an international architect's grandiloquent design...but money can't buy a heterogeneous urban fabric and the patina of lived-in memory...local architectural pioneers...produced several ambitious developments...the Big Four are a bold amalgam of western and eastern architectural theories...Uniquely Singaporean, they exemplify the can-do spirit...we risk losing our vernacular post-independence architecture in one fell swoop...they are a public good under threat...the free market is never incentivised to defend a public good...- The Straits Times (Singapore)

A Tour Through Rogers Partners’ Planned Public Pavilion for Galveston’s Stewart Beach: The structure would reorganize the mix of concessions, patrol facilities, parks offices, storage, restrooms, and community meeting space...linked by overhead walkways...parks officials are waiting on money from the federal RESTORE program created in 2012 in response to the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil spill... [images]- Swamplot: Houston’s Real Estate Landscape (Texas)

Can Houston Apply New York’s Big Thinking On Flood Projects? As Houston recovers from Hurricane Harvey’s floodwaters, architects in New York City are re-imagining resilient design: ...designers are generally happy with how the [Buffalo Bayou] park fares during flooding events. After all, it was redesigned to handle them...[Rebuild by Design] asked participants to address structural and environmental vulnerabilities exposed by Sandy...The Big U: a multi-purposed flood protection system, hugging 10 miles of lower Manhattan. -- Scott McCready/SWA; Jeremy Siegel/BIG - Bjarke Ingles Group [images]- Houston Public Media

Y-Jean Mun-Delsalle: The Design Of Kamikatz Public House In A Trashless Town Takes Sustainability To A New Level, Part 2: ...eight-meter high window made of fittings from abandoned houses is a local symbol, serving as a lantern of hope for the town...For the local residents who gather at the pub, this space embodying the town’s zero-waste vision has become a part of their everyday lives and they now view recycling and conservation as fun and creative...[It] is truly the perfect example of how small-scale, low-cost architecture can embrace the grand dream of contributing to the creation of a sustainable social system. -- Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP [images]- Forbes

George Kafka: How Forensic Architecture Is Harnessing the Power of the Public to Investigate the Grenfell Tower Disaster: The architectural research organization has announced an open-ended, crowdsourced initiative to reconstruct and analyze the June 2017 blaze: This is the latest in a series of investigations by the agency, which uses architectural thinking and spatial technology to probe incidents of violence and human rights abuses...[has ] launched with an open-ended call for footage and testimonies...project is the first to be initiated by the agency itself. [images]- Metropolis Magazine

Rowan Moore: Queen Elizabeth Hall/Purcell Room refurbishment: glowing with renewed lustre: A mercifully modest makeover (thank the skateboarders) of these brutalist beauties revives something of their 60s soul, though certain details lack a guiding hand: ...Thameside complex is inching towards being the place that Dennis Crompton and his comrades had wanted. The craggy, layered geology of the Southbank Centre...Some guile was needed to smuggle the radical design into being...Now, finally, the Hayward and the building that contains both [the hall and gallery] have been renovated...and it turns out that the best thing to do was not very much at all. -- Ron Herron; Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios [images]- Observer (UK)

Carolina A. Miranda: Leaning into the future: Rem Koolhaas' OMA releases first look of Wilshire Boulevard Temple event space: The first rendering of the 55,000-square-foot Audrey Irmas Pavilion...reveals a trapezoidal form that leans away from the temple...original temple [1929]...designed in a Byzantine Revival style...pavilion avoids copycat Byzantine forms in favor of fluid lines that gently echo aspects of the historic building. -- Office for Metropolitan Architecture; Shohei Shigematsu; Mia Lehrer [image]- Los Angeles Times

Zaha Hadid Architects' King Abdullah Financial District Metro Station [in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia] incorporates futuristic façade: The façade required the creation of new algorithms by Newtecnic: ...the façade, meant to represent patterns generated by desert winds...design-engineered...to reduce solar gain and produce air currents that help cool the building...this world-first-façade and the new techniques used to create it is an undulating, futuristic building that will be delivered for the price of a more traditional structure and last twice as long. [images]- Building Design & Construction (BD+C)

First glimpse: “Work, Body, Leisure”, the Dutch Pavilion exhibition for the 2018 Venice Biennale: In response to the “Freespace” theme...explores the different forms of creativity and responsibility that architecture has in response to emerging technologies...examines historical and present-day case studies in Rotterdam, as well as utopian and dystopian visions of a society where full automation is the norm...[and] how full automation will change society...argues that these visions are already shaping present-day....-- Constant Nieuwenhuys; Het Nieuwe Instituut [images]- Archinect

Paul Makovsky: New Journal Delves into the Political Realities of Architecture and Urban Planning: The debut issue of "Take Shape," which centers on the re-use of lofts, features a mix of long-form journalism and critical essays: Who says design publishing is dying? ...new journal devoted to architecture and politics is the brainchild of editors Nolan Boomer (formerly of Princeton Architectural Press)...and Julia Llinas Goodman, a legal reporter on labor and civil rights...third editor, Cole Cataneo, and designer Sean Suchara.- Metropolis Magazine

2018 Game Changers: 5 Remarkable Individuals Who Are Transforming Architecture, Design, and Cities: Doreen Toutikian is Shaking Up Beirut’s Design Scene/Beirut Design Week (BDW); Carol Ross Barney is Chicago’s New Daniel Burnham; Dan Chong Transformed Legacy Furniture Manufacturer HBF; Kenneth Frampton Isn’t Done Changing Architecture; Anna Puigjaner/MAIO (Barcelona) Wants to Revolutionize the Home - by Getting Rid of Kitchens- Metropolis Magazine

NOODLE SOUP is the winning 2018 Ragdale Ring design: ...quirky concept by young Columbus, Ohio-based design team...a temporary outdoor theater...features a set of fixed structures around which are soft, linear, pliable pieces of furniture. The soft elements can interact with the hard structures to serve functional purposes such as seating, but they can also act as oversized toys, freely configurable in a variety of ways. -- Galo Cañzares and Stephanie Sang Delgado [images]- Archinect

Winners Announced: 2018 Fairy Tales Architecture Competition: With submissions from 65 countries, the award-winning entries explore current events and the creative process through wonderfully crafted short stories and artwork... jury selected three prize winners, a runner up and 9 honorable mentionss. --Louis Liu/Senyao Wei; Sasha Topolnytska; Ifigeneia Liangi; NEMESTUDIO [images]- Blank Space / National Building Museum

Call for entries - deadline extended: 2018 Radical Innovation Awards: Rethink. Reimagine. Redefine. (international): submit hospitality concepts that provide new meaningful travel experiences, and new revenue growth opportunities for owners, investors, etc.; open to professionals and students; cash prizes; new deadline: April 30- The John Hardy Group / Global Allies / Sleeper

Call for entries: 2nd “Natian” Cup International Design Competition: A New-tech Led Intelligent Urban Life: Sustainable Design, Sustainable Life (international): open to designers in landscape, architecture, urban design and art; select a site in Suqian, China; winning entries have the possibility to be implemented; 1st prize: $58,000+; registration deadline: June 30 (submissions due July 30)- Suqian Municipal People’s Government / Suqian Urban Planning Bureau / CBC (China BuildingCentre) / Urban Environment Design (UED) Magazine

Call for entries: Kemeri National Park Observation Tower Competition by Bee Breeders: Third-largest national park in one of Europe’s greenest country, Kemeri is a stunning and eclectic mix of forests, lakes, swamps and ancient raised bogs...a 1-hour train ride from Riga, Latvia...design a new tower that will allow visitors to view and experience the Kemeri Bog in a new way; cash prizes; registration deadline: April 27 (submissions due May 31)- Bustler

Call for entries: Open call for curator of "Auditorium 18/19" - lecture series on architecture, urbanism, and design, October 2018 to May 2019 in the STUK Arts Centre, Leuven, Belgium...propose a programme that treats "the matter of architecture,"space as a tactile place and its creation; deadline: April 27
.- Stad en Architectuur vzw (Leuven, Belgium)

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