Today’s News - Tuesday, August 7, 2018
EDITOR'S NOTE: Apologies for not posting the newsletter last week without notice - circumstances beyond our control and all that jazz...
● Bernstein pens a thoughtful tribute to structural engineer Robert Silman: "He wasn't an architect, but he had as much impact on the built environment as any architect of his generation."
● TCLF pays tribute to landscape architect Richard Haag: "He will be remembered for several projects that remain as icons - and for the personal generosity he showed as a teacher and mentor" (with links to a 2014 video & written reflections by colleagues and friends).
● Dumb and dumber (and outright scary!): The EPA "is now allowing asbestos back into manufacturing," and "will no longer consider the effect or presence of substances in the air, ground, or water in its risk assessments" (We're doomed! We're doomed!).
● On a greener note: The Philippines is building a new city "designed specifically to withstand natural calamities - a 'back-up' city, from where government offices can still function should capital Manila succumb to a natural disaster."
● Moore ponders whether skyscrapers will "sink to new depths in British cities": Everyone "tends to agree that tall buildings can be intrinsically fine things. What matters is that they are well designed and in the right place - this bland statement becomes an increasingly threadbare banner under which planning battles are fought."
● King, on a brighter note, cheers San Francisco's new, "imposing" transit center being "ready to roll at last. The aim is to give bus travel a cachet. The notion of a larger public - public transit and public spaces and large-scale public investment - is being celebrated, not scorned" (opens to the public on Sunday!).
● A look at "why so many of Chicago's tallest buildings are located Downtown, why the earliest skyscrapers were built there in the first place, and whether we might expect any changes to the city's skyline anytime soon."
● Baca talks to 7 local architects, planners, and experts about what they would do to fix Cleveland.
● A number of architects were asked to design homeless shelters on a $1-million budget that would be "pleasing enough to help the shelter plan overcome" neighborhood NIMBYs - "opposition highlights the importance of good design up front."
● Safdie's Medal of Honor museum in South Carolina faces more hurdles: Mount Pleasant officials may want the museum, but "clearly don't want the same thing as the project's architect and museum officials."
● McGuigan parses the toll bad immigration policies will take on the profession: "At this strange moment in our history, when the government seems to be closing the door on many new immigrants and foreign visitors from certain countries, architecture can only suffer" - and salutes immigrant architects (add to the list!).
It's a good news/bad news day for preservation:
● An unlikely group of Syrian refugees in Jordan are learning restoration stonemasonry, led by a World Monuments Fund master stonemason, so they can rebuild their own cities "one chisel blow at a time" - "It's a flea bite, but it's a beginning."
● Johnson & Burgee's AT&T Building is now "officially New York City's youngest landmark; sayeth the developers of the much-maligned Snøhetta redesign: "We have stepped away from the design renderings that were made public a few months ago."
● Daunt is haunted by the disappearance of many of Australia's modern church buildings, which "coincided with architects' experiments with modern materials and innovative shapes and forms - can there be a future for these unassuming post-war modern buildings that were once the beating hearts of Australia's urban and suburban communities?"
● Cairns makes a case for why Mackintosh's Glasgow School of Art "should be left to rest in peace" because "it is not possible to recreate. With immense sadness, I say it is time to let go of the building, to remember it fondly."
● Morgan makes the case for why Raymond Loewy's "snazzy" Apex department store in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, "that once anchored hopes of urban revival, is apparently just an expendable piece of our heritage. Yet it was a spectacular, even magical place when it opened nearly half a century ago. Imagine if it were restored, given new life."
● Venturi Scott Brown's 1979 Abrams House in Pittsburgh "suffers" the beginnings of a "secret demolition" (at this point, only the interior - preservationists are "working to mount an individual landmark nomination" before it's totally too late (great pix!).
● Five notable architecture professors and historians answer the question: What's one American structure you wish had been saved?
Ending on a lighter note: Winners all!
● Eyefuls of "The Clearing," SWA Group's winning design for the Sandy Hook Elementary School memorial in Newtown, Connecticut.
● Holl wins the University College Dublin's Future Campus Competition (scroll down for link to images).
● Eyefuls of the seven winners of the 2018 AIA/AAH Healthcare Design Awards (great presentation).
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Obituary by Fred A. Bernstein: Robert Silman, 1935-2018: ...the structural engineer...was at his best when masterpieces like Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater needed his help...He wasn’t an architect, but he had as much impact on the built environment as any architect of his generation.- Architectural Record |
Obituary: TCLF Mourns the Loss of Richard Haag: His passing was a quiet but profound blow to the many colleagues, friends, and admirers...He will be remembered for several projects that remain as icons in the field of landscape architecture - including Seattle's Gas Works Park and the Bloedel Reserve - and for the personal generosity he showed as a teacher and mentor.- The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) |
Toxic Shock: EPA is now allowing asbestos back into manufacturing: the agency will no longer consider the effect or presence of substances in the air, ground, or water in its risk assessments...asbestos-related deaths now total nearly 40,000 annually...That number could rise if new asbestos-containing products make their way into brand new buildings..."“If rchitects start to incorporate health-based criteria into their palette, it could really have an influence on what the manufacturers produce.”- The Architect's Newspaper |
The Philippines is building a green, disaster-resilient city: In one of the most disaster-prone regions on the planet, a new city has been designed specifically to withstand natural calamities - and it's being built using remnants of a major disaster...a "back-up" city, from where government offices can still function should capital Manila succumb to a natural disaster...called New Clark City. With plans to cover 9,450 hectares...and could accommodate as many as 1.2 million people....[also] aims to be pollution-free. -- Matthijs Bouw [images]- CNN Style |
Rowan Moore: Will skyscrapers sink to new depths in British cities? Councils are under pressure to build higher, but campaigners say new towers will ruin historic skylines: Planners, objectors and developers tend to agree that tall buildings can be intrinsically fine things. What matters, they all say, is that they are well designed and in the right place. The precise meaning of this bland statement is unfortunately also the thing on which no one can agree - it becomes an increasingly threadbare banner under which planning battles are fought.- Observer (UK) |
John King: San Francisco's imposing transit center ready to roll at last: The new station should also attract Bay Area residents and visitors who never ride a bus...the lure is a 5.4-acre park that fills the roof above the concourse: Eight distinct gardens ring a long, oval path...Downstairs, the mood inside is airy rather than lush...The aim is to give bus travel a cachet - no easy feat in today’s America...The notion of a larger public - public transit and public spaces and large-scale public investment - is being celebrated, not scorned. -- Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects; Adam Greenspan/Peter Walker/PWP Landscape Arch [images, video]- San Francisco Chronicle |
Why Are So Many of Chicago's Tallest Buildings Located Downtown? ...why the earliest skyscrapers were built there in the first place, and whether we might expect any changes to the city’s skyline anytime soon. -- Thomas Leslie. Iowa State University;Jen Masengarb, formerly of the Chicago Architecture Foundation, now with the Danish Architecture Center in Copenhagen- WBEZ Chicago Public Radio |
Alex Baca: 7 Local Architects, Planners and Experts on How They'd Fix Cleveland -- Alex Pesta/City Architecture; Jill Akins leads Van Auken Akins; Matt Hils/OHM Advisors; Richard Fleischman + Partners; Theodore Ferringer/Bialosky Cleveland; Christina Znidarsic/Chagrin Watershed Partners- Cleveland Scene (Ohio) |
Architects were asked to design appealing homeless shelters on a $1-million budget. Here's what they came up with: The goal...standard designs that could be placed on a lot anywhere in the city, and are pleasing enough to help the shelter plan overcome its two biggest obstacles...opposition highlights the importance of good design up front. -- Urban Land Institute (ULI); DLR Group; Studio One Eleven;JFAK Architects; EPT Design; RELM; SWA [images]- Los Angeles Times |
More hurdles for Medal of Honor museum: Is a dispute over architecture and height limits worth throwing away a $100 million project? Mount Pleasant officials...may want a Medal of Honor Museum, but...clearly don’t want the same thing as the project’s architect and museum officials. “We really want the museum,” Mayor Will Haynie said. “We’re just tired of arguing about architecture and heights.” -- Moshe Safdie [images]- Charleston Post and Courier (South Carolina) |
Cathleen McGuigan: Come From Away: In architecture, those who are foreign-born are part of revitalizing the culture and our cities: ...we always will be a nation of immigrants and descendants of immigrants...the Vilcek Foundation, dedicated to raising awareness of immigrant contributions in America...$100,000 Vilcek arts prize recognized an immigrant architect - Teddy Cruz...At this strange moment in our history, when the government seems to be closing the door on many new immigrants and foreign visitors from certain countries, architecture can only suffer. -- Mona Ghandi; James Leng; Jing Liu; Estudio Teddy Cruz + Fonna Forman- Architectural Record |
Civil war destroyed their homes. These Syrian refugees are learning how to rebuild them. "If we’re not doing it, if we’re not going to do it, I don’t think anyone else will": Once car salesmen, college students and housewives in places like Aleppo and Homs, they now study the art of restoration stonemasonry in northern Jordan. In this hardscrabble desert city, the rebuilding of Syria has begun, one chisel blow at a time...“It’s a flea bite, but it’s a beginning." Tony Steel/World Monuments Fund/WMF; Petra National Trust of Jordan [images, video]- NBC News |
The AT&T Building Is Officially New York City’s Youngest Landmark: Completed in 1984, the 37-story tower is considered a benchmark of Postmodernism as the first commercial skyscraper of that style: ...plans were unveiled last fall for a Snøhetta-designed reimagination of the skyscraper with a glass base. The proposal sparked public outcry...its lobby was dismantled in January..."we have stepped away from the design renderings that were made public a few months ago." -- Philip Johnson and John Burgee- Metropolis Magazine |
Lisa Marie Daunt: Uneasy heritage: Australia's modern church buildings are disappearing: ...these buildings are largely ignored in architectural and heritage discussions...Should we allow [them] to disappear from memory, or should they be preserved and/or repurposed?...coincided with architects’ experiments with modern materials and construction technologies and innovative shapes and forms...can there be a future for...unassuming post-war modern buildings that were once the beating hearts of Australia’s urban and suburban communities? -- Robin Gibson; Hely Bell & Horne; Paul Wallace; Frederick Romberg/Grounds, Romberg and Boyd; Eddie Oribin; Karl Langer; A. Ian Ferrier [images]- The Conversation (Australia) |
George Cairns: Why Mackintosh’s Glasgow School of Art should be left to rest in peace: Professionals and the public alike display a romanticised vision of the art school...The romantic view aside, my argument against recreating the Mackintosh relies on looking at what cannot be reinstated...I accept that it is possible to build a new [building]...but argue that it is not possible to recreate the Glasgow School of Art building...With immense sadness, I say it is time to let go of the building, to remember it fondly... -- Miles Glendinning; David Chipperfield; Alan Dunlop; Charles Rennie Mackintosh; John Honeyman; John Keppie- The Conversation |
William Morgan: Apex is the soul of Pawtucket: The Apex department store that once anchored hopes of urban revival...is apparently just an expendable piece of our heritage. Yet [it] was a spectacular, even magical place when it opened nearly half a century ago...designed by...Raymond Loewy. Given the city’s pivotal role in the development of manufacturing, it seems appropriate that one of the 20th century’s greatest industrial and graphic artists was commissioned to create a snazzy symbol for Pawtucket...Loewy did not build very many freestanding buildings, so Apex is even more important historically...Imagine if Apex were restored, given new life. [image]- Providence Journal (Rhode Island) |
Venturi Scott Brown-designed house suffers secret demolition: ...[Abrams House, 1979] in Shadyside, Pittsburgh was put up for sale...new owner plans on tearing it down...the interior of the house has already been gutted...Preservation Pittsburgh has reached out to VSBA Architects & Planners, who were unaware of the demolition...Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation has been working to mount an individual landmark nomination...before the 15 day period elapses. [images]- The Architect's Newspaper |
Kevin D. Murphy, Carol Willis, Daniel Bluestone, Kerry Traynor & Sally Levine: Remembering America's lost buildings: ...five architecture professors [answer] the question: What's one American structure you wish had been saved? -- Edbrooke and Burnham; Mies van der Rohe; Henry Hardenbergh; Eleanor Raymond; Walter Gropius; Frederick Law Olmsted; Louis Sullivan/Dankmar Adler/Adler & Sullivan [images]- The Conversation US |
Winning design chosen for Sandy Hook memorial: "The Clearing" by Ben Waldo and Daniel Affleck of SWA Group was selected out of 189 international design submissions...vision for the 5-acre site became the top choice...features a sprawling landscape of winding pathways, trails, lakes, and flowery woodland centered around a young sycamore tree planted in a fountain. [images]- The Architect's Newspaper |
Steven Holl Architects wins University College Dublin’s Future Campus Competition: Jury Chair praises US-led team for their exhilarating Centre for Creative Design and a masterplan that features seven new quadrangles designed around historic features and woodland. -- Kavanagh Tuite Architects; Brightspot Strategy; Arup; HarrisonStevens; Transsolar- Malcolm Reading Consultants / University College Dublin |
2018 AIA/AAH Healthcare Design Awards: Showcasing the best healthcare building design and healthcare design-oriented research: ...selected seven recipients... NVISION Architecture; Steven Holl Architects; marchitects; Perkins+Will; HGA Architects and Planners; HOK; ZGF Architects; Ankrom Moisan Architects [images]- American Institute of Architects (AIA) / Academy of Architecture for Health (AAH) |
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