Today’s News - Tuesday, August 14, 2018
● Zeiger explains why "taste be damned - Venturi Scott Brown's Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego addition warrants preservation simply because their names are attached to it."
● Betsky begs to differ: "No, Mimi Zeiger - just because something was designed by a good and important architect does not mean we automatically need to save it - not everything old is worth saving. Just let it go."
● Shepard tours Duqm, an industrial city "rising from the sand" in Oman with a port, luxury hotels, and housing for 111,000 - SOM's master plan "follows the guidelines of transit-oriented development virtually step by step."
● Mumbai Architecture Project members explain why "architecture in India today is inconsequential - reduced to a consumable item, an object of desire. It is critical as a nation to bring good design and meaningful architecture back into the national discourse."
● Vyas, director of the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, calls for "establishing design schools to hone the skills of Indian artisans" that will "enable them to become entrepreneurs - teaching them management - the business of crafts and design - so they can develop their skills into businesses."
● Kimmelman spends a perfect summer day in 3 "lush parks" that "drastically remake the East River Waterfront along the Brooklyn and Queens shorelines - a monsoon swept as if out of nowhere across the river. New York never seemed wilder or more magical."
● Leigh Brown parses Tulsa's new $465 million Gathering Place, "one of the largest and most ambitious public parks ever created with private funds - and the latest example of deep-pocketed citizens rebuilding cities through projects they perceive to be in the public good."
● Sulcas spends some quality time in DS+R's Zaryadye Park, "Moscow's first new green space in 50 years - and one of the most ambitious and expensive architectural projects in Russia in decades. That the park was built at all - let alone by an American-led design team - is mildly improbable."
● Meanwhile, in St. Petersburg, Russia, "ex-RMJM design director Tony Kettle is threatening legal action against a Russian rival in an escalating row over the authorship" of the Lakhta Centre, Europe's tallest tower (formerly Gazprom Tower).
● Some experts weigh in on "rethinking school design in the age of the mass shooter. Absent major design upgrades, what can perennially cash-strapped school districts do to address the situation?"
● The AIA "outlines plans to make safe school design and best practices available to architects and education officials," releasing four steps as part of its Where We Stand: School Design and Student Safety statement.
● One we couldn't resist (not for the acrophobic): "8 spectacular destinations for intrepid design lovers. Architecture that's worth the hike!"
Asbestos in the news:
● Grabar explains why "the Trump Administration is not bringing back asbestos - and couldn't, even if it wanted to."
● Walker reports on the AIA calling for the EPA to "impose a 'blanket ban' on asbestos - which the architecture industry has largely shunned since the 1970s" (with pix from Russia "of pallets of asbestos with a seal featuring the president and the words 'Approved by Donald Trump, 45th President of the United States'").
● Alter says that, while "the EPA is making it easier to get asbestos products approved, it's unlikely anyone will bite. Bans didn't make asbestos go away; lawsuits did" (check out the vintage ads!).
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Mimi Zeiger: Venturi Scott Brown's MCASD addition should be saved because it is by Venturi Scott Brown: Despite changing needs and tastes, [VSBA's] threatened extension to the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego warrants preservation simply because their names are attached to it: Both too late and too early, the VSB design continues to look a bit dated...But this is exactly why it should be preserved, not for any stylistic nostalgia. Taste be damned...it represents a key part of the duo's oeuvre...worthy of study as tastes change over the decades. -- Selldorf Architects- Dezeen |
Aaron Betsky: Just Let It Go: Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates addition to San Diego’s Museum of Contemporary Art is not worth protecting: No, Mimi Zeiger...just because something was designed by a good and important architect does not mean we automatically need to save it...not everything old is worth saving...We can and must pick and choose. Some buildings are just bad...Defending them because “it represents a key part of the duo’s oeuvre ... because it is by Venturi Scott Brown,” as the otherwise highly perceptive and critical Zeiger claims, only weakens the case for good architecture. -- VSBA; Irving Gill; Selldorf Architects [images]- Architect Magazine |
Wade Shepard: Five years ago there was nothing': inside Duqm, the city rising from the sand: Oman’s sparsely inhabited coast of fishing villages and Bedouin camps is being transformed into an industrial city with port, luxury hotels and housing for 111,000: The masterplan follows the guidelines of transit-oriented development virtually step by step...We are in the midst of an era of new cities - with more than 200 currently under construction. -- Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) [images, video]- Guardian (UK) |
The Mumbai Architecture Project dreams of design-driven urban planning: ...believes that the collective history and shared memories forged in buildings contribute to the production of a vibrant local culture: From architecture being a tool of state propaganda, it has moved...to being just a slogan, and culturally, of no consequence...architecture in India today is inconsequential...reduced to a consumable item, an object of desire...It is critical as a nation, going forward, to bring good design and meaningful architecture back into the national discourse.- Livemint.com (India) |
Pradyumna Vyas: Establishing design schools to hone the skills of Indian artisans and mentoring them into branding their traditional crafts can pave the way for a sustainable future: We will help them hone the skills that can enable them to become entrepreneurs...One major input will be teaching them management - the business of crafts and design - so they can develop their skills into businesses...Our aim should be to create new knowledge built on our traditional base. -- National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad- Livemint.com (India) |
Michael Kimmelman: 3 Lush Parks Drastically Remake the East River Waterfront: Acres of green space, new or expanded, along the Brooklyn and Queens shorelines offer quiet places to pause, look and stroll: New York’s not alone in this, obviously. City waterfronts have been changing everywhere, often hand in hand with private development...a monsoon swept as if out of nowhere across the river. New York never seemed wilder or more magical. -- Michael Van Valkenburgh;Lisa Switkin/James Corner Field Operations; Mark Reigelman; Tom Balsley; Weiss/Manfredi [images]- New York Times |
Patricia Leigh Brown: Transforming Tulsa, Starting with a Park: Can a billionaire bring together his divided city? With Gathering Place, George B. Kaiser and Michael Van Valkenburgh challenge what an urban park can be: Confronting this hodgepodge site with killer views of an oil tank farm and a power plant, [MVVA] responded the way he typically does. “A limitation,” he will say about challenging terrain, “is the beginning of a gift"...$465 million park...one of the largest and most ambitious public parks ever created with private funds - and the latest example of deep-pocketed citizens rebuilding cities through projects they perceive to be in the public good. -- Matthew Urbanski; Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects [images]- New York Times |
Roslyn Sulcas: In Moscow’s Newest Park, All of Russia Comes Together: Zaryadye Park, Moscow’s first new green space in 50 years...and one of the most ambitious and expensive architectural projects in Russia in decades...That the park was built at all - let alone by an American-led design team - is mildly improbable...but the success of the park had silenced the criticism...Were the architects at all worried about effectively promoting a government often seen as problematic in its policies and approach? “I can’t say we didn’t think about that"... -- Elizabeth Diller/Charels Renfro/Diller Scofidio + Renfro; Petr Kudryavtsev/Andrey Grinev/Citymakers; Sergey Kuznetsov; Mary Margaret Jones/Hargreaves Associates [images]- New York Times |
Fake news! Kettle consults lawyers as Russian skyscraper design row boils over: Ex-RMJM design director Tony Kettle is threatening legal action against a Russian rival in an escalating row over the authorship of Europe’s tallest tower...the Lakhta Centre [formerly Gazprom Tower] in Saint Petersburg... -- Kettle Collective; Gorproject [images]- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Rethinking School Design in the Age of the Mass Shooter: Transparency - both literal and figurative - is part of the answer...“It’s counterintuitive to think that transparency is safer than a lot of solid walls, but it is if there is a balance"...Absent major design upgrades, what can perennially cash-strapped school districts...do to address the situation? -- Michael Pinto/NAC Architecture; Mariana Lavezzo/DLR Group; Bill Edwards/Thornton Tomasetti- Commercial Observer |
AIA Announces Initiatives to Address School Violence: The Institute outlines plans to make safe school design and best practices available to architects and education officials: ...released the following four steps as part of its Where We Stand: School Design and Student Safety statement...- Architect Magazine |
8 spectacular destinations for intrepid design lovers: Architecture that’s worth the hike! -- Reiulf Ramstad Architects; Zaha Hadid Architects; Snøhetta; Peter Wyss; Werner Tscholl Architects; Giuseppe Valadier (1828); Todd Saunders/Tommie Wilhelmsen [images]- The Spaces (UK) |
Henry Grabar: The Trump Administration Is Not Bringing Back Asbestos: And couldn’t, even if it wanted to: Technically, the EPA’s “significant new use rule,” or SNUR, represents an additional layer of scrutiny for asbestos use...it’s extremely unlikely that companies will be chomping at the bit to put asbestos back into your house. They have been free to use the stuff for decades. But the last U.S. asbestos producer shut down in 2002.- Slate |
Alissa Walker: AIA says EPA should impose a ‘blanket ban’ on asbestos: The national association of architects condemns the deregulation of the toxic building material: In the latest deregulation effort by the Trump administration, the Environmental Protection Agency hopes to allow new products to be manufactured with asbestos...known carcinogen which the architecture industry has largely shunned since the 1970s.- Curbed |
Lloyd Alter: Asbestos, the magic mineral, is back! The EPA is making it easier to get asbestos products approved, but it’s unlikely anyone will bite...Bans didn’t make asbestos go away; lawsuits did...it is unlikely that any company is going to use the stuff. Lawsuits continue to be filed...- TreeHugger.com |
ANN feature: The Pop-up Phenomenon, Made in America: To meet a growing demand, Hofmann Architecture's Living Vehicle is an architectural platform offering mobile, easily deployable business and housing options. By Shirley Styles [images]- ArchNewsNow.com |
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