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Today’s News - Tuesday, September 18, 2018

●  Moore's take on Kuma's V&A Dundee: "...behind the powerful exterior not all is sweetness and light. It's a memorable, impressive object," which makes it "headbangingly frustrating that a series of somewhat inexplicable architectural decisions keeps intruding - in striving too hard to announce its artistic attentions, it merely adds noise."

●  Gompertz offers a (mostly) more positive take: "Admittedly, V&A Dundee looks like a crushed municipal car park, and is framed by some of the ugliest modern buildings I've ever seen. And yet, it is terrific - Kuma's building is close to being impeccable" ("small niggles aside").

●  Jessel reports that a Scottish parliamentary committee will consider whether the Glasgow School of Art should maintain control of the Mac "as criticism mounts over the college's stewardship of the building" (turning it into a Mackintosh museum would be a "disaster," sayeth counter-critic Malcolm Fraser).

●  Franklin parses the possibility that Netsch's 1976 Selby Library in Sarasota could be torn down for Sasaki's 53-acre The Bay. "Why is the first step of creating this legacy project destroying a former legacy project?" ponders the vice-mayor (why, indeed?).

●  On a brighter note, conservation architect Shikha Jain shares the conservation management plans for Corbu's Chandigarh Museum and Art Gallery and Jeanneret's Gandhi Bhawan, thanks to Getty Foundation "Keeping It Modern" grants.

●  Brandes Gratz x 2: She minces no words in her (eloquently) stinging reassessment of John Portman: "To his credit, he was willing to take on the urban challenge when many viewed cities as a lost cause" - but "his buildings were resolutely anti-urban."

●  She zeros in on Portman's Renaissance Center, and ponders whether Detroit will "ever fully recover from John - the Portman promise was a mirage, never living up to its promise, its architectural splash obliterating its urban damage."

●  On a much brighter note: a fab presentation about Driehaus Prize laureates Marc and Nada Breitman, who are "creating social housing that transforms bland suburbs and forgotten areas into livable, walkable neighborhoods that are as charming as they are functional" (a wonderful 30-minute documentary included!).

●  Hewitt begs to differ with the "architecture's critical establishment" when it comes to RAMSA's Murray and Franklin Colleges at Yale - they "are a triumph of placemaking - and among the best campus buildings of the past 50 years - anywhere."

●  Morgan hails KieranTimberlake's Engineering Research Center at Brown University as "an absolute stunner - a symbol of environmental stewardship," and "an outstanding piece of contemporary architecture" (alas - images don't convey his sentiment).

●  The new, LEED Gold High Tech High School in Secaucus, NJ "provides technically-focused, hands-on learning," and a hydroponic rooftop garden for its culinary kitchen lab - along with water efficient landscaping, geothermal heating, and wind turbines.

●  Kroloff profiles 14 female architects - many running their own firms - from New Haven to Senegal and Shanghai, who "are creating an ever-wider range of public buildings that address architecture and urbanism in new and invigorating ways."

●  AIA|LA publishes "EDI: Equity, Diversity, and Inclusivity" best practices guide that "aims to provide a roadmap for how firms of all sizes can begin to transform themselves into more socially just organizations" (link to guide).

●  Malo reports that 27 global cities "have reached their emissions milestones, even as their populations and economies grew," but developing world cities "may need more funding to make needed changes."

●  North Carolina, "encouraged by home builders and an anti-regulatory zeal," weakened its building codes in 2013 - one can only hope the powers-that-be might reconsider in the disastrous wakes of Hurricane Matthew and Florence.

●  Piano confirms that "the Italian government has accepted his invitation to replace the collapsed Ponte Morandi bridge" in Genoa.

●  Flatman makes the case that "Oxford's failure to teach architecture is a disaster for architects and the country" - maybe it's time for Oxford to "start its own school of architecture."

Winners all:

●  Gerfen (speaking of architecture schools) cheers the six winners of the 2018 Studio Prize, which are among "the best examples of architectural investigation taking place in colleges and universities today - the next wave of architects will be well prepared to help tackle the pressing problems we face."

●  Sergei Tchoban wins the 2018 European Prize for Architecture "for his powerful designs and a unique design vision that celebrates the best of modernist buildings."


  


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