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Today’s News - Tuesday, September 25, 2018

EDITOR'S NOTE: Our apologies for not posting the newsletter last Thursday without notice. We found ourselves in an Internet-less place - and returning there tomorrow/Wednesday (after posting the newsletter) in hopes the cable guy will make things right...

A gloomy, rainy day made more mournful after reviewing miles of memorials to Robert Venturi. Rather than link to a dry obituary, we've selected a few thoughtful, eloquent, and informative tributes - and our own joyous adventure with Venturi and Denise Scott Brown.

●  Betsky: "Venturi did not just beget (or at least act as godfather to) Postmodernism, he changed the whole way we look at and think about how to make modern architecture."

●  Wainwright on his first encounter with Venturi and Scott Brown and their continuing influence: "the larger-than-life architect brought history and hilarity to the staid world of monochrome tastefulness."

●  Cramer on "the profound debt that contemporary architecture owes to Robert Venturi. While I am generally suspicious of hagiography or cults of personality - we have lost a titan."

●  Saffron: Venturi "radically altered the way the profession thinks about Modernism, history, popular culture, neon signs, and roadside architecture. For someone who liked to think of himself as a bad boy of architecture, he was an unlikely rebel" (and Philly "is probably the only place in America that could have produced a figure like" him).

●  Bernstein: "To the modernist notion of 'less is more,' Venturi retorted, 'Less is a bore,' arguing for ornament, historical references and even humor in architecture."

●  Saval: Venturi and Scott Brown "viewed architecture as a combat sport, but one that required wit and grace. With him dies half of an extraordinary partnership - if there is a way to remember Venturi, it is by honoring his partner, who remains impoverished of attention. The knots tying her ideas to his are impossible to untangle, and to ignore."

●  Sitz rounds up tributes to Venturi from MoMA's Stierli, Kieran and Timberlake, and Goldberger.

●  AN rounds up tributes "from dedicated disciples to former intellectual foes," including Jencks, Eisenman, Berke, Bestor, Denari, Goldberger, Griffiths, Ivy, Sorkin, and many more.

●  AN's round-up Part 2: tributes to Venturi from Bergdoll, Yarinsky, Dubbeldam, Konyk, Furman, and more.

●  A blast from ANN's past - chronicled by yours truly: Happy Ending for the Little Beach House That Could: Venturi and Scott Brown watch their Lieb House sail up the East River.

Other news of the day:

●  Keegan offers "a design agenda" for whoever becomes Chicago's next mayor: "Demolition is destruction; high-rises aren't the only way to achieve density. Good design is in Chicago's DNA, but it needs to be cultivated and encouraged. And it needs to pervade the entire city, not just select parts."

●  Fortmeyer offers a recap of the recent Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco: "Washington may be silent, but the country remains committed to climate action - several affiliate events turned the spotlight on architecture's role in climate change."

●  Alter cheers Architecture 2030 going after embodied carbon - "this is a very big deal. It is time to recognize the scale of this problem, but this is a tough fix" ("I have a few serious bones to pick").

●  Malin of BuildingGreen on the saga of "getting stronger sustainability language" into the AIA's Code of Ethics: "The standards and rules aren't nearly as strong as we had originally hoped, but I've come to appreciate how meaningful they are nevertheless."

●  A good reason to head to Indiana this week: Prudon explains how the 2018 Docomomo US National Symposium "will focus on the three most important aspects of any preservation effort: design, heritage, and the community."

●  The symposium "Shifting the Landscape: Black Architects and Planners, 1968 to Now" in Washington, DC, this week is sold out, but events will be streamed online.

●  One we couldn't resist: Segran parses Prada's new handbags designed by Sejima, Diller, and Boeri: "The pieces they've created weave together form and function in new - and sometimes - funny ways" (pouches for sandwiches; doubles as a raincoat!).

Deadlines:

●  Request for Proposals/RFP: AdvancingCities (U.S.): JPMorgan Chase $500 Million Initiative to Create Economic Opportunity in Cities (no fee!).

●  Call for entries: USGBC-LA's 8th Annual Sustainable Innovation Awards; open to projects in Southern California, and certified under any sustainability rating system.

●  Call for entries (deadline looms!): designboom's 2019 A' design awards & competition.


  


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