Today’s News - Tuesday, March 5, 2019

●  A sad way to start the day: tributes to Kevin Roche: Goldberger: His "inventive riffs on traditional architecture, with which he appeared to have something of a lover's quarrel, alternately embracing and spurning it, or twisting it to his own purposes."

●  Kamin pays his respects to Roche, who designed Chicago's Leo Burnett Building.

●  Bernstein: "Like his mentor Eero Saarinen, Roche could design buildings of startling originality. Some were lightning rods for criticism."

●  ANN reprise: Crosbie's lively/lovely 2017 Q&A with Roche re: "his early days with Eero Saarinen, re-thinking corporate architecture, and what he learned from some four-legged friends back in his native Ireland."

On much brighter notes:

●  Isozaki wins the 2019 Pritzker Prize: "It was in part his endless attempts to rebuild - to make something new from old forms, to experiment on the edge of what's possible - that earned him the honor."

●  The MacArthur Foundation is giving away another $100 million gift - and "spinning off a competition nonprofit, Lever for Change, to help other foundations give game-changing sums to promising solutions."

●  The AIA's "Guides for Equitable Practice," a "resource to architects and firms on equity, diversity and inclusion issues," is now publicly available online.

●  Kimmelman visits two public housing estates in London that offer lessons for other cities dealing with affordable housing issues: "It matters here that the council itself, not some private developer, is in charge - so far, that gamble is producing some of the most promising public housing I've seen in a while."

●  Arieff takes issue with builders who "want to sell us sprawling, unsustainable monstrosities" - the NAHB's annual trends report are "not necessarily the trends homeowners want (and certainly not what most people need). Our way of building homes and neighborhoods lost the plot a long time ago."

●  Moore parses the changes at "the world's most famous bell foundry" and environs that is "high on the list of case studies whereby places of industry become places of art become places of property development and hipsterdom."

●  Wainwright finds 6a's MK Gallery "utterly, thrillingly Milton Keynesian. Restored with relish, the unhappy 1990s gallery is now proudly of its place - an unapologetic hymn to the land of big boxes and concrete cows," and "a gloriously '70s vision that would have made the young Terence Conran proud."

●  A "vast" train shed in Tilburg, the Netherlands, is now a public library with "labs" for learning new skills, "young visitors can wander through giant storybooks," and much, much more (impressive design team led by Civic Architects!).

●  In Dubai, OMA and Inside Outside have designed "Ethar - Honoring Generosity," a "vast monument that consists of a field of 1,680 triangular-shaped recycled aluminum columns arrayed like a magnetic field, engraved with stories from Arabic scholars, scientists, and thinkers."

●  Adler considers whether architects can "make a difference in transforming our criminal justice system" + link to Klimoski's report re: Vera Institute for Justice and MASS Design Group working together "to envision what future prisons can look like."

●  Bettridge has a great (and often amusing) conversation with Diller and van Loon, "who had never met before": They "are colossally accomplished architects. They are also two delightful people to chat with" (and being in NYC made him feel "like being inside a gigantic cell phone").

●  Plan to spend some time with Guardian Cities' Concrete Week, which includes Wainwright: "After a generation in the doghouse, concrete is more fashionable than ever. So why don't we take better care of our brutalist architecture?"

Of plazas, parks, and playgrounds:

●  CMG's new plan for San Francisco's Civic Center "proposes 11 acres of multi-use, homeless-friendly green space," though "even with the worthy intentions - can accessibility to public space truly provoke change in a city rife with inequity?"

●  Researchers at Aarhus University in Denmark "found that growing up near vegetation is associated with an up to 55% lower risk of mental health disorders in adulthood. One large question remains: Why?"

●  Kirk parses UNICEF's new reports that "explore the ultimate design challenge: How to provide spaces to play and prosper for children living in urban poverty. One key: Local organizations and communities have the power to bring about positive change, often with very few resources."

●  The architect who "looked at an abandoned, littered parking lot under a highway" in Boston "and saw something beautiful - a useable community space that doubles as a natural filtration system for water that runs off the highway."

●  Osborne cheers Bentway Park in Toronto by Public Work: "The underbelly of the elevated Gardiner Expressway was a virtual dead zone" - now, "the 10-acre site links seven neighborhoods with pathways for pedestrians and cyclists."

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To subscribe to the free daily newsletter click here Obituary: Paul Goldberger: Kevin Roche, Architect Who Melded Bold With Elegant, 96: A favorite of corporations, museums and government, he was given wide leeway in expressing his restless imagination in refined but daring ways: He was soft-spoken, with a distant echo of an Irish brogue, but it was an understated manner that belied the self-confidence radiated by the buildings he made for his patrons...he loved strong, memorable forms, he saw architecture as a matter of problem solving as much as shape making...inventive riffs on traditional architecture, with which he appeared to have something of a lover’s quarrel, alternately embracing and spurning it, or twisting it to his own purposes. -- Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates; Dan Kiley- New York Times Fred A. Bernstein: Kevin Roche, FAIA, 1922-2019: Like his mentor Eero Saarinen, Roche could design buildings of startling originality...Some of his buildings...were lightning rods for criticism... -- Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates/KRJDA; "Kevin Roche: The Quiet Architect"- Architectural Record Blair Kamin: Kevin Roche, 96, Pritzker Prize-winning architect who designed Chicago’s Leo Burnett Building: ...best known for such innovative designs as the Ford Foundation headquarters in New York...the much-praised Oakland Museum of California...additions to New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. He also graced the small-town architectural mecca of Columbus, Ind., with several buildings...Pritzker jury said: “He is no easy man to describe: an innovator who does not worship innovation for itself, a professional unconcerned with trends, a quiet, humble man who conceives and executes great works..." -- Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates- Chicago Tribune Michael J. Crosbie: Sitting Down with Kevin Roche: "I learned everything I know about architecture from Eero: Q&A re: his early days with Eero Saarinen, re-thinking corporate architecture, and what he learned from some four-legged friends back in his native Ireland. [images]- ArchNewsNow.com Arata Isozaki, Whose Hybrid Style Forged 'New Paths,' Wins 2019 Pritzker Prize: ...it was in part Isozaki's endless attempts to rebuild - to make something new from old forms, to experiment on the edge of what's possible - that earned him the honor. [images]- NPR / National Public Radio The MacArthur Foundation is giving away another $100 million gift - and helping others make big bets: After the success of the original 100&Change contest, the foundation is repeating the experiment, and spinning off a competition nonprofit [Lever for Change] to help other foundations give game-changing sums to promising solutions.- Fast Company "Guides for Equitable Practice" publicly available on AIA's website: Guides provide an educational resource to architects and firms on equity, diversity and inclusion issues: AIA and the University of Minnesota are continuing efforts to shape architecture firm culture by publicly releasing [the guide]...developed using current research on gender, race and culture in the U.S.- American Institute of Architects (AIA) Michael Kimmelman: New York Has a Public Housing Problem. Does London Have an Answer? After listening to residents, Hackney upgraded its council estates with sleek new apartments, mixing subsidized and market-rate tenants: Leveraging market-rate construction on public housing sites isn't a new idea...It matters here that the council itself, not some private developer, is in charge...so far, that gamble is producing some of the most promising public housing I've seen in a while. -- Karakusevic Carson Architects; David Chipperfield Architects; HHBR Architects; Muf Architecture/Art; Vogt Landscape Architects- New York Times Allison Arieff: The New ‘Dream Home’ Should Be a Condo: Builders want to sell us huge, unsustainable monstrosities. That’s not what we need: Every year, the National Association of Home Builders presents...trends in home design and construction...it’s a failed experiment...they’re not necessarily the trends homeowners want (and certainly not what most people need). Instead, they’re what builders, kitchen and bath manufacturers and real estate agents would like to sell them...Our way of building homes and neighborhoods lost the plot a long time ago. -- Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects- New York Times Rowan Moore: Ringing the changes at the Whitechapel bell foundry: Competing plans for the world’s most famous bell foundry and the move from west to east London of three national medical institutions tell two sides of the same story: ...high on the list of case studies...whereby places of industry become places of art become places of property development and hipsterdom...supporters of a counter-proposal...argue that Raycliff’s plans...amount to making little more than “a bell-themed boutique hotel"...Royal College of Pathologists...handsome new building...Both institution and building speak of faith in the future based on the efforts of the past...new and old manifestations of the same thing. -- 31/44 Architects; Bennetts Associates [images]- Observer (UK) [ color-starved era ] Oliver Wainwright: MK Gallery - utterly, thrillingly Milton Keynesian: Restored with relish, the unhappy 1990s gallery is now proudly of its place. With eye-popping interiors inspired by a 1978 Habitat catalogue, this is a shining temple to Milton Keynes’ mythology: ...the British experiment in modernity which proved that...we were never cut out to be modern. But a new £12m reboot of the city’s contemporary art gallery aims to celebrate the weird and wonderful quirks of the 1960s new town in all its undervalued suburban glory...an unapologetic hymn to the land of big boxes and concrete cows...a gloriously 70s vision that would have made the young Terence Conran proud. -- Tom Emerson/6a [images]- Guardian (UK) Civic Architects creates public library in vast locomotive shed: LocHal library and events space...occupies a former glass and steel locomotive shed in Tilburg, the Netherlands...run by Midden Brabant Libraries which is using the space to showcase its library concept...A number of spaces...referred to as labs provide spaces where visitors can learn new skills...young visitors can wander through giant storybooks... -- Braaksma & Roos Architectenbureau; Inside Outside/Petra Blaisse; Donkergroen; Mecanoo [images]- Dezeen OMA and Inside Outside "Honor Generosity" with a Field of Engraved Columns in Dubai: ...a vast monument...“Ethar - Honoring Generosity"...consists of a field of 1,680 triangular-shaped recycled aluminum columns arrayed like a magnetic field, engraved with stories from Arabic scholars, scientists, and thinkers. [images]- ArchDaily Jerry Adler: Architecture and Prison Reform: Can architects make a difference in transforming our criminal justice system? At one end of the spectrum is Raphael Sperry [of] Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility [ADPSR] has long advocated that architects should boycott prison design altogether...For architects who do design such facilities, there is a real opportunity to make contemporary prisons more humane and responsive to a goal of rehabilitation + Alex Klimoski: Vera Institute for Justice and MASS Design Group Reimagine Prisons: ...work together to envision what future prisons can look like. -- Perkins Eastman; Michael Murphy/MASS Design Group; David Bostwick/HDR; Kenneth Ricci/RicciGreene Architects- Architectural Record Thom Bettridge: Throwing Stones in Glass Boxes with Architects Liz Diller and Ellen van Loon: [They] are colossally accomplished architects...They are also two delightful people to chat with...[we] convened...to discuss white cubes, clear walls, and a host of other topics...the two women - who had never met before - have been occupied with task of designing public art spaces... -- Diller Scofidio + Renfro; Rem Koolhaas/OMA; The Shed; Factory Manchester- Interview Magazine Concrete Week: Guardian Cities celebrates the aesthetic and social achievements of concrete, while investigating its innumerable harms, to learn what we can do to bring about a less grey world. Oliver Wainwright: Brutal beauty: how concrete became the ultimate lifestyle concept: After a generation in the doghouse, concrete is more fashionable than ever. So why don’t we take better care of our brutalist architecture?- Guardian (UK) A New, Inclusive Civic Center for San Francisco: ...new plan...proposes 11 acres of multi-use, homeless-friendly green space...the result of two years of community outreach...balancing act is one of the project’s biggest challenges: designing a single framework for many desired needs and overlapping jurisdictions and for a client composed of eight city agencies...even with the worthy intentions...the plan calls into question the ability of a public space to address mounting social ills...an accessibility to public space truly provoke change in a city rife with inequity? -- CMG Landscape Architecture; Kennerly Architecture + Planning; Lawrence Halprin- The Dirt/American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Greener Childhood Associated With Happier Adulthood: ...in a rapidly urbanizing world, green spaces are shrinking as our cities grow out and up...A study...in the journal PNAS details what the scientists say is the largest investigation of the association between green spaces and mental health...Researchers from Aarhus University in Denmark found that growing up near vegetation is associated with an up to 55% lower risk of mental health disorders in adulthood...One large question remains: Why?- NPR / National Public Radio Mimi Kirk: How to Design Playgrounds for the World’s Most Vulnerable Kids: New UNICEF reports explore the ultimate design challenge: How to provide spaces to play and prosper for children living in urban poverty: “Shaping Urbanization for Children: A Handbook on Child-Responsive Urban Planning" offers a blueprint for how to design cities for children and future generations across the globe. The handbook highlights 10 principles to which urban stakeholders should commit...One key takeaway from the handbook: Local organizations and communities have the power to bring about positive change, often with very few resources. -- Riccardo Luca Conti/CatalyticAction; Kounkuey Design Initiative- CityLab (formerly The Atlantic Cities) This architect looked at an abandoned, littered parking lot under a highway and saw something beautiful: Dan Adams, who directs Northeastern’s School of Architecture, reimagined an...area under Interstate 93 to create a useable community space that doubles as a natural filtration system for water that runs off the highway...What was once a parking lot is now home to a basketball court, pedestrian walkways, and space for community theater performances...The key with the project at Ink Block was meeting often disjointed goals as well as tying together a challenging landscape. -- Landing Studio- Boston Real Estate Times Catherine Osborne: Bentway Park by Public Work: For decades, this mile-long ribbon of unused land - the underbelly of the elevated Gardiner Expressway...was a virtual dead zone to everyone but the homeless and vandals...10-acre site links seven neighborhoods...pathways for pedestrians and cyclists connect to a host of formerly disjointed public assets...most striking feature is what was already there: those 55 soaring concrete columns...that support the highway... -- Ken Greenberg/Greenberg Consultants [images]- Architectural Record

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