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Today’s News - Tuesday, March 12, 2019

● ANN feature: Winner and Finalists Announced in the "rise in the city" Design Competition for Affordable Housing in Lesotho, Africa.

● Green, author of "The Smart Enough City," explains "what smart cities companies get wrong - they equate innovation with technology. The perspective is deeply misguided."

● Arsenault delves into whether Sidewalk Labs' Quayside in Toronto is a "green paradise or a data-stealing dystopia. The controversy highlights the tension between the demands for personal privacy and the increasing role of data in the pursuit of sustainability."

● Jacobs heads to Bentonville, Arkansas, to learn more about the Walton Family Foundation's Design Excellence Program that "is helping to reshape the Arkansas landscape, to surprising effect. The results, so far, are impressive."

● Kamin says that, while "the fix is in" for Chicago's Lincoln Yards, there are lessons to be learned "from this mega-development's faults. Barely "cutting the height of the two tallest buildings is a joke," as is the (miniscule) "reduction in total square footage. It's a bone thrown to critics of the plan."

● GGLO's Mayer explains what L.A. is missing by not considering "the missing middle": "Solving the housing crisis means getting out of our own way. Are we even trying to build the right types of housing?" (Malmo got it right).

● Brandes Gratz minces no words re: "Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio's groveling" to get Amazon HQ2: "The recent debacle was merely the culmination of a decades-long appeasement to corporations and developers - public objections be damned."

● King parses San Francisco's "massive" new hospital: "The problem isn't lack of ambition" - it's "earnest" but "overbearing" - but "at least it tries. It doesn't look cheap. Still, a little bit of color would be nice."

● Takada is "OK with the controversy" over his Infinity Tower in Sydney: "No construction since the Opera House in 1958 has excited as much enthusiasm and ridicule, but he doesn't mind one bit" (Elizabeth Farrelly called it an "aesthetic offence").

● Moore marvels at MK Gallery that is "sparking joy in Milton Keynes - full of new tricks the original makers never imagined, but always in the cause of the town's underlying hopefulness."

● Welton cheers Denver-based Civitas for "looking at a new and abundant supply of park space. Two recent projects illustrate how parkways can be transformed into parks - making room for cars, trees and people."

● Sugimoto continues his Hirshhorn adventures, hoping to "create a 'new front door' to the National Mall with a redesigned sculpture garden."

● Saffron is saddened at the prospect of losing a "charming" mid-century modern pavilion designed by Philly's first licensed woman architect, destined for demolition "to make room for an expanded dog park - there seems to be room for both the pavilion and the dogs."

● Oklahoma City's 1956 "Egg Church," a "historic, organic modernist building" that "quickly became a state treasure" is "in danger of being demolished" - but the Okie Mod Squad has launched a petition to save it.

● Frearson proffers 10 "individuals, collectives and organizations that are working hard to raise the profile of female architects and designers around the world."

Winners all:

● The 2019 ArchDaily Building of the Year Awards started with 4,000 projects, "whittled to 75 finalists," then "reduced to the 15 winners."

● Winners of the Urban Zoo Coworking Design Challenge for "a signature style for Urban Zoo's co-working spaces" hail from France, Australia, and Russia.

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ANN feature: Winner and Finalists Announced in the "rise in the city" Design Competition for Affordable Housing in Lesotho, Africa: The competition brief sought sustainable designs for a home that could be scaled up so that one family could add extensions, or be replicated as row housing. [images]- ArchNewsNow.com

Ben Green: Cities Are Not Technology Problems: What Smart Cities Companies Get Wrong: Many companies equate new technology with innovation, but actual innovation...means using tech in concert with bureaucracy, on-the-ground awareness, and challenging political choices: Where smart-city proponents such as Alphabet’s Sidewalk Labs go astray...is when they equate innovation with technology. The perspective is deeply misguided...Cities must first determine what to prioritize (a clearly political task) and then deploy data and algorithms to assess and improve their performance. [excerpt from "The Smart Enough City: Putting Technology in Its Place to Reclaim Our Urban"] Future- Metropolis Magazine

Chris Arsenault: Green paradise or data-stealing dystopia? Toronto smart city sparks debate: From flood-resistant green spaces to heated bike paths, is a planned smart city in Toronto [Quayside] a smokescreen to extract private data? ...Sidewalk Labs' proposed project...Supporters and opponents alike agree that the firm's proposal...could change the way people think about urban development...controversy highlights the tension between the demands for personal privacy and the increasing role of data in the pursuit of sustainability.- Place / Thomson Reuters Foundation

Karrie Jacobs: The Waltons Embrace Design Excellence: It may seem like a paradox, but the family that founded Walmart is helping to reshape the Arkansas landscape, to surprising effect: I felt like I was deep in a symbiotic landscape, eating artisanal fare in a...pleasantly walkable downtown that, in a stroke of irony, largely owes its existence to a major producer of hideous, car-centric sprawl...I was here to learn more about the Northwest Arkansas Design Excellence Program...The results, so far, are impressive. -- Marlon Blackwell Architects; Eskew+Dumez+Ripple; Andropogon Associates; Marvel Architecture; Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects; Ross Barney Architects [images]- Architect Magazine

Blair Kamin: The fix is in for Lincoln Yards, but the next mayor can learn from this megadevelopment's faults: Getting [it] right means doing much more than the token measures...Cutting the height of the two tallest buildings...is a joke...The same goes for the reduction in total square footage, from 15 million square feet to 14.5 million...It’s a bone thrown to critics of the plan...we need to see more public benefits for the public realm...In the architecture of public policy, there’s room for a fresh emphasis on the values of social equity and making a strong sense of place. -- Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)- Chicago Tribune

Gerhard W. Mayer/GGLO: The Missing Middle: Los Angeles Needs to Build Different Types of Housing: Solving the crisis means getting out of our own way: Are we even trying to build the right types of housing? ...if we’re serious about addressing the housing crisis...we need to consider changing many of the rules governing building. Here’s what would need to be changed to make a building like the one in Malmo possible in L.A.: [images]- Common Edge

Roberta Brandes Gratz: Governor Cuomo’s and Mayor de Blasio’s Grovelling to Amazon Demeans New York: The recent debacle was merely the culmination of a decades-long appeasement to corporations and developers: ...public objections be damned...The absurdity of our current situation is epitomized in the demolition of 270 Park Avenue...And then there’s One Vanderbilt, adjacent to Grand Central... -- Natalie de Blois/Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)- Common Edge

John King: SF’s massive new hospital [California Pacific Medical Center] earnest but overwhelming: ...it’s overbearing - the Bay Area’s latest example of the difficulties of fitting 21st century hospitals into long-established settings...The problem...isn’t lack of ambition...At this scale, any mistakes are magnified...The overall impact is as glum as it sounds...Grading on the curve of 21st century hospitals - big, bigger, behemoth - at least San Francisco’s newcomer tries. It doesn’t look cheap. Still, a little bit of color would be nice. -- SmithGroup; Wallace Roberts & Todd (WRT)- San Francisco Chronicle

Architect of Green Square’s Infinity Tower OK with controversy over his project: No construction since the Opera House in 1958 has excited as much enthusiasm and ridicule, but Koichi Takada doesn’t mind one bit...when the greenery-wreathed design was first unveiled in 2013, and it won the 2014 City of Sydney Design Excellence Competition, outrage followed almost immediately. [images]- Domain (Australia)

Rowan Moore: MK Gallery - sparking joy in Milton Keynes: The town’s expanded art gallery, full of new tricks while honouring the guiding spirit of Milton Keynes’s 60s planners, is a revelation: ...making it do tricks that the original makers never imagined, but always in the cause of the town’s underlying hopefulness...infused and energised by the near-obsessive application of its MK thematics... -- Derek Walker; 6a Architects- Observer (UK)

J. Michael Welton: In Colorado, Turning Parkways into Parks: ...urban designers at Denver-based Civitas are looking at a new and abundant supply of park space...the thinking...is that the city doesn’t need all the space it’s using for automobiles...Two recent Civitas projects...illustrate how parkways can be transformed into parks - making room for cars, trees and people. [images]- Architects and Artisans

Hirshhorn hopes to create ‘new front door’ to the Mall with a redesigned sculpture garden: Hiroshi Sugimoto...has created the concept for the 1½-acre garden, part of Gordon Bunshaft’s celebrated Brutalist design...Creating space for performances and new work is another goal. -- Yun Architecture; Quinn Evans and Associates; Rhodeside & Harwell [image]- Washington Post

Inga Saffron: Philly’s first licensed woman architect built this mid-century modern pavilion in Columbus Square. Its days are numbered: The loss of this charming pavilion would be a double blow for Philadelphia history...Although [it] opened the same year as the LOVE Park saucer [1960]...Fleisher’s design is the antithesis of that lightweight glass building...advisory council...decided to demolish...to make room for an expanded dog park...based on the plans, there seems to be room for both the pavilion and the dogs...[it] may be small, but that doesn’t mean it can’t find a use... -- Elizabeth Hirsh Fleisher/Gabriel Roth/Roth & Fleisher; Roy Larson; Nicholas Gianopulos [images]- Philadelphia Inquirer

Historic Oklahoma City “Egg Church” is in danger of being demolished: The Church of Tomorrow. An “honest architecture” that’s forever contemporary...First Christian Church, a historic, organic modernist building...32-acre project quickly became a state treasure and was lauded as a major engineering feat...petition started by Okie Mod Squad has been circulating... -- Conner & Pojezny (1956); Bob Bowlby; Bruce Goff [images]- The Architect's Newspaper

Amy Frearson: 10 champions for women in architecture and design: On International Women's Day, here's a look at some of the individuals, collectives and organisations that are working hard to raise the profile of female architects and designers around the world. -- Voices of Women (VOW); Black Females in Architecture; Egg Collective; Chief; Part W; Harriet Harriss; The Wing; Beverly Willis; Missing in Architecture; Parlour- Dezeen

Winners of the 2019 ArchDaily Building of the Year Awards: 4,000 projects were in contention...whittled to 75 finalists...reduced to the 15 winners. -- GLA; OPEN Architecture; BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group; Sameep Padora & Associates; INNOCAD; Zaha Hadid Architects; Heatherwick Studio; Cerejeira Fontes Architects; Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners; MVRDV; Paulo Mendes da Rocha + MMBB Arquitetos; Studio 10; H&P Architects; Gianni Botsford Architects; EFFEKT- ArchDaily

Urban Zoo Coworking Design Challenge results announced: ...a signature style for their co-working spaces... -- Marianne Ventre/Anthony Spennato/Studio MAS (France); Rachel Fay/Liv Green (Australia); Daria Khrenova/Ekaterina Zakharova/Apex Project Bureau (Russia)- Bee Breeders (formerly HMMD/Homemade Dessert) / Urban Zoo Coworking

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