Today’s News - Wednesday, January 29, 2020
Bad/sad news first:
● Kamin reports that, after 88 years, FLW's School of Architecture at Taliesin in Scottsdale, Arizona, and the Spring Green, Wisconsin, campus will close their doors in June - a "gut-wrenching" decision" by the board (Betsky blames the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation - and vice versa, of course).
● Bernstein considers whether America is "poised for another World's Fair embarrassment": "The U.S. will have a pavilion at the 2020 Dubai Expo" - thanks to the Emirati government paying for it, "but the design remains an open question" (by an unnamed Australian firm with U.S. offices, perhaps).
● Architects react to Trump naming Blanton as "Architect" of the Capitol - he "is neither trained nor licensed as an architect" (though he is a licensed engineer).
● Caulfield considers what the Hawaii Government is doing about sea level rise - legislation is under consideration "similar to bills that failed to pass last session," but "there is no set game plan, despite the fact that a 2017 report urged immediate preparation for 3.2 feet of sea level rise by 2060."
● Ing x 2: Legal finger-pointing begins as the insulation manufacturer claims "Studio E 'knew' Grenfell Tower cladding could fail" - Studio E says that, "at the time," it didn't know "the products used on the tower were unsafe" ("contradicted by Celotex's evidence").
● He reports that "WeWork confirms under-fire Bjarke Ingels is no longer chief architect - amid mounting criticism" of his affiliation with the far-right Brazilian president - Ingels responds.
Good/great news:
● Saleem profiles the four founders of U.K.-based Black Females in Architecture: "The issues they are tackling are wide ranging, relevant, progressive and urgent - this is an initiative that has the potential to speak for many."
● UNStudio's "100 Homes Project," a "unique Dutch initiative for a future living," intends to create the "smartest neighborhood in the world" that will include an Ethics Council to oversee data ownership, privacy, regulation, etc. (shades of Sidewalk Toronto issues?).
● Moore cheers Grafton Architects' new library and dance center for Kingston University that offers "sociability on a grand scale. It has a town hall's sobriety that allows the playfulness of what is a great grownup climbing frame to flourish."
● Wainwright calls the new library/dance center a "£50m love nest - a stirring, open-plan library where students can 'meet and fall in love,'" and a "majestic multileveled theatre of higher education."
● Wells "showed up for the unveiling of the design for the new Ottawa library with a certain defensive curmudgeonliness. Fortunately," Diamond Schmitt "favors buildings you can use, and want to be in" (quite a cheeky take on architecture in Ottawa - read!).
● Eyefuls of ZHA's competition-winning design for Chinese smartphone maker OPPO HQ - almost 2 million square feet in four interconnected towers (a "Sky Plaza" and a rooftop "Sky Lab" included - click 1st pix for lots of images).
● Lee parses Dreyfuss + Blackford's "thoughtful and subtle" makeover of its own 1959 office building in Sacramento by the firm's next generation, so that it "shines again."
● Davidson's (great!) Q&A with Gehry: "Nearly 91, the starchitect with the soul of an artist does not know how to retire" - from his office mezzine looking down on some dollhouse-scale Gehryland, he clearly relishes the sense of inventiveness and bustle."
● TCLF's 16th in the Pioneers of American Landscape Design Oral History Project series is Birnbaum's 2007 interview with the late Robert Royston re: his "extraordinary life and career."
● Your eye candy for the day: Stunning(!) images of the winners of CIOB's Art of Building Photographer of the Year 2019 Awards.
● ICYMI: ANN feature: INSIGHT: Gensler's Shah & client ELA Advertising's Filip talk about how architects and designers are creating spaces that promote company culture and go well beyond the physical design of a space.
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Blair Kamin: Founded by Frank Lloyd Wright, famed School of Architecture at Taliesin is closing at the end of June: ...the board made the “gut-wrenching” decision...[it] was unable to reach an agreement with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation...the foundation appeared to shift blame...to the school’s board...Aaron Betsky, responded that the school had come up with a sustainable business model and accused the foundation of making unreasonable financial demands...school is working out an agreement with a design school at Arizona State University that will let the [30] students transfer credits...- Chicago Tribune |
Fred A. Bernstein: Is America Poised for Another World's Fair Embarrassment? The U.S. will have a pavilion at the 2020 Dubai Expo thanks to a last-minute gift, but the design remains an open question: ...the Emirati government announced that it would pay for the U.S. pavilion...allows both countries to avoid a major embarrassment: namely, an empty lot where the American pavilion would have been...Now the trick is getting the pavilion built...Fentress dropped out. According to various sources, the new architect is an Australian firm with offices in the U.S. The company declined to comment.- Architect Magazine |
Architects React to Trump’s New ‘Architect’ of the Capitol: ...appointment of engineer J. Brett Blanton has sparked conversation within the profession of architecture: While Blanton, the deputy vice president for engineering at the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, is a licensed engineer, he is neither trained nor licensed as an architect.- Architectural Record |
Claire Caulfield: Are We Doomed? What Is Hawaii Government Doing About Sea Level Rise? There isn’t a definitive list of priorities...but legislation is under consideration and Oahu is preparing its plans for local action: ...there is no set game plan, despite the fact that a 2017 report urged immediate preparation for 3.2 feet of sea level rise by 2060...bills...were introduced in the first week of the 2020 legislative session. While many are similar to bills that failed to pass last session, this year 36 lawmakers formed an environmental caucus, and adapting to sea level rise is one of their top priorities.- Honolulu Civil Beat |
Will Ing: Studio E ‘knew’ Grenfell Tower cladding could fail, inquiry told: Email exchanges show [they] ‘appear to have known’ the cladding panel...would fail in a fire, according to the lawyer for insulation manufacturer Celotex: Studio E said it did not have any knowledge at the time that the products used on the tower were unsafe – and that it could not reasonably have been expected to know the products were unsafe. But this appears to be contradicted by Celotex’s evidence.- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Will Ing: WeWork confirms under-fire Bjarke Ingels is no longer chief architect: ...shared office space giant has revealed amid mounting criticism of the Danish architect...Ingels caused a Twitter storm when he was pictured with far-right Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro after travelling to the country ‘to gather background information’ for a tourism masterplan he is drawing up for an area in north-east Brazil...[He] responded to criticism by saying that "creating a list of countries or companies that BIG should shy away from working with seems to be an oversimplification of a complex world."- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Shahed Saleem: BFA works for pride, not prejudice, for black women architects: Racial and gender diversity is an acknowledged issue in the profession. Four young black architects have taken it on and their organisation, Black Females in Architecture, is gathering pace: ...the issues they are tackling...are wide ranging, relevant, progressive and urgent. BFA...emerged through the chance meetings of Setufe, Neba Sere, Akua Danso and Alisha Morenike Fisher... as much as race and gender-based inequalities, they were also raising questions about the nature and experience of architectural education and practice itself...the industry does not represent the society it serves... this is an initiative that has the potential to speak for many... -- Crystal Design Studios; Elsie Owusu Architects; Public Practice; Penoyre and Prasad; Scott Brownrigg; Arcadis- RIBA Journal (UK) |
UNSense Develops an Adaptive Neighborhood of 100 Homes, part of UNStudio Brainport Smart District Foundation Master Plan: ..."100 Homes Project"...puts in place 1,500 permanent and 500 temporary homes, greenery and 12 hectares of a business park...The unique Dutch initiative for a future living is based on 4 main guidelines...will integrate technology...housing will take on an intelligent and adaptive design...an Ethics Council will serve as an advisory body on...data ownership, privacy, regulation and financial gain for the end-user. -- Felixx Landscape Architects- ArchDaily |
Rowan Moore: Town House, Kingston University - sociability on a grand scale: ...expansive new library and dance centre, designed by Dublin’s Grafton Architects, invites students to engage with each other - and the neighbourhood: [It] stands or falls on its ability to be in some way public... Six generous storeys...amply furnished with the architecture of sociability...The stakes are high: if the students don’t show up, the building loses a lot of its point...[It] imparts a sense of care and thought. It has a town hall’s sobriety that allows the playfulness of what is a great grownup climbing frame to flourish...early signs are that [it] is working exactly as it should...It is, in fact, a public building. -- Yvonne Farrell; Shelley McNamara- Observer (UK) |
Oliver Wainwright: The £50m lovenest: Kingston's new library is a place to find books - and romance: Grafton Architects...about to take the RIBA gold medal, have unveiled...a stirring, open-plan library where students can ‘meet and fall in love’: A raucous urban dance extravaganza might not be every librarian’s idea of a welcome backdrop to their bookshelves. But then not every library is conceived like Town House...majestic multilevelled theatre of higher education...In a brave departure from most security-conscious university buildings, there are no turnstiles or swipe-card access gates... Above all, it feels social, designed to encourage encounters...there’s a slight danger it might prove too popular for its own good.- Guardian (UK) |
Paul Wells: If a building isn’t a disaster, how can we be sure it’s in Ottawa? The city unveiled the design for its new library - and Ottawans might actually like it: ... it was with a certain defensive curmudgeonliness that I showed up for the unveiling of the design for the new Ottawa library...Fortunately the project architect for the OPL-LAC JF [Ottawa Public Library and the Library and Archives Canada] is...Diamond Schmitt Architects...will not satisfy observers for whom a library should resemble a spaceship or a crystal...[DSAI] favours buildings you can use, and want to be in...spent 2019 running a public consultation process...The results are - well, they’re not spectacular so much as reassuring...a building that... suggests it will work best when you’re actually in it.- Maclean’s (Canada) |
Zaha Hadid Architects' Oppo HQ comprises four interconnected towers: ...new headquarters for Chinese smartphone maker... will host a landscaped plaza, an art gallery, stores, and restaurants. A "Sky Plaza" will contain leisure and entertainment facilities on the 10th floor, while a rooftop "Sky Lab" will also serve as a public viewing point. There will also be a direct link to Shenzhen's subway network...ZHA won the job...following an international architecture competition- New Atlas (formerly Gizmag) |
Lydia Lee: A 1959 Modernist Office in Sacramento Shines Again: The building’s midcentury architecture was historically significant, so Dreyfuss + Blackford Architecture’s upgrades had to be thoughtful and subtle: The Sacramento Municipal Utility District building was originally designed by Albert Dreyfuss and Leonard Blackford...Roughly 60 years later, the next generation...was hired to update the facility, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places (and much beloved by the local architecture community).- Metropolis Magazine |
Justin Davidson: In Conversation: Frank Gehry Nearly 91, the starchitect with the soul of an artist does not know how to retire: Standing on the mezzanine of his vast Los Angeles studio, looking down on...some dollhouse-scale Gehryland, he clearly relishes the sense of inventiveness and bustle...he’s mostly omnipresent...Are you doing stuff that’s really different? "I hope so. I think so...I like figuring out how to take tightly budgeted commercial projects and turn them into architecture. I’ve always done this"...How? "Technology..."- New York Magazine |
Robert Royston Oral History: The extraordinary life and career of landscape architect Royston (1918-2008) are the subject of the sixteenth oral history in the award-winning Pioneers of American Landscape Design Oral History Project series: After working for the offices of Thomas Church in the 1940s, Royston partnered with Garrett Eckbo and Edward Williams to form Eckbo, Royston & Williams...He started a new firm in 1958 with partners Asa Hanamoto and David Mayes, which ultimately became Royston, Hanamoto, Alley & Abey...interviewed by Charles A. Birnbaum with J.C. Miller in August 2007.- The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) |
The art of buildings: After thousands of public votes, the winners of the Art of Building Photographer of the Year 2019 have been announced: The competition, run by the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), celebrates the creativity of the construction industry and the built world around us. The Public Choice Award went to Alexandr Bormotin for his striking image of a metro station in Moscow.- BBC News |
ANN feature: INSIGHT: Incorporating Form, Function & Culture: Designing for Commercial Office Success: Commercial interior design looks beyond form and function. Architects and designers are creating spaces that promote company culture and go well beyond the physical design of a space. By Jaimelynn Shah, Assoc. AIA, CID, LEED AP, Gensler, and Andre Filip, CEO, ELA Advertising- ArchNewsNow.com |
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