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Today’s News - Wednesday, March 25, 2020

● Eyefuls of Rizvi Hassan's Bangladesh community center for a minority group of Myanmar's refugees "to foster integration with locals - using locally available materials to create an inclusive space and foster greater tolerance - it also makes foreign aid a thoughtful investment, instead of mere charity."

● Leigh Brown's fab profile of Deanna Van Buren, co-founder of the nonprofit firm Designing Justice/Designing Spaces, who "designs civic spaces that are healing alternatives to correctional facilities."

● Johnston parses Liaros & de Silva's "new paradigm of land development" with a "circular economy village" model of "a network of villages" of 150-200 people "that will share resources - it might sound quaint, even dull - but networks of zero waste, small regenerative settlements don't mean a pre-industrial lifestyles."

● Reiner-Roth x 2: Michael Maltzan Architecture's The Alvidrez, a 14-story mass timber affordable housing tower for L.A.'s Skid Row is currently in the design phase.

● He brings us eyefuls of Behnisch Architekten's "serene home for renewable energy research" in Germany - "a seemingly delicate timber and concrete structure wrapped in translucent polycarbonate strips" where "copious amounts of natural light pour through the gossamer walls and saw-toothed ceiling."

● Ravenscroft riffs on OMA's new, 10-story Galleria department store in South Korea "clad in tessellated triangles of stone" that make it "appear like a slab of rock" sporting "a multifaceted-glass public walkway wrapped around the building, projecting from the façade" (we needed a touch of the odd today).

COVID-19 news continues (with some bright spots, for a change):

● Ravenscroft reports on Ratti and Rota's CURA, shipping-container ICU for coronavirus treatment: "The first prototype unit is being built at a hospital in Milan - units could be quickly deployed to hospitals around the world."

● Saffron: "The new stay-at-home order makes it clear we are going to have to recalibrate our relationship with our beloved public spaces if we are going to survive this plague. So how can we use them responsibly?"

● Keats on how "outdoor art is an essential antidote to coronavirus isolation. One legacy of the pandemic should be to commission more artwork that can be collectively experienced outdoors" (6 feet apart, for the time being).

● Wainwright rounds up "10 Covid-busting designs," the results of "a wave of ingenuity unleashed" by "both garden-shed tinkerers and high-tech manufacturers" - though "many of their innovations raise as many questions as they answer."

● Kimmelman's intro to NYT photographers' images that capture great - now-empty - public spaces around the world that "are haunted and haunting - but in some ways they are hopeful," reminding us "that beauty requires human interaction. True beauty comes when the builders roam the built."

● From the U.K.: The Architects' Journal's "updates on how COVID-19 is impacting the UK architecture profession."

● BD's coronavirus updates: "Architect warns: 'It's now a battle for survival for a lot of firms'" (and a nightly "solidarity light show" on Renzo Piano's Genoa bridge!).

● One we couldn't resist: Creative director Jure Tovrljan's take on famous logos "reimagined for the coronavirus age - some brands have made their own changes to better express this current moment of social distancing while still maintaining the sense of familiarity we all crave."

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Rizvi Hassan designs Bangladesh community centre for Myanmar’s refugees to foster integration with locals: ...for the Hindupara community, a minority group among the 600,000 Rohingya refugees...facility relies on vernacular building strategies using locally available materials to create a contextual and inclusive space...establishes a better environment for integration, psycho-social support, training, case management [and] foster greater tolerance...also makes foreign aid a thoughtful investment, instead of mere charity...- DE51GN

Patricia Leigh Brown: What Would a World Without Prisons Look Like? Deanna Van Buren designs civic spaces that are healing alternatives to correctional facilities: ...has dedicated her career to rethinking the architecture of justice...co-founder of...nonprofit firm Designing Justice/Designing Spaces...Her efforts have dovetailed with growing public acknowledgment of racial bias inherent in the criminal justice system..."what is the role of the designer in bringing about healing?"...Restore Oakland, a former nightclub...refurbished as a hub for social justice nonprofit groups... -- Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility/ADPSR- New York Times

Poppy Johnston: Circular economy village life: Pipedream or solution to all our woes? Village living might sound quaint, even dull...but according to Beautility Developments, networks of zero waste, small regenerative settlements don’t mean a pre-industrial lifestyles: ...a new paradigm of land development...one of these circular economy villages looks set to go ahead in NSW’s Bellingen. The fire ravaged East Gippsland region in Victoria is also interested...this model isn’t intended as a one-off... the idea is a network of villages that will share the resources...Each village will be about 40.5 hectares [100 acres] and house around 150-200 people... -- Steven Liaros & Nilmini de Silva/PolisPlan- The Fifth Estate (Australia)

Shane Reiner-Roth: Michael Maltzan Architecture designs affordable mass timber housing tower for Skid Row: The newest supportive housing development is in the works in the...neighborhood of Downtown Los Angeles...currently in the design phase for The Alvidrez, a 14-story tower containing 150 studio apartments and “support spaces” on the ground floor...using modular building blocks made of cross-laminated timber (CLT) column, beam, and deck members.- The Architect's Newspaper

Shane Reiner-Roth: Rundle of Energy: Behnisch Architekten designs a serene home for renewable energy research: The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), one of the leading research centers in southwestern Germany, recently ran short of lab space...The Energy Lab 2.0, a seemingly delicate timber and concrete structure...wrapped in translucent polycarbonate strips. Copious amounts of natural light pour into the assembly hall...through the gossamer walls and saw-toothed ceiling.- AN Interior (The Architect’s Newspaper)

Tom Ravenscroft: OMA wraps glass public walkway around Galleria department store in Gwanggyo, South Korea: ...designed to be a landmark for the area's housing district...The cube-shaped building is clad in tessellated triangles of stone. The mix of beige, brown and earthy colours...make the building appear like a slab of rock or a cross-section of earth. Breaking up the geometric shape of the 10-storey [store] is a multifaceted-glass passage that is wrapped around the building, projecting from the facade...Along with stairs and lifts all of the floors are connected by the glass external loop.- Dezeen

Tom Ravenscroft: Carlo Ratti Associati and Italo Rota designs shipping-container intensive care units for coronavirus treatment: Named Connected Units for Respiratory Ailments - or CURA...The first prototype unit is being built at a hospital in Milan...development team including engineering studio Jacobs and digital studio Squint/Opera...biocontaiment units for Covid-19 intensive-care patients...units could be quickly deployed at hospitals around the world.- Dezeen

Inga Saffron: In this plague, we must learn to play alone in our parks: After 9/11, we rallied together in parks and squares to hold vigils for the victims, hugging strangers as a way of expressing solidarity. This time, there are no warm embraces. We can only demonstrate our social connectedness by coming together in the same place, six feet apart: The new stay-at-home order...makes it clear we are going to have to recalibrate our relationship with our beloved public spaces if we are going to survive this plague...So how can we use them responsibly?- Philadelphia Inquirer

Jonathon Keats: Outdoor Art Is An Essential Antidote To Coronavirus Isolation (And You Can See It Now In Parks From New York [Socrates Sculpture Park] To San Francisco [Presidio]: The strain placed on society by COVID-19 has made the arts more urgently needed at precisely the moment that most art forms are physically challenged...Outdoor sculpture and land art therefore take on added importance in present circumstances. There is not enough of it...One legacy of the pandemic should be to commission more artwork that can be collectively experienced outdoors.- Forbes

Oliver Wainwright: 10 Covid-busting designs: spraying drones, fever helmets and anti-virus snoods: Companies the world over are directing their ingenuity at the fight against the coronavirus. Here are the front-runners, from sanitising robots to a 3D-printed hospital ward: ...both garden-shed tinkerers and high-tech manufacturers scrambling to develop things that will combat the spread of Covid-19. Many of their innovations raise as many questions as they answer, though.- Guardian (UK)

Michael Kimmelman: The Great Empty: The New York Times sent dozens of photographers out to capture images of once-bustling public plazas, beaches, fairgrounds, restaurants, movie theaters, tourist meccas and train stations...Their present emptiness...can conjure up dystopia, not progress...These images are haunted and haunting, like stills from movies about plagues and the apocalypse, but in some ways they are hopeful. They also remind us that beauty requires human interaction...True beauty comes when the builders roam the built.- New York Times

Coronavirus: Updates on how COVID-19 is impacting the UK architecture profession: It’s time for students and educators to step up to the challenge; AJ survey results: How is the profession coping with coronavirus? Keep talking to each other - how we are making home-working work; Life after lockdown: an architect’s view from China; etc.- The Architects' Journal (UK)

BD's Coronavirus latest (U.K.): Architect warns: ‘It’s now a battle for survival for a lot of firms’;
More clients join the rush to close sites; PLP, KPF and Squires sites to close as major contractors ignore government; Architects split on whether construction sites should close: Many question whether social distancing is possible on sites; Renzo Piano’s Genoa bridge hosts solidarity light show: Construction firm replacing collapsed motorway viaduct pays homage to those on Italy’s covid-19 frontline; etc.- BD/Building Design (UK)

Lilly Smith: Famous logos get reimagined for the coronavirus age: Logos look a little different when they practice social distancing: ...creative director Jure Tovrljan...saw Starbucks’s mermaid logo and wondered how it would look with a mask...[made a] series...LinkedIn becomes “LockedIn"...some brands have made actual changes to their logos to better express this current moment of social distancing...[some] have contacted him to make similar adjustments...that acknowledge our new reality, while still maintaining the sense of familiarity we all crave.- Fast Company / Co.Design

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