Today’s News - Wednesday, April 8, 2020

●  Hickman reports that "one of the largest surviving sections" of the Berlin Wall in a "not particularly touristy" suburb was demolished to make way for condos - the Berlin Wall Foundation and others "were left 'horrified,'" but "city officials seemed largely unsympathetic to the outrage."

●  Brandon profiles a 1940s-era Las Vegas motel "transformed into a retail and community hub" that "offers a lesson in historic preservation and human resilience in times of social distancing."

●  Whiteman profiles "the Australian architects designing homes to withstand bushfires - it's possible to create a fire-resistant home that doesn't resemble a bunker."

●  Reiner-Roth reports on the University of Kentucky and Somewhere Appalachia's The Somewhere Project "to transform coal mining sites into arts spaces" - final projects will be presented on May 1 and exhibited at the 2020 Venice Architecture Biennale.

●  Australian ABC RN radio's Qada "riffs on creativity, design, and toys" in a Q&A with design critic Alexandra Lange and product design educator Barry Kudrowitz re: how "design and creativity really can work together."

Deadlines & Winners all:

●  Call for entries: The Terraforming and Strelka Ma's The Revenge of the Real - "a joint call for papers, projects, and research "to address the core issues of establishing a viable planetarity through the lens of the COVID-19 pandemic and its urban realities."

●  Call for entries: Tree House Module international ideas competition to design a tree house for three French castles, open to 18-35-year-olds; cash prizes (early bird registration - save money!).

●  Call for entries: The Architect's Newspaper 6th annual Best of Products Awards (early bird registration - save money!).

●  University of Virginia & Monticello announce recipients of 2020 Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medals in Architecture: Weiss & Manfredi; Citizen Leadership: Dr. J. Shah, The Rockefeller Foundation; Global Innovation: Ted Turner; Law: Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor.

●  Harvard GSD selects three finalists for the $100,000 2020 Wheelwright Prize.

●  Eyefuls of the winners of the Kiribati Floating Houses Young Architects Competition.

COVID-19 news continues - last two items are much-needed light-hearted notes:

●  McGuigan ponders how "the pandemic is changing how we practice and how we live" - large firms are coping "with relative ease"; it's more difficult for smaller firms; and "architecture schools have had to make dramatic changes as well."

●  Ing takes a deep dive into how the roughly 18,000 architecture students in the U.K. are "coping with coronavirus shutdowns - and what it could mean for their futures. Even when students do finish, they face an industry in crisis."

●  Joyner's great Q&A with architect, design strategist, and Slack's sr. experience designer Evelyn Lee re: "business continuity during a time of crisis": "We are three recessions away from becoming extinct as a profession," which has "never been agile, but it's never too late to start building some of that in."

●  Lamster: "During the pandemic, it seemed natural to turn to the poet laureate of Dallas architecture Max Levy to find meaning in architecture in this difficult moment" (renderings are splendid!).

●  A serious look at "how Covid-19 is shaping the future of senior living architecture and design" (from personal experience - it can't happen soon enough!).

●  As NYC's St. John the Divine transforms to a field hospital, Hickman looks at how Indian Railways is transforming 20,000 "old train cars into coronavirus quarantine coaches that can be deployed to remote and hard-hit areas" - oddly, "air-conditioned carriages are being held for regular passenger use when service resumes" (with links to detailed reports).

●  Cannon Design's Dylan Coonrad "reimagines public street signs to reflect a world facing coronavirus" (our fave: a plastic yellow Caution Wet Floor stand replaced "with text that reads Celebrate Healthcare Workers - the person icon waving its arms in celebration instead of slipping on a wet surface").

●  Stinson highlights Zoom's virtual backdrops for video chats inspired by famous rooms of "Friends," "Big Little Lies," "Seinfeld," "Frasier," and more (let's hope they're secure!).

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To subscribe to the free daily newsletter click here Hickman Large section of Berlin Wall demolished to make way for condos: While not particularly touristy...this stretch of graffiti-clad wall…was one of the largest surviving sections...and one of the last pieces of the…inner wall remaining...Berlin Wall Foundation and other historical groups were unaware of plans...they were left "horrified"...City officials, however, seemed largely unsympathetic to the outrage.- The Architect's Newspaper Elissaveta M. Brandon: A 1940s-Era Motel in Las Vegas Offers a Lesson in Historic Preservation and Human Resilience: Former motel, Fergusons Downtown, has been transformed into a retail and community hub boasting shops, event spaces, and restaurants. But how can a community stay intact in times of social distancing? "Market in the Alley"...monthly event has become "Virtual Market in the Alley," taking over social media with...online sales, talks, musical performances, and guided meditations...A fine example of adaptive reuse at play here... -- MOSER architecture studio; Bunnyfish studio- Metropolis Magazine Hilary Whiteman: The Australian architects designing homes to withstand bushfires: ...it's possible to create a fire-resistant home that doesn't resemble a bunker - one that works with the landscape rather than adding fuel to a raging fire...with millions of Australian homes in moderate to extreme fire-risk areas, retrofitting them to meet current standards is all but impossible..."You cannot, no matter how much money you've spent, upgrade it without demolition"...Clever design can help reduce the risk of fire, without razing surrounding land...New materials are also making homes more fire-resistant. -- Nigel Bell/ECOdesign Architects + Consultants; Ian Weir; Kylie Feher; Jiri Lev/Architects Assist; Tim Lee- CNN Style Shane Reiner-Roth: University of Kentucky and Somewhere Appalachia want to transform coal mining sites into arts spaces: How can the sites of former coal mines, those strange landscapes scarred by decades of digging and desecration, serve the public in a post-industrial America? That was the question posed to the students of The Somewhere Project [at UKY] College of Design...final projects for the studio will be presented on May 1 [and] exhibited during the 2020 Venice Architecture Biennale. -- Only If- The Architect's Newspaper Sana Qada: A riff on creativity, design, and toys: Design and creativity really can work together. We talk with design critic Alexandra Lange and product design educator Barry Kudrowitz who both have an interest in toys - their history, and how they’re created and assessed in the real world. Get your blocks ready to play along.- ABC RN/Radio National (Australia) Call for entries: To address the core issues of establishing a viable planetarity through the lens of the COVID-19 pandemic and its urban realities, The Terraforming and Strelka Mag are launching The Revenge of the Real - a joint call for papers, projects, and research; deadline: April 24- Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design (Moscow) Call for entries: Tree House Module: international ideas competition to design a tree house system for France's Chateaus Vibrac, Mothe Chandeniers; total cash prizes: €15,000 (+ realization of 1st Prize winner); must be 18-35 years old; early bird registration (save money!): April 26; late registration: June 21; submissions due June 24- YAC - Young Architects Competitions / Dartagnans Call for entries: The Architect’s Newspaper 6th annual Best of Products Awards; products must have been introduced to U.S. market no earlier than January 2019 and available as of September - December 2020; early bird registration (save money!): April 30 (submission deadline: July 23- The Architect's Newspaper UVA, Monticello Announce Recipients of 2020 Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medals. -- Architecture: Marion Weiss & Michael Manfredi, WEISS/MANFREDI; Citizen Leadership: Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, president, The Rockefeller Foundation; Global Innovation: Ted Turner; Law: Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, U.S. Supreme Court- University of Virginia / Thomas Jefferson Foundation Harvard GSD selects three finalists for the 2020 Wheelwright Prize: Organized annually by the Harvard Graduate School of Design, the program aims to support "cross-cultural engagement and an extended period of expansive design research" through a $100,000 grant for early-career architects. -- Daniel Fernández Pascual: “Being Shellfish: The Architecture of Intertidal Cohabitation”; Bryony Roberts: “The Architecture of Childcare: A Global Study of Experimental Models”; Gustavo Utrabo: “Rethinking Nature, Assembling Matter”- Archinect Winners of the Kiribati Floating Houses Young Architects Competition: design floating structures to tackle the challenges of sea level rise and climate change to give a future to the populations of Kiribati. Cantiere delle Marche. -- Marcin Kitala; JiT/Jinchul Yeon/Goen Kim; Giacomo Caputo; etc.- YAC - Young Architects Competitions / Cantiere delle Marche Cathleen McGuigan: The Pandemic Is Changing How We Practice and How We Live: The home is no longer just an abode that reflects our tastes; instead, each of our own houses is a refuge during the COVID-19 crisis: Architecture firms...have had to adjust quickly to the new normal...Big practices, with far-flung projects...have moved with relative ease from staff working collaboratively in offices to working from home...For smaller firms, the shifts...have been more difficult, with leaner staffs and fewer digital tools...Architecture schools...have had to make dramatic changes as well. -- Gensler; James von Klemperer/KPF; Eric Robinson/Paulett Taggart Architects; Sarah Whiting/Jungyoon Kim/Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD); Jeanne Gang- Architectural Record Will Ing: School’s out: how are architecture students coping with coronavirus shutdowns...and what it could mean for their futures: ...the academics were already at home orchestrating online learning for the roughly 18,000 architecture students...The ARB was blunt: standards must not slip, not even a little bit, as a result of Covid-19...But can schools really deliver the same quality of teaching without proper access to studios or to one another? ...there will ‘undoubtedly’ be ways in which the ‘big changes’ made in the past couple of weeks feed into normal practice in the future...Even when students do finish, they face an industry in crisis.- The Architects' Journal (UK) Sean Joyner: "We are three recessions away from becoming extinct as a profession" - Q&A with Evelyn Lee on Business Continuity During a Time of Crisis: ...architect, design strategist, and Senior Experience Designer at Slack...also the 2020-2021 Treasurer of the American Institute of Architects/AIA and the founder of Practice of Architecture...[discusses] what firms can consider after this crisis has passed, and how we can collectively tackle the challenges ahead: "We have never been an agile profession, but it’s never too late to start building some of that in."- Archinect Mark Lamster: An architect’s dream ranch house that’s an ethereal refuge: During the pandemic, Dallas’ Max Levy imagines a place of respite in harmony with nature: Among his peers, [he] is thought of as something like the poet laureate of Dallas architecture...his work is an imaginative exploration...the way light and nature and materiality interact in space. It seemed natural to turn to him to find meaning in architecture in this difficult moment.- Dallas Morning News How Covid-19 Is Shaping the Future of Senior Living Architecture and Design: ...providers are relying on technology...to overcome social isolation, and looking for new ways to remotely connect residents with family members and medical workers. The senior living community of the future will be designed with these scenarios in mind...The challenge for senior living architects and designers will be making such adjustments without shifting to unnecessarily institutional layouts...pocket neighborhoods or village-like campuses...could be cordoned off in the event of a future epidemic or pandemic without bringing the entire community to a full stop. -- David Dillard/D2 Architecture; Jeff Anderzhon/Eppstein Uhen Architects; Dan Cinelli/Joe Hassel/Perkins Eastman; Ann Yearwood/STG Design- Senior Housing News Matt Hickman: Indian Railways converts old train cars into coronavirus quarantine coaches: ...transforming up to 20,000 old coaches into emergency care units that can be deployed to remote and hard-hit areas...It’s worth noting that the modified cars lack air conditioning, as newer, air-conditioned carriages are being held for regular passenger use when service resumes. 5,000 coaches with the capacity to accommodate 80,000 patients are currently being readied...- The Architect's Newspaper Dylan Coonrad/Cannon Design reimagines public street signs to reflect a world facing coronavirus: A crosswalk sign with the people standing apart and warnings not to shake hands...a reinterpretation of the yellow school zone sign...replaced the plastic yellow Caution Wet Floor stand with text that reads Celebrate Healthcare Workers...the person icon waving its arms in celebration instead of slipping on a wet surface.- Dezeen Liz Stinson: These Zoom backgrounds let you work from iconic pop culture homes: Virtual backdrops inspired by famous rooms of "Friends," "Big Little Lies," and more: We have plenty of opinions on what constitutes a good video chat background...But you know what’s easier...Borrowing someone else’s...Modsy is getting in on the fun ..Seinfeld’s living room...Blanche’s kitchen in "Golden Girls"...Cher’s closet in "Clueless"...Frasier’s apartment.- Curbed

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