Today’s News - Tuesday, April 21, 2020
EDITOR'S NOTE: We are so not happy to hear that so many of our favorite writers across Curbed's cities have been furloughed or let go, along with so many at other publications - we wish them well - and hope they're all back soon!!!
● Goldin of the Citizens' Brigade to Save LACMA minces no words re: "Govan's misbegotten remake" of the museum: "The teardown has evoked a cri de coeur - the image of the wreckage, amid so much recent human suffering, suddenly awakening a profound melancholy for a world being left behind. It is not too late to reconsider..."
● Miranda parses why, even though demolition has begun, a former LACMA curator, a former Getty Museum director, and the VP and director of the Annenberg Foundation (whose mother endowed LACMA's director's chair, now occupied by Govan - "certainly a head-turner") joined the jury for Goldin and Giovannini's competition to remake LACMA - winners will be announced April 22.
● Speaking of April 22 - join the Virtual Design Festival x The World Around x Earth Day online, live and free, with an impressive line-up of "international voices who are leading a new and exciting global discourse on environmental design," led by TWA founder Beatrice Galilee.
● And celebrate International Dark Sky Week online: "See how humanity's connection with the night sky has evolved. ' We're making the universe into something heroic, just as our ancestors did, and we're just doing it in a different way,'" says the Griffith Observatory director.
Winners all:
● The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) announces $2.2 million in grants to humanities projects, "including several projects involving architecture and the built environment."
● An impressive list of 17 women (including from Peru & Singapore) named as the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation 2020 Emerging Leaders.
● The RAIC 2020 Architectural Firm Award goes to Calgary-based marc boutin architectural collaborative inc. (MBAC).
● .PARTISANS and Nine Yards Studio (9Y) each take home the RAIC 2020 Emerging Architectural Practice Award.
● Teams from India and the U.K. win top three spots in the 2020 Berkeley Prize Essay Competition: "Designing Civic Buildings."
COVID-19 news continues:
● Chang delves into how "architects transform the places we live and work" after deadly outbreaks - even before COVID-19, "infectious disease had already molded the places we live - through architecture, design, and urban planning - in enduring ways" - perhaps "social distancing could become a design paradigm."
● Hadden Loh & Leinberger look at "how fear of cities can blind us from solutions to COVID-19. The spread of the virus is driven by crowding behavior, not just density. Walkable urban places" have and will prove "to be extremely resilient in the face of crisis. Policymakers should sustain and feed this resiliency."
● Gold looks at how "COVID-19 puts urban density to the test" in Vancouver, where "living space has suddenly become the all-inclusive pandemic shelter, office, and daycare. And with that - the housing inequities are strikingly apparent" - perhaps it's time for "the five-minute city."
● Tipton talks to a number of Irish architects re: design for a post-pandemic world: "We need to build safer and more lovable places to live and work" - "as human beings, we are both gregarious and private - to truly thrive, we need the best of both."
● Baldan on "Venezia: coronavirus and tourism. Many businesses born to serve the '28 million visitors a year' will no longer be able to continue" - the city "will return to the Venetians - tourist rentals and souvenir sellers will likely no longer exist, at least until the arrival of the much hoped for vaccine."
● Kamin talks to architects re: "layoffs, furloughs, pay cuts" as they see "revenue streams dry up, and economic storm clouds loom"; Julie Hacker offers a note of optimism: "We survived 2008, so we'll survive this."
● Sperber offers a very personal take re: trying to keep her "small architectural firm of four afloat" - if she receives funding from the Payback Protection Program and can keep meeting payroll, "we will pay it forward. I may be naive in offering [pro bono] services at such a precarious time - the one thing I am confident about is that doing good will also help us feel good."
● A look at "how the COVID-19 pandemic may reshape U.S. hospital design to avoid a repeat of the current national crisis" and the lack of "flexibility to accommodate a sudden surge" (free registration).
● Harrouk brings us some of the architects who "are proposing flexible, fast assembled, mobile, and simple structures" to help fight the virus - some "are already implemented and in service, while others remain on a conceptual level, waiting to be adopted."
● NYC's City Council is introducing "legislation to open up 75 miles of streets to pedestrians and cyclists to ease the pressure on crowded parks" during the pandemic (an effort to outdo Oakland's 74 miles?). The mayor is skeptical.
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Greg Goldin: Last chance to reconsider LACMA’s bad plan for a new museum? ...construction is considered “essential” work during the coronavirus shutdown, and the [museum] is racing ahead with...Michael Govan’s misbegotten remake, to the point of no return....the teardown has evoked a cri de coeur - the image of the wreckage, amid so much recent human suffering, suddenly awakening a profound melancholy for a world being left behind...With a hole in the ground where a museum used to be, the plan will have to go forward...foolish and inadequate replacement. It is not too late to reconsider...The museum as planned is not a force for the greater good, which is what we desperately need in this dire time. -- William Pereira; Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer; Citizens’ Brigade to Save LACMA- Los Angeles Times |
Carolina A. Miranda: LACMA began demolition. But that hasn’t stopped a protest group for an alternate plan: Why would a former LACMA curator [J. Patrice Marandel], a former Getty Museum director [John Walsh], and artist Lauren Bon join the jury for an architectural competition to remake LACMA when demolition has begun? The Citizens’ Brigade to Save LACMA...led by Greg Goldin and Joseph Giovannini, put out an open call..Bon .is also vice president and director of the Annenberg Foundation...Marandel, who worked at LACMA for nearly a quarter century, and Bon, whose mother, Wallis Annenberg, endowed the director’s chair at LACMA, is certainly a head-turner...Other jurors include...Aaron Betsky...Winka Dubbeldam and William Pedersen. -- Peter Zumthor [winners announced April 22]- Los Angeles Times |
Virtual Design Festival x The World Around x Earth Day Live [free] on Dezeen.com April 22: Rethink. Reimagine. Recreate: ...conversations [and films] commissioned from over 20 international voices who are leading a new and exciting global discourse on environmental design. Amid the recent coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic, TWA’s Earth Day online symposium remains committed to uniting and mobilizing the global architecture and design community... -- Beatrice Galilee; Kunlé Adeyemi;/NLÉ Harriet Harriss/Pratt; Timothy Morton; Aric Chen; Cameron Sinclair; Walter Hood; Andrés Jaque/Office for Political Innovation (OFFPOLIN); etc.- The World Around |
International Dark Sky Week: See how humanity's connection with the night sky has evolved: As artificial lightning shines over human settlements, stars fade...99% of Americans experience light pollution...Here's how to celebrate online..."We're making the universe into something heroic, just as our ancestors did, and we're just doing it in a different way." - E.C. Krupp, director, Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles- Space.com |
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Announces $2.2 Million in Grants to Humanities Projects: ...included several projects involving architecture and the built environment, such as...the University of California, Berkeley; Society of Architectural Historians (SAH); Vanderbilt University; Ruth Toulson/Maryland Institute College of Art; Katherine Bentz/St. Anselm College; and Corning Museum of Glass. -- Cathy Simon/Karen Alschuler/SMWM; Perkins and Will- Architect Magazine |
Priorities - Personhood - Profit: Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation (BWAF) 2020 Emerging Leaders: 17 women 5-10 years out of school. -- Daniela Beraún/Reynaldo Ledgard Arquitectos (Peru); Robyn Engeli/ikm architecture; Caitlin Getman/Robert A.M. Stern Architects; Chelsea Hyduk/SHOP Architects; Casie Kowalski/Andrea Steele Architecture; Rebecca McCarthy/Dattner Architects; Savina Nicolini/SNA Design (Singapore); Caroline Shannon/Höweler + Yoon Architecture; Devon Telberg/AAI Architects; etc.- Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation (BWAF) |
RAIC announces 2020 Architectural Firm Award recipient: marc boutin architectural collaborative inc. (MBAC), a Calgary-based multi-scale firm..."Marc and his team embody a true commitment to architectural education, mentorship, public awareness, and the growth of architects.”- Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) |
RAIC announces recipients for the 2020 Emerging Architectural Practice Award: ...two firms have been selected...PARTISANS, a Toronto-based architecture studio, and the Charlottetown’s Nine Yards Studio (9Y), a multidisciplinary design studio...- RAIC / Royal Architectural Institute of Canada |
Winners Announced in the 2020 Berkeley Prize Essay Competition: "Designing Civic Buildings: The Architect Works With A Team"; this year's question: How do civic buildings build community?; winning essays, plus the next 10 top-scoring essays are available online. (Travel Fellowship Competition was cancelled for 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic) -- Rhiddhit Paul & Abhradeep Chakraborty, School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal, India; Poonam Parikh & Khushali Haji, C.E.P.T. University, Ahmedabad, India; Michael Tsang & Elisa Ynaraja Rodriguez, University of Bath, UK- Berkeley Prize / Department of Architecture, University of California, Berkeley |
Vanessa Chang: The Post-Pandemic Style: After deadly outbreaks, architects transform the places we live and work. This time won’t be different: The alarming spread of the coronavirus has rapidly reorganized our bodies in space...we’re suddenly living in different cities. But before all of this, infectious disease had already molded the places we live - through architecture, design, and urban planning - in enduring ways...Before the development of medications for tuberculosis, its treatment was environmental. These clinical environments inspired the new modern architecture...modernism...As the sanatorium inspired [early 20th-century] modernist buildings, so too might construction elements from 21st century health care be appropriated for public space...social distancing could become a design paradigm. -- Le Corbusier; Adolf Loos; Alvar Aalto; Michael Thonet; Marcel Breuer; Mies van der Rohe; Richard Neutra- Slate |
Tracy Hadden Loh & Christopher Leinberger: How Fear of Cities Can Blind Us From Solutions to COVID-19: There are three natural enemies of urbanism: crime, terrorism, and pandemics...fear can prevent decision-makers from understanding and implementing solutions...The spread of the virus is driven by crowding behavior, not just density...We can repeat past patterns of blaming cities’ close quarters and diverse populations for problems, or we can...get to work on fighting this. Walkable urban places have in the past - and most likely will in the future - proved to be extremely resilient in the face of crisis. Policymakers should sustain and feed this resiliency...and foster the same resiliency in suburban and rural places.- Next City (formerly Next American City) |
Kerry Gold: COVID-19 puts urban density to the test: Within quarantined Vancouver, living space has suddenly become the all-inclusive pandemic shelter, office and daycare. And with that new crucial use of space, the housing inequities are strikingly apparent...Smaller, cramped units will be increasingly frowned upon in a post-pandemic world that prioritizes livability and flexible use of space...Urban designer Scot Hein says people may come out of the pandemic with a new appreciation for gathering spaces, mom-and-pop shops and neighbourhood diversity...urging the city to support..."the five-minute city"...architect Alan Boniface...also worries about an anti-density post-pandemic reaction. -- Andy Yan/Simon Fraser University City Program; Duncan Wlodarczak/ULI/Urban Land Institute BC- Globe and Mail (Canada) |
Gemma Tipton: Architects on lockdown: "We need to build safer and more lovable places to live and work": After Covid-19, will Irish housing design change for good? And what might it all mean for the future of architecture in general? many architects...initially zeroed in on the importance of shared and public space... it could mean that, as human beings, we are both gregarious and private...to truly thrive, we need the best of both. -- Nathalie Weadick/Irish Architecture Foundation; Emmett Scanlon; Ciarán Ferrie; Alice Casey/Taka Architects; Niall McCullough & Valerie Mulvin/McCullough Mulvin; Jennifer O'Donnell & Jonathan Janssens/Plattenbaustudio; Peter Carroll/A2 Architects; Michael Pike & Grace Keeley/GKMP; Dominic Stevens/JFOC Architects- Irish Times |
Nino Baldan, La Voce di Venezia: Venezia: coronavirus and tourism. Are we sure that everything will quickly come back as before? Even if we imagine a relaxation of the restrictions...it is unlikely that the entire tourism sector...can hold out in the face of almost decimated numbers...Many businesses born to serve the “28 million visitors a year” will no longer be able to continue...[The city] will return to the Venetians...tourist rentals, organized groups and souvenir sellers will likely no longer exist, at least until the arrival of the much hoped for vaccine...the post-coronavirus era will introduce new ways for us to live and to travel...“people will sense the need to travel responsibly, care for their personal hygiene, and respect the places where residents live (to allow them to also enjoy them).”- Campaign For A Living Venice |
Blair Kamin: Layoffs, furloughs, pay cuts begin as architects see building slow during coronavirus pandemic and fear worse is ahead: ...pandemic is placing a financial squeeze...as some clients hit the pause button, revenue streams dry up, and economic storm clouds loom...it appears likely that more architects will join the 22 million Americans who have filed for unemployment...there are bright spots. Design work for projects in China...is re-starting...construction continues [in Chicago] on large-scale projects...staff architects...are working remotely...but their pay has been cut... -- Kiel Fahnstrom; Andy Koglin/OKW Architects; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM); Foster + Partners; Gina Berndt/Perkins and Will; Thomas Kerwin/bKL Architecture; Matthew Larson/Goettsch Partners; Stuart Cohen & Julie Hacker Architects; Kimberly Beals/Gensler; Jeanne Gang/Studio Gang- Chicago Tribune |
Esther Sperber: If My Firm Survives, We Will Pay It Forward: If New York-based Studio ST Architects receives funding from the Payback Protection Program...the founder pledges to dedicate some time gained from the lifeline to pro bono work: Like so many, I have been...trying to keep my small architectural firm of four afloat...I am deeply grateful to be healthy, sheltered, and able to work from home...I am making a pledge, and I hope others will join. If I receive funding...to keep my staff on payroll...my firm will dedicate a significant portion of the additional work time toward architectural work that does good for the world...I may be naive in offering my firm’s services at such a precarious time... During these uncertain times, the one thing I am confident about is that doing good will also help us feel good.- Architect Magazine |
How the COVID-19 Pandemic May Reshape U.S. Hospital Design: ...local officials have been rushing to convert hotels, convention centers, and city parks into new hospital spaces...many physicians, architects, and health care consultants are already talking about how modern hospital designs could change to avoid a repeat of the current national crisis. One clear lesson: Modern hospitals often lack the flexibility to accommodate a sudden surge...As hospital designers convert spaces for temporary use, many are identifying new opportunities for hospital systems that have traditionally emphasized lean and efficient operations. -- Scot Latimer/Gensler; Stan Shelton/HKS Architects- Medscape |
Christele Harrouk: Architects Mobilize their Creativity in Fight against COVID-19: As the healthcare infrastructure is becoming overwhelmed...alternative possibilities are emerging...Focusing their knowhow to find fast and efficient design solutions that can be implemented anywhere, architects are proposing flexible, fast assembled, mobile, and simple structures...10 initiatives from architectural platforms... -- Carlo Ratti/CURA; WTA Architecture + Design Studio; JUPE Health; Opposite Office; MASS Design Group; 50SuperReal; Plastique Fantastique; AGX Architects; MMW Architects; Weston Williamson + Partners; VHL.Architecture; HAHA Architects Group; KOTKO; Gonzalo Guzman; INFEKT- ArchDaily |
NYC City Council To Introduce Legislation To Open Up 75 Miles Of Streets During Coronavirus: ...to open up a huge amount of streets to pedestrians and cyclists to ease the pressure on crowded parks and give New Yorkers more room to safely spread out...the city needs to start planning for summer, especially at a time when beaches and pools will possibly be closed...Mayor Bill de Blasio has expressed skepticism that an open streets plan modeled after the likes of Oakland...as part of their "slow streets" pilot program, could work here.- Gothamist (NYC) |
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