Today’s News - Wednesday, June 17, 2020
● Hopkirk takes us on a tour of Heatherwick's (mostly timber) Leeds Maggie's Centre with a design "conceived as three giant planters - the project expanded on the studio's long-standing interest in the role of biophilia in the built environment" (and nary a whiff of clinical institution).
● The S/L/A/M Collaborative acquires CBRE Heery Architectural Design Practices that focus on healthcare, sports facilities and justice, and will be known as Heery Design, a SLAM Studio.
● Call for entries: Applications for the 2nd Lilly Reich Grant for equality in architecture; open to senior high school students' research projects.
● ICYMI: ANN feature: Christopher Alexander: Lesson Plan #9: Ideas on Architectural Education: Schools of architecture have not found ways of teaching the art of building that is effective. We want, collectively, to make architectural teaching better, and through that, to make architecture better.
Of protests, racism, and urban issues - the industry responds:
● NOMA and the AIA Large Firm Roundtable strengthen ties to combat racism in architecture: "We want to be clear that this is not hollow language or lip service ... In Solidarity, Kimberly Dowdell, NOMA President & Carole Wedge, AIA LFRT Chair."
● The community development non-profit Designing Justice + Designing Spaces on "unbuilding racism - thanks to COVID-19 and #BlackLivesMatter, public safety is not the police; public safety is healthcare, jobs, education, housing, and social cohesion within all our communities."
● SO - IL's Idenburg takes issue with museums' "botched" strategy of boarding up their lobbies "while many New York theaters responded to calls to #openyourlobbies by offering essential support for demonstrators during Black Lives Matter protests."
● U+I as Creative Director Martyn Evans: "Our response to Black Lives Matter must go deeper than social media - our industry has not been as progressive on diversity issues as it could have been. We are already putting in place a series of actions to address issues of diversity both in our own workforce and in the places we build."
● Michelle Ogundehin on diversity and "her personal experiences with racism, views on positive discrimination and ways in which individuals can make a difference": "We need to provoke discussion, not anger. Let's help each other make a difference in whatever way we can."
COVID-19 news continues:
● The Van Alen Institute and nonprofit Urban Design Forum launch Neighborhoods Now, an initiative "that will pair more than 20 design firms with community partner organizations in four NYC neighborhoods that were - and continue to be - adversely affected by the coronavirus pandemic."
● Dickinson describes his "twinge of validation" when Connecticut governor included construction as "essential. Forget about aesthetics. Architects connect the dots of code, technology, human performance and job safety - at least the good ones do" (and he sees "some green shoots of new work").
● Natashah Hitti reports on Dubai-based studio Roar's white paper, written with designers, teachers, a doctor, a psychologist and academic researchers, that presents "seven different industry perspectives on how the coronavirus pandemic will change the way education spaces are adapted and designed in the future."
● Toronto-based Gow Hastings Architects offers "key design solutions" for both retrofits and new builds, to help colleges and universities in their reopening.
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Elizabeth Hopkirk: Heatherwick Studio’s Leeds Maggie’s Centre completes: Cancer centre is latest by a ’big name’ designer: Built on a sloping site, the design was conceived as three giant planters...structure is built from a prefabricated and sustainably sourced spruce timber system...The interior incorporates a variety of spaces using tactile materials and soft lighting to banish any sense of clinical institutions...project expanded on the studio’s long-standing interest in the role of biophilia in the built environment. -- Mat Cash; Balston Agius- BD/Building Design (UK) |
The S/L/A/M Collaborative Acquires Five Heery Architectural Design Practices from CBRE: ...practices focus on healthcare, sports facilities and justice, which will be known as Heery Design, a SLAM Studio. CBRE, which acquired Heery in 2017, will retain full ownership of the Heery interior design and engineering businesses...Approximately 70 Heery employees will join SLAM’s team of 210 professionals.- Mile High CRE (Denver) |
Call for entries: Applications for the 2nd Lilly Reich Grant for equality in architecture; open to Senior High School Students research projects to support the study, dissemination and visibility of contributions to architecture that have been unduly elegated or forgotten, made by professionals who have received discriminatory reatment; deadline: July 16- Mies van der Rohe Foundation / Fundació Mies van der Rohe |
NOMA and the AIA Large Firm Roundtable Strengthen Ties to Combat Racism in Architecture: The organizations have been working together since 2017, and continue to actively pursuing "ways to break down barriers and build greater access to opportunity in our profession": We want to be clear that this is not hollow language or lip service, it is a true commitment to facilitate a stronger working relationship between LFRT firms and NOMA to transform our profession for the benefit of all. In Solidarity, Kimberly Dowdell, NOMA President & Carole Wedge, AIA LFRT Chair -- National Organization of Minority Architects; American Institute of Architects; B.R.A.V.E.- Architect Magazine |
Designing Justice + Designing Spaces on "unbuilding racism": Community development non-profit led by Deanna Van Buren..."This is why we are prison abolitionists...As everyone now understands, thanks to COVID-19 and #BlackLivesMatter, public safety is not the police; public safety is healthcare, jobs, education, housing, and social cohesion within all our communities...Black and brown communities are speaking out now, and we must recognize that they (we) are the only experts that can identify the goals to aim for in rebuilding and restoring communities."- Archinect |
Florian Idenburg: I Design Museums for a Living. Here’s Why Their Boarded-Up Lobbies Are Sending All the Wrong Messages Right Now: The founder of SO - IL and an architect of the New Museum explains why he opposes its decision, also taken by other museums, to board up: While many New York theaters responded to calls to #openyourlobbies by...offering essential support for demonstrators during Black Lives Matter protests, few museums followed suit...Why did most of New York’s largest museums botch this chance to connect to a younger audience...while these spaces were originally designed to invite people in, they have increasingly served to keep some people out...let us consider the history of...boarded-up [Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Whitney Museum, and New Museum]...lobbies could host outside organizations...might act as a partner and participant, catalyst, and amplifier [with] ample meaningful information for an active audience.- artnet News |
Martyn Evans: Our response to Black Lives Matter must go deeper than social media: What matters is bringing about positive change not just what we say in posts: ...our company...has grappled with how to respond...What we should have been thinking...is how the worldwide campaign might cause us to reflect on the power we have as employers and makers of places to have a direct, practical, positive impact on the issue of diversity...our industry has not been as progressive on diversity issues as it could have been...We are already putting in place a series of actions to address issues of diversity both in our own workforce and in...the places we build...we should spend our energies on taking action to put things right rather than beating ourselves up feeling ashamed or guilty...- bd |
Michelle Ogundehin: Let's talk about diversity: We need to provoke discussion, not anger...she shares her personal experiences with racism, views on positive discrimination and ways in which individuals can make a difference: ...why does the industry...not do more to attract individuals who are non-white/female/insert here any other descriptor? ...I think the answer still reverts to...why would any non-white/female/whatever child think that they could not do something, because they are non-white/female/whatever? I for one am deeply uncomfortable with so-called "positive discrimination"...I wouldn't want to be anywhere as part of a quota...no one wants to be the token person of colour...we cannot drop the baton that's been handed to all of us right now...Or worse, think that now we've posted our black squares on Instagram, we've done enough...Let's help each other make a difference in whatever way we can.- Dezeen |
Neighborhoods Now rallies design firms to lend COVID-19-hit communities reopening help: Van Alen Institute [has launched] an initiative spearheaded in partnership with the nonprofit Urban Design Forum that will pair more than 20 design firms with community partner organizations in four New York City neighborhoods that were - and continue to be - adversely affected by the coronavirus pandemic. -- Arup; COOKFOX; Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF); Moody Nolan; Volunteer Architects Limited (ARO, LTL, MOS, nARCHITECTS, SO—IL, WORKac); etc.- The Architect's Newspaper |
Duo Dickinson: The ‘essential’ realities of architecture during the pandemic: On March 20, Connecticut Governor...issued a critical governmental directive...that defined what activities could remain active...[he] also declared that construction was “essential"...As an architect, I may have felt just a twinge of validation...Forget about aesthetics. Architects connect the dots of code, technology, human performance and job safety - at least the good ones do...While many architects...are facing a very bad year, that depressing reality is not universal. For those ...who work in the smaller world of residential building or for not-for-profits that are at the core of our society, this has been a surprising spring. There are some green shoots of new work...I choose to believe that...what I do has, in a small way, been realized to be “essential.”- Connecticut Post / CT Post |
Natashah Hitti: "Education spaces will never be the same again" says Dubai-based Roar report: The studio...worked with...10 professionals including designers, teachers, a doctor, a psychologist and academic researchers...contributors have devised seven different industry perspectives on how the coronavirus pandemic will change the way education spaces are adapted and designed in the future...short and long term...panellists...believe the pandemic will leave a "long-term legacy." This will see an end to so-called "vanity projects" -- Pallavi Dean; Prakash Nair; Curl la Tourelle Head; UNIT Fabrications- Thomson Reuters Foundation News |
Designing for Higher Education in a Pandemic World: While much remains uncertain, as of June 2020, key design solutions can be prescribed at gradual stages of reopening to help colleges and universities enhance health and safety while fulfilling their role as centres for learning and teaching. Retrofit Solutions; New Build Solutions -- Gow Hastings Architects- Canadian Architect |
ANN feature: Christopher Alexander: Lesson Plan #9: Ideas on Architectural Education: Schools of architecture have not found ways of teaching the art of building that is effective. We want, collectively, to make architectural teaching better, and through that, to make architecture better.- ArchNewsNow.com |
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