Today’s News - Tuesday, August 18, 2020
● Holland Cotter re: Höweler + Yoon et al.'s Memorial to Enslaved Laborers at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville: It turns "grief for a hidden past into a healing space. Power is not its language. Closure is not its goal. Active, additive remembrance is."
● Moore minces no words re: Fawley Waterside in Hampshire: It's "a hollow classical tribute act" that "resembles a prissy Poundbury" (ouch!). Even though Léon Krier resigned, it still has "recognizably Krieresque aspects."
● Morgan minces no words about "the invasion of the over-scaled buildings" in Providence that is "reaching a crisis point" (an "egregious leviathan" and "apartment house elephantiasis" included).
● GGLO's Gerhard Mayer minces no words about why "whack-a-mole urban planning in Los Angeles is not working. The region needs to enact many simultaneous interventions aimed at an improved and integrated whole" (there are places getting it right).
● Gibson, on a brighter note, reports on Carlo Ratti's million-square-meter BIOTIC innovation district extension to Brasília that will include residential, monumental, gregarious, and bucolic urban scales. "Unlike the original design, it will integrate them with each other rather than keeping them separate."
● Fender Katsalidis and SOM win the competition to design the $2.5 billion Central Place Sydney that will include a 37- and a 39-story tower that "will run on 100% renewable energy."
● Harriet Thorpe reports on the 6 BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic)-led architecture studios in the running "to design better housing for diverse communities" in London, sponsored by Brick By Brick and the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust.
● Studio Gang, Henning Larsen, and Snøhetta went to Medora, North Dakota, to present their shortlisted designs for the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library (lots of pix!).
● Clare Dowdy brings us eyefuls of "design's new happy mood" with "polychrome interiors, installations, and murals. While it may look like child's play, these evangelists take color seriously" (sunglasses recommended).
● Robert Sullivan brings us the fascinating tale of "how the world's largest garbage dump evolved into" the 2,200-acre Freshkills Park in Staten Island: "Bury the trash, plant some grass and do nothing for 20 years" - James Corner Field Operations' "idea was not just to build a park but to reimagine the idea of park."
● In London, "new artificial trees guzzle as much pollution as 275 regular trees. City Trees are actually towers filled with different types of moss, which eat up particulates and nitrogen oxides while simultaneously producing oxygen" (benches included).
● Design Miami/ CEO Jen Roberts and curatorial director Aric Chen talk about "their support for GlobalGiving's charitable efforts for COVID-19 relief" via the recently launched Design Miami/ Shop, and "the possibilities of a more accessible post-pandemic design fair" (and avoiding "fair fatigue").
● Wanda Lau asks 12 designers of color two questions to discern "what would convince them that the recent calls and vows to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion in the AEC sector would lead to meaningful, lasting change."
● Plan to spend some time with this series of articles that parse what "practitioners, educators, young professionals, industry leaders, and diversity, equity, and inclusion experts" say "to see what real change can look like and to identify actions that every firm can take."
● Bucharest-based architect Andreea Cutieru looks at "the political dimension of architecture - some architects not only advocate for change, but actively get involved in jumpstarting the social progress through activism."
● Two we couldn't resist: A look at some of the 17 new public toilets in Tokyo in a new initiative between the Nippon Foundation and "some of the biggest names in the architecture" like Tadao Ando, Toyo Ito, and Fumihiko Maki (Shigeru Ban's are transparent - until they're not).
● In celebration of Brasilia's 60th anniversary, two star skateboarders "were granted unheard-of access, the ability to grind, skate and leap over the 13 structures" by Oscar Niemeyer - "a sight to behold" (indeed!!!).
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Holland Cotter: Turning Grief for a Hidden Past Into a Healing Space: The University of Virginia in Charlottesville, designed by Thomas Jefferson, was built by enslaved people. The Memorial to Enslaved Laborers acknowledges that long-suppressed history: As with any abstract form, this one invites many readings...But it’s also embedded with hard factual data...During a stormy sunrise, rain...water dropping down the face, augmenting the engravings and memory marks, as though weeping for the enslaved...Power is not its language. Closure is not its goal. Active, additive remembrance is. -- Eric Höweler/Meejin Yoon/Höweler + Yoon Architecture; Mabel O. Wilson; Gregg Beam Landscape Architect; Frank Dukes; Eto Otitigbe- New York Times |
Rowan Moore: Fawley Waterside, Hampshire: a hollow classical tribute act: Despite the government’s new planning design codes, this New Forest ‘mercantile city’ development resembles a prissy Poundbury: ...for all that it intends to attract tech businesses and their employees, doesn’t particularly look like the future...This old look is the point...Léon Krier...resigned when he felt his ideas were getting watered down...[still has] recognisably Krieresque aspects...comes with many admirable promises...It also comes...with a set of design codes...The government has called for a return to “pattern books”...a complex task, requiring resources and expertise. Let’s hope the government means to fund it.- Observer (UK) |
William Morgan: The Invasion of the Over-Scaled Buildings: Providence is undergoing an extreme scale shift. Buildings are not only getting bigger, but they are eroding the harmonious streetscape that makes this city special...The construction of new buildings that are outsized for their locations is reaching a crisis point...The problem is equally acute with smaller size projects that upset the balance between people, amenities, and civic responsibilities...new housing projects...are simply too big for their streetscapes, and thus erode a vital townscape. -- William Rawn Associates; Eric Zuena/ZDS Architecture; Kite Architects- GoLocalProv.com (Providence, Rhode Island) |
Gerhard W. Mayer/GGLO: Whack-a-Mole Urban Planning in Los Angeles Is Not Working: Solving one problem adds troubles somewhere else. The region needs to think holistically: Design and planning should enact many simultaneous interventions, creating a broad paradigm shift aimed at an improved and integrated whole...The post-Covid era will be an opportunity to define a new norm...a renewed public appreciation for urban development...This can happen...Our lives will depend on it.- Common Edge |
Eleanor Gibson: Carlo Ratti unveils innovation district extension to Brasília masterplan: ...will be an extension to the Lúcio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer-designed city...The one-million-square-metre district called BIOTIC will be...on a triangular plot of land near to the city's National Park...intended to solve some of the issues caused by the fragmentation of activities in Brasília...will include the four urban scales...residential, monumental, gregarious and bucolic. Unlike the original design, it will integrate them with each other rather than keeping them separate. -- MIT SENSEable City Lab- Dezeen |
Fender Katsalidis and SOM [Skidmore, Owings & Merrill] design $2.5 billion two-tower Central Place Sydney: ...will sit adjacent to the proposed headquarters of Atlassian by SHoP Architects and BVN...development will accommodate 150,000 square metres of office and retail spaces, as well as civic spaces wrapped around its edges...responds to the scale and materiality of the surrounding heritage precinct...will run on 100% renewable energy...- ArchitectureAU (Australia) |
Harriet Thorpe: London competition challenges architects to design better housing for diverse communities: A shortlist of BAME-led architecture studios has been announced by development company Brick By Brick and the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust...architects to design better housing for diverse communities...and giving promising smaller practices opportunities: ...six practices each demonstrated a variety of approaches, starting points and concepts. -- Architecture Doing Place; Gbolade Design Studio; Kristofer Adelaide Architecture; NimTim Architects; Jas Bhalla Architects;. McCloy + Muchemwa (supported by CZWG)wallp- Wallpaper* |
Architecture firms unveil competing designs for Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in North Dakota: Representatives from Chicago-based Studio Gang, Copenhagen-based Henning Larsen and Oslo-based Snøhetta gathered in Medora to woo board members, potential donors and locals with high-definition renderings of their unique approaches to the project...Each firm is being paid $50,000 and reimbursed for travel to Medora. -- Craig Dykers; Jeanne Gang; Michael Sørensen; Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects- Jamestown Sun (North Dakota) |
Clare Dowdy: Design’s new happy mood: There’s a wave of positivity, fun and risk-taking emerging across the globe: These polychrome interiors, installations and murals are a far cry from the restrained, minimalist aesthetic that has dominated in some countries in recent times...Adam Nathaniel Furman has dubbed this phenomenon ‘New London Fabulous’...While it may look like child’s play, these evangelists take colour seriously..."It’s about taking risks and having fun"... -- Amber Road; Lymesmith; Craig & Karl; Azab; Deborah Richards; Haruna Yamada/Hirokazu Kobayashi/Spread; Yinka Ilori; Ilori, Camille Walala; Morag Myerscough; Lara Lesmes/Space Popular- BBC Designed |
Robert Sullivan: How the World’s Largest Garbage Dump Evolved Into a Green Oasis: The radical fix for a noxious landfill in Staten Island: Bury the trash, plant some grass and do nothing for 20 years: A little less than two decades ago, the last steaming load of garbage arrived at Fresh Kills Landfill...possibly the least likely poster child for urban ecological restoration in the world, and it is radical not just for the way it works...as big as Lower Manhattan south of 23rd Street...James Corner Field Operations...idea was not just to build a park but to reimagine the idea of park.- New York Times |
London’s New Artificial Trees Guzzle As Much Pollution As 275 Regular Trees: Next in the war on global warming are...a series of CO2-filtering structures which have just been installed in Leytonstone...City Trees are actually towers filled with different types of moss, which eat up particulates and nitrogen oxides whilst simultaneously producing oxygen...also collect data about the surrounding environment, which can then be used to inform further green solutions.- Science and Nature |
The recently launched Design Miami/ Shop offers over 800 collectibles for purchase: CEO Jen Roberts and curatorial director Aric Chen talk to AD India about...their support for GlobalGiving’s charitable efforts for COVID-19 relief, and the possibilities of a more accessible post-pandemic design fair: “I think pre-Coronavirus, there was already a sense that the whole fair system needed to evolve...[also] an attempt to promote and encourage independent designers who may otherwise struggle for visibility.- Architectural Digest India |
Wanda Lau: What Does Real Action Toward Achieving an Equitable Profession Look Like? 12 designers of color to share what would convince them that the recent calls and vows to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion in the AEC sector would lead to meaningful, lasting change: We asked two questions: 1. What will convince you that this call for change is different? 2. What actions, from your own experiences or observations, have effected real change? -- Maya Bird-Murphy/Chicago Mobile Makers; Teri Canada/Edwin Harris/Evoke Studio Architecture; Melissa R. Daniel/AMAR Group; Kathy Dixon/K. Dixon Architecture; Rainy Hamilton Jr.,/HamiltonAnderson; Alvin Huang/Synthesis Design + Architecture; Samantha Josaphat/Studio 397 Architecture/nycoba/NOMA; Rico Quirindongo/DLR Group; Quilian Riano/DSGN AGNC; Summer Sutton/Indigenous Scholars of Architecture, Planning and Design, Yale University School of Architecture; Alicia Volcy/Studio Volcy Design + Developmen- Architect Magazine |
Be Part of the Change: Dismantling systemic racism in architecture will require time, hard work, and commitment...practitioners, educators, young professionals, industry leaders, and diversity, equity, and inclusion experts to see what real change can look like and to identify actions that every firm can take: How Do We Elevate the Next Generation of Architects of Color?; Meet NOMA's First Class of Foundation Fellows; DEI [Diversity, Equity, Inclusion] Experts List First Steps Toward a More Inclusive Workplace; Kimberly Dowdell Asks: Will You Join Us?- Architect Magazine |
Andreea Cutieru: The Political Dimension of Architecture: Activism Through Design: ...do architects have the tools to make their own stand? Does architecture have the power to disrupt the status quo? Given the important role of the profession in shaping the built environment and urban life, some architects double their efforts and not only advocate for change, but actively get involved in jumpstarting the social progress through activism. Architects in Politics; The Right to Shelter; Public Space. -- Rem Koolhaas; Stephan Petermann; Stéphane Malka; Rebar/Park(ing) Day; Fine Young Urbanists; SHoP Architects- ArchDaily |
Tokyo's latest attraction: Transparent public toilets: Though the restrooms sound risqué, they're actually part of an innovative project aimed at changing people's perceptions of public toilets...part of the newly launched Tokyo Toilet Project, a series of re-invented public toilet facilities...Nippon Foundation...has partnered with some of the biggest names in the architecture and creative industries...to create 17 new public toilet facilities around Shibuya. -- Shigeru Ban; Tadao Ando; Toyo Ito; Masamichi Katayama/Wonderwall; Fumihiko Maki; Nao Tamura- CNN Travel |
Skateboarders Transform Iconic Brazilian Architecture into Sensational Skate Parks: Brasilia celebrates 60 years since its inauguration as Brazil’s capital...o commemorate the event, Red Bull teamed up with skateboarders Pedro Barros and Murilo Peres to honor some of the most iconic buildings around. Both were granted unheard-of access, the ability to grind, skate and leap over the 13 structures conjured from the mind of architect Oscar Niemeyer...a sight to behold.- Sports Illustrated |
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