Today’s News - Wednesday, November 4, 2020
● Zoe Tabary brings us one of the best deep dives we've seen re: rebooting urban life in a post-COVID-19 world: "Cities will never look the same. How they change - and whether for the better - is the big question. Whatever the next version of normal looks like, many changes are here to stay" (a long read - and well worth it).
● Patrick Sisson considers what "a second life for Midtown Manhattan's empty offices" - and business districts elsewhere - as affordable housing, but "any plan requires the financing to pencil out" and developers need to be encouraged "to take creative risks."
● Umberto Bacchi reports on a UN-Habitat report that urges "civic leaders to use the pandemic as a springboard to build better, greener, more liveable urban centers - key to improving the lives of millions."
● Saffron- reports that three Rittenhouse Square buildings, part of Philadelphia's most prestigious shopping street and part of a historic district set ablaze amid unrest in May," are facing demolition - the "building owners will be required to reconstruct them 'to their original appearances' within a year" (in these times?).
● Sam Lubell, on a brighter, greener note, delves into how Stefano Boeri's Bosco Verticale in Milan has become "a global poster child for an emerging type of architecture - uniting biophilia and urbanism."
● A 1935 school building in Shanghai "walks" to a new location via new technology dubbed the "walking machine - the city's latest effort to preserve historic structures" - as is happening across China (watch it walk!).
● Duo Dickinson delves into what went wrong with "Make It Right" in New Orleans: "Beyond the factoids of technical failure," it "reflects a much larger conflict. Good intentions are not outcomes."
● Anna Somers Cocks reports that the "official plan to save Venice from flooding sacrifices St. Mark's Basilica for its industrial port" - a "perverse decision" made because "7 ships were held up for 5 hours" by Mose flood barriers - leaving cathedral administrators to consider "what special measures they can devise to protect their 900-year-old church."
● Anna Fixsen's great Q&A with L.A.-based design journalist Frances Anderton (one of our faves) who, for 22 years, "has chronicled the dramas that continue to shape the City of Angels" as KCRW's DnA: Design and Architecture (and, sadly, ends in December).
● The "Global Hospitality Architecture Design Market Research Report 2029" is a new research study from JCMR that "provides an in-depth assessment of key market trends, upcoming technologies, industry drivers, challenges," including the "most recent post-pandemic market survey."
● ICYMI: ANN feature: Dave Hora kicks off a new ANN series: Nature of Order: Christopher Alexander's work and its importance in shaping a healthy, living world (based on a program by Sorrento, Italy-based Building Beauty).
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Zoe Tabary: Cities reboot: Urban life in the age of COVID-19: Experts agree cities will never look the same...How they change - and whether for the better - is the big question...If the past is a guide, epidemics breed overhaul, ushering in brave, new innovations that become common place...Whatever the next version of normal looks like, many changes are here to stay...What may have started as emergency measures like open streets or alternative transport will help cities plan for the next shock..."if there's any silver lining...it's the opportunity for cities to reset around equity issues. If we are smart about it, the disruption...could help deliver new investments and solutions." -- Michael Berkowitz/Resilient Cities Catalyst; Ani Dasgupta/WRI- Thomson Reuters Foundation News |
Patrick Sisson: Imagining a Second Life for Midtown Manhattan’s Empty Offices: As workers stay home and office buildings sit vacant, some see a new role for New York City’s business district - as a site for affordable housing: ...an entire ecosystem of businesses that rely on white-collar workers is threatened with extinction...some see an opportunity...Turning old office space into new affordable units...would be a boon to upward mobility...But any...plan requires...the financing to pencil out...big cities may have to rethink and reimagine the role played by business districts during a particularly tough recovery. And...encourage developers to take creative risks. -- Breaking Ground- Bloomberg CityLab |
Umberto Bacchi: Use COVID-19 to build back better, cities told: The United Nations [UN-Habitat] urged civic leaders to use the pandemic as a springboard to build better, more liveable urban centres...Effective planning to build greener, more compact cities is key to improving the lives of millions... -- Robin King/WRI Ross Center For Sustainable Cities; Maimunah Mohd Sharif- Thomson Reuters Foundation News |
Inga Saffron: Philly officials recommend demolition of historic Rittenhouse Square buildings set ablaze amid unrest in May: The buildings are part of Philadelphia's most prestigious shopping street and part of a historic district: Their demolition will leave a major gap in the street’s continuity at a time when Center City’s retailers are struggling to survive the pandemic’s economic impact... The fires destroyed the interiors...leaving only their blackened and scorched front facades standing...building owners will be required to reconstruct the buildings “to their original appearances” within a year. -- Furness & Hewitt- Philadelphia Inquirer |
Sam Lubell: How Milan’s Bosco Verticale Has Changed the Way Designers Think About Sustainable Design: Architects draw biophilic inspiration from Stefano Boeri’s famous “vertical forest”: ...[two towers] covered head-to-toe with...800 trees and 5,000 shrubs...helped invigorate (along with new parks and towers by several top architects) an area once dominated by unused railroad tracks and decaying industrial buildings....became a global poster child for an emerging type of architecture...uniting biophilia and urbanism...[He] never registered any copyrights...hoping that its ideas would proliferate...green-clad structures have sprouted...around the world...his next frontier is the vertical green city... -- Jean Nouvel; Vincent Callebaut; Diller Scofidio + Renfro; WOHA; MVRDV; Thomas Heatherwick; Bill Browning/Terrapin Bright Green- Architectural Digest |
A 5-story building in Shanghai 'walks' to a new location: An 85-year-old primary school has been lifted off the ground - in its entirety - and relocated using new technology dubbed the "walking machine." In the city's latest effort to preserve historic structures, engineers attached nearly 200 mobile supports under the building...Lagena Primary School (1935)...moved to make space for a new commercial and office complex...school building set to become a center for heritage protection and cultural education...there has been growing concern about the architectural heritage lost as a result of demolition across China.- CNN Style |
Duo Dickinson: “Make It Right” Goes Wrong in New Orleans: Some celebrate the failures of...Brad Pitt’s patronage... Beyond the factoids of technical failure, those who rooted for the failure reflect a much larger conflict. Good intentions are not outcomes. Intentions ruled this effort’s creation...Beyond rot and toxicities, the failures...were baked in the cake of its creation... When Katrina wrecked thousands of homes, over 4,500 were built by [HUD]...almost universally “traditional”...“Make It Right” was virtually an art exhibit in a sea of banality. -- Frank Gehry; David Adjaye; Thom Mayne; John C. Williams; Marianne Cusato- ArchDaily |
Anna Somers Cocks: Revealed: official plan to save Venice from flooding sacrifices St Mark’s basilica for Marghera, the industrial port of Venice: The mobile barriers [Mose] have at last held back a flood, but they will not be raised to protect the low-lying parts of town...perverse decision...because...7 ships were held up for 5 hours outside the lagoon by the barriers...a port that causes delays is likely to lose business, hence the opposition to the barriers...administrators of the basilica are considering what special measures they can devise to protect their 900-year-old church...- The Art Newspaper (UK) |
Anna Fixsen: Interview with Journalist Frances Anderton: British design journalist...relocated to Los Angeles permanently in 1991...later [became] a producer for influential radio programs...for local NPR affiliate KCRW...Since 2002, she has chronicled the dramas that continue to shape [L.A.]...24 KCRW employees, including Anderton...taking buyouts due to the financial strain of Covid-19...Q&A re: her time as DnA: Design and Architecture’s host...What are the challenges of describing buildings over the airwaves? "...you spend less time on the details of the building...You’re looking for personalities, stories, conflict"...Any architects who have turned out to be...unpleasant? "Do you think I’m going to say that?"- Architectural Record |
Global Hospitality Architecture Design Market Research Report 2029: A new research study from JCMR...provides an in-depth assessment of...key market trends, upcoming technologies, industry drivers, challenges [and] most recent post-pandemic market survey on Hospitality Architecture Design Market. Analysis : Gensler, Kohn Pedersen Fox, Perkins+Will, Perkins Eastman, IBI Group, HKS, ZGF Architects, NELSON Worldwide, NBBJ, Corgan, Studios Architecture, WATG, Interior Architects, KTGY Architecture + Planning, Elkus Manfredi Architects, Cooper Carry, HMC Architects- TechnoWeekly |
ANN feature: Dave Hora: Nature of Order #1: Christopher Alexander's work and its importance in shaping a healthy, living world: There is an undercurrent of the idea that architecture, when carried out with processes that Alexander presents in "The Nature of Order," can indeed lead to a more whole and humane society.- ArchNewsNow.com |
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