Today’s News - Thursday, November 12, 2020
EDITOR'S NOTE: tomorrow and Monday will be no-newsletter days - we'll be back Tuesday, November 17. In the meantime: Stay well. Stay safe (and Happy Friday the 13th!).
● ANN feature: Artist Gordon Huether: "Amid Social & Economic Uncertainties, Major Public Art Welcomes & Elevates. We are in difficult times, and cost concerns may affect plans for site-specific art. Yet, if there was ever a time that art mattered, when art could unite us, this is that time" (his installations for the Salt Lake City Airport prove it).
● Sisson x 2 - his take on efforts to deal with a warming world on both sides of the Big Pond: "Los Angeles is in a race against heat, and low-income workers are losing - the city's efforts to reduce temperatures have been explicit about making equity a key requirement."
● He looks at "how Paris plans to protect its residents from rising heat" by "combining new parks and urban greenery initiatives with big investments in alternative transportation" - but it could "fall short" because "the national government has 'so much difficulty imagining another system.'"
● Lakhani delves into how officials in Tucson, Arizona (the 2nd hottest city in the U.S.), have "promised to come up with a bold climate action and adaptation plan that puts environmental justice and equity at the heart of its green transition" (if plans aren't "diluted" by corporate influence).
● Lebawit Lily Girma reports on Key West's "unprecedented citizen-led push against mass cruise tourism" by voting for a "big ship ban - sparking hope for change across similarly challenged port communities" (Venezia?).
● Hickman reports that Pier Luigi Nervi's 1932 Stadio Artemio Franchi in Florence, "considered wildly avant-garde when it opened" in 1932, is "at risk of being demolished or irreversibly altered to make way for a new stadium" - preservationists and historians have launched dedicated website and a Change.org petition.
● Block brings us Paris-based Mosbach Paysagistes' 173-acre park on the site of a former airport in Taichung, Taiwan, that "combines nature and technology" to deal with heat distribution, humidity, and air quality (mosquito-repelling devices included).
● Sisson (one mo' time) talks to Joann Lui, one of Commercial Observer's 2020 Top Young Professionals who "knows what it's like to feel invisible at work," about the 2018 launch of the Women Architects Collective, "a 2,500-member (and counting) private Facebook group - to make sure the professional needs of female architects never get ignored."
● ICYMI: ANN feature: astudio's Richard Hyams kicks off the new series Building for the Next Generation. #1: Covid-19 and a New Era for Public Spaces: With the right strategy and balance of accessibility, safety, and sustainability, the public realm can play an important role in smoothing the transition from lockdown to normality.
Weekend diversions + Page-turners:
● Architecture & Design Film Festival 2020 kicks off - online - next week with a stellar line-up of films and a star-studded line-up of speakers, available to watch anytime during the festival from anywhere in the U.S. and Canada.
● Farago reconsiders "Countryside, the Future" at the Guggenheim: "Not for the first time events have proved Koolhaas prescient, and both health and political crises have strengthened the show's suggestion that the city is yesterday's news" (but it "remains a messy, random, arch, inconclusive exhibition").
● William Morgan cheers the now-online-only "Raymond Hood and the American Skyscraper": "Significant exhibitions like this reacquaint us with sometimes forgotten figures and force new assessments of their contributions to our cultural landscape" (fab pix + link to the exhibition).
● A gallery of images from "The Shape of Things to Come," an exhibition in Dubai "offering a glimpse of what architecture and design could look like in a post-Covid world" by "over 25 Middle Eastern design practices showcasing new concepts, product designs, and installations."
● John Hill cheers editors Cheng, Davis & Wilson's "Race and Modern Architecture: A Critical History from the Enlightenment to the Present" - the "18 scholarly contributions are a starting point, not a comprehensive take on a complex and complicated subject - a demanding book, in more ways than one" - and worth your time.
● Rebecca Greenwald's great Q&A with Walter Hood re: his new book "Black Landscapes Matter" that "argues there is ultimately a case for hope - but only if Black landscapes are properly recognized and valued. 'The first step is to do the work - have the conversations. It's not enough to just say Black Lives Matter.'"
● Jared Green cheers Frumkin & Myers' "Planetary Health: Protecting Nature to Protect Ourselves" that gives us "a roadmap for how to undo the damage to the Earth - a thought-provoking and rich overview of the emerging field of planetary health - a must-read."
● Rowan Moore hails "Our Days Are Like Full Years: A Memoir With Letters From Louis Kahn" by Harriet Pattison: It "is not a bitter or angry book. It is a memoir of their times together, moving and heroic (on her part) as well as troubling - she's clear that their time together was worth the frustrations."
● Eyefuls of Simon Phipps stunning photos to be found in his book "Brutal North" that "captures the most aspirational and enlightened architecture" of the British north's postwar years."
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ANN feature: Gordon Huether: Amid Social & Economic Uncertainties, Major Public Art Welcomes & Elevates: Tripling value of 1% for Art: We are in difficult times, and cost concerns may affect plans for site-specific art. Yet, if there was ever a time that art mattered, when art could unite us in inspiration, nature, and beauty, this is that time.- ArchNewsNow.com |
Patrick Sisson: Los Angeles is in a race against heat, and low-income workers are losing: Entrenched geographic gaps in heat readiness and resilience across the sprawling metropolis are making notions of climate equity a far-off goal: L.A., already accustomed to droughts, heatwaves and wildfires, serves as a cautionary tale concerning the dire threat to human life posed by climate change [and] rampant geographic inequality...it’s the slow, persistent rise in average temperatures, coupled with pollution and wildfires, that will push the limits of adaptability and add pressure to low-wage workers...city’s efforts to reduce temperatures have been explicit about making equity a key requirement.- City Monitor |
Patrick Sisson: How Paris plans to protect its residents from rising heat: Both the city and the greater metro region are taking a comprehensive approach, combining new parks and urban greenery initiatives with big investments in alternative transportation: Paris wants to invert typical notions of city planning...rethinking urban planning needs to happen on a regional scale...cuts in municipal budgets and less support from national leaders mean Paris has to “find ways to do more with less money.” Over time, the city’s current response system will fall short of the systemic changes needed to protect Parisians from a warmer future...national government [has] "so much difficulty imagining another system.”- City Monitor |
Nina Lakhani: Scorching Tucson, Arizona, bucks U.S. trend to put climate justice at centre of plans: Key goals include powering city buildings on renewables and curbing urban sprawl: In September...city officials declared a climate emergency...promised to come up with a bold climate action and adaptation plan that puts environmental justice and equity at the heart of its green transition...But advocates say that over the past three decades, progress has been stalled and plans diluted as a result of corporate influence- Guardian (UK) |
Lebawit Lily Girma: Key West’s Big Ship Ban Signals a Major Shift Ahead for Cruise Tourism: In an unprecedented citizen-led push against mass cruise tourism during a time of undertourism, Key West voters boldly chose to protect the environment and public health. It’s sparked hope for change across similarly challenged port communities...the “reset” conversation is no longer just talk...Key West isn’t the first US port city to demand capacity limits from the cruise lines...- Skift |
Matt Hickman: Pier Luigi Nervi’s iconic Stadio Artemio Franchi under threat in Florence: ...at risk of being demolished or irreversibly altered to make way for a new stadium at the same site...prompted a red-alert response from preservationists and architectural historians in both Italy and further afield...a plan that would have spared Nervi’s 1932 masterwork failed to come to fruition...Considered wildly avant-garde when it first opened...90-year-old structure could potentially be spared from full demolition...preserving just a small handful of “souvenirs”...would largely erase the historic integrity of the stadium.- The Architect's Newspaper |
India Block: Mosbach Paysagistes creates park for Taichung, Taiwan, on [70-hectare/173-acre] site of former airport: Phase Shifts Park...designed by French landscape architects...combines nature and technology to create a refuge from the heat and pollution of the city...collaborated with Philippe Rahm Architectes and Ricky Liu & Associates Architects + Planners for the project...also known as Jade Eco Park...three computational fluid dynamics simulations...[covered] heat distribution across the site, another humidity and the third air quality.- Dezeen |
Patrick Sisson: How a Facebook Group for Women Architects Creates Community and Opportunity: Joann Lui, now of Gensler, got tired of her old firm overlooking her: She knows what it’s like to feel invisible at work...led her to create a space to let women like her help themselves. The Women Architects Collective (WAC), a 2,500-member (and counting) private Facebook group...to make sure the professional needs of female architects never get ignored...Despina Stratigakos: “Women don’t need special support; they need a level playing field"...Liu: "It’s not about selling yourself, it’s about finding clarity about what you want to do." -- Equity By Design; Denise Scott Brown; Kavitha Mathew/AIANY Equity Co:LAB; Yoselim Bravo/Purdy + Muroff Architecture; Emma Greenberg; Eunjung Chung; Diane Hoskins; Roxana Iordache/A7 Arhitectura- Commercial Observer |
Architecture & Design Film Festival 2020, November 19 - December 3: ADFF 2020 will include introductions by special guests and industry leaders, followed by a feature film and Q&A’s with the people involved;...additional opportunities for live chats and other programming that will take place throughout the festival...programs will be available to watch anytime during the festival - from anywhere in the United States and Canada - on any streaming device. -- Bjarke Ingels; Paola Antonelli; Ryue Nishizawa/SANAA; Francis Kéré; Glenn Murcutt- Architecture & Design Film Festival (ADFF) |
Jason Farago: Rem Koolhaas Gives Beleaguered City Folk a Trip to the Countryside: In the last eight months, events have proved the celebrated architect’s premise prescient. By focusing on cities, planners have missed propulsive changes in the hinterlands: “Countryside, the Future"...elicited almost universally negative reviews...Well, not for the first time, events have proved Koolhaas prescient, and both health and political crises have strengthened the show’s suggestion that the city is yesterday’s news....It plainly remains a messy, random, arch, inconclusive exhibition...Where it succeeds most is in its insistence on the cosmopolitanism and dynamism of the countryside...the pandemic...has judderingly accelerated new encounters between the city and its outskirts. -- Samir Bantal; Troy Conrad Therrien- New York Times |
William Morgan: Raymond Hood and the drama of the American skyscraper: "Raymond Hood and the American Skyscraper"... initially organized for...the David Winton Bell Gallery at Brown University, opened online only...Significant exhibitions like this reacquaint us with sometimes forgotten figures and force new assessments of their contributions to our cultural landscape...in one of those ironies of architectural history, Modernists denigrated as too conservative the skyscraper that secured Hood's career and transformed him from dreamer to real player...Such scholarship is especially welcome now, as study of great architecture and urbanism is crucial to rebuilding after a time of pandemic.- New England Diary (Rhode Island) |
What architecture could look like after Covid-19: "The Shape of Things to Come," an exhibition in Dubai, is offering a glimpse of what architecture and design could look like in a post-Covid world...Featuring over 25 Middle Eastern design practices, it is showcasing new concepts, product designs, and installations from architects and interior designers...part of Dubai Design Week...- CNN Style |
John Hill: "Race and Modern Architecture: A Critical History from the Enlightenment to the Present" edited by Irene Cheng, Charles L. Davis II, Mabel O. Wilson: ...the 18 scholarly contributions...are a starting point, not a comprehensive take on a complex and complicated subject...It's a demanding book, in more ways than one, but a reader's interest will no doubt point them to the essays worth devoting their time.- A Daily Dose of Architecture Books (dDAB) |
Rebecca Greenwald: "Black Landscapes Matter": Q&A with landscape designer Walter Hood re: his new book: ...collection [of essays] examines a past, present, and future of the Black American experience as spatially archived in cities...After witnessing the role of the public realm in the killings of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown, Hood and coeditor Grace Mitchell Tada initiated a dialogue with other practitioners...the book argues there is ultimately a case for hope - but only if Black landscapes are properly recognized and valued. -- Hood Design Studio- Metropolis Magazine |
Jared Green: The Planetary Health Framework: The Way to Achieve a Sustainable Future: In "Planetary Health: Protecting Nature to Protect Ourselves," edited by Drs. Howard Frumkin and Samuel Myers, we are given a roadmap for how to undo the damage to the Earth...a thought-provoking and rich 500-page overview of the emerging field of planetary health...it seems difficult to imagine a better framework for understanding Earth’s contemporary human-environmental dynamics...a must-read...If we truly commit to maximizing human and environmental health in all communities, and undertaking all that entails, we will get on a pathway to saving the planet.- The Dirt/American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) |
Rowan Moore: "Our Days Are Like Full Years: A Memoir With Letters From Louis Kahn" by Harriet Pattison - moving and heroic: Life as the lover of the restless U.S. architect...was fulfilling - but never easy: ...[her] hope that he would leave his wife for her was pushed into a remote and, as it turned out, never achieved future. Yet [it] is not a bitter or angry book. It is a memoir of their times together, moving and heroic (on her part) as well as troubling, built around the letters he sent to her...she’s clear that their time together was worth the frustrations.- Observer (UK) |
"Brutal North" by Simon Phipps: Concrete jungle: the brutalist buildings of northern England - in pictures: A new book captures the most aspirational and enlightened architecture of the north’s postwar years - featuring competitive church building and an endless supply of reinforced concrete- Guardian (UK) |
ANN feature: Richard Hyams: Building for the Next Generation #1: Covid-19 and a New Era for Public Spaces: With the right strategy and balance of accessibility, safety, and sustainability, the public realm can play an important role in smoothing the transition from lockdown to normality.- ArchNewsNow.com |
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