Today’s News - Tuesday, January 26, 2021
● Elizabeth Blasius delves into "what Chicago loses when it loses an architecture critic - Blair Kamin's exit leaves Chicago without a full-time critic. The consideration shouldn't be which singular voice will replace" him - the city "needs not one, but many people to hold up a mirror to the skyline and show the city what it is."
● Marianela D'Aprile takes issue with the "mostly inscrutable jargon" of Keller Easterling's essay "On Political Temperament": "Engaging with politics doesn't always require filtering it through obtuse design theory," which, "most of the time, has little consequence on the politics and machinations of the world" (and other ouches).
● John Seabrook considers whether the pandemic has transformed the office forever: "The virtual meetings I sat in on were charged with a sense of high purpose, as designers on the front lines [like Gensler and Studio O+A] used their skills to potentially save lives."
● Moore's take on "urban clickbait," and "why 'iconic architecture' is all the rage again. Look and shape are everything - Instagram fodder - architectural bitcoin. One thing is for sure: they are not going to go away."
● Heatherwick Studio reveals images of two irregular-shaped residential towers for Vancouver "studded with angled balconies" (Moore refers to as "tulip-shaped" towers).
● Catherine Osborne parses how Toronto-based PARTISANS' "irreverent, sometimes feather-ruffling approach may be pioneering an alternative to the endless forest of vertical gray sticks - and heralding in a more interesting and distinctly Canadian style" (we want the sauna!).
● William Morgan sees a new apartment and commercial block planned for Rhode Island's charming Pawtuxet Village as "good news - the site is magnificent - it needs to be more special than a traditional house with a mansard roof - there's time to literally push the envelope."
● Neil Flanagan cheers Mecanoo's renovation of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in Washington DC: "Mies's clean lines did not wear neglect well - deficiencies of the design were obvious," but "three interventions tie together a delirious range of activities" over five floors.
● Jessica Mairs brings us Ranalli and Valentino's never-built pool house for the late novelist Philip Roth: It has "appeared in numerous exhibitions" - and won a 1995 AIANY Award - but "always presented anonymously until now": "Roth entrusted me to protect his privacy until, as he said, the time came when he was out of the way."
● ASLA releases comprehensive policy recommendations for the Biden-Harris Administration "designed to give landscape architects a seat at the table and support for their vital work" designing "vibrant, resilient, and just communities for all."
● Edinburgh's 1829 A-listed neoclassical landmark, the Royal High School is back on the open market after the city ended a long lease with developers - St Mary's Music School hopes to call it home, but will have to compete for the lease.
● Brussat: "Edinburgh's Royal High School has a stern and foreboding look. But surely a grin can be detected. It has recently dodged the bullet of redevelopment as an arts hotel.' Can St. Mary's School of Music's wealthy backers compete?" (and no kind words for the "absurdist" Scottish Parliament).
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Elizabeth Blasius: More Than Words: What Chicago loses when it loses an architecture critic: Blair Kamin's exit leaves Chicago without a full-time architecture critic - let alone a dedicated local architecture publication - for the first time since the 1970s...traditional newsrooms and architecture in print, replaced with home offices, Zoom calls, and Twitter takedowns. This dismantling is a catastrophic one for Chicago architecture...Developers and city departments lose systems of accountability...The consideration shouldn’t be which singular voice will replace Kamin as the colossus of Chicago architectural criticism...Chicago needs not one, but many people to hold up a mirror to the skyline and show the city what it is.- The Architect's Newspaper |
Marianela D'Aprile: Not Everything Is “Architecture”: Engaging with politics doesn’t always require filtering it through obtuse design theory: “On Political Temperament," by architect and Yale professor Keller Easterling...written in the mostly inscrutable jargon of...postmodern critical architecture theory...there is a great pressure and desire now for architects to engage...with the current political moment. Unfortunately...the tools historically proffered by architecture schools are not sufficient...architecture theory most of the time has little consequence on the politics and machinations of the world. Thus [she] can get away with not making sense because, who cares? But, there are real, insidious consequences...Get politics. Be clear about what they are...learn to write. If you’re a centrist, say it. But quit trying to hack capitalism.- Common Edge |
John Seabrook: Has the Pandemic Transformed the Office Forever? Companies are figuring out how to balance what appears to be a lasting shift toward remote work with the value of the physical workplace: Gensler, Studio O+A, and [many others] scrambled to put together safety protocols for clients...considering a speedy return to the office...The virtual meetings I sat in on were charged with a sense of high purpose, as designers on the front lines used their skills to potentially save lives...Studio O+A assembled its own COVID tool kit for office safety...mixing in-person and remote workers presents new challenges...[it's] very hard to get right...Without the people, the office is an empty shell. -- Foster + Partners; Stefanie Shunk; Primo Orpilla; Verda Alexander; Robert Propst- The New Yorker |
Rowan Moore: Urban clickbait? Why 'iconic architecture' is all the rage again: Weird and wonderful buildings are springing up...driven by cities’ desire to make a mark in a world full of eye-popping imagery: Look and shape are everything...One-liners or, at best, two- or three-liners, are what clients..now want...They often have a way of being less joyous and soaring in the flesh [and] somewhat sketchy on questions such as sustainability...At worst, icons are Instagram fodder...architectural bitcoin...One thing is for sure: they are not going to go away. -- Steven Chilton; Ma Yansong/MAD Architects; Zaha Hadid Architects; Thomas Heatherwic; Foster + Partners; Gensler- Observer (UK) |
Heatherwick Studio reveals visuals of skyscrapers for Vancouver: ...two irregular-shaped towers studded with angled balconies that form a bottleneck towards the base and then open up to a shared podium...plans for the residential development comprise a 30-storey tower...and a 34-storey tower...sitting over a five-storey podium...will include 401 homes, a childcare facility and enough parking space for over 500 bicycles.- Dezeen |
Catherine Osborne: Rising Studio PARTISANS Reflects the Triumphs and Challenges of Building in Toronto: Despite its irreverent, sometimes feather-ruffling approach, the practice is scaling up at an impressive speed: Unbridled, profit-driven development plagues other cities...though Toronto is a poster child...PARTISANS has taken on [the city's] ennui as a kind of rallying cry for change...vocal critics of Toronto’s willingness to let developers take control...latest work includes two condo-like towers...[the firm] may be pioneering an alternative to the endless forest of vertical gray sticks - and heralding in a more interesting and distinctly Canadian style. -- Alexander Josephson, Pooya Baktash, Jonathan Friedman- Metropolis Magazine |
William Morgan: A New Gateway for Pawtuxet Village: The new apartment and commercial block planned...along the river...is good news...Overlooking the Post Road and the falls, the site is magnificent...an opportunity to be far more than just another building...it needs to be more special than a traditional house with a mansard roof...there's time to realize a stronger architectural design for [the] premier location, time to literally push the envelope. -- Eric Zuena/ZDS Architecture- GoLocalProv.com (Providence, Rhode Island) |
Neil Flanagan: Pushing Past Mies: Mecanoo’s renovation of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library works through the nuances of the Mies’s signature style: Mies’s clean lines did not wear neglect well...deficiencies of the design - from its envelope to its space planning - were obvious...three interventions tie together a delirious range of activities over 426,000 square feet and five public floors...in a few places...aesthetic compromises illustrate the incoherence of D.C.’s preservation process...The new MLK Library suits the mood in town by putting the people of D.C. at the center. -- Mies van der Rohe (1972); OTJ Architects; Francine Houben- The Architect's Newspaper |
Jessica Mairs: A pool house for Philip Roth: An indoor swimming pool designed for the late American novelist’s Connecticut home by Anne Valentino and George Ranalli, but never built, is revealed: The lap pool was to be an extension of Roth’s writing studio, a former chicken coop...[it] never came to fruition...appeared in numerous exhibitions [and won a 1995 AIANY Award]. But the project has always been presented anonymously until now, two years following the writer’s death...Ranalli and Valentino feel the time is right..."Roth entrusted me to protect his privacy until, as he said, the time came when he was out of the way.”- Domus |
ASLA Releases Comprehensive Policy Recommendations for Biden-Harris Administration: "Landscape Architects Design Vibrant, Resilient, and Just Communities for All"...a comprehensive series of specific, actionable policy recommendations designed to give landscape architects a seat at the table and support for their vital work...broken down into four sections...- American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) |
Royal High School to go on the open market: City of Edinburgh Council has ended a long lease with developers...The A-listed neoclassical landmark, built in 1829 by Thomas Hamilton, has been lying largely empty since the school relocated in 1968...The severing of the contract with the developers will provide hope for The Royal High School Preservation Trust, which wants to relocate St Mary’s Music School...to the site. However, that project is by no means guaranteed as the backers...will have to compete on the open market for the lease.- The Edinburgh Reporter (Scotland) |
David Brussat: Don’t trifle with this building: Opened in 1823 to a design by Thomas Hamilton, Edinburgh’s Old Royal High School has a stern and foreboding look. But surely a grin can be detected...It has recently dodged the bullet of redevelopment as an “arts hotel”...Edinburgh’s famous St. Mary’s School of Music has the council’s backing to occupy the Old Royal, but it will now have to compete on the open market...Can the music school’s wealthy backers compete? You’d think a music school would be just the thing - but you never know these days.- Architecture Here and There |
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