Archinect - News

16 designers to display new "Tribune Tower" models at the 2nd Chicago Architecture Biennial

2017-03-07T19:41:00-05:00

The 1922 contest drew 263 entries from 23 countries and led to the construction of a landmark neo-Gothic skyscraper. In 1980, Chicago architects Stanley Tigerman and Stuart Cohen organized a "Late Entries" version of the legendary contest...Now, the curators of this year's Chicago Architecture Biennial are putting together what might be called the "Late Late Entries" to the Tribune Tower competition.

Although the names of the sixteen designers picked to create a new "Tribune Tower" at the Chicago Architecture Biennial haven't been announced quite yet, according to this article their designs are already being value-engineered in order to be as feasible as possible for potential construction. Whichever design may ultimately go on to the big time of 1:1 scale, the Biennial will be a delightful experience for all of those who still enjoy enormous physical models of both the built and the unbuilt variety:

In addition to the 16 new versions of Tribune Tower, the curators are commissioning two other 16-foot-tall models of designs for the skyscraper from early in the last century. One is a famous, columnlike version by the Austrian architect Adolf Loos that was part of the 1922 competition. The other, which was not officially entered, is a gridded modernist design by the German architect and urban planner Ludwig Hilberseimer.

Trading the L Train for a giant inflatable condom?

2016-06-30T17:58:00-04:00

In 2019, New York City's Hurricane Sandy-damaged L Train tunnel will shut down for repairs, making it tricky to get across the East River without a new form of transport. In a competition sponsored by the Van Alen Institute to find alternatives, AECOM suggested building a fiber-glass fabric tunnel for pedestrians that could also double as a projection space.

The tunnel, which an AECOM designer likened to an inflatable condom in this DNA info article, would have segments above and below the water line in order to enable river traffic to pass over it.

However, the super-sized prophylactic ended up being a hard sell, losing out to the docking ferry proposal "Transient Transit" (pictured above) designed by BuroHappold Engineering and Kohn Pederson Fox Associates for the competition's $1,000 prize.

All the latest in river-design news:

The 2015 Mies van der Rohe Award shortlists 40 projects

2015-02-10T20:16:00-05:00

Out of a competitive pool of 420 projects that were nominated back in December, 40 of them were shortlisted for the 2015 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award. The biennial €60,000 prize was initiated by the European Commission and the Barcelona City Hall in 1987 and is considered to be the highest-ranking award in contemporary European architecture.

The selected projects, which must have been completed within the last two years, are regarded as models of architectural and technological innovation in European architecture. The awards program also acknowledges the significant contributions and the evolving creative process of present-day architects working throughout the continent.

↑ Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, The Netherlands by Cruz y Ortiz Arquitectos.

↑ Danish Maritime Museum in Helsingør, Denmark by BIG

↑ Marseille Vieux Port in Marseille, France by Foster + Partners

↑ De Rotterdam in Rotterdam, The Netherlands by OMA

↑ Everyman Theatre in Liverpoo...

MacArthur Fellow Jeanne Gang, FAIA, Joins the 2015 Matsumoto Prize Jury

2014-10-21T12:00:00-04:00

Nationally known architects to judge annual Modernist house competition.

North Carolina Modernist Houses (NCMH), the award-winning non-profit organization dedicated to documenting, preserving, and promoting Modernist residential design across the state, has announced the 2015 George Matsumoto Prize Jury.

The 2015 jury includes MacArthur Fellow Jeanne Gang, FAIA, Studio Gang Architects, Chicago; Harry Bates, Bates Masi Architects, Sag Harbor, New York; Eric Gartner, AIA, SG Architects, New York; Peter Gluck, Gluck+, New York; Bev Thorne, the last living architect to have participated in Arts & Architecture's famous Case Study Houses, Oakland; and Honorary Chair George Matsumoto, FAIA.

Now in its fourth year, the Matsumoto Prize honors George Matsumoto, a founding faculty member of North Carolina State University's School of Design (now College of Design) and architect of some of the state’s best-known and historically significant Modernist houses.

The Matsumoto Prize is a unique awa...