Archinect - News

Editor's Picks #352

2014-01-28T00:14:00-05:00

vado retro is moved to wonder "with the rash of notable building demolition that has and continues to occur, is there a checklist of what makes a building valuable enough not to demolish?...is it because buildings are more about image and visuals than spatial experience that we are willing to rid ourselves of award winning pieces of architecture/art?...maybe buildings don't really matter that much"

The latest edition of ShowCase: features Pocinho Rowing High Performance Center by Alvaro Andrade.

Mohammad Hadi Ataei really liked it commenting "Great minimalist work".

Additionally, - Mike "The Poet" Sonksen, @mikethepoetLA published Take a Walk: on L.A.'s Grand Avenue. Eric Chavkin posted a critique "As much as I like poetry I m dont read any poetry in this.Maybe because there are no poetic devices like metaphors or simile. Maybe because there isn't any 'poetic' mood or poetic structure in the form of presentation...I dont see much difference between this and straight descriptive reportage".

News

Mark Lamster, architecture critic for The Dallas Morning News, decried the 3-2 vote, by Oklahoma City’s Downtown Design Review Committee, green lighting destruction of the Stage Center aka Mummers Theater designed by the late John M. Johansen.

He writes the building which "will be replaced by a glassy office tower of no particular distinction... is the second major blow to a regional lan...

Modern Landmark To Be Demolished in OKC

2014-01-21T11:05:00-05:00

Despite a city planning report advocating its preservation, Oklahoma City’s Downtown Design Review Committee voted 3-2 last week to green light the destruction of the Stage Center, a futuristic landmark of modern architecture designed by the late John M. Johansen.

Originally known as the Mummers Theater, the center opened in 1970, an optimistic and playful complex of boxy spaces in aluminum and concrete, connected by angling catwalks and exposed mechanical systems painted in primary colors. From the outset, it looked more like a child’s fantasy of a space station than a hall for theatrical performance. Johansen, an enthusiast of new technologies throughout his life, compared its pod-like elements to electronic components.

The theater, which sits on a prime landscaped lot adjacent to the Myriad Botanical Gardens in Oklahoma City’s business district, will be replaced by a glassy office tower of no particular distinction.

Although the flood-damaged theater would require conside...

John M. Johansen, Last of ‘Harvard Five’ Architects, Dies at 96

2012-10-28T16:10:00-04:00

John M. Johansen, a celebrated Modernist architect and the last surviving member of the Harvard Five, a group that made New Canaan, Conn., a hotbed of architectural experimentation in the 1950s and ’60s, died on Friday in Brewster, Mass. He was 96.