Archinect - News

The house that Petey bought: Eisenman discusses residential living

2011-04-29T21:25:00-04:00

Eisenman characterized one home as “a dumb little apartment” in New York City with “a kitchen that’s not comfortable for two people to be in at the same time.” He characterized the other as a “wonderful old New England house, made of stone, brick and tile,” which was an 18th-century mill and is built over a waterfall. “No architect has ever worked on it,” he said. “You couldn’t design like this. It happens over time,” as successive owners altered it to meet their needs.

Remember the rumor circulating around that Rem Koolhaas lives in a prim-and-proper 19th-century home? Eisenman is apparently no different. He sat down with Katherine Salant of the Washington Post to talk about his home life.

Why does Eisenman choose such banal and vernacular digs? Because at the end of the day, he just wants something cozy. The irony of this is truly dumbfounding.

Andrés Duany to 'avant-garde establishment:' It's not about style

2011-04-16T02:25:22-04:00

And yet, few want to know that. The otherwise omniscient Kenneth Frampton was recently heard to say, “The New Urbanists … are they still around?” “They make porches for white Southerners, don’t they?” is Rodolfo Machado’s joshing version. Unfortunately, architecture students from our elite schools believe this more easily than the truth...

Andrés Duany is looking to open a new architectural can of stylistic worms. And he wants you to reply. The gist of the argument can be summed up by the following quote:

"The problem, it seemed to us, was not one of inadequately designed “unprecedented typologies.” Suburban sprawl does not call for aesthetic intervention. It is nothing less than the principal cause of climate change. The car-dependent lifestyle of the American middle class (as well as its export version) is the major contributor to atmospheric and aquatic degradation. And that is just the beginning, as the attendant social and economic problems become even more urgent. When aging boomers are torn from their cars, when the national impoverishment fails the infrastructure, as cheap energy winds down—then the drifting wreck of suburbia will require salvage work. This is the great design challenge of the 21st century."

What will a few design problems cost? $5,000,000.

2011-04-15T18:38:48-04:00

The county will be seeking to recover some of the damages, or expenses the county had to pay other contractors as a result of what we will claim to be HOK’s breach of contract [HOK] lacked coordination and completion and had conflicts, errors and omissions in the design drawings.”

It's unsure of who Polk County is actually suing since HOK spun-off its athletic and events business in 2008– HOK Sport Venue Event and HOK Group Inc. came to agreement in a transfer of ownership with shareholders agreeing to the buy out. In March of 2009, HOK Sport Venue Event rebranded itself "Populous" which was a stipulation in the previous buyout agreement. The Des Moines Register, KCCI Des Moines and the Daily Aljian, however, are reporting the potential lawsuit is against Populous, HOK Sport or HOK.

The lawsuit is the result of a 5-0 vote from the Polk County Board of Supervisors to reclaim $5,000,000 in settled claims, 15 in total, filed by contractors. The contractors allege that design errors and omissions caused them undue hardship during the construction of the facility. The county now wants Populous to foot the settlement bill. The Iowa Events Center was completed in 2005 to the tune of $218,000,000– HOK, now Populous, was paid $18,565,130 for architectural and desi...

Studio Gang's 'Best Nest' a few eggs short

2011-04-15T17:13:00-04:00

According to those reports, the project’s price tag has soared to $27 million from an initial estimate of $7.6 million. But that is not an apples-to-apples comparison. All it reveals—surprise— is that city officials low-balled the project’s overall cost when they announced that Gang and her firm, Studio Gang Architecture, had bested 107 entrants from nine countries in a design competition for the center.

The Ford Calumet Environmental Center— darlingly nicknamed the 'Best Nest'— was officially unveiled on Earth Day in 2004. Seven years later, the project has yet to materialize into anything despite a 2006 completion date. Perhaps merely a political stunt, on-his-way-out Mayor Daley had wanted to make Chicago “the greenest city in America." With Daley gone, this 'pet project' is getting a revaluation due to a $10,000,000 funding gap.

Jeanne Gang's business partner, Mark Schendel, had previously given a figure of $17,360,000 that included numerous updates and improvements when documents were completed in 2008. However, this figure ignored land acquisition costs, future construction costs and furnishing the building which is expected to add another $10,000,000 of heft.

Department of Environment Commissioner Suzanne Malec-McKenna has given a few numbers on current funding for the project— $10,000,000 from the city, $3,000,000 from the state, $1,000,000 in grants and $6,000,000 ...

What is architecture? What ever it is, it's not this.

2011-04-13T16:54:31-04:00

"Architecture is inherently a political act, be it in the public or private sector. As a process it begins long before actual design work, and it is difficult to do by oneself. Art can be political, but the work of art only has to be itself and can be done by oneself. Architecture is not Art."

The new issue of Art Lies is out on shelves. And its primary focus this issue is a proverbial bitch slap– "architecture is not art."

"The positions maintained in and by this issue upend the seemingly quaint flaccidity of Picasso’s moral argument that “Art is not truth,” and that “Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth” and shifts to Nietzsche’s enigmatic statement from The Gay Science that “we need art, and the other kind of art, an art for artists.” While I have always appreciated Art Lies, I have never agreed with its name." –Mary Ellen Carroll and Peter Noever

Mary Ellen Carroll, a conceptual artist, is known for her previous works involving architecture. A recent project, Prototype 180, involved rotating a house 180 degrees and then reconfiguring the lot based on the change envisioning the structure and its surroundings as an intertwined system. In this issue, she takes the reigns as guest editorial contributor.

Other points in the issue? Tehran's Azadi Tower framed by a ...