Archinect - News

Moshe Safdie says he 'paid a price' for antagonizing post-modernism

2022-10-31T12:22:00-04:00

“In the 70s and 80s, my ideas were ignored. I was antagonistic to postmodernism [...] and I paid a price.”

The 84-year-old Habitat 67 mastermind sat down with Rowan Moore to discuss his career and new memoir If Walls Could Speak: My Life in Architecture. Among other topics, he said he had “no idea” that his 2011 Marina Bay Sands design would become “an instant icon” and that the political situation in his native Israel brings him “great frustration” even though he believes supporters of the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanction) movement are making a “stupid mistake.”

Safdie then spoke to the chilling reception that met his post-Habitat endeavors in Puerto Rico and New York, which failed to “replicate like mushrooms” as the then 30-something architect had expected. An exhibition of Safdie’s unrealized work is conveniently on display at the Boston Architectural College’s McCormick Gallery from now through January 2nd.

Relate on Archinect: ‘More Than 50 Percent Of My Work Is Unbuilt’ says Moshe Safdie in new Time-Space-Existence video

“As an architect committed to building and impacting the e...

Moshe Safdie on making the iconic spaces that have defined his career

2022-09-27T09:00:00-04:00

On the heels of Safdie’s massive donation to his alma mater McGill University, the 84-year-old architect sat down with CNN in Singapore to dissect his career and discuss his new memoir If Walls Could Speak out next week from Grove Atlantic.

The creator of the iconic Marina Bay Sands (which is about to begin work on a $1.35 billion expansion he says will not include an extension of its famous skybridge) touched briefly on impressive recent designs around Asia, including the Jewel Changi Airport, Habitat Qinhuangdao, and Raffles City Chongqing before veering off into an assessment of the region’s labor markets. He then reasserted the idealism that helped define his career and lamented the contemporary faddish use of biophilia — an element critical to the philosophies that are inherent in his garden-lined residential designs.

“There's a cynicism about so many architects...

Everything's Gonna Be Great; A Conversation with Eva Hagberg

2019-03-22T15:40:00-04:00

On this episode of Archinect Sessions we're joined by Eva Hagberg, a NY-based writer and architectural consultant. Our conversation covers Eva’s architectural studies at Princeton and Berkeley, and how that transitioned into a successful writing career spanning architecture criticism to writing about her own life in her recently published memoir How to Be Loved. We also talk about the unique personality traits of architects and her approach to helping architects communicate.

Listen to episode 138 of Archinect Sessions, “Everything's Gonna Be Great”.

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A Brutal Youth: Memories of Growing Up in Brutalist Masterpeice Habitat 67

2017-05-02T13:30:00-04:00

“How do you live with all that cement,” my schoolmates would ask. “With delight” was the only answer. They understood once they visited.

Part childhood memoir, part ode to brutalism itself, this piece by Blake Gopnik touches on his experiences living in Habitat 67 while celebrating the return of a form that many openly reviled for decades, but have now gradually come to like, even treasure. (Of course, not all is well for brutalist forms: Tadao Ando's Piccadilly Gardens in England is slated to be demolished after vigorous complaint by local residents.) However, those buildings that have survived the wave of demolitions are being increasingly valued for their spartan, bulky beauty: Canada's government is issuing a stamp celebrating the 50th birthday of Habitat 67, and oddly enough tours of the specific apartment Gopnik used to live in will be offered to the public. As Gopnik writes:

Habitat’s 158 apartments fill 365 cast-concrete boxes, piled 11 stories high in a madcap mess of cantilevers and bridges and perilous open spaces — like (guess what) a stack of children’s blocks. For sheer sensory excitement, Habitat could ...

Winner of "Adolf Loos: A Private Portrait" and "Escape Home: Rebuilding a Life After the Anschluss"

2014-07-09T18:28:00-04:00

We have our book giveaway winner for Adolf Loos, A Private Portrait and Escape Home, Rebuilding a Life After the Anschluss! The two memoirs were each written by family members of Austrian architect Adolf Loos.

Adolf Loos, A Private Portrait is the first English translation of the 140-page biography written by Adolf's last wife Claire Beck Loos, who wrote it to help pay for her husband's tombstone.

Escape Home shares the story of Vienna-born architectural designer and Frank Lloyd Wright apprentice Charles Paterson, who was the nephew of Claire Loos. Charles co-wrote the family memoir with his daughter Carrie Paterson.

Our lucky winner of these two great titles is Roy P. from Los Angeles, CA. Congrats!

Thanks to everyone who participated!

More details about the books here.

Win two memoirs from Adolf Loos' family

2014-06-27T18:56:00-04:00

Time for another book giveaway! We've got two great titles from DoppelHouse Press. The first is the first English edition of Adolf Loos, A Private Portrait by Claire Beck Loos, who was the last wife of Austrian modern architect Adolf Loos. The 140-page biography was originally published in German in 1936 to help pay for Loos' tombstone.

The second title is Escape Home, Rebuilding a Life After the Anschluss, a memoir about Vienna-born architectural designer and Frank Lloyd Wright apprentice Charles Paterson, who was the nephew of Claire Loos. Charles co-wrote the family memoir with his daughter Carrie Paterson.

For a chance to win both titles, fill out this survey by Wednesday, July 2nd. Two winners will be selected at random. Good luck!

Read on for more about each book:

Adolf Loos, A Private Portrait

"Lively and often humorous vignettes provide 'Snapshots' of the last years of Loos’ life (1929-1933), and reveal the personality and philosophy that helped shape Modern architecture in Vienn...