Archinect - News

The politics behind China's ban on "weird" architecture

2016-03-01T19:38:00-05:00

...eye-catching edifices began as China’s way of announcing its arrival as a powerful player on the world stage. Now, however, the Chinese government has changed course: It has officially declared this to be “weird” architecture that must be stopped. Chinese leaders have turned their backs on these structures, a shift that underscores China’s new conception of itself and its ambitions for the future [...]

"But the government’s mandate explicitly addresses both the function and form of new buildings, and the planning imperative seems designed to go beyond improving the quality of life. The end of “weird” architecture ties in to the government’s recent efforts to champion frugality, revive traditional values, and keep foreign ideas at bay—priorities that have assumed even greater importance in the midst of China’s ongoing corruption crackdown and fears of an economic slowdown."

For more on China's turbulent relationship with contemporary architecture, check out these links:

The Getty Foundation selects the first 10 modern projects to receive grants in worldwide preservation effort

2014-09-18T15:07:00-04:00

For the sake of preserving the holy modern architectural canon (and some), The Getty Foundation officially announced today the first 10 projects to receive grants of their Keeping it Modern initiative. In a race against time among other challenging factors, the philanthropic effort aims to conserve the world's architectural landmarks of the 20th century.

The Foundation states Keeping it Modern will address the pressing issues involved with the conservation of modern architectural heritage through the support for key model projects. Each grant project was selected for its architectural significance and its potential to advance conservation practices relevant to modern architecture.

The first ten projects selected to receive funding are:

(Above) Louis Kahn’s Salk Institute for Biological Studies

Jørn Utzon’s Sydney Opera House

Hilario Candela’s Miami Marine Stadium

Alvar Aalto’s Paimio Sanatorium

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House

Ray and Charles Eames’ residence ‘The Eames House’

I.M. Pei’s Luc...

The Architecture of Photography - Conversation with Simona Rota

2012-07-30T15:04:00-04:00

From the eroded optimism of the heroic building-monuments in east-Europe, to the monochromatic banality of housing developments in the Canary Islands, the photographs of Simona Rota appear to be talking to us about the aspirations and shortcomings of architecture in both its megalomaniac and its quotidian streams.
Often lacking human presence, the photographs tell a tale of evaporated intentions, and failed dreams, making through the images a visual statement about the power of humanity to create, alter, and transform our environment.

Images of architecture about topics that transcend architecture, projects like Ostalgia, Instant Village, and Placelessness take us to a personal journey through some of the faces of modernity in Europe, while revealing simultaneously the seducing beauty of its ugliness, and the vulnerability of its invincible architectures.
We are drawn towards the fantastic journey of an upcoming visual story teller that equally dazzles us with an image of the ...

Post(card) Ideological Icons

2011-11-28T05:14:00-05:00

What about revisiting the hardcore shapes of the avant-garde?

It has been almost a century since the air was heavily saturated with the combustible gas of ideology. Almost a hundred years have passed since everything from film, through art and architecture, to urbanism was susceptible to the slightest friction in the atmosphere sparking endless manifestoes and multiple visions of the perennial “new beginning”. But what happens when the ideological fire that fuels urbanism is extinguished, and in its place just smoke remains? What is left after the idealistic energy of the avant-garde has vanished and we are left with necrophilic icons of dead ideologies? Why aren’t we able to see the striking similarities and contrasting disparities between the avatars of yesterday’s ideological urbanism and today’s pop-architectural icons?

In the twenties imaginary taut wires, steel trusses, and structural concrete gave form to the muscular monuments of a Potemkinesque avant-garde. Utopia had...