Archinect - News

A mysterious painting could be an earlier plan for one of Mies van der Rohe's most revered residential projects

2021-08-09T17:32:00-04:00

“It’s been fifty years since Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s death and the details of his international career have been carefully archived. But a mysterious painting has surfaced that reveals what may be an early version of his master plan in Newark”

The supposed painting depicts what could have been a disastrous expansion of the footprint of van der Rohe’s iconic 1960 apartment complex.

Courtesy of Newark Public Library Digital Collections

His Colonnade Apartments are perhaps the foremost example of the “Towers in the Park” typology synonymous with the International Style in the northeast. The painting depicts a seven-tower scheme that expands the plot north of 6th Avenue by several blocks. A local architect named Gabriel Dal’Maso reportedly came into its possession after seeing it in a 2011 documentary about the Colonnade by the Austrian filmmaker Heidrun Holzfeind.

Dal’Maso began inspecting the painting in the midst of a one-man stand against a proposed development at an abandoned area adjacent to the Pavillion towers, where he was living at the time. The towers were sold into private hands in 2018 and again earlier this year to the tune of $77 million. JerseyDigs has more on the mystery Mies plans here.

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A landmark designation effort backfires in the push to save one historic Los Angeles restaurant from the wrecking ball

2021-06-18T13:23:00-04:00

LA's famed Taix Restaurant on Sunset Boulevard made headlines earlier this month after a strange ruling by the City Council to designate only certain elements of the century-old establishment a historic landmark in an unprecedented move that could have ramifications for preservation efforts in Los Angeles and across the country for years to come.

The LA Times is reporting that efforts to save Taix from an encroaching redevelopment scheme culminated in a unanimous decision to limit the designation to the restaurant’s signage and cherrywood-topped bar.

The decision is unlike any other in recent history in that it eschews almost the entirety of the Norman Revival building in favor of a plan that recognizes only non-structural components as historic landmarks. By limiting the designations to the bar and advertising, critics say Los Angeles City Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell has created a dangerous standard that can be abused by development-hungry business interests where the opportunit...

SMAR Architecture Studio's design proposal wins Silicon Valley landmark competition

2021-03-26T20:40:00-04:00

After several rounds of jury reviews, Silicon Valley may have found its new landmark. The winning proposal is said to "symbolize people standing and working together." On March 25th, Fernando Jerez and Belén Pérez de Juan of SMAR Architecture Studio were announced as winners of the competition for their proposal "Breeze of Innovation."

In 2019 the San José Light Tower Corporation launched the Urban Confluence Silicon Valley competition. The international competition invited artists, architects, urban planners, landscape architects, students, designers, and anyone with a passion for place-making to submit ideas for creating an iconic landmark project to enhance community life in San José, California. In September 2020, the competition's jury announced its three finalists: "Breeze of Innovation" by SMAR Architecture Studio, "Welcome to Wonderland" by SCI-Arc M.Arch I student Rish Saito and the "Nebula Tower" by Qinrong Lui and Ruize Li.

Breeze of Innovation - "The Structure has big ...

NYC recognizes collection of LGBT historic sites

2019-06-24T12:48:00-04:00

Six LGBT historic sites have received official designation as local landmarks from the New York City Landmarks Commission, The Villager reports.

The sites represent an ongoing effort to expand historic preservationprotections to sites that are significant to the civil rights struggles of the LGBT community.

The sites include:

The Caffe Cino, 31 Cornelia St., a local playhouse where gay men met to share their work free from persecution at a time when depicting homosexuality in theatrical productions was outlawed. The space played a role in developing "Off-Off-Broadway" experimental, and gay theater movements, according to the site's landmark description.
The Gay Activists Alliance Firehouse, 99 Wooster St., a space considered to be New York City’s “first gay community center.” The space was used by a variety of activist groups, including: the Lesbian Feminist Liberation, Gay Youth, the Gay Men’s Health Project, and the Catholic group Dignity.
The Women’s Liberation Center, 243 W. 20...

In Paris, concrete is out and trees are in

2019-06-20T13:05:00-04:00

Under a plan announced last week by Mayor Anne Hidalgo, thickets of trees will soon appear in what today are pockets of concrete next to landmark locations, including the Hôtel de Ville, Paris’s city hall; the Opera Garnier, Paris’s main opera house; the Gare de Lyon; and along the Seine quayside.

"Islands of freshness" are on the way to Paris, according to a recently-unveiled plan by mayor Anne Hidalgo.

The environmentally-aggressive mayor is aiming to have 50 percent of the city's land area taken up by permeable surfaces and planted areas, Citylab reports, and so, she is turning spaces around some of the city's most cherishes sites and monuments into mini-forests. A pine grove will come to a swatch of concrete in front of city hall, for example, while parking lots near Garnier's opera house will give way to a cherry orchard.

View of proposed changes to the areas around the river Seine. Image courtesy of Ville de Paris/Apur/Céline Orsingher.

The plan comes as Hidalgo prevails over legal challenges launched against her environmental makeovers along the Seine, where cars are limited, soon to be replaced with grasses and shrubs. The city's notorious boulevard périphérique is being reformatted, as well, with a lane of traffic taken away to plant trees.

Will the changes turn Pa...

Application filed for new Midtown supertall, proposed as the second-tallest in the Western Hemisphere

2019-01-23T20:46:00-05:00

The developers behind the distinct supertall at 432 Park Avenue want to take a second shot at altering New York City’s skyline. Harry Macklowe submitted last week a preliminary application to the city’s planning department for a 1,551-foot-tall skyscraper between 51st and 52nd Streets in Midtown, the New York Times reported. If the city approves the project, Tower Fifth, the name given to the tower proposed by Macklowe Properties, would become the second-tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.

The 96-story supertall would still fall below the current title-holder One World Trade Center, which measures 1,776 feet tall thanks to its spire. But if looking at ceiling height only, Tower Fifth would be considered the tallest in the city, measuring just a foot taller than Central Park Tower, under construction on Billionaires’ Row.

Macklowe Properties has tapped Gensler, with Adamson Associates Architects, for the design of Tower Fifth. As renderings depict, the tower would sit atop st...

Instagram account animates architectural landmarks with playful paper cutouts

2018-01-09T15:10:00-05:00

London photographer Rich McCor, who is better known by his instagram handle @paperboyo, travels the world transforming some of the world's most notable buildings through the use of black paper cutouts. By placing the intricate, shapes in the foreground of his image, McCor playfully gives his architectural subjects a whole new life such as the Guggenheim's conversion into a bowl of ice cream.

McCor's project began in 2015, after he had the idea of transforming London's Big Ben into a wristwatch. His collection of comical scenes has since earned him over 320,000 followers and a book of his work is being published by Chronicle Books later this year. It is currently available for pre-order through Amazon.

Carmody Groarke build a giant cage sustaining a Scottish landmark

2017-12-06T20:36:00-05:00

The Hill House in Helensburgh was built as "a home for the future" by Charles Rennie Mackintosh in 1902. But the experimental building material used has allowed water to soak into the building. Now, the National Trust for Scotland will surround the house with a protective "shield" in the form of a "giant cage" while it comes up with ways to restore it. The trust plans to build the huge see-through structure [...] over the top of the landmark to protect the building from the elements.

This temporary structure buys preservationists time in finding a permanent solution to the building's structural problem. While the design problem persists, architects Carmody and Groarke have allowed a unique opportunity for visitors to experience the landmark building from new perspectives with a surrounding walkway included in the cage.

One Leeds’ most iconic industrial buildings is being put up for auction for just £1

2017-11-27T18:57:00-05:00

Temple Works, a former flax mill in Leeds, has been listed for sale, in the Pugh auction on December 7th, with a starting price of just one pound according to the Yorkshire Evening Post. The Egyptian-influenced industrial building is one of the city's oldest and most cherished, and is the only Grade I listing in Holbeck.

Completed in 1840, the building that once boasted one of the largest rooms in the world has since reached a parlous state. Last used commercially in 2004 by Kays Catalogues, the property was inherited by the Barclay family who own the Telegraph media group and are accused of leaving the building to rot.

In 2008, one of the site's 18 lotus pillars collapsed, bringing down a section of the beautifully ornate wall as well. Along with some broken stonework and other damage, the 10,948 square-meter mill has subsequently been featured among the Victorian Society’s '10 most endangered buildings' and the site's condition has been listed as 'very bad' by the English Herita...

Defacing the stone: a history of vandalism on famous architectural landmarks

2017-01-03T21:24:00-05:00

For as long as there have been landmarks, there have been people willing to deface them in the name of politics, art, fame or sheer stupidity.

From the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge to the Trevi fountain in Rome, this Guardian article explores a brief history of temporary vandalism on famous landmarks (and it's not just artfully placed tarps: try a dangling VW Beetle!).

From the annals of the vandals:

Landmarks reveals new renderings for Studio Gang's Natural History Museum expansion project

2016-10-12T11:23:00-04:00

In light of the Landmarks Preservation Commission's approval of Jeanne Gang's expansion plan for the American Museum of Natural History, the Commission has revealed a slew of new renderings, which show the $325 million project from various angles, as well as new views of the surrounding parkland. Chairwoman Meenakshi Srinivasan referred to the new Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education and Innovation as a “stunning piece of architecture” and an “absolutely wonderful addition.”

LPC Approves Brooklyn’s First 1,000+ Foot Tower; New Renderings and Details

2016-04-19T12:22:00-04:00

Brooklyn is finally getting a new skyscraper development worthy of its 2.6 million populace. Today, the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved SHoP Architects‘ vision for 9 DeKalb Avenue, a rehabilitation of the landmarked Dime Saving Bank that will marry it with a dramatic, supertall skyscraper behind, the first 1,000+ foot building to arrive in the borough. To bring back more of the building’s grandeur, its exterior and interior spaces will be restored.

Want to work in a giant basket? Ohio's soon-vacated landmark faces uncertain future

2016-03-11T14:06:00-05:00

[JRJR Networks] is eager to shed itself of the big basket, but that may not be easy. What non-basket-related company will want a giant basket to be the face of their company? Are there enough well-off eccentrics in or visiting Newark to convert it into market-rate apartments or a boutique hotel?...A deal to donate the building to the city no longer appears to be in the works, and foreclosure is a possibility.

A few throwbacks related to weird architecture in Archinect news:

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

Movie-themed resort in Macau to show off "figure-8" ferris wheel

Southwark planners nix 'crude and literal' rocket-shaped flats

27 weird and compelling architectural evolutions of 2014

Meet Hossein Amanat, the architect who designed Iran's most famous monument

2016-01-14T15:31:00-05:00

For 45 years, Iran's most famous modern monument, the Azadi (Freedom) Tower in Tehran, has been the backdrop to every major news story coming out of the country...Hossein Amanat was a rising star in Iran's architectural scene when, in 1966, he won a national competition to design the monument...Its historical pull, he believes, lies in the tower's evolution as a 'symbol of Iran'...that is both intensely Iranian and Islamic at the same time.

U.S. LGBTQ preservation group pushes to preserve more heritage sites at the national level

2015-06-26T20:14:00-04:00

'Recently, people were more worried about preserving their jobs, not preserving their history...Now a new generation is aware there was a history that came before them...Not a lot of our history has been preserved. People without a history can be erased.' — Mark Meinke, co-founder of the Rainbow Heritage Network

History was made today in American civil rights with the Supreme Court ruling that legalizes same-sex marriage across all 50 states. The ruling is a major push toward marriage equality in the U.S., but like several historically marginalized communities, one giant obstacle that the LGBTQ community continues to face is cultural preservation and protection, in addition to spreading the awareness of that historical legacy both externally and internally.

You win some and unfortunately lose some in the unpredictable nature of preserving heritage sites, but proactivity is key. One such group is the Rainbow Heritage Network, a developing coalition of over 400 preservationists and gay rights activists who advocate for the protection of LGBTQ heritage sites in the U.S. as one of their primary missions. Reportedly established only this past January, the group is working to gain more traction in their long-term efforts to protect LGBTQ sites on a local, state and federal level.

For starters, Rain...

Photographing public art and architecture in the EU may soon cost you

2015-06-22T18:39:00-04:00

A report proposing major changes to copyright laws in the EU has been adopted by the European Parliament's Legal Affairs committee (JURI) [...] [An] amendment was adopted that stated "commercial use of recordings of works in public spaces should require express permission from the rightsholders." [German Pirate Party rapporteur Julia] Reda said this "could threaten the work of documentary filmmakers and the legality of commercial photo-sharing platforms."

The EU may soon require stricter permissions be met for any visual representation of public art and architecture. So-called "Freedom of Panorama" refers to a set of provisions in copyright law, that allows someone to create and publish images of a piece of art or architecture that's permanently located in the public space, regardless of its existing copyright provisions. The provisions are adopted to varying degrees in different countries – in the US, only buildings are protected under FOP, and in the EU, FOP provisions depend on whether the image is for commercial use or not, as well as the kind of object being photographed.

But soon, the EU may decide to effectively abolish FOP. On July 9, European Parliament will vote on an amended version of its copyright provisions, that states any/all copyright permissions for a piece of public art or architecture must be met when someone publishes an image of it with any potential commercial use. Learn more about the basis and future of FOP pr...

Architects Try to Save a Tower in Moscow

2014-03-17T14:39:00-04:00

One of the great feats of 20th-century engineering, a landmark of modernist architecture is facing demolition. Late last month, the Russian State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting agreed to the dismantling of the Shabolovka radio tower in Moscow. This is the Eiffel Tower of Russia, a 50-story conical structure of steel latticework, shaped roughly like a collapsing telescope, designed by the engineer Vladimir Shukhov.

UPDATE: Moscow Puts Iconic Shukhov Tower on Protected Landmark List

Berg | C.F. Møller & DinellJohansson propose world’s tallest wooden skyscraper for Stockholm

2013-12-17T18:58:00-05:00

Berg | C.F. Møller and DinellJohansson recently won the competition to design a future residential landmark for Stockholm. Hosted by Swedish real estate group HSB, three competing teams were required to propose three innovative residential buildings for three central locations in the city. The winners will work with HSB to develop and build the residential complex by 2023, in time for HSB's 100th anniversary.

Here's a glimpse of Berg | C.F. Møller and DinellJohansson's proposals:

Hagastaden:

Västerbroplan:

Fleminggatan:

NYC Landmarks Commission Debates New Annabelle Selldorf Building

2013-02-12T18:46:00-05:00

"The changes to the plans...were not enough to assuage the doubts the Commission had the first time around (although most of the commissioners did agree that significant improvements had been made). The alternations to the plans included stretching the double hung windows vertically in order to give the building less of a squat look, raising the base by six feet...and moving the tower forward slightly."

New York City's Landmarks Preservation Commission met to discuss a proposed Annabelle Selldorf building at 42 Crosby Street for the second time, and sent Selldorf away for the second time.

Washington’s landmarks get an landscape architectural guide

2012-09-20T16:35:00-04:00

Smith is one of 20 landscape architects who have helped create a new online guide to the city’s important outdoor spaces, some world famous, others, such as the Civil War memorial at U and Vermont Avenue NW, not as well known. The Web site, The Landscape Architect’s Guide to Washington, D.C., was launched Sept. 13 by the American Society of Landscape Architects, and there is a version for mobile devices.

Travel+Leisure Releases World's Top New Landmarks

2012-02-08T14:52:03-05:00

Invoking the “Wonders of the World,” Travel + Leisure has just released a comprehensive list of the top 60 must-see landmarks in the modern world. The winners include skyscrapers, bridges, museums, arenas and parks -- all constructed within the last 15 years – and readers took the opportunity to voice their favorites in an online poll.