Upon attending the presentations by the three design teams at the Austin City Council meeting last Friday I learned that the city council (not one of whom are trained as designers) are seeking imput and advice on who they should pick to design the New Austin Central Library.
You can go to the following site and view the PDF's and leave your comments, which the city council will review before making a decision.
This will be a very important project for the city with a fantastic site location.
The three teams are:
1. Patkau w/ Page Southerland Page
2. Lake Flato w/ Shepley Bulfinch
3. Holzman Moss w/ Barnes Gromatzky Kosrek Architects & Taniguchi (this is NOT the Taniguchi who designed MOMA)
I did not put those in any particular order but in my mind only two of the teams are worth considering.
I personally don't want to see it mucked up by them choosing the wrong firm based soley on pie charts and graphs.
holzman moss looks really bad next to those two. epic fail.
i was leaning patkau after looking at the three, but the questioning put forth by lake/flato got to me. i think lake flato can hold their own against patkau.
I'm with lb, I feel like Patkau was solely advertising their vast bank of experience... Even though I think Patkau would do a fantastic building, L/F's presentation had a lot of heart.
dammson, I think those ideas, especially expressed as questions, might sound a bit trite to *us*, but if the presentation was to regular people (not architects) who will be using the library this might be the first time they have ever heard architecture spoken of on these terms, and I'll bet they like it. It's just fanciful/poetic/dreamy enough, without being pretentious.
Example: I just told a painter, a college-educated guy who hates desk jobs and has made a nice business for himself as a house painter, that I didn't want to paint the aluminum storm windows because "I'm all about honest expression of materials" and he replied that he'd never heard it put that way and could he borrow the phrase?
I just spent an entire lunch hour browsing each proposal and if I were the City of Austin I'd be looking at sending out a new RFP. Nobody stood out as a clear leader.
yeah... Aqua im with you... i dont mean to be disrespectful to any of these offices but the presentations submitted there were really, really bad...
The Patkau Architects submission was the most interesting project by a long shot imo, but the presentations were all childish, and clearly done in haste... im a bit surprised to be honest... there were better presentations in my 1st year studios...
I understand LB's point about speaking in every mans terms, but those power point presentations looked like something youd see from a time share presenter, not an architect...
just my thoughts on the matter... hope Patkau gets it, cause i really like the approach they have... they are at least attempting to create and interesting civic district (though i believe the notion that one can create that with new construction is 100% flawed).
seems to me Patkau actually had the least amount of useful information in terms of actually getting the project completed and the most amount of glossy images. anybody can find that stock photography on their website.
don't be so easily fooled by pretty pictures.
Oct 28, 08 4:10 pm ·
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Help the City of Austin pick the designer for the new Central Library!
Upon attending the presentations by the three design teams at the Austin City Council meeting last Friday I learned that the city council (not one of whom are trained as designers) are seeking imput and advice on who they should pick to design the New Austin Central Library.
You can go to the following site and view the PDF's and leave your comments, which the city council will review before making a decision.
http://www.austinlibrary.com/newaceproposalform.cfm
link
This will be a very important project for the city with a fantastic site location.
The three teams are:
1. Patkau w/ Page Southerland Page
2. Lake Flato w/ Shepley Bulfinch
3. Holzman Moss w/ Barnes Gromatzky Kosrek Architects & Taniguchi (this is NOT the Taniguchi who designed MOMA)
I did not put those in any particular order but in my mind only two of the teams are worth considering.
I personally don't want to see it mucked up by them choosing the wrong firm based soley on pie charts and graphs.
Thanks for your help.
1. lake flato
2. patkau
holzman moss looks really bad next to those two. epic fail.
i was leaning patkau after looking at the three, but the questioning put forth by lake/flato got to me. i think lake flato can hold their own against patkau.
Patkau w/ Page Southerland Page
my decision is based on previous work.
Those presentations look pretty dry to me, wouldn't a competition be more suitable and get more interest from the residents?
based on proposal i'd say lake/flato, but i also gave high praise for patkau despite a proposal that left me cold.
couldn't find anything to latch onto with the holzman moss proposal, though the work is good.
Lake/Flato definitely knows the context, and their proposal is beautiful. They are a strong pick.
Patkau also does beautiful work, but their proposal felt less personal.
Either one will do a smashing building, I am sure. For sentimental reasons, though, I'd love for L/F to get it.
lb are you just a little drunk?
Am I slurring my posts?
I'm with lb, I feel like Patkau was solely advertising their vast bank of experience... Even though I think Patkau would do a fantastic building, L/F's presentation had a lot of heart.
what if there were quiet garden rooms?
what if the central library became both outdoor living room and great civic porch?
the courtyard became the lobby and the lobby became the fabric of the place
etc, etc.
these sound diluted and tired.
dammson, I think those ideas, especially expressed as questions, might sound a bit trite to *us*, but if the presentation was to regular people (not architects) who will be using the library this might be the first time they have ever heard architecture spoken of on these terms, and I'll bet they like it. It's just fanciful/poetic/dreamy enough, without being pretentious.
Example: I just told a painter, a college-educated guy who hates desk jobs and has made a nice business for himself as a house painter, that I didn't want to paint the aluminum storm windows because "I'm all about honest expression of materials" and he replied that he'd never heard it put that way and could he borrow the phrase?
I just spent an entire lunch hour browsing each proposal and if I were the City of Austin I'd be looking at sending out a new RFP. Nobody stood out as a clear leader.
yeah... Aqua im with you... i dont mean to be disrespectful to any of these offices but the presentations submitted there were really, really bad...
The Patkau Architects submission was the most interesting project by a long shot imo, but the presentations were all childish, and clearly done in haste... im a bit surprised to be honest... there were better presentations in my 1st year studios...
I understand LB's point about speaking in every mans terms, but those power point presentations looked like something youd see from a time share presenter, not an architect...
just my thoughts on the matter... hope Patkau gets it, cause i really like the approach they have... they are at least attempting to create and interesting civic district (though i believe the notion that one can create that with new construction is 100% flawed).
seems to me Patkau actually had the least amount of useful information in terms of actually getting the project completed and the most amount of glossy images. anybody can find that stock photography on their website.
don't be so easily fooled by pretty pictures.
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