Building upon a short Wednesday evening presentation he gave at Rice, Koolhaas opened with discussion of historical preservation, a topic that elicited mixed emotions for the architect while, at the same time, offered a window into his approach to the built environment.
"Preservation is a highly artificial term," he explained. "History happens and leaves its traces . . . I have to say, I prefer history without preservation."
— houston.culturemap.com
Four years of construction is expected to begin next week on the long delayed 56 Leonard Street, the 830-foot-high residential tower announced four years ago for the southwest corner of Church and Leonard streets. For more than three years, the building's completed foundation has sat barren while the recession-stymied developer, the Alexico Group, sought financing to complete the project. — tribecatrib.com
The great disaster of March 11, 2011 differed from any other catastrophe since the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake. In the age of advanced technology and "strong" buildings, the tsunami flattened Tohoku coastline in seconds. The nuclear accident that followed further revealed the vulnerability of "big and strong" architecture. In the face of radiation, materials such as concrete and steel were insufficient, even though nuclear energy had been a solution for our drive to be bigger, stronger... — youtube.com
To follow up with Lian's exceptional, as always, live coverage of Kuma's lecture, we present you with the video. View full entry
Unfinished Spaces, a film that we've previously covered here on Archinect, is a documentary about the ambitious Cuban National Art School project, conceived, and ultimately killed, by the revolutionary communist Cuban regime. In addition to an exhaustive schedule of screenings, it will be... View full entry
It has been so popular that other cities are following suit, with plans to replicate the formula in London. What is the secret of its success? — BBC News
Following the success of NYC High Line park/project, cities around the world from: London, Chicago, Philadelphia and Rotterdam are looking to replicate their own versions. Robin Banerji reports that some are even hoping to use "more besides disused railways". She also touches on some of the... View full entry
Audience members sat on the floor and stood in the aisles in the packed third-floor conference room where the BAR holds its hearings. Numerous neighborhood associations and preservationists had come to weigh in on the design, but the size of the crowd was also partly due to College of Charleston professor David Payne, who brought his historic preservation and community planning class to observe the melee. — charlestoncitypaper.com
From yesterday, New Clemson University architecture building set to test Charleston's limits on context. View full entry
“We were hired to do the most important piece of contemporary architecture — or architecture of our time — that we can do in this city,” Cloepfil says.
The design for the 30,000-square-foot center at the northeast corner of George and Meeting streets includes three rectangular masses, not unlike grand three-story single houses in their approximate size.
— postandcourier.com
It's been a while since we posted our latest "Kickstart This!" selection of Kickstarter projects. So, until we post our next, let's look back at our previous choices and see how they performed. These five projects were the MOST SUCCESSFULLY FUNDED of our curated picks: HEX6AGON: Transparent... View full entry
Dr. Fulliove is a research psychiatrist at New York State University Psychiatric Institute and professor of clinical psychiatry and public health at Columbia University. In her role with the AIA Board she will share her insights gained from studying the problems of American cities from a psychiatric perspective. — aia.org
Parenting is not the only factor affecting women’s engagement in architecture, but for many it is a big challenge. Samara Greenwood tells her story of negotiating architecture and motherhood so far – interspersed with thoughts from friends and colleagues. — archiparlour.org
Perkins+Will has partnered with Infinite Family, a U.S.-based non-profit organization that helps children and teenagers from African communities virtually connect with mentors around the world and designed LaunchPad, a prototype computer lab where young people in Africa can communicate with mentors via face-to-face interaction thanks to high-speed and high-tech capabilities. — media.designerpages.com
For the latest edition of the Working out of the Box series, Archinect featured Ioana Urma. Ioana has completed a number of (public) art projects – murals, installations and other media and also does freelance commissions, ranging from 2D to 3D: books, illustrations, interiors, art... View full entry
In a few weeks, construction begins on New York’s largest development ever. Hudson Yards is handsome, ambitious, and potentially full of life. Should we care that it’s also a giant slab of private property? — nymag.com
As for Mies' continuing relevance, the main lesson he draws is: “We should not copy. We should try to understand the time we're living in and how we can make use of the latest technological possibilities so that architecture continues to move forward. We should build for generations to come. Architecture is not something fashionable. It has duration.”
What this means in terms of the school's future direction is a question still to be answered.
— chicagobusiness.com
Conditions of scarcity demand new ways of thinking, an expansion of the role of the architect and designer outwards in order to function more broadly and imaginatively as spatial agents. In contrast to the regimes of austerity ... the territory of processes and networks opened up by scarcity is far more conducive to creative intervention. It is here that scarcity — which can seem at first a bleak prospect — can become the inspiration and context for constructive and transformative action. — Places Journal
What is the difference between scarcity and austerity? On Places, Jeremy Till contrasts the political ideology of austerity — imposed reductions of public services and social benefits — with the physical condition of scarcity — the measureable dwindling of finite resources... View full entry
