Inspired by the 2014 Venice Biennale curated by Rem Koolhaas, Esther Sperber penned the Op-Ed in which she argues that contemporary architecture must shift From (EX)CITE to (IN)CITE. In response Thayer-D wrote "There's no rule that says architects can't stimulate both the senses and the... View full entry
Zaha Hadid Architects has admitted it has made changes to its design for the stadium that will be the centrepiece of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
The firm has faced hostility in Japan with critics complaining that the proposed 80,000-seat stadium is too big, too costly and clashes with Tokyo’s urban planning.
At the weekend, 500 protestors marched around the existing National Stadium to demonstrate over plans to replace it with Hadid’s proposal [...].
— bdonline.co.uk
"Louis Kahn: The Power of Architecture" is a multi-themed exploration behind legendary architect Louis Kahn that will be showcased at the Design Museum in London starting Wednesday, July 9. Until Oct. 12, 2014, the exhibition will feature architectural models, original drawings, travel sketches, photographs, and films – including interviews with famous architects like Renzo Piano, Frank Gehry, Sou Fujimoto, and Peter Zumthor who each describe how Kahn has influenced his own work. — bustler.net
Learn more about the exhibition on Bustler. View full entry
When the American architect Louis Kahn collapsed from a heart attack in the toilets of New York's Penn Station in 1974, he left behind a lot of loose ends. There were three children, by three different women [...]. There was his dwindling practice, which he left $500,000 in debt. And, tucked away in his sketchbooks, was a complete set of drawings for an unrealised project – one that would lie dormant in his archive for almost 40 years. — theguardian.com
After 14 years of talking, of battles, and of construction, and in one of the more ambitious reimaginings of a regional museum ever, the art-rich Clark has opened a new building, plopped a lake behind it and expanded to a 140-acre campus.
It opens July 4, and it is magnificent—mostly—but we’ll get to that.
— news.artnet.com
As an architect, Gene Kaufman doesn’t typically save buildings; he designs them.
But when he heard of plans to change Paul Rudolph’s celebrated but shuttered government building in Goshen, N.Y., as part of a renovation plan, he decided to step in.
“To lose a building like this would be a tragedy,” said Mr. Kaufman, a partner at Gwathmey Siegel Kaufman Architects in New York City.
— nytimes.com
Previously:Gwathmey Siegel's Kaufman wants to buy Paul Rudolph's brutalist Orange County Government CenterOrange County Votes to Keep Brutalist BuildingUnloved Building in Goshen, N.Y., Prompts Debate on Modernism View full entry
The museum teamed up with international architecture firm BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group to construct a maze right in the Great Hall. [...]
The museum’s “ubergoal is that people walk out of here looking at their built world differently,” Frankel says. “We think this is sort of on the microlevel of that — forcing people to look up [as they navigate the maze] will make them look at our building differently.”
— washingtonpost.com
The Russian architect Yuri Grigoryan, and his firm Project Meganom, have been chosen for the long-delayed 22bn ruble ($640m) expansion of the State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow. The new design replaces a controversial proposal by the British architect Norman Foster that required the destruction of historic buildings, upsetting preservationists. Foster pulled out of the project last year. — theartnewspaper.com
Previously: Lord Foster withdraws from Moscow museum expansion View full entry
Six architectural professionals were recently honored with the NCARB President's Medal for Distinguished Service, the organization's highest award. The President's Medal acknowledges individuals for their commitment to the architectural profession and to the Council's mission of ensuring the public’s health, safety, and welfare through the regulation of licensure and credentialing standards. — bustler.net
Speaking of licensure, NCARB also made recent announcements of major proposals and reforms regarding licensure upon graduation as well as the Intern Development Program (IDP) and the Architect Registration Examination (ARE). View full entry
"[...] In this project, we're using a living organism as a factory. So the living organism of mycellium, or hyphae, which is basically a mushroom root, basically makes our bricks for us. It grows our bricks in about five days with no energy required, almost no carbon emissions, and it's using basically waste— agricultural byproducts, chopped up cornstalks. This mushroom root fuses together this biomass and makes solid bricks which we can kind of tune to be different properties." — The Creators Project
Here are a few more photos of Hy-Fi, the locally-sourced, virtually waste-less biostructure by The Living, which just debuted in the courtyard of MoMA PS1. Photos by Andrew Nunes. In the video below, David Benjamin talks with The Creators Project about building the structure from agricultural... View full entry
Putting aside Rocky—though that's hard to do these days—there's a bigger problem looming over Gehry's expansion plans. That problem is Gehry. Not for all the reasons that Gehry's critics like to cite, chapter and verse, about why he doesn't deserve to be an ambassador for cool architecture. In fact, Gehry's critics may find plenty to admire in his plans for the Art Museum. Frankly, it's not very Gehry. — citylab.com
Previously: Philadelphia Museum of Art exhibition to reveal Frank Gehry’s renovation plan this summer View full entry
Human Rights Watch said that, along with the Crystal Hall, stage of the 2012 Eurovision song contest, and the park-cum-shopping mall of the Winter Garden, the centre is one of the city's many oil-fuelled grand projects that have seen local people evicted by force. — theguardian.com
From earlier today: Zaha Hadid wins the Design Museum’s Designs of the Year Award 2014While almost 250 homes were cleared to make way for Hadid's building, (questions have also been raised about the rights of those who built it. In 2010, while the project was under construction, the global... View full entry
Delegates to the American Institute of Architects (AIA) national convention in Chicago elected Russell A. Davidson, FAIA, (AIA Westchester Hudson Valley) to serve as the 2015 AIA first vice president/president-elect and 2016 AIA president. William J. Bates, AIA, and Francis M. Pitts, FAIA, will each serve as vice president from 2015 through 2016; John A. Padilla, AIA, as the Institute’s Secretary from 2015 through 2016. — aia.org
Founder Norman Foster... sold a 40pc stake in the firm for £84m in 2007 when commercial property valuations were soaring.
The private equity group is selling its stake back to Foster & Partners for £108m, plus a further £40m interest payment.
Foster & Partners faced a challenging environment during the recession and while estimates valued the business at £300m in 2007, it had amassed a debt burden of £340m by the year ending April 2009.
— telegraph.co.uk
Philip Johnson lovers rejoice! It was just announced that the city will put aside $5.8 million to restore the dilapidated crown jewel of the 1964-65 World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. Funding for the restoration of the “Tent of Tomorrow” came via Mayor Bill de Blasio, who contributed $4.2 million to the project, while the rest was provided by City Council and Borough President Melinda Katz... Efforts to restore the project will begin soon, but a bumpy road lies ahead… — 6sqft
