Though unemployment is widespread among designers and architects, there exists a world of products, places and processes in desperate need of redesign. Imagine if designers — uniquely trained to listen and observe, and to improve the way things function, feel and look — were, like the Enterprise Rose fellows, embedded in schools, nonprofit organizations, health clinics, religious institutions and government offices, where they could experience community needs and behavioral patterns firsthand. — John Cary and Courtney E. Martin (NYT)
The main basis of his fame isn't built work but imaginary projects and sculptures and installations that might be called architectural art. An artist was what he wanted to be as a child, and when he graduated as an architect during the Brezhnev era he wasn't interested in working for "one of the big state institutions" which were the only likely sources of employment. So he started dreaming up "paper architecture", imaginary projects, in collaboration with the artist Ilya Utkin. — guardian.co.uk
Le Corbusier, Herzog & De Meuron, Mario Botta and Peter Zumthor - to mention only the most prominent names - have put Swiss architecture on the world map. The younger generation has not yet achieved the same celebrity, but it is striking out in new directions of its own.
For the 125th anniversary of the birth of Le Corbusier, swissinfo.ch talked to art historian Lorette Coen about current trends in Swiss architecture.
— swissinfo.ch
Michael Maltzan Architecture (MMA) was selected from a very talented shortlist of three architecture/engineering (A/E) teams that advanced to the final round of presentations and interviews. MMA brought together a strong architectural and landscape team, supplemented with an impressive portfolio of engineers. The design philosophy presented carefully considers the local culture and historical context, and responds accordingly to the sensitivity of the building within a landscape. — state.gov
The Department of State’s Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) announces the selection of Michael Maltzan Architecture to design the new residential facility in Paris, France. Michael Maltzan Architecture (MMA) was selected from a very talented shortlist of three... View full entry
Mr. Gehry will not change the signature Bacardi buildings themselves, whose exteriors were landmarked in 2009 and have long been admired for their tropical, Latin-infused take on Modernism, except to make interior alterations. But he will create a park and replace an existing office building — which is not landmarked — with a new performing arts center of his design. — nytimes.com
The ability to observe the private lives of strangers from the windows of my home is one reason why I’ve chosen to reside within a dense urban fabric. I am not a voyeur: I do not receive sexual satisfaction from watching the daily lives of others. But I do like to imagine the many meaningful “relationships” I have created with people that I will never meet or even recognize on the street. — Places Journal
When architect Melissa Dittmer moved from New York City to Detroit, her reaction was a "year-long panic attack." Where, she wondered, were the people? "Where was the density, the sense of connection with strangers?" But then Dittmer and her family bought a townhouse in Lafayette Park, the... View full entry
Interior Architecture Preserves Original 1940s Warehouse in Santa Monica’s Former Industrial Corridor Santa Monica, CA, October 3, 2012 Gwynne Pugh Urban Studio, Inc. with Andy Waisler has recently completed an adaptive reuse of a 1940s bowstring truss and brick warehouse in what was Santa... View full entry
On 29 September 2012, the Architecture Exhibition Fall 2012 opened at Harboufront Centre in Toronto. Curated by Patrick Macaulay, BREATHTAKING: Constructed Landscapes features PLANT Architect Inc.’s installation Lenticular Curtain alongside the works of architects Baird Sampson Neuert, Idea... View full entry
1977 Contemporary Addition and Renovation was the first built work of Architect Eric Owen Moss. Zoned as Duplex, but divided into 3 Spaces, all with Kitchen Area, Guest Bath, W/D, and Fireplace. Top Space is light and bright multi-story Luxury Loft with 1.5 Baths, 4 Outdoor Decks, and Ocean Views Throughout. — socallistings.marketlinx.com
Moss' "Triplex Apartments" in Playa Del Rey (LA) have been listed at $1.925M View full entry
Scriptwriting also taught him something about architecture. "If you write a script, you try to stitch episodes together so that, at the end, you have a sort of suspense to a conclusion or a climax," he says.
"Architecture is very similar: You create a series of spatial moments and find a way to relate them to each other with the same purpose. An architect writes scripts also, but for people, not for actors."
— cnn.com
CNN's "Great Buildings" series asks famous architects about their favorite self-designed projects. Today they feature Rem. View full entry
It’s hard to say which is more startling. That a developer in Phoenix could threaten...to knock down a 1952 house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Or that the house has until now slipped under the radar, escaping the attention of most architectural historians...a spiral home for his son David. — New York Times
One of his alumni, the highly regarded architect Michael Maltzan, and a designer on the Walt Disney Concert Hall, says "most of the time people understand his buildings from their surface but deep down Frank is a classically trained architect. Whether that's historical classicism or a classical modernism, the foundations of that work and what's really operating under the surface is this incredibly controlled sense of order which allows for the buildings to have a seemingly intense animation". — kcet.org
David Mirvish and world-renowned architect Frank Gehry formally introduced their plans for a major overhaul of King Street West this morning at the Art Gallery of Ontario — an appropriate setting considering the 2008 AGO redesign exists as Gehry's other major Canadian project. — blogto.com
This week, SANAA released a proposal for its first building in the United States , located in New Canaan, Connecticut. The steel, concrete, and wood headquarters for the Grace Farms Foundation will wind its way along a piece of the 75-acre property owned by the nonprofit charitable organization. FRaC labeled it a "running fence" yet, AP simply "love(d) it".
News Caela J. McKeever a self-described "young architect" penned How the economy upended young architects' hopes. The piece looks at how frustrated architecture grads of her generation are dropping out of the profession leading to a "renaissance happening among young architects — and... View full entry
Designed to continue the momentum of Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945–1980, last year’s sweeping initiative that included exhibitions and programs at 60 arts institutions across Southern California, Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A., will be smaller in scope, comprising nine exhibitions and accompanying programs and events in and around Los Angeles slated for April–July 2013. — news.getty.edu