There may be better terms but it seems we are going to be stuck with “starchitect” until everybody with a keyboard agrees to retire it. — Metropolis Blog
Guy Horton tackles the subject of starchitect mechanism in a Metropolis article where he quotes some other critics on the subject including yours truly. View full entry
Well, it is the prerogative of men to enter the world without acknowledging that they are men. - Sylvia Lavin — Harvard GSD M.Arch.I (Lian)
Watching Sylvia Lavin and Eric Owen Moss in conversation at SCI-Arc last night, prolific Archinect blogger Lian Chang took careful note of a few key impasses -- where Lavin and Moss either failed to see eye-to-eye, or artfully dodged one another's argumentative traps. Lavin, an imposing academic... View full entry
Amelia Taylor-Hochberg Editorial Manager for Archinect, reviewed the exhibit Never Built: Los Angeles, currently on display at the Architecture and Design Museum in L.A. She concluded "When Los Angeles appears so often but rarely as itself, Andersen’s piece honors the... View full entry
The Cardboard Cathedral in Christchurch, New Zealand opened its doors to the public for the first time on August 6. Designed by Japanese architect, Shigeru Ban, the cathedral is a temporary replacement of the original Christchurch Cathedral, the city's symbol that was destroyed by a 6.3-magnitude... View full entry
A major force within contemporary Indonesian architecture, the soft-spoken man is recognized as the helmsman of a generation of independent architects, yet hardly anyone outside his native country knows his name. Locally celebrated but internationally undiscovered, Matin was one of the first Indonesian architects to establish an independent practice after the fall of Suharto in 1998. — MovingCities
Mark magazine #44 (June-July 2013) put the spotlight on the architectural scene in Indonesia. MovingCities contributed with an interview with leading Indonesian architect Andra Matin who is hailed as ‘a well kept secret in the architecture world’. An extract: A major force within... View full entry
The Beijing Cultural Heritage Protection Center (CHP) is a philanthropic body, dedicated to preserving local culture. It recently wrote to RIBA after the architectural body awarded Zaha Hadid Architects' Galaxy Soho complex a 2013 International Award for architectural excellence, chastising RIBA's choice of winner. — phaidon.com
“Fans are much more sophisticated now,” said James Renne, a principal at the architectural firm Rossetti and the chief architect of the renovation. “You’ve already got N.F.L. stadiums that these fans go to, N.B.A., N.H.L. arenas that they go to" — NYT
Ken Belson reported on plans by Daytona International Speedway for up to $400 million in renovations. The goal is to overhaul the 54-year old, 147,000-seat track, shrink capacity, add amenities and reorganize the main grandstand. View full entry
Almost invisibly in her own day, Natalie de Blois, of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, helped guide the design of three of the most important corporate landmarks of the 1950s and ‘60s — the headquarters of Lever Brothers, Pepsi-Cola and Union Carbide — whose suave steel-and-glass facades still exude the cool confidence of postwar Park Avenue. — New York Times
Tina Hovsepian of global architecture firm Callison was driven by the need to help homeless individuals in Los Angeles when she designed the first prototype for the "Cardborigami" shelter during her fourth year at USC's School of Architecture. Cardborigami, which has grown into a non-profit... View full entry
The foundation of architecture lies in the creative process. And for many architects, the beginning of that process involves none other than simple pencil and paper for jotting down those ideas, notes, and sketches to inspire the next project. Inspiration and Process in Architecture, published by... View full entry
My own conviction is that the most meaningful prolonged response to the Pritzker — but much more, to the entrenched discrimination it both reflects and reinforces — will involve political action directed toward measureable change. It will involve ramping up the current professional and cultural conversation — now focused on sharing experiences, promoting awareness, influencing leaders in the field — and articulating specific goals, definable outcomes. — Places Journal
Lately the subject of women's status in architecture — long dismissed as essentialist and unnecessary — has bounded back onto the agenda. As recent articles, books, exhibitions, online discussions and petition campaigns all attest, the full integration of the profession remains a... View full entry
This is a story about a desk — not any desk, mind you, but a startling, Frank Gehry-designed security desk in the lobby of the Inland Steel Building, one of Chicago's great mid-20th century high-rises.
The U-shaped desk is best described as a piece of furniture that's been elevated to the level of art, or is simply an emblem of excess.
— articles.chicagotribune.com
In her recently published Op-Ed Ann Lui, reflected on the experience of receiving a jury citation, for her and her partner’s entry in the 2013 Burnham Prize Competition: NEXT STOP-Designing Chicago BRT Stations. She concluded "So submit the competition that doesn’t have a... View full entry
“Los Angeles doesn’t take architecture seriously,” he says, “though I guess you could say that about most cities.”
“What about Disney Hall?” I ask.
"That’s just one building,” he says with amusement.
There is nothing peevish in his attitude toward this place. He is a fan, waxing a bit protective of our image: “It’s easy from outside to portray us as La-La Land, still easy for Europeans to come here and make jokes about us.”
— Los Angeles magazine
The opening of Work Towards Fairness by architect Eric Moed signifies the first step towards the restoration of Casa do Passal in central Portugal. The Casa do Passal was formerly inhabited by Aristides de Sousa Mendes, a Portuguese diplomat who helped around 30,000 people escape into neutral... View full entry
