In this latest installment of the “What Made Me” video series by Poppy de Villeneuve, Renfro reveals how a childhood bully helped set him on his life path, remembers his early education gawking at Houston skyscrapers and explains his architectural philosophy. — tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com
Freud, Dickens, Tchaikovsky, Darwin, and John Milton took daily walks, while Le Corbusier did morning calisthenics and Victor Hugo did “long strenuous exercises on the beach.” — hyperallergic.com
Twenty-five young artists from 21 countries have been selected as finalists for the 2014-2015 Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. — Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative
Rolex recently unveiled the names of the 4 finalists for the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative in the field of architecture. From left to Right: Amritha Ballal, India; Gloria María Cabral Insaurralde, Paraguay; Orlando García, Colombia / United States; Hiba Shahzada, Jordan. View full entry
China’s economic boom has enriched many of the country’s largest real estate entrepreneurs.[...]
Yet China’s building surge in recent years has also helped overseas architects to prosper in the world’s most populous nation. One U.S. firm to find success is Altoon Partners of Los Angeles. Although relatively small compared with the largest global architecture firms, Altoon was “unfazed by the muscle of (its) competitors” when it entered the market, and has focused tightly on its strengths[...]
— forbes.com
We conclude with Tom Pritzker, Chairman and CEO of the Pritzker Organization on this year's winner of the annual Pritzker Architecture Prize, Shigeru Ban. — hulu.com
A curvy futuristic $450M building meant to remake Seoul into a global design capital opened to the S. Korean public Friday after years of debate about its impact on a historic city precinct. And not everyone is happy with the outcome.
Designed by award-winning architect Zaha Hadid, the Dongdaemun Design Plaza is a stark contrast to its neighbourhood, which is better known in Seoul for its links to a royal dynasty that ruled for half a millennium and as home to one of the city’s oldest markets.
— o.canada.com
I worry if the criteria of the Pritzker Prize ... architecture's... most prestigious prize ... are now also being diverted in the direction of political correctness .... — Patrik Schumacher
Conrad Newel responds to Patrik Schumacher's "backhanded compliment" criticizing the Pritzker Prize awarding political correctness... Patrik Schumacher :"it is Ban's humanitarian work that the Pritzker jury emphasized in announcing the prize" I congratulate... View full entry
Japanese architect Shigeru Ban has been announced as the 2014 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Established by the Pritzker family of Chicago in 1979, the prestigious award is widely regarded as "the Nobel Prize" in the architecture profession. Shigeru Ban will be the seventh Japanese... View full entry
Williams joins artist and urban planner Theaster Gates and MacArthur Genius and architect Jeanne Gang, FAIA, as speakers who will deliver keynote addresses. ARCHITECT Live host Stephen Chung, AIA, and 2014 AIA President Helene Combs Dreiling, FAIA, will also give talks. And Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel may put in an appearance as well, but who ever knows with that guy. — architectmagazine.com
Rice University has picked the New York architectural firm Diller Scofidio & Renfro to design an opera theater scheduled to open in 2018.
The 600-seat theater will stand in what now is a parking lot between Alice Pratt Brown Hall, the home of Rice's Shepherd School of Music, and Rice Stadium. Besides serving the school's Opera Department, the theater will be used for chamber music concerts and other events, Rice said.
Charles Renfro, a 1989 Rice graduate, will be the lead architect.
— chron.com
The latest edition of ShowCase: featured Casa H by Bojaus Arquitectura. Located in a typical suburban area near Madrid, the proximity of the houses that surround the plot lead Bojaus Arquitectura to develop a system of voids, deep windows and patios which would allow large openings without... View full entry
They submitted an entry for the "Architecture is" competition... The call for entries asked young architects to fill in the following sentence, "Architecture is ___." For Rudolph and Johnson, the answer to the question was a no-brainer. "Architecture is design, bitches."
They earned an honorable mention, and although it was never intended as a name, Design, Bitches stuck. It has turned out to be a mission statement in two words.
— laweekly.com
“To me, this house is the ultimate modernity dream come true,” says Fernando Romero of the two-story, mid-century gem he calls home. “It is extremely flexible for all types of activities: for family, for socializing, for living.” Designed in 1955 by homegrown architect Francisco Artigas, the house is located in the leafy suburbs of Mexico City, adjacent to one of largest city parks in the Western Hemisphere, Bosque de Chapultepec. — nowness.com
In Residence: Fernando Romero on Nowness.com View full entry
Renowned Japanese architect Toyo Ito was recently named the recipient of the 2014 Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Architecture. Hosted by the University of Virginia (UVA) School of Architecture, the annual award recognizes achievements in fields that Thomas Jefferson -- the 3rd U.S... View full entry
One of the great feats of 20th-century engineering, a landmark of modernist architecture is facing demolition. Late last month, the Russian State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting agreed to the dismantling of the Shabolovka radio tower in Moscow.
This is the Eiffel Tower of Russia, a 50-story conical structure of steel latticework, shaped roughly like a collapsing telescope, designed by the engineer Vladimir Shukhov.
— nytimes.com
UPDATE: Moscow Puts Iconic Shukhov Tower on Protected Landmark List View full entry