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
Pritzker-winning architect Peter Zumthor has been announced as the recipient of the 2013 Royal Gold Medal for Architecture. Given in recognition of a lifetime’s work, the Royal Gold Medal is approved personally by the Queen of England and is given to a person or group of people who have had a significant influence on the advancement of architecture. — bustler.net
A nearly two-month search for the firm that will design the new $975 million Vikings stadium ended Friday morning when the team and the public board overseeing construction of the project selected HKS Inc. of Dallas, which recently designed new NFL stadiums for the Dallas Cowboys and Indianapolis Colts. — startribune.com
The Jeju City Council, Korean Institutes of Architects, Jeju People’s Artists Federation and other cultural organizations has argued that even if it is legally justified to take down this work, it would be a violent act that destroys an outstanding piece of art. — english.hani.co.kr
Citing serious concerns, a group of high-profile architects advising Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on the downtown football stadium is recommending a redesign of the Los Angeles Convention Center hall that is part of the project.
Several members of the "Vision Team," a group of eight architects assembled by Villaraigosa to consult, believe the plan has major flaws, including having visitors enter the new hall through a dark, unsafe space created by stretching the building over Pico Boulevard.
— dailynews.com
An architecture buff himself with an interest in skyscraper designs, Villaraigosa formed the eight-member Vision Team, which includes Hitoshi Abe, chairman of the Department of Architecture & Urban Design School at UCLA, architect Scott Johnson of Los Angeles firm Johnson Fain, and Paul... View full entry
In a telephone interview, Mr. Meier said he was “open minded” about the aesthetic of the new crossing, and said that he hoped the final product would be “something people think of in a positive manner.”
“When you think of the great bridges in New York City, you think of the Brooklyn Bridge, right?” he said. “From any point of view, it’s a beautiful bridge, and one would hope that what happens here is of that quality.”
— The New York Times
Architect Richard Meier, Jeff Koons, and the Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Thomas P. Campbell are some of the six experts whom New York State Governor Cuomo has named to review the design elements of the three bids the state received for the Tappan Zee bridge project. View full entry
This week, the Tokyo-based firm SANAA released a proposal for its first building in the United States since its principals—Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa—won the Pritzker Prize in 2010. Located in New Canaan, Connecticut, the 65,000-square-foot glass, 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. — archrecord.construction.com
The final results of the 9th Annual Emirates Glass LEAF Awards have been announced in London. Winner of the Public Building Award, and also Overall Winner for 2012, was Sou Fujimoto Architects for their project Musashino Art University Museum & Library in Tokyo, Japan. — bustler.net
The recession decimated the architecture profession, with firms closing or laying off large numbers of employees, architects left jobless for months or years, and many leaving the profession entirely. But a survey recently conducted by McGraw-Hill Construction (Record’s parent company) came to the counterintuitive conclusion that some U.S. firms expect a shortage of qualified designers to meet their workloads by 2014. — archrecord.construction.com
The 10,000 or so jobs promised have not materialized. Of the 2,250 affordable housing units pledged out of 6,300, only 181 are planned for a first tower, and ground for the building has yet to be broken. — NYT
Liz Robbins explores the impending political, logistical reality of the Barclays Center arena, in Brooklyn. She also examines the as yet fulfilled, hopes for community wide benefit, with regards to affordable housing and job creation. Yet, the large entertainment and sports complex has... View full entry
Chipperfield lamented how architects have resorted to designing bars, cafes, restaurants, and interiors and criticized the propagation of the discipline as fodder for the “lifestyle pages” in popular media. To him, the role of architecture and design is diminishing into nothing more than an “anesthetic” and a “palliative” in a larger economic crisis, rather than stepping up as a means to address serious socioeconomic problems: “I feel more and more impotent in really doing things..." — blogs.artinfo.com
The evidence sits in my refrigerator: chevroned tall boys of Saison ale and a meticulous shortbread fruit tart, both crafted by former co-workers and classmates who initially pursued architecture only to search for fulfillment elsewhere. Photographers, typographers, bakers, bikers, and brewers are all disguised on LinkedIn and Facebook as design interns. There’s a renaissance happening among young architects — and it’s not in architecture. — crosscut.com
They are happy to lay down the law on what makes a good stadium, tower block or concert hall, but do architects practise what they preach when it comes to their own homes? We go through the keyhole to meet three nominees for the hotly contested RIBA Stirling prize — guardian.co.uk
