Yesterday's gray sky and drizzle couldn't keep anxious press away from the rooftop of the Metropolitan Museum of Art where Argentine artist and architect Tomas Saraceno was officially debuting his new project "Cloud City". A sculptural constellation of 16 geodesic pods, Cloud City "floats" above the museum's roof anchored by steel cables... The futuristic construction features over 100 planes... — Inhabitat
YONGSAN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS DISTRICT “PROJECT R6” Seoul, Korea CLIENT Dreamhub Project Financing Vehicle Co., Ltd.PROGRAM 47,800 m2 (514,500 sf) of luxury housing for short-term residents, 27,000 m2 (290,600 sf) of retail, and 929 parking stallsAREA 115,500 m2 (... View full entry
This 34,000-square-foot regional health facility located in an under-served neighborhood in southwest Atlanta combines under one roof a primary care clinic, a behavioral health clinic, childcare facilities, a dental clinic and a workforce community center. In doing so, it projects a holistic idea... View full entry
To some, it seemed an unlikely fit, Gehry designing a memorial honoring Ike, but that impression was always based on two misunderstandings. There is a vulgar idea that Gehry is all about flamboyant buildings, radical structures acclaimed by critics but derided by common sense. The popular perception of Ike is no more accurate. — washingtonpost.com
For retailers, daylight offered one additional advantage the advertisements did not mention: the implication of moral virtue. Large department stores were described as cesspools of fraud, filth, poor working conditions, child labor, anti-competitiveness, potential press censorship (because of their advertising clout), disease, drunkenness, savagery, prostitution, suicide and darkness. A well-lit interior, it was said, could do much to counter such negative associations. — Places Journal
Earlier this year on Places, Keith Eggener assessed the career of the now forgotten early 20th-century Kansas City architect Louis Curtiss, and argued that Curtiss's obscurity has less to do with intrinsic merit than with the politics of professional reputation. In a new article... View full entry
while there are many moments of breathtaking refinement, and the galleries themselves are a revelation, the result is sadly - no, tragically - a long way from being a successful addition to the city. — Philadelphia Inquirer
Inga Saffron reviews the new building, and the relocated Albert Barnes Foundation, by architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien. View full entry
When architects and designers are called in to redesign a space that already exists for a specific reason and their goal is to reinvent that space for an entirely different use, professionals are faced with a duality of responsibility and potential. In order to respect what once was and bring truth and beauty to the space that is without time or purpose, the task at hand becomes visceral. Questions arise as to how we want people to feel in this space. — yatzer.com
“As a housing commissioner we feel like we’re trying to plug a lot of leaks in the dike,” said Nick Fish, a Portland city commissioner in charge of the housing bureau and parks and recreation. And the city’s budget has still not recovered from the downturn. Habitat, especially in east Portland, he said, is filling the gap. — NYT
Kirk Johnson examines how a depressed real estate market on Portland along with a recent gift by local businessman John Gray, has enabled Habitat, the nonprofit housing group, to think big. The organization has been buying up property on the city’s struggling east side in the process... View full entry
Before the recession and the return of architectural probity, the phrase "like an alien spaceship" was all over architecture journalism like a cheap suit. Faced with anything that didn't look like a brick box, critics and headline writers would ransack their imaginations before inevitably reaching for the extra-terrestrial. — Guardian
As the newly restored first edition goes on show, Justin McGuirk explores an emblem of 1960s architectural utopianism, the Futuro house, designed by Finnish architect Matti Suuronen in 1968. If you would like to visit the cabin number 001, it went on show last week at the Weegee... View full entry
A new TV and web production coming to PBS in 2013 about ten influential American buildings that changed the way we live, work, and play. — wttw.com
Chicago-based firm Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture just released its design for Dancing Dragons, a pair of landmark supertall mixed-use towers for the new Yongsan International Business District in Seoul, South Korea. The buildings, which include residential, “officetel” and retail elements, consist of slender, sharply angled mini-towers cantilevered around a central core. — bustler.net
The AS+GG towers will find themselves in close proximity to MVRDV's highly controversial The Cloud towers. View full entry
The Thematic Pavilion “ONE OCEAN“ for the 2012 EXPO in Yeosu, South Korea [...] is scheduled to open later this week, May 12. The pavilion, a permanent building and one of the major facilities for the Yeosu EXPO, was designed by Austrian firm soma who won the international competition for the assignment back in 2009.
The pavilion's exhibitions will give the visitors overview and introduction to the EXPO’s theme, The Living Ocean and Coast.
— bustler.net
Previously in the Archinect News: Construction Photos of soma’s Thematic Yeosu EXPO Pavilion (includes a video animation of the bionic kinetic facade). View full entry
“Here is the most modern of modern houses I’ve ever seen and loved,” she wrote, describing the turquoise mosaic tile, the compact state-of-the-art kitchen, the distant views of city lights, the proximity to her daughter’s family and the circular stairway that she felt, sadly, too old to sail down.
“I guess you can’t expect to have too many dreams answered,” she concluded. “At least, I’ve had the opportunity to see the Morris House, to know it existed.”
— nytimes.com
Victoria Newhouse - "aesthetically I think they are greatly improved from what we had before...they're smaller and more intimate...more inviting...they are acoustically improved...and many of them have the ability to be reconfigured...all of this leads to a very exciting scene" — Charlie Rose
Victoria Newhouse author of The Architecture and Acoustics of New Opera Houses and Concert Halls along with Daniel Libeskind, Michael Kaiser and Renee Fleming were on Charlie Rose last month, to discuss the current explosion of "literally hundreds" of new opera houses and concert halls... View full entry
People walk out of an upside down house, built by Polish architects Irek Glowacki and Marek Rozanski, in the western Austrian village of Terfens May 5, 2012. The project is meant to serve as a new tourist attraction in the area, and is now open for public viewing. Picture taken May 5, 2012. — buzzfeed.com