In the competition for the new École Centrale engineering school in the French city of Saclay, southwest of Paris, OMA has been awarded the First Prize. The brief also includes the urban development of the area surrounding the school in Saclay's research and innovation zone. The winning proposal was developed in collaboration with Bollinger and Grohman, Alto, DHV, DAL, and D'Ici Là. — bustler.net
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 Miller House and Garden Collection includes correspondence, drawings and blueprints, textile samples, and photographs that document design, construction, and maintenance of the Miller House and Garden in Columbus, Indiana. — Indianapolis Museum of Art
In May 2012, the National Endowment for the Humanities awarded the Indianapolis Museum of Art a grant for its project “Documenting Modern Living: Digitizing the Miller House and Garden Collection.” This Tumblr includes archival information giving an intimate view into the... View full entry
Johnson, a design partner in the New York City office of architect NBBJ, estimates that by 2060-70, skyscrapers will not only produce more energy than they use, they will produce food. — enr.construction.com
In the international architectural ideas competition for the new design for the National Museum of Afghanistan, the entry by Spanish team AV 62 Arquitectos was selected for the First Prize. The Afghan Ministry of Information and Culture and the US Embassy recently announced the results at an awards ceremony in Kabul. — bustler.net
Cartoons have been a major genre of popular entertainment in Japan dating back to 1917. The country’s unique style of animation, or anime, came into its own in the 1960s — notably in the pioneering work of Osamu Tezuka. In the 1990’s, a generation of architects, who came of age watching anime cartoons on television, were granted license to build fantastic creations fueled by the excess and lack of restraint that characterized Japan’s asset bubble. — japlusu.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
A literal advertisement for reading: MVRDV completes Book Mountain and Library Quarter Spijkenisse. — mvrdv.nl
(Spijkenisse, October 4th, 2012): Today Spijkenisse Book Mountain and the adjacent residential neighbourhood will be opened by Prinses Laurentien of the Netherlands. Manifesting itself clearly as a mountain of books on the towns market square, it is both an advertisement and an invitation for... 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
The new cottage will be decorated with sculptures, furniture, ceramics, and tapestries, all narrating her story: "a difficult childhood, young love, a truncated education, children, divorce and finally fulfilment in her career and love life," explained Perry.
"The idea behind the project relates to buildings put up as memorials to loved ones, to follies, to eccentric home-built structures, to shrines, lighthouses and fairytales," the artist explained.
— artinfo.com
The new building cost about $26 million to build—70 percent below the previous budget. But is less less? When the new plan was announced, Nicolai Ouroussoff, writing in the Times, thought so, calling it "a major step down in architectural ambition."
Ouroussoff was wrong. True, no one can know what the "cluster of pavilions" would have looked like. I can only report that the rectangular building is a triumph. The materials are gorgeous.
— archrecord.construction.com
Curves are to be banned in a new generation of no-frills school buildings, according to a government crackdown on what it believes is wasteful extravagance in educational architecture.
Design templates unveiled for 261 replacement school buildings also prohibit folding internal partitions to subdivide classrooms, roof terraces that can be used as play areas, glazed walls and translucent plastic roofs.
— guardian.co.uk
Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture has just won another competition for a skyscraper in Asia: earlier today, the Chicago firm was announced as the winner of the international competition to design Qintai Center, a 248-meter (814-feet) tall, high-performance corporate headquarters tower and related podium structure in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. — bustler.net
