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Gehry likens his creative process to jazz, a fluid, always-evolving symphony of ideas, as he describes it. A main intention with Disney Hall, he says, was the relationships, or rhythms, between the different entities of people inside the hall, also ever-shifting. [...]
Sherman said that there’s no concrete timeline in place for making such changes to Disney Hall. But that “any changes could potentially be in sync with the opening of the Grand.
— Los Angeles Times
Frank Gehry talks about his early visions for the Walt Disney Concert Hall as well as what future changes — both within and around the landmark — are being planned, especially once his nearly $1 billion mixed-use complex, The Grand, is built. View full entry
The designation protects the exterior of the building, including the facades of the office tower, annex, and enclosed covered passageway, and notably preserving its rose Stony Creek granite cladding and the broken pediment at its crown. Going forward, any proposed alterations to the exterior will require approval and permitting by the [NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission]. — Architectural Record
It's official. The AT&T Building is now a designated landmark. Late last year, Snøhetta's plans to redesign the historic building sparked months of heated debate among architects, preservationists, and critics. View full entry
The Taj Mahal in Agra could be closed unless the Indian government steps in and saves the neglected landmark, says India’s Supreme Court. “Either we shut down the Taj or demolish it or you restore it,” the two-judge committee told state officials last week. [...]
The Supreme Court says that it will monitor the situation on a day-to-day basis from 31 July.
— The Art Newspaper
Frustrated with the slow response from officials in charge of restoring the deteriorating Taj Mahal, India's highest court demanded swift action to stop the ongoing discoloration of the iconic Unesco World Heritage site caused by pollution and millions of tiny insects, saying: "We want you to... View full entry
India’s Supreme Court on Wednesday faulted the country’s archaeological conservation body for failing to protect the Taj Mahal from discoloration, dirty feet and green slime emitted by millions of mosquito-like insects.
Since 2015, the body, the Archaeological Survey of India, has overseen a restoration project at the Taj Mahal, with workers scaling scaffolding to remove grime from the 17th-century tomb [...].
— The New York Times
After decades of slowly turning dull and yellowish from smog and pollution, the Taj Mahal's formerly white facade has now taken on an unattractive green discoloration. Archaeological experts suspect swarms of tiny bugs to be the perpetrators, but India's highest court isn't pleased with the slow... View full entry
ODA New York—known for their distinctive residential projects like 420 Kent, 2222 Jackson, and 251 1st Street—has put forth a proposal that would reclaim an underutilized pedestrian island in Manhattan's Chinatown. The 'Dragon Gate' pavilion, a massive steel structure reminiscent of bamboo... View full entry
Designed by Michael Graves, the pioneering Portland Building is at once considered to be a postmodern icon as well as the "ugliest building in Oregon". A rectangular block of four, heavily ornamented, salmon and turquoise facades, the building can easily be likened to a small, fancy French... View full entry
Community leaders and affected homeowners have mixed reactions regarding a consultant’s recently released recommendations on how to best provide relief for residential communities besieged with Hollywood Sign tourists.
The recommendations, released in January and commissioned by Los Angeles City Councilmember David Ryu, ranged in impact from the jaw-dropping, like the idea of installing a second Hollywood sign, to the mundane, like improving signage for lost tourists.
— Los Feliz Ledger
The Los Feliz Ledger gives a detailed account of various recommendations currently being discussed among community leaders to drastically improve access to L.A.'s iconic landmark sign while also easing the traffic burden on locals in the adjacent Hollywood Hills neighborhoods. One idea from a... View full entry
The Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) has approved interior demolition of the lobby at Philip Johnson and John Burgee’s postmodern tower at 550 Madison Avenue. Though the 1984 tower is up for landmark consideration, the designation would only protect the facade, not the interior.
Department of Buildings (DOB) records show demo plans received LPC staff approval on December 15 and permits were issued that same day.
— The Architect's Newspaper
New York City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission declared the Citicorp complex a protected landmark on December 6, 2016, but between that designation and its earlier “calendaring” (the scheduling of a public hearing and the first formal step in the designation process) in May of last year, approvals for demolition and new construction were secured. — The New Yorker
Despite being named a city landmark in 2016, the brutalist sunken plaza of 601 Lexington Avenue, formally known as the Citicorp Center, was demolished over the summer. "The finest part of the new urban composition was a sunken plaza, a dozen feet below sidewalk level. Entered from the... View full entry
Seattle's 55-year old landmark Space Needle is undergoing a $100 million renovation headed by Seattle-based design firm Olson Kundig. The venture's aim is to reveal the historic tower’s internal structure and harken back to the original concept sketches, all while expanding and improving the... View full entry
The Federal Aviation Administration has issued a new regulation restricting unauthorized drone operations over 10 Department of Interior sites, including the Statue of Liberty and Mount Rushmore. [...]
The announcement says the action comes at "the request of U.S. national security and law enforcement agencies."
— NPR
These new FAA restrictions will be effective as of October 5 so make sure to keep your drones at least 400 feet away from these ten National Landmarks: Statue of Liberty National Monument, New York, NYBoston National Historical Park (U.S.S. Constitution), Boston, MAIndependence National Historical... View full entry
Church officials, who have created what they are calling a “stone cemetery” from fallen masonry, say the cathedral remains safe to visit.
Entry is free and the French state, which owns the building, devotes €2m (£1.9m) a year to repairs. But that is not enough to embark on major restoration works, the last of which were carried out during the 1800s, officials at the cathedral and charity said.
— The Guardian
The archbishop of Paris launched a €100m fundraising campaign for Notre Dame's extensive restoration works. The 12th century cathedral on the Seine river—one of Paris' biggest landmarks, is visited by up to 14 million people visit per year. “Gargoyles are what people want to see when they... View full entry
“You can argue that any sculpture is art in some way, but it’s a loose argument,” Schoonmaker said Tuesday. “I don’t know that these statues are worthy of preservation as art objects so much as historical objects – made to preserve a lost cause, a lost war. They weren’t made with great artistic intent, but with political intent. And intent matters in this case.” — The New Observer
With the tragic events occurring in Charlottesville, much ink has been spilled over the topic of Confederate memorials: Should we keep them? Should we take them down? Is keeping them up a celebration of slavery and is taking them down erasing an important part of our past that we must face? With... View full entry
In 1966, a 24-year-old architect who had just graduated from Tehran University hesitantly entered a competition to design a monument to mark the 2,500-year celebration of the founding of the Persian empire. [...]
The architect, Hossein Amanat, had no idea that his hastily prepared design, which went on to win the competition, would one day become a focal point of the Iranian capital’s skyline, serving as a backdrop to some of the country’s most turbulent political events.
— The Guardian
The Azadi tower, he said, was an opportunity to “design modern architecture using old language, to preserve the good things about a culture, leave aside the meaningless parts and create something new and meaningful”. View full entry
Last week, we covered the newly released designs for a landmark sculpture that would be built at Flint Castle in Wales. The sculpture, designed by George King Architects, was to be a cantilevered bridge structure made of weathering steel and engraved with words chosen from the local community. At... View full entry
