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Inga Saffron, who writes the "Changing Skyline" column for the Philadelphia Inquirer, won the Pulitzer Prize for criticism this week.
She talks with Dave Heller about the state of criticism today, and the changing attitudes towards cities.
— newsworks.org
Previously: Inquirer's architecture critic Inga Saffron wins Pulitzer Prize for criticism View full entry
Inquirer architecture critic Inga Saffron on Monday won the Pulitzer Prize for criticism.
In its citation, the Pulitzer Committee cited Saffron "for her criticism of architecture that blends expertise, civic passion and sheer readability into arguments that consistently stimulate and surprise."
— philly.com
MAS is proud to announce that Michael Kimmelman, architecture critic of The New York Times, has been named the winner of the 2014 Brendan Gill Prize. [...]
The jury singled out Kimmelman’s exceptional coverage of the challenges posed by an overstressed Penn Station, challenging New Yorkers and their regional neighbors to no longer settle for anything less than planning and design excellence that befits the busiest transportation hub in North America.
— The Municipal Art Society of New York
Thankfully, the vagina stadium controversy appears to have faded from the news cycle already. [...]
It all also reminded me of how architecture is so routinely pilloried, and with such imaginative comparisons, delicious takedowns, and clever labels. The nicknames come from comedians and critics, rivals and urban legend. [...]
Mockery, of course, is nothing new. It’s just been on a steady incline throughout the 20th century.
— theatlanticcities.com
In this post I’d like to take you through the reasoning for why I chose to publish my thesis online, and what this might tell us about the future direction of architectural discourse. — Daniel Davis
Important thoughts regarding the future of architectural discourse. Mr. Davis compares the old concept of "publish or perish" to the new methods of digital publishing and discourse. h/t eatingbark View full entry
The best approach, it seems to me, is to say that the genre of “social practice” art raises questions that it cannot by itself answer. But it would be missing an opportunity not to join the debate, even if the goal is to take it in a completely different direction. — isreview.org
Nuanced critique of an art movement that is increasingly affecting discourse in architecture, design and urban practices. View full entry
The Beijing Cultural Heritage Protection Center (CHP) is a philanthropic body, dedicated to preserving local culture. It recently wrote to RIBA after the architectural body awarded Zaha Hadid Architects' Galaxy Soho complex a 2013 International Award for architectural excellence, chastising RIBA's choice of winner. — phaidon.com
News Benjamin Paulker interviewed Frank Gehry for Foreign Policy regarding his first project in the Arab World. sameolddoctor was amused "It is funny that Gehry thinks of himself as a humanitarian" but pvbeeber wondered "Not sure why everyone is giving him such a hard time. ... View full entry
How can we let geriatrics design the future? There is a creeping conservatism in old age, Rogers and Piano’s Pompidou was genuinely revolutionary, but that was in 1977, ever since then they've been riffing off the same ideas, with decreasing vitality...They are past retirement age and yet they march on, pulling out the same ideas over and over again, while the planet fawns obsequiously at their feet. — Vice
As part of Vice Future Week, Eddie Blake pens a critique of the current geriatric state of architecture. He believes that we must move beyond the tired designs of the past and embrace a new emerging architecture. The future of architecture is more co-operative, varied, often temporary and... View full entry
Bustler.net posted a list of the 2012 Recipients of the AIA Small Project Awards. Reacting to the Saint Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church; Springdale, AR by Marlon Blackwell Architect Orhan Ayyüce posted an image of Fire Station No. 4, Columbus, Indiana, 1967, by Venturi and Rauch asking "Do you think so too? As a student FS 4 was a big deal for me and still is."
News Janelle Zara wrote about The New Architectural Wisdom of Airports: Ikea, iPads, And Ice Skating Rinks for Art Info. aml pointed us to her "more skeptical take on contemporary airports" and airport urbanism over at her blog. Therein she argued "my main point is that airports are and... View full entry
But I'm not sure if I want all critical writing to be "solid" however. I'm also interested in more experimental, imaginative approaches to writing that take risks with form and language. — the Atlantic
Steven Heller recently had a chance to talk with Alice Twemlow, co-founder of the MFA Design Criticism program at the School of Visual Arts. They touched on the benefits that come from learning to write critically about design and her belief that there is a need more and better writing by experts... View full entry
Mr. Landman views these attempts at defining the critic’s frame of reference — Kimmelman-style and Scott-style — as entirely appropriate. Critics, he said, are not supposed to be objective; they are free to champion certain kinds of work. They are “free to like or dislike anyone or anything.” — NYT
Arthur S. Brisbane, (the Public Editor) provides some insight into the workings of the NYT Arts section. He spoke with Jonathan Landman, The Times’s culture editor, in an effort to better understand the rules that The Times plays by. Specifically, when it comes to the New York... View full entry
I remember Poly Styrene, the singer from X-Ray Spex, and all her prophetic songs from the late 70s: "I Am A Poser," "Germ-Free Adolescents," "Prefabricated Icon," "Genetic Engineering." Take a look at architecture and people today and you realize that it all came true. — Vice Magazine
A candid conversation on the horrendous state of new construction in New York, with the crankiest of architecture critics, Ivana Force-Majeure, and Vice Magazine's Bob Nickas. View full entry
... one the most gifted architects of my time has been reduced to wrapping such conventional programs of use in merely expressionistic forms, without letting a single ray of her genius illuminate the human condition. Am I being pretentious and overly demanding? Of course. But that’s the way disappointed lovers behave. Exaggerated emotions. Absurd demands. Anger that transgresses all reason. She has let me down, and what makes it worse is that she apparently couldn’t care less. — Lebbeus Woods
In 2002, Tony Blair decided to invade Iraq – not a decision that, on the face of it, has a lot to do with architecture; but one of the articles I am most proud to have written for this paper was the story of a journey I made from one end of Iraq to the other, with Stuart Freedman, an unflappable press photographer. — Guardian
Jonathan Glancey has been the Guardian's architecture and design correspondent for the past 15 years. On the occasion of his last article for the paper he looks back at some of the projects – ancient and modern – that have enchanted him over the past 15 years. View full entry
