Kelly Minner
Happy Birthday Le Corbusier!
Today marks the Swiss-born French architect Le Corbusier’s birthday. Noted as one of the pioneers of modern architecture, Le Corbusier’s architecture career spanned some five decades. Born in 1887, which would make him 124 today, Charles-Édouard Jeanneret adopted the pseudonym Le Corbusier in the 1920s. Known for both his architecture and furniture design you can visit the Galerie Anton Meier where some of Le Corbusier & Pierre Jeanneret furniture is currently on a special exhibit. More of ArchDaily’s coverage on Le Corbusier, books, buildings, and articles can be found here.
AD Review: From the Archives
Today’s selection includes a neighborhood information tower in California, a Lithuanian passenger terminal, a creatively glazed education center, and an unconventional vernacular day care centre in the Netherlands. We hope you enjoy taking a look at these projects that deserve a revisit!
Richard Meier 2011 President’s Award Recipient
The AIA New York Chapter has chosen Richard Meier has the 2011 President Award recipient, past award winners include Philip Johnson, I.M. Pei, and Henry Cobb. Recognizing Meier’s contribution and influence to the city of New York, he will be honored at the upcoming Heritage Ball on October 27th, which is part New York City’s Archtober, the month long celebration of architecture and design.
Archtober – New York City Architecture and Design Month
In its inaugural year, Archtober, is a month long festival focused on architecture exhibitions and activities in New York City. After holding eight years of successful architecture weeks typically held in October, that included openhousenewyork (OHNY), and exhibition at the Center for Architecture, AIA NY’s Heritage Ball, and last year Architecture & Design Film Festival’s first NYC event, New York City has created a month long celebration of exciting events for the general public, visitors and architecture aficionados to enjoy.
Among the numerous events each day in October will feature a new building or public space highlighting a Building of the Day. Entrance to the Center for Architecture Archtober lounge and exhibitions is free and open to the public. Head to Archtober’s webpage to download a full guide and for entrance fees to some of the other events.
Zaha Hadid wins 2011 RIBA Stirling Prize
For the second year in a row, Zaha Hadid was announced as the winner of the prestigious RIBA Stirling Prize. Often labeled as the UK’s most important architecture award, Hadid will be awarded £20,000 for her design of the Evelyn Grace Academy in London. Recognizing the ‘architects of the building that has made the greatest contribution to the evolution of architecture in the past year’, to be considered the project must be built in Britain or the architects head office must be in the UK.
Zaha Hadid’s Evelyn Grace Academy was shortlisted for the RIBA Stirling Prize along with O’Donnell and Tuomey’s An Gaelaras, David Chipperfield Architects’s Folkwang Museum , AHMM’s Angel Building, Bennetts Associates’s Royal Shakespeare Theatre, and the Velodrome by Hopkins Architects. Last year Hadid was awarded the prize for her design of the MAXXI Museum of Modern Art in Rome.
This year’s award was a bit controversial; former president of the RIBA, George Ferguson’s reaction, ‘This is an appalling result and the worst decision since the Magna Centre beat Girmshaw’s Eden Project to win the Stirling Prize in 2001. It’s a great big own goal. It is also the worst possible message to send to [education secretary] Michael Gove. In fact it reinforces his case. A good school is one that can be replicated. But this can’t. It’s a one-off. The prize [has become] an award from architects for architects. It makes me angry.’
More reactions regarding the 2011 Stirling Prize can be found at the Architects Journal.
Video: Maggie Gartnaval by OMA
This exclusive video of OMA’s Maggie’s Centre by BD online features OMA partner Ellen van Loon discussing the design for the cancer care center. Led by OMA Partners Rem Koolhaas and Ellen van Loon with Associate-in-charge Richard Hollington the Maggie Gartnaval center located in Glasgow opened today.
Ellen van Loon shared, “I enjoyed designing such an exceptional environment with this very dedicated and inspired team of designers and contractors. The sequence of spaces is an interplay of openness, retreat and support to underpin the Maggie’s programme.”
OMA designed Maggie Gartnaval Opens Today
Today marks the opening of Maggie’s Gartnaval, a new center for the charity located on the ground of Gartnaval Royal Infirmary in Glasgow, Scotland. Designed by OMA, the center aims to provide emotional and psychological support to those affected by cancer in the greater Glasgow area.
Rem Koolhaas commented, “We were touched to be asked to design a Maggie’s Centre, and invigorated by the opportunity to work on a completely different scale, with different ambitions, and in a different environment. Maggie’s is so unique and urgent among the projects we are working on.”
Kenmore Library / Weinstein A|U
Architects: Weinstein A|U
Location: Kenmore, Washington
Design Team: Matt Aalfs, Ed Weinstein
Project Size: 19,000 sqf
Project Year: 2007-2011
Photographs: Lara Swimmer
Richard Meier & Partners Design for the New Royal Alberta Museum
Richard Meier & Partners have released their final design submission for the new Royal Alberta Museum in Canada. Considered as one of the four finalists the firm, although not chosen as the winning entry, proposed “a timeless work of architecture that would engage the ongoing discourse of civility and urban place making while establishing a forward-looking museum destination and technologically advanced educational facility. While we are disappointed we won’t be working in Edmont this year, we are continuing to expand or work overseas. We thank the jury for their consideration,” commented design partner-in-charge Bernhard Karpf.
Jean Nouvel Jewelbox Houses Historic Carousel
In 1922 the Philadelphia Toboggan Company made a classic 3-row carousel with 48 carved horses and 2 chariots accompanied by wood carvings that are said to be among the finest of their kind. This historic carousel, the first to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places, re-opened to the public on September 16th. Jane’s Carousel, entirely restored including original scenery panels, rounding boards, crests, center pole and platform is nestled between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges within a Jean Nouvel designed acrylic pavilion in Brooklyn Bridge Park. Nouvel’s steel framed clear box can be opened on two sides providing an open-aired experience. At night white shades can be drawn and the shadows of the 48 horses dance across the walls.
Paul Clemence shared with us his photographs of Jean Nouvel’s pavilion and Jane’s Carousel.
Architecture for Humanity Acquires Worldchanging
In recent architecture news, Architecture for Humanity has acquired Worldchanging, a nonprofit media organization dedicated to solutions-based journalism about the planetary future. Worldchanging will merge its assets with the Open Architecture Network of Architecture for Humanity and two TED Prizes are also to be merged resulting in an unparalleled center of applied innovation, offering both ideas and tools for building a better world.
Cameron Sinclair, Executive Director of Architecture for Humanity, shared, “We are thrilled to connect with the Worldchanging community in order to expand the ways we can continue to make a difference across the world. Each project we do requires innovative solutions, resourcefulness, and passion. It’s a perfect fit.”
Zaha Hadid: Form in Motion Exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art
Zaha Hadid: Form in Motion now exhibited at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through March 25th, highlights the architects product design within a unique atmosphere. Creating for the first time in the states her own setting for an exhibit, the first female Pritzker Prize winning architect developed an ‘undulating structure of finished polystyrene with vinyl graphics’ to display furniture, footwear, and her Z-Car I.
“Hadid envisions the gallery as an active element in the display of her own designs, and will create an immersive three-dimensional environment,” said Kathryn Bloom Hiesinger, Curator of European Decorative Arts after 1700. “She is interested in the interface between architecture, landscape, and geology, and explores the intersection of these elements with a spatial composition that ebbs and flows in wave-like movements, manipulating the viewer’s understanding of space with constantly shifting perspectives.”
UPDATED: Win Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House from LEGO Architecture
We announced at the beginning of this month that the LEGO® Architecture series will now include Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House, the 10th building in this popular series. We asked you to stay tuned to ArchDaily for an exclusive surprise about the LEGO® Architecture Robie House just for our readers, and that time has come. (More images of LEGO® Architecture’s Robie House, designed by architectural artist Adam Reed Tucker, can be found here.)
Thanks to LEGO® Architecture, one of our readers can win a LEGO® Architecture Robie House. We want to know what building should be the next in the LEGO® Architecture series and why. All you have to do is become a registered user at ArchDaily and leave us your answer in the comments below by Sunday, September 25th!
Official rules:
One winner will be chosen at random from entries received between Monday, September 19th and Sunday, September 25th 11:59 EST. You must leave a comment as a registered user at ArchDaily. Open to anyone in the world. One entry per person, ArchDaily will enforce verification and remove duplicated ones before choosing the winner.
Update: Given the high amount of submissions we will be giving away 5 kits this time. And the winners are:
Kris Conner
Megan Kindle
Steve May
Grant Anderson
Pier Paolo Pala
Video: Richard Meier
Documenting Richard Meier’s career this video starts at the beginning with Meier’s acceptance to Cornell along with his earliest projects. Included within the documentary is a description by Meier and fellow alumni Peter Eisenman about The New York Five, video footage of Meier’s Getty Center along with a lecture by Meier in ’92 describing his architecture.
This video was created in 2006 in honor of Meier’s 50th reunion (Cornell class of 1956)
Another look at 3XN’s Museum of Liverpool
Opened on July 19th the new Museum of Liverpool by 3XN serves as a meeting point for history, the people of Liverpool, and visitors from around the globe. Featured on ArchDaily in July (see the full project feature here) photographer José Campos recently shared with us his photographs of this impressive museum.
Video: Brooks + Scarpa
The well established and nationally recognized architecture firm Brooks + Scarpa (2010 AIA National Firm of the Year) recently decided to shake things up a bit. “Our office has turned more into a conventional office over the years, and I was just really looking for something that could become a glorified cabinet shop where we could actually work and make things, have the space to do that, and have some outdoor space to build bigger things,” shares Larry Scarpa.
This video takes a look at their new home in Ladera Heights, an upscale African American neighborhood popularized by Baltimore Oriole Frank Robinson in the 1970s.
KPF Honored with Five MIPIM Asia Awards
The 2011 MIPIM Asia Awards recently announced that Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF) garnered five awards out of the 29 awarded, the largest number of awards won by a single architectural firm. Recognized for the Inernational Commerce Centre in HongKong, Wheelock Square in Shanghai, the Abu Dhabi International Midfield Complex, the Xintiandi Hotels, and Singapore’s Marina Bay Financial Centre, KPF will receive their prizes at the prestigious Awards Gala Dinner on November 16.
KPF was one of the first US architecture firms to start working in China, and has had a strong presence there for over 20 years, including growing offices in Shanghai and Hong Kong. These five awards serve as an affirmation of KPF’s unmatched experience and leadership in the region.
ArchDaily sat down with Eugen Kohn and Bill Pedersen back in February. The AD interview with KPF can be viewed here.
Jeanne Gang Named as a 2011 MacArthur Fellow
Jeanne Gang, principal and founder of Studio Gang Architects, has been named as one of this years prestigious MacArthur Fellows. The second female recipient in architecture selected for the grant (Elizabeth Diller from Diller Scofidio + Renfro was named a MacArthur Fellow in 1999), Gang is among a total of 22 recipients who will receive $500,000 in no-strings-attached support over the next five years. The recipients fields are quite broad ranging anywhere from biologist to radio producer, but regardless of their chosen profession all were selected for their ‘creativity, originality, and potential to make important contributions in the future’.
“This has been a year of great change and extraordinary challenge, and we are once again reminded of the potential individuals have to make a difference in the world and shape our future,” said Robert Gallucci, President of the MacArthur Foundation. “The MacArthur Fellows exemplify how individual creativity and talent can spark new insights and ideas in every imaginable field of human endeavor.”
Integrated School of Building
The Integrated School of Building (InSB), has recently launched their website in preparation for a 2014 opening. InSB will be located in Chicago and has established a mission to, ‘by means of a collaborative and innovative platform, advance the knowledge of and educate students in architecture, engineering, and construction’. Focusing on a collaborative effort, a group of individuals, architects and educators, have united to establish a new way of educating students in architecture, engineering, and construction education.
Follow the break for more about the programs and certifications InSB plans to offer.
Suzhou Industrial Park Central Business District / SWA Group
Lead by principal designers Hui-Li Lee and John Wong, SWA Group along with consulting architect Ojanen_Chiou Architects provided the winning competition proposal for the Suzhou Industrial Park Central Business District which aims to bridge old and new cultural historic heritage through the innovative design of public open space. Providing a focal point for the Suzhou’s CBD, the park highlights its ideal location, the connection between ecological and social environments, and the unique landscape of Jinji Lake which offers a mix of urban life and waterfront activities .
Landscape Architects: SWA Group
Location: Suzhou, China
Consulting Architect: Ojanen_Chiou Architects
Drawings/Renderings: SWA Group
Foster + Partners open studio for Open House London
Foster + Partners at its Battersea studio location will open their doors to the public tomorrow, Saturday the 17th of September as part of the annual Open House London celebration of the capital’s architecture. Taking place over the weekend (both Saturday and Sunday) Open House London is a special opportunity to celebrate the richness of London’s architectural heritage, where more than 700 buildings (many of which are normally closed) are opened to the public. Some of the buildings by Foster + Partners that will be accessible during Open House London include, Capital City Academy (Brent), City Hall (Southwark), One Bishops Square (Tower Hamlets), and the Sackler Galleries at the Royal Academy of Arts (Westminster).
For further information please see the Open House website.
