Rem Koolhaas on Charlie Rose
On October 19th Charlie Rose interviewed OMA founding partner Rem Koolhaas (his fifth appearance on the show). The discussion ranges from Koolhaas’ current interest in the countryside, rather than the city, his firm’s newly completed Milestein Hall project at Cornell University, and the launch of the book Project Japan: Metabolism Talks written with Hans Ulrich Obrist and edited by Kayoko Ota. Watch the interview here.
National Mall Competition Finalists Announced
Over 1,200 entires from 30 states and 10 countries submitted applications for the National Mall competition. Late last month fifteen design teams were chosen as finalists to advance to the second stage of this prestigious contest.
Hosting 25 million visitors annually, the National Mall will undergo an estimated $700 million restoration beginning in 2012. The competition has been broken down into three areas of restoration: Union Square including the Reflecting Pool and the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial, Sylvan Theater on the Washington Monument Grounds, and the Constitution Gardens between the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial.
Among the finalists to move on to stage two of the competition, Diller Scofidio Renfro, Weiss/Manfredi, and Rogers Marvel Architects who are shortlisted for two out of the three areas of restoration, as well as Snohetta, Michael Maltzan Architecture, Ten Arquitectos, and Bohlin Cywinski Jackson who are finalists for one area of restoration.
“Entrants were evaluated on past design performance, philosophy, design intent, thoughtfulness, creativity and overall resume,” according to a release from the Trust of the National Mall. The jury, compiled of architects, professors and other members of the architecture community, included Michael Gericke of Pentagram NYC and Pritzker Prize Laureate Thom Mayne founder of Morphosis.
The second stage of the competition includes interviews of the teams conducted by the Trust for the National Mall and the National Park Service, and the last stage will include proposed plans for the restoration. The competition will culminate in May 2012 and the proposed designs from stage three of the competition will be available to the public prior to the winning design being selected.
Follow the break for a complete list of design finalists for the National Mall Competition.
Update: Tel Aviv Museum of Art Amir Building / Preston Scott Cohen
Over the past year, we’ve been following the development and early construction of Preston Scott Cohen’s Tel Aviv Museum of Art Amir Building. The 195,000 square ft building has recently been completed and now, the museum is open to the public. The $55 million Herta and Paul Amir Building will provide the space needed to permanently display one of the world’s largest collections of Israeli art. From its earlier beginning in 2002, Preston Scott Cohen’s proposal has been further developed and refined, culminating in the strong geometric aesthetic typical of Cohen’s design ideas. Paul Amir, a philanthropist who, with his wife Herta, has provided the naming gift for the building, stated, “We feel privileged to have been able to advance the work of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, an institution that is truly at the heart of Israel’s creative community. With this exceptional building by Preston Scott Cohen, and with the ability to showcase the work of Israel’s artists as never before, the Museum now has the potential to step up to a prominent new role on the international scene, to the benefit of everyone.”
Check out more photos and learn more about the opening after the break. (more…)
2012 United States Best Architecture Schools
James Cramer and the Greenway Group have just released the 13th edition of DesignIntelligence, a compilation of different rankings for accredited architecture schools in the United States. The report attempts to create a level playing ground upon which to rank the universities by polling thousands of students, talking to deans and administrators, interviewing successful designers in private practices, and visiting each university campus. While the findings may raise some debate, overall, the report creates a dialogue as to how, and to what extent, higher education responds to the changing demands of our profession. We will be focusing on key aspects of the report throughout the following weeks such as regional rankings for accredited universities, an interesting deans’ survey, a selection of top educators, and even charts featuring award-wining firms and their graduate affiliations. And, to begin, let’s introduce the top 10 undergraduate and graduate Architecture Programs of 2012.
Check out the list after the break. (more…)
Zaha Hadid is Coming to San Diego
San Diego Planning Commission has approved Zaha Hadid’s La Jolla Residence. Along with the San Diego firm Public, Hadid will demolish an existing house on a half-acre site at 8490 Whale Watch Way, replacing it with a 12,700 square foot home comprised of four bedrooms, six bathrooms, and an indoor pool. The firm has described the home as an “introverted sculptural structure.”
The La Jolla Community Planning Association responded to unsupportive neighbors by appealing the owners’ application for a Coastal Development permit. Residents were concerned by the radical appearance in comparison to the rest of the neighborhood homes. Association member Dale Naegle stated, “If we approve this we might as well abandon our La Jolla Shores Planned District Ordinance…It is a beautiful house, but it doesn’t fit.”
The project still risks being appealed again by the La Jolla Community Planning Association. If that were to occur, the project would then be in the hands of the much more challenging city council.
Reference: The Architect’s Newspaper
Japan to Create World’s First Backup City
The Japanese Government has revealed a radical plan to construct a standby city for Tokyo. The Integrated Resort, Tourism, Business and BackupCity, known as IRTBBC, will provide backup to the capital in an event of an immobilizing earthquake.
IRTBBC will incorporate all vital functions of government, with duplicate facilities for parliament and ministries. Offices complexes, resort facilities, casinos, parks, and the tallest tower in the world at 652 meters, will employ 50,000 IRTBBC residents and over 150,000 workers from the nearby city of Osaka. The government is considering the existing 1236 acre site of the Itami Airport, located approximately 300 miles west of Tokyo.
A member of the ruling Democratic Party, Hajime Ishii, stated, “The idea is being able to have a back-up, a spare battery for the functions of the nation.”
Reference: World Architecture News
Portal to the Point proposal / wHY Design
Portal to the Point is a design project initiated to honor the completion of renovations to Pittsburgh’s most visible National Historic Landmark, Point State Park. wHY Architecture is one of five finalists selected to redefine the space beneath the Portal Bridge that leads into 36-acre park.
Continue reading for more project information and renderings.
Open Call for MONU New Issue Contributions
MONU magazine on urbanism is continuously looking for interesting contributions. The current open call for submissions for MONU #16 is on the topic of “Non-Urbansim” and closes by the end of December 2011.
This new issue of MONU magazine will investigate how non-urbanism may be defined and identified today and how non-urban areas interact with and relate to urban areas. How can, for example, American non-urbanism be distinguished from non-urbanism in Europe, Asia or elsewhere? And how does the non-urbanism discourse relate to the one of anti-urbanism with its fear of the city? Who will be, for example, the future inhabitants of the vast, deserted rural areas in Asia? To discuss what non-urbanism might mean today, this call for submissions for MONU #16 invites sharp texts, topic-focused interviews, data-based research, critical analysis, provocative thinking, revealing photography, conceptual artwork, and overwhelming infographics on the topic of “Non-Urbanism”. More information on the call for contributions after the break. (more…)
Praemium Imperiale Art Awards 2011 Ceremony
Apple Reveals Newly Renovated 5th Avenue Store
The white veil has been removed, exposing the $6.6 million renovation to the Fifth Avenue Retail Store. Apple started the renovation back in June with plans to improve drainage and pavers, remove the bollards on the plaza, and update the cube.
The simplified version utilizes 15 panes of glass rather than the original 90, creating a “seamless” appearance. Each side of the cube consists of three, 10’ wide x 32’ high panels. Visible signs of hardware have disappeared as the connectors are embedded within the glass panes themselves.
Stakeholders Pledge to Complete High Line
The High Line stakeholders have publicly committed to develop the third and final section of the High Line at the West Side Rail Yard, between West 30th and West 34th Streets. The private rail company and owner of the High Line, CSX Transportation, Inc, have agreed to donate the last remaining section to the City of New York.
The city, along with the state and Related Companies, has pledged to “preserve the entire historic structure of the High Line at the West Side Rail Yards, including the spur over 10th Avenue.” This ensures the protection of the rail line as development begins in the historic Hudson Yards area. Coach’s new 1.7 million square-foot global headquarters will be the first to break ground in mid-2012.
Part One of the High Line officially opened in the summer of 2009 and Part Two just opened this past summer. As announced yesterday on ArchDaily, you can now digitally walk though the High Line with Google Street View.
Update: Jean Nouvel Jewelbox Houses Historic Carousel in NYC
Since it’s opening on September 16th, the Jean Nouvel acrylic encasement and historic Jane’s Carousel has become a landmark in the heart of Brooklyn Bridge Park for New York families. The welcoming public pavilion offers spectacular views of the East River, the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges, and the Manhattan skyline.
Continue reading for more detailed information and images. (more…)
Perkins Eastman Opens Office in San Francisco
The Executive Committee of top international design and architecture firm Perkins Eastman is pleased to announce that the firm is expanding its presence on the West Coast by opening an office in downtown San Francisco, which is rapidly becoming a thriving city for architecture making it an ideal location for an additional office. Located at 23 Geary Street in the One Kearny building, the 8,100 sf office will accommodate a growing staff of 45. Managing Principal Leslie Moldow FAIA is joined by Principals Dan Akol AIA and Rick Drake AIA and Associate Principal John Amanat AIA in leading the office. The office is expected to be complete and ready to occupy on November 1, 2011. More information on the firm’s expansion after the break. (more…)
Foster + Partners Launch Proposals for Thames Hub
Norman Foster has launched proposals for the Thames Hub as “An Integrated Vision for Britain”. The self-funded collaboration between Foster + Partners, Halcrow and Volterra has produced a detailed, holistic vision for Britain’s future development of infrastructure.
The rapidly population growth and evolving global economy has put pressure on UK’s aged infrastructure. The study describes the Spine, which will combine rail, energy, communications and data throughout the entire length of the UK. The Spine is supported by the proposed Thames Hub, introducing a new river barrier and crossing, an international airport, and a shipping and rail complex.
The Thames Hub plans to maximize Britain trade links with the rest of world, stimulate job creation, and boost the economies of the Midlands and the North by providing direct connections to the cities and markets of Europe.
Continue reading for more detailed information and images.
Moroccan Court / New Galleries at the MET / Achva Benzinberg Stein
Earlier this week, we had the pleasure of touring the Metropolitan Museum of Art ‘New Galleries for the Art of the Arab Lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, and Later South Asia’ with Achva Stein on its opening day. Stein, a principal of an ASLA award-winning landscape architecture and design firm Benzinberg Stein Associates and the founding Director of the Graduate program in Landscape Architecture at the Spitzer School of Architecture at the City College of New York, was asked to join the MET’s endeavors after her noted publication, Morocco: Courtyards and Gardens, showcased her passion for and understanding of the country’s varied garden types found in regions such as Marrakech and Fez. For the new wing, Stein has created a fantastic 14th century Maghrebi-Andalusian-style courtyard that goes beyond a mere representation, and truly infuses the spirit and essence of a Moroccan court into a small interior space of the MET.
More about our trip to the MET after the break. (more…)
Villa Gardone / Richard Meier & Partners Architects
Yesterday Richard Meier & Partners announced the design of a new Italian residence, Villa Gardone. The home is part of a complex in Gardone Riviera that is to be designed by a number of illustrious architecture firms from Europe and the U.S and completed by 2014.
Continue reading from more information on the Villa Gardone.
In Progress: Tate Modern Expansion / Herzog & de Meuron
Currently under construction, it has been announced that the Herzog & de Meuron designed first phase of the new development of Tate Modern will open in the summer of 2012. The launch will be part of the London 2012 Festival which will be the culmination of the Cultural Olympiad.
Phase 1 of the development includes the opening of the former power station’s spectacular Oil Tanks – enormous circular spaces over thirty metres across and seven metres high. These massive industrial chambers have lain unused since the power station was decommissioned. They are now being transformed into what promise to be some of the most exciting new spaces for art in the world. A further series of neighbouring galleries will provide a range of new spaces for works from the Tate Collection, including two raw concrete galleries and a unique steel-lined gallery. The Oil Tanks will also act as innovative social and learning spaces, as well as being equipped for a diverse programme of live performances and events, including a crush bar and full back of house facilities.
Acoustic Composition / Nicolas Dorval-Bory + Raphaël Bétillon
Nicolas Dorval-Bory & Raphaël Bétillon have recently been awarded second prize for their design of a hotel in Jurmala, Latvia. The duo may sound familiar, as last year, we featured their artificial landscape of clouds which created an experiential journey along the banks of the Garonne in Toulouse. For their latest project, Dorval-Bory and Bétillon have studied the relationship between the city and music and sound, to experiment with a gradation from the most structured musical composition to nature’s acoustic chaos by way of an architectural point of view.
More about the hotel design after the break. (more…)
Zaha Hadid Architects Launch iPhone & iPad App
On October 2nd Zaha Hadid Architects launched their much anticipated (to us architecture nerds anyways) iPhone and iPad App, made available through Apple and iTunes. This new App will allow users to browse through ZHA current portfolio of design and architecture. In a future update to the App there will be exclusive access and insight into some of the award winning buildings in the form of interactive guides (coming soon) to be used when visiting Zaha Hadid’s buildings.
Update: Spaceport America / Foster + Partners
In the summer of 2009, we shared Foster + Partners and URS Corporation spaceport project in New Mexico. The structure, which is the first spaceport in history, will host commercial operations by private space travel companies, such as Virgin Galactic. Today, we are sharing an update of the project as the Spaceport enjoyed its dedication ceremony a few days ago. Designed to meet LEED certification, The 110,000-plus square foot facility will feature energy-efficient techniques such as earth-tubes that will pre-condition the air to reduce HVAC costs by 50-70%. The architects explained, “The sinuous shape of the building in the landscape and its interior spaces seek to capture the drama and mystery of space flight itself, articulating the thrill of space travel for the first space tourists.”
More images after the break.
SOILED: Skinscrapers / CARTOGRAM Architecture + Urban Design
Published by CARTOGRAM Architecture + Urban Design, The semiannual journal SOILED has released its second issue, entitled Skinscrapers. It is now available here, where you can order a printed copy from Lulu or download the free electronic version as a PDF [lower resolution]. Skinscrapers probes how our bodies interact with the spaces around them and how the spaces we inhabit can become extensions of our bodies. By focusing on the surface of the skin as a natural mediator, Skinscrapers navigates a continuum of scale, starting inside the gut, proceeding to the contours of the body, and culminating in the anthropomorphic city. More images and description after the break. (more…)
