Earlier this week at a meeting given by the Eisenhower Memorial Commission, Frank Gehry unveiled a revamped design for the controversial Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial for the Mall at the base of Capitol Hill, Washington D.C. This redesign responds to strong family objections in which Gehry’s vision had been criticized for largely misrepresenting the strength and achievements of the former Commander in Chief (check out our previous coverage of the controversial memorial and its heated meeting on March 20 here). After being selected to design the memorial in 2010 by the Eisenhower Memorial Commission, Gehry looked to highlight the President’s great achievements as a source of inspiration to children, to “give them courage to pursue their dreams and to remind them that this great man started out just like them.”

The original design featured an 80-foot high colonnade from which large metal tapestries hang, and a statue depicting Eisenhower as a youth gazing upon his future accomplishments.  To Gehry, the memorial celebrated a hero who was deeply proud of his Kansas roots and an icon children could identify with; to Eisenhower’s surviving family members, particularly granddaughters Susan and Anne Eisenhower, the design diminished the President’s accomplishments by depicting Ike as a “dreamy boy”.

More about the new design after the break.

The project “Living in the City in the City” by the team composed by Paolo Brescia and Tommaso Principi (architecture), Margherita Del Grosso (architecture), Openfabric (landscape), Marco Manzitti (urban marketing), Buro Happold (energy and environmental strategies), D’Appolonia (infrastructures), and Doro Dietz (visualization) recenlty won the international design competition organized by the Municipality of Genoa for the enhancement of Via XX Settembre. The idea of the project promotes a strong sense of self-identification by the Genoese, recovering the essential meaning of living seen as taking care of their city. More images and architects’ description after the break.

The Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies (FAPE) recently announced that it will honor architect I.M. Pei with the fourth annual Leonore and Walter Annenberg Award for Diplomacy through the Arts. The award will be presented at a dinner at the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Reception Rooms today, May 15, 2012. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will host FAPE’s members at the event, and FAPE Chairman Jo Carole Lauder, will present the award to Mr. Pei. The award was established to recognize American individuals who have demonstrated long-term excellence and creative innovation, and recent past honorees include: Agnes Gund, and Mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg. More information on the award after the break.

Thousands of architects crammed into the grand ballroom of the Walter E. Washington Convention Center this morning to kick-off the 2012 National Convention hosted by the American Institute of Architects. Invigorating speeches, led by AIA President Jeff Potter, urged architects to re-envision the profession and question the role of today’s architect. Although the economic downturn has caused many hardships, it presents a unique opportunity for architects to reshape the profession.

In her recent Next American City article, “An IPO for Cities”, Diana Lind proposes employing the financial mechanisms of Wall Street to fund urban development and maintain public infrastructure. This would be fundamentally dangerous to already fragile municipal finance systems.

Is it possible that, now four years in, we still haven’t learned anything from Depression 2.0? Is Wall Street, the cause celebre of our financial system’s downslide, really a good model for funding our cities? Would this go over well in Europe?

Cities are struggling, but raising capital through a financial tool designed to infuse cash into corporations is not the answer. Cities neither function like publicly-traded corporations nor were they intended to perform in such manner.

Today, over 17,000 architects and designers, contractors and project managers, magazines and bloggers (including us) will converge on the Capital for the American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) 144th National Convention, Design Connects. So let’s take a moment to reflect on this Association’s long history, intertwined with our nation’s history, and look at how it’s evolved to become both a vital resource for working/emerging architects and the voice of the architecture profession today.

The new extension for the Crossroad Offices by OFIS Arhitekti acts as a crossroad regulator between the existing villa and its approach from the street on the south side and the underground parking on the east side. The actual form derives from the main logical directions on the site to the main destinations as the new volume is positioned behind the existing villa with individual cut outs, ‘green bays’, in function of the extended external park coming into the pavilion. Inside they form divisions between internal spaces and create dynamic, light and calming atmosphere. More images and architects’ description after the break.

According to its Web Site, The American Institute of Architects (AIA) aims to be two things for the architecture profession: a resource and a voice.

There’s no doubt that as a resource, the AIA plays its part well. But what does it mean to be a “voice”? Can an association speak for a profession? And, if so, what is it saying?

Today, over 17,000 architects and designers, contractors and project managers, magazines and bloggers (including us) will converge on the Capital for the AIA’s 144th National Convention, Design Connects. Over the course of three days, connections will be made, conversations had, and three keynote speakers present.

If the AIA represents how we conceptualize and communicate architecture, then let’s take a closer look at those speakers who will be its living mouthpieces: a famed historian, a member of the Obama administration, and the architects who participated in the 9/11 Memorials. The past, the present, the future. Taken together, they tell a story – of where we’ve been, yes, but, more importantly, where we’re going.

And, we are back with our monthly updates of the Architecture Billings Index. Last month looked promising as March marked the fifth consecutive positive rating. However, April’s index has been calculated as 48.4 – a drop from March’s 50.4. The index has been a roller coaster ride of slight positive trends followed by negative setbacks, and AIA Chief Economist, Kermit Baker, explains, “Considering the continued volatility in the overall economy, this decline in demand for design services isn’t terribly surprising. Also, favorable conditions during the winter months may have accelerated design billings, producing a pause in projects that have moved ahead faster than expected.”

More about April’s index after the break.

‘SHIFTS: The Economic Crisis and its Consequences for Architecture’ is an exhibition currently on display until June 9 at The Architecture Foundation in London. Presented by Rotterdam/Copenhagen-based Powerhouse Company and critic and architectural historian Hans Ibelings (the Architecture Observer), the exhibit illustrates the far-reaching impacts of new economic circumstances on architecture’s recent past, troubled present and unknown future acknowledging the onset of an imminent housing crisis in London, and the continuing shrinkage of the architectural profession in the UK. More information on the exhibition after the break.

The APPLIED Research Through Fabrication competition is seeking proposals that actively connect academia, the profession and the fabrication industry in the Continuing Research category and in the Speculative Proposal category new start-up projects. Through a panel of experts we propose to identify projects that warrant a higher degree of realization and exhibit them to foster a discussion that engages an audience in our region and beyond. From this selection a final project will be selected and optimized with a team of experts for the purpose of full-scale production. The deadline for submissions is June 2. To register and for more information, please visit here.

RIBA recently launched a new photography competition open to entries from all RIBA members in any category. With the theme, Architecture 2012, the RIBA invites images that capture any interpretation of architecture in whatever form – the inspiring, the beautiful, the intriguing or even the bizarre. Ten winning images will be selected by judges including Morley von Sternberg, architectural and portrait photographer and Angela Brady, RIBA President. The closing date for entries is June 6 at 12pm. For more information, please visit here.

The main idea behind the design for the S.Deer Corporate Headquarters building was to create a world of fashion underlining the lifestyle the retail company stands for. As fashion is not just about clothing, the new S.Deer headquaters should not just be about administration. Inspired by S.Deer’s appearance design, Prechteck‘s proposal implemented rotated cubes as a formal element in their design. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Ground will be broken today, Tuesday, May 15, 2012, for Skidmore Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM)’s newest supertall building. The 96-story-tall CTF Tianjin Tower uses undulating curves to subtly express its three programmatic elements while presenting a bold monolithic expression on the TEDA district skyline outside Tianjin, China. The 1,740-feet (530-meter) tall tower houses offices, 300 service apartments and a 350-room, 5-star hotel beneath its boldly arched top. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Gustafson Guthrie Nichol (GGN), with Crosby Schlessinger Smallridge (CSS) of Boston, were recently announced as the recipients of the biennial Tucker Design Award for 2012 for their North End Parks in Boston, MA. First presented in 1977, the award is a nationally recognized architectural design award in both the building and landscape industries and honors those whose work demonstrates excellence in concept, design, construction and use of natural stone. More information on the awards after the break.

Today, Skidmore Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) broke ground on yet another supertall building in China. The 96-story-tall CTF Tianjin Tower is subtly defined by undulating curves that shape its three programmatic elements while presenting a bold monolithic presence on the TEDA district skyline outside Tianjin. The 1,740-feet (530-meter) tall tower houses offices, 300 service apartments and a 350-room, 5-star hotel beneath its boldly arched top.

According to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), the CTF Tianjin Tower will be the fourteenth tallest skyscraper built by 2020. Continue reading for more.

Australian architect Andrew Maynard, co-director of Andrew Maynard Architects, has shared with us his article “Work/life/work balance”, published first on Parlour. “Many women leave the profession due to the difficult combination of poor work cultures, long hours and low pay. But these conditions affect everyone – women and men – as well as the viability of the profession as a whole. Andrew Maynard sets out the issues and challenges the profession to end exploitative and exclusionary working practices.”

It is time for architectural work practices to grow up. We must stop deluding ourselves that architectural employees are anything other than a contemporary exploited labor force.

Epicurus argued that humans needed only three things in life to be happy – friends, freedom and an analyzed life. All evidence indicates that Epicurus had a rather good time while he was around. Now he is dead. I wonder if Epicurus became a senior associate at Philosopher & Associates Pty Ltd before he died? Surely this was a priority. Does contemporary architectural employment deny us our happiness; our friends, freedom and the opportunity for an analyzed life? Many would argue that being employed in architecture and the pursuit of happiness are irreconcilable. It can reasonably be argued that most architects, and almost all recent graduates, are working in conditions that are unhealthy, unsustainable and exploitative.

Continue reading after the break.

With the forthcoming release of Rhino 5.0, RhinoScript will be moving to a new syntax: Python.  The new, more intuitive interface for manipulating Rhino from the inside gives us the opportunity to quickly and easily create a wide variety of complex systems based on simple rules that are easily implemented with no prior programming experience.

We introduce RhinoScript for absolute beginners, including the basics of programming techniques (variables, flow control, etc.) as well as the working knowledge of how Rhino represents geometrical objects such as points, curves, surfaces and even text. We then move quickly into techniques for automation and generative design which address the specific ways in which each participant can use Rhino.Python.

Taking place today, May 15th from 6:30-8:00pm is the last event hosted as part of the Vertical Urban Factory: East Asia exhibition at New York University. The exhibition focuses on the impact of global economies on the physical space of industries and aims to stimulate ideas for reintegrating the vertical factory and places of production into the urban fabric both programmatically and economically. This last event features a conversation with LA-based German architect Sebastian Knorr, whose innovative work is featured as part of the exhibition. Some of the works featued on ArchDaily include Inotera Headquarters & Production Facility and Casa Son Vida. With an enviable portfolio of projects in Taiwan, Singapore, and China, Knorr has been building vertical in Asia for the last two decades.

According to Spillman Farmer Architects‘ blog “Speaking of Architecture“, Lynette Jackson aka Flickr user Page67_Lynette Jackson uses her iphone to document, design and publish images of the built environment around her through Instagram. Taking a series of images that zoom deeper and deeper into the nuances of architectural form and space, Jackson’s use of pop-art imagery and graphic tools bring out details that otherwise go unnoticed and creates a narrative about each individual work of architecture that she documents.

Follow us after the break for a selection of images from her work.

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This next Wednesday 16th, the book “Resilience”, number 32 from the Pamphlet Architecture series will be launch at the Architectural Association Bookshop.

The competition for Pamphlet Architecture 32 centred on the theme of resilience. By addressing the capacity to cope, the ability to bounce back, and the mitigation and management of risk, participants were asked to showcase a fresh understanding of the architectural opportunities found in resilience. James A Craig and Matt Ozga-Lawn’s winning entry successfully takes on the topic through an investigation of the ravaged city of Warsaw. By identifying, interrogating and ultimately reinforcing both the physical and immaterial conditions of the landscape, the project allows the space to become something new and yet hold on to what it is, truly exhibiting resilience.

Following with the films we will recommend every week, this time we want to introduce “Blade Runner”. Another classic from the ’80 that shows a future Los Angeles with an atmosphere that intents to shape the urban space within which we will move in the current century. The soundtrack, composed by Vangelis deserves to be mentioned as it plays a fundamental role in the comprehension of this futuristic American city.

More info after the break.