Courtesy of Michael Kimmelman's Twitter Feed (@kimmelman)
Responding to the bevy of critics slamming LG Electronics for building their new headquarters in the Palisades in New Jersey (half an hour north from NYC), Lee Rosenbaum, the Palisades-resident and architecture blogger known as CultureGrrl, maintains that "When it comes to preserving the 'pristine Palisades,' the boat has already sailed." Since LG's planned strip will be located on what is, according to Rosenbaum, already "a very commercial strip," she suggests that "that the incensed defenders of the purportedly unspoiled beauty of the Palisades [...] haven’t actually set eyes on them." Check out the images of her neighborhood as well as her very interesting Twitter tussles with The New York Times' Michael Kimmelman, Vanity Fair's Paul Goldberger, and New York Magazine's Justin Davidson at her blog, and let us know what you think of the debate in the comments below.
In 2009 we reached out to our readers across the globe and asked "What does your office look like?" From transparent tubes (like Selgas Cano's popular studio) to wide-open spaces (like BIG's offices in Copenhagen), we learned that the projects we publish every day are produced in all kinds of settings. But has anything changed over these few years?
Our friends at Mecanoo have shared a fascinating mini-documentary exploring the complex brickwork on display in their latest project in Boston's Dudley Square, the Dudley Municipal Center (nearing completion).
Called "Boston Bricks with a Dutch Touch," this documentary features interviews with everyone involved in the project - from construction workers to architects - and focuses on the difficulty of using brick in this elaborate manner. Enjoy the video above and check out some fantastic images after the break.
A recent article from The New York Times confirms something we've all long-suspected. A Pritzker translates into big bucks. Demand for Shigeru Ban's Manhattan buildings has soared since his awarding of the prize. The New York Times reports that page views of the Metal Shutter Houses, for example, have quadrupled on the listings site Streeteasy.com. Why? The Pritzker name carries weight:
MASS has just released the third video in their Beyond the Building series, which examines how architecture and design can positively impact our world, beyond buildings (check out the first video here and the second here). The latest - "Ilima: Beyond Sustainability" - explores MASS's collaboration with the African Wildlife Foundation as well as local masons to build a primary school in the rural Congolese village of Ilima, where, due to its remote location, practically all materials must be sourced locally.
Videos
Render for The BIG U, "The Harbor Berm," an elevated path through the park. Image Courtesy of rebuildbydesign.org
Yesterday BIG, along with 9 other teams including OMA and WXY, unveiled their proposals for "Rebuild by Design," a competition which tasks teams with improving the resiliency of waterfront communities through locally-responsive, innovative design. Each proposal was required to be "flexible, easily phased, and able to integrate with existing projects in progress." As Henk Ovink, the Principal of "Rebuild by Design" as well as the Senior Advisor to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan, stated: "Rebuild by Design is not about making a plan, but about changing a culture." The winners will be announced later this spring.
BIG's proposal, The BIG U, is rooted in the firm's signature concepts of social infrastructure and hedonistic sustainability. It envisions a 10-mile protective system that encircles Manhattan, protecting the city from floods and storm water while simultaneously providing public realms specific to the needs of the city's diverse communities. Bjarke Ingels states: "We asked ourselves: What if we could envision the resilience infrastructure for Lower Manhattan in a way that wouldn’t be like a wall between the city and the water, but rather a string of pearls of social and environmental amenities tailored to their specific neighborhoods, that also happens to shield their various communities from flooding. Social infrastructure understood as a big overall strategy rooted in the local communities.”
The National Building Museum (NBM) has announced that BIG has designed a 61x61 foot maze to be housed in the building's grand atrium from July 4th to September 1st of this year. According to the NBM's website, the labyrinth's Baltic birch plywood walls, which stand 18 feet high at the maze's periphery, descend as you make your way towards the center. From the core, then, visitors receive a view of the entire layout - and a better understanding of how to get back out.
According to Bjarke Ingels, "The concept is simple: as you travel deeper into a maze, your path typically becomes more convoluted. What if we invert this scenario and create a maze that brings clarity and visual understanding upon reaching the heart of the labyrinth?" Of course, those uninterested in the challenge of figuring out the maze can peek down on it from the Museum's second and third floors - but where would be the fun in that?
More images, diagrams and drawings after the break!
SuralArk Sketch. Image Courtesy of Austin + Mergold
Socrates Sculpture Park and The Architectural League of New Yorkhave announced that Austin+Mergold have won “Folly 2014” – an annual competition among emerging architects to design and build a large-scale project for public exhibition at Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City – with their project SuralArk, an installation that is "part ship, part house."
The annual “Folly” program strives to give emerging architects and designers the opportunity to build public projects that explore the boundaries between architecture and sculpture. This year's proposal beat out 171 submissions from 17 countries; it was selected by a jury made up of Chris Doyle, Artist; John Hatfield, Socrates Sculpture Park; Enrique Norten, TEN Arquitectos; Lisa Switkin, James Corner Field Operations; and Ada Tolla, LOT-EK.
SuralArk will open on May 11th through August 3rd. Learn more about the project after the break.
“The building industry is one of the most polluting and inefficient industries out there,” Hedwig Heinsman of Dus Architects tells The Guardian's Olly Wainwright, “With 3D-printing, there is zero waste, reduced transportation costs, and everything can be melted down and recycled. This could revolutionise how we make our cities.”
Working with another Dutch firm, Ultimaker, Dus Architects have developed the KamerMaker (Room Maker), a 3D Printer big enough to print chunks of buildings, up to 2x2x3.5 meters high, out of hotmelt, a bio-plastic mix that's about 75% plant oil. The chunks can then be stacked and connected together like LEGO bricks, forming multi-story homes whose designs can be adapted according to users' needs/desires. For Dus' first project, they've taken as inspiration the Dutch canal house, replacing hand-laid bricks with, in Wainwright's words, "a faceted plastic facade, scripted by computer software."
Site of the potential Guggenheim Helsinki.. Image Courtesy of Apple Map View
The Art Newspaper reports that the Guggenheim will launch an international competition on June 4th to find an architect to design a satellite in Helsinki, Finland focused on "Nordic and international architecture and design, and their connection contemporary art."
Mies van der Rohe & Philip Johnson in front of a model of the Seagram Building in 1955. Image Courtesy of Society of Architecture Photography (SAP)
In response to the recent popularity of "selfies" in social media, The Society of Architecture Photography (SAP) has racked their archives to release a few rare images of what the society is calling "architecture selfies" - images taken by architects in front of their works. SAP's Director, Chantelle Archambault, told us: "We weren't sure if we would find any at all, but we were pleasantly surprised to find seven - even one of Le Corbusier at Chandigarh in 1961. I suppose it's only natural - architects consider travel an integral part of their creative process, and a pilgrimage to a built work is one of the most rewarding experiences an architect can claim."
See all the newly released "architecture selfies" - including photographs of Mies van der Rohe, Louis Kahn, and more - after the break...
Federico Babina, the illustrator behind the extremely popular ARCHIST and ARCHICINE, has just released his latest project: ARCHIPORTRAIT, "an artistic representation of 33 architects, in which the faces and the expressions are made of their architecture." As Babina says, "The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the protagonist through his aesthetic."
See all the portraits - from Corbu to Foster to Gehry and more - after the break.
Egg designed by Morphosis. Image Courtesy of http://thebigegghunt.org/
Fabergé's Big Egg Hunt, the world's largest egg hunt (according to their site), launched today in New York City. Over 200, three-foot tall eggs have been hidden across the city as part of a charity event; you can download a free smartphone app to try and locate them yourself. Architecture enthusiasts may want to head out to Soho & Hudson Square, where eggs designed by Grimshaw and Morphosis have been hidden, or the Upper East Side to find Zaha Hadid's. All of the eggs will be on display in Rockefeller Center from April 18 through 26.
The task of the competition was to create additional space for the media company, particularly its digital offers, and thus design a workplace fit for the future of online media. Koolhaas' design, which features a large 30-meter high atrium or "open valley" with interconnected terraces and public workspaces for both individual, collaborative, and mobile work, won favor with the jury for its forward-thinking concept. As Dr. Mathias Döpfner, Chief Executive Officer of Axel Springer SE, commented: “[Koolhaas] presented the conceptually and esthetically most radical model. The fundamental innovation of working environments will support the cultural transformation towards a digital publishing house."
For his part, Koolhaas had this to say: “It is a wonderful occasion to build in Berlin again, on this historical site of all places, for a client who has mobilized architecture to help perform a radical change…a workplace in all its dimensions.”
See more of OMA's winning proposal, after the break...
Last week, Frei Otto was announced as the 40th recipient of the Pritzker Prize, the latest in a long line of talented architects (as well as the first architect to ever receive the Prize posthumously). Learn more about the Prize and its winners after the break!
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