Archive for February 2010

Kieran Timberlake’s London embassy reflects inevitable irony of diplomatic architecture

Ambassador, you are spoiling our view of the Thames with this boring glass cube.
Is Kieran Timberlake’s winning design for the new American embassy in London really as bad as Lord Richard Rogers thinks?  Even though the public only has access to a few renderings of each proposal (and as a judge in the competition, Rogers [...]

Detroit Parcel Survey sets stage for something resembling progress

Thanks to the efforts of a few groups and many volunteers, Detroit just completed what is surely a prerequisite to crafting a coherent plan of urban rejuvenation: it took an inventory.  Specifically, volunteers combed Detroit’s streets to determine and document the condition of Detroit’s nearly 350,000 residential parcels (not including buildings w/ more than 4 [...]

Why not make Chicago Spire’s hole an inverted Guggenheim?

In light of the fact that Chicago (well, the Chicago region) is first among cities that can boast as backdrops for Frank Lloyd Wright’s legacy, I thought it only appropriate to take inspiration from him for fixing Chicago’s most recent, ill-fated, act of architectural braggadocio.
Among the thousands of real-estate developments that fell victim to changing economic [...]

Two cities, two very different bike plans (money-wise, anyway)

One city just passed a measure to spend roughly $600 million over 20 years on its bicycling infrastructure; one city is in the midst of planning similar improvements that, if fully built out, would cost an estimated $230 million.
The substantial difference between the two figures might lead you believe two things: that the $600 million [...]

Well that’s a surprise: “Olympics may fail to regenerate east London”

Olympics may fail to regenerate east London, report warns
As construction continues at the east London site for the 2016 Olympics, evidence continues to accumulate that, per tradition, London’s Olympic legacy may include a combination of unfulfilled promises, under-funded budgets, and forlorn facilities.
A committee of the Greater London Authority just released a entirely unsurprising report in which [...]

Is Architecture for Humanity still an upstart?

To the good fortune of many, no.  Ten years after being founded on a shoe-string with an insurgent ”design like you give a damn” mentality, Architecture for Humanity’s relief efforts in Haiti suggest that AFH is no longer a humanitarian group working on the fringes of disaster response.  And even if it was never completely accurate [...]

Seven cities primed for an architectural renaissance - New Orleans

Here is Part III in our 7-part series on architectural renaissance-ready American cities.  Previous entries: Buffalo, New York and Detroit, Michigan.
It would be easy to discuss the city of New Orleans without reference to its history prior to 2005; after all, it’s streets were so thoroughly soaked from just three days of water, wind, and [...]

Is bad photography to blame for Modern architecture preservation battles?

As arresting as the ruins of Sutton Scarsdale Hall are, I suspect that were they at risk of being torn down to make way for a couple condominiums, the mere mention of their age - 286 years - would go a long way to preserving them without the aid of photography.  (Sutton Scarsdale Hall is no [...]

About that architectural renaissance; now Buffalo’s church buildings are leaving town

When Buffalo made the cut as one of seven cities that are primed for an architectural renaissance, it was understood that isolated instances of demolition would inevitably play a role in its rebirth.  Abandoned homes, obsolete institutional and commercial buildings, that sort of thing.  But it was not anticipated that rebirth would happen due to addition by subtraction [...]

Are “Architect Barbie” dolls really the best way to get girls into architecture?

Possibly.  Mattel is holding an on-line vote (here) to determine what profession Barbie will try out next.  The choices:  architect, environmentalist, surgeon, news anchor, and computer engineer.
And it turns out that there are many people in western New York who think the contest is an excellent opportunity to attract girls to the architecture profession.  At [...]

 
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