Vietnam, the new spot for Western architects

SOM has six projects in Vietnam, including Green Tech City, in Hanoi. The master plan features two villages and a lush park that will act as a sponge for rain runoff.

Perkins Eastman has conceived a 229-acre residential district that will be part of North An Khanh New City, a new mixed-use development in Hanoi designed to accommodate 30,000 inhabitants.

In Ho Chi Minh City, Carlos Zapata Studio and EE&K (now owned by Perkins Eastman) are working on a 7.5 million-square-foot development dubbed Ma Lang Center.

It might have been unthinkable as a place to do business just a few decades ago, when half of the country was at war with the United States. It doesn’t have the resources of China, its booming neighbor to the north. And its communist government might not appeal to citizens from capitalist nations. 

But quietly, Vietnam has in recent years become a hot spot for many Western architects, as work in their home countries remains elusive. About two dozen North American and European firms now have projects in the Southeast Asian nation, including Foster + Partners, HOK, and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM). And some are opening permanent offices there, according to architects working in the country.

Vietnam is “starting to dip its toe into the pool with more Western buildings, because it wants to make a mark on the international scene,” says architect Anthony Montalto, a principal with Chicago-based Carlos Zapata Studio. “There is definitely an opportunity to try something fresh.”

Two of his firm’s buildings — reportedly among the first by U.S. designers to be built in Vietnam — appear strikingly different from the low-slung and boxy structures in the country’s cities. Its 68-floor Bitexco Financial Tower, completed in 2010 in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), features a helipad jutting like a diving board from its glass-walled upper stories. And in Hanoi, the firm’s 450-room waterfront Marriott, which resembles a crooked horseshoe if viewed from above, is now under construction.

Many of the opportunities in Vietnam entail urban planning. Unlike buildings, master plans do not require collaboration with licensed local architects, perhaps making them easier for Westerners to take on, according to sources. 

Text and pictures references:

http://archrecord.construction.com/news/2011/07/110722-Vietnam.asp

Una muestra sobre la historia de Barracas, Buenos Aires

Iglesia de Santa Felicitas, en Barracas. Foto posteada por Magda Paladino en flickr.com

Plaza España en Barracas. Imagen de letralia.com

Comparto a mis lectores esta nota de Cynthia Palacios para La Nación:

Recorrer el sinuoso pasillo central del Hospital Británico es como caminar tres siglos de historia. Allí, el antiguo sanatorio y la Junta de Estudios Históricos de Barracas inauguraron la muestra "Contrastes de Barracas. Un recorrido fotográfico por su historia y sus tradiciones", que repasa la vida del barrio en imágenes.

La exposición fue ideada por el Hospital Británico, como un homenaje al barrio que acompaña sus días desde hace más de 120 años. Está dividida en ejes temáticos que desfilan por los capítulos más distintivos del lugar, como su vida social, las fachadas y los edificios históricos, entre otros. Todas escenas representativas que dan cuenta de los acontecimientos principales que impactaron en la vida de sus vecinos y que contribuyeron a formar una identidad propia.

La combinación de fotos históricas con otras más actuales muestran el contraste: cómo fue cambiando la fisonomía del barrio a través de los siglos. Basta de Demoler y Proteger Barracas, dos organizaciones que tratan de salvaguardar el patrimonio de la ciudad, acompañan al hospital y a la junta en esta iniciativa.

Las fotos exhibidas -muchas de ellas inéditas- pertenecen a varios legados, por ejemplo el Archivo General de la Nación, el Archivo Enrique H. Puccia, u otras que son propias del hospital.

El comienzo y el final de la muestra en el Hospital Británico marcan dos hitos históricos para el barrio: la inauguración fue el 1° de junio, porque ese día, en 1580, se fundó la ciudad de Buenos Aires, y el cierre se realizará el 30 de agosto, porque en esa fecha, pero de 1853, se creó el Primer Juzgado de Paz de Barracas al Norte, lo cual dio nacimiento al barrio.

"El barrio era muy distinto. Barracas era una zona de quintas de veraneo, con casas esporádicas, con una marcada diferencia entre dos clases sociales. En 1871, la terrible epidemia de fiebre amarilla azota el barrio y, en 1940, la gran inundación fue un momento dramático para la población barraquense", destacó Graciela Puccia, presidenta del archivo histórico que creó su padre.

Las imágenes más antiguas se remontan a fines del siglo XIX y principios del XX. "Se buscó plasmar desde lo embrionario de Barracas hasta la actualidad. Barracas fue uno de los primeros territorios que fueron habitados tras las dos fundaciones de la ciudad", señaló el gerente de Relaciones Institucionales del hospital, Sebastián Dates.

Barracas también tuvo gran influencia en la literatura. Los organizadores contaron que en sus paisajes transcurren El matadero, de Esteban Echeverría, y Amalia, de José Mármol. "Son fotos fuertes que sirven para entender el camino que, desde lo social, lo político y lo económico, nos transformó como sociedad", agregó Puccia.

La muestra se podrá visitar de lunes a viernes, de 12 a 18, en Perdriel 74. El hospital organiza visitas guiadas, especialmente pensadas para alumnos de escuelas primarias y secundarias del barrio. Las escuelas interesadas pueden llamar al 4309-6794 o mandar un mail a rrii@hbritanico.com.ar 

Basílica Sagrado Corazón, Barracas. Imagen bajada de Panoramio.com

Puente en Barracas. Foto bajada de http://utpba.org/2009/10/barracas-logia-masonica-hijos-del-trabajo/

http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1390885-un-viaje-fotografico-por-la-historia-del-barrio-de-barracas?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=titulares&utm_campaign=NLCult

ENR Construction.com Call for projects in USA

Best Projects 2011 Awards program! We are seeking entries for our annual award program which is dedicated to honoring the best construction projects and the companies that designed and built them in all 50 states. Projects compete in 18 specialized categories, ranging from civil/infrastructure to green building.

An independent jury of industry leaders in design and construction will judge the projects using five criteria, including safety, innovation and teamwork. The winners will be honored at an awards ceremony later in the year and will be featured in the regional editions of ENR. As well, projects deemed best in category will automatically compete in the Best of the Best Projects 2011, a national juried competition appearing nationally in ENR. One project will be selected by the ENR editorial team as Editors’ Choice and given top recognition.

Entries may be submitted by any of the firms working on the project, but the most successful entries are joint entries incorporating input from multiple key team members, such as the design firm, contractor and owner.

DUE DATE: August 1st

ELIGIBILITY

The project must be built in the U.S. (all 50 states not including territories)

The project must be or will be completed between August 1, 2010 and July 31, 2011.

A project with a construction-related fatality, regardless of contractor or trade, is not eligible.

Submitters may enter projects in only one category, but there is no limit to the number of projects allowed per submitting company.

Read more:

http://enr.construction.com/BestProjects/2011/

Center for Visual Arts in Colchester. By Rafael Viñoly

My architect friends, my husband and me have all the pleasure to know arch. Rafael Viñoly, who´s been born in Uruguay but studied and worked at our Facultad de Arquitectura, Diseño y Urbanismo in Buenos Aires. So, we don´t miss a single design by Rafael, and we used to have long conversations on his projects. I think up till now, our great favorite is the Forum of Tokyo. From architectural record:

The First Site centre for the visual arts is set to open in Colchester, Essex, in September, with architectural design and interiors by Rafael Vinoly, branding by Marcia Mihotich, wayfinding by Aukett Brockliss Guy and print materials by A Practice for Everyday Life.

The centre, which opens on 25 September, will be a home for the work of visual arts organisation First Site.

Designer and illustrator Marcia Mihotich has worked alongside First Site for the past nine years on various projects, designing lettering and publications as well as the advertising for upcoming exhibitions. She will also create the branding for the centre's in- house bar/restaurant.

http://archrecord.construction.com/yb/ar/article.aspx?story_id=160856915

All pictures from 

http://www.colchester.gov.uk/

Stavros Niarchos Cultural Center by Renzo Piano

Construction of the $803 million Stavros Niarchos Cultural Center will start later this year and conclude in 2015. The building will rise on the Saronikos Kolpos waterfront in southern Athens, within the new 42-acre Stavros Niarchos Park. Piano has folded the park over the structure, lifting the landscape to a height of 32 meters. SFNCC’s submerged interior will include a 1,400-seat theater for the Greek National Opera, as well as a 400-seat experimental performance space. The new building also replaces the 1832 National Library, providing a home for more than two million books.

REFERENCE (Article and pictures):

http://archrecord.construction.com/news/2011/06/110629-Stavros-Niarchos-Cultural-Center.asp

The Trascending Architecture Symposium. Washington DC

The Symposium will take place this Fall (October 6-8, 2011) at Catholic University of America School of Architecture and Planning. It is entitled “Transcending Architecture: Aesthetics and Ethics of the Numinous”. Attendance will be free of charge but you must register to secure a seat.

The “Transcending Architecture” symposium will consider the aesthetics and ethics that move us from the ordinary to the extraordinary, from the profane to the sacred. Far from avoiding the charged issues of subjectivity, society and intangibility, we will examine the phenomenological, symbolic, and designerly ways in which the holy gets fixed and transmitted through architecture. A remarkable group of presenters will provide attendees with ample opportunities for intellectual, spiritual, and professional growth. Confirmed speakers include Juhani Pallasmaa, Karsten Harries, Thomas Barrie, Karla Britton, Michael Crosbie, Lindsay Jones, Rebecca Krinke, and Maged Senbel.

More information at:

http://www.sacred-space.net/symposium/overview.htm

A town in honour of Ivo Andrić

Where the Drina flows with the full force of its green and foaming waters' ... the fabled 16th century stone bridge over the Drina river in Višegrad. Photograph: Mort Rosenblum/AP. Guardian.co.UK

I love the work of Emir Kusturica, being my favorite movie ¨Time of the gypsies¨. I also enjoy his music.

In a certain way, I´m related to the Yugoslavian culture, from my father in law´s family. My son´s name is Ivo, as a Yugoslavian word for Ivan, that´s John or Juan. 

The final scene in “Time of the Gypsies,” which uses the facade of the Milan Cathedral as a backdrop. The opera is an adaptation of Emir Kusturica’s 1988 award-winning movie. NYTimes.com

From guardian.co.uk, Kusturica´s new idea: a new town in honour of Nobel laurate Ivo Andric:

¨Work is set to begin building a new town inspired by the writing of Yugoslavian Nobel literature laureate Ivo Andrić, following plans by film director Emir Kusturica and the Republika Srpska's government.

Andrić, who won the Nobel in 1961, is best known for his novel The Bridge on the Drina, the inspiration behind the new town of Andrićgrad. Written by the author during the second world war, it tells of the three centuries of conflict the bridge of the novel's title has witnessed, situated as it is in the small Bosnian town of Višegrad.

Work on the town of Andrićgrad, which will be located within Višegrad, is due to start this week and to be completed by 2014, reported Serbian news agency Tanjug. Kusturica, who has won the Cannes Palme d'Or twice, told Balkan Insight that it would be "the biggest, most spectacular project of my life", with stone streets, gates and tower, encompassing a museum, library, theatre and memorial to Andrić . The project to build the 17,000-square metre town will be funded by the film director, and by the government of the Republic of Srpska.¨

Keep on reading:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/28/bosnian-novelist-new-town-ivo-andric

Lea el artículo en español:

¨El director de cine hizo las planos de un nuevo pueblo que será construido desde los cimientos, inspirado en la novela más famosa del más célebre escritor yugoslavo, Ivo Andrić, cuando se cumplen 50 años de recibiera el Nobel de Literatura. Una historia atravesada por la guerra que destruyó ciudades enteras.

Según Balkan Insight, Kusturica está planificando usar Andrićgrad en sus próximas películas Pancho Villa y El puente sobre el Drina. El director ya ha construido una aldea, Kustendorf, sobre el valle de Mokra Gora en Serbia occidental, que tiene una cancha de básquet subterránea, una biblioteca y un cine. "Un día, cuando estaba filmando, me fijé en un rayo de sol y pensé: Allí construiré un pueblo", le contó Kusturica a The Guardian en el 2005.¨

http://www.revistaenie.clarin.com/literatura/La_ciudad_que_sono_Kusturica_0_507549504.html

A treasure hidden below the Padmanabhaswamy temple

Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple. From http://www.dnaindia.com/

¨Round-the-clock police patrolling around the famous Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram was put in place on Monday as the stock-taking of priceless assets, hidden in the shrine’s cellars, by a Supreme Court-appointed panel resumed after a day's break.

The patrolling, monitored by an exclusive control room set up at the Fort police station, was enforced based on the decision taken by a high-level meeting convened by chief minister Oommen Chandy on Sunday.(...)The cellars of the shrine, managed by a trust controlled by the erstwhile Travancore royal family, has revealed invaluable wealth running into thousands of crores since the inventory got underway last week.

According to temple sources, the panel today made the list of articles in a chamber, which is frequently opened for using its jewellery, lamps and silver and brass platters for temple rituals.

A decision on searching one remaining chamber, which is seldom opened, was deferred as it required technical expertise and support to avoid damage to the structure. A decision on this was expected to be taken on Friday, the sources said.

Since the exercise started, five cellars had been examined and the list of articles found from them would be submitted to the apex court by the seven-member panel, which included two former high court judges.

A stunning range of gold ornaments, idols inlaid with precious stones, jewels, heaps of solid gold coins and silver and gold platters and lamps have been discovered from the cellars so far.¨

From:

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_padmanabhaswamy-temple-gets-round-the-clock-patrolling_1562330

Padmanabhaswamy temple. Photo by Rainer Haessner

Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu, maintained by the erstwhile Travancore Royal Family, and located within the East Fort in the city of Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala state, South India. The temple is one of 108 Divya Desams (Holy Abodes of Vishnu) principal centres of worship of the deity in Vaishnavism. The temple, constructed in the Dravidian style of architecture is referenced in the early medieval writings of the Tamil Alvar saints (6th-9th centuries CE), with structural additions to it made throughout the medieval period up to the 16th century CE.

The history of the temple dates back to the 8th Century. It is referenced in the Divya Prabandha canon of literature by the Tamil Alvar poets.

The foundation of the present gopuram was laid in 1566.The temple has a 100-foot,seven-tier gopuram. The temple stands by the side of a tank, named Padma Theertham (meaning the lotus spring). The temple has a corridor with 365 and one-quarter sculptured granite-stone pillars with elaborate carvings. This corridor extends from the eastern side into the sanctum sanctorum. An eighty-foot flag-staff stands in front of the main entry from the 'prakaram' (corridor). The ground floor under the gopuram (main entrance in the eastern side) is known as the 'Nataka Sala' where the famous temple art Kathakali was staged in the night during the ten-day uthsavam (festival) conducted twice a year, during the Malayalam months of Meenam and Thulam.

REFERENCE:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padmanabhaswamy_Temple

Lea la noticia en español:

http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1386613-hallan-un-tesoro-en-un-templo-de-la-india?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=titulares&utm_campaign=NLCult

Exposición multimedia sobre la historia del barrio La Boca

Hombres de trabajo en los astilleros que ya no están.  / Gentileza Eduardo Alvelo. La Nacion.com

¨A través de los relatos de antiguos vecinos del barrio y de viejas instituciones locales, con fotos y objetos, con imágenes, voces y sonidos, la exposición multimedia De La Boca, un pueblo crea un rompecabezas con un objetivo central: mantener viva la memoria de un emblemático barrio porteño.

La muestra, curada por Eduardo Alvelo, repasa la historia del barrio y su gente, desde fines del siglo XIX hasta los '80. La exposición propone conferencias sobre distintos aspectos de La Boca, como la arqueología o la gastronomía, la historia y el tango, sin descuidar el Riachuelo o las pinturas de Benito Quinquela Martín.

Entrar en la exposición es retroceder en el tiempo. Una serie de fotos repasa la mutación de Caminito. "Hay mucha historia de la ciudad que comenzó allí y hoy hay muchas instituciones que la pelean día a día, pese al olvido", explica Alvelo.

Alvelo es realizador de cine documental y vive un poco aquí y un poco en los Estados Unidos. "Esta muestra nació como desprendimiento de un documental que estoy haciendo y que rescata el testimonio de los viejos habitantes de La Boca", explica.

En una esquina, cuatro cuadros muestran un collage de postales viejas. Las luces de las cantinas sobre la calle Necochea, de noche, muestran una imagen que ya no se ve. "Ir a esa zona ahora es arriesgar tu vida", lamenta el curador.

Algunos objetos, como una medalla de plata de 1914 que se repartió en la inauguración del puente transbordador Nicolás Avellaneda o la actual Medalla del Bicentenario, que recibió el Ateneo Popular de La Boca, se suceden con un remo y con imágenes de los remeros del Club de Regatas Almirante Brown, que surcaban las aguas del Riachuelo. Antes de su contaminación, claro está. Como Oscar Almirón, que representó a la Argentina en los Juegos Olímpicos de Londres 1948.

Una sucesión de postales de los años 20, 30 y 40 muestran imágenes de La Boca que ya no es. Y se puede ver cómo las inundaciones cambiaban por completo el paisaje.

Los visitantes pueden disfrutar también de un documental con material inédito, que formará parte del que prepara Alvelo, con imágenes de los bomberos voluntarios de La Boca de 1911, de estibadores cargando y descargando y de Quinquela pintando a la orilla del río.

Hasta el 10 de julio puede visitarse en el Salón de Exposiciones de la Corporación Buenos Aires Sur, en Bolívar 1268. De martes a domingos, con entrada libre y gratuita.¨

REFERENCIA

artículo de Cynthia Palacios en La Nación

http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1385577-postales-recuperan-la-memoria-de-la-boca?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=titulares&utm_campaign=NLCult

The importance of lightning rods or conductors

Some time ago, I posted this shot I´ve taken from the movie The Bride of Frankenstein, and I saw it as an artistic manifestation. Today, I´m thinking about the technical importance of the lightning rods, after reading about the children dead inside a classroom in Uganda. From Wikipedia.org:

¨A lightning rod (US, AUS) or lightning conductor (UK) is a metal rod or conductor mounted on top of a building and electrically connected to the ground through a wire, to protect the building in the event of lightning. If lightning strikes the building it will preferentially strike the rod, and be conducted harmlessly to ground through the wire, instead of passing through the building, where it could start a fire or cause electrocution. A lightning rod is a single component in a lightning protection system. In addition to rods placed at regular intervals on the highest portions of a structure, a lightning protection system typically includes a rooftop network of conductors, multiple conductive paths from the roof to the ground, bonding connections to metallic objects within the structure and a grounding network. The rooftop lightning rod is a metal strip or rod, usually of copper or aluminum. Lightning protection systems are installed on structures, trees, monuments, bridges or water vessels to protect from lightning damage. Individual lightning rods are sometimes called finials, air terminals or strike termination devices. The lightning rod was invented by Benjamin Franklin in the Americas in 1749 and, perhaps independently, by Prokop Diviš in Europe in 1754.¨

"Machina meteorologica" invented byVáclav Prokop Diviš worked like a lightning rod. Wikipedia.org

Wooden church with lightning rods and grounding cables. Wikipedia.org

Now, the sad news, excerpt from Guardian.co.UK:

¨Eighteen schoolchildren and their teacher have been killed in a lightning strike in Uganda, police said.

The country has one of the highest rates of lightning deaths in the world and its capital, Kampala, has more days of lightning per year than any other city, according to the World Meteorological Organisation.

The lightning hit the victims in a classroom at a school in Kiryandongo, 130 miles north of Kampala. Another 38 children were admitted to hospital.

The east African country has suffered several fatal lightning strikes in recent weeks during unseasonably heavy rains.

The deaths were debated in parliament on Monday, with MPs calling on the government to come up with strategy to deal with what several termed "a crisis". (...) Local meteorologists have criticised the government for not providing enough lightning conductors for buildings in storm hotspots.¨

Read the article in full:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/29/uganda-schoolchildren-killed-lightning

President's Park South Design Competition (Whashington DC)

Project by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates

The National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) invited five talented design firms to develop concepts to beautify the security components and improve the visitor experience at President’s Park South. This popular destination is located between the White House Grounds and Constitution Avenue, NW. Beginning Tuesday, June 21 and running through Monday, June 27, the public is invited to view the project teams’ designs online and at the White House Visitor Center (1450 Pennsylvania Ave, NW, Washington, DC). The center is open daily from 7:30 am – 4:00 pm. The public will be able to share their opinions online and at the visitor center.

Project by Reed Hilderbrand Associates

The firms developing proposals are:

Hood Design Studio, Oakland, CA

Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Brooklyn, NY

Reed Hilderbrand Associates, Watertown, MA

Rogers Marvel Architects, New York, NY

SASAKI, Watertown, MA

On Tuesday, June 28 NCPC will host a public showcase where representatives from the five design firms will present their concepts for President’s Park South. All public opinions submitted by 4:00 p.m. on Monday, June 27 will be shared with NCPC’s Interagency Security Task Force, which will announce the competition winner on June 30, 2011.

Read more:

http://www.ncpc.gov/ppdc/

An old atomic plant in Germany converted into an amusing park

A couple of weeks ago, I had the joy  of knowing Germay would be closing its nuclear plants. And now, I've read this great article at Spiegel, one old atomic plant converted into an amusing park.

From Spiegel on line, an excerpt and pictures:

In the early 1970s, construction began in Germany on what was supposed to be the world's most technologically advanced nuclear power plant. But public protests and nuclear disasters elsewhere kept the plant from ever going online -- and then a Dutch developer with a dream arrived on the scene.

As far as the Germans are concerned, only a Dutchman could buy a nuclear power plant and transform it into an amusement park.

The complex in Kalkar wasn't just any old nuclear power plant, but rather a multi-billion-deutsche mark national symbol-turned-boondoggle. After initially being touted as proof of the ingenuity of German engineers, it then went on to symbolize the power of youthful resistance and, finally, the absurdity of political decision-making. Indeed, after being built for 8 billion deutsche marks (€4.1 billion; $5.9 billion), the complex known locally as "der Brüter" ("the breeder") was destined never to go online. In the wake of the Chernobyl disaster, it stood idle for years because nobody wanted to have anything to do with the enormous mountain of concrete. The plant went into partial operation in 1985, but it never received nuclear materials.

Dreams from Abroad

Then everything changed. Karl-Heinz Rottman, 57, a former employee, recounts how he and his colleagues were just about to eat lunch together in 1995 when Dutch developer Hennie van der Most drove up. At the time, Rottman says, morale among the workers was low and they were full of disappointment. But then this white-haired man got out of his black Mercedes and said: "Hi, I'm Hennie. I'm gonna buy everything here." Rottman says his first thought was: "Sure, go for it."

And that's just what Hennie did. The son of a farmer and junk dealer from rural Holland borrowed a couple of million deutsche marks to buy the nuclear power plant that had been heralded as a source of infinite energy for the industrial age. Its uranium core was supposed to produce more plutonium than the reactor needed, meaning that it could forever produce energy that was as clean and safe as possible.

But instead of getting the reactor up and running, Hennie began to gut the place. Massive amounts of circuitry, pumps, turbine and other equipment landed on the trash heap. The engineers who had settled in the area could hardly bear to watch as their creation was destroyed. And the job was massive -- in order to be able to respond to worst-case scenarios involving multiple failures, nuclear power plants have three and sometimes even five sets of duplicate back-up systems. Even now, 15 years later, only a third of the reactor has been converted into amusement park.

Read the article by Jorg Diehl:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,766424,00.html

Dollar bills lining walls inside the Guggenheim Museum, New York

German artist Hans-Peter Feldmann lined with 100,000 dollar bills the walls of the Guggenheim Museum in New York as part of an exhibition dedicated to the institution to have won the last edition of the Hugo Boss Prize.

The award recognizes achievements in contemporary art and is endowed with $ 100,000, exactly the amount the artist decided to change dollar bills and put them inside one of the rooms of the museum.

The installation can be seen till November 2nd.

Picture from:

http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1381866-el-guggenheim-se-cubrio-de-dolares?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=titulares&utm_campaign=NLCult

San Francisco approves Treasure Island urban plan

The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a massive new neighborhood proposed for Treasure Island.

In the 11-0 vote the board rejected claims by groups such as the Sierra Club that the project would harm the environment and exacerbate traffic problems.

Instead, members of the board said the $1.5 billion project would breathe new life into the old Navy base in the middle of San Francisco Bay.

The plan, almost 15 years in the making, calls for 19,000 new residents to live in a new neighborhood wrapped in open space and dotted with high-rises, one as tall as 450 feet. Residential units would be within walking distance of shops, a grocery store, a school and new ferry terminal.(...)

Over the next 20 to 30 years, they intend to morph the island from an aging former Navy base into a state-of-the-art neighborhood with a mix of affordable and market-rate homes, all designed to save water and energy.

Massive weight will compact the soil, keeping the island stable during earthquakes. A seawall will guard against sea level rise and possible tsunamis. Plans call for the ramps to and from the Bay Bridge to be redesigned and dedicated bus lines to run from the island to downtown San Francisco.

Excerpt and pictures from:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/06/08/MNN71JQVU3.DTL

ICOMOS counseling against Le Corbusier´s buildings

The National Museum of Western Art. Photo: yisris.

When he was a young architect, my husband had a fellowship in UNESCO to research for ICOMOS. Of course, many years ago. He was astonished to learn about the news of Le Corbusier´s buildings´ being rejected, and, as always, we began a discussion on it. He had the opportunity to visit some of Le Corbusier´s buildings, I hadn´t. So, I´m not saying anything, just partially reproducing the news from http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110528002670.htm:

¨An advisory body to UNESCO has counseled against registering 19 buildings designed by French architect Le Corbusier, including the National Museum of Western Art in Taito Ward, Tokyo, as world cultural heritage sites, it has been learned.

The recommendation was made by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), a cultural conservation organization, the central government's Cultural Affairs Agency said Saturday.

Ville Savoye, in Paris. Photo by valueyou, at Wikipedia.org

Notre Dam, Ronchamp. From alovelyworld.com

It is the first time ICOMOS has given such advice about a World Heritage-nominated site in Japan. As for why the 19 buildings should not be registered, ICOMOS claimed they do not clearly "demonstrate remarkable universal significance of the modern architectural movement" and that "Le Corbusier was not the only architect who promoted the modern architectural movement, in which many architects participated."

ICOMOS suggested, however, that three of the buildings--Villa Savoye in Paris, a Unite d'Habitation housing development in Marseille, France, and the Notre Dame du Haut chapel in Ronchamp, France--be nominated individually as examples of masterful architecture.

The National Museum of Western Art could potentially be added to the World Heritage register, according to ICOMOS, as a building that "shows the exchange of values that greatly influenced the development of architecture."

Read the full article:

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110528002670.htm

Cocktail Napkin Sketch Contest 2011. CALL FOR ENTRIES

Drawing by Jim Dawkins

From Architectural Record Construction:

If you are a licensed architect or related professional who practices in the United States, you can enter this remarkable contest. All you need is a white cocktail napkin and pen to demonstrate that the art of the sketch is still alive. Two grand prize winning submissions will be published in the October issue of Architectural Record and winners will receive a box of napkins with their sketch printed on it.

Grand prize winners will also receive a collection of pentel arts writing instruments valued at more than $200. Up to ten finalists receive a collection valued at more than $100. Winners and finalists will be seen in our online Cocktail Napkin Sketch Gallery.

http://archrecord.construction.com/call4entries/default.asp

Deadline is July 21, 2011

2010 Winner drawing of a gate from a Japanese garden by Truc Dang Manh Nguyen, an architect from Piedmont, California. 

2011 Buckminster Fuller Challenge. Architecting the future

Architecting the Future:

June 8-10, 2011

Revealing the 2011 winner is part of a three-day series of events featuring finalists, special guests, members of our esteemed jury, and our colleagues from the BFI community.

Wednesday June 8th, from 6-8pm

Join us for the 2011 Buckminster Fuller Challenge Finalist Presentations! Each finalist is providing a workable solution to the world’s most significant challenges; spanning ocean restoration, protecting indigenous knowledge, combating women’s illiteracy, and connecting the remote developing world to the communication grid.
They include: Blue Ventures FrontlineSMS Participatory Mapping in the Congo Basin TARA Akshar+
The evening will kick off with a keynote talk by Doors of Perception founder and internationally renowned design pioneer, John Thackara.
Location: Elebash Recital Hall, CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016 map

More information:
http://bfi.org/news-events/architecting-future-june-8-10-new-york-city

Hyper-Public Symposium. Harvard University

Hyper-Public: A Symposium on Designing Privacy and Public Space in the Connected World // June 9-10, 2011 // Harvard University

Hosted by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society

Technology is transforming privacy and reshaping what it means to be in public. Our interactions—personal, professional, financial, etc.—increasingly take place online, where they are archived, searchable, and easily replicated. Our activities in the physical worlds are digitized by the ubiquitous cameras operated by store-owners, government agencies and our friends, who post and tag pictures of us. We share our location both deliberately, via social media updates, and inescapably, via our location-aware telephones.

Discussions of privacy often focus solely on the question of how to protect privacy. But a thriving public sphere, whether physical or virtual, is also essential to society. The balance of social mores and personal freedom in these spaces is what makes cooperation and collective action possible.

Design reflects a society’s beliefs about private and public life. A city with welcoming parks, plazas and verandas expresses a public culture – and one where blank garage-door walls line empty streets does not. Yet design is also an agent of change. New media are our new public forums and the design of their interfaces affects what people reveal, wittingly or not. Design is essential in making legible the line between private and public, and in showing people the significance of the information they are revealing. Most importantly, in an era in which technology is collapsing the boundaries that maintained our privacy, we must understand how design can promote tolerance. For as our world becomes more public, it is only with heightened tolerance that we can maintain the freedom we value in privacy.

This symposium will bring together computer scientists, ethnographers, architects, historians, artists and legal scholars to discuss how design influences privacy and public space, how it shapes and is shaped by human behavior and experience, and how it can cultivate norms such as tolerance and diversity.

http://www.hyperpublic.org/about/

AIA NY Design Awards 2011: Architecture Honor Award Winners

Horizontal Skyscraper – Vanke Center. Shenzhen, China. Steven Holl Architects

APAP Openschool. Anyang, Korea. LOT-EK

Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant.Brooklyn, New York. A triventure of Greeley-Hansen, Hazen & Sawyer and Malcolm Pirnie in association with Ennead Architects

Sperone Westwater. New York, New York. Foster + Partners, Adamson Associates (Architect of record)

UCSF Dolby Regeneration Medicine Building. San Francisco, CA. Rafael Viñoly Architects, SmithGroup (Architect of record)

REFERENCE:

My selection of pictures from http://archrecord.construction.com/news/2011/04/110419-AIA-NY-Design-Award-Winners.asp

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin Celebrates 100 Years

Frank Lloyd Wright

Most architects are well acquainted with Taliesin, one of the most storied dwellings in America. Situated in the rolling countryside near Spring Green, Wisconsin, the 600-acre estate was Frank Lloyd Wright’s primary residence and studio for more than four decades. It also was the original campus for Wright’s architecture school.

This year marks Taliesin’s centennial — a remarkable birthday for a work of architecture that wouldn’t look out of place among today’s modern homes. “Like his Oak Park house, Wright used Taliesin as an opportunity to experiment,” says Anthony Alofsin, a noted Wright scholar. “He was constantly testing new ideas.”

Wright set out to build Taliesin in 1911 after many years in Chicago, bringing with him Mamah Borthwick Cheney, his mistress and former client. The architect, then 43 years old, was deeply connected to the bucolic site, as his Welsh relatives had settled in the area in the 1800s.

The house began as a wood-and-stone bungalow tucked into the brow of a hill (“Taliesin” is Welsh for “shining brow”); over the years, it grew into a 37,000-square-foot complex. Wright experts emphasize that Taliesin was intentionally never finished. “It’s a perfect demonstration of what organic architecture might mean: It’s constantly adapting to life,” says Sidney Robinson, a faculty member at the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture.

Taliesin’s tour season begins on April 28. In honor of the estate’s centennial, a series of special events will be held at the Wisconsin estate this year. For information, view the Taliesin preservation web site.

REFERENCE:

Excerpt from the article by Jenna M. McKnight All pictures downloaded from the article.

http://archrecord.construction.com/news/2011/04/110422-Taliesin.asp