A series of architectural videos at Worldarchitecture.org

Philip Johnson´s video will be released April 27th. Image from duchessfare.blogspot

Good news from World Architecture.org:

You are all invited to devote 20 minutes to architecture each week through our new online video series we will be serving. Owing to the membership profile of WAC we volunteered into the field of architectural education. As a part of our education mission, starting from 6 April 2011 and to be released in a weekly sequence, we will be offering a series of architectural films on our web site. The overarching theme of these films is "Patronage of Architecture". These films have been arranged in 20 minute sections and will have 12 episodes (plus introduction). The series will show the very inspiring examples of contemporary architecture from different countries and they endeavor to convey the various organizational forms of leadership in contemporary architecture.

http://www.worldarchitecture.org/files/

Hotel Lutetia: from the nazis to the jewish

The Hôtel Lutetia’s Art Deco facade. Photo by Olivier Amsellem

¨In occupied Paris, the Lutetia, draped in swastikas, was among the most notorious redoubts for Nazi officers, and last August it was purchased by a group led by the Jewish real estate mogul Alfred Akirov, an Israeli of Iraqi extraction. The $185 million sale was immediately hailed as a way of redeeming the hotel’s Nazi past.

Conceived by the directors of the neighboring Bon Marché department store, the Lutetia opened in 1910 as a rest stop for out-of-town shoppers. Its undulating stone facade was one of the first examples of the lavish eclecticism later known as Art Deco. From its inception, the hotel has been a frumpily elegant repository of Left Bank anecdotes and intrigues, the kinds you could spend a lifetime reading about while swishing espresso soot around the bottom of your cafe cup.

Dining room in Hotel Lutetia. Photo by Olivier Amsellem

Camp victims under the hotel´s chandeliers, 1945. Getty Images

When Oskar Reile, the Prussian spy catcher, first arrived at the hotel, in June of 1940, a German colonel greeted him with a glass of Champagne. (It probably was a mediocre one, since the staff had managed to secret away the best bottles behind a wall in the hotel’s cellar.) Reile was attached to the Abwehr, the German intelligence outfit with a headquarters in the Lutetia, which paid bonuses to informants for every Resistance member whom they betrayed. Interrogations would take place inside the hotel, in a room with a window that looked out onto the notorious Cherche-Midi prison, where torture victims reportedly were placed in tubs of water that were gradually brought to a boil.

Immediately after the war, the Lutetia was transformed into a “welcome center” for returning victims of the concentration camps. It was a horrible nexus of dashed hopes, with bulletin boards filled with faces of the missing and ghostlike camp victims wandering around in striped pajamas. The “Suite Française” author Irène Némirovsky’s two daughters went there in search of their parents. The older girl, Denise, ran desperately after a woman she mistook for her mother. She did not know that Némirovsky had died at Auschwitz three years earlier.

Alfred Akirov knows about all this history, but he does not seem particularly moved by it nor is he proud or boastful that a former Nazi hotel is now under Jewish ownership.¨

Reference:

excerpts from the article by Stephen Heyman for the New York Times

http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/21/hostel-takeover/?ref=style

Call for articles for The International Journal of Islamic Architecture (IJIA)

The International Journal of Islamic Architecture (IJIA) publishes bi-annually, peer reviewed articles on the urban design and planning, architecture and landscape architecture of the historic Islamic world, encompassing the Middle East and parts of Africa and Asia, but also the more recent geographies of Islam in its global dimensions. The main emphasis is on the detailed analysis of the practical, historical and theoretical aspects of architecture, with a focus on both design and its reception. The journal also aims to encourage dialogue and discussion between practitioners and scholars. Articles that bridge the academic-practitioner divide are highly encouraged.

While the main focus is on architecture, papers in other disciplines that explore architecture in the context of art, history, archeology, anthropology, culture, spirituality, religion and economics and so forth are also welcome. The journal is specifically interested in contemporary architecture and urban design in relation to social and cultural history, geography, politics, aesthetics, technology and conservation. Spanning across cultures and disciplines, IJIA seeks to analyze and explain issues related to the built environment throughout

the regions covered. The audience of this journal includes both practitioners and scholars. The journal will be published both online and in print. The first issue will be published January 2012.

IJIA is now soliciting manuscripts in the following categories:

Design in Theory - DiT manuscripts focus on the history, theory and critical analyses of architecture, urban planning and design and landscape architecture. Essays submitted should be a minimum of 5,000 words but not more than 8,000 words. (Notes and bibliography are included in the word count).

Design in Practice - DiP manuscripts focus on the practice of architecture, planning and landscape design. It is preferential that DiP papers focus on contextual and/or conceptual issues, analysis or critique of proposals or built projects. Submissions may also include interviews or practitioner reflections or lessons learned.

Manuscripts should range from 2,000 to 3,000 words.

Book, Media and Exhibition Reviews -For those are interested in writing book/media/exhibition reviews for IJIA , please submit your CV and your areas of expertise and interest and the books/media/exhibition you wish to review to Nancy Um, the Reviews Editor (nancyum@binghamton.edu) for consideration. Unsolicited reviews will not be accepted. The length of the reviews should generally not exceed 1000 words for one book review essay and no more than 1800 words for an essay that reviews multiple books.

Seminar and Conference Reviews -Seminar and conference review papers provide an overview and analysis of seminars and conferences that focus exclusively and partially on architectural and urban development, history and theory; and on the latest research and findings in Islamic art and architecture. Seminar and Conference review manuscripts should not exceed 1000 words.

Email the editors at ijia@intellectbooks.com for any additional questions. For information and guidelines on submission please visit theIJIA website: http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Journal,id=204/

http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/ijia

http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Journal,id=204/view,page=2/

CALL FOR PAPERS: Ethics & aesthetics of architecture & the environment

July 11th-13th 2012 – Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

The subject of aesthetics is often taken as dealing with questions of mere beauty, where the word ‘aesthetic’ is colloquially interchangeable with beauty and liking. Someone might, for instance, explain their liking the look of a particular object on the basis of its ‘aesthetics’. Interestingly, even within the specialised architecture discourse, the aesthetic is largely discussed on the basis of an object’s appearance. Yet, the aesthetic is not limited and should not be limited merely to the way things look. Any philosophically informed aesthetician, will contest this limited view, saying something along the lines of ‘the aesthetic is everything’. The aim of this conference is therefore in part to address this discursive limitation in architecture and related subjects by broadening the aesthetic discourse beyond questions relating to purely visual phenomena in order to include those derived from all facets of human experience.

In taking on the aesthetic in manner that pushes its considerations beyond the realm of mere beauty, questions of ethics often arise. Indeed Wittgenstein is quoted as saying, “ethics and aesthetics are one and the same” (1921: §6.421). Questions as to why, for instance a building’s form takes the shape it does, not only raises the more conventional aesthetic questions but also questions about what purpose or meaning the building serves beyond purely visual stimulation. Does the form for instance relate somehow to a social ideal or economic ideal? And if so, is this ideal something that its inhabitants subscribe to or are even aware of? In an effort to draw thinkers’ attention to the ethical role architecture plays as well as the ethical function architects play, the second part of this conference call addresses this often overlooked dimension of architecture.

Calling both philosophers and architects to grapple with questions regarding the ethical and aesthetic qualities of architecture, the hope is to propel the discourse beyond the limitations of a purely visual understanding of the architectural experiences. Such questions might include:

what is/ought to be pleasurable architecture and environmental experience?

how do/ought our experiences impact the aesthetics of architecture and environment?

how do/ought we appreciate architecture and environment?

how does/ought the ethical and aesthetic inform the understanding of architecture and environment?

what is/ought to be a good architect?

what is/ought to be a good architecture?

how does/ought architecture embody societal and cultural ethical codes?

Paper Abstracts should clearly address one of the highlighted themes above and be no more than 500 words.

Additionally please see the conference’s strand pages for more information about the Ethics and Aesthetics of Landscape and the Ethics and Aesthetics of Professional Practice as well as the Posters page for more information regarding poster submissions. Please see each strand’s themes and submission guidelines (same deadlines apply through out).

References:

Wittgenstein, L. (1921 ) Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus Abdingdon: Routledge.

Deadlines:

Abstracts: 28 October 2011

Notification of Acceptance: 06 January 2012

Full Papers: 30 March 2012

Early Registration: 30 April 2012

Organising Committee: Dr. Carolyn Fahey and Kati Blom

Advisory Board: Prof. Andrew Ballantyne, Dr. Ian Thompson, and Dr. Nathaniel Coleman

Administrative Support: Karen Livingston, Kim McCartney and Anne Fry

http://ispaconference.wordpress.com/

50th Anniversary of the Society for the Arts, Religion and Contemporary Culture‏: schedule for meetings

The creation of light. From http://www.sarcc.org/

The group will celebrate this history with two gatherings, slated for Thursday, May 12, and Friday and Saturday, November 11 and 12. Save these dates if you can be in the NYC area.

Details:

Thursday, May 12, 7pm A Wine Cellar Conversation: An ARC Tradition

Theopoetics and Poets: Scott Holland and poetry readings

Apt. at 120 E 81st St., NYC.

Friday, November 11, 8pm Saint Peter's Lutheran Church, 54th and Lexington, NYC

Birthplace of ARC in 1961

Aardvark Jazz Orchestra Concert--Mark Harvey, Director

Specially Composed Works

Saturday, November 12, 9am-5pm Exhibition, conversations and performances--Saint Peter's

Tobi Kahn, Nessa Rapaport, Ena Heller (MOBIA, NYC), Terry Dempsey (MOCRA, St. Louis), and many others.

6pm Gala Dinner--location tba.

Further details and registration information to be availagle later. Please call or write with any questions or concerns. See also their Facebook

<http://www.facebook.com/pages/Society-for-the-Arts-Religion-and-Contemporary-Culture/210026534421>

Delhi's Silent Witness

Illustration by arch. Matteo Pericoli.

What follows next, is a beautiful description of a busy street in Delhi, by Rana Dasgupta. From the New York Times, section ¨Windows of the World¨, published February 5th, 2011:

I have come to realize that I do not love solitude as much as I think. It is always with happy anticipation that I arrive in my study: alone, at last, to write! But once the door is closed I have a paradoxical sense of loss, as if I am cut off from my source. Is this why I spend such an unreasonable amount of time staring out the window?

The rampant energy of Delhi, this city of almost 20 million people, presses in on my leafy street. Most families around here arrived as refugees from the horrors of India’s partition in 1947. To protect themselves from such a thing ever happening again, they built solid rows of houses — which are nonetheless turning to vapor in the white heat of the city’s 21st-century economic boom. One of the houses in this drawing has already disappeared, to be replaced, inevitably, by another block of flats. In the top left you can see the steel zigzags of Nehru Stadium, centerpiece of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, whose preparations involved a stupefying scale of destruction and rebuilding around the city.

The street is always active. A young turbaned Sikh paces unceasingly on the balcony opposite, talking on his mobile phone. Migrant laborers working on the new buildings have built lean-tos around the corner; their wives forage for firewood downstairs while their children play with a ball nearby. Passing vegetable sellers sing their wares. Dogs bicker. An old man sits outside in the sun to get a shave from a barber. Neighbors argue over parking spaces.

The silk cotton tree at the center of my view, however, is mute. It saves its energy for the spring, when its vast, red, syrupy flowers will rain, indecently, over everything.

— Rana Dasgupta

Rana Dasgupta is the author, most recently, of “Solo.” Matteo Pericoli, an artist, is the author of “The City Out My Window: 63 Views on New York.” This series inspired students in Boulder, Colo., to write and draw their own views from their windows.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/02/05/opinion/20110206_windowsoftheworld.html?ref=opinion

Driving in Delhi: a hazardous experience

Delhi. Picture: Alamy. For The Independent

"Not too fast. Mind the cows," says the instructor, trying to remain calm. "Yes, there are lots of cows in India."

We edge around the half-dozen hump-backed creatures merrily eating the contents of an overflowing rubbish skip. The wheels rattle, the car shakes. We pass a handful of shop-fronts, stray dogs and children before turning into what seems like an impossibly narrow back street. Surely we're not going to drive down there? "It's very narrow, very slowly," the instructor says unnecessarily. "Now go straight."

In India, driving is not for the faint-hearted. The roads are crowded and cluttered and filled with a rare energy. There is noise and dust and heat and honking and pushing. Barely anyone obeys either the traffic rules or else the most basic rules of common sense as they jostle for position. Sometimes it feels like Rollerball, the futuristic, full-contact "sport" that gave its name to the 1975 movie starring James Caan. Frankly, it is terrifying.

Yet it is only going to get worse. In economically buoyant India, a newly prosperous middle-class is taking to the roads like never before. Last year alone India's car fleet increased by at least a million as this new consumer class ditched its motorbikes and bicycles and opted to get behind the wheel of a car.(...)

If India is an awful place for driving, Delhi must surely be among the worst of the worst. The bursting capital of 16 million people has around 5.3 million vehicles. Every day another 600 legally registered vehicles join the throng, plus an untold number of illegal additions. During the evening rush, driving just a few miles can take several hours.

It is dangerous too. Rohit Baluja, president of India's Institute of Road Traffic Education, says each year there are at least 2,000 road traffic deaths in the city. Nationally, with 100,000 fatalities and one million injuries, he believes India has a worse record than any other country. "Such a position is worrisome and much needs to be done to reduce these figures," he says.

And yet at times there are few alternatives to a car. While Delhi's new metro system is efficient and clean, its geographic reach is still limited. And the city's bus services – the usual means of transport for the masses – are hugely inadequate and frequently deadly. There are often no pavements, even though millions of people still walk or cycle. Taxis often have no air-conditioning – a brain-searing setback when the summer mercury soars to 46C – and riding in a rickshaw feels like playing Russian roulette with five bullets in the chamber.

REFERENCE: 

Road hell: mind the cows! The Independent, January 15th 2008
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/road-hell-mind-the-cows-770207.html

The geographical and sociological imaginations

Buenos Aires. Digital art, by Myriam B. Mahiques

¨The general pint should be clear: the only adequate conceptual framework for understanding the city is one which encompasses and builds upon both the sociological and the geographical imaginations. We must relate social behavior to the way in which the city assumes a certain geography, a certain spatial form. We must recognize that once a particular spatial form is created it tends to institutionalize and, in some respects, to determine the future development of social process. We need, above all, to formulate concepts which will allow us to harmonize and integrate strategies to deal with the intricacies of social process and the elements of spatial from.¨ (1973:27)

Cited by Edward Soja in his book ¨Postmetropolis¨. Page 107, chapter 4 Metropolis in crisis.