ENDGAME: AN OPEN LETTER TO THE GUGGENHEIM HELSINKI FINALISTS
ARCHITECTURE, AWARDS, INTERNATIONAL, MIDWEST, OTHER, REGION, URBANISM
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015
THE EDITORS.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2015
THE EDITORS.
1,715 ENTRIES AND ONE WINNER. (COURTESY SOLOMON R. GUGGENHEIM FOUNDATION)
The following is an abridged version of an open letter by Chicago architect and urban planner Marshall Brown, which was originally presented at the The Design Competition Conference by the GSD and the Van Alen Institute. It follows a previous comment by the author for AN about the state of design competitions in the 21st century. It is in direct response to the Guggenheim Helsinki Competition, which attracted 1,715 submissions before the winner was announced yesterday.
My Dear Colleagues,
I would like to extend sincere congratulations for your recent achievements and the recognition it has brought to your practices. I suppose you may be wondering about the cause for this letter since, at least that I can recall, we have never formally met. One year ago I wrote an essay for AN that criticized the current state of architectural competitions. It concluded with the melodramatic, yet also sincere invitation for likeminded architects to join me in “early, complete, and permanent retirement” from such contests. In the meantime I have mostly managed to follow through on my retreat from the design competition industry, despite several invitations from colleagues to collaborate.
THOMAS BALSLEY UNVEILS DESIGN FOR 8-ACRE GREEN SPACE AT PACIFIC PARK BROOKLYN
THOMAS BALSLEY’S PACIFIC PARK. ( COURTESY VUW STUDIOS)
After countless delays, plenty of controversy, and a few lawsuits, Brooklyn’s Pacific Park mega-development (formerly Atlantic Yards) is starting to take shape. The Barclays Center’s green roof is showing progress, SHoP’s long-delayed modular tower is rising again next door, and a pair of COOKFOX-designed residential buildings are underway at the development’s eastern edge. And now, the project’s new namesake, the 8-acre Pacific Park, has finally been unveiled.
GOOGLE AND THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON COOK UP NEW ALGORITHM FOR TURNING YOUR VACATION SNAPS INTO TIME-LAPSE VIDEOS
Think twice before posting photos of your imaginary suntan online: Google could be sifting through your latest vacation snaps for an unforeseen ulterior motive. The search engine giant teamed up with researchers at the University of Washington to cull public photographs of iconic landmarks from the Internet and stitch them together in chronological order.
NO LONGER ENDANGERED: GREENPOINT’S SGT. WILLIAM DOUGHERTY PLAYGROUND WILL BE REVAMPED AFTER FACING THREAT OF CLOSURE
(COURTESY NYS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION)
Space-starved Greenpoint is about to receive a welcome overhaul of its Sgt. William Dougherty Playground, a compact park at the corner of Cherry Street and Vandervoort Avenue. Once threatened with a four-year closure to facilitate completion of the Kosciuszko Bridge in 2013, the park will now receive some extra real estate—with a modest expansion from 0.76 to 0.83 acres—and a perimeter fringed with trees.
THE MAGNIFICENT CHAMBRE DE METIERS L’ARTISANAT DE LILLE FEATURES STRIKING HORIZONTAL DESIGN
(COURTESY KAAN ARCHITECTEN/PRANLAS-DESCOURS ARCHITECT & ASSOCIATES)
A dramatic new enclave dedicated to arts and culture has risen up among the old city fortification of Lille, France. The winning project of a competition held in 2007, the Chambre de Metiers l’Artisanat is the joint work of Netherlands-based KAAN Architecten and Parisian firm PRANLAS-DESCOURS Architect & Associates, which also has offices in New York City.
BIKE TO WORK WITHOUT THE SMOG: THE CLEAN RIDE MAPPER HELPS CANADIAN CYCLISTS FIND QUIETER, LESS POLLUTED BIKE ROUTES
(COURTESY OF CLEAN RIDE MAPPER)
In urban canyons where tall buildings on both sides occlude sunlight, pollution, too, is prevented from dispersing. The Clean Ride Mapper is an interactive map that allows cyclists to choose quieter cycling routes with reduced traffic and pollution levels.
LG ELECTRONICS REVISES DESIGN TO PRESERVE HISTORIC PALISADES VIEWS
REDESIGNED LG ELECTRONICS HEADQUARTERS. COURTESY HOK
A three-year battle to protect the pristine Palisades cliffs from the development of a towering headquarters for LG Electronics USA in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, has at last been resolved, in favor of conservation groups. LG has agreed to revise its initial HOK-designed proposal and reduce the building’s height by a little more than half, from 143 feet to 69 feet, thus preserving the unspoiled vistas of the historic park from both sides of the Hudson River.
PRODUCT> ARCHITECTURE WITHOUT BORDERS: OPERABLE EXTERIOR WALLS
 | |
(COURTESY VITROCSA)
Operable exterior walls strengthen the link between architecture and landscape by selectively erasing portions of a building. Whether they’re swinging, sliding, or pivoting, these dual-purpose panels expand the possibilities of design.
A PLANT-INFUSED HEALTH CENTER TO CROP UP IN LEEDS
THE NEWEST MAGGIE CENTER TO BE DESIGNED BY HEATHERWICK STUDIO ON THE CAMPUS OF ST JAMES’S UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL IN LEEDS. (COURTESY HEATHERWICK STUDIO)
Hospitals can often be bleak settings, awash in florescent lighting and beige hues that do little to bolster the mission of healing and recovery. However, Maggie’s Centre— an organization that provides free support and services for people living with cancer and their families—has made great strides in elevating the healthcare environment (and experience) through design, making it an uplifting, welcoming, and aesthetically-pleasing place to heal. This has been accomplished by tapping some of the most well-known talent in the field—Zaha Hadid, Frank Gehry, Snohetta, Norman Foster, Rem Koolhaas, and Richard Rogers—to design centers at NHS cancer hospitals, which boasts 18 facilities and several more in the process of being built. Now Heatherwick Studio is on board with a garden-inspired center on the campus of St. James’s Institute of Oncology, one of the largest cancer hospitals in Europe.
MALIBU MODERN ICON FACED WITH DEMOLITION
CRAIG ELLWOOD AND JERROLD LOMAX’S HUNT HOUSE ON MALIBU ROAD UNDER THREAT.
(STEVE ALDANA, ESOTERIC SURVEY)
(STEVE ALDANA, ESOTERIC SURVEY)
On Friday, the LA Times’ architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne reported that Craig Ellwoodand Jerrold Lomax’s Hunt House in Malibu faces a demolition threat. AN reached out to several experts on Ellwood, preservation, and modern architecture for comments on what this means for Los Angeles.
GOTH BILBAO: MOREAU KUSUNOKI NAMED WINNER OF GUGGENHEIM HELSINKI COMPETITION
ARCHITECTURE, EAST, INTERNATIONAL, MEDIA, OTHER, REGION, SUBJECT, URBANISM
TUESDAY, JUNE 23, 2015
MATT SHAW.
TUESDAY, JUNE 23, 2015
MATT SHAW.
“ART IN THE CITY” BY MOREAU KUSUNOKI ARCHICTECTES, THE WINNING PROPOSAL FOR THE GUGGENHEIM HELSINKI COMPETITION.
(COURTESY MOREAU KUSUNOKI ARCHITECTES)
(COURTESY MOREAU KUSUNOKI ARCHITECTES)
Maybe its the extra darkness in the winter. The Guggenheim Helsinki Design Competition, which famously generated an astounding 1,715 submissions, came to a conclusion today as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation announced the winner. Parisian firm Moreau Kusunoki Architectes and its “Art in the City” proposal was chosen from six international finalists.
DUTCH ECOPRENEUR JOOST BAKKER DESIGNS ZERO-WASTE HOMES, REPURPOSES CARCASSES FOR HIS RESTAURANT AND DELIVERS FLOWERS
(COURTESY ANTARCTICA ARCHITECTS)
Vertical gardens fully obscure the home of eco garden entrepreneur Joost Bakker like a mossy overgrowth. The eco entrepreneur, a high school dropout and florist by trade, also designs zero-wasterestaurants, composting toilets, freestanding vertical green walls, and houses built from straw for a laundry list of clients.
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