The Architect's Newspaper - News Channel

Triangle Trouble

Fri, 3 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Competition winners announced for Village AIDS memorial, but residents have concerns.:

In a closely watched competition to envision an AIDS Memorial at Triangle Park in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, Brooklyn’s studio a+i took first place for their design, Infinite Forest, beating out more than 475 entries. The memorial is intended to replace a depressing garden and garage directly across the street from the former St. Vincent’s Hospital, where thousands of AIDS patients were cared for throughout the height of the epidemic in the 1980s. But while the competition captured the imagination of architects across the city, many Village residents feel the competiti (Continue reading.)

Editorial> Keeping Up the Good Fight

Fri, 3 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

William Menking on the rise of Design Excellence in federal architecture.:

An unofficial 1962 memo entitled Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture is perhaps the most important piece of public policy to include architecture since the 1902 McMillan Commission. The memo will celebrate its 50th anniversary on May 23 but few architects have ever heard of the document. It seems to have been the sole creation of Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who at the time was an assistant secretary of labor under Arthur Goldberg. Goldberg was concerned about Washington D.C.'s growing federal bureaucracy and lack of adequate modern office and court room spac (Continue reading.)

California Redevelopment, 1945-2012

Thu, 2 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Shot down by CA Supreme Court, key development agency is dissolved by Brown.:

What many deemed impossible has become reality. As of yesterday California’s redevelopment agencies are no more. Legislation demanding an extension of their Supreme Court-ordered dissolution to April 15 was not passed, and the agencies appear to be out of options. Governor Brown yesterday formed a three-member board responsible for their termination, and agencies have already begun laying off employees.

Founded in 1945, the agencies were designed to “enable local governments to revitalize deteriorated and blighted areas,” according to the California Redevelopment A (Continue reading.)

Q+A> Kengo Kuma au Naturel

Thu, 2 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Ariel Genadt talks with the illustrious Japanese architect about architecture, the tsunami, and a new U.S. commission.:

Despite having few projects in the United States, Kengo Kuma has a passionate following among American students and practitioners for his subtly refined interpretation of organic and environmentally inspired designs. Following a lecture at the University of Pennsylvania last fall, Kuma talked to Ariel Genadt about his writings and experiments in erasing architecture, reservations about American building today, response to the tsunami in Japan, and recent commission to oversee an Continue reading.)

In Detail> The Banner Building

Wed, 1 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

A cast-iron structure is restored with traditional and contemporary materials and construction techniques.:

Scott Henson Architect with Gilsanz Murray Steficek

Local Law 11/98 is a New York City statute mandating that any building of more than six stories must have its facade inspected once every five years. Scott Henson of Scott Henson Architect was undertaking just such an inspection on the historic 1892 Cleverdon & Putzel–designed Banner Building in Manhattan’s NoHo neighborhood w (Continue reading.)

Review> Architects in the Crosshairs

Wed, 1 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

A Passion to Build by Peter Murray.:

A Passion to Build
Peter Murray
Clip-Kit, $15.00

The cover of British architect and journalist Peter Murray’s gripping page-turner, A Passion to Build, says it all. Brigh (Continue reading.)

It's a Scene!

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Frank Gehry adds his Signature Theater to 42nd Street.:

In his prime as an architect, Frank Gehry enjoys the kind of jobs that equally ripe architects only dream of—small-scale, tight-budgeted commissions like the ones from their earliest years.

There’s nothing starchitect-y about the 70,000 square foot Signature Theater on a far West stretch of 42nd Street. It’s all stained plywood, concrete and jiggly stencils overlapping on sheetrock walls.

Last night, Gehry was comfortably in his element as he talked about the project while the hubbub of a gala opening heaved all around the energy-pumping space. “The m (Continue reading.)

Onward and Upward

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Architectural Billings Index stays positive at close of 2011.:

The Architecture Billings Index is staying up, hitting 52.0 in both December and November, staying positive for two consecutive months for the first in a long time. The last time it touched 51 before slumping was in August (anything over 50 indicates an increase in billings). The roller-coaster volatility of the past few months—we held our breath and skipped reporting September’s down and October’s up—suggests cautious optimism that the index that tracks the approximate nine- to twelve-month lag time between architecture billings and construction spending is finally (Continue reading.)

Long Live Queens

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Ten years from start, Queens Museum of Art back on track.:

Tucked into Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s State of the City address on January 12 was a brief call-out announcing that the tortured Queens Museum of Art expansion project continues to soldier on. Initially projected to cost $37 million, the latest estimate for the expansion/ renovation has reached $68 million and the original 2009 completion date has been pushed to fall 2013. Though the road to the finish line has been tumultuous, new design details have been refined and the grand opening appears to be within reach.

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Open> Boutique

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Openshop uses identical modules to create variety at Artsee's small eyeglasses art space.:

Artsee
220 Murray Street
New York
Tel: 212.227.2400
Designer: Openshop

The retail level of the tower at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, also known as the global headquarters of Goldman Sachs, has a decidedly unstuffy new tenant: the eyewear store (Continue reading.)

New Life

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Brooklyn Navy Yard design honors former cemetery.:

With a last fundraising push, the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative (BGI), a nonprofit group developing 14 miles of waterfront pedestrian access between Newtown Creek and Shore Parkway in Brooklyn, is preparing to develop former cemetery grounds in the historic Brooklyn Navy Yard. Over 2,000 marines and naval shipmen, along with their families, were once buried at the site adjacent to the Navy Yard’s hospital, but all remains were relocated to Cypress Hills Cemetery in Queens in the late 1920s. At 1.7 acres, the new Navy Yard Hospital Memorial Landscape is a small but significant piece of (Continue reading.)

Unsporting

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Fight over playgrounddonce public, now padlockeddon New York's Upper East Side.:

Ruppert Playground, a sliver of open space on 92nd Street between 2nd and 3rd avenues, is easy to miss, surrounded as it is by tall residential brick buildings. The acre-size site is home to a tot lot and playing courts that now sit behind a padlocked fence while developer Related Rentals tries to turn the popular playground into a residential luxury tower. Community Board 8 (CB8) is fighting back and the debacle of how Related was able to privatize a public space has become both a warning for the future and a worrisome precedent.

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Green Wedgies

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Community tries to carve out open space in Hudson Square.:

While Village people focus their attention on New York University’s expansion plans and doings at the former St. Vincent’s Hospital, the future of the Hudson Square neighborhood just west of Soho is in the midst of major rezoning. The real estate arm of Trinity Church aims to transform at least 21 blocks of post-industrial Manhattan into a live/work/play zone. But critics say the Trinity plan misses a key element: open space.

Though the neighborhood sits just two blocks from Hudson River Park, it’s effectively cut off from it by a UPS distribution center, St. John& (Continue reading.)

Piano to Build a Nouveau Acropolis

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Niarchos Foundation donates $803 million library-opera house to Greece.:

Battered down by economic woes, Greece is far from beaten when it comes to ambitious cultural plans. The Stavros Niarchos Foundation is spending $803 million to build a national library, opera house, and 42-acre park just south of Athens on a site used for parking during the 2004 Olympics. Once built, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center will be turned over to the state for operation and control in a public-private development first for the country.

The large complex is broadly reminiscent of the Acropolis with wide stone pathways that lead up a sloping hill (in part a gr (Continue reading.)