Inside the Spire's Demise
(courtesy Business Week)
The Chicago skyline is one of the most impressive in the country. Those who dreamed of a twisting new tower at its pinnacle, however, will have to turn to new skyscraping schemes. The Anglo Irish Bank is seizing control of the stalled Chicago Spire’s site from Shelbourne Development. This detailed feature on the rise and fall of Santiago Calatrava’s unbuilt tower in the Irish Independent calls the project’s developer, Garrett Kelleher, emblematic of the jet-setting “Irish Tiger.” In today’s real estate environment, that label sounds more like slur than a compliment.
Irish Eyes Are Designing
Erosion Table by Joseph Walsh (photo: Andrew Bradley)
While it’s doubtful anyone would think of Ireland as a design powerhouse, a new show at the American Irish Historical Society on New York’s Upper East Side suggests the Emerald Isle deserves a second look. Curated by Brian Kennedy, the show includes furniture, ceramics, accessories, jewelery, a wall installation, as well as some models and sketches, and is an engaging crash course in Ireland’s emerging design scene. While there’s no one overriding style, an interest in organic shapes and natural materials is common in much of the work. Read More
Switzerland In Fall
USM's Haller system in brown.
In late September, the Swiss furniture company USM unveiled three fall colors for their iconic Haller shelving and storage system. First selected in the 1970s, the reissued orange, brown, and beige colors offer warmer options for the system, which is probably most often seen in black or white. A sunny yellow option was unveiled last year. An installation of the new colors on view at USM’s showroom at 28-30 Greene Street in New York. Read More
Alternative Whitney Proposal Designed to Attract Attention
An alternative proposal for a new building for the Whitney Museum of American Art (all images courtesy Axis Mundi)
Think Renzo Piano’s still preliminary design for a new Whitney Museum of American Art is too timid? How about this alternative scheme floated by the self proclaimed “architectural provocateurs” at Axis Mundi? According to a statement, the proposal is meant to be “as bold in spirit as the original Breuer building.” It’s bold all right.
The design calls for a structural exoskeleton, shaped by the sight lines and street grid of the city, imbedded with the circulation and mechanical systems. Column-free galleries would be suspended from the skeleton with distinctive projecting windows, reminiscent of Breuer’s at the Madison Avenue Whitney. The Axis Mundi proposal mentions nothing of costs, which is one of the biggest hurdles facing the Whitney, given the museum’s relatively modest endowment.
Axis Mundi has chased the news before. They previously promoted an alternative to Jean Nouvel’s proposed Tower Verre for MoMA, called the Vertical Neighborhood. Check out more images of their Whitney proposal after the jump. Read More
Day to Night, Illuminating Darkened Detroit
(All images courtesy McIntosh Poris Associates)
Architectural lighting is a great way to bring a bit of life to unused buildings. A new program in Detroit aims to cast some of the city’s many empty structures in a better light, in an effort to “mothball” them for future use. The architects at McIntosh Poris Associates have an innovative plan to re-light the four buildings without generating carbon emissions, a plan they hope to expand across downtown. Commissioned by the Detroit Downtown Development Authority, the project will light the interior and exteriors with power generated from rooftop photovoltaics. Read More
Mart for Sale? Not So Fast.
(photo: courtesy MMPI)
Earlier in the week Crain’s reported that the Merchandise Mart, Chicago’s iconic Art Deco design center and the home of the country’s largest design trade show, is up for sale. Vornado, the New York–based real estate company that bought the Mart’s parent company from the Kennedy family in 1998, is reportedly seeking more than $1 billion for 8.9 million square feet held by Merchandise Mart Properties (MMPI).
Yesterday, MMPI released a statement disputing elements of the Crain’s story, particularly recent profitability figures. According to MMPI, their properties are 92% occupied, a rate far higher than the 84% occupancy for the rest of the Chicago central business district. The statement implies, thought it does not categorically state, that the Mart is not on the block. Here’s the full release. Read More
Daley Out. Rahm In?
The Sun-Times broke the story that, after much deliberation, Mayor Richard M. Daley has decided not to run for reelection. Daley has been in office since 1989, so his impact has been vast, especially on the city’s built environment. From planting thousands of trees and promoting green roofs and LEED construction, to building magaprojects like Millenium Park and championing development like the new Trump Tower, Daley’s vision shaped the architecture and urbanism Chicago, as well as the city’s identity, arguably more directly than any other mayor in the country. With less than six months before the election, those interested in replacing Daley will have to work fast. President Obama’s Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, generated considerable buzz earlier in the year when he said he’d like to be mayor someday. He quickly qualified that he would not challenged Daley. No word yet on his intentions following Daley’s announcement. While Emanuel is known to be a strong armed character, his views on design and the built environment are unclear at the point. Whoever becomes mayor, Daley’s shadow will be a long one.
Buy This House!
(photo: John Andersen/New York Times)
The comparison shopping set up of the “What you get for…” column in the New York Times Real Estate section is often a stroke of editorial genius. This week’s price point is an affordable $275,000, which gets you a charming frame bungalow in Nashville, a handsome one bedroom loft in Philadelphia, or this Midcentury Modern two bedroom in Madison, Wisconsin, designed by William Kaeser. According to the Times, the house is located in a residential neighborhood called Sunset Village about two miles from downtown and within walking distance of shops and restaurants. The house retains many of its original details, including mahogany paneled interiors, so the right buyer could turn it into a serene yet cozy modern hideaway.
Expedited Boarding in the Loop?
Block 37 (courtesy Joseph Freed and Associates)
Mayor Daley has announced a plan for a high speed rail line linking O’Hare to the Loop and has appointed a 17 member panel to look into the project. According to the Sun-Times, though, he has a major caveat: the line should be entirely privately financed and run with no city or government money of any kind. He gave this ultimatum to the panel of prominent business and civic leaders. The line would connect O’Hare to the currently unfinished station under Block 37. Is such a plan feasible? The mayor thinks so. “There’s already interest by private investment funds, foreign investment funds,” Daley said, according to the Sun-Times. “They’ve come to see me, I’ll be very frank, talking about this. That’s exciting.”
Dyson Awards Aim to Improve Society Through Design
The brief for the James Dyson Award design competition is deceptively simple: Design something that solves a problem. The winner and nine finalists representing the United States all responded with highly functional designs that could make a positive impact on the way we live, none more so than the U.S. winner, the Copenhagen Wheel, designed by Christine Outram and students in the SENSEable City Lab at MIT. The hybrid battery-powered disk turns any bike into an electric boosted bike, helping cyclists go longer distances and ride up hills. Read More
Margaret Russell Takes the Reins at Digest
Margaret Russell
Margaret Russell, the editor-in-chief and vice president for brand content at Elle Decor, has been named editor-in-chief of Condé Nast’s Architectural Digest. She will succeed Paige Rense who has edited Digest for nearly 40 years.
Russell has made Elle Decor a credible rival for Digest, and is respected for her taste and discerning eye. Digest remained virtually unchanged for much of Rense’s long tenure there, so many expect Russell will update the magazine’s image as well as bring new architects and designers into its pages.
The magazine’s offices will relocate from Los Angeles to New York. Russell will take over in September.
Hefty Bill for AT&T
The AT&T Building as rendered by Philip Johnson.
In April, a seven foot tall presentation drawing of the AT&T building was purchased by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London for $71,000, one of the highest prices ever paid for a “modern architectural drawing,” according to a release. The Philip Johnson drawing was sold through the Wright auction house in Chicago, which has become a specialist in selling architectural materials. The V&A will show the piece in an upcoming exhibition on postmodernism. It is one of only a handful of works by an American in the museum’s 35,000 piece architecture collection.
The building is famous for its “Chippendale” top, which, when it opened in 1984, signaled the ascendency of postmodernism and the return of historical styles and classical references to the architectural vocabulary.
The drawing is part of a larger archive of Johnson’s work, which includes thousands of drawings, plans, and photographs of AT&T, Pennzoil Place, PPG Place, and the Chrystal Cathedral. The owner of the archive wishes to remain anonymous, according to the release.
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