Norwegian/American firm Snøhetta has been enlisted by Temple University to design a new 350,000-square-foot library on the main campus in the northern section of Philadelphia. Craig Dykers, co-founder of the Oslo-based firm, will speak at the University during the 2013 Temple Architecture Week. Next City reported that Snøhetta has yet to release renderings, but they scored an interview with Dykers following his lecture at Temple, where he said “increasingly, universities are realizing that libraries can also be windows, gateways into the campus and immediately connected to the academic life of the place.” (Photo: Courtesy Wikipedia.)
American Academy of Arts & Letters Announces 2013 Architecture Award Winners
The American Academy of Arts and Letters has announced its 2013 architecture awards recipients. The winners were chosen from a group of 32 individuals and practices nominated by Academy members. An exhibition of their work will be on display at the Audubon Terrace in New York City from May 16 to June 9, 2013.
On View> Walking “The Web” at the Swiss Institute
(Courtesy Swiss Institute)
The Web
Swiss Institute
New York
Through April 28
Jon Kessler’s The Web, currently on view at the Swiss Institute through April 28, is an immersive array of monitors, enlarged MacBooks, cameras, mechanical and animatronic sculptures—the latter of the artist himself—set to a sound track of the eponymous Apple computer chime. Enabled through mobile technology, the environment plugs you into a closed-circuit feedback loop. You download an iPhone app that allows you to feed your experience of the installation into the system as your movements are also simultaneously tracked, captured, and fed into the system. Cleverly re-staging Jean Tinguely’s self destructive drawing machine for the digital age, you are only image. Caught in this web, you are broadcast at those moments when you think you are most in control. You appear only to disappear and then to reappear somewhere else again, and again. You have your images, but The Web has you.
At 7pm, Saturday, April 28 at the Swiss Institute, Jon Kessler will hold a press conference/performance announcing the launch of his latest business enterprise, GlblVlgIdiot, devoted to the creation of iPhone apps similar to The Web that “bridge the gap between life and art.” Click here for reservations.
On View> At War With The Obvious: Photographs by William Eggleston
(William Eggleston)
At War With The Obvious: Photographs by William Eggleston
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Howard Gilman Gallery 852
New York
Through July 28
William Eggleston, one of the first American photographers to experiment with modern color photography in the 1960s, is known for his ability to capture the essence of southern life through photographs of ordinary people, scenes of everyday life, and commonplace objects, such as a child’s tricycle or a sign reading “Peaches!” set against the backdrop of a cerulean blue sky. Eggleston produced much of his color photography with a dye transfer printmaking process, a technique that was previously used solely for commercial and advertising purposes, and established it as a prominent artistic medium in the American tradition. The Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition, At War With the Obvious, celebrates Eggleston’s work by presenting together for the first time thirty-six dye transfer prints he created in the 1970s. It also features his first portfolio of color photographs, fifteen prints from his landmark book, and seven other of his most recognized photographs.
Petitions and Design Ideas Sprout to Save Folk Art Museum Building.
(Courtesy FolkMoMA)
As the chorus of criticism swells against MoMA’s plan to demolish the former home of the American Folk Art Museum, designed by Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, a pair of petitions have been posted urging the Modern to reconsider its demolition plans. Also, a crowd-sourced tumblr, #FolkMoMA, is soliciting ideas for reuse of Williams and Tsien’s building. With all the action online, will anyone be taking to the streets for some old fashioned picketing? Will anyone chain themselves to the bronze facade? Has all this worry actually left the bubble of the architecture community?
Photo of the Day: Amazing View From One World Trade
View from the top of One World Trade Center. (Courtesy Port Authority)
A couple weeks ago, we took a look at the trippy designs of the newly unveiled observation deck for Lower Manhattan’s One World Trade tower, rapidly adding to its antenna that will take the building to 1,776 feet. But while those renderings were long on the multimedia-rich halls that will presumably be filled with long lines waiting to get to the top, the big unveil was a bit short on the actual view. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has corrected that, however, posting a new photo taken from the very top of the tower, and we’re not disappointed. Note that Cass Gilbert’s 1913 Woolworth Building, appearing as just another tower in the center of the photo, was once the world’s tallest until 1930. See you in line for the view in person!
3D Printing Guru Skylar Tibbits To Lead DesignX Workshop at ICFF, May 21
Ted Fellow Skyler Tibbits is an architect and computer scientist whose work focuses on self-assembly technologies. (Courtesy SJET)
It’s not science fiction. One day, buildings may build themselves. Enter the world of Senior TED Fellow Skylar Tibbits, where “matter programmers” design the characteristics of materials that self-assemble when exposed to air, water, or temperature changes. Join Tibbits on May 21 at a DesignX ICFF workshop for a hands-on lab that will introduce designers to the future of additive manufacturing and programmable matter.
Architecture Students To Build A Wind & Solar-Powered Radio Station in Kenya
Jonathan Dessi-Olive with the first arch of his timbrel vault prototype. (Courtesy PennDesign Team)
University of Pennsylvania architecture student Jonathan Dessi-Olive, this year’s winner of the Robert A.M. Stern Architects (RAMSA) Travel Fellowship, and three of his colleagues are taking an ancient building technology to Kenya this summer to demonstrate a sustainable alternative to wood construction, which contributes to the devastating deforestation problem in the region. The project, a hybrid wind- and solar-powered radio station on Mfangano Island in Lake Victoria, will introduce local craftspeople to the 600-year-old technique of timbrel vaulting, a system that uses thin clay tiles to create a geometrically-complex and structurally strong building.
Construction of Expanded Brooklyn Greenway Underway
Rendering of the greenway through Brooklyn. (Courtesy NYCDOT)
With the arrival of the Citi Bike share program just around the corner, and the Regional Planning Association’s Harbor Ring proposal gaining momentum, New York’s cycling community can now set its sights on the Brooklyn Greenway. The proposed 14 miles of bike lanes running from Bay Ridge to Greenpoint aim to provide a safe route for cyclists and pedestrians wishing to cross the borough. As Gothamist reported, the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) is preparing to begin construction on three more sections of the path, in Red Hook, Greenpoint, and the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
On View at the Whitney: Scrim veil-Black rectangle-Natural light
Robert Irwin (b. 1928), Scrim veil—Black rectangle—Natural light, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1977. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Photograph © Warren Silverman, 1977
This summer, the Whitney Museum of American Art will reinstall a work for the first time since its original conception in 1977. Robert Irwin (b. 1928) formed the large-scale Scrim veil-Black rectangle-Natural light, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, especially for the Emily Fisher Landau Gallery almost four decades ago. The exhibition was central to Irwin’s career, as it determined the path for his ensuing practice, and will now be on display for the second time from June 27 to September 1, 2013.
On View> The Vienna Model Exhibition at NYC’s Austrian Cultural Forum
Sargfabrik Estate, 1996, by BKK-2 and Johnny Winter architects. (Courtesy Austrian Cultural Forum)
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- Sperr 17 Rooftop Expansion, 2004, by Sigs architects (Courtesy Austrian Cultural Forum)
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- Alt Erlaa Housing Estate, 1976, by Harry Glück, Requat & Reinthaller & Partner, and Kurt Hlaweniczka (Courtesy Austrian Cultural Forum)
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- Bike City, 2008, by königlarch architects (Courtesy Austrian Cultural Forum)
The Vienna Model: Housing for the 21st Century City
Austrian Cultural Forum
New York
Through September 2
An upcoming exhibition at the Raimund Abraham-designed Austrian Cultural Forum in Midtown Manhattan, entitled The Vienna Model: Housing for the 21st Century City, presents 37 reasons why we should look towards the Austrian capital when it comes to public housing. Curated by AN’s William Menking and head of the Department of Housing Research for the City of Vienna, Wolfgang Förster, The Vienna Model will exhibit a collection of case studies of Viennese public housing spanning the past 95 years and representing the work of dozens of architects, from contemporary innovations to classics by Josef Hoffman, Adolf Loos, Richard Neutra, and Margarete Schütte Lihotzky.
With 60 percent of Viennese living in municipal housing, and the city continually topping the ranks of the world’s most livable (check here, here, and here), there is obviously something to learn from Vienna’s example. The show opens April 16th and will run until September 2, before heading off to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington D.C., and finally back to the Imperial City.
Drexel Opens Revamped Venturi Scott-Brown Building in Philadelphia
The exterior of 3501 Market Street by Robert Venturi. (Courtesy of Drexel University)
A few years ago Drexel University embarked on an ambitious plan to convert one of Philadelphia’s iconic postmodern landmarks by Venturi Scott Brown Associates (VSBA) into a new home for the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design. Tonight the University will celebrate the official opening of its new building, dubbed the URBN Center, with a series of performances and demonstrations to showcase student work.
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