EVENT> Today: Second Wave of Modernism II: Landscape Complexity and Transformation
Today at the MoMA: The Second Wave of Modernism II: Landscape Complexity and Transformation includes three thematic presentations that will explore landscape transformations at the residential, urban, and metropolitan scales. In contrast to the modernist approach of tabula rasa, contemporary designers are returning to modernist sites with new motivations, attempting to balance the complex values of natural and cultural systems. Hop to it, and you’ll still be in time to hear the likes of Charles Renfro, Elizabeth K. Meyer, Michael Van Valkenburgh, Julie Bargmann, James Corner, Kathryn Gustafson.
Organized by the Cultural Landscape Foundation, the conference is a continuation of the dialogues initiated at its successful forerunner, The Second Wave of Modernism: Landscape Architecture in America, which convened in Chicago in 2008.
Friday, November 18
8 am to 4:30 pm
Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd Street
For the full schedule:
Occupied Murray Street
Across the street from AN's offices, the police were preparing for something. Note the nonplussed New Yorker walking her dog. (AN/Stoelker)
Running to grab a bite outside of the AN office just hasn’t been the same over the past few days. With the Occupy Wall Street drama continuing to play out, we now dodge hundreds of protesters, tourists, police, and the media (oh wait, that’s us) on our way to the corner coffee shop. But today’s just a bit different, with nearly a hundred officers lined up outside the office receiving plastic handcuff strips. “We don’t know why we’re here yet,” one officer told our editor Julie Iovine. “Hopefully it’ll rain, the temperature will drop, and they’ll all go home.”
Port Authority Tower Felled at Last
SOHO China's CEO Zhang Xin at Davos this past January. (Courtesy World Economic Forum)
After the New York Times’s Charles Bagli broke the story on Tuesday that Vornado was no longer moving forward with plans to build the Richard Rogers-designed tower atop the Port Authority Bus Terminal, reporters descended on the Port’s board meeting on Wednesday. A transcript of the Q&A provided by the Port Authority reveals that while Vornado may be out of the picture, the Port hasn’t entirely dropped tower development from its list of possibilities, it’s just been put onto their gargantuan real-estate to-do list. Newly installed Patrick J. Foye hinted that the board was none-too-pleased with the snail like pace of development—it had been in the works for a decade. The deal fell through when Vornado’s Chinese backers pulled out casting an eye beyond the West Side to the East, Park Avenue that is.
Inside the Building of the Day #13
The Francis Martin Library in the Bronx. (Courtesy Ben Kracauer)
We are up in the Bronx again today, this time further north in the Morris Heights neighborhood. The Francis Martin Library, named after the first district attorney from the Bronx, was built in 1956, and sits atop a hill on a prominent corner of University Avenue. The University is Bronx Community College, now housed in what was originally the McKim Mead and White Heights Campus for New York University. Be sure to check out the original Hall of Fame there. 1100 Architect has made its own Hall of Fame for the kids’ library. Stanley Kubrick, Chaim Potok, Herman Wouk, Colin Powell even Fiorello LaGuardia himself are part of a graphic game on the warm white walls that undulate around the core of the children’s library renovation on the second floor.
Richard Neutra’s VDL House: There’s an iPad App for That
Two screen views of the Neutra VDL iPad app.
Steve Jobs would have been proud. So would Richard Neutra. The Neutra VDL House in Silver Lake now has its own iPad App. Developed by Sarah Lorenzen and David Hartwell, the app includes stunning new pictures of the iconic modernist house, tons of information about Neutra, an annotated historic timeline of the home, guided virtual tours, and information about the house’s design, construction, and materiality. We especially love the 3d models, plans, and sections, which can be rotated on axis, giving you a new understanding of the house and providing some classic iPad fun.
No Surprise! Solar Decathlon Empowerhouse Wins Affordability Prize
Empowerhouse. (Stefano Paltera / U.S. Department of Energy)
The affordability winner of this year’s Solar Decathalon in Washington D.C. is the one that is the most socially conscious, the one that already has a real-life site, and the one cheapest to build: Empowerhouse by a team from Parsons The New School for Design, Milano School of International Affairs, Management and Urban Policy at The New School, and Stevens Institute of Technology. Many other awards are to come including the overall Solar Decathlon winner but achieving lowest cost—Empowerhouse cost $229,890—was especially important this year as, in the past, the best of show has gone routinely to the always costly German entry whose previous winning entry carried a price tag of $600,000 which caused a bit of an uproar. Germany was not among the 19 student teams this year.
Voting open for the Solar Decathlon People’s Choice Awards
Students from City College of New York make final preparations before heading to Washington, D.C. (Courtesy of Team New York / Solar Decathlon)
Collegiate teams around the globe have been challenged by the U.S. Department of Energy to design, build, and operate solar-powered houses that aim at sustainability. The Solar Decathlon‘s winning team will be one that understands the importance of the Solar Decathlon competition by designing a home through the lens of affordability, design appeal and solar accumulation for energy efficiency.
As the contestants set up their designs on West Potomac Park in Washington, D.C., you can take a look at the innovative entries at the Solar Decathalon and cast your vote in the People’s Choice Awards. Voting ends September 30th at 7pm EST and you can cast one vote per email address. As of this publishing, Team New York was in the lead, followed by Appalachian State and Team China. If you’re near D.C., be sure to check out the houses in person through October 2.
EVENT> Opening tonight: The Critical Moment at Cooper Union
"Manipulated Life Cycles: The Bearing Strait," by Melanie Fessel, graduate of the Master of Architecture II Program at Cooper Union.
The Critical Moment: Architecture in the Expanded Field
Opening reception: 7:00pm,Thursday, September 15 (TONIGHT!)
Cooper Union
The Arthur A. Houghton Jr. Gallery
7 East 7th Street
Urban Design Week kicks off today, and on your rounds of events, you may want to stop by Cooper Union’s latest show, which features the thesis projects of its first graduating class of the school’s new MArch II program. The exhibition opens tonight with a reception at 7:00pm and runs through November 5.
Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Friday 12-7pm, Saturday 12-5pm
Gallery Closed: Sunday and Monday
LA Votes to Keep CRA
LA City Council is busy these days. Just one day after approving a downtown football stadium it voted today to approve the CRA/LA Continuation Ordinance, a move that will allow its city redevelopment agency to keep running. As part of the state’s so-called “Voluntary Alternative Redevelopment Program,” the city had to pay $97 million to the state this year, and will need to pay $26.5 million in future years. The program came as a result of state budget bills that would have simultaneously dissolved the state’s CRAs and given them a monetary out. According to Curbed LA, other cities that have opted in so far include Long Beach and Irvine. We’ll wait to see who else antes up.. Meanwhile the California Redevelopment Association’s lawsuit against the legislation is still pending.
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Santa Monica Civic Auditorium Getting Facelift
After attending the recent Alt Build Expo in Santa Monica it became clear to us at AN that the aging Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, a Decorative Modernist structure designed by Welton Becket back in 1958, was in serious need of an update. (Becket, by the way, designed the Capitol Records Building, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, and a good deal more of mid-Century Los Angeles.)
Well it looks like our wish is coming true: On May 26 the Santa Monica City Council voted to approve a $47 million remodel and seismic retrofit of the auditorium, using Santa Monica Redevelopment Agency funds (the vote to allocate funds was sped up because such monies may soon be frozen once the state budget is passed).
No firm has been chosen, but we will keep our eyes peeled on the RFP, which was posted here last month. ”They anticipate a design build contract,” said Santa Monica spokesperson Carol Lemlein, who noted that perspective teams will be made up of architects, contractors, engineers, and preservation experts. Read More
QUICK CLICKS>Palace 4 Sale, College Towns, Barbie House
How much for a palace in New York? $400 million. Courtesy WSJ
Big Deals. It’s a week of very big deals in NYC as The New York Times reported that Condé Nast signed on the dotted line to move in to One World Trade, and The Wall Street Journal broke the story that The Palace is under contract to be sold to Northwood Investors for $400 million. While across town at The Plaza, the drama continues to unfold with news that landlord Miki Nafti is stepping down and the Oak Room is closing.
Grad Towns. With commencements commencing, many would rather forget that college grads are having a pretty hard time finding work. But a recent search for the ten best college towns from Kiplinger made job opportunities in the college towns part of the criteria. NYC came in first, despite the “sky high rents,” Charlotte and Baltimore followed with their relatively low cost and robust growth.
Open Call. The AIA has announced that My Architect Barbie needs a house. Through the contest to “design a house that meets her guidelines” architects may find the client surprisingly demanding, “With more than 125 careers, I need a spacious office,” says the eight- inch wonder. A big back yard needs to accommodate all her pets, including the giraffe.
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