The Reign of TV in Spain
Detail from "Receiver to Remote control... channeling Spain 2010."(Courtesy Lisbeth Salas)
A recent trip to Barcelona for the World Architecture Festival (WAF) made clear to me just how well the nations of the European Union do at updating their historic centers. American tourists, of course, go to places like Spain to see medieval or Renaissance urbanism not contemporary cities. And that’s a shame because we could learn a great deal about how to build today and add intelligently to our own 19th and 20th century cities.
And the World Architecture Festival Winners Are . . .
Perkins+Will's Sabah Al-Salem University College of Education in Kuwait won the Future Education category award. (Courtesy Perkins+Will)
The World Architecture Festival is in its third year of existence, and, despite the worldwide recession, seems to have more attendees, trade show participants, and strong projects in its awards program. In what is surely a sign of the times, however, there seem to be many more strong projects in the “future” category than completed buildings. As it has been for the past three years, AN was the event’s American media sponsor, and this year I juried projects in the category of “Future Health and Education Buildings.” Read More
World Arch Fest: Dia Dos
Community service? The nWn Bar by Vo Trang Nghia Co.
I just finished my day of judging the Civic and Community session of the WAF in Barcelona. The festival competition is divided into sixteen categories, with each session winner going into a final round to determine the Building of the Year. My session’s jurors included the Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto and the Canadian (now living in London) Renato Benedetti, and we spent the day working our way through 14 entries, including the new British Embassy in Algiers by John McAslan + Partners, and a fine Mexican church and community center by Sordo Madaleno Arquitectos. Read More
World Arch Fest: Hola Barcelona!
The Diagonal Mar: It sure beats Grand Rapids.
This week, the second World Architecture Festival is taking place in one of the most design-conscious cities in the world: Barcelona. Sadly, the festival is located in the Diagonal Mar district on the city’s waterfront, along with the hotel that WAF sponsor emap provided to jurors (I am here serving on the jury for the festival’s Civic and Community award). At first glance, this entirely new district of the city seems to have more in common with Grand Rapids than the Catalonian capital. I mentioned this to a British colleague, who replied, “Are American cities this nice?” He’s right: We can’t even do modern urbanism better than the Europeans. Read More
Report: World Architecture Festival
courtesy Bjarke Ingels Group
The World Architecture Festival in Barcelona is in its second day and it’s great seeing New Yorkers doing so well in this international competition. Read More
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