Half Dose #107: New England Conservatory

[All images (c) Ann Beha Architects / Gensler]

Boston's Ann Beha is an architect versed in historic restoration and contemporary architecture, a rare breed. Many people see these as polar concerns without common ground, but Beha's work acknowledges old buildings without letting them determine a recipe for new additions. Or to put it another way, she neither mimics nor overpowers existing buildings, instead finding qualities that should be extended in a new intervention, such as scale, texture, and materiality. The New England Conservatory's first building in over 60 years is a good example of her contemporary contextualism.



Per the architect's statement, the New England Conservatory "occupies 2.5 acres and offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs, a continuing education program, and a preparatory program for students ages 3-18." Beha is no stranger to the music institution, having restored Jordan Hall, the core of the campus in Boston's East Fenway district. The two-phase, new-construction project will demolish two existing buildings and be located adjacent to Jordan Hall, the building at right in the above photo and sketch. Beha's proposal aligns her design with this landmark building, both in terms of scale and alignment, but the top watercolor shows that the new building opens itself up where the old one is primarily closed off from the street.



As mentioned, the project is comprised of two phases. The taller piece in the model, and the low front engaging it, are phase one: the Student Life and Performance Center (student residences, dining hall, library, practice and performance faciliities). Groundbreaking on this part is planned for next year. Phase two is the smaller portion at left, an Academic Center with offices, practice rooms, and a black box theater. The watercolor sketch below offers a similar angle to the model above.





One thing striking about the design is the means of presentation. Watercolors are not a fairly common medium anymore, given the ease with which architects can produce realistic computer renderings. Of course, the latter run the risk of draining the unexpected from the design process, meaning that watercolors offer the potential for change, or at least room for development as a building moves toward reality. I wouldn't be surprised if computer renderings follow later this year or next year, though, as they are effective tools for fundraising, an extremely important concern with institutions these days.



Watercolors also allow modern/contemporary designs to go down a little easier, if you will. Boston is a city proud of its historic buildings, so new insertions like this one by Beha with associate architect Gensler are ripe for opposition. Renderings that are softer than computer-generated ones, and which exhibit the delineator's hand rather than the architect's ability to manipulate layers in Photoshop, help to convince people that forward-thinking designs have a place in the contemporary city, even when sitting by historic landmarks.

Taking Pride in Madison Square Garden

I must admit I was baffled upon seeing this ad for Zurich Service Corporation on the back page of The Atlantic.



After all, Madison Square Garden is the increasingly unloved replacement for the much loved (often nostalgically) Penn Station, which was demolished in the mid-1960s to make way for the circular sports arena. Recently even, New York Times critic Michael Kimmelman has called for moving the Garden, saying that the "present arena is a flimsy, aging eyesore." For his predecessor, Nicolai Ouroussoff, it was tops on a 2008 list of candidates for demolition in which he called the Garden "cramped and decrepit."

Most people hate the Garden for what it did to the remains of Penn Station underneath it -- "one of the city’s most dehumanizing spaces: a warren of cramped corridors and waiting areas buried under the monstrous drum of the Garden", again Ouroussoff. The Garden may be an eyesore, but remove if from atop one of the busiest transit hubs in the world (Penn Station is home to Amtrak, Long Island Railroad, New Jersey Transit and two MTA subway lines) and its negative qualities drop significantly.

Nevertheless I'm still baffled that an "insurance-based financial services provider" would take pride in the construction of Madison Square Garden at time when people seem to loathe it more than ever. Perhaps being located in Europe they have a hard time seeing the building for what it means to many people in New York City and the United States.

Via Verde Slideshow

As promised last week, here are more photos (39, to be exact) from my tour of Via Verde in the Bronx.

Rice Skyspace Opens

Back in April I posted about James Turrell's Skyspace at Rice University, which is officially described as a flat-topped, 72-foot-square pyramid housing a seating area for viewers. The Skyspace opened on June 14, and Rice has posted a video with commentary from some of the people involved (unfortunately not Turrell) and some students impressions of the new addition to the campus's public art.



(Video via Rice University News and Media)

Isabelle de Borchgrave at Hillwood

Last week I had the pleasure of visting one of my favorite DC museums, Hillwood, to see the new exhibit Pret-a-Papier by paper artist Isabelle de Borchgrave.Unlike many exhibits at Hillwood, this one is spread throughout the mansion itself as well as in one of the exhibit spaces on the estate.Believe it or not, all of the historic clothing you see here is made of nothing but paper and paint!

De Borchgrave brings such life to paper that you would swear there were living, breathing people housed in her creations.

My 2 favorite were based on paintings in the collection in the ballroom / screening room, seen here.

The piece on Countess Samoilova even included the jewelry in paper!

The pieces span the 17th through the 20th centuries, much like Hillwood's collection. I loved these flapper dresses found out in the Adirondack building.

This 19th dress in Mrs. Post's bedroom reminded me of something she might have worn in her teens.

The French Salon featured matching costumes;

Including shoes!

I loved the details on this dress, you could practically see Martha Washington wearing this.

Don't miss Pret a Papier on view now at Hillwood through December 30. Don't forget, the collection is constantly changing so you'll always see something new other than the lovely seasonal gardens!

Monday, Monday

A Weekly Dose of Architecture Updates:

This week's dose features RE:ACTIONS in Brussels, Belgium by Alive Architecture:


The featured past dose is the Red Light Platform in Rotterdam, Netherlands by Jasper Jägers Architecture:


This week's book review is a+t 38: Strategies and Tactics in Public Space edited by Aurora Fernández Per, Javier Mozas (L):
 
(R): The featured past book review is Spatial Agency: Other Ways of Doing Architecture by Nishat Awan, Tatjana Schneider, Jeremy Till.

World-Architects.com U.S. Building of the Week:

NaCl House in Bethesda, Maryland by David Jameson Architect:


Unrelated links are now found in the left sidebar and on My Diigo Bookmarks page.

Izmir Insights

A film by MA A+U student Aylin Tara Bahcecioglu

Today's archidose #595

Here are some photos of the Schaulager Satellite in Basel, Switzerland by Herzog & de Meuron (2012). The temporary pavilion was built for Art Basel, June 4-17. Photographs are by Trevor Patt.













To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just:

:: Join and add photos to the archidose pool, and/or
:: Tag your photos archidose

Via Verde in Context

On Tuesday I attended a press tour of the Via Verde development in the Bronx, designed by Grimshaw and Dattner Architects. The project is getting plenty of coverage, and I will feature the building on my weekly page soon, but in the meantime I wanted to post some of my photos showing the building in its physical context, since most of the professional photography on the project (such as this Domus review) isolates the building from its surroundings. I'll be adding more photos to my flickr set from the visit soon.

For reference the building is located at 700 Brook Avenue, just north of the baseball diamond visible in this aerial.


[The approach from the south along Bergen Avenue - Street View]


[Looking north from the corner of East 153rd Street and 53rd Avenue - Street View]

[Looking east from East 155th Street and Elton Avenue - Street View]

[Looking south from East 156th Street across the parking lot serving the neighboring NYCHA development - Street View]

Competition Winners

The winning teams have been announced in the Corridor Manchester Public Realm Design Competition

On the Mancunian Way site adjacent to the Manchester Metropolian University campus the winning team were AEW Architects working with MA A+U students Agustin Estefanell (Uruguay) and Tuğhan Toz (Turkey).

On the Whitworth Gateway site adjacent to the University of Manchester campus the winning team were Camlins working with MA A+U student Neha Garg (India)and other msa students.

The competition was judged by

Mike Hitchmough 3dReid Architects
Anthony Murden Transport for Greater Manchester
Chris Roberts Bruntwood
and
Peter Saville

The official announcement is here

Today's archidose #594

Here are some photos of the Almedina Bookstore at Arrábida Mall in Gaia, Portugal by Manuel and Francisco Aires Mateus (2002). Photographs are by Paulo Tavares Pereira.







To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just:

:: Join and add photos to the archidose pool, and/or
:: Tag your photos archidose

Books with Holes

Think of books with holes cut through the pages -- not children's books, mind you -- and probably nothing comes to mind. But I couldn't help trying to recall other books with holes after seeing Columbia GSAPP's Abstract 2010-11. While I'm boggled by the potato gracing the cover, it's clear that three differently sized circles are cut through the entire book, cover to cover.


[Abstract 2010-11 | image source]

The first book that came to mind, one I actually used to own, is Chora L Works, which documents Peter Eisenman and Jacques Derrida's competition entry for Parc de la Villette in Paris. Square holes are cut through the book until it's midway point, where full pages create color backdrops for the cutouts. The diagonal grid of red squares are those cutouts. It's a frustrating book, since the cutouts don't relate to the page layout (minus some of the drawings), so words are missing from the already difficult text. No wonder I got rid of it, and no wonder the average Amazon rating is 1.5 stars.


[Chora L Works | image source]

Another title that comes to mind is a forthcoming book by ORO Editions that I saw a mock-up of at the AIA Convention in May: Hour 25: HKU Architecture Papers. The book is quite a bit more complex in how it cuts through the book's pages. Two semi-circles are cut into each page about a thickened line that is rotated a few degrees relative to the previous and succeeding page. The cover below makes it clear how this line then rotates clockwise a full 360 degrees from front to back. But the sample pages to the right indicate that the semi-circles were taken into account in the page layout; on pages with text the paragraphs actually follow the circles' arcs.


[Hour 25: HKU Architecture Papers | image source]

Thanks to an anonymous comment, another book with holes is Koolhaas Houselife, which is actually a DVD and companion book. (My previous blog post on the film by Ila Bêka and Louise Lemoine) Both are about OMA's House in Bordeaux, which features, among other things, circular windows; the cover sees the house's caretaker cranking open one of these oculi. The circular cut through some of the book's pages enable the dvd to be nested within the book.


[Koolhaas Houselife | image source]

Per Trevor's comment, here is a look at Jonathn Safran Foer's Tree of Codes. The publisher's descriptions says the book has "a different die-cut on every page ... Initially deemed impossible to make, the book is a first — as much a sculptural object as it is a work of masterful storytelling. ... Inspired to exhume a new story from an existing text, Jonathan Safran Foer has taken his "favorite" book, The Street of Crocodiles by Polish-Jewish writer Bruno Schulz, and used it as a canvas, cutting into and out of the pages, to arrive at an original new story ..."


[Tree of Codes | image source]

If you can think of other architecture-related "books with holes" please comment. I'd love to add more to this post.

"I Love Architecture" Auction Picks

Architecture for Humanity's "I Love Architecture" Charity Auction on ebay collects some pretty big names, including Frank Gehry, Steven Holl, Renzo Piano, Richard Meier, Bjarke Ingels, and Daniel Libeskind. Most of the pieces -- 100% of the proceeds benefit Architecture for Humanity -- are reproductions of older sketches and other drawings, though some of the (mainly) architects did special drawings for the occasion. If you're interested in donating money to AFH, and getting a fine artifact in the process, all of the pieces are worth browsing (be sure to scroll past the thumbnails on the main auction page for the full list). Below are close-ups from a few of my favorites from the roughly 70 pieces up for auction from June 19-29.


[Richard Rogers | The Centre Pompidou Signed screenprint on archival paper 24x36]


[Olav Lunde Arneberg Astrid Rohde Wang Pick Up Chicks w/ Blocks & Bricks Painting]


[Eskew+Dumez+Ripple Estuarine Habitats & Fisheries Center | Lafayette Watercolor]

Screenplay

Friday, June 22 to Sunday, June 24 is Dwell on Design at the LA Convention Center. One part of the fair is Screenplay, an installation by longtime favorites Oyler Wu Collaborative. While the installation won't be unveiled until Friday at 7pm, below is a preview.

Monday, Monday

A Weekly Dose of Architecture Updates:

This week's dose features Hansha Reflection House in Nagoya, Japan by Studio SKLIM:


The featured past dose is the House in Showa-cho, Osaka, Japan by FujiwaraMuro Architects:


This week's book review is Citizens of No Place: An Architectural Graphic Novel by Jimenez Lai (L):
 
(R): The featured past book review is Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware.

World-Architects.com U.S. Building of the Week:

Edge House in Warren, Connecticut by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson:


Unrelated links are now found in the left sidebar and on My Diigo Bookmarks page.