Building Books: PA Press
Eleven questions for Ken Lippert, publisher at the Princeton Architectural Press,
and
Building Books: MIT Press
Eleven questions for Roger Conover, executive publisher at the MIT Press
Exporting Exurbia
Like the interviews above, another contribution by editor Mason White, this one a third installment of his "Notes on the State of American Architecture". Here, he looks at the recent opening of Wal-Mart near the ruins of Teotihuacán in Mexico.
The Egg Has Landed
Schoolblogger bryan at Harvard GSD posts images of a puppet show held in an egg-like structure underneath the Carpenter Center, for the 40th anniversary of Le Corbusier's only stateside building.
Tuesday, December 7, 2004
ArchiRaid
A bunch of cool new features over at Archinect:
Monday, December 6, 2004
Media Frenzy
The local media jumped at the story when a fire broke out on the 29th story of the LaSalle Bank Headquarters at 135 South LaSalle.
Chicago Tribune
Chicago Sun-Times
CBS2
NBC5
ABC7
I really don't care that programming was pre-empted for hours to cover the fire, but I think the story was blown waaaay out of proportion by the networks over many, many hours. Sure, the fire kept burning, and slowly grew, but it (supposedly) was never our of control. In some ways, the media was reacting to 2003's fire at the Cook County Administration Building that took six lives, though judging by Google News this is a story that people as far as Malaysia are interested in.
Update 12.09: The Chicago Tribune continues its coverage of the Monday night fire, this time commenting on the LaSalle Bank Building's design, including the "wedding cake" tiers and operable windows, both helping limit the fire and aid firefighters.
Chicago Tribune
Chicago Sun-Times
CBS2
NBC5
ABC7
I really don't care that programming was pre-empted for hours to cover the fire, but I think the story was blown waaaay out of proportion by the networks over many, many hours. Sure, the fire kept burning, and slowly grew, but it (supposedly) was never our of control. In some ways, the media was reacting to 2003's fire at the Cook County Administration Building that took six lives, though judging by Google News this is a story that people as far as Malaysia are interested in.
Update 12.09: The Chicago Tribune continues its coverage of the Monday night fire, this time commenting on the LaSalle Bank Building's design, including the "wedding cake" tiers and operable windows, both helping limit the fire and aid firefighters.
What is "architecture"?
My once a day Google alert for "architecture" today yielded ten results (about average) with absolutely none of them related to the common use of the word, building design (definitely below average). Instead, the automated search yielded the following:
I'm definitely not surprised that the term "architecture" would be used heavily for computer and information technology, "the manner in which the components of a computer or computer system are organized and integrated" being the fifth definition of the word in Merriam-Webster Online. It's the structure of the components that justifies the term here, though structure is only one part of "architecture" when applied to building design, meaning their borrowing of the term only looks at a limited portion of it.
So what am I getting at here? I don't know exactly. It seems like there's a lot of other professions and other parts of society that like to borrow and, in a sense, redefine "architecture". Maybe architects just need to be aware of that, and potentially rethink what architecture is and what it can become.
NitroSecurity today announced its Integrated Switched-Infrastructure Security (ISIS) architecture, a new enterprise-wide security model that is the ...
CipherTrust, the leader in messaging security, today announced the Enterprise Messaging Security Architecture (EMSA) Alliance, an open, industry-wide ...
Jaguar plans common architecture for XJ and next S-Type models...information on the £80m savings planned by the closure of Browns Lane car assembly, an FT report of 2 December suggests a common architecture for Jaguar's ...
HP and Sun Microsystems should take note. Oracle has announced its "architecture of the future," and HP and Sun have been left off the plans. ...
IBM, Sony and Toshiba last week said they had booted up a prototype workstation based on the high-performance Cell processor architecture they are jointly ...
The multi-tiered architecture separates the CAD application's user interface from its core modeling engine, or design server, and data storage, facilitating ...
and so forth ...
I'm definitely not surprised that the term "architecture" would be used heavily for computer and information technology, "the manner in which the components of a computer or computer system are organized and integrated" being the fifth definition of the word in Merriam-Webster Online. It's the structure of the components that justifies the term here, though structure is only one part of "architecture" when applied to building design, meaning their borrowing of the term only looks at a limited portion of it.
So what am I getting at here? I don't know exactly. It seems like there's a lot of other professions and other parts of society that like to borrow and, in a sense, redefine "architecture". Maybe architects just need to be aware of that, and potentially rethink what architecture is and what it can become.
Monday, Monday
My weekly page update:
Fluxo Rosa in Morelia, Mexico by Plasma Studio.
The updated book feature is Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche, by Haruki Murakami.
Some related + unrelated links for your enjoyment:
Fluxo Rosa in Morelia, Mexico by Plasma Studio.
The updated book feature is Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche, by Haruki Murakami.
Some related + unrelated links for your enjoyment:
Design Vanguard 2004
Architectural Record features eleven practices in its 2004 survey of the architectural cutting edge, including Plasma Studio from this week's dose above.
loud paper
"loud paper is now accepting submissions for its upcoming 'boring' issue...Designers are sexy and interesting. New forms are fabulous. Glossy magazines are the pinnacle of graphic excitement. The whole thing is an overwhelming gleam of glamour, bright lights and press junkets, except, of course, when it is not...Some aspects of architecture and design are just boring...For this issue we are collecting pieces that tackle supposedly-boring subjects with wit and insight..Deadline December 24." (via Archinect)
Fimoculous - Best of 2004
A compilation of "Best of" lists, in categories like film, books, art, etc. Ongoing. (via kegz)
Sunday, December 5, 2004
NYT Notable
Today The New York Times came out with its 100 Notable Books of the Year, broken into Fiction and Nonfiction categories.
Looking at the nonfiction category, a plethora of books looks at the current state of affairs, primarly terrorism, Osama bin Laden, and September 11. Not surprisingly, with many biographies, histories, and science books making up the rest, only one of the 100 could be called an architecture book, Up From Zero: Politics, Architecture, and the Rebuilding of New York by Paul Goldberger, which happens to also look at the events of September 11.
I inadvertantly published this post before I could mention Art Spiegelman's In the Shadow of No Towers, an architecturally-related notable book by the award-winning comic artist.
Looking at the nonfiction category, a plethora of books looks at the current state of affairs, primarly terrorism, Osama bin Laden, and September 11. Not surprisingly, with many biographies, histories, and science books making up the rest, only one of the 100 could be called an architecture book, Up From Zero: Politics, Architecture, and the Rebuilding of New York by Paul Goldberger, which happens to also look at the events of September 11.
I inadvertantly published this post before I could mention Art Spiegelman's In the Shadow of No Towers, an architecturally-related notable book by the award-winning comic artist.
Thursday, December 2, 2004
"Wonderful, thank you!"
Those were Santiago Calatrava's words today when he was notified that he is the recipient of the 2005 AIA Gold Medal. He followed by saying, "I feel very honored...I will try to be at the level of this honor for the rest of my career and honor you with my work." Having seen Calatrava lecture before, I can hear the sincerity in his voice saying those words. My friend Frank will perhaps find some solace in the Spanish architect's award after he was passed up for the Pritzker Prize earlier in the year.
Calatrava is known for his structurally inventive and expressive designs, many resembling skeletal structures and other natural forms. It is easy to dismiss his architecture as repetitive, both structurally within each project and from one design to another (though I don't see this as a drawback). But having visited two of his projects - BCE Place in Toronto and Stadelhofen Station in Zurich - I'd say Calatrava is not only a great shaper of structure and space but a greater urbanist, able to stitch parts of the city together in each instance; another reason he's deserving of this award.
Update 12.03: AIArchitect has a page on Calatrava winning the 2005 AIA Gold Medal. In other AIA news, Murphy/Jahn will receive the 2005 AIA Architecture Firm Award. Interesting that a firm so grounded in Europe recently is receiving the AIA's highest firm honor. But like Calatrava, this points to the international scope of architecture and its practice.
Calatrava is known for his structurally inventive and expressive designs, many resembling skeletal structures and other natural forms. It is easy to dismiss his architecture as repetitive, both structurally within each project and from one design to another (though I don't see this as a drawback). But having visited two of his projects - BCE Place in Toronto and Stadelhofen Station in Zurich - I'd say Calatrava is not only a great shaper of structure and space but a greater urbanist, able to stitch parts of the city together in each instance; another reason he's deserving of this award.
Update 12.03: AIArchitect has a page on Calatrava winning the 2005 AIA Gold Medal. In other AIA news, Murphy/Jahn will receive the 2005 AIA Architecture Firm Award. Interesting that a firm so grounded in Europe recently is receiving the AIA's highest firm honor. But like Calatrava, this points to the international scope of architecture and its practice.
Wednesday, December 1, 2004
Siyathemba Finalists
Finalists for Siyathemba, a competition to design the perfect "pitch" in Somkhele in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa, an area with one of the highest HIV/AIDS rates in the world, have been announced today, World Aids Day. Visit Architecture for Humanity for more information.
Update: Click here for views of finalist's submissions.
Update: Click here for views of finalist's submissions.
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