A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

In a couple hours I'll be one of over 25 million people glued to their television sets to see how many Oscars Lord of the Rings is going to win in the 76th Academy Awards . But I'll admit that the Best Picture contest doesn't hold my attention this year - though my vote would go to Lost In Translation if I were a member of the Academy, partly because it's an underdog film, but also because it's an independent film, which I guess is what makes it an underdog. Instead I'll be waiting patiently through the enormous amounts of filler that occupy the ceremony every year for the Best Documentary category. And the nominees are: Balseros , the story of seven Cuban refugees in 1994, Capturing the Friedmans , following the Friedman family after the father and son are charged with child molestation, The Fog of War , Errol Morris's portrayal of Robert McNamara re-examining his role in the Vietnam War, The Weather Underground , about a radical group in the late ...

On display at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago until the end of May is a retrospective of sculptor Lee Bontecou. Her sculptures and drawings were popular in the 1960s and 1970s, but since she has rarely exhibited and has existed in a way that works for her but not necessarily for the art world that admires her. Teaching art in Brooklyn, Bontecou can spend years on individual works, immersing herself at times, but without rushing to finish a piece to appease curators, gallery owners or sellers. Untitled , 1966. Collection Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. When I viewed the exhibition on its opening night in early February I was primarily impressed by the intricacy of each piece. Each sculpture works at both the macro and micro scales, in other words from across the room and close-up to the viewer. Nature is a definite influence in her work but also is engineering and, in particular, war machines. The last gives her art a (unintended, perhaps) political resonance that seems ...

Due to a recent fire at a CTA substation, this morning I was able to start and finish an essay while on the train from Places , titled, "Fixing Historic Preservation: A Constructive Critique of 'Significance'" by Randall Mason. While the essay's main points (lack of critically thinking about a place's meaning by preservationists needs to change, significance is not fixed but evolves over time, and multiple voices need to be heard concerning preservation decisions) were not lost on me, I framed these points through one example in particular that the author briefly mentioned: Chaco Canyon. Ever since I happened upon a local PBS presentation of "The Mystery of Chaco Canyon" I have developed an interest in the Anasazi (Pueblo ancestors) and a greater interest in ancient architecture. Effectively narrated by Robert Redford, the short film was preceded by "The Sun Dagger", both masterminded by Anna Sofaer, an artist whose life was changed upo...

A couple nights ago I attended an exhibition of local entries to the World Trade Center Memorial Design Competition at the Graham Foundation . From the 5,201 entries submitted (less than half of the original 13,000+ registrations), 135 entries came from Illinois, as indicated by the LMDC's web page which recently posted all the submissions (accessible by link above), browseable by country and state or searchable by name. Roughly 70 of the 135 Illinois entries came from the Chicago and its metropolitan area, with about 20 entrants agreeing to show their submitted designs in a one-night-only exhibit. Notable names included local architects Stanley Tigerman and John Vinci and the Graham Foundation's director Richard Solomon. Two things struck me as I looked at the designs, both concerning the difficulty of the endeavor: first, the difficulty of the jury deciding between 5,201 entries and second, the difficulty of each entrant, or team, as they tried to create a physical respon...

Oslo School of Architecture in Oslo, Norway by Jarmund/Vigsnæs AS Located near the Akerselva River in the eastern part of Oslo, Norway, the Oslo School of Architecture conducted an open design competition in 1998 for the renovation and expansion of an existing, 1938 building won by local architect Jarmund/Vigsnæs AS . Given the existing building's conservation status on its exterior, the architects focused their attention on the interior, a sunken courtyard and a new block of classrooms competing the courtyard. To signal the entry and bring daylight to the first floor, an access court was created by removing part of the first floor. Coupled with the courtyard beyond the opening ties the School to the river while creating a co...

Tower and Office: From Modernist Theory to Contemporary Practice by Inaki Abalos and Juan Herreros, published by  The MIT Press , 2003. Hardcover, 305 pages. ( Amazon ) Spanish architects Abalos & Herreros finished a Spanish-language book in 1992 titled Técnica y arquitectura en la ciudad contemporánea that lead to a fellowship at Columbia University for additional research. Published eleven years after its predecessor, Tower and Office naturally focuses on the technology of high rise construction and its relationship to the office environment, though in the end the book also stands as an intelligent critique of contemporary architecture and urbanity. Starting with mid-20th-century Modernism, the duo uses Le Corbusier and...

Earthworks Center in Hiroshima, Japan by Archipro Architects, 2002   The Haizuka Dam near Hiroshima, Japan is currently under construction, with completion expected in 2005. Although research on the project began in 1965, new towns needed to be built to house the displaced residents of Soryo, Kisa and Mirasaka, towns soon to be underwater once the dam is complete. Given the additional time and the enormous scale of the undertaking, the Haizuka Earthworks Projects were created in 1994 to "minimize the damage to the environment by incorporating ideas which involve ecological, biological and human resources." Members include artists, architects, engineers and scientists, all contributing their skills to a collaboration that...

Chelsea Court Apartments in New York, NY by Louise Braverman Architect, 2003 The following images and text are courtesy Louise Braverman for her design of the Chelsea Court Apartments in New York City. In the early 1990's Chelsea Court, a SRO on the brink of collapse, was used as a crack den. Over time, the neighborhood grew weary of the street crime which goes hand in hand with a neglected building. Frustrated with the city's lack of response to the problem, Block Association members finally called former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani on his weekly radio show. That call turned the tide and the city took possession of the building, mandating that the property be developed into affordable housing for New York City's disadvantaged...

The Historical Atlas of New York City by Eric Homberger, published by  Holt, 1998. Paperback, 192 pages. ( Amazon ) Similar to Mayer and Wade's Chicago: Growth of A Metropolis , Homberger's book tells the story of a great city through images, photographs, maps and diagrams. Subtitled A Visual Celebration of Nearly 400 Year's of New York City's History , the book starts in 1609 when Henry Hudson was hired by the Dutch East India Company to find a northern route to China, and ends in 1994 with the writer lamenting over Broadway's decline but optimistic for its future. Each chapter in between deals with a roughly 50-year span of time, defining the important events for the city in the respective period and then usin...

Salt Lake City Public Library in Salt Lake City, Utah by Moshe Safdie and Associates, 2003 On January 6, the American Institute of Architects announced the recipients of twenty-nine Honor Awards, recognizing excellence in architecture, interior design and urban design. One of the sixteen buildings in the architecture category is the Salt Lake City Public Library by Moshe Safdie and Associates , known for his Habitat housing project in Montreal, Canada for Expo '67. While the quality of Safdie's architecture has definitely not waned in the years since that innovative design, his exposure has been more limited, though the library in Salt Lake City, Utah may change this. International architect Safdie - with offices in Boston, ...