Have a Good Weekend

Off to St. Louis to celebrate Memorial Day Weekend. 'Tis the time of flags, barbecues, and the WWII Memorial dedication.

Posts will resume when I return.

Until then...

World's Tallest, SOM Style

The Chicago Tribune reports that Adrian Smith of SOM is making another bid at designing the world's tallest building, this time in the United Arab Emerates. At over 2,000 feet (unofficially 2,313 ft. according to The Guardian), Burj Dubai, due for completion in 2008, would be over 600 feet taller than Taipei 101, the current record holder.


Burj Dubai by SOM, 2004 - Mile High Skyscraper by FLLW, 1956 (not to scale)

Frank Lloyd Wright must be grinning in his grave!

Wal-Mart Hits Chicago

Crain's Chicago Business reports that Chicago's City Council approved a zoning change that will let Wal-Mart build its first store within the city's limits. The 150,000 s.f. store will be located on the city's west side, near Austin Avenue, in a poor, primarily black and Hispanic neighborhood.

But the City Council rejected a second attempt by the world's largest retailer to locate a store on the south side, in a racially diverse, middle-class neighborhood.

The article illuminates the promotional and lobbying tactics that Wal-Mart uses to push its image, obviously glossing over its notorious reputation of paying low wages and providing inadequate health care.

The article also mentions that Wal-Mart has had its eye on Chicago for a while, searching for a location that can accommodate the massive footprint of its store and parking. Unlike other big-box retailers, like Home Depot, Wal-Mart appears to be hesitant to abandon its tried-and-true prototype for a design more sensitive to urban conditions. While the west side store will create jobs for the struggling area, hopefully the negative effects of Wal-Mart will not offset this one benefit.

Most Endangered

Yesterday, the National Trust for Historic Preservation released its list of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places for 2004. Including such diverse places as Nine Mile Canyon in Utah, Chicago's Cook County Hospital, the Madison-Lenox Hotel in Detroit, and the state of Vermont, the list sheds light on the scope of preservation, as it ranges from individual buildings to a whole state.

Beyond illustrating the variety of structures that preservation concerns itself with, the list also brings attention to the reasons for their being endangered, from tourism to politics and Wal-Mart. Moreso, the list helps us realize where we place value, in the past and in the present. For example, the Bethlehem Steel Plant, now dormant and in bad condition, was left to deteriorate after closing, not taking into account its value, its place in U.S. history. Now that is becoming apparent, hence its inclusion on the list.

When Buildings Collapse

Terminal 2E at Charles-de-Gaulle Airport outside Paris opened on June 25, 2003, at a cost of almost $900 million. 2E was designed by acclaimed architect Paul Andreu, who has created numerous unique airport designs all over the world since Aerogare 1, also at Charles-de-Gaulle, in 1974.



In the image above, Terminal 2E lies in the left and middle foreground, two tunnel-like structures connected by a central passageway. It is "clad in glass, the 650-m-long concourse building is enclosed by a concrete vault, springing from a raised slab, with numerous square window openings...with a flattened ellipse section, the vault spans around 34 meters." Using tried-and-true tunnel construction, the column-free design is "bold, but nothing revolutionary", according to the architect. Reminiscent of other contemporary designs by the likes of Helmut Jahn and Renzo Piano, as well as other air and rail stations in France, it's difficult to see how design and/or engineering could be at fault in the collapse.

Speaking of the collapse, it occurred in a 30m (98') section of the outer (left-hand) building, just beyond the connecting passageway. While many theories have been thrown out in the days after the incident, from design flaws, material inconsistencies, ground-settling, construction delays, to terrorism, nothing will be known for a while, especially with continuing creaks and other noises leading people to entertain the possibility of demolishing the whole terminal. Upon hearing what happened, I was amazed and relieved that only four people lost their lives; at a busier time there may have been more fatalities.



The loss of 2E goes beyond the four lives that were taken in the collapse. The terminal was France's efforts to make Charles-de-Gaulle airport the premier airport in Europe, moving it ahead of London's and Frankfurt's airports. Built for the carrier Air France, the terminal also would have helped make the airline the number one airline in Europe, or at least that was the plan.

Monday, Monday

This week's update:
The Sharpe Centre for Design at the Ontario College of Design in Toronto, Ontario by Will Alsop.

Some unrelated links for your enjoyment:
Archinect has relaunched with features, links, job postings, image galleries, an event calendar, a discussion board, and the ever-dependable news updates, making it one of the best architecture sites on the internet.

chil.us, a graphic examination of Chicago as a global city, organized by local architecture firm UrbanLab (thanks to Eric M. for the link).

Hugh Pearman's coverage of the New Scottish Parliament by the late Enric Miralles (via Archinect).

Oh Canada, Vol. 2

Some more pictures from my recent trip to Canada, this time from Toronto.


Shim Sutcliffe's award-winning Ledbury Park. The pool and bathhouse, an intelligent plan that allows pedestrian access across the pool, is in unfortunate disrepair, with a damaged wood trellis and concrete steps, among other areas. This view shows the walkway towards the pool with changing rooms on the left.


Graduate House, by Morphosis, at the University of Toronto, acting as a gateway to the campus.


The University of Toronto Early Learning Centre by local firm Teeple Architects, soon to be a weekly dose.


The Sharp Centre for Design at the Ontario College of Design by Will Alsop, tomorrow's weekly dose.

Domus Updates

A couple of updates of interest are featured over at Domus Web (registration req'd):

Peter Eisenman. The Box of Changes
A relatively tame design by Eisenman for a public square and museum overlooking the Pearl River in the heart of Guangzhou, China.

Seattle Opens the Central Library by Koolhaas
A brief mention of Koolhaas and OMA's highly-praised library opening Sunday, with some nice images.

Special Friday

Today kicks off the 6th annual Great Chicago Places and Spaces weekend with Great Conversations, a "lively conversation on the most distinguished award given to living architects [Pritzker Architecture Prize]". Featuring Frank Gehry, Bill Lacy, Stanley Tigerman, and hosted by Bill Kurtis, the free conversation begins at 6:30pm at the Art Institute with seating on a first-come, first-served basis.

If that's not your cup of tea, head up to Ravenswood for the grand opening of Architectural Artifacts new 80,000 s.f. space, featuring sale items, drinks, music, and a photography exhibition documenting the expansion by Doug Fogelson. Festivities start at 6pm at 4325 N. Ravenswood in Chicago (Thanks to Brandon P. for the heads up on this one).


The fine folks at Architectural Artifacts

Also, to accompany you on this weekend of Chicago places and spaces, Lynn Becker at Repeat compares two recently-updated guides: Chicago's Famous Buildings by Franz Shulze and Kevin Harrington and the AIA Guide to Chicago, edited by Alice Sinkevitch.

Oh Canada, Vol. 1

Here's some pictures from my recent trip to Canada. This round includes images from Montreal.


Correction: The old City Hall in the foreground with the Chaussegros-de-Lery mixed-use development by Dan S. Hanganu in the background.


One of the many new developments west of Old Montreal.


Another new development, this time an office building constructed during the .com boom and now mainly vacant.


The dormitory for Cirque de Soleil, soon to be a weekly dose.


The sun sets over Montreal with Bucky Fuller's Expo '67 dome on the right.

Float Tea Lantern

Architects Stephanie Forsythe and Todd MacAllen, known for their Soft House concept, created molo design in 2003 as "the global vehicle to manufacture, distribute, and market the product design work" of the duo. A recent product now available is the float tea lantern, shown below.



The tea set uses double-wall glass construction to conserve heat and highlight the colors of the teas or other liquids inside; a tea candle can be placed underneath the vessel to amplify the effect.

4 Days and Counting

On Sunday, Rem Koolhaas and OMA's Seattle Public Library opens to the public. What at first was a controversial design for its bulky mass and alien form is becoming a highly lauded building, even before being used by the public.

To get a taste for the design, The Seattle Times has a great online resource covering the library and its architecture, a one-stop shop for all your Koolhaas needs. Including axonometric diagrams, VR tours, critical writings (from their paper and others), and great images, it appears that they are proud of the new addition to Seattle's downtown.


Image copyright BENJAMIN BENSCHNEIDER / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Tschumi Once More

Just when we thought all this discussion of Bernard Tschumi and Deconstructivism had fizzled out, 2Blowhards posts the 9th part of Nikos Salingaros's eight-part essay on Tschumi, his response to reactions to his paper, that I found via That Brutal Joint.

Instead of responding to specific positions in these texts Salingaros creates a dichotomy and structures his response accordingly. In his view of architecture, those that do not ascribe to a scientific view of architectural theory or an architectural framework are religious, a dialectic that parallels a similar view in science but doesn't seem appropriate to architecture. To simplify this maneuver, he contends that people (at least those interested in the debate he started) fall along the lines of Christopher Alexander or Peter Eisenman, scientific or religious.

By using this position, Salingaros conveniently falls back upon his scientific background (which most likely influenced his views on architecture), but most strikingly argues that a cult mentality exists perpetuating deconstruction as a viable theory for architecture. I would have preferred some more direct responses over this approach, because in the end I seem to have read more of the same from the previous eight posts (the essay can be read in its entirety here).

From my days in architectural undergrad, I appreciate the aspiration to apply scientific thinking to architecture - particularly environmental behavior - but the lack of its success in some ways led to the assertion that architectural theory is not objective or scientific. It also seems that if science is going to apply to architecture, it needs to do so at the level of the brain, in how we perceive and relate to our environment. The relatively small knowledge about the brain so far is a large obstacle to this application, but hopefully as we learn more about our noggins, we'll be able to apply this knowledge to how we create our environments. Until then, buildings by Tschumi and the like need to coexist beside buildings by Alexander and the like, and vice-versa. But, also, don't forget about everything in-between.

On The Road Again

I'm off on a road trip to Montreal so the next post will probably be the middle of next week. At that time I'll try to post some photos from the trip, including Montreal, Toronto and Cranbrook.

Until then...

Eskimo Architecture

Eskimo Architecture, a book by Gregory A. Reinhardt and Molly Lee, is the recipient of a "Best of the Best From University Presses" award, according to an article in the Indianapolis Star.

According to Reinhardt, a professor of anthropology at the University of Indianapolis, their book is the first on the subject. Working with Lee, a professor of anthropology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and curator of ethnology at the University of Alaska Museum, they've created a book whose, "clear and fluent prose and abundant illustrations make an engrossing read for specialists and nonspecialists alike."



While many people equate earth architecture with adobe and dry regions like the American Southwest and Africa, "Arctic Architecture" can contribute just as much to discussions about humans working with the land to create shelter.

Of course I'm reminded of Robert J. Flaherty's Nanook of the North, an early documentary on the day to day lives of Eskimos. Even to this day the film is enlightening in the way it presents those aspects of life (getting food, creating shelter, etc) that many of us take for granted since those processes are out of our hands, goods merely purchased with money. Pertinent to this discussion, Nanook's construction of an igloo is particularly amazing, a learned skill that looks so easy but takes a life to learn and generations to carry.

On Chicago

Get out your headphones, turn up the volume, and get ready to listen to Lee Bey, Blair Kamin, Donna Robertson and Stanley Tigerman defend Chicago's current architecture scene, on this page at Architectural Record.

Depending on your frame of mind it's either enlightening and informative or something to cure a case of insomnia.

Monday, Monday

This week's update:
Hotel Unique in Sao Paolo, Brazil by Ruy Ohtake.

Some unrelated links for your enjoyment:
The Public Square, the creation of physical and virtual space in Urbana, IL (thanks to Zwichenzug for the link).

Protecting America's Treasures, a contest sponsored by 3M to aid the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Vote for favorite historical site from twenty listed (thanks to Edward Lifson for the link).

The Ray and Maria Strata Center, photos of Frank Gehry's design on the MIT campus (thanks to "the candyman" Eric M. for the link).

"Record" Chicago

As the magazine of the American Institute of Architects, it's no coincidence that this month's Architectural Record features four projects in Chicago, site of next month's AIA National Convention, the city's first time since 1993.

Wood + Zapata's Soldier Field expansion, OMA's Campus Center at IIT, Murphy/Jahn's dormitory at IIT, and Perkins & Will's Skybridge condominiums are all featured in the Project Portfolio section, which usually doesn't adhere to a strict focus in locality.

Regardless of the magazine's intentions, it is refreshing to see the spotlight once again shine upon Chicago for its contemporary architecture, rather than its lack of quality, new buildings. But for somebody living in Chicago, like myself, these buildings are yesterday's news. Newer buildings like Studio Gang's Chinese American Service League community center in Chinatown, as well as structures under construction like Rafael Vinoly's Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago and the ever-on-going Millennium Park with Frank Gehry's bandshell and pedestrian bridge, are all providing a change in focus for local architects and residents.


GBS Construction View

Perhaps what I'm talking about is solely a "publication lag", since print media is inherently slow. Perhaps I'm just a bit tired of focus on Soldier Field and OMA's tube. Mainly, I hope that visitors to Chicago during the AIA Convention realize there's much more to recent architecture than the four buildings mentioned in Architectural Record. By just exploring the streets of the city, especially outside downtown, they'll come across those buildings that don't make it into the publications but are still helping Chicago redefine itself today.

Book of the Moment

On Tuesday this week, the latest book by Jane Jacobs, the renowned author of The Death and Life of Great American Cities and Cities and the Wealth of Nations was released. Titled Dark Age Ahead, the book deals with the decay of culture in North America and the imminent arrival of our own dark age. Although the title and synopsis sounds bleak, like most of her books Jacobs finds a way to shine an optimistic light upon her observations of culture and our environment.

(Un)Conventional Cooling

My friend The Bellman recently posted information on a couple of cooling methods, both for foods but both with possibility for greater application.

Firstly, the pot-in-pot cooling system was developed by Nigeria's Mohammed Bah Abba, who referenced basic thermodynamics to devise a relatively simple container to cool fruits and vegetables in his native country. Placing damp sand in the cavity between two clay pots, Abba has extended the life of eggplants from three days to 27, while spinach lasts almost two weeks instead of one day. The invention is a recipient of a Rolex Prize for Enterprise.

And secondly, NPR's Fresh Air broadcast a piece on a freezer that uses sound waves instead of chemicals. A 190-decibel note fluctuates rapidly to produce pockets of hot and cold air, the cool air funneled into a case refrigerating, yes, Ben & Jerry's ice cream.

Finally, Something Good's on TV

Over at RE.|Design News, today's post features a product called groovetube, a translucent plastic box that fits onto your TV screen via suction cups. Just turn on your television and watch as the grid of boxes changes colors, an abstraction of the image underneath. Cool stuff.

Open to the Public

On Saturday, the First of May, the Farnsworth House in Plano, Illinois reopened to the public after the Mies van der Rohe-designed house was purchased by the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois in a December auction. Bought from British real estate developer Peter Palumbo for $7.5 million, the Council will charge $20 for a one hour tour of the house and its grounds.

Arguably one of the greatest private residences of the 20th century, the Farnsworth house - located on a flood plain next to the Fox River about 60 miles southwest of Chicago - has been threatened by floods on at least two occasions, the most recent in 1996, after which extensive repairs were necessary.



After visiting Farnsworth House about five years ago during Palumbo's reign, I would definitely recommend a tour to anyone interested in Mies, Modernism, or architecture in general. Unlike other seminal Modernist works like Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye, the site of Farnsworth House has not been encroached by development; in fact its property was expanded from 10 to 150 acres by Palumbo, keeping the sensation of a break from distant civilization.

Monday, Monday

This week's update:
The Emerson Sauna in Duluth, Minnesota by Salmela Architect.

Some unrelated links for your enjoyment:
The American Academy in Rome announced the 2004-2005 Rome Prize winners late last week(thanks to Eleanor).

The National WWII Memorial, although to be dedicated on May 29, is already open to the public. NPR features a piece on the memorial's design.

Slideshows of Japanese architecture (thanks to Eric M.):

Matsushima Yacht House and Miyagi Stadium by Hitoshi Abe
Koga General Park Cafeteria by Kazuyo Sejima
K-Museum by Makoto Sei Watanabe

Art, Defined?

This morning's CBS News Sunday Morning featured a piece on the 2004 Whitney Biennal at the Whitney Museum in New York City. Correspondent Rita Braver describes the show as an exhibit that often makes viewers ask, "is this really art?"

Some people might say that by virtue of being part of the esteemed show, everything on exhibit is art, though this belief has been questioned by artists like Andy Goldsworthy through site-specific and temporal artworks that could never be contained between the walls of a museum.

Containing, at the Biennal, works as diverse as paintings, sculptures, rooms made of corn starch or lights and mirrors, and even recycled video game images, the questioning of art's definition would seem to be a topic of concern beyond other ideas the artists are trying to convey. If art is defined by its medium, then is something made from an old Mario Brothers game art, even though it abandons the traditional media?

These and other questions came to me after seeing Neil LaBute's latest film, 2003's The Shape of Things. (Spoiler alert! If you haven't seen this film and want to, you might want to skip the rest of this post and come back after you've watched it.)

In LaBute's film, the director takes aim at art and what can be classified as such, particularly when it comes to the manipulation of a human being. When English student Alan falls for art student Evelyn, we know that she defines art in radical ways, at the time of their meeting when she is going to deface a classical statue by spray-painting a penis over a plaster fig leaf applied to the statue's genitalia in protest long ago. Her motives appear honest, valuing the artist's original vision over its current state. Immediately, though, her actions are suspicious as her "vandalism" is as much a defacement of the artist's vision as the fig leaf.

Eighteen months later, at the end of the movie, we learn that Evelyn's thesis project is Alan, as he changes (convincingly by actor Paul Rudd) both physically and emotionally over the course of the film. Evelyn's explains that her media are the human body (skin) and human will. The viewer can't help but be shocked by this revelation, though she makes a good argument for her thesis, founded on the belief that all is art and that art changes things. Seemingly irrefutable, the film does not take a clear position; is her project art or is it hurtful manipulation?

What the film does do is give the viewer a lot to think and talk about, about the film, about art, about relationships, about ourselves, ... Personally I believe that art is ever-changing, confounding expectations and raising questions. A lot of art today does that, unfortunately deterring a lot of people from experiencing art that may appear esoteric or lacking in beauty. Ultimately art is defined by ourselves, by what we like, what we choose to believe, what we think about, and what we're exposed to.

Machu Picchu 2004

The first, second and third prize winners in the Machu Picchu 2004 Architecture Competition, sponsored by Architectum, have been announced and are currently on display in an online, virtual exhibition. The program, a hostel in Cusco, Peru, was intended to celebrate the importance of the historical site of Machu Picchu while also celebrating the natural context. Click below for the winner's boards, or check the virtual exhibition to see all 264 entries.

First Prize - Giuliano Valdivia Zegarra, Alvaro Pastor Cavagneri, Hernán Perochena Angulo, Edith Suárez Málaga, and Renzo Borda Bustamante from Peru
Second Prize - Geanpaolo Pietri and Teresa Schiavone from the United States
Third Prize - Claudio Navarrete Michelini and Nayib. Tala G. from Chile