4 Week's Notice

Dear readers,

In exactly four weeks I start school again. Yes, after nearly ten years in professional practice, I'm heading back to school for a Master's degree, specifically the Master's in Urban Planning at City College's Urban Design Program, headed by Michael Sorkin and located in the great city of New York.

What brings this on, you ask? Well, going back to school for a Master's degree (I have a five-year Bachelor's degree from Kansas State) has always been on my mind, though in varying degrees since starting my first job. I've seen it as a way to pursue something more defined than undergrad, more personal, and reflecting some experience with practice and "how the world works." Now with marriage and the prospects that that brings, this might be the last chance I have to pursue this goal. But more importantly, the Urban Design Program's focus on sustainable and pedestrian-oriented planning is something I feel strongly about and feel is timely and important, for reasons that don't require too much explanation here.

Regardless, here's a quote that might help illustrate what I'm thinking, taken from Michael Hough's City Form and Natural Process, written in 1984 but still apt (if not even more) today:

As environment and energy issues assume a higher profile in the future, it will become increasingly necessary to broaden the horizons of urban design to meet new goals. Urban land as a whole will be required to assume environmental, productive, and social roles, as fundamental components of the urban design process...Many of the problems generated by the city and imposed on the larger natural environment will have to be resolved within it.

I'm mentioning this here to alert readers that August might be a slow month in these parts. I'll need to make multiple trips to New York to find an apartment, help my wife find a job, register for classes, and all that other good stuff that goes along with going back to school and uprooting one's life. I plan on keeping this page, my weekly page, and the archi-tourist going, though the frequency of posts on this page will be determined by my schedule and workload. Each one of these pages are a great outlet for me, my interests, and my wanderings about the world and the internet, and I don't plan on any of that lapsing anytime soon.

Sincerely,

John

Old in New

Stumbling about ARCOweb, I came across this project by the current Pritzker laureate, Paulo Mendes de Rocha (with Metro Arquitetos) for a rather brazen addition to the Museu Nacional de Belas-Artes in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.



It's in Portuguese, so I'll let the images speak for themselves.

Monday, Monday

My weekly page update:

Mountain Retreat in Kerhonkson, New York by Resolution: 4 Architecture.

The updated book feature is Tadao Ando: Complete Works, edited by Philip Jodidio.

Some unrelated links for your enjoyment:

Coroflot
"A career and community site for creative professionals [that] hosts individual creative portfolios [for free!] and a database of job and project openings."

East Coast Architecture Review
"Providing Commentary, Discourse & Insight into Architecture & Allied Design from the Southeastern United States." (added to sidebar under blogs::architecture)

Architektur Blog
New German architecture blog, in German. (added to sidebar under blogs::architecture)

Today's archidose #15

Ibirapuera2 by digdoi
Auditorium of the Ibirapuera Park by Oscar Niemeyer, in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just:

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

Today's archidose #14

Sundial Bridge by informedmindstravel
Sundial Bridge in Redding, CA by Santiago Calatrava.

To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just:

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

Algae Doesn't Appreciate a Great Sponge

Get an inside look at Steven Holl's Simmons Hall dormitory at MIT in this cool short film by redbucketfilms.



(Thanks for the head's up, Josh!)

Stacking Architecture

The seemingly impossible (or unpossible, as Ralph Wiggum would say) just might happen. Commercial Property News confirms a rumor I've heard, that Blue Cross Blue Shield will expand its headquarters in Chicago's East Loop by adding 24 stories on top of its current 30 floors. That's right, on top of its current building.



Completed in 1997, the building by now defunct Lohan Associates (apparently attributed to James Goettsch via inclusion on his firm's web page and not Lohan Anderson's) was actually designed to be expanded vertically, an intelligent but far-fetched approach. Considerations include leaving some space in the core empty in anticipation of a new bank of elevators for the addition, space that can be used for the tower crane during construction; and creating a large plaza to the north that can be used for staging during that time. Regardless of these and other measures, now that that time has almost come, it should be interesting to see just how smooth the process is and if they can pull it off.

And speaking of stacking, Freitag's new shop in Zurich that recently opened is comprised of 17 used shipping containers stacked into four columns of varying heights. Architects spillman.echsle found an appropriate design for a company that makes and sells "recycled freewaybags."



More photos can be seen at Freitag's Flickr sets.

(via WM$NA)

Today's archidose #13

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Muirhead Farmhouse, Hampshire, IL by Karla's
The Muirhead Farmhouse by FLLW, now a bed and breakfast.

To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just:

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

Chang-Lin Tien Center

About 180 degrees from the Tate Modern Extension posted earlier today is UC Berkeley's Chang-Lin Tien Center, designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects. Yep, them.



While it may not resemble other projects by the New York-based architects -- the Neurosciences Institute, the Folk Art Museum, the Cranbrook Natatorium -- it clearly exhibits their thoughtfulness and sensitivity to site, client, and program. And compared with the Herzog & de Meuron design for the Tate, this project is much more clear on what's happening inside.

(via Javlog)

This Just In

From World Architecture News:

Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron have today revealed plans for their £215 million iconic extension to the former power station on the south bank of the River Thames. The new 7,000 m² extension will be built on land to the south of the Tate Modern reclaimed from EDF energy networks. A new entrance and piazza to the 4 million visitor/year venue will allow north-south pedestrian passage through the complex. Ten new galleries will be provided in the 10 stories above ground and a performing space will be created within the former oil tanks, once used to feed the power station located below ground. The Mayor of London today pledged £7 million pounds towards the project through the London Development Agency. Completion is scheduled for 2012.

Kinda makes Steven Holl's addition to the Nelson-Atkins look sensitive.

More at Google News.

Update: The image below and more, with commentary by Hugh Pearman, at Gabion.



Update 07.26: The Tate's official site on the addition is Transforming Tate Modern, "an opportunity for you to see how the project is developing and how Tate is responding to local people's views."



On Tate's page is the view above, which better illustrates the extension's siting and its view from across the Thames, less imposing than other renderings.

Today's archidose #12

duomo di milano by twoeightnine
A detail of Milan's Cathedral.

To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just:

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

Monday, Monday

My weekly page update:

Halmstad Library in Halmstad, Sweden by Schmidt Hammer Lassen.

The updated book feature is Peter Walker and Partners: Nasher Sculpture Center Garden, edited by Jane Amidon.

Some new (to me) architectural blogs, all added to the sidebar under blogs::architecture:

Kollectif
"Kollectif emerges from an intention to rally the different design professions...to facilitate communication between parties and, ultimately, to create and nourish a sense of curiosity towards each other. (en francais)

The Design Rag
"Illuminating commentary and illustrated visions of issues in architecture and urbanism."

Passion of the Architect
"the crazy world of architecture....the drama, the stories, the reality."

Today's archidose #11

Originally uploaded by gac.

To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just:

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

Bloch Pics Update

An anonymous tipster has sent us some photos of the Steven Holl-designed addition to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City. The Bloch Building was first featured on this page back in March 05 and most recently with some pics in January of this year. The apparent split over the merits of the addition probably won't be remedied by these photos, exhibiting both the good and bad qualities of the design. The addition is scheduled to open June 2007.

















Thanks anonymous!

Half Dose #28: House of Sweden

According to its web page, "a House of Sweden is being erected outside Sweden [for the first time], to be home to the Swedish embassy and representatives of Swedish commerce. The building will form a new Swedish arena in the United States. It is an unusual embassy building, housing a secretariat, 16 apartments and an Event Center."



Designed by Sweden's Gert Wingardh, the building's exterior is a banded composition of various materials, predominantly glass but also wood and stone. In the middle bands, a blond maple is covered in fritted glass below a laminated glass printed with a wood grain. Ironically perhaps, the latter has a stronger impact, though the faux wood grain appears almost comic.



This horizontal banding reflects the variety of uses within the House of Sweden: basement event center, ground floor public areas, 2nd floor Embass