February Lectures

Lots of lectures, exhibitions and other presentations happening in New York City during the second month of 2009. Below is a list of some of those. Click the titles for prices, learning units and other information.

Tuesday, February 3
Step by Step: Building Schools in Africa, lecture by Diebedo Francis Kere
6:30-8:30pm @ Columbia University, Wood Auditorium, Avery Hall

Wednesday, February 4
Eco-Cities: Building Green on a City Scale, Eric Sanders will lead a discussion with Hillary Brown, Kate Orff and Ashok Raiji
6:30pm @ Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd St.

Conflicts, lecture by Thomas Leeser
6:30-8:30pm @ Columbia University, Wood Auditorium, Avery Hall

Monday, February 9
Advancing Architectural Research, debate with GSAPP Professors/ Lab Directors: David Benjamin, Living Architecture Lab; Jeffrey Inaba, C-Lab; Jeffrey Johnson, China Lab; Laura Kurgan, Spatial Information Lab; Scott Marble, Fabrication Lab; Moderated by Kazys Varnelis, Network Architecture Lab
6:30-8:30pm @ Columbia University, Wood Auditorium, Avery Hall

Wednesday, February 11
The Bank of America Tower with Richard A. Cook and Robert F. Fox, Jr, Cook + Fox Architects LLP
6:30pm @ Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd St.

Architecture and Context, lecture by Annabelle Selldorf
6:30-8:30pm @ Columbia University, Wood Auditorium, Avery Hall

Thursday, February 12
Peter Eisenman: University of Phoenix Stadium for the Arizona Cardinals, a film by Tom Piper, presented by Steven Holl
6:30pm - 9pm @ The Center for Architecture, 536 LaGuardia Place

In Situ Design: People, History, Place, lecture by George Ranalli
6pm @ Pratt University, Higgins Hall Auditorium

Friday, February 13
Current Work Grafton Architects, lecture with Yvonne Farrell and Shelly McNamara of Grafton Architects
7pm @ The Urban Center, 457 Madison Avenue

Book Launch: "Leven Betts, Pattern Recognition," by Leven Betts Studio
6-8pm @ 66 Fifth Avenue, Kellen Auditorium Lobby

Saturday, February 14
Urban China: Jiang Jun, presentation by the editor-in-chief of Urban China
3pm @ The New Museum, 235 Bowery

Monday, February 16
Material IMMATERIAL, Kengo Kuma and The Work of Kengo Kuma, Botond Bognar
Kengo Kuma exhibition begins, running until March 13
6pm @ Pratt University, Higgins Hall Auditorium

Crisis, debate and Volume Magazine launch with Benjamin Godsill, New Museum; Joseph Grima, Storefront for Art and Architecture; Jeffrey Inaba, Volume; Jeffrey Johnson, C-Lab; Jiang Jun, Urban China
6:30-8:30pm @ Columbia University, Wood Auditorium, Avery Hall

Tuesday, February 17
The Rebirth of the South Bronx with Majora Carter
6:30pm @ Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd St.

Wednesday, February 18
Interlaced Logic, lecture by Pei Zhu + Tong Wu
6:30-8:30pm @ Columbia University, Wood Auditorium, Avery Hall

Thursday, February 19
Process: Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, with Charles Renfro, Mark Holden, Peter Rosenbaum, and introduction by Reynold Levy
12:30pm @ Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center

James Wines lecture
6pm @ City College, Shepherd Hall room 95

Steven Holl: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, a film by Tom Piper, presented by Peter Eisenman
6:30pm - 9pm @ The Center for Architecture, 536 LaGuardia Place

Slenderness: New York | Hong Kong, super slender New York towers
6:30pm @ Steelcase Showroom, 4 Columbus Circle (@ 58th Street)

Friday, February 20
Hermitage 2014, lecture by Rem Koolhaas
6:30-8:30pm @ Columbia University, Wood Auditorium, Avery Hall

Situation Room, exhbition opening (running until March 31)
Storefront for Art and Architecture, 97 Kenmare Street

Saturday, February 21
Home Design in New York with Jean Nouvel, Craig Greenberg, James Archer Abbott, moderated by Donald Albrecht
1-5pm @ Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd St.

Wednesday, February 25
Book Launch: "Digital Modelling for Urban Design", new book by Brian McGrath
6-8pm @ 25 E. 13th Street, 2nd floor: The Glass Corner

New Urbanism for New Yorkers with Robert Yaro and John Norquist
6:30pm @ Museum of the City of New York, 1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd St.

Thursday, February 26
Lebbeus Woods lecture
6pm @ City College, Shepherd Hall room 95

For more lecture resources, see also:
:: AIA/NY Calendar
:: newyork-architects
:: bustler

Queens Builds

On the heels of 2007's opening of the administrative/visitor center at Queens Botanical Garden, the borough I call home has a string of high-profile public projects in the works, many under construction. Below are some details.


[Museum of the Moving Image by Thomas Leeser | image source]

One of the borough's cultural gems is the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria. An expansion designed by Leeser Architecture will double the museum's facilities, create a new entrance and courtyard, and fuse the architecture "seamlessly with the moving image." The three-story addition at the building's rear will be clad in pale blue aluminum panels.


[Museum of the Moving Image by Thomas Leeser | image source]

Work on the foundations and subsequent steel work began late last year. Neither the architect nor the client's web page indicate an opening date, though I'd guess sometime in 2010.


[Frank Sinatra School of the Arts High School by Polshek Partnership | image source]

Across the street from the Museum of the Moving Image is the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts High School, a new building by Polshek Partnership. The 1,000-student capacity school has a strong presence in the neighborhood, stemming from its scale as much as the articulation of the three main façades. I'm guessing from that since the building is almost complete it will open this fall.


[The Children's Library Discovery Center by 1100 Architect | image source]

A couple buildings for Queens Library are worth noting. The first is The Children's Library Discovery Center in Jamaica by 1100 Architect. The 14,000 sf building includes exhibitions, a "cyber center", story areas resources (aka books), among other things catering to kids and fostering their interest in learning. All are behind a simple, flat box that is punctuated by rectangles of vision glass in apparently random locations.


[The Children's Library Discovery Center by 1100 Architect | image source]

The Discovery Center is scheduled to open in late 2009.


[Kew Garden Hills Library Expansion by WORKac | image source]

Another Queens Library project is the expansion of the Kew Garden Hills Library in Kew Garden Hills by WORKac. I saw the project at a lecture by the firm's lead duo, but unfortunately neither they nor the client have images of the rather exciting design online. Basically the expansion of the corner building occurs at the two street fronts, like wrapping a square with an "L" in plan. This wrapper is clad in a solid, undulating wall of concrete that is lifted at the corners to reveal storefront glazing below, letting light in and allowing views out. The concrete wall is low at the entrance to mark its location and provide a peek of the green roof above. The shallow, V-shaped section also creates clerestories over the existing roof, providing even more light into the open-plan of the library. (I'll post images of the design as they become available.)


[Queens Museum of Art Expansion by Grimshaw Architects | image source]

Lastly are a couple projects in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. The expansion of the Queens Museum of Art by Grimshaw Architects will double its size to 100,000 sf. Residence will have to say goodbye to the World's Fair Skating Rink, since the expansion will extend into its area to the south of the existing building.


[Queens Museum of Art Expansion by Grimshaw Architects | image source]

According to the museum, "new entrances on both the east and west sides of the building will welcome visitors into a large skylit lobby. A stunning etched glass panel running most of the height and length of the [west] façade (top image) will make the Museum highly visible to everyone driving along the Grand Central Parkway."


[Queens Theatre in the Park by Caples Jefferson Architects | image source left & right]

The nearby Queens Theatre in the Park opened last year in a renovation/addition Caples Jefferson Architects. The design includes a new cylindrical, glass structure flanking the 1964 World Fair's Theaterama by Philip Johnson and Richard Foster, which the Theatre also occupies. Even with a gently curving enclosure capped by a nebula oculus, the new digs have a hard time competing with the adjacent New York State Pavilion also by Johnson and Foster.

PS1 Blow Up

One of the finalists in this year's PS1 Young Architects Program (won by MOS in an announcement earlier today) is Brooklyn's Bade Stageberg Cox (BSC Architecture) and their Summer Blow Up entry.


[image by BSC Architecture | image source]

The architects "call for a renewed excitement about the joys of lightness, precision and efficiency," echoing Bucky Fuller's sentiment with "an absolute economy of physical material." Seven interconnected, inflatable torus shapes overhead make up the design, with wading pools below echoing the circular shapes. Overlapping and set at varying heights, the "clouds" allow for the requisite shade asked for by PS1.


[image by BSC Architecture | image source]

One of the interesting aspects of BSC's design is how the "entire weight of Blow Up is less than 2,000lbs and can fit in the back of a pickup truck." The idea of lightness extends to the transportation of building materials, something typically overlooked when ideas of sustainable design are considered. Even the energy required to keep the clouds inflated (a la the snowmen that take over front yards at Christmas time) would have came been bought from upstate wind farms. Less than ideal, but considerate nevertheless.


[image by BSC Architecture | image source]

Probably the most appealing aspect of the design, though, is that something so light (fabric and air) can have so much visual weight. Compared to the winning design, this one appears more anchored and rooted than MOS's design which will be executed in aluminum and thatch. Bucky would've been proud.

PS1 Afterparty

Last year the courtyard at PS1 in Long Island City was transformed into a Public Farm. This summer, per an announcement today, it will become an amalgam of Cones, Domes and Huts. The winner's of this year's PS1 Young Architects Program is MOS, with a design titled "Afterparty."


[image by MOS | image source]

Hilary Sample and Michael Merideth addressed the requirements of shade, seating and water in their design by "air cooled by the courtyard’s existing shaded concrete walls and concrete water troughs [that] will be drawn up through the chimneys by induction...creating a breeze." The architects description points to primitive architecture executed with contemporary technologies.


[image by MOS | image source]

Evoking the smokestacks of the area, the design and its visibility beyond PS1's walls is very appealing. Like previous winners, the small budget ($70,000) will surely impact construction and have a big impact on the success of the final product, set to open in late June. Here's hoping they can pull it off well.


[image by MOS | image source]

Today's archidose #283

Bond - Early Design, originally uploaded by kelviin.

The Bond Centre in Hong Kong by Paul Rudolph, first proposal presented to the client in March 1985.

To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just:

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

Half Dose #58: Prayer and Meditation Pavilion

One of the projects nominated for a Detail Prize 2009, in the Special Prize Architecture Export category, is this Prayer and Meditation Pavilion in Soba, Sudan by Venice, Italy's Studio Tamassociati.


[photo by Marcello Bonfanti | image source]


[photo by Marcello Bonfanti | image source]

While not selected as winner (FAR's popular Wall House nabbed that distinction), it's clear to see why the project was nominated in the first place, from the siting and its platonic exterior to the dramatic interior spaces.


[photo by Marcello Bonfanti | image source]

The plan corroborates the images above, that the pavilion is basically two cubes, tangent to each other on one face and shifted from each other about the distance of the half of one side. Slots and a peeling away of the outer walls create access points to each cube from opposite sides, across a shallow pool.


[plan and sections | image source]

Each space is topped by what look like bamboo canopies (but the award description calls palm leaf) in a steel frame, painted white to match the whitewashed walls.


[photo by Marcello Bonfanti | image source]

This bamboo, and the gaps between the frames, creates beautiful patterns of shadow on the walls and floors.


[photo by Marcello Bonfanti | image source]

The jury comments:

"The architects have succeeded in creating a neutral place for meditation for all religious and ethnic groups present in the Sudan. Using local materials and a straightforward design, they have built an objective room that has a marked simplicity. This is enhanced by the deliberate use of light and shadow and radiates a calming influence reinforced by the surrounding areas of water. Also praiseworthy is the sensitive use of local materials and design characteristics as well as of local builders."

[photo by Marcello Bonfanti | image source]

Links:

:: Studio Tamassociati
:: Detail Prize 2009

Monday, Monday

My weekly page update:

Marianne Boesky Gallery in Manhattan by Deborah Berke & Partners Architects.

This week's book review is Deborah Berke by Tracy Myers.

Some unrelated links for your enjoyment:

deconarch
"Arts and architecture historian blogging about arts and architecture and how they merge," with posts in German and occasionally in English. (added to sidebar under blogs::architecture)

WikiArquitecture
An English version (in need of some attention) of a wiki-based site devoted to architecture and engineering. (added to sidebar under architectural links::guides)

Scouting New York
The blog of a film location scout and his workday travels about the city. (via Curbed)

archiCentral
"Architecture // News // Daily" (added to sidebar under blogs::architecture)

Today's archidose #282

Here's a couple new buildings at the University of Toronto Mississauga. Photographs are by Scott Norsworthy.


Communication, Culture and Technology Building by Saucier + Perrotte Architects


Hazel McCallion Academic Learning Center and Library by Shore Tilbe Irwin and Partners

To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just:

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

Half Dose #57: Stockwerk Sedelmeier

Flipping through a special edition of the German magazine A&W on the 50 best single-family houses in Germany at a newsstand yesterday, this design by w67 architekten bda schulz + stoll stood out from the rest.


[exterior view | image source]

What looks like a straightforward glass box is elevated well above one's head and the neighboring buildings. The lift is housed in a stone-clad volume at the front of the house; a slender column is all that otherwise supports the house at its front.


[exterior view | image source]

Like a contemporary interpretation of Le Corbusier's five points, the design both lifts itself above the ground and recovers this space on the roof, where a generous terrace provides a dramatic outdoor living area.


[terrace view | image source]

Situated on a steep slope in south Stuttgart, the house takes advantage of city views afforded by the site by providing additional outdoor space.


[terrace view | image source]

The interior photographs illustrate that the house is fairly typical of much minamilist contemporary architecture today: unadorned walls, a restrained material palette, a floating stair and generous glazing. The last brings the residents back to the outdoor rooms and view beyond.


[interior view | image source]

Even the frosted glazing in the bathroom has a connection to the outside, as the adjacent tree kisses the surface, like a natural pattern on the glazing. It's a subtle yet effective reminder of what surrounds the modern-day treehouse.


[interior view | image source]

Links:

:: w67 architekten bda schulz + stoll
:: Architektur & Wohnen Special Edition

Today's archidose #281

Metropolis Down, originally uploaded by [Zakkaliciousness].

The Metropolis apartment building in Copenhagen, Denmark by Future Systems, 2008.

Last week Jan Kaplický, a founder of Future Systems, died at the age of 71. From the Future Systems web page:

Jan Kaplický 1937-2009

Jan Kaplický founder and partner of our practice died on 14 January 2009 in Prague, the town where he was born in 1937.

Jan was through Future Systems the founder and driving force of a new architecture that stimulated, amazed and inspired. He brought together people who shared his ideals and who were never content to remain with the status quo. In Amanda Levete he found a partner with whom he was able to realize his visionary concepts, often against prevailing attitudes, and their partnership was supported by many talented architects and designers over the years.

We are stunned and deeply saddened by the loss of Jan who was a mentor, co-conspirator, critic and inspiration to all who worked with him. His legacy will undoubtedly endure - he was a rare talent in the world of architecture and the reputation and success of Future Systems over the past thirty years stand as a testament to his relentless creative drive.

Our thoughts are with his children Josef and Johana and his wife Eliska Kaplicky Fuchsova.

To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just:

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

Cooper Union Builds

Here's a few shots I snapped today walking past Cooper Union's New Academic Building by Morphosis under construction.



The building is located between 6th and 7th Streets, catty-corner from the school's main building. The above and below shots are looking northeast across Third Avenue, the street between the old and new buildings.



The below shot is the 7th Street corner, looking southeast. This is obviously the less-reserved of the building's two main corners.



And finally here's a detail of the screen facade, what appears to be a perforated metal with an applique of apparently random, painted rectangles. The renderings indicate that this last is as intended, though I'm not sure if it's helping or hindering the design.



One can see from the first two photos that this metal screen will continue across the Third Avenue facade (minus the scaffolded area), mounted to the cantilevered horizontal frame in the spandrel area. So basically the screen is a sculptural veil of a dumb (and I'm guessing cheap) glass and metal box. The corner detail (third photo) illustrates this disjunction nicely.

Today's archidose #280

Here's two views of the Trinity River Audubon Center in Dallas, Texas by Antoine Predock Architect and Brown Reynolds Watford Architects. Photographs are by hellothomas.

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:

Kimbell Art Museum Expansion in Fort Worth, Texas by Renzo Piano Building Workshop.

This week's book review is Mark No. 17.

Some unrelated links for your enjoyment:

SpaceInvading
An image feed of architecturally-relevant blog posts, created by the fine folks at Archinect. (added to sidebar under blogs::aggregate)

HTC Experiments
"Experimental practices in architectural history, theory, and criticism — organized by David Gissen." (added to sidebar under blogs::architecture)

there is a lot to say, of this we are sure
A site "maintained by bryan boyer as part of a larger network, of this we are sure." (added to sidebar under blogs::architecture)

10th Anniversary

A Weekly Dose of Architecture is ten years old today. On January 18, 1999 I posted a feature on Louis I. Kahn's Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, the first of many weekly "doses." Tomorrow I revisit Fort Worth with a weekly dose on Renzo Piano's expansion plans released to the public late last year. In this case, what goes around comes around.



Apart from some redesigns of the page layout (above), the focus and size of the web site has remained constant, mainly featuring buildings of architectural note in a manageable size. These doses, as I chose to call them, attempt to locate and discuss the ideas embedded within architectural works. Hopefully over the last ten years the quality of writing and insight has increased, something hard for me to objectively say. Regardless, my weekly page is still enjoyable and manageable for me, so it continues past the ten year mark. If it lasts another ten years is another thing, something only time will tell.

Today's archidose #279

Dreamland Models, originally uploaded by archidose.

A view of the large model table in the "Dreamland: Architectural Experiments since the 1970s" exhibition at MoMA.

Key (links are to MoMA collection):
1. Slow House by Diller + Scofidio
2. Torus House by Preston Scott Cohen
3. Möbius House by UN Studio
4. Vertigo House by Thomas Leeser (two models)
5. Poolhouse by Lindy Roy
6. Hotel Habitat, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat by Cloud 9, Acconci Studio, Ruy Ohtake & Enric Ruiz-Geli
7. Bridge of Houses by Steven Holl
8. Sendai Mediatheque by Toyo Ito
9. Max Reinhardt Haus by Peter Eisenman
10. Landmark Tower by Jean Nouvel
11. T-House by Simon Ungers
12. Museum of Cantabria by Mansilla + Tuñón

Not visible on the table are models of Gas Natural Headquarters by EMBT Arquitectes, Salzburg Guggenheim by Hans Hollein, Cube Tower by Carme Pinós, Metropol Parasol by J. Mayer H. and Freedom Tower by SOM. Additionally, a model of the Jewish Museum Berlin by Daniel Libeskind and two models of Terrain by Lebbeus Woods are displayed on the gallery walls (behind my position in this photo).

**Please comment if you know the information for #3.**

To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just:

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

When Blobs Disappear

The rear section of the Juan Valdez Flagship on 57th Street in Midtown Manhattan used to look like this:


[photograph by Paul Warchol]

When I visited the 2004 storefront designed by Hariri & Hariri Architecture for first time two years ago that was the case. The undulating walls gave the space character, but they also limited the space that could be devoted to seating, even though a bench at the rear of the space (under the projected image above) was created by the blob-like manipulation of the wall surface. At that time the plaster walls looked like they were taking their fare share of abuse, but even with (up to) two more years of wear and tear I was surprised to see the transformation of this section of the cafe into what I saw today:



Gone are the undulating walls, replaced by flat walls, built-in benches and graphics galore, views of Colombia and its coffee growers. As well, pendant lights make the space more intimate by bringing the scale of the tall space down a bit. The new incarnation of this seating area seems more relevant to the fact the space represents Juan Valdez, but it is definitely more timid than the "liquid wall" of the Hariris' design. It is also design by graphics instead of design by architecture, an unfortunate response to whatever made the store change this space.

Without knowing how and why this transformation happened, I can't help but chalk it up to a difficulty in maintaining the plaster wall, as it was easily scuffed and damaged to greater degrees. But it's also not unrealistic to assume that the design was off-putting for customers; its rather cold and detached treatment pushed people away instead of embracing them. The current state is a bit too polar, too corporate, too Starbucks. A way of keeping some of the original design while opting for a different feeling might have been a good approach to consider.

Half Dose #56: Stillman Studio

The following text (in italics) and images are courtesy Pyatt Studio for a prefabricated studio/garage prototype they developed for Boulder, Colorado.


Existing House

A typical suburban home in Boulder, CO that lacks the adequate square footage for home/office use.


Urban Fence | Courtyard

The addition of a new stand-alone structure along the alley allows for privacy in the rear yard. This also creates opportunities to program the new alley home with multiple functions.


Garage Subtraction

The area below the upper story is removed for a carport and entry into the new lower level.


View

The facade facing the home is made transparent allowing for a view into the rear yard and to views of the mountain beyond.



The project reminds me of the lost opportunity of garages in urban situations, particularly when they are sited off of alleys as in Chicago and other cities. In this case it provides additional area for a family of one, but it could also become a "coach house" that the family could rent out for extra money.



The prefab design by Pyatt Studio allows for variation in the cladding of the volume, done in tongue-and-groove cedar planks vertically (above) and horizontally (below). The simple and clean form and materials (wood, glass and concrete) belies how garage structures are usually seen. Here the unsightly and utilitarian is elevated to something that would be at home in the front of the house.