A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

The Kansas City Star reports (alt. bugmenot link ) that Steven Holl will give a presentation on his design of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art's Bloch Building in Kansas City, addressing negative controversy over the project. All I've seen on this "controversy" is a Feb. 3 article in The Pitch , K.C.'s alternative weekly paper. Written by somebody calling himself (herself?) The Strip, the piece actually praises the interior but takes exception with the exterior, eloquently saying, "it [looks] like ass." The Star points out that, "detractors have complained that what they see going up doesn't have the magic of the luminous initial design that was presented to the public." Let's take a look: Early model of the design Rendering of the design Photos of the construction site The area of contention is the vertical strips between pieces of glass (apparently Pilkington's channel glass ). This detail is missing from the model, a conceptu...

Noticing a plethora of panoramas and/or photos cropped to panorama proportions in the archidose Flickr pool , I decided to present a number of them in one post. [Bloch Building of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri by Steven Holl Architects | photo by archipreneur ] [Millowner's Association Building Villa Shodhan in Ahmedabad, India by Le Corbusier | photo by superka_01 ] [The High Court in Chandigarh, India by Le Corbusier | photo by superka_01 ] [Swiss Re HQ, 30 St Mary Axe in London, England by Foster + Partners | photo by deejaypow ] To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos archidose

An anonymous comment on a previous post pointed to a New Yorker article by Paul Goldberger on the Bloch Building in Kansas City by Steven Holl , an addition I've posted about a couple times previously. The article includes a slide show of dusk images by David Allee, images that undeniably present the building as a series of lanterns, or "lenses" as the architect imagines them. These long-exposure images (unlike the more "truthful" point-and-shoot exterior shot at Inhabitat ) not only convey the concept, they make it appear questionable while also raising a couple questions. Should a large museum addition (or any building) expend so much energy for effect? And while Holl excels at bringing natural light inside buildings in complex ways -- making one wonder where the opening to the outside even is -- here his inversion of that seems too simple, just flourescent lights next to a channel glass wall (or apparently so). Regardless, with the commotion that's ...

As I gradually make my way from summer vacation mode to fall work mode, I'm posting some of the photos I took during my recent ten-day holiday in the American Midwest. This fifth and last batch shows Steven Holl's Bloch Building at the Nelson-Atkins Are Museum in Kansas City.

For the rest of the month of October this blog is changing (back) to A Weekly Dose of Architecture, so I can spend time on a book I'm writing that has a November 1st deadline. The plan is to post on Fridays, most likely book reviews, since I've got a pile of good ones I'd like to feature. In the meantime, I'm still posting in the Daily News section of World-Architects , which you can see via the "ticker" at the top of this blog, clicking the link above, or subscribing to the weekly eMagazine . [Steven Holl's Bloch Building at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, one of the buildings featured in my new book – details forthcoming] Regular (almost) daily blog posts will resume the first week of November.

Steven Holl appeared on Charlie Rose last month, shortly after his addition to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City opened. Holl's design -- officially called the Bloch Building -- was given a fair share of coverage on this page , though none since it's opening, so I provide the interview below. Also be sure to check out Tyler Green's seven-part coverage of the opening -- starting here and with links to all posts here . He calls it the best American museum since Piano's Menil.

Not surprisingly, Steven Holl 's Bloch Building addition to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri wins an 2008 AIA Honor Award for Architecture [PDF link]. [Image from kultureflash ] Of course, not everybody's thinks that award is what the addition should receive... [ Cartoon by Lee Judge] (Thanks to Jeff S. for the head's up on the Judge Award.)

This year's been a big one for me, getting married , moving to New York , and going back to school . And judging from all the posts in my archives from this year, it's been a big year for architecture in general. Below I give you a brief recap of the year in daily doses. Posts will be light for the next week or two as I relax and celebrate the holiday season. Happy Holidays! The state of Chicago architecture: :: Preservation and One South Dearborn :: Low-rise residential :: Wrigley Field bleachers :: Navy (crap)Pier and not so crappy :: Bucket Boys :: Studio Gang's Aqua once , twice , thrice :: Crate & Barrel's urban referent :: 3 blocks, 5 buildings :: HUB 116 :: Soldier Field loses landmark status :: Turrell's Chicago Skyspace opens :: Glass is the new painted concrete :: Dirk Denison's Culver House :: Zoka Zola reworks Chicago's zoning :: VDT's north-side retail complex :: Mies on a beam :: McDonalds buys a bike station :: Bike 2015 Plan :: Fu...

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!

Steven Holl's design for the Bloch Building addition to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, MO has seen its fair share of controversey , long before its 2007 completion date. While these exterior photographs probably won't quiet any skeptics, they should give people a better idea of what to expect come completion. These were sent to me by my old classmate Jeff who currently resides in Kansas City, though we don't know the author of these photos. If that's you, let me know and I'll give you credit here. Update 01.12: In response to KevinS's question/comment, the answer appears to be "yes...and no":