A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

Following a link from today's news at ArchNewsNow , I learned about the possible destruction of the 108-year-old Syndicate Trust and Century Building at Ninth and Olive in downtown St. Louis. The unoccupied building sits across the street from the Old Post Office , which is in the process of being renovated into residences. The developers of this project contend that their plans cannot continue unless a parking garage is built on the site of the Century building. Two things boggle me: first, that the National Trust for Historic Preservation is supporting the demolition of the Century building with money, and two, that the renovation of one historic structure (Old Post Office) requires the demolition of another historic structure (Century). Now I'm no expert on St. Louis and its downtown, but I've visited the city many times, since my girlfriend Karen's parents live in one of the city's suburbs. So on numerous trips I have seen and experienced different parts of S...

Two recent articles reiterate Chicago's role in making the United States a greener place: First, an article appeared in Sunday's Chicago Sun-Times by its old architecture critic Lee Bey, who left that post to become Mayor Richard M. Daley's right-hand man on architecture-related decisions and is now working as director of media and governmental affairs at SOM . Bey talks about green rooftops in the Loop and green bungalows on the South Side, concluding that Chicago's "sustainable push should serve as an example to state and federal governments and the building industry." If you've been paying attention, there's nothing new here, though at first glance it appears that something closer to Germany's model would serve as an example. Chicago is taking strides towards sustainability, but it's still a long way from what it should be, perhaps because our gas and energy prices - high for us now - are still very low when compared to other countries and...

Toneelschuur in Haarlem, Netherlands by Henk Döll , 2003 In 1996, cartoonist Joost Swarte made a series of sketches for a new home for Toneelschuur, a firm that deals with contemporary theater, dance and film, located in Haarlem, Netherlands. These colorful sketches illustrate the company's desires: to relocate to a historical part of the city with low-scale structures, the creation of separate components for each function, and a playfulness that would contrast with the historic fabric but also become an identity for Toneelschuur. Swarte and architect Henk Döll (at the time with Mecanoo but now with his own office Döll - Atelier voor Bouwkunst ) snaked the new building between existing ones via a clever, yet very simple plan. ...

Friday night saw the opening of two exhibits at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago: Skin Tight: The Sensibility of the Flesh and Dan Peterman: Plastic Economies . As an architect I was drawn to Peterman's work and found it much more stimulating, at least mentally. The Chicago-based artist uses recycling as a means to create his art and, more importantly, to explore how we use our natural resources, both what we make and what we do with those goods. The show has many highlights in this, his first solo show in the US, including Standard Kiosk , situated on the MCA's plaza (above), Recent Recipes , an assembly-line presentation of food and other products compiled into a strange combination, and Villa Deponie , a single room completely made from recycled closed-cell foam. Highly recommended.

Via the Chicago Reader , German artist Gerhard Mantz 's landscape animations are on display at Oskar Friedl, 300 West Superior. Vorubergehende Unsterblichkeit From Fred Camper 's synopsis: Though Gerhard Mantz's ten computer-generated landscapes at Oskar Friedl have the texture of digital creations, their designs are atypically and admirably sparse. Taking 19th-century landscape painting as his primary model, Mantz produces works that suggest the changed nature of Romantic aspirations in the digital age: Caspar David Friedrich's landscape paintings imbue his locales with magic; Mantz's repetitive surfaces are just as mysteriously subjective. The strangely melancholy beauty of these places can't be traversed--we're hopelessly distanced from nature.

As promised in an earlier post , here's a couple images from the winning scheme by Chris Hardie, Andrew Groake and Kevin Carmody of the UK. The above images are for site #2, serving the west Loop area. Many thanks to Chris Hardie for the images.

Tomorrow, the 25th of June, sees the opening of "Austria West: New Alpine Architecture" at the Austrian Cultural Forum , featuring projects by over 25 architects in the country's western provinces Tirol and Vorarlberg. The show illustrates that a lot of quality contemporary architecture - in any country - exists outside of city centers, in this case Vienna. It runs until October 30 and is FREE. Looks like another excuse to visit New York this summer...

Upon Herbert Muschamp's imminent departure as his post at The New York Times , The New York Observer features a mistitled piece on the 56-year-old critic, " As Muschamp Goes, Angry Adversaries Ready for Revenge ". The piece is actually a well-written synopsis of Muschamp's time as an architecture critic, from the mid-1960's to the present, giving both a good background and a much-needed perspective on the trajectory of his career. Regardless of his recent writings and baffling behavior over the years (WTC flip-flop, for example), the article paints a generally good picture of Muschamp, indicating that his successor has some mighty big shoes to fill.

On July 12, the 50th anniversary of R. Buckminster Fuller's patent for the geodesic dome, the United States Postal Service is honoring the inventor/architect/engineer/philosopher with a 37-cent stamp. Although the stamp appears a little too cartoon-like for my tastes, it originally appeared as the cover of Time Magazine in January, 1964. Painted by Boris Artzybasheff, it depicts not only the geodesic dome, but also the Dymaxion car and the 4D Apartment House. As one of the most forward-thinking, optimistic, and humanistic people of the 20th Century, I'm glad to see Mr. Fuller with any sort of honor, helping to keep his ideas alive . I highly recommend his book Critical Path to anybody interested in his ideas and his life.

Today's commentary section in the Chicago Tribune features a submission titled Can buildings stay important? (registration req'd) by Phillip G. Bernstein, an architect and professor at Yale School of Architecture, arguing that the recent collapse at Terminal 2E of Charles de Gaulle Airport outside Paris that killed four people indicates that methods for translating architects' and engineers' drawings into built form are outdated, and that technology can bridge this communication gap. Not surprisingly, Bernstein is also vice-president of Autodesk Inc. , the maker of AutoCAD , 3D Studio VIZ , Architectural Desktop , and Revit , among many other pieces of CAD software. In many ways, his commentary speaks about those last two products, which attempt to become intelligent, systems-based tools, rather than purely drafting tools. Features like 3d model-linking, database links, reference links and construction assemblies are innovative in terms of CAD, but they still have ...

Transcribed below is an opinion piece by Nahm Yoon-ho, deputy city news editor of the JoongAng Ilbo, taken from the JoongAng Daily Opinion , with links and images added by yours truly. Having worked on a fair number of Korean projects, I can't help but sympathize with the author. The Value of Slow Architecture " Slow food " is the opposite of fast food. The movement was born in Italy two decades ago to protect traditional cuisine from the global dominance of McDonald's. The adjective "slow" has been popping up in many other fields. One of the most interesting concepts is "slow architecture." It is a creation of the Japanese, who are known for coining new words. Slow architecture refers to the process of building structures gradually, taking not only function but other factors into account. The resulting buildings are not just aimed at economic efficiency but value cultural and historical characteristics as well. The architects and designe...

Window Seat: Reading the Landscape from the Air by Gregory Dicum, published by  Chronicle Books , 2004. Paperback, 176 pages. ( Amazon ) Although billed as the "perfect inflight companion", Window Seat is more than a guide to what you see out your airplane window as you cross North America. Using primarily satellite images , the accessible book helps explain geology and the history of human settlement, as well as ecology and - more importantly - the effects we have on the land. Split into geographic sections, rather than by states, each section illustrates the prevalent natural features of the region, in addition to highlighting special places. For example "The Great Plains" shows the agricultural grid ...

National Theatre Okinawa in Urasoe, Japan by Shin Takamatsu, 2003 When Japanese architect Shin Takamatsu burst onto the architecture scene in the 1980's, his buildings resembled something out of a sci-fi film, like Bladerunner . Perfectly suited to the lights and cacophony of Tokyo, these early buildings made that architect's reputation, but over the years his practice Takamatsu Architect and Associates has created a diverse body of work, in size and scale as well as appearance. The recently-opened National Theatre of Japan on the island of Okinawa finds the architect balancing tradition with his thoroughly modern design sense. The consultant committee for the newest of Japan's National Theatre had a traditional-lo...

The New York Times book section features a review (registration req'd) of Jane Jacobs's new book, Dark Age Ahead , by Michiko Kakutani, who doesn't exactly find her latest compelling or insightful. A sample: Part of what's wrong with this book is its methodology, or lack of one. Ms. Jacobs's most powerful writings have always [had] a spontaneous, ad hoc nature, eschewing a systematic approach in favor of a more intuitive one...This approach worked brilliantly in [ The Death and Life of] Great American Cities . Dark Age , in contrast, tackles a much larger, more abstract subject that does not lend itself to her looping, discursive style. Instead... she serves up flimsily anecdotal evidence in support of her broader arguments.

For the Birds: An Amazing Exhibition of Bird Houses opened on Tuesday in the Chicago Women's Park and Gardens outside the Clarke House Museum - Chicago's oldest house, from 1836 - at 1827 South Indiana. Over 100 birdhouses are featured, including an unmistakable entry by honorary Chicagoan Frank Gehry, the man this city can't seem to get enough of. The free exhibition, sponsored by the NSCDA ( National Society of the Colonial Dames of America ), is open noon-3pm Wednesday through Sunday. ( via Chicagoist )

Archinect reports that Chris Hardie, Andrew Groake and Kevin Carmody are the winners of the 2004 Burnham Prize Competition , receiving a three month scholarship for independent study at the American Academy in Rome and a stipend, both to be split (somehow) among the three. This year's competition, "Urban Waterways - The Chicago River Project" asked entrants to develop three sites along the Chicago River as water taxi stations to improve upon this aspect of the city. The jury ( Reiser + Umemoto , John Ronan , Professor Roberta Feldman, Zoka Zola , Mark Schndel of Studio Gang , and landscape architect Chandra Goldsmith) in the two-round competition picked the winner from ten finalists, from Chicago, New York, UK, Netherlands, North Carolina, Toronto, and Salt Lake City. I'll post images of the winner and finalists as they become available.

Arcspace's latest update features The Danish Jewish Museum in Copenhagen, which opened on June 8. Designed by Daniel Libeskind, the Museum is a renovation of a 16th century boathouse of brick construction. The architect squeezed a labyrinth of wood-paneled corridors at odd angles within the already-small rooms. Display cases are cut into the canted walls, as are slots of light. The space seems to be a cross between Libeskind's Jewish Museum in Berlin , Kurt Schwitters's Merzbau and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari . Plan of the Museum Supposedly the angled walls and sloping floors are "to make visitors feel they are standing on a boat; a reminder of the rocking seas thousands of Jews crossed as they fled Nazi-occupied Denmark for neutral Sweden." I think this is the perfect building for Libeskind, just like the predecessor in Berlin. But is he the man to oversee 10 million s.f. of office space in downtown Manhattan? Apparently many people think not .

The New York Times features a slide show of the four entries to fix Paris's late 1970's disaster, Les Halles, an underground shopping mall sited on old markets. The architecture, shown below, did not address the street plan of Paris or its architectural context, its dismal quality reinforced by the throngs of people who have visited the exhibition to recommend one of the four replacements. Cast your own vote at the official site (in French). Entries are by OMA/Rem Koolhaas , MVRDV , David Mangin of SEURA , and Jean Nouvel . The winner, chosen by the Mayor of Paris, will be selected in the fall.

McSweeny's Issue 13 edited by Chris Ware, published by McSweeny's, 2004. Hardcover, 264 pages. ( Amazon ) McSweeney's Quarterlies typically fill their pages with short stories, poetry, and other fiction by the likes of T.C. Boyle and Roddy Doyle. Filling in for "Standard, Regular Editor" Dave Eggers, Chris Ware mans his post as "Temporary, Guest Editor", filling the 13th issue of the acclaimed publication with comics - old and new, history, and commentary. With over 40 comics across 256 pages, two pocket books, and a newspaper cover by Ware himself, there is something for almost every taste. What permeates the pages is the mind set of the comic artist, a struggling, reflective, and self-loathing individual, barely ...

M-Preis in Telfs, Austria by Peter Lorenz Architekt + Partner, 2001 M-Preis bills itself as "The Seriously Sexy Supermarket". With my knowledge of German nonexistent, my perusal of their unique web site focused on the imagery, which includes various presentations of the supermarket's wares, employee photos, cartoons, e-cards, and various other diversions, but also images of their stores. Besides this store in Telfs, Austria by Peter Lorenz Architekt + Partner , the company has a store in Innsbruck by Pöschl and Bleser, one in Wattens by Dominique Perrault , one in Weissenbach by Giner & Wucherer , and one in Wenns by Köberl & Tschapeller , all of them progressive in different ways. Consiste...

Urban Advantage works "with architects, planning staff, and citizen groups, [to] create visions of pedestrian-friendly, socially-interactive communities by transforming photographs with photo-editing software." Browsing through their transformation images , I was impressed with the persuasiveness of the images, new buildings, mature trees, and other amenities magically sprouting from the ground. While these images need to be taken with a grain of salt, they definitely create an idealized vision of less-than-ideal places that could potentially be realized over time. Reminiscent of New Urbanist planning principles, each commercial center , transit improvement , or residential development takes a homogeneous, car-oriented locale and turns it into an equally homogeneous, pedestrian-oriented place. Of course, Urban Advantage is carrying out the designs of other people, but they definitely focus on a certain way of improving our surroundings. What made me really start to question...

Today marks the last day of the AIA 2004 National Convention and Design Exposition , aka NaCoDex. Covering exciting topics like "Tactical Management: Innovation and Profit Through Leadership" and "Improving Architecture and Client Satisfaction Through Metrics", the continuing education seminars have something for everybody. Actually some seminars sound interesting, typically those covering sustainability, technology, and urban design issues. So get off your butts and head down to McCormick Place for a Saturday of learning!

According to the Chicago Sun Times , the Chicago Transit Authority's (CTA) Brown Line expansion project is on hold after receipt of two bids well over budget. The $530 million project includes costs for land acquisition, demolition, and construction, though the two bids received - at $420 million and $540 million - are only for construction work. What this delay means is that businesses being forced out, because of the addition of elevators and exit stairs and the lengthening of platforms, will be open a few months more. Most notable is Demon Dogs under the Fullerton stop, though I'll be glad to see Tiny Lounge (Addison stop) and Beans & Bagels (Montrose stop) sticking around that much longer. The fate of Demon Dogs. Alderman Burton Natarus is nice enough to provide, on his web site, a PDF of all the Brown Line station designs , for your perusal.

According to The New York Observer , New York Times architecture critic Herbert Muschamp is "getting tired of his current duties and intends to step down before long." The paper's cultural editor Jonathan Landman says about Herbert, "you don’t keep somebody past the point where they feel they’re doing their best work." Now I don't fully understand that quote, though I don't think Muschamp is in the midst of his best work. That happened some years ago. Lately, he's come under fire from other critics for his focus on big-name architects and lack of coverage on lesser names or other aspects of the built environment beyond Frank Gehry's latest building. (And correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Herbert leave his post at the Times only to return years later, more popular and important than ever?) Regardless of his recent record, he'll be missed, though as the Observer points out, "wrapping up Mr. Muschamp’s era as critic, M...

The always reliable Archinect ran a bit of news on the BBC show Dreamspaces . According to the BBC web page , the "stylish series tackles contemporary design and modern architecture," and is hosted by (L-R) Justine Frischmann (ex-lead singer of Elastica), architect/presenter, Charlie Luxton, and David Adjaye (architect of the upcoming Museum of Contemporary Art|Denver ). While featuring the predictable, like Rem Koolhaas' Prada Store and Frank Gehry's Issey Miyake flagship, both in New York City, the British show has also ventured to Bucharest, Romania to cover its architecture and to Kansas and Texas to cover nuclear missile bunkers. Recaps of season one and season two indicate that the show appears to do a good job of zig-zagging all over the architectural spectrum, not limiting its coverage to well-known architects and their eye-catching buildings. The popularity of do-it-yourself shows like Trading Spaces and networks like HGTV meant a show on archi...

TENbyTEN edited by Annette Ferrara This Chicago journal's subtitle is "Space for Visual Culture", hinting at the wide range of material contained within its square pages. With the current issues' theme of "cheap", features include Andrea Zittel 's pulp art; photo essays of Canal Street in New York, Maxwell Street in Chicago, and organic coffee growers in Mexico; and Doug Garofalo 's inexpensive solution to improve TENbyTEN 's office, among others. Amazingly the authors and subjects rarely stray from the theme, offering multiple interpretations on the meaning of cheap and creating a cohesive read from beginning to end despite the various voices. Its structure, broken into roughly th...

Jones PATC in St. Louis, Missouri by Arcturis, 2004 The recently-completed Dennis and Judy Jones Performing Arts and Teen Center in St. Louis, Missouri by local firm Arcturis is an addition to the Herbert Hoover Boys and Girls Club . Its first part completed in the late 1960s, the Club occupies the site of Sportsman Park , the home of the Browns and Cardinals before the football and baseball teams moved to Busch Stadium, designed by Edward Durrell in 1966. But as the ball clubs moved away, the neighborhood subsequently experienced an economic decline, apparent to this day. The original design, and a subsequent 1980s gymnasium addition, walled themselves off from the neighborhood in a durable, yet unwelcome architecture. When Arcturis was ...

This weekend's Printer's Row Book Fair in Chicago is a book lover's delight. Earlier today I ventured to South Dearborn Avenue to dig through used and new books, trying to weed the gems from the junk. I took home the following haul: A View from the Campidoglio: Selected Essay 1953-1984 by Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown. The acclaimed architects doing what they do best, writing. The National Register of Historic Places . The 1969 version, in my opinion a much better format than recent editions. The WPA Guide to Illinois . The Federal Writers' project guide to 1930s Illinois, definitely outdated but with quality writing and depth missing in contemporary guides. Human Figure in Motion by Eadward Muybridge. The photographer's unique documentation of movement, compiled from his classic 1887 collection Animal Locomotion . UN Studio Fold by NAi Publishers. The most recent book on one of the Netherlands' most progressive architecture firms, hea...

Last night's party at the Chicago Architecture Foundation (CAF) - for the Big & Green traveling exhibition currently docked in the Santa Fe Building - was the usual architectural get-together: drinking, schmoozing, and a little bit of actually looking at the exhibits. In the large lobby space (image below) is the majority of the traveling exhibit, but in CAF's smaller storefront space is their local installment, Chicago Green . Of the two distinct areas, the Chicago portion is much more impressive than the international offering, the former embedding models in a "green" bed - bugs and all - sloped to drain to a bucket (below), while the latter features mainly 2d images suspended between an oversized cardboard frame that's far too bulky and tinker-toy like to help the cause. If you find yourself in Chicago, the exhibition runs until September 12 and is worth checking out, with the CAF running green tours and programs all summer. If you find yourself el...