A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

Here are some shots of Der Neue Zollhof (2005) in Düsseldorf, Germany, by Gehry Partners, photographed by Wojtek Gurak . To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the  archidose pool To contribute your Instagram images for consideration, just: :: Tag your photos #archidose

Many of the recent " firm faces " I've featured have been fairly humorous, evidence that architects don't always take themselves so seriously. I think that can be safely applied to Chicago's JGMA , headed by Juan Moreno. This screenshot shows the cartoon visages of Moreno and other executives and leadership in the firm: Clicking on any of the cartoon faces brings one to a page with a b/w portrait and a bio...but a mouseover of the photo reveals a full-color cartoon. Here, I've stitched three in the top row together and animated them with their cartoon likenesses: I must admit, one of my first questions is, "How do they draw with those 'hands'?"

Although far from planned, yesterday I snapped three photos of the Manhattan skyline as seen from Queens, each one of them anchored by Rafael Viñoly's 432 Park Avenue nearing completion on 57th Street. Here it is in the morning, seen from the Court Square 7 stop in Long Island City: Here it is in the evening, seen from the Queensborough Plaza stop in Long Island City: And here it is a few minutes later, seen from the Ditmars stop in Astoria (Time Warner is visible in the lower-right and One57 pops up near the center of the frame, below the cloud; ): Many people are calling 432 Park Avenue a new compass for the middle of Manhattan, but it is also true for people, like me, who live in western Queens.

Parrish Art Museum just announced three years worth of exhibitions to be held at their Herzog & de Meuron-designed building in Water Mill, New York, from next month until 2017. A few of them are architecture-related and those are highlighted below. Platform: Tara Donovan July 4, 2015 to October 18, 2015 ["Untitled (Mylar), 2011" by Tara Donovan, at Pace Gallery, 545 West 22nd Street | Photograph by John Hill] Tara Donovan creates large-scale installations and sculptures made from everyday objects. Known for her commitment to process, she has earned acclaim for her ability to discover the inherent physical characteristics of an object and transform it into art. Tara Donovan, the Parrish Art Museum's 2015 Platform artist, will develop a new installation that relates to the space, context, and environmental conditions of the museum. Donovan poetically transforms accumulated materials such as drinking straws, index cards, slinky toys, and other surprising object...

First, there was the steampunk reality of No. 15 Renwick , a residential project near SoHo by ODA Architecture: And now, in this entry (1 of 86) from the Nine Elms to Pimlico Bridge Competition , there's even more of a sense that the 20th century never happened: Perhaps, 19th-century entourage is just one way of softening the edges of modern architecture.

Workforce: A Better Place to Work edited by Aurora Fernádez Per and Javier Mozas, published by  a+t , 2014. Paperback, 160 pages. ( Amazon ) [All images courtesy of a+t] Recently I picked up a couple used books that are all about work: Nikil Saval's Cubed: The Secret History of the Workplace , published last spring, and Studs Terkel's 1972 classic Working . These two books, combined with a+t's first installment in its Workforce Series , paint a picture of how work and the workplace itself has changed over the last century or so. Being that this is a blog about contemporary architecture, I'm therefore focusing on a+t's collection of recent workplace designs, but I think the book is a bit more meaningful in my mind thanks to reading parts of these other books simultaneously. Overlap can be found, for example, between Workforce and Cubed in the former's "A short history of the development of the office" by Caruso St. John Architects; in brief text...

A Daily Dose of Architecture is one of ten blogs nominated in the Architecture category of the 6th Annual JDR Industry Blogger Awards . Given the list of great blogs in contention, I don't really stand a chance of winning, but if you like this little 'ol blog, head over to JDR's website and cast your vote, taking a look at the other contenders while you're at it. Thanks to Jackson Design and Remodeling for this opportunity. Voting ends April 10 at 4pm PST.

Parsons SCE's Interior Design Aftertaste symposium, Inside Imagination , takes place on Friday and Saturday at Parsons the New School for Design in New York. I was lucky enough to participate in last year's event, so I can't recommend it highly enough. Details on the two-day event are below. AFTERTASTE 2015: Inside Imagination - SCE February 27 + 28, 2015 Friday 6-8pm, Tishman Auditorium, University Center, 63 Fifth Avenue, New York City Saturday 10-6pm, Kellen Auditorium, 66 Fifth Avenue, New York City What does it take to imagine? We live in an era of environmental crisis and political unrest when complex systems and data analysis dictate projections of an uncertain future. Interiorists study existing places and are charged with imagining new worlds. In AfterTaste 2015, we draw inspiration from artists, educators, writers, and scientists who work to transcend what we know, to catapult culture into areas inspired and new. Designers and thinkers who culti...

Recent University College London graduate Nick Elias 's PoohTown is the recipient of the Silver Medal in the 2014 RIBA President's Medals Student Awards . Below is a taste of the amazing project, in which, " 1920s Slough is revisited to capitalize from the economy of 'happiness' as an alternative industry using Winnie the Pooh as a metaphorical protagonist for happiness." I recommend clicking over to his project to see the rest, or if you're in London, PoohTown and other "urban tales" will be on display at Carousel from the 6th of March to the 10th of April.

Here are some shots of the CINiBA/The Scientific Information Center and Academic Library (2011) in Katowice, Poland, by HS99 , photographed by M Poplawski . To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the  archidose pool To contribute your Instagram images for consideration, just: :: Tag your photos #archidose

As spotted at Artforum , and with my emphasis: The Skystone Foundation has announced that James Turrell’s Roden Crater project near Flagstaff, Arizona will be opened from May 14 to May 17 with limited access reserved at five-thousand dollars per person . Roden Crater, the unfinished magnum opus of Turrell, is closed to the public, so this is one of those rare opportunities for those with both taste and wealth. On top of the $5,000, tax-deductible "donation," the travel company overseeing the package is charging an addition $1,500 to "cover a portion of visitor's expenses while they're staying on site," again per the Artforum blurb. The donation money goes toward the Skystone Foundation , "the organization responsible for the fundraising, administration and realization of James Turrell’s Roden Crater project."

If you like tunnels, tall buildings and other large-scale constructions, head over to ENR to see the winners in their 2014 Annual Readers' Photo Contest (runners up can be found here ). Here are a few standouts. [Harry Tracy Water Treatment Plant, photographed by Robin Scheswohl] [L: East Side Access Project, photographed by Rehema Trimiew; R: Legacy Way Tunnel Project, photographed by Steve Ryan]

Next week Bernard Tschumi is giving a lecture in Pittsburgh, rescheduled from earlier this year when Snowmageddon was predicted but failed to materialize. Details are below. [Acropolis Museum, Athens, 2001-2009] SoArch Spring 2015 Lecture Series BERNARD TSCHUMI Bernard Tschumi Architects, New York, Paris Professor, Columbia University Concept and Notation Friday 27 February at 5:30pm, Carnegie Lecture Hall Alan H Rider Distinguished Lecture Cosponsored by the Heinz Architectural Center at Carnegie Museum of Art Bernard Tschumi is an architect based in New York and Paris. First known as a theorist, he exhibited and published The Manhattan Transcripts and wrote Architecture and Disjunction , a series of theoretical essays. Major built works include the Parc de la Villette, the New Acropolis Museum, Le Fresnoy Center for the Contemporary Arts, MuséoParc Alésia, and the Paris Zoo.  He was the Dean of the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation at...

Here are a few wintry scenes for your Monday, President's Day here in the United States. Centre of Excellence - York University, Glendon Campus by Daoust Lestage Architects , photographed by Riley Snelling: Housing Complex Zollikerstrasse by Gigon/Guyer , photographed by Andras Kiss: Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago by Renzo Piano Building Workshop , photographed by John Zacherle: To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the  archidose pool To contribute your Instagram images for consideration, just: :: Tag your photos #archidose

BIG. HOT TO COLD. An Odyssey of Architectural Adaptation by Bjarke Ingels, published by  Taschen , 2015. Paperback, 712 pages. ( Amazon ) [Wraparound cover – All images courtesy of Taschen] If Bjarke Ingels' Yes Is More from 2009 didn't reinvent the monograph, it at least injected some new life into it. The BIG helmsman used a comic book format to explain the Danish firm's projects, particularly how those mountainous and curling forms came about. Much has happened in the six years since – BIG has expanded to New York and other offices; Ingels has become a common name and face, given appearances on CNN, TED and other venues with a wide audience; and the firm has produced lots of works, some of it built, some under construction, and some to never be. So 2015 is a fitting time for BIG to put out another monograph, one that accompanies their first U.S. exhibition, also called HOT TO COLD , now at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC. [W57 "courtscraper...

[Stereotank's HeartBeat installation in Times Square, photographed on Friday the 13th]

Yesterday I walked by BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group's W57 , a "courtscraper" under construction on Manhattan's West Side. The slideshow has 20 photos from my short jaunt, moving in a clockwise motion from the southeast to the northeast. The building is scheduled to be completed before the end of the year.

Here are a few photos of the addition to the Regional State Archives (addition 2012, original 1921) in Bergen, Norway, by NAV Architects with VY Arkitektur, photographed by Sindre Ellingsen . To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the  archidose pool To contribute your Instagram images for consideration, just: :: Tag your photos #archidose