A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

On Tuesday, December 17, the Graham Foundation is launching a bookshop that occupies the former dining room of the foundation’s historic Madlener House on Chicago's Gold Coast. The bookshop is designed by local architect Ania Jaworska , an installation "comprised of four bold mesh structures that display books and periodicals from the fields of architecture, design, art, and culture," per the Graham Foundation. [Views of the Graham Foundation bookshop designed by Ania Jaworska , Chicago, 2013. Photos by Travis Roozée .] At first glance the design seems out of place, not so much for how it relates to the 1901 Prairie style mansion it occupies, but because the mesh forms – especially the arch in the foreground of the above photo – look like garden follies that want to be traversed by plants and/or people. But when considered as a pop-up bookstore (therefore not permanent) launched in conjunction with Environments and Counter Environments. "Italy: The New Dom...

The following text and photographs are courtesy Hal Ingberg Architecte for the Pappilon installation at Les YMCA du Quebec in Montreal, completed in 2012. Context Papillon (or butterfly in English) is a permanent installation. It is suspended from a concrete block wall that gives onto a substantial parking lot belonging to the new YMCA in the Montreal borough of Cartierville. It was carried out within the framework of the Quebec government "Politique d’intégration des arts à l’architecture." The building was designed by the Montreal architects Daoust Lestage . Parking The sizable expanse of this tract and the prosaic activity that takes place within it required a spatial gesture that could somehow assert presence and contest set notions of where and how to look at art. Mirroring and Stripes Towards this end, the work reflects its ever-changing context, by making use of glass panels comprising a delicate filigree of transparent and mirrored stripes. Tilti...

This morning I visited The Drawing Center before its grand reopening reception this evening. (The reopening was postponed due to Hurricane Sandy, but unfortunately today's Nor'easter is hitting New York City with wind and snow.) The Soho-based institution's home was "reinvented" by WXY Architecture + Urban Design . Below are photos and impressions from my visit. Like many tenants in Soho's historic cast iron district, it is easy to just walk right by The Drawing Center, not realizing what is inside. Four corinthian cast-iron columns frame the entrance and large pieces of storefront glass on the side that are labelled with the name of the institution and the current exhibitions. Aside from the necessity of dealing with the landmarks commission, this subtle presence seems appropriate to me, given that the subject of The Drawing Center—drawings, of course—situates the institution somewhere between the purely historical and the new constantly striving for att...

[All photographs by John Hill] My onslaught of photos and projects from a recent trip to Switzerland is pretty much wrapped up, but one project that deserves some attention is Sasso San Gottardo , a "themed exhibition focuse[d] on the challenges of managing our resources." Hozler Kobler Architekturen is responsible for the design of the various environments inserted into the tunnels and caves of a former fortress at St. Gotthard Pass. Signs of the fortress are visible from the roadways near the pass, but these glimpses -- doors, sights, concrete masses camouflaged into the mountainside -- do not prepare for the experience inside. After walking in the "front door," one needs to follow a long tunnel before coming to the first exhibition space. A small office is located about halfway between the entry and exhibition space, what is surely one of the oddest places for such a thing. The " Energy " exhibit is the first one encountered. Most of it is h...

[Looking south at halfway point along curved wall | Photographs by John Hill] Yesterday I found myself in Battery Park City (BPC), so I stopped by the Community Center designed by hanrahan Meyers architects (hMa) to see how construction was going. It appears that the Digital Water Pavilion (DWP), as the architects call it, is just about done. [Looking north at halfway point along curved wall] The low, curving pavilion sits in the North Neighborhood beneath two residential towers; together they comprise the last pieces in the whole BPC development. Facing east, overlooking a couple ball fields, is the curving wall -- 550 feet (167 meters) long. Curving walls are nothing new in BPC, but most of them (Riverhouse, Solaire, Visionaire, Ritz Carlton) derive their shape from the north-south roads that traverse the development ( map for reference ). The DWP's wall is more unprecedented, serving to shape the outdoor space, while also connecting points on the north and south (left ...

[All images (c) Ann Beha Architects / Gensler] Boston's Ann Beha is an architect versed in historic restoration and contemporary architecture, a rare breed. Many people see these as polar concerns without common ground, but Beha's work acknowledges old buildings without letting them determine a recipe for new additions. Or to put it another way, she neither mimics nor overpowers existing buildings, instead finding qualities that should be extended in a new intervention, such as scale, texture, and materiality. The New England Conservatory 's first building in over 60 years is a good example of her contemporary contextualism. Per the architect's statement, the New England Conservatory "occupies 2.5 acres and offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs, a continuing education program, and a preparatory program for students ages 3-18." Beha is no stranger to the music institution, having restored Jordan Hall , the core of the campus in Boston...