A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

The opening ceremony of the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin, Germany is being held today, open to the public two days later. Peter Eisenman 's competition-winning design features a gridded field of approximately 2,700 concrete slabs ( stelae - a usually carved or inscribed stone slab or pillar used for commemorative purposes) of varying height and an Information Center underneath. The design was approved in June 1999, almost six long years before its opening. According to Eisenman, The enormity and scale of the horror of the Holocaust is such that any attempt to represent it by traditional means is inevitably inadequate ... Our memorial attempts to present a new idea of memory as distinct from nostalgia ... We can only know the past today through a manifestation in the present. In the past couple days, much has been written about the design, either praising or criticizing its abstraction and its author. Image found here (via Gravestmor ). Grounded in the May...

Ecology of Fear: Los Angeles and the Imagination of Disaster by Mike Davis, published by Vintage, 1999. Paperback, 496 pages. ( Amazon ) Davis begins his thoroughly-researched study of Los Angeles's environmental and social conditions with an obvious topic: earthquakes. Many outsiders see L.A. as a place destined to fall off into the ocean when "the big one" hits. Davis may even be adding ammunition to this unfounded and unrealistic view by establishing that the region is in an earthquake drought when compared to previous millennia. Framing these, and other natural disasters within the social structure of L.A. is the author's unique take that permeates the book. Further chapters examine wildfires, wil...

Shaw Center for the Arts in Baton Rouge, Louisiana by Schwartz/Silver and Eskew+Dumez+Ripple Comprised primarily of the Louisiana State University Museum of Art, the Douglas L. Manship Sr. Theater for the Visual and Performing Arts, the Shaw Center for the Arts in Baton Rouge is the product of Schwartz/Silver Architects (design architect) and Eskew + Dumez + Ripple (architect of record). Situated across from the Old State Capitol and facing the Mississippi River, the 125,000 s.f. facility straddles and incorporates an existing "Auto Hotel", retained for its historic facade. The interaction between the two gives the project its most dramatic expression, one that is driving development nearby the Shaw Center. The distinctive longitudinal ...

It's the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany by Herzog & De Meuron. Check out the gallery at 0lll and the official website's gallery . (via things magazine )

According to Archinect , the Schiff Foundation Awards jury selected two students from the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) for its 2005 awards: Ananth Robert Sampathkumar for the $25,000 Architecture award and Zachary White for the $10,000 Critical Architectural Writing award. Sampathkumar's "Noah's Arcs"

When I posted in early April about Google's aerial maps , I did not know about Google Sightseeing (or it didn't as yet exist, I'm not sure). That fun site has some interesting architectural sightings that have prompted me to search out some equally interesting aerials. A couple of their's: Smith-Miller Hawkinson and Barbara Kruger's Picture This at the North Carolina Museum of Art ( as linked previously ). The WTC site in Lower Manhattan, much in the news these days . A handful of mine: Kimbell Art Museum ( weekly dose ). Clinton Library (under construction; weekly dose ). Getty Center ( weekly dose ). Dominus Winery ( floor nature ). Neurosciences Institute ( Galinsky ), just down the street from the Salk Institute ( Galinsky ).

Urban Cartography blogs about Chicago , including the Dixie Square Mall, an indoor shopping center built in the southern suburb of Harvey in the mid 1960's and closed in 1979. The Mall's most famous moment came when the Blues Brothers rampaged the mall in their Blues-mobile, uttering lines like: Still taken from this page . The filmmakers were able to take advantage of Dixie Square's recent demise, creating a stand-out scene early in the film that made viewers wonder if they really destroyed a mall. Yes they did, but not completely, because the mall is still standing today. Like a ruin, it's been taken over by vegetation, a reminder of more prosperous times. Image taken from this page . The latest news involves a developer who unveiled plans to bring national retailers to the site in a $74 million project that could create 1,000+ jobs for residents , many out of work. The project would involve demolition of the vacant mall to make way for potential retailers Costco, Ko...