Book Review: Canada (Modern Architectures in History series)Rhodri Windsor Liscombe Michelangelo Sabatino (authors) Reaktion Books Ltd. London (2016)  Although Canada is a large country in area, its population of approximately 38 million—equivalent to the state of California— is concentrated near its southern border with the United States. The rapid expansion of its population over the past century has also led to a corresponding demand for housing and public services—and architects needed to design them. All this has coincided pretty much with a period highlighted by the rise of modern architecture on a global scale. Rhodri Liscombe and Michelangelo Sabatino, the authors of Canada, have endeavored to cover this “modern” period within the confines of 349 pages, expanding the focus to include the activities of Canadian architects abroad, as well as within the borders of the Commonwealth. Including everything does have its drawbacks, however: some interesting details about Arthur Erickson’s winning design for the Los Angeles’ Bunker Hill competition were included, whereas others, such as the Kitchener City Hall competition lacked an important reference—Detlef Mertins’ expansive coverage of the event in Competing Visions.* Going through the book, project by project, one encounters numerous competitions, some of which elevated the winners to national and international prominence: Safdie, Erickson, Patkau—just to name a few. But one of the main themes of the book was its focus on what was peculiarly Canadian in its encounter with modern architecture. Canada was not culturally isolated from the rest of the world—and that country south of the border. But what it accomplished in many cases, both regionally and nationally, comes to light in this book. Although short on descriptive material in many of the cases mentioned, Canada can serve as a valuable resource for those who wish to pursue the study of Canadian in more detail. Visually, the books images would have been more appealing in color. But one can understand that budget sometimes gets in the way of more fluff. *KPMB’s design for Kitchener City Hall cannot be fully understood without seeing the Mississauga City Hall Competition entries and winners, where Barton Myers with Bruce Kuwabara won second place. Kuwabara evidently learned a lot from that competition, as KPMB’s winning Kitchener design incorporated many of the lessons learned from the various Mississauga designs. |
 ©Bauen+Wohnen An article, Trois tourettes et un jardin (Three Turrets and a Garden) by Swiss landscape architect, Valérie Hoffmeyer, in Werk, Bauen + Wohnen, is another recent example highlighting the value of green space in the design of mid-rise residential buildings. At a time when developers endeavor to maximize their profits by turning to highrise buildings, even when higher density is at stake, referencing the Garden City concept has been turning up as a more frequent theme.
Read more…  Budapest’s Nuugati Railway Terminal has reached it capacity, expecially when based on the future needs of the station. To date, the common practice of backing trains out after unloading to turn them around was time-consuming, and, as a result, had maximized the capacity for the terminal. The new plan foresees the hall’s extended tracts to be located underground, so as to create through traffic. Read more… Young Architects in Competitions When Competitions and a New Generation of Ideas Elevate Architectural Quality  by Jean-Pierre Chupin and G. Stanley Collyer published by Potential Architecture Books, Montreal, Canada 2020 271 illustrations in color and black & white Available in PDF and eBook formats ISBN 9781988962047 What do the Vietnam Memorial, the St. Louis Arch, and the Sydney Opera House have in common? These world renowned landmarks were all designed by architects under the age of 40, and in each case they were selected through open competitions. At their best, design competitions can provide a singular opportunity for young and unknown architects to make their mark on the built environment and launch productive, fruitful careers. But what happens when design competitions are engineered to favor the established and experienced practitioners from the very outset? This comprehensive new book written by Jean-Pierre Chupin (Canadian Competitions Catalogue) and Stanley Collyer (COMPETITIONS) highlights for the crucial role competitions have played in fostering the careers of young architects, and makes an argument against the trend of invited competitions and RFQs. The authors take an in-depth look at past competitions won by young architects and planners, and survey the state of competitions through the world on a region by region basis. The end result is a compelling argument for an inclusive approach to conducting international design competitions. Download Young Architects in Competitions for free at the following link: https://crc.umontreal.ca/en/publications-libre-acces/  Boardwalk photo: Courtesy Atlantic Beach Boardwalks, especially on oceanfront locations, have a pretty universal look. But how they fit into their local context is another matter. Topography, real estate and commerce all play a role in their function, and to some extent, design. In the case of Miami Beach, it’s primarily a promenade; Brooklyn’s 2.7 mile Coney Island boardwalk stretching all the way to Brighton Beach is a mixture of promenade and commerce, with the latter at both ends. In the case of Atlantic City, it’s mostly about retail.
Read more…  Winning entry – Hyunjoon Min Architects Office National Library of Korea Data Preservation Center Competition Retrofitting existing buildings is nothing new. The abandonment of old factory structures, especially in the northeast of the U.S., has been occurring at a rapid pace ever since those businesses ceased to be profitable in the face of foreign competition. However, in North America, retrofitting those structures has seldom been the subject of a design competition. In Korea, the recent plethora of design competitions for all types of projects has also included several for providing a new life for abandoned buildings. Read more… Countryside Dilemmas – New Rural Planning  1st Place – ©Tianjin University Team Planning used to be at the bottom of Chinese students’ lists of design priorities. One western architect, whose firm was at the forefront in the design and implementation of numerous planning projects in China, surmised that planning was an area that received little attention in the university curricula. So when planning for a major metropolitan area has occurred, the Chinese have almost always turned to outside international firms for ideas and implementation. Read more… The Chicago Architecture Club Shines the Spotlight on Another Endangered Landmark  Public Pool Image: ©Perkins&Will What do Bertrad Goldberg and Helmut Jahn have in common? Besides having high-profile buildings threatened by demolition, both served as subject matter for two competitions sponsored by the Chicago Architecture Club (CAC)—raising public consciousness about their impending fate. They both produced buildings in a city famous for its architecture that have been abandoned: Goldberg’s Future Prentice Women’s Hospital, demolished in 2014 after a valiant effort by preservationists to save it from the wrecking ball; and Jahn’s Thompson Center, now the object of a similar effort by the State of Illinois to sell it to a developer. Read more… |