Showing posts from category: architecture critic
I can’t wait to tour this building for its architecture and design, as well as, hanging out at the supper club and lounge.
Here’s some of what Sharon McHugh, US Correspondent for World Architecture News.com had to say:
The erection of the eye-popping glass slab structure occurs in the trendy Meatpacking district and rises from stilts 18 stories above the High Line, a disused elevated rail line that is today one of the city’s hippest parks. Designed by Todd Schliemann of the New York-based Polshek Partnership, the hotel opened in January. It houses 317 guest rooms, several restaurants and bars, and a gym.
The building is decidedly modern, if not instantly iconic, with a mix of styles peppering its interior. Its slab on stilts design recalls the pioneering works of le Corbusier and other notable international style buildings, like the locally based Lever House and United Nations. The interiors, designed by Hollywood set designer Shawn Hausmann and New York based Roman and Williams, “get more modern the higher you go up”, said Balazs in an interview with Vanity Fair magazine.
The hotel lobby, which sits under the High Line, is early 20th century design, while the guest rooms in the tower above are designed with mid-century works in mind. On the top floor is a double height glass enclosed space that houses a supper club and lounge. Its design pays homage to Warren Platner, a protégé of Saarinen’s, who designed the Windows of the World restaurant in the World Trade Center.
If your shopping for a hotel in the city, aside from its fetching design and proximity to all the Meatpacking District has to offer, the best reason to bed down at The Standard is the stunning, unobstructed views it offers of the city’s most cherished sites: the Empire State Building, the Hudson River, and in the distance, the Statue of Liberty
Simcoe Wavedeck in Toronto by West 8
Frank Gehry has officially been replaced by dutch firm West 8 for the Miami Lincoln Park project. gehry and the city were at odds after he could not stick to budget. the project will still ahve to be approved by the city of Miami before it’s finalized.
The firm specializes in contemporary landscape architecture and has designed projects including Governor’s Island New York, Bridges Parque Lineal de Manzanares, Madrid and most recently the Simcoe Wavedeck in Toronto.
The 2.5 acre park will serve as an entrance to the Gehry designed New World Symphony scheduled to open in january 2011. it will also provide an outdoor venue for concerts and expansive green space.
Via designboon
the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas in Houston, Texas
Read article on A Daily Dose of Architecture
A BREAK IN THE ACTION: Stalled cranes and shells of structures stand in contrast with the exuberant building boom of the last two decades along Sheikh Zayed Road.
Many of the city-state’s bigger-than-life projects may be in a holding pattern, but don’t look for its mega-growth world influence to be contained any time soon.
By Christopher Hawthorne, Architecture Critic
June 21, 2009
Reporting from Dubai, United Arab Emirates — If a city can be spectacularly quiet, this waterfront city-state has certainly qualified in recent months. Hundreds of abandoned construction cranes languish above Dubai’s gated communities and beach-side developments and, most dramatically, up and down Sheikh Zayed Road, its high-rise spine. According to a recent estimate in the Middle East Economic Digest, projects worth a staggering $335 billion in the United Arab Emirates — of which Dubai, with a population of about 2 million, is the largest member — are stalled or have been canceled outright.
Dubai’s residents, roughly 85% of them expatriates, have been left to wonder if the current crisis is merely a pause, a recessionary lull that will be painful but temporary, or closer to a fundamental reckoning that will entirely reorder the emirate and how it does business. The same question is being asked in cities around the world, of course. But it’s a particularly acute, even existential one here, since it goes right to the heart of Dubai’s self-image.
Inhabitat “Design will save the world” Blog
Studio Shift’s honorable mention submission for Taiwan’s Center for Disease Control
About
Inhabitat.com is a weblog devoted to the future of design, tracking the innovations in technology, practices and materials that are pushing architecture and home design towards a smarter and more sustainable future.
Inhabitat was started by NYC designer Jill Fehrenbacher as a forum in which to investigate emerging trends in product, interior and architectural design. Mike Chino is the Managing Editor; Emily Pilloton, Olivia Chen, Evelyn Lee, Abigail Doan and Jorge Chapa are Senior Editors. The site was designed by Jill Fehrenbacher and runs off the fabulous blogging platform WordPress.
Mission
GREEN DESIGN IS GOOD DESIGN
GOOD DESIGN IS GREEN DESIGN
Inhabitat.com is a weblog devoted to the future of design, tracking the innovations in technology, practices and materials that are pushing architecture and home design towards a smarter and more sustainable future.
With an interest in design innovations that enhance sustainability, efficiency, and interactivity in the home, Inhabitat’s attention is focused on objects and spaces that are eco-friendly, multi-purpose, modular, and/or interactive. We believe that good design balances substance with style. We are frustrated by the fact that a lot of what we see being touted as “good design” in magazines and at stores is all style and no substance. A lot of contemporary design merely imitates the classic Modernist aesthetic without any of the idealistic social agenda that made Modernism such a groundbreaking movement back in the early 20th Century. The flip side to this is that oftentimes real technological innovations – the ones which will eventually change the way we live our lives – are often not packaged into enough of a stylish aesthetic to move beyond niche circles and crossover into mainstream popular taste.
Likewise, we are frustrated at seeing an emerging category called “Green Design” – as if sustainability is somehow separate from good design in general. We believe that all design should be inherently “Green”. Good design is not about color, style or trends – but instead about thoughtfully considering the user, the experience, the social context and the impact of an object on the surrounding environment. No design can be considered good design unless it at least attempts to address some of these concerns.
We believe in the original modernist ideology that form and function are intertwined in design. Style and substance are not mutually exclusive, and Inhabitat is here to prove it!
ABOUT & MISSION statement via Inhabitat blog
architecture, architecture critic, buildings, construction, Featured Architecture + Design Blog, government architecture, green buildings, Green Built Environment, modern architecture, modern buildings, new buildings, skyscraper
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Inhabitat Blog
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BY Cliff Kuang
Tue Jun 9, 2009 at 11:00 AM
Which architects have the most unusual, influential visions for the field?
1. Will Alsop, ALSOP Architects
Few architects have been so dedicated to such an unusual design aesthetic as maximalist Will Alsop. And fewer still have been as successful at building their designs. His nearly completed
“Chips” building was inspired by piled french fries; his extension for the Ontario College of Art and Design is one of the strangest, most exciting buildings in recent memory:
ALSOP Architects
aia, architects, architecture, architecture critic, buildings, modern architecture, modern buildings, new buildings, skyscraper
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2010 Shanghai Expo, ALSOP Architecture, Beijing, Beijing International Airport, Bird's Nest Olympic Stadium, Book Mountain Project, Cairo, CCTV Tower, Centre Pompidou Metz, Chips Building, Cliff Kuang, Erdos Museum, Expo City, Foster + Partners, Herzog & De Meuron, High-rise pig farm, Insuk Cho, Jacob van Rijs, Jacques Herzog and Pierre De Mueron, Kisu Park, Korean Pavilion, MAD Architects, MASS Studies, Morphosis Architects, MVRDV, Nathalie de Vries, Norman Foster, OMA, Phare Tower, Rem Koolhas, Shigeru Ban, Shigeru Ban Architects, Terminal 3, Thom Mayne, Will Alsop, Winy Maas, Yansong Ma, Zaha Hadid, Zaha Hadid Architects
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Compiled by STEVEN McELROY
Published: June 7, 2009
Via NYTimes Online
The Municipal Art Society of New York has announced the recipients of the eighth annual MASterwork Awards, which recognize excellence in architecture and urban design. The Standard Hotel, the boutique hotel that straddles the High Line in the meatpacking district in Chelsea, and the new TKTS Booth, where discount theater tickets are sold near Times Square, are among the winners of the 2009 awards, which honor projects completed in 2008. The Standard, top, designed by Polshek Partnership Architects, has been named best new building. The TKTS Booth, above, by Perkins Eastman Architects, is best neighborhood catalyst. “Using both sustainable features and cutting-edge glass technology, the TKTS Booth is an urban sculpture that is also perfectly utilitarian,” said a description on the society’s Web site, mas.org. “Its dramatic ruby-red staircase, made up of 27 structural glass steps, provides a magical place to sit and enjoy the razzle-dazzle of Times Square.” The other two winning building projects are the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center at Parsons the New School for Design (for renovation/adaptive reuse) and the Lion House at the Bronx Zoo (for restoration).
architects, architecture, architecture critic, buildings, modern architecture
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Bronx Zoo, Chelsea, Lion House, MASterwork Awards, Municipal Art Society, NY Times Online, Parsons the New School, Perkins Eastman Architects, Polshek Partnership Architects, Sheila C. Johnson Design Center, Standard Hotel, TKTS Booth
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By Andy Marshall
June 3, 2009
I have to admit: I run hot and cold with the Civil Justice Centre in Manchester by Denton Corker Marshall (2007) – but my constant walkabouts around Manchester remind me of its dynamic ability to make its presence felt in the cityscape. New buildings make fresh vistas. I will leave you with some words from John Jeffay Picture Editor of the Manchester Evening News on this pic:
“Some sort of mistake? No, the architect did it because he/she could. The result is compelling, in an odd kind of gravity-defying way, although I’m not sure I’d like to work in the overhang bit. This image, of Manchester’s new Civil Justice Centre, is borrowed from flickr.com. Architectural photography a curious thing. Does the architect deserve the credit, or the photographer? Dunno.
Anyway, what I like about this picture is the way the photographer has highlighted the absurd sticky-out bit and chosen an angle that gives it a good clear outline. There’s enough of the rest of the building to give it context, but it still works on an abstract level. Perspective is everything”
The rest of the article via Manchester News
Andy Marshall is an architectural photographer and commentator – more from FOTOFACADE here
architects, architecture, architecture critic, buildings, modern architecture, modern buildings, new buildings, skyscraper
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Andy Marshall, Civil Justice Centre, FOTOFACADE Blog, Manchester News
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By Stephen Del Percio
May 25th, 2009
f you were fortunate enough to spend the Memorial Day holiday out in the Hamptons, one sight you might have missed is the Old Stone Highway House in East Hampton. Completed back in July of 2007 by New York City-based Berg Design Architects, the 2200-square-foot house’s architectural program is a “modern interpretation of the Long Island agricultural vernacular” that simultaneously “incorporates the use of environmentally low-impact building technology.”
Berg’s client sought a design that both suggested a Long Island barn where the client had summered and incorporated green building principles. The result is a simple, yet sophisticated, fusion of traditional and modern architecture that is grounded in sustainable design. The house’s western cedar siding and concrete block exterior emphasizes the building’s angular geometry which is kept in check by finished interior surfaces.
The structure itself is built from structural insulated panels (SIPs) and its HVAC system includes a geothermal heating and cooling system, as well as radiant floors. Low-e, dual-pane, argon-filled glazing is coupled with a site orientation that minimizes the house’s heating and cooling load. The house is topped off with a Kynar -finished (non-heat absorbing) roof; low-VOC paints and sealants were also specified throughout. Appliances are all Energy Star-rated and the house was furnished with a variety of vintage pieces.
Berg Design Architects was founded in 2001 by John Berg and is based on Varick Street in lower Manhattan.
This and more green architecture via greenbuildings NYC Blog
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