A day on which one can't help but think of monuments and symbols seems like an appropriate time to take a look at a successful modern monument... at least Witold Rybczynski thought so, and it got me to thinking about it as well.
"Architorture" -- this term has been the lament of countless aspiring architects for years... who knows, perhaps for generations. It is a simple slang word which embodies a range of emotions, experiences and tribulations faced in the course of an architectural education... and career.
There is nothing more glamorous for an architect than designing America's malls... except perhaps designing 13,000 square foot faux-Tuscan additions to 9,000 square foot even-more-faux-Tuscan houses... ahem.
Gregory Colbert’s photography and motion picture exhibit “Ashes and Snow” opened about a month ago along the Santa Monica Pier. It is housed in a rather extravagant temporary structure designed by Shigeru Ban, in which it will be traveling the world. The stacked shipping containers, the 30’ high cardboard columns, and the exquisite lighting of the space and the art all come together to create a cathedral-like space and striking experience. The visitor is lead over a wooden deck in the center of the structure, while the walls and ceiling are dipped into darkness due to the careful lighting design. The prints appear to hover between the evenly spaced columns, which makes for a beautiful procession.
Getting back to Ireland as promised, let's take a look at some modern Irish architecture in Dublin. Although Adriean did not tag along with my wife and I on our trip... at least not that I know of... he was feeling the Irish architecture vibe as well with his post highlighting some of this year's RIAI (Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland) award winners.
Five days after returning from nearly two-weeks in Ireland, I am finally shaking the lingering jetlag and feeling motivated enough to begin to sort through some of my photos and recollections.
My September (2005) journey, through Tyrol - Austria, allowed me to explore about 15 MPreis supermarket stores; driving through towns along a 100 km route, west and east of Innsbruck.
We occasionally show our southern California bias... but I am not sure why the New York Times shows theirs so often.
The New York Times published an article yesterday profiling proponents of "native" plants in California, focusing on Rene Russo's crusade to promote native species... an interest we share and which we subtly display with our side bar Dudlea image. In my experience, newspapers are infamously inept in their coverage of nature and landscape, and while this article is interesting and worth reading, I find the poor reporting to be annoying. For example:
Native plants like senecio and aloe, which fill the yard in front of Andree Matton's house in Monrovia, Calif., thrive on less water than grass.Senecio and aloe are not native even to this continent, let alone to Monrovia, California.
Article: NY Times - Flora With a Star in Its Corner
Reference: Garden/garden (L+L)
It has been a little while since we have visited this topic, but an article in Metropolis by Karrie Jacobs ties into some issues we have touched on here before... so nice of Karrie to help us weave some things together.
The article covers some territory we have crossed before with some nice observations and observations. She provides a critique of the "need to use the past as a sort of architectural tranquilizer" and takes a look at the lifestyle center phenomenon, specifically talking about Victoria Gardens (see Downtown Mauled Part I & Part II). Though I would disagree with her stance which places blame for architectural pastiche squarely on New Urbanism as its agenda is more spatial than aesthetic.
Article: Metropolis - The Manchurian Main Street
Via: Planetizen
Reference: It's a Crock(er) (Land+Living)
Reference: Reality Bites (Land+Living)
And more L+L references to be found in Commentary
Link: On (Design) Bullshit
Yesterday I had jury duty... at the University of Southern California Department of Landscape Architecture. I had the opportunity to critique (along with Mark Rios, Mia Lehrer, Clark Stevens, and other jury members) the final presentations for a landscape architecture studio co-taught by David Fletcher and Tom Leader.
I will provided an overview of the student projects next week... the studio was very interesting and the work of a high caliber... but today I want to talk a bit about the design education hazing ritual known as the "crit."
John Norquist, president of the Congress for the New Urbanism in Chicago, provides a rebuttal that is admittedly more studied and level headed than our own in response to a scathing editorial published earlier this month in the Orange County Register by Steven Greenhut.
Some of the opinions and facts presented by Mr. Norquist seem to reveal that Mr. Greenhut may actually be a closet New Urbanist... or, more seriously, help to dispel many of the misconceptions about New Urbanism held by many.
We are heartened to see that Mr. Greenhut has chosen to engage in debate and will speak at the annual meeting of the Congress for the New Urbanism in Pasadena this June. If he doesn't drink the kool-aid, we will at least be interested to read a more educated editorial from Mr. Greenhut in the future.
Article: OC Register - Free developers to build 'new urban' towns (reg required)
Link: BugMeNot.com (get a username/pwd here)
Reference: Fear and Loathing in Orange County (Land+Living)
Andrew Blum has come to some concerns and conclusions similar to our own when it comes to the lifestyle center phenomenon. In an article published today on Slate, he talks about the evolution of malls and the appropriation of "public space."
The lifestyle center is a bizarre outgrowth of the suburban mentality: People want public space, even if making that space private is the only way to get it.Article: Slate - The Mall Goes Undercover
Sometimes it doesn't matter what opinion I may hold when I read gibberish spewed by someone feigning authority. Mind you, I am not a journalist (most traditional journalists would be quick to point out that journalistic shortcoming of blogs), but I am an educated professional with experience, opinions and knowledge that give me some background from which to judge the worthiness of an argument within my field. I have read the opinions of many educated opponents of New Urbanism that I can respect, but an article published Sunday in The Orange County Register written by Steven Greenhut is not among them.
Now, I do not consider myself an expert in New Urban theory, but I do think that Mr. Greenhut is grossly misinformed. Or perhaps he just enjoys lighting a fire and fanning the flames. At any rate, he misses the concept that New Urbanism promotes a mix of housing types and income levels and that the principles can be applied to lower density situations. Mr. Greenhut has bitten off more than he can chew... and indeed more than can even be responded to in this format. Never the less, let's take an abbreviated look, shall we?
Article: Orange County Register - City planning by Those Who Know Best (reg required)
Link: BugMeNot.com (get a username/pwd here)
Link: Congress for New Urbanism
Link: NewUrbanism.org
Related to our continuing concern with the privatization of public space, here is an interesting situation featuring Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate sculpture in Chicago's Millennium Park.
According to a post at New (sub)Urbanism, photographer Warren Wimmer was prevented from photographing this piece of public art.
Fascinating.
Link: New (sub)Urbanism - Copyrighting of Public Space
Reference: Chicago's Millennium Park (Land+Living)
Reference: It's a Crocker etc. (Land+Living)
Over in the Archinect forums, a member with the moniker Suture has written an interesting little rant about how Dwell is slowly changing from a magazine that once featured hand made coffee tables and stenciled walls to one that now features individuals tooling around in "mid 50's Mercedes" toting "$1000+ worth of luggage" and can afford "$20,000 plus worth of iconic Mies furnishings". I guess it's been a long transition because I never really noticed it, but now that he mentions it, it suddenly stands out so well.
"Where they once documented honest, affordable projects that did not strain to be trendy, they are now profiling unfinished projects (or was that a proposition for a new temporal plywood design) (p96) just so they can stuff crass advertising down peoples throat (back cover and 123), sell branded shoes (see p127), sell not very accessible or ecologically friendly cars (p 27 and they have had H2 ads before)...sadly the list goes on. I wont even touch the out of control and exponentially growing ad section in the back that is busting at the seams."So, we pose the question: Should Dwell go back to leaning more to the Ready Made side of the fence or should they continue on their current path catering to the Elle Decor crowd? Comment below!
Link: Archinect Forums
Link: Dwell
Link: Fruit Bowl Manifesto (Dwell)
Ikea is at it again. Knocking down the past to build a big-box emporium to hock their mass produced modern design wares. Here is a company that takes advantage of their Scandinavian design heritage to sell inexpensive, yet "well designed" products to the masses. But, in the process, they have now displayed two blatant instances of their disregard for design legacy. First, they defaced a Marcel Breuer building in New Haven, Connecticut. Now the wrecking ball has turned to Civil War era structures in Brooklyn.
Nice work, Ikea. Class act all the way.
Via: Curbed
Link: New York Daily News - Ikea targets buildings
Link: Metropolis - Disposable Architecture
The bad guy: Ikea
It's a mall. Another mall. It isn't even an old town center that has been revitalized and has mall-like characteristics. It's another mall themed as a town. And yes... it's another post about lifestyle centers. Sheesh, why don't we give it a rest already?!
Because the "lifestyle center" continues to spawn and spread across the country... and the more that open, the more alarmed the we are by the trend. The Plain Dealer features a critical look at the good and the bad of Crocker Park in the Cleveland suburb of Westlake. The article touches on many of the same issues that we have been stewing over in recent commentary posts.
Article: The Plain Dealer, Cleveland.com - Westlake's new center, half-done, feels hollow
Link: Crocker Park
Firm: Bialosky + Partners Architects
Via: Archinect
Reference: Reality bites (Land+Living)
Reference: Downtown Mauled - Part I (Land+Living)
Reference: Downtown Mauled - Part I (Land+Living)
If it looks like a town and feels like a town, it isn't necessarily a town.
Today's breed of mall, dubbed, "lifestyle centers," may want to serve as surrogate town centers, but strip away the facades, the faux layers of history and the rhetoric, and they are private malls. Just ask the guy in Texas who tried to circulate a petition at one of these "town centers".... errr, malls. The developers may love the fact that their malls somehow fulfill the function of a downtown, but only so far as consumption is concerned. Make no mistake, the open space amenities of these centers are only masquerading as public space. The sidewalk is private, the "town square" is private. Free speech does not necessarily have the right to occupy this realm. No longer is fantasy contained within the box of the television set, or in the theatre, or behind the ticket booth at the theme park.
Victoria Gardens is not a ground breaking step in the evolution of malls. The idea borrows from New Urbanist concepts fused with the concepts or retail design explored by John Jerde. Similar to Jerde’s work, Victoria Gardens is, to borrow the words of Margaret Crawford, "between the commercial and the artistic, the popular and the pure, and, of course, the high and the low."
But Victoria Gardens is no City Walk, its ambitions are much less hyper-realistic, and perhaps this is what sets it apart from many other themed malls that we have seen. But the result is a somewhat duplicitous place that insists it is one thing when it is actually something else.
Link: Victoria Gardens
Reference: Downtown Mauled - Part I
This former agricultural center 50 miles east of Los Angeles was once home to sprawling groves and vineyards, but has been more recently known for the sprawl of big-box mini-malls and cookie cutter tract homes. Now a new development seeks to be the downtown that Rancho Cucamonga, California has never had.
The New York Times saw fit to cover the opening of this new mall, so we figured that it was worth the 40 minute drive to check it out. City planners had originally envisioned a more traditional mall, but the developers had a bold idea that breaks many (though not all) of the rules of the typical mall development. The idea behind Victoria Gardens is not new, pseudo-historic town centers are the core of most New Urbanist neighborhoods, but here it has been inserted into an existing tract home city.
The name of this mall betrays its form; all of the shops are located along an urban grid of streets open to vehicular traffic, complete with parking meters and sidewalks. Parking lots and service areas located in the center of the blocks, much like a traditional American town. "Victoria Gardens" fails to provide a hint of the urban space that has been created, or perhaps this was an intentional move to calm local residents who may fear density.
Link: Victoria Gardens
Article: New York Times -
A Different Sort of Mall for a California Town
Reference: Downtown Mauled - Part II
Developer: Forest City Enterprises with Lewis Retail Centers
Masterplan and Design Concept/Design Architect: Field Paoli
Executive Design Architect: Altoon & Porter
Executive Architect: KA Architects
Design Architect: Elkus Manfredi Architects
Landscape Architect: SWA Group
