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Post by jdredd on Mar 4, 2019 12:14:42 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2019/03/02/arts/kevin-roche-dead-architect.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage§ion=Obituaries"When Mr. Roche received the Pritzker in 1982, he delivered an acceptance speech that displayed both his capacity for self-deprecating humor and his belief that architecture was a noble pursuit. He quoted from a letter he had received complaining that his work was “moribund” and that the Pritzker jury “must be out of their minds” to have given him the prize. He could only respond, he said, by asking: “ Is not the act of building an act of faith in the future, and of hope? Hope that the testimony of our civilization will be passed on to others, hope that what we are doing is not only sane and useful and beautiful, but a clear and true reflection of our own aspirations. And hope that it is an art, which will communicate with the future and touch those generations as we ourselves have been touched and moved by the past.”
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Post by jdredd on Mar 5, 2019 1:44:39 GMT -5
So where does architecture and politics collide? I would say in land use. Land use is decided by politics, usually in the interests of the wealthy.
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Post by jdredd on Apr 6, 2019 12:44:25 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2019/04/05/nyregion/gentrification-one-percent-manhattan.html?fallback=0&recId=1JVE8ug0KMxYAUkTDCWcr7mPzF0&locked=0&geoContinent=NA&geoRegion=CA&recAlloc=top_conversion&geoCountry=US&blockId=most-popular&imp_id=710374907&action=click&module=Most%20Popular&pgtype=Homepage "Manhattan has countless monuments to outrageous wealth, most recently and glaringly the $238 million penthouse that the hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin just bought at 220 Central Park South. Lacking famous owners, a prestige address, a brand-name architect or coverage in tabloid real estate blotters, 48-50 West 69th Street has thus far been a study in inconspicuous consumption. But it reflects extravagance of a different sort. This is about how the whims of a plutocrat can upend the lives of an entire city block, challenging the culture and the well-being of the people who live there. It’s about coming to terms with everyday existence in New York, where the rich run rampant and the rest of us have to deal with it." It took me a while, but I finally figured out what Conservatism is about: Property. And it is what much of our lives are about for better or worse. Certainly the Communist attempt to eliminate property was a total failure. Fortunately the West did not have to nuke the Commies to keep ours, but I did almost have to kill or die in Vietnam to preserve it. Come to think of it, Property Rights and Freedom are often seen as equivalent, except in some very glaring exceptions such as slavery.
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Post by jdredd on Apr 9, 2019 16:31:19 GMT -5
So what gets built? It appears that what gets built is what status-quo loving billionaires want built. And I'm not even going to bother claiming that is bad.
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Post by jdredd on Nov 17, 2019 10:53:32 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2019/11/15/opinion/sunday/tulsa-dollar-stores.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage"But the small businesses of the midcentury were no match for the retail restructuring that was coming. In 1968, Walmart began its nationwide expansion with the opening of a superstore in Claremore, 30 miles from Tulsa, one of its first stores outside Arkansas. It siphoned off customers from Tulsa who could hop on the new interstate highways, which cut through black neighborhoods like Greenwood, to chase cheaper prices. The mom-and-pop shops of North Tulsa were replaced by grocery chains that were better equipped to compete with Walmart. But they, too, eventually folded. The Albertsons store turned off the lights in 2007." Here's the old story how Walmart put mom-and-pop store out of business all over America. And their children and grandchildren ended up working for Walmart instead of inheriting the business. Is that bad? It is what it is.
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Post by jdredd on Jan 8, 2020 0:58:04 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2020/01/06/science/antarctica-architecture.html?algo=top_conversion&fellback=false&imp_id=600405364&imp_id=119324468&action=click&module=Most%20Popular&pgtype=HomepageRepresentatives from Brazil’s scientific community and government will head to Antarctica this month to inaugurate its new Comandante Ferraz Research Station, which replaces a facility lost to fire in 2012. The two low-slung buildings, designed by Estudio 41, a Brazilian architecture firm, house laboratories, operational support and living quarters — and could be mistaken for an art museum or a boutique hotel. “Brazil is a tropical country, so we were not used to these conditions,” said Emerson Vidigal, a principal at the firm. “These conditions” include temperatures that drop below minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit and winds that reach 100 miles per hour. Throughout the 20th century, architecture in Antarctica was a pragmatic and largely makeshift affair, focused on keeping the elements out and the occupants alive. In 1959, the Antarctic Treaty dedicated the continent to research. Since then scientists have come in growing numbers and with ever more complex needs. Construction in Antarctica, long the purview of engineers, is now attracting designer architects looking to bring aesthetics — as well as operational efficiency, durability and energy improvements — to the coldest neighborhood on Earth. While Trump and Iran have their pissing contest, here is some cool architecture.
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Post by jdredd on Feb 11, 2020 19:11:39 GMT -5
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/02/trumps-plan-make-architecture-classical-again/606286/"As first reported by Architectural Record and confirmed by The New York Times, the Trump administration is considering an executive order that will direct that U.S. government buildings with budgets greater than $50 million be designed in classical and other traditional styles. A draft document retains Moynihan’s ringing phrase about “dignity, enterprise, vigor, and stability,” but stipulates that “the classical architectural style shall be the preferred and default style.” All federal courthouses and federal buildings in and around Washington, D.C., would have to follow the work of Greek and Roman architects and their emulators in subsequent centuries. The late-20th-century Brutalist and Deconstructivist styles, meanwhile, would essentially be banned from the federal projects covered by the order. The restriction would apply to renovation and expansion projects as well as new buildings." Maybe, like Mussolini, Trump pictures himself a modern Caesar.
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Post by jdredd on Apr 30, 2020 18:30:33 GMT -5
Haven't thought about architecture in a while but I bought a book titled "The Future of Transportation" (2019) from a famous architecture firm (Skidmore, Owings and Merrill) just to get the digital "paintings" by Olalekan Joylilous, and started thinking how a architecture and transportation feed off each other. What good is a building you can't get to? But the car has totally changed architecture. And the decline of the car will change it again. The suburbs are a ghastly disaster that millions would still love to live in. Cheap gas keeps them alive.
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Post by jdredd on May 12, 2020 16:58:05 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2020/05/12/nyregion/coronavirus-work-from-home.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage"Before the coronavirus crisis, three of New York City’s largest commercial tenants — Barclays, JP Morgan Chase and Morgan Stanley — had tens of thousands of workers in towers across Manhattan. Now, as the city wrestles with when and how to reopen, executives at all three firms have decided that it is highly unlikely that all their workers will ever return to those buildings. The research firm Nielsen has arrived at a similar conclusion. Even after the crisis has passed, its 3,000 workers in the city will no longer need to be in the office full-time and can instead work from home most of the week. The real estate company Halstead has 32 branches across the city and region. But its chief executive, who now conducts business over video calls, is mulling reducing its footprint. Manhattan has the largest business district in the country, and its office towers have long been a symbol of the city’s global dominance. With hundreds of thousands of office workers, the commercial tenants have given rise to a vast ecosystem, from public transit to restaurants to shops. They have also funneled huge amounts of taxes into state and city coffers. But now, as the pandemic eases its grip, companies are considering not just how to safely bring back employees, but whether all of them need to come back at all. They were forced by the crisis to figure out how to function productively with workers operating from home — and realized unexpectedly that it was not all bad.
If that’s the case, they are now wondering whether it’s worth continuing to spend as much money on Manhattan’s exorbitant commercial rents. They are also mindful that public health considerations might make the packed workplaces of the recent past less viable." How will this change in the status quo affect architecture? Tens of thousands of empty offices will mean the end of new office buildings. How about new apartments? Will the suburbs get a new lease on life as people avoid the crowded downtowns? How about a trendy place like Little Italy here in San Diego? Will it's boom be over? Where will billionaires put their money?
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Post by jdredd on Oct 24, 2020 14:56:59 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2020/10/23/nyregion/nyc-homeless-hotel"If the world were not in such chaos at the moment, the fate of a luxury condominium building on West 66th Street would have surely gained much more attention. Last month, a New York State Supreme Court judge unexpectedly overruled the city’s decision to allow the construction of what would have become the tallest building on the Upper West Side. Extell, a major developer and birther of Billionaire’s Row, had planned to fill the tower with 198 feet of empty vertical space to create more apartments on higher floors, which command more money." I've gotten behind on my architecture watching. Billionaire's Row? I love it.
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Post by jdredd on Mar 4, 2021 15:31:01 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2021/03/04/opinion/affordable-housing-california.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage"Taplin is among a new generation of urban lawmakers elected in November who talk about housing and homelessness as complex, multilayered crises that connect many of California’s biggest challenges — our unequal economic growth, our vulnerability to climate disasters, our unsustainable car-dominated urban culture and the entrenched racial divisions that still dominate much of life here. Among these is the new mayor of San Diego, Todd Gloria, a Democrat whose opponent, Barbara Bry, echoed Trumpist fear-mongering about density killing the suburbs. “They’re coming for our homes,” Bry warned in a campaign email."
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Post by jdredd on Mar 9, 2021 22:02:13 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2021/03/05/arts/design/Kyohei-Sakaguchi-zero-yen-house.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage"Sakaguchi’s career began in architecture school (he graduated from Waseda University in 2001), where he was intrigued by a government report that estimated that there were 6 million vacant houses in Japan. “I asked my professor why we had to build new houses,” he said. “I thought it was very strange. I started thinking, is there a way to become an architect without building a house?” He started to pay attention to people living on the streets of Tokyo who were building houses of their own — just not conventional ones. These houses are made from everything: cardboard boxes, scrap wood, vinyl sheets, discarded books, old telephone booths, reed screens. They’re furnished with art and some are equipped with electrical appliances powered by solar generators.While some of these dwellings may violate local laws, Japan’s powerful constitution, which guarantees human rights and minimum standards of living, protects them and their builders. Through these houses, Sakaguchi saw a different way of thinking about architecture, and embarked on a full-fledged study."
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Post by jdredd on May 29, 2021 12:33:28 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2021/05/29/business/economy/new-home-building-suburbs.html"LATHROP, Calif. — They had a down payment. They were prequalified for a mortgage. They were willing to move almost an hour’s drive eastward. But the number that really mattered was “32.” If a saleswoman standing in a model unit plucked a bingo ball with that number from one of several buckets arrayed on a marble kitchen island, Jezreleen and Eric Namayan would get to pay $662,000 for a five-bedroom home in River Islands, a master planned community built around 13 man-made lakes in California’s Central Valley. If not, the home would go to one of the dozens of other prospective buyers who had lined up next to them on a Zoom webcast of the drawing. The Namayans would remain in a two-bedroom condominium with two teenagers while struggling to penetrate the white hot post-pandemic housing market." "Tired of being cooped up, eager to take advantage of low interest rates and increasingly willing to move two or more hours from the urban core, buyers have propelled new home construction to its highest level since 2006. That was the year when the mid-2000s housing bubble started deflating on its way to what would become the financial crisis and Great Recession." California is drying up and they are building houses around man-made lakes? Whatever. But buyers of houses out in the middle of nowhere better hope the oil glut lasts for a long time or they will trapped in isolated exurbs. By the way, looking at pictures of "River Islands" the place looks SO dismal..
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Post by jdredd on Jun 22, 2021 21:10:55 GMT -5
I was just contemplating what an ego trip it must be to see a building you designed or help design be built. Perhaps the builders of the Acropolis are still basking in the afterglow somewhere. I left almost nothing behind in my years of work unless you come across a "Custom '37 Ford" model kit, incredibly still marketed by Lindberg Models.
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Post by jdredd on Jun 25, 2021 18:30:13 GMT -5
While most architects seem to have to work within the status quo, (how else to you get funding?) I wonder if it's possible to work outside it. Must be some doing it.
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