Topped/Tapped Out These unresolved issues still linger in the rush to develop a new urban world, where the United Nations estimated in June that more than half the world’s population now lives in cities. Given the recent building boom, critics and theorists have written relatively little on the skyscraper, especially outside of the contexts of the WTC and such places as Dubai or Guangzhou. No wonder Koolhaas’s Delirious New York, which turns 30 years old next year, still reigns as provocative reading in architecture schools. Even Koolhaas builds more than he writes today—and some of his more recent proposals for
“The development of an official style must be avoided. Design must flow from the architectural profession to the Government, and not vice versa.” The words are those of Daniel Patrick Moynihan. They’re part of his famous "Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture" (1962), which helped inspire a revolution in government architecture. The revolution was the Design Excellence program in the General Services Administration (GSA—sorry, it’s hard to write about government without bogging in multisyllables). From 1994 to 2005, under the GSA’s chief architect, Ed Feiner, the program tried to choose the best architects in the country for the design of courthouses
Toronto, Canada Gehry International Photo courtesy AGO Photographic Resources AGO director and CEO Matthew Teitelbaum Matthew Teitelbaum Clifford Pearson: What was your thinking at the start of this project? Matthew Teitelbaum: In the beginning, we had two main goals—to create some great new spaces for art and to fix some of the circulation problems we had. This was our seventh expansion so the museum had grown piece by piece by piece. As we started working with Frank, we developed more specific goals. We wanted to establish a clear destination for the art, so visitors can encounter it quickly and directly.
Toronto, Canada Gehry International Photo courtesy David Thomson The late media mogul, art collector, and patron Kenneth Thomson David Thomson Clifford Pearson: What was your relationship to your father and this project? David Thomson: My father and I were very close. We both pursued art. It was an extension of our relationship. Frank and my father really connected on this project. The intensity of feeling between them was remarkable and is reflected, I think, in the spaces Frank created for the art. This was the special outcome of this project. Frank’s relationship with my father allowed him to take more
During this year’s Salone del Mobile, held during mid-April in Milan, French-born designer Patrick Jouin sat down in the Kartell booth with RECORD to discuss his new chair design for the Italian plastic furnishings company. Image courtesy of Patrick Jouin Patrick Jouin Listen in as Jouin explains the technology that gives his new Thalya chair for Kartell new levels of strength while remaining lightweight, as well as why he became a designer, and what his firm is working on next. A former artistic director for fellow French designer Philippe Starck, Jouin opened his own studio in Paris in 1998. His
JM: Tell me about the ark design. AM: We felt Jim Olson, who has 30 years experience designing residences with our firm, would be the perfect person to work on the residence for Noah and his animals. It’s designed in an abstraction sort of way: it’s pulled away from the walls, ceilings, and Jim and the team used different devices to make it feel like the ark is much larger. There’s different ways, with mirrors, that effects are created. It actually fools people: people walk in and they want to know how they can get to the galleries beyond. Photo: