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Editor’s note: You may read the news digest below or listen to it, plus other news headlines from ArchitecturalRecord.com, as a podcast by clicking this link. Click the play button to begin | Click here to download The Frank Gehry-designed Atlantic Yards project scored a significant victory in court this week when a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit against developer Forest City Ratner, which is seeking the use of eminent domain to seize a dozen properties at the Brooklyn site where it plans to build the $4 billion mixed-use complex. “Plaintiffs have not set forth facts supporting a plausible claim
Preservationists in Great Britain are backing stronger planning powers that would affect the look—and height—of London’s future buildings. In March, the government released its White Paper on Heritage, which called for creating development buffer zones around 27 World Heritage sites, including the Tower of London and the Houses of Parliament. It followed closely on the heels of calls from UNESCO to prevent skyscraper construction near heritage sites that are at risk from rising sea levels and other effects of climate change. Image: Courtesy English Heritage English Heritage’s interpretation of Rafael Viñoly’s looming Walkie-Talkie. Among the towers that could be affected
Ashley Scott Kelly and Rikako Wakabayashi, a Brooklyn-based architecture team, took home first prize in the Van Alen Institute's 'Envisioning Gateway' ideas competition this week. Launched last winter, the competition asked designers to re-conceive the National Recreation Area, a 26,607-acre waterfront zone along the New York-New Jersey coast that comprises one of the region's largest open spaces. It yielded 230 entrants from 23 different countries.
The World Monuments Fund (WMF) announced its 2008 World Monuments Watch List of 100 Most Endangered Sites today. This year’s list highlights buildings and other heritage sites that are threatened by political conflict, unchecked development, and, for the first time, climate change. Two places, much in the world’s headlines, made this year’s list for different reasons. New Orleans was cited for the ongoing risk that climate change presents to its future. “Historic neighborhoods, already pummeled by Hurricane Katrina, are now struggling to restore homes while also preparing for future challenges posed by rising sea levels and the likelihood of stronger
The looming acquisition of a software vendor that supports interoperability of competing electronic design and construction products by a leading vendor of design software is both raising concerns and welcomed. On May 31, Autodesk announced it had signed an agreement to acquire NavisWorks, which produces a universal file reader for 3D coordination, collaboration and construction sequencing, for $25 million. “The news concerns me greatly,” says Mark V. Holland, chief engineer for Omaha-based steel fabricator Paxton & Vierling Steel. “Will the application keep its original direction of being a universal reader in the building information modeling world?” Jay Bhatt, senior vice
The U.S. Department of the Interior announced the designation of 13 new National Historic Landmarks earlier this spring. This designation signifies the importance of these sites in representing the nation’s heritage. Although the list contains many historic sites, such as the Japanese internment camp at Topaz, Utah, it also includes architecturally significant structures.
Is there a design language that is unique to civic architecture? Critic Robert Campbell posed this question to the architects, judges, and others attending “Function, Form, and Meaning: Design Excellence in Federal Courthouses” last Friday. Hosted by the General Services Administration (GSA), this day-long forum in Washington, D.C., was billed as “a review and national conversation on federal courthouse design.” Campbell’s opening lecture juxtaposed Modern designs with classical models and challenged attendees and speakers to debate whether or not one of these modes is more appropriate for civic buildings. Taking up Campbell’s challenge, several audience members asked if Modernism has
Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, the husband-and-wife team based in New York City, bested a who’s-who roster of competitors to design a new arts center for the University of Chicago, the school announced last week.
Studio Daniel Libeskind is on a roll. Less than a year after its addition to the Denver Art Museum opened to much popular fanfare, if lukewarm critical reviews, another of the firm’s big cultural projects has followed suit: a dramatic expansion of Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), which opened on Saturday. Though separated by 1,500 miles, the two buildings share Libeskind’s signature aesthetic of angular, crystalline forms. They also have in common a key gesture: a prow-shaped volume that reaches over public space. These similarities have led more than a few observers to wonder if the architect’s atelier is copying
Like two siblings who tease each other relentlessly, New York City and London are more alike than they prefer to admit. A conference sponsored by the British Council for Offices last month in Manhattan demonstrated how these cities often copy each other’s best practices for competing in today’s global economy—and architecture, it turns out, is increasingly important to both. “For a long time, high quality design was seen as an inefficiency,” observed Mark Wigley, dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture. “Today it’s seen as leverage.” New York’s real estate developers have come to realize the value of
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