I (Kevin Clement) will be writing some articles for D/visible Magazine. The webzine "was created to deconstruct the design behind the literally limitless venues for design concepts." Pretty broad concept, so they won't have trouble running out of content ideas for a long, long time.
The article begins:
"It would be hard to find a night sky darker than the one over U.S. Route 67, on the way to Marfa, Texas. According to some accounts, it would be more difficult to miss the strange, floating balls of colored light known as the Marfa Lights, which occasionally float against the jet black horizon. Ever since the mysterious lights where “discovered” in 1883, crowds of onlookers have made their way to Marfa, hoping to catch a glimpse of the mysterious phenomenon"
And goes on to tie Donald Judd's desire for big, empty spaces to the Minimal website designs of today.
The article can be found here.
I also want to draw some attention to the work being done at "Urban Emergencies." The blog gives an overview of work being done in the Vargas Region of Venezuela, a small state along the central (north) coast of Venezuela. I'd love to do a more in depth post on the work soon, as they're part of a larger "Urban Emergencies" network.
6.22.2009
D/visible Magazine
6.13.2009
Detroit in Ruins
[image from Marchand & Meffre's Site]
The above image, from some old factory, looks like something Morphosis would do... Only authentic.
It's worth checking out the other projects and portraits on his website, as they have a consistent visual style and philosophy. I can't help but put one more, this one from his travels to Afghanistan.
[image from Sean Hemmerle's site]
[image from 100 Abandoned Houses]For whatever reason, a lot of buzz has been going on around the media and internet about Detroit. A recently announced design competition, called Rouse [D], aims to "challeng(e) people to come up with designs that will rouse the city of Detroit and encourage an evolution of our understanding of its unique urban environment."
It will be interesting to see what people come up with.
6.09.2009
Architecture Update - New York City, Rome
It's been a busy couple of months, as we've been traveling and working on a number of projects. In any case, it seems fitting to take some time to catch up and list some interesting projects from NYC and Rome, specifically. You've probably heard of many of them, but they deserve a second look.
Diller & Scofidio's Highline project, an adaptive reuse project located in the Meat Packing District, is making good progress. The project to construct a public park on top of an old elevated railroad was proposed by the firm, in collaboration with Field Operations. More info here.
Spanning over the project is the new NYC Standard Hotel. The build cuts over the project and we assume will engage the park in some manner. The building cuts across the site at an odd angle, probably to maximize those views. A roof deck bar (a la Standard LA) is yet to be opened but is in the works.
The rooms inside look nice and cozy. The concrete building contrasts nicely with all the brick and steel around it. More info here.
The best part about the Contemporary Museum of Art is the viewing platform. That, and the way the building's woven skin looks like TV static from the distance. The inside, not so interesting. Info here.
Right by Thom Mayne's new Cooper Union building is this white highrise by... ? It's interesting in the way it's rammed into the old, existing brick building beside it. The form is nice and clean as well. We wanted to go in it, but the doorman didn't want us to contaminate the place.
Meanwhile, Morphosis' Cooper Union building is almost done. Here's what the NYT's Nicolai Ouroussoff had to say about the building last week:
"Perhaps more important, the building seems to strike just the right tone for this time in New York’s history. A wholly contemporary work, it has a bold, aggressive profile that says as much about the city we’ve lost as it does about the future we are building. It proves that a brash, rebellious attitude can be a legitimate form of civic pride."
You can read the rest of his review here.
Meanwhile, in Mussolini's EUR, the Colossea Quadrato (pictured above) is going through a remodel. This old symbol of fascism will become a mall, movie theatre, and office building. How's you like to go to work and trudge up these stairs everyday? Can you say Kafka?
Anyway, a great, old article (found here) from the NYT's describes the history of the place.
Meanwhile, across the street from the Campidoglio, an old school symbol of adaptive reuse still stands. Am I the only one that thinks the building needs a new layer stacked on top of it? Maybe it could something really rational, and contain a mall, movie theatre, and office building...
Pairing the old with the new is going on all over Rome, although it's a situation that's kind of hard to avoid in the Eternal City. Meier's Ara Pacis is still controversial as ever. It seemed like a pretty standard Meier building to me. The light inside was nice and even, if that's worth anything. A more spirited review and discussion can be found at Slow Muse.
Meanwhile, Renzo Piano brings it with his Parco della Musica, a mile or two north of the Piazza del Popolo. Three spaces, from small to large, form a ring around a central piazza, which is now lovingly used as an ice skating rink by Romans in the winter. The building design itself is nice and straightforward, and each of the three auditoriums is intended to work best with different styles of music. Our tour guide told us that one of the spaces actually doubles as a soccer ring for children. You can find the new Rome film festival here as well.
Meanwhile, outside the auditorium, a car show had the new Era concept car by Turin based IDEA. The most interesting part is the user interface on the dashboard. There's not much of a windshield, so hopefully that interface will help with the bugs and wind. More information can be found here.
And that's it. Articles of the more professional quality you've come to expect from us... are forthcoming.
