“Frank O. Gehry, one of the world’s leading architects, has been selected to design a national tribute to President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a memorial commission announced yesterday morning. The memorial is planned for a four-acre site on Independence Avenue between Fourth and Sixth streets SW. … This would be Gehry’s first project in the heart of Washington.”
Category: visual
Architectural Grumpus Prince Charles Completes His First Building
“Prince Charles, that purveyor of fine Duchy sausages and scourge of modern architecture, has just completed his first building: a fire station in the twee village of Poundbury, Dorset. And I must say it’s a superb creation: a dumpy neoclassical Georgian palace with three garage doors attached to it.”
Where’s The Underground Art In Paris?
“As much as we Brits and Yanks would love to find some version of our own Hackney or Williamsburg, here there is little need for an underground. With its (champagne) socialist town hall, the city has always provided plenty of funding, space and publicity for the arts.” The banlieue (the troubled area beyond the ring road) is another matter.
Asbestos Was In The Air At A Second Smithsonian Museum
“Members of a steamfitters union local said that in 2007, asbestos dust filled the air during renovation of the National Museum of American History because contractors repeatedly failed to take legally required precautions while removing insulation.” The Smithsonian acknowledges that there was a problem, though not as serious as the union alleges. A congressional hearing about asbestos at the Smithsonian is to take place today.
Tate Modern To Grow With £215 Million Extension
“Even though Tate Modern’s home, the former Bankside power station, is a colossus, the sheer number of people visiting throughout the year has made an extension almost inevitable. Today, the London Borough of Southwark approved plans for Tate Modern 2, an 11-storey, brick-clad pyramid – of sorts – designed by Herzog and de Meuron, the Swiss architects who transformed the redundant power station across the Thames from Wren’s St Paul’s Cathedral nearly a decade ago.”
First Impressions Of L.A.’s Annenberg Space For Photography
Christopher Knight: “Two things I like: It’s free, and it’s eclectic. […] ASP isn’t stuffy – the design is a mash-up of museum gallery, Apple Store and ArcLight Cinema – but it’s serious and friendly.” On the other hand: “Two things I don’t like: ASP has a corporate aura, and light is a problem.”
How Ralph Appelbaum Is Changing The Way Museums Are Designed
It is a progressive vision updated for the Internet age and, not surprisingly, Appelbaum’s projects are saturated with interactive technology. Touch screens, mini-theaters and video monitors are set within large walls of photographs, all emphasizing the abundance of knowledge, the multiplicity of voices, the layeredness of our media-saturated society.
Timed For Centenary, A Titanic Museum?
“A new museum charting the story of the Titanic could be built ahead of the 100th anniversary of the sinking. The £28m project in Southampton, from where the liner set sail in 1912 on her maiden voyage, is set to feature a climb-aboard replica of the ship.”
Field Hard Hit, AIA Convention Crowd Will Be Much Smaller
“One month from now in San Francisco, a national architecture convention will be in full swing – but not nearly as full as the organizers had hoped. It’s the annual gathering of the American Institute of Architects, which in rosier times anticipated upward of 27,000 attendees touching down in, all rise, Everybody’s Favorite City. … Now the estimate is a crowd of 20,000 to 22,000….”
Did Conservators Wreck Shakespeare’s Portrait?
“It has emerged that art conservators who joined forces to restore the two portraits by removing the top layer of paint to reveal the “authentic” portraits beneath, were actually wiping away priceless insights into the changing appearance of Britain’s greatest playwright.”