The United Nations headquarters complex is falling down. The 50-year-old buildings currently feature leaking roofs, crumbling walls, and failing HVAC. The U.N.’s immunity from New York City building codes means asbestos remains throughout, there are no sprinklers, and wheelchair access is poor. According to The New York Times, saving the property could cost $800 million. The solution? An island getaway. – Architecture Magazine
Category: visual
PEOPLE IN GLASS HOUSES
A Scottish engineer says we’re only just learning what glass can do as a building material. He envisions skyscrapers built entirely of glass. So why are so many critics skeptical? – Metropolis Magazine
PORTRAIT OF INDIA
How paintings have defined the identity of a nation. – Art India
“AN ATTRACTIVE NUISANCE”
Badly neglected public sculpture “Marianthe” at Florida community college to be destroyed because of deterioration, despite protests of the artist. – Artstar.com
LIVING IN THE FUTURE
The London of the future will have to support a much higher population density than the one- and two-story rowhouses currently house. Some architects take a shot at showing how it might be. – The Times (UK)
THE REAL ARTIST
“For a painter whose name we’re not even sure of, who aggressively discouraged imitators, whose stormy, rumbustious life was curtailed by an early death, partly as a result of his own violent, impetuous nature, Caravaggio occupies an extraordinarily important role in the history of European painting. It’s hard to imagine Rembrandt’s work without him, for example, and Rubens and Velasquez were among an army of admirers He was an arrogant, violent brawler and a sexual outlaw as well as an artistic and social revolutionary who changed our perception of space.” Two new books shed new light on one of art’s most important yet unknown characters. – Irish Times
DESIGN DEBACLE
Celebrated Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron were hired in 1998 to design the $70 million Blanton Museum at the University of Texas at Austin. But after drafting their ideas, the architects quickly realized that university regents had no interest in innovation – they wanted a grand design copied from the campus’ existing Mediterranean style. After several volleys, the architects abandoned the project and left town. A missed opportunity, lament critics. – Architecture Magazine
MODERNIZATION
- Christie’s turns some new corners under new leadership and modernizes its London headquarters. – The Telegraph (UK)
MASTERS OF THE NEW WORLD
Prices and sales of Old Master paintings are rising in New York. Many London dealers of Old Masters have opened branches in Manhattan, leading to speculation the Big Apple may surpass London as the center of the trade. – New York Times
CANADA DECIDES —
— to write the history of its art. The question is: what, and whose history should it be? – CBC