The Architectural Review articles from November 2008

The Architectural Review archives from November 2008

Making economy work.(view)
November 1, 2008... ALVARO SIZA WINS THE ROYAL GOLD MEDAL; RIBA STIRLING PRIZE GOES TO ACCORDIA HOUSING BY FCB STUDIO, ALISON BROOKS AND MACCREANOR LAVINGTON; COMMONWEALTH ASSOCIATION OF ARCHITECTS' STUDENT COMPETITION COMES ROUND AGAIN; JUDGING THE AR AWARDS FOR...

Royal gold medal for Alvaro Siza.(view)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... While some may say it has been a long lime coming, you can be sure that Alvaro Siza has not been wailing for the phone to ring. While his office confirms he is delighted with the news, the 75-year-old Portuguese architect is just getting on...

Housing wins Stirling.(view)(housing development by FCB Studios with Alison Brooks Architects and MacCreanor Lavington won the RIBA Stirling Prize )(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... A housing development has won the RIBA Stirling Prize for the best building of the year, the first time that this building type has been successful. Accordia, located on the edge of Cambridge city centre, was masterplanned by FCB Studios who...

Urbanism in Liverpool.(view)(symposium that explores new thinking about urbanism and urban design)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... Liverpool's past, present and future sets the context for a two-day symposium (25 to 27 November) that explores new thinking about urbanism and urban design-and includes a debate entitled 'Corb: Hero or Villain?', chaired by AR editor Paul...

AR Awards 2008 judged.(view)(Architectural Review awards)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... The tenth AR Awards for Emerging Architects were judged in London on 23 September. This year's jury comprised Sheila O'Donnell (Dublin), Sou Fujimoto (Tokyo), Edouard Francois (Paris), Sir Peter Cook and Peter Davey (London), and Paul Finch who...

Memorial competition.(view)(student design competition by Commonwealth Association of Architects)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... Memory is the theme of the eighth student design competition organised by the Commonwealth Association of Architects, which will be judged in 2010. The formal title of the competition (which is supported by The Architectural Review) is 'A...

2009 MIPIM/AR Future Project Awards.(view)(Architectural Review Future )(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... Friday 21 November is the deadline for entries to the 2009 MIPIM/Architectural Review Future Project Awards. There are eight categories, all entries will be exhibited at the show (on the London stand), and every entry will be illustrated in the...

Let's be serious-let's be dogmatic.(Column)
November 1, 2008... As I sit writing this, I briefly turn away from the deep doom and gloom of the televised headlines, wondering if there will be anything left of our 'way of life' (or way of paying for it) by the time the piece reaches the press. ...

Force of nature: as the world confronts the current environmental crisis, landscape design assumes a new evangelising power.(Comment)
November 1, 2008... What price the natural world? A mature plane tree in London's Berkeley Square was recently 'valued' at [pounds sterling]750 000, making it the most expensive specimen in the city. Factors in the calculation of its worth included age (it dates...

Piece by piece: Renzo Piano's new California Academy of Sciences, in San Francisco, creates harmony between nature and the manmade.
November 1, 2008... In 1969 Renzo Piano staged an exhibition at London's Architectural Association, Architectural Experiment. His early work drew sharp but prophetic criticism from Monica Pidgeon, editor of Architectural Design. In a review entitled 'Piece by...

Hamburg arabesque: Hamburg's docklands are being rapidly recast as a thriving new city, enlivened by EMBT's vigorous urban landscaping.
November 1, 2008... Currently less than halfway completed, Hamburg's HafenCity (AR April 2006) is a bold plan to transform its docklands, where sailing ships used to unload exotic wares from all corners of the world, into a twenty-first century city centre. Here,...

Historical perspective: the Garden of Cosmic Speculation, designed by Charles Jencks and Maggie Keswick at their Scottish home, has been described as one of the most important garden designs of recent decades. Robert Maxwell reviews the garden and the book describing its creation.
November 1, 2008... I was privileged to be a weekend guest at Portrack recently, and took the opportunity of wandering the garden on my own, having already heard Charles Jencks' explanation for everything. Strangely, the power of words became more telling when I...

Paradise found: this garden of earthly delights was one of the rare hits of the Venice Biennale.
November 1, 2008... Among the over hyped froth and flummery of this year's Venice Biennale, landscape architect Gustafson Porter's garden in the Arsenate was a rare instance of thoughtfulness that connected with more resonant forces than the curatorial flavour du...

Top of the copse: a dramatic new treetop walkway at London's Kew Gardens brings nature vividly vertiginously to life.
November 1, 2008... In the pantheon of European botanic gardens, Kew occupies an especially privileged position. From its origins as the grounds of Henry Vll's palace at Richmond, it was established as a botanic garden in 1759. Now a UNESCO World Heritage site,...

Garden of eternity: new interventions in a Spanish cemetery engender a powerful sense of place.
November 1, 2008... Compared with the gloomy Gothic reticence or municipal tedium of most northern European cemeteries, Mediterranean necropolises, especially those in Spain and Italy, seem to delight in picturesque excess. Doubtless this reflects the competing...

Singapore supernature: despite huge land values, Singapore prioritises landscape, setting aside hundreds of hectares of reclaimed land for public gardens.
November 1, 2008... Singapore is competing for status as a global destination. Under pressure from rapidly emerging Chinese cities, the island country is pulling out all the stops: last month saw the world's first floodlit Formula One race, with lamps installed...

Strawberry Hill: I am going to build a little Gothic Castle', declared Horace Walpole as he began work on Strawberry Hill. Marion Harney considers the history of the house and its garden, one of the greatest Picturesque ensembles.(history)
November 1, 2008... The villa of Horace Walpole in Twickenham, acquired in 1747, started life in 1698 as a 'shapeless little box1, Chopped Straw Hall, which he renamed Strawberry Hill. The design of house and naturalistic landscape setting was one of the earliest...

Ideas for London.
November 1, 2008... This summer's London Festival of Architecture featured two urban design workshops which examined the potential of two 'lost' quarters in London. As with the 2006 Biennale which examined Farringdon (AR September 2006), developers were invited to...

Saarinen's quest: a memoir.(Book review)
November 1, 2008... By Richard Knight. San Francisco: William Stout. 2008. $40 Distinctions between the studio and the workshop are often difficult to define, but with their implied references to work of the individual and contribution of the group they are...

Trevor Dannatt works and words.(Book review)
November 1, 2008... By Roger Stonehouse. London: Black Dog Publishing. 2008. [pounds sterling]29.95 Few can claim to have played such a distinguished role in English architecture as Trevor Dannatt: sole survivor of the Festival Hall team, last secretary of...

The new Malaysian house.(Book review)
November 1, 2008... By Robert Powell. Photographs by Albert Lira Singapore: Periplus Editions. 2008. $49.95 Robert Powell has led many lives. Having started out as an architect in the north-east of England he moved to Singapore in the 1980s and became a...

Pietro da Cortona and Roman Baroque architecture.(Book review)
November 1, 2008... By Jorg Martin Merz. New Haven & London:Yale University Press. 2008. [pounds sterling]45 This is the first modern comprehensive monograph on this marvellous architect, equal in genius lo Bernini and Borromini, though less well known. A...

Josep Lluis Sert:the architect of Urban design, 1953-1969.(Book review)
November 1, 2008... Edited by Eric Mumford and Hashim Sarkis. London:Yale University Press. 2008. [pounds sterling]30 Josep Lluis Sert (1901-1983) occupies an interesting position in the history of architecture and urban design. As a young man he attended the...

Architecture and the 'special relationship': the American influence on post-war British architecture.(Book review)
November 1, 2008... By Murray Fraser with joe Kerr. London: Routledge. 2008. [pounds sterling]55 I enjoyed this book: it takes a very positive view of the United Stales, and its influence on the United Kingdom, and is fair about the influences that this...

The architecture of continuity.(Book review)
November 1, 2008... By Lars Spuybroek. Rotterdam: V2_/NAi Publishing. 2008. [euro]18.50 Here is a book by a contemporary Dutch architect-theorist that, unusually for this genre, slowly makes its way towards some kind of intelligible Conclusion. It comes in the...

Thomas Hope: regency designer.(Book review)
November 1, 2008... Edited by David Watkin and Philip Hewat-Jaboor. London: Yale University Press for The Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts. 2008. [pounds sterling]50 Thomas Hope: 1 769-1831: was one of the major figures in the Arts of...

The architectural drawings of sir Christopher wren at all Souls College, Oxford: a complete catalogue.(Book review)
November 1, 2008... By Anthony Geraghty. Aldershot: Lund Humphries. 2008. [pounds sterling]75 Building St Paul's reads like a cultural detective novel beginning with an event that lakes place on 26 October 1708 when, a few days after Wren's 76th birthday; a...

The genius of Corb in its many manifestations comes to Liverpool.(Le Corbusier )
November 1, 2008... 'My friend M. Le Corbusier is an amateur architect and professional painter,' Fernand Leger once remarked. Indeed Paris discovered Le Corbusier, or Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, as he was in 1917, as a painter, when he and Amedee Ozenfant launched...

Sutherland Lyall finishes polishing his conkers and finds new cyber chestnuts.(browser)(Website list)
November 1, 2008... Sam Strangelove Strangeharvest at www.strangeharvest.com is Sam Jacobs' site. Jacobs is partner in that great maverick architectural practice FAT This is a collection of musings, images, ideas and. well, a whole bunch of terrific stuff...

Malcolm Campbell may have raced on its beach. If she didn't fly over,amy Johnson certainly visited.today, sea tractor iii takes a more leisurely approach, ferrying visitors from Devon's main land to burgh island hotel.(delight)
November 1, 2008... Visiting Devon's Burgh Island Hotel is a delightful experience, fundamentally linked to its landscape, climate and situation. Amplifying the fact that domestic holidaymakers have learnt to grin and bear with British weather, as visitors rumble...

Time for a change!
November 1, 2008... Aneurin Bevan, the former British Minister of Health, who was also responsible for post-war public housing, posed the right questions back in 1948. Most high-rise apartment buildings, satellite towns and developments of that period are judged...

Analysis and applied research.(URBANISM AND ARCHITECTURE)
November 1, 2008... 'After working as an architect for 45 years, during which I realised numerous different thematic experiments, I gradually handed my architectural office over to younger partners. With this new independence I am finally able to dedicate myself...

Habich-Dietschy-Strasse, Rheinfelden/Switzerland.(PILOT PROJECT PILE UP AM RHEIN/2004-2006)
November 1, 2008... Due to a lack of innovative investors, ZAPCO LTD was founded in July 2004 as an independent company dedicated to the development, realisation and marketing of PILE UP. In addition to building its own projects,ZAPCO LTD continues to be involved...

Schutzenstrasse, Neuhausen am Rheinfall/Switzerland.(PILE UP NEUHUSERWALD/2006-2008)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... The site lies in a quiet residential part of Neuhausen am Rheinfall, bordering the greenbelt recreation area. The Neuhuserwald development being built here comprises two four-storey, south-facing blocks, each with 16 spacious PILE UP units and...

Quellenstrasse, Rheinfelden/Switzerland.(PILE UP QUELLENGARTEN/2006-2008)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... The original plan was to build a quartet of four- to five-storey PILE UP units in an area close to the old town, within easy access of schools and the railway station. To date, two blocks with a total of 18 PILE UP units-with living areas...

Baarerstrasse, Zug/Switzerland.(PILE UP BAARERSTRASSE/2006-2008)
November 1, 2008... Baarerstrasse is a busy residential and shopping street in Zug which provides the location for a six-storey PILE UP perimeter block development with a structural depth of 22.5m. Units face south and east with spacious living and external areas....

Art and architecture.
November 1, 2008... 1 + 1 = 3 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The dialogue between art and architecture is more than the sum of its parts: it offers an increase in value. Together with W. Forderer and G. Otto, Hans Zwimpfer realised his first independent...

Development of typologies.(STACKUP)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... STACK UP explores the idea of a stacked up single family home with its own 'attic' that functions as a central storage room in a structure whose floor plan is simultaneously open. The popular notion of the open floor plan is frequently hard...

Lively urban elements.(THE URBAN CLUSTER)
November 1, 2008... The urban model for both PILE UP and STACK UP concepts is the cluster. The formation of clusters is an ancient tenet of urban planning that has outlived all eras and all trends. Clusters are urban planning modules that can assimilate all...

Case study 1.(PILE UP/STACK UP DOWNTOWN)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... Cluster 75m x 75m x 15 storeys [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Overlapping of uses * Basement level: parking, storage, cellar, utilities * Ground level: businesses and quiet workshops * First-third upper levels: services ...

Case study 2.(PILE UP WIEN ASPERN)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... Cluster 80m x 75m x 8 storeys [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Overlapping of uses * Basement level: parking, storage, cellar, utilities * Ground level: businesses and quiet workshops * First-second upper levels: services ...

Case study 3.(PILE UP BERLIN SPREE-ETAGEN)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... Clusters Two buildings of 25m x 25m x 6 storeys One building of 25m x 34m x 6 storeys [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Overlapping of uses * Basement level: parking, storage, cellar, utilities * Ground level: services *...

Case study 4.(PILE UP/STACK UP ROUND TOWERS)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... Cluster Diameter 25m-30m x 15 storeys [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Overlapping of uses * Basement level: parking, storage, cellar, utilities * Ground level: businesses and quiet workshops * First-third upper levels:...

Case study 5.(STACK UP AFFORDABLE HOUSING)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... Cluster Four-five-storey development/duplex dwellings and triplex dwellings with smaller STACK UP living units between 80 and 110sqm [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Overlapping of uses * Basement level: parking, cellar, utilities ...

Concept for a city.(GARDENCITY (3))
November 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In Western cities, the quality of available dwellings-particularly the quality of new apartments-in no way corresponds to the needs of today's society or those of the future. As a result,...

8000 years of urban planning: 6000 BC-AD 2000.(Chronology)(Brief article)
November 1, 2008... 6000 BC-AD 2000 1 Bird's-eye view of part of Catalhoyuk, 6000 BC 2 Residential area in Ur, Mesopotamia, third century BC 3 Foundations of the residential area in Mohenjo-Daro, third century BC 4 A section of the city of...

You are invited!(housing development)
November 1, 2008... 'First men build houses, and then houses build people.' Albert Schweitzer Housing is once again a fascinating subject. For centuries the primary concern of urban planning was 'low quality dwellings for the lower classes, plus sites for...

Hans Zwimpfer.(ZAPCO LTD)
November 1, 2008... A nomadic life is characterised not only by physical roaming, but also by wandering from subject to subject in time and place. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] HANS ZWIMPFER 1930 Born in Lucerne 1957 Establishment of...