The Architectural Review articles from October 2006

The Architectural Review archives from October 2006

A sense of identity.(view)
October 1, 2006... Cynics define culture as 'the consumption of the obselete', and there is no doubt that the content of most cultural containers--particularly museums--generally comprises a collection or an archive rooted in history. Over time, the building...

The punk biennale: this year's Venice Biennale eschewed the usual trophy architecture in pursuit of the soul of the city, with mixed results.(view)
October 1, 2006... As The Long Blondes, Sheffield's post-punk finest, thrashed energetically underneath the Neo-Classical portico of the British Pavilion and an audience of the international design press guzzled beer in the humid September sunshine, all felt...

City architecture: politics and its architectural consequences featured heavily at the Venice Biennale.(view)
October 1, 2006... Is good city-making possible within the context of conventional 'democratic' politics? This hardly elaborated proposition informed at least some of the debate during a biennale which, for the many interested in the future of cities, was brave,...

Time to enter Mipim/AR awards.(view)
October 1, 2006... Entries are invited for the Mipim AR Future Project Awards 2007. The awards, in nine categories, will be presented at MIPIM in Cannes in March next year. All entries will be featured in the official catalogue and exhibited at the show. Judges,...

Living Steel Part 2.(view)
October 1, 2006... The second round of the Living Steel global competition to design steel-framed houses was launched on 2 October, appropriately enough World Architecture Day. Sites are being selected in Brazil, China and the UK, and expressions of interest are...

London's new turbine hall?(view)(Louise T. Blouin Institute )(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Borgos Dance will soon complete the Louise T. Blouin Institute in Olaf Street, West London. At over 35 000 sq ft, the Institute will be one of the largest non-government funded, not-for-profit cultural spaces in the capital. Within the shell of...

Peter Cook: in Babylon don you look and listen beyond the cliches.(Venice Biennale Foundation)(Viewpoint essay)
October 1, 2006... By now you can't go wrong with the Venice Biennale: charming city, perfect time of year, meet nearly everybody, fizzy wine, super sunsets, architectural girls' toys as well as boys' toys, come back with sniff of the architectural trends. You...

From doing to being: cultural buildings and the city in the Conceptual Age, or why icons are so yesterday.(comment)
October 1, 2006... Cultural buildings are the prestige architectural commissions of our times as cities compete for status and tourist appeal using the same small pool of superstar architects to enhance each city's unique identity. Perversely paradoxical as that...

Modern primitive: Jean Nouvel emphasises beauty and surprise in his installation of exotic artefacts at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.
October 1, 2006... Starting with Georges Pompidou, French presidents have commissioned grands projets so that they might be recalled, as Louis XIV still is, for their contributions to la gloire de la patrie. During Mitterrand's long reign, the overpriced...

Pax Romana: Richard Meier triumphs in Rome, creating a new shelter and museum for Ara Pacis.(Ara Pacis museum)(Cover story)
October 1, 2006... As you stroll down the via di Ripetta from the medieval centre of Rome towards the Piazza del Popolo and the original main gate of the city, the genial succession of Baroque and Neo-Classical masonry facades is interrupted by a simple white...

Change of gear: the evolution of motoring is vividly brought to life in this new museum for car giant Mercedes.
October 1, 2006... Just as the sequential photographs by Eadweard Muybridge heralded a shift of perception, enabling the observer to comprehend moving objects, so UN Studio's Mercedes-Benz Museum opens up a new way of viewing objects in a museum. The new building...

War and peace: the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa is as much about national identity and hopes for the future as it is about the horrors of war.
October 1, 2006... Pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo. Shovel them under and let me work- I am the grass; I cover all. And pile them high at Gettysburg And pile them high at Ypres and Verdun. Shovel them under and let me work. Two years,...

North light in the deep south: Renzo Piano's series of additions to Atlanta's High Museum sensitively revitalise a major arts institution.
October 1, 2006... How come--many American architects must ask--Renzo Piano is so goddamn successful? Fresh from the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas (AR June 2004) and the Morgan Library reconstruction in Manhattan (AR June 2006), Italy's greatest living...

In the company of friends: this is not a ubiquitous art space. Closer in nature to the Englishness of the Soane Museum and Kettle's Yard, Sandy Wilson and Kentish & Long have created a gallery that serves Modernism's Other Tradition.
October 1, 2006... It is rare for a new building so confidently to assert a sense of 'just rightness' after such a short period of bedding in. It is even rarer for a single building so thoroughly to resonate with intellectual, contextual and cultural...

Specifier's information.(light emitting diodes technology used for commercial lighting)
October 1, 2006... Corus MacGabhann Architects have chosen Colorcoat HPS200[R] pre-finished steel from Corus for the roof and wall cladding of award-winning Carton Le Vert house in rural Donegal. The building won 'best building in the landscape' award from...

Hamburg Summer: from scholarly exhibitions to offbeat happenings, Hamburg's fifth triennial Architecture Summer festival is a polymorphous feast for all the senses.(reviews)
October 1, 2006... Hyped by Germany's success as World Cup hosts and reeling from tropical temperatures, Hamburg's traditional reticent character transformed itself into carnival exuberance for its fifth Architecture Summer. Bigger and more varied than previous...

Sino German relations: Germany's largest practice is making its mark on China's changing landscape.(Royal Institute of British Architects exhibition)
October 1, 2006... It all began inauspiciously enough in 1998, with the design of the German School and an attached apartment house in Beijing. Seven years later Germany's largest architectural practice has completed 13 projects in China with another 28 on the...

Animate animate.(www.ricedaubney.com.au.)(www.abbozzo.co.uk )
October 1, 2006... Regular readers may remember my enthusiasm several years ago at the moving images of the website of the big Sydney practice Rice Daubney at www.ricedaubney.com.au. The first animation you come across is a moving silhouette, a website ringmaster...

Imaginary RIBA.(Royal Institute of British Architects)(www.ribapix. com)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... The fact that 1400 RIBA members supported the presidential candidature of a British National Party member might give architects reason to go 'Hmmm' and think about not renewing subscriptions next year. But that would be to cut themselves off...

Standard rip off.(website design standards)(BS ISO/IEC 233036)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Trembling with anticipation I rip open the press version of the new [pounds sterling]144 British Standard on website design. It is BS ISO/IEC 233036 and has an interminably long title. I needn't have bothered. Wading through pages and pages of...

Websites.(www.coolopticalillusions.com)(Website overview)
October 1, 2006... And, as the days draw in, for us in the northern hemisphere at least, here's something to while away the season of mists and mellow jokefulness. Have a look at www.coolopticalillusions.com. I particularly liked the Ambigram, the [pounds...

Diary.
October 1, 2006... AR'S CHOICE OF INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS AND EVENTS CANADA INSIDE THE SPONGE Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal Until 12 November Simmons Hall, the student residence at Massachusetts Institute of Technology by...

Classical grammar.(Radical Classicism: The Architecture of Quinlan Terry)(Book review)
October 1, 2006... RADICAL CLASSICISM: THE ARCHITECTURE OF QUINLAN TERRY By David Watkin, with a Foreword by HRH The Prince of Wales. New York: Rizzoli. 2006. $60 Quinlan Terry has ploughed a lonely architectural furrow in an era during which the West...

Modern Baroque.(Erick van Egeraat: 10 Years Realised Works)(Book review)
October 1, 2006... ERICK VAN EGERAAT: 10 YEARS REALISED WORKS Introduction by Philip Jodidio, Mulgrave: The Images Publishing Group. 2005. [pounds sterling]35 Silver and pink are Erick van Egeraat trademark colours. This ten year survey is no exception...

A city divided.(City of Collision : Jerusalem and the Principles of Conflict Urbanism)(Book review)
October 1, 2006... CITY OF COLLISION: JERUSALEM AND THE PRINCIPLES OF CONFLICT URBANISM Edited by Philipp Misselwitz and Tim Rieniets. Basel: Birkhauser. 2006. [euro]39.90 There are only two definite facts about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The...

Architecture today.(Atlas of Novel Tectonics)(Book review)
October 1, 2006... ATLAS OF NOVEL TECTONICS By Reiser+Umemoto. London: Princeton Architectural Press. 2006. [pounds sterling]15.99 When I first held this book in my hands a visceral memory of holding Bernard Tschumi's Questions of Space flashed into my...

City forum.(The Form of Cities: Political Economy and Urban Design)(Book review)
October 1, 2006... THE FORM OF CITIES: POLITICAL ECONOMY AND URBAN DESIGN By Alexander Cuthbert. Oxford: Blackwell. 2006. [pounds sterling]19.99 This is the second volume in Cuthbert's challenging assault on the conventional wisdom on urban design and...

Traversinersteg.(architectural book)(Brief article)(Book review)
October 1, 2006... Exquisitely photographed by Wilfried Dechau and beautifully produced by publisher Ernst Wasmuth, Traversinersteg is an account of the making of a timber suspension bridge in April to August 2005 by the Swiss engineer Jurg Conzett across the...

Delight: China's long overdue debut at the Venice Biennale was a surprisingly thoughtful reflection on tradition and modernity.(art exhibitions)
October 1, 2006... China, that monstrous elephant in the living room of contemporary architectural practice and discourse, made its long awaited debut at this year's Venice Biennale, exploring how traditional Chinese culture might inflect and impact on the...