 |
SONG OF FOUR SEASONS
The newly opened Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto, designed by Diamond and Schmitt Architects, Inc., combines the best features of traditional European grand opera houses within a thoroughly modern envelope. With a world-class opera company in each of Canada's three largest cities, it may come as a surprise that none claims a purpose-built modern opera house. Until now. — Published 2006.0621
 |
 |
BUENOS AIRES ROW
From the New York brownstone to the Shanghai shop house, the rowhouse enjoys widespread success as an urban housing type. A mid-rise infill development in Buenos Aires, designed by Argentinean firm Canda Gazaneo Unga, illustrates the rich potential of this type, translating it into an elegant modern idiom and configuring it to achieve contemporary urban densities. — Published 2006.0524
|
 |
JANE JACOBS, CITY SEER
Jane Jacobs, who turned 20th-century modernist urban thinking on its head in 1961 with the publication of The Death and Life of Great American Cities, died last week in Toronto, nine days shy of her 90th birthday. — Published 2006.0510
|
 |
MIES ON LAKE SHORE DRIVE
When German-born architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe designed the famous twin-tower Lake Shore Drive Apartments in Chicago, these modern icons, also known as the "Glass Houses," took their place in line along a lakefront history exhibit of the city's residential architecture. — Editor — Published 2006.0503
|
 |
PRIZING CONTRASTS
Twice in recent months, the National Building Museum in Washington D.C. has hosted a ceremony to honor a tireless international leader in the public promotion of architectural ideals. The prestigious Vincent Scully Prize went to Prince Charles of Great Britain and to Phyllis Lambert, founder of the Canadian Centre for Architecture. — Published 2006.0308
|
 |
MADRID TAKES FLIGHT
In 1930 Le Corbusier wrote: "the beauty of an airport is in the splendor of wide open spaces" and added that the most appropriate architecture would emphasize "sky, grass, and concrete runways." Barajas New Area Terminal (NAT) in Madrid, a joint venture between Richard Rogers Partnership (London) and Estudio Lamela (Madrid), lives up to that height of inspiration. — Published 2006.0215
|
 |
A MODERN MORE OR LESS HUMANE
Since before its completion in 2002, Steven Holl's award-winning MIT dormitory, Simmons Hall, has been garnering praise from the architectural community. But assessing a building as a professional critic is different from living in and interacting with it. I wondered how the students who lived there felt about it. — Published 2006.0201
|
 |
HOUSE OF SERT
Spanish architect Josep Lluís Sert (1902-1983) is perhaps best known for his buildings and urban-scale projects. As a member of GATEPAC ("Group of Spanish Architects and Technicians for the Progress of Contemporary Architecture"), he was concerned with the role of architects in city planning. And yet he was also a master of small-scale interior and furniture design. Some of his favorite forms were inspired by vernacular houses. — Editor — Published 2005.1214
|
 |
AUROVILLE TODAY
Since the 1960s, architects have been drawn to the intentional community of Auroville, Tamil Nadu, India, attracted by policies of self-sufficiency and ideals of spiritual development. Auroville has adopted an experimental attitude toward urban planning and architectural design, unfettered by building regulations. There are 24 architects currently working in Auroville, population around 1700. — Published 2005.1116
|
 |
ART URBANE
The contemporary art museum increasingly shares responsibility for the well-being of its parent city, supporting tourism and its consequent revenue, and galvanizing local redevelopment.
So the Figge, a new museum by British firm David Chipperfield Architects, on the banks of the Mississippi River in Davenport, Iowa, not only envelopes its collections in a luminous and strictly orthogonal embrace, but it stands as a glowing emblem for the regeneration of Davenport's riverfront downtown. — Published 2005.1109
|
Modern Architecture around the World page: [
