cultural & education – Page 7

intermingle. expo chicago 2014.

Sep 19, 2014

expo chicago 2014 | click images> enlarge

This is Expo Chicago’s third year. Despite two (a minority) DA confidants saying they thought show was unimpressive, I thought it was a refined, albeit, mindful presentation. The presence of George Lucas and ‘curator’ Shaquille O’Neal added dash. Fredric Snitzer added game and we applaud more of it. fyi – jon pylypchuk unsuccessfully attempted to quit smoking.

various titles | jon pylypchuk | fredric snitzer gallery – miami | 2012

It’s no secret, this is a tough show to get vetted into. The 2014 official release says 140, including special exhibits/projects and Exposure an initiative introducing galleries who are less than seven years old. There are 25 Exposure galleries in 2014. There are 17 countries, 43 cities. In a 2013 interview with president and director Tony Karman, he wants quality over quantity, meaning a smaller show, about 100 exhibitors. ‘When the marketplace can sustain it and quality of dealers are beating down the door, we’ll consider it. But only if the exhibitors want it, not me. It’s their space.’

What does DesignApplause look for? You have to consider our introduction to the co-existence of fine art and design. We have followed Art Basel and DesignMiami for the past six years. We first became very familiar with the design galleries at DesignMiami and then ventured to Art Basel to search for those artworks and artists who do or could also reside in a design gallery.

expo chicago 2014

DesignMiami took advantage of the drawing power of fine art over 11 years ago and has become closely entwined with Art Basel. So much so, that in the beginning DesignMiami’s venue was across the bay in the then barren, Miami Design District. For the past three years DesignMiami now resides across the street from Art Basel Miami and the crossover has been seamless.

The Design District has since attracted the best of design-centric brands and there are more and more art and design happenings when both shows are running. You find yourself walking across the street and then going west of the bay. And though ‘Design Weeks” are now too many to count and attend, Basel and Miami are both major worldwide events and unique with its offerings of fine art and design.

The original Expo Chicago concept was for an ‘Art and Design Exposition’ and Karman correctly turned the focus towards fine art and scrapped ‘design’ from the tagline in order to get the new exposition firmly up and running. In 2014, there are special exhibitions and installations at Expo that continue to feature design.

We adapted to Expo’s format by looking for artists with architecture or design backgrounds at the show. It’s impossible to look at a gallery’s offerings and predict the backgrounds of the artists. Each gallery builds their collection differently. From ‘We only focus on fine art’ through ‘No, we’re not showing anyone today with that background. Wait! This artist studied architect and this one studied design. To, ‘We didn’t bring anything to Chicago but we have two artists designing furniture and show it in our gallery in New York.’

> untitled mix-media video | daniel buren | galeria milario galguera – mexico city/berlin

above> a screenshot of two images in a mixed media slide show of artist daniel buren. Buren is a French conceptual artist who’s work since the 1990s has become more architectural. This is a humorous presentation depicting online crowd sourcing, voting to blow up ugly buildings.

grid structure #1 | alois kron – schlaeger | cristin tierney – new york | 2014

above> Grid Structure #1 uses 22 cubes from the installation at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, CT. Kronschlaeger says light is always of utmost importance to his site-specific pieces and in this case, the vast space provided at Navy Pier, felt his work taking on a new look, a new personality of sorts. The gallery told us Kronschlaeger is an artist wanting to be an architect.

> concept drawings | byung hoon choi | gallery friedman benda – new york

above>> we see a series of ‘one stroke’ concept drawings by artist Byung Hoon Choi of outdoor benches made of basalt. The fine artist teaches furniture design.

once upon a time | jessica stock – holder | kavi gupta chicago – berlin | 2014

above> ‘Once Upon a Time stretches vertically 50 ft. high in response to the specific architecture of the fair. Spectators are invited to climb the work to take a fractured view through the artwork over the exhibited works and gallery booths. This transformed view takes place once, exemplifying Stockholder’s title, upon a specific place at a particular time.’ The installation is part of IN/SITU, a ‘special program’ situated throughout the exposition floor. IN/SITU provides a dynamic opportunity for exhibiting galleries to showcase large-scale installations, site-specific and performative works. DesignApplause includes Stockholder as a counterpoint to our architecture and design theme. She is trained in neither disciplines, but the artist has been celebrated for site-specific sculptures and installations that challenge boundaries, ‘blurring the distinction among painting, sculpture and environment, and even breaching gallery walls by extending beyond windows and doors.’

martino gamper | salon 94 | at frieze london 2008

Salon 94 in New York said they weren’t showing any architects or designers but had several back in their showroom.

volunteers jennifer mahanay and anna mort assist at chgodsgn

above> One of several ‘special exhibitions’ CHGO DSGN is a major exhibition of Recent Object and Graphic Design by more than 100 of the city’s leading designers. Curated by Rick Valicenti, 2011 recipient of the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award, 25 designers from CHGO DSGN present their work. The Chicago Cultural Center’s exhibition programs are generously supported by the City of Chicago and the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE). DesignApplause is honored to be in this CCC exhibit. [ details ]

[ At Expo Chicago 2014 ] 1> spin-the-spin | alice aycock | galerie thomas schulte | 2014 (aycock is a sculpture who were closely with architects and landscape designers)
2> kultur = kapital | alfredo jaar | galerie thomas schulte – berlin | 2012 (jaar is an architect)
3> relics | mark fox | robert miller gallery – new york | 2014 (fox designs wallpaper)
4> transference | yamini nayar | gallery wendy norris – san francisco | 2014 (nayor is influenced by design while at rhode island school of design studying photography)
5> les naturalistes | ysabel lemay | catherine edelman gallery – chicago | 2012 (lemay was a graphic designer for 15 years)
6> nardos de angustia | mark di suvero | john berggruen gallery – san francisco | 2010 (di suvero’s close friends include architects renzo piano and norman foster)
7> exploded pyramid for a wall situated alto relieve | daniel buren | galeria milario galguera – mexico city/berlin | 2010 (since the 1990s, buren’s work has become more architectural)
8> from the series entitled “sum over histories study for a timescape III | alice aycock | fredrick snitzer gallery – miami | 2012 (aycock is a sculpture who were closely with architects and landscape designers)
9> untitled | tsuyoshi maekawa | whitestone gallery – tokyo | 2014 (maekawa practiced as a graphic designer and printmaker)
10> b&w | david levin | marianne boesky gallery – new york | 2014 (levin studied architecture at pratt)
11> maskelyne (moon crater near equator) | john little | john mccormick gallery – chicago | 1984 (little designs textiles)
12> a-city: ac-2, sector 1576n, a-city | lebbeus woods | gallery unknown | 1986 (woods is a conceptual architect)
13> ‘shop columbia’ | student and alumni art boutique from columbia college chicago
14> ‘saic | school of the art institute of chicago art and design exhibit
15> ligne roset | expo chicago sponsor

Chosen by the 2014 selection committee comprised of Isabella Bortolozzi, Isabella Bortolozzi Galerie | Berlin; Chris D’Amelio, David Zwirner | London, New York; Rhona Hoffman, Rhona Hoffman Gallery | Chicago; Anthony Meier, Anthony Meier Fine Arts | San Francisco; David Nolan, David Nolan Gallery | New York; and Marc Selwyn, Marc Selwyn Fine Art | Beverly Hills; in addition to Candice Madey, On Stellar Rays | New York and Jessica Silverman, Jessica Silverman Gallery | San Francisco, who make up the EXPOSURE selection committee, these galleries present the best in contemporary and modern art.

[ 2014 exhibiting galleries include ] Galería Álvaro Alcázar Madrid
Ameringer | McEnery | Yohe New York
BASE GALLERY Tokyo
Galerie de Bellefeuille Montreal
John Berggruen Gallery San Francisco
Blain|Southern London | Berlin
Marianne Boesky Gallery New York
Jonathan Boos, LLC New York
Bortolami New York
Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi Berlin | London
BORZO modern and contemporary art Amsterdam
Russell Bowman Art Advisory Chicago
Rena Bransten Projects San Francisco
CABINET London
Valerie Carberry Gallery Chicago
David Castillo Gallery Miami
Cernuda Arte Coral Gables
Chambers Fine Art New York | Beijing
James Cohan Gallery New York | Shanghai
Corbett vs. Dempsey Chicago
CRG Gallery New York
Cristin Tierney Gallery New York
Stephen Daiter Gallery Chicago
Maxwell Davidson Gallery New York
Douglas Dawson Chicago
DC Moore Gallery New York
MASSIMO DE CARLO Milan | London
Elizabeth Dee New York
Catherine Edelman Gallery Chicago
Debra Force Fine Art, Inc. New York
Galerie Forsblom Helsinki
Forum Gallery New York
Marc Foxx Los Angeles
Honor Fraser Los Angeles
Fredericks + Freiser New York
Friedman Benda New York
Galeria Hilario Galguera Mexico City | Berlin
James Goodman Gallery New York
Goya Contemporary Baltimore
Richard Gray Gallery Chicago | New York
Garth Greenan Gallery New York
Galerie Karsten Greve Paris | St. Moritz | Cologne
Kavi Gupta CHICAGO | BERLIN Chicago | Berlin
Hackett | Mill San Francisco
Haines Gallery San Francisco
Hales Gallery London
Carl Hammer Gallery Chicago
Richard Heller Gallery Santa Monica
Galerie Ernst Hilger/Hilger NEXT Vienna
Hill Gallery Birmingham | Detroit
Nancy Hoffman Gallery New York
Rhona Hoffman Gallery Chicago
Vivian Horan Fine Art New York
Edwynn Houk Gallery New York | Zurich
Susan Inglett Gallery New York
Galerie Michael Janssen Berlin | Singapore
Jenkins Johnson Gallery San Francisco
Robert Koch Gallery San Francisco
Alan Koppel Gallery Chicago
Lisson Gallery London | Milan | New York
Diana Lowenstein Gallery Miami
Lawrence Markey San Antonio
Matthew Marks Gallery New York | Los Angeles
Marlborough Gallery New York | London | Madrid | Monaco | Barcelona
Barbara Mathes Gallery New York
The Mayor Gallery London
McCormick Gallery Chicago
Meessen De Clercq Brussels
Anthony Meier Fine Arts San Francisco
Jerald Melberg Gallery Charlotte
moniquemeloche Chicago
Nicholas Metivier Gallery Toronto
Laurence Miller Gallery New York
Robert Miller Gallery New York
THE MISSION Chicago | Houston
Anne Mosseri-Marlio Galerie Basel
Carolina Nitsch New York
David Nolan Gallery New York
Gallery Wendi Norris San Francisco
Richard Norton Gallery Chicago
One and J. Gallery Seoul
P.P.O.W New York
Gerald Peters New York | Santa Fe
Andrew Rafacz Chicago
Michael Rosenfeld Gallery New York
Salon 94 | New York
Julie Saul Gallery New York
Galerie Thomas Schulte Berlin
Carrie Secrist Gallery Chicago
Marc Selwyn Fine Art Beverly Hills
William Shearburn Gallery St.Louis
Shoichiro/Galerie Sho Contemporary Art Tokyo
Sicardi Gallery Houston
Jessica Silverman Gallery San Francisco
Manny Silverman Gallery Los Angeles
André Simoens Gallery Knokke-Zoute
Fredric Snitzer Gallery Miami
Thomas Solomon Gallery Los Angeles
MARC STRAUS New York
Hollis Taggart Galleries New York
Tandem Press Madison
Paul Thiebaud Gallery San Francisco
Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects New York
Vincent Vallarino New York
Van Doren Waxter New York
Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects Los Angeles
Linda Warren Projects Chicago
Weinstein Gallery Minneapolis
Whitestone Gallery Tokyo
Max Wigram Gallery London
Zolla/Lieberman Gallery Chicago
Pavel Zoubok Gallery New York
David Zwirner Gallery New York | London

EXPOSURE, the section of the fair dedicated to galleries that have been in business seven years or less, allows the opportunity for younger galleries to participate in a major international exposition. Chosen by the 2014 EXPOSURE selection committee comprised of Candice Madey, On Stellar Rays | New York and Jessica Silverman, Jessica Silverman Gallery | San Francisco—who participated in the EXPOSURE section in 2012 and 2013 and have now entered into the main section of the fair—a special presentation of one or two artists by each of the participating galleries provides critical exposure for their programs, offering an important opportunity for curators, collectors and art enthusiasts to survey the best in innovative and emerging work.

[ 2014 EXPOSURE exhibiting galleries includes ] Blackston New York
Bourouina Gallery Berlin
Brand New Gallery Milan
Callicoon Fine Arts New York
Carroll / Fletcher London
Lisa Cooley New York
Ana Cristea Gallery New York
Eleven Rivington New York
James Fuentes New York
Greene Exhibitions Los Angeles
Hannah Hoffman Gallery Los Angeles
Zieher Smith & Horton New York
Charlie James Gallery Los Angeles
Luis De Jesus Los Angeles Los Angeles
Tristian Koenig Melbourne
Josh Lilley London
Longhouse Projects New York
Luce Gallery Italy
Marlborough Chelsea New York
Mihai Nicodim Gallery Los Angeles | Bucharest
On Stellar Rays New York
Romer Young Gallery San Francisco
TIF SIGFRIDS Los Angeles VAN HORN Düsseldorf
Y Gallery New York

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events2 london design festival 2014.

Sep 18, 2014

DesignApplause asked #LDF14 @L_D_F experts to point us to items of interest.

From Libby Sellers [ gallery libby sellers ] …

event> [ serpentine pavilion 2014 ]
venue> serpentine galleries | kensington gardens W2 3XA | lancaster gate, knightsbridge or south kensington tubes | 10a > 6p
info> designed by Smiljan Radić
Chilean architect Smiljan Radić has designed the fourteenth Serpentine Pavilion. A semi-translucent, cylindrical structure that resembles a shell and rests on large quarry stones, this yearos Pavilion occupies 350 square metres of the Serpentine’s lawn and is home to and inspiration for the Park Nights series of events. Open until 19 October.

event> [ galerie kreo london ]
venue> galerie kreo | 14A hay hill W1J 8NZ | | green park tube | tues / sat 10a > 6p
info> Founded by Clémence and Didier Krzentowski, Gallerie Kreo produces shows and original creations by The Most major contemporary designers, operating like a ‘design laboratory “dedicated to research. Opened in September, the London debut is for now a low-key affair, with a small edit of lighting pieces aptly titled ‘A Light Introduction’.

event> [ urban plunge ]
venue> roca london gallery | station court, townmead road SW6 2PY | imperial wharf tube | mon / fri 9a > 5:30p Sat 11a > 5p.
info> Urban Plunge explores the growing urban swimming movement through a series of proposals for river and harbor baths in London, New York and Copenhagen that envisage imaginative new ways to enjoy urban water environments. Curated by Jane Withers for Wonderwater, showcases five architectural interventions for swimming in clean natural waters in the heart of our cities.

[ design districts ]

events1 at london design festival 2014.

Sep 16, 2014

library: private members club / see below

[ exhibitions | installations | open houses ]

event> [ ama 2014 ]
venue> v&a | cromwell road SW7 2RL | south kensington tube | 10a > 5.45p
info> Michael Anastassiades in collaborates with Flos presenting lighting installation Ama, made by mouth blown opaline spheres and brass. An appreciation of the pearl diving mermaids of Japan.

event> [ disobedient objects ]
venue> v&a | cromwell road SW7 2RL | south kensington tube | 10a > 5.45p
info> As the central hub location for the London Design Festival for the sixth year, the V&A will again house a broad range of commissioned activity which will be spread throughout the Museum and include installations, events, talks and workshops.

event> [ Double Space for BMW – Precision & Poetry in Motion ]
venue> venue> v&a | cromwell road SW7 2RL | south kensington tube | 10a > 5.45p
info> The exhibit is a kinetic sculpture created from huge reflectors measuring around 10 x 15 meters. One side is flat and the other is like a lens, reflecting the gallery in differing ways as they move in a choreographed fashion.

event> [ high street highline camden collective ]
venue> collective | 26 camden high street | 10a > 5p mon>sat
info> Collective invites artists and designers to produce temporary installations for the roof tops of Camden High Street. We explore the creative possibility of these vacant upper corridors and offer an alternative perspective, taking inspiration from New York’s regeneration project, ‘The High Line’.

event> [ library: a private member’s club ‘open house’ ]
venue> 19 greek street | 122 st-martins lane, covent garden WC2N 4BD | charing cross tube | 10a > 6p
info> Designed by Marc Peridis of 19 greek street, LIBRARY is London’s new member’s club targeting an intellectual elite of architects, interior designers, writers, playwrights and more. Opening in September, the exclusive club will open it’s doors to the public For the duration of LDF.

event> [ louis kahn: the power of architecture ]
venue> design museum | shad thames SE1 2YD | london bridge tube | 10am – 5.45pm
info> The American architect Louis Kahn is one of the great master builders of the 20th Century. In this exhibition, discover how Kahn created a modern form of expression for the eternal and essential qualities of architecture.

event> [ off | cut ]
venue> | fritz Hansen showroom | 13 margaret street W1W 8RN | oxford circus tube | 10a > 6.30p / wed 10a > 9p
info> an experimental, deployable structure that investigates the inventive re-use of Fritz Hansen’s material waste. Designed by Chung Tyson Architects.

event> [ open studio ]
date> 20 september | 11a > 6p
venue> sebastian bergne studio | 2 ingate place SW8 3NS | queenstown Road station |
info> Sebastian Bergne will be opening his studio to visitors. Displayed in the context of his working environment will be new and old projects for the arrangement of flowers.

event> [ space and light ]
venue> sir john soane’s museum | 13 lincoln’s inn fields WC2A 3BP | holborn tube |
10a > 5p tue/sat
info> A pop-up exhibition inspired by Sir John Soane’s use of space and light. Leading contemporary designers and artists, including Ab Rogers, Paul Schutze, Sebastian Bergne and Tiipoi install their work in the Museum’s historic interior.

[ party! ]

event> [ heal’s tottenham court road party ]
date> 17 september | 6 > 9p
venue> the heal’s building | 196 tottenham court road SW2 4DR | the goodge street tube |

MAD architects + studio gang win chicago’s george lucas museum.

Jul 28, 2014

above> rendering of northerly island is from the framework plan | 2009 | courtesy of studio gang architects | click > enlarge

Four days after announcing that Chicago would be the home of The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art (LMNA), today George Lucas announces the architects: Ma Yansong, founder of Beijing based MAD architects and Jeanne Gang, founder of Chicago’s Studio Gang Architects. VOA Associates, based in Chicago, will serve as the executive architect and lead the implementation of MAD’s design.

The museum will be designed by Yansong and Gang the surrounding landscape and a pedestrian bridge to Northerly Island, a peninsula east of the museum site. The proposed site is a parking lot located between Soldier Field and McCormick Place. In addition there are three adjacent Museums – the Adler Planetarium, the Field Museum and Shedd Aquarium, all comprising a 57-acre parcel on Lake Michigan known as Museum Campus.

Yansong is a precocious figure for Chinese architecture, having made a name for himself around the world as a business leader and innovative architect. Recently named 2014’s Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and one of Fast Company‘s 100 Most Creative People in Business, Yansong founded MAD Architecture in 2004 in Beijing, and earlier this year announced the opening of another office in Los Angeles.

absolute towers aka marilyn monroe towers | 2011 | courtesy of mad architects

aqua tower | 2009 | courtesy of studio gang architects

Gang in 2009 designed the tallest building in the world to have a woman as lead architect, her first skyscraper, and in 2011 a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellow and Genius grant winner, the same year named in Fast Company‘s ‘Masters of Design’. She was recently honored with the 2013 National Design Award for Architecture, from the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. She found Studio Gang Architects in 1997.

The Lucas release said of the team, “We are bringing together some of the top architects in the world to ensure that our museum experience begins long before a visitor ever enters the building,” said George Lucas, founder of the LMNA. “I am thrilled with the architectural team’s vision for the building and the surrounding green space. I look forward to presenting our design to the Chicago community.”

The project requires the approval of the Chicago Plan Commission. There’s opposition from both the open-space advocates and Chicago Bears fans who use the parking lot to tailgate. In addition there’s a key legal issue. In 1970, after the 70-story Lake Point Tower and McCormick Place convention center was built, a law was passed to pay attention to the city’s 14 policies for the shoreline. One policy says no further private development east of Lake Shore Drive. To be determined – is the Lucas Museum classified as a private or public institution. The three museums of the Museum Campus all occupy buildings that they own, but the museums were built long before the law took effect.

Chicago’s Mayor Rahm Emanuel heavily lobbied for the Lucas Museum and made the studied decision to include Gang in the task force that selected the site. The open-span advocates also are aware, or should be, of Gang’s body of work, rich with the restoration of wildness to nature in urban settings. Her projects tackle social problems, notably how to create environmentally sustainable cities. Gang believes that the design of institutions such as museums or aquariums not only reflects human culture but can also shape it.

The museum will be home to more than 500,000 objects including ‘Star Wars’ and Norman Rockwell art. No price tag has been announced but figure on $1 billion – Lucas pledged $700M when talking to San Francisco about this project. Conceptual drawings are expected in September 2014 and the museum plans to open in 2018.

The runner-up was Amsterdam’s UNStudio who built a pavilion in 2009 in Millennium Park for the 100th anniversary of Daniel Burnham’s Plan of Chicago. Another on a short-list was London’s Zaha Hadid Architects who also built a pavilion for the anniversary.

courtesy of mad architects

[ MAD Architects ] is a global architecture firm committed to developing futuristic, organic designs that embody a contemporary interpretation of the Eastern spirit of nature. MAD’s works incorporate sustainable design and advanced architecture technology to achieve harmony with natural and urban environments. With its core design philosophy of the “Shanshui City,” which is a perfect combination of city density, functionality and the artistic conception of natural landscape that aims at composing a future city that takes human spirit and emotion at their cores, MAD endeavors to create a new balance among society, the city and the environment through new forms of architecture. More than 80 architects from all over the world work in MAD’s offices in Beijing and Los Angeles.

courtesy of studio gang architects | ©sally ryan photography

[ Studio Gang Architects ] is a collective of 50-plus architects, designers, and thinkers whose work engages pressing contemporary issues and their impact on human experience. Honored with the 2013 National Design Award for Architecture from the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, the Studio acts as a laboratory—testing ideas on various scales, from cities and environments to material and physical properties. Cross-field research, collaboration, and iterative experimentation using both digital and analog technologies are integral to the Studio’s process. Each project is designed to resonate with its specific site and culture while addressing global themes such as reuse and sustainability. [ new yorker profile ]
[ VOA Architects ] is a 40-year-old nine-location global architectural design firm. VOA Associates, whose designs include Roosevelt University’s 32-story vertical campus in downtown Chicago and the Swedish Embassy in Washington, D.C., will implement Mr. Ma’s design. “We will take the concept design and create a digital sculpture that will serve as the blueprint for construction,” said Michael Toolis, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, VOA Associates. “Each aspect of the museum will be digitally created using technology that enables us to test daylight, create interactive models and examine how the design performs in different environments.”

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Richard branson explains why he cut beef from his diet.

Jul 17, 2014

richard branson explains why he cut beef from his diet. meat consumption today contributes to global warming and environmental degradation. via ecorazzi [RK]

The clark institute expands via tadao ando, selfdorf architects and reed hilderbrand.

Jul 4, 2014

above> visitor center and reflecting pool | image courtesy of tadao ando architect & associates

Fourth of July marked the opening of the much expanded and renovated Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, in western Massachusetts. Originally opened in the Berkshire mountains by Sterling Clark, who feared nuclear attack on New York City would destroy art there, it is officially the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, now rebranded and newly logoed as The Clark.

After 12 years, the museum has completed a $145 million expansion. There are new buildings, including an entrance by Pritzker prize winner Tadao Ando along with a vast water feature and a pavilion by Annabelle Selldorf, who directed the interior renovation of the original 1955 Beaux Arts building and the 1970s addition, now renamed the Manton Research Center by Pietro Belluschi with Architects Collaborative. The vast site, with hills and trails, was designed by Reed Hilderbrand landscape architect and Madeline Burke-Vigeland of Gensler was the supervising architect for the whole project.

visitor center and reflecting pool | image courtesy of tadao ando architect & associates

Ando had already designed a building for the Clark, the Lunder Center at Stone Hill at the edge of its 140 acre site, six years ago. The freestanding research and conservation building with galleries shows off Ando’s brand of zen modernism. It layed off the imprint of plank like wooden forms in the concrete against actual wooden walls opposite them. The new building is more formal and elegant, steel, glass, concrete and granite. Ando is an unabashed devotee of Le Corbusier and the new building even shows the same sorts of dimples left in the concrete from the construction forms that Corbu did.

Here the concrete is joined by a red granite, to pick up on the Seventies building. That stone along with the long walls and reflecting pool suggests another modernist master—Mies and the Barcelona Pavilion with its green marble.

stone hill center | 2008 ©jeff goldberg/esto

One wonders what the long winter of Western Massachusetts will do to the pool, lined with rounded stones that perhaps suggest the shallows of the Hoosic River, power source for the disused nineteenth century factories in the area. One has been converted into MASS MOCA, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, a few miles away.
1,6> images courtesy of the clark institute
2-5> images ©jeff goldberg/esto

[ the clark ] { selldorf architects ] [ reed hilderbrand ]

about phil patton

Marvelous sugar baby by kara walker.

Jun 26, 2014

Designers and artists in New York have only a few days left (until July 6) to see a landmark construction just north of the Williamsburg Bridge shoreline.

Kara Walker’s giant sculpture at the Domino factory ruin in Brooklyn is the art work of the summer. It is formally titled “A Subtlety or the Marvelous Sugar Baby an Homage to the unpaid and overworked Artisans who have refined our Sweet tastes from the cane fields to the Kitchens of the New World on the Occasion of the demolition of the Domino Sugar Refining Plant”.

The “Marvelous Sugar Baby” is a 35-foot-tall figure suggesting a black woman as sphinx that evokes racial and sexual stereotypes. Think Mammy or Aunt Jemima conjoined with primitive Venus figures or other sexual cartoons.

It suggests the Great Sphinx of Giza and other sphinxes of art, pondering questions and prophecies. The figure appears to show a sense of erosion by wear and time. As a oversized figure inside a huge structure it can also read as sacred statuary in a temple: Athena in the Parthenon or Lincoln in white inside his memorial in Washington.

It is about the process by which dark sugar becomes white refined sugar at the hands of dark people working for white people. In the Caribbean during slavery the process meant literally working slaves to death.

But it also touches on many other meanings of sugar and race. A sphinx with the head of Aunt Jemima, the piece teams with plays on racist clichés. The face is “mammy” in all her complex cultural roles. (Aunt Jemima, one of the oldest American household trademarks, goes back to 1893 but continues to exist–refined and almost undetectably racist—at least by comparison with Washington Redskins or Cleveland Indians team garb.

The back of the Walker figure also possesses dramatically animal haunches and genitalia. I thought of David Bowie in man/dog guise on the Diamond Dogs album cover. The figure could be sibyl as well as sphinx, one of Walker’s sketches suggests.

It recalls a classic overscale American roadside attraction, notably Mammy’s Cupboard near Vicksburg, Mississippi, photographed by Edward Weston in the 1930s. After a while, so much white sugar also suggests so much granulated salt. The salt of tears and sweat by the workers, a woman of salt like Lot’s wife, or the desert salt flats.

about phil patton

carsten höller and álvaro siza at vitra.

Jun 25, 2014

above> tower slide | carsten höller | 2013

The Vitra Campus recently launched two new projects for their campus; The Álvaro-Siza-Promenade and the Vitra Slide Tower by Carsten Höller.

The Vitra Slide Tower by Carsten Höller adds a new structure to the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein. With its prominent clock at the top, it is not a building in the classical sense but a viewing tower with a slide – and a work of art that enables a new and unique experience of self and art. The Vitra Slide Tower is 30.7-metre-high. The final solution is noticeably more pragmatic looking than Höller’s body of work and those of other buildings and sculpture on the campus.

‘a slide is a sculptural work with a pragmatic aspect, a sculpture that you can travel inside. however, it would be a mistake to think that you have to use the slide to make sense of it. looking at the work from the outside is a different but equally valid experience, just as one might contemplate the endless column by constantin brancusi from 1938. from an architectural and practical perspective, the slides are one of the building’s means of transporting people, equivalent to the escalators, elevators or stairs. slides deliver people quickly, safely and elegantly to their destinations, they’re inexpensive to construct and energy-efficient. they’re also a device for experiencing an emotional state that is a unique condition somewhere between delight and madness. it was described in the fifties by the french writer roger caillois as ‘a kind of voluptuous panic upon an otherwise lucid mind’.’ – carsten höller

[ the ongoing development of the vitra campus ] The construction of the Vitra Slide Tower is yet another step in the thirty-year development of the Vitra Campus. The production premises were first opened up to the public with the 1984 sculpture Balancing Tools by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. Next came the Vitra Design Museum by Frank Gehry (1989), the Conference Pavilion by Tadao Ando (1993) and the VitraHaus by Herzog & de Meuron (2010), the Prima sculpture by her Fire House (2013). The Vitra Slide Tower and the new Álvaro-Siza-Promenade further open up the grounds to the public and offer visitors a new experience. At the same time, the tower reinforces the topographical reorientation of the Campus.

1 Factory Buildings, Nicholas Grimshaw, 1981; 2 Balancing Tools Claes Oldenburg – Coosje van Bruggen, 1984; 3 Factory Buildings Nicholas Grimshaw, 1986; 4 Gate, Frank Gehry, 1989; 5 Factory Building, Frank Gehry, 1989; 6 Vitra Design Museum, Frank Gehry, 1989; 7 Conference Pavilion by Tadao Ando, 1993; 8 Fire Station, 1993, Prima, 2013 by Zaha Hadid; 9 Factory Building, Alvaro Siza, 1994; 10 Dome, Richard Fuller. 1978-2000; 11 Petrol Station, Jean Prouvé, 1953-2003; 12 Bus Stop, Jasper Morrison, 2006; 13 VitraHaus, Herzog – de Meuron, 2010; 14 Factory Building, SANAA, 2010; 15 Tower Slide, Carsten Höller, 2014; 15 Álvaro Siza Promenade, Álvero Siza, 2014.

a resting area along the promenade

The new Promenade by Alvaro Siza extends and opens up the concept of “A day at Vitra” with a pilgrimage pathway that now directly connects Zaha Hadid’s Fire Station to Herzog & de Meuron’s Vitra Haus building and entrance.The new pathway acts similar to a pilgrimage route with multiple stations, settings and episodes along the way.

The Portuguese architect was a logical choice for the unique walkway as he completed the brick-clad production hall in 1994 and devised the layout of the adjacent parking areas. It’s yet another step in the thirty-year development of the Vitra Campus where visitor’s are invited to tour the museums, flagship store and buildings completed by internationally recognized architects.

trump tower chicago’s new provocative signage is now national news unfortunately.

Jun 24, 2014

above> alex garcia tribune photo

Donald Trump is a lightning rod. Now Trump has made Adrian Smith‘s, architect at Chicago’s SOM, emblematic Trump Tower Chicago a lighting rod. The issue went public three weeks ago when Chicago Tribune architecture critic, Blair Kamin, architecture critic of the Chicago Tribune, jumped all over evidence of new signage in-the-making. Trump responds and it went back and forth prompting mayor, Rahm Emanuel to weigh in, “a tastelss sign”. Trump finds a need to say, ‘I love chicago…and my sign ‘. These happenings now national news, Jon Stewart can’t contain his get-real sentiment either.

above> about the time kamin went public

Let me weigh in from my own experience with this building and two others regarding signage. In 2002, when Trump was looking for marketing proposals I was asked to create a concept for @Properties. The concept: Create two books, a graphic coffee table piece and one with strategies and numbers. @Properties was wildly successful though a very new company. A humongous building in their portfolio would not be a bad thing. The thrust of the concept was jumping into the future, as if @Properties had already won the Trump Tower job. @Properties deftly pitched it but didn’t get the job. Solace was achieved by Trump’s marketing team loving the creativity and boldness of the pitch, it was one of the best. We walked feeling we won and thinking Trump hired a great architect and they would not mess up.

above> trump tower from river walk | image courtesy som / click to enlarge all images on this post

An uh oh moment occurred at the time Santiago Calatrava‘s brilliant and ambitious Spire was looking like it might happen. Under construction at this time, Trump’s building was looking good too. Also at this time, The Spire began placing beautiful marketing signs along both north and south Michigan Avenue. Really understated, as elegant as the building. But then, more signs popped up, freshly mounted in the sidewalks. 10 large bullet-points… Trump Tower is coming.

above> trump tower sw/nw elevations | image courtesy som

above> trump tower ground plan | image courtesy som

above> trump tower abstract rendering | image courtesy som

Trump Tower’s new signage comes as no surprise, though very disappointing that someone, didn’t feel the collaboration between Trump and Smith created a magnum opus capable of saying all the right things on its own. The building’s design calls out for more than all cap fatso letters that seem slapped on the facade. Recently faced with the dilemma of marketing their new State Street store and respect Louis Sullivan‘s building Target figured it out by placing all messaging inside the structure and not on it.

Not many know this story about the John Hancock Center. In 1969, three years prior to my arrival as a designer at The Design Partnership‘s signage partner Mabrey/Kaiser, Bud Mabrey with the help of SOM’s Bruce Graham, the designer of JHC, persuaded John Hancock Insurance to eschew any signage, that a brightly lit observation deck would be all the identity that this building needed. [ interesting jhc tidbits ]

above> bruce graham’s john hancock center | 1969

In 1973, again Bud Mabrey and again with the help of the architect, Graham Anderson Probst and White, enticed CNA Financial Corporation to paint their building red. The concept, the red design was used to depict the sun setting over the ocean as illustrated by the red imagery to the west of Lake Michigan. And again, no building identification signage except on the plaza. A sign was eventually added more than 20 years later.

Now the CNA building really has no business being in this conversation, too short, a non-existent brand image, but it does belong with the Hancock Center in the big concept arena. Big concepts don’t mean success and huge concepts go so unnoticed because they may be very open to interpretation. It may take someone next to you to set you straight. But you gotta love their conception, the pitch and execution. I would have praised Trump if he had topped the building with a ‘big concept’ oversized toupée instead.

above> developer’s proposal for 300 north michigan avenue

Times Square. The above image surfaced late last year for 300 north Michigan avenue, which is SOUTH of the river and not the Mag Mile. This stretch is becoming known as the Millennium Mile. Yes, a Times Square style will make its way to Chicago. Only if it’s very profitable for the city though. Guessing State Street not Mag Mile suits this format best. Mag Mile is our Madison Avenue. Confident Rahm Emanuel will support the right thing [ Chicago places ads on really public spaces ]

Michael Bierut, Pentagram partner and DesignObserver co-founder said this, “What’s interesting about Times Square is that there are special signage regulations that ensure that every new building has to have big signs on it. They were put in place in the late 80s when there were proposals to replace the older buildings with new (and boring) corporate buildings. Now there are a lot of new skyscrapers there but they are covered with flashing signs. Trivia point: Tibor Kalman helped develop the standards, working with architect Robert A.M. Stern.”

about ron kovach

cantilevers and concrete defines issam fares institute. zaha hadid architects.

Jun 13, 2014

The Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs (IFI) building by Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) at the American University of Beirut (AUB) continues the on-going implementation of the 2002 AUB Campus Master Plan by Sasaki Associates (in colaboration with Machado and Silvetti, MGT of America, and Dar Al-Handasa, Shair and Partners) to advance the university’s academic mission in the 21st Century with facilities of the highest international standards.

The IFI was established as a neutral, dynamic, civil, and open space where people representing all viewpoints in society can gather and discuss significant issues, anchored in a long-standing commitment to mutual understanding and high quality research. The institute aims to harness, develop and initiate research of the Arab world to enhance and broaden debate on public policy and international relations.

The design significantly reduces the building’s footprint by ‘floating’ much of the IFI’s facilities above the entrance courtyard to preserve the existing landscape integral to the 2002 master-plan, create a new public space for the campus, and establish links from the university’s Central Oval to the Middle Campus and Mediterranean Sea to the north. “The building emerges from the geometries of intersecting routes as a series of interlocking platforms and spaces for research, engagement and discourse,” said Zaha Hadid Architects.

Relocating the infirmary closer to the new university hospital presented AUB with the opportunity to build the institute on the constrained site with a 7 meter drop in elevation between its south and north boundaries. The existing AUB campus combines buildings constructed in concrete throughout the 20th Century in a variety of revivalist and modernist styles with different cladding and rendering treatments.

[ vitals ]
2011 Construction begins (January 2011)
2012 Concrete structural frame completed & Cantilever propping released
2013 External systems rerouting, landscaping, and interior finishes
2014 Inauguration

Total site area: 7,000 m2
New exterior spaces: 4,000 m2
Total floor area: 3,000 m2
Auditorium capacity: 100 seats
Floors: 6
Maximum height: 22 m
Length of cantilever: 21 m
Total surface of fair-faced concrete: 6,000 m2
Total surface area of glazing: 800 m2
Concrete cast in-situ: 4,200 m3
Total Steel used for structure: 800 kg
Employees on site: 90 (builders & technicians) for 1,100 days
Total working hours: 500,000 hours