• current hEadlines
• more HEADS and LINES in recent exhibitions
• more HEADS-on-LINE   > >   a r c h i t e c t u r e   i s
• (continued from ... previous -- hEadlines)

on screens
new projects - on the drawing boards

b l i p s

n e w   A r r i v a l
new commissions  for mass media consumption

[Olympic Park Railway Station, Sydney]

• abrogating
  "The Olympic Park rail station has won the Sulman award for public or commercial architecture and has been praised as an 'outstanding' project, in sharp contrast with Sydney's 'generally mediocre' development.

  This was the verdict of Ms Wendy Lewin, who chaired the jury for the NSW Royal Australian Institute of Architects' awards last night."

 
[Jewish Museum, San Fransisco]

• influential ethics
  "a specific space with a human dimension ... something that will have drama to it, that will speak to the city, the neighborhood and open up a discourse with the 21st century ... to balance the old and new, to be very sensitive to the historical aspects of the building, but (also) to see history in a new way ..." (the affable Daniel Libeskind, 51, on his forthcoming San Fransisco Jewish Museum, in Hamlin J, sfc_98.05.05)

• long line imagination
  "We picked Daniel because not only is he a brilliant architect, but he's got an enormous Jewish imagination. He comes from a long line of rabbis. He represents Jewish imagination ...
  Libeskind ... speaks of the desire to 'touch something, to see the light, to feel welcome. Those are quintessential Jewish qualities, and the qualities I want for this building.' " (Rabbi Brian Lurie, in Hamlin J, sfc_98.05.05)

(*****) contested projects in general press

 
[Washington New Convention Center, Washington DC]

• twice as
  "The limestone and glass edifice edifice -- which would span nearly six blocks at Mount Vernon Square -- would be more than twice as large as the existing center ... Yet, it may well turn out to be too small." (Evans J, Montgomery D, wp_98.05.26)

 
[Walsh Bay Redevelopment, Sydney]

• spirited big players
  "'They' are ... the scheme's supporters: the French architect Philippe Robert, who prepared the current masterplan; the Government Architect Chris Johnson, who brought Robert to Sydney; and Andrew Andersons, the main architect for Walsh Bay Properties, comprising Transfield and Mirvac." (Susskind A, smh_98.05.15)

• grotesque big players
  "and the 'pit bulls,' the packed room of mostly architects arguing over the controversial scheme ... architect and outspoken critic of the scheme Philip Thalis and Viv Fraser, architect of the Sydney Theatre Company wharf 4/5 refurbishment." (smh_98.05.15)

 

• Prince of Wales
  "He told a friend that th Dome reminds him of 'a giant greenhouse -- except that would be an insult to the fertilizer.' ..." (wsj_00.01.19)
   
  
• transient bonhomie
  "It is not beautiful and inspiring, as the Prime Minister said it would be. It will not have the French and Germans cursing that they didn't think of something similar, nor the Americans ... This is a poor reward for the aspirations, hard work, talent and money that went into the Dome ..." (Rowan Moore, les_00.01.05)

• perhaps the sponsors might stick their oar in
  "Fear - of failure, of the Prime Minister, of the wicked Press, of controversy, of sponsors - seems to have reigned where there should have been passion, hence the bland platitudes of the finished product.
  This Dome is, therefore, a monument to management, that God of the 1990s." (Rowan Moore, les_00.01.05)
   
  
• abseiling
  "Much as I wish the £758 million ($1.2 billion) had been spent on something else, architect Lord Rogers's biggest roof in the world is fun. ... with bungee jumpers on stilts abseiling from the roof, acrobats and aerial flyers ..." (Paul Levy, wsj_99.12.30)

• besieged
  "It will be a triumph of confidence over cynicism, boldness over blandness, excellence over mediocrity ... I defy anyone who sets foot in the dome not to be awed by its sheer scale, variety or range of attractions." (Tony Blair, Prime Minister, in Mara D Bellaby, ap/cpi_99.12.15)
   
  
• Wow thanks dad
  "Bit of a busman's holiday this one - the Richard Rogers' Partnership is boarding the Symphony II at Charing Cross Pier and jaunting along the Thames to see the Millenium Dome specially lit up for the occasion. ..." (blp_98.12)
   
  
• testosterone-endowed
  "'work-shy, beer-swilling, rent-dodging, wife-bashing, pigeon-fancying, soccer-playing, uncouth cadger' ...
  Meanwhile, the billion-dollar Millenium Dome is rising in steel and Teflon-coated fiberglass at a desolate bend in the Thames at suburban Greenwich. Its distinctions are that it's monstrous, twice the size of Britain's biggest soccer stadium ... No one has decided, however, what will go under it." (ed, wsj_98.06.26)

i n   c o n t e s t

 
[IIT Campus Center, Chicago]

• something old
  "Here is a chance here to build something spectacular. And, man, is it needed. Look at some of the major architecture that's been built over the past decade or so. Much of it is unworthy of a city that had contributed so much to architecture and design. ...

  If that were the case, maybe the new Museum of Contemporary Art would have turned out differently. Its brutal exterior smacks of a Berlin prison--minus sentry towers. And Comiskey Park is the foulest of balls. The Harold Washington Library is a lovely building and a personal favorite, but it is a tribute to the past. The new hotel going up at McCormick Place is shaping up as an anonymous, could-be-built-anywhere, one-size-fits all building." (Bey L, cst_97.08.24)

d e p a r t u r e   L o u n g e
p r e m a t u r e   l a n d i n g

 
l o s t   &   f o u n d

[Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles]

• grandiose
  "Michael D Eisner, the chairman of the Walt Disney company, announced that the corporation was donating $25 million for the Disney Concert Hall ... The ambitious project proposed a decade ago by the Disney family had stalled and almost collapsed because of financial problems ... red tapes, bureaucratic bungling and artistic disagreements." (Weinraub B, nyt_97.12.02)

   
  

• death percentage
  "Some people have said that 75 percent of my building is better than none. ... They dismiss me because I'm the 'great genius,' and every time they say this, I cringe. I've been geniused to death." (Giovanini J, nyt_97.08.07)

  
  

[IIT McCormick Tribune Campus Center, Chicago]

• high-tone, low-rise
  "Last year ... he was eliminated from the competition to design the expansion for the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan. Some members of the museum's selection committee evidently took Mr Koolhaas's provocative plan as personal insult.

  May Mr Koolhaas never lose his flair for provocation." (Muschamp H, nyt_98.02.10)

d e - i c e d ------ F I R S T   P R I Z E
w i n n e r s   under construction

b a g g a g e   c l a i m -- have won & still waiting ...

n o w   s h o w i n g

• X - Cité ;

  v a c a n t  s p a c e -
   mini E-board for your latest & greatest - display your projects here.

  
  

t a k i n g - o f f  -- (un-?-er-markable)
n o t e d   p r o j e c t s
currently under construction/recently completed

(*****) in-prints a n d  being built
(propaganda machine$ at work ...)

[The Vontz Center for Molecular Sciences, Cincinnati]

• veto
  "Nothing I've ever worked on has even come close to this in terms of difficulty. In fact, I was the only one who bid on it,' said Bill Vetovitz, the 70-year-old chairman of Vet-o-vitz Masonry in Cleveland and a bricklayer for almost half a century." (cbc_98.04.27)

• forward play
  "The normal process just leads to the 'same old,'" Gehry added. "If you're going to move forward, you have to find people who are willing to play. He was willing to play." (cbc_98.04.27)

• between
  "375 curved brick panels ... some up to 29 feet high and almost every one different from the other in some way. ... It took 36 bricklayers seven months to complete the panels ... Cost for the job? Between $3.5 million and $4 million." (cbc_98.04.27)

i n a u g r a l   s p i n s

arch after the fact / better late than ... / better built than ... / better bad than ...
opening ceremonies / company press releases

D u s t   J a c k e t
G R E A T   E x p e c t a t i o n s

g o n e ________________
s t e a l t h ____________
c o n s p i c u o u s l y   m i s s i n g

[]

• progress report / status info ( ? )___

i.E. famous w o r k i n g d r a w i n g s

• progress report / status info ( ? )___

c o v e r t   c o n s t r u c t i o n s

• undetected others: f l y i n g   low and s l o w ?
  high-profile low-visibility works under construction - ANY tips anyone ?

[]

r e a l   e_s t a t e
i n   a l t e r e d   s t a t e s

(*****)back in the news

(*****) much hyped projects in general press

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