http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/12/arts/design/12OURO.html
Buildings Fit for a Parliament and a President
Morphosis
The new Caltrans building in downtown Los Angeles.
By NICOLAI OUROUSSOFF
Published: September 12, 2004
eptember
COOPER UNION, NEW YORK The Santa Monica, Calif., firm Morphosis has built an international reputation with projects like the 1999 Diamond Ranch High School, in Pomona, Calif., whose fragmented corrugated-metal forms evoke a landscape that is breaking apart. Morphosis' design for Cooper Union's new academic building at Astor Place represents its first foray into Manhattan. The design, which will replace the school's 1908 Hewitt building, should bring a touch of Los Angeles irreverence to downtown New York. School officials plan to unveil the plan tomorrow. www.cooper.edu
`CIVIC SPIRIT: CHANGING THE COURSE OF FEDERAL DESIGN' A look at the federal government's Excellence in Architecture program, which was started in 1994 to raise the abysmal quality of architecture in government building design. The program's results have not always been stellar, but there are works of genuine architectural interest here, including Richard Meier's United States Courthouse building in Islip, N.Y., Antoine Predock's courthouse in El Paso, Tex., and Smith-Miller & Hawkinson's border station in Champlain, N.Y. Tomorrow-Nov. 10. Center for Architecture, New York. (212) 683-0023. www.aiany.org
ARCHITECTURAL BIENNIAL BEIJING 2004 The first in that city, the Beijing Biennial covers a spectacular array of projects, many scheduled for completion in time for the 2008 Olympic Games. Among them are the kind of colossal urban planning schemes that have made China one of the most vital centers of architectural experimentation in the world. And then there are major projects by luminaries like Rem Koolhaas, Herzog & de Meuron and Zaha Hadid. But the real reason to see the show is the spotlight it will cast on a rising generation of Chinese architectural talents like Yung Ho Chang, Ai Weiwei, Liu Jiakun and Zhang Lei. Trained in the years immediately following the cultural revolution, they offer a peek into China's future. Sept. 20-Oct. 6. China National Art Museum, Beijing. www.abbeijing.com/eindex.htm
NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN, WASHINGTON The museum, which is part of the Smithsonian, stands on a prominent site on the Washington Mall just in front of the Capitol. Douglas Cardinal, the architect originally hired to design the project, conceived it as a composition of curvaceous forms that would contrast with the hard-edge limestone of Washington's traditional civic buildings. But the Smithsonian fired Mr. Cardinal in 1998. Mr. Cardinal was replaced by a team of architectural consultants that includes John Paul Jones, the Native American Design Collaborative and the Polshek Partnership. The result, according to Mr. Cardinal, is a serious compromise of the design's integrity. The museum opens Sept. 21. (202) 633-1000. www.americanindian.si.edu
`IMPORT/EXPORT: POSTWAR MODERNISM IN AN EXPANDING WORLD, 1945-75' Both the theme and location of Docomomo's eighth international conference, which will be held at Columbia University, could not be more timely. The group was originally founded in Holland to protect Modernist landmarks from the wrecking ball. As it has grown, however, Docomomo's mission has become more nuanced: to explore the uneasy relationship between Modernism's disdain for the past and the desire to preserve it. New York is still struggling to come to terms with such issues, as could be seen in the recent battle to save Eero Saarinen's 1960's-era T.W.A. terminal at Kennedy International Airport. Sept. 26-29. (212) 721-9502. Early registration closes on Wednesday and costs $370 for nonmembers. www.docomomo2004.org
CALTRANS DISTRICT 7 HEADQUARTERS, LOS ANGELES Another design by Morphosis, this one built. The 1.1 million-square-foot structure is the latest addition to a growing list of high-profile building projects in downtown Los Angeles that already includes Frank Gehry's Walt Disney Concert Hall and José Rafael Moneo's Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. But with a towering, perforated metal facade that looms over City Hall, the design speaks as much of the California transit authority's role in shaping the identity of Los Angeles as of the city's cultural enlightenment. The opening ceremony is scheduled for Sept. 27.
--
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Buildings Fit for a Parliament and a President
Morphosis
The new Caltrans building in downtown Los Angeles.
By NICOLAI OUROUSSOFF
Published: September 12, 2004
eptember
COOPER UNION, NEW YORK The Santa Monica, Calif., firm Morphosis has built an international reputation with projects like the 1999 Diamond Ranch High School, in Pomona, Calif., whose fragmented corrugated-metal forms evoke a landscape that is breaking apart. Morphosis' design for Cooper Union's new academic building at Astor Place represents its first foray into Manhattan. The design, which will replace the school's 1908 Hewitt building, should bring a touch of Los Angeles irreverence to downtown New York. School officials plan to unveil the plan tomorrow. www.cooper.edu
`CIVIC SPIRIT: CHANGING THE COURSE OF FEDERAL DESIGN' A look at the federal government's Excellence in Architecture program, which was started in 1994 to raise the abysmal quality of architecture in government building design. The program's results have not always been stellar, but there are works of genuine architectural interest here, including Richard Meier's United States Courthouse building in Islip, N.Y., Antoine Predock's courthouse in El Paso, Tex., and Smith-Miller & Hawkinson's border station in Champlain, N.Y. Tomorrow-Nov. 10. Center for Architecture, New York. (212) 683-0023. www.aiany.org
ARCHITECTURAL BIENNIAL BEIJING 2004 The first in that city, the Beijing Biennial covers a spectacular array of projects, many scheduled for completion in time for the 2008 Olympic Games. Among them are the kind of colossal urban planning schemes that have made China one of the most vital centers of architectural experimentation in the world. And then there are major projects by luminaries like Rem Koolhaas, Herzog & de Meuron and Zaha Hadid. But the real reason to see the show is the spotlight it will cast on a rising generation of Chinese architectural talents like Yung Ho Chang, Ai Weiwei, Liu Jiakun and Zhang Lei. Trained in the years immediately following the cultural revolution, they offer a peek into China's future. Sept. 20-Oct. 6. China National Art Museum, Beijing. www.abbeijing.com/eindex.htm
NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN, WASHINGTON The museum, which is part of the Smithsonian, stands on a prominent site on the Washington Mall just in front of the Capitol. Douglas Cardinal, the architect originally hired to design the project, conceived it as a composition of curvaceous forms that would contrast with the hard-edge limestone of Washington's traditional civic buildings. But the Smithsonian fired Mr. Cardinal in 1998. Mr. Cardinal was replaced by a team of architectural consultants that includes John Paul Jones, the Native American Design Collaborative and the Polshek Partnership. The result, according to Mr. Cardinal, is a serious compromise of the design's integrity. The museum opens Sept. 21. (202) 633-1000. www.americanindian.si.edu
`IMPORT/EXPORT: POSTWAR MODERNISM IN AN EXPANDING WORLD, 1945-75' Both the theme and location of Docomomo's eighth international conference, which will be held at Columbia University, could not be more timely. The group was originally founded in Holland to protect Modernist landmarks from the wrecking ball. As it has grown, however, Docomomo's mission has become more nuanced: to explore the uneasy relationship between Modernism's disdain for the past and the desire to preserve it. New York is still struggling to come to terms with such issues, as could be seen in the recent battle to save Eero Saarinen's 1960's-era T.W.A. terminal at Kennedy International Airport. Sept. 26-29. (212) 721-9502. Early registration closes on Wednesday and costs $370 for nonmembers. www.docomomo2004.org
CALTRANS DISTRICT 7 HEADQUARTERS, LOS ANGELES Another design by Morphosis, this one built. The 1.1 million-square-foot structure is the latest addition to a growing list of high-profile building projects in downtown Los Angeles that already includes Frank Gehry's Walt Disney Concert Hall and José Rafael Moneo's Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. But with a towering, perforated metal facade that looms over City Hall, the design speaks as much of the California transit authority's role in shaping the identity of Los Angeles as of the city's cultural enlightenment. The opening ceremony is scheduled for Sept. 27.
--
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