Reimagining with Artist Ricardo Cid

With a background in engineering, artist Ricardo Cid uses visualization to understand and reimagine everything from periodic elements to playing the sax. Here he flies through a presentation for the AN staff, leaving us more than a little fascinated, if not, at moments, a little perplexed.
 

Back to Neutral on Neutra

A STAY OF EXECUTION HAS BEEN GRANTED TO NEUTRA'S KRONISH HOUSE COURTESY J. PAUL GETTY TRUST, JULIUS SHULMAN PHOTOGRAPHY ARCHIVE, THE GETTY RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Last week, the owners of Richard Neutra's Kronish House agreed to give the property a reprieve until October 10. Designed in 1955 the Beverly Hills house was previously on track for demolition. The suspension has given the city a chance to take stock of its architectural and historical treasures. Unlike several nearby municipalities, Beverly Hills, while it does have a Design Review Commission for new construction, it does not have preservation ordinance in place. The City Council hopes to map out a plan for an ordinance as well as a preservation commission at a meeting tomorrow evening. The Friars Club by Sidney Eisenshtat and the Shusett House by John Lautner were both lost in the past year alone. 

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Desert Showdown

TOWN AND COUNTRY'S FACADE NEEDS TLC. (COURTESY DANIEL CHAVKIN)

Everyone in Palm Springs agrees that the Desert Fashion Plaza, a mall in the heart of downtown, is a flop. It takes up 15 acres on the site of the former Desert Inn, one of four large hotels that drew Hollywood glitterati during the first half of the 20th century. By 1948 the area was a well-established resort town, and across the street, A. Quincy Jones and Paul R. Williams designed a late modern multi-use residential complex. At the time Architectural Record praised their Town and Country Center for its “flair and flavor.” But by the mid 1960s the Desert Fashion Plaza replaced the Desert Inn, and morphed gradually into an ever larger mall that by the 1990s was largely unoccupied. Meanwhile, Town and Country’s fortunes followed suit turning desolate and dilapidated.

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Prentice Reprieve

THE REUSE STUDY PROPOSED RECLADDING THE BASE OF THE PRENTICE TOWER IN CLEAR GLASS. COURTESY LANDMARKS ILLINOIS

With the stay of execution for Prentice Hospital extended through the end of June, Landmarks Illinois released a reuse study for the threatened clover-like structure designed in 1974 by Bertrand Goldberg. Considered by many to be a hallmark of sculptural modernism, the building sits within a research corridor of Northwestern University, the building’s owner. Northwestern says it needs the space to expand and would like to double the space, an amount allowed by zoning.

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Not to Close

VIEW EAST ALONG 20TH STREET. (COURTESY BBB)

In 1883 the General Theological Seminary campus designed by Charles Coolidge Haight was lapped  at its western edge by the waters of the Hudson. Now it will lap more condo owners in luxury.

After selling the buildings on the east end for $10 million to the Brodsky Organization to develop Chelsea Enclave, luxury apartments designed by Polshek Partnership, the seminary still found itself $41 million in the hole. Last winter, it was revealed that Brodsky   continued on page 10  Not?too Close continued from front page  would take over an additional 90,000 square feet, including the seminary’s oldest building, the West Building, built in 1836. The developer retained Beyer, Blinder, Belle (BBB) to design more luxury housing within the historic quad, known as the Close. New renderings show a building replacing a tennis court and playground and connected by a glass link to the West Building, also being converted to luxe condos.

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Pod with a View

 COURTESY CCNY

High above Harlem’s City College campus, a Solar Decathlon entry is being assembled on a rooftop overlooking the quad. Team New York, composed of students from City College’s Spitzer School of Architecture, Grove School of Engineering, and the art department are designing a sustainable house whose lifespan may extend beyond the biennial contest. The team’s “Solar Roofpod” entry addresses the problems of urban density and heat island effect while tapping into New Yorkers’ obsession with desirable real estate, namely the rooftop penthouse.

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Chicago's Emerald Necklace

The Bloomingdale Trail at dusk. (Photo courtesy David Schalliol)

Among the many promises coming from the new Emanuel administration is one to the make elevated Bloomingdale Trail a reality. The mayor has promised full support for Chicago’s Bike Plan and that includes completing the 2.65-mile trail by the end of the first term. The bike transportation—as well as pedestrian—aspect of the trail may help it qualify for monies with the reauthorization of the 2005 Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient, Transportation Equity Act (SAFETEA), the federal transportation bill.

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Sugar Rush

LOOKING FROM THE WATERFRONT BENEATH THE WILLIAMSBURG BRIDGE IN A RENDERING OF THE APPROVED DOMINO SUGAR FACTORY REDEVELOPMENT IN WILLIAMSBURG RAFAEL VIIOLY ARCHITECTS

A last ditch effort to stop development at the Domino Sugar refinery fell through on May 25 when State Supreme Court Judge Eileen Rakower dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Williamsburg Community Preservation Corporation. The group claimed that the project’s developer, the Community Preservation Resources Corporation’s (CPRC), along with Department of City Planning and City Council, did not conduct the proper land use and environmental reviews.

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Crossing Union Lines

The area to be developed by Akridge behind Union Station.

“Nothing like this has ever happened in D.C.” is how architect Shalom Baranes described the recent rezoning of the rail yards behind Union Station in the nation’s capitol. Baranes has been retained by the developer Akridge to design a mixed-use development across fourteen-acres of platform. Both the developer and the architect have remained relatively mum during the zoning process, preferring to wait until the ink had dried on official documents. The D.C. Zoning Commission unanimously passed the order in April and published it on June 9. The developer has set the bar pretty high for Baranes by calling the project Burnham Place after Daniel Burnham, the hundred year-old station’s architect.

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Botswana Information Hub

AN Mixed Media> SHoP in Botswana from Architect's Newspaper on Vimeo.

D.C.'s Southwest Revival

In 1964, the federal government displaced almost 6,000 families in Southwest D.C. through slum clearance, hiring the likes of Marcel Breuer, I.M. Pei, and Paul Goodman to tackle the area’s—and by extension America’s—urban decay. For Bing Thom, a young Canadian architect visiting D.C. at the time, it was a career defining moment that served as both inspiration and cautionary tale.

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Coney Island High

The proposed Ocean Dreams complex to anchor the boardwalk's sparse west end. Courtesy Dattner Architects

A new proposal for Coney Island seeks to anchor the west end of the boardwalk with nearly 500,000 square feet of mixed-use development called Ocean Dreams. The three residential towers with over 400 market rate condos, range from 14 to 22 stories and rest atop 25,000 square feet of retail and 400 parking spaces. Dattner Architects joined Cooper Robertson in designing the project in 2007, but Dattner took the lead after Red Apple Real Estate became owner in 2008. Red Apple, led by Gristedes supermarket magnate John Catsimatidis, ramped up a 2005 plan that many thought dead in the water.

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Back Yard Front and Center

AERIAL RENDERING SHOWS THE NEW PARK WOVEN INTO ESTABLISHED SURROUNDINGS.

Soon the public will be able to set foot on a small island in the Schuylkill River that has kept watch over Philadelphia’s Boat House Row for more than half a century. The island, which didn’t exist until a buildup of sediment from a dam created the formation, is just one component of a larger park design behind the Philadelphia Museum of Art, overseen by Susan Weiler of OLIN. Access to the island will replace public land lost to parking when the museum’s expansion plans (designed by Frank Gehry) are realized. OLIN’s new project will act as a gateway between the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, which runs from City Hall to the museum, and the adjacent Fairmount Park.

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