buildings news
Nagakin still endangered
The Nagakin Tower in Tokyo is even more endangered than it usually is. Residents want it replaced and Kisho Kurakawa is no longer about to defend it. The recession is the only thing holding back redevelopment, according to the NYT .
10.07.09 in buildings
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Portrait Gallery - gong
The ABC’s website just announced that The National Portrait Gallery won the top gong in the ACT architecture awards. You’d think from this that the building designed itself. Johnson Pilton Walker don’t even rate a mention in the article. So I’m mentioning them here.
05.07.09 in buildings
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RMIT Design Hub shovel ready
Sean Godsell’s Design Hub is on the verge of construction. After many failed schemes on the old C.U.B. site in Swanston Street, this one appears certain to proceed. According to 5th Estate , it, “will feature a “smart skin” – a translucent outer skin made up of over 16,000 sand blasted glass cells, some of which have photovoltaic collectors to harness solar power. This outer skin will control the building’s temperature by rotating with the sun’s movements, which will be tracked via a computer.”
04.07.09 in buildings
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Moonlight Head
Buy one of Glenn and Wendy’s houses on the Great Ocean Road here for $3M, or perhaps here for $2.2M. You’d better read this first though. Maserati not included.
26.06.09 in real-estate buildings
Pod in place
The first Regrowth pod has been installed on a burnt out property in Coombs Road, Kinglake West.
10.04.09 in buildings
Pod news
A Regrowth Pod prototype (see Butterpaper 14.02.09 ) has almost been built for a burnt-out site in Kinglake. The architects and buiders are being followed through the process by a team of film makers so hopefully we will get a better picture of what they are up to on the telly soon. Meanwhile have a look at the website:
22.03.09 in buildings
Melbourne Airport Tower
Some important buildings sorely lack architectural input. The new 70 metre tall Melbourne Airport control tower by Air Services might be one of them. This is the “Indicative Concept Design” being presented to contractors interested in building it. They seem to have used Sims software circa 1998? Not sure that car park is working too well. Adelaide gets similar but shorter.
04.03.09 in buildings
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Hackford House
Greg Burgess’ 1982 Hackford house burnt down on the weekend, in Kornalla, Gippsland. According to RMIT’s Aardvark, which also has more pictures, the house won the 1983 RAIA Merit Award for Outstanding Architecture and the 1985 Robert Joseph Haddon Award.
11.02.09 in buildings
Surface Agitation
Melbourne Recital Centre is to open on Monday, plugging the last gap in a sequence of arts buildings running from Hamer Hall to The Malthouse theatre a kilometre away. The Age was shown through the recital centre by ARM architect Ian McDougall and Arup acoustic engineer Andrew Nicol .
01.02.09 in buildings
Skyway
A sleek 1978 skyway, long detached from a Minneapolis JC Penney store, is up for sale by some architects (who had hoped to do something with it themselves). U.S. $79,500 or near offer – delivery not included.
24.01.09 in buildings
Bowling
Northcote bowl (1963), that one with the arches – the only interesting piece of non-domestic architecture I can think of in that part of town, may be demolished for an apartment development, GFC permitting. A demolition permit is currently moving through the trays at Darebin Council.
Terminal Development
Christchurch International Airport is to be rebuilt big, to accommodate all the extra flights we seem to need to take these days, and all the extra shops we need to walk past. Sadly Warren and Mahoney’s big new building buries Paul Pascoe’s gold medal winning 1956 design. Is that a faint echo of it in the diamond plan? Maybe not.
17.01.09 in buildings
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Tempelhof closes
Berlin’s Tempelhof airport, designed by Nazi-era architect Ernst Sagebiel, has just closed to flights. The 1.4km long multi-storey building was, according to the Rescue Tempelhof group, the largest on earth when built in the ’30s, and is still the 3rd largest. An attempt to register the site with Unesco has failed, and Berliners have yet to decide what to do with the site, only 10km from downtown.
02.11.08 in buildings
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Hamer Hall
Roy Ground’s 1982 Hamer Hall (Melbourne), glittering gold mixing it with rough aggregate, is about to get an update. Apparently the Arts Centre is not facing the right way. Sturt Street and Southgate aren’t getting enough attention. So the Black Box will move, and from the looks of the sketch above ( FJMT ?), the award-winning EQ restaurant (by NMBW ) will disappear too. According to Premier Brumby the changes will, “bring the arts closer to the people and the people closer to the arts.” The centre will close in 2010 for its $128.5M renovations. The gaudy but beautiful interiors may be stripped and refashioned into something a little less flamboyant – the Premier talks about “new and expanded foyer spaces”. I hope they are careful – Hamer Hall has some heritage protection so it could be a battle.
10.09.08 in buildings
Nakagin Capsule Tower
To make up for last week’s shock about the demolition of Shin Takamatsu’s Syntax building in Kyoto, a building that I thought had been demolished is still just hanging in there. The demolition and replacement of the late Kisho Kurokawa’s Nagakin Capsule Tower (1972) was announced early last year, but there is no sign of action that I can find on the web. Residents have been trying to get the pod stack rebuilt since 2005. Kurokawa’s metabolist intention that the pods be individually updated as required has never been fulfilled, so the 36 year old facilities are getting a bit worn. Asbestos and earthquake concerns are also cited as reasons for the impending tumble. And I don’t know where you get new spooling music tapes for the built in hifi units
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24.08.08 in buildings heritage
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