Three Exhibitions

On top of the two gallery shows I recommended recently, here are three exhibitions that are worth checking out, all in New York City.

Vertical Urban Factory: East Asia
March 6 - May 18, 2012
NYU Department of East Asia Studies
41 East 11th Street, 7th Floor Gallery
Mon-Fri 9am-5pm

This is the second installment of Vertical Urban Factory, an independent project and exhibition curated by architectural historian and critic Nina Rappaport. The first exhibition, which featured primarily historical projects in Europe and the USA, was held at the Skyscraper Museum last year and will be traveling to Detroit later this Spring. The compact East Asia show offers brand new material focused on contemporary factories in China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. Given the sheer amount of manufacturing happening in this part of the globe, a show looking at the architecture of their factories is timely and necessary.

Vertical Urban Factory: East Asia
[All photos are by John Hill, unless noted otherwise]

VUF_asia_map_sm.jpg
["East Asia's Industrial Economy" map from Vertical Urban Factory East Asia | Designed by Sarah Gephart
MGMT Design with research by Jamie Chan, courtesy Nina Rappoport]

Vertical Urban Factory: East Asia

Vertical Urban Factory: East Asia

Carlo Scarpa: The Architect at Work

Villa Ottolenghi and Villa Il Palazzetto
Selected drawings by renowned Post-War architect and educator Carlo Scarpa
March 2 - April 21, 2012
The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at The Cooper Union
Arthur A. Houghton Jr. Gallery, 7 East 7th Street, 2nd Floor
Tuesday - Saturday 12-7pm

Lots of photos and Scarpa's drawings document the design and construction of two of his houses. Before seeing the exhibition, I was familiar with the Villa Ottolenghi but not the Villa Il Palazzetto. For both projects it's great to see the original drawings, mainly floor plans that are packed with sketches about different details. A great show that should be extended.

Carlo Scarpa: The Architect at Work

Foreclosed: Rehousing the American Dream
February 15–August 13, 2012
Museum of Modern Art
Architecture and Design Galleries, third floor
11 West 53rd Street

"In the summer of 2011, New York's Museum of Modern Art invited five teams of architects, planners, ecologists, engineers, landscape designers, and other specialists in the urban and suburban condition to develop proposals for housing that would open new routes through the mortgage-foreclosure crisis that continues to afflict the United States."

I visited this show on a free Friday afternoon, meaning it was difficult to absorb things in the mass of people. Since then I've received the exhibition book, so my comments on the show will follow in my review of the book.

Foreclosed: Rehousing the American Dream
[The Oranges, N.J. - MOS]

Foreclosed: Rehousing the American Dream
[Temple Terrace, FL - Visible Weather]

Foreclosed: Rehousing the American Dream
[Rialto, CA - Zago Architecture]

Foreclosed: Rehousing the American Dream
[Keizer, OR - WORKac]

Foreclosed: Rehousing the American Dream
[Cicero, IL - Studio Gang Architects]