Javits Plaza v3.0

I've written about Jacob Javits Plaza—the public space at the corner of Lafayette and Worth Streets in Lower Manhattan—many times. First was about Martha Schwartz's design on my weekly page; then in 2007 I did an analysis and history of the space for grad school; most recently I contributed an article to The Architect's Newspaper about Michael Van Valkenburgh's redesign. Before Schwartz's design the plaza was occupied by Richard Serra's Tilted Arc, which makes Van Valkenburgh's design the third installment since 1981, not counting the interim "design" between the demolition of Serra's sculpture in 1989 and the completion of Schwartz's plaza design in 1997. The plaza is not yet open to the public (a couple guys were applying some chemical of sorts to the stone paving when I walked by and snapped these photos yesterday), but it looks like any day now it will be complete and this corner of Lower Manhattan may finally be free of controversy.

HEARD•NY

I stopped by Grand Central Terminal this morning to check out HEARD•NY, a project by artist Nick Cave, with Creative Time and students from the Alvin Ailey School. Here is a slideshow of some photos—the shots are handheld, but I cropped them in Photoshop so the clock face is always in the same place. As you can see by the movement of the minute-hand, the most intense parts of the dance happen about 10 minutes after the dancers come in and suit up; that's when the drumming starts and the "soundsuits" flail.

Today's archidose #661

Here are some photos of the ArtEZ Institute of the Arts in Arnhem, Netherlands, by BiermanHenket Architecten (2004), photographed by Chris Schroeer-Heiermann.













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Wednesday, Wednesday

A Weekly Dose of Architecture Updates (note: the next update on my weekly page will be 2013.04.08):

This week's dose features the Museo Amparo in Puebla, Mexico, by Enrique Norten/TEN Arquitectos:


The featured past dose is Rajel Mikveh in Mexico City, Mexico by Pascal Arquitectos:


This week's book review is Encounters 1 & 2 - Architectural Essays by Juhani Pallasmaa, edited by Peter MacKieth (L):


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American-Architects Building of the Week:

Riverstone Office Building in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, by Patano+Hafermann Architects:

Henri Labrouste: Structure Brought to Light

[Henri Labrouste. Bibliothèque nationale, Paris. 1854–75. View of the reading room. © Georges Fessy]

About a week ago I visited the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) to check out the exhibition Henri Labrouste: Structure Brought to Light, on display in the third floor's special exhibition's gallery until June 24, 2013. The exhibition has received a good deal of attention since it opened in early March, most notably by Michael Kimmelman at the New York Times. Below are some photos I took and some of my impressions on the show, though readers in need of a bit more depth on the exhibition should read Kimmelman's piece.


[Photos by John Hill, unless noted otherwise]

MoMA bills the show as "the first solo exhibition of Labrouste’s work in the United States." It took long enough, considering that Labrouste died in 1875. It's not for lack of importance or influence, since the architect's two main projects (really, what he is only known for by most)—the Bibliothèque Ste.-Geneviève and the Bibliothèque Nationale, both in Paris—were seen as precursors of 20th-century modernism by the likes of Sigfried Giedion in MoMA's early days.



The exhibition is curated by MoMA's Barry Bergdoll, with Corinne Bélier of the Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine and Marc Le Coeur of the Bibliothèque Nationale, where it was first displayed. Given its location in the third floor galleries, the first impression of the show is not a positive one—visitors must traverse a narrow, linear (and often crowded) gallery that leads to the larger spaces beyond. This first section (above) is being given extra weight by Bergdoll, through his assertion that Labrouste's early restoration studies of Paestum, Italy, "shook up academic dogma," as he says in the exhibition catalog. The many drawings (and Labrouste's drawing instruments, a nice treat) in the corridor are worth beholding, but they create an arterial clog of sorts in the exhibition that is not relieved until moving through the glass doors at the other end. (The photo of the corridor, above, was taken on my way out, in a slow moment.)



While the beautiful photos of the two libraries (on top of this post and below my exhibition photos) are the primary means by which the exhibition is being shared in the media, the show is predominantly drawings and a few models. The drawings—many of them watercolors—are astounding, illustrating Labrouste's skill as a delineator but also his thorough working out of details, from stone decoration to structural ironwork to the insertion of modern services into the library. And one of the show's main statements is that Labrouste is an early Modern (with a capital M) architect, due to his use of modern materials (iron, concrete) and systems and the way in which his libraries defined the modern institution.



The framing of Labrouste as an early modern architect doesn't necessarily come to the fore in the first of the larger exhibition spaces, pictured above. Drawings are displayed on retro, pseudo-drafting tables. The legs made of wood spheres are a bit goofy, but the surfaces make for comfortable viewing of drawings and even videos (visible in the foreground of the photo above). The post-modern nature of the tables comes across in the fact that many of the drawings do not rest on the rails at the bottom of each table; they are mounted above.



Some more historical allusions come in the portal at the beginning of the exhibition and another in a wall separating two of the larger galleries; one side shows his libraries and the other side displays projects of successors influenced by Labrouste. The photo above is looking toward the latter, as if the stacks (the same sort of structural system used at the New York Public Library that Norman Foster and NYPL want to remove) are the most modern aspect of Labrouste's libraries.


[Model of Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève]

To be honest, I always have a hard time keeping the Bibliothèque Ste.-Geneviève and the Bibliothèque Nationale straight. Their designs are quite different, even though they are both grand spaces structured in iron and light—one is a long vaulted space and one is made up of a series of skylit vaults. But remembering which is which has always been hard for me, though don't ask me why. The exhibition will help refresh my learning from undergrad, but of course the value of the show goes well beyond something like this.


[Model of Bibliothèque Nationale]

When I visited MoMA to see the exhibition I ran into a couple professors from my alma mater, Kansas State University. They were part of a school trip that took third-year students from the Little Apple to the Big Apple; many of their students were taking in the Labrouste exhibition as we spoke. In hindsight the exhibition is perfect for students: It illustrates a sort of "everything is contemporary at some time" aspect to Labrouste's architecture, while also driving home the importance of hand drawing in conveying ideas and exploring design and construction. The latter may be an increasingly archaic notion, but divorcing hand drawing from architecture doesn't seem right to me.


[Model of Bibliothèque Nationale]

The models are also valuable artifacts for students to see. Sure, they were made much later than Labrouste's drawings, but they do an excellent job of showing the various conditions (structure, services, systems) that are behind and below the surfaces that have rightfully attracted so much attention over the years.

For those really interested in Labrouste's libraries, MoMA is hosting (with Columbia GSAPP) a symposium on Thursday: Read: Revisiting Labrouste in the Digital Age. Participants include Barry Bergdoll, Alberto Kalach, Dominique Perrault, Anthony Vidler, and many others.


[Henri Labrouste. Bibliothèque nationale, Paris. 1854–75. View of the reading room. © Georges Fessy]


[Henri Labrouste. Bibliothèque nationale, Paris. 1854–75. View of the reading room. © Georges Fessy]



[Henri Labrouste. Bibliothèque nationale, Paris. 1854–75. View of the reading room. © Georges Fessy]


[Henri Labrouste. Bibliothèque nationale, Paris. 1854–75. View of the reading room. © Georges Fessy]


[Henri Labrouste (French, 1801-1875). Imaginary reconstruction of an ancient city. Perspective view. Date unknown. Graphite, pen, ink and watercolor on paper. Académie d’Architecture, Paris]


[Henri Labrouste (1801-1875). Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, Paris, 1838-1850. Southwest corner: elevation and section. Late 1850. Pen, ink, graphite, wash and watercolor on paper. Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, Paris]

Wang Shu Lecture

On April 2 Wang Shu, the 2012 Pritzker Prize winner and partner at Amateur Architecture Studio, is speaking at The Cooper Union, in a lecture co-sponsored by the Architectural League of New York. See below for more information.


[ Ningbo History Museum | Photo: Lv Hengzhong]

Current Work: Wang Shu / Amateur Architecture Studio

Wang Shu and his wife, Lu Wenyu, founded Amateur Architecture Studio in 1997 in Hangzhou, China. The name of the office refers to the approach of an amateur builder—one based on spontaneity, craft skills, and cultural traditions. In order to learn traditional skills, Wang Shu spent the early part of his career working on building sites. Rather than looking toward the West for inspiration, Wang’s work is rooted firmly in the context of Chinese history and culture. Today the studio incorporates Wang’s knowledge of everyday techniques to adapt and transform materials for contemporary projects. The “unique combination of traditional understanding, experimental building tactics, and intensive research” has become fundamental to the office’s architectural projects.

Some of his most important built works include the Library of Wenzheng College, Suzhou University; Ningbo Contemporary Art Museum; the Xiangshan Campus of the China Academy of Art; and the Ningbo History Museum.

Wang Shu is the 2012 Pritzker Prize laureate, the first Chinese citizen to receive that honor. He is Professor and Head of the Architecture School at China Academy of Art, Hangzhou. In 2011, he became the first Chinese Kenzo Tange Visiting Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Tickets can be obtained via the Architectural League. For those unable to make it to NYC for this lecture, Wang Shu is also speaking on April 3 at the Yale School of Architecture.

Viewpoints

The new World-Architects eMagazine includes the feature "Viewpoints: Uncommissioned Work of Architectural Photographers" that I put together with my fellow W-A curators. Click the link or photo to see the feature and read a little bit about it below.

The importance of photography in promoting buildings and architects is undeniable. But what about the uncommissioned work—the personal explorations, the fine art exhibitions, the free work, the side projects—that architectural photographers undertake outside of their commercial jobs? That is the focus of this Insight, which gathers ten photographers from around the world and presents three photos and three questions and answers on their unique viewpoints.

NYC by Cameraphone

After my High Line tour today I came across a couple buildings that I wanted to photograph, but finding myself without my camera I used my old-school phone and its lo-fi camera. So pardon the quality of the photos of the buildings, one just completed and one under construction.



First is the new David Zwirner Gallery on West 20th Street in Chelsea, which opened just last month. This is the gallery's second building in the area and is designed by Selldorf Architects.



I first noticed the building while traversing the High Line on the tour, wondering about the concrete building in the distance. Returning there after the tour I got a closer look at and inside the five-story building of concrete, wood, and glass.



My first thought on seeing the building from across the street: "It's a Swiss building dropped into Chelsea." The combination of materials, the simplicity of the details, and so much exposed concrete; it may not be as executed as well as a Swiss concrete building (could any building in NYC compare in that regard?), but the planar yet textured concrete exterior works pretty well in this context.



Not surprisingly, the galleries are white boxes, some of them with windows and the large one on the ground floor with skylights. Concrete extends inside to define the lobby and the circulation spaces beyond; the skylit stair is especially nice. 



On my way to the subway I checked out the construction progress on The New School's University Center, designed by SOM and located at Fifth Avenue and 14th Street.



The 16-story building is an unrelenting wrapper of horizontal bands of metal and reflective glass broken up by clear-glass cuts that rise and fall across the three facades of its base.



Behind these diagonals are the "the three central staircases that will weave their way through the building," per the building's own website. The faceting of the facade at the stairs reminds me of another SOM building (and one I also captured with my crappy cameraphone), the International Gem Tower also under construction in Midtown.

Today's archidose #660

Here are some photos of the HEC School of Management in Jouy-en-Josas, Paris, France, by David Chipperfield Architects (2012), photographed by Yohan Zerdoun.







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A High Line for All Seasons

Today may be the second day of spring, but it still feels like winter. Thankfully it will warm up a few degrees by Saturday and my walking tour of the High Line and Its Environs, given through 92Y Tribeca. You can find tickets via the link, and below are some photos I've snapped of the High Line at various times of the year.

Archidose A/V Club

A couple things I'm listening to and watching today, from good 'ol public radio and television.

Michael Sorkin on the Brian Lehrer Show:


"Bianca Bosker, author of Original Copies: Architectural Mimicry in Contemporary China [review forthcoming], discusses how the Chinese are copying the most iconic cities and towns of the West":

Today's archidose #659

On the occasion of Toyo Ito being named the 2013 Pritzker Architecture Prize laureate, here are some photos of the Tama Art University Library in Tokyo, photographed by Scott Norsworthy.













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