February 18, 2013
Left image via Vulture; right image via Curbed
Usually pop-ups are relegated to the tiny and the temporary, like Zaha’s pop-up hair salon or this hammam-turned-library in Bulgaria. But if the ambitious Hudson Yards development continues apace, come 2017 the city may bestow on itself one of its fanciest architectural toys yet: a 150-foot-tall giant glass box outfitted with a hideaway synthetic shell that can glide out and enclose a public plaza.
Like a modern-day Crystal Palace, the 170,000-square-foot Culture Shed—designed by Diller, Scofidio + Renfro and David Rockwell—will be an insta-venue that can house programming from all over the city, from Fashion Week to large-scale art installations to heretofore-unthinkable collaborations between the city’s artists, musicians, and performers.
“The Culture Shed encourages the city to shed those old definitions of culture,” Justin Davidson writes at Vulture. “It will operate the way the Forum did in Ancient Rome, as a neutral meeting ground where ideas can be incubated and influences exchanged.” Read more!
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February 14, 2013
It’s official. After being shelved last fall for its £140 million price tag, Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s ambitious plan to transform a city garden in Aberdeen, Scotland, into an aerial web of granite-paved greenways is being scrapped. Aberdeen’s city council has announced its redevelopment plans for the city center, which include only a £20 million allowance for pedestrian amenities. As city councillor Fraser Forsyth told the Evening Express, the Granite Web—as the project is known—has entered the realm of a “totally imaginary situation” alongside “unicorns and tooth fairies.” Read more.
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November 20, 2012
image © Visualhouse
Midtown Manhattan has long been the site in mind for New York City’s greatest makeover yet, in the form of the Hudson Yards. The project consists of 48 city blocks and 26 acres of greenery stretched between 30th and 43rd streets vertically and spanning across 8th avenue to the West Side Highway. This massive development will include 20,000 housing units, 2 million square feet of retail space, another 3 million square feet in hotel ares, 12 acres of public space, a new public school, a subway extension, and a laundry list of world famous designers behind it all. Some designers who have already signed on include Kohn Pederson Fox Associates, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, Diller, Scofidio + Renfro, David Rockwell, Elkus Manfredi and Thomas Woltz. Now add a number of developers, city officials, community boards, and pesky zoning laws and Hudson Yards is poised to be either the perfect plan– or perfect storm. Read more.
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October 19, 2012
Bring on the European-sized portions of popcorn and dark chocolate M&M’s: The Architecture and Design Film Festival is now under way here in New York City, and with more than 25 films from around the globe ranging from 2 minutes to 103 minutes, this four-day event offers something for everyone (there’s even a film on the “art of human waste“). We had the chance to watch Diller Scofidio + Renfro: Reimagining Lincoln Center and the High Line, by the Checkerboard Film Foundation, which takes a long and steady look at the illustrious architects. Read more.
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September 25, 2012
The competition to design the Winnipeg Art Gallery’s new Inuit Art and Learning Centre is heating up, with big names from the U.S. and Canada fighting for the top spot. The winning firm will be announced in late October and will receive $45 million toward the project. U.S. finalists Diller Scofido + Renfro, Michael Maltzan Architecture, Kengo Kuma & Associates, and Preston Scott Cohen Inc. will be going head to head with Canuck firms LM Architectural Group, Number Ten Architectural Group, and Peter Sampson Architecture Studio. The current building is a pointed, sculptural corner space designed by Gustavo da Roza.
Image courtesy of the Winnipeg Art Gallery
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