Super Colossal on a survey on the
legacy of the architectural monograph for an
upcoming exhibition on 'the history and influence of the architecture book' / all about the ongoing construction of the
Gotthard Base Tunnel, currently blasting its way through 153.3km of Swiss rock. If we were click savvier this would be an excellent place for a 'ten best tunnels' feature /
Michael Jackson transformed Neverland Ranch much as he did music: 'There are countless signs at Neverland of Jackson's attempts to put his architectural stamp on the estate. Some of them suggest a dedicated interest in architecture - and the design bookstore
Hennessey + Ingalls in Santa Monica was said to be a Jackson favorite - but there is no coherent theme. Nothing matches.'
Ah, coherence. '
Recession brings 'Las Vegas dream' to an end', a piece about the city's ill-advised swing towards 'sophisticated modernist luxury', as opposed to jolly post-Disney adult playspaces. The new direction is epitomised by
CityCenter, currently under construction with an 'architectural 'dream team'' that includes
Pelli Clarke Pelli;
Rockwell Group;
Studio Daniel Libeskind;
Kohn Pedersen Fox;
Helmut Jahn; RV Architecture, LLC led by
Rafael Viñoly;
Foster + Partners; and
Gensler.' Libeskind and Foster are actually both consultants.
CityCenter is slowly emerging like a giant architectural zoo, an instant neighbourhood in which every participant has dialled in an overscaled facsimile of their aesthetic approach, each vying with each other in this contextual and literal desert.
The article also mentions the much-delayed
Fontainebleau (which still looks a
bit like this), $3.9bn in and apparently unfinished and the
Echelon (thanks to
Vegas Today and Tomorrow, which also has
Fontainebleau images. See also
Classic Las Vegas). Abandoned casino projects are joined by unwanted homes. 'The city was at the centre of the sub-prime mortgage crisis as lenders handed out unsustainable home loans. Some 35,000 houses and flats now stand empty. Keith Schwer, an economist at the
University of Nevada in Las Vegas, says: "The housing industry basically got into the casino business."'
Labels: architecture
posted by things at 10:56 /
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