Hasta La Ideas

Way back when in 2007, we were one of the first outlets to tell you that Robert A.M. Stern had been hired to design the George W. Bush Presidential Center, then again earlier this year about its sudden increase in size and Laura Bush finding a landscape architect for the project (who, while we’re mentioning Michael Van Valkenburg, was also just hired to work on Chicago’s Grant Park). But other than those little bits and pieces, there hasn’t been much news coming out of Southern Methodist University, where the center will be built. But now you can expect a lot more talk in the coming years, as this week Mrs. Bush revealed the plans for the new building and its surroundings. Personally, our review of Stern’s work is that, well, it’s fine. Perfectly pleasant, but likely nothing that future generations will be studying or getting excited about. That seems to be the consensus among most professional critics too. Christopher Hawthorne starts his review “George W. Bush was a lightning rod of a politician. His presidential library is meant to be anything but” and seems to keep to that theme throughout. Here in Chicago, Blair Kamin reports mostly on the news of the release, but does offer some small bits of evaluation, saying that the plans are slightly less than traditional, but “they are by no means as boldly modern as the bridge-inspired William J. Clinton Presidential Library & Museum in Little Rock, Ark.” We’re not anxiously awaiting its completion, like we are with some projects, but we’ll hold off on any complete judgment until the building is finished, which is currently projected to be around 2013.

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French architects Air have completed a raw yellow concrete extension to an apprenticeship college in Saint Maur des Fossés near Paris in France. (more…)

We pick you up and then drop you back down. Sorry, but that’s just how we roll around here. As positive as that last post was about the Billings Index rise, that doesn’t necessarily mean much to a project that’s getting shut down. So it is for UC Berkley, who wanted to build a swanky new building for the Berkley Art Museum and the Pacific Film Archive, designed by Toyo Ito and “estimated to cost $143 million” according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Unfortunately, as plans had moved forward since its original conception more than three years ago, it was decided that they just hadn’t raised enough money for it and the whole thing would have to be shut down. However, while that building itself might now be just a memory, the university hasn’t given up entirely and hopes to at least do something new (albeit on a tighter budget):

“The creation of a new home for the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive in downtown Berkeley continues to be a crucial step in UC Berkeley’s longstanding commitment to the visual arts and to engagement with our broader community,” said UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau. “While the architectural plans will change, what will not change is our shared goal of building a dynamic, welcoming, and seismically safe new museum at the corner of Center and Oxford streets.”

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Have we survived? Have we really put these dark days behind us and come out alive? So it might seem when you hear the news that the AIA‘s Architecture Billing Index is finally back to the levels it was at in August of 2008, right before the world fell apart. Granted, it’s only three points higher than it was back in late-August of this year, and at 46.1 it’s still below 50, indicating that there are still more building jobs finishing than starting, but it’s still a positive sign. Though certainly no one wants to make the mistake of thinking things are good before they rapidly plunge again, like what surprised everyone with back in July. Here’s a bit from the AIA’s always-leery-to-predict-anything Kermit Baker:

The increase in billings could be “an early signal towards a recovery for the design and construction industry,” said AIA Chief Economist Kermit Baker.

“On the other hand, because we continue to get reports of architecture firms struggling in a competitive marketplace with a continued decline in commercial property values, it is far too early to think we are out of the woods.”

Does this all mean, short of just a couple months, that Marvin Malecha was right all along with his predictions late last year? After occasionally poking fun at his more happy vision for the future, this writer feels a little dumb in doubting him. But it’s hard to see any sunshine through a full year of gloom, Marvin. Please understand! Apologies to people we don’t know personally aside, if you want to read more about this latest uptick, the LA Times has some additional conversation with Baker about things maybe getting better.

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London architect Foster + Partners have completed an academy clad in wood in Berkshire, UK. (more…)