Hasta La Ideas

We’ve only been to Detroit once and while there, nearly a decade ago, we were constantly wondering if we’d get to see Robocop cleaning up the streets. No, that isn’t entirely true, but we’re still very big fans of the Paul Verhoeven classic (we even liked the sequels). So too do the actual residents of the city, purely judging from the reaction Sweet Juniper‘s Robocop Kid costume received this past fall. Unfortunately, despite all those positive feelings, it appeared that the efforts to raise a Robocop statue somewhere in the city had been struck down before they even began by Mayor Dave Bing, who said about the idea on Twitter earlier this week, “There are not any plans to erect a statue to Robocop. Thank you for the suggestion.” But not so fast! After hearing the news that the mayor wasn’t into it, Reuters reports that a group of artists have banded together, saying they plan to raise $50,000 to help build the monument to the all cop, half robot, half man. The group has launched DetroitNeedsRobocop.com as well as a Kickstarter page, raising close to $5,000 in just over a day. What’s more, they’ve even found a location for where they’d like the statute to be placed. Turning around quickly with the news of the fundraising, the mayor’s office has now said “that the mayor would consider using public land for a donated RoboCop statue.” So fingers crossed, as there’s a chance Murphy might still be immortalized after all.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Please disregard what we’d mentioned in passing in a post Monday about Frank Gehry‘s upward luck trajectory following a rough patch there in 2008. Maybe we jinxed it, because shortly thereafter, news came down the pike that the architect’s gigantic, cloud-like Louis Vuitton Foundation for Creation project in Paris has hit a wall with French courts, who issued an immediate stop work order. The Independent reports that although neighboring residents had been fighting to stop the building, by and large the French public were excited, after its commission way back in 2006, to have a new starchitect-made creation in their backyard. However, the residents finally convinced a judge, who said the building would block a public road, thus halting construction until either the matter is settled or the building doesn’t get built (at least in the currently-slated area). Outrage has been swift, from Paris’ mayor, who called the ruling absurd, to fellow starchitect Jean Nouvel who said he was “outraged by the selfishness, lack of civic pride and ignorance.” Gehry himself is reportedly quite miffed as well, telling the Telegraph that he’s “appalled, shocked and angry.” As the Independent continues, it seems perhaps this is some lingering hostility toward “the new” in architecture when it comes to Parisians, the same people who greatly disliked the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre‘s pyramid, and the Centre Pompidou. We can’t imagine that the project will go away completely, and this serving as anything more that just a hurdle along the way, but who knows? Stranger things have happened, we suppose.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

It seems like boatloads of time has passed since Prince Charles was at the forefront of the news, being regularly vilified for his perceived bias against modern architecture. Sure, there was that minor battle in the last few months of 2010 when there was some outcry over what some saw was his Foundation for the Built Environment trying to move in on a power play and take over all oversight of all future British building projects (a criticism they responded to). But largely speaking, once the Chelsea Barracks debacle finally ended last summer, with the Prince saying he was just looking out for the good of the common man, it’s been pretty quiet. However, last week Charles spoke at his Foundation, directly addressing some of the criticism lobbed against him, saying that it both “drives [him] insane” that people believe he has “an obsession with classical architecture” and that his organization has created quality, meritorious work (like their master-planning efforts in Haiti) that will be copied by other groups for years to come. As Building Design reports, the Prince made these comments at a meeting the Foundation was holding for the launch of a new community planning/development framework they’ve created, one that “aims to see experts working more closely with local people to ensure development is appropriate and sustainable.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

If you’re not in or around Chicago at the moment, you’ve likely heard about the mayoral election happening here later this month. It’s the first time in decades that Richard M. Daley hasn’t been a shoe-in (simply because he’s decided not to run this year) and it’s clearly the second or third most exciting to happen in Chicago politics in recent days (Obama ranks up top, with this and the ousting of Governor Blagojevich rankling for second place). And while Rahm Emanuel looks to be the shoe-in successor, the race isn’t over until it’s over. Surveys and interviews filled out by the candidates have been printed or posted for months, covering everything from crime to education. However, the one we were unaware that we’d be most looking forward to has been released: the Landmark Illinois‘ Historic Preservation Survey (pdf). Questions range from “What is your favorite modern building in Chicago?” (Carol Moseley Braun scores points for answer Rafael Vinoly‘s Booth School of Business building, William Walls loses them for his pick of the hard-to-love McCormick Place) to the more specific/political, “Do you support the use of Tax Increment Financing (TIF), in existing TIF districts, to assist with the rehabilitation of historic buildings?” It’s an interesting peek into the not-often voice opinions of the candidates (except for Gery Chico, who didn’t answer), and makes it difficult to pick a favorite based solely on the answers to this one survey.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The fun parts of big civic architectural projects are getting to see the finalists’ renderings, then learning who won the commission and getting to take a look at what they have planned, and then actually getting to go inside the finished building or walk around the park or whatever the project happens to be. The painful part is where the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial has just found itself in: talking about how much it’s going to cost and what it’s going to take to construct it. The project, you might recall, involves a major overhaul of the area surrounding St. Louis’ iconic Gateway Arch, with landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh landing the job to make it a more inviting environment. This past week, a public meeting was held to discuss the project, at that time announcing that it wasn’t going to cost the previously estimated $300 million, but would likely wind up costing closer to $600 million. While the nearly doubled expense before ground has even been broken doesn’t seem to have terribly rattled anyone — it hasn’t been released as to how much is coming from private funds, local government, the National Park Service, etc., so that probably helps. And who wants to think about expense when the most exciting news of the meeting was that gondolas are planned to ferry visitors across the Mississippi River to both sides of the planned park. Gondolas! More specifics about the project, released at last week’s meeting, can be found here.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.