Hasta La Ideas

Before this writer left on vacation for those past couple of weeks, we’d wanted to post this great special report on our sister blog FishbowlNY by Jerry Barmash, concerning the massive redesign and general overhaul of Madison Square Garden. Jerry was invited into one of the world’s most famous venues to get a look from the top down at the both the work current finished, as well as what the overhaul will entail over the next three years (or perhaps a bit more quickly since there aren’t so many basketball games interrupting the construction effort). Contrary to the standard practice of just shutting something down while you rebuild and then reopen once it’s all done, it’s a great look at a fairly unusual process of having to reconstruct and redesign around a structure that has to remain in tremendously regular use year round.

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Looks like a major redesign to a staple location within a large metropolitan area is just the sort of thing that draws in a batch of architecture’s heaviest hitters. There was speculation that the contest to redesign Chicago’s Navy Pier, which launched at the start of last month and which seeks to turn the large space into something better and more functional than its current status as the city’s central tourist trap, would bring in some substantial and well-known talent. Cut from a list of 50, there are now eleven teams selected. Among them, as if the top names like Zaha Hadid and Rem Koolhaas‘ OMA/SGA weren’t enough as the leaders of the teams, the groups are also made up of others high-profile firms, like Bruce Mau Design and nArchitects joining James Corner Field Operations, Diller Scofidio + Renfro getting set up with Gustafson Guthrie Nichol, and Arup among the list on SHoP‘s squad. These eleven impressive teams will eventually be cut down to just five, who will then be given $50,000 each to develop proposals, which are set to go on public display sometime early next year. One thing we’d be willing to bet on is that design firm Pentagram will at least make it to the next round, if not all the way to the finish line, given that they’re included in no fewer than four different teams at the moment.

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Speaking of government-based contests as we were in that last post, we turn to something a bit more positive (or at least something that fewer people seem angry about). Launched last month, the National Mall Design Competition, which is attempting to rehab three specific areas to focus preservation efforts on (Union Square, the Washington Monument grounds at Sylvan Theater and Constitution Gardens) has now named their jurors. Picking their favorite entries for the estimated $700 million project are a list of, as was expected, luminaries from a number of fields. They include the Washington Post‘ former architecture critic, Benjamin Forgey, Pentagram‘s Michael Gericke, and architect about town, Thom Mayne. Thus far, the competition has reportedly registered more than 1,200 designers and firms from 10 countries and 30 states who are interested in participating. Out of those, the jurors will pick 58 to move forward. Here’s a bit about the process:

“In Stage I, the Jury will evaluate lead designers based on past design performance, philosophy, design intent, thoughtfulness, creativity and overall resume,” said Donald J. Stastny FAIA FAICP FCIP, the Competition Manager. “The Jurors’ professional expertise and diverse perspectives will be valuable assets in the selection process.”

The Jury will meet over three days to select the lead designers who they recommend be invited to participate in Stage II. That recommendation will be made to the Steering Committee, which will confirm that the designers met all of the requirements as stated in the Competition Manual and that there were no conflicts of interest in the Jury process.

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There’s to be some new blood at New York’s High Line soon. It’s been announced that Cecilia Alemani has been appointed the new curator and director of the High Line Art Program, taking over from Lauren Ross, who left the position at the start of the summer after having taken a job at the Philbrook Museum in Tulsa. Alemani had previously worked as an independent curator and writer, working with organizations like the Tate Modern, the MCA in Chicago, and the MoMA and its P.S.1, to name just a few. Most recently she was found guest curating for Performa 11 and collaborating on the Frieze Art Fair in London. Here’s a bit from the announcement:

“After an extensive search, it is clear that Cecilia is the best candidate to lead High Line Art. Cecilia is a thoughtful, forward-thinking curator who will bring an innovative approach to structuring the public art program on the High Line,” said Donald R. Mullen, Jr., the founding supporter of High Line Art and Board member of Friends of the High Line. “I have often said that the High Line is the new museum mile. High Line Art celebrates the park’s role in connecting two neighborhoods that make up the cultural hub of New York City, with the more than 400 galleries and cultural organizations that populate the streets below the park. Cecilia’s curatorial leadership will elevate High Line Art to new level in New York City and the international art world.

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As we wrote in an update to a post from last week, it appears as though Frank Gehry‘s latest meeting with the National Capital Planning Commission didn’t go as well as he’d likely hoped. The famous architect had been there to discuss some recent updates to his plans for the Dwight Eisenhower Memorial (namely adding story-telling, metal-engraved tapestries), which is set to be built on a four-acre site just across from the Air and Space Museum, changes we believed he’d made to help increase enthusiasm and grease the wheels a bit in getting the project finally approved (he’d landed the commission more than two years ago after all). Instead, Gehry suffered a number of hits. The Washington Post reports that the NCPC is still very concerned about the memorial blocking the view of the Capitol and shared worries that the proposed tapestries didn’t tell enough of the former President’s life story and/or would block sunlight filtering into the Department of Education building. And perhaps the toughest hit of all came from the Eisenhower family, who have issued a statement calling for the whole approval to come to a stand-still while everyone can essentially collect their thoughts about the whole project, and idea we’re sure Gehry and even members of the NCPC aren’t entirely keen to. Here’s a bit of that from the Post:

Signed by Eisenhower granddaughters Anne, Susan and Mary Jean Eisenhower, their statement expressed gratitude to Congress and the White House for their support of the memorial but called for a timeout in the approval process. “We feel that now is the time to get these elements right — before any final design approvals are given and before any ground is broken.”

…Daniel J. Feil, executive architect for the Eisenhower Memorial Commission, said that his organization would defer comment on the Eisenhower sisters’ statement but that David Eisenhower, the brother of Anne, Susan and Mary Jean, is a commission member and supports the design. David Eisenhower could not be reached for comment.

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