Story Archives of 'Architecture'

In this age of high gas prices and carbon consciousness, the suburbs get a bad rap. And the poster child for suburban blight has become the shopping mall, vilified since the 1950s for sucking the life out of downtown centers.

If malls have a birthplace, it's the Southdale Center, just outside Minneapolis, built (and then disowned) by architect Victor Gruen. Since then malls have become symbolic of architectural compromise.

So it’s surprising that influential architects are trying to breathe new life into malls with contemporary design, and to revive the original idea of malls as small-scale urban centers. Two malls opening this month, in Bern, Switzerland, and in west London, exemplify the new trend.

Mason Currey wrote about the new crop of high-concept malls for Metropolis magazine, where he's an assistant editor. He joins Word of Mouth with more on the new trend of high-end malls.

(Photo of West Village, London's mall courtesy of Gabellini Sheppard Associates)

There are a handful of famous architects that most Americans could name, Frank Lloyd Wright and Frank Gehry being among the the most recognizable. We live in and walk past the work of architects every day, some celebrated in their field, but the majority are unknown and rarely celebrated outside of the trade.

Architect and professor Roger K. Lewis wrote about his frustrations with this anonymity in a Washington Post column. He says Americans are pragmatists who put utilitarian concerns ahead of aesthetics, and that we celebrate people who entertain, not those who create imaginative, creative works of public architecture.

Lewis’ frustrations are shared by Donald Kreis, Word of Mouth architecture commentator and assistant director of the Institute for Energy and the Environment at Vermont Law School. Donald wants to give credit where credit is due, so he joins us to tell us about four of his favorite architects from New England - one from New Hampshire, and the others from Vermont, Massachusetts and Maine - to better appreciate their work when we see it.

Read more on Donald Kreis' architecture picks

C. Stuart White of Banwell Architects in Lebanon, NH
Carol A. Wilson of Falmouth, Maine
John Anderson of Burlington, Vermont
Charles Rose of Boston, MA

(Photo of the Currier Arts Center at the Putney School courtesy of Charles Rose of Boston)

It’s not all that uncommon for modern architectural design to clash with the local expectations of a community - especially what that community houses a college. A new building proposal at Dartmouth is straining town-gown relations between the school and some residents of Hanover. Dartmouth released plans for a new, $52 million visual arts center last week.

The design by a Boston architectural firm Machado and Silvetti Associates calls for more than 99 thousand square feet located downtown. The school says it would provide a “new gateway” for the college on the southern end of town.

But one member of the committee that acts as liason between the school and the town told the student newspaper The Dartmouth, "it’s creating an urban landscape in what used to be a traditional New England town. It’s gaudy and southwestern, and we’re not. It’s going to look funny with snow on it."

Word of Mouth’s architectural conitributor Don Kreis joins us to give us the details. His day job is with New Hampshire’s Public Utility Commission, where he’s general council.

The modern building proposal in Hanover seems downright tame, though, compared to what’s on top of a contemporary art museum in Paris right now. A pair of Swiss artists has created a single-room hotel and set it atop the Palais de Tokyo. The piece of interactive art allows one exclusive couple to spend the night in what may be the world’s first portable hotel. John Laurenson of Deutsche Welle Radio checked in to Hotel Everland to find out more.

We begin today with a look at a new tick in green architecture. "Sustainability" has been the buzz word as architects and builders incorporate natural materials and use less energy and natural resources in new buildings. An eco-friendly stamp of approval was created in 2000 called "Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design," or LEED, to help streamline the process. But designers of some recent high-profile projects, including Renzo Piano, designer of The New York Times’ new building in midtown Manhattan, have decided to forego LEED in favor of their own version of green design.

Joining Word of Mouth with more is William Bostwick. He writes about art and architecture for Metropolis, Dwell and other publications. His article on LEED and green design appears in the July/August issue of GOOD Magazine.

An estimated 4,000 people turned up for the re-opening of the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester on Sunday. After a 21-month renovation that cost 21.4 million dollars, the museum can now exhibit 50 percent more of its collection.

The Currier is one of dozens of museums being built or renovated across the country, many by "star architects," like Daniel Liebeskind in Denver, Zaha Hadid in Cincinatti and artist Maya Lin in New York's SoHo. Critics say these costly expansions are unecessary or even irresponsible, that mediocre collections are being housed in flashy new buildings. Some museums are cutting programs and firing employees, while they're, as one naysayer put it, "hell-bent on creating new spaces for wealthy donor parties." But the Currier staff say they wanted to increase access and programming space for the New Hampshire community at large.

Word of Mouth's Virginia Precott took a tour of the museum with Scott Aquilina, a project manager of the Boston-based firm of Ann Beha Architects, which has been working since 1994 to open the Currier up to new audiences, and provide space for educational programs and new exhibitions.

Visit the Currier Museum of Art's website

(Photo by lunita)