archive australian and new zealand architecture and design resources
news archive 2002 (4)

HOME > RESOURCES > NEWS > ARCHIVE > APRIL 2002

HOME

SELECTED ARCHIVE:

ARCHITECTS
australasian
elsewhere

CONTENT
news archive

ISSUES
heritage
sustainability
forums

PLACES
australasia
europe
americas
the rest

LINKS
schools
zines & blogs
competitions
theory
general
melb consultants
planning + predesign
urban design
practice
computing
weirdness

ABOUT / SERVICES

NEUTRA HOUSE NUKED 24.04.02

     A notable 1962 Richard Neutra house in the Palm Springs desert was pulled down last month, with no warning. The new owners recently bought the Maslon House, paying extra for the Neutra factor. The widow Maslon died last July.

The last news was that the new owners were seeking to restore the house, but instead they quietly sought a demolition permit and pulled it down. The LA Times notes that, "getting a demolition permit is easy in Rancho Mirage; after an asbestos review, a permit can be issued over the counter."

Rancho Mirage has no preservation legislation. When this is the case, as the New York Times points out, good architecture suffers in the end from occupying good real estate.

LINKS
LA TIMES APRIL 11 2002 : REGISTRATION REQUIRED : HAS PHOTOS
DESERT SUN NEWS APRIL 13 2002
RICHARD AND DION NEUTRA ARCHITECTURE
NEW YORK TIMES APRIL 7 2002 : REGISTRATION REQUIRED
SIDELINE > SOTHEBYS : MASLON MODERN ART COLLECTION


PONTI'S PIRELLI TOWER DAMAGED BY PLANE 19.04.02

 

VITAL STATISTICS    
HEIGHT  

127 M

MAX. WIDTH  

18.5M

LENGTH   70.4M
FLOORS   31
STRUCTURE  

REINFORCED CONCRETE

ARCHITECTS   STUDIO PONTI FORNAROLI ROSELLI / STUDIO VALTOLINA-DELL'ORTO
ENGINEERS  

ARTURO DANUSSO, PIER-LUIGI NERVI

     Milan's Pirelli tower was yesterday hit by a small plane, killing three and injuring dozens. The impact caused an explosion that blew many windows off the tower and nearby buildings. Plaza Duca d'Aosta at the base of the building is littered with broken glass and office stationery. There is no word yet on how the explosion may have affected the structure of the building.
   Completed in 1956, the building was designed by Gio Ponti and engineered by Nervi. Every aspect of the building seemed innovative, from Ponti's cut diamond floorplan to Nervi's less is best structure.
    The building is extremely slender and wind resistance was an important design factor. Two triangular blocks of walls at each end of the building work with four coupled shear walls to resist horizontal loads. These few walls also pick up the massive 26m spans of ribbed concrete floor, The building is a 'finite form', meaning that it cannot expand in any direction because the structure is already at its limit.
    From press photos the bulk of the damage appears to be between the coupled walls on the 25th and 26th floors. Photos show damage to both sides of the building which suggests that the lift core has been damaged.

LINKS
REUTERS PHOTO
REUTERS ARTICLE 18.04.02
AGE PHOTO GALLERY 19.04.02

NEW EDITORIAL : MURCUTT CUTS IT WITH THE BEST 15.04.02

    On the occasion of this Australian Architect's winning of the Pritzker Prize (it's a bit like the Logies). BUTTERPAPER EDITORIAL 15.04.02

20th CENTURY BUILDINGS OF SIGNIFICANCE 14.04.02

    The International Union of Architects has selected 120 from around the world as having significant twentieth century architectural value. Seven of these buildings are in Australia. Included are the Sidney Myer Music Bowl and Sydney Opera House. For a full list see this article by Joe Rollo in the Age. THE AGE 12.04.02

BRISBANE BUILDS 09.04.02

    Davenport Campbell and Architectus have won the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art competition from a field of 170. Also, the Queensland State Library architects were announced: Donovan Hill and Peddle Thorp. Article with photo at the COURIER MAIL

OPERA HOUSE WILL START TO CHANGE 04.04.02

    NSW premier Bob Carr has approved the first installment of $24M for the Utzon/Richard Johnson renovations to the Sydney Opera House. The project was announced in 1998, and Joern and Jan Utzon were to provide a design statement and specialist museum architect Richard Johnson was to propose changes based on this statement. The project floated for a while, but now Joern Utzon, at age 83, has almost completed the design principles. From his home in Majorca, Utzon said, "I like to think the Sydney Opera House is a musical instrument and, like any fine instrument, it needs a little maintenance and fine tuning from time to time."

   Utzon's early departure as architect meant that functional changes took place in the Opera House that have made it difficult to mount many types of productions. The opera and concert halls swapped positions leading to a reduced pit in the former and less than perfect acoustics in the latter. Utzon's dramatic interior design ideas also did not come to pass.

INDEPENDENT UK 31 MARCH 2002
GRAMOPHONE UK 25 MARCH 2002
GUARDIAN UK 01 APRIL 2002
SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE

ANDRESEN MAKES RAIA HISTORY 01.04.02

    Brit Andresen has won the RAIA gold medal, the first woman to do so. The award was given to her for her teaching, critical writing, and practice. The institute has said of the 42 year old Queenslander that she, "brought up an uplifting and investigative approach to design which has stimulated the minds of architecture students, many of whom have become established design leaders in their own right, and illustrates the great contribution an individual can bring to the discipline and the profession of architecture."
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD DOMAIN 28.03.02


OFF THE PRESS

29.04.02 The New Zealand Awards were announced a couple of weeks ago. The NZIA now has a minisite covering it. The 'supreme' awards are at the end of next month. NZIA

Clamp on city limits
Re: Melbourne. Suburban growth at the current rate will eat up 21,000 ha. in the next 20 years. 35 housing estates are under construction or recently finished.
(AGE 28.04.02)

Inside Melbourne's Taj Mahal

Re: Melbourne. Interviews with Peter Seamer and Peter Davidson about the design of (and the completion date and cost of) Federation Square.
(AGE 27.04.02)

Unconfined imagination of an award winner
Re: Auckland student placed in Japanese apartment competition.
(NZ Herald 26.04.02)

Owner told to fix Boyd house
Re: Melbourne. Oops: owner of Robin Boyd's own house is told to rebuilt the bit they pulled down.
(AGE 25.04.02)

Glenn Murcutt: Crocodile Dundee With a T-Square
Re: Crocodile who? A good article despite the title. And Glenn gets his own slide show inside the NYT site.
(New York Times 25.04.02)
Free rego required.

How Canberra was won and lost
Re: Canberra. Marion Mahoney's 'gilted drawings' for the Canberra competition make a rare appearance at the national archives. Now till September.
(SMH 24.04.02)

Hairnet to handle hairy situations
Re: Sydney. Australia's only nuclear reactor is to be rebuilt and Cox Richardson architects are suggesting a... steel hairnet to cover it... thus stopping suicide pilots. No, it's true.
(SMH 24.04.02)

A star is born on Anzac Parade
Re: Sydney. Hassell's new NIDA theatre opens. Review by Elizabeth Farrelly.
(SMH 24.04.02)

Geelong dreams of a Guggenheim gallery
Re: Victoria, ABC 7.30 report transcript of report on Geelong's continuing desire to be the Bilbao of the South.
(ABC 23.04.02)

Towering ambitions
Re: Office block modernism in Australia, its history and the public perception.
(SMH 23.04.02)

Future skyscrapers to be more user friendly
Re: Hani Rashid (Asymptote Architecture) discusses the future of tall buildings.
(STUFF 22.04.02)

Brazil Looks Back on Quiet Creator of Brasilia
Re: Brazil, Lucio Costa retrospective.
(Reuters 21.04.02)

'Rubbish bags' outrage St Petersburg
Re: St Petersburg not all that keen on Eric Owen Moss opera house.
(Guardian UK 19.04.02)

Rich Firms, Poor Ideas on Towers Site
Re: New York. Herbert Muschamp examines the history behind the players in the rebuild of the WTC site. How independent are the independent bodies?
(YAHOO/NYT 18.04.02)

Murcutt wins the world
Re: More on the man, and a slight swipe at Seidler to spice it up.
(AGE 17.04.02)

Aussie Tin Shed is now a World-beater
Re: Glenn Murcutt and the Pritzker Prize.
(SMH 15.04.02)

Putting the art in architecture
Re: New Zealand National Awards announcements.
(NZ Herald 11.04.02)

Nearly $1m paid to union in WA, building inquiry told
Re: Australian building industry inquiry gets uglier.
(The Age 11.04.02)

Hotel Moskva Might Go the Intourist Way
Re: Moscow. That hotel featuring prominently on the Stoli vodka bottle is under threat.
(The Moscow Times 09.04.02)


 

DISCLAIMER
butter paper© 2000-2005 HOME ABOUT REV: 13.12.03 xx.xx.02