WEEKLY EMAIL: NOVEMBER 19, 2009

Dear Readers,

You have been receiving communications from Places, and so we are pleased to send you the new format of our weekly newsletter. We hope you will visit and enjoy the site.

Nancy Levinson
Editor, Places

FEATURED THIS WEEK : JONATHAN MASSEY

Five Ways to Change the World

"So you want to change the world? Start by changing the built environment." Here architect and educator Jonathan Massey offers a guide, "idiosyncratic and partial," to activism through architecture. Massey describes how the cumulative effects of comparatively ordinary activities — voting, shopping, building a house, organizing a community, throwing a party — can make our lives better — more just, responsible, connected and convivial.
READ MORE

CENTER FOR LAND USE INTERPRETATION

Urban Crude

Every year 28 million barrels of petroleum are extracted from the 41 fields located within Los Angeles — making L.A. the most urban oil-producing site in the nation. Created by the Center for Land Use Interpretation, and now on exhibit at its gallery in Culver City, Urban Crude photo-documents this metropolitan petroscape — paying special attention to the myriad efforts to camouflage the fact that some 5,000 wells remain active in the second most populous city in the U.S.
READ MORE

MIMI ZEIGER

Our Design Decade

Design USA, marking ten years of the National Design Awards program, opened last month at the Cooper-Hewitt. Mimi Zeiger describes an exhibition that balances a celebration of innovative (and often pricey) artifacts with recognition of our recessionary times.
READ MORE

KEITH EGGENER

Up-to-Date in Kansas City

In 2004 the U.S. Congress designated the Liberty Memorial in Kansas City the nation's official World War I museum. Today it will be the scene of ceremonies commemorating the signing of the armistice that ended the war on November 11, 1918. Places contributing editor Keith Eggener traces the architectural history of a once-celebrated design, and sees in its austere classicism a road not taken for American modernism.
READ MORE

RENATA STIH, FRIEDER SCHNOCK

Open Space: Berlin After Reunification

For two decades the Berlin-based conceptual artists Renata Stih and Frieder Schnock have been creating provocative works of public art exploring questions of German memory, history, politics and identity. Here they curate a selection of projects and images, containing and referencing multiple works, to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall.
READ MORE

JAN OTAKAR FISCHER

The Art of Reunification

In August 1961 the German Democratic Republic began to construct the Berlin Wall, and for almost three decades the 96-mile-long concrete barrier encircled West Berlin, isolating it from the communist-ruled GDR. On November 9, 1989, with the politburo's decision to open the border crossings, the wall effectively fell. Berlin-based architect–writer and Places contributing editor Jan Otakar Fischer remembers the transformative events of '89, recounts the failed effort to create a national reunification memorial, and explores the still charged questions of German identity and memory.
READ MORE

BECOME A FAN ON FACEBOOK | FOLLOW US ON TWITTER

PLACES ARCHIVE: SUMMER 1983

An Interview with James Turrell

A 1983 interview with James Turrell, then beginning his transformation of the Roden Crater. The monumental work is scheduled to open to the public in 2012.
READ MORE

PARTNER SCHOOL

University of Michigan, Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning
The fields of architecture and urban planning are poised to undergo dramatic changes. Beginning in the nineties, we saw the emergence of the "star" architect as a cultural force and the consolidation of architecture as an agent for physical and economic change in cities across the world. The 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing were a culmination of this era and a demonstration of the potential power of architecture. However, this model of practice has already shown its limits, its weaknesses, and its flaws. It is safe to say that a new generation of practitioners will not be able to follow in the footsteps of its predecessors and, more importantly, should not.

RECENT BOOKS RECEIVED

Shift: SANAA and the New Museum
Joseph Grima & Karen Wong, editors

Outside Lies Magic: Regaining History and Awareness in Everyday Places
John R. Stilgoe

194X: Architecture, Planning, and Consumer Culture on the American Home Front
Andrew M. Shanken


WEEKLY EMAIL: NOVEMBER 19, 2009
Dear Readers, You have been receiving communications from Places, and so we are pleased to send you the new format of our weekly newsletter. We hope you will visit and enjoy the site. Nancy Levinson Editor, Places
FEATURED THIS WEEK : JONATHAN MASSEY Five Ways to Change the World "So you want to change the world? Start by changing the built environment." Here architect and educator Jonathan Massey offers a guide, "idiosyncratic and partial," to activism through architecture. Massey describes how the cumulative effects of comparatively ordinary activities — voting, shopping, building a house, organizing a community, throwing a party — can make our lives better — more just, responsible, connected and convivial. READ MORE
CENTER FOR LAND USE INTERPRETATION Urban Crude Every year 28 million barrels of petroleum are extracted from the 41 fields located within Los Angeles — making L.A. the most urban oil-producing site in the nation. Created by the Center for Land Use Interpretation, and now on exhibit at its gallery in Culver City, Urban Crude photo-documents this metropolitan petroscape — paying special attention to the myriad efforts to camouflage the fact that some 5,000 wells remain active in the second most populous city in the U.S. READ MORE MIMI ZEIGER Our Design Decade Design USA, marking ten years of the National Design Awards program, opened last month at the Cooper-Hewitt. Mimi Zeiger describes an exhibition that balances a celebration of innovative (and often pricey) artifacts with recognition of our recessionary times. READ MORE KEITH EGGENER Up-to-Date in Kansas City In 2004 the U.S. Congress designated the Liberty Memorial in Kansas City the nation's official World War I museum. Today it will be the scene of ceremonies commemorating the signing of the armistice that ended the war on November 11, 1918. Places contributing editor Keith Eggener traces the architectural history of a once-celebrated design, and sees in its austere classicism a road not taken for American modernism. READ MORE RENATA STIH, FRIEDER SCHNOCK Open Space: Berlin After Reunification For two decades the Berlin-based conceptual artists Renata Stih and Frieder Schnock have been creating provocative works of public art exploring questions of German memory, history, politics and identity. Here they curate a selection of projects and images, containing and referencing multiple works, to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall. READ MORE JAN OTAKAR FISCHER The Art of Reunification In August 1961 the German Democratic Republic began to construct the Berlin Wall, and for almost three decades the 96-mile-long concrete barrier encircled West Berlin, isolating it from the communist-ruled GDR. On November 9, 1989, with the politburo's decision to open the border crossings, the wall effectively fell. Berlin-based architect–writer and Places contributing editor Jan Otakar Fischer remembers the transformative events of '89, recounts the failed effort to create a national reunification memorial, and explores the still charged questions of German identity and memory. READ MORE		BECOME A FAN ON FACEBOOK \| FOLLOW US ON TWITTER PLACES ARCHIVE: SUMMER 1983 An Interview with James Turrell A 1983 interview with James Turrell, then beginning his transformation of the Roden Crater. The monumental work is scheduled to open to the public in 2012. READ MORE PARTNER SCHOOL University of Michigan, Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning The fields of architecture and urban planning are poised to undergo dramatic changes. Beginning in the nineties, we saw the emergence of the "star" architect as a cultural force and the consolidation of architecture as an agent for physical and economic change in cities across the world. The 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing were a culmination of this era and a demonstration of the potential power of architecture. However, this model of practice has already shown its limits, its weaknesses, and its flaws. It is safe to say that a new generation of practitioners will not be able to follow in the footsteps of its predecessors and, more importantly, should not. RECENT BOOKS RECEIVED Shift: SANAA and the New Museum Joseph Grima & Karen Wong, editors Outside Lies Magic: Regaining History and Awareness in Everyday Places John R. Stilgoe 194X: Architecture, Planning, and Consumer Culture on the American Home Front Andrew M. Shanken
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