Month: May 2001

Leave Los Angeles for a week and the world falls apart. Or so it might seem. Archlog notes an LA Times article with the following news:

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art has selected five architects who will compete for the commission to design an extensive $200-million renovation and expansion that will include a new contemporary art structure and possibly the razing of the Ahmanson Building. The five finalists include Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, Berlin-based Daniel Libeskind, Jean Nouvel of Paris, New York’s Steven Holl and Thom Mayne of Los Angeles.

Naturally, we’re strongly in favor of Koolhaas or Nouvel. Note to the architects: please don’t tear down the Ahmanson – it’s the best building there. And please don’t ruin Miracle Mile. Remember what your mother told you: if you can’t say anything, it’s best to keep quiet.

A New York Times article describes the Peculiar Ruins of the New Economy.

Kazys.net hasn’t been updated much lately because I’ve been in Florida. If you’re interested in where Kazys is having dinner tonight, check out the Mai-Kai Restaurant in Fort Lauderdale.

Steven Holl’s victory in the Cornell Architecture building competition is official. I’m still looking for images of the entries themselves.
Oh, Form Zero should be re-opening in a matter of days.

The New York Times has an article entitled Outlaw Tourists in the Urban Underbelly on the growing interest in exploring the ruins of the global city.

Finger Lakes Formalism, indeed. archlog: the weblog of architecture reports that Steven Holl has won the competition to design the new Cornell University School of Architecture, beating out Tod Williams/Billie Tsien and Peter Zumthor. Although we haven’t seen the competition entries, having seen Holl’s rather meagre Science Center at Cranbrook, which stands in contrast to the far superior Williams/Tsien poolhouse there and firmly believing that Zumthor’s Swiss neo-Brutalism would have been perfect for the gorge-side site, well, we can only hope for the best.