“It is not a minor detour on the tourist path nor a mere question of convenience, like deciding to enter through the garage door rather than trek around to the vestigial front porch. The closing of the front doors of the Supreme Court, like so many mindless decisions attributed to security concerns, is a grand affront — architecturally, symbolically, politically. The decision will enforce new and unwanted meanings on one of the city’s most dramatic and successful public buildings.”
Tag: 05.04.10
A Revolution In British School Design
“While the politicians continue to bicker over the old issues of teachers’ pay, class sizes and the national curriculum, there is one thing that has been proved to make a profound difference to pupils’ grades both at Kingsdale and many other schools in Britain and around the world: the physical design of the building.”
Ten Years Of Fantastic Projects In The Tate Turbine Hall
“The Turbine Hall presents an enormous opportunity, but also a huge career risk. One doesn’t want overblown monstrosities, or for artists just to make grandiose versions of the kind of things they have done elsewhere.”
Turner Prize Shortlist – Not Good Enough?
“The Turner prize is about finding and rewarding brilliance, and it should be able to convince us that someone on the shortlist might turn out to have a touch of genius. Two of this year’s list, the Otolith Group and Dalwood, are in my opinion duds – as far from genius as it is possible to get. Which leaves two worthwhile contenders.”
Canada’s Newspaper, TV Landscape Are About To Be Transformed
Breakup of the failing CanWest empire will result in a reordering of the country’s media. Some critics aren’t sure the new configuration is viable.
Sydney Symphony In The Red
“The orchestra has cited a downturn in single ticket sales, and unrelieved costs from its 2007 separation from the ABC, for the $1,090,477 deficit. Affected by the weakened economy last year, single ticket sales were $593,000 less than those for 2008.”
In Theory The Oakland Museum Should Work…
The Oakland Museum of California’s return to active life offers a way to measure, yet again, the gap between architectural theories and real life.
Could An Army Of Smartphone Chips Recreate A Human Brain?
“Coaxing any computer into behaving like a brain is tough. Both real neurons and computer circuits communicate using electrical signals, but in biology the “wires” carrying them do not have fixed roles as in electronics.”
The Chicago Jazz Festival, Reconceived
“Though the city’s strapped budget means that the Grant Park portion of the fest will be reduced to two days, Sept. 4 and 5, the planners of the event have turned an apparent setback into a potential bonanza: They have conceived a Chicago Jazz Festival Week that will offer major events in Millennium Park, the Chicago Cultural Center and the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies.”
Brits Are Watching More TV. Why?
“Figures from January to March 2010 showed people watched, on average, four hours and 18 minutes daily, up from three hours, 56 minutes in 2009. Two-thirds of those hours were spent watching commercial channels, it said.”