"Some of us are overfond of complaining about the big money that drives new architecture today. Architects who once flaunted their radical credentials now work almost exclusively for giant corporations and nouveau-riche clients. But take heart. There is evidence that serious architecture is still being made, some of it even in New York."
Renzo Piano seems to be building everywhere these days, and some argue that the steep rise in the number of commissions he accepts has coincided with a decline in the quality of his work. But his California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, which opens Sept. 27, is likely to remind us why this cultivated architect remains a darling of the art world.
A show opening on Oct. 3 at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in Manhattan focuses on a low-income housing prototype designed by Urbanus of Shenzhen, one of China’s most talented young architecture firms. The cylindrical housing complexes are meant to instill a sense of community among poor migrant workers.
Steven Holl’s new residential towers in Beijing, connected by an irregular pattern of enclosed bridges, are conceived as an antidote to soulless gated communities. The towers frame enormous portals at ground level, allowing the surrounding city to flow through the site. The result is a richly embroidered three-dimensional city that reflects Beijing’s diversity and reconfirms China’s place at the forefront of architectural experimentation.
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