Fail by Design

Ok, so this blog isn’t meant to celebrate “FAIL” in the sense of the popularized meme… But sometimes an entire 13-story building in Shanghai tips over and I can focus on nothing else. CHECK THIS OUT!!! (from Gizmodo) Further proof that buildings in China are made with newspapers and rotten apple cores.

timmmmmmmber

The idiom “go fly a kite” certainly fits well with the current state of most architect’s careers. Fly NY, a kite design competition, just happened at the perfect moment. I’m proud to announce that the Haptic Lab’s tetrahedral kite won 2nd place, besting the Buckminster Fuller Institute’s giant tetrahedral (who were awarded ‘biggest kite tease’ at the event).  More TBA…

For more information of other sitings of His Noodliness, visit http://www.venganza.org/

With the building industry going belly-up these days, more architects (the under-employed and un-employed) are turning to competitions for a little validation. The lure of $150,000 also helps. And a flashy website lends a little credibility to the proposal…

But The Bering Competition, a grandiose call to:

“eliminate all of the barriers like spatial disconnection of national borders and chronological disconnection of today and tomorrow, and thus, stepping forward to peace and prosperity for all earth and mankind”

-is just plain silly. I love that the islands of the Straight take their names from Greek mythology, for surely only architects of the most tragic hubris are going to enter this…

Dan Stewart has this one in the bag!

In case you missed it, Fumio has solved the cause of the massive CCTV fire that gutted the Mandarin Oriental… I still think it was the kerosene-impregnated gypsum board…

CCTV Fire Causes

AND the winner is...

I just don’t get it… Especially after seeing Carmody Groake’s 2nd place entry. True: digital complexity, genetic algorithms, and biomorphic forms are exciting inclusions into the field of architecture. Also true: elegant, straightforward forms that clearly relate to the scale of both city and its population are not to be tragically dismissed.

Czech National Library: Carmody Groarke

Red Hook is a constant source of fascination for NYC designers.  Decrepit industrial sites full of exciting potential for reuse; the remoteness from the rest of the city, a quaint and sleepy harbor town beyond the fortress of the BQE; sunsets over the shipping cranes of Elizabeth NJ, like sleepy brontosauruses at the water’s edge.  And the history of Red Hook, populated by Brando-styled longshoremen, the bygone time when coffee was still “coffey”.

Let’s be honest with ourselves for a moment: Red Hook might be a bit like Brigadoon, but it’s also a limepit of failed and atrophied urban experiments. Having worked briefly in Red Hook (in the days before Ikea), I can say it has a certain charm. But you have to accept the itchy addicts that ride the B61 to the methadone clinic every morning, and the hookers that work the streets near “the Back” PJs. Oh, and the mangy pack of wild dogs that roam the Paul Revere Sugar Refinery will chase and probably kill you.

It’s a tough place, but even the softer, cuddlier things in Red Hook (papusas served out the back of someone’s van near the ball fields) will probably fall victim to our enterprising need for decency.  Sadly, Red Hook stands to become the suburban playground of the patrician middleclass of Park Slope and Carroll Gardens who want to trade pigeons for seagulls for a day.

As an architect, I’d like to see everyone leave Red Hook alone, or at least exhibit some sensitivity to its industrial bruises. You have to really understand this misty island world before you can suggest improvements.

Several design competitions have been launched in recent months that concern Red Hook: The Forum for Urban Design’s Bicycle Design Competition and Architecture for Humanity’s Marketplace for the Red Hook Vendors. Fail By Design will be discussing the entries and their implications for the Red Hook community.