Click the play button to watch Metropolis's executive editor, Martin C. Pedersen, introduce our new video series on Manhattan's Yorkville neighborhood.

The idea of a Louvre branch on Abu Dhabi's Saadiyat Island is just mind-boggling. When completed in 2013, the museum will present "works drawn from the Louvre and other French museums and from its own permanent collection." But if the numbers in Adran Hornsby's article on the end of "starchitecture" in the latest Hunch are any indication -- approximately half of the $1.4 billion budget is allotted for "Louvre art loans and management and curatorial services" -- the majority of art will be shipped to Abu Dhabi.

But what art? Curators will have to pass on paintings depicting the female nude, a rather large canon of Western art, as Hornsby points out. So when thinking about a project that buys the use of the name Louvre, borrows its art, and is still largely undefined in terms of its contents, it seems appropriate that Jean Nouvel's design is basically a big roof, a dome over a bunch of buildings and outdoor space. The name and the architecture come before the contents, which are seen as just more items of international trade and commerce.


[architect and client under full-scale mock-up]

Yet I have to admit it's a pretty cool roof, one that filters the sun to minimize the heat from it but still celebrate it. The PR text describes it and the mock-up above:
"A key design element of the Louvre Abu Dhabi will be its great dome, 180 meters (almost 600 feet) in diameter, floating above a cluster of buildings and waterways. Perforated by interlaced patterns, the dome will let a diffused light filter magically into the spaces below. The prototype, 6 meters (approximately 20 feet) in diameter, is being used to test the play of light and shadows on the site prior to fabrication of the final structure"
[architect and client inside small-scale model of the Louvre Abu Dhabi]

Well, if the Louvre Abu Dhabi can't display the nude female body, why not giant statues of Jean Nouvel and Sheikh Sultan bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan? Looks good to me.

As we hear reports of Alameda County sheriffs entering the Berkeley campus with tear gas today, and (on the positive side) the University of California teams doing very well in the WPA 2.0 competition (winners UCLA's cityLAB as well as Berkeley faculty runners-up Rael and de Monchaux), it's worth listening to this report on Democracy Now. | Don't forget, we're also documenting the contribution of the UCs to the arts and design disciplines here.

Posted in: New York, NY by Robert. Another NYC achrylic painting for all Citynoisers...

Here are a couple Friday afternoon facades.


[Beekman Tower in Manhattan by Gehry Partners, under construction | photo by Philippe2032 from Paris]


[Campus Audiovisual in Barcelona, Spain by David Chipperfield Architects, 2008 | photo by jmtp]

To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just:

:: Join and add photos to the archidose pool, and/or
:: Tag your photos archidose

cityLAB Design Competition WPA 2.0 Rides Perfect Storm in DC WPA 2.0: Working Public Architecture, the design competition organized by UCLA�s cityLAB, culminated with the announcement of �Carbon T.A.P.// Tunnel Algae Park� as the winner of the professional competition and �R_Ignite� and �Aquaculture Canal_New Orleans� as the winners of the student competition...
Rietveldprijs 2009 Goes to Business Park in Utrecht Papendorp The design for Papendorp Business Park in Utrecht, The Netherlands, West 8 designed together with Wissing Stedebouw en Ruimtelijke Vormgeving, has won the Rietveld Award 2009...
Kenyan Slum Youth Group Wins 2009 ONE Africa Award A community organization founded by young people in Nairobi�s slums has won the ONE Africa Award, an annual prize given by the global anti-poverty group to honor ground-breaking work by African non-governmental organizations...
Architect�s Eye Announces Winners of Architectural Photography Contest The winners of Architect�s Eye, a competition which judges architects� photography skills, are John Barr, an independent architect practicing in Glasgow, and Philippe Brysse, an Associate at Foster and Partners...
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Officials at the St. Louis Zoo are preparing for their holiday Wild Lights exhibit by installing electronic polar bear proxies in place of the deceased polar bears who died in their captivity. The gesture is rife with social commentary, given the fact that polar bears have become the iconic images of climate change, and our generation could witness their extinction. Could artificial animal zoo exhibits be the reality of the near future? See what PETA proposes and learn more about this new breed of bear at Inhabitots.

READ MORE AT INHABITOTS >

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When someone recently asked me for some typical New Jersey sprawl photos, my first thought was that there is nothing typical about NJ sprawl. We have 10 acre lot sprawl, 1/4 acre lot sprawl, commercial sprawl and even industrial sprawl. But then nothing else in NJ is particularly typical either. So, I asked myself, which photos do I have that really represent the typical New Jersey? The answer turned out to be that I was still missing some key pieces that I should be more conscience to capture. But here are a few and I've created a photo strip online to show you more. I'll probably expand it in the coming months as I discover better photos in my archives or take shots in the field, but here is a start.

What a cool new product that I could see working so well in small but highly functional kitchen spaces! You can create your work triangle and when needed, remove these cooking plates for additional counter top space.  So clever!  I would love to see this product live and try it out in person. Maybe, I could try my hand at searing a piece of salmon, or creating a stir fry in one of these.       

Lotus is a wireless cooking system that offers an elegant alternative to the conventional static hob. Each piece is specifically designed for various cooking styles and meal types. There is a tepan yaki plate, a wok hob (the bowl like piece), a grill plate and induction plates. The pieces are powered using resonant induction. There are transmission coils hidden beneath the counter top and receiving coils in each of the pieces. Power can be transferred to one or all of the pieces at any one time.

Clean up is a cinch since you can dunk the plates in water. Although many avid cooks argue nothing beats the flavor and efficiency of a meal cooked by fire, home chefs like myself prefer flexibility and easy clean up. Safety is another huge advantage here. The heat ferrous directly by creating a magnetic field causing edding currents in the metal to heat up. Therefore they always remain cool and are safe to pick up almost immediately after cooking. Of course there are handles just to ease the minds who are hardwired never to touch anything hot.

Designers: David Barry & Laurence Finnegan

Instead of just burning calories, why not use all that energy from exercising to power your MP3 player? The Dancepants Kinetic Music Player, a shortlisted entry in Designboom’s Green Life competition, lets you do just that by converting kinetic energy from running, hopping, jumping, etc. into electricity to power an iPod or other music player. According to the Dancepants designers, the product is a “100 percent interactive way to feel the value of energy on your own.”

READ MORE AT ECOUTERRE >

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Jeannette in Huntington posts on FPF today…

Hello Neighbors, We have a seven year old “Frigidaire” brand gas cooking range for sale. White. Excellent condition. Oven takes 1 to 2 hours to heat up to temp. You will need to arrange pick-up. $50…all proceeds from sale will go to Front Porch Forum.

Thanks Jeannette!

The City Journal's Theodore Dalrymple says "Le Corbusier was to architecture what Pol Pot was to social reform."

As we reported earlier this week, the Pontiac Silverdome was recently purchased by a Canadian buyer for only $583K. According to an article in Crain's today, however, "An Oakland County judge has ordered an injunction to stop the sale of the Pontiac Silverdome after a complaint was filed by attorney H. Wallace Parker, who planned to develop the building as a horse-themed development."

[Image: The front and back covers of Support Structures].

The last book launch I want to mention today—it seems like the only things going on these days are launches!—is for a fantastic-looking book called Support Structures by Céline Condorelli. The launch is coming up on December 3 at Storefront for Art and Architecture in New York (although Storefront's website currently has the wrong date listed—see a complete catalog of launch dates here).

[Image: From Support Structures].

The book "exposes an almost complete absence of literature or theory on what constitutes ‘support’," Condorelli suggests, "and therefore the imperative need to create a bibliography on the subject." Indeed, Condorelli hopes the book will inspire "the creation of the missing bibliography of support structures." Call it a philosophy of buttresses.Support Structures is a manual for what bears, sustains, and props, for those things that encourage, care for, and assist; for that which advocates, articulates; for what stands behind, frames, and maintains: it is a manual for those things that give support. While the work of supporting might traditionally appear as subsequent, unessential, and lacking value in itself, this manual is an attempt to restore attention to one of the neglected, yet crucial modes through which we apprehend and shape the world.While the phrase the work of supporting brings to mind Derrida, the book itself seems to fall somewhere between a catalog of scaffolding, retaining walls, buttresses, archways, keystones, and more—a typology of gravitational resistance—and a call for more generous collaborations in our everyday lives as architects, artists, designers, writers, and more.

The very idea of a "support structure" here becomes a social metaphor for the role of friends and co-conspirators.

[Images: Some page spreads from Support Structures].

In the book's Foreword, Condorelli describes the "conceptual devices offered by thinking through what a support structure could or might be," in the process "asking if a universal support structure could be developed."

Read more about the book courtesy of the publishers, Sternberg Press—and I hope to see some of you at the book launch next month.

It is clearly the season for book launch events! Tomorrow, Saturday, November 21, at the Columbus Circle Borders in Manhattan, Jeff VanderMeer will be reading from his new book Finch—and then engaging in a conversation about fiction and the city with Jeffrey Ford, Ron Hogan, and myself.

[Image: The cover to Finch, designed by John Coulthart].

From the event description:What do writers take from the real world when creating their fantastical creations? What does the real world take from fantasy? VanderMeer's new noir phantasmagoria, Finch, takes place in a once-prosperous failed city-state. Manaugh's BLDGBLOG Book is a biography of the city through essays and interviews. Ford has written about both historical and fantastical cities in his many acclaimed novels and stories. Come out to celebrate the squalor, the possibilities, and the madness of cities.In preparation, read BLDGBLOG's earlier interview with Jeff VanderMeer here. VanderMeer will be starting things off at 5pm; attendance is free; and it should be a lot of fun.

Tonight in Cambridge, Massachusetts, New Geographies will be kicking off its second issue, "Landscapes of Energy," with a launch party and panel discussion. The new issue includes many contributors, ranging from Kazys Varnelis and Mirko Zardini to the Center for Land Use Interpretation and Carola Hein, and it was edited by Rania Ghosn.

[Image: Some page spreads from the new issue, designed by Thumb].

Things kick off at 5pm tonight—Friday, November 20—in Piper Auditorium, Gund Hall, 48 Quincy Street, Harvard. Be sure to stop in and say hello!

Imagine having this sweet public market pop up in your town? Well the lucky residents of Rotterdam are actually getting one! This week, the mayor of the city announced the commencement of construction on the huge tunnel-shaped market hall which will flash images of gigantic fresh fruits and vegetables via LCD screens on the inside and be lined with balconied apartments offering killer views on the outside. This true mixed-use development combining residences, shopping, restaurants and a public market will be a central hub of activity for citizens and tourists. The project is being developed by Provast and was designed by MVRDV.

Read the rest of Construction Begins on Amazing Tunnel-Shaped Rotterdam Market Hall

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Today is the last chance to win a copy of Field Assets for iPhone or a piece of VerySpatial SWAG from our shelf. Please keep in mind that you must have access to the US iTunes store to redeem the codes for Field Assets and that you have until 11:59PM PST to enter. Today we ask a question that there is no correct answer for, but I am curious:

What is your favorite thing about Geography?

1. What is your favorite thing about Geography?
2. Your Name
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3. Email
   (valid email required)
4. Answer
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5. Your Location
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6. iPhone?
7. yes
   no

 

cforms contact form by delicious:days

The winner’s from day 5 are:

Field Assets – Robert from San Fran

SWAG – Andrew from Meadville

I will be emailing you in the next couple of days with details.

Actually, it was MacWorld (both IDG pubs) that caught up with Nick Black, CloudMade founder, to explore why the company and OSM can change the world. - Computerworld...Read more

""The woman requested that the deputies Google Earth her house and keep it on satellite surveillance overnight," [Sgt] Dawes said." - A Lake Forest (CA) resident called local police to as for a watch on her house after she heard noises, as report...Read more