Museums and Justice

Museums and Justice

Sunday 17 September 2017

Up-Close and Freshly Seasonal: the Transformation of (New?) U.S Architecture and other News...



Photo above: American Architecture Awards 2017: Gemma Private Observatory, Central New Hampshire, U.S.A by Anmahian Winton Architects (AW), Cambridge, Massachusetts. (photos are courtesy of Athenaum Museum of Architecture and Design, for the full list of the winners please visit https://chi-athenaeum.org/)

American Apparel re-started producing in Honduras after the legendary urban clothing company ceased activity in its sweatshop-free, downtown-L.A premises, and Chanel is setting a New Image in the midst of Post-factual Era: the real, complete first name of the founder Coco Chanel, Gabrielle is dominating a long-awaited campaign that is targeted at the uneasy and sensitive spirit of the contemporary woman: a fighter and a doubter.

What about architecture then? There is definitely a feeling of existential crisis at a time when architects are violently tested in order to answer to design challenges through extreme climate conditions and limited resources. The big and fierce dynamics of contemporary American architecture, is depicted lavishly in the American Architecture Awards 2017 (an Athenaum Museum of Architecture and Design institution)- and illustrated a tendency which is absolutely NOT based on the notion of "less-is-more". The variety and richness of the materials in abundance, the concentration on the private, but nevertheless extra-large spaces, the hyper-specification on personal comfort and the subbtle yet grandiose luxury aesthetics- indicate a continuity of the all-time classic American values and no serious contradictions to the system, in the form of innovations. In other words there is nothing there we have not experienced before, allthough the projects are entirely fascinating and engage the citizen to an idealization of comfort and beauty inside public buildings, private interiors, big houses and vast residences. Bellow: Overlook, Guest House in Los Gatos, California by the San Fransisco-based studio Schwartz and Architecture (SaA).




Web Summit 2017 is less than 2-months away and A4D-D4A is getting ready to capture the ideas of the most influential speakers, the top revolutionary apps, the crackiest start-ups and the pulse of the city of Lisbon design community and landmarks. If you have any queries regarding the event planning please check the latest updates and book your tickets on: https://websummit.com/tickets

Until then, don't forget to visit regurarly our design blogzette, cos there will be surprises this very autumn?-))

Take care<3
A4D-D4A



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