The Studio 59: Killing the Spider

• Christine Ogorsolka Johnson

Cal Poly News

• Hearst Lecture this Friday!
  • Steven Rainville: Olsen Kundig Architects
    Friday, February 11th, 2011 at 4:00pm
    Business Rotunda (03-213)
  • He takes pride in being a generalist architect, with a strong interest in building construction and architectural technologies.
  • http://www.olsonkundigarchitects.com/
• Mentoring Day, last Feb. 5th
  • We are working on getting reports! Stay tuned.
• NAAB visiting Feb. 12-17.
  • Reception Sunday Feb. 13th 5:30-7pm in Berg Gallery for visiting team, chaired by Stephen Pappas, to interact with students, faculty, CAED and University Administration staff, alumni and local partners.
  • http://www.arch.calpoly.edu/current/naab.html
• Tenure Track Faculty Recruitment
  • Eric Nulman – ARCH 420 Arch History Seminar, ARCH 470 Selected Adv Topics
    • Tuesday, February 22, (Presentation @ 10:15am, Berg Gallery) – http://arch.calpoly.edu/current/documents/Tenure%20Track%20Visits/Itinerary-Nulman-for-posting.pdf
  • Good Luck!!
• 40,000 again want Cal Poly as their school
  • http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2011/01/21/1452907/40000-again-want-cal-poly-as-their.html#ixzz1CwBav2Pg
  • “Don’t ask what’s the minimum I need to do to be eligible for admission, but rather focus on doing all you can to best prepare yourself for tomorrow,’” Maraviglia said.
• Spider building is no more
  • http://cosam.calpoly.edu/gallery/csmgallery.html#groundbreaking
  • Construction on Cal Poly’s Center for Science and Mathematics has entered an impressive stage. The $131 million, 197,000 square-foot building was made possible by $110 million from voter-approved state education bonds and $21 million in private donations to Cal Poly. In late January, heavy equipment and tree crews dug up, potted and moved four decades-old trees to the Cal Poly Leaning Pine Arboretum and one to Science North (Building 53). With the trees safely removed, crews began knocking down the walls of the north wings of the old science and math complex, known affectionately to generations of students as the Spider Building because of its rambling design. Cal Poly staff and students are capturing the demise of the Spider Building on video and in photos.

Discussion Point

• How is the digital medium affecting architecture?
  • http://humanscribbles.blogspot.com/2011/01/when-digital-becomes-physical.html
  • The computer doesn’t tell you how things age over time in physical reality.

• Arch Record; What’s Next: BIM
  • The comments are the most interesting part of this article.
  • http://archrecord.construction.com/features/2011/1101what_now/1101what_next/1101BIM.asp
• BIM is So Last Year
  • http://jasongrant.squarespace.com/jason-grant-blog/2011/1/31/bim-is-so-last-year.html

General News

• China to hold Solar Decathlon in 2013
  • http://www.eco-structure.com/solar-power/china-to-hold-solar-decathlon-in-2013.aspx
  • http://www.solardecathlon.gov/index.html
  • The U.S. Department of Energy has signed a memorandum of understanding with China’s National Energy Administration, Peking University, and Applied Materials for the event, reports ECO-STRUCTURE.
• A good concept gone bad?
  • http://www.eco-structure.com/green-standards/a-good-concept-gone-bad.aspx
  • Editor Katie Weeks asks if “sustainability” needs to be retired from the vocabulary and offers a few words on the publication’s new partnership with the American Institute of Architects.
• New Plaintiffs Join Amended LEED Lawsuit
  • http://archrecord.construction.com/news/2011/02/110209LEED-Lawsuit.asp
• New World Sympony: Gehry piles it up
  • http://www.architectmagazine.com/blogs/postdetails.aspx?BlogId=beyondbuildingsblog&PostId=100681
  • Beyond Buildings blogger Aaron Betsky had the opportunity to see Frank Gehry’s New World Symphony building in Miami. What did he think about it? It achieves its goals “with grace, ease, and beauty.”
  • The hall is an abstraction of L.A.’s Disney Hall, at less than one-third the size, and the acoustics are almost as good.
• Former Wright home to be demolished
  • http://www.chicagomag.com/Radar/Deal-Estate/January-2011/Home-Wrecker-Frank-Lloyd-Wrights-Gold-Coast-Love-Nest-Slated-for-Demolition/
  • An 1887 Chicago house that was home to Frank Lloyd Wright in 1914 and 1915 has been sold and now appears slated for demolition. Dennis Rodkin reports that the need for extension renovations means the new, unidentified owner considers their $1.5 million deal strictly a land purchase
• Making kids care about architecture and history
  • http://www.seattlepi.com/lifestyle/434967_Architecture7.html
  • Phil Freelon recently spoke to a group of students at Houston’s Ryan Middle School. Lisa Gray reports that the North Carolina-based architect was in town to present his rethinking of Emancipation Park at the Menil Collection. The children of the low-performing school all knew of the park—it’s only a few blocks from the school—and the prominent African-American designer explained its long and prominent history within Houston’s black community
  • http://www.freelon.com/people/principals/108
  • SIDE NOTE: National Organization of Minority Architects
    • http://www.noma.net/local/
  • “There are so few of us in architecture, we haven’t developed a distinctive style. Look at music, where the barriers to entry are low: We developed jazz; we developed the blues. But where’s architecture’s Dizzy Gillespie? There just aren’t enough of us.”