Author: Marianna Wahlsten

Toyo Ito, Pritzker Prize winner by Juhani Pallasmaa and Iwan Baan

Architect and theorist Juhani Pallasmaa has been a member of the Pritzker Prize Jury since 2009. The past 5 months Pallasmaa has been teaching at the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation in Arizona, while staying at Wright’s former home, the legendary Taliesin West studio.

Pallasmaa offers his view on the merits of this year’s Prizker Prize laureate Toyo Ito:

“During the past three decades, Toyo Ito has been one of the architects on the global scene, whose successive works have redefined and expanded the realm of architecture in terms of structural and technical innovation as well as formal and aesthetic imagery.

He combines advanced technologies and new materials to a formal language that seeks a dialogue and harmony with the natural world. His works are highly professional in their conception, articulation and execution, but humane, inviting and playful in their character.Ito’s architecture arises from the timeless Japanese aesthetic traditions, but it achieves a universal appeal and validity, that has had a worldwide influence, especially among young designers and students.

The fact that Toyo Ito is the third Japanese architect in a rather short time to receive the revered Pritzker Architecture Prize after Tadao Ando and the SANAA Architects, is a convincing proof of the continued strength of Japanese design and aesthetic culture, which has successfully fused into Western sensibilities and new technologies.”

Silver Hut, Omishima Island, photo: Iwan Baan

Toyo Ito Museum, Omishima Island, photo: Iwan Baan 42Omishima-TIA-3501

Last spring Dutch photographer Iwan Baan went to Omishima island to photograph the new Toyo Ito Museum and Ito’s former home the Silver Hut, which has been transported from Tokyo and reconstructed next to the museum.

“They feel like a vessel or a ship to be launched”, Baan describes these two unusual buildings. Indeed there is something extra special in those structures as documented by Baan.

www.iwan.com

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The Shard – Soon to Open

The top floor viewing gallery is almost ready to open. The video clip shows construction team members checking the exterior of the building for the February 1st public opening. A job requiring some courage. The view must be amazing though. Do you become blasé working there? We didn’t get the chance to ask. But the sight of the crane emerging in front of the 69th floor window certainly got the shutters clicking amongst the press preview visitors.

What makes the View from the Shard so special is the amount of detail expanding below. With no other high-rise buildings next to it, from this particular spot, the view is fascinating. More to follow…

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MONA – the latest Oz phenomenon

On a spectacular water-front site on the Derwent river, partly excavated into the sandstone, theMuseum Of Old and New Art (MONA) in Hobart has dramatically changed the cultural landscape of this once sleepy harbor city in Tasmania. The impact has been compared with the Guggenheim in Bilbao.

Designed by Melbourne-based Nonda Katsalidis, the museum is the brainchild of Hobart resident the eccentric gambling millionaire David Walsh. The world-class museum has been praised for its incredible architectural features, a vast collection and significant curatorial projects.

Jean-Hubert Martin, former director of Centre Pompidou in Paris was invited to curate the current exhibition “The Theatre of the World” (until April 8, 2013) where ancient and contemporary works are mixed. Picasso’s Weeping Woman is displayed next to indigenous art from Papua New Guinea. As in all MONA exhibitions there are no labels on the walls, so it is all about looking and absorbing. Martin’s goal is to engage viewers directly with the artworks.

Right at the start of the year – and the height of the summer season down under – various festivals take place in Hobart. MONA will stage the high-profile avant-garde music festival MONA FOMA(16.1 – 20.1.2013) with David Byrne and St Vincent as headline acts this year as well as Elvis Costello on January 23 in MOFO encore.

Julia Champtaloup

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Design Miami/Miami Beach 2012

Entrance design The Drift by Snarkitecture – a sense of fun for sure here

This year the entrance installation has been conceived by Brooklyn-based duo Snarkitechture. Their playful approach in product design has been used for great effect here, welcoming visitors to the fair, where some of the most high-end objects in the field of design are displayed – nevertheless not to be taken too seriously.

The form strangely echoes the iconic 1960s sculpture in Helsinki the Sibelius Monument. A reversal of Koons’ idea of a balloon dog in bronze, here the bronze in a balloon form.
photo: Miisa

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Architecture in Wood – The Aalto Pavilion Restored

Architect and artist Petteri Nisunen spoke to Grand Tour at the WDC 2012 Summer Pavilion in Helsinki.

The Aalto Pavilion in Venice restored

The wooden pavilion designed by Alvar Aalto for the 1956 Venice Biennale has been completely restored, now housing an exhibition showing highlights in cutting-edge wood technology used in contemporary architecture. A satellite event of the World Design Capital, the exhibition introduces recent constructions from Helsinki through architectural models, as well as the Kilden Theatre from Kristiansand. Wood certainly looks like a beautiful alternative to concrete.

Although Aalto always used wood in furniture design, the pavilion in Venice is a rarity for its building material. With unusual constructivist inspired shapes, the form was a quickly thought out experiment. The white rectangles on the sides are actually trusses that hold the entire structure together.

Initially designed as a pop-up gallery space, with the support and enthusiasm of Aalto’s great patron Maire Gullichsen, the pavilion is now a permanent fixture in the Giardini. It is an interesting experiment within Aalto’s oeuvre.

This is the last week of the 2012 Architecture Biennale. For its higher location , the Giardini has not been affected by the recent flooding in Venice.

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Shanghai Biennial – growing in scale and ambition

The main venue for the 9th Shanghai Biennial (October 1, 2012 – March 31, 2013) is an old power station, transformed now into the biggest art space in China. The biennial program was orchestrated by Chinese artist Qiu Zhijie together with a team of international curators.Shanghai Biennial’s theme ‘Reactivation’ also refers to the new building, an exciting development, full of hope as described by Qiu : “It creates spiritual pulses that would activate the inherent energy within a community”. Showcasing works by leading contemporary artists such as Tino Seghal, BorisMikhailov and Adrian Villar Rojas, the program is hugely ambitious and the scale bigger than ever.

Claiming 41,000 sqm. of floor space The Power Station of Art is clearly aiming to become a major destination on the global art scene. A ride up long escalators produces a jaw dropping view down to the entry lobby. The building truly reflects the fast paced change in all of China. At night it becomes a real spectacle with a neon thermometer on the chimney and the obligatory flashing lights.

Julia Champtaloup

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