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Eavesdrop: Alexander Gorlin

Eavesdrop: Alexander Gorlin

I was advised to find a pseudonym before writing Eavesdrop, and looked to the example of Charles Edouard Jeanneretts fabulously successful Le Corbusier or even Maria Louise Ciccone>s Madonna as the paragon of simplicity. Alas, my own name will have to suffice. With that said, letts hope the arcane world of architectural gossip, perhaps of interest only to a few, even in our own community, serves the purpose not only to bind our group together but also to humanize the increasingly faceless world of global architecture.

Now, down to business: To recap Art Basel, the international art fair held in Miami Beach in early December, a number of New York architects were found Jet Blueing south, including Robert Stern, Walter Chatham, Gisue and Mojgan Hariri, Liz Diller and Ric Scofidio, Peter Marino, Lee Mindel, and Joseph Giovanni. Also seen were the Rizzoli honchos, the legendary editor David Morton and chief publisher Charles Miers, to lead the charge against their nemesis, Taschen, omnipresent at the art fair. Zaha Hadid was ensconced at the Setai Hotel, in town to unveil a new furniture design for Established & Sons. Greg Lynn was on the same mission, and was seen during the weekend partying solo (sans wife Sylvia Lavin) at the Raleigh and the Surface magazine party on the rooftop of the Townhouse on the Beach.

Heard at the fair that Ole Bouman, formely editor of the Dutch magazine Archis, was taking the position that Aaron Betsky, new director of the Cincinnati Art Museum, abdicated at the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAi). Betsky appeared at the glamorous party sponsored by the Dutch Consulate, hosted by Robert Kloos and Jeanne Wikler, in honor of Li Eidelkoort, head of the famous Eindhoven Design Academy. The party was held at the apartment of yours truly, at Aqua, high above Indian Creek on the Beach.

Among the many exhibitions during the Art Fair, one of the most smashing was French Modern Sources, an exhibition organized by the Georges Pompidou Art & Culture Foundation. Magnificent examples of original furniture by Chareau, Jean Prouvv, Robert Mallet-Stevens, and Le Corbusier as well as the original model of Rem Koolhaas> house in Bordeaux were displayed. Incidentally, Robert Rubin, who last year bought the extraordinary Maison de Verre by Pierre Chareau and Bernard Bijvoet, has revived the foundation, which was founded by Dominique de Menil but languished after her death. He donated to the foundation the prefabricated Maison Tropicale by Prouvv, which he rescued from Brazzaville, Congo, in 1997. The structure will be installed on the fifth-floor terrace of the Pompidou later this month.

Also in Miami, albeit weeks after the fair was over, I had dinner with Michael Graves and Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk at Yuca, a Cubanesque restaurant. Michael was zipping along Collins Avenue in his motorized wheelchair and can be happily reported to be in good spirits, clearly using his hands without problem.

Closer to home (well, at least this writerrs home) is the cacophonous, daily, insistent pile-driving of Donald Trump>s 45-story SoHo projecttdespised by all, except perhaps its architect Gary Handel. Both of our offices overlook the site: For Gary the noise must be music to his ears. Meanwhile, we have powerful telescopes trained on the excavation, hoping to discover Native American bones to shut down the site permanently. Unfortunately, the discovery of remains of Episcopalians only delayed construction for a few days.

Send observations, tips, suggestions (no matter how banal), et cetera, to EDITOR@ARCHPAPER.COM

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