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Quick Clicks: Ruination, Context, Issues, Movement, Resolutions

Quick Clicks: Ruination, Context, Issues, Movement, Resolutions

[ Quick Clicks> A hand-selected tour of links from around the world. ]

Ruination. Mayor Bloomberg received an angry letter in the mail last week from Zahi Hawass, the secretary general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities. According to the NY Times, Hawass is threatening to take back the circa-1500 B.C. monument if the city doesn’t properly care for the inscribed hieroglyphics. Heavily eroded, the obelisk was a gifted to the United States in 1869 to celebrate the completion of the Suez Canal.

Out of Context. After last week’s unveiling of the Broad Art Foundation in Los Angeles, NY Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff penned a rather scathing critique of of the Diller Scofidio + Renfro designed museum. Among his jabs was a note that the design was out of context to LA’s landscape of freeways and sprawl causing Charles Siegel (Preservation Institute Blog) to wonder whether it’s appropriate to build to the context of autopian sprawl.

Planning Issues. Planetizen has compiled a list of 2010’s “Top Planning Issues.” Last year was great for renting, bikes, and China but not so hot for city finances, McMansions, or free parking.

Movement. The Sydney Morning Herald weighs in on Frank Gehry’s recently unveiled UTS building in Sydney, and architect Elizabeth Farrelly raises her concerns. “It’s not a choice between the dull box and the exuberant PR-driven sculpture. There is a third option: architecture. We deserve it.” (Via ArchNewsNow.)

Resolutions. Chicago is going on a road diet. The Chicago Tribune says the city will undertake the traffic experiment on a mile-long stretch of Lawrence Street. The four-lane road will be trimmed down to three lanes with widened sidewalks, landscaped islands, and, of course, bike lanes. While Chicago has already slimmed down nearly a dozen other neighborhood streets in recent years, this example is the first time it’s being done on a major arterial road. Construction will begin next year if funding comes through.

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