UC Berkeley, Toyo Ito and the architecture of lowered expectations*

 

The latest piece of architecture to disappear into the economic abyss? It's Toyo Ito's remarkable design, above, for the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.

Unveiled last year with some fanfare, Ito's plans for a new home for the museum, known as BAM, suggested a light, airy spin on the idea of the white-cube art gallery -- a series of spaces with their paper-thin walls curling in memorably on themselves, like stickers half-peeled from their backing.

The building was meant to replace BAM's current home along the south side of the UC Berkeley campus, a notable piece of architecture in its own right, by Mario Ciampi, that opened in 1970 and is plagued by seismic problems. Along with the crisp appeal of the Ito design -- the Tokyo-based architect's first project in the U.S. -- the big news of the plan was that it promised to deliver a university art museum and film center into the heart of downtown Berkeley, outside the campus proper.

Last week, though, the museum announced it was abandoning plans for the Ito building. The problem, not surprisingly, is money: Working toward a goal of $200 million -- a projected $143 million for construction, plus a comfortable cushion for cost overruns -- BAM had raised just $81 million. Instead it will explore more affordable opportunities at the downtown site, including retrofitting the printing plant that now occupies part of the property. It is possible, but unlikely, that Ito will be the architect for the retooled effort.

It's a huge disappointment for architecture fans that the original Ito design won't be built. At the same time, the episode raises questions -- questions now relevant in cities around the county -- about what happens when high-profile building projects are wounded but not killed by the poor economy, surviving to stumble forward without the big-name architects that helped them gain attention and ease their trips through the approvals process in the first place.

Shorn of momentum or their architectural headliners -- or both -- where do these projects go?

Monster Mash: Kelsey Grammer looks Broadway bound; Olympic artists debate free speech; Warhol's 'Heinz 57'

 -- Star turn: Actor Kelsey Grammer appears set to return to Broadway in the revival of "La Cage aux Folles." (New York Post)

-- Creative liberty: A free-speech debate has arisen among artists who will be involved with the arts-festival portion of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. (Globe and Mail)

-- Art theft: More details emerge around the recent recovery of Andy Warhol's "Heinz 57" creation. (New York Daily News)

-- Temper, temper: British actor Ian Hart faced police action after he reportedly screamed threats at a theater patron. (Times Online)

-- Vertigo: Officials are exploring the idea of opening off-limits areas of the Golden Gate Bridge to tourists. (San Francisco Chronicle)

-- Toting signs in Paris: Workers at the Centre Pompidou in Paris have decided to prolong their strike over planned job cuts. (Agence France Presse)

-- Will she sing? Julie Andrews is scheduled to return to the London stage for a one-evening performance May 8. (Playbill)

-- Coda: Classical-music scholar H.C. Robbins Landon has died at age 83 in France. (Telegraph)

-- And in the L.A. Times: A photo showing a nude Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate is heading for auction; music critic Mark Swed reviews the Berlin Philharmonic at Disney Hall; a Sam Francis reunion at the Norton Simon Museum.

-- David Ng

Photo: Kelsey Grammer at a recent performance of Cirque du Soleil's "Kooza" in Santa Monica. Credit: Robyn Beck / AFP/Getty Images

Monster Mash: Metropolitan Museum of Art in the red; Shubert's Broadway deal; Thom Mayne's Dallas museum

-- Red ink: The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has reported an $8.4-million deficit for the fiscal year that ended in June. (CultureGrrl)

-- Broadway deal: The Shubert Organization has entered into an unusual, three-year deal with producers Robert Cole and Frederick Zollo, which guarantees Cole-Zollo projects one of the Shuberts' 17 Broadway theaters. (Variety)

-- This old house: Britain's National Theatre is planning an $83-million renovation of its London home. (The Stage)

-- Massive project: Groundbreaking has occurred in Dallas on the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, designed by architect Thom Mayne. (Dallas Observer)

-- Financial trouble: The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra is trying to cut its current deficit of $2.8 million, the highest ever in its history. (Indianapolis Star)

-- In the works: A proposed museum honoring the Negro Baseball League in Baltimore would cost about $4.1 million. (Baltimore Sun)

-- Winner: New York landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh has been selected to redesign the northeast corner of Grant Park in Chicago. (Chicago Tribune)

-- Controversial: A dance artist in Britain plans to induce an epileptic seizure on stage. (BBC News)

-- And in the L.A. Times: Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne examines the designs for the proposed Bush presidential library; Santa Monica vies for Eli Broad's contemporary art museum.

-- David Ng

Photo: the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Credit: Daniel Acker / Bloomberg

Little swagger in plans for Bush presidential library

 

George W. Bush was a lightning rod of a politician. His presidential library is meant to be anything but.

Architectural plans released today for the $250-million, 225,000-square-foot George W. Bush Presidential Center, to be built at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, carry no hint of the swagger, bravado or taste for confrontation that Bush was known for as president.

Designed by New York's Robert A.M. Stern, arguably the country's leading historicist architect, the library is a handsome, contextual piece of architecture wrapped in Texas limestone (which may sound like a euphemism, like "Texas tea," but isn't) and red brick. Though on its main facades it uses classical themes in a mostly abstract way, rather than literally, it is very much meant to complement SMU's predominantly Georgian-style landmarks.

For Eli Broad, a tale of two sites

As my colleague Mike Boehm reported Monday, Eli Broad is considering at least two sites -- and potentially a third -- for a planned museum to hold the collection of his Broad Art Foundation, which is mostly dedicated to post-war and contemporary art and was once assumed to be headed for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Tonight, the Santa Monica City Council will consider a plan for one of those sites, in the heart of the city’s civic center. Meanwhile, talks continue between the Broad Foundation and officials in Beverly Hills about a location at the intersection of Wilshire and Santa Monica boulevards.

How do those sites compare in urban and architectural terms as potential locations for the museum building Broad is planning, for which he is likely to enlist a prominent architect? I visited both spots Monday to produce this brief comparative sketch.

The Beverly Hills site is one that Broad has had his eye on for some time. It is a narrow, arrow-shaped parcel of land squeezed between Santa Monica and Little Santa Monica boulevards, and stretching from Wilshire southwest to Charleville Boulevard. It is across the street from the old CAA headquarters, designed by I.M. Pei, and directly between the Peninsula Hotel to the east and the Beverly Hilton to the west. The site is now occupied by a collection of two-story retail buildings opening onto Little Santa Monica, including a Starbucks at the northeastern end.

Monster Mash: Zaha Hadid's Maxxi building in Rome; Glassell will is upheld in Texas; Ashlee Simpson on Broadway

-- Unveiling: Reviews are coming in for architect Zaha Hadid's National Museum of the XXI Century Arts in Rome, even though it is not quite finished. (Times Online) 

-- Legally binding: A Texas jury has upheld the final will of philanthropist and oilman Alfred C. Glassell Jr. against his daughter's attempt to invalidate it. (Houston Chronicle) 

-- Cultural debate: Experts wonder if antiquities really belong to their country of origin. (New York Times)

-- Red ink: The bankrupt Toronto-based Ritchies Auctioneers has $8.5 million in debt. (The Globe and Mail)

-- Real-estate hitch: The sale of a $5.1-million upstate New York home belonging to indicted art dealer Lawrence Salander hits a snag. (Bloomberg)

-- Outright theft: A former employee at Delaware's Winterthur Museum has turned himself in after spending more than $100,000 of the museum's money. (The News Journal)

-- Reserving judgment: Pop star Ashlee Simpson-Wentz will join the cast of Broadway's "Chicago" beginning Nov. 30. (New York Daily News)

-- New downbeat: The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia has named Belgian conductor Dirk Brosse as its new music director. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

-- And in the L.A. Times: Art critic Christopher Knight reviews "Collection: MOCA's First Thirty Years"; theater critic Charles McNulty reviews "Mary Poppins" at the Ahmanson.

-- David Ng

Photo: the National Museum of the XXI Century Arts in Rome. Credit: Max Rossi / Reuters

Monster Mash: Getty partners with Egypt; architect Kazuyo Sejima going to Venice; fatal art stabbings

-- Five-year project: The J. Paul Getty Trust has partnered with Egypt to help preserve and manage the tomb of King Tutankhamen. (Bloomberg)

-- Architectural first: Japanese architect Kazuyo Sejima is the first woman to be named director of the Venice Architecture Biennale. (Art Info)

-- Suspicious deaths: A British art curator and his daughter were found dead with multiple stab wounds near Sydney, Australia. (Times Online)

-- Violent assault: A San Francisco artist chosen by the city to paint a mural was stabbed while working on the project. (San Francisco Examiner)

-- Leg room: The Houston Ballet's new $53-million home will be the largest facility in the U.S. devoted to dance, according to the company's leaders. (Bloomberg)

-- One-woman show: Dame Edna's "It's All About Me" has set a Broadway opening date of March 23. (Playbill)

-- Sour note: A labor dispute has arisen between producers and musicians on the off-Broadway musical "Tony 'n Tina's Wedding." (Variety)

-- Money talks: Same-sex couples are leaving their mark in the Boston arts community through philanthropic donations. (Boston Globe)

-- New leader: The Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art has named Tim Rodgers as its new director. (The Arizona Republic)

-- Messy split: A German art collector has settled a lawsuit with his former mistress involving two works by Damien Hirst valued at about $48 million. (Bloomberg)

-- And in the L.A. Times: Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne on the possibility of a football stadium in City of Industry; the Museum of Contemporary Art's big 30th-anniversary celebration.

-- David Ng

Photo: the burial chamber of King Tutankhamen in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor, Egypt. Credit: Chris Bouroncle / AFP/Getty Images

Monster Mash: Sotheby's earnings slump; Dia Art Foundation returning to Chelsea; Barnes Foundation's new curator

-- Slumping: Sotheby's reported a wider third-quarter loss over the same period last year due to continued weakness in global art sales. (Bloomberg)

-- New digs: New York's Dia Art Foundation is planning to build a new home on the site of its former home in the Chelsea neighborhood. (New York Times)

-- Major appointment: The Barnes Foundation has named the Brooklyn Museum's Judith Dolkart as its new chief curator. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

-- Musical Bard: Tony-winning rock musician Stew will write the score for a new production of Shakespeare's "Othello" in Connecticut. (Playbill)

-- Flat broke? The Honolulu Symphony said it no longer has enough money to make payroll. (KITV)

-- In the black: The new Durham Performing Arts Center in North Carolina gives more than $400,000 to the city, which owns the building. (News Observer)

-- Job crunch: Emerging architects are having trouble finding jobs in Britain. (The Architects' Journal)

-- And in the L.A. Times: Producers of Broadway's troubled "Spider-Man" musical still face a budgetary shortfall; Cirque du Soleil's "Viva Elvis" is set to open in December in Las Vegas.

— David Ng

Photo: Sotheby's in New York. Credit: Daniel Acker / Bloomberg.

'Project Runway' takes the spotlight at Getty Center

To borrow a catchphrase from model Heidi Klum, the Getty Center is officially "in" this week.

On Thursday, "Project Runway" on Lifetime will present an episode of the reality show that was taped at the Brentwood museum; that same night, the Getty will host a free screening to celebrate. But it's been a long, difficult road between shooting and broadcast.

In fall 2008, the makers of "Project Runway" came to the Getty Center to tape the episode, in which contestants had to create new fashion designs inspired by the museum's architecture and artwork.

Since that taping, "Project Runway" made its big switch from Bravo to Lifetime -- a move that involved a high-profile lawsuit from NBC, the owner of Bravo, which tried to halt the defection. Months of legal wrangling ensued. In the end, as fashionistas know by now, the lawsuit did not prevent the show from jumping ship.

Now that the legal ruckus has died down, "Project Runway" (which is produced by the Weinstein Co.) has settled more or less comfortably into its current season. And that also means that we'll finally get to see the Getty Center episode. (It also features an appearance by L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and host  Klum is joined by fellow model Cindy Crawford on the judging panel.)

The Getty Center is hosting a free screening on Thursday starting at 7 p.m., three hours before the West Coast showing on Lifetime. The event is free to those who sign up as fans of the museum on its Facebook page.

A spokeswoman for the museum said that the screening is intended to help boost the Getty's local fan base on Facebook. She said that earlier this week the museum had about 12,000 fans; now, it has about 14,000 fans, thanks in part to the "Project Runway" event.

The screening will take place in the museum's Harold M. Williams Auditorium, which seats about 400 people. The museum said it can accommodate overflow in another auditorium that seats about 160.

After the screening, the museum will hold a panel discussion featuring three speakers from the world of art and fashion, including a former curator from the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles; an editor from Marie Claire magazine; and an L.A.-based fashion designer.

-- David Ng

Photo: Heidi Klum. Credit: Mike Yarish / Lifetime Networks

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A taste of '60s L.A. architecture, from Space Park to LAX

Has AMC's "Mad Men" put you in the mood for some '60s-era nostalgia?

The much-discussed television show is set amid the skyscrapers of New York, but for those of us in L.A., there's still an abundance of architectural gems from the early Cold War period for our communal delectation. 

Perhaps the best and most efficient way to experience these architectural icons is through the Los Angeles Conservancy's one-time-only tour that will be held Sunday. "It's a Mod, Mod, Mod, Mod City" offers a survey of several 1960s buildings in the South Bay and includes stops at such venues as the IBM Aerospace headquarters building, the Proud Bird Restaurant and the Los Angeles International Airport.

The tour also includes an exclusive stop at the TRW Space Park campus in Redondo Beach. Built in 1960, the facility houses offices and labs dedicated to the aerospace and defense industries. Since the Space Park campus is a high-security site, advance online registration is required along with a security clearance.

The tour will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. Attendees will drive themselves to each of the official tour stops. At each venue along the way, you will receive a docent-led tour of the site.

Among the other stops are the LAX Theme Building (pictured), the Imperial Terminal at LAX and St. Jerome Catholic Church in Westchester.

The architects whose works are featured on the tour include Welton Becket, Charles Luckman, William Pereira, Paul Williams, Frederick Emmons Terman, Eliot Noyes, A. Quincy Jones, Kenneth S. Wing, Wally Jeong and A.C. Martin.

The tour is part of the L.A. Conservancy's program "The Sixties Turn 50," which celebrates the architecture from the period and seeks ways to preserve it.

-- David Ng

Photo: The LAX Theme Building. Credit: Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times

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