March 16, 2007

• After Stephen Holl walked away from designing the capstone of Denver's new courts complex last year, klipp, which took over the project, has found it difficult to escape the starchitect's shadow. The locally based firm has just finished plans for a 315,000-square-foot building, the Denver Post reported on March 9. klipp's founding principal, Brian Klipp, described its style as "rational modernism"-yet he pessimistically added, "I think this building will hold itself against any building in the country. I think it's that good. But will anybody else think that? I don't have any expectations for that."



• The cat's out of the bag for HOK Sport in Pittsburgh—better make that the Penguins are out of the bag. HOK has been working "quietly" with the hockey franchise for six weeks to design a new 18,000-seat facility across the street from the aging Mellon Arena, the team's president told the Post-Gazette on March 14. The Penguins have threatened to leave town unless they score a new municipally-financed building.



• Tired of his reputation as an "architectural vandal," Moscow's controversial mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, is suing billionaire Alexander Lebedev, one of his biggest critics. Lebedev, who Luzhkov beat out for mayor in 2003, has alleged that irresponsible development caused cracks to form in the foundations of the Federation Tower, which is to be Europe's tallest skyscraper. In addition to fighting this charge, Luzhkov's suit is seen as a move to deflect attention from growing criticism about the 500 historic buildings-many of them landmarked-he has allowed to be demolished, the U.K.'s Independent wrote on March 16.



• And, finally, the city of Montreal is fighting back against the spread of an unwanted U.S. import: McMansions. "They are the pinnacle of a wasteful society, the antithesis of sustainable development," town councilor Richard Bergeron told The Gazette on March 12. The Canadian variety of these monster houses, exemplified by the Pierrefonds development proposed for the last open space on the Island of Montreal, ranges in size from 3,500 to 10,000 square feet. Bergeron and others are considering height ordinances to limit their scale.

 

Compiled by James Murdock

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