Mimi Zeiger

Critic, editor, curator and instigator.

February 1–23, 2014

Piminski

A Show of Works by Joakim Dahlqvist

TAGS

Architecture, Art, Exhibitions

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Curator

Joakim Dahlqvist is an architect, designer, illustrator and digital artist. This exhibition presents a collection of Dahlqvist’s illustrations that teeter on the edge between reality and fantasy. Defying the sublime tendencies of architectural rendering, he represents imagined objects with an analytical coolness. Cast with an artificial fluorescent glow, these artifacts and environments tease with the pleasure of their verisimilitude. However, with a droll touch worthy of Jacques Tati, they offer a surreal joy that transcends the digital model. Read More …

January 27, 2014

Q&A: Shigeru Ban

TAGS

Architecture, Articles, Shigeru Ban

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The Tokyo architect takes us behind the scenes of the Tamedia headquarters in Zurich, a modern mid rise employing ancient Japanese joinery construction.

Having explored material in every format – from his cardboard tube emergency shelters to his Centre Pompidou-Metz, with its glulam timber roof – the Tokyo architect and his firm now turns their attention to miyadaiku and sukiya-daiku, the Japanese carpentry techniques of tea houses and temples, which use no nails, screws or other hardware. This sophisticated joinery is the main feature of the 10,120-square-metre Zurich head-quarters of Tamedia, a major publisher of newspapers, magazines and online media. Azure contributor Mimi Zeiger spoke with Ban about what makes this style of wood construction both innovative and sustainable. Read More …

January 15, 2014

Opinion: Architecture and Obsolescence

#FolkMoma is dead, Long live #FolkMoma

TAGS

Architecture, Articles, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, FolkMoMA, Williams and Tsien

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The recent flurry of critical missives and tweets over MoMA’s decision to demolish the next-door American Folk Art Museum (AFAM), designed by Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, has got me thinking about Harley Earl. The square-shouldered vice president and head of design at General Motors introduced stylised curves, chrome, and sex appeal into an industry driven by function. His most significant contribution to American culture, however, may be not the tail fin but planned obsolescence. Read More …

January 7, 2014

Natural Habitat

Moshe Safdie's 'Global Citizen'

TAGS

Architecture, Articles, Glen Small, Moshe Safdie

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This past fall, Skirball Cultural Center opened the “Global Citizen: The Architecture of Moshe Safdie,” a sweeping exhibition that delves deep into the work and nearly fifty-year-long career of the Israeli/Canadian architect. Models, drawings, photographs, and films illustrate a body of work that spans from North America to the Middle East and Asia. The title underscores not only the geographical breadth of Safdie’s work, but his commitment to making architecture as a social, cultural, and, even, political act. Read More …