Rarely has such a vision of ethereal beauty—nay, transcendent brilliance—come over our transom in such a thorough, considerate, and thoroughly considerate manner as the above image wended its way our way, this most fine of mornings. With, bien sur, a touch of explication:

In case you missed it in the February 1989 issue of National Geographic-- David Childs after the fall, apparently eating from the tree of knowledge...which he promptly cut down and made a bench out of.

Would you trust this man to design your wtc?

A-ha. A-ha-ha. A-ha ha-ha ha-ha ha. Full stop.

See more in Dinosaurs

 41 Comments

Who can even remember the last time we availed ourselves of the services of our fine, fine friend? You know her; we love her...it's the Blind Item Girl! And here she is, fresh out of nominal retirement, to bring us—what? Well, not the freshest pail of milk, it's true—when this tip was sent in we could all still say "Crikey!" without irony—but something that must be of the gravest importance to somebody since the sender, one 30a50416ef, saw fit to open an account and email us from Anonymous Speech. Which made us feel pretty special. And a little hurt. When did we ever burn a source? Particularly one who provides his own strike-throughs?

Here's a blind item for you:

Which major significant large midwestern school of architecture almost reeled in a certain dike-lovin' gallerist (couldn't resist) as commodore but lost the catch due to a mutiny of fifth tier urban designers economists intellectuals regional planners?

now get your ass in gear because the "architecture community" can't function without slander...

See more in Blind Items

 7 Comments

As the good, clean rain falls on this otherwise inglorious day—has the town ever looked more dour? has there ever been such a superabundance of long faces?—we interrupt the current ellipsis with a grab at some extremely low-lying fruit. In an email plugging an arriving show, the Storefront for Art & Architecture has finally joined the Watch™.

The project FASCIA unfolds as a series of live performances, video recordings and drawings, that engage in a visual dialogue with Steven Holl's and Vito Acconci's renowned design of the Storefront for Art and Architecture facade. Like Acconci and Holl, she challenges the traditional notion of facade as constituting a membrane that simultaneously separates and erotically joins the inside with the outside. FASCIA departs from the definition of the membrane-wall as both a marker and an embodiment of space.

Not exceptionally stupid, we know. That's why we weep.

· Upcoming Shows [Storefront]
· Storefront for Art & Archispeak: Party On [The Gutter]
· Gutterland JargonWatch™: Precrime Edition [The Gutter]

See more in JargonWatch

Seems there's been a wee mishap at Libeskind & Libeskind. While we liked the hagiography-cum-cocksuck (masquerading as a Time article) that was sent out this afternoon by Danny's intra-office flacks (and immediately forwarded to us by like a million people), we loved the fact that, like Mark Strauss and Max Protetch before, the 394 recipients' email addresses were all right there in the "cc" line. So, while Nina busies herself firing one unfortunate "AM" in her employ, scan the list after the jump. We've already found a few treasures: all the current and former powerplayers downtown (as if they care), Frank Gehry (as if he needs his nose rubbed in Danny's good press), and poor sainted Sarah Crichton. Did she not already pay her dues?

See more in Dinosaurs, The Pit

 26 Comments

No, no: we're not half as idle as our most loyal fans would have it. Not by half; while it may have appeared to many that we invented a new holiday (or two) for ourselves in order to squander July, then decamped to points sandy for much of August—only to return in September and fizzle out upon re-entry—the truth is that we've been traveling. With all the rest of the sad, sad, fallen world of starchitecture. Oh, but how that guilt already mounts; we must make a confesstion. It was not us, "per se", but one of ours—a colleague, an ally, a co-worker (in the bland parlance of our day). Squirreling away our dimes and ha'pence, we sent this brave soul into the belly of the beast—as some few wise among you may have cottoned—if by beast we mean the opening festivities of the...wait for it...10th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale!

Venice Biennale begins for some, ends for others The prosecco bottles are lying forlorn and empty in the undergrowth of the Giardini in Venice, the palazzi are voided of black-clad architects in difficult spectacles. The Venice Biennale preview is over is and it’s now open to the public, meaning that it’s as good as over. Your correspondent arrived in La Serenissima on Friday in a state of moist anticipation. Will Farshid Moussavi be sporting headgear to rival her Dark-Helmet-out-of Spaceballs effort from last year? Will Ricardo and Liz talk to anyone? Will it be any good now that the director has decided cities are more important than buildings? How will the Peggy Guggenheim bouncers deal with being bum-rushed by the desperate, non-guest-list hordes? None of the answers to these questions are revealed below….

Reports and pix continue, after the jump, in the order they were received from the field and piled up in our inbox. Because, fine: We were out of town too, just plain rocking bells, and we're not gonna interrupt that for some damn blog.

See more in Dinosaurs, Our Fallen World, The Continent

 2 Comments

Seen here, the head of one Peter Cook, on a Venice-Gatwick EasyJet flight

Be careful of selling out to big money practices, you design heroes! Peter Cook, the Paul McCartney of 60’s beat architects Archigram, must have thought he’d hit pay-dirt with his recent big money transfer to international purveyors of ordinary architecture HOK. Well, playing the glamorous designer in a sweatshop of technicians isn’t as lucrative as it might sound, according to Cookie’s choice of airline from Venice. He was spotted dining on Cup-a-Soup and Pringles on the Easyjet flight to Gatwick.

On the subject of big name architects bending over for a fat cheque, can anyone stateside confirm European rumours that Patrick Schumacher has been courted by Gensler to become their design director in the States? We know he was angling for more dough from his current maitresse, but Gensler? Oh someone please know the answer.

See more in Across the Pond

 9 Comments

There's so much chatter today about new something or others planned for Ground Zero. Yes, it is passing strange that Lord Foster's design should so closely mimic the idiot blanks of Danny's master plan and not his own spire circa 2003. Yes, Richard Rogers' busybee trusselated mass should be aborted post haste. Sure, Fumihiko Maki's tower is a straight rip of that triangular thing at 53rd and Lex that is already a sad homage to its noble Midtown neighbor, Citicorp. But the real action, as ever, is elsewhere. Designer Kevin Wallace has seen the future, above, and, pursuant to the unimpeachable logic below, it is his.

As the plans for Ground Zero have unraveled over the past five years and the site has become universally regarded as a moral, economic, and artistic failure, the ultimate fate of the site still remains uncertain on this fifth anniversary of September 11th. Considering that a new governor will be elected in two months and the current financing scheme is in serious question, a bold new vision for the City is not only a desirable prospect, but it is a highly plausible one given the merits of this fresh and elegant new vision.

Amazed New Yorkers may behold the merits themselves when the design goes on view at Gallerie Icosahedron, 27 North (sic) Moore Street, on September 9.

· Friday AM Linkage: Freedom Tower Friends Edition [Curbed]

See more in The Pit

 4 Comments

And when the last cocktail blew into the sea, when the last sordid dune-nymph lay sated, when the last unctuous hunk of Berkshire pork was scraped from the grill (and greedily snarfed by the Guttersniper's loyal hound) an end to summer was decreed and a new season, in its tragic turn, commenced. Rejoice! The Gutter is back among you. And soon, if not just today, we'll be better than ever—as if you can imagine such a state of bliss. New voices, new features, new foibles. Fuck, we might even redesign the place. So shake off your logy summertime salt and join us, as we do every year, in hailing September.

See more in About The Gutter, Our Fallen World

 12 Comments

Just when we were getting used to our August semi-slumber, we were compelled to sail back into wifi range, set the old Hitachi on the starboard toerail, unfurl the mizzen spanker, open all the seacocks, and dial up the ComLink protocols to GutterSat 1. And what did we find, oh our still so very very deeply Dearest Best Beloveds? Behold, ye mighty, the fruits of our inbox, and WTF?

Hi,

I'm a writer with Details magazine looking to feature a new (within the last three months) or soon-to-open (I'm working on the October issue) gorgeous architectural space, probably something commercial, such as a new building/restaurant space/etc.

Do you have any suggestions or anything I should look out for, anything the architectural community is excited about seeing completed?

Thanks very much for your help.

See more in Words, Words

 61 Comments

Has your staring at Dave Jones been as good for you as it's been for us? Alas, probably not. Didn't we mention that we're on a light posting schedule until after Labor Day?

Not to worry, Cook will remain all sorts of fucked in September.

See more in About The Gutter

We'll admit we've noticed a lessening of our colleagues' peeps; a slowing down of our detractors' cries. But what we haven't noticed—mostly because, um, we don't, like, read them all the time—is that archinect, our loyal archenemy and fickle rival, seems to have taken a little trip down to Davy Jones' locker. A Dear Reader reports:

I just tried www.archinect.com and it appears they didnt pay their network solutions bill...or they've been kidnapped...or bought by Gawker.

See more in Chatter

 15 Comments

Oh, glorious Monday. A weekend of Peter Cook (stay tuned...), a morning of kismet, and, now, an afternoon of speculation. Our daily newsfix, Page Six, reports today that stay-in-bed nineties supermodel Linda Evangelista is pregnant, via—and hold your condemnation as we hold our fire—a turkey baster. Which, to walk the cat back for you Dear Readers more accustomed to all things au naturel, requires someone to, er, fill it.

Evangelista, who miscarried in 1999 when she was seeing French soccer star Fabien Barthez, has refused to say who the new dad is, although "a New York architect" has been mentioned by fashion insiders.

· Who's the Dad? [New York Post]

See more in Simply Sublime

 1 Comments

Something's gotten into the kids this week over at the Home section. Because, for the first time ever, it's the sexxxiest section in the paper. Lead story on desperate housewives banging their contractors; a feature on couples and their plumbing; and the opening of the Nymphenburg (say what?) Porcelain Manufactory. Now where did we put those fifty bucks?

· House & Home [New York Times]

See more in Words, Words

The beat goes on and on. First, we were remiss yesterday in not passing on the URL to what may be the best angle yet on the B-list-architect-bones-his-A-list-assistant scandale of the century. Then a Reader schooled us: it is revealed therein that good, sweet, slithering Diana Bianchi was getting paid $50/hour to file drawings and sort carpet samples fuck her boss.

Keep it quiet, kids. If that price point gets around, it's gonna put a lot of us out of business.

Meanwhile, the Post, owning a story that should be rightfully theirs, breaks the news (and aerial views!) about the "the secluded $15 million Hamptons mansion that Christie Brinkley's horndog hubby used as a 'love shack' to get down and dirty with a beautiful 19-year-old aspiring singer." Four acres, six bedrooms, 10,000 square feet? That's a lot of lovin'.

· Emotional Wipeout as Gal Betrays Surfer Dude [NYP]
· Affair Lair [NYP]
· Diana Bianchi: New Face of Arcitectural Temptation [The Gutter]

See more in Simply Sublime

A theft for the likes of which the GPB was made. It's sooooooo brazen. If by brazen, we mean brazenly wonderful. Look and live and learn. For this development in Dubai, SOM has taken a little bit of Childs' Freedom Tower circa 2003 (which, natch, already includes a dash of Guy Nordenson and a whiff of Calatrava) and added, in a fit of meta-irony, a touch of good old Thomas Shine. It's hysterical. And as a display of fuck-you, it's our world you just live in it power, it's brilliant.

· Infinity Tower [TEN Real Estate]

See more in Our Fallen World

 3 Comments

Our boy Mikey's got a tough job. Channeling the grief of thousands. Giving architecture meaning. Building something at Ground Zero. Which is why we were thrilled—but hardly surprised—to discover the latest kicker to his memorial wading pools.

The 9/11 memorial at Ground Zero - the two square pools in the footprints of the Twin Towers - will produce a rising mist when conditions are right, especially cool mornings, memorial architect Michael Arad said at a Whitney Museum reception the other night. The party was hosted by Leonard Lauder and Howard Rubenstein to show off the new exhibition, "Full House: Views of the Whitney Collection At 75." Arad told The Post's Lois Weiss that his design is still evolving.

· Misty Mourning [New York Post]

See more in The Pit

 1 Comments

Those dewey, doey eyes. Those fat, gloss-wet lips. That just-kickin'-it-in-study-hall Sharpie tattoo. As another Italian heartthrob, Rudy Giuliani, once said, it's more than we can bear. And, as the Post details today in brilliant overkill, it was so much more than shinglematic Hamptons traditionalist Peter Cook (obvs we know, alas) could keep his mitts off. Looks like he's facing a sexual harrassment suit in addition to whatever litigious hell-bolts might soon be hurled by expert three-time divorcee Christie Brinkley. Grooming, office groping, the coercive gift of a car. At least young Miss Bianchi, 19, is the step-daughter of a local cop. Can you hear the sigh of relief over at Murdoch HQ (not to mention elsewhere)?

· Peter Wooed Me & Bedded Me But I Was Just A Tool In His Sick Game [NYP]
· Breaking: Architect Gets Laid By Model, Assistant [The Gutter]

See more in Simply Sublime

 1 Comments

We do nothing if not condone the boning of assistants, especially if they're nineteen. Which is why we were thrilled to find, via our second half-brother, that Peter Cook has been so totally getting all up in his assistant's grill. Which didn't make his wife, Christie Brinkley, all too, well, enthused.

Peter Cook, 47, caused "substantial and irreparable harm" when he showered aspiring singer Diana Bianchi, 19, with luxurious gifts - including a Nissan Maxima - and then seduced her behind Brinkley's back, the lawyer said.

"It amounts to preying on an innocent, young and naive girl who would otherwise have no attraction to a 50-year-old man," lawyer Joseph Tacopina said. "He offered her money, a job, career advancement. And when he got her comfortable, he made his real intentions known."

· Teen's on Brink of Suing Him [New York Daily News]

See more in Our Fallen World

 8 Comments

You can count on grace pettiness. You can count on plenty blight. You can count on us working rocking whenever the fuck we want. And you can count on the folks obsessed with rebuilding the Twin Towers to be very, very angry. So angry, kids, they can't even read good. But they write brilliantly.

From our overbrimming inbox:

Alright your newsgroup or whatever the hell you call it (I simply call it a shithole.) freaking sucks! You guys are morons who do not even take the time to look into the facts BEFORE writing an article. I noticed that you claim that the Team Twin Towers wants to build "replicas" of the original Twin Towers. That is an exaggerated lie on your behalf, and complete bullshit! Look at all the pictures of the entries on the contest page and notice that none of them are the exact originals! You would have to be blind to belief that they are! I don't fucking care if you guys delete this mail or not, however I just figured you should know why everybody wants to destroy your shitty excuse for a website.

P.S. The Gutter is a great name for your shithole because, that must of been where you guys were spawned from.

And the beat goes on.

· Design Identical Twins or We Kill the Kids [The Gutter]

See more in About The Gutter

 12 Comments

Remember when the days started getting longer and the news queue started getting shorter and we posted a few empty posts, perhaps too subtle by half, suggesting it was going to be a slow summer? And then remember last Monday when we had a banner, red-letter day-of-days, deigned to share same with you, even, in our cups, then launched a truly impressive week-long debauche that was both much-needed and truly deserved? No, you couldn't remember that. We never told you. Still, it's amusing to see that so many of our Readers have mistaken the rising sun for a glorious dusk.

· The Gutter Salutes: The Glorious 10th of July! [The Gutter]

See more in Simply Sublime

 1 Comments