blog wunderlust: 14th January 2013

Each material has its own potential and we seek the most eloquent expression of it

Paul Rudolph

Champion of livable architecture and pioneering critic Ada Louise Huxtable has died at 91 | Why green labels boost real estate values | 9 city building projects to watch for in 2013 | Eero Saarinen: Furniture for Everyman | Vietnam chooses an ‘architect of the year’ for the first time | Cyclorama building at Gettysburg will be demolished | An Unlikely Success Story For Modern Architecture, Mies, And Detroit

last word: The Rise Of Indie Architecture

The blog wunderlust is a weekly round up summarizing the architectural highlights, news and web links, that don't otherwise fit the format of this blog. If you have any to share feel free to drop me an email

RIP Oscar Niemeyer

© Frank Camhi

It is with the deepest and sincerest regrets to inform my readers of the passing of noted Latin Modernist architect Oscar Niemeyer 1907 - 2012. The acclaimed and highly influential architect and political activist died of natural causes on the 6th December - 2 weeks short of his 105 birthday.

Oscar Niemeyer began his own practice, after a brief stint within the office of Lúcio Costa and Carlos Leão that stemmed collaborations with Le Corbusier. His architecture whilst in dozen of countries, and has come to define the essence and culture of Brazil and moreover the whimsical forms of Latin Modernism. His accomplished work of fluid and free-formed concrete sculpture spanned decades and in 1988 he was awarded with profession's highest honour, the Pritzker Prize.

Up until his last breath, there was no greater living architect than Oscar Niemeyer.

RIP - Lebbeus Woods

Lebbeus Woods, conceptual architect, artist, theoretician and active blogger, died in New York at the age of 72. A pupil of Eero Saarinen in the 1960s, he is best known for his visionary and dystopian work of imaginary worlds, rendered with cared coloured pencils. His noted works includes the Einstein Memorial and Havana, radically reconstructed. Woods was the recipient of numerous national and international honours and awards, but he will be most regarded as an influence to a generation of architects.

Read his obituary via the Guardian and Popular Science.

RIP - Ricardo Legoretta

1931 - 2011, acclaimed Mexican architect Ricardo Legoretta was highly regarded for the fusion of modernism and tradition. A noted pupil of famed architect Luis Barragán, Legoretta was awarded the coveted UIA Gold Medal in 1999 and most recently the Praemium Imperiale earlier this year. Some of his notable works include the Camino Real hotel in Mexico City, the Latino Cultural Centre and the Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose both in the United States. Read the obituary here

RIP - Denny Repole

Renowned Jamaican architect, Herbert Denham Repole passed away on the 1st November 2011 - days before his 77th birthday.

Denny, as he was affectionately known, was the recipient of numerous national and regional honours and awards, including the Order of Distinction, Commander Class (C.D.) in 2003. Much of his work in the 1960s helped, especially in the New Kingston area helped to define both culturally and physically the landscape of a newly independent Jamaica, moreover his monuments to Paul Bogle and William Gordon remind us to have courage and hope. He was one of the forebearers of the Caribbean School of Architecture - serving both in an advisorial and teaching capacity.

RIP - Jackson Bunside

Celebrated architect, artist and cultural icon Jackson Burnside passed away on the 11th May 2011 at the age of 62.

A staunch advocate of Bahamian and Caribbean expression in both the arts and architecture, his professional career was self-defined as "a rambling through the culture of the Bahamas, connecting diverse disciplines and integrating intuition with common knowledge."

Jackson Burnside was the recipient of numerous national and regional honours and awards, and acted in an advisorial role at the Caribbean School of Architecture - the only one in the English speaking Caribbean. He is most remembered by students and professionals alike as an advocate for Caribbean architectural heritage, for it's common sense in teaching appropriateness of material, climatic conditions and structure in developing design in synthesis with nature.
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RIP - Charles Gwathmey

1938 - 2009, acclaimed architect highly noted for his work as one of the New York 5 in the late 1960s and including a sedated addition in 1992 to Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan; died of cancer on the 3rd August. Charles Gwathmey formed his partnership with high school friend Robert Siegel in 1968 and built a practice mostly on residential works.

obituary on the times

RIP - Sverre Fehn

1924 - 2009, acclaimed architect highly noted for the Norwegian Pavilion at the 1958 World Expo in Brussels and most recently the Norwegian Glacier Museum died of natural causes on the 23rd February. Fehn began his practice in 1954 after a brief stint with Jean Prouvé and became a prominent post-war architect, helping to influence the architecture of Norway. Fehn was honoured with architecture's highest award the Pritzker Prize in 1997.

RIP - Jan Kaplický (Future Systems)

1937 - 2009, acclaimed architect most noted for the Media Centre at the Lords Cricket Oval and the competition entry for the National Library of Prague died on the streets of the Czech city, in the town that he was born. Kaplický was the founding partner of Future Systems, and with ex-wife Amanda Levete carved a radical, less "machine aesthetic" that was strikingly original and organic.