Edited by: Eugenia Gotti – Architecture Department Editor – eugenia.gotti@positive-magazine.com
Translition Assistant: Bianca Baroni
Where : New York
Artworks: Design Competition MoMA PS1
COMPETITION
The Museum of Modern Art and MoMA PS1announces that CODA , Caroline O’Donnell, Ithaca, NY, is the winner of the annual Young Architects Program (YAP) in New York.
Every year, five architects, that are usually Americans and Europeans, are invited to join the design competition for the MoMa square in New York.
This year, again, the topic is Warm up: the project will provide a unique setting for the popular Warm Up summer music series.
The architects must work within guide lines that address to environmental issues, including sustainability and recycling. CODA, chosen among five finalists, will design a temporary urban landscape for the 2013 Warm Up summer music series in MoMA PS1’s outdoor courtyard.
However, the marked characteristics of landmark requested, that stand out form the CODA’s project and, to be honest, form also Wendy’s project (winner of last year competition), screeches with the politically correct idea suggested by the topic of the competition.
PS1 director Klaus Biesenbach, in a declaration, added: “CODA developed an outstanding, iconic design that will support the many social functions connected to our large-scale group exhibition EXPO 1: New York, while creating a unique and stunning object for our outdoor galleries”, so he underlined the absolute priority of this aspect.
The only eco-piece seems to be the skin (already itslef a contradiction?), wrapped in a modular skin made of blanks – bi-products of skateboard production – from an eco-friendly manufacturer, the light steel frame .
The structure provides shade through its verticality and in this way it creates a landmark too. Several pools on the ground level create micro-oases that establish a strong connection with the adjacent ‘church’ installation by Francesco Vezzoli.
Although the power of the image works well, maybe CODA could risk more, proposing some solutions that take care and talk about the Warm Up in term of communities and responsibility.
@EugeniaGotti