File Under: Vertigo

In 1996, Las Vegas businessman David Jin dreamed up the idea of "walking out over the Grand Canyon and staring 4,000 feet down into the Colorado River -- while standing on four inches of glass." On January 1, believe it or not, it will become a reality.


Image from MRJ Architects

The horseshoe-shaped walkway that juts 70-feet out into the canyon is "part of the Hualapai Tribe's $40 million effort to turn 1,000 acres of reservation land into a tourist destination that will also feature an Indian village and Western-themed town."


Image from MRJ Architects

Regardless of the questionable nature of the walkway and the theme park (ideas actually opposed by about half the tribe's elders initially), it is quite a feat of engineering. It is designed, with the help of Lochsa Engineering, to support 72 million pounds, to withstand a magnitude 8.0 earthquake centered 50 miles away, and to withstand winds in excess of 100 mph.

But will people spend $25 to feel their stomachs in their mouths? We won't know until Grand Canyon Resort Corp., the tribal-owned company that is overseeing the project, finds an insurer for the project, probably not an easy task.

(Thanks to Eric M. for the head's up)

"...And I Approved This Ad"

Looks like Ralph Johnson of Perkins + Will is looking to join the ranks of celebrity architects, alongside Daniel Libeskind and Richard Meier with Signature Place in St. Petersburg, Florida. Or is he already there?



Like David Childs, Johnson's role as a lead designer at a large corporate firm actually precludes him from being seen like Frank Gehry, Santiago Calatrava, and other "singular voices" of celebrity in contemporary architecture. Though unlike David Childs, Johnson is a very capable designer who produces excellent buildings of different types and scales.



Thanks to Jeff S. for the head's up.

Katrina & Her Waves

Of course, the big news is Hurricane Katrina's havoc on Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana, in particular New Orleans, where 80% of the city is under water.


Reuters photo

Some related links:

:: Architecture for Humanity is taking donations for rebuilding efforts. I've also added a link to the sidebar for this great organization.

:: Fellow blogger and N.O. resident Jimmy is safe and exiled in Texas.

:: Coverage at Metroblogging New Orleans.

and

:: Some news coverage at Archinect.

On the Road Again

I'm hitting the road for about a week, so this blog will be on hiatus until next Wednesday. Here's some things to entertain/educate y'all in the meantime:

:: Made in the USA. Karim Rashid dons his purple specs as a judge in the soon-to-be-smash hit "reality competition" series on USA Network. I'd say he's sold out, but I think he's already done that. (via Improvised Schema)

:: Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music. Don't know the difference between Ambient House and Ambient Trance? Or don't know what the hell Buttrock Goa or Musique Concrete are? This Flash-based site will teach you everything you need to know. With lots and lots of samples.

:: The State of Affairs: "Perimeter security is ugly and may not keep us safe," "Lockheed Martin Is Hired to Bolster Transit Security in N.Y.," and "Do fast-food chains cluster around schools?"

Half Dose #13: Noguchi Museum

An early and probably unintentional member of Long Island City's popular art scene, the Noguchi Museum opened in 1985 in a factory building converted by the artist. It reopened last year after a 2.5-year renovation by Sage and Coombe Architects that added an education center, cafe & bookstore, made the galleries and garden accessible, and improved the HVAC system in order to keep the museum open year-round.


Area 1

"Area 1" is the first space encountered after admission and is architecturally one of the most striking spaces at the museum. The corner light well above is one of the three tips of the triangle that the museum and garden occupy, perhaps accentuating this fact for the visitor inside the space. Not being fully enclosed, Area 1 exhibits a pleasing ambiguity -- between outside/inside, art/architecture -- that is definitely appropriate for Noguchi.


Area 9

Above Area 1 are the upper floor galleries called Area 9 & 10, now accessible via a new ramp by the renovation architects. Unlike the area below, the enclosed galleries aren't as rough, opting for wood and plaster over CMU and in-situ concrete.


The Garden

If there were only one reason to visit the Noguchi Museum, it would definitely be the garden. Walled off from the two adjacent streets, it is a quiet space of contemplation and repose. In many ways, it is Noguchi's interpretation of a traditional Japanese rock garden. The artist's sculptures take the place of boulders, a la Ryoanji, and the trees become elements within the sea of rocks alongside the art. The changing character of the space across the seasons is what draws people back for multiple visits.

Links:

:: The Noguchi Museum
:: Sage and Coombe Architects
:: Architectural Record article
:: American Masters

Chi-town Roundup

Busy weekend for architecture news in the Windy City.

:: Martha Thorne, currently associate curator of architecture at the Art Institute of Chicago, has been named executive director of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Story at the Sun-Times and Tribune.

:: Frank Gehry buys the "Building formerly known as Inland Steel."

:: Crown Hall "dazzles" before its official reopening this Saturday.

and

:: It might be old news now, but Hello Beautiful's one-hour show devoted to Calatrava's Fordham Spire is now online.

Monday, Monday

My weekly page update:

Isokon Flats in London, England by Avanti Architects.

Some unrelated links for your enjoyment:

"The Breaking Point"
Peter Maass's article on Peak Oil in The New York Times (non-subscription version available at V&V).

Delusion and the Media
Kunstler's commentary on Maass's article, and others.

Eye Candy
"A pic a week from [the] weekly e-zine: eye candy"

Freakonomics
Blog by the authors of the bestselling book of the same name.

Preservation Directory
"Online resource for historic preservation, building restoration and cultural resource management in the United States & Canada."