The Shakespeare Lady

MICHELLE NICOLE LEE, an alumni of the Yale Drama School, has written an essay for The New York Times on mental illness and her encounters with New Haven’s famous Shakespeare Lady.

When Madness Is in the Wings October 23, 2009 New York Times

-Tanya

Sol LeWitt @ the new Smilow Hospital

Sol LeWitt’s “Wall Drawing 692” @ Mass MoCa

Smilow’s interior features modern art – Lauren Motzkin – Yale Daily News – October 22, 2009

In a collaboration between the Smilow Hospital and the Yale University Art Gallery, “Wall Drawing 692” by conceptual artist Sol LeWitt has been installed in the lobby of the hospital, providing patients and visitors with a colorful welcome to the building.

-Tanya

Smilow Cancer Hospital’s design met criticism

Smilow Cancer Hospital’s design met criticism Amir Sharif Yale Daily News October 22, 2009

At the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Smilow Cancer Hospital Wednesday, nothing about the festive atmosphere and teary-eyed attendants suggested the controversial design process of the building — a process that involved extensive negotiations between hospital administrators, the building’s architects and city officials.

-Tanya

New Haven Through The Architect’s Eye

2 articles on: “Through the Architect’s Eye — New Haven & the World”
On view in the atrium of New Haven’s City Hall until Oct. 23.

Latino architects show off shutter skills New Haven Register October 17, 2009 – Pamela McLoughlin

NEW HAVEN — The first floor of City Hall has never been as architecturally sound as it is right now.

Photographic works of 40 architects from some 20 Latin American countries who have visited, worked or are working in the city are on display until Friday as part of Arte Inc.’s citywide celebration of Hispanic heritage. October is Hispanic Heritage month.

Exhibit Shows View From Architects’ Eyes Allan Appel | October 9, 2009 New Haven Independent

If photography is the art of light, what happens when architects, who trade in solid masses, pick up the camera?

The result: a vision of the world and the city filled with design and drama.

-Tanya

Preservationists object to plan for new colleges

Buildings to be demolished, clockwise from top left: Daniel Cady Eaton house, Hammond hall, Seeley Mudd Library, 88 Prospect Street.

“I find it very shocking that the total demolition of a giant site like this is still thought of as the way to proceed,” says Anstress Farwell ’78MA, president of the New Haven Urban Design League.

More seriously, she questions the wisdom of emulating the neo-Gothic architecture of Yale’s central campus. Calling it “a fantasy environment about what Yale has been in the past,” Farwell says, “I don’t think that if the university succeeds in this plan, the debate will ever go away: why did Yale do something retardataire at a moment when architecture is looking to be innovative?”

Preservationists object to plan for new colleges Carol Bass Yale Alumni Magazine 7/7/09

-Chris

International Festival of Arts and Ideas 2009

The International Festival of Arts and Ideas starts this Saturday!

List of all events for the International Festival of Arts and Ideas

International Festival of Arts & Ideas Kicks Off This Weekend By FRANK RIZZO Hartford Courant 6/11/2009

Mary Lou Aleskie believes that in a year in which economies throughout the world are traumatically shaken, making international connections is more vital than ever.

As executive director of New Haven’s International Festival of Arts & Ideas, which begins its 14th year Saturday, Aleskie has created more collaborations than ever for the programming, especially at a time when her budget hasn’t grown, corporate sponsorships are down and the dollar is devalued.

We Need Arts & Ideas More Than Ever: There’s no downturn in the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, the festival that helps us cope with reality Christopher Arnott New Haven Advocate 6/9/2009

The festival’s program director, Cathy Edwards, describes this year’s festival vibe as “something really uplifting about working together, the community coming together at a difficult time.” She sees the community theme as a chance to explore “the relationship of global to local,” and also “an opportunity for families to do things together.”

-Tanya

Drawings give first look at new colleges

Jeff Stikeman

Designs for the new colleges have not been unveiled to the public, but an artist commissioned by Stern’s architectural firm recently posted sketches of the project on his Web site. The pencil drawings show two colleges that will be built of brick with stone embellishments, will feature towers in various locations and, like all of Yale’s existing colleges, will be defined by their courtyards.

Drawings give first look at new colleges Paul Needham YDN 5/12/09

-Chris

Roundup of new architecture in New Haven

Design New Haven has a great new post here, summarizing new works of architecture in New Haven:

With major new commissions such as the Yale School of Management New Campus (Sir Norman Foster), College Square (Robert A.M. Stern), 55 Park Street (Svigals + Partners and Behnisch Architects), Yale-New Haven Hospital’s new 500,000 square-foot Cancer Hospital (SBRA), 360 State (Becker + Becker), University Health Services (Mack Scogin and Merrill Elam) and Gateway Community College (Perkins + Will) — and many others — currently in design or construction, the image of Downtown New Haven will be changing for years to come. Can New Haven sustain its longstanding reputation as a place for some of the nation’s most groundbreaking architecture and design?

Also, check out their coverage on the streetcar proposal for downtown New Haven, here.

-Chris

Children discover art at YUAG

Children discover art at YUAG Zeynep Pamuk Yale Daily News April 13, 2009

At the monthly “Stories and Art” event, which attracts around 20 children aged 3 to 10 and their parents, the gallery invites participants to engage with paintings by famous artists, such as Mark Rothko, Gustave Courbet and Francois Gerard. The event, one of the gallery’s several outreach activities, is part of a broader education program, designed to expose children to works of art and provide New Haven public school students with a chance to interact with Yale’s art collection.

-Tanya

The Librarian’s Parade

A black-and-white film from 1930 showing librarians moving the 1742 Collection of books from the Old Library (now Dwight Chapel) to the newly-completed Sterling Memorial Library.

-Chris

Need Wireless?

Is your favorite Library closed during Spring break? Check out this directory of Wi-Fi access points from PCWorld Magazine. Search by address, city, state, country, airport or zip code to find free wireless service.

Posted by Chris

Yale’s historic St. Thomas More Chapel renovated and updated

Mara Lavitt/Register

“There decidedly was a desire to make this, the first home of Catholics at Yale, feel like a piece of Yale,” said architect George Knight. That space, the Saint Thomas More Chapel, designed by Douglass Orr, a one-time president of the American Institute of Architects, has been updated with many of Orr’s original features brought back to life.

Knight said Orr’s career spanned the departure from beaux-art classicism to high orthodox modernism and the chapel is an example of a transitional neo-classical style. It is part of Orr’s legacy in the late 1930s that saw construction of many homes in the area, as well as the New Haven Lawn Club on Humphrey Street and the award-winning art deco Southern New England Telephone headquarters on Church Street.

Yale’s historic St. Thomas More Chapel renovated and updated Mary E. O’Leary New Haven Register 11/9/08

Read about a redevelopment plan of Knight’s for New Haven here.

Posted by Chris

Mixed-Use Strategy Helping New Haven’s Science Park Grow

MARK MIRKO / HARTFORD COURANT

After a decades-long slow start, the 60-acre complex of vacant firearms factories that the state, city and Yale University have been redeveloping for bioscience companies is roaring to life under a broadened, mixed-use strategy that envisions general office, retail and housing uses.

The university’s investment effectively expands the campus northward from downtown and westward from Prospect Street, helping to transform an area near the future dorms that is widely considered unsafe.

Mixed-Use Strategy Helping New Haven’s Science Park Grow Eric Gershon Hartford Courant 11/11/08

Posted by Chris

‘360 State’: In transit

Snigdha Sur

Developers broke ground on the 32-story building at 360 State late September; now, they are trying to avoid broken spirits.

Although both the University and the city have recently cut back on their capital-project spending, the developers of 360 State said they have no plans of slowing down and hope their project will revitalize downtown by providing a new hub for the city’s public transportation.

“It is a real opportunity to, in a sense, correct the issue of Union Station,” Rubin said. “It is so far removed from downtown, and the walk from Yale or the financial district is uncomfortable on foot. This development is a real chance to update the State Street station to an urban rail terminal.”

‘360 State’: In transit Stephannie Furtak Yale Daily News 11/6/08

Read more at Design New Haven here.

Posted by Chris

Becker and Becker plus Kent Bloomer

When Green Is Not Enough: Ornamentation Will Try To Lessen Impact Of New Haven Residential Tower’s Five-Story Base
By PHILIP LANGDON Hartford Courant November 2, 2008

“Why has jubilation over the biggest housing development ever to come to downtown New Haven been so muted? More than a year and a half has passed since city officials started clearing the way for developer Becker & Becker to erect a residential tower on the site of the long-demolished Shartenberg department store at Chapel and State streets. Yet among design-conscious people in New Haven, discontent over the decision remains strong.

“…Becker & Becker is betting…that its exposed parking garage can be made palatable by having Kent Bloomer of Yale Architecture School design ornamentation to cover much of its exterior.”

Posted by: Tanya