Autodesk,
Inc. announced settlements in December of more than $260,000 with two
companies that were purportedly pirating its software. Autodesk’s
Piracy Prevention Department, created in 1989, has purportedly recovered
more than $60 million from 6,000 companies. Make sure you’re
legal!
The unveiling of the eight finalist designs for the WTC Memorial have
met with widespread disappointment among a wide variety of critics.
www.wtcsitememorial.org
The Freedom Tower Design, created through the uneasy collaboration
of Daniel Libeskind and David Childs, met a more positive but still
mixed review. The building has 70 stories of office space followed
by a light, airy structure of tension cables and wind turbines (hoped
to provide up to 20% of the building’s energy needs), and topped
by an off-center 276’ spire meant to evoke the Statue of Liberty.
It has a torqueing design which is bulkier and less angular than what
Libeskind envisioned but maintains the sharply angled roofline of the
original design. The tower is expected to break ground in mid 2004
and be completed by 2008 or 2009.
www.renewnyc.com
The well-known Dutch Architect, Rem Koolhaas, was recently awarded
Berlin’s Architecture Prize in honor of his design for the Royal
Dutch Embassy. Koolhaas is also known in this country for his design
of the controversial Seattle Public Library.
AIA Awards: American Architect Samuel Mockbee was selected posthumously
to the AIA’s Gold Medal, its highest honor. He joins a very select
group of individuals such as Thomas Jefferson, Frank Lloyd Wright,
Louis Sullivan, LeCorbusier, Louis Kahn, and I.M. Pei. Mockbee founded
the Auburn University Rural Studio – dedicated to creating homes
and community centers in rural areas designed and developed with the
same high set of architectural principles as buildings made for wealthier
clients.
The AIA named a 44 member, San Antonio, Texas firm, Lake/Flato Architects
as recipient of its 2004 AIA Architecture Firm Award.
The AIA and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture
have chosen MIT Professor of Architecture Stanford Anderson the 2004
recipient of the Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architectural Education.
www.aia.org
A Chinese Provincial capital, Changsha, a city of 6 million, has a
severe electrical shortage and has gone to rolling blackouts - most
homes and businesses will not have power every fourth day. The crisis
is the result of a combination of coal shortage and a severe drought
condition whereby hydroelectric power generation in the region has
been halted - probably until February!
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced that it will
award more than $25.3 million through 915 grants in the first major
grant announcement of Fiscal Year 2004. The Arts Endowment will distribute
$25,352,000 to nonprofit national, regional, state, and local organizations
across the country, funding projects in the categories of Creativity,
Services to Arts Organizations and Artists, Literature Fellowships
and Leadership Initiatives. The Arts Endowment's budget for the year
is $122.5 million. http://www.arts.gov/news/news03/Announce12-17-03.html
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