DESIGN DISPATCH

Foster + Partners' Green Claims are Called Into Question, and Other News

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270 Park Avenue. Image credit: Nigel Young/Foster + Partners.

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Foster + Partners has been accused of greenwashing its new JP Morgan Chase building.

Award-winning architect Fred A. Bernstein has accused Foster + Partners of greenwashing its new headquarters for JP Morgan Chase at 270 Park Ave., alleging that its sustainability claims ignore the significant environmental cost of its construction. According to Bernstein, the tower’s energy-intensive use of steel and concrete, along with the demolition of the previous building on the site, raises his concerns about embodied energy—something not accounted for in the project’s sustainability narrative. 

Marcel Breuer’s summer home gets added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Marcel Breuer’s summer home in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, which dates to 1948, has been added to the National Register of Historic Places in recognition of its architectural significance and connection to midcentury modernism. The Cape Cod Modern House Trust, which purchased the property in July, plans to restore the home and use it for artist residencies. 

Marcel Breuer's Wellfleet, MA, residence. Image credit: Raimund Koch.

The National Building Museum names Walter Hood the winner of its Vincent Scully Prize.

Walter Hood, the founder of Hood Design Studio and a professor at UC Berkeley, has won the 2024 Vincent Scully Prize for his contributions to landscape architecture and urban design. Known for integrating art, history, and social causes into his projects, Hood’s work includes prominent public spaces like the International African American Museum in Charleston. The National Building Museum will honor Hood at a public ceremony on October 4.

The Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation awards $400,000 in grant funding to art critics.

Amid industry cutbacks, the Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation awarded $50,000 grants to eight art critics, including Greg Allen, Holland Cotter, and Robin Givhan. The foundation aims to sustain their work as many writers face growing financial challenges. The foundation has distributed $3.5 million in unrestricted grants to arts writers since 2017 in recognition of their contributions to cultural discussion.

The internet archive loses a precedent-setting copyright case in the U.S Court of Appeals.

The Internet Archive lost its appeal in a copyright case in the US Court of Appeals, with the court ruling that the archive’s digital lending practices violated copyright law, rejecting a fair use defense. The decision upholds a 2023 ruling related to the National Emergency Library, which allowed unlimited digital lending on the archive during the pandemic, and sparked backlash from publishers including Hachette.

Transa album, by Red Hot Org. Image courtesy of Red Hot Org.

Today’s attractive distractions:

Sarah Sze–designed baseball hats cap off a winning season for the Mets. 

A benefit music album, Transa, is raising awareness around trans issues.

Get ready, gamers: user-made political campaign content is coming.

In a first, a decommissioned power plant may be brought back online.

 

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