AWARDS PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS DESIGN FOR BUSINESS

The recently announced 2001 Business Week/Architectural Record awards honor 11 projects that "conserve natural resources, promote ancient religious values, and creatively express current identities of established institutions and companies." The winning collaborations showcase architects and their clients who are creating successful facilities for organizations around the world. Said AIA President John D. Anderson, FAIA: "It’s the focus on how these solutions impact the bottom line that make them especially relevant in today’s uncertain economic climate." One of the winners was the LVMH Tower (pictured) in New York designed by the Parisian firm, Atelier Christian de Portzamparc.

WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE NURSING UNIT?

Acute-care units everywhere are facing tough issues: a shortage of skilled workers and funding, ineffective materials flow, low satisfaction among patients and caregivers, lack of storage, and inefficient bed use. Worse, design often magnifies these problems, when it should be helping to alleviate them. To answer the question of what the acute-care unit of the future should look like, Janet Faulkner, a principal of Callison Architecture, explores the evolution of the nursing unit and suggests how to shed the inefficiencies of the past to better approach problem solving to meet current needs.

NEW DIRECTIONS IN WOOD

Even as large, old-growth trees are disappearing from the landscape, architects continue to be fascinated by wood as a beautiful and versatile material. In the hands of creative designers, manufactured wood products using less destructively harvested fiber are playing a greater role in construction. And wood is being considered useful for building in difficult conditions, such as in the northern reaches of Lapland, where the construction season is short and durability of materials is essential. Next week we'll look at wood in the new Lappish Civic Center through the writing of Naomi Stungo in her new book, Wood: New Directions in Design and Architecture.