New York · 2006.0801
Construction has begun on a $190 million expansion and renovation project at New York Law School in Manhattan's TriBeCa neighborhood. The centerpiece will be a new 200,000-square-foot (18,600-square-meter) building, with five stories above ground and four below ground, to house classrooms, student spaces, the law library, an auditorium, and a multipurpose space. Detroit, Michigan-based SmithGroup designed the building with two different frontages to integrate it with the school's existing campus. At one end, a glass grid echoes in scale and proportion two neighboring late-19th century cast-iron former warehouses. At the other end, a 200-foot (60-meter) glass wall creates transparency between each floor's lounge and the street outside. Law school design expert Mark Maves serves as SmithGroup's principal architect for the project. The new building is expected to open in fall 2008; the interior renovation of current buildings is scheduled for completion in spring 2010.
Chengdu · 2006.0728
Designs have been revealed for a cell-shaped building to house a new biomedical research institute at Sichuan University in Chengdu, China. The six-floor, 170,000-square-foot (15,800-square-meter) building will include laboratory, research, and meeting spaces, with many forms inspired by molecular biology. The bay windows of meeting spaces will protrude through the building's facade, like the proteins in cell membranes. A crystal-shaped lecture hall will feature a crystal diffraction pattern on its ceiling. Pools the shape of cell organelles will dot the interior atrium garden. Collaborators on the design include architects at the Tsinghua University Architectural Design and Research Institute in Beijing; two recent Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) graduates, Sloan Kulper (architecture) and Audrey Roy (computer science and electrical engineering); and Shuguang Zhang, associate director of MIT's Center for Biomedical Engineering. The building is slated for construction over the next three years.
Beatrice · 2006.0728
GWWO, Inc./ Architects of Baltimore, Maryland, has revealed designs for a new Heritage Center at the Homestead National Monument of America, located west of Beatrice, Nebraska. The 10,700-square-foot (1,000-square-meter) facility will include exhibit space, a theater, a bookstore, a land record research area, support spaces, and a 160-foot (49-meter) "living wall" exterior exhibit. An upturned roof line, evoking sod turned by a plow, will crown a glass facade that allows wide views of the surrounding tallgrass prairie. A portion of the building will be constructed below grade to provide protection from tornados. GWWO's design, developed with the National Park Service, incorporates LEED principles.
Irvine · 2006.0727
Irvine, California-based FORMA, a land planning, design, and landscape architecture firm, has promoted four employees to associate director: Robert Bucci, Joe King, Michael Savage, and Michael Taylor. As associate director of new community design, Bucci oversees design of planned residential communities, including housing, recreation, transit, public facilities, and open space. He has over 35 years of experience as a new community and urban designer. A multimedia designer with over 20 years of industry experience, King is now associate director of advanced media, directing support systems to provide project simulations. Savage is associate director of landscape architecture. He has over 12 years of involvement in landscape architecture and has worked with such clients as The Irvine Company, K. Havnanian Homes, and Lennar Companies. Associate director of urban design Taylor specializes in new communities with amenities such as views, recreation, village centers, coastal locations, and sustainable environmental principles. His Montage Laguna Beach resort and Coto de Caza won national awards.
San Diego · 2006.0726
Ground has been broken for the new $22.6 million Laura Rodriguez Elementary School in the Barrio Logan neighborhood of San Diego, California. Platt/ Whitelaw Architects, Inc. of San Diego serves as the project architect for the 56,800-square-foot (5,280-square-meter) school, designed to accommodate 650 students. The nine structural-steel-framed buildings with plaster exteriors will include a library/ media center, cafeteria, multipurpose room, administrative space, and 32 classrooms. Plans for the 6.5-acre (2.6-hectare) site also feature play areas and overlapping sports fields. McCarthy Building Companies, Inc., is providing full construction management services. Completion is scheduled for August 2007.
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