Paris · 2006.1002
Louis Vuitton has unveiled evolving plans for the Louis Vuitton Foundation for Creation, a mammoth new art museum in Paris, France. Pritzker Prize-winner Frank Gehry and his Los Angeles, California-based firm, Gehry Partners, are designing the £70 million museum as a sweeping, cloudlike glass building. Completion is expected by 2010.
Farmington Hills · 2006.1002
Trinity Design of Farmington Hills, Michigan, has merged with Dallas, Texas-based HKS, Inc. As the Farmington Hills office of HKS Architects, it will continue to provide healthcare design services, as well as expanding into other market sectors, such as commercial, education, hospitality, justice, and sports. Trinity Design recently designed the 172,000-square-foot (16,000-square-meter) Saint Mary's Health Care Lacks Cancer Center in Grand Rapids, the second hospital in the nation to receive LEED certification. Steve Jacobson, AIA, vice president of Trinity Design and director of healthcare, will serve as director of the HKS office. Also continuing from the Trinity Design leadership are Bob Piatek, AIA, NCARB, previously vice president and director of interior design, and Carol Johnson Kartje, AIA, IIDA, previously vice president and director of interior design. Charlie Johnston, AIA, NCARB, founder of the firm that became Trinity Design, will continue to provide consulting services.
Abu Dhabi · 2006.0929
International architecture and planning firm Foster and Partners has unveiled its design for a $1.4 billion mixed-use project at the central market in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The 14-acre (5.7-hectare) development will transform the market vertically, combining residential, office, and retail spaces in three towers. The marketplace will feature a variety of flexible spaces. Project completion is expected in mid-2008.
Iowa City · 2006.0928
Construction has begun on the $25 million expansion and renovation of the emergency treatment center at the University of Iowa's Hospitals & Clinics in Iowa City. International architecture firm RTKL is the designer and architect of record for the project, partnering with Shiffler Associates Architects, PLC of Des Moines. The design includes accessible room layout, private corridors to shield trauma arrivals from public view, naturally lit waiting rooms, and a roof garden to enhance views from patient rooms in other parts of the hospital. Completion is scheduled for summer of 2009. RTKL has also added a principal, Eduardo S. Egea, AIA, NCARB, to its healthcare practice. Egea has over 12 years of healthcare design and facilities planning experience, including projects in Chicago, Illinois; San Francisco, California; Santiago, Chile; and Mendoza, Argentina. He previously served as an associate at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) in San Francisco and as a designer and medical planner at NBBJ in Columbus, Ohio.
Bangkok · 2006.0928
The new multimillion-dollar Suvarnabhumi Airport has opened near Bangkok, Thailand, replacing Bangkok International Airport (Don Mueang) as Bangkok's primary airport for commercial flights. German architect Helmut Jahn's firm Murphy/ Jahn Architects designed the glass-and-steel facility, supposedly the largest terminal building in the world, with 120 aircraft parking bays and gates. The airport features two parallel runways and two parallel taxiways.
Berkeley · 2006.0926
The University of California, Berkeley, has selected Japanese architecture firm Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects to design a new building in downtown Berkeley for the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive — the first United States project for the firm. The facility will provide expanded exhibition and education spaces. A LEED silver certification will be sought. Fundraising is underway for the project.
Warwick · 2006.0925
The 200,000-square-foot (18,600-square-meter) Leighton Judicial Complex recently opened in Warwick, Rhode Island. The New York office of international architecture firm Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum, Inc. (HOK) designed the courthouse with red brick and limestone masonry details and contrasting large glass wall surfaces. The amply daylit facility comprises sixteen courtrooms and related offices.
San Francisco · 2006.0925
Hunt Hale Jones Architects of San Francisco, California, has promoted Michael Palza to director of its new interiors studio. Palza has been with the firm for five years, serving as a senior designer and senior project manager on projects such as a mixed-use infill project in downtown San Rafael, California, and Sheshan Villas, a high-end custom home development near Shanghai, China. Prior to joining Hunt Hales Jones, he had over 20 years of experience at multinational architecture, engineering, and construction firms. He has extensive experience in South America, where he was the head designer and executive partner of the firm he founded, Palza Associates.
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