Jersey City · 2007.0313
Pritzker Prize-winning Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas of the firm Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) has presented his conceptual plans for a $400 million mixed-use high-rise development in Jersey City, New Jersey. Koolhaas’s vision for the 1.2 million-square-foot (110,000-square-meter) development is a 52-story "vertical city" that resembles a stack of three blocks, each block horizontally rotated 90 degrees from the one below it. This design creates a series of open spaces and terraces at the structural junctions. Located in the Power House Arts District near the Hudson River, the project is slated to include condominiums, a hotel, artists’ lofts, a gallery, retail space, and parking areas. The Athena Group and BLDG Management are the developers for the project.
Al Ain · 2007.0312
A Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum (HOK) team has revealed its master plan for a 115,00-person urban community in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The low-rise, low-impact, sustainable development will be located on a 2,200-acre (900-hectare) site on the northeastern outskirts of the existing Al Ain city, in the desert at the foothills of the Jebel Hafleet mountain range.
HOK International of London, United Kingdom, and the London office of HOK Sport collaborated on the project, which comprises 30,000 apartments, 3,500 residential villas, 8.6 million square feet (800,000 square meters) of retail and leisure facilities, and 16 million square feet (1.5 million square meters) of office space, as well as religious and public health facilities. The plan features a multipurpose dome with a 40,000-seat enclosed stadium.
Extensive canals and waterways will encourage energy-efficient, water-based transportation. Recycled water will be used for the waterways and for landscape maintenance. Buildings will feature extensive solar shading. HOK is currently finalizing the master plan, with completion expected at the end of summer 2007. HOK also carried out the feasibility study and building prototype design. Buro Happold is providing infrastructure planning and design. The developer is Al Qudra Real Estate.
Eustis · 2007.0309
Ground has been broken and site work is underway for a new mixed-use project in downtown Eustis, Florida, on a site formerly occupied by a hospital. The Celebration, Florida, office of Memphis, Tennessee-based architecture firm Looney Ricks Kiss designed the project, which consists of two buildings, connected by a breezeway, with retail and office space on the ground floor and residential space above. Construction is scheduled to begin in April 2007 and be completed by the end of the year.
Emeryville · 2007.0308
Emeryville, California-based architecture, planning, and interior design firm Ratcliff has hired Gert D. Thorn, RA, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP, as a principal and Joseph A. Nicola as director of the firm's academic practice.
Thorn will be responsible for business development and project leadership for Ratcliff's healthcare practice group. He has over 25 years of design and project leadership experience, including as managing principal of the New York City office of Perkins+Will, manager of the Buffalo-area and New York City offices of Cannon Design, and director of the New York City office of Skidmore Owings & Merill (SOM).
Nicola's current projects include expansion and renovation of Boalt Hall School of Law, and seismic corrections and programmatic improvements to the Bancroft Library (Doe Annex), both at University of California, Berkeley. Prior to joining Ratcliff, Nicola designed a variety of projects as studio director at Hornberger + Worstell and director of architecture and design for the Japanese subsidiary of PAE (Pacific Architects & Engineers).
Atlantic City · 2007.0308
The Pier at Caesars has opened in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The high-end retail, dining, and entertainment complex juts 900 feet (270 meters) into the Atlantic Ocean on the once-famous Million Dollar Pier. Elkus Manfredi Architects of Boston, Massachusetts, designed the project with a glass facade that reflects the ocean and also allows visitors to feel the ocean air, hear the waves lapping, and see the surrounding beaches. The sturdy exterior also incorporates Clear Channel Spectacolor signage. Situated on the 200-foot- (60-meter-) wide pier, the facility resembles a 70-story skyscraper lying on its side.
Anguilla · 2007.0307
Lee H. Skolnick Architecture + Design Partnership (LHSA+DP) of New York City has revealed the design for Kamique, a new high-end rental development on the island of Anguilla in the British West Indies. Located at the Little Harbour reef, the development consists of five ocean-view villas that will be operated as rentals. Each villa will be over 9,000 square feet (840 square meters), with decking and sea-view swimming pools. Materials will include a blend of woods, stone, and concrete.
The development will also include a recording studio to house the Anguilla Music Production and Publishing facilities. LHSA+DP collaborated with the development company, Kamique Anguilla, on the project, which is expected to be completed in late spring of 2007. Kamique is one of five projects that LHSA+DP is designing on Anguilla, all of which feature indoor/ outdoor designs, sustainable design, and an emphasis natural elements such as water, sky, sand, and wind.
Los Angeles · 2007.0303
The Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr., Gymnasium has opened at the Van Ness Recreation Center in Los Angeles, California. Koning Eizenberg Architecture of Santa Monica designed the building, which shares a prototype with new gyms at Green Meadows and Pecan Recreation Centers. The prototype includes common construction components and sustainable design strategies. Distinctive block-patterned exteriors anticipate graffiti: patches of roller-applied cover-up paint will add to the pattern. Daylighting and passive cooling, among other "green" features, meet the City of Los Angeles's LEED-equivalence mandate. In 2006 the Concrete Masonry Association of California and Nevada honored the Green Meadows Recreation Center with a sustainability award.
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