The Burj Dubai, still under construction, became the tallest building in the world in late July. Photo: Chris DiClerico

Bilbao · 2007.0807
Landscape architecture and urban design firm Balmori Associates of New York City has revealed its winning design for Campa de los Ingleses Park in Bilbao, Spain. The 25,000-square-meter (270,000-square-foot) park will integrate the Guggenheim Bilbao with the surrounding buildings and the nearby Nervión River promenade. Undulating paths will create a series of curving terraces, with ramps, stairs, and walls flowing into each other. Lines of colorful trees and bands of plantings will emphasize the topography.

The park is expected to be finished in 2010. It will complete the master plan for Abandoibarra, designed by the firm in 1997 in collaboration with Pelli Clark Pelli Architects, based in New Haven, Connecticut, and Aguinaga & Associates Architects of Madrid.

Chicago · 2007.0802
SmithGroup has promoted principal Noel Bryan, AIA, to leader of its Chicago, Illinois, studio. Bryan has been part of the firm's management team for the past seven years, most recently as director of operations for the Phoenix, Arizona, office, and prior to that as a project manager and principal-in-charge of workplace and science and technology projects. His significant clients have included the City of Phoenix, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Sky Harbor International Airport.

Haikou · 2007.0802
Kevin Kennon Architect (KKA) of New York City has revealed its designs for two high-end developments on Hainan Island, off the southern coast of China. Both projects are expected to open in mid-2008. In Haikou, KKA designed a 20,800-square-meter (224,000-square-foot) project comprising a high-end hotel, a community center, and four concrete-and-glass villas for a four-hectare (ten-acre) site.

In Sanya, the project includes a 23-building apartment-and-condominium complex, with a 350-room hotel and an 18-story, 2,000-square-meter (21,500-square-foot) high-rise apartment building. The complex will weave through the site like a ribbon, accentuating the natural contours of the land. All the structures will features roof gardens.

Dallas · 2007.0801
Corgan Associates, Inc. has promoted three staff members to principal at its Dallas, Texas, headquarters: Jonathan Massey, AIA; John Higgs; and Christine Evans. Massey will fill a leadership role in the firm's aviation team, with which he has worked for 14 years. He is currently working on several concourse renovation projects at Dallas Love Field and on a strategic development plan for the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.

Higgs will manage the Corgan Media Lab. He has been with the firm for 11 years, and has worked on such projects as Terminal D at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Evans has been named director of finance after nine years of involvement with the accounting department.

Washington, D.C. · 2007.0730
Renovations are complete at the Matchbox restaurant in the Chinatown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. GTM Architects of Bethesda, Maryland — the designer of the original restaurant space in its narrow building — facilitated the design process in the two newly aquired buildings: a three-story woodframe building for a new kitchen, management offices, and additional dining, and a one-story steel-and-glass greenhouse for a large dining area. Several common design elements from the first phase of work helped tie together the different types of rooms and spaces into a cohesive whole, with the booths, custom metal railings, and custom matchbox-covered tabletops carrying the theme throughout the multiple levels. Outside is a new outdoor dining patio with decorative metal gates.

Los Angeles · 2007.0730
Gonzalez | Goodale Architects of Pasadena, California, has revealed its design for a three-story mixed-use building in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. The project, developed by A Community of Friends in Los Angeles, will comprise affordable housing, retail space, and parking.

The ground floor will feature a 20,000-square-foot (1,900-square-meter) retail space and a 4,500-square-foot (420-square-meter) secondary commercial space. The upper floors will contain 43 units of affordable housing. The residential component of the project wraps around a landscaped courtyard, and the proposed building form offers views of the San Gabriel Mountains to the north. Located in a corner lot, the building will include a distinctive pedestrian entrance to mesh with its urban context. Construction is slated to begin in late 2008.

London · 2007.0730
A new music venue, indigO₂, has opened within The O₂ (formerly the Millennium Dome) in London, United Kingdom. London-based firm careyjones interiors designed the £9 million purpose-built venue to have excellent acoustics and sightlines. With a total capacity of 2,350 people, the three-story facility features an open dance area on the ground floor, a high-end bar on the second floor, and bleacher-style amphitheater seating on the third floor. The interiors feature dense timber paneling and rich velvet curtains.

Prince Frederick · 2007.0730
GWWO, Inc./ Architects of Baltimore has revealed its design for Barstow Elementary School in Prince Frederick, Maryland. The design capitalizes on the steeply graded site, creating an amphitheater adjacent to play areas for outdoor learning. Inside, a double-height lobby and circulation core facilitates wayfinding. The 75,000-square-foot (7,000-square-meter) facility will include multiuse spaces to increase efficiency, such as a 4,000-square-foot (370-square-meter) "cafetorium." The opening is scheduled for 2008.

Edinburgh · 2007.0728
The design has been revealed for Exchange Place, a £42 million commercial development in Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom. cre8architecture of Edinburgh designed the new 27,000-square-meter (290,000-square-foot) project, which will be located on a brownfield site, the former location of Edinburgh's Meat Market. The complex will consist of three different-sized office buildings, each with steel frame construction and facades of glazing and stone cladding in precast panels. The original five-meter- (16-foot) arched Meat Market entrance, a structure "listed" by English Heritage, will be reconstructed to form part of the entrance to the new development. London-based Bovis Lend Lease is the main contractor. Completion is slated for April 2009.

St. Helena · 2007.0727
Ground has been broken for the new Hall Winery in St. Helena, California. Pritzker Prize-winner Frank O. Gehry designed the centerpiece: a 10,000-square-foot (930-square-meter) building of glass, stone, plaster, and wood, capped with undulating trellising to echo the surrounding landscape. The project will also include restoration of historic buildings on the site, which already houses the Hall Winery, and incorporation of energy-efficient design features to allow LEED certification.

Jon Lail, AIA, executive principal of local firm Lail Design Group worked closely with Gehry Partners of Los Angeles to design the winery's functional structures, including a unique fermentation building and systems for gravity-flow delivery of grapes. The new winery will be build in three phases to allow production to continue during construction. Its opening is scheduled for 2010.

Minneapolis · 2007.0725
Perkins + Will has acquired Rozeboom Miller Architects (RMA), a regional firm based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded in 1997, RMA specializes in the design of K-12 schools and civic and cultural facilities.

Santa Monica · 2007.0725
A new emergency center and laboratory have opened at the Santa Monica–UCLA Medical Center and Orthopaedic Hospital in Santa Monica, California. The 16,000-square-foot (1,500-square-meter) emergency center features larger, more comfortable, more versatile rooms that provide greater privacy.

The center is part of the larger project underway to replace the hospital following damage in the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Robert A.M. Stern of New York City designed the new building, with CO Architects of Los Angeles, in a modified Northern Italian style, similar to original buildings on the UCLA campus. The new facility is patient- and family-focused, and features extensive daylighting and views to outdoor gardens. Construction is expected to be complete in 2010.

Yakutsk · 2007.0725
Leeser Architecture of New York City has revealed its design for the World Mammoth and Permafrost Museum in Yakutsk, Russia. The museum and accompanying scientific research center study Siberian mammoths and permafrost, the natural habitat where their remains have been found. The firm has created an architectural prototype for building in harsh climates and ecologically sensitive sites.

Sited at the foot of a hill in a vast flat landscape, the building’s box-like volume will turn up at an angle where it meets the hill. The building will be elevated on structural supports 20 feet (six meters) above the ground, providing insulation for the building and limiting heat transfer to the thermally sensitive permafrost. Mirroring the support legs beneath the building, inverted legs on the roof will act as light collectors. The envelope will consist of a super-insulated double-wall glazed facade with an Aerogel lattice network between the layers. Light monitors will regulate shades to prevent heat loss. Energy use in the building will be reduced by the efficient daylight capture and the use of high-efficiency artificial lighting, efficient chillers and boilers, air heat recovery, and displacement ventilation. Wind turbines and photovoltaic cells will produce electricity to store on site.

The museum space will be a large interior volume at the top of the building, centered on a main hall. Travelling on escalators in a climate-controlled tube up to the museum level, visitors will be afforded views of restricted levels. Underground permafrost galleries deep within the hill will allow viewing of a recently discovered intact wooly mammoth. Other spaces will include reception areas, shops, an auditorium, conference rooms, a media library, exhibition spaces, and a cafe that floats within one of the indoor gardens.

Abu Dhabi · 2007.0723
Arquitectonica, an architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, and planning firm based in Miami, Florida, has revealed its design for Sky Tower, part of "The Gate" development in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The building will take an elliptical form, with staggered cantilevered bay windows. The 300-meter (980-foot), 83-story tower will comprise 810,000 square meters (2.66 million square feet) of residential space, 105,000 square meters ( 344,000 square feet) of office space, and 13,500 square meters (44,300 square feet) of retail space. Firm cofounder Bernardo Fort-Brescia, FAIA, is the design architect. LEED certification will be sought from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Dubai · 2007.0723
The Burj Dubai in Dubai, United Arab Emirates has officially become the tallest building in the world. As construction reached 1,680 feet (512 meters) at the 141st floor, the Burj Dubai surpassed Taipei 101, which at 1,667 feet (508 meters) had previously held the title since its opening in December 2004. The Burj Dubai is one of many recent and current high-rise building projects in the Middle East reaching for iconic status, as mentioned in ArchitectureWeek last week.

The Chicago, Illinois, office of Skidmore Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) designed the Burj Dubai. Its massing is manipulated in the vertical dimension to induce maximum vortex shedding and minimize wind impact. Upon completion, the tower will have 160 stories and will be the world's tallest in all four categories considered by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat: spire height, heighest occupied floor, roof height, and pinnacle height. Samsung Corporation is constructing the building, which will be the center of a large-scale mixed-use development. Turner Construction International is serving as project and construction manager.

Sacramento · 2007.0720
gkkworks, an Irvine, California-based architecture and construction management firm, has acquired CCS Group, a Sacramento firm that specializes in master planning and project management for community college districts in California. The identity of the latter has been rebranded as CCS Group, a gkkworks company. Dr. Shaun A. Blaylock has transitioned from president of CCS Group to principal-in-charge of the Sacramento office.

San Diego · 2007.0718
A $16 million renovation was recently completed at the Sofia Hotel (1927), formerly the Pickwick Hotel, in San Diego, California. Richard Bundy, FAIA, of San Diego lead the project. Anjum Razvi, president of Razvi Design Studio, Inc., also of San Diego, was the interior designer. The hotel's distinct gothic-inspired deco architecture was preserved. Exterior renovations included cleaning, resealing, and refinishing of the entire brick veneer and cast-stone facade. The interiors feature a natural color palette, with translucent capiz-shell panels at the public-space windows. The 1920s room layout was retained. The hotel was recently named one of the Historic Hotels of America by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

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