The New Museum, designed by SANAA of Tokyo, recently opened in New York City. Photo: Dean Kaufman

Washington, D.C. · 2007.1213
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has announced its prestigious Gold Medal, Firm, and Topaz Medallion Awards for 2008. Renzo Piano, Hon FAIA, will receive the Gold Medal, the AIA's highest honor for an individual. KieranTimberlake Associates will receive the Architecture Firm Award, the highest honor for an architecture firm. ArchitectureWeek will cover these awards in detail in upcoming issues. Stanley Tigerman, FAIA, will receive the Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architectural Education, awarded jointly by the AIA and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture.

Los Angeles · 2007.1212
A new Los Angeles County administration building is poised to open in the South Central area of Los Angeles, California. The four-story, 220,000-square-foot (20,400-square-meter) building, designed by Gensler, will house four departments, with a focus on services for children. On the ground floor, 4,000 square feet (370 square meters) have been earmarked for retail and restaurant development. The building features four photographic murals that depict oak trees.

The $107 million project was developed by Los Angeles-based ICO Development LLC with the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles. McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. served as general contractor. The official opening is December 14, 2007.

Houston · 2007.1210
Brian P. Richard, AIA, NCARB will be rejoining architecture firm Kirksey of Houston, Texas, as the science and technology team leader starting in January 2008. He will oversee projects ranging from health science research laboratories to oil services technology facilities.

San Diego · 2007.1210
Construction continues on the Conrad Prebys Music Center at the University of California, San Diego. The core design team includes LMN Architects of Seattle, Washington, and acoustical consultant Cyril Harris.

The foundation and outer structure of the building are nearing completion. The acoustical ceiling will be suspended from the building's roof with steel cables, and shock absorbers will isolate the internal structure from external sound. The shell will be composed of asymmetrical triangular panels. Opening is scheduled for spring 2008, pending final funding.

Austin · 2007.1207
Construction nears completion on the new corporate campus for Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. in Austin, Texas. Graeber, Simmons & Cowan (GS&C) of Austin designed the 865,000-square-foot (80,400-square-meter) complex, which comprises four office buildings on a 59-acre (24-hectare) site.

LEED Gold certification will be sought for the campus, which features daylighting, native landscaping, and structure parking instead of lots. A large-scale rooftop system will collect rainwater for use in irrigation and in the cooling towers for the facility. Tom Cornelius is serving as principal-in-charge for GS&C. Opening is scheduled for early 2008.

Dubai · 2007.1207
Lang Hugger Rampp GmbH of Munich, Germany, has revealed its winning design for the Dubai Sports City Tower Hotel. The 39-story hotel will be part of Dubai Sports City, a new area of development in the desert of Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

A sunscreen dominates the form of the hotel. The doubly curved sunscreen structure will be made of perforated aluminum panels that will provide high transparency while reducing energy consumption in the building.

Tucson · 2007.1207
The $25 million Applied Research and Development Building at Northern Arizona University in Tucson has received LEED Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The three-story, 60,000-square-foot (5,600-square-meter) building scored 60 LEED points.

The building forms a long arc oriented to the south, with a glass-enclosed, three-story gallery that serves as a thermal buffer space for the offices behind. Louvers and blinds shade the gallery from the hot summer sun, and allow solar radiation to warm the building in the winter. Energy-saving features include daylighting, automated shade controls, triple-glazed windows on the building's north side, low-pressure underfloor air distribution, and a concrete structural frame that serves as a thermal mass.

A nearby field of photovoltaic panels produces over 20 percent of the electricity for the building. The building also features recycled materials, pervious concrete in the parking lot, and use of reclaimed water for toilets and irrigation.

The design team included Hopkins Architects of London, United Kingdom; Burns Wald-Hopkins Architects of Tucson; and London-based engineering firm Arup. The building opened on September 27, 2007.

Spokane · 2007.1207
The Fox Theater has reopened in downtown Spokane, Washington, as the Martin Woldson Theater at the Fox. The Spokane office of NAC|Architecture served as the architect for the renovation project, which included restoration of the 1931 Art Deco building and installation of modern technologies. The Spokane Symphony will perform in the 1,600-seat hall.

Depression-era murals were cleaned and frescos restored. Electrical, plumbing, and HVAC systems were updated, and the building was brought into compliance with ADA requirements. The 70,000-square-foot (6,500-square-meter) building was originally designed by architect Robert Reamer, with interiors by Anthony Heinsbergen.

London · 2007.1206
Wilkinson Eyre Architects of London has revealed its design for the new humanities building at Queen Mary, University of London. A signature element will be the 300-seat auditorium — a sculptural, timber-clad "egg in a box" — which will be isolated from the rest of the building for acoustic reasons, but visible from the street through a large shop window.

The facility will provide teaching and research space for the history department and will also include a flexible double-height film and drama studio. The different accommodation types will be expressed as a series of interlocking elements that give the building a distinctive form. The building will use ground-source heat pumps, and the upper floors of academic offices will be naturally ventilated. Those offices fronting the street will be protected by a double-skin glazed buffer zone that will also serve as a circulation corridor.

The project also includes extensive landscape design and may include upgraded reception facilities for the adjacent Spanish and Portuguese Jewish Cemetery, which dates to 1726. The former cemetery wall will be incorporated around and through the new building.

Scottsdale · 2007.1206
Construction is underway at Chaparral High School in Scottsdale, Arizona. The first phase of the $50 million project, designed by Orcutt Winslow of Phoenix, includes construction of a multipurpose gym, additions to the auditorium, and a central physical plant. The second phase will include a new main classroom structure and administration building. The Tempe office of McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. is the builder.

Milan · 2007.1206
The Triennale Design Museum has opened inside La Triennale di Milano in Milan, Italy. Italian architect Michele De Lucchi performed the architectural design for the restoration of the building and the conversion of the museum. The signature feature of the Design Museum is its entrance via a bridge over the grand staircase, which connects it to the larger building while also signifying its independence. The project included construction of a design library, historical archives, and documentation center, construction of the new museum, and restoration of the existing museum site.

Emeryville · 2007.1205
Ratcliff of Emeryville, California, has promoted Lynn Drover, CID, IIDA, and Heidi Bilodeau to senior associate. Drover is an interior designer for healthcare projects. She is currently working on the renovation and expansion of John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek, California. Bilodeau is the director of marketing.

Floral Park · 2007.1204
Construction is underway on the renovation of a 1960s office building in Floral Park, New York. Designed by the Mineola, New York, office of JRS Architect, P.C., the project includes a steel-and-glass entrance canopy; a new exterior of red granite, glass, and sandstone-colored synthetic stucco; excavation of the building's courtyard to provide windows for lower-level offices; new landscaping; and modernization of the building systems. Completion is scheduled for March 2008.

Taipei · 2007.1204
The Los Angeles, California, office of NBBJ has revealed its winning design for the Chinatrust Bank headquarters, planned for Taipei, Taiwan. The 2.5 million-square-foot (230,000-square-meter) complex, designed with Taiwanese partner Fei & Cheng Associates, consists of a 30-story headquarters building, a 21-story business support building, a ten-story corporate training center, and a three-level retail center. The office tower will feature a series of vertical atriums. Extensive glazing will maximize daylighting. Roof gardens will cover the podium. Completion is slated for 2012.

New York · 2007.1201
The New Museum of Contemporary Art (pictured above) has opened on the Bowery in Manhattan, New York City. Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa and their Tokyo firm, SANAA, designed the eight-story building as a stack of boxes shifted in different directions off a central axis. The form accommodates a series of open, daylit, column-free gallery spaces of different heights. Inside, the structure and ductwork are exposed.

The exterior skin is a rain screen made of seamless sheets of anodized aluminum mesh clipped to painted extruded aluminum panels over structural stud walls. Windows are just visible behind the porous skin. The building's superstructure is steel and concrete.

The 60,000-square-foot (5,600-square-meter) building includes four public galleries, a 182-seat theater, education center, offices, and a top-floor multipurpose space. The New York City office of Gensler served as executive architect.

Randjesfontein · 2007.1128
The South African government has revealed the winning design for the Pan African Parliament, a 17,000-square-meter (180,000-square-foot) complex planned for Randjesfontein, South Africa. Earth Lab Architects of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, designed a long, narrow building oriented east-west, with a cylindrical chamber structure held off somewhat from the south side of the main form. The skin on the building's north side will be a woven timber sunscreen reminiscent of an African textile. The complex will be defined by a hierarchy of spaces, from public spaces to a semiprivate zone.

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