Paris-based Serero Architects recently revealed its design for an auditorium in Saint-Cyprien, France. The roof was designed to produce complex interior lighting effects similar to dappled light filtered through trees. Image: Serero Architects Extra Large Image

Culver City · 2008.0325
ah'bé landscape architects of Culver City, California, has promoted Linda Daley to managing principal. Daley has 20 years of experience in marketing and business planning and ten years of experience in landscape architecture.

Norwalk · 2008.0325
Joseph Volpe has joined international theater design consulting firm Theatre Projects Consultants as director of strategic development, based in the firm's Norwalk, Connecticut, office. Volpe previously served for 16 years as the general manager of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. He started with the Met in 1964 as an apprentice carpenter and rose through the ranks, as discussed in his 2006 memoir, The Toughest Show on Earth: My Rise and Reign at the Metropolitan Opera. Volpe is also a former senior vice president of Giuliani Partners, a consulting firm in New York City.

Venice · 2008.0324
The Abbot Lofts in Venice, California, are nearing completion. Koning Eizenberg of Santa Monica designed the project, which pairs 22 high-end rental apartments with 5,000 square feet (460-square-meters) of ground-floor retail space. The residential units include two-story lofts, single-story flats, and two-story penthouses.

Berkeley · 2008.0317
The new C.V. Starr East Asian Library has opened at the University of California, Berkeley. Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects of New York City designed the building with granite panel walls and a red tile roof, echoing some nearby buildings. The building is made of rough concrete, much of it with exposed aggregate. The cladding consists of granite slabs with a peach cast. A bench and stairway made of a darker, blue-gray Chinese granite accent the facade at the entry.

Bronze screens on the building's south, east, and west side display a variation of a "cracked ice" pattern. The screens were cast at a foundry in Hangzhou, China, using an old sand casting technique to impart a rough texture. The screens also reduce solar gain.

Inside, light shines through hidden skylights down a large, open stairwell. A narrow slot of space cuts through the building's long central axis. A staircase with blue granite steps and stainless steel balustrades connects the different levels. Interior bridges connect the building north to south and east to west. On the fourth floor, a 4,000-square-foot (370-square-meter) reading room looks out on the adjacent oak-covered hillside.

Sustainable features include sensor-operated lights, native landscaping, and a stormwater recharge basin.

San Francisco · 2008.0317
SB Architects — a firm focused on large-scale resort, mixed-use, and multifamily residential projects — has promoted three staff members to vice president: Scott Boyle and Eric Nyhus in the firm’s San Francisco, California, office, and Jorey Friedman, AIA, in the Miami, Florida, office.

Friedman has over 20 years of experience, 14 of them in the firm's Miami office. She has lead the design of many resort projects, including new resorts in the Caribbean, Egypt, and India. In Boyle's 15-year career, he has lead design teams for such mixed-use resort projects as the Montage Royal Island Resort in the Bahamas. Nyhus also brings over 15 years of experience. He has played leadership roles on the design teams for the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua and Ritz-Carlton Rancho Mirage and for several new resorts in the Mediterranean.

John Cisco has also joined the firm as chief financial officer.

Liverpool · 2008.0315
Restoration and expansion of the Bluecoat, an arts facility in Liverpool, United Kingdom, has been completed. biq architects of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, designed the project, which included a 2,250-square-meter (24,200-square-foot) addition, as well as careful restoration of the Grade 1 Listed building, originally built as a school in 1717.

The new wing reestablishes the original Queen Anne-style H-shaped plan that was damaged by World War II bombing. A three-story void vertically organizes the reconfigured studio spaces. The addition features a gable roof above the first-floor performance space, itself a closed box that overhangs a new colonnade at garden level. Exhibition spaces in the new wing are organized along the colonnade. A limited materials palette includes richly colored, stack-bonded brickwork; oxide copper roofing; cast-concrete polished floors and door frames, European oak paneled doors, and bronze fittings.

UK historic preservation specialists Donald Insall Associates Ltd served as executive architect and Austin-Smith:Lord served as landscape architect.

London · 2008.0314
Hamiltons Architects of London, United Kingdom, has revealed its design for Indescon Court, a mixed-use residential project planned for the Isle of Dogs in the East End of London. The project comprises a complex of buildings, ranging from 12 to 31 stories, that will house 546 apartments, 108 serviced hotel-apartments, ground-floor retail, and a health club.

A series of common spaces will be integral to the residential building: a four-story winter garden, a podium-level play space, communal gardens, and a game court. The building will have an anodized aluminum skin, with projecting and recessed balconies. A glazed wall will mark the entrance to the hotel. The project will also include 0.6 hectares (1.6 acres) of public space, including a park and a plaza.

Emeryville · 2008.0313
Architecture, interior design, and planning firm Ratcliff of Emeryville, California, has promoted architect Joseph A. Nicola to associate principal. Nicola is the director of the firm's academic practice. His current projects include expansion and renovation of Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley; a new academic building at De Anza College in Cupertino; and a master plan and education center for Monterey Peninsula College’s new Imjin Parkway Campus in Marina.

Washington, D.C. · 2008.0313
Janet R. White, FAIA, has joined the Washington, D.C., office of Perkins + Will as principal and director of the architecture studio and federal services group. White brings extensive experience designing and managing federal, public, and private building projects and working with governments, associations, and the education sector. She was previously with the Arlington, Virginia, office of KBR, where she served as design manager of the embassy program for the Department of State. Prior to that she spent 20 years as president of Janet R. White, Architect, Inc., in St. Louis, Missouri.

Chicago · 2008.0312
Two new senior staff have joined the Chicago, Illinois, office of Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum (HOK). Karen Laveen has joined as vice president and senior practice leader of the advance strategies group. Randy Buescher, AIA, has joined as a senior associate and project manager in the firm’s international studio.

Laveen has over 20 years of professional experience. She was previously a senior vice president with Jones Lang LaSalle, an international real estate services firm. She also previously served as regional senior strategic planner for Nelson and Associates.

Buescher has 30 years of professional experience. He was previously a partner with ROBU Design, LLC in Chicago, where he focused on residential construction and renovation. He has also worked for VOA Associates and the Evanston Community Development Corporation.

Dubai · 2008.0312
The Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, has revealed its master plan for Waterfront City, a 11.8-square-kilometer (4.6-square-mile) center planned for the larger Waterfront development in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The plan features a central island surrounding by four neighboring districts. The high-density development will include a central park, a large mosque area, and commercial, retail, cultural, and residential spaces. Reinier de Graaf and Rem Koolhaas are leading the project.

Roseville · 2008.0312
HGA Architects and Engineers (Hammel, Green and Abrahamson) has promoted principals David W. Dailey, AIA, and William L. Duckworth, AIA, to vice president. Both architects focus on healthcare design, based in the firm's Sacramento-area office in Roseville, California.

Dailey has been with HGA for 24 years. He has been involved in the planning and design of facilities for such clients as St. Joseph Health System, Tenet Health, Fresno Community Hospital, and Lake County Tribal Health Consortium.

Duckworth has over 35 years of healthcare design experience. His clients have included Kaiser Permanente, Catholic Healthcare West, and the Department of Veterans Affaris.

Saint-Cyprien · 2008.0309
Paris-based Serero Architects recently revealed its winning design for a €5.3 million auditorium and movie theater (rendered above) planned for the town of Saint-Cyprien in southern France. Inspired by the deciduous trees in the park where the building will stand, David Serero and his firm designed a lacy outer concrete facade using a computer-based study of tree-branching. A pattern of large, nonrepeating perforations will allow dappled light into the lobby, while the auditorium itself is sheltered from light. An internal shell of glass and concrete encloses the building.

The auditorium is designed for both movie projection and classical music concerts. Construction is expected to begin in September 2008 and be completed within a year.

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