The glass facade of Beijing's China Central Television (CCTV) Headquarters, designed by Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren of OMA, has been completed. Photo: Ole Scheeren Extra Large Image

Shanghai · 2008.0820
Multidisciplinary firm Gresham, Smith and Partners (GS&P) has appointed Kathy Zhu to lead the firm's new office in Shanghai, China. Zhu brings extensive experience in business development in China. She most recently served as a marketing director for the Paris, France-based architecture firm Arte Charpentier. Zhu also spent seven years as a senior business development officer with the Western Australian government promoting trade and investment between Western Australia and China.

GS&P's Shanghai office opening follows seven years of project work in China, including two projects that were recently completed: Jasper Tower, a 45-story office building in Shanghai, and Shenzhen Eye Hospital in Shenzhen.

Woodland Hills · 2008.0818
Construction continues on the new $18 million student services center at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, California. The steel frame of the three-story, 50,000-square-foot (4.600-square-meter) building was recently completed. The Santa Monica office of architecture and design firm WWCOT (Widom Wein Cohen O'Leary Terasawa) designed the facility to blend with the existing Mission-style architecture on campus, with such features as clay tile roofs, ceramic tile accents, and a stucco exterior. The U-shaped building is organized around a landscaped courtyard with shade trees.

The college is currently pursuing LEED Silver certification for the center. Sustainable elements include energy-efficient insulation; dual-glazed, low-e windows; reduced window openings on south and west sides; exterior circulation where possible to minimize HVAC requirements; low-flow toilets and waterless urinals; a recyclables collection area; finishes with recycled content and low-VOC adhesives; recycled construction waste; erosion and sediment control; and reduced-water irrigation systems.

The WWCOT design team includes Adrian O. Cohen, FAIA, LEED AP, partner-in-charge, and Andrea Cohen Gehring, FAIA, LEED AP, design partner. Project completion is expected in fall 2009.

Construction recently began on another WWCOT project: the office interiors of MacFarlane Costa Housing Partners in Carson, California.

Washington, D.C. · 2008.0815
Douglas McCoach, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP, has rejoined RTKL as a vice president and director of the firm's Washington, D.C., planning and urban design studio. McCoach has over 20 years of professional experience. He previously served as director of the Baltimore, Maryland, Department of Planning. Prior to that, he was an architect at RTKL for 23 years and a vice president for six years. His portfolio includes projects in the commercial, public, institutional, corporate, and technology sectors, with a focus on mixed-use developments.

Brooklyn · 2008.0813
The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) in New York City has unveiled a dramatic new undulating glass entrance canopy designed by H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture of New York City. The 132-foot (40-meter) canopy is the final piece of a restoration project begun in 2002, during which BAM's 1908 structure underwent an extensive exterior restoration led by H3.

The building was designed by Herts and Tallant in a Beaux-Arts style, and is now listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The new glass canopy design responds to the rhythm of the five facade doorways using a transparent, curvilinear gesture. With no original design for protection over the five doors, H3 gathered precedent for a historic design approach through Herts and Tallant's decorative canopy at the Lyceum Theater, but created a lighter, contemporary structure that permits a clear view of the facade.

Supported in part by an 11.5-inch (29-centimeter) curvilinear stainless steel tube, 65 triangular panels of one-inch- (2.5-centimeter-) thick laminated and tempered glass are held in tension, forming part of the basic structure. The result is a frameless pattern of identical glass triangles that composes a waving, uninterrupted transparent surface.

An internal reinforcing structure had to be designed and constructed to support the weight of the canopy. H3 designed custom glass panels with circular, white, hollow circle patterns for the canopy to minimize the appearance of bird droppings.

New York · 2008.0812
The Griffis Faculty Club at Weill Cornell Medical College and New York-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City recently reopened after extensive renovations designed by architecture firm CetraRuddy Inc. of New York City. The renovation of the 6,500-square-foot (600-square-meter) club improved infrastructure by increasing efficiency in the kitchen, upgrading IT and audiovisual capability, and adding storage. Features include walnut paneling, a carpet custom-designed by the architects, and a broad vaulted ceiling fabricated from acoustical plaster scored with an intricate lattice pattern.

New York · 2008.0808
Interior construction has begun on a 25-story office building at 655 Madison Avenue in New York City. Montroy Andersen DeMarco of New York designed the 75,000-square-foot (7,000-square-meter) renovation project, which will add a new high-efficiency glass-and-granite exterior, lobby, glass-walled elevator cabs, HVAC systems, sidewalks, and improved pre-built office space. Construction is scheduled for completion in fall 2008.

Winona · 2008.0808
The Minneapolis office of HGA Architects and Engineers (Hammel, Green and Abrahamson) has revealed its design for an addition and renovation for the Winona County Historical Society Museum in Winona, Minnesota. The museum is currently housed in the 1915 National Guard Armory building.

The three-story, 12,000-square-foot (1,100-square-meter) addition will include a new lobby, multipurpose room, outdoor terrace, expanded storage, gift shop, and support spaces. The street-level facade will feature a contemporary roman-brick colonnade that echoes the rhythm of windows and doors in the Armory. The second-floor multipurpose room will have expansive windows, copper cladding, and an adjacent outdoor terrace. Interior details include local Biesanz stone and salvaged wood. The $4.5 million project is scheduled to open in 2010.

Emeryville · 2008.0807
Steven Steinberg, AIA, has joined architecture, planning, and interiors firm Ratcliff of Emeryville, California, as a principal in the firm's healthcare practice group. Steinberg has over 25 years of experience in architecture and real estate development. Past healthcare projects include a site feasibility analysis for a new 300-bed community hospital in Queen Creek, Arizona, and the design of a new intensive care unit for the Hospital for Joint Orthopaedic Diseases in New York. Steinberg was previously the founder, principal, and owner of CES Associates in New York and Arizona, and director of healthcare for Leo A Daly in Phoenix.

Beijing · 2008.0806
Construction continues on the China Central Television (CCTV) Headquarters in Beijing (pictured above). The glass facade of the 234-meter- (768-foot-) high building was recently completed.

Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) designed the connected-tower structure. Arup is providing multidisciplinary engineering services for the project. East China Architectural Design & Research Institute (ECADI) is the architect and engineer of record, and Chinese architect Qingyun Ma is serving as an advisor.

The "Visitor's Loop" will allow people to view and experience the television production process. At a height of 162 meters (531 feet), the lowest floor of the overhang — the large cantilever projecting out 75 meters (246 feet) horizontally — will feature a public media museum and viewing deck.

The CCTV building is due for completion at the end of 2009. The adjacent Television Cultural Centre (TVCC) is expected to open in early 2009. The construction of the buildings is being led by Scheeren from the firm's Beijing office.

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