The Vancouver Convention Centre West, designed by LMN Architects, recently opened in Vancouver, Canada. Photo: © Nic Lehoux Extra Large Image

Grand Island · 2009.0506
Andrew King has joined Grand Island, New York-based Cannon Design as principal. He will play an active role in establishing the firm's strategic initiatives for its offices across Canada. For the past two decades he has led his design research initiative AKA/ andrewkingstudio.

New York · 2009.0504
Construction continues on El Jardin de Selene, an affordable apartment development in the Melrose section of the Bronx, New York City. Magnusson Architecture & Planning P.C. of New York City designed the 12-story building with art deco elements. The project is being developed by a joint venture of Nos Quedamos, MJM Construction Services LLC, and Melrose Associates.

The project is design to be LEED Silver-certified, NYSERDA Energy Star-certified, and Enterprise Green Communities-compliant. Sustainable features include daylighting and occupancy sensors in common areas, green roofs at setbacks, recycled-content materials, energy-efficient windows, and through-plank ventilation and solar panels on the building's roof. The project includes structured parking and 6,000 square feet (560 square meters) of commercial space.

Baltimore · 2009.0504
Paul F. Jacob III, AIA, has announced that he will retire as chairman of international architecture, planning, and design firm RTKL. An experienced designer of urban retail and entertainment districts, Jacob has been with the firm for almost four decades, starting as a student intern in 1970. He helped to start and grow the Los Angeles, California, office in 1986, and helped RTKL move into China and Southeast Asia. In 2003 he came the firm's third chairman.

Pittsburgh · 2009.0502
The new $625 million Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC has opened in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Astorino, a Pittsburgh-based architecture, design, and construction firm, designed the 1.5 million-square-foot (140,000-square-meter) project, which comprises nine buildings, two of which are expected to be LEED certified.

The nine-story, 296-bed hospital building features private rooms and a 20,000-square-foot (1,900-square-meter) family resource and activity center. The exterior facade incorporates bright colors and curved forms. The complex also includes family housing and a fitness center, a ten-story, 300,000-square-foot (28,000-square-meter) research facility, offices, a central plant, and three parking garages.

Evansville · 2009.0501
The University of Southern Indiana has broken ground for an $18.4 million expansion of its university center. Holzman Moss Architecture of New York City designed the project, which will convert the university's 60,000-square-foot (5,600-square-meter) former library building into dining, lounge, meeting, and student organization spaces, and replace the link to the existing university center.

The design features a 103-foot- (31.4-meter-) tall conical stone-clad tower at the center of campus. Regional materials include vitrified clay pipes used as column covers, and clay block lining the walls of the central atrium. Completion is scheduled for summer 2010.

Washington, D.C. · 2009.0428
Edward Feiner, FAIA, has joined Perkins+Will as a principal, effective May 11, 2009. Feiner will assume a leadership position in the firm's Washington, D.C., office.

Feiner served as chief architect of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) from 1996 to 2005, where he led the agency's nationwide design and construction program, which included the development of federal courthouses, office buildings, national laboratories, border stations, and special-use projects. Feiner founded the Design Excellence Program, and was instrumental in the development and execution of GSA's Green Building Standards, program management, and the design of GSA's first LEED-certified projects.

Prior to joining Perkins+Will, Feiner was senior vice president and chief architect at Sands Corporation in Las Vegas, Nevada, and managing director at the Washington, D.C., office of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill LLP (SOM).

Vancouver · 2009.0404
The Vancouver Convention Centre West (pictured above) recently opened in Vancouver, Canada. LMN Architects of Seattle, Washington, designed the 1.2 million-square-foot (110,000-square-meter) addition, which triples the square footage of the convention center complex.

LEED Canada Gold certification is expected. Sustainable features include a six-acre (2.4-hectare) green roof, natural ventilation, extensive daylighting, and a system that treats the building's sewage water to provide 80 percent of graywater needs.

The perimeter is enclosed in an ultra-clear structural glass envelope. Hemlock wood block is the predominant interior finish, with ceiling slats of Douglas fir both inside and out. In addition to exhibit space, meeting rooms, and ballrooms, the facility includes 90,000 square feet (8,400 square meters) of retail space along the public facades. Exterior terraces and plazas provide public gathering space, and new bike and walking paths connect across the site. The building form also maintains view corridors from the city's urban core to the water.

Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership and DA Architects & Planners, both of Vancouver, served as the architects of record.

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