The new Lewis Katz Building by Polshek Partnership Architects recently opened on the University Park, Pennsylvania, campus of Penn State's Dickinson School of Law. Photo: © Matt Gardner Extra Large Image

Suzhou · 2009.0520
International architecture firm RMJM has revealed its design for the Public Academy in Suzhou, China. Designed through the firm's global education studio, based in the Princeton, New Jersey, office (formerly RMJM Hillier), the 1.29 million-square-foot (120,000-square-meter) campus will house undergraduate and gradate teaching facilities, as well as incubation labs and small-scale prototyping and manufacturing.

The planned courtyard-style arrangement of the buildings reflects the traditional architecture and walled gardens of the neighboring city. The traditional gray brickwork of Suzhou inspired the stacking and interlocking of spaces, with the "joints" providing social places. The blocks and courtyards increase in scale from south to north. The campus will also include a teahouse, as well as sports and recreation facilities for the wider community. Completion is expected in 2012.

Chicago · 2009.0516
At the Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois, the new Modern Wing by Renzo Piano has opened. The three-story, 264,000-square-foot (24,500-square-meter) addition includes 65,000 square feet (6,000 square meters) of gallery space, plus an education center, interior garden, open-air sculpture terrace, mezzanine cafe, museum shop, restaurant, and a pedestrian bridge to Millennium Park.

The $294 million building consists of two pavilions flanking Griffin Court, the light-filled, double-height central circulation space. The east and west exterior walls are limestone, complemented by a glass-and-steel curtain wall on the north and south sides. Piano designed a canopy, or "flying carpet," of precisely modeled aluminum blades, which hovers above the skylights, allowing northern light into the third-floor galleries while blocking the more intense southern light.

The Art Institute is seeking LEED Silver certification for the project. Sustainable features include daylighting in tandem with an automated dimming system, and an insulating double curtain wall.

The architect of record was Interactive Design of Chicago, the engineer of record was London, United Kingdom-based Arup, and the landscape architect was Gustafson Guthrie Nichol Ltd of Seattle, Washington.

Bowling Green · 2009.0515
Warren County Public Schools recently broke ground for the new Richardsville Elementary School in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Designed by Lexington-based architects Sherman Carter Barnhart to be a net-zero-energy building, the school will feature an R-25 rated insulated concrete form (ICF) building envelope, an R-38 rated super-insulated roof, active daylighting, occupancy and motion sensors, low-maintenance finishes, carbon dioxide monitoring, geothermal HVAC, wireless building technology, and a 300-kilowwatt photovoltaic array.

The building was designed to be a teaching tool. A "geothermal hallway" will expose the piping manifolds, a "solar hallway" will have a battery-charging station, and a "water conservation hallway" will allow students to monitor rainwater collection through the site's bioswales. Construction of the 72,000-square-foot (6,700-square-meter) facility is slated for completion in fall 2010.

The architects have also designed Bristow Elementary, another local net-zero-energy school expected to begin construction in summer 2009.

New York · 2009.0515
The Chapel of the Light has opened at Queens Herald Church in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens, New York City. The 4,800-square-foot (440-square-meter) sanctuary, located within a newly renovated 24,000-square-foot (2,200-square-meter) building, was designed by hanrahanMeyers architects of New York City. The project brings light into the new chapel through a complex folded-plate roof structure. Light defines four sides of the room, and two crossing lines of light create the cross on the altar podium. The firm is also design architect for other public areas in the building, including the lower-level chapel.

Duisburg · 2009.0514
Foster + Partners of London, United Kingdom, has revealed its Aurelis master plan for a 36-hectare (89-acre) site in Duisburg, Germany. The project will extend the mixed-use character of the firm's master plan for Duisburg's city center and inner harbor to create a thriving new hub with shops, cafes, homes, and extensive green space.

The elongated site forms an island within the city center. The plan will create a green link to the River Rhein, and will reinstate a lateral connection to the adjacent residential neighborhoods by raising former railway tracks currently buried under the landscape. Sustainable features will include onsite rainwater harvesting and managment, green roofs, and buildings oriented to optimize thermal management, daylighting, and ventilation.

University Park · 2009.0507
The new Lewis Katz Building (pictured above) recently opened on the University Park, Pennsylvania, campus of Dickinson School of Law, part of Penn State. Polshek Partnership Architects of New York City designed the 114,000-square-foot (10,600-square-meter) building, with Richard Olcott serving as design partner.

A glass-enclosed law library tops the long, sinuous structure. Each end is directed at a specific landscape: the periodicals room faces the adjacent arboretum, and the reading room provides views of Mount Nittany across the valley. Under the library, a series of volumes clad in local sandstone contain the classrooms, auditorium, and courtroom. These elements surround a broad commons area that opens to the landscape.

The building was constructed to meet LEED certification requirements. Sustainable features include a green roof, daylighting in public spaces, operable windows and individual climate control in offices, and local and recycled-content materials.

Olcott is also the lead designer for the law school's new and renovated facility in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, which will be completed later in 2009.

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