Construction continues on the Yas Hotel in Abu Dhabi, designed by Asymptote Architecture. Image: Hani Rashid and Lise Anne Couture/ Asymptote. Extra Large Image

Aptos · 2009.0603
The new $15 million Student Services Center has opened at Cabrillo Community College in Aptos, California. The San Francisco office of HGA Architects and Engineers (Hammel, Green and Abrahamson) designed the 51,000-square-foot (4,700-square-meter) facility.

The center forms a new "front door" to campus, and blends with the school's existing Monterey Bay-style architecture. The open office plan on the second floor gives the students and faculty a clear line of site to activities below, and the building also offers direct ocean views. The design team collaborated with students to create a space flexible enough to accommodate large and small groups.

Sustainable features include fuel-efficient mechanical systems, energy-efficient lighting, and the use of natural ventilation. Fredric Sherman, AIA, served as principal-in-charge and lead designer for HGA.

Oakland · 2009.0601
The Bond apartment building has opened on Jack London Square in Oakland, California. Irvine-based KTGY Group designed the eight-story, 101-unit concrete structure. The Embarcadero Pacific Company of San Francisco developed the project.

Dallas · 2009.0601
Architecture and design firm Callison has acquired RYA Design Consultancy, a retail design firm based in Dallas, Texas, with an office in New York City. The new "Callison RYA Studio" will merge staff and clients into Callison's existing retail practice in the firm's Dallas and New York offices. RYA specializes in U.S. and international department store and specialty retail projects. Tom Herndon, president and CEO of RYA, and Mike Wilkins, senior vice president and creative director, are now principals of Callison.

Spijkenisse · 2009.0528
Ground has been broken for the new public library in Spijkenisse, the Netherlands. Architects MVRDV of Rotterdam designed the structure to clearly display the books inside to passersby. Completion is scheduled for September 2011.

By stacking facilities such as offices, meeting rooms, and the auditorium vertically, MVRDV's design creates terraces of different sizes that will support the book shelves. A path will curve up and around this stacked structure to a viewpoint at the top. This "book mountain" will be enclosed in a glass shell in the form of a Dutch barn. The library's climate-control measures will include solar protection, natural ventilation, and an underground heat storage system.

Lisbon · 2009.0528
La Dolce Vita Tejo, a retail center in Lisbon, Portugal, has officially opened. International multidisciplinary RTKL, part of Arcadis, provided planning and architectural design services for the 120,000-square-meter (1.3 million-square-foot) urban development. Retail storefronts and restaurants open onto a central plaza, echoing urban streetscapes. The plaza is covered by a roof structure of ETFE (ethylene tetrafluoroethylene), a lightweight, transparent plastic.

RTKL collaborated with Lisbon-based architecture firm Promontório Architects, which lead the implementation of the design. The developers are Chamartin Inmobiliaria and ING Real Estate.

Abu Dhabi · 2009.0514
Construction continues on the Yas Hotel (rendered above) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. A sweeping curvilinear gridshell of steel and glass wraps the complex, designed by Asymptote Architecture of New York City. The 500-room, 85,000-square-meter (915,000-square-foot) hotel is part of the $36 billion Yas Marina development, which includes a Formula 1 race track that weaves around and between the two hotel towers.

The hotel is scheduled to open in October 2009. The local architects are the Abu Dhabi office of Dewan Architects & Engineers, and Tilke & Partners W.L.L., the Abu Dhabi branch of German firm Tilke GmbH.

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