Brooklyn ·
Oakland ·
New Bern ·
Hanoi ·
Philadelphia ·
Casper ·
Melbourne ·
Emeryville ·
Copenhagen ·
San Francisco ·
Portland ·
Jacksonville ·
Seattle ·
Brooklyn ·
Cleveland
An addition by BKSK Architects to the Sephardic Community Center in Brooklyn was recently completed. Photo: Jeffrey Totaro
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Brooklyn · 2010.1025
A major recent addition has doubled the size of the Sephardic Community Center in Brooklyn, New York City. BKSK Architects LLP of New York City designed the 50,000-square-foot (4,600-square-meter) expansion and renovation. Joan Krevlin, FAIA, LEED AP, served as partner-in-charge.
The existing 30-year-old community center was characterized by a simple massing strategy and overall sense of solidity, with minimal fenestration and a circumscribed palette of durable and opaque materials, such as textured concrete. The new project involved subtle changes to the original main facade, a layered glass and masonry composition for the new wing, and a continuous canopy to join them. The complex now has an additional street facade on a quieter residential street.
The simplicity of the exterior design belies the programmatic intricacy of the interior. The addition includes a large preschool, senior card room, a new gym and fitness center, teen and youth spaces, a cafe, classrooms, offices, and new racquetball courts. New central circulation spaces give a sense of cohesiveness. Informal lobby spaces and in-between "hang out" spaces were designed to encourage community members to linger. In the two-story entry lobby, a glass wall incorporates hundreds of images of community family members who immigrated to the U.S. from Syria and other parts of the Middle East. Throughout the new and renovated areas there are visual connections between previously segregated functions, and daylight has been introduced to all circulation and informal gathering spaces.
Oakland · 2010.1022
Sustainable engineering firm Integral Group has named mechanical engineer John McDonald, P.E., LEED AP, a principal. McDonald has joined the firm's Oakland, California, office (formerly Rumsey Engineers), and is heading up its laboratory and research design practice. McDonald has been with Integral Group for three years, and has over two decades of engineering experience, with expertise in green design for laboratories and animal research facilities.
New Bern · 2010.1022
The North Carolina History Center has publicly opened in downtown New Bern, North Carolina, on the Trent River. BJAC, pa, an architecture firm with offices in Raleigh and Charlotte, coordinated the design and construction of the 60,000-square-foot (5,600-square-meter) museum, including site design and exhibits. The building's design was modeled after the grid pattern of the New Bern town plan created in 1710, including the wharves and warehouses that once filled the downtown harbor and the regional 19th- and early-20th-century commercial architecture.
The building is targeted for LEED Silver certification. The project includes many regionally sourced and recycled-content building materials, along with wetlands to filter stormwater runoff and an underground cistern to capture rainwater for irrigation and wetland replenishment.
Hanoi · 2010.1022
Ground has been broken for VietinBank Business Centre in Hanoi, Vietnam. Foster + Partners of London, United Kingdom, designed the 300,000-square-meter (3.2 million-square-foot) mixed-use development, located between central Hanoi and the airport. The project will consist of two towers connected by a seven-story podium building housing conference facilities, high-end shops, cafes and restaurants, and topped by rooftop gardens. The 68-story tower will provide an energy-efficient new headquarters for VietinBank, and the 48-story tower will contain a five-star hotel, spa, and serviced apartments.
The buildings are designed to mitigate the effects of the area's high levels of humidity using a low-energy desiccant wheel, which draws in humidity, separating the water from the atmosphere and exhaling hot, dry air, which can then be cooled by groundwater and released back into the buildings. A serrated facade, made up of projecting fins at 4.5-meter (15-foot) intervals, provides both shade and a unit of measurement for cellular offices around the perimeter of the floor plate.
Willard Elementary School in Philadelphia, designed by PZS Architects, has opened. Photo: © Barry Halkin
Philadelphia · 2010.1021
The new Willard Elementary School has opened in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. PZS Architects of Philadelphia design the K-5 school for the School District of Philadelphia. The 97,000-square-foot (9,000-square-meter) building of brick, stone, and metal accommodates 850 students on five acres (two hectares) of a former city playground in the Kensington section of North Philadelphia.
LEED Silver certification is targeted. Stormwater is collected in bioretention basins in the grass that surrounds the parking lots and in underground storage beneath the lots, while cisterns collect rainwater from the roof to use for flushing toilets. All construction materials came from within 500 miles (800 kilometers) of the site. Other sustainable features include energy-saving mechanical and electrical systems and extensive daylighting. The auditorium, library, gym, and cafeteria will be available for community use outside of school hours.
Casper, Wyoming, has a new elementary school designed by Lee H. Skolnick Architecture + Design Partnership with RB+B Architects. Photo: Courtesy RB+B Architects Extra Large Image
Casper · 2010.1021
Summit Elementary School has opened in Casper, Wyoming. The K-5 school was designed for the Natrona County School District by Lee H. Skolnick Architecture + Design Partnership of New York City with executive architect RB+B Architects Inc. of Fort Collins, Colorado. The contractor was Adolfson & Peterson Construction of Cheyenne, Wyoming.
A large central space forms the "Village Center," with a view of Casper Mountain through an expanse of windows. Three "Learning Houses," or communal classrooms, radiate from that space, providing flexible instructional space for 150 students, with direct access to the outdoors. The "Creativity Studio" serves as a combined art and science space. All major teaching and community spaces have a north or south orientation. The heating and cooling system integrates geothermal exchange, heat recovery, and hydronic solar panels.
A striated brick pattern on parts of the structure evokes the regional geology, and the Village Center's large, sloping roof clad in green metal echoes the profile of the Laramie Mountains. A sculptural spire of brick and metal marks the building entrance. The arrangement of the building elements and the associated pre-K wing defines an entry court sheltered from the prevailing southwesterly winds.
Andrew Maynard Architects designed a recent renovation of the Butler House in Melbourne, Australia. Photo: Kevin Hui © 2010 Extra Large Image
Melbourne · 2010.1021
In Fitzroy, an inner-city suburb of Melbourne, Australia, a renovation of the Butler House was recently completed. Andrew Maynard Architects of Fitzroy designed the project, which comprised 85 square meters (910 square feet) of new works and 44 square meters (470 square feet) of renovation, including thermal and acoustic improvements to the dwelling, located in one of the MacRobertson warehouses.
The architects designed a rooftop pod to improve outdoor access. The existing roof structure was cut at the collar-tie and refashioned to allow a bed for the pod. Clad in dark Butynol rubber membrane, the pod roof responds in size and pitch to the neighboring rooflines, but creates residual spaces at either end, covered in artificial turf. A walkable glass floor allows a visual connection and solar access to the living areas below.
The project also converted a mezzanine into a bedroom with oversized sliding doors. Other new features in the house include Western redcedar operable louvers and steel-framed doors and windows.
Emeryville · 2010.1021
Clif Bar & Company has unveiled its new headquarters, housed in a former valve-manufacturing plant in Emeryville, California. The 115,000-square-foot (10,700-square-meter) facility was designed by Portland, Oregon-based ZGF Architects and built by San Francisco-based DPR Construction. The facility has more than twice the space of Clif Bar's previous headquarters in downtown Berkeley.
The company will pursue LEED certification for the new headquarters, targeting a LEED Platinum rating. The building is also one of the first in the state to comply with the 2008 California Building Energy Efficiency Standards. A "smart" array of rooftop photovoltaic panels, with monitors integrated into individual panels, is expected to provide nearly 100 percent of the office's electricity needs. Solar thermal panels provide 70 percent of the heat for hot water. The building also features four atrium gardens, and a variety of reused materials, such as wood reclaimed from container crates, railroad ties, and barns, and recycled denim used in 380 sound-absorbing panels. The glass garden walls, along with clerestories and other windows, provide extensive daylight to the open-plan office.
In addition to offices, the facility includes a 6,700-square-foot (620-square-meter) child-care center, an expanded wellness center with a 40-foot (12-meter) bouldering wall, a 350-seat theater, and onsite bike parking.
The BIG-designed 8 House mixed-use development in Copenhagen is complete. Photo: Jens Lindhe/ Courtesy BIG Extra Large Image
Copenhagen · 2010.1020
Construction is complete on the 8 House, a mixed-used development in Copenhagen, Denmark, and the first residents have moved in. Copenhagen-based architecture firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) designed the €92 million, 61,000-square-meter (660,000-square-foot) building in a figure-eight-shaped plan defining two interior courtyards.
Located in the Ørestad neighborhood on the outer edge of the city, the development combines 476 housing units with 10,000 square meters (110,000 square feet) of retail and office space. The apartments are located at the top and the commercial program at the base of the building, with retail spaces facing the street and offices towards northern light. An alley of 150 rowhouses stretches through the entire block. Two green roofs slope from the ground floor to the tenth floor, and a continuous promenade and cycling path allows people to bike from the street to the tenth-floor penthouses.
At the center of the figure eight, 500 square meters (5,400 square feet) of communal facilities are available to residents. A nine-meter- (30-foot-) wide passage allows people to move from the park area on the western edge to the water-filled canals to the east.
Bjarke Ingels and Thomas Christoffersen served as partners-in-charge. The project was commissioned by St. Frederikslund Holding and Per Hopfner.
In San Francisco, ground has been broken for the Exploratorium's new waterfront home, designed by EHDD. Image: © Z†M/ Courtesy Exploratorium Extra Large Image
San Francisco · 2010.1019
Ground has been broken in San Francisco, California, for the future home of the Exploratorium (rendered above), designed by EHDD Architecture of San Francisco. Currently housed at the Palace of Fine Arts, the museum will occupy a nine-acre (3.6-hectare) campus on adjacent Piers 15 and 17 on the city's northern waterfront. The opening is slated for 2013.
The interior of the historic Pier 15 building will be rehabilitated and adapted while preserving its impressive truss structure, which covers the 820-foot (250-meter) length of the pier. Construction in and around Pier 15 will provide 230,000 square feet (21,000 square meters) of space for the Exploratorium. It will include four large exhibit galleries, space for professional teacher training and for educational programs, and a theater, museum store, and cafe, along with outdoor interpretive space.
The Observatory Building, the only completely new construction on the piers, will stand at the eastern end of Pier 15. The mostly glass structure will provide views of San Francisco Bay, along with a new gallery, outdoor terrace, and bayside restaurant. The parking lot between the two piers will be removed and replaced with a public space, with pedestrian bridges crossing newly exposed water. The non-historic building that connects Piers 15 and 17 will be demolished. Pier 17 offers room for future expansion.
The sustainability goals for the project include a LEED Gold certification and net zero energy use. The building is expected to use 47 kBtu per square foot per year, or 57 percent less energy than a comparable ASHRAE 90.1 baseline building. A 1.4-megawatt rooftop photovoltaic array is expected to meet all electrical needs. The site is transit-accessible, and planned green features include a rainwater reuse system and water-conserving plumbing fixtures. A heat-exchange system will use bay water to heat and cool a radiant slab.
Portland · 2010.1018
GBD Architects of Portland, Oregon, has promoted Kyle Andersen, LEED AP, to principal. Andersen is an architect with more than 15 years of experience in sustainable site designs. Notable projects of his include the Oregon Health & Science University Center for Health & Healing, the Beverly/ Hollywood Whole Foods, and the PCC Sylvania Campus in Portland.
GBD has also promoted seven other employees. Agustin Enriquez and Michelle Schulz, LEED AP, have been promoted to associate principal, Steve Rupert has been named a senior associate, Patrick Moore and Suzy Olsen have been promoted to associate, and Katie Kniesteadt and Kate Walker, LEED AP, have been named administrative associates.
Jacksonville · 2010.1018
The second phase of construction has begun on the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) school in Jacksonville, Florida. Fisher Koppenhafer of Jacksonville is serving as the architect and interior designer for the new public charter school and is donating a portion of its design services to the organization.
The project is transforming a former greyhound racing facility, about 170,000 square feet (16,000 square meters) in size, into the KIPP School of Jacksonville campus. With the first floor of the four-story building complete, renovation work continues on the second and third floors with the addition of a media center and 25 classrooms. Completion of the second phase is expected by December 2010.
The first of three planned KIPP Jacksonville schools at the campus opened in August. The school currently serves 5th grade students and will add other grades in the future until the school serves 1st through 8th grades. When complete, it is expected to accommodate about 1,200 children.
Seattle · 2010.1014
Mahlum, a design and architectural firm with offices in Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon, has named David Mount, AIA, LEED AP, a principal. Mount oversees design aspects for all educational projects undertaken by the Seattle office, and was named the design lead for one of firm's three studios last year. He is the designer for the renovation of Miller Hall at Western Washington University, and he is also involved in the design of Wilkes Elementary School on Bainbridge Island, a replacement high school at Issaquah, and John Muir Elementary for Lake Washington School District.
Brooklyn · 2010.1004
A new $247 million academic science building recently opened at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, New York City. Todd Schliemann, design partner of New York City firm Ennead Architects (formerly Polshek Partnership), designed the five-story facility, which contains teaching labs, research labs, classrooms, computer labs, a 350-seat dining hall, faculty dining room, and kitchen. The School of Science, Health and Technology occupies the top four floors of the new facility.
The glazed curtain wall of the corridor and lobby facilitates daylighting and provides a visual connection to the surrounding context. Open stairs along the perimeter, adjacent the curtain wall, animate the facade, and wide corridors with seating alcoves facilitate interaction. The teaching labs are designed to be adaptable for a variety of subjects.
This is the first new building of the college's master plan, completed by Polshek Partnership in 1995. Todd Schliemann and Joseph Fleischer, Ennead management partner, led both the master plan and building design teams. Roberta Washington Architects of New York City was the associate architect for both projects.
The new Student Center by Gwathmey Siegel recently opened at Cleveland State University in Cleveland, Ohio. Photo: Brad Feinkopf Extra Large Image
Cleveland · 2010.0910
Cleveland State University's new Student Center opened in September in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, as part of the university's master plan to reorient its campus. Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects of New York City designed the 138,000-square-foot (12,800-square-meter) facility, which fronts Euclid Avenue, the main commercial thoroughfare downtown.
The three-story center features a central atrium, bookstore, dining options, student lounge, and computer access, as well as offices for student activities and conference rooms. Pedestrian skybridges connect the facility to the main campus plaza, academic buildings, and below-grade parking.
A simple, restrained palate of materials responds to the building's urban context and expresses its functional components. The central block containing the atrium and interlink from street to campus is articulated in granite, and the flanking walls and windows are clad in brick and aluminum respectively.
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