14 September 2011
Architecture People and Places

Singapore · 2011.0831
Ocean Financial Centre has opened adjacent to the Marina Bay waterfront in Singapore. The 43-story office tower was designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, based in New Haven, Connecticut. According to the firm, this is the first office building in Southeast Asia to achieve a LEED Platinum rating for its core and shell, and the first to receive the Platinum Green Mark Award from the Building and Construction Authority of Singapore.

Located in the historic financial district of Raffles Place, and adjacent to the newer financial district at Marina Bay, the tower contains 82,200 square meters (885,000 square feet) of grade-A office space. Recalling the maritime heritage of Singapore, the tower is reminiscent of a ship's sail, its bowed form curving along the street. The glass-and-metal exterior wall incorporates 120,000 LEDs, which light up the tower at night. The building also features a 25-meter- (82-foot-) high sky garden and 400 square meters (4,300 square feet) of photovoltaic panels to help power lighting in common areas. The developer is Keppel Land.

BKSK Architects designed St. Hilda's House, the new convent for the Community of the Holy Spirit, in Harlem. Photo: © Jeff Goldberg/ Esto Extra Large Image

New York · 2011.0912
BKSK Architects of New York City designed the new convent for the Community of the Holy Spirit, located in Manhattan's Harlem neighborhood. The building's groundbreaking was previously covered in this column ("New York · 2010.0329"). The project was completed in December 2010.

Known as St. Hilda's House, the facility provides a small communal residence and place of worship for the nuns of this Episcopalian monastic community, who opted to downsize from their previous convent. The architects were tasked with creating a gracious, elegant, and sustainable building on a very tight budget.

The resulting townhouse-scale facility is carefully proportioned and easy to care for. The four-story, 11,000-square-foot (1,000-square-meter) building features highly textured red-gray brick with punched window openings. The modest palette is accented with more sumptuous materials, such as stone flooring and Venetian plaster in the chapel, and white-oak flooring in the more domestic spaces and for windows throughout. Sculptural, operable skylights are carved into the ceilings, providing daylight and cross-ventilation. The massing strategy frames expansive views of the city to the north, east, and south, including a surprising view of the Chrysler Building.

The seafood restaurant Rocksalt, designed by Guy Hollaway Architects, has opened in Folkestone, Kent, England. Photo: Paul Freeman/ Courtesy Guy Holloway Architects Extra Large Image

Folkestone · 2011.0912
The Rocksalt seafood restaurant has opened in Folkestone, a seaside town in southeastern England, United Kingdom. Designed by Guy Hollaway Architects (formerly CTM Architects) of nearby Hythe and of London, the harborside building cantilevers out over the water, elevated on a pale-green slate plinth.

Located on a cobbled street, the 430-square-meter (4,600-square-foot) restaurant features a curved, dark wood facade, with slate steps leading up past angled reveals that look into the restaurant's kitchen and beyond to the sea. The selection of tactile materials, including larch and slate, along with the scale of the building, references the vernacular architecture — specifically, the black painted weatherboarding in the immediate context.

On the ground floor, glass doors allow uninterrupted panoramic views of the fishing boats at high tide, and lead onto the curved and cantilevered balcony made from zinc soffit. On the floor above, a bar opens fully to an afternoon sun terrace with views of the viaduct and across the harbor to the English Channel.

The architects worked with restaurant specialists Stiff + Trevillion on the project. The head chef is Mark Sargeant. The project is part of an ongoing regeneration of the seafront and harbor area master planned by Terry Farrell.

In Columbia, Maryland, the new Robinson Nature Center, designed by GWWO Architects, has opened. Photo: Courtesy GWWO, Inc./ Architects Extra Large Image

Columbia · 2011.0910
The new Robinson Nature Center in Columbia, Maryland — a Howard County facility located on the former Robinson homestead — has opened to the public. Designed by GWWO Architects of Baltimore, the facility is targeting LEED Platinum certification.

The three-story structure is nestled into its sloped site, with much of the building located below grade to minimize its visual impact. The exterior is constructed primarily of wood and stone, reminiscent of the historic Simpsonville Mill, the remains of which are located nearby. The use of wood and stone continues on the center's interior, which also features stained concrete and cork flooring. Expanses of glass offer extensive outdoor views.

Sustainable design features include a green roof, FSC-certified wood, lumber reclaimed from the old Robinson barn, ground-source heating and cooling, pervious paving, low-emitting finish materials, daylighting, and locally produced materials such as stone, glass, and gypsum board.

The lower level features a 50-seat "NatureSphere," a digital planetarium with a 26-foot (eight-meter-) semispherical dome. The exhibits were designed by Howard + Revis Design Services of Washington, D.C.

In Hialeah, Florida, ground has been broken for a new casino by EwingCole at Hialeah Park Race Track, one of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places for 2007. Image: EwingCole Extra Large Image

Hialeah · 2011.0909
Ground has been broken for a new casino at Hialeah Park Race Track in Hialeah, Florida. Architecture and engineering firm EwingCole, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, designed the new facility, which is expected to open in fall 2012. The casino is part of the first phase of a master plan developed to revitalize the historic racetrack, which was named by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as one of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places in 2007.

This project includes the renovation of the existing north Grandstand Building and the construction of a two-story addition, a porte cochere, and a network of covered arcades and elevated terraces surrounding the revitalized historic paddock and Flamingo Fountain garden. The 180,000-square-foot (1,700-square-meter) addition includes a 1,250-slot gaming floor, a poker mezzanine with 36 tables, a 90-seat casino lounge, and a 180-seat dining village.

According to Donald Dissinger, AIA, lead architect and principal of EwingCole's sports and entertainment practice, the plan for the 200-acre (80-hectare) Hialeah Park property includes preservation of the historic buildings and gardens, the reconstruction of the backstretch facilities, and the creation of an urban entertainment district including development opportunities for racing, gaming, resort, and business hotels, along with retail and restaurants, and a metro rail station and business complex for the City of Hialeah. The overall design pays homage to the venue's horseracing heritage and historic landscaping, and draws on the existing French Mediterranean architectural style used by Lester Geisler, the young protege of society architect Addison Mizner.

RSC Architects designed the new North Hudson Higher Education Center in Union City, New Jersey, for Hudson County Community College. Photo: Courtesy Hudson County Community College Extra Large Image

Union City · 2011.0907
Hudson County Community College's new North Hudson Higher Education Center in Union City, New Jersey, is now in use. The seven-story, 92,300-square-foot (8,570-square-meter) building features a soaring three-story lobby, terrazzo floors, daylit classrooms and public areas, and a glass-enclosed pedestrian bridge linking the structure with the neighboring light-rail transit station. A grand opening is scheduled for September 28.

RSC Architects (formerly Rivardo Schnitzer Capazzi) of Cliffside Park, New Jersey, designed the building to achieve LEED certification under LEED-NC v2.2. Sustainable design features include a rooftop photovoltaic system, daylight and occupancy sensors for lights, low-flow plumbing fixtures, rainwater collection tanks, and light shelves to help reflect daylight deeper into instructional spaces. The building also includes an enrollment and registration center, a bookstore, a library, student and faculty lounges, community activity spaces, an outdoor courtyard, a rooftop terrace, and facilities for testing, counseling, and tutoring.

In addition to the Robinson Nature Center, another GWWO-designed project has also opened: the new West Village Commons at Towson University, in Towson, Maryland. Photo: Courtesy GWWO, Inc./ Architects Extra Large Image

Towson · 2011.0907
Another project designed by GWWO Architects has also opened: the new West Village Commons at Towson University in Towson, Maryland. The $31.5 million, 86,300-square-foot (8,020-square-meter) facility includes retail and dining areas, study spaces, meeting rooms, student gathering spaces, and a large, multipurpose special-event space.

LEED Silver certification is expected. Green design features and strategies include daylighting, water-conserving plumbing fixtures, onsite stormwater management, and a planted roof that also serves as a third-floor gathering space. The project's design also preserves, integrates, and embraces an existing specimen elm tree, one of the largest and oldest in the state, located on the east side of the site.

Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios designed a renovation and expansion project for the Royal United Hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Bath, England. Photo: © Craig Auckland/ Fotohaus Extra Large Image

Bath · 2011.0723
The Royal United Hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in Bath, England, United Kingdom, has moved into its expanded and renovated facility, named the Dyson Centre for Neonatal Care.

Designed by architect Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios of Bath and London, the building project consisted of a single-story new addition and refurbishment of the space already occupied by the NICU. The addition accommodates the clinical, support, and reception functions, while the staff and parents' facilities are located in the renovated portion. The two elements are linked by a new "umbilicus," which also provides an access point for emergency vehicles. The new building encloses an external courtyard space. Patient rooms are organized in a clockwise circuit based on intensity of care, making the typical trend of babies' decreasing care needs legible to parents.

The consulting examination and treatment spaces are carefully daylit, and the heart of the clinical area is generously daylit by a skylight. Sustainability was central to the design of the new unit, with efforts made to develop strategies replicable elsewhere in the healthcare sector. With a BREEAM "Excellent" rating, the unit features a sedum-planted roof, and is constructed entirely in cross-laminated timber, which is exposed internally. The construction value was £3 million.

Consultants included Provelio Limited, project manager; Edmond Shipway, cost consultant; Buro Happold, structural engineer, mechanical and electrical engineering, and BREEAM assessor; Vinci Construction, main contractor; Damrel, CDM consultant; SR Architects, healthcare architect; and Desireland, healthcare researcher.

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