With 40 different awards given by the San Francisco chapter of the AIA, and only a few repeat winners among them, there were plenty of happy architects by the Bay this year.
The Mills-Peninsula Medical Center, currently under construction in Burlingame, California, will be the first "base-isolated" hospital in northern California.
Built on isolator bearings with seismic dampers, the building was designed by Anshen + Allen to remain operational after a major seismic event. During an earthquake, the building can move up to 30 inches (76 centimeters) horizontally and two inches (five centimeters) vertically without incurring major damage. — Published 2008.0514
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has traditionally been known for two things: its status as the largest encyclopedic art museum in the western United States, and its schizophrenic campus.
Bolstering the former and addressing the latter, LACMA has unveiled a long-awaited free-standing addition to its collection: the Broad Contemporary Art Museum (BCAM), designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop in conjunction with executive architect Gensler. — Published 2008.0507
Public urban open space. In the course of one L.A. day, those four little words inspired comparisons to a dining room table, descriptions of a "third revolution," arguments for spatial justice, historical tales of the search for an R-1 residential paradise, and an examination of what being "green" means in a desert. — Published 2008.0123
Almost ten years ago, the Dominus Estate Winery was one of Herzog and de Meuron's first works in the U.S. to catch critical attention. To understand the design approach of this Pritzker and Stirling Prize-winning firm, and more importantly in terms of the architecture itself, it is worth taking a closer look. — Published 2007.0620
Museum franchising seems to be a growing trend. The Guggenheim is a well established worldwide franchise, and The Louvre is on its way. The New York-based Museum of Modern Art and Dia Art Foundation each have two sites, while the London-based Tate has four. — Published 2007.0530
For over a decade, straw-bale construction has been growing in popularity among "alternative" house builders. The durable, low-cost, nontoxic, highly insulating, pest-resistant, and potentially structural material is especially practical in hot arid climates. It was used extensively in the treeless grasslands of the U.S. Midwest early in the 20th century. — Published 2007.0516
The Rice Residence, on a hillside above Los Angeles, expresses an idyllic Southern California lifestyle with daylight saturating every room, a floor plan that encourages casual indoor-outdoor living, and spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean in the distance. — Published 2007.0516
The new Center for Embedded Network Sensing (CENS) building designed by Culver City-based Studio Pali Fekete Architects (SPF:a), is unlike the red brick edifices that grace most of the University of California, Los Angeles campus. Surrounded on all sides by 1960s buildings and occupying a formerly neglected courtyard, the glass and steel structure is like a diamond in the rough. — Published 2007.0117
Modular intermodal cargo Containers used to serve primarily for transporting massive amounts of manufactured goods across oceans. But an ongoing imbalance in trade volume between Asia and North America contributes to a surplus of these huge corrugated metal boxes around ports in the United States. And as shipping containers become ubiquitous, architects are increasingly incorporating them into creative buildings. — Published 2007.0103
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