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GRAND TETON VISITOR CENTER
Early in the design process of the Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center in Grand Teton National Park, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson made several key design decisions that were critical to the success of the project. — Published 2009.0819
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PIANO IN CHICAGO
Renzo Piano is known for his finely tuned designs, especially for a refined talent in dovetailing elegant new architecture with an existing context, playing on contextual strengths without duplicating the neighbors.
He has achieved this feat once again at the Art Institute of Chicago, where a light-studded new museum wing by Piano opened in May 2009. The Art Institute's new addition is laudable in its intelligent siting, sensitive scale, urban presence, and manipulation of light. — Published 2009.0805
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SEATTLE LOFTS
At the edge of the Pike Street and Pine Street corridor in downtown Seattle is a public transit-oriented neighborhood populated by mixed-use developments. The 40-by-80-foot (12.2-by-24.4-meter) site for the 1310 E. Union Lofts was an infill (midblock) plot, smaller than a typical single-family residential lot in Seattle. — Published 2009.0729
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MAGIC BLUE BOX
A giant blue cuboid has sprung up in Copenhagen, Denmark. This striking scaffolding box wrapped in translucent blue fabric is the new Copenhagen Concert Hall.
During the day, the building's blue skin largely conceals the faceted forms within, with peeled-back areas on the sides of the steel-framed box showing that the outside wrapping is more than just an imposing blue billboard. From the right angle, visitors can see vague outlines of the building forms beneath the translucent textile. — Published 2009.0722
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7 WORLD TRADE CENTER
Seven World Trade Center was the third building to collapse on September 11, 2001, and it is the first to be rebuilt. Designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), the new building is composed of 42 floors of office space set above eight floors of Con Edison transformers (located in large concrete vaults at street level). — Published 2009.0603
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ROTTERDAM PERISCOPE
Willem Jan Neutelings of Neutelings Riedijk Architects spoke with Emiliano Gandolfi, a correspondent for The Plan magazine, about the Dutch firm's design approach as exemplified in the Shipping and Transport College in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. — Editor
Emiliano Gandolfi: Part of the gradual revitalization of the port of Rotterdam, the Shipping and Transport College is the ultimate "urban icon," not at all what one would expect of a school building. How did it come about? — Published 2009.0520
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GREEN SYNAGOGUE
When the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation of Evanston, Illinois, set out to build a new synagogue, they found the goal of achieving LEED Platinum certification arising naturally from the spiritual context.
"The Torah teaches us that the earth does not belong to us, that we are but stewards of God's creation," says Rabbi Brant Rosen. "Building the most sustainable facility possible was for us a religious act." — Published 2009.0415
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MULTI-ELEPHANT HOUSING BY FOSTER
The Copenhagen Zoo's new Elephant House by Foster + Partners emerges gently from the surrounding park grounds, its two leaf-patterned glass domes topping walls of pink-hued concrete. At once playful and serious, transparent and solid, this modern menagerie provides both high-quality living conditions for the animals inside and an exciting and interactive visitor experience. — Published 2009.0401
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MODERN PREFAB BY MARMOL RADZINER
The Rincon 5 by Los Angeles firm Marmol Radziner recalls the pristine residential architecture of Mies van der Rohe, though this guest house may have more in common with the humble American mobile home. — Published 2009.0318
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COLIN ST. JOHN WILSON - TWO HOUSES
British architect Colin St. John "Sandy" Wilson (1922-2007) is best known for designing the British Library (1997) in London, a fraught but ultimately successful project begun in 1962. In Colin St John Wilson: Buildings and Projects, Roger Stonehouse reviews many of Wilson's works, including the Grantchester Road houses and Spring House. In an introduction to the book, drawn from a 1992 essay, Wilson reflects on the state of modernism in the early 1960s. —Editor — Published 2009.0304
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