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BRAZILIAN COMMUNICATIONS
A 1918 building in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil has been transformed into a museum for that most modern and fast-changing of technologies: telecommunications. The building's various facades reflect both its historic roots and its modern purpose. This makeover for Rio's Telecommunications Museum appropriately reflects the remarkable evolution of technology over the past century. — Published 2005.0622
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ATLANTA MID-CITY
In the 1950s, Atlanta, Georgia named itself the city "too busy to hate." Unfortunately, it also became the city too busy to walk and, in recent history, was a deadly metro for pedestrians, ranking as high as third in the nation for pedestrian/ traffic fatalities. — Published 2005.0601
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SWISS RE TOWER BY FOSTER AND PARTNERS
During construction, London's newest highrise conjured up many emotions from visitors and locals alike: here was a building that would bring a major change to the skyline. It became affectionately known as the "Gherkin," but was it worth it? Was it a white elephant? — Published 2005.0504
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THREE POLSHEK PROJECTS
One's memory of a physical place is a complex emotional and intellectual phenomenon, depending, as it does, on affect as well as on contextual appropriateness, human function, and constructive logic. Affect separated from these last three elements can result in idiosyncratic memorability — "art for art's sake." — Published 2005.0427
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SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY
Were the architects inspired by sculpture when they designed the idiosyncratic form of the Seattle Public Library? Were they perhaps influenced by the angularity of the nearby street sculpture, Vertebrae, by Henry Moore? — Published 2005.0420
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ROCK OF ARTS
All too often, college campuses tend to "ghettoize" the arts. A special facility is created in an out-of-the-way spot where artsy students hang out and pursue their passions. Science majors, math students, and others who are not "into" the arts might find such an arts center intimidating, or at least mysterious. What's in it for them? — Published 2005.0316
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FIRE STATION LIVING DE PARIS
There's a newcomer to an otherwise typical Parisian suburban landscape of highways, railway lines, factories, and housing. In the fast-growing town of Nanterre, a fire station has become a new landmark, with a copper-colored facade that changes with the daylight.
Designed by the French architects Jean-Marc Ibos and Myrto Vitart, the fire station is also a redefinition of the building type, mixing conventional fire-fighting program elements with multifamily housing. — Published 2005.0216
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NEIGHBORLY MOD
The Ebeling House in Dortmund, Germany makes a direct challenge to conventional expectations and local taste, and it is equally bold in its reference to modernist minimalism. Is this boldness hostile, or friendly? Does it reward analysis? Does it make a humane place for living? — Published 2005.0202
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PSYCHOLOGICALLY ACCESSIBLE
Any visit to a hospital or clinic can seem frightening, all the more so for children afflicted with autism. The slightest distraction, even something as seemingly benign as a water fountain or a beam of sunlight, can trigger a "meltdown," in which autistic patients are overcome with anxiety. — Published 2005.0119
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MIXED SMOKE SIGNALS
Washington D.C. has long been a conservative city for architecture, at least since Pierre L'Enfant laid out the city in 1791. As decreed by the McMillan Plan of the early 1900s, buildings could be no taller than the U.S. Capitol dome. This has resulted in a low-scale skyline that some find retrograde for a world capital. — Published 2005.0105
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