BERLIN CENTRAL STATION The new Berlin Hauptbahnhof designed by von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp) is Europe's largest and newest train station — a large "cathedral" of glass and steel. Linking major lines from all directions, the Berlin Central Station has been on the boards for 11 years, but with typical German efficiency, was completed within two weeks of the 2006 World Cup games. Yet one could say that the station had been in the planning stages for nearly a century. — Published 2006.1108
	LONDON ALPINE Continuing a tradition of innovative structures at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in West London is the new Davies Alpine House by Wilkinson Eyre Architects. It is the first glasshouse to be constructed at the World Heritage Site for over 20 years and is a showcase of design and engineering, specially conditioned to support an alpine ecology. — Published 2006.1025
	SPLASHES OF HUE "Colors are like words," Italian architect Ettore Sottsass once said. "With colors you can tell stories... Architecture is made of color. Even those who don't want to use color must use it in the end. It's fundamental." Acknowledging the colorful work of Sottsass and others in architecture and interior design, the paint company Benjamin Moore & Co. presented its second annual "HUE Awards" in late September 2006. — Published 2006.1004
	DOWN UNDER LOUVERS While architects in the Northern Hemisphere have been appropriately fixated on manipulating southern orientations of buildings in pursuit of climate-responsive architecture, those "Down Under" have been giving the same attention to north-facing facades. In the new Business School for Auckland University of Technology (AUT) in New Zealand, the architecture firm JASMAX has designed a northwest facade that puts on a visual show in response to the daily sun path. — Published 2006.0920
	MUSIC WITH A VIEW Sometimes an architect's most creative act is to persuade a client to change the program, to reconsider what they think they want. The result can be a fresh approach to the problem, an invitation to see it in a new light. That's what happened at the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut, a private boarding school that wanted to "tune up and amplify" its music program, which was housed in a rather modest space in the basement of a chapel. — Published 2006.0920
	POSTCARD FROM BRISTOL Dear ArchitectureWeek, St. Werburgh was a 6th-century princess- turned- abbess who is said to have abandoned the royal life to do good and to work to make others happy. Now her namesake church in Bristol, United Kingdom has found new life by evolving from its formal ecclesiastical function to serving Bristol's adventurous (and ascending) youth. The church's s soaring vertical nave has proved an unusual but effective space for a climbing center. — Published 2006.0920
	NOUVEL'S TORRE AGBAR The Torre Agbar, a new tall building from Ateliers Jean Nouvel, in collaboration with b720 Arquitectura, Garcia-Ventosa Arquitectura, and Leopoldo Rodes Arquitecto, thrusts into Barcelona's skyline from the Placa de las Glories, a gritty district that Barcelona's planners have designated "the next big thing," a new center of commercial activity. — Published 2006.0823
	HUGH STUBBINS, MODERN TOWER On New York City's Lexington Avenue at 53rd Street, Citicorp Center (built 1976 to 1978) reaches into the sky like a giant sheathed in aluminum and glass. Its designer, architect Hugh Stubbins, Jr., who challenged modern skyscraper orthodoxy of the time, died July 5, 2006 at the age of 94. — Published 2006.0809
	ASSEMBLY BY ROGERS Despite the breathtaking views over Cardiff Bay toward Penarth Marina, visitors to the new National Assembly for Wales, standing on the grand, slate-clad terraces, will find it is impossible to stop looking inland. Designed by Richard Rogers, known for his iconic buildings such as Lloyds of London, Centre Pompidou, and the Madrid Airport, the National Assembly building opened in March 2006 after years of political wrangling. — Published 2006.0802
	Y INSIDE In this suburb of the nation's capital, the Fort Washington, Maryland YMCA project is overshadowed by all the surrounding built history. Yet this rehabilitation of a former supermarket should not be underestimated. The firm of GTM Architects has successfully transformed the nondescript building into a "Y" that is at once visually poetic, pragmatically functional, and admirably committed to its community. — Published 2006.0719

Glass in Construction page: [prev] | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | [next]