 |
ENDANGERED AMERICAN PLACES
The Chicago building that formerly housed Prentice Women's Hospital is proudly unorthodox. Above a steel-and-glass base, in a sea of more-conventional rectilinear neighbors, the building's quatrefoil concrete tower rises banded with oval-shaped windows. Published 2011.0720
 |
 |
PLATFORM HOUSE IN PLATTE COUNTY
The origins for the design of the Platform House in rural Platte County, Missouri, are derived from utilitarian buildings of the region and rooted in the economy of the elevated shed.
Designed by Rockhill and Associates to replace an existing farmhouse, this new building relates to the vernacular tradition of keeping farm buildings elevated above the ground to eliminate moisture and prevent the growth of mold. Published 2011.0615
 |
 |
CENTER FOR NEIGHBORHOOD TECHNOLOGY
The Center for Neighborhood Technology in Chicago, Illinois, moved into a former textile factory in 1987 and began its second renovation in 2000 to accommodate greater space needs. Designed by architect Jonathan Boyer (now a principal at Farr Associates), the new office space offers an exemplary model of sustainable adaptive reuse that takes advantage of environmentally responsible products and technologies not available in the 1980s. Published 2011.0511
 |
 |
BNIM - AIA FIRM OF THE YEAR
To become one of the first two buildings to receive full recognition under the Living Building Challenge, the Omega Center for Sustainable Living in Rhinebeck, New York, had to meet a stringent set of criteria, including generating all its energy from renewable resources, and capturing and treating all water used onsite. Published 2011.0511
 |
 |
GROPIUS AND BREUER'S HAGERTY HOUSE
Completed in 1938, this proverbial "box on the rocks" designed by Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer sits on a spectacular rocky site directly on the Atlantic Ocean in Cohasset, Massachusetts. Published 2011.0427
 |
 |
MAKI'S HILLSIDE TERRACE
The Hillside Terrace project, a medium-density mixed-use development of apartments, shops, restaurants, and cultural facilities, took exactly 25 years from the first plans I drew in 1967 to the completion of its sixth phase in 1992. Although I have designed buildings and complexes far greater in physical scale over the past several decades, no other project has occupied my thoughts so continuously over time as Hillside Terrace has. Published 2011.0406
 |
 |
HERTZBERGER IN DELFT
The Delft Montessori School in Delft, the Netherlands, is the archetype for Herman Hertzberger's Interactive School, incorporating a number of characteristic features and themes that encourage participation and appropriation of architectural forms as an integral part of the educational experience. Published 2011.0330
 |
 |
RIPPLE EFFECT
Your first reaction to seeing Aqua Tower as it commands the Chicago skyline might be, "What happened to that skyscraper?" It looks as if some of its concrete floor fins might have been worn away over years of exposure. Or perhaps some kind of pervasive organism has taken over a sleek glass tower, crawling all over its facade — the Blob meets Howard Roark's Enright Building. Published 2011.0105
 |
 |
BUILD BOSTON 2010
The venerable Build Boston conference often provides an excellent way to take the temperature of the architecture and construction industry. This year was no different, as the conference, now in its 26th year, took on a leaner, less glitzy feel, with a smaller trade show area and fewer celebratory ballroom events. But it was clear that attendees were serious about preparing for the future: the nearly 200 workshops and seminars were extremely well attended by thousands of industry professionals. Published 2010.1215
 |
 |
MODERNIZING MODERN
In the United States, there is a huge inventory of unused, underused, and poorly configured buildings, many of them modern-style. These buildings are a valuable resource, and until this resource has been exhausted, the pace and pattern of new building construction seen in the second half of the 20th century is a luxury that is not sustainable. Published 2010.1208
 |
In a Hill or Cliffside Context page: [