POSTCARD FROM PORTLAND Dear ArchitectureWeek, If you visited Portland, Oregon's Saturday Market prior to 2009, then you might remember a collection of vendor stalls arranged under the concrete approach ramp of the Burnside Bridge, spilling out to the south, wrapping around a ponderous and slightly run-down brick building, and continuing toward the historic Skidmore Fountain. And if you visit that site today, you'll notice things have changed. — Published 2009.1216
	MAYA LIN - UNCHOP A TREE As we wait and listen around the world to hear what new increment of our collective fate will emerge from the final days of the Copenhagen climate conference, this new video piece by Maya Lin, itself an increment of her "What is Missing?" environmental memorial project, speaks deeply on the disaster of ongoing deforestation. — Published 2009.1216
	CHRISTMAN BUILDING For the new Christman Company headquarters in downtown Lansing, Michigan, SmithGroup set out to design modern, high-end offices within a historic building. What resulted, somewhat surprisingly, was a sustainable exemplar. Christman, a Lansing-based construction company, had purchased a 1928 building listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and set a modest goal for sustainable renovation: basic certification under LEED for Core & Shell. — Published 2009.1216
	BAR HOUSE IN ASPEN The simple and strong geometric shape of the Bar House near Aspen, Colorado — which is a bar set boldly across, rather than nestling along, the valley floor — stands up to the rugged and majestic mountains that surround it. Despite its strength, this house by Peter Gluck and Partners is partly submerged in the ground, as if to lock it into the landscape. The views up and down the valley dominate the interior spaces, but they are tempered in different ways by the varied size and placement of the windows and the shape of the rooms. — Published 2009.1216
	CAMBRIDGE PUBLIC LIBRARY A stunning new addition has opened at the Cambridge Public Library in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Using ideas of transparency, inclusiveness, and efficiency as starting points, William Rawn Associates designed the glass-and-steel addition as a modernist foil to the original 1888 library by Van Brunt & Howe. — Published 2009.1209
	GREENBUILD REPORT 2009 "Almost 40 percent of the global warming pollution in our country comes from old, inefficient, leaky buildings that don't have to be that way." So said former Vice President Al Gore as he opened Greenbuild 2009. — Published 2009.1209
	PARKING GARAGE: GATEWAY TO THE FUTURE As we face up to the needs of climate protection over the next few years, we'll see that the decades-long trend of steadily increasing automobile vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in the U.S. will be reversed for decades to come. Contemplating a nation, and ultimately a world, with declining total VMT, it's increasingly clear that henceforth, most construction of new auto infrastructure — almost any new lane-miles of highway, for instance — represents soon-stranded investment, at best. The parking garage may be an outstanding exception. As U.S. communities transition toward the more mixed-use, closer-in, denser development patterns that will support our restless lifestyles with less driving, "structured parking" can help finesse the fact that most of us will still be using cars for many years to come. — Published 2009.1202
	PUGH + SCARPA STEP UP Walking or driving past the new Step Up on Fifth project in downtown Santa Monica, California, one could mistake the colorful building — with its front facade of yellow, white, and purple metal panels — for a contemporary art center or a fashionable condominium. The mixed-use residential building in the heart of this affluent, picturesque city was actually built to serve people suffering from mental illness and homelessness. — Published 2009.1202
	INSPIRING INFRASTRUCTURE Projects recognized by Bentley Systems in their 2009 Be Inspired Awards include a bridge in Vietnam, a light rail system in Arizona, roofs in Worcester and Wimbledon, and the modernization of Chicago's O'Hare Airport. In this annual program, Bentley highlights outstanding examples of its software in use on infrastructure projects of all kinds around the world. This year's program includes awards in 17 categories, from buildings and roads to team coordination. — Published 2009.1118
	CHICAGO AIA AWARDS 2009 A utility plant stands in glass at the edge of the University of Chicago campus, the geometric tangle of its technical systems revealed inside the radiused crystalline form. — Published 2009.1118

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