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CALATRAVA'S CLASSICAL GREEK
To those who have followed the illustrious career of Spanish-born architect and engineer Santiago Calatrava, it was no surprise that he was the top choice of organizers of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. In planning and designing the expansion of the historic sports complex, he was given a daunting task: not just to prepare the host city for the athletes and onlookers, but to consider the lasting purpose of the architecture. — Published 2004.1020
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LEEDING GREEN IN INDIA
A new building in Hyderabad, India is the first structure outside the United States to receive the prestigious "platinum" LEED rating from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). The building is special also because its construction combined ancient practices with modern architecture, reaffirming the applicability of traditional architectural knowledge to today's notions of sustainability. — Published 2004.0922
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CHAMBERS OF THE VILLA NAUTILUS
Villa Nautilus spills down a hillside overlooking the Bay of Acapulco to the northwest. The house's spatial bounty playfully adjusts to the irregular topography of this Mexican city. Rather than follow an unrelenting orthogonal grid of rooms and outdoor spaces, Villa Nautilus bends subtly as the hill cascades, adjusting the angles of its vertical walls to provide a variety of spatial experiences. — Published 2004.0908
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EARLY MODERNISM IN SERBIA
Belgrade is an under-appreciated center of regional modernism of the 1920s and 1930s. This city played a role in the larger, international modernist movement but with a uniquely Serbian flavor. Sadly, many architectural examples from the period have been destroyed or altered beyond recognition, so photographic documentation remains an important preservation resource. — Editor — Published 2004.0602
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LAYERING OLD AND NEW
A once-abandoned ruin has returned to 21st-century life as a multipurpose event space in a busy entertainment district on the banks of the Bosphorus Strait in Ortakoy, Istanbul. Global Architectural Development (GAD Architecture) has designed a glass and steel box tucked inside the masonry remains. — Published 2004.0428
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LEARNING FROM PIERRE KOENIG
"It was my notion, when I started, to make anonymous architecture for ordinary people." — Pierre Koenig (1925 - 2004)
Ironically, the beautiful steel houses of Pierre Koenig, with their stunning, frank simplicity, graceful proportions, and sunny, contextually attuned openness, could hardly expect anonymity in an American landscape of neocolonial, neoclassical, and neovernacular norms. — Published 2004.0421
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FARNSWORTH HOUSE SAVED
On the morning of December 18, 2003, historic preservationists were casting a worried eye on the Farnsworth House, designed by 20th-century architect Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe. The famous 1951 steel-and-glass house was to be auctioned at Sotheby's that day, and its fate would depend on whoever emerged as high bidder. — Published 2004.0128
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SCHOOLHOUSE MODERNISM
During the second half of the 20th century, the Texan architecture firm of Caudill Rowlett Scott (CRS) grew impressively in size and influence. They became known as masters of modern practice and construction management. Their innovations in school design mirrored the firm's own evolution. — Editor — Published 2004.0114
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MANHATTAN INSIDE UPDATES
Like putting a new engine in a classic car or an updated graphics card in an old computer, a few New York architects are giving high-tech interiors to historic buildings. In each case — car, computer, building — the external appearance of the original can be maintained while its function is upgraded. — Published 2004.0107
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PIANO'S BEYELER FOUNDATION MUSEUM
Modern-art collector Ernst Beyeler wanted a tranquil, naturally lit environment for his paintings, despite conventional wisdom that would exclude all sunlight from most art collections. He had been impressed by the building designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano for the Menil Collection — a nonmonumental space open to contact with nature, facilitating a direct and relaxed relationship between visitor and artifact. — Published 2003.1105
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