RENOVATING FAY JONES While the work of a master painter or sculptor might be nurtured in climate-controlled galleries for centuries, the works of master architects are often lived in, worked in, enjoyed by crowds, exposed to the weather, and vulnerable to owners' whims. Architecture lovers can hope that their favorite structures are cared for by conscientious stewards, but aside from the use of preservation easements, there are few real guarantees. — Published 2012.0523
	CREATIVE CONCRETE When we think of sustainability, images of solar panels, thick insulation, and rainwater cisterns might come to mind. But Canadian architect and researcher Mark West is rethinking the bones of concrete structures to find ways to make them as efficient as possible. West is director of the University of Manitoba's Centre for Architectural Structures and Technology (CAST), where the research revolves around fabric-formed concrete. The process uses pliable fabric to make innovative, efficient structural shapes. — Published 2012.0328
	ANATOMY OF METABOLISM The exhibit "Metabolism, the City of the Future" at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo is a major retrospective looking at Japan's most widely known and perhaps least understood modern architecture movement. Subtitled "Dreams and Visions of Reconstruction in Postwar and Present-Day Japan," the exhibit throws up images depicting a sci-fi world of floating cities, metropolises in the sky, and soaring geometric shapes and patterns repeated over and over with little apparent correspondence to the psychological needs of humans. — Published 2011.1214
	ARCHICAD 15: PART 2 This software review takes a detailed look at ArchiCAD 15 in two parts, continuing here with 3D interface enhancements, improved support for renovation projects, and other changes, along with an overall analysis of this release. —Editor 3D Interface Enhancements — Published 2011.1116
	ARCHICAD 15: PART 1 This software review takes a detailed look at ArchiCAD 15 in two parts, starting here with improvements related to "design freedom," including the new Shell tool and revamped Roof tool. —Editor Recently we took a detailed look at the capabilities of the 2012 release of Revit Architecture, in which the new features and enhancements are spread out across many different aspects of the application. — Published 2011.1109
	LEED FOR EXISTING BUILDINGS The Empire State Building made headlines recently for achieving LEED Gold certification following a major green retrofit project that will reduce the skyscraper's energy consumption by more than 38 percent. The building's electric chiller plant was rebuilt, electric meters were installed at the tenant level, and all 6,514 window units were removed, refurbished to improve their energy efficiency, and reinstalled. — Published 2011.1012
	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
	GREEN SCIENCE IN SALT LAKE CITY The new Meldrum Science Center, certified LEED Platinum, provides an outstanding teaching and laboratory facility for the Westminster College campus in Salt Lake City, Utah. The airy, daylit interior of the four-story, 60,000-square-foot (5,600-square-meter) building provides a fertile matrix for interactive learning about science — in the curriculum and in the building. — Published 2010.0929
	EERO'S RINK REBORN, OR... ADDING TO THE YALE WHALE It's not often that an architect gets to add to a building that he or she worked on years before, especially after a span of 50 years. But that's the case for the new expansion of Yale's David S. Ingalls Rink, originally designed by Eero Saarinen in the early 1950s. — Published 2010.0825
	GREEN OR GREENWASHED? What would you call a green building standard that, on balance, tends to interfere with environmental reform more than help? In March 2009, ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition television show featured the first house in the country to win certification under the new green building standard from the National Association of Home Builders. — Published 2009.0422

Some Organic Architecture page: 01 | 02 | 03 | [next]