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ART URBANE
The contemporary art museum increasingly shares responsibility for the well-being of its parent city, supporting tourism and its consequent revenue, and galvanizing local redevelopment.
So the Figge, a new museum by British firm David Chipperfield Architects, on the banks of the Mississippi River in Davenport, Iowa, not only envelopes its collections in a luminous and strictly orthogonal embrace, but it stands as a glowing emblem for the regeneration of Davenport's riverfront downtown. — Published 2005.1109
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BRAZILIAN COMMUNICATIONS
A 1918 building in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil has been transformed into a museum for that most modern and fast-changing of technologies: telecommunications. The building's various facades reflect both its historic roots and its modern purpose. This makeover for Rio's Telecommunications Museum appropriately reflects the remarkable evolution of technology over the past century. — Published 2005.0622
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MIXED USE BREWERY BLOCKS
From 1856 to 1999, the Blitz-Weinhard brewery anchored the southern end of Portland Oregon's Pearl District, an industrial enclave reborn as a chic urban neighborhood of galleries, condominiums, and restaurants. The five city blocks occupied in the past by the brewery are now being redeveloped as a high-density, mass-transit-oriented mix of office, retail, and residential architecture, all boasting sustainable design. — Published 2005.0511
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PSYCHOLOGICALLY ACCESSIBLE
Any visit to a hospital or clinic can seem frightening, all the more so for children afflicted with autism. The slightest distraction, even something as seemingly benign as a water fountain or a beam of sunlight, can trigger a "meltdown," in which autistic patients are overcome with anxiety. — Published 2005.0119
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W HOTEL MEXICO CITY
From the opening of its first hotel in New York City in 1998, the chain of W Hotels has been marketing itself to young, hip business travelers, who became a substantial customer base during the "dot.com" boom of the late 1990s. — Published 2004.1006
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COMMERCIAL QUALITIES OF MONTRÈAL
When a business community learns to appreciate the value of design excellence, an entire city can benefit. This is the lesson of the Commerce Design Montréal competition, which concluded its tenth annual round earlier this year. Twenty projects in the French-Canadian city demonstrate that design and business can help each other thrive. — Published 2004.0721
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SYDNEY BISTRO
When a restaurant opens adjacent to a theater lobby, one might expect a dramatic play of lights and space. Indeed, designers with the Australian architecture firm PTW have served up a class act with their Hickson Road Bistro at Walsh Bay, Sydney. The space works equally well during the day and at night, but it's the after-dark performance of color and light that arts patrons won't want to miss. — Published 2004.0505
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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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HADID'S BERGISEL SKI JUMP
Cobra, high-heeled shoe, golf club... Quite a few nicknames have emerged for the new Bergisel Ski Jump since its opening in September 2002. Time will tell if one of these nicknames will stick, but already the ski jump by the London firm Zaha Hadid Architects has become an important point of reference for the surrounding mountain landscape. — Published 2003.0528
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NEW CURVE IN SYSTEM CEILINGS
Design for the school cafeteria has come a long way since the 1960s and 1970s when sterile, unimaginative "lunch boxes" were the norm. Today, school designers and administrators are more aware of how aesthetics can affect the learning environment. As a result, architects are increasingly incorporating expressive design elements into the construction of school rooms, including cafeterias. — Published 2003.0205
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Cafes and Restaurants page: [
