Image courtesy Gensler Gensler is transforming an old Illinois car dealership into the Museum of Bond Vehicles & Espionage. Click on the slide show button to view more images. When the Ian Fleming Foundation offered Gensler the chance to design a James Bond automobile museum, the project architect didn’t expect to be scoping out sites in Middle America. Brian Vitale, senior associate in Gensler’s Chicago office, thought, “Great. When’s the next plane to London?” Before long, Vitale found himself in a remote cornfield in Momence, Illinois — population 3,200 — standing in front of two large storage sheds. “It couldn’t
A proposed rewrite of the certified wood policy in the LEED rating systems failed to get enough votes from U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) members to become policy. USGBC announced that of the 965 people who had opted in to a voting body, 54 percent voted, with 55 percent of those voting “Yes,” and 42 percent voting “No.” Three percent abstained. Without a two-thirds majority, the policy failed to pass under LEED rules, and the certified wood credits will remain unchanged. Only certification from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is recognized under credits in the various LEED rating systems awarding
The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) has upgraded its green building standards, requiring LEED Gold certification for all new federal construction and major renovations. GSA previously required LEED Silver for all federal facilities; the new requirement applies to all projects that are currently in design as well as all future projects. For newly constructed properties that GSA leases, the agency has maintained a LEED Silver requirement for new construction projects over 10,000 ft2 (1,000 m2). LEED for Commercial Interiors is optional for GSA facilities in existing buildings. “This new requirement is just one of the many ways we’re greening the
Photo courtesy MoMA PS1 The MoMA PS1 Young Architects Program was launched in 2000. Click on the slide show button to view past installations (pictured: Dunescape, SHoP Architects, 2000). MoMA PS1 takes a gamble when it selects finalists for its Young Architects Program, which each year gives emerging designers the chance to design an installation for a 10,000-square-foot triangular courtyard at the Queens art center. The entrants don’t initially propose schemes; rather, they are selected to compete in the competition’s final stage based on the ingenuity of their past work. “There’s enormous suspense because we really don’t know what these
According to DesignIntelligence’s Almanac of Architecture & Design 2010, the Lexington, Kentucky-based Mason & Hanger has been in business for 183 years, making it the oldest in the United States.
Photo courtesy Christine McMonagle/The Jewish Museum “Daniel Libeskind’s Line of Fire” runs through January 30, 2011, at The Jewish Museum in New York. Libeskind designed the exhibition using 40 menorahs from the museum’s collection. Click on the slide show button to see images. Daniel Libeskind’s building signature is often characterized by a lightning-bolt scrawl, clearly visible in his designs for The Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco, the Jewish Museum in Berlin, and even “Villa Libeskind,” the prefab housing line he launched in 2010. The latest rendition of the architect’s signature can be found in a small gallery in The
Like a runaway recycling truck, green building’s momentum hasn’t been stopped by the economic recession and will keep speeding through the recovery, according to a report released just prior to the construction industry’s annual green-building conference. At the same time, experts say building owners are looking to go green more for economic reasons than environmental ones. “Green building is the silver lining creating opportunity in the down economy,” says Harvey M. Bernstein, vice president of McGraw-Hill Construction (ENR is a unit of McGraw-Hill Construction). “And with this growth comes increasing attention on the value and performance of these buildings.” Related
“A lot of those projects should be coming up for certification soon,” Cheatham explains, adding that the economy’s shaky condition is “setting the stage for a project not obtaining certification becoming the subject of litigation.” Related Links: Greenbuild 2010: Full Coverage Passive House Program Gains Momentum in U.S. Robert Redford Teams Up With USGBC for Schools Summit USGBC, LEED Targeted by Class-Action Suit Supporting these fears is data showing that the appearance of LEED in project specifications is on the rise; furthermore, it is rising on the more high-stakes projects. The number of project manuals referencing LEED increased to 25.9%
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