Home to an expanding light-rail system, a thriving bike culture, a citywide recycling program, and a large number of LEED-certified buildings, Portland, Oregon, has long been known for its green sensibility. So it seems fitting that a government building there may soon be sheathed in a 200-foot-high living wall that would be visible from miles away. Rendering courtesy of Scott Baumberger, Baumberger Studio Related Links: Healthcare Awards: Portland Prevails Providence Portland Medical Center Portland Aerial Tram Portland Art Museum Portland International Airport The vegetated facade is part of a roughly $135 million overhaul planned for the Edith Green-Wendell Wyatt Federal
Images courtesy Reiser + Umemoto Construction is expected to begin in 2012 on Taipei Pop Music Center, a $110-million entertainment complex. If all goes as planned, Taiwanese pop will get an expansive home where musical culture meets high design. Construction is expected to begin in 2012 on Taipei Pop Music Center, a $110-million entertainment complex envisioned by Reiser + Umemoto RUR Architecture, with engineers from Arup Associates. The team’s competition-winning design for a difficult 823,000-square-foot site in Taipei places three main structures on two separate pieces of land, which will be connected by a broad new walkway built over an
Photo courtesy Ennead Architects The Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, in New York City, is one of the firm's recent projects. NAME CHANGES The firm has been renamed several times since its founding in 1963. James Stewart Polshek Architect (1963-70) James Stewart Polshek and Associates (1970-80) James Stewart Polshek and Partners (1980-94) Polshek and Partners (1994-98) Polshek Partnership (1998-2010) Related Links: New York Hall of Science Holland Performing Arts Center Univ. of Michigan Research Facility NYC Museum Undergoes $97 Million Makeover Polshek's News Museum Opens in D.C. Polshek Fuses Media and Architecture Polshek Partnership, which has been named for
Five months after a severe earthquake devastated parts of Haiti, a Senate report, released June 22, says there are troubling indications that the process of reconstructing the country has "stalled." The report, by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Democratic staff, gives a blunt analysis of the situation, saying that "Haiti is at a significant crossroads." It lists "critical issues" to be addressed in 10 key areas, including developing "a feasible, comprehensive rebuilding strategy" and getting the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission fully operational. The committee staff analysis also calls on Haitian President Rene Preval to "take a more visible and active
William Mitchell, a longtime technophile and booster of the idea that computers could aid designers, died on June 11 in Boston of complications from cancer.
Licensed U.S. architects working globally, a group that is growing, need support from the American Institute of Architects in several ways, including promoting and endorsing a strategic plan that enables U.S. architects to gain professional practice licenses in foreign jurisdictions. AIA also should endorse the International Union of Architects’ (UIA) professional advisory standards, international education standards and international accreditation/validation standards. “The AIA should be advocating practices that enable its members to diversify their geographic, civic and cultural involvements,” said Thomas Vonier, an architect based in Paris and AIA’s international director. These recommendations and others relating to working globally were issued
Image courtesy Lutron Click on the slide show icon to see additional photos. A significant contribution to modern building design and science was celebrated on April 29 in the daylit halls of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History [recently renovated by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill] in Washington, D.C. Joel Spira, inventor and developer of the solid-state electronic dimming device, as well as chairman and founder of Lutron Electronics (1961), donated a range of his company’s most innovative and historic materials to the museum’s Electricity Collection—home of Thomas Edison’s earliest light bulbs. “The tools of everyday life, like light switches,
Photo courtesy NTHP Stephanie Meeks Yesterday the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP) named a replacement for longtime president Richard Moe, who announced his pending retirement in late 2009 and left earlier this month. Scheduled to start work on July 6, Stephanie Meeks will be the eighth president of the 61-year-old organization, which was created by legislation signed by President Harry Truman. Currently Meeks is president and CEO of Counterpart International, a nonprofit organization that offers economic-stimulus aid and governance assistance to impoverished communities. Prior to assuming that role in November 2008, Meeks held various positions over 18 years at
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