One of the replacement schools was a supermarket that had been empty for 10 years. Another structural conversion reconfigured a warehouse. The team selected materials based on availability and delivery time. It took just minutes for a tornado packing 200-mph winds to level a third of Joplin, Mo.'s public schools last spring. In a remarkable turnaround, it took less than three months to bring the schools back on line in time for the new school year. On Aug. 17, classroom sessions resumed on schedule in Joplin, even as construction crews continued cleaning up from the May 22 tornado, an EF5
Image courtesy Perkins + Will Shanghai Natural History Museum, Shanghai, China, Perkins + Will When it is completed at the end of 2012, Perkins + Will’s nautilus-shell-shaped Shanghai Natural History Museum will emerge from a proposed sculpture park and provide views of the surrounding city. Perkins + Will won the international competition in 2007 to design the museum, which will replace an existing natural history museum. The architects were inspired by the classical gardens in Suzhou with their water features, rock formations, and screened walls, which they abstracted in their design. “It’s important that the museum is in the old
Image courtesy WORKac New Holland Island in St. Petersburg, Russia, designed by WORKac. Click on the slideshow button to see more images. With a plan to create a park and transform existing warehouses into spaces for art, design, education, and commerce, WORK Architecture Company (WORKac) won an international competition to redesign New Holland Island in St. Petersburg, Russia. The 19.8-acre island, which Peter the Great developed as the country's first military port in 1721, will be opened to the public for the first time in its history. WORKac beat out David Chipperfield from London, MVRDV from Rotterdam, and Studio 44
Image courtesy OPEN Architecture Garden School, Beijing, China by OPEN architecture. Click on the slideshow button to see more images. A 45,000-square-meter public middle school designed by OPEN architecture breaking ground in August in the new town of Changyang, in Beijing’s Fangshan District. The competition-winning design is the first major commission for partners Li Hu (who had been a partner at Steven Holl Architects) and Huang Wenjing (who had worked for Pei Cobb Freed & Partners). The project is part of an initiative spearheaded by Wang Shi, head of Vanke, China's largest real-estate developer, to create 10 significant buildings in
Image courtesy HMC Architects Medical Complex, Shunde District, China. Click on the slideshow button to see more images. Related Links: Building Types Study: Health Care U.S.-based HMC Architects in collaboration with the Shunde Architectural Design Institute (SDADI) has designed a 223,000-square-meter medical complex for a 13.4-hectare site in the Shunde district, outside the city of Foshan, China. HMC project architect Raymond Pan describes the complex as a “tertiary medical center,” one that will offer in- and out-patient facilities, dormitories for resident physicians and staff, and training facilities for new doctors and technicians. The nine-building complex will also be home to
Responding to thousands of comments on the first draft, USGBC made major changes to LEED 2012, especially in materials. A second draft of LEED 2012 is out, and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is accepting public comments from August 1 to September 14. The new draft and its revisions reflect hundreds of hours of USGBC staff and volunteer time. If a final version of LEED 2012 is approved by USGBC members next year, it will be released around November 2012. Among the changes to this draft is the name. In its first draft of the new suite of LEED
Craig Dykers says new structure will 'complement' existing building by Mario Botta Image courtesy SFMOMA Click on the slideshow button to see more images. Related Links: SFMOMA Selects Snøhetta for Expansion RECORD Reveals: San Francisco Since the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art opened its distinctive, Mario Botta-designed home in 1995, the size of its collection has more than doubled and the average number of annual visitors has tripled. The institution is now in the midst of raising money for a major expansion conceived by the award-winning Norwegian firm Snøhetta. The museum launched a $480 million capital campaign last year
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