Just days after the July 1 opening of Citygarden in St. Louis, landscape architect Warren Byrd observed people using the sculpture park in ways he hadn’t quite imagined. A father and daughter waded in an 18-inch-deep reflecting pool while other visitors, unencumbered by do-not-touch regulations, interacted with some of the 24 sculptures by artists such as Jim Dine and Martin Puryear. “There’s a real hunger,” Byrd says, “for these amenities in this context.”
Thom Mayne brought his L.A. road show to Dallas with the recent unveiling of the Perot Museum of Nature & Science. Named for billionaire businessman and former presidential candidate Ross Perot and his family, the $185 million building replaces a smaller Art Deco structure in Dallas’ historic Fair Park, two miles from downtown.
The first two sections of Santiago Calatrava’s Trinity River Bridge arrived in Dallas on August 20. Ordinarily this would have been cause for celebration, a sign that the project was on track and under control. But in this case it may be just one more round in a 10-year dog fight involving the city, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Federal Highway Administration over where or whether the vehicular bridge can be built.
Today in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, 20 people aimed cameras at a three-story row house, snapped photos, and cheered. Part of the reason for their excitement may have been that the building was once the home of Jane Jacobs, the writer and activist. More likely, though, is that the picture-taking session marked the official end of the lengthy research phase for the fifth edition of the AIA Guide to New York City, the wryly written block-by-block directory of landmarks that’s become an essential reference for architects, planners, and developers, as well as residents. About half of the new book, which is
Revisiting efforts to funnel federal funds into school construction, the House has approved a measure that would authorize more than $6.5 billion for K-12 public school and community-college projects. The provision is part of a bill, which the House passed on Sept. 17, that would expand the federal loan program for college students and curtail private lending. The measure would authorize $2.02 billion annually for fiscal 2010 and 2011 for modernization, renovation or repair of K-12 public schools. Another $2.5 billion would be available for new construction or modernization of community colleges, starting in fiscal 2011. Groups like the American
For years, designers have used old shipping containers to construct new single- and multi-family housing. Now, perhaps as a sign of our cost-conscious and eco-minded times, unrelated architects on opposite coasts are expanding this concept to another building type: commercial offices.
Whether they’re for septuagenarians who can get around on their own or older people struggling with bed-confining illnesses, senior-living communities have surged in number in the past two decades, as the country’s retirement-age population has swelled. Indeed, those aged 65 and older now represent 12.4 percent of the population, according to census figures, which is three times what it was at the turn of the last century. By 2050 that number will spike to 20.2 percent, the data show, and the supply of senior-living communities should continue to grow to match an increased demand, says Nancy Thompson, a spokeswoman for the American
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