Alvaro Siza, the quietly respected Portuguese architect, is the recipient of the 2009 Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Gold Medal. The award honors a body of work amassed over a lifetime that has had an international influence. Siza will receive the award at a ceremony at RIBA’s Florence Hall in February. Photo courtesy RIBA The Royal Institute of British Architects announced on October 7 that Alvaro Siza is the recipient of the 2009 Gold Medal. “He’s a very complete and profoundly thoughtful architect, and it’s high time he got the RIBA Gold Medal,” says RIBA President Sunand Prasad. “There’s
With researchers estimating that a majority of the world’s population will live in cities by 2025, an urgent need to better understand the urban landscape has arisen. In that spirit, The New School, a Manhattan-based university, has created an environmental studies program centered on urban ecology and design. The program will launch in 2009, pending state approval. Photo courtesy The New School The New School, a Manhattan-based university, has created an environmental studies program that focuses on urban ecology and design. The program will launch in 2009, pending state approval. Two degree tracks will be offered: a bachelor of science
Foster + Partners has designed a major new waterfront development for Rimini, Italy, a mid-sized city located on the Adriatic Sea. The firm unveiled its proposal, a collaboration with developer Gruppo Gecos, in June after local officials invited ideas to improve the area.
Brilliant inventions usually result when someone asks the right question at the right time. Taja Sevelle, the founder and executive director of Urban Farming, a Detroit-based nonprofit dedicated to eradicating hunger, had just such a query for architect Robin Osler when the two met last year for the first time: If sedum and other non-edible plants thrive on green roofs and walls, why not tomatoes, peppers, and onions? If so, she reckoned, these gardens could supply free, healthy food for economically distressed neighborhoods. Images courtesy Urban Farming Food Chain In Los Angeles, walls covered in food plants are being installed
One of the world’s great architecture patrons has hired two distinguished architects—the Indian Modernist Charles Correa and Pritzker Prize winner Fumihiko Maki—to design a $200-million cultural and religious complex in Toronto.
In a white paper released last week, Michelle Kaufmann Designs, a California-based firm, laid out the case for a “sustainability” labeling system for houses that mimics the labeling system for packaged food.
In an effort to foster best practices for integrated project delivery (IPD) and design-build, the American Institute of Architects is publishing six new documents. Two are contract documents coordinated with C195-2008, or the Standard Form Single Purpose Entity (SPE) Agreement for IPD, issued earlier this year. C195 sets up a limited liability company that contracts with a team to design and construct a project. The new documents, C196-2008 and C197-2008, enable the SPE to contract with its owner- and nonowner-members. C196 makes the owner a collaborating partner and spells out the terms for funding the SPE. C197 specifies services and
Yale students have constructed a prototypical residence in New Haven, Connecticut, for a disabled female veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces and her family. Responsible for both design and construction, 64 students took the project from start to finish in just over five months as part of the Yale architecture school's Building Project, a mandatory course for first-year graduate students. This year's project was completed in collaboration with nonprofit developer Common Ground and the Connecticut Veterans Administration at a cost of $200,000'in addition to plenty of free labor and donated materials. Photos ' Susan Surface Yale architecture students have built
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