While the country’s economic future is looking a bit brighter, architects are still enduring the pains of a prolonged recession. The overall economy may be experiencing the stirrings of a recovery, but the design industry is still reeling from the effects of a punishing and enduring downturn. Layoffs and closures continue to wrack the profession, while firms scramble for work and struggle to get paid for buildings already designed, according to a sampling of architects around the country. Although there have been signs of stabilization in the past few months, including a slight uptick in the summer’s billing numbers, even
Image courtesy NYC Dept. of Housing, Preservation & Development In Queens, an industrial area is being transformed into the Hunters Point mixed-use district. Steven Holl has been commissioned to design a new library for the neighborhood. Photo courtesy Steven Holl Architects Foster to Renovate NYC Library Holl Prevails in Global Competitions Holl’s Glasgow Commission Rankles Scots Linked Hybrid by Holl Herning Museum by Holl Public libraries across the country are cutting employees and closing facilities, but the one that serves the borough of Queens, New York, is taking an opposite tack: It’s planning to open one of its largest branches
The project’s second phase, which starts in 2013, will focus on the slope-roofed General Assembly building (1952). The architecture firm Einhorn Yaffee Prescott will oversee the renovation. As diplomats from around the world gather this week at the United Nations headquarters in New York City for the annual General Assembly meeting, they are encountering a rare sight: scaffolding hung from buildings’ exteriors. After years of intense preparation, the 17-acre U.N. campus is undergoing its first major renovation since it was erected along the East River shortly after World War Two. The sweeping renovation won’t come cheap, at $1.87 billion, with
On September 19 and 20, an encampment of 12 temporary shelters erected for the Jewish harvest festival Sukkot will be on view in Manhattan’s Union Square. Image courtesy Sukkah City “Sukkah City” Winners Volkan Alkanoglu Henry Grosman and Babak Bryan Matthias Karch Matter Practice Kyle May and Scott Abrahams Ronald Rael,Virginia San Fratello Peter Sagar SO-IL Dale Suttle, So Sugita, Ginna Nguyen tinder, tinker THEVERYMANY / Marc Fornes with Jared Laucks The structures are the result of a juried design competition, organized by Reboot and Union Square Partnership, that sought contemporary interpretations of the sukkah—a hut that evokes the provisional
This year’s Showtime House is located in the Enrique Norten-designed Cassa Hotel and Residences in Midtown Manhattan. Click on the slide show icon to see images. Showtime Networks has unveiled its third annual show house in Manhattan, just in time for the launch of the fall television season. This year’s house, located in the top three floors of a new Enrique Norten-designed tower, features the work of 15 design studios. Each team was charged with creating a room that takes its cue from a Showtime program, including the comedy-dramas Dexter (about a good-guy serial killer) and Weeds (about a drug-dealing
Weeks after announcing plans to purchase ECO:LOGIC Engineering and Anshen + Allen, the Canadian mega-firm Stantec reported today that it has signed of letter of intent to buy Pennsylvania-based Burt Hill Architects. The acquisitions would mark the seventh, eighth, and ninth for Stantec this year. “We have the largest architecture firm in Canada, and we wanted to build something similar in the U.S.,” says Jay Averill, company spokesman. Burt Hill has more than 600 employees in 13 offices, including three offices overseas. As of now, all of Burt Hill’s locations will remain open, says Averill. With $88 million in revenue,
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