The American Institute of Architects has announced the winners of the 2009 Honor Awards for Architecture. The nine honorees represent a range of buildings with widely varying budgets, scales, and contexts. According to an AIA press release, “these projects have a tremendous impact on the social and physical fabric of the communities they serve.”
Harvard ended 2008 a little less rich. The world's wealthiest university announced in December that its endowment had shrunk from $36.9 billion to $28.8 billion during the second half of the year. In light of that asset plunge and the general economic malaise, the school is reconsidering the scope and timing of its ambitious expansion plans. Even the 1-million-square-foot, $1 billion science complex designed by Behnisch Architekten, already under construction and originally slated for completion in 2011, is under the microscope, according to spokesman Joshua Poupore. Image courtesy Princeton University At Princeton University, completion dates for several projects, including elements
Amid the wreckage of China’s massive earthquake last May, the sight of collapsed school buildings served as a powerful symbol of the depth of the tragedy. As architects and engineers ponder how to improve rural building safety, a new program is bringing together local people, young architects, and experienced designers to build a set of new schools that offer more than just safe construction. Image courtesy ZL Architecture The Dangpu school features an outdoor assembly area. Related Links: U.S. Firm Helps China Rebuild After Deadly Quake “This is a big historical opportunity to reconsider many things, like what is the
In recent months, the global financial crisis has hit the city of Dubai, where real estate prices are sinking and development companies are laying off staff. Despite the slowdown, however, construction is progressing on Dubai Metro, an extensive new light rail system intended to ease traffic problems, according to Adnan Al Hammadi, director of rail project construction for the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA). Partial service is scheduled to begin in September 2009.
Correction appended January 8, 2008 Jean Nouvel’s Los Angeles debut has been delayed. Construction of 10000 Santa Monica Boulevard, a 45-story condominium tower designed by the French architect and 2008 Pritzker Prize winner, has been put on hold due to financing problems. Images courtesy SunCal Country Construction of the Jean Nouvel-designed 10000 Santa Monica Boulevard (pictured at left in top photo) has been put on hold due to financing problems. Lehman Brothers, which declared bankruptcy in September, was underwriting the $400 million project. The project’s developer, SunCal Century City LLC, has since filed for bankruptcy itself. “No work is taking
Among the finalists in an open competition to create a master plan for a judicial campus in Madrid, one proposal stood out for its requirement that all of the buildings have cylindrical volumes. That scheme, designed by Javier Frechilla and José Manuel López-Peláez, of Madrid, was selected as the winner in 2005. Three years later, construction has begun on the macro-project, the largest of its kind in Europe.
For a 43,055-square-foot tourist entertainment center under construction in the famed Changbaishan mountain region in China, architect Xu Tiantian’s was at first less concerned about the buildings than where they sit—a patch of primeval woodland with a gorgeous mountain backdrop. “The beauty there is so overwhelming,” says the principal of Xu’s Beijing-based DnA_Design and Architecture. “So we decided that maybe the most convincing way to design this building was to have a dialog with nature.” Image courtesy DnA_Design and Architecture An 82-foot-high 'Info Tree' brings visitors to different platforms offering panoramic views of the mountains and forest. Instead of a
In moves that will surprise no one who has followed the barrage of grim economic news, architecture firms across the country are laying off workers at unprecedented levels. Over the past few months, Perkins Eastman, one of the country’s largest firms, has let go 10 percent of its staff, or about 80 of 800 employees, according to Bradford Perkins, FAIA, firm chairman. “It’s very unfortunate when this happens,” says Perkins, adding that the cuts are the deepest in the firm’s 24-year history. Meanwhile, FXFOWLE cut six percent of its staff in October, leaving 185 in New York and 15 in
The Council on Tall Buildings and the Urban Habitat has named the Shanghai World Financial Center the “Best Tall Building Overall” for 2008. Designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) and completed last year, the building was chosen from among four “Regional Tall Building” winners, including The New York Times Building by Renzo Piano Building Workshop with FXFOWLE, London’s 51 Lime Street by Foster and Partners, and the Bahrain World Trade Center by Atkins. Photo courtesy Kohn Pederson Fox The Council on Tall Buildings and the Urban Habitat has named the Shanghai World Financial Center (pictured at left) the 'Best Tall
J'rn Utzon, designer of the Sydney Opera House, died November 28 at age 90. Jørn Utzon died November 28 at age 90, after a long illness. He never saw his masterpiece, the Sydney Opera House, completed. Though it is among the 20th-century’s most widely admired and audacious works, it is the architect’s great failure. It jump-started a promising career and stunted what should have been a glorious maturity. Utzon married a great intuitive aesthetic to an almost heroic faith in the ability of technology to realize human aspiration. The son of a naval architect, Utzon was born in Copenhagen in
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