It appears that Frank Gehry, FAIA, is finding fertile ground in New Orleans. In addition to designing a duplex for Brad Pitt’s “Make It Right” project, Gehry has teamed with urban planner and artist, Robert Tannen, to create a modular shotgun house that they say will be affordable, sustainable, and compatible with the city’s historic housing types.
Fueled by programs begun in the Great Depression, sprawl has been the dominant mode of residential development in the U.S. for decades. But the current recession and credit freeze, coupled with high-energy prices, have prompted a reassessment. “We're seeing a pretty remarkable historical moment,” says Dolores Hayden, professor of architecture and urbanism at Yale University. "When the economy is declining, it's a tremendous opportunity to rethink this system.” Image courtesy U.S. Census Bureau (top); Photo courtesy Wikipedia (above). New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago continue to be the largest cities in the U.S., according to a report released July 1
The British architect Richard Rogers recently made headlines when he lambasted Prince Charles for interfering with the democratic planning process. Specifically, Lord Rogers was displeased with the prince's involvement in scuttling one of the 75-year-old architect's major commissions, Chelsea Barracks, which called for the construction of a dozen-plus glass-and-steel buildings in west London.
Designed by Japanese firm SANAA with structural engineering by Japan-based SAPS and UK-based ARUP, this year’s structure promises to be a departure from years past, if only because SANAA, according to the partners Ryue Nishizawa and Kazuyo Sejima, “started out trying not to make ‘architecture.’”
Two homeless shelters, an affordable housing complex, and a neighborhood renewal scheme are the recipients of the 2009 AIA/HUD Secretary Awards. Announced in May, the winners were selected by the AIA’s Housing and Custom Residential Knowledge Community in conjunction with the Office of the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Awards, listed below, were bestowed in three categories: community-informed design, creating community connection, and excellence in affordable housing design. Photo courtesy MVE & Partners Irvington Terrace, by MVE & Partners, is a 100-unit, low-income complex in Fremont, California. Community-Informed Design Homeless Assistance Center Dallas, Texas CamargoCopeland
Today, the AIA Chicago Foundation announced that David Woodhouse Architects (DWA), a Chicago-based firm known for its elegant design of public spaces, has won a competition to create a memorial for Daniel Burnham. Image courtesy David Woodhouse Architects (top); James Steinkamp, Steinkamp Photography (bottom) David Woodhouse Architects was named the winner of a competition to design a Daniel Burnham memorial in Chicago. The project is part of the Burnham Plan Centennial Celebration honoring the legacy of Burnham and his 1909 Plan of Chicago, the first comprehensive planning document guiding the growth of an American city. While the memorial still needs
For three sports venue designed for the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, there was one major goal: staying power. The 8,000-seat Richmond Olympic Oval, by Cannon Design, is the largest of the trio, at 512,000 square feet. Completed last fall, it contains a 400-meter speeding skating track, along with VIP lounges and an anti-doping lab.
Photo courtesy Robert P. Madison In 1954, Robert P. Madison, FAIA, opened Ohio’s first firm owned by a black architect. Ed Feiner, FAIA, former chief architect of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), has joined the Washington, D.C., office of Perkins+Will as principal. Feiner founded the GSA’s Design Excellence Program and was instrumental in developing the agency’s green-building standards. Robert P. Madison, FAIA, who in 1954 opened Ohio’s first practice owned by a black architect, was chosen to deliver the commencement address at the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Madison, a World
Bernard Zimmerman, FAIA, wore many hats in the Southern California architectural community. He was an architect, planner, educator, preservationist, mentor, and curator. But friends and colleagues say he will be best remembered as the conscience of his profession, a passionate advocate for architecture and design who wasn’t shy about voicing opinions about what he loved and what he loathed. Zimmerman died June 4 at his Los Angeles home after a long illness. He was 79.