In what organizers call a “makeover” of the traditional opening plenary, the U.S. Green Building Council has announced that former vice president Al Gore will deliver the keynote address at the 2009 Greenbuild convention, followed by a performance by nine-time Grammy winner Sheryl Crow.
There are no guarantees on the arduous and sometimes unpredictable road to LEED certification—or are there? Atlanta-based consulting firm Energy Ace is now offering what appears to be the first money-back guarantee on certification where the company supervises administration, fundamental commissioning, and energy modeling to meet LEED standards. Celebrations often ensue when projects achieve LEED certification, but what happens when a project falls short? Although legal action is uncommon, lawsuits are not out of the question. A recent, well-publicized case involved a developer suing his contractor when a Maryland condominium building failed to achieve LEED Silver certification. The case was
V. Mitch McEwen Correction appended August 27, 2009 V. Mitch McEwen earned an M. Arch from Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation in 2006, and scored a job at the Manhattan office of Bernard Tschumi Architects. As an architectural planner for the firm, she has worked on master plans in Singapore and Abu Dhabi, as well as a museum in Maryland. Her day job keeps her plenty busy. But several years ago, the 31-year old started conjuring up visions of her own project: a “laboratory to experiment” with the intersection of architecture and other art forms. So in
After plunging to 37.7 in June, the Architectural Billings Index rose to 43.1 in July. The inquiries score was 50.3, the fifth straight month it has climbed above 50. (A score over 50 indicates an increase, and below 50, a decrease.)
Images courtesy Diamond and Schmitt Diamond and Schmitt are designing the New Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, replacing French architect Dominique Perrault. After six years of drama and delay, the Russian government has selected a replacement architect and revised design for the New Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. On July 28, officials selected Toronto-based Diamond and Schmitt Architects for the job through an international competition. The firm, best known for Toronto’s Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, which opened in 2006, replaces French architect Dominique Perrault, who won an earlier high-profile competition for the commission in 2003. Perrault’s bold,
Images courtesy AIA From top to bottom, winners are: Providence North Portland Clinic, by Mahlum; Oregon Health and Science University, Peter O. Kohler Pavilion, by Perkins + Will with Peterson Kolberg & Associates; Cancer Research Institute, by HKS with UHS Building Solutions. Oregon seems to be leading the way in the design of sustainable, innovative, and visually compelling healthcare facilities. Selected from nearly 100 entries, two of the three winners of the 2009 National Healthcare Design Awards, presented by the AIA’s Academy of Architecture for Health, are hospitals in Portland. Announced on July 28, the AIA selected one winner in
A seller’s market, this is not. The Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Ennis House is still for sale nearly two months after it was listed for $15 million by the nonprofit organization that owns it. Despite ample publicity, the house has not elicited a single bid. Photo courtesy Wikipedia The Ennis House consists of more than 20,000 16-inch-by-16-inch concrete blocks. The house’s design was inspired by ancient Mayan temples. Related Links: Ennis House Damaged by Mudslides WMF Announces 2004 Watch List Trust Releases List of 11 Endangered Sites Wright's Palmer House Put on Market In New York, FLW Revisited FLW Landmark Gets
Well before Herzog & de Meuron expanded the Walker Art Center and Jean Nouvel dreamed up a new Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis had been home to contemporary architecture. Photo courtesy Wikipedia Orchestra Hall, built in 1974, is getting a makeover designed by Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg. Related Links: Gardiner Museum When Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer completed Orchestra Hall on the city’s Nicollet Mall in 1974, for example, the daringly stripped-down design rejected the privilege associated with traditional symphony spaces. In 2013 the building will portray a new interpretation of Modernism when an expansion overseen by Toronto-based Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg (KPMB) opens
In its master plan for the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, the U.S.- and Shanghai-based landscape architecture firm SWA Group looked to the past as well as the future—an approach that earned it a much larger commission than anticipated. Image courtesy SWA SWA Group designed a master plan that uses canals and waterways for easy transportation. The firm was hired to design a master plan for three square kilometers on the outskirts of Guangzhou, a city of 6 million in southern China. The Asian Games village will include residential units, commercial space, and sports venues, with public open space interspersed throughout.
Ask architects what their favorite toy was growing up, and LEGOs will likely rank among their top picks. And they aren’t the only ones: The Denmark-based The LEGO Group, founded in 1932, distributes toy-building products to more than 130 countries and sells approximately seven LEGO sets each second.
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