Correction appended March 25, 2008 When Tulane University architecture students were first presented last fall with the dimensions of the tiny lot in New Orleans’s Ninth Ward that their URBANbuild prototype house would occupy, they knew the scheme for their design/build project would have to be tight. But the test of their ingenuity was kicked up a notch when it turned out that the lot was five feet smaller than it was supposed to be. Still, the fourth-year students managed to configure a three-bedroom, two-bath house on a lot less than 30-by-57 feet in size. Icing on the cake was

Correction appended March 25, 2008 Construction on Forest City Ratner’s $4 billion Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn could be “put off for years” and Frank Gehry’s design could be scaled back, according to two articles published by The New York Times on March 21. In one article, the developer’s president and CEO, Bruce Ratner, told the paper that the nation’s slowing economy and credit crisis “may hold up the office building”—which is the 8-million-square-foot project’s signature component and was due to be completed in July 2009—and that “the bond market may slow the pace of the residential buildings,” which were

As economists track mounting evidence of a recession in the U.S., data released yesterday reveal that a key measure of the market for architectural services, the Architectural Billings Index (ABI), a survey of firms’ billings compiled by the American Institute of Architects (AIA), fell steeply during the month of February—the second tumble in as many months and the largest consecutive decrease in the ABI’s 13-year history. From its score of 55 in December 2007, the ABI dropped 4.3 points in January, ending the month at 50.7. This was followed in February by an 8.9-point plunge, for a score of 41.8.

An energy plant that’s a showcase for sustainable and excellent design—that’s the agenda for a new project by Steven Holl Architects in Toronto. The city’s waterfront redevelopment agency announced last week that it hired Holl’s firm for the new District Energy Centre, an approximately 37,700-square-foot facility that will power a new neighborhood on the city’s lakefront. Image courtesy Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates Toronto planners looked to the Whitney Water Purification Facility and Park, in New Haven, Connecticut, for a model of how urban infrastructure can integrate successfully with a natural setting. Related Links: Van Valkenburgh to Remake 2,400 AcresLandscape/Architecture Firms

When Steve Glenn launched the Santa Monica­–based development firm LivingHomes in April 2006, he also initiated a tradition of engaging high-profile architects. SCI-Arc co-founder Ray Kappe, FAIA, created the company’s first line of prefabricated, sustainable modular houses, and David Hertz, AIA, has since developed a model comprising an aluminum-based panelized system. Yesterday LivingHomes unveiled its first multifamily product, designed by the progressive Philadelphia studio KieranTimberlake. Images courtesy LivingHomes KieranTimberlake has developed a prefabricated, modular system of townhouse units that link laterally, making very large-scale development possible (top). Developed by LivingHomes, each residence encompasses roughly 1,500 square feet (above). Although Glenn

Michael Graves, FAIA, has channeled many avatars during his career, from one of the academically minded New York Five in the 1970s, to a populist product designer for the retailer Target. After a bacterial infection paralyzed him from the waist down in 2003, the now wheelchair-bound architect works to be a champion of universal design, a movement that advocates creating spaces and products that any person, regardless of physical ability, can use. The American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS) recently appointed Graves as the honorary chair of its “Beyond Architecture” campaign, which seeks to establish a $2 million endowment to

Whether the content of an exhibition is as ethereal as digital sound pieces or as concretely grounded as full-scale model houses, whether it draws on art, architecture, written documents, household objects, anthropological artifacts, or any other collection of information, the perennial conundrum is how to render the immaterial spatial—how to give the show’s concept impact and three-dimensional meaning for visitors moving through it. As artist Marcel Duchamp made abundantly clear when he signed a urinal for display in an art exhibition, the immediate surroundings can influence the perception, if not the experience, of the work presented. After all, even the

KMD's Government Building Alights Like a Bird Seongnam, a satellite city southeast of Seoul, South Korea, recently broke ground on a city hall that it hopes will symbolize the young community’s aspirations at a pivotal point in its growth. Chief among this building’s concerns is to sit lightly in its environment. Images courtesy KMD Architects Seongnam’s new city hall occupies a site in 250 acres of parkland at the center of town (top). KMD Architects attempted to convey lightness with its design by lofting the building on piers (above). Throughout the interior, garden atria will brighten and ventilate workspaces (right).