Photo courtesy AIA Christine McEntee The American Institute of Architects announced today that its executive vice president and CEO Christine McEntee is stepping down as of July 23, 2010. She is to become executive director of the American Geophysical Union, a non-profit organization of geophysicists. The group has 50,000 members from over 135 countries. An executive recruiting firm will work with a search committee to be formed by the AIA Board¹s Executive Committee to find a new chief executive. "Over the past four years, Chris McEntee significantly enhanced recognition by policy makers, the media, and others that design matters, especially
Charles Newman, an Emerging Architect, Reports Back from Quake-Ravaged Haiti Photo ''Sherry Crouch Charles Newman Upon my arrival in Port-au-Prince, I didn’t really know what to expect. I knew that this country I was arriving in had just undergone a drastic and tragic transformation. I was worried about the tragedies I would learn about, the overwhelming challenges that the Haitian people are faced with, and my own personal safety. With all of these concerns though, I was bringing with me a set of skills that were desperately needed. I had been working with Engineers Without Borders for over a year, and
On a 2003 trip to Toronto with her husband, Sharon Elfenbein of Denver picked up a copy of the Toronto Star one morning and came across an insert about an event called Doors Open Toronto. Started in 2000 by the City of Toronto, the two-day event offers lovers of architecture the opportunity to explore dozens of buildings that are either closed to the public or normally charge an entrance fee. (This year’s event will be May 29 and 30.) Newspaper guide in hand, the Elfenbeins decided to spend a day visiting some of Toronto’s architectural treasures. Photos courtesy DOD A
Only about 125 miles separate Dubai and Abu Dhabi, but the Persian Gulf emirates can seem worlds apart in terms of opportunities for architects. In Dubai, unfinished high-rises litter the horizon, as the emirate dramatically suffers the effects of the housing downturn. In January, the emirate even experienced its first foreclosure when the British-bank Barclays won a case to take back a property (details are undisclosed). More foreclosures are expected in coming weeks. Photo courtesy Wikipedia (top); Leo O Daly (above) Work is reportedly progressing in Abu Dhabi (top). 'It can feel a bit like the California Gold Rush,' says
Photo ' Andr' Souroujon Robert Ivy, FAIA Related Links: Editorials by Robert Ivy Alpha Rho Chi, a national architecture fraternity, has named Robert Ivy, FAIA, Vice President and Editorial Director of McGraw-Hill Construction Media and Editor-in-Chief of Architectural Record, a “Master Architect.” Since its founding in 1914, the organization has awarded the designation to only seven people: Nathan Ricker (the first graduate of an American architectural school), Cass Gilbert, Eliel Saarinen, John Wellborn Root, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Richard Buckminster Fuller, and I.M. Pei. Selected for his contributions to communicating the value of design both within the fraternity and
Architect Steven Holl might not have nabbed this year’s Pritzker Prize, like some predicted he would, but he is on a winning streak nonetheless. Image courtesy Steven Holl Architects Click on the slide show icon to see additional photos. Related Links: Holl’s Glasgow Commission Rankles Scots Holl Wins Half-Million Dollar Prize Linked Hybrid by Holl Linked Hybrid Named Best Tall Building Last fall, he won an international competition to design a new building at the Glasgow School of Art, alongside Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s masterpiece. More recently, he was victorious in two competitions: one commission is for a campus building in Iowa, the other
Cubellis, the Boston-based architecture firm that was written off for dead five months ago when it closed over problems with creditors, has staged a phoenix-like comeback. Related Links: One of Boston’s Largest Firms Shuttered Former principals John Larsen and Christopher Ladd, and former partner Richard Rankin, have launched a new firm, CI Design, Inc., which appears to be a spitting image of its predecessor. For one, the firm, which opened in December, just a few weeks after Cubellis was shuttered, takes its name from the initials for “Cubellis International.” It also focuses on familiar markets, with offices in three cities
A two-year-old organization dedicated to preserving and documenting Modernism on Cape Cod has achieved its first success. This month, the Cape Cod Modern House Trust (CCMHT) will welcome visitors to the Kugel/Gips House, which it restored and updated with the help of volunteers including Fox Diehl Architects. The 2,200-square-foot residence was designed by Charles Zhender, one of the most prolific Modernist architects on the Cape during the 1960s and ’70s. Photo ' Eric Youngren/courtesy CCMHT The Kugel/Gips House was designed by Charles Zhender, one of the most prolific Modernist architects on the Cape during the 1960s and '70s. Related Links:
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