Images courtesy DHS The new Coast Guard headquarters will be built in Washington, D.C., on the 176-acre site of the former St. Elizabeths Hospital. Past Coverage: Architects Get Slice of Stimulus Pie GSA Contracts Start to Surge How to Land a Government Contract Armed with $5.5 billion in federal stimulus funds, the U.S. General Services Administration has awarded contracts totaling more than $1 billion in the past two months. On August 14, it awarded its largest one yet: a $435 million design-build contract for a new U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters building in Washington, D.C. The project team includes four design
As the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act enters its eighth month on the books, the General Services Administration’s $5.5-billion ARRA-funded program to build or upgrade scores of federal buildings finally has taken off. As of July, it had awarded contracts totaling nearly $1.1 billion for projects involving about 120 buildings. At least 20 of those are already under way, according to Anthony Costa, of GSA’s Public Buildings Service department, who delivered the news during a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing on July 31. He added that the rest of the projects “will begin soon,” and says the agency plans
The “shovel-ready” focus of projects funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) has provided limited stimulus to the design community at-large. Many architects say they have yet to feel a boost. Still, firms with well-established experience in the public sector are finding opportunities, whether it be the revival of stalled projects or entirely new commissions. For some, the ARRA is keeping their practice afloat.
New York City’s legendary Four Seasons restaurant, now celebrating its 50th anniversary, has embarked on the restoration of its famed Philip Johnson-designed interior in the Seagram Building, completed in 1958. Phyllis Lambert, the architect and patron who convinced her father, Samuel Bronfman, owner of the Seagram Company, to choose Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Johnson as the architects of his new headquarters building on Park Avenue, guided the selection of Belmont Freeman, FAIA, as the new architect for the restoration of this culinary outpost.
With the academic year getting under way this month, several art and architecture schools recently announced new leadership appointments. Joel Towers (left); William Morrish (right) In New York, Parsons The New School for Design has two new leaders: Joel Towers and William Morrish. In April, Towers became the dean of the design school after Tim Marshall became The New School’s interim provost. A cofounding partner of SR+T Architects, Towers formerly served as director of Parson’s Sustainable Design and Urban Ecology program. Morrish was named dean of the School of Constructed Environments, previously led by interim dean Laura Briggs. Trained in
Correction appended September 10, 2009 A glance at the World Trade Center site from Greenwich Street tells a lot about progress there: Eight years after the Twin Towers fell, a 10-foot-tall, barbed-wire fence still surrounds the 16-acre void in the heart of Lower Manhattan. Squabbles over designs and funding have caused severe construction delays.
Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena was selected in July as the winner of the Marcus Prize for Architecture, which recognizes an emerging architect or firm.
Images courtesy KPF At the University of Minnesota, work is progressing on the new Science Teaching and Student Services Center, designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox. High above the Mississippi River as it bends around the University of Minnesota’s main campus, a sparkling new glass building, the Science Teaching and Student Services Center (STSSC), is rising. Principal designer, Bill Pedersen, FAIA, of Kohn Pedersen Fox, New York, designed the five-story building not only to capitalize on its scenic site, but also to compliment its neighbor, the Frank Gehry-designed Weisman Art Museum (1993). Both buildings stand opposite each other on plaza formed
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