Newly inaugurated President Barack Obama’s pledge of large-scale investment in U.S. infrastructure and Los Angeles County’s passage last November of Measure R—a tax measure that promises to provide up to $40 billion for transit-related projects over the next 30 years—have prompted an open ideas competition sponsored by the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) and The Architect’s Newspaper. The competition brief invites architects, engineers, urban planners, and students to propose projects that “rethink the relationship between transit systems, public space, and urban redevelopment.” Entrants are asked to work within the parameters of the L.A. legislation, focusing on “specific rail extension
The largest business school in the European Union, the 20,000-student Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, has increased its head count by two a half times since 1981. Yet it has accommodated this explosive growth hastily, scattering four academic campuses throughout its home city. Image courtesy Zaha Hadid Architects Zaha Hadid Architects won a competition to design a new Library and Learning Center for the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration. In October 2007 school and government officials announced the university would consolidate into a 22.7-acre site just south of the city’s fairgrounds. And this past November a
Although Chicago-based Krueck + Sexton is well known for projects like Millennium Park’s Crown Fountain or the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies on Michigan Avenue, the 18-year-old architecture firm is designing its first speculative office project just now. Image courtesy Krueck + Sexton Developer Tishman Speyer commissioned Krueck + Sexton to design two 12-story, glass-clad office buildings in Washington, D.C. Related Links: Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies Developer Tishman Speyer commissioned Krueck + Sexton to design two 12-story, glass-clad office buildings in Washington, D.C.’s emerging North of Massachusetts Avenue neighborhood, or NoMa. Currently one tower is under construction and will
Driven by a need for speedy delivery and an overarching demand for energy-efficient buildings, federal facilities appear primed for a significant facelift in the near future, if proposed stimulus funds come through. Within the stimulus package proposed last week by House Democrats, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) and Department of Defense-related facilities would be among the bill’s biggest beneficiaries. The current package calls for $7.7 billion for the GSA, including $6 billion for buildings with an emphasis on energy efficiency upgrades and $1 billion for border stations. Meanwhile, more than $10 billion could flow toward defense-related work, including medical
When the last monograph surveying Daniel Libeskind’s work was published—some eight years ago—the New York architect was riding a wave of praise for his Jewish Museum in Berlin.
Los Angeles–based practice Gehry Partners is expanding into larger headquarters at a time when most companies are scaling back. The 160-person firm, which declined to comment on rumored layoffs, is vacating its five-year-old, 44,000-square-foot home at 12541 Beatrice Street for new digs in El Segundo. Gehry has signed a 10-year lease to occupy an existing 70,000-square-foot industrial complex between Utah and Alaska avenues, near Aviation Boulevard. Image courtesy Gehry Partners Los Angeles'based Gehry Partners is expanding into larger headquarters. The 160-person firm is vacating its five-year-old home for new digs in El Segundo. The 3.53-acre campus consists of two 1950s
With work drying up and layoffs sweeping the architecture profession, now may be an ideal time to pursue long-delayed personal projects. To help architects and designers take stock of available funding, the Architectural League of New York recently hosted a public forum where arts and cultural organizations presented various grant and fellowship opportunities to a standing-room-only crowd. Below is a summary of the programs that were discussed. The New York State Council on the Arts [nysca.org] offers grants of up to $10,000 to architects, landscape architects, planners, designers, preservationists and academics for a wide variety of projects that “advance the
The $825-billion economic stimulus proposal that House Democrats unveiled yesterday provides the first solid numbers for those in the design and construction industry who have been searching anxiously for hints about the plan. Infrastructure advocates panned the proposal as far short of what is needed. But with House committee and floor votes and Senate action still to come, the package is far from the last word on the stimulus. As drafted, the plan calls for roughly $550 billion in spending and $275 billion in tax cuts over two years. The plan would have a major impact on construction: By Engineering
Denver architect Peter H. Dominick, Jr., FAIA, will be remembered for his larger than life personality and his impact on redevelopment of the city’s urban core. But his legacy also includes three high-profile hotels designed for the Walt Disney Company: Wilderness Lodge and Animal Kingdom Lodge in Orlando, Florida, and the Grand Californian Hotel in Anaheim, California. Dominick, 67, died from a heart attack January 1 while cross-country skiing near Aspen, Colorado, where he was vacationing with his family.
Most canals are built for the purpose of transportation or irrigation. Not so in Dubai, where, despite the economic crisis, work is reportedly under way on The Arabian Canal, a 46-mile-long waterway that will wrap around an inland development, essentially transforming a swath of desert into desirable waterfront property.
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