The American Institute of Architects has released six new contract documents, five of which address integrated project delivery issues. The sixth is a first-edition “Building Information Modeling Protocol Exhibit” designed to help project organizers define their BIM development plan for integrated project delivery. It has features designed to help organizers define model management arrangements, as well as authorship, ownership and level-of-development requirements at various project phases for the many elements that must be placed into BIM as it evolves. “I believe the framework we have provided is as complete a solution as anyone can provide at this time,” says Bradley
Dujiangyan, a city of 630,000 people in central China, ranks among the most visited tourist destinations in the country. Historians cite its Qingcheng Mountains as the birthplace of Taoism, and at the base of these densely forested peaks is the famous Dujiangyan Irrigation System, a 2,250-year-old network of distributaries that still provides water to farmers. Furthermore, the local panda reserve is home to 43 of the nation’s beloved giants. Image courtesy WWCOT WWCOT Architects, a 59-year-old California firm, was selected to help rebuild Dujiangyan, the city nearest the epicenter of the 7.9-magnitude earthquake that rocked Sichuan province on May 12,
Widely respected as one of the most important architects of the Western world, the Italian-born Andrea Palladio continues to influence architects both in Europe and America today. In honor of the quincentenary of his birth in 1508, and as part of its Year of Palladio celebrations, the Institute for Classical Architecture and Classical America (ICA&CA) is hosting a symposium in New York on Friday and Saturday.
Although SHoP Architects partner Gregg Pasquarelli jokes that he’s designed something to last “as long as the pyramids,” he admits realistically that his ambitious proposal for redeveloping the South Street Seaport—which begins the municipal approvals process next week—would unlikely be the area’s final makeover. This lower Manhattan district has been revamped seemingly every few decades since it was built on a landfill during the 1700's.
Image courtesy Storefront for Art and Architecture “The beauty of a competition that calls for ideas is that they remain ideas,” says Joseph Grima of the Storefront for Art and Architecture’s White House Redux competiton and exhibition. “It’s difficult to remain faithful to ideas in reality.” It was winter in New York, and Joseph Grima was thinking about change. Along with plans to renovate the Storefront for Art and Architecture, the Vito Acconci/Steven Holl-designed sliver of a gallery Gima runs on Kenmare Street, he also announced a contest to redesign the White House. Storefront reopened on October 3, and its
After a decade of creating jutting projections for museums, Daniel Libeskind has attempted to redefine the look of another institution: the shopping mall. Called the Westside Shopping and Leisure Centre, the low-slung 1.5-million-square-foot facility in Bern, Switzerland, is the first project of its type for the New York-based architect. It opened on October 8.
The plunging financial markets this month, followed by unprecedented responses from the federal government, have left many Americans bracing for a deep recession. In the architecture profession, however, the downturn has already arrived, according to a key measure of the market for architectural services. Image courtesy AIA As of August, the Architecture Billings Index (ABI), which the American Institute of Architects compiles in part from statistics provided by firms, had dipped below 50 for seven straight months. Anything below 50 represents a billings decrease. As of August, the Architecture Billings Index (ABI), which the American Institute of Architects compiles in
RMJM’s Global Education Studio (GES) is designing master plans for two separate university campuses in Libya—making it the first American architecture office to work in the North African country since the U.S. lifted sanctions against it in 2004. While RMJM is based in the United Kingdom, its Global Education Studio is headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey. Image courtesy RMJM Global Education Studio RMJM’s Global Education Studio, based in New Jersey, is designing master plans for two university campuses in Libya—making it the first American architecture office to work in the North African country since the U.S. lifted sanctions against it