Can an iconic new building by a world-renowned architect boost the global profile of an already well-regarded higher education institution? Officials at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University hope so. Last week they unveiled the competition-winning design by London-based Zaha Hadid for an interdisciplinary hub that will be home to its school of design, which BusinessWeek ranked among the top 60 worldwide in 2006. She beat out SANAA, of Japan, and Sauerbruch Hutton Architects, of Germany, to win the commission. Images: Courtesy Zaha Hadid Architects The shape of Hadid’s new tower for the Hong Kong Polytechnic University is reminiscent of a
The Architectural Billings Index rebounded in October, after two straight months of steep losses, gaining 1.1 points for a score of 53.2. The American Institute of Architects, which compiles the index based on surveys sent to 300 mainly commercial architects, says that this indicates fallout from the credit crunch has not worsened. Although the index of new business inquiries slipped 4.2 points to 58.1, its lowest level in 16 months, any score above 50 indicates growth.
“A bird’s nest for a greedy pterodactyl” is how French architect Rudy Ricciotti describes a bamboo building he has designed in Paris. The $41 million project, dubbed T8 after its plot number, will provide offices, shops, and some 40 apartments overlooking an irregular-shaped courtyard pool. Built on a concrete platform astride a railway line, the seven-story, 47,684-square-foot building will occupy a two-acre rectangular site in the up-and-coming Tolbiac Chevaleret quarter, opposite the French National Library. Images: Courtesy Rudy Ricciotti Rudy Ricciotti surrounded the exterior of the T8 apartment building in Paris with a screen of bamboo, resembling a bird’s nest.
Rem Koolhaas’s Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) is designing a condominium tower in Manhattan for developer Slazer Enterprises above a Creative Artists Agency screening room at Madison Square Park.
Progressive Architecture, Interiors, World Architecture, Architecture, Nest: Publishing is a fickle business, and the death knell has clanged particularly loudly for magazines devoted to architecture and design. That point resonated last month, when Condé Nast publications president and CEO Charles H. Townsend announced that the December 2007 issue of House & Garden would be its last, citing, “We no longer believe it is a viable business investment for the company.” House & Garden had been shuttered once before, in 1993, corresponding with Condé Nast’s purchase of Architectural Digest. The parent company re-launched House & Garden three years later under editor-in-chief
A civil judge in Bilbao, Spain, has ruled against Santiago Calatrava in his suit challenging Arata Isozaki’s addition to his 1997 footbridge over the Nervión River. The addition was built without Calatrava’s knowledge and opened last February.
A Hollywood brat ordering a new chateau? Not quite. This is how Pitt is helping rebuild a flood-ravaged New Orleans neighborhood with his “Make It Right” project, which last week unveiled 13 design models for replacing 150 houses in the Lower Ninth Ward destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
Editor’s note: You may read the news digest below or listen to it, plus other news headlines from ArchitecturalRecord.com, as a podcast by clicking this link. Click the play button to begin | Click here to download Gluckman Mayner Architects’ conceptual scheme for a Contemporary Art Museum of the Presidio was unveiled this week by Donald Fisher, the project’s backer and founder of the Gap retail chain. Fisher is seeking to build a 100,000-square-foot building to house his art collection in San Francisco’s Presidio, a former military base turned National Park. As the San Francisco Chronicle reported on December 4,
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