Construction plans for the site of Le Corbusier¹s chapel of Notre Dame du Haut (1954) in Ronchamp, France, have ignited a vigorous debate, pitting leading architects against each other, and sparking disagreement between organizations seeking to preserve Le Corbusier¹s legacy.
An elephant house designed by Foster + Partners for the Copenhagen Zoo, in Denmark, opened this week, marking the firm’s first zoological building. “I don’t know how I can go back to designing office blocks for grumpy humans after this,” John Jennings, a lead architect on the project, told The Guardian newspaper. According to Foster’s office, the design was guided by research on the behavioral patterns of elephants. Because bull elephants tend to wander away from their herd, the designers created two sunken enclosures, both made of terra-cotta colored concrete and topped by glass domes. The fritted glass is meant
Images courtesy Rafael Viñoly Architects For the University of California, San Francisco, Rafael Viñoly Architects has designed a stem cell research facility that features terraced volumes with green roofs. The project is partly funded by taxpayers in California, where $271 million is earmarked for construction of stem cell labs throughout the state. It’s “one of the largest building programs ever dedicated to a new field of medical science,” says Robert Klein, chairman of California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. In August 2001, the Bush administration announced it was cutting off federal funding for most stem cell research. Three years later, in
Appended: June 13, 2008 Adding another mega-terminal to China’s aviation landscape, the Shenzhen Airport Authority announced it has selected Rome-based Fuksas Architects, run by Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas, to design the new Terminal 3 at Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport.
One name that will be absent from RECORD’s 2008 list of the top 150 design firms is New Jersey-based CUH2A. The 400-member firm, which specializes in science and technology (S&T) projects such as hospitals and research facilities, is merging into HDR Architecture, in Omaha, Nebraska, to form what both companies say will be the world’s most comprehensive S & T design program. HDR has 1,300 employees and is the tenth highest grossing architecture and engineering firm in the world, with reported revenues of $260 million in 2007. The merger spawned from the company’s desire to expand its portfolio without slowing
Le Corbusier’s famous Ronchamp chapel (1954) in France is the center of a fierce online debate, reports Building Design. Cesar Pelli, Richard Meier, and Rafael Moneo are among the 1,500 people who have signed an online petition to block Renzo Piano’s scheme for new visitor facilities and accommodations for nuns at the landmark site. The Fondation Le Corbusier in Paris initiated the petition. In response, Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW), and its client, L’Association Oeuvre Notre-Dame du Haut, have launched a counter-petition—and have collected nearly 250 signatures, including those of Peter Cook, David Adjaye, and Massimiliano Fuksas, according to the
On Wednesday, the MAK Center for Art and Architecture, in Los Angeles, announced that it would acquire the Fitzpatrick House, a residence designed by architect Rudolph Schindler in 1936. The property has been renamed the Fitzpatrick-Leland House in honor of its donor, current homeowner Russ Leland. Photo courtesy Julius Shulman Photograph Archive/Getty Research Institute The MAK Center for Art and Architecture, in Los Angeles, has acquired the Fitzpatrick House, designed by the architect Rudolph Schindler in 1936. Located at Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Mulholland Drive, the 2,400-square-foot, L-shaped dwelling—Schindler’s only spec house—perches on a cliff’s edge and features a series
Starchitect condos? Old news. Now real estate companies are tapping high-profile architects to design rental apartment buildings. In Lower Manhattan, Forest City Ratner Companies and Frank Gehry, FAIA—the team behind the controversial and recently downsized Atlantic Yards development in Brooklyn—are erecting what will become New York City’s tallest residential dwelling, Beekman Tower. Tenants will start taking occupancy in fall 2010, distinguishing the project as Gehry’s first completed residential tower. Image courtesy Artefactory The 76-story skyscraper is rising a few blocks from Ground Zero, and near important historic structures such as City Hall (1811), the Brooklyn Bridge (1883), and the Woolworth
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