Correction appended February 01, 2008 RK Stewart, FAIA, the most-recent past president of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), is leaving the San Francisco office of Gensler and moving down the street to join Perkins + Will, he confirmed in an exclusive interview with RECORD today. As an associate principal, Stewart, who starts his new job on February 7, will focus on commercial and civic projects with an emphasis on sustainable design. Perkins + Will has offices in 43 countries and 49 states. As a principal at Gensler, which has offices in five countries and 18 states, Stewart had specialized

The Empire State Building basked in the limelight after taking top honors in last year’s “America’s Favorite Architecture” poll, in which the American Institute of Architects (AIA) asked the public to pick the nation’s most beloved 150 buildings in honor of its 150th anniversary. Now, architects are taking a turn. Buoyed by the immense popularity of sesquicentennial events—the AIA’s Web site, which usually averages 7,000 hits a week, was slammed with a server-crashing 27,000 hits-per-hour after results of the top 150 poll were unveiled—they’re capitalizing on the freshly elevated profile of their profession to shape policy, in ways large and

With its climate-defying indoor ski slopes and outdoor golf courses, the United Arab Emirates might seem the least likely place to tout environmentally sensitive design. Last year, the World Wildlife Fund ranked the Emirates first among the world’s 71 most populous nations in consumption: roughly 30 acres of land and water are needed to sustain the needs of each citizen per year, compared to the average of just 4.5 acres in other nations. The U.A.E. also gets poor marks for its high levels of carbon emissions and its reliance on fossil fuels, half which are used to power, light, and

Chicago’s Wrigley Field, which for a century has brushed up against apartments, used to be the exception among major-league ballparks, which tend to sit enveloped by asphalt on a city’s fringe. Not anymore. As stadiums move downtown, developers are constructing high-rise residences that offer box-seat-worthy views of games. Image Courtesy St. Louis Cardinals Condos will overlook Busch Stadium. In 2004, Antoine Predock Architects’ PetCo Park debuted in San Diego’s East Village, a district once dominated by car-repair shops. Guided by San Diego’s economic development group, Centre City Development Corporation, the neighborhood has since welcomed 3,040 condominium units and apartments, with

The latest European architect to hop the pond for a U.S. debut is Will Alsop, a Brit who hopes to transform a long-unused power plant along the Hudson River in Yonkers, New York, into a sweeping residential complex featuring a museum, restaurant, and park. Courtesy SMC Alsop Under the plans, which Alsop unveiled to a 50-member audience at a public hearing in Yonkers last week, the hulking 80,000-square-foot power plant will lose its two smokestacks and gain a large residential tower. A third of the 400 units will be luxury condos and the rest rentals, with some reserved for low-income