Articles by David Sokol

When Steve Glenn launched the Santa Monica­–based development firm LivingHomes in April 2006, he also initiated a tradition of engaging high-profile architects. SCI-Arc co-founder Ray Kappe, FAIA, created the company’s first line of prefabricated, sustainable modular houses, and David Hertz, AIA, has since developed a model comprising an aluminum-based panelized system. Yesterday LivingHomes unveiled its first multifamily product, designed by the progressive Philadelphia studio KieranTimberlake. Images courtesy LivingHomes KieranTimberlake has developed a prefabricated, modular system of townhouse units that link laterally, making very large-scale development possible (top). Developed by LivingHomes, each residence encompasses roughly 1,500 square feet (above). Although Glenn

Inazawa City, Japan, is the home of Mitsubishi Electric’s elevator division, and accordingly, the city skyline includes six small peaks—all towers that the company uses to test its product. Earlier this year, Mitsubishi inaugurated its seventh elevator testing tower, a 568-foot-tall structure that’s also the tallest building of its kind in the world. Photo courtesy Mitsubishi Electric Corporation Mitsubishi will use its 568-foot-tall tower to help develop higher-speed and higher-capacity elevators. According to Mitsubishi, the new precast-concrete-clad tower, called Solaé, is a direct response to a high-rise building boom. With record-breaking skyscrapers under construction in emerging markets like Dubai and

Since dissolving the avant-garde Copenhagen architecture firm PLOT in 2006, former partners Julien De Smedt and Bjarke Ingels have launched individual practices with grandiose, statement-making visions. Considering how to add new housing in the middle of already-crowded Copenhagen, for example, Ingels’s firm Bjarke Ingels Group, or BIG, decided that a local sports field could be surrounded by a giant wall containing 5,000 apartments—an unsolicited idea that the municipality now intends to realize. De Smedt, too, has thrilled potential clients. His studio, JDS, recently won a competition to redesign the Holmenkollen ski jump in Oslo. Images courtesy JDS Julien De Smedt

It’s only natural for America’s ski community to embrace the environmental movement: a rise in average global temperatures could dwindle vital snowpack. Last year at least 61 ski resorts purchased wind and solar energy credits. Similarly, Jiminy Peak, in Massachusetts, became the first ski resort in the country to produce its own alternative energy, installing a 1.5-megawatt wind turbine that supplies one-third of its electricity. Images ' dbox An overview of the new Base Village in Snowmass Village, Colorado (top). The Little Nell Residences at the Base Village (above). Eco momentum has continued to build during the 2007–2008 ski season.

Although the Cooper-Hewitt exhibition “Provoking Magic: Lighting of Ingo Maurer” represents less than one-third of the German designer’s oeuvre, the show’s 53 pieces reveal the staggering breadth of Maurer’s imagination.

Predock's Flexible Arts Center Suits College's Boundary-Breaking Style A biologist, musician, and a playwright enter a classroom: this isn’t the setup for a joke, but rather the essential pedagogy of Colorado College. This small liberal arts school, located in Colorado Springs, operates on a so-called block plan, in which students enroll in just one course every three-and-a-half weeks. The classes are interdisciplinary and intense, taught by a tag team of three or four professors from different departments and culminating in a final project that weaves all their subjects together. Images courtesy Colorado College Antoine Predock’s new Cornerstone Arts Center at

Saucier+Perrotte Experience Rocky Mountain High Saucier+Perrotte Architectes, in collaboration with Marc Boutin Architects, have designed the National Mountain Centre, a Rocky Mountain museum and visitor’s center to be constructed in Canmore, Alberta. Program elements within the five-story, 55,000-square-foot space will be layered—a touch inspired by geological stratification, says partner Gilles Saucier. Images courtesy Saucier+Perrotte Architectes Saucier+Perrotte Architectes, in collaboration with Marc Boutin Architects, have designed the National Mountain Centre (top). Program elements within the five-story, 55,000-square-foot space will be layered—a touch inspired by geological stratification (middle). A 98-foot-tall central, seismic column doubles as a rock-climbing wall, which will be North

Fuksas Serves Up Gourmet School Design Hotel and restaurant trainees in Montpellier, France, are due to get a crash course in chic design appreciation. Italian architect Massimiliano Fuksas has designed the new Marianne hotel, catering, and tourism trade school. Images courtesy M Fuksas ARCH Massimiliano Fuksas has designed the new Marianne hotel, catering, and tourism trade school in Montpellier, France (top). Partially exposed structural framework will create a diamond pattern on the curved exterior surfaces, while the building’s skin is made of triangular aluminum panels punctuated by triangular aluminum window frames with double glazing (middle). The school includes five buildings