In the wake of several failures to preserve well known Brutalist buildings around the nation, preservationists in Baltimore are readying themselves for an August 14th hearing that will decide the fate of this city’s own cast-concrete progeny. The Morris Mechanic Theater, designed by John Johansen, will come before a public hearing at the Baltimore Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (BHAP) for the recommendation of Baltimore City Landmark status; the meeting will also set a six-month delay on new construction permits at the building’s site. Photos: Courtesy Michael V. Murphy Architect John Johansen’s 1967-vintage Morris Mechanic Theater, in Baltimore, is
Six million Americans are already affected with age-related macular degeneration, the primary cause of vision loss in the U.S, and as many as 15 million more are pre-symptomatic. Low vision, coupled with Baby Boomers’ propensity toward independent living, suggests a different set of easy design solutions from complete blindness.
The Cranbrook Art Academy has appointed Reed Kroloff, the current dean of Tulane University’s architecture school, as its director. Kroloff will assume his new post at the school in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, on July 1. He was selected after a seven-month-long search and review of 150 candidates nationwide. Kroloff’s time at Tulane, which began in the fall of 2004, was marked by tumult. After shepherding the school through its dislocation and resettlement during the wake of Hurricane Katrina, he played an integral role in helping it to retain nearly all students and faculty after the storm. In addition, the school’s
Michael A. Fitts, FAIA Photo: Courtesy the State of Tennessee Michael A. Fitts, FAIA, didn’t think he would receive the Thomas Jefferson Award for Public Architecture when he helped launch the prize in 1991. Back then, the American Institute of Architects’ Committee on Public Architecture had a threefold objective: to recognize advocacy and achievement in public architecture; to raise the stature of public architects; and to promote architecture in the mainstream and in the profession. But fittingly, after 36 years pursuing exactly these goals as the state architect of Tennessee, Fitts is being lauded with one of two
Photo: courtesy KPF Colleagues of Kohn Pedersen Fox managing partner Gregory Clement III, FAIA, were hit hard when they learned of his death on April 11. “Toward the last year he was traveling a lot,” says senior associate principal Nick Dunn, AIA, “so not to see him for a while wasn’t out of the ordinary.” But in addition to snagging new business or navigating a bureaucratic minefield, Clement, a naturally charismatic 56-year-old, was fighting a two-year battle against melanoma. Clement joined KPF from I.M. Pei & Partners in 1984, and Dunn recalls that the two immediately clicked as a
Less than two months after issuing a request for qualifications, as ArchRecord.com reported on March 19, the Barnes Foundation today revealed its shortlist of architects for a new museum and educational facility on Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia.
The complexion of America’s architects has been a subject of introspection and discussion since at least 1968, when Whitney Young, Jr., president of the National Urban League, chastised attendees at the AIA’s national convention for the scarcity of African-American and women practitioners.