Russell Fortmeyer

Tall Buildings

July 16, 2007

Topped/Tapped Out These unresolved issues still linger in the rush to develop a new urban world, where the United Nations estimated in June that more than half the world’s population now lives in cities. Given the recent building boom, critics and theorists have written relatively little on the skyscraper, especially outside of the contexts of the WTC and such places as Dubai or Guangzhou. No wonder Koolhaas’s Delirious New York, which turns 30 years old next year, still reigns as provocative reading in architecture schools. Even Koolhaas builds more than he writes today—and some of his more recent proposals for

Tall Buildings

Russell Fortmeyer

July 16, 2007

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The skyscraper has had more comebacks than Cher. From its humble, naive beginnings in Chicago after the fire of 1871; its idealistic representation in early European Modernism; its apex as the glam symbol of American corporate eminence; its bimbo phase in Postmodernism; its more recent dalliance with high-tech engineering; and culminating with its supposed demise on September 11, 2001, the skyscraper is one helluva contender.

SOM, Foster, and KPF to Remake Penn Station

Russell Fortmeyer

July 16, 2007

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Skidmore Owings & Merrill (SOM), Foster + Partners, and Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) have been retained as architects for a multi-billion-dollar-project to redevelop New York City’s Pennsylvania Station district, parties close to the deal confirmed on Friday. Image ' William Low A view of the original Pennsylvania Station, from author/illustrator William Low's 2007 book Old Penn Station. Click here to read an article about the book Old Penn Station. Bud Perrone, a spokesperson for the project’s developers, a joint venture of the Related Companies and Vornado Realty Trust, acknowledged that the three architecture firms are involved. Another source involved in

Griffith Observatory

Pfeiffer Partners and Levin & Associates Architects' restoration and expansion of L.A.'s beloved landmark lures stars back to Hollywood.

Russell Fortmeyer

June 1, 2007

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Like Los Angeles, the Griffith Observatory, a 1935 Art Deco masterpiece conceived by Russell Porter and designed by the firm Austin and Ashley, exists in several domains, illusory and real. Whether glimpsed in the movies—1955’s "Rebel Without a Cause" or 1984’s "The Terminator"—or as a twilight destination in the Hollywood Hills, the Griffith’s iconic three-domed structure, what longtime observatory director Edwin Krupp calls the “hood ornament of Los Angeles,” also provides that rare Los Angeles accident: true public space.

Chesapeake Boathouse

Rand Elliott adds a delicate shell to the banks of a reinvented river for the new Chesapeake boathouse in a renewed downtown Oklahoma City

Russell Fortmeyer

May 19, 2007

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Rand Elliott, FAIA, drives his white Porsche 911 around Oklahoma City, showing you his major projects, shifting gears, and sweeping through the sprawling landscape so quickly, authoritatively, you begin to understand how important the new Chesapeake Boathouse is to the career of this consummate Oklahoma architect.

Brown House

Randy Brown draws a line in the sand for Nebraska architecture with his family's Brown House, a labor of love in Omaha

Russell Fortmeyer

April 19, 2007

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Randy Brown, FAIA, treats Nebraska architecture the same way Conor Oberst treats its music.

A new Web site simplifies finding green architects, builders

Russell Fortmeyer

March 19, 2007

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As sustainable design concepts increasingly infiltrate the lucrative residential design and construction market, homeowners looking for reliable information on local architects and contractors with knowledge of the field can encounter a frustrating process. That situation is the impetus behind the new Web site, www.greenbuildingblocks.com, which had a soft launch at GreenBuild 2006, held in Denver in November. Now in beta form, the website hosts a growing number of professionals on pages that provide firm information and project portfolios. The site also functions as a network for local designers and contractors to connect. Need a sustainably minded mechanical contractor in Stillwell,

SmartGeometry conference marries form with function (digitally, that is)

Russell Fortmeyer

March 19, 2007

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The holy grail of integrated design still lies just out of reach. The idea of an all-in-one software package that would optimize such seemingly disparate elements as a building’s structure, energy performance, and form has yet to advance beyond the conceptual phase. The four directors of the group SmartGeometry (www.smartgeometry.org), a nonprofit educational charity interested in digital modeling, would like to change that. Started four years ago in London by a group of friends—Robert Aish, Lars Hesselgren, Hugh Whitehead, and J. Parrish—SmartGeometry organized a conference and workshop this January in New York City (the day-long conference, which followed a five-day

A New Website Simplifies Finding Green Architects, Builders

Russell Fortmeyer

March 2, 2007

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As sustainable design concepts increasingly infiltrate the lucrative residential design and construction market, homeowners looking for reliable information on local architects and contractors with knowledge of the field can encounter a frustrating process.