The Newseum, the world’s largest museum dedicated to journalism, opens its doors tomorrow in Washington, D.C. Designed by Polshek Partnership Architects, the $450 million, mixed-use building provides 250,000 square feet of space for the museum, three-times more room than its little-trafficked previous home in suburban Arlington, Virginia. Now located near the northeast corner of the National Mall, it fronts Pennsylvania Avenue with a glass-clad facade intended to symbolize the openness of the press and democracy—and to help lure tourists inside. “It is great collaboration of architecture and content,” says Peter S. Pritchard, president of the Freedom Forum, a nonpartisan foundation
Baseball players are hardly alone in experiencing opening-day jitters. Less than a week before the March 30th opening of the Washington Nationals’ new home, the first LEED-certified Major League Baseball stadium, scores of bricklayers, painters, electricians, and other contractors were still hard at work. Designed by a joint venture between the international firm HOK Sport, and D.C.-based Devrouax + Purnell Architects, the $611 million ballpark was erected in just under two years. Images courtesy HOK Sport Nationals Park, designed by HOK Sport and Devrouax + Purnell Architects, opened on March 30, 2008 (top). The ballpark is located on South Capitol
BusinessWeek and RECORD announce the winners of the second biannual “Good Design is Good Business” China Awards Program, which honors building and planning projects that are reshaping modern China.
A leading construction industry management consultant and investment banking firm is expanding its architectural focus. FMI, of Raleigh, North Carolina, purchased Advanced Management Institute (AMI), of Napa, California, in February, allowing it to target the architecture clients that AMI has traditionally served. The 55-year-old FMI has chiefly served contractors, but the growth of design/build has created a larger pool of architects and engineers who could benefit from its services, says Hank Harris, FMI’s president and CEO. “We think it’s going to be a great combination for the industry,” he adds. AMI has offered leadership development, training, and consulting to architecture
Esquire magazine hailed Edward A. Feiner, FAIA, as the “most powerful architect in America” when he was chief architect of the General Services Administration’s multibillion-dollar building program, and now he’s on the move—again. Feiner left the GSA in January 2005 to manage the Washington, D.C., office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Now the cowboy-booted architect is in Las Vegas to work for one of SOM’s clients. On February 27th, Feiner begins his new job as senior vice president and chief architect for the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, an international casino and resort developer perhaps best known for its Italian-inspired casino,
After a year has passed without a permanent replacement being named for the Architect of the Capitol position, the American Institute of Architects is stepping up its lobbying efforts to have the slot filled.
The Smithsonian Institution is making historic plans for both its newest and oldest museums. It just awarded a design programming contract for the National Museum of African American History and Culture, slated to open in 2015, and it’s considering an unprecedented public-private redevelopment of its crumbling Arts and Industries Building, which debuted in 1881 as America’s first “National Museum.” On October 30, the Smithsonian announced that Freelon Bond, an association of design firms Davis Brody Bond and The Freelon Group, will conduct a $4 million, 18-month programming study for the new African-American museum. The architects held their first meeting with
Congress is considering a non-architect for the nation’s most visible architecture post, the Architect of the Capitol, and that’s riling the American Institute of Architects.
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has joined a coalition of more than 60 business groups attempting to repeal a little-known but far-reaching tax law called Section 511. Passed last year, the provision requires federal, state, and some local governments to withhold 3 percent from virtually all government contracts to help cover the contractors’ federal taxes. Included in the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005, which aimed to cut taxes and boost federal revenue, Section 511 applies to contract payments beginning in 2011. Proponents say it will help the Internal Revenue Service collect taxes and help to recoup