https://www.architecturalrecord.com/rss/2488 en-us A Toronto-based firm brings an early 19th-century building into the modern era with a glass addition.

]]> http://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/13867 Thu, 07 Feb 2019 08:00:00 -0500 https://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/13867-idea-exchange-post-office-by-rdha Four new community gathering spaces raise the bar on acoustics.

]]> http://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/13123 Fri, 01 Dec 2017 08:00:00 -0500 https://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/13123-continuing-education-acoustics Studio Gang’s Writers Theatre in Glencoe, Illinois comprises two performance spaces that open onto a glass lobby structured by timber trusses. Photo © Steve Hall/Hedrich Blessing The main performance space at Writers Theatre includes an acoustic screen made of bricks salvaged from the company’s former home. Photo © Steve Hall/Hedrich Blessing The main performance space at Writers Theatre includes an acoustic screen made of bricks salvaged from the company’s former home. Photo © Steve Hall/Hedrich Blessing RDHA’s Idea Exchange (shown) in Cambridge, Ontario, and the Central Libarary in Austin, Texas, by Lake|Flato and Shepley Bulfinch, represent a new generation of library, with spaces that can accommodate a wide range of programming. Image courtesy RDHA RDHA’s Idea Exchange in Cambridge, Ontario, and the Central Library (shown) in Austin, Texas, by Lake|Flato and Shepley Bulfinch, represent a new generation of library, with spaces that can accommodate a wide range of programming. Photo © Casey Dunn Austin’s Central Library includes a six-story atrium with extensive skylights, clerestories optimized for their solar orientations, as well as a generous east-facing curtain wall. Photo © Casey Dunn The form of Patkau Architect’s Temple of LIght, a sanctuary and meeting place for the Yasodhara Ashram, was inspired by the shape of a previous building destroyed by fire, and its spectacular setting in the mountains of southeastern British Columbia. Photo © Daniel Séguin An early scheme for the Temple of Light included wood slats with acoustic backing on the underside of its petals. These interior surfaces were ultimately constructed of painted drywall with compound curves, to help mitigate sound-focusing problems. Image courtesy Patkau Architects A chandelier of melamine-foam baffles absorbs excess acoustical energy. Photo courtesy Patkau Architects A slablike building in Ontario offers multilevel spaces that combine a traditional library with local government offices and community rooms.

]]> http://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/12303 Wed, 01 Mar 2017 08:15:00 -0500 https://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/12303-waterdown-library-and-civic-centre-by-rdha The main floor cantilevers slightly over the sloping site. Photo © Tom Arban The west facade is clad in 4-inch-thick panels of locally sourced limestone, installed at an angle over select portions of the exterior wall to shade windows of staff offices and a reading room. Photo © Tom Arban Inside, a series of large scooped skylights bathe the stacks and reading areas in sunlight. Photo © Tom Arban The street-facing side of the building is completely glazed and features an outdoor terrace above the entrance. Photo © Tom Arban Inside, a series of large scooped skylights bathe the stacks and reading areas in sunlight. Photo © Tom Arban Inside, a series of large scooped skylights bathe the stacks and reading areas in sunlight. Photo © Tom Arban 1703-Civics-RDHA-Hamilton-Ontario-Waterdown-Library-Civic-Centre-07.jpg Most visitors to the library enter from the parking lot at the rear of the building, where an atrium offers seating and access to the library on one side and municipal offices on the other. Photo © Tom Arban Image courtesy RDHA