Category: In The News

In this issue:
· Music and Art Breathe New Life into Firehouse
· Transparency Opens Up Conference Center
· The Smith Keeps Up With the Jones’s in Boerum Hill
· Hungary Returns to the Beaux Arts
· Greater Hanoi Develops a Master Plan

Music and Art Breathe New Life into Firehouse

BP Music Center.

HOK

The NY office of HOK unveiled the redesign of former Engine Company 204 Firehouse, turning the space into the BP Music Center. Shuttered in May 2003 due to budgetary reasons, the Cobble Hill firehouse will be the permanent home for the Brooklyn Philharmonic and Create!, a non-profit organization for children’s art education and training. HOK’s pro-bono gut renovation of the 4,250-square-foot, 19th century building will incorporate a multi-purpose space for performances, meetings, lectures, and other community uses on the ground floor, as well as offices of for the two organizations and a music rehearsal room on the second floor. The brick exterior will be restored to its natural color, and a modern, all-glass entrance, complete with marquee, are in the works.

Transparency Opens Up Conference Center

Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

Michael D. Szerbaty + Associates

NY-based Michael D. Szerbaty + Associates has completed a newly renovated conference center for Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR). Located in midtown Manhattan, the center’s expanded public areas, conference rooms, and teaching facilities offer an upgraded learning environment and comfortable teaching and public spaces. A glass-walled resource center that contains carrels with computers and most of the center’s research books opens up what had been a closed off library. The dining area’s waist-high walls allow views to the perimeter windows, providing natural light and a visual connection with the city. By integrating these low walls and floor-to-ceiling glass, conference attendees also can have a quick take on who is there and find ample room for a quick conversations or meetings. The $1.3 million project is the latest in a series of teaching, conference, and research facilities that the firm has designed for ILR and Cornell University.

The Smith Keeps Up With the Jones’s in Boerum Hill

The Smith.

Meltzer/Mandl Architects

Meltzer/Mandl Architects has completed the design of The Smith, a new 13-story, mixed-use complex in the Boerum Hill section of Brooklyn. The 116,000-square-foot project will contain a 93-room hotel with 50 condominiums above. The condos are primarily two-bedroom homes, with the 12th floor consisting of duplexes with rooftop terraces. In addition, 1,100 square feet of medical offices and retail space will front Atlantic Avenue, and there will be below-grade parking for 64 vehicles. In keeping with the character of the brownstone and contemporary townhouse neighborhood, the building steps down to four stories along its State Street frontage.

Hungary Returns to the Beaux Arts

Exchange Palace.

Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners

Tippin Corporation, a Budapest-based real estate development firm, has commissioned Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners to create an adaptive re-use and restoration plan for the 500,000-square-foot Exchange Palace, a historic landmark in the center of the city. Designed by Ignacz Alpar and built in 1905 to house the Budapest Stock and Commodities Exchange, the Beaux Arts-style building is notable for its ornamental details in the Art Nouveau style of the Hungarian Secession. In 1956, it was converted into the Hungarian State Television station, and major interior modifications were made to accommodate television sound stages. The historic façades will be restored, as will the remaining, intact grand interior spaces — most notably the main entrance stair hall and the central domed rotunda. All new mechanical and vertical transportation systems will be installed to create a state-of-the-art, modernized facility. Located on Freedom Square, a variety of new uses are being considered for the building, including office and retail space, as well as space for cultural programs. The restoration of the ground floor storefronts will once again allow cafés with sidewalk seating to animate the streetscape.

Greater Hanoi Develops a Master Plan
Out of a field of 21 international competitors, Perkins Eastman was selected by the government of Vietnam to lead a team of two Korean firms — Posco E&C, and Jina Architects — that will develop a master plan for Greater Hanoi. Preserving the city’s historic core and its 1,000-year-old architectural legacy was among the main themes for the design, along with meeting the needs of a city that is expected to grow from the current six million inhabitants to more than 10 million by 2030, and channeling the population growth into several satellite cities linked by a new transit system. In addition, the team recommended a strategy for preserving more than 40% of the area for natural preserves, recreational space, and agricultural uses. In 2007, this same team completed a master plan for part of Hatoy Province, which was recently annexed into the expanded Capital District.

The International Interior Design Association (IIDA) NY Chapter is looking for volunteers to help out with its annual support of Publicolor, a non-profit organization with the mission to use color, collaboration, design, and painting to empower students to transform themselves, their schools, and their communities. Volunteers will work alongside the students, not only brightening up their environment, but also providing them with important exposure to positive role models and opportunities for informal mentoring. The event will take place Saturday, 02.21.09, from 10:30am-3:00pm. There is a $10 donation to cover lunch, and volunteers will be accepted on a first-come/first-served basis. RSVP to jbarr@tedmoudis.com or call 917-340-1857.

Photographer Peter Aaron, Guy Nordenson, Metropolis, and DOCOMOMO US have been awarded 2009 Collaborative Achievement Awards by the AIA… The Department of Small Business Services announced this year’s Celebrating Successful Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprise (M/WBE) Awardees including MWBE of the Year, Everardo Agosto Jefferson, AIA, and Sara Elizabeth Caples, AIA, of Caples Jefferson Architects, and MWBE Rising Star Award winner Elizabeth Kennedy of Elizabeth Kennedy Landscape Architects…

The AD 100, a selection of the top architects and interior designers whose work has been featured in Architectural Digest over the past several years includes NY-based Penny Drue Baird; John Barman; Samuel Botero; Geoffrey Bradfield; Thomas Britt; Mario Buatta; Diane Burn; Robert Couturier; Elissa Cullman; Joanne de Guardiola; David Easton Mica Ertegun; Ferguson & Shamamian; William T. Georgis, AIA; Peter L. Gluck; Mariette Himes Gomez; Alexander Gorlin, FAIA; Michael Graves, FAIA; Victoria Hagan; Alexa Hampton; Thad Hayes; Ike Kligerman Barkley; Peter Marino, FAIA; Juan Pablo Molyneux; Juan Montoya; Sandra Nunnerley; Campion Platt; AIA; Jennifer Post; Jaquelin T. Robertson, FAIA; Harry Schnaper; Annabelle Selldorf, AIA; Roderick N. Shade; Stephen Shadley; Shelton; Mindel; Marjorie Shushan; Sills Huniford; Scott Snyder; Robert A. M. Stern, FAIA; Carleton Varney; Alan Wanzenberg, AIA; and Dennis Wedlick, AIA…

Van Alen Institute: Projects in Public Architecture announced that Abby Hamlin has been elected as Chair of the Van Alen Institute Board of Trustees… Jessica Lansdale, AIA, LEED AP, is now the manager of SBLM Architects’ new Healthcare & Wellness division…

2009 Oculus Editorial Calendar
If you are an architect by training or see yourself as an astute observer of New York’s architectural and planning scene, note that OCULUS editors want to hear from you! Projects/topics may be anywhere, but architects must be New York-based. The themes:

Spring Issue: Elevating Architecture / Design Literacy for All. Closed.

Summer Issue: AIANY 2009 Design Awards and AIANY/BSA Biennial Design Type Awards. Closed.

Fall Issue: Carbon Neutral Now. The new green frontier, carbon neutrality, researched, explored, planned, and designed at all scales by New York architects.
06.01.09: Suggestion Deadline

Winter Issue: Health & Architecture. Architecture designed to promote fitness, health, and wellness will be profiled. Projects selected from within this growing field will demonstrate sensitivity to generational and demographic issues, sustainability, and technology.
08.01.09: Suggestion Deadline

If you have suggestions, please contact OCULUS editor-in-chief Kristen Richards.

02.20.09 Call for Presentations: ASLA 2009 Annual Meeting and EXPO
The 2009 ASLA Annual Meeting theme will be Beyond Sustainability: Regenerating Places and People. Proposals for consideration are now being accepted online. The meeting and EXPO will be held 09.18-21.09 in Chicago. Speakers selected to present at the meeting will receive a complimentary full registration ($450 value) and one-night hotel stay ($250 value; ASLA retains the right to assign the hotel).

03.06.09 Call for Entries: International Public Competition for an Architectural Project for Exploratory Science Museum in Brazil
State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in Brazil announces a two-phase competition open to any registered architect. The exploratory science museum will be approximately 5,200 square meters situated on a 28,000-square-meter site, prominently located at the edge of campus. The estimated budget for the is around $5 million.

03.23.09 Call for Entries: Temporary Outdoor Gallery Space (TOGS) 2
Art Alliance Austin announces its second installment of the ideas competition TOGS 2. Through a continued partnership with AIA Austin and Austin Foundation for Architecture, Art Alliance Austin is now also partnering with AIANY. The competition will generate proposals for temporary space for the exhibit of fine art, which ultimately will enhance Art Alliance Austin’s annual outdoor art festival “Art City Austin” by providing gallery space for selected artists. A Grand Prize of $1,000 will be awarded to the winning design. Second- and third-prize winners will be awarded $500 and $250 respectively.

03.27.09 Call for Entries: Designing in Teheran
This international competition, open to designers and architects, calls for the design of two multi-story buildings set in Teheran, Iran. The goal is to collect ideas and identify solutions that will provide the best and most coherent integration of the structures in the local urban and commercial setting while maintaining a clear identity. The spaces will be used for commercial premises and offices. The total prize money is Euro 30,000.00.

After seeing PlaNYC take off in 2008, I have been wondering if many of the initiatives will carry through in 2009. How will the changing economy affect the greening of the city? If one million people do not move to the city, will plans change? These questions are not new; they have been asked since PlaNYC’s launch (See Sustaining NYC with 20/30 Vision?, by Carolyn Sponza, e-Oculus, 12.04.07; NYNV Extols PlaNYC, by Kate Soto, e-Oculus, 05.15.07; and Mayor-Proposed PlaNYC is Short-Sighted, my Editor’s Soapbox, e-Oculus, 05.01.07).

PlaNYC was a tall order. Over the course of last year, two major aspects of the plan did not garner the support that was needed. Congestion pricing failed to pass government approval, and NYC lost the potential for Federal funding that could have helped the MTA’s budget problems. We may all pay significantly in increased fares this year if solutions such as those outlined in the Ravitch Commission Report do not pass (nota bene: in a public hearing on December 16, the New York Building Congress endorsed the report. Click here to read the testimony. Also, see Commission Delivers Ravitching Report, my Editor’s Soapbox, e-Oculus, 12.09.08, to read more about the report in general).

In addition, recently it was announced that Bloomberg’s plan to create or preserve 165,000 units of low- and moderate-income family housing by 2013 has been pushed back a year. 82,500 units of the 500,000 have been financed, and funding is badly needed. This is just one of the reasons that some major construction projects are stalling in the city.

One of the problems with PlaNYC is that it depends on both funding for initiatives that have not been attempted before in the city (if not elsewhere) and government buy-in. Asking people to open their pockets to green the city may be asking too much this year, and we will see who the most forward-thinking officials are. Education and community outreach is not a priority of PlaNYC, so part of its potential failure could be because of a lack in maintenance required by the general public.

But there is a chance yet for PlaNYC and the greening of the city. The new building code, going into effect in July, is much more conducive to sustainable design as it incorporates ideas from the International Building Code. AIA members are now required to fulfill sustainability continuing education hours. And this year, the Green Building Certification Institute, taking over the administration of LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, may require all LEED APs to fulfill continuing education hours, as well. Finally, there is a new administration in the White House, and President-elect Obama has been promising energy reform, updated urban policy, and improved transportation and community development. There is still hope…

In this issue:
· It’s a Village Mitzvah!
· BMW Inspires Affordable Housing at Harvard
· Plans Approved for Residential Addition to Washington Hilton
· A Vacation in Prefab, West Virginia
· Century City Enters 21st Century
· Elementary, Middle School Goes Green in Germany

It’s a Village Mitzvah!

Village Temple.

Lee H. Skolnick Architecture + Design Partnership

Lee H. Skolnick Architecture + Design Partnership (LHSA+DP) recently completed the renovation of the Village Temple in Greenwich Village. Lee Skolnick, FAIA, a member of the congregation, was initially asked to assist in assessing the renovation and expansion, but ended up donating much of his own time to designing the building’s new façade. Rendered in a sandstone-colored stucco finish with a pattern of bronze reveals allude to traditional mortar joints. Bronze and stainless steel signage, new glass doors, a state-of-the-art video message board, and a glass entry canopy complete the project. Translucent graphics depicting the “Tree of Life” appear on glass doors, windows, and the adjacent storefront. Additional renovation plans include a warmer, more welcoming foyer, a more functional and attractive social hall, and a sanctuary anteroom.

BMW Inspires Affordable Housing at Harvard

GINA by BMW.

RMJM

RMJM is funding and participating in a project with designers from Munich-based BMW and the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) to develop a new affordable housing prototype. Futuristic housing concepts incorporate “elastic skin” technology. The inspiration for the program came from a team at BMW Group Design Munich who created the “GINA Light Visionary Model,” a car that has a surface made of elastic fabric rather than sheet metal, which means the surface can move, weighs less, and uses less energy to fabricate. Also, GINA stands for “geometry and function in N” implying an infinite number of adaptations — a concept that will hopefully be expanded on by GSD students.

Plans Approved for Residential Addition to Washington Hilton

Washington Hilton Hotel.

Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners

The Washington, DC Historic Preservation and Review Board (HPRB) approved Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners’ (BBB) design for an 11-story residential addition to the Washington Hilton Hotel. The mid-century Modern Expressionist building was designated a landmark by the HPRB in July 2008. Designed by William B. Tabler, FAIA, in 1965, the 1100-room hotel occupies a five-acre site on Connecticut Avenue. Due to the oddly shaped site and building height limitations, 50% of the Hilton’s program is below grade, including a column-free ballroom, conference facilities, and service areas. The addition is part of a larger redevelopment project, including a major renovation and rehabilitation of the hotel. BBB’s design for the new residential building echoes the sculptural quality of the Hilton, respecting its height and scale. Shared elements include curved façades and a repetitive modular aesthetic. The glass façade of the addition is an intentional contrast to the grid-work of concrete that defines the existing, while its semicircular form responds to the hotel’s geometry, creating two primary open spaces — the interior hotel courtyard and south facing residential terrace.

A Vacation in Prefab, West Virginia

lostrivermodern.

Resolution: 4 Architecture

Secluded in a steeply sloped wooded site in Long River, WV, sits a 64-by-16-foot prefab cabin available for rent. NYC-based Resolution: 4 Architecture (res4), a firm specializing in maximizing light and space in urban settings and the creators of the original Dwell (magazine) Home, designed lostrivermodern. Pairing the efficiencies of modular construction with the Usonian tradition of intimate, organic design, the firm strives to prove that modern prefab can be both spectacular and affordable. The cabin features a master bedroom, bath, and living space on the upper level, with a second bedroom, bath, and media room downstairs. Lostrivermodern is the first res4 home available for guests.

Century City Enters 21st Century

Century City.

Pei Cobb Freed & Partners

It’s been nearly 50 years since Pei Cobb Freed & Partners worked on the Century City Apartments in Los Angeles, and now they are designing a $2 billion mixed-use project on the 5.75-acre site of the Century Plaza Hotel for Next Century Associates. The project will feature two 50-story towers rising from a grand plaza with a 240-room Hyatt Hotel, 163 hotel residences, 130 luxury residential condominiums, 100,000 square feet of office space, 106,000 square feet of retail shops and restaurants, a spa and fitness center, and one of the largest ballrooms in Los Angeles. The design emphasizes pedestrian connectivity and sustainable design, and was inspired by the City of Los Angeles’ greening goals. The project is consistent with the Century City Specific Plan and will be LEED-Silver certified with green roofs and building materials. Ken Smith has signed on as landscape architect.

Elementary, Middle School Goes Green in Germany

Middle school lobby in the Elementary and Middle School Complex, Bavaria, Germany.

Mitchell/Giurgola Architects

Mitchell/Giurgola Architects has completed a new American elementary and middle school located on 17 acres in Bavaria, Germany. The complex is at the core of a planned community composed of a chapel, child development center, and a youth center, and will accommodate 1,400 students in 200,000 gross square feet. The two schools essentially function as separate entities — each will have its own gymnasium, information/media center, and technology centers — but share common spaces such as a multipurpose room, which includes the auditorium and cafeteria.

The sloped site influenced the design as three classroom bars rotate and step down the landscape in one-story increments, linking the school to the child development center and the youth center at its ends. The elementary gym and multipurpose room interrupt the bars, defining the entries. The media centers are also located at the entrances to provide easy access and to showcase their cutting-edge programs. The project also features a “green” roof. The classroom wings have ribbon windows to maximize daylighting. Adjustable sunscreens with solar sensors are installed on the south, east, and west exposures. The building is naturally ventilated with operable windows and utilizes radiant heating. Baurconsult, Architekten+Ingenieure served as the architect of record.

Architectural Record launched the “Recession Reports,” a section of its website devoted to the economic downturn and how it’s affecting the design industry. The section reports on layoffs, architectural billings, and related initiatives; updates on stalled projects; and includes an open forum on its blog for architects to comment on how the recession has impacted them.

The 2009 recipients of the AIA Institute Honor Awards include the following projects by NY-based firms: Basilica of the Assumption by John G. Waite Associates, Architects; The New York Times Building by Renzo Piano Building Workshop and FXFOWLE Architects; and the Salt Point House by Thomas Phifer & Partners; 2009 Institute Honor Awards for Interior Architecture: The Heckscher Foundation for Children by Christoff:Finio Architecture; School of American Ballet by Diller Scofidio + Renfro; and the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center by Lyn Rice Architects; 2009 Institute Honor Award for Regional and Urban Design: Foshan Donghuali Master Plan by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; and Orange County Great Park by TEN Arquitectos…

The all-American shortlist to design the new £275 million U.S. embassy in London includes NY-based firms Richard Meier and Partners; Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects; Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates; Pei Cobb Freed & Partners; Perkins+Will; and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; the jury includes New Yorkers Frances Halsband, FAIA, and James Carpenter… Four design teams have been shortlisted for the National Eisenhower Memorial, including NY-based Rogers Marvel Architects…

James G. Rogers, III, FAIA, one of the founding partners of Butler Rogers Baskett Architects, has established James G. Rogers Architects (JGRA) in South Norwalk, CT… Fred Rodriguez, RA, has joined The Switzer Group as a Senior Designer… Dale Alan Greenwald is a new associate principal at Cannon Design…