Design For New Black History Museum

On Jan 30th, I posted an article on the design of the National Museum for African American History on the mall of the Washington Monument. During that time, the design review had only six teams from the original twenty-two who had submitted their RFP documents. These included, Foster and Partners/URS, a joint venture, with the Foster firm as architect and URS handling the engineering design. Other teams are: Devrouax & Purnell, Freelon Adjaye Bond, I.M. Pei and Moshe Safdie and Associates. Though currently, the jury process has not narrowed the selection past these six firms left since January, conceptual designs have been unveiled on Friday, of the various teams' proposed conceptual design of the Museum.

It was the first opportunity to see what the physical structure might look like and themes which look like they might be found in the final design include water features and music halls, evocations of slave ships and the African past, and vistas acknowledging its important, monumental neighbors. The models of the museum, set to topout in 2015, are on display at the Castle Building for public comment until April 6 and mirrored elements of other familiar museums. Some of these are the circular paths of the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the wetlands and water movement of the National Museum of the American Indian, the open floor of the National Museum of American History and light that cascades into interior and underground spaces, as at the Pyramid at the Louvre.

The museum will occupy a five-acre plot near the Washington Monument and the National Museum of American History. It is one of the last open spaces on the Mall, and the museum's founders have specified that the building must respect the history and visage of the monument. As part of their proposals, the architects were asked to acknowledge their own understanding of the importance of the African American experience.

Lonnie G. Bunch, the founding director of the museum and the chairman of the jury that will select the wining design among other things asked the teams for a clear expression of "the dark corners" of the African American experience in the United States. "We want a building that is worthy of a rich cultural heritage," Bunch said, "and we want it to work as a museum." The conceptual designs, he continued, were requested to "give us enough so I know you are the team I want to dance with."

Officials with the Smithsonian, which will oversee the details of construction and exhibition content, said they didn't expect the building to be very tall, but it would cover 300,000 to 350,000 square feet. The submissions are:

-- Devrouax & Purnell and Pei Cobb Freed & Partners envision a seven-story structure (with two of the floors below ground) that features a circular interior within a box shape. It would have a roof garden with landscaping inspired by a pattern on one of the architects' grandmother's quilt. Pei, a recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, designed the East Building of the National Gallery of Art. Devrouax & Purnell did Nationals Park.

-- Diller Scofidio and Renfro, in association with KlingStubbins, submitted a table-shaped building wrapped in glass. The renderings show a place featuring billboard-size photographs of famous black figures and moments, and where jazz musicians might perform. One image depicts slaves in a ship in a huge Middle Passage Gallery. The plans feature an amphitheater facing the Lincoln Memorial.

-- The Freelon Group, Adjaye Associates and Davis Brody Bond designed a museum with two of the above-ground stories shaped like wide baskets. The exterior is covered with copper screens that change color during the day. At various points inside the museum, there are stopping places that look to the Capitol and other landmarks.

-- Foster and Partners/URS foresee a circular building. Visitors enter a ramp and descend to a lower level to start the museum experience, which begins with slavery and winds through the stories of freedom, sports and the arts. At the top of the four stories, visitors enter an area of "celebration" and face a huge window, looking out at the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial. As with the other architecture collaborations, this one includes African American partners. In this case it's Blackburn Architects and Harry Robinson, former dean of the Howard University architecture school. Foster designed the Kogod Courtyard at the Smithsonian's Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture.

-- Moody Nolan, in association with Antoine Predock Architect, envisions a building made of natural materials, rising as of out of bedrock and muck. Along one side runs a wetlands scene, a nod to historic Tiber Creek that ran through part of Washington. Its glass roof features etchings echoing Yoruba ancestral arts, and it also has an outdoor amphitheater facing Constitution Avenue.

-- Moshe Safdie and Associates in association with Sulton Campbell Britt & Associates submitted a four-story concept that features a lot of natural light. A towering ship's hull marks the entrance. In a section labeled "The Door of No Return," the museum would have exhibition and contemplative areas dealing with slavery and segregation stories; a section called "Freedom Bridge," on the top level, would include exhibits on music and sports. The proposal features a web-like facade, behind which is a series of pedestrian walkways.

An 11-member jury will make its selection next month, but Bunch stressed this would be an independent decision arrived at without public comment. Final approval would come from the Smithsonian Board of Regents.

The 350,000 square foot, $500 million project is being funded 50-50 by private and congress.

Image obtained from: www.washingtonpost.com
Details obtained from: Jaqueline Trescott's "Black History Future"

Los Angeles' Continued Signage Debate

The controversy over the size and effects of signage in Los Angeles is still raging on as many residents are angered at what public officials have allowed opportunistic billboard companies to get away with and have defined the situation as an "urban mess" and L.A's version of the AIG scandal.

The city has put itself in a difficult position anyway as city Hall lawyers signed off on a 2006 legal settlement allowing more than 800 billboards to be turned into digital signs, and separately has been mostly powerless to slow the growth of supergraphics, those gigantic wraparound advertisements that are capable of mummifying entire pieces of architecture. As parts of the battle play out in court, complicated by free-speech questions, billboard companies have rushed to put up as many new signs as they can.

This issue has been on for a while as Dennis Hathaway, leader of the Coalition to Ban Billboard Blight claims, as he wrote in a Times op-ed last year, that billboards are "degrading aesthetically as well as socially" and this was reiterated a few weeks ago by former Planning Commission President Jane Usher as she argued that, that "the city of Los Angeles is suffering from a disease called sign proliferation."

I am a little amused at what seems to enrage the average LA resident. The unacceptable level of auto pollution still remains, gang violence is as high as ever, or even higher, and schools are being built right next to the freeway even after the tests show a link between highway pollution and stunted lung growth in children. Yet, this has not generated the level of interest or outrage that the signage debate has.

Los Angeles has always been a city where signs have have been geared to be large, dominating and recognizable enough to become landmarks, defining their location. From the Hollywood sign to signage on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood and the 32-foot-high illuminated letters, spelling out LAX, marking the entrance to the Los Angeles International Airport all reflect this culture. So if there is a reasonable regulation of signage in Los Angeles, I think that they might actually enhance the city and help in wayfinding to a certain extent without negative effects such as nighttime sky pollution.




Image obtained from:www.LATimes.com
Info obtained from christopher Howthorne's "LA's Signage Debate"

Sacramento Tent City For The Homeless To Come Down

The problem of homelessness is one that is apparent in almost every city of the world and nowhere is this more visible than Sacramento, California. Just a few miles from the State Capitol, by the American River, a large cluster of homeless men and women have settled in what's been dubbed "Tent City."

Hundred of make-shift tents have created an image to stark to what we expect to see anywhere in the United States. No running water or bathrooms, and trash strewed everywhere has added to the stunning scene so much so that it garnered attention from Oprah Winfrey last month. With this, as to be expected, came a a crush of national and international media coverage.

So I guess the negative media coverage has something to do with the plan to now close down the encampment within the next few week. This decision was made by Sacramento Mayor and former NBA star, Kevin Johnson who I'm sure doesn't want this for the image of his city in his first few months in office. "We're not going to go in and sweep them out of there," Johnson said at a news conference. "We've got to have tough love, but we've got to be compassionate."

Some stories portrayed Tent City as a modern day Hooverville, a reference to the shanty towns built by homeless men driven into poverty during the Great Depression. With foreclosure rates in the Sacramento region among the highest in the nation, the ragtag camp has been depicted as a symbol of the economic meltdown — people who'd lost their homes and were suddenly pitching tents along a riverbed but the truth is less dramatic.

Loaves & Fishes, a homeless facility about a 10-minute walk from Tent City, has provided meals and showers for the encampment dwellers. And in recent weeks, shelter officials have assumed the additional duty of ushers to news reporters and TV crews. "What's different about the Tent City is that so many people are gathered in such a visible site," said Joan Burke, Loaves & Fishes' director of advocacy. "I think the media attention is a positive because it lets the public know there are people actually living in Third World conditions."

Though the plan is supposed to move residents to shelters and apartments, this will not do anything to solve the problem, just make it less visible which is all officials really care about anyway. Another "Tent city" is bound to spring up somewhere else (probably somewhere less visible) as a federal lawsuit filed last year on behalf of the homeless against the city and county, combined with the media attention, caused law enforcement to ease up on enforcement of the city's anti-camping ordinance.





Images obtained from: gettyimages.com
For more info checkout: http://www.mercurynews.com/video?bcpid=1578089393&bctid=17029093001

Vertical Farming In Dubai

Yes, Dubai is at it again! The next challenging and seemingly unfeasible project to add to the skyline is a vertical farm that uses seawater to cool and humidify greenhouses and to convert sufficient humidity back in to fresh water to irrigate the crops.

This concept, proposed by the Italian firm, Studiomobile, was developed from the idea that the world's population continues to grow just as the available arable land continues to be deforested causing global warming. So with minimal farm land, the only other option is to build farms vertically and where better to test this than in Dubai.

The vertical farm features a soaring spire with pod-like ‘sky-gardens’ branching off to give it an organic feel in keeping with designers aims to create a clean, green, sustainable source of food for a more self-sufficient Dubai. The concept makes use of the Seawater Greenhouse process, which uses seawater to cool and humidify the air that ventilates the greenhouse and sunlight to distill fresh water from seawater to enable the year round cultivation of high value crops that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to grow in hot, arid regions such as Dubai. This is in stark contrast to costly and energy intensive desalination plants that rely on boiling and pumping to produce fresh water.

The concept works by continually cycling through three phases. In the first phase the air going into the greenhouse is first cooled and humidified by seawater, which is trickled over the first evaporator to provide a fresh and humid climate for the crops. Then in the second phase as the air leaves the growing area it passes through the second evaporator, which has seawater flowing over it. The humid air mixes with the warm dry air of the ceiling interspace making the air much hotter and more humid. The third and final phase sees the warm air forced upward by the temperature induced stack effect. In the central chimney the warm and humid air condenses when it comes in contact with plastic tubes that contain cool seawater. The drops of fresh water that appear on the surface of the condenser fall into a collection tank to be used to water the crops and for other uses.

The idea of vertical farming in the absence of farm land is a pretty good idea and I would like to see more details on just how this could be achieved. Nonetheless, I am not impressed with Dubai undertaking this project. If they had focused a bit more in the past on farming and actually trying to grow some crops for themselves instead of building on every available scrap of land and even creating more land for construction to cater to tourists, they might have had space to farm like "regular folk." If one of those ridiculous man-made continents had been dedicated to producing some cash crop, then maybe their economy would be in better shape than it is. So I guess now that building all manner of absurd highrises has failed, they want to try something new. I think this is more for the publicity and rep than for actual need.





Image obtained from: www.gizmag.com
For more info, check: www.treehugger.com/files/2009/03/vertica-farm-dubai-seawater.php

Book Review: The Wayfinding Handbook

Wayfinding is something we do, without being fully conscious of it, to orient ourselves in a space, interior or exterior. Though there is no science to navigate or explore your way through a city, wayfinding professionals can design spaces with just enough interactive cues for everyone to understand the ever changing and organic environments we live in. The Wayfinding Hanbook: Information Design For Public Spaces by David Gibson, sheds some light on how space circulation paths can be made to communicate with us and make navigation just a bit easier.

So, taking a step back, let us ask first; who is a wayfinding/environmental graphic designer and is that even a major in college? I wondered about that when I first got this book but Gibson cleared my confusion by explaining that, "wayfinding is a subset of environmental graphic design, a larger discipline that embraces many specializations including architecture and design graphic communications, maps, exhibitions, products and interiors." So this is a derivative of a marriage of various professions, talents and experience as an environmental graphic design education does not yet exist.

So understandably, this is a system that is firmly integrated in the design process of any project as the wayfinding consultant must anticipate "visitor patterns" and understand the decisions people make as they follow the path to their destination. These have been explained by Gibson as, "approach, enter and find." At each stage, the visitor must "make decisions based on the available and readily visible information" at hand. So the job of the designer is to provide a seamless and informative visitor transition through the space so that they reach their desired destination without the kind of frustrated wandering I often experience at Charles de Gaulle airport.

Adequate wayfinding systems link people together, tourists and residents, by guiding them through a space's circulation via a single system of communication, creating "a public narrative of how people witness, read and experience the space." But since not all spaces are the same due to varying locations and program, most wayfinding systems can be divided into four categories of signs: identification, directional, orientation and regulatory. Identification signs are visual markers that mark transitions from one space to another, directional provide the necessary cues for circulation, orientation signs offer visitors an overview of their surroundings(site maps) and regulatory signs outline the do's and don'ts of a space.

What I would consider the most important part of the process is signage location. "Site programming begins with an analysis of arrival, departure and decision points." These are the key areas where signage is needed to guide one through the space on the the desired destination. How many times have we exited a train at a station and been baffled as to where to go next? Better signage at important points in the visitor's journey through the space would allow for better transition.

This is a very good book for, anyone who might want to enter the growing and often overlooked field of environmental graphic design, and also for architects as well. It allows you to think as the users of the space would not just in terms of experiencing the architecture, but also the ability to navigate through it with relative ease. David Gibson shows how simple signage at optimum spots in a design can enhance the building program both inside and out as the most innovative and awe-inspiring building designs are nothing if people can't find their way through them. The material in this text is presented in a concise but easily understood manner with colorful graphic illustrations explaining each section.

Trouble For Gehry's Beekman Tower

I posted an article on the 18th of last month on Gehry's Beekman tower and how he had utilized his "Digital Project" software to ensure that the design would come in under budget. Unfortunately, it seems that even his magic software can't save the tower from effects of the economic meltdown in the country right now.

For the past week, rumors have continued to circulate that construction at the tower in the upper part of the Financial District is to be halted. The 76-story luxury rental building (with stores and a school in its base) had its signature steel facade delivered to the site at the beginning of the month with a lot of apparent activity seen around the area. So hearing that construction will be halted has taken everyone by surprise.

According to a spokesperson for developer Forest City Ratner, "Given the current economy, we are conducting a study to assess costs, risks and overall timing. Work is continuing on the building including on the school and we should have some conclusive answers shortly." Some of these assessments include having the building topout below its 36th floor and not the 40th.

Developers should really stop the horrid habit of chopping off projects halfway and leaving projects that they feel are products of a recession but are really monuments to their inefficiency. Didn't realize how much it would cost or have a contingency plan for if costs exceed the budget, which always happens anyway.




Image obtained from www.curbed.com

Japanese 30 Square Foot Paco Home

Japanese architect Jo Nagasaka along with the Schemata Architecture Office have come up with a contraption that supposedly "rethinks" how much space we need for day-to-day activities; approximately 30 square feet.

This cube is to contain a hammock to sleep on, a Japanese-style recessed desk, and a sink, toilet and shower. Nagasaka has quickly put out the disclaimer that the Paco home is not an actual stand alone solution but intent is to supplement your particular living situation. It could be a beach house, a portable office — anything, really, as long as you find a way to lug it into place and hook up the water. Huh?


I don't get the point of this dumpster looking box as I can not for the life of me see what anyone would want to do with it especially when a more comfortable, more easily transportable and convenient solution exists (RVs anyone?). I had initially thought that this might be another "Universal World House" attempt until I realized that it didn't even have a kitchen. As it is, it looks like either a really well sanitized pod in some penitentiary or a cell in an insane ward, missing the pads on the walls. Nagasaka really needs to start "thinking outside the box!"






Images obtained from: www.nerdwithswag.com

WTC Twin Towers II

So the controversy seems to still be raging on about the replacement of the World Trade Center towers destroyed in the September 11 attacks. Many, especially the families of those lost in the collapse of the buildings, despise the design of the Freedom Tower, and development of the surrounding area and would rather see the original towers rebuilt.

I happened to catch a David Schuster interview of Ken Gardner, the structural engineer for the WTC Towers II, yesterday and I agree with the fundamentals of his argument. According to Gardner, the towers were singled out due to their iconic status and what they symbolize to the United States: belief in humanity, need for individual dignity and beliefs in the cooperation of men. So to rebuild the towers exactly the same, except with increased structural strength, evacuation design and a few others, would be the best "thumb in the eye" to Bin Laden. The building was sufficient for its program when it stood so why not rebuild it as it was?

The unofficial proposals, by architect Herbert Belton, for the new and improved Twin Towers as it were retains the original facade, which mimic the upward flow of columns but will have larger windows at 40 inches wide. Each tower will be 500 meters (1515 ft) tall at roof level, nearly 100 metres (330 ft) taller than the originals giving a floor count of 125 floors and a gross floor area of 26,247,000 square feet making more of a symbolic statement.

What is a little confusing to me is the fact that the foundations for the freedom tower have already been started and steel bracings have already topped at least 30 feet. Now the structural design of the original Twin Towers and the freedom tower are nowhere near similar so it is highly improbable that if the proposal to rebuild the original towers were somehow approved, they could be built on the current foundations in place now. So then, what really is being proposed here? That the Freedom Tower foundations be dynamited and rebuilding started all over again?

I think that though it would be nice to see the towers rebuilt, it is a little too late now so all supports of this proposal should give up and just let go. Also, we should not be too hasty to merely wish to reassert the symbol of the towers as we would risk losing the human reality that was also destroyed. The shattering of communities and the destruction of real, human beings with names and families, and not of millions of tons of concrete and steel. To not rebuild the Twin Towers, basically continuing with the Freedom Tower, will always remind us of what was once there and the human lives that were lost. Herbert Belton and Ken Gardner's proposals to rebuild the Towers introduces the risk of us forgetting this.

Sarkozy's Dream For A New Paris

In the summer of 2008, in much more optimistic times, the French government hired design teams of internationally known architects to put Paris back on the drawing board to re-imagine the capital as a "world class city." The teams have come up with 10 strategies for creating a metropolitan area known as Grand Paris – it's the first major redesign since the Napoleonic era.

The various ideas being proposed all seek address what most Parisian feel is wrong with the city-its public transit system saturated, its periphery spoiled by ugly housing projects, and its suburbs an undefined sprawl of disconnected towns – does not work. "It's slowly losing its vitality," says award-winning Paris architect Jean Nouvel. "What we laughingly call regional development is finished. If we want to maintain the prestige of Paris, we have to look after it."

These architectural teams, six of them French, were given the mission of envisioning the "post-Kyoto" metropolis. They were left to define the boundaries of this newly conceived Grand Paris as they saw fit, but it was to incorporate the best of sustainable design techniques, energy efficient structures, and a mix of housing for both rich and poor.

Most of the planners urged intense use of space within the limits of historic Paris. They talked of high-speed trams on top of the beltways, malls on top of subway stations, and gardens on the five square miles of rooftops in Paris. A new mixed-use neighborhood in the center of Paris could arise, they said, if only the neglected stretch of land between the Gare du Nord and Gare de l'Est train stations in central Paris were freed up for private development.

President Sarkozy is expected to define which of the various plans to follow up on when they go on public view at the national architecture museum next month though current details are still a little sketchy.

Other than the image above of Roland Castro's proposed "Central Park France" and Jean Nouvel's concept, I really haven't seen anything concrete to get a good sense of just what is being proposed so I'm not sure how to critic these plans. Still, the idea to completely revamp the infrastructure, especially the transportation system is a very good idea (something we are still trying to fix here in the States). So I am looking forward to seeing more of these proposals.




Image obtained from: www.csmonitor.com

Foster + Partners Unveils Design For New Paris Community

Hermitage Plaza will create a new community to the east of La Défense, in Courbevoie, that extends down to the river Seine with cafés, shops and a sunny public plaza at its heart. Revealed by Foster+Partners at MIPIM in Cannes, the project incorporates two 969 ft buildings – the tallest mixed-use towers in Western Europe – which will establish a distinctive symbol for this new urban destination on the Paris skyline.

The result of a close collaboration with EPAD, the City of Courbevoie, Atelier de Paysage Urbain and Département de Hauts-de-Seine, the project is intended to inject life into the area east of La Défense by creating a sustainable, high-density community. Due to start on site in 2010 and complete by the end of 2014, the two towers accommodate a hotel, spa, panoramic apartments, offices and serviced apartments, as well as shops at the base.

Forming two interlocking triangles on plan, the buildings face one another at ground level. Open and permeable to encourage people to walk through the site, the towers enclose a public piazza which establishes the social focus. As they rise, the towers transform, turning outward to address views across Paris. The glazed façade panels catch the light, the sun animating different facets of the buildings as it changes direction throughout the day. The angle of the panels promotes self-shading and vents can be opened to draw fresh air inside, contributing to an environmental strategy that targets a BREEAM (Biomedical Research Experience ) ‘excellent’ rating. The diagrid structure is not only highly efficient - doing more with less - but it emphasises the elegant proportions of the towers.

A crystal-shaped podium building contains office space, with two detached satellite buildings housing a gallery and auditorium that further extend the public realm. The piazza – created by burying the existing busy road beneath a landscaped deck – slopes gently downward to the water’s edge, which is lined with new cafés and restaurants. Locking into the existing Courbevoie and EPAD masterplans, the project will reinforce the regeneration of the riverfront.

Norman Foster said:
“Hermitage Plaza will create a 24-hour community that will regenerate the riverfront and inject new life into a predominantly commercial part of the city. A light catching addition to the Paris skyline, the development will also provide a public piazza that leads down to the river’s edge to create a new destination for the city.”

Once again, Foster does not disappoint. Hermitage Plaza underscores the artistic yet design innovative and practical work which has become synonymous with Foster + Partners. This project seeks to not only be an icon but also a community anchor fostering neighborhood interaction, which is something the area really needs. I am however interested to find out what the cost estimate is right now for this project as it really doesn't look cheap.

Info and images obtained from Foster+Partners.com

Spainish Architecture Faces Slump

The hard hitting recession we have been experiencing all around the world seems to have inevitably crept into Spain, ending the country's long-running love affair with cutting-edge architecture. This has turned the boom of high-profile projects from the world's greatest architects into a countrywide building bust.

Last week builders walked away from one of the country's most glamorous architect-driven developments, the Richard Rogers transformation of Barcelona's Las Arenas bullring. With bills unpaid and developers unsure what to do with the 19th century bullring, Lord Rogers' project turning it into a leisure and shopping center faces an uncertain future.

In Barcelona, a number of other high profile projects are also grinding to a halt. Some of which are Norman Foster's colourful, £230m remodelling of Europe's biggest football stadium, the Camp Nou of Barcelona football club and work by Frank Gehry on a 34-story office block and a development of 10 tower blocks by Jean Nouvel. Even Foster and Zaha's proposed New Campus of Justice (image above) in Madrid is experiencing a dramatic slow down in development.

"There is neither the financing nor the confidence to go on,'' said the local La Vanguardia newspaper as it mourned the future loss of Barcelona's reputation as a contemporary architecture showcase.

Many architects have have admitted to sources that not unlike Dubai, the writing is on the wall that boom days of Spanish architecture are over but have expressed hope that the country will recover a taste for signature buildings when the recession ends.




Image obtained from www.guardian.co.uk
Fore more information, check: www.turkishweekly.net/media/275344

Architects; A Nickel For Your Thoughts

I was reading an article on the "archdaily" website and was intrigued by the author's account of his research into what unemployed architects are up to these days in this disheartening economy.

The first of his examples was a lady in Boston, recently laid-off from practice who now spends her time "rediscovering" the city and applying to Graduate Schools. Her strategy is to avoid the current crises right now by continuing her education and increasing her net worth so that when indeed the economy does recover, she would be in a potentially better position. Many unemployed architects I know are trying to also shore up their personal professional standing by taking various certification exams like the LEED and the ARE as the current lull has afforded them time to now do this.

But I think the most interesting example given was about John Morefield (27), an architect from Seattle. Morefield had a very good idea, after being laid off twice in a year, as he setup a booth at a local fair, answering home remodeling questions for 5¢. On the first day he earned 35¢! But that wasn´t his real earn, but the 7 conversations he started, with 7 potential clients he meet. This way he started to build a network, also pairing these new clients with contractors he recommended. This resulted in Architecture for 5¢, an office were “no project is too small for big ideas”.

It is a little depressing that things are this bad but if John Morefield is able to really pull together serious clients who are ready to commit to a new project right now, then great. But if they are going to be paying him 5¢ then that defeats the purpose. Hopefully, the 5¢ fee was only for the duration of the fair. But I would seriously advise anyone in the profession who has more time on their hands than usual to use this opportunity to further their architectural education and take whatever exams they need to take to improve the general quality of your resume.




Image obtained from archiblog.info

Bridging Inspiration- Zaha, Calatrava and SRG Partnership

Portland firm SRG partnership is keeping some very good company in the March issue of Architectural Record. In a long continuing-education feature devoted to pedestrian bridges, SRG’s design for elliptical span at Seattle’s Museum of Flight is one of three projects featured, and the other two are by a couple of the most famous architects in the world: Zaha Hadid and Santiago Calatrava (both of whom should be considered for the Columbia River Crossing).

The Seattle branch of SRG, headed by Rick Zieve, FAIA, came up with the $6.4 million bridge design, which is intended to mimic the forms of jet plane contrails.

As Joann Gonchar writes in Record, “The bridge’s primary span is a 200-foot-long tube truss, about 17 feet in diameter, tapering to about 12 feet at the ends. SRG had originally hoped to make it out of pipe sections bent into ellipses…[but] the architect came up with a more cost-effective and buildable alternative: The webs are
made up of two sets of 5-inch-diameter pipes bent into pure
circles."

The more than 300 bent pipes are inclined in opposite directions to overlap, giving the bridge an elliptical section even though its individual elements have a simpler geometry. Although none of these pedestrian bridges have the same program or scale as the three Portland bridges going through design right now—the Columbia River Crossing, the light rail & pedestrian bridge on the Willamette, or the reconstructed Sellwood Bridge—but they should serve as a reminder of what great design can bring.


If we are willing to select bridge designers with great talent and not just a track record of building other bridges, and if we’re able to craft a public process that not only gets them in place but allows them creativity, this will be the route to bridges we can all be proud of. Sure, the amount of lanes matters. So do budget and sustainable design principles. Even so, the design is what will last for generations even as other factors from the time of construction fade away.






Article by Brian Libby on 03/09/2009
Images obtained from: archiblog.info

San Francisco Metreon Overhaul Will Better Embrace Surroundings

After purchasing the struggling center in 2006, Westfield Group and Forest City Enterprises decided that the original design made the center an island onto itself without relating to the pedestrian traffic. To address this and potentially boost profits, they have proposed a $30 million "extreme makeover" set to break ground this fall and topout by Thanksgiving 2010.

The cavernous entrance will be replaced by shops that open to busy sidewalks. The Sci-Fi interior will be toned down and views will be emphasized, not obscured. It should be said that Sony purposely designed the center specifically to pretend the outside world didn't exist for a very simple goal: to distract patrons and trap them inside "for a bite to eat or for entertainment the whole day," according to Sony's original brochure. This is evident as the main entrance at Fourth and Mission is only eight feet high, a dark passage leading to a dull space dominated by the movie-ticket counter. Along the park, the building was designed with a 64-foot-high glass wall, but Sony scrunched the interior lobby with beams and catwalks to dazzle patrons with what the press kit described as a "celebration of urban vitality."

So last week, the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency gave a green light to Westfield and Forest City to embark on the overhaul and revitalization. The "front door" will be moved 35 yards down Fourth Street, where 12-foot-high retractable glass panels will replace eight doors. This will allow open views of the park from Fourth Street, since the current structural clutter will be minimized to create a 34-foot-high atrium separated from the park by the existing clear wall and visually connect interior and exterior spaces.

Also, most of the restaurants which are now located within the building will be moved to the street level so as to spill onto the park and foster more of an interaction with the community an integrate the Metreon into the surroundings.

I am always the first to advocate that buildings should relate to their surroundings but I think the Metreon was successful at what it did for the time period that it did it. If one wanted to spend the whole day out, you could find something for the whole family to do without leaving the building but I guess times have changed and residents want some more urban interaction these days. That being said, I think these are some good changes that are being proposed and will only integrate it better within the city.






Images obtained from: www.sfgate.com

Sears Tower To Be Renamed

London-based Willis Insurance Group Holdings is consolidating five of its local offices and more than 500 employees into more than 140,000 square feet in the 110-story Sears building at 233 S. Wacker Drive. The insurance broker announced Thursday morning that this move will also entail renaming what we have always known as the Sears Tower (without having to pay extra for the naming rights) to the Willis Tower.

Willis is the largest new tenant to move into Sears Tower since the 2001 terrorist attacks. In recent years, the building has suffered several big tenant losses, including its largest tenant, by rental revenue, Ernst & Young U.S. LLP, which is moving in 2012 to an almost-complete skyscraper at 155 N. Wacker Drive.

“Having our name associated with Chicago’s most iconic structure underscores our commitment to this great city, and recognizes Chicago’s importance as a major financial hub and international business center,” Joseph J. Plumeri, chairman and CEO of Willis Group Holdings, said in a release. “We are delighted to be making this bold move and firmly establishing our leading presence in one of the nation’s biggest insurance markets, and it will be wonderful for all our associates to work under one roof.”

I really don't have much to say except that I am not really pleased that such an iconic building will be losing its name. The "Willis Tower" just doesn't sound right at all. And how is it that they can rename the tower without having to pay for the naming rights?




Image obtained from: images.google.com
For more information, check: www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-biz-sears-tower-name-change-willis-march12,0,7014962.story

So Brad Pitt Thinks He's An Architect?

Like most, I have heard the claims Mr. Pitt has made about his "passion" for architecture and his pretensions to design but had decided to ignore this ridiculous issue till I read an article in which the author compared Pitt to Le Corbusier and Mies van der rohe in the context that like Pitt, they didn't have a formal architecture education. What? Pitt should not be mentioned in the same sentence as these architects as he has not even had any sufficient experience in the field. This is obvious as some of the few Pitt designed buildings in the project, "Make it right" have materials that are off-gassing!

First of all please, let me say here and now that architecture is not art! Being an architect is not about making pretty, purely conceptual drawings without having the faintest idea about what the structural system is going to be, the potential occupant experience or where the HVAC ducts and systems will go, among a myriad of other things. If this were not the case, any first year architecture student could come up with a design and hope that some competent engineers could make it work.

It is important to note that this whole love of architecture from Brad started about a few years back after he asked Frank Gehry to redesign one of his mansions. The two became good friends after that and I guess from hanging out with Gehry, Pitt began to think that he had some talent too. In that same light, I guess since I have met with many psychologists and studied personality typology in relation to the psychology of architecture, I could claim to be a clinical psychologist myself.

So if Brad wants to contribute financially to projects then that's all well and good, but for him to go to the White House and be touted around by Nancy Pelosi as "a hero" when his designs have basically been cleaned up by more experienced practices such as MVRDV, Shigeru Ban and Morphosis is ridiculous and unfair. I have heard opinions that Mr Pitt is good for the image of the profession and can use his fame to finance architectural projects and get goverment´s attention to raise millions of dollars, something that lots of architects would really like to do anyway. I don't have any problem with this except if Mr Pitt limited his actions to financing and didn't have pretensions to being an architect.





Images obtained from: www. archiblog.info
For more info, check: blog.miragestudio7.com/2008/02/brad-pitt-and-the-pink-project-in-new-orleans/

Fate Of Koolhaas' TVCC Still Unclear

In the aftermath of the February fire that scorched the TVCC building in Beijing, China, investigations continue on the strength and structural integrity of the burned building bringing up the question of what should be done with the building now? Will it need to be completely rebuilt or simply repaired? And if the latter, will anyone stay in it? The fire not seen as particularly ominous for the building.

Andrew Mueller-Lust, principal at Severud Associates, also involved in the investigation, is of the opinion that the chance of re-occupation of the building is not very high and points to certain historical precedents. One of these was the One Meridian Plaza, a Philadelphia office tower stricken by a fire on the 22nd floor in 1991. The fire raged for 18 hours, burning out one floor before moving on to the next, until it ran out of fuel at the 38th floor. Testing showed that the building could have been restored, but no one was willing to reoccupy it. It stood for years before finally being razed.

Unfortunately, it seems the same fate just might await TVCC. “As I read the Chinese newspapers, according to the official statements, the main structure is very little damaged,” said Tian-Fang Jing, principal at Weidlinger Associates. While that might be the case, the greater issue remains whether anyone would willingly go into a repaired TVCC.

It seems like Koolhaas and OMA just cant catch a break with this disaster. When I wrote about the fire last month, the common consensus in China was that the building burned to the degree that it did due to shoddy construction work in the design. Now that it is obvious (at least I think it is obvious) that this was not the case as the building structure is still sound, current public sentiment is that no one wants to have to move in after it is repaired. So what now?





Images obtained from: archpaper.com
For more information, check: http://rudenoon.com/absalletc/archives/1190

Planned San Francisco Transbay Station Could Soon Be Obsolete

Further analysis has shown that the planned high-speed rail station in the new Transbay Terminal would be obsolete within two decades, experts have warned and are seeking for a revision to the current plans.

Part of the concern is that of adequate capacity as it has been projected that the proposed station would not be large enough to accommodate half the passengers expected to be using the system by 2030. Also, the plan for a connection to Caltrain has been deemed as unfeasible from an engineering standpoint. "Three sets of engineers met and they concurred that the design for the station was inadequate and useless for high-speed rail," said Quentin Kopp, chairman of the High Speed Rail Authority.

The current plan comprises, one platform and two tracks for Caltrain and two platforms and four tracks for high-speed rail and with this, the High Speed Rail Authority now believes that the station would have to be able to handle 12 trains an hour, or one every five minutes which is not very feasible. Under that scenario, eight to 10 tracks would be required instead, officials said. This issue was only learned of by transit officials three weeks ago.

One idea being studied is whether a two-story underground train station would be feasible from engineering and funding standpoints.

This is not a problem that transportation officials want to have to deal with right now as they try to scramble to find solutions to ensurethe rail projects don't miss out on federal stimulus funds. California is the only state with a high-speed rail plan and funding and officials are seeing opportunities they never envisioned as President Obama's emergency funding bill contains an unprecedented $8 billion for high-speed and intercity rail projects. The President also indicated in his proposed budget last week that he would like to pump a further $1 billion annually over the next five years into such projects.

"I think we are well positioned to get these funds - unless we get in our own way," said Steve Heminger, executive director of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, a regional planning and funding agency.

As it stands, the project is behind schedule and suggestions have been made to speed up the process by commencing the project without the "train box," the skeleton of the underground train station. The idea is to build it later, when funding becomes available. But building the train box in the first phase could shave an estimated $100 million off the $490 million cost.

I had written an article "The Manhattanization of SF Part II" in August of last year in which I talked about the plans for this project and had since assumed that it was progressing towards groundbreaking but this new apparent impasse has surprised me. What is most troubling though is that no one group can seem to agree on anything here. Caltrain officials have raised concerns about the design pertaining to track alignment and slope but Transbay authorities claim that "at no time has Caltrain indicated that the rail design does not work for them." Yet, Michael Scanlon, executive director of the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board, which operates Caltrain just released a statement saying, "The current alignment and design is fatally flawed!" If they can't even agree to the seriousness of the problem, how can they begin to solve it?




Image obtained from: www.sfgate.com

Living In A Shipping Container

Adam Kalkin, a New Jersey architect isn't the first to seek to make homes out of shipping containers, I see them all the time on the planet green channel, but no one has employed them as intensively as Kalkin has to design luxurious homes, museum additions and refugee housing.

In architectural circles, no one is quite sure what to make of Kalkin and he is somewhat regarded as an oddball. His website includes lessons on hitting a tennis forehand and a selection of songs to sing after taking antidepressants (imagine going karaoke singing with him). Years ago Kalkin shaved while delivering a lecture at the Whitney Museum, which tends to make one wonder what type of Meds he must be on. Still, there is no denying the ingenuity and care with which he has designed his projects, 32 of which were included in the publication of Quik Build: Adam kalkin's ABC of Container Architecture. Some of these projects include the "Bunny Lane," a home he built for himself with a 19^th century clapboard cottage inside an industrial hanger, and the "Push Button House," a furnished room that unfolds from a container with hydraulic walls.

Although these projects may make practical sense, shipping containers are cheap, mobile and highly recyclable, they don't seem to make much economic sense as the average cost of these prefab designs range from $250 to $400 a square foot including installation, which is more than a thrifty consumer today would pay for a home built by an architect and contractor. Even with the suggestion that they might be used more in refugee relief and in providing low-cost housing in places like the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, it is still too expensive to warrant justification.

This is the same issue I have with the Ikea and Universal world houses respectively and can understand why if they are to be marketed as a cheaper and smaller alternative to expensive suburban homes, they are so expensive then. At $50,000, I would rather put the money in the bank and rent an apartment or use it as down payment on a California home than buy a 400 plus square foot shipping container to live in. Also, what is the indoor air quality (IAQ) like in the container with extreme temperature changes? I know it is pretty open, but its still made of metal. It might get way too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter.




Images obtained from: www.fastcompany.com
For more info, check: http://ecoble.com/2008/06/01/how-to-live-in-a-shipping-container/

The Nation's Largest green Roof

Mosholu Golf Course in the Bronx is one of a dozen run by the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation. Its compact layout is typical of New York’s urban courses—nine holes, tree-lined fairways, the odd sand bunker—save for one highly unusual obstacle: the $2.1 billion drinking water treatment facility under construction on what used to be the driving range.

When this heavily secured compound is completed in 2012, it’s due to be topped by far more than just new turf. Grimshaw and landscape architect Ken Smith have designed one of the largest and most intensive green roofs to date, which is also a fully functioning driving range. And an irrigation system for the golf course. And an integrated security program for the facility below. Think Pebble Beach meets the Biosphere meets Rikers.

“The distinction here is it’s not just a green roof, but a performative green roof that needs to provide all these functions,” Smith said in an interview. “I think we’re pushing both the design of the green roof and the design of the golf course in new directions. We’re working to see how far we can push the diversity of the ecology and still adhere to the constraints of the golf course.”

This quietly radical project is the result of more than a decade of debate over whether or not water from the Croton Reservoir, the smallest of the city’s three, needed treatment after more than a century of going without. That was followed by battles with Bronx residents over which and even whether the borough’s parks would be torn up to make way for the new plant. The city finally broke ground on the facility in 2004, and the driving range has moved to a temporary site while the complex roofscape takes shape.

The engineering challenges are formidable. At nine acres, the $95 million driving range is the largest contiguous green roof in the country. So when it rains at the range, it pours, which creates a paradoxical hazard for the plant below. “It’s of paramount importance to the City of New York that this building stay dry, despite being full of water,” said David Burke, the project architect at Grimshaw. So to handle the millions of gallons that can accumulate on the green roof during a storm, the design team has devised a natural filtration system to collect, process, and store the runoff.

The range’s unique topography not only provides green-like targets for golfers, who tee off from the perimeter of the circular structure, but helps channel rainwater into the collection basins, where it meets groundwater pumped in from the plant’s four sump pumps. The water then travels through a series of ten cells that ring the range, each one modeled on a different native ecosystem to serve different filtration purposes. It takes up to eight days for water to travel through the cells, at which point it’s collected and used to irrigate the golf course.

“We’re not just dumping it in the sewer,” said Mark Laska, president of Great Ecology & Environments, one of two ecological designers on the project. “It’s a true display of sustainable green design in an urban environment.”

The design team wanted to convey such sustainable lessons to the public, especially the kids enrolled in the First Tee outreach program at Mosholu, and so the cells were left in plain view. Furthermore, because they are sunk ten feet below grade, they serve as a moat of sorts that helps protect the city’s water supply, which is seen as a potential target for terrorists.

To that end, Grimshaw has also designed the guardhouse and screening buildings that security constraints required, in addition to the new clubhouse and tee boxes on the range. (Grimshaw is not designing the plant, however, which is the work of a specialized engineering firm.)

It's an unlikely commission, to be sure, but one the architects embraced. “It’s very fitting for Grimshaw,” as Burke put it. “We tend to gravitate toward these oddball projects.”

Story by Matt Chaban

Image obtained from: archpaper.com

Fisher Museum Toned Down

In light of the uproar last year, the design for the contemporary art collection museum to be located in San Francisco's Presidio has been amended by New York architect, Richard Gluckmanto to try to relate to its site and the surrounding buildings without being an icon in itself.

With the new plans, instead of a sharp-edged stack of concrete and glass, it's a low pavilion with a landscaped roof. The pavilion burrows into the earth and includes a public thruway, rather than rising up, as its predecessor did, to demand attention within the historic heart of the army base turned national park. The museum, being funded by Gap founder, Donald Fisher is still to be located on a prominent site between 19th century red-brick barracks and the site of the original 1776 Spanish settlement. That's anathema to critics who, for reasons ranging from traffic to the non-Presidio focus, don't want the facility anywhere in the park.

The current plan also reduces the gross square footage from over 100,000 square feet to just about 76,000, reduces the building height from 50 ft to 27 and the main structural material has been changed from precast concrete to masonry and wood.

Gallery spaces would be housed in a long and relatively narrow two-story structure; the lower level would rest beneath the existing slope, opening onto three sculpture courts. The upper level would be clad mostly in glass, topped by a roof with a series of pitches that ripple toward the parade ground and shade the galleries. The roof would be "green" a la the California Academy of Sciences and framed in a white lacquered wood similar to what clads other Main Post structures. Again this was to make sure that he museum feel like part of the larger district.

I'm still not sure that the new designs adequately complement the site as well as it could but at least proper steps are being taken to lead the design in the right direction. I always groan when I see a building that screams for notice without enhancing its surroundings and its good to see that the Fisher family have been made to understand a little bit of this.





Images obtained from: www.sfgate.com

Italy To Build World's Largest Suspension Bridge

Plans by the Italian government for the controversial suspension bridge which is to arch between the mainland and Sicily, are to continue despite continued criticism from the public.

The six billion euro, two-and-a-half mile bridge across the Strait of Messina has been seen as a project which, due to the distance it spans, might not be particularly a wise undertaking as the area is prone to earthquakes. "It's true that it costs six billion euros but this is the project and we're not going back on it," Altero Matteoli, the public works minister, told Italian radio.

The vision for this project is not entirely new as Silvio Berlusconi, the prime minister, when he was in office in 2001-2006, first proposed the idea but was quickly abandoned by his center-left successor, Romano Prodi, amid concerns that it would mostly benefit construction firms run by the mafia. Prodi voiced his disdain for the bridge as he labeled it a vanity project and "the most useless and harmful infrastructure plan of the past 100 years!"

But guess who was re-elected prime minister? Yes. Silvio Berlusconi! And he has put the bridge project back on track as he insists that it will be able to handle nearly 5,000 cars an hour as well as high-speed trains, create thousands of jobs, boost tourism and improve transport links between the 'toe' of the Italian mainland and Sicily, replacing old ferry services.

I think that this is a good and innovative idea and disagree with critics that feel that the sheer size of the project make it unfeasible. If Dubai has thought us anything, it is that nothing is impossible. This will be a major icon in Europe when completed and will indeed stimulate the Italian economy though I do think that the six billion euros budgeted for its completion is unrealistic and will be closer to 20 billion when you factor in cost overruns, mismanagement, delays, union interference.




Image obtained from: www.telegraph.co.uk

The New Museum of Liverpool

This new project will seek to build on the success of the old museum which, with limited floor space, could no longer deal with the more than 300,000 annual visits and will be able to better represent the history of the city of Liverpool and can place it within a wider British urban context.

The 72 million pound museum set to open in 2010, is located on the Mann Island site at the Pier Head, at the core of the World Heritage Site on Liverpool's famous waterfront and will be the world's first national museum devoted to the history of a regional city as it reflects Liverpool's global significance through its unique geography, history and culture.

With a total square footage of about 24,000, the museum will be composed of four large gallery spaces, an 180 seat theater for audio/visual and community theater performance, facilities for after-hours events, meetings, after-school clubs and dining in the brasserie. The new building will display 6,000 new exhibits not displayed in the previous building with other interesting additions including a tailor-made gallery for children under six called Little Liverpool and a "history detectives" gallery which charts Liverpool's story from the last ice age to today.

The general goal is to allow the exhibits be capable of incorporating change, to examine and interpret the city as it evolves. Within the new museum there will be ‘anchor’ elements of the displays outlining the milestones of Liverpool’s development, combined with more frequently changing temporary exhibition spaces. This combination of approaches and media will realize the museum’s core value as an engine of learning through a mixture of education and entertainment.

What is most impressive with this project is that despite the economy, the city of Liverpool didn't use this as an excuse to submit a cabinet full of "work change orders" and greatly reduce the scope of the project. They saw this as an opportunity to not only create a landmark building for the city but to also improve their economy. The building will attract more than 750,000 visitors per year including 100,000 learning visits, provide at least 500 construction jobs and 73 direct permanent jobs.




Images obtained from: www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk
For more information, check: www.designbuild-network.com/projects/museum-liv/

Redesigning The Sky Over New York

The sky over New York city is mapped in a dense and intricate geography nearly as complicated as that of the cityscape below and this is a nightmare for New York travelers as delays affect about a third of the area's flights. The problem also ripples out to create a bigger logjam: Because so many aircraft pass through New York's airspace, three-quarters of all holdups nationwide can be traced back to that tangled swath of East Coast sky.

The problem is in a large part due to the fact that more than 2 million flights pass over the city every year with the greater bulk coming from the metropolitan area's three busiest airports: John F. Kennedy, Newark, and LaGuardia. And all that traffic squeezes through a network of aerial routes first laid out for mail planes from the 1920s but redesigned in the Expanded east coast plan during the 50s.

Though this system is safe and there haven't been any mid-air collisions over the US in 22 years, the fact that aircraft are tracked by antiquated, ground-based radar and guided by verbal instructions issued over simplex radios doesn't help matters. So a lot of space given through the troposphere (6 by 6 miles) thus now causing New York to run out of airspace.

Six years ago, congress approved a plan called "The Century of Aviation Re authorization act" which called for a system known as "NextGen." This uses GPS to create a real-time social network in the skies. In theory, it should give pilots the data they need to route themselves without the huge safety cushions. The only problem here is that NextGen requires very expensive hardware: roughly $300,000 in new avionics equipment for every cockpit which is a lot of money for struggling airlines today. Add to this, the nearly 800 new federally funded ground stations that would be needed to relay each plane's location and trajectory to every other plane in the sky and by the time NextGen finally launches in 2025 ,the price tag could reach $42 billion.

In the meantime, the New York-area skies have seen a huge traffic bump over the past two decades which including a 48 percent increase between 1994 and 2004. So the FAA has set out to coax new efficiency from old technology which is really to create a redrawn map of the roadways in the sky. While planes used to fly in and out of the city on a few packed roads, the redesign spreads out the aircraft by adding new arrival posts (exit ramps), departure gates (on-ramps), and takeoff headings (streets leading up to the intercity highways). But the biggest move will be making the space for all these additions. The proposal is to extend the boundaries of this airborne city into a 31,180-square-mile area that stretches from Philadelphia to Albany to Montauk.

The FAA started implementing the first part of the plan—the new takeoff headings—in December 2007 and should have the full strategy in place by 2012. By then the agencies hope to have reduced delays in New York by an average of three minutes per flight. And in a system as interconnected as the US air traffic network, those few minutes could quickly cascade into hours.

Anything to reduce the delays in flights around New York would be a welcomed change but I'm not sure how much of a change this would be. It was projected by the FAA that after complete implementation, there would be "a savings of 9.7 minutes for planes leaving LaGuardia and 1.3 minutes for planes arriving at Kennedy; they'll shave 7.3 and 7.1 minutes off Newark's arrivals and departures, respectively." Still, many experts have disagreed with this and have shown that even if there was time saved and more planes were delivered to New York's airspace, the runways in NY can only accept a certain amount of airplanes per hour by the laws of physics. The airports have been running at maximum acceptance for years and nothing can improve this but more runways.





Image obtained from: www.wired.com