American City: St. Louis Architecture / Robert Sharoff + William Zbaren
When architectural journalist Robert Sharoff and photographer William Zbaren created the series American City, the intention was to celebrate some of the States’ most architecturally impressive cities. For their St. Louis publication, the team has produced a beautiful large format book highlighting 50 projects scattered across the city. Organized with incredible photographs and insightful text, the book is the first of its kind, since the 1920s, to document the architecture of St. Louis.
More about the publication after the break.
Fez House / Alvaro Leite Siza Vieira
Designed and built by Alvaro Leite Siza Vieira, the Fez House is located in Porto, Portugal. This home and studio space, ‘the work of my life’ according to Siza, took 12 years to complete, assembling the site, designing the house, and then building it. The home’s size is almost statuesque with its lines and angles.
Architects: Alvaro Leite Siza Vieira
Location: Porto, Portugal
Project Year: 2010
Photographs: FG+SG – Fernando Guerra, Sergio Guerra
Giant Interactive Group Corporate Headquarters / Morphosis Architects
Architects: Morphosis Architects
Location: Shanghai, China
Client: Giant Interactive Group
Project area: 253,300 sqm
Project year: 2006 – 2010
Photographs: Iwan Baan
Edcouch-Elsa ISD Fine Arts Center / Kell Muñoz Architects
Architects: Kell Muñoz Architects
Location: Edcouch, Texas, USA
Conceptual design: Henry R. Muñoz III
Project architect: Ronald J. Biediger, AIA
Project designer: John H. Kell, FAIA
MEP engineer: Goetting & Associates
Structural engineer: Hinojosa Engineering
General contractor: Jamail Construction
Civil engineer: Noe Garza Engineers
Project area: 31,000 sq. ft.
Project year: 2007
Photographs: Chris Cooper Photography
Candoso S. Martinho School Centre / Pitagoras Arquitectos
Architects: Pitagoras Arquitectos
Location: Guimaraes, Portugal
Project area: 1,000 sqm
Project year: 2006 – 2009
Photographs: Luis Ferreira
College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, UMINN / Steven Holl Architects
An inspiration to all, the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University of Minnesota stands as an intriguing building that glows during the late-night working hours of its inhabitants. Completed by Steven Holl Architects in 2002, the building has received much recognition for it’s enlightening and unifying qualities, an example being the Progressive Architecture Award in 1990.
More on the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture and Steven Holl Architects after the break.
Alma Lane House / Boyd Cody Architects
Architects: Boyd Cody Architects
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Project area: 99 sqm
Project year: 2006
Photographs: Paul Tierney / Boyd Cody Architects
Graticule House / David Jameson Architect
Graticule House is located in Great Falls, Virginia. Immersed within its forested site, the home’s stark white color stands out against the natural browns and greens that surround it. Designed by David Jameson Architect, interior spaces merge into exterior spaces creating a unique dialogue with the home and its site.
Architects: David Jameson Architect
Location: Great Falls, Virginia, USA
Contractor: MT Puskar Construction
Project Year: 2009
Photographs: Nic Lehoux Photography
AD Recommends: Best of the Week
Here’s five great projects you may have missed from last week! Check them all after the break.
Lantern Pavilion / AWP / Atelier Oslo
A place able to shelter, invite and encourage more social events and to sustain new practices. Since the site is visible from afar, and from the railway separating thèse two distinct areas of the city it was essential to create an object that could be experienced from distance and reveal the square (read more…)
P.S.1 YAP 2011 entry: “Bottle Service” by MASS Design Group
As we reported last week, Interboro Partners’ “Holding Pattern” was selected as the winner of the 2011 YAP organized by the MoMA and the MoMA P.S.1. As usual, and in order to extend the debate, we are presenting you the other entries.
We now present you “Bottle Service” by MASS Design Group. The practice has offices in Boston, Kigali and Monrovia, with a focus on resource-limited settings. They combine design and construction, accompaniment, and research to affect change, construct agency, and develop innovative solutions ranging from unique buildings to the development of national standard and policies.
Their entry proposes a strategy to involve the community (residents, students, artists, etc) during the construction of the installation, using materials (tyvek, plastic bottles) that will be recycled after the summer.
More information after the break:
AD Round Up: Presidents’ Day Special
Many of you are still enjoying your three-day weekend thanks to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. We wanted to join the celebration, with a special Round Up of previously featured government buildings. Check them all after the break.
US Census Bureau Headquarters / SOM
Situated on 80 wooded acres of the Suitland Federal Center near downtown Washington, D.C., the new 2.5-million-square-foot headquarters for the U.S. Census Bureau houses all the Bureau’s 6,000 employees. The Bureau’s previous workplace model was a 1930s ideal with offices arranged along long corridors – a model so highly codified for government workplaces that entire building typologies (finger buildings, etc) were created to accommodate the idea (read more…)
White Street Loft / WORKac
The 6,000 sqf White Street Loft apartment encompasses a full ground floor, half a basement and one third of a sub-basement. The client, a family of four, love to entertain, and for more than four years WORKac collaborated with the family to create a new space for urban living that embraces diversity of materials and spaces, kinetic interventions to transform spaces and a highly developed sense of whimsy and the unexpected.
Architects: WORKac
Location: New York City, New York, USA
Project Area: 6,000 sqf
Project Year: 2011
Photographs: Elizabeth Felicella
Habitat for Urban Wildlife / Ifat Finkelman_Ofer Bilik Architects
Tel-Aviv based designers, Ifat Finkelman_Ofer Bilik Architects, have submitted their competition winning entry, a Habitat for Urban Wildlife, which repurposes existing Israeli water towers. Additional images and a description of both the project and the competition after the break.
PRAXIS 11+12
For their latest PRAXIS, Eleven Architects/Twelve Conversations, the editors moved away from organizing the issue around a single theme to, instead, focusing on a variety of architectural aspects. The result is a rather cohesive reading, as the different ideas are fused into a continuous conversation. The issue still highlights great projects from the featured architects, yet the projects take more of a supporting role, as the real focus is the conversation that jumps from sustainability to design influences and materials to even the broader implications of design on the built environment.
More about the issue after the break.
Vila Mon Repos / Ravnikar Potokar Arhitekturni
Architects: Ravnikar Potokar Arhitekturni biro, d.o.o. – Vojteh Ravnikar, Tanja Košuta, Robert Potokar
Location: Bled, Slovenia
Client: IEDC-Bled School of Management
Structural engineering: Elea ic d.o.o., Ljubljana
Mechanical engineering: Eso projekt d.o.o., Ljubljana
Electrical engineering: Proelit d.o.o., Ljubljana
Landscape design: Tanja Simonič, BA
Construction: Energoplan d.d., Ljubljana
Project area: 1,372 sqm
Project year: 2004 – 2008
Photographs: Andraž Kavčič, Peter Krapež
Municipal Pools of Povoação / Barbosa & Guimarães
Architects: Barbosa & Guimarães / José António Barbosa & Pedro Lopes Guimarães
Location: Povoação, São Miguel, Açores, Portugal
Collaboration: Miguel Pimenta, Paula Fonseca, José Marques, Henrique Dias, Marta Horta, Luís Monteiro, Amandine Evrard
Structural Engineering: Época / António Martins
Hydraulic Engineering: dhv / Dias da Costa
Electrical Engineering: rga / Paulo Oliveira
Mechanical Engineering: rga / Pedro Albuquerque
Contractor: Irmãos Cavaco
Project Direction: Tolda Abreu, João Ribeiro
Project Year: 2007-2008
Photographs: João Ferrand
College of Fellows for the American Institue of Architects Announced for 2011
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) announced 104 members to be elevated to its prestigious College of Fellows (FAIA) at the 2011 National AIA Convention, held in New Orleans this May. The Fellowship program acknowledges those who have made a ‘significant contribution to architecture and society and who have achieved a standard of excellence in the profession’ a distinguished group of individuals fewer than 2,700 from over 80,000 members. Here is a complete list of the newly appointed 104 FAIA members.
Included amongst the 104 elevated members is Thomas Phifer. Phifer’s North Carolina Museum of Art was awarded a 2011 AIA Honor Award, and was chosen from our ArchDaily readers as one of the Building of the Year recipients. Our interview with Thomas Phifer at his office in New York can be found here.
Swedbank’s New International Headquarters / 3XN
The new Headquarters will be one of Sweden’s most modern and innovative office buildings – focusing on transparency, Scandinavian simplicity and dynamic social environments. Behind the project is the Danish Architect 3XN in collaboration with Humlegården Fastigheter, representing the property owner Länsförsäkringar Liv.
More images and complete press release after the break.
National Taichung Digital Library / J. J. Pan & Partners, Architects & Planners
J.J. Pan & Partners, Architects & Planners present their design for the National Taichung Digital Library, a symbol of the constant stream of knowledge to which the digital age has exposed us. The theme of the architecture is one of a boundless leisure spot of creativity and the dynamic flow of information.
More on this project after the break.
Krautgarten / Caramel Architekten
Architects: Caramel Architekten
Location: Vienna, Austria
Client: Bauhilfe Gemeinnützige gmbh
Project area: 2,705 sqm
Project year: 2007 – 2010
Photographs: Hertha Hurnaus
New Landmark for Manufacturers Trust Company Building
Last week, as the NY Times reported, the interior of 510 Fifth Avenue received landmark protection by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. The building, designed by Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill back in the 1950s, served as a branch of the former Manufacturers Trust Bank (later the Chase Bank Building) and is situated on a dense Manhattan block near the New York Public Library, Cook+Fox’s recent One Bryant Park, and the park itself.
More about the landmarked interior after the break.
