New Jersey: The Latest Architecture and News

In response an outrage that broke out amongst Democrats and Republicans, after House Speaker John Boehner failed to vote for Sandy relief before the end of the Congressional session two days ago, the House of Representatives have approved a $9.7 billion relief measure to aid flood victims of Hurricane Sandy. This is good news, as the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) recently warned that it would soon run out of funding if no measures were taken. Senate approval is likely to come later in the day and a second congressional vote is scheduled to take place on January 15 for a larger $51 billion request.

Understanding the importance of issuing this federal support, AIA President Mickey Jacob has offer Congress three key objects for helping these communities recover.

Read AIA President Jacob’s letter to congress and his three objectives after the break…

Taking place at Princeton University on October 13th from 10:00am-5:30pm, the ‘Performing Architecture’ symposium will bring together significant theorists and practitioners in the fields of architecture and performance and inviting a broader engagement with the artistic and academic community. In parallel with the art world’s return to performance and a renewed search for architecture’s social and political relevance, this symposium seeks to move beyond disciplinary hegemony in the dissemination of architecture today. Including Liz Diller(DS+R), Pedro Gadanho (MoMA), Vito Acconci, Roselee Goldberg, and many others, they hope to offer lasting provocations to how we think of the body, space, structure, and design in the disciplines of performance and architecture – and somewhere between the two. For more information, please visit here.

With ‘Revitalizing Cities’ as the theme, New Jersey Institute of Technology will be hosting the upcoming semi-annual AIAS Northeast Fall Quad Conference in Newark. As current architecture students, they have an invested interest in what the world will become in 5, 10, even 20 years from now. It is our mission to showcase the potential of urban environments, like Newark, and look forward to a progressive future.

Well known for their visionary architecture that people love to visit and go back to time and again, The Jerde Partnership has set out to attract more people through a realistic framework by transforming Atlantic City into the preferred coastal resort destination of the Northeastern United States. By creating a clean, green, safe city that pays homage to its storied history and takes advantage of its unique island setting, the new Atlantic City Tourism District master plan will offer a wide range of attractions and experiences for all ages. By promoting a strategy for redevelopment, phasing, and district-wide improvements, the master plan will serve as a catalyst for Atlantic City’s economic and social uplift. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Our friends at Dwell have shared with us their short film featuring the legendary Michael Graves inside his beautiful Princeton home in which he created out of a disused warehouse. In the film, Graves shares the discoveries he made when renovating his house and thoughts about his career, his practice and universal design.

The film was directed and edited by Gary Nadeau. Continue after the break for the complete list of credits.

With the guidance of their instructor Matthias Hollwich, students Andreas Tjeldflaat and Greg Knobloch from University of Pennsylvania’s School of Design have proposed an alternative to the traditional prisons seen throughout the United States. The innovative high-rise penitentiary acknowledges the fact that nearly two-thirds of the 14,000 inmates released annually from New Jersey correctional facilities will return to prison within five years. 499.SUMMIT offers a solution that intends to reverse that statistic and help inmates successfully transition back into society.

Continue after the break for more.

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The spring 2012 lecture series at the College of Architecture and Design (CoAD) at NJIT started on February 13 with Kiel Moe’s “Matter is But Captured Energy.” All lectures take place on Mondays at 5:30 in Weston Lecture Hall unless otherwise noted, and are free and open to public. The series will conclude with a talk by Preston Scott Cohen on April 19th. More information on the lecture series after the break.

In 2002, the United States Department of Energy initiated the Solar Decathlon – an intense competition challenging collegiate teams to create residences that fuse the most sustainable technologies with functionality, comfort, and of course, aesthetics. Over the course of the past decade, interest in the Decathlon has grown dramatically [be sure to read our previous Solar Decathlon coverage] as the competition has piqued the interest of students from top universities, as well as millions of public followers learning the advantages of energy-efficient, cost-effective housing.

Team New Jersey, a collaborative effort between the New Jersey Institute of Technology and Rutgers University, has designed a handicap accessible net-zero energy prototype featuring low-maintenance concrete construction and the latest green technologies, complete with a striking beach-inspired aesthetic.

More about the residence, including a great video, after the break.

Daniel R. Brenna Jr. of Capital Real Estate Group and architects RMJM unveiled the design for Vista Center, a new LEED Platinum office tower in Trenton, which will be the city’s largest commercial development in decades.

Vista Center is a 25-story, 700,000-square-foot Class A office building planned directly adjacent to the Trenton Transit Center, the second busiest train station on New Jersey’s Northeast Corridor, which runs from Boston to Washington. The transit-oriented development will include 12,000 square feet of ground-level retail, a parking garage for more than 1,140 cars and two public art components – a plaza with a signature sculpture and lobby with a video art installation.

The project is targeting a LEED Platinum certification by the U.S. Green Building Council – the highest sustainability rating offered – which would make it the first Platinum office tower located directly at a Northeast Corridor Hub.

Images after the break.