Photograph by Roger Edwards.

We have been keeping close watch on the progress of Barclays Center, SHoP’s 650,000+ stadium for Brooklyn at Atlantic Yards.  The project has an interesting history as the client, Bruce Ratner, originally looked to Gehry to design an urban solution and iconic image for the 22 acre site, prior to teaming with  Ellerbe Becket and SHoP.   As we’ve reported earlier, SHoP’s response has developed to become a sweeping pre-fabricated volume, with a perforated latticework steel skin and a transparent ground level.   Photographer Roger Edwards has shared some recent photos with us of the construction process as the building is quickly beginning to take shape.

Check out more photos after the break.

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© SHoP Architects

Local New York architect Gregg Pasquarelli of SHoP Architects recently gave a speech at the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture’s Teachers Seminar 2011. He addresses numerous issues that are currently being debated within the profession where the theme of the three-day seminar was “Performative Practices.” The roles of the architect and builder, the architect and engineer, etc. The roles of architects as instruction makers who outsource to specialists in façade or fabrication may not be as clear as in previous generations. His own firm is prime example of the shifting of roles. SHoP has branched off with its own SHoP Construction subsidiary that is managing the fabrication of their design for the new Barclays Center rusted steel skin. More details after the break. read more »

SHoP Architects

Ousting 17 other companies from Europe, USA and Africa, SHoP Architects was awarded first prize for their design of the Botswana Innovation Hub.  The 270,000 sqf office and research building will be a testament to Botswana’s support of research, as well as her promotion of innovation and entrepreneurship.

More about the winning design after the break. read more »

Bruce Ratner originally looked to Frank Gehry to design the Atlantic Yards’ basketball arena, a 22 acre development project in Brooklyn.  Gehry’s scheme looked promising as the arena and surrounding buildings were carefully categorized in different zones and then reassembled to create “startling urban moments.”  When Gehry was fired early in the summer and replaced by Kansas-based firm Ellerbe Becket, many were worried that the project would not be realized with the care Gehry had given it.  When Becket’s original design seemed below par, Ratner quickly hired SHoP Architects to get the design back on track.

More about SHoP’s addition to the Atlantic Yards after the break. read more »

The Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum will celebrate outstanding achievement in design this fall with its 10th annual National Design Awards program. Today, Cooper-Hewitt Director Paul Warwick Thompson announced the winners and finalists of the 2009 National Design Awards, which recognize excellence across a variety of disciplines.

Among several categories, some of the winners are:

Corporate Achievement: Walker Art Center
Architecture Design: SHoP Architects
Interior Design: Tsao & McKown Architects
Landscape Design: Hood Design

Seen at Bustler. Images of the winners after the break. read more »

Our dear friends over at CASE have been featured on Archinect´s Working out of the Box, a a series of features presenting architects who have applied their architecture backgrounds to alternative career paths. Personally, I don´t agree with this as I don´t feel that what they do is an “alternative” path, but something that should be into the core of any practice.

On CASE: CASE Design is a design technology consultancy based in NYC. CASE provides strategic advising to AEC firms seeking to transform their practices through technological innovation. We help our clients identify and implement technologies that enable more effective coordination, communication, collaboration and information exchange.

We featured an interview with SHoP a while ago, with Federico Negro from CASE. Also, we featured the construction progress of the 290 Mulberry St project, which was run by Federico while still at SHoP.

Read the complete article here.

SHoP Architects PC is a New York based practice we meet a few months ago. We knew a little about them, because of the PS1 Competition they won back in 2000, the Porter House condos in NY -a great example of urban renovation- and the East River Waterfront Renovation, currently in progress.

Something that interested me before getting to know them in person, was the fact that they stated “we believe in both ideas and profitability”, as a middle point between academia and service firms – something that some architects escape from.

During our conversation, they told us something very important for current practices: how to manage the growth of your office, how to work in a multidisciplinary environment and how to get the most out of computer aided design technologies, not just in terms of design, but in streamlining the construction process and create new efficiencies and cost-savings.

After the break, the office profile and some selected works from SHoP.

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290 Mulberry is defined by its context through a direct response to zoning and building code regulations. Located in Nolita, New York, this building is bound on the north by Houston Street and on the west by the historic Puck Building on Mulberry Street.  A zoning district requirement specifying a masonry enclosure for the two street walls created an opportunity to respond directly to the Puck Building, one of New York’s most recognizable masonry buildings.  We then focused the idea on the reinterpretation of local laws and regulations with a contemporary response to masonry construction and detailing that doesn’t attempt to imitate the past.

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