The American Institute of Architects Los Angeles (AIA|LA) just announced the winners of their 2017 Design Awards honoring Los Angeles based architects and architecture. The ceremony took place Monday, October 30th, at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica, recognizing each of the winners.
New renderings have been revealed of the Renzo Piano Building Workshop-designed Academy of Motion Pictures as the project races toward its 2019 completion date. Located along LA’s Miracle Mile, the museum is striving to become “the world’s premier institution dedicated to the art and science of movies.”
From a pool of over fifty submissions, Resilient by Design have chosen ten winning teams to collaborate with engineers, climate change experts, designers, architects and community members to imagine a better future for The Bay Area in the face of potentially devastating climate change. The winning teams AECOM, BIG, Bionic, TLS, Field Operations, HASSELL, Mithun, Base Landscape, SCAPE and Gensler will spend the next year on a combination of collaborative research projects and site-specific conceptual design solutions.
Developer Strategic Property Partners has announced plans for a new $3 billion 50-acre mixed-use neighborhood in Tampa, Florida. To be known as Water Street Tampa, the multi-phase project will create 9 million square feet of commercial, residential, educational, cultural and entertainment space on a site currently underused and occupied by highways and surface parking.
Architectural Record has released the 2017 edition of its annual list of the “Top 300 Architecture Firms” in the United States. Compiled by Record's sister publication Engineering News-Record, the list ranks firms based on architectural revenue from the previous year (2016). This year, the top 4 firms held fast to their spots, led by Gensler with a record-best $1.19 billion in revenue. Moving into the top 5 was HOK, while the designation of biggest mover in the top 25 belongs to Dallas-based Corgan, who jumped from 22nd place in 2016 to 14th this year.
See the top 50 firms after the break.
At this morning’s press event, The Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA) unveiled the completed renovations to the east end of its museum campus, while also revealing for the first time the full design of their multi-year expansion project designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Gensler.
With the completion of the east wing renovation, which began in February 2016, the museum has created two spacious third-floor galleries by reconfiguring 15,000 square feet of space, allowing for better flexibility in installing the collection and temporary exhibitions.
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Earlier this year, BDOnline released the 2017 edition of the WA 100, their annual survey of the world's largest practices. Ranking the firms by the number of architects they employ, the full report also investigates these firms' financial records and industry trends. The top spots show only slight changes from last year's rankings, with Japan's Nikken Sekkei taking second place from AECOM being perhaps the most notable change. However, the big story behind this year's WA 100 is the rapid growth of #1 firm Gensler, with the firm increasing their lead from last year. The firm now employs almost 800 more architects than any other firm in the world.
"Gensler’s total domination of the rankings continues as it achieves the seemingly impossible task of growing still more after last year’s huge leap in size," says BDOnline, noting that the company's total of 2,570 employed architects represents an increase of almost 1,000 in under 2 years. Gensler's co-chief executive Diane Hoskins explains this growth as the result of expanding overseas while continuing to expand in the US. "It’s not an either/or," she explained to BDOnline.
Read on to see the top 20, or go see the full list of 100 top practices at BDOnline here (for subscribers only).
Gensler has "more than 2,700 active clients, work[ing] across the global economy," as their profile attests. In this interview with Fortune, Arthur Gensler—founder of the firm in question and now 81 years of age—offers insight into his own beginnings, as well as to his company's wild success. With a $1.3 billion revenue bracket last year alone, the largest architecture firm in the world have become "best known for designing interiors – everything from the original Apple Stores to headquarters for Facebook and Airbnb." Read the interview in full, here.
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Gensler New York has revealed designs for a 200,000-square-foot renovation of the recently landmarked 601 Lexington Avenue, commonly known by its former title, Citicorp Center. The plans will update the entry plaza as well as add a new atrium space housing a range of dining and retail options, giving the site a rejuvenated space for the entire neighborhood to utilize.
The project will be the biggest change to the unique building since its construction in 1977 and famed engineering crisis the following year.
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An eclectic stacked skyscraper may become downtown Los Angeles’ newest landmark. Designed by Gensler, the 52-story tower at 1600 South Figueroa would add to Central LA’s current development boom, contributing a mix of housing, retail, offices and a hotel to the area located near the Staples Center and LA Live Entertainment district.
Gensler's Shanghai Tower has won the 2015 Emporis Skyscraper Award. Selected from over 300 buildings of over 100 meters in height completed in 2015, the Emporis jury was impressed by the Shanghai Tower's "elegant spiraling cylindrical shape," and the "extraordinary energy efficiency" provided, in part, by the building's double-skin facade.
Currently the world's second tallest building at 632 meters, the Shanghai Tower becomes the second Chinese building to win the Emporis award, after Zaha Hadid Architects' Wangjing SOHO took the prize last year. In addition to Gensler's first-place project, Emporis also recognized 9 runners-up including Rafael Viñoly Architects' 432 Park Avenue, Arquitectonica's Icon Bay in Miami, and the Evolution Tower in Moscow by Kettle Collective and RMJM Edinburgh. Read on to see all ten awarded projects.
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The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) has named Gensler’s Shanghai Tower as the 2016 Best Tall Building Worldwide, citing its “innovative design scheme in traditional Shanghainese architectural traditions.” The building was selected from among four regional winners, which included BIG’s VIA 57 West (Americas), Jean Nouvel’s The White Walls (Europe) and Orange Architects’ The Cube (Africa).
The British government have come to the realisation that the Palace of Westminster—the iconic UK Houses of Parliament designed by Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin—is in desperate need of full-scale restoration and renovation. The decision to move ahead with the plans will be costly and inconvenient; aside from the need to repair the structure, the UK government is bracing itself for eye-watering "relocation" fees. In response to this, Gensler have proposed a temporary parliament on the banks of the River Thames.
R2 Companies and Gensler have teamed up to revitalize the Milwaukee Post Office building and convert it into a mixed-use destination with retail and an activated riverfront arcade. The master plan aims to transform the brutalist building, which is one of Milwaukee's largest and most iconic, by carefully considering the existing site and accordingly defining an identity for Milwaukee's downtown.
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The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) has released some of the facts and figures behind the projects appearing in their recent book, 100 of the World’s Tallest Buildings. The construction of tall buildings requires collaboration between many different companies and firms and the efforts of hundreds of people, but a few select firms have been responsible for more of the design and engineering achievements than any other.
Continue reading to see the 18 design architects that have contributed multiple buildings to the top 100 list.
The American Institute of Architects (AIA)'s Committee on Architecture for Education (CAE) has announced the winners of the 2016 CAE Education Facility Design Awards, which honor educational facilities that “serve as an example of a superb place in which to learn, furthering the client’s mission, goals, and educational program, while demonstrating excellence in architectural design.”
This year's theme was “Visioning and Re-Visioning," which focused on "the ways in which pedagogical innovation and cutting-edge design impact and influence each other." The AIA also notes that education facility design may now be more important than ever, as recent studies have indicated that a positive learning environment can affect a child’s academic progress over a year by as much as 25%.
Find out which projects received awards, after the break.
Architectural Record has released the latest edition of its annual list of the “Top 300 Architecture Firms” in the United States, based on architectural revenue from the previous year (2015). Gensler, which became the first firm to surpass $1 billion in revenue in 2014, held on to the top spot with earnings of $1,181,030,000 in 2015. Los Angeles-based AECOM maintained its number 2 position after a revenue increase of more than 30 percent, making it the largest publicly traded company in the LA area. Perkins+Will continued their steady climb up the list, finishing at number 3.
See the top 50 after the break.
Found in places as diverse as the Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon, Willis Tower, and Tokyo Skytree, glass bottom observation decks have become the favorite engineering marvel of thrill seekers looking for a new perspective on the world. Now, the U.S. Bank Tower in downtown Los Angeles has upped the ante for adrenaline-spiking structures – affixing a glass side to the building’s facade. Spanning from a window on the 70th story to a terrace on the 69th, the 45-foot-long chute opened to the public on Saturday, providing those brave enough to ride it with unprecedented views of the city.
