Infrastructures: The Latest Architecture and News

The AIA has issued a “comprehensive look yet at the built environment’s role in economic recovery, highlighting six specific policy steps that will generate jobs and help grow the American economy.” Coming on the eve of President Obama’s major jobs initiative, the report cites George Mason University economist Stephen J. Miller in arguing that every $1 million in new construction spending supports “28.5 full-time, year-round-equivalent jobs.”

Miller and the AIA blame tight credit markets blocking potential progress in this area. The publication, “The Built Environment’s Role in the Recovery,” is issued with this problem in mind. “We’re putting these recommendations forward now because it’s time for the Administration and Congress to get real about creating an environment in which people are willing to lend and borrow,” said AIA President Clark Manus, FAIA, quoted in a recent AIA press release. “When credit flows to worthy projects, it unleashes the job creation potential of the American economy.”

IN&EDIT Architecture shared with us their proposal for the Passenger Terminal Building international competition which included four vehicular bridges across the Shenzhen River. The project aims to emulate how trees are organisms that stand by themselves, so their shape has an inherent, structural rationality. As a result, public flow through the trunk and roots will guide pedestrians from one riverside to the other. More images and architects’ description after the break.

The Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art Flip a Strip competition challenged designers around the country to re-imagine the suburban strip mall as an urban typology, proposing an alternative to the ubiquitous developments which have emerged as an economic response to a rapidly outward expanding residential market and the availability of inexpensive land.

In successful cities around the world, more and more people are leaving their cars behind and returning to the healthy and resilient alternatives of walking and cycling.

In January 2010, Copeland Associates Architects were commissioned by the Auckland Harbour Bridge Pathway Charitable Trust to work on a proposal for a pathway for walking and cycling connected onto the iconic Auckland Harbour Bridge. The objective of this project is to deliver the most critical link in the Auckland Region’s walking and cycling network and to energize ongoing improvements to walking and cycling facilities on both sides of the bridge. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Architect: EDGE Studio, Pfaffmann & Associates Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania EDGE Studio Design Team: Gary Carlough AIA, Jonathan Golli, Matt Fineout AIA, Stephen Mrdjenovich Pfaffmann & Associates Design Team: Rob Pfaffmann AIA, Carl Bergamini RA, Erik Hokanson Completion Date: 2011 Photography: Carl Bergamini, Pfaffmann & Associates

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The existing airport in Baku currently serves both international and domestic flights. The local airport authority is currently in the process of building a new international terminal building. RSA Design Group was asked to submit a proposal for the renovation of the existing building. The renovated structure would be repurposed as a domestic terminal, with all international flights passing through the new terminal building. More about the Heydar Aliyev International Airport after the break.

Venice is commonly regarded as one of the wonders of the world, attracting over 17 million tourists each year. However, the city of Venice faces ongoing problems that threaten its ability to stay above water. The city’s flooding issues are notorious around the world. Every year water surges through its legendary labyrinth of streets wreaking havoc on architectural gems such as the Palazzo San Marco. With its architecture under threat, and dwindling population as many young people flock to the mainland, it is appropriate to think of Venice as a dying relic.