Studio Gang: The Latest Architecture and News

Studio Gang and Denver-based real estate firm Urban Villages have revealed a new mixed-use, 13-story hotel in Denver, Colorado. The 145,000-sf building is called ‘Populus’ and will be located next to Civic Center Park. Opening to the city and the Rocky Mountains beyond, the hotel aims to become a new social center in downtown. On it's prominent corner site, the building was made to connect Denver’s civic, arts, and commercial districts.

Snøhetta was selected as the winner of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Competition. Selected from three shortlisted proposals in the last step of the contest, including Studio Gang and Henning Larsen, the winning project “is informed by the President’s personal reflections on the landscape, his commitment to environmental stewardship, and the periods of quiet introspection and civic engagement that marked his life”.

+ 13

When reflecting on recycling, sustainability, measures to take, and innovative technological solutions, one cannot help but think that there are also familiar approaches that should be taken into consideration. In fact, when examining the impact of the built environment on the climate, one notes that in many countries, 80% of the buildings that will exist in 2050 have already been built. The most effective form of sustainability may, therefore, be saving energy by eliminating or minimizing new constructions, and by avoiding the demolition of existing structures.

That is what adaptive reuse stands for: instilling a new purpose on an existing “leftover building.” Nowadays, the refashioning process is becoming essential because of numerous issues related to the climate emergency, plot and construction costs, a saturation of land, and a change in living trends.

+ 14

Studio Gang and SCAPE are working in collaboration with Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects on the Arkansas Arts Center currently under construction in MacArthur Park, Little Rock. The work is being realized through a public-private partnership, with a $31 million commitment from the City of Little Rock, funded through a hotel-tax revenue bond. The project will house the Arkansas Arts Center Foundation Collection, which includes 14,000 works of art from around the world.

+ 5

Henning Larsen, Snøhetta, and Studio Gang were selected as finalists to design the new Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in North Dakota. The teams were selected from 12 firms, and the final design will need to respond to the ecology of the Badlands and embrace the complexities of Theodore Roosevelt’s life.

+ 6

Paul Clemence has just released his latest photographs of the Studio Gang-designed 11 Hoyt tower in Downtown Brooklyn, New York. Almost completed, the residential development is characterized by an eye-catching crafted precast concrete and glass façade.

+ 37

New renderings were unveiled for Heatherwick’s first residential project in New York, currently under construction. The recently dubbed “Lantern House”, in West Chelsea’s neighborhood, will join a series of developments, expanding the High Line's facades.

+ 18

Open More Doors is a section by ArchDaily and the MINI Clubman that takes you behind the scenes of the world’s most innovative offices through exciting video interviews and an exclusive photo gallery featuring each studio’s workspace.

This month, we talked with American architecture and urban design firm Studio Gang and how their Chicago office focuses on ecological biodiversity, collaborative multidisciplinary projects, and finding potential in historic structures.

Part of the Mission Rock master plan in San Francisco, MVRDV unveiled their contribution, in partnership with Perry Architects, a 23-story mixed-use building, including offices and residential units. The firm joins other big names like Studio Gang, Henning Larsen, and WORKac in designing one of the vertical entities in this waterfront.

The first phase of the planning vision for Mission Rock in San Francisco was initiated. The masterplan developed by the San Francisco Giants and Tishman Speyer put in place four buildings designed by internationally renowned architecture firms MVRDV, Studio Gang, Henning Larsen, and WORKac. The scheme also includes a 5-acre waterfront park by SCAPE.

Studio Gang and SCAPE have broken ground on the new Arkansas Arts Center (AAC) in Little Rock. The current facility will be transformed, and the project includes a landscape design that will connect the AAC with the surrounding MacArthur Park. The project was made to embrace the Arkansas Arts Center’s history and create a contemporary space for the future.

On August 12, 1833, the Town of Chicago had roughly 200 inhabitants. Four years later, in 1837, it was upgraded to The City of Chicago – an interesting fact given that there are still 19 incorporated towns in Illinois. The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 killed 300 people, destroyed about 3.3 square miles (9 km2), and left more than 100,000 residents homeless. However, by that time Chicago had become the world’s fastest-growing city and its population had risen over 300,000 inhabitants. The fire meant these ambitious citizens had to start again.

+ 25

With admirable strength, the city was reborn from the ashes and some of Chicago’s best architecture was constructed immediately after. Structures like the Rookery Building (1888, Frank Lloyd Wright), the Auditorium Building (1889, Louis Sullivan) and the Monadnock Building (1893, Burnham & Root, Holabird & Roche) are a few examples of the high standards the city was aiming for.

Since then, Chicago has only continued adding value to its urban grid and new buildings have been progressively enhancing the city’s beautiful skyline. This year Chicago celebrates the 2019-2020 Biennial and the city has plenty to offer. But, where to start?

If you love architecture, here is a list of buildings – old and new – that will help you understand, internalize and love Chicago’s built environment.

Shall we begin?

+ 9

Located in the meatpacking district, adjacent to the High Line, in New York City, 40 Tenth Avenue, a 10-story office tower designed by Studio Gang is now ready to welcome its first tenants. With a distinctive structural system, the building twists in order not to cast his shadow on the surrounding, responding to the solar angles.

Studio Gang has broken ground on the American Museum of Natural History Expansion in New York. Called the Richard Gilder Center, the project held its groundbreaking ceremony on June 12 to kick off construction. Designed by Jeanne Gang, the $383 million Center was first proposed seven years ago. The project was made to link a range of museum buildings for better circulation throughout the campus.

+ 12

What happens when the sensor-imbued city acquires the ability to see – almost as if it had eyes? Ahead of the 2019 Shenzhen Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture (UABB), titled "Urban Interactions," ArchDaily is working with the curators of the "Eyes of the City" section at the Biennial to stimulate a discussion on how new technologies – and Artificial Intelligence in particular – might impact architecture and urban life. Here you can read the “Eyes of the City” curatorial statement by Carlo Ratti, the Politecnico di Torino and SCUT.

“We all live in an ecosystem; we just don’t know it. When it comes to urban areas, people have an ecological blind spot.” — Seth Magle, Director, Lincoln Park Zoo Urban Wildlife Institute, Chicago.

The advance of AI technologies can make it feel as if we know everything about our cities—as if all city dwellers are counted and accounted for, our urban existence fully monitored, mapped, and predicted.

The Studio Gang-designed 11 Hoyt has topped out in Brooklyn to its full height of 620 feet. Offering 481 luxury residential condominiums, with interiors by Michaelis Boyd Associates, 11 Hoyt features a scalloped façade comprised of exquisitely crafted, shimmering cast concrete and glass, animated by bays that appear to peel away from the building and change as sunlight moves across them throughout the day.

+ 27