ArchitectureWeek People and Places

Milstein Hall, a new architecture building at Cornell University, in Ithaca, New York, was designed by OMA with Kendall/ Heaton Associates Architects. Photo: © Iwan Baan

Milstein Hall by OMA, at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, connects with an existing building as a rigidly orthogonal second floor, appearing to float above the ground, using deep cantilevers, slender columns and a glazed ground floor.

The uppermost level of the 47,000-square-foot (4,400-square-meter) addition contains studio and classrooms, with a nearly floor-to-ceiling ribbon of glazing admitting light on three sides and with skylights providing light from above. Behind this curtain wall, large steel diagonal elements suggest the box trusses that make it possible for the building to appear at times to float.

Upper-floor plan rendering. Image: OMA

Designed by the Rotterdam, Netherlands-based Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) with local architect KHA Architects, the building's aesthetics recall other recent designs, such as the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre in Dallas, Texas.

Milstein Hall has received an Honor Award in the Architecture category of the 2013 AIA National Design Awards. OMA partner Shohei Shigematsu, director of the New York City office, led the design, along with Rem Koolhaas. The hall's studios opened for students in late August 2011.

The building cantilevers over a campus street. Photo: © Iwan Baan

At the building's middle, a domed concrete volume appears to bubble up from below grade with its top just barely connecting with the floor of the second level. A shallow and glazed arched opening in the concrete along one side exposes a large basement-level space.

A series of bridges and arching stairs cross inside the ground-floor level of Milstein Hall. Photo: © Iwan Baan

Jury Comments

A powerful parti with emphasis on transparency places the entire design school on display to the campus in largely successful ways.

The hall is praised by users for its “transactional” qualities: The college’s activities have become far more visually accessible within the Cornell campus; spaces created are connective between Sibley and Rand Halls; and functional relocations—such as the design library—have enhanced communication between student cohorts within the college.

Inside the basement-level domed space. Photo: © Philippe Ruault

The exposed systems and relaxed social ambience tolerate and celebrate the creative clutter created by students.

The dramatic insertion of the new program in relationship to the existing buildings and site creates exciting new conditions while posing a series of creative opportunities for future uses and artistic additions by the college (some already underway).

Milstein Hall section drawing. Image: OMA

Completed in mid-2011, Milstein Hall is the first new building for the university's College of Architecture, Art and Planning in more than 100 years.

Project Credits

Architect:OMA
Architect of Record:KHA Architects, LLC
Client: Cornell University
Acoustical Consultant: DHV V.B.
Audio/Visual Consultant: Acentech
Curtain Design: Inside Outside
Elevator Consultant: Persohn/Hahn Associates, Inc.
Engineer – Civil: T.G. Miller P.C. (Site and Grading); GIE Niagara Engineering Inc. P.C. (Site Utilities)
Engineer – MEP/FP: Plus Group Consulting Engineers PLLC
Engineer – Structural: Robert Silman Associates, P.C.
Façade Design and Engineering Consultant: Front, Inc.
Graphic Design: 2x4, Inc.
IT/Data/Security Consultant: Archi-Technology
Landscape Architect: Scape Landscape Architecture PLLC
Lighting Consultant: Tillotson Design Associates, Inc.
Roofing Consultant: BPD Roof Consulting, Inc.
Sustainability Consultant: BVM Engineering

Project Details

Materials: Steel, concrete, glass
Energy Use Intensity: (not available)
Number of Floors: 3 (2 above ground, 1 below)
Building Area: 47,000 square feet (4,400 square meters)

A plaza with white seating under the rear cantilever of the building. Photo: Iwan Baan

HEAD Architecture designed House 3098, a three-story home in the Shep Mun Kap village of Hong Kong's Lantau Island. Photo: Graham Uden

HEAD Architecture has designed a home that the firm believes could serve as an architecturally high-quality prototype for the village homes program in Hong Kong's New Territories. House 3098 is a three-story cast-in-place concrete structure that emphasizes possibility while complying with the policy's limitations for building height, area, construction type and other restrictions.

The front and rear elevations of the house provide operable floor-to-ceiling glazing, admitting light and air to all spaces. The rooms of House 3098 are organized around a skylit three-story atrium space that provides daylight and stack ventilation.

Ground-floor kitchen and dining spaces. Photo: Graham Uden

Increasing the sense of openness, glass is also used for guardrails and many doors. Bamboo floors and LED lighting have been installed throughout the house. A rooftop patio provides unobstructed views of the surrounding landscape, and support for a future green roof has been provided.

Looking down and across the atrium space. Photo: Graham Uden

In Hong Kong since 1972, a policy has existed that entitles every indigenous adult male villager in the New Territories to apply to build a small house within their village. So long as these homes adhere to a set of prescribed limitations, the buildings are exempt from a number of permitting and design-review requirements.

House 3098 master bedroom. Photo: Graham Uden

In addition to its patent gender bias, the New Territories Exempted House Policy, also known as the Small House Policy, critics claim that the policy is unsustainable and has produced poor-quality homes and public health and planning problems in villages throughout Hong Kong. Abuse and corruption are also cited as widespread.

Rooftop patio and skylight over atrium. Photo: Graham Uden

Among the highlighted restrictions of the Small House Policy are these limitations:

May not exceed three stories.
May not exceed 8.23 meters (27 feet) in height.
Roofed-over area may not exceed 65 square meters (700 square feet).
Limited to reinforced concrete and brick construction.
Balconies are limited to one building elevation.

Firm's video of the architectural photography session. Video: Graham Uden/ Courtesy HEAD Architecture

Project Credits

Architect:HEAD Architecture
Developer: Oceanic Properties Limited
Photographer: Graham Uden

Looking across circulation space toward stairs and master bedroom. Photo: Graham Uden

Interior stairs. Photo: Graham Uden

Ground-floor dining area. Photo: Graham Uden

Study adjacent to master bedroom. Photo: Graham Uden

Bathroom. Photo: Graham Uden

LPA, Inc. designed a new Performing Arts Center for the Arcadia High School campus in Arcadia, California. Photo: RMA Photography

Constructed on a 4.2-acre site at the northwest end of the Arcadia High School campus, a new 40,000 square-foot (3,700-square-meter) theater venue has been completed, in Arcadia, California. The Arcadia High School Performing Arts Center was designed, with a particular focus on music, by LPA and built by McCarthy Building Companies.

The main performance hall accommodates up to 1,200 people, with seating on ground-floor and mezzanine levels, while the stage can accommodate up to 150 musicians. This space also uses adjustable accoustic panels that can be configured based on the needs of each performance.

The 1200-seat performance hall of the Performing Arts Center. Photo: RMA Photography

The building's entry foyer is a multistory, glazed volume that fronts an adjacent street, with a grand staircase leading up to a mezzanine level balcony.

Building foyer and main stair. Photo: RMA Photography

Other key elements of the building include three classrooms adjacent to the main hall, a large orchestra room with sound-proof practice rooms, instrument storage, a library, a 125-seat drama performance space, and a dance room. Support spaces include dressing rooms, a backstage facility for prop and costume storage, and stage craft areas.

Built with a sloping concrete floor, the steel frame structure features an exterior of glass, smooth plaster panels, and brick. Interior finishes include cabinetry for music instrument storage, and multiple flooring types such as wood, ceramic tile, carpet, terrazzo, and concrete.

North elevation overview. Photo: RMA Photography

The $20-million building opened in October 2012 with a benefit concert headlined by Paul Anka. An auditorium was part of the Arcadia High School campus master plan when the new school was built in 1952, however funding for such a project was not secured until 2007.

Project Details

Client: Arcadia Unified School District
Architect: LPA, Inc. of Irvine, California
Builder: McCarthy Building Companies.
Building Area: 40,000 square feet (3,700 square meters)
Materials: steel, concrete, glass, brick, composite aluminum, cement plaster, gypsum plaster
EUI: (not available)

Taj Mahal, in Agra, India, designed by Emperor Shah Jahan, 1630 to 1653.

Color sketch by Ralph Rapson, from Ralph Rapson Sketches and Drawings from Around the World, courtesy of the Afton Press.

On my first trip to India, I had been advised to see the Taj Mahal by full moon, if possible. Built in Agra by Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his beloved wife, the white marble structure stands amid dozens of acres of landscaped promenades and reflecting pools.

The crowds of tourists had vanished by the time I reached the Taj, and I was virtually alone as I walked the grounds, which were bathed in milky moonlight. It was a profound experience, equaled in my life only by similar viewings of the Acropolis and Machu Picchu. – Ralph Rapson

Contribute your sketch for consideration.

A new dormitory building has been designed by Oslo, Norway-based C.F. Møller for University of Southern Denmark, in Odense. Image: C.F. Møller

C.F. Møller has designed a new 250-residence student housing project on the Odense, Denmark campus of the University of Southern Denmark. The project will comprise three interconnected 14-story towers on a gently sloping site, linking the 1966 campus with a newer research park designed by the firm in 2009.

Axonometric plan view of typical residence floor. Image: C.F. Møller

The dorm rooms, which occupy the second through thirteenth levels, are located on the outer faces of the three towers, where each will enjoy views of the countryside all without overlooking neighboring rooms, thanks to the building's form. Each unit also includes a private balcony, increases their appeal and provides shading to help manage solar gain.

Interior tower view looking toward the central kitchen and commons. Image: C.F. Møller

In the current design, the three towers are arranged in a generally pinwheel fashion around a central space, which on most residential floors is occupied by a sprawling commons that includes kitchen, dining, and living spaces. The inside corner of each tower comprises circulation spaces including corridors and a staircase core, all of which serve to buffer the dorm rooms from the commons. The predominantly glazed central commons areas are also a visual counterpoint to the more enclosed dorm-room towers.

Plaza and ground-floor of the dormitory building. Image: C.F. Møller

The 13,700-square-meter (150,000-square-foot) building's open ground floor and glazed foyer will surrounded by a wide, paved plaza, with green space beyond. The ground level will provide a number of shared facilities including a cafe, a 50-person multi-use hall, laundry, bike parking, and small meeting and support spaces. The topmost level is also a shared area with a sky bar, two outdoor terraces and a rooftop garden, a music space, a library, a study area, and a fitness center.

Typical residence plan drawing. Image: C.F. Møller

The towers will be made of custom warm-toned gray bricks, with slightly pronounced joints. Renderings show screens will be made in the walls by selectively removing bricks.

Section drawing through a tower. Image: C.F. Møller

The firm reports that the current design is expected to meet the 2020 Danish low-energy building codes. Sustainable strategies include a highly insulated and airtight building envelope, low-energy pre-fabricated concrete components, use of natural cross-ventilation, and heat recovery from exhaust air, waste water, and showers.

The building is expected to be completed in 2015.

Aerial view of dorm building looking toward the 1966 campus. Image: C.F. Møller

Project Details

Client: The A. P. Møller and Chastine Mc-Kinney Møller Foundation
Address: University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
Architect: C.F. Møller
Landscape architect: C.F. Møller Landscape
Engineer: Niras
Area: 13,700 square meters
Accommodations: 250 single-occupancy dormitory units
Floors: 14
Year: 2012-2015
Energy Use Intensity:(not available)

Campus site plan. Image: C.F. Møller

Residence level plan diagrams. Image: C.F. Møller

Ground-floor plan drawing. Image: C.F. Møller

Axonometric building diagrams. Image: C.F. Møller

Zaha Hadid Architects designed the new Investcorp Building at Oxford University, in Oxford, England. Image: Zaha Hadid Architects

Ground has broken on a new building to house the Middle East Center of St. Anthony's College at the University of Oxford. Dubbed "Softbridge," the new Investcorp Building will be located between 66 and 68 Woodstock Road in Oxford, England, two buildings which currently house the center's library and archives.

Zaha Hadid designed the 1,200-square-meter (13,000-square-foot) building, for which the dominant cladding material will be stainless steel panels. The new two-story structure will serve as a bridge bewtween its two neighbors, with its lower floor set partially below ground and serving as a plinth for the steel-clad level above.

The rear of the Softbridge building. Image: Zaha Hadid Architects

With Hadid's signature design sensibility, the upper level fluidly transitions from a bullnose form on one side, a bit like the leading edge of an airplane's wing, to a large cantilevered rectangular opening on the other.

The 125-seat lecture hall of the Softbridge building. Image: Zaha Hadid Architects

The building will include a new 125-seat lecture hall, replacing cramped rooms where the center currently holds seminars. The center's library and archives will move into the new structure upon its completion, scheduled for 2014.

Project Credits

Architect:Zaha Hadid Architects
Design: Zaha Hadid Architects

Associate Director: Jim Heverin
Project Architect: Johannes Hoffmann Ken Bostock
Project Team: Goswin Rothenthal Theodora Ntatsopoulou Saleem A. Jalil Mireia Sala Font Amita Kulkarni Goswin Rothenthal Sara Klomps Alex Bilton Yeena Yoon Barbara Bochnak

Consultants Structural Engineers: Adams Kara Taylor
Mechanical/ Electrical/Accoustics: Max Fordham
Lighting Design: Arup Lighting
Facade Consultants: Arup Facade Engineering
Cost Consultants: Sense Cost Ltd
Fire Engineers: Arup Fire
Planning Supervision: Jppc Oxford
Forestry And Arboriculture Consultant : Sarah Venner
Access: David Bonnet
Landscape: Gross Max
CDM: Andrew Goddard Associates
Visualisation: Cityscape

Inside the Softbridge, which connects two adjacent Oxford buildings. Image: Zaha Hadid Architects

Project Details

Program: New Academic Building
Area: 1,200 square meters (13,000 square feet)
Site Area: 900 square meters (10,000 square feet)
Footprint Area: 900 square meters (10,000 square feet)
EUI: (not available)

Bank of China Tower, in Hong Kong, China, designed by I.M. Pei, 1982 to 1990.

Sketch by Ralph Rapson, from Ralph Rapson Sketches and Drawings from Around the World, courtesy of the Afton Press.

The tower's triangular bracing and step-backs are structural adaptations to the high wind loads caused by Hong Kong typhoons.

Contribute your sketch for consideration.

CZWG designed the recently completed Vermillion development, the first phase in the Rathbone Market development in the Canning Town area of London, England. Photo: © Tim Crocker

A 21-story residential tower anchors the western end of the recently completed Vermillion mixed-use residential complex, the first in a three-phase development of a 1.56-hectare (4.8-acre) lot in the historic Rathbone Market area of eastern London, England. CZWG designed the 271-unit development, which includes a mix of residential types including affordable and market-rate units for rent and for sale. The project received funding from the Homesa nd Communities Agency.

The other building elements comprising Vermillion include a smaller 13-story eastern tower, and three other low-rise structures that, connect the towers and form a wide south-facing U-shaped enclosure that shelters an "eco-garden" courtyard.

The buildings of the Vermillion phase are organized around a second-floor courtyard. Photo: © Tim Crocker

The fourth side of the courtyard, adjacent to an elevated roadway, is enclosed by a vertical-garden wall. A large pond in the courtyard, and three other fountains, are supplied by a rainwater collection system throughout the site.

Second-level floor-plan drawing. Image: CZWG

True to the project's name, vibrant red and orange hues dominate the color scheme of its cladding system, displayed against a backdrop of neutral gray panels, and offset by purple highlights in both towers. The cladding system comprises polyester powder coated (PPC) aluminum rain-screen panels. Stainless steel is also used for facade detail elements, including window mullions and hand rails.

Building overview from the northwest, looking across Barking Road. Photo: © Tim Crocker

Some 2,000 square meters (22,000 square feet) of ground-floor retail space will serve the busy adjacent street and newly created pedestrian routes. The building was opened at a ceremony on December

An upper-level living space and balcony inside the taller of the two Vermillion towers. Photo: © Tim Crocker

Project Credits

Address: Canning Town
Client: English Cities Fund: a joint venture between English, Partnerships, Legal and General, and Muse Developments
Main Contractor: John Sisk & Sons:
Local Authority: London Borough of Newham
Site Area : 652,500 sq ft
Contract Value: Estimated at £180 million
Completion Date: Expected by 2015
Awarded planning permission in: March 2009
Structural & Environmental Engineers: Ramboll
Quantity Surveying: Rider Levett Bucknall
Transport: Peter Brett Associates
Affordable Housing Consultant: Douglas Birt Consulting
CZWG team: Stephen Rigg, Cristina Lanz-Azcarate, Juamba Carcel Cabanas, Eion Curtis, Rafaelle Damiano, Irene Casajuana, Simon He, Cara Edwards, Andrew : Daws (Former Partner)

Section drawing looking southwest. Image: CZWG

Facade detail drawings. Photo: © Tim Crocker

Facade detail drawings. Image: CZWG

Facade detail. Photo: © Tim Crocker

To the south, a vertical garden wall separates the Vermillion courtyard from an adjacent elevated roadway. Photo: © Tim Crocker

Patio and fountain. Photo: © Tim Crocker

Cylindrical towers anchor the two corners of the Vermillion building complex. Photo: © Tim Crocker

Ground-floor entry. Photo: © Tim Crocker

Hallway. Photo: © Tim Crocker

Lobby detail. Photo: © Tim Crocker

Prior to a reversal in late January 2013, the designers of the buildings and venues of the 2012 London Olympics were prohibited from promoting their work. Photo: Populous/ Courtesy London 2012

Following the lifting of a promotion ban imposed on the architects who designed the buildings of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, held in London, England, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has released a short video highlighting a few of the Olympic projects, featuring commentary from the designers.

Video: Courtesy RIBA

In July 2012, ArchitectureWeek published an overview of the venues of the 2012 London Olympics. The long-lasting ban also sparked a campaign called 'drop the ban' and led by Peter Murray, which used a variety of tactics to draw attention to the issue.

According to a RIBA press release:

"Designing for Champions instigated by RIBA President Angela Brady, with the help of partners John Nolan (IStructE), Peter Murray (NLA) and Kevin Owens (formerly at LOCOG), was mainly filmed on location at the Olympic Park in September 2012 during the Paralympic Games and highlights one permanent and five temporary buildings and interviews their exceptional architects, structural engineers and designers...

"The RIBA, IStructE and NLA will host a special ‘Designing for Champions’ Design Awards ceremony on Tuesday 23rd July 2013 from 6.30 -10pm at the RIBA. One year on from the Games, this event will give credit to the incredible contribution made by architects, structural and civil engineers, landscapers and designers. "

The new South Region High School Number Nine building for the Los Angeles Unified School district, located in South Gate, California, was designed by Leo A Daly. Photo: Leo A Daly/Lawrence Anderson Photography

The Los Angeles Unified School District South Region High School Number 9 (LAUSD No. 9) has opened in South Gate, California. The Los Angeles offices of Omaha, Nebraska-based Leo A Daly designed the 107-000-square-foot (9,940-square-meter) school, which prominently displays irregularly shaped open-air steel canopies and angular glazed entrances against a backdrop of more staid two-story buildings with CMU block walls.

Inside the administration building. Photo: Leo A Daly/Lawrence Anderson Photography

The campus comprises a series of three learning clusters, as well as separate buildings housing gymnasium, performing arts, administration, and maintenance and operation functions. The firm organized these buildings around a central hardscaped courtyard.

The central courtyard. Photo: Leo A Daly/Lawrence Anderson Photography

Light blue steel canopies shelter open-air staircases and courtyard pavilions from direct sun. According to the firm, the distinct arrangement of the campus buildings is intended to create a primary path whose shape echoes that of the nearby Los Angeles River.

One of the three "clusters" at LAUSD No. 9. Photo: Leo A Daly/Lawrence Anderson Photography

Each of the three academic clusters – characterized as schools within a school – is self-contained with classroom, laboratory, and library spaces. To distinguish the three, each was also assigned a unique interior color palette: bright orange, bright green, and a darker "citrus" green. Shared facilities on the campus sport all three school colors.

A corridor inside the orange cluster. Photo: Leo A Daly/Lawrence Anderson Photography

In what also seems like the result of cost-savings measures, the firm highlighted the school's exposed steel structural elements, sheer walls, and trusses, as educational features, teaching students about building systems.

Bright green HVAC ducts run between exposed trusses in the gymnasium. Photo: Leo A Daly/Lawrence Anderson Photography

The building was opened in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Febuary 28, 2013.

Exposed steel in exterior staircases. Photo: Leo A Daly/Lawrence Anderson Photography

Project Credits

Client: Los Angeles Unified School District
Architect: Leo A. Daly
Builder: Turner Construction Company

The multipurpose space. Photo: Leo A Daly/Lawrence Anderson Photography

Project Details

Building Area: 107,000 square feet (9,940 square meters)
Energy Use Intensity:
Stories: 2
Materials: Steel, glass, metal panels, concrete, CMU.

Caption. Photo: Leo A Daly/Lawrence Anderson Photography

A CMU wall. Photo: Leo A Daly/Lawrence Anderson Photography

The light green cluster. Photo: Leo A Daly/Lawrence Anderson Photography

Another exterior stair. Photo: Leo A Daly/Lawrence Anderson Photography

by Kevin Matthews

Image: Kevin Siers / Charlotte Observer

I am dreaming that the assembled cardinals will decide to go with a billion Catholics boldly into the future, choosing to revitalize their church by selecting a visionary Pope for a new millennium.

Once in office, this new Pope would dramatically reverse several hundred years of futile intellectual warfare against science, and instead, fully embrace it. Liturgy would be understood as rich cultural metaphor with the deepest kind of historical roots and most powerful psychological/historical significance.

Coupling that traditional depth with its global organization and the new proactive embrace of documented and ever-unfolding reality, as shown by science - connecting science and spirit - the Catholic Church would reverse its long-term decline in the first world, and become an unparalleled force for human health, dignity, respect, love, peace, community, and spiritual fulfillment.

The number of Catholics worldwide would easily double or triple or more within a generation, and the new Pope would be known not just as a great leader of the church, but as one of the handful of greatest leaders in recorded human history.

An amazing new force for a global morality of sustainable equal opportunity, based on facts, observation, and understanding would have emerged — possibly just in time to bring crucial scope and help to our generations' urgent work of saving live on Earth as we know it.

Kevin Matthews is Editor in Chief of ArchitectureWeek. More by Kevin Matthews

The Petters Pavilion (foreground) is a new entry pavilion, designed by VJAA, that provides an accessible entrance to the St. John's Abbey church in Collegeville, Minnesota . Photo: Paul Crosby

VJAA designed a renovation and addition for Marcel Breuer's Brutalist St. John's Abbey (1961) church in Collegeville, Minnesota. The project adapted an existing office space attached to the main church, converting it to use as a sacramental chapel for devotional prayer and added an accessible entry pavilion along side the chapel.

Inside the sacramental chapel. Photo: Peter Seiger

The project also included renovation of the adjacent Chapter House which is connected to Breuer's church via enclosed ramp. A new glazed ramp extends from the entry pavilion, intersecting with the existing Chapter House ramp and providing a unified entry to the church, chapel, and chapter house.

The new ramp from the pavilion connects to an existing ramp and leads into. Photo: Paul Crosby

The tiny sacramental chapel is richly finished in wood, with a built-in bench seating alcove positioned opposite an ornamental panel that the firm calls "a modern interpretation of the 14th-century reredos wall" which obscures an existing window opening. Platinum leaf is used as the finish material for the ceiling of the chapel.

The renovated Chapter House. Photo: Paul Crosby

Jury Comments

"This project involves modest yet beautifully sensitive modifications to a heroic modernist building.

"It respects and enhances the spirit and values of the Benedictine monks embodied in the original building while responding to a new set of goals for the religious community and a variety of code and system-related improvements.

"The new work is deferential but also distinct. In contrast to the raw and monumental forms of the original building, the additions combine minimalist strategies of form with materials that are rich and intimate.

"The design is completely in service of church rituals, functional requirements, and opportunities for light and view."

Looking back at the pavilion and ramp from near the main church. Photo: Paul Crosby

The main church, with its expressive concrete bell banner, is part of a complex of buildings designed and masterplanned by Breuer on the southeastern border of St. John's University. And VJAA's creation of a new monastery guesthouse nearby received an AIA Housing Award in 2009.

The wood screen inside the sacramental chapel obscures an existing window. Photo: Paul Crosby

"The addition creates a new accessible entry and connection directly from the parking area and from the new guesthouse. The addition's new two-level lobby and elevator provide access to the Lower Church and new support spaces. Priorities for the Chapter House circulation included a convenient and sheltered public entrance for visitor drop-off and deliveries and a new stair that accesses the lower Parish Church. The project also incorporates new restrooms, art gallery space, bride's and groom's rooms, and a staging area for catering. A new tunnel connection from the addition to the 30-room guesthouse provides accessible circulation and a heated, sheltered route in inclement weather." – AIA

The new ramp connected to the pavilion (left) and the main church. Photo: Paul Crosby

The ramps and pavilion form a courtyard. Photo: Paul Crosby

Villa Capra, also known as Villa Rotunda, in Vicenza, Italy, designed by Andrea Palladio, 1566 to 1571.

Watercolor sketch by Ralph Rapson, from Ralph Rapson Sketches and Drawings from Around the World, courtesy of the Afton Press.

"Italy followed Greece on a ten-week University of Minnesota study tour I led in 1976.

"I spent several days searching out Palladio's work in and around Vicenza, not far from Venice. Here he built some of his finest villas as country retreats for wealthy landowners. One of the best is Villa Rotunda. Classical in its purity, balance, and symmetry, the structure stands in composed contrast to the riot of colorful landscape that surrounds it." – Ralph Rapson

Contribute your sketch for consideration.

The Amino Leadership High School, in Los Angeles, California, designed by Brooks + Scarpa. Photo: John Linden

Los Angeles, California-based firm Brooks + Scarpa designed a new 500-student high school building for a difficult neighborhood in the Lennox area of south Los Angeles, California. In a prominent display of sustainability, the south-facing main facade of the Animo Leadership High School (also known as the Green Dot Animo Leadership High School) is shaded by a vertically oriented photovoltaic array, similar to the firm's earlier Colorado Court housing project.

Located directly under the LAX flight path and near the busy I-105 freeway, the 53,500-square-foot (4,970-square-meter) building occupies a modest site at the southern end of a long rectangular block. Because outdoor space is at a premium, significant portions of the school's ground level, including an entry court and wide central hallway, are open.

The courtyard and concrete bleachers beyond. Photo: John Linden

Space for small outdoor courtyard with a terraced multipurpose bleacher was also carved out of the northwest corner of the site. A food service area stands adjacent to the courtyard on the building's southwest corner, under the sheltering overhang of the upper floors. And just to the east, the wide, sheltered entry court extends from the street to the courtyard.

Floor plan drawings. Image: Brooks + Scarpa

The courtyard and bleachers also serve as an internal reference point, standing along the major east-west corridor that organizes the school's spaces and near a staircase. Classrooms are arrayed along the southern side of the main hallway on all three floors, running the full length of the building on the second and third floors.

Overview from the southwest. Photo: John Linden

On the north side of the corridor, the ground floor contains a small amount of faculty parking and administrative offices. On the upper floors, this zone houses specialty classrooms, laboratories, and the school library.

Stairs above the bleachers and terrace lead to a third-level chemistry lab. Photo: John Linden

It is estimated that the building's 650-panel photovoltaic array will produce as much as 75 percent of the energy consumed. The firm estimates that together with other strategies including daylighting and passive ventilation, this should qualify the building for CHPS and/or LEED certification.

Section drawings through classrooms (top) and courtyard (bottom). Image: Brooks + Scarpa

Animo Leadership High School was completed in February 2013.

West facade. Photo: John Linden

Project Credits

Architect: Brooks + Scarpa

Project Team: Lawrence Scarpa, FAIA - Principal-in-Charge. Angela Brooks, AIA, Mark Buckland, Ching Luk, Project Architect, Brad Buter, Silke Clemens, Emily Hodgdon, Gwynne Pugh, Sri Sumantri

Structural Engineer: Thorton Thomassetti
MEP Engineer: E2DI
Acoustical: Veneklaussen
Civil: Barbara Hall
Construction Manager: Telecu
Photography: John Linden

Photovoltaic facade and sheltered main entrance. Photo: John Linden

Project Details

Area: 53,500 square feet (4,970 square meters)
Floors: 3
Energy Use Intensity: Not Available

Caption. Photo: John Linden

Overview from southeast. Photo: John Linden

The Bolender Center for Dance & Creativity was adapted from a former power plant by BNIM. Photo: © Farshid Assassi

BNIM adapted a 1904 Power House building in Kansas City, Missouri to create the new Todd Bolender Center for Dance & Creativity. The original structure of the 52,000-square-foot brick-clad building was preserved, with new partitions and volumes dividing its generous interior.

Section drawing looking west. Image: BNIM

Among the preserved industrial elements in the building are immense plate-steel funnels in the two story boiler room now painted orange to contrast with the white paint of the steel structure. The boiler room now serves as the building's lobby, with double-height, full-bay windows admitting daylight into the space. A new stair and mezzanine walkway run the length of the room and act as a buffer between public and private realms.

"The studio requirements for daylight, height, and column free volumes were accommodated in the former North Engine Room. It is brought to life by the reconstruction of the Texas Skylight and a new “floating” studio floor plate within the volume, which borrows light from the exterior windows. The restored windows, readapted with new sustainable acoya wood sashes and insulated glazing systems, provide an energy efficient assembly while silencing adjacent train noise." – BNIM

Jury Comments

"This project was commended for both the interior architecture and for the precedent it sets for the reuse of the country’s industrial building stock.

"The planning of the program, in plan and section, was commended, in particular the suspended studios that allow sharing of views and daylight, as was the smokestack space, which is powerful and unexpected.

"The design was also commended for the way it inserts an entirely new and different function into the space, clearly defining the new and the old while equally celebrating the character of the original industrial building.

"Fantastic repurposing of a historic industrial building."

Project Credits

Client; Power House Properties
Architect; BNIM
Landscape Architect; BNIM
Code Consulting; FSC Inc.
Design-Build MEP Contractor; Gibbens Drake Scott, Inc.; Mark One Electrical Company, Inc.; US National Fire Suppression
Acoustic Engineer; Acoustical Design Group, Inc.
Civil Engineer; Taliaferro and Browne
Structural Engineer; Structural Engineering Associates, Inc.
Exhibit Design; Eisterhold Associates Inc.
Exhibit Fabricator; Exhibit Associates
Furniture, Fixtures, and Equipment; Contract Furnishings
General Contractor; J.E. Dunn Construction
Hardware Consulting; Studio 08 Consultants
Theatre Consultant; Harvest Productions Inc.

Project Details

Energy Use Intensity; Not Available
Floors; 2
Area; 52,000 square feet (4,800 square meters)
Cost; $39 Million

The building was recognized in the Interior Architecture category of the 2013 AIA National Design Awards.

Floor plan drawings. Image: BNIM

The VanDusen Botnical Garden Visitor Center, in Vancouver, British Columbia, was designed by Perkins + Will. Photo: Courtesy Wood WORKS! BC

The Perkins + Will-designed VanDusen Botanical Garden Visitor Centre was one of nine British Columbia projects recognized in the 2013 Wood Works BC Design Awards. The highlight of building's design is its curving roof.

Awarded for innovation in wood design, the prefabricated structure of the visitor center was assembled in 71 panels, each made of 100 uniquely curving glulam beams. FSC-certified Doug fir was used in the panels, along with insulation, electrical conduits, fire suppression plumbing, and acoustic materials. Elsewhere in the building, FSC-certified wood, including that from on-site salvage and harvest activities, make up other elements of the building's structure and finish materials, including custom door handles.

At the building's entrance, the roof extends well beyond the curtain wall, forming a covered porch supported by three tapered, wood columns. Measuring 1,765 square meters (19,000 square feet) in area, the building accommodates a cafe, library, volunteer facilities, garden shop, offices, and flexible spaces used as classroom or rental event space.

LEED Platinum and Living Building Challenge certifications are anticipated.

Queen of Peace Monastery, in Squamish Valley, by Aka Architecure. Photo: Courtesy Wood WORKS! BC

The eight additional buildings to receive category-specific awards were:

Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS)
by Peter Busby of Perkins+Will
(Green Building Award)

Solar Crest, on Sidney Island, British Columbia
by Helliwell + Smith Blue Sky Architecture
(Residential Wood Design)

Monad, in Vancouver, British Columbia
by Lang Wilson Practice in Architecture Culture (LWPAC)
(Multi-Unit Residential Wood Design)

Bioenergy Research and Demonstration Facility, in Vancouver, British Columbia
by McFarland Marceau Architects Ltd.
(Commercial Wood Design)

Queen of Peace Monastery, in Squamish Valley, British Columbia
by aka architecture + design inc.
(Interior Beauty Design)

Klahoose First Nation New Relationship Centre, in Cortes Island, British Columbia
by Merrick Architecture - Borowski Sakumoto Fligg Ltd.
(Institutional Wood Design - Small)

Perkins + Will also designed the Earth Sciences Building in Vancouver. Photo: Courtesy Wood WORKS! BC

Earth Sciences Building, in Vancouver, British Columbia
by Perkins + Will
(Institutional Wood Design - Large)

The Urban Longhouse, in North Vancouver, British Columbia
by Pam Chilton, Zimba Design
(Western Red Cedar)

The winning projects in 12 categories were selected from a total of 98 nominees.

Equilibrium Consulting were the engineers for the new Prince George, British Columbia airport building. The firm received an award for leadership in wood design. Photo: Courtesy Wood WORKS! BC

Merrick Architecture - Borowski Sakumoto Fligg, Ltd. designed the New Relationship Center on Cortes Island for the Klahoose First Nation. Photo: Courtesy Wood WORKS! BC

Monad, a prototype housing project in Vancouver designed by Lang Wilson Practice in Architecture Culture (LWPAC). Photo: Courtesy Wood WORKS! BC

The western red cedar-clad Urban Longhouse in North Vancouver, British Columbia. Photo: Courtesy Wood WORKS! BC

Toyo Ito is the 2013 recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. The outspoken 71-year-old Japanese architect has designed a body of varied work, with each successive building seeming to share little stylistically in common with its predecessors.

Of these many buildings, in an ArchitectureWeek interview, Ito identified the Sendai Mediatheque, in Sendai, Japan, as a favorite:

"It changed the whole way I think about architecture and society. Before that project I didn't think society actually expected much from architects. My idea was that we didn't really have much of a social impact. But after that project, I actually watched what happened at the Mediatheque, and the people who used that space really enjoyed that building and it changed their behavior."

Toyo Ito. Photo: Courtesy Pritzker Foundation

And while Ito's career to date has spanned some 40 years, completion of the Sendai Mediatheque in 2001 also seems to have been a career catalyst. In the years since Sendai, the architect has designed several noteworthy projects, including a Serpentine Gallery; the dramatic Taichung Metropolitan Opera House, in Taichung, Taiwan; a thoughtful crematorium, in Kakamigahara, Japan; and two flashy mid-rise buildings in Tokyo: Tod's Omotesando and Mikimoto Ginza 2.

Mikimoto Ginza 2, in Toyko, Japan, 2005.
Photo: Toyo Ito

Jury Comments

"Whoever reviews Ito's works notices not only a variety of functional programs, but also a spectrum of architectural languages. He has gradually developed and perfected a personal architectural syntax, which combines structural and technical ingenuity with formal clarity. His forms do not comply with either a minimalist or a parametric approach. Different circumstances lead to different answers.

Crematorium, in Kakamigahara, Japan. Photo: Courtesy Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects

"From the outset, he developed works that were modern, using standard industrial materials and components for his lightweight structures, such as tubes, expanded meshes, perforated aluminum sheeting and permeable fabrics. His later expressive works have been formed using mostly reinforced concrete. In a truly extraordinary way, he is able to keep structure, space, setting, technology, and place on equal footing.

"Although the resulting buildings seem effortlessly in balance, they are the result of his deep knowledge of his craft and his ability to deal with all the aspects of architecture simultaneously. In spite of the complexity of his works, their high degree of synthesis means that his works attain a level of calmness that ultimately allows the inhabitants to freely develop their activities within them."

Glass-walled corridor of the crematorium. Photo: Courtesy Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects.

Ito will be presented with the Pritzker Prize–a $100,000 grant and a bronze medallion–in a formal ceremony in Boston, Massachusetts on May 29, 2013. The jury was comprised chairman, the Lord Palumbo, as well as Alejandro Aravena, Justice Stephen Breyer, Yung Ho Chang, Glenn Murcutt, and Juhani Pallasmaa.

Ito also received the Praemium Imperiale prize for architecture in 2010.

Recent recipients of the Pritzker Prize include Jean Nouvel, Peter Zumthor, Kazuyo Sejima and Ruye Nishizawa of SANAA, and Wang Shu. Along with the SANAA team, the other Japanese architects who have recieved the Pritzker are Kenzo Tange (1987), Fumihiko Maki (1993), and Tadao Ando (1995).

Solar "trees" are part of the HOK masterplan for the Istanbul International Financial Center in Turkey. Image: HOK

Site work has begun on a new finance center complex in Istanbul, Turkey. Masterplanned by HOK, the Istanbul International Financial Center (IIFC) will occupy a 170-acre (69-hectare site) will also include two high-rise office towers designed by the firm.

Located on a site between the Ataşehir and Ümraniye districts, HOK's masterplan divides the complex into four districts with cultural, commerce, governance, and civic functions.

Aerial view of IIFC plan. Image: HOK

The masterplan also calls for some 45 million square feet (4.2 million square meters) of built space divided among office, residential, retail, conference, and hotel functions on a campus of buildings organized around a series of three major open spaces and surrounded by park space. Major infrastructure improvements, including a new subway line and stop, are also plans.

Construction of the IIFC is expected to be complete in 2016.

One of the three plazas of the IIFC. Image: HOK

Project Credits

Master planner: HOK
Builder: Arup
Engineer: Arup
Sustainability Consultant: Arup
IT Consultant: Arup
Communications and Security design services: Arup

The mixed-use master plan for the 170-acre (69-hectare) includes offices, hotel and residential units, retail, and conference space. Image: HOK

Towers of the IIFC. Image: HOK

Site plan of IIFC. Image: HOK

The glass-roofed addition to the Harvard Art Museum, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was designed by Renzo Piano. Image: Renzo Piano Building Workshop

The renovation and expansion of a 1927 Harvard Art Museum building at 32 Quincy Street continues in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Designed by Renzo Piano, the facility will bring three Harvard museums and their collections together under one roof for the first time.

Begun in June 2008, the project has included demolition of older additions to the 1927 building and extensive excavation to make room for the construction of additional galleries and other space–a total of 100,000 square feet (9,300 square meters) in all.

Inside one of the studios of the new Harvard museum building. Image: Renzo Piano Building Workshop

The new facility, which will total 204,000 square feet (19,000 square meters) upon completion, is now weathertight. Work has begun on the build-out and finishing of interior spaces, which are expected to be completed this fall. Conditioning of the facility and installation of the collections will take place in 2014.

The Harvard addition is attached to a 1927 Beaux Arts building. Image: Renzo Piano Building Workshop

The exterior walls of the new space, and the steel-and-glass rooftop that spans the facility, were finished in December. The expansion will also create new spaces to support activities including teaching, research, training, and presentation.

The design also engages with the adjacent Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts—the only building in the United States designed by Le Corbusier—both with windows providing new sight lines to the building and by the extension of Corbusier's ramp to intersect with the museum's new Prescott-street entrance.

A model view of the restored courtyard of the existing. Image: Renzo Piano Building Workshop

Fallingwater, near Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, 1934, 1938, 1948.

Color sketch by Ralph Rapson, from Ralph Rapson Sketches and Drawings from Around the World, courtesy of the Afton Press.

"While a student at Michigan, I traveled to Taliesin with two of my peers to meet the great Frank Lloyd Wright. The architect had started a fellowship program at Taliesin, where students worked and studied in the shadow of the master.

"While I admired Wright's designs, his Spring Green, Wisconsin retreat seemed to me too somber and monastic. There wasn't the laughter, joy, and chaos that I was used to.

Taliesin West, in Scottsdale, Arizona, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, 1937 onward.

Color sketch by Ralph Rapson, from Ralph Rapson Sketches and Drawings from Around the World, courtesy of the Afton Press.

Wright, meantime, seemed to realize that we didn't have sufficient money to attend Taliesin and made my friends and I the butt of a screed on the perils of architectural education.""Years later, whenever I encountered him at Cranbrook or the University of Minnesota, he would look me up and down and say, 'So this is where you ended up.'"

"While I appreciate his work greatly and have since encountered a house he built in Okemos, Michigan, near my hometown of Alma, I have never attempted–nor should others–to use his personal architectural vocabulary." – Ralph Rapson

Price Tower, in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, 1952 to 1956

Color sketch by Ralph Rapson, from Ralph Rapson Sketches and Drawings from Around the World, courtesy of the Afton Press.

OMA - Architecture Building at Cornell

HEAD Architecture - House in Hong Kong

LPA - Performing Arts Center in Arcadia, California

Ralph Rapson in Agra, India

C.F. Moller - Dormitory in Odense, Denmark

Zaha Hadid Architects in Oxford, England

Ralph Rapson in Hong Kong, China

CZWG - Vermillion Housing in London

RIBA Video Highlights 2012 Olympics Architecture

Leo A. Daly in Los Angeles, California

Dream of a Science Pope

VJAA Addition to Breuer's Abbey

Ralph Rapson in Vicenza, Italy

Brooks + Scarpa - Solar High School in Los Angeles

BNIM in Kansas City, Missouri

British Columbia Wood Design Awards

Toyo Ito - Pritzker Prize

HOK in Istanbul, Turkey

Renzo Piano - Harvard Art Museum Addition

Ralph Rapson on Frank Lloyd Wright