Archinnovations feeds

Steven Holl Architects - HEART Herning Museum of Contemporary Art in Herning, Denmark

Test Mantoo — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:48:00 +0000

The Herning Museum of Contemporary Art, designed by Steven Holl Architects, will open to the public on September 9, 2009 uniting three distinct cultural institutions: the Herning Center of the Arts, the MidWest Ensemble and the Socle du Monde.

The new center is intended to be an innovative forum combining visual art and music, providing a driving cultural force for the region of central Jutland, Denmark.

Chicago Architecture Foundation's Calendar for the Quarter

CAF — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:42:00 +0000

Chicago Architecture Foundation announced their events and tours for July, August, September 2009

NEW THIS SEASON:

Highlights By Bus Tour includes Barack Obama’s Neighborhood.
Tour covers 30 miles of Chicago architecture, including Barack Obama’s neighborhood. See www.architecture.org for dates and times.

Modern Wing Tours – Art Institute of Chicago
In partnership with the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Architecture Foundation docents reveal the context for the Renzo Piano-designed addition and show how it fits into the overall design of the campus. See www.architecture.org for dates and times.

Chicago Model City Gallery Talks
July 10 - November 20, Fridays and Saturdays at 12:30pm
Twenty-minute gallery talks introduce visitors to the ideas and themes behind the new exhibition, Chicago Model City. Visitors learn how a region as vast and complex as Chicago takes shape as a result of various planning efforts, both big and small. For more information visit www.architecture.org. Free.

CAFamily Studio Sundays return in September!
Sunday September 20, 11am – 3pm and every third Sunday of the month, the Chicago Architecture Foundation offers free hands-on activities, walking tours, stories, and more for families with kids ages 3 – 12.

Michael Jantzen - Homestead House

Michael Jantzen — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:52:00 +0000

Inspired by his experimental design work in the late 1960s as an undergraduate at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, Michael Jantzen decided to re-examine the potential use of certain readily available agricultural building components in the creation of alternative housing systems.

The Homestead House is a conceptual design for alternative housing that explores the potential use of a commercially available steel, prefabricated, modular, high strength, low cost, arch building system normally used for agricultural purposes.

Housing Downturn and Growing Interest in Containing Energy Costs Result in Smaller Home Size ...

AIA Press release — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:40:00 +0000

Strong preference for outdoor living options and accessibility

Due to the economic recession and a renewed interest in lowering utility costs, there has been a growing demand for smaller sized homes in recent years. There has also been an adjustment in the volume of living space with a preference for lower ceilings and a diminished interest in two-story foyers.

Property upgrades, however, are extremely popular with households trying to maximize their usable space with finished attics and basements, outdoor living enhancements and blended indoor / outdoor features. Accessibility within the home continues to be a concern, especially for an aging U.S. population. Business conditions for residential architects remain weak, but appear to be stabilizing with the first uptick in billings since the second quarter of 2007. These findings are from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Home Design Trends Survey that focused specifically on overall home layout and use in the first quarter of 2009.

“The era of the ‘McMansion’ could well be over as home sizes have been trending downward recently, with a significantly higher number of architects reporting demand for smaller homes this year,” said AIA Chief Economist Kermit Baker, PhD, Hon. AIA. “And as the housing boom has passed there seems to be a renewed interest in investing in properties to make homes more livable, as opposed to real estate that can be resold quickly for a profit.

Overall home layout and size trends

“Adding decks, porches and patios are all part of the outdoor living enhancement trend,” added Baker. “But that also extends to more formal outdoor ‘rooms,’ cooking areas and blended indoor / outdoor features.”

Housing market business conditions

AIA Home Design Survey Index for Q1 2009 (any score above 50 is positive)
· Billings: 24
· Inquiries for new projects: 35

Baker continued, “Business conditions at residential architecture firms really began to deteriorate in the middle of 2008. While still very weak, we are beginning to see a slight reversal in home design and improvement activity. ”

Specific residential segments (index score computed as % of respondents reporting improving minus % weakening conditions)

· Kitchen and bath remodeling: 28
· Additions / alterations: 26
· First-time buyer / affordable home market: -27
· Move-up home market: -44
· Townhouse / condo market: -51
· Custom / luxury home market: -52
· Second / vacation home market: -77

Green building design challenge - Contest to reward designs that save resources and costs

AI Events — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 15:01:00 +0000

Announced back in December, the Lifecycle Building Challenge competition, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and partners are inviting the nation’s architects, product developers, educators, environmental leaders, and students to submit innovative designs that minimize waste, reuse materials, and cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Ideas generated by the contest help jumpstart the building industry toward diverting the more than 100 million tons of building-related construction and demolition debris sent each year to landfills in the United States. This free, Web-based competition supports an on-line library of competition entries and green building resources.

The “Lifecycle Building Challenge 3” – co-sponsored by the EPA, American Institute of Architects, West Coast Green, the Collaborative for High Performance Schools, StopWaste.Org, and WasteCap Wisconsin – invites professionals and students nationwide to submit designs and ideas by August 30 that support cost-effective disassembly and anticipate future reuse of building materials.
The challenge, open to built and un-built projects has two main categories:

* Building—an entire building from foundation to roof
* Product—building products or materials

Outstanding entries in each category will be recognized and publicized in national journals and at conferences nationwide. The competition’s partners will also recognize exceptional entries in two other Outstanding Achievement Awards: Best Greenhouse Gas Reduction Design and Best School Design.

“This competition recognizes innovators who are pushing the envelope to protect the environment through green building design,” said Jeff Scott, the EPA’s Waste Division director for the Pacific Southwest region. “Designing buildings using more sustainable materials and preventing waste helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protects our environment.”

Lifecycle building maximizes material recovery to reverse the trend of disposing large quantities of construction and demolition debris in landfills. In the United States, buildings use 60 percent of all materials (excluding food and fuel) and account for 33 percent of the solid waste stream. Building renovation and demolition accounts for 91 percent of the construction and demolition debris generated each year, while new construction accounts for only 9 percent. Between 2000 to 2030, it is expected that 27 percent of existing buildings will be replaced and 50 percent of the total building stock will be constructed.

Deconstruction addresses these issues by planning for a building or building component's eventual reuse. By creating building components that can be easily recovered, materials are kept at their highest value, resulting in reduced energy and resource consumption.

Reusing building components reduces the energy and greenhouse gases emissions associated with extracting, producing and transporting materials.

At the end of the competition, expert judges will determine the best entries in each category and the winners will be recognized in the fall.

AIA Commends Surface Transportation Authorization Act of 2009 and Urges Quick Passage of Bill

AIA Press release — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:30:00 +0000

Last night, a House subcommittee approved the Surface Transportation Authorization Act of 2009. In a statement, Paul T. Mendelsohn, AIA vice president, Government & Community Relations said: “The transportation bill approved by a House subcommittee could not come at a better time. It recognizes what the AIA reported to Congress in its 2008 study, Moving Communities Forward, that well planned and designed transportation projects create more prosperous, sustainable and livable communities. This legislation will create thousands of jobs across the design and construction sector, help reduce the congestion that is choking our communities, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions,”

3XN showcase pavilion ’Learning from Nature’

3XN — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:05:00 +0000

Self-cleaning surfaces, phase changing materials and built-in sensors that generate energy from the footsteps of the visitors. The 3XN pavilion ‘Learning from Nature’ unites the most advanced technologies and intelligent materials in a preview of the innovative architectural design of tomorrow

The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art invited the Danish architecture firm 3XN to design a pavilion demonstrating cutting edge possibilities within sustainable and intelligent materials. The result is a pavilion that is built of bio composites with integrated intelligence that creates a dynamic interaction with its physical surroundings and its users.

Photographs courtesy of 3XN and photographer Adam Mørk

Architecture Billings Index Shows No Significant Improvement in Business Conditions

AIA Press Release — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:50:00 +0000

Inquiries for new projects remain favorable, but not translating into work.
There has been a recent moderation in the downturn in design services billings, but the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) reveals that an economic recovery has stalled. As a leading economic indicator of construction activity, the ABI reflects the approximate nine to twelve month lag time between architecture billings and construction spending. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) reported the May ABI rating was 42.9, nearly identical to the 42.8 mark in April. This score still indicates an overall decline in demand for design services (any score above 50 indicates an increase in billings). The new projects inquiry score was 55.2, the third straight month with a score in the mid-50’s.

BIG wins an International Competition to design Tallinn’s new City Hall in Estonia

BIG — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:55:00 +0000

An international idea contest was held for Tallinn’s new City Hall in Estonia and the best concept was presented by the Bjarke Ingels Group from Denmark together with Adams Kara Taylor of the UK.
The purpose of the international idea contest was to find the best architectural solution for the new administrative building of the city government that will be situated on a 35,000 m2 plot near the Linnahall building. The contest for the new city was met with a great interest, 81 architects and their teams were willing to present an entry. Of those, the international jury chose the best 9 to shortlist as finalists into the second phase of the competition.

Allford Hall Monaghan Morris Architects - Jubilee School on the surburbs of London

Camille Chami — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 11:34:00 +0000

Architects have a general tendency to forget about color and focus on monochromatic compositions. When judiciously utilized, the integration of a polychromatic palette can become a powerful tool that helps define the identity of the project.

Nowhere is it more relevant than in buildings dedicated to children, such as this featured school, since it helps them, finding themselves within spaces that they usually find overwhelming.

AIA Continues Sustainability Program for Local Communities with Request for Proposals

AIA Press release — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:10:00 +0000

WHO: The American Institute of Architects Center for Communities by Design

WHAT: Request for Proposals seeking community applicants for the 2010 Sustainable Design Assessment Team Program (SDAT).

Belzberg Architects - The Conga Room at L.A. Live

A. I. — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:13:00 +0000

For over a decade, the Conga room has been a Los Angeles cultural landmark. The Latin live music and dance venue was LA’s center for Salsa and Rumba. The original location closed in 2006 with the goal of opening a new venue in the new “LA Live” complex in Downtown, Los Angeles.

The new home would contain a 16,000 sq ft live music and dance space made up of a multitude of programs—a large dance floor, a stage, multiple VIP areas, a full-service restaurant and three bars, each with their own unique environment. Collaboration with Cuban artist Jorge Pardo and Mexican muralist Sergio Arau, designers of the Papaya Bar and Surface Tattoos, respectively, was essential.