Ground Broken On Downtown Raleigh's Tallest Building

RALEIGH, N.C. -- In a few years, downtown Raleigh will get an addition to its skyline.
Ed Fritsch, president and chief executive officer of Highwoods Properties, and Scott Custer, chief executive officer of RBC Centura, hopped on Bobcat machines Tuesday to break ground on the 33-story RBC Plaza, a mixed-use tower in downtown Raleigh.
"We've been looking forward to this day for many months, and the excitement of actually breaking ground certainly brings this project to life for us," Custer said. "We are proud to have RBC's name on this new building, which is sure to become a downtown Raleigh landmark."
When it is built, the $100 million RBC Plaza will be 540 feet tall and will encompass more than 730,000 square feet of space, including office and retail space, parking and 11 stories of residential condominiums along Martin Street between Fayetteville and Wilmington streets.
RBC Centura will be the building's anchor tenant, leasing about 130,000 square feet. The building will include 139 condominiums and 563 parking spots. One-, two- and three-bedroom condominium units are already for sale, starting at $200,000.
Officials said they chose the site because of all the other projects happening downtown.
"I hope it says we are making a statement about downtown, making a statement about our company," Custer said.
"We believe in suburban infill not suburban sprawl, building locations in the Southeast that possess great promise for the long-term future," Fritsch said. "Downtown Raleigh fronting our new Fayetteville Street is exactly such a place of promise."
Construction on the new building is expected to be complete by fall 2008, and about 2,000 people are expected to use the tower daily once open.
City planners said the tower is going up 33 stories primarily so Highwoods can make the most of the building's small footprint -- it's being built on less than an acre -- than for bragging rights.
"Today, it's more about economics, making sure you can lease up your commercial space and you can sell the condo units," said Mitch Silver, Raleigh's planning director.

Stalin Skyscraper Will Morph Into a Hilton

Hilton will open its first Russian hotel in a renovated Stalin skyscraper in July.
Mike Collini, Hilton International's vice president of development for Northern Europe, said Thursday that the hotelier would franchise its name to management firm Interstate, which will operate the 275-room, four-star hotel in what is now the Leningradskaya Hotel, one of Moscow's seven Stalin skyscrapers.
"We're delighted to be opening our first hotel in such a landmark property," Collini said.
Built in 1954, the Gothic-style, 28-story Leningradskaya closed for renovation last November as the hotel's owner, Sadko Hotel, sought an international brand to take over operations.
Hilton signed the agreement with Sadko and Interstate to franchise its name Wednesday, Collini said. Sadko is the country's largest hotel owner and controls all three of Moscow's Marriott hotels, which are also managed by Interstate. Restoration of the Leningradskaya is expected to cost $50 million.
Hilton is the last international heavyweight to enter Russia, and it is all but certain to find success in a city with a severe shortage of hotel rooms. "The interiors of the hotel are practically exotic," said Marina Usenko, senior vice president at Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels in Moscow. "There's a certain spirit there. It's almost urban chic." She noted that Hilton's franchise acquisition of the Leningradskaya followed three failed attempts to enter the market.
Stephane Meyrat, associate director at Colliers International, said the hotel would probably ask for $250 to $280 per night, but its proximity to three railway stations was not ideal. The hotel is located near Kazansky, Yaroslavsky and Leningradsky stations. Meyrat also said Hilton probably would have preferred to have secured a management contract, allowing the company to operate the hotel, rather than the franchising contract. "But Hilton has been under pressure to show something," he said.
Collini said Hilton's impetus to move into Russia was prompted by the unification of Hilton Group, which had run the brand's North American hotels, and Hilton International, which oversaw operations in the rest of the world. "It's been the platform for aggressive development plans," he said.
Hilton's further plans for Russia include up to 12 hotels in Moscow, six in St. Petersburg and at least one in every city with more than 300,000 people in the next three to five years, Collini said.
Meyrat said the hotel's opening would boost Moscow's image. But, he added, the city will have to wait for Hilton to build one of its five-star Conrad hotels. As to why the hotelier opted not to open a Conrad at the Leningradskaya, he said: "All that glitters is not gold. The rooms might not be very big, and they'd rather start from tabula rasa."

Railway plaza a shocker, angry architects lament

MELBOURNE'S architectural elite have broken ranks to heavily criticise a significant component of the State Government's Spencer Street redevelopment, the West End Plaza, declaring it an appalling scar on the city.
The Age also reveals that the Southern Cross Station project, designed by British-based architects Nicholas Grimshaw and Melbourne's Daryl Jackson Pty Ltd, was not the scheme preferred by a Government-appointed design panel.
The plaza, a three-level building adjoining the station's northern end, stretches almost two city blocks from Bourke to La Trobe Street and houses a new bus depot, Direct Factory Outlets, and 800 car parks. The car park entrance is a gaping hole at the intersection of Spencer and Lonsdale streets.
Although critics have hailed the achievement of the railway station, they liken the adjacent grey, industrial-like Plaza building to the former Spencer Street Station.
As part of their professional code architects are not supposed to criticise each other's work. But leading members of the profession are too angry to restrain themselves.
"I don't know who the architect is, but whoever it is they should be ashamed of themselves," said Randal Marsh, director of Wood Marsh, winner of this year's prestigious Victoria Medal.
The main architect for the plaza is believed to have been Daryl Jackson.
Mr Marsh said many architects worked tirelessly to design great buildings that contributed to making Melbourne a better city, but the West End Plaza was a "blight".
"This is a major building in the city that seems to give no consideration to the fundamentals of good planning and design," he said.
This year design doyen and RMIT architecture professor Leon van Schaik published a book Design City Melbourne that celebrated the city's architectural achievements. The West End Plaza is not among them.
"It's the worst thing I've ever seen," he said. "It's devoid of any quality at all. How could this thing have got through all the (Government) systems that we have in place that are supposed to deliver a better city. It's a shocker."
The Southern Cross project is part of a Public Private Partnership between the Government and Civic Nexus, a consortium that includes financier ABN Amro, builder Leightons, and architects Grimshaw Jackson.
Under the deal Civic Nexus builds and manages the station — the Government will pay the group $1.8 billion over 30 years — and gets to develop surrounding public property for commercial use. After it won the tender in 2002, Civic Nexus reworked plans for the area around the station, replacing high-rise apartment and office towers with lower-rise buildings.

As the station PPP was deemed a project of state significance it was not subject to the usual public scrutiny. Professor van Schaik believes the plaza would not have been approved under usual planning processes.
Transport Minister and former major projects minister Peter Batchelor proudly declared yesterday that the West End Plaza housed "the first DFO (Direct Factory Outlets) in any CBD in Australia".
But Government Architect John Denton said DFO, given the type of building it occupied, was probably more appropriate in the suburbs than the CBD.
DFO would probably not have been included under the scheme that the Government's expert panel recommended in the bid process that concluded in 2002.
High-level sources confirmed this week that the three-man panel, led by Professor Peter McIntyre, favoured an alternative design by local firm Ashton Raggatt McDougall, but the Government opted for the cheaper bid.
Industry sources said they believed the difference between the bids was about $80 million.
Mr Batchelor defended the Government's choice. "Victorians have a new, world-class railway station that has set the standards in design, engineering and technology," he said.
"What we sought was value for money. In determining value for money, all aspects of the bids were considered including bid price and design."
Daryl Jackson general manager Chris Perry said that he looked forward to reading critics' comments and "responding accordingly". Civic Nexus did not want to be interviewed.

I.M. Pei to Renovate His Louvre Addition

Architect I.M. Pei has confirmed that he is developing a solution to manage overcrowding in the Louvre’s entrance. Pei and museum officials agreed to move forward in mid-September.
Pei’s former firm, Pei Cobb Freed, completed the 70-foot-tall Pyramide du Louvre and 665,000-square-foot underground entry and concourse in 1989. Pei says attendance at the Louvre has increased almost 70 percent since the popular project was completed, and now hosts 7.5 million visitors each year. Consequently, the public space has become crowded and loud, and has lost much of the peaceful aura the architect originally intended. “It’s a real concern for me,” says Pei, who had anticipated a less dramatic jump in attendance after his “Grand Louvre” project was completed. “If we don’t do it, the place is going to look like an airport.”
Pei does not yet know the specific measures his team will carry out, but he says that a resolution should be sympathetic to the surrounding architecture. He adds that it should also allow visitors to access the collections despite construction.

Sullivan-Designed Department Store To Be Converted

Bon-Ton Stores, the department store operator that owns Carson Pirie Scott, announced in late August that Carson’s will vacate its flagship Chicago store in the landmark building designed by Louis Sullivan on State Street. The move, scheduled for March 2007, is blamed on increasing operating costs and changing shopper habits.
Carson’s, originally named the Schlesinger and Mayer Department Store, has been the only tenant in the building, which is considered to be one of the most important structures of early modern architecture. The Sullivan design is noted for its modular construction, “Chicago windows,” and cast-iron ornament; it was built between 1899 and 1904 and expanded by Daniel Burnham in 1905–1906 and Holabird & Root in 1960.
The building’s owner, Joseph Freed and Associates, is planning to court new retail tenants for the lower two floors and office uses above. “All of the historic elements will be maintained, preserved, and utilized, including stairwells as well as the columns and capitals,” says Paul Fitzpatrick, managing director in the developer’s Chicago office. “The limited number of entrances dictates the redevelopment schemes. We're currently evaluating many tenant options that include anywhere from two or three larger stores to up to 15 smaller retail tenants on the first and second floors.”
The Carson’s move is another sign of the ever-changing character of State Street, where the nearby Marshall Field’s flagship became a Macy’s in early September. Once the thriving retail heart of the Loop, State Street suffered as a forlorn pedestrian-only thoroughfare beginning in the 1970s. It has experienced a renaissance in the past decade thanks to an urban design plan by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and an infusion of new retailers.

Green Light for New Tallest for Brum

Planners at Birmingham City Council granted planning consent this week for a new 40 storey tower in the heart of Birmingham's entertainment district - the Broad Street Tower. This was the second time the proposal was presented to the cities planning committee who originally deferred the application due to lack of appropriate information. Concerns were raised over the height of the tower and also the quality of materials used. However, developers Richardson Cordwell made revisions to the scheme addressing such concerns and with full backing from Birmingham International Airport (BIA) and the Commissions for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE), the application passed committee and was granted full planning consent. As part of the planning application, a Section 106 agreement was also drawn up which is thought to have included a contribution of over £2,000,000 towards environmental improvements, expansion of the cities metro system and affordable housing. The decision marks a defining moment for the future of the Birmingham skyline and the height limit on all tall buildings which was imposed across the country in 2003. However, the new yet unnamed tower exceeds the 242m AOD limit by nearly 40m and is the first of such towers to be approved by all parties involved. Richardson Cordwell produced an Aviation Analysis Report proving the tower did not have any detrimental affects to planes using the BIA and along with close correspondence with the airport, BIA was convinced the scheme was appropriate for the location. This follows on from BIA withdrawing its objections from the cities Arena Central Scheme in August and furthers speculation that both the city council and BIA are in talks to introduce a high-rise zone for the city as part of the inner ring-road masterplan currently being developed. The tower will stand at 40 storeys and 133m making it the tallest building in the city, beating Beethams Holloway Tower by 11m. However, its location on part of a sandstone ridge running through the city centre will make appear much more prominent and much taller. It will contain 350 apartments and a 192 room hotel along with ancillary leisure uses. However, the helipad which was due to be located on top of the tower and would have been the cities first high-rise helipad was dropped due to safety concerns as part of the revised application. Sources close to skyscrapernews.com have speculated Cordwell are optimistic in starting work on the scheme before the end of the year with construction starting early 07.

A ‘Stradivarius of Concert Halls’ Opens in California

Described by the Director of its resident performance company as the “Stradavarius of Concert Halls”, the newly expanded Orange County Performing Arts Center opened last week in Orange County, California, a suburban community best know as the home of Disneyland. Designed by Cesar Pelli, the 250,000 square foot extension, built of limestone, steel and glass, houses a 2000-seat concert hall, a 500-seat theatre and two supplemental performance spaces on three levels. Among the many features of the design are a centrally located atrium that serves all levels and an undulating glass façade. A highly advanced and flexible acoustical system, designed by Artec, allows the building to “tune-itself” for the needs of different performances.

Maki at MIT

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) announced today that it will break ground in spring 2007 on a new Media Lab designed by the Pritzker-Prize winning Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki. The media lab is well known for inventions that have ignited the digital revolution, including advances in the way architecture is practiced. The 163,000-square-foot six-storey structure will join a building designed by MIT alumni I.M. Pei. The expanded facility will feature an open, studio-style architecture designed to provide the flexibility required to respond to emerging research priorities. In addition to the Media Lab, the building will house a Visual Arts Center; the School of Architecture and Planning’s Design Lab and Center for Advanced Visual Studies; the Department of Architecture’s Visual Arts Program; and MIT’s Program in Comparative Media Studies.

Fosters unveil plans for a new souk

Foster and Partners have started work on a new $1.4 billion Central Market scheme in Abu Dhabi. It is being described as a 'city of microcosm', the 5.7ha mixed-use office, residential and retail development will change the historic market in the capital of the United Arab Emirates. A cluster of three towers will be a new 'souk' - a reinterpretation of the traditional Arabian marketplace. A maze of streets, courtyards and balconies will boast flexible sliding roofs and walls, creating a home for both luxury shops and smaller craft-based stalls. Backed by middle East property developer ALDAR, the first phase of the scheme is expected to complete in mid-2008.

New Doubletree Hotel Annapolis and 'Ports of Call' Restaurant Debut with $7 Million Redesign That Celebrates Historic Annapolis

ANNAPOLIS, Md., Sept. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Following an extensive $7 million transformation and repositioning, the stylish new 219-room Doubletree Hotel Annapolis has emerged with a design that celebrates the charm and character of the historic city of Annapolis. Two important elements of the project -- "Ports of Call," the upscale casual restaurant with outstanding cuisine from seaport destinations around the country, and the region's newest and largest conference and meeting facility -- also complement the rich local surroundings.
"Annapolis is excited to welcome its newest hotel and restaurant," said Connie Del Signore, CEO of the Annapolis and Anne Arundel County Conference and Visitors Bureau. "With more 18th-century buildings than any other city in the country, Annapolis is a place where visitors can see, touch, and absorb history through our accommodations and restaurants. We applaud the Doubletree Hotel Annapolis and Ports of Call restaurant for incorporating aspects of the City's Colonial era, the Golden Age of Annapolis, into their architecture."
Commented Steve Book, General Manager of the Doubletree, "Our new hotel and restaurant are testaments to our pride in becoming part of the vibrant Annapolis community. In transforming the facility, we employed architectural features reminiscent of the area's significant historic buildings, and showcased Annapolis' sailing and boating enthusiasm via the brilliant colors of the U.S. Naval Academy."
To achieve the renovation's objectives, Northbrook, IL-based Lane Hospitality (the property's new owner and management company) engaged Ginny Binder of Binder Boland LLC -- the conservation, planning and preservation consultancy -- to perform a 'Sense of Place' analysis to integrate the historic flavor and richness of Annapolis into the redesign. Lane then utilized the architectural and design talents of Thomas Hamilton & Associates.
"Our directive from Lane was to take an older, relatively nondescript building and make it classic and more 'Annapolis,'" explained Marc Oliver, Project Architect of Thomas Hamilton & Associates. "The new design incorporates many key Annapolis design elements and materials, and also focuses on the nautical theme."
Highlights of the redesign include: Classic entry using Annapolis red brick; gatehouse topped with a cupola; handsome new brick facade with decorative railings of naval blue and gray; classic lobby with ornate chair railings; Ports of Call restaurant with a nautical decor of dark woods, navy and brass, and tabletops featuring nautical maps of such port cities as Boston, Charleston and San Francisco.
'Ports of Call' Newest Addition to Annapolis Market, with Wines 'By the Glass'
This unique and casually upscale concept takes pride in Annapolis' first entirely "By the Glass" wine menu (guests may sample from 186 different vintages). Ports of Call offers the area's popular Chesapeake Bay cuisine, and fresh fish and prime steak selections from port cities around the nation.
"Special recipes from famous locales on the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts, the Gulf Coast and inland waterways are rotated into the menu," said Executive Chef Charles McKnew. He points to such specialties as Drunken Shrimp Simmered in Beer, Avocado and Mango Crab Stack, Oysters Rockefeller, and Boston Baked Stuffed Scrod, plus large portion sides for two, and regional desserts.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served daily, and two private dining rooms and outdoor seating are available. For information or reservations, contact 410-573-1350 or visit www.portsofcallannapolis.com.
Area's Largest Flexible Conference Center, Grand Ballroom Debut
In addition to a new, elegant decor, the conference and banquet space boasts over 12,000 square feet of flexible meeting and banquet facilities. There is a 5,000 square-foot grand ballroom and seating for 500; a 2,500 square-foot junior ballroom with seating for 200; five meeting rooms that can accommodate up to 90, and a stylish executive boardroom with mahogany conference table and oversized chairs for up to 12.
A full range of professional meeting and event planning services are offered, along with special wedding and holiday event packages. For information, contact Marian Hrab, Director of Sales and Marketing, at 410-224-3150, x2138 or email mhrab@doubletreeannapolis.com, or Gail Terribile, Director of Catering Sales, at 410-224-3150, x2164, or email gterribile@doubletreeannapolis.com.
The Doubletree Hotel Annapolis
The Doubletree Hotel Annapolis is located at 210 Holiday Court, off Route 50 at exit 22, three miles from Historic Downtown Annapolis and the Waterfront District, and near the State Capital and U.S. Naval Academy. It is 18 miles south of the Baltimore/Washington International Airport, and within 30 miles of Washington, DC and Baltimore's Inner Harbor. The hotel was formerly the Radisson Hotel Annapolis.
"We look forward to the Doubletree Hotel Annapolis being the first choice for both leisure and business travelers visiting historic Annapolis," said Book. "In addition to participating in Hilton's frequent traveler program -- Hilton HHonors(R) -- and offering all the amenities of the Hilton Family of Hotels, (including Doubletree's famous warm chocolate chip cookies at check- in) individual guests and groups alike will appreciate our exceptionally warm and caring service."
The six-story hotel features newly appointed guestrooms and suites with Doubletree's "Sweet Dreams" bed package. Guests enjoy complimentary high speed internet access throughout, MP3 Plug-in clock radios, in-room movies, two telephones, coffee makers, spacious workstations, and USA Today delivered daily. Amenities include: a fitness center with the latest in treadmills, elliptical machines and Nautilus equipment; an outdoor Olympic swimming pool, the largest in the area; full-service 24-hour complimentary business center with two workstations; new Chesapeake Bay Cafe featuring Starbuck's coffee; complimentary shuttle service within a five mile radius, and complimentary parking.

Move over Rubber City…Soap Box Derby…World Series of Golf. Akron, Ohio, is working on a trendier image by using an international starchitect for its art museum expansion. The project is the first public building in the U.S. by the Austrian firm Coop Himmelb(l)au.
The museum carries a signature design element, a “roof cloud,” which the architectural theorists and practitioners use “to help buildings escape from their sense of weightiness and gravity,” says museum director Mitchell D. Kahan. The 300-ft-long roof armature unites the new glass-enclosed entry pavilion, called the “crystal,” and the box-shaped new galleries with the 19th Century existing building.
Museum director Mitchell D. Kahan (Photo: James Nelson)
The project also brought the “virtual construction” trend to this mid-sized midwestern city. The project team shared information using a 3D model.
Vienna-based Coop Himmelb(l)au, known for its novel approach to historic structures won the museum’s international design competition in 2001. The firm’s name abbreviates cooperative and adds the German words for “sky blue,” merged with “bau” for building. Kahan says the architect’s “rich thinking” produced a building that combines “functional purpose, structural purpose and symbolic purpose” while exploring the nature of what is stable and unstable, the juxtaposition of exterior and interior spaces, and the changes between transparent, translucent and solid.
(Photo: Welty Building Co.)
The expansion adds 63,000 sq ft to the existing building, bringing the museum’s total size to 84,000 sq ft, including educational spaces, an auditorium and space for public events as well as galleries large enough to exhibit large-scale works. Old and new buildings were connected by cutting a 50 x 20-ft hole in the existing building and shoring the floors above it with an 11-ton steel box beam—a tense moment.
Shade. Tapered plate girders are the primary framing of the steel arms that cantilever 50 to 70 ft for the roof’s signature design element. (Photo:James Nelson)
The roof has four steel arms that cantilever 50 to 70 ft as they span the museum and shade outdoor spaces. The armature is framed with plate girders that taper from 16 to 1 ft deep and light I-beams. It is clad in aluminum panels and aluminum grating, allowing snow and wind to pass through. The primary support for the roof is a large column called “the boot,” which takes the largest fraction of loads with a steel tube that rests on a large concrete column.
Originally, the only additional support was a three-story concrete shear wall elevator core. But to help keep the job on its overall $38-million budget, the high roof cantilevers were shortened by adding one column in the gallery box and one column in the existing building. Shortening the cantilevers brought down the overall steel weight in the high roof to approximately 400 tons.
For 3D modeling, Coop Himmelb(l)au uses a program called Rhinoceros, a $900 tool more common in product and industrial design than buildings. The project team conceived a work flow that integrated Rhino into the process of generating construction documents for the project’s U.S. style of delivery, says Derrick Roorda, senior associate in the San Francisco office of structural engineer DeSimone Consulting Engineers. Roorda brought experience in building information modeling from a Frank Gehry-designed building at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. He says, “You can’t work things out by looking at 2D drawings on buildings where the geometry is as complicated as the art museum’s roof.”
Roof Cloud. Roof armature 300 ft long unites glass-enclosed entry “crystal” with the museum’s existing 19th Century building. (Rendering above and below: Akron Art Museum)
Introducing 3D
To introduce the 3D concept to the whole team, Coop Himmelb(l)au, DeSimone and Cleveland-based associate architect Westlake Reed Leskosky had early meetings with estimators, inspectors, surveyors, contractors and subs. The low cost of a Rhino seat made it affordable for more firms to view the model.
All the design surfaces and enclosures were created in Rhino by the architect. After DeSimone analyzed the frame and the interaction of the roof with the atrium steel, the Rhino model was translated into AutoCad 3D at the request of steel fabricator-erector Mull Iron, Rittmann, Ohio, and its detailer. They added connection plates, bolt holes and gusset plates, etc. The detailed model was passed back and forth several times until everyone was assured that all details were applied correctly. Project specifications required that a 3D Rhino model complete with all details had to be submitted to the design team for review. Then shop drawings were generated.

Welty Building Company Ltd., Akron, the CM-at-risk for the project, used the 3D model to guide construction. As Mull was erecting steel 50 ft in the air, Welty was providing work points using coordinates off the model and a global positioning system, said Donzell S. Taylor, Welty president and CEO. The 3D model was part of the bid documents for the roof and the crystal, supported by 2D documents. “We became the facilitator,” adds Welty project manager Frank Gazzillo. “There was a learning curve for subs to work through the 3D model, but with patience and partnering they got it.”
Radiating
The art museum’s mechanical system will be friendly to the art on display by using radiant heating and cooling to minimize the circulation of dust. Local mechanical contractor Meccon Inc. is currently installing the $2-million system inside the floor. Hot water or chilled water pumped through tubing will provide heating or cooling. Meccon President Ron Bassak says the tricky part was weaving the 77,000 linear ft of 5⁄8 in. plastic tubing among the insulation, rebar and other conduit in the floor. A separate ventilation system will maintain air circulation, pumped in at floor level.
When the museum opens in May 2007, visitors will view an 18 x 34-ft mural by Sol LeWitt, commissioned for the entry wall where the old and new buildings come together. The mural will have blocks of color that echo the bricks removed from the old building. With new art and new architecture, Kahan believes he has an attraction that will draw visitors to Akron.

Foster's Lime Street project is the tallest building onsite in the City

As speculation grows about how many of London's tower proposals will actually get built, Foster and Partners have managed to get this 29 storey project to site, making it the tallest under construction in the city. It is the latest project to be commenced by British Land as part of its City development programme. 51 Lime Street will offer a stunning development of the most modern office accommodation in the heart of the City of London. A new public plaza at ground level with accommodation for retail, restaurants and wine bars will further enhance an environment already rich in amenities for staff and visitors. Two buildings of striking design by Foster and Partners will offer 475,000 sq ft of net floor area of high quality accommodation directly opposite Lloyd's Insurance market, of which 465,000 sq ft is pre-let to Willis Group.

Richard Roger's high hopes for the city

The Leadenhall Building is Roger's at his most extravagant and unrestrained having clearly been given the brief to do a landmark building that can become part of the wonderful new collection of towers London's skyline promises. It has his trademark diagonal bracing on the cladding, the exciting pseudo-industrial crown, and glass lifts on the outside of the building which whizz up to the very tip of it. The use of colour on the spine of the building which contains the main structural support harks back to his recent design 88 Woodstreet as does the texture and layout of the cladding. The nightlighting too is typical of Rogers, with strong reds and yellows providing contrast and breaking up sheer mass. The tower’s distinctive tapering form – designed to protect views of St Paul’s Cathedral from Fleet Street - will make a dynamic addition to the City of London’s skyline. The base of the tower will form a six-storey enclosed public space with shops, cafes and restaurants. The site is currently occupied by a 12 storey high office building built in the 1960s which will be demoslished to make way for the new 48-storey building.

A new model for a scientific research campus to open in Virginia

A new Research Campus for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute designed by Rafael Vinoly Architects of NewYork, is set to open on 5 October 2006. Called Janelia Farm, the 740,411 square foot campus, which is situated 281-acres of heavily wooded land along the Potomac River in Asburn, Virginia, is, according to its architect, “a first-of-its-kind complex”. Vinoly said in a press release that the “complex transforms accepted patterns of scientific research and typical designs for lab buildings. “All aspects of the research center- the programs, the people, the design of the buildings and infrastructure- will stimulate the multi-disciplinary, team-driven research needed to advance medical science.” The Janelia Farm Complex includes a laboratory building, conference guest rooms and apartments for visiting scientists. The project’s centerpiece is a 1,000- foot–long, terraced and flexible laboratory building with an undulating façade that appears as three sinuous ribbons on the landscape.

SMC Charter's pool projects are major win in Ilford, London

SMC Charter has been appointed by the London Borough of Redbridge for a major leisure development in Ilford with a total project cost of up to £27.5 million. It will consist of a 50 metre (Olympic-sized) swimming pool, with a learner pool and children’s fun pool, as well as a 12-court sports hall and extensive health and leisure facilities. In addition, a £7.1 million major swimming pool complex for The Borough Council for Wellingborough is now on site, and the company has also been appointed to complete a feasibility study for an Olympic-sized swimming pool by Ipswich Borough Council. SMC Charter is one of the few specialist practices in the UK with the expertise and experience in building pools of this size. SMC Charter is part of SMC Group plc. SMC Group plc announced that is had formed a specialist division, SMC Sport & Leisure to share resource and expertise from across all of the SMC Group practices, which would also enable the individual practices to come together on larger projects.

AHMM architects design state-of-the-art student digs in Kings Cross

With an investment of over £95 million, The Blackstone Group is unveiling the group’s first major student housing development called ‘Nido London’ located in King’s Cross. Operating under the brand name ‘Nido’ meaning nest in Spanish and Italian, Blackstone is focusing on an international roll out of this scheme. The building is also having an additional podium block built around the base of the towers. Completion date is due for September 2007 and will cover 16 floors, will have a total net area 217,000sq ft and be 59.7m tall. This will comprise 846 student en-suite rooms, known as Nido cubes within the two towers housing 950 students, 50 private apartments, 14 affordable apartments, retail units and commercial space. Three retail units will front on to Pentonville Road totalling 14,143 sq ft. There is also 19,956 sq ft of commercial space with separate access off Pentonville Road. There is a basement with 41 car parking spaces and 250 bicycle storage spaces.

Plans to build the tallest skyscraper in the City of London have been abandoned

In a dramatic statement, Minerva has scrapped its plans for it's one million sq ft tower near Aldgate, in favour of a project half the size, to be called St Botolph’s House. Although planning permission had been granted for the Grimshaw design, concern has been growing over the plentitude of new office space under construction in the Square Mile. Property market observers had long been sceptical about the viability of the “Minerva Building”. Yesterday Minerva said that its new independent value, C B Richard Ellis, had wiped £15 million off the value of the site to £110 million. However, the writedown was more than compensated for by a £30 million rise in the value of another scheme in the City — The Walbrook, a 455,000 sq ft speculative office project close to the Bank of England. Currently the city of London is bristling with cranes, raising fears that developers will overbuild. This year just 1.75 million sq ft of space is set for completion, 64 per cent of which has tenants lined up, according to GVA Grimley. By 2009, 4.6 million sq ft is set for completion, of which 4.3 million is speculative. Is the demand for office space in London declining? The question stems from the difficultly of letting office space at the Gherkin tower. Currently in the pipeline projects such as 122 Leadenhall Street (RRP), the Shard of Glass (Piano), Heron tower (KPS) and 20 Fenchurch Street (Vinoly) are still waiting to be built. But will they?

Wilkinson Eyre win Singapore landscape competition

The Singapore Government has announced the winners of Gardens on the Bay - the most significant new landscape design project anywhere in the world and a major competition to redesign the waterfront in Singapore with new botanic gardens, conservatories and promenades. For this multi hectare project (Marina South) an all British team have been chosen – they include award winning architects Wilkinson Eyre, landscape architects Grant Associates and structural engineers Atelier 10. The competition, organised by Singapore’s National Parks Board and launched in January this year, drew over 70 entries submitted by 170 firms, of which 21 percent were from Singapore firms, from 24 countries. Gardens by the Bay is slated for opening in phases starting from 2010.

Make architects submit detailed and outline planning applications for mixed use development in central Edinburgh

The Make masterplan for a key location in Westfield, West Edinburgh, will transform a run-down brownfield site into a vibrant new mixed use development that serves as an exemplar for sustainable urban regeneration. The site marks a transition point between Edinburgh’s western suburbs and the city centre. The masterplan makes use of this prime location to forge new links between the two and create a coherent development that shares both the activity and energy of the urban centre and the security and human scale of the suburbs. These buildings will house a vibrant mix of small businesses, retail units and 176 new homes provided in a range of sizes and tenures to create a truly mixed community. The masterplan has been designed to meet the optimum standards of environmental responsibility.

London-based Jump Studios complete Red Bull’s new 1,860 sq m headquarters

Having completed award-winning projects for clients including Levi’s, Honda, Offspring and Nike, Jump studios were commissioned to design Red Bull’s new headquarters in Soho, London. The interior aims to generate adrenalin and a sense of dynamic excitement, emotions associated with the Red Bull brand and its various activities. The brief was to amalgamate two separate offices into one central headquarters building which take up the top three floors of an existing 19th century building, including an exterior terrace, which provides spectacular views of London. Employees and visitors arrive by lift into the top-floor public reception and social zone, before descending through the building. The descent is enhanced by voids punched through the building fabric, providing vertiginous views. A three-storey video wall occupies one void, while another includes a slide, aimed at encouraging free movement through the spaces.

HASSELL complete a state-of-the-art teaching facility for the University of Western Sydney

The University of Western Sydney has opened the doors on a new teaching building on its historic Parramatta Campus. Designed for students and staff from the Schools of Law, Business and Nursing, the building is purpose-designed to support focused teaching and learning activities through thermally controlled, acoustically isolated and wireless-enable lecture and case-study theatres, flexible teaching spaces, and computer laboratories. The building presents two contrasting and striking elevations. In a direct response to local environmental, programmatic and heritage conditions, the western facade is rendered in banded brickwork, forming a bold shield to the late-afternoon sun and to the vehicle-generated noise from the adjacent road carriageway. In contrast to this, the eastern facade explores themes of transparency and veiled screening in addressing the more benign conditions found on that side of the campus.

Sheppard Robson wins London Business School competition

Sheppard Robson has won the design competition for a major new building for London Business School, beating off stiff competition. The winning design will transform the School by creating a real focal point to its campus. The new 6,000m2 structure, independent of the existing buildings, will occupy the cloistered courtyard with a series of spaces which bridge the two buildings, creating an active forum - an ‘amphitheatre of business’. This three-dimensional, tiered space ‘steps up’ to three storeys of lecture theatres with a ground level internal courtyard overlooked by offices and seminar rooms. Using bridge technology, three occupied ‘bridges’, expressed in glass and steel, oversail the central forum creating a dramatic staggered roofline and infusing the internal spaces with a variety of light conditions by day and night. The project is due to be submitted for planning during the first half of 2007 for completion by the end of 2011.

Zaha Hadid unveils the Forest of Towers in London

Following on from Zaha Hadid’s acclaimed retrospective at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, the London based practice has announced the unveiling of the installation Forest of Towers at a new temporary space on Holmes Road London NW5. This elegantly extensive structure, close to 25 metres in length and 2 metres in width, flirts with both scale and structure in a masterful demonstration of manipulation and intervention. Its surface, punctuated by eleven scale sculptures, displays a myriad of architectural projects undertaken by Hadid and her studio. Projects featured include: The Dubai Dancing Tower, Olympic Aquatic Center, Moscow River Tower, Singapore Guggenheim, Basel Casino and the Architecture Foundation London.

Abu Dhabi Announces Its Own Gehry-Designed Guggenheim

With neighboring emirate Dubai gaining global attention for luxury tourism and eye-catching architecture, Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, is looking to use culture to engage travelers' imaginations. As part of that effort, officials are seeking to recreate the “Bilbao Effect” very, very exactingly: The emirate has signed separate deals with the Guggenheim Foundation and Frank Gehry to build a new branch of the museum of the architect's design.
While Dubai's development has been rapid in pace and spectacular in results, Abu Dhabi is planning its development carefully, and envisions the Guggenheim as a part of a larger cultural district on Saadiyat Island. This natural landmass, located 500 meters off shore, will also be home to national, classical art, and maritime museums, a performing arts center, and art park. "They are transforming themselves into a Western-oriented cultural destination," says Anthony Calnek, deputy director of communications for the Guggenheim Foundation.
Under a memorandum of understanding between the government and the Guggenheim Foundation, the emirate will build, own, and maintain the building. It will acquire its own permanent inventory of contemporary art, with Guggenheim curators programming the building and guiding acquisitions. The New York–based museum will also lend pieces from its own collections network. In a separate agreement, the government has contracted Gehry Partners to design the 30,000-square-foot building, the largest Guggenheim facility to date.
The project would once again unite Gehry and the foundation after a planned museum in Lower Manhattan was shelved in 2003. (Later that year, a Brazilian court blocked the Guggenheim's plans to build a satellite in Rio de Janeiro.) According to Calnek, the Abu Dhabi branch is more of a sure bet than any of the other Guggenheim projects in development because the money is coming from one source with very deep pockets, the Emir, rather than from municipal or provincial governments.

Dubai based DEPA adds world's tallest building deal to its prosperous portfolio

DEPA has been commissioned to carry out the manufacture, supply, installation, construction and completion of the entire fit-out works for the 899 serviced and residential appartments, as well as their corridors, lift lobbies and the amenities levels. The subcontract sum is close to AED 600,000,000. Depa has to deliver the works by end of December 2008. 'Emaar has numerous prestigious projects and we are delighted to have been selected for the execution of the Burj Dubai apartments; it is so far, the biggest contract value our company has ever seen in its history,' Mr. Mohannad Sweid, CEO, DEPA United Group declared. 'We have recently started working on this project and are, as always, committed to delivering a high quality product for this unique mission.' According to Sweid 'The Burj Dubai apartments will have beautiful interiors that will include high quality standard of finishes, meticulously selected to reflect the uniqueness of this project, all of which will be ready for progressive hand over in late 2008'. With a high market share and an exceptional track record of signature projects within the Hospitality Industry including Abu Dhabi Conference Palace Hotel, Burj Al Arab and Four Seasons Nile Plaza, Depa continues climbing the ladder of success by confirming its strategic role in the growing real estate development market having recently been awarded the Palm Jumeirah's Shoreline apartments fit-out works, the region's premier hotel interior contracting specialist is proud of its next privileged task, which is from now on part of its signature portfolio.

'Crunch time for Channel building'

A showpiece development designed to kick-start Bradford's regeneration is at a "critical stage" in the planning process, it was revealed today.
Independent reviewers are ready to scrutinise plans for the £350 million Bradford Channel scheme, near Forster Square, after negotiations between the developer and planners broke down.
The team behind the proposals, Bradford Channel limited (BCL), say they have "compromised enough" on the proposed height of the buildings during long-running discussions with Bradford Council's planning department.
If the landmark scheme had to be further diluted it would lose its striking element and would no longer be viable, according to BCL.
The Urban Economic Development Group (URBED) has just been appointed as the independent consultant charged with the task of deciding if the scheme needs to be further revised or is acceptable in its current form.
URBED will hold a workshop involving all interested parties in a fortnight, before reporting back with their recommendation in the first week of October.
BCL are desperate not to make more concessions, having already made major revisions to the scheme's two iconic tower developments, with the office tower reduced from 22 storeys to 13 and the residential tower down from 25 storeys to 22.
The wrangling over the height of the towers comes at a time when Leeds City Council looks set to grant planning permission for the 52-storey Lumiere development.
"It's an interesting contrast. I don't think Bradford is ready for anything like that, but it is certainly ready for a 20-odd storey development," said Harold Robinson, chairman of Magellan Properties, which fronts the BCL partnership.
"The major cities throughout the world are competing for the tallest building. We are not part of that competition, but Bradford has got to start somewhere," he said.
The ten-year Channel scheme, which would require 250 construction workers during the first phase, would see the creation of a large canal basin surrounded by 2,600 apartments, about 30 shops, bars, cafes, gyms, creche, a hotel and offices.
The scheme forms a strategic part of the city centre masterplan, as the 1.25 hectare site takes up the lion's share of one of the four neighbourhood quarters pinpointed for regeneration.
Mr Robinson said: "It's a critical time for the scheme. We hope URBED will report back with a recommendation that's acceptable to us, Bradford Centre Regeneration and the planning authority.
"We would have liked to have done what we originally proposed, but we still think what we have now will create an image of a 21st century urban village.
"We have still got one tower which will be visible for people coming down Shipley-Airedale Road or from Broadway, so people will know we are here.
"We think we have compromised enough. Any more and it loses its striking element and if we compromise more the viability of the scheme is also brought into question."
Bradford Council said it would be "inappropriate" to comment with the review pending. A spokesman said the council would respond once the results of the review were known.

59-story tower to rise next to Hyatt at Inner Harbor

A Philadelphia developer planning to build what could become Baltimore's tallest skyscraper completed its purchase yesterday of one of the last undeveloped parcels along the Inner Harbor, site of the proposed $300 million tower of luxury condominiums and a boutique hotel atop street-level shops.Developer ARC Wheeler closed the deal on the 2-acre site, once home to a McCormick & Co. spice plant and now a parking lot, from seller Central Parking Corp., said attorney Jon Laria, whose firm Ballard Spahr represents the developer of the project.
Work has been delayed by a later-than-expected sale. The developer, a joint venture of Clifton, N.J.-based ARC Properties Inc. and Philadelphia-based Wheeler Brothers Holdings LLC, had hoped to close on the property last spring and start construction over the summer on the project, tentatively dubbed 10 Inner Harbor. The building had been slated for completion by 2009. Laria said yesterday that the company now expects to begin site work the middle of next year for completion in 2010."We really want to communicate to everybody that ARC Wheeler has tremendous faith in Baltimore and the market, and we would not have closed on the site if we didn't believe that we could build a first-rate signature project on what is, we think, the best site in Baltimore," Laria said. He declined to reveal the purchase price. Central Parking Corp. could not be reached for comment.Baltimore's design panel in February approved the concept of a glass skyscraper that would rise 59 stories and 717 feet on Light Street between the Hyatt Regency and InterContinental Harbor Court hotel.Since ARC Wheeler announced its plans, other developers have unveiled proposals for mixed-use buildings that could rival the 10 Inner Harbor project in height. Potomac developer Richard W. Naing proposes two 60-story condo and apartment high-rises in the Guilford Avenue corridor downtown. And in Westport, Baltimore developer Patrick Turner envisions creating a second downtown along the shores of the Middle Branch of the Patapsco River, where he hopes to develop a $1.4 billion community with 2,000 homes, shops, offices and a hotel anchored by a 65-story skyscraper.Other new high-profile, mixed-use projects in the works include a condominium tower under construction at 414 Water St. by the Bush Cos. and a 34-story tower planned by the Cordish Co. that would rise atop a Metro stop at Market Place.In July, Urban America LP, a New York-based real estate private equity firm, and Baltimore developer Doracon LLC acquired the former site of the News American newspaper at 300 E. Pratt St. for $28 million. The developers plan a 50-story condominium and hotel skyscraper for the site.The ARC Wheeler project should be well-positioned because of its location and its development team, commercial real estate experts said. As designer of the project, ARC Wheeler has chosen prominent New York firm Robert A.M. Stern Architects, whose projects include Disney's BoardWalk, a throwback to an early 20th-century seaside village in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., and hotels at Tokyo Disney Resort and Paris Disneyland."This is arguably one of the most significant waterfront sites left on the Inner Harbor," said Jeff Pacy, an associate with Preston Partners Inc., a commercial real estate services firm that represented ARC Wheeler in the sale. "There's no better location for a project of this size and magnitude."Plans presented in February to the city's Urban Design and Architecture Review Panel showed a 1.3 million-square-foot building with 285 luxury and loft condominiums with high ceilings, large expanses of clear glass, balconies and roof terraces enclosed by clear glass railings.Under the approved concept, the first eight floors of the tower would contain a 192-room boutique hotel. The base would include 74,600 square feet of ground-level and second-floor shops, with a restaurant, possibly a gourmet grocer and about 800 above-grade parking spaces.Although the panel has approved the concept, Laria said the developer needs to go back to get approval for the design and then win a final OK from the city's Planning Commission. After the nine-story McCormick building was razed in 1989, the city agreed to allow a taller building on the site if it met other standards, including one that restricts a building's height based on the area of its base.Kirby Fowler, president of Downtown Partnership of Baltimore Inc., said his group continues to encourage mixed-use projects downtown, even as the housing market has slowed."There is demand for all these types of uses; it's just how you piece them together," Fowler said. "With regard to retail, it seems more and more national retailers are starting to take notice of Baltimore."As for residential, it's a matter of pricing," he said. "The more moderately priced condos seem to be doing well."Laria said ARC Wheeler isn't worried. It thinks that the project would be distinct enough from other condos to attract buyers. "Our market studies indicate there's tremendous interest," he said. "This is a very different product."

`Stilts Building' Upgrade Aims To Be Inviting

Companies use plenty of perks to lure top-notch employee talent these days: generous salaries, box seats at sporting events and conferences in exotic locales. But at One Corporate Center in downtown Hartford - the "Stilts Building" - the new owners hope to tap one more: a sophisticated, visually stimulating workplace with plenty of amenities to make much more bearable the 12-hour workdays that go along with high-level jobs.
As part of major renovations to one of the city's most recognizable, but also most run-down skyscrapers, The Hampshire Real Estate Cos. broke out the jackhammers last week and started pounding away at the lobby. Hampshire hopes to transform the entry and the rest of the 23-story tower from cold and sterile to warm and inviting."Businesses are using facilities as recruiting tools," said Todd Anderson, Hampshire's manager on the renovation project. "They don't want to be in a tired, old building."Hampshire needs to make the building more attractive to lure potential tenants. Long neglected, the 425,000-square-foot skyscraper is now only 30 percent occupied. Local brokers had dropped it from the list of must-see downtown office buildings.Hampshire, based in Morristown, N.J., is making good on its promise to sink millions into improvements before signing a major tenant, something the former owner refused to do. The new owner also is renaming the tower 20 Church Street, its street address.Some of the most visible improvements to the 25-year-old skyscraper will be in and around the lobby: There will be three new conference rooms so that meeting space does not need to be incorporated in the office floors above; an existing deli will be reconfigured and go more upscale; and more seating will be added.A 3,500-square-foot fitness center for employees will be added on a lower floor, with flat-screen televisions and workout machines.Although the building's front entry won't change, there will be a more well-defined entrance from the parking garage. Visitors now are left to guess whether they are going into the right place: The only access is through a service entrance.Hampshire bought the building in May for $19 million. Anderson won't say exactly how much Hampshire plans to spend on renovations, but the company has filed for city building permits that show work so far is valued at $760,000.Hampshire hopes that potential tenants will take a good look at the renovated building, including new digitally controlled elevators. They might even take a peak inside the restrooms, and not just because they have to.Each restroom - now awash in drab tans, browns and mustards - will be decked out in blue and green Italian glass tiles on the walls, a trough sink that will run the full length of the wash area and mirrors that will appear to float in front of the sink."They wanted this building to be very different," said Rick Focke, of HOK in New York, the interior designer, "and have people go in and say, `This is pretty cool.'"The lobby, for instance, will have charcoal grays and other darker colors on the granite floor that will replace the tan travertine. The walls will feature back-lit rectangular panels of red and white acrylic and zebrawood that will recall the paintings of Mondrian.The building's exterior won't change much except that the stucco will be painted and floodlights will be added to dramatically accentuate the signature angled support beams."The building will look like it's floating off its base," Focke said.Although Hampshire purchased at a time when there was not a lot of growth downtown, there have been some encouraging signs since then, although leasing is just starting to pick up.Downtown's vacancy rate for prime office space is tightening, particularly after St. Paul Travelers signed leases for large blocks of space at State House Square and One Financial Plaza, the Gold Building. St. Paul Travelers plans to bring another 500 jobs to the city as a result.And Aetna Inc., though outside the central business district, said in July that it will bring 3,600 workers to the city from its Middletown office by 2010 as part of a $219 million renovation and consolidation project.Anderson says the building is being actively shown - two floors have been gutted down to support beams, as well as part of another, some of which will be outfitted as "show space."John M. McCormick, executive vice president at commercial real estate firm CB Richard Ellis in Hartford who is involved in leasing, said there have been at least six showings at the tower. He wouldn't name the companies, but indicated that some are from the area and have leases coming up for renewal.

Work can begin on London's tallest skyscraper

Work can begin on London's -- and potentially Europe's -- tallest building after initial funding worth 196 million pounds ($368.6 million) was secured, its developers said on Tuesday.
The London Bridge Tower, which has been widely dubbed the "Shard" because it will look like an enormous shard of glass, is more than 1,000 feet high, has 72 storeys and is part of a 1.6 million square-foot mixed-use development on the south bank opposite London's City financial district.
"We can start demolishing the existing building towards the end of next year and deliver the completed project between 2010 and 2011," Irvine Sellar, chairman of the Sellar Property Group, said.
Sellar owns an equal share of the company behind the development -- Teighmore Ltd -- together with CLS Holdings plc and CN Ltd, which is part of the Halabi Family Trust.
The interim finance was provided by a syndicate of banks led by Nationwide Building Society. Part of funding has been used to buy an occupational lease held on the 1970s building that will be demolished to make way for the Shard, a statement said.
Almost half of the commercial space in the development has been pre-let, it added. That included two 30-year leases on 390,000 square feet of space in the Shard with Transport for London and Shangri-La Hotels.
By current standards, the Shard would be Europe's tallest building -- higher than the 866-feet Triumph Palace in Moscow. But by 2010 it could be surpassed by another Moscow-based building, the 118-storey Moscow City Towers.

Congregation likes plan to save old building downtown

First United Methodist Church members embraced an offer Sunday that could save the seemingly doomed historic church in downtown Seattle from the wrecking ball. The offer would preserve the old sanctuary for public use and provide cash and property for the group to build a new church in Belltown.

The 1907 First United Methodist Church at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Columbia Street would be preserved under a proposal from developer Nitze-Stagen.

The Sunday meeting was the latest in a controversy this summer over the future of the historic building at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Columbia Street.
Just three months ago, the same congregation voted overwhelmingly to accept an offer from skyscraper developer Martin Selig that would give them a new church in Belltown, but would require them to first tear down their existing church, which was built in 1907.
"That kind of kicked off the activity. The threat of demolition on this site was taken seriously," said Kurt Armbruster, a member of the church building committee.
Soon after the June vote, two other developers, Nitze-Stagen and Sabey Corp., which owns the Seattle P-I building, raced to First United Methodist with alternatives to save the sanctuary.
Elected officials, including Mayor Greg Nickels, King County Executive Ron Sims and King County Councilman Dow Constantine tried to encourage church officials to consider the alternatives.

Foster and Partners’ unveil the unique Leslie L. Dan pharmacy building in Toronto.

The new building, situated adjacent to two significant historic buildings, provides state-of-the-art facilities for more than 1200 students, creating a strong presence but is sensitive to its surroundings. Two dramatic 'pods', created from steel baskets hang within the atrium space. The larger of the two houses a 60-person lecture theatre and a reading room above. The other accommodates a smaller 24-person classroom with the faculty lounge. These dynamic objects were designed and constructed with simple, efficient engineering techniques. Suspended by solid steel bars and wrapped in a silver skin, they appear to float inside the building. The building skin is oriented to maximise daylight where needed and minimise unwanted solar gain, reinforcing its clear and logical diagram. The full height atrium functions as a light slot, bringing daylight deep into the building's plan.

Richard Rogers Partnership is currently designing the expansion and renovation of New York City's Jacob k Javits Convention Centre.

The exhibition and meeting room space will increase from around 790,000 sq ft to around 1.1 million sq ft. The expansion will also create a hotel with between 1,000 to 1,500 rooms, and the largest ballroom in New York. The redevelopment will revitalise the existing Javits Center and transform the building's public front and image to make it a world-class convention centre. There will be 3.2 acres of new publicly accessible open space achored by a large public plaza. The plaza, at approximately 40,000 square feet, will contain trees, pedestrian amenities and retail kiosks. Phase I of the Javits expansion and renovation is expected to be completed in 2010.

New airport for Zaragoza

The City of Zaragoza (Spain) will inaugurate a new, high class Airport Terminal at the time of the Zaragoza International Exposition 2008, to accommodate its anticipated rapid growth in air traffic. The new International Airport was designed by the young architectural practice Vidal y Asociados arquitectos (VAa) in association with Sener Engineering, as a result of an international design competition, with construction due to commence in October 2006. With a total size of 11,000 sqm and a cost of 40m Euros, the project includes basic infrastructure, urban planning, a new terminal and the refurbishment of the historic buildings. The new airport will accommodate up to 1 million passengers per annum and will mark the beginning of new era in the urban-planning development of the city and its direction as an international tourist location. The design is energy efficient and sustainable, maximising the entry of natural light through the use of roof lighting and transparent glazing. It is also economic and very functional thanks to its modular-shaped structure that considered the best gating strategy to facilitate passenger flow and minimize circulation time. The outer skin works as its main feature and consists of low-emissivity coated, thick insulating laminated-glass panels fixed to cast aluminium glazing bars. The extensive use of glass emphasizes openness to the city of Zaragoza, allowing passengers a view outside. The interior is conceived as a big water feature, following the Expo´s main theme, using a deep green natural stone, green transparent glazing and shined white louvers in vertical walls.

Jestico + Whiles architects win planning

London based architects Jestico + Whiles’s scheme for a 116-unit foyer at Wakering Road in the London Borough of Barking has received planning approval. Foyers provide accommodation and training for disadvantaged young people – aged from 16 to 24 – who are in housing need, to help them achieve long-term independence. The building is based around an enclosed garden, formed by an L-shaped block and an existing embankment. The ground and first floors contain training rooms, staff offices and communal facilities, enabling transparency to the surrounding streets. Above this, seven storeys of residential bedsits are arranged either side of a glazed circulation ‘spine’. A rainscreen cladding in an abstract composition of vertical panels diffuses the repetitive nature of the bedsits beyond. Construction is set to begin this coming January and aims to be complete by January 2008.

Breaking ground in Michigan

The University of Michigan broke ground with a new $35.4 million art museum designed by Portland, Oregon-based Allied Works Architecture, led by Brad Cloepfil. The 53,000 square foot building, which was honored with a design award from the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects in 2004, will more than double the Museum’s existing facilities. It will house substantial new gallery space, state-of-the art collections storage, conservation and study area, an auditorium, classrooms, and public gathering spaces. The largely transparent addition consists of three wings organized in a “T-shape” that are raised a full storey above ground to preserve the openness of the site, which is a major circulation path to and from campus. These wings will be used to display sculpture and as public gathering space. To be constructed of glass, steel and limestone, the building is to be completed in the fall of 2008.

OMA-designed School of Architecture, Art, and Planning for Cornell University unveiled.

Designs for a new home for Cornell University’s College were made public yesterday at a press conference held at the School’s campus in Ithaca, New York. The project, which has been in the planning stages since the early 90s, has had several fits and starts. In 2001, Steven Holl was named the winner of an international design competition to design the building. In 2002, Barkow Leibinger of Berlin was awarded the job. Now its Koolhaas’s turn and with the award of this project he returns to Cornell where he studied architecture in the early ‘70s. The 43,000 square foot structure will expand the current Milstein Hall and connect it to two adjacent buildings, Sibley and Rand Halls. The new multi-storey, glass and steel addition is to include studio spaces, exhibition space, a 300-seat auditorium and a library. The roof is to be a public plaza for convening. Groundbreaking is expected in 2007.

London to get biggest ever mall

A £1.6 billion proposal by Westfield for a 300 store mall in London’s Shepherd’s Bush could rival the city’s famous Oxford Street. Including some 40 restaurants, 14 screen cinema, the 150,000 sq metre glass covered complex will feature flagship stores including Marks and Spencer, Debenham, Waitrose, Next and 265 smaller shops. The project will include a £170 million transport upgrade including the redevelopment of Shepherds Bush underground, a new station on the Hammersmith & City line and new overground station on the West London mainline. US architects Gabellini Sheppard Associates have been commissioned to design Westfield Village (illustrated) within the complex. The Westfield project is being managed in-house and is projected to open in 2008.

Built in a conservation area but no attempt to be traditional

The design and choice of materials give a sense of continuity with the existing built and natural environment. The house is a four storey high, rectangular-shaped box clad in vertical timber boarding, with large windows framing oblique river views. It stands at right angles to a busy road, achieving a sense of privacy without disappearing behind a wall. Inside the house, the main living space is elevated on the second floor, extending its full length, with a garden room and roof terrace on the top, bedrooms on the first, parking at ground level, and a cinema in the basement.

Architects De Twee Snoeken unveil the new Town Hall in 's-Hertogenbosch.

Within the main historical town of Vught, central Netherlands, the Vughtse tower, the Petrus Church and the town hall make up three important landmarks. Due to the rising roofline, the spaces for the technical installations are integrated into the total structure. The ground floor looks transparent, which gives rise to the feeling that the “tower” is floating. The elliptical structure is girdled by a large natural lake symbolising the name of Vught, which means moisture. The council of Vught opted to accommodate all municipal functions, excluding the council chamber, in the new building. The public area is situated on the ground floor and the first to fourth floors inclusive, are the offices. The fifth floor is reserved for the executive.

Museum Expansion Combines Art and Nature

The North Carolina Museum of Art unveiled plans Thursday for an expansion that incorporates stainless steel, glass and natural light in a plan that unites art and nature. The 127,000-square-foot building will be home not only to the museum's existing permanent collection, but also casts of 22 bronze sculptures by Auguste Rodin, including "The Thinker" and "The Kiss."
The building "is not about architectural bravado," museum director Larry Wheeler said. "It's not about soaring flourishes that we associate often with public buildings, in particular cultural expressions in architecture today. "It's a beautiful, quiet, simple place where our people can come together. ... They can let their spirits soar. They can nurture their own creative impulses because this is who we are." The museum is scheduled to break ground on the building in October. The opening date is spring 2009. As part of the $138 million expansion, the museum's existing building will be renovated and used for temporary exhibitions, collections management, education and administration. The museum has raised $78 million, and wants another $50 million for an endowment. When designing the building, architect Thomas Phifer of Thomas Phifer and Partners in New York, said he looked to combine art with North Carolinians' love of land. "When you come to a place like this, you wonder ... what is it about the place that wants a museum here? And you look at the landscape ... from the Outer Banks to the Blue Ridge Mountains. I think the land here has been so important to the people of North Carolina. It defines this state, I think," said Phifer, known for incorporating buildings into the natural environment. That history, combined with the 164 acres that the museum owns, set the tone for the design, a melding of stainless steel, glass, water designs and natural lighting. Just 1 percent of available daylight will filter into the building to protect the paintings, Phifer said. One focus of the new building is a gallery for the Rodins, which the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation promised on the condition that they have a new home. Once the Rodins arrive, the museum will have the largest collection of the artist's works in the Southeast. The collection is valued at $25 million, Wheeler has said.

School of the Future Wins Its First Design Award

State-of-the-art working example of public-private partnership features progressive curriculum, integrated technology, and environmentally advanced architecture
HOPEWELL, N.J., Sept. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- After three years of planning with Microsoft and the School District of Philadelphia, The Prisco Group- designed "School of the Future" has won its first international award for an engaging, modern environment on a standard urban public-school budget. The Prisco Group, an architectural and engineering firm in Hopewell, NJ, was awarded the "Recognized Value" award for the "design in progress" as part of DesignShare/School Construction News' sixth annual awards program, "Models for the 21st Century."
The school, which opened its doors on September 7, 2006, resides on seven acres in West Philadelphia's Fairmount Park and is aesthetically pleasing, technologically advanced, environmentally friendly and replicable throughout the world on a traditional budget. The project was identified as having "recognized value" in the ongoing dialogue about the design of more effective learning environments.
The School of the Future is an opportunity to rethink traditional educational facilities to meet the current and future needs of all learners. Integrating technology, curriculum, and sustainable design elements allows learners to use the building and all of its features as "built-in" teaching tools. Through support of The Delaware Valley Green Building Council, the State of Pennsylvania Sustainable Development Fund and the City of Philadelphia Water Department (PWD), many of the high-performance features received grants.
Scott V. Prisco, AIA, NCARB, PP, LEED ap, the Principal of The Prisco Group, stated, "Designing and building an energy-efficient building does not have to be costly. Benefits such as increased durability, less maintenance, and energy savings are a direct result of Sustainable Design."
The essential element of award-winning school facility design is balance among a school's educational philosophy, curriculum vision, technology needs and the community. Driven by new educational concepts, the architectural design creates an internal communication core -- in a sense a school "street," with direct access to "adaptive functional modules" designed to be replicated elsewhere. The facility also provides open community access to ground-level modules -- the performing arts area, physical education center and interactive learning center.
The building will create a healthy and productive learning environment -- while potentially saving the School District of Philadelphia operational dollars -- and become a living textbook as students monitor and analyze building systems as part of their learning process.
The School District of Philadelphia, The Philadelphia School Improvement Team and Microsoft team picked The Prisco Group to design the 800-student, 162,000-sq.-ft. school in March 2004. Regarding the selection of The Prisco Group as the designer of The School of the Future, Mary Cullinane wrote in her March 27, 2004 blog entry (http://blogs.msdn.com/phillyhi/archive/2004/03/27/97255.spx), "At the end of the day, I believe passion won." Ms. Cullinane heads Microsoft's U.S. Partners in Learning program and is the school's "technology architect."

Mobile skyscraper gets crown today

Alabama's tallest building -- the 35-story RSA skyscraper near completion on Mobile's waterfront -- gets its crown today, if weather permits a helicopter to lift it.
Downtown streets near the building will be closed to traffic and pedestrians beginning at 7 a.m. The operation could be completed by 1 p.m.
The Sikorsky S-61 helicopter, like the Marine One used to fly President Bush, will take off from Mobile's downtown airport at Brookley Industrial Complex and pick up its load across the street from the $200 million skyscraper.
The crown, a 115-foot-tall fiberglass spire, when illuminated will be a beacon visible for some 25 miles across the flat coastal terrain, architect Jack Blake said Thursday.
The Retirement Systems of Alabama skyscraper is part of its multimillion-dollar project that links the 1852 Battle House Hotel and newer Riverview Plaza Hotel across from the Arthur Outlaw Convention Center and cruise ship terminal on the waterfront.
RSA is the state pension system.
Blake, the project manager for the Atlanta-based Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback & Associates (TVS), said lighting on the spire will change colors with events. For example, there will be lighting appropriate for Mardi Gras and Christmas.
It also may affect the mood of the city. Lighting at the start of each week will get brighter as the weekend approaches, Blake said. The lights won't move but just change color.
"This is a traditional building in a lot of ways -- with a base, shaft and crown. A lot of buildings -- you can look at the Empire State Building in New York -- are built this way," Blake said in a telephone interview.
Blake said the 745-foot-tall building could be completed by the end of this year, but tenants could start their moving-in work next month.
Kevin McCade, who operates the Royal St. Cafe a block away, said his business improved 40 percent during the skyscraper's construction.
"I'm worried about an exodus from other buildings," he said Thursday, anticipating the skyscraper's opening. He said it could spur other downtown landlords to spruce up.
Picking up lunch takeouts from the cafe, Pat Hancock said she's excited about the new building.
"Hopefully it will bring more business and shops, more people, making a reason to stay in town," she said.
Construction began in early 2004 and lasted through three hurricanes and a tropical storm.
With streets closed today, city officials urged anyone wanting to view the tower installation to park at Battleship Park on the Causeway.
Water St. will be closed at 8 a.m. Northbound traffic will be detoured at Government and Water west on Government to Broad St. to Beauregard St. to I-165. Southbound I-165 traffic will be detoured to Beauregard to Broad to Government to Water.
Cruise ship traffic should not be affected.

Weather blamed for skyscraper delay

Work on the Bridgewater Place skyscraper in Leeds is running months behind schedule – and Britain's miserable weather is to blame.

The finishing touches were originally due to be applied to the 32-storey development's basic structure by the end of last month. Now, though, the completion date for Yorkshire's tallest building has been pushed back to November. The delay has been partly caused by a concrete sub-contractor going out of business. But a spokeswoman for joint developers Landmark Development Projects and St James Securities today revealed that Mother Nature must also share some of the responsibility. She said bad weather had hampered the construction work, with wind and rain making it difficult to use the giant cranes needed for a scheme of this size. The setback means law firm Eversheds – which is leasing 121,000 sq ft of office space over four floors of the building – will not be moving in until Easter next year. It had hoped to be trading from its new home by Christmas. The spokeswoman for Landmark and St James today insisted the £140m project was still running smoothly.

Happy

She said Eversheds and other confirmed occupiers like sandwich retailer Philpotts were happy with the progress that was being made. The spokeswoman also stressed that the fit-out of the skyscraper's 200 apartments had begun on time in August - but declined to comment when asked if the other hold-ups had pushed Bridgewater Place over budget. She did say, though, that the main contractor on the project, Bovis Lend Lease (BLL), could be penalised under the terms of its deal with the developers. BLL would certainly appear to be bracing itself for some kind of financial 'hit' – earlier this year it emerged the firm had put aside millions of pounds to cover the expected fall-out from the project. Bridgewater Place stands at the corner of Water Lane and Victoria Road, a few minutes' walk from Leeds City Station. It is one of a number of high-rise building schemes which are set to change the face of the Leeds skyline over the next few years. Other projects in the pipeline include businesswoman Jan Fletcher's City One development in Holbeck and Sovereign Street's so-called "kissing towers".The tallest of them all, however, promises to be the 54-storey glass skyscraper which would form part of the Lumiere complex planned for Wellington Street.

Dominique Perrault unveils design for Milan

This project for two hotels in the new Trade Fair in Rho-Pero, Milan, fits in with the city’s great architectural-building tradition. The two hotel towers form a simple yet powerful landmark. They are two-tone, black on the east and north facades, immaculate white to the south and west. They are sixty meters tall; each inclined at an angle of 5 degrees and accommodates 400 3-star and 4-star hotel rooms, conference centre and 3,700 square meters of public space. The two towers project out by just over 11 centimetres every meter in height and the fronts are fitted with various size windows forming irregular patterns on the façade. The observation decks at the top are constructed in the structure.

Sea Serpents Tower

Lee Harris Pomeroy Architects has been commissioned to build an innovative new skyscraper in the Bin Hai Seaport City near the coast two hours southeast of Beijing. The new hotel/residential tower will bring to the area both its 5-star hotel rooms and luxurious one and two bedroom apartments. The tower’s unique design consists of three intertwined cylindrical components clad in green glass. The three intertwined cylinders are inspired by the twisting forms of ancient cypress trees. This tri-part structural form rotates 2 degrees per floor and creates a dramatic silhouette that looks different from every angle and variation of light. The design gives residents and guests panoramic views of the surrounding area. An exclusive club with restaurants, bars and entertaining areas will be located on the skyscraper’s top three floors. Completion planned for in 2008, to coincide with the Beijing Olympics.

Streetwise in Southwark

The character of North Southwark, London has changed with the opening of Tate Modern and improved transport links, which has given the area a new lease of life, attracting a rich mix of people and businesses. A key part of this dense residential scheme is to re-establish Bear Lane and Great Suffolk Street as a place for people to visit, live, work, shop and eat. The development site is triangular in shape - Bear Lane itself consists of late nineteenth century industrial brick built buildings with an eleven metre high elevated railway running to its west. Great Suffolk Street consists of 4 to 6 storey high late nineteenth century warehouses converted and now used as offices. Our scheme respects the heights of the proposed adjacent schemes and of the White Hart pub.

First ever master co-ordination plan established for Manhattan

As the political and financial wrangling finally gets resolved and plans for the new World Trade Centre crystallize, so the focus inevitably shifts onto the immense challenge of delivering this vast scheme. In all, there are some 29 individual projects with an estimated cost of $21 USD billion planned for Manhattan. The WTC2 alone will require an estimated 907, 338 million cu yds of concrete, 222,437 tons of steel all erected by 5,900 workers and 17 tower cranes…Questions have been raised in the New York press as to whether there is sufficient concrete, steel and glazing production capacity to build WTC2. For the first time ever, a master co-ordination group has been set up, the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center (LMCCC) is headed up by Charles Maikish, executive director of the city, state and federally funded coordination entity.

A future for the Floral Pavilion

Neptune Developments have submitted a new planning application which could safeguard the future of the threatened Floral Pavillion in New Brighton. Following the disappointing decision to refuse planning permission for the £73 million scheme to regenerate New Brighton, Neptune have now propose to split the work into phases. The new application for the £17 million first phase of works includes vital work to upgrade and update the renowned Floral Pavillion Theatre with new conference facilities. It will become a “new” theatre with new facades, roof, dressing and rehearsal facilities, auditorium and stage, foyer and bar area, and a major new performance and exhibition space. The Town Square will create a new public space for the people of New Brighton and visitors alike to enjoy. The 6,300 square foot of leisure space is aimed at independent restaurateurs with 43 apartments above.

Empire State Building won't host National Cartoon Museum

Plans for a National Cartoon Museum at the Empire State Building have fallen through, with owners of the landmark Manhattan skyscraper saying the project was taking too long to develop.
Led by "Beetle Bailey" creator Mort Walker, organizers of the museum had planned to open it next year on the first three floors of the building with 200,000 historic pieces, including the first drawings of Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse, original "Dick Tracy" comic strips, comic books, toys, film, CDs and DVDs.
Peter Malkin, a real estate magnate from Greenwich who is chairman of the group that owns the Empire State Building, said he supported the museum, but was forced to put the space back on the market because construction had not begun. He said the space for the museum had been saved, rent-free, for over a year.
"We had signed a lease, and under the lease they were supposed to go in and create the space for the museum and do work by a certain date," Malkin told The Advocate of Stamford. "They were not able to proceed with that, and we extended the date several times.
"But it was necessary finally to terminate the arrangement because they had not been able to proceed with their program," he said. "We're disappointed that it has not worked out as Mort had and we had hoped, but we just have to go forward with a more traditional, commercial use of the space."
Walker, whose studio is in Stamford, disputed Malkin's version of what happened.
"They changed the deal on us," Walker said last week. "They were going to sell our tickets when they sold tickets to the observation tower. We were going to split the ticket sales. They turned around and said they couldn't do it. They put our rent at $650,000. We found that too difficult, so our lease was canceled."
Walker added Wednesday, "It's a big disappointment. I really felt like we had a perfect situation."
Organizers of the museum had hoped to pull in 700,000 of the 3.5 million people who visit the Empire State Building's observatory every year. He said the original deal called for the museum to get the space rent-free in return for half the ticket sale proceeds, estimated at $7 million.
The museum's collection of cartoon art, which Walker says is one of the largest in the world, remains in a warehouse in Stamford.
It first opened in 1974 in Greenwich as the International Museum of Cartoon Art. It later moved to New York and Florida before it closed in 2002 due to financial troubles.
Walker said he is looking at other locations in New York City for the museum. He said he is discouraged, but is not giving up.
"We know we've got something good here. It's just a matter of working it out," he said.