HONORS

 

Flad & Associates designed Pharmacia’s Building Q in Skokie, Illinois, which has officially been awarded a LEED 1.0 Gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council. It is the first R&D laboratory in the country to earn LEED Gold. Building Q is a four-story, 180,000-square-foot research laboratory featuring chemistry, analytical and process labs, with an NMR facility, clustered around a central atrium. Extensive site modeling and wind tunnel testing was performed to determine stack heights and exhaust patterns that minimized re-entrainment. DOE-2.1E modeling was used to study net energy use for over 80 design alternatives. Daylighting analysis utilizing Lightscape computer simulations was performed for the offices, labs, and atria. In addition, a proprietary analysis by the 3M Company to incorporate their light-directing Fresnel lensfilm technologies into the atria skylighting resulted in the largest application of its kind. The project is also the recipient of Special Mention for Lab Planning & Sustainability in the 2001 “Lab of the Year” competition, sponsored annually by R&D Magazine.

 

RNL Design (Design Architect) and Cooper Roberts Simonsen Architects (Architect-of-Record) recently received an Envision Utah Governor’s Quality Growth Award for the Ogden Intermodal Transit Center in Ogden, Utah. The project won in the Excellence in Implementation category for its “outstanding development.” The Transit Center was the catalyst for the redevelopment and revitalization of lower downtown Ogden. RNL followed this plan with a concept for the center, which included commuter rail, local and regional bus service, shuttles, taxis, kiss-n-ride and park-n-ride spaces, as well as pedestrian connections to nearby development projects. The awards are given by the Governor of Utah and Envision Utah to honor organizations and individuals working together to preserve Utah’s quality of life.

 

Charles Redmon, FAIA, principal of Cambridge Seven Associates, Inc. has received the Boston Society of Architects’ 2002 Award of Honor, created over a decade ago to recognize individuals whose contributions to the profession and to the BSA have been uncommonly profound, positive, and deserving of appreciation. For more than 25 years, he has championed the improvement of the quality of design in our nation’s cities and towns, and the quality of urban design in Boston’s public realm. The presentation of this year’s Award of Honor to Mr. Redmon will be made at the BSA’s annual gala at Build Boston this November.

 

FIRM NEWS

 

Solomon E.T.C. joins Wallace Roberts & Todd as a WRT Company

 

Wallace Roberts & Todd (WRT), a national planning and design firm announces that San Francisco-based Solomon E.T.C. Architecture and Urban Design has joined the firm to practice as Solomon E.T.C., A WRT Company. The merger of the two award-winning firms combines Solomon E.T.C.’s strength in urbanism with WRT’s commitment to environmentalism. Daniel Solomon, FAIA, a co-founder of Congress for the New Urbanism and professor emeritus at UC Berkeley, is WRT’s newest principal, and the addition of his firm extends the capabilities of WRT’s West Coast practice.

 

Solomon E.T.C. and WRT are currently working together on two HOPE VI projects in Oakland (Coliseum Gardens and the Tassafaronga Village), and a vision plan for the Greenbelt Alliance that suggests more sustainable land use patterns for Coyote Valley near San Jose. Other current projects in the Bay Area include: the East Shore Park project, a California State Park initiative along the San Francisco Bay; planning and design to revitalize Vallejo’s waterfront; Broadway Family Apartments for Chinatown CDC in San Francisco; and Escondido Village graduate student housing for Stanford University.

 

Whitney, Inc. and O’Neal, Inc. Introduce The Whitney|O’Neal Alliance

 

The Whitney|O’Neal Alliance (The Alliance), is an integrated design team that brings the Chicago-based interiors firm Whitney, Inc. to Atlanta, and expands the capabilities of the Atlanta office of O’Neal, Inc., architects and engineers, to include interior design. The Alliance allows O’Neal, Inc. and Whitney, Inc. to work together to provide comprehensive design services as one entity, but without establishing a formal partnership arrangement. The Alliance presents a strong portfolio of work in corporate, call center, broadcast, research and development, laboratory, biotech and life science design.

 

The Alliance’s approach for this collaboration presents a new business model for small to medium sized firms looking for growth either by expanding into a new geographic market or new project type. More than the typical “alliance” relationship, but less formal than a partnership arrangement, The Whitney|O’Neal Alliance allows both firms to minimize the risk and the financial costs traditionally associated with expanding into a new market by creating an integrated office and sharing the associated expenses. While O’Neal is still in the preliminary stages of expanding to Chicago, for Whitney, The Alliance created the opportunity to break into the Atlanta market and into new project types, which has helped the firm in diversifying their project base.

 

A Virtual Vacation

 

PROUN Space Studio, one of the designers of the “Tribute in Light” at Ground Zero, has developed a virtual architectural tour of AQUA, the 8.5-acre village on Allison Island in Miami Beach. The four-minute, computer-generated “trip” around the island uses plans and elevations to develop a digital landscape. The Web site video shows homes and condominiums, as well as public areas, streetscapes, and views from the residences. The master plan for AQUA is by Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk of Duany-Plater-Zyberk and Company. The village will feature a mix of mid-rise buildings of loft and condominium units and 46 island homes designed by architects that include: Alison Spear; Alexander Gorlin; Emanuela Frattini Magnusson; Hariri and Hariri; Albaisa and Musumano; Brown and Demandt; Walter Chatham; Duany-Plater-Zyberk and Company; Suzanne Martinson; and Allan Shulman. Dacra of Miami Beach is the developer. Artists Richard Tuttle and Guillermo Kuitka will be creating public art installations for the project.

 

ON THE BOARDS

 

A (not so) Little Red Schoolhouse

 

For Helpern Architects and the Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC), it was a combination of teamwork and generosity overcame the unexpected. On September 11^th, BMCC students, faculty, and staff watched in horror as Fiterman Hall, their new building one block from the World Trade Center, was partially destroyed in the aftermath of the attacks. In January, BMCC’s spring semester began on schedule at a new 30,400-square-foot campus: 23 bright red modular classroom units (MCU) resting on 835 Sonatube piers, and connected by 14,000 square feet of decks and ramps. The temporary campus for 840 students and faculty, electrified by two emergency temporary diesel generators, is a habitable, efficient, indefinitely maintainable facility, all on two former parking lots on the City College of New York (CCNY) campus in Upper Manhattan.

 

Helpern senior associate Hugh Isleib, and Scott Anderson, BMCC’s Acting Vice President of Administration and Planning, and their team faced daunting challenges: Con Edison reported that there was no power available to divert to the area. There were the bureaucratic and physical logistics of bringing 12-ft-wide MCUs into the city and onto the site – including authorized road closings and bridge crossings. Much innovative collaboration made quick decision-making possible. “When meetings occurred, 35 senior people were there, saying, ‘Whom do I have to call to help move something through?’ not ‘I can’t do it until you sign this,’” Isleib says. In response to the need for furniture, the Society for College and University Planning (SCUP) put a BMCC bulletin board on its Web site. The campus is now furnished entirely with blackboards, whiteboards, and one-armed classrooms chairs donated from campuses around the country. “They’re not sexy, but they do the work,” says Anderson.

 

In March, Isleib and Anderson described the extraordinary effort, including pointers on disaster preparedness and insights into why BMCC’s fast-track experience worked out so well, at SCUP’s annual North Atlantic Regional Conference. They repeatedly stressed what their shared experience taught them about disaster preparation and preventive planning. As Isleib pointed out, “A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.”

 

Refocusing ROI (Return on Investment)

 

Leo A Daly (LAD) has emerged over the past 20 months as a leading player in Washington, DC’s growing commercial real estate repositioning market. As in many urban centers, developers are running out of empty lots to build on to meet the increasing demand for superior office space in the downtown area. LAD’s repositioning projects range from totally gutting existing structures to cosmetic enhancements to update the property’s image. The firm’s most comprehensive repositioning project is the 217,000 square-foot 1899 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW for DRI Partners. The existing core and brick façade have been demolished and are currently being replaced by a new, reconfigured, and efficient core, a new entry lobby, and a sleek modern façade to compliment its neighbor, The World Bank Headquarters. The design for the 380,000-square-foot, 1970’s office building at 20 Massachusetts Avenue, NW involves a totally new metal and glass façade on the east side that will add another 300 square feet of floor space per floor (and offer views of Union Station). Other repositioning projects include 1145 19^th Street, NW (120,000 sf); 450 5^th Street, NW (485,000 sf); and 1201 New York Avenue NW.

 

“When reviewing the options with our client we begin with examining the building's proforma and then evaluate the ROI, the construction cost, the level of risk vs. reward, and the resulting rents for ground-up construction vs. repositioning,” says Charles Dalluge, Vice President and Managing Principal for LAD’s Washington, DC office. “Often, we find that the construction cost and risk are lower for a repositioning project.”

 

Surfside Research

 

Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership (ZGF) began construction in May on the new Marine Science Research Building (MSRB) at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The four-story, 65,000-square-foot building will sit at the last open campus site facing the ocean, next to the recently completed Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, also designed by ZGF. The MSRB will include teaching and research labs, faculty and departmental offices, conference facilities, and support areas. When completed in 2004, the new building will solve existing space deficiencies, and serve a unique combination of research and education programs, including: the Marine Science Institute, with its major research centers in ocean and coastal conservation, biotechnology, and marine policy; the Natural Reserve System, which manages field sites for research and education on California’s diverse natural resources; and OCTOS – the new Outreach Center for Teaching Ocean Sciences.

 

NAMES IN THE NEWS

 

Barbara Zieve has joined Butler Rogers Baskett as Associate and Design Studio Leader for the Interiors Studio. Prior to joining the firm, she was Director of Interior Design at The Hillier Group's Manhattan office. Her much-published work in New York City includes showrooms and offices for the many sister companies of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton; loft headquarters for StarMedia Network; executive offices for Bertelsmann A.G.; two corporate headquarters for Avon Products; and the headquarters offices for the Metropolitan Transit Authority. Barbara's client experience in the financial services industry includes Bank of Montreal, Chase Manhattan Bank, Merrill Lynch, Rothschild, Inc. and Turkiye Is Bankasi A.S., in Istanbul Turkey. The latter's highly complex headquarters won the SARA Awards Grand Prize in 2001 and has been nominated for the prestigious Aga Khan Award for 2003.

 

Matthew S. Chalifoux, AIA, has joined Einhorn Yaffee Prescott, Architecture & Engineering, P.C. (EYP) as Senior Associate in the firm’s Washington, DC office. Chalifoux’s responsibilities will include leading strategic initiatives and managing marketing and business development efforts for the Washington, DC office’s historic preservation group, and will also work with his historic preservation peers from each of EYP’s other three offices. Additionally, he will serve as a resource for EYP’s federal and higher education markets. Chalifoux has more than 20 years of architectural and historic preservation experience on projects such as the modernization of the U.S. Supreme Court Building, the restoration of the New Jersey State House, Somerset County Courthouse, Essex County Courthouse, and Lincoln Cottage, and the development of a master plan for the Edison National Historic Site. Prior to joining the firm, Chalifoux served as Operations Director for the Historic Preservation Studio and Senior Associate at The Hillier Group, Washington, DC; and Senior Associate, Historic Preservation Studio at Ford Farewell Mills and Gatsch, Architects, Princeton, NJ.

 

Beverly Russell, international author, editor, and educator based in Los Angeles, is giving her new personal development program, The Enrichment Workshop at the Pacific Design Center on July 25 at 11:00 am. It is sponsored by the Bradbury Collection showroom at the PDC. The Workshop, which has a .2 CEU for designers, centers on the use of the medieval labyrinth as a walking meditation tool. A 35-foot-diameter canvas labyrinth, painted with the authentic pattern of the 13th century labyrinth in the cathedral at Chartres, France, will be available for workshop participants to walk and explore as a guide to self-development and "centering" the mind. The Workshop begins with an informative one-hour lecture on the international history of the labyrinth and the meaning of its complex geometry. This is followed by an introduction to the techniques for walking the labyrinth to ensure maximum positive experience. Beverly Russell recently undertook labyrinth facilitator training from Dr. Lauren Artress, a Dean at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. Dr. Artress founded Veriditas the World Wide Labyrinth Project a decade ago. Russell launched The Enrichment Workshop following 9/11 as a way to help people find serenity in times of uncertainty. Board members of the IIDA Los Angeles Chapter experienced the Workshop in a session in March. Feedback remarks afterwards included: "Very powerful program," "inspiring," "peaceful, calming," and "got something more than work out it." Russell plans to take the Workshop across the country and will be presenting it in September in New York with Metro Furniture as the sponsor. Beverly Russell can be reached for further information at bevruss@earthlink.net.