OF INTEREST

 

For Posterity: Archive Seeks Works that Commemorate September 11

 

9.11 Tribute was first announced as the second annual competition organized by Design Worlds. It has, instead, evolved to become more like a virtual museum on the Web with the mission to gather, save, and share creative expressions from architects, designers, artists, musicians, writers, students, and citizens that commemorate September 11, 2001. The 9.11 Tribute will be conducted on a multi-year basis, with each year representing a unit, or phase of entry submissions. The result is intended to be a unique viewpoint of this era's cultural and social transformation. While the archive will be available as an online exhibit in early September, the deadline for entries for the first year archive is November 25, 2002. Selected entries will be exhibited “live” at a future date. The Archive will have separate entry classifications for professionals, students, and the general public.

 

Dr. William J. Mitchell, Dean of the MIT School of Architecture and Planning, is the Honorary Chair of the 9.11 Tribute Archive. Sponsors and institutional supporters of the Archive include Acteva.com; Design Within Reach; Thing-E, Ltd (UK); ReadySites; National Center for Public Productivity/Rutgers University; Vitra, and Pentagram Design (Kit Hinrichs of Pentagram designed the 9.11 Tribute logo). For more information, visit the Web site, or e-mail info@9-11-tribute.com. (Designing Worlds will soon be issuing a call for entries to its next competition theme: Sustainable Architecture & Design.)

 

On a Bicycle Built for…Three?

 

SynthesisDesign has been involved with the Iowa Hall of Pride for the past two years as exhibit and interior designer for the 25,000 square foot interactive exhibit experience to be included in the Iowa Events Center Complex scheduled to open in Des Moines in 2004. Today, Principal and owner Jason Ramos, along with designers Andrew Long and Laura Schetzsle, will hit the road riding in the 30^th Annual RAGBRAI (Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa). Along the 211-mile route between Charles City and Bellevue, the team will be filming footage of the ride, doing spontaneous interviews, and taking still photography. “We see this as a great way to meet Iowans and tell them about the project, while having fun participating in such an exciting event,” says Ramos (who travels to Iowa every month to work on the project). Expect to see many of the images and much of the information they gather over the next four days included in the Hall of Pride.

 

ON THE BOARDS

 

Dorm Life May Never Be the Same

 

CBT/Childs Bertman Tseckares has designed Eastview Terrace, a four-acre residential quadrangle that is underway at Pennsylvania State University. The 300,000-square-foot complex will contain seven separate buildings and a total of 800 new beds for upperclassmen. CBT is completing the project in association with the architecture firm of Hayes Large Architects, and Wallace Roberts & Todd (WRT Planning & Design) as campus planners and landscape architects. The $65 million project will be completed in 2004.

For Christopher Hill, a partner of CBT, Eastview Terrace represents a dramatic departure from most of the University’s existing housing facilities built 30 years ago when double rooms were considered to be the norm. Hill explains: “This was a unique opportunity to collaborate with the University on a new housing prototype that will foster a greater sense of community. The new model consists of single rooms in groupings of 8 to 10 to give students the privacy, security, and comforts that they are often used to and want. But the arrangement in larger groupings also fosters a sense of community and reflects new educational trends such as group study, team projects, and living/learning environments that extend far beyond the classroom." The new types of living arrangements, contemporary amenities, and student services were also designed to reverse the trend of upperclassmen seeking off-campus housing.

Eastview Terrace will be a new gateway to Penn State that has visual and functional connections to the rest of the campus as well as the nearby community. In keeping with the school’s historic architecture, the residence halls, seven three- to four-story buildings that frame an outdoor courtyard and terraces, are clad in brick with double-hung windows, metal bays, pitched roofs, and mechanical vents shaped in the form of chimneys.

Miami’s Grand Flamingo Gets a Grand Makeover

 

Zyscovich, Inc. has created the design/master plan for the Grand Flamingo in Miami Beach. The $150 million project, considered one of the largest apartment renovation projects in the US, includes an image upgrade, the renovation of two existing 16-story apartment wings, and the construction of a new 32-story tower. 

“The Grand Flamingo is part of what of what was originally a long string of inexpensive, mid-rise, rental apartment buildings built in the 1960s,” says Bernard Zyscovich. “A new beautiful garden and promenade, a fitness center, open air markets, cyber cafes, full service concierge, and boat rentals are examples of the unusual amenities that will turn the ordinary complex into a resort like destination.”

 

The 16.5-acre Grand Flamingo sits on one of the largest parcels of land in Miami Beach, overlooking the bay and visible across the skyline from downtown Miami.  The project includes the renovation of 1,160 apartments in the two Y-shaped buildings, 515 apartments in the new tower, 28 new townhouses, and a 2,000-car parking garage to replace the original surface parking. The expected completion date is sometime during the first quarter of 2003.

 

NASDAQ Adds More to its Glow on Times Square

 

NASDAQ has been a dynamic part of the Times Square streetscape since its three-story street-front MarketSite video tower and 25,000-square-foot broadcast center opened in 1999 (designed by Einhorn Yaffee Prescott). Now, it is moving its corporate headquarters to 1500 Broadway, adjacent to their MarketSite landmark, designed by Spector Group. According to Scott and Marc Spector, Principals of the project, the design team is “architecturally branding the 53,000-square-foot headquarters in a ‘honeycomb’ footprint of workstations that will maximize efficiency while ‘unleashing’ the view of Times Square to the entire staff. Exposed ceiling and ductwork and indirect lighting will expose the raw vitality and energy of the space designed to be a wireless environment.” The NASDAQ Ticker display will anchor the reception zone creating continuous movement at the entry to the space. The project is scheduled for completion by the end of this year.

 

All the Comforts of Home

 

CS&D Architects is overseeing the completion of Covenant at South Hills, a non-profit continuing care retirement community (CCRC) in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania, and the first to be sponsored by B’nai B’rith International. The non-sectarian community will feature 126 spacious one- and two-bedroom apartments in 10 different floor plans, and will include fully equipped kitchens and a balcony or patio. Services and amenities have been carefully tailored so that residents can maintain an active and independent lifestyle, while having the added dimension of assisted living suites, memory support, and skilled nursing care on-site, should they ever be needed. Common areas include a formal living room, restaurant style dining room (kosher kitchen), deli/ convenience shop, library, exercise center, auditorium, business and computer center, art studio, and a beauty salon/barber shop. Baltimore-based CS&D architect David Segmiller (who grew up two miles from the project) said in an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “A big buzz word right now is ‘aging in place.’ You want to design a building that allows for a person who might be 75 upon moving in to be comfortable at 85 and 90 and 95 and…” The community is scheduled to be ready for occupancy by October.

 

FIRM NEWS

 

In the Spirit of Giving

 

KinderMourn is a non-profit organization that offers support and counseling to parents who have lost children and children who have lost parents. Architects and engineers from Little & Associates Architects volunteered their services to help construct a 4,000-square-foot addition to the KinderMourn Grieving Children and Teen House in Charlotte, NC. The new addition includes group counseling rooms, several small assembly rooms, and a few administrative offices. The completion of the project was celebrated at an Open House on May 29.

 

The donated services involved the initial design concept, and permits and construction documents for the addition, creating a comprehensive package for the KinderMourn group. The project was spearheaded by Brandy Long, AIA, Retail/Distribution Studio Principal, and his wife, architect Caroline Reuter (a former employee of Little & Associates). Other team members included: Ralph A. Ferrell, CPD Senior Associate in Mechanical Engineering; Charles M. (Buddy) Honeycutt, Mechanical Engineer; Gregory H. Perry, PE, Mechanical Engineer; and Tom Smiley, Structural Engineer (former employee). The builder was David Young of TriSquare Construction Company.

 

A Small Gem Saved

 

Faced with the prospect of losing its only local cinema—a circa-1915 theater in the National Historic District within downtown Athens, Ohio—Ohio University made a quick decision two years ago that had never been part of its long-term campus master plan. The university bought the Athena Theater to save it, restore it, and reopen it for students and the community (it was for sale and targeted as a restaurant space).

 

The recently completed restoration, designed by Fanning/Howey Associates, in association with Ohio University, has since proven extremely popular. Students continue to have a local movie theater within walking distance of the campus, while residents have held onto an important piece of community history. 

 

The theater originally housed burlesque and vaudeville acts as well as silent films. Insensitive renovations over the past several decades had diminished the architectural integrity of the building, and restoration effort included extensive research into the original design. “Every renovation over the years had further changed the character of this building,” says Theo Pappas, AIA, Fanning/Howey’s project designer for the restoration.  “There weren’t any existing drawings available, and only one photo from the 1930s, but our research enabled us to bring the theater back as close as possible to the original.

 

The 18,600-square-foot theater now has three screens, with seating for approximately 600. The $2-million renovation included restoring many of the facility’s Art Deco accents, and incorporating all new interior finishes and seating, acoustical panels, and state-of-the-art digital sound and projection systems. The new Art Deco chrome marquee is reminiscent of the theater’s early movie palace days.  “The marquee has really livened up the street scene,” says Bush Clouse, a facility planner and interior designer for Ohio University and interior designer for the project. The theater is now a venue for commercial films, an International Film Festival, university film and art programs and lectures, poetry readings, folk music, and community theater.

 

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

 

Eskew+ Announces Leadership Transition and Name Change

 

R. Allen Eskew, founder of Eskew+, just announced an expansion in the ownership of the firm to include Steve Dumez, Mark Ripple, Charles Hite, Tracy Lea, and Diane Mouton. The name of the New Orleans-based firm has also been changed to Eskew+Dumez+Ripple. “The addition of Dumez and Ripple to the name is more than honorary,” Eskew commented. “It designates leadership corresponding to firm-wide responsibilities. Each of us concentrates on one of three critical drivers of our approach to practice: content, design, and delivery.” 

 

With Steve Dumez as Design Director, the firm has been the recipient of several design awards including the national 2002 AIA Institute Honor Award for Architecture for the Estuarine Habitats & Coastal Fisheries Center; two 2002 Honor Awards from the Gulf States Region AIA for the Ochsner Chapel and the Ochsner Breast Center; and the Progressive Architecture Award from Architecture Magazine in 2000 for the White Linen Bathing Pavilion. Mark Ripple’s approach to project delivery has helped to win the respect of clients in both the institutional and private sector. Chuck Hite provides strong support for both design and delivery. Tracy Lea is responsible for the firm’s sophisticated technology infrastructure. Diane Mouton’s financial management skills serve the entire process. 

 

Christopher C. Martin, FAIA, CEO of AC Martin Partners, has been appointed Commissioner on the Los Angeles Civic Center Authority. “For nearly 100 years, our firm has been intimately involved here in Los Angeles,” Martin says. Founded in 1906, AC Martin Partners has defined the Civic Center with its 1928 City Hall – and recent restoration – and the 1963 Department of Water and Power Building. “After a 30-year hiatus, we’ve brought the Civic Center Authority back to bring the various stake-holders in downtown together,” notes Martin, who will also be the 2004 Chairman of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. “We’ve talked about all the significant new work around the center – it’s time for the community to plan its civic core.” His vision includes making the Civic Center a true international center of government, culture, religion, finance, and media. He points to results already in the works: a Federal Courthouse and a new CalTrans Center are planned for the area.

 

Katherine Diamond, FAIA, recently joined RNL Design as Design Principal of the firm’s Los Angeles office. She joins Patrick McKelvey, AIA, and Chuck Boxwell, AIA, as the office’s leadership team.  Her award-winning project experience includes the landmark LAX Air Traffic Control Tower, four light rail train stations on the Los Angeles to Long Beach Blue Line, the University of California at Davis Medical Center Central Plant with Cogeneration, and the joint U.S. and Canadian Port of Entry at Sweetgrass, Montana and Coutts, Alberta. 

 

According to ZweigWhite’s 2001 Principals, Partners & Owners Survey, women constitute only 9% of all principals in architecture/engineering/planning and environmental consulting firms, and an even smaller percentage are owners. Diamond has been a leading female practitioner first as Partner in Charge of Design for Los Angeles-based Siegel Diamond Architects (1985-1996), one of the largest 100%-women-owned architectural partnerships in the United States, and then as sole proprietor and lead designer for the continuation firm Siegel Diamond Architecture (1996-2001).

 

She left private practice to join Lennar Communities’ new Urban Development Group as Vice President of Architecture and Public Policy. Diamond has also served as the AIA Los Angeles Chapter’s first female President in 99 years, as President of the Association for Women in Architecture, on the National Peer Review Council for the GSA Design Excellence Program, on the Westwood Design Review Board, and on the Los Angeles City Board of Zoning Appeals for 3 years, including one year as Chair. She is a registered architect in California and Israel. For the past six years, she has taught Design Studio part-time at the University of Southern California School of Architecture, and is serving this year as its Ned Fox Visiting Professor of Urban Design.

 

Bill Kissinger, who joined Chicago-based Valerio Dewalt Train Associates (VDTA) in May, has been named a Principal. His 20-year professional career has focused primarily on strategic business development and governmental relations for architecture and construction firms and their clients. Prior to joining VDTA, Kissinger spent 10 years with HGA Architects where he was instrumental in establishing the firm’s Great Lakes office in Milwaukee. He was Vice President of Marketing at HGA when he left in 1996 to join CG Schmidt Construction of Milwaukee. As Vice President of Business Development at CG Schmidt, the company was selected to build the 142,000-square-foot addition to the Milwaukee Art Museum designed by Santiago Calatrava, as well as major construction projects throughout Wisconsin.

 

 

Editor’s Note: There are a few deadlines for several competitions coming up at the end of July and early August. If you haven’t looked at it recently, do check out the ANN Calendar.