The Harvard Gazette reported last week that our renovation of Old Quincy Hall on the campus of Harvard University is a success among students who recently moved in. The first in a series of renewal projects, Old Quincy was used as a test case to gauge future renovations. On September 7, the house was rededicated as Stone Hall.
That's according to students who were moving into the 80-year-old neo-Georgian on Thursday. After 15 months of construction and renovation, Old Quincy, the first test project in the House Renewal initiative, began welcoming students this week. What they found was a fully transformed building designed to enhance the interactions of the multigenerational community living within it. Based on first impressions, the project was a success.
“I haven't been in a room as nice as this anywhere on campus,” said Fola Sofela '16, as she walked into her six-person suite.
Sofela marveled at the size of her bedroom, and grinned as she examined the suite's common room, furnished with couches, chairs, and tables. One of her roommates, Lauren Greenawalt '16, pointed out some of the room's details, such as built-in desk lights and electrical outlets, and a mirror on the wardrobe door.
“Having the rooms fully furnished is nice. It immediately made me feel at home,” Greenawalt said. “Some people say there isn't enough social space on campus, but I think this building goes a long way in addressing that.”
Modern features were brought into the House to meet the needs of students in the 21st century, but the distinctive character of Old Quincy, based on its unique architectural design, history, and traditions, was maintained.
The full-scale prototype for Loblolly House is a central feature of the Prototyping Architecture exhibition, which runs at Cambridge Galleries Design at Riverside and Waterloo Architecture in Ontario, Canada, October 17 to December 17, 2013.
Organized in conjunction with the ACADIA 2013 Adaptive Architecture conference held October 24-27, 2013, the exhibition includes a post-digital prototype for the Passion Façade of Antoni Gaudí's Sagrada Família Basilica; a laser-sintered additively manufactured violin; lightweight prefabricated fabric formwork for on-site cast concrete; an additive manufactured titanium aircraft component; and a Rolls Royce high pressure turbine blade cast and "grown" as a single nickel alloy crystal.
Specialized suction-cups are used to lift the 22-foot glass panels for the entryway on Spruce Street.
Work continues apace at Philadelphia's Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, and renovation projects are planned to open to the public late 2013. A new entranceway is among the renovations, as is a new restaurant at street level to be operated by Chef Jose Garces. Both projects were identified in our master plan for the Kimmel Center, which seeks to provide transparency and activity to the building perimeter.
We developed this animation to demonstrate the components that come together and the assembly methodology used to create Ideal Choice Homes. Watch as the pieces fly into place!
The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies announced a selection of 60 new buildings, commercial and institutional developments, and urban planning projects from 20 nations for The International Architecture Awards for 2013.
“From an impressive and visionary array of new submissions, the New York Jury selected 60 outstanding projects, each of which positively impacts its larger community—sometimes modestly, but most often massively,” states Christian Narkiewicz-Laine, President, The Chicago Athenaeum. “The finalists span the globe, from South America to Asia, from North America to Europe, and we are particularly happy to share that diversity. All projects exhibit innovation in design, acute sensitivity to the environment, sustainability, adaptability to their surroundings, and provision of enjoyment to their many users. In one way or another, each finalist wowed the jury, which will make selection of the winners a real challenge.”
This year's selected buildings were from 20 nations, including: Australia, Burundi, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Japan, Lebanon, Norway, People's Republic of China, The Netherlands, Qatar, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Turkey, Vietnam, and the United States.
Team members brainstormed feasible sustainable strategies for an academic building at Nanyang Technological University in a session that simulated integrative process.
Integrative process is based on the idea that sustainable design is most easily achieved and sustained through a whole-building design process. This process is a multidisciplinary strategy that effectively integrates all aspects of site development, building design, construction, and operations and maintenance to minimize a building's resource consumption and environmental impact while improving the comfort, health, and productivity of building occupants. This kind of process ideally leads to a building that is economical in terms of lifecycle costs, including operations, maintenance, and repairs, and leads to reduced user turnover by making buildings that are more desirable to users. An inclusive process is key to whole-building design and is most effective when applied at the earliest stages of design.
Drawing on their experiences in the design of EEB Hub, David and Roderick facilitated a design charrette (workshop) to identify feasible, cost-effective sustainable measures for a “high performance, innovative and iconic living lab” housed in the new North Spine Academic Building (NSAB) for Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. They worked in collaboration with the Scientific Planning and Support (SPS) team at the university's Energy Research Institute (ERI@N) to host the one-day charrette in downtown Singapore.
What is Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE) and how does it relate to the practice of sustainable design?
We undertook a research query with the goal of using feedback from actual buildings to track design outcomes and define future inputs for design optioning.
Architect Magazine announced today that two of our projects, the Wireless Sensor Network and the Green Roof Vegetation Study, won 2013 R+D Awards. They are featured in the magazine's July issue along with six other winning projects deemed exceptional by jurors Jing Liu, Lawrence Scarpa, FAIA, and Bill Zahner, Hon. AIA. Now in its seventh year, the R+D Awards program celebrates exploration and innovation in architecture.
London's Centre for the Built Environment announced the winners of the New London Awards 2013 at an annual luncheon yesterday at Guildhall. The Embassy of the United States was recognized with a prize in the Office Buildings category. New London Awards recognize the very best in architecture, planning and development in London. New and proposed projects across all sectors of the built environment were eligible and were judged by an eminent international jury. The jury was looking for schemes for both built and unbuilt projects of the highest design quality that demonstrate a positive impact on their surroundings and make a wider contribution to life in the city. A full list of winners is featured on the NLA website.
Ortlieb’s roof and deck will be replaced in July 2013.
Philadelphia, PA – Renovation work continues on the Henry F. Ortlieb Company Bottling House at the corner of N. American and Poplar Streets in Philadelphia's Northern Liberties neighborhood. The Philadelphia architecture firm KieranTimberlake will move into the renovated building in early 2014.
Work currently underway includes exterior envelope restoration and roof replacement, with new windows to be installed beginning in September. Brick repair has proven to be more extensive than expected, which has led to the temporary closure of the 800 block of North American between Brown and Poplar Streets. Residents should expect one or two additional street closures in August and September as windows are installed.
