THE architecture world recently lost two US stalwarts – Frank Williams and Bruce Graham. Often called the inventive giant, Graham passed away on March 6, 2010 at the age of 84.

He was the architect behind the famed 110-storey Sears Tower and the 100-storey John Hancock Center, both in Chicago. Graham’s speciality was steel framed construction and he was noted for his inventiveness and creativity.

February 25, 2010 saw the passing away of Frank Williams – the "architect of skyscrapers". Williams was the creative force behind 20 buildings in Manhattan including Trump Palace and Four Seasons Hotel.

He adopted a modern approach to architecture but always incorporated traditional elements. Williams' buildings can be seen across the world from Bangkok and Beijing to Shanghai and Seoul. He was 73.

In the wake of two major catastrophes caused by earthquakes, the idea of buildings being able to withstand such an amazingly destructive force is interesting to think about. Well, the folks at OFIS Architects have taken a stab at it, and weirdly enough the earthquake-proof cities of the future could be filled with buildings that resemble volcanoes.

Known as the All-Seasons Tent Tower, the two spires you see above would house restaurants, apartments, shops, and areas for business and recreation, and  as is appropriate with designs for future buildings  be enormously energy efficient using a mix of solar and an environment-regulating facade.

Read the complete story

The new house was designed to maximize the qualities of the site and accommodation in the brief while retaining the single storey street frontage. We raised the ground floor by 1.2m to exploit panoramic views over Dublin Bay from the upper level. Kitchen and dining are to the south with a loggia for shelter and privacy. To the rear a large living room and roof terrace look north towards Howth.

On the lower level to the south we cut out a sunken court so that the 6 cell bedrooms, based on Le Corbusiers monastery at La Tourette, have privacy, light and fresh air. Although these bedrooms are small, the user has a variety of spatial environments elsewhere in the house to rest and play.This level stretches back to meet the slope of the site and holds the master bedroom and den on the north side. A main bathroom, plant and utility as well as a top lit TV room sit in the centre of the lower level.
 

Chicagoans are passionate about many things including their politics, pizza and even their winters. Yet, perhaps none of those compare to their civic pride and passion about the city's architecture. Local and visiting enthusiasts annually head out to see the latest building innovations on foot, by boat, via bus and bike.

On Saturday, April 17, 2010, couples, siblings, classmates, co-workers, and spouses will have the opportunity to take on over 20 miles of Chicago's architectural landmarks in an adventure of discovery, athleticism, design and construction skills, and fun activities The first team to cross the finish line will enjoy a trip to anywhere in the contiguous U.S. compliments of the sponsor - Chicago Architecture Today LLC.

Read the complete story

Philadelphia-based architects Kieran Timberlake have won the competition to build a new US Embassy in London, with a design that concentrates on environmental issues, Louis Susman, US ambassador to London, announced on Tuesday.

The victorious design, to be built in Nine Elms on the southern bank of the Thames, combines energy efficiency with improvements to the post-industrial landscape of one of London’s last big undeveloped city-centre sites.

It consists of a glass cube sheathed in a stretched, sculptural membrane embedded with gossamer-fine photovoltaic cells. This crystalline second skin both shades the interior from the sun and converts the sun’s rays into power in one of the multiple measures to make this an exemplary green building.

The glazed box sits atop a colonnade intended to create a feeling of civic engagement and openness which has been pointedly lacking in recent US embassies and which became one of the reasons that the state department took the decision to vacate its existing building in central London’s Grosvenor Square.

Amid the residential setting of Mayfair the concrete blockades and the huge architecture of security had seemed hugely intrusive, a reflection of national fear rather than pride.

At the Nine Elms site the architects have produced what seems a sensible and sensitive landscape strategy which obviates the need for such a strident expression of security while attempting to provide superior safety for those working both within and around the building.

A semi-circular pool protects the building on the side facing the river, which features a new road passing between the embassy and the Thames, while the building itself is slightly elevated atop a mound to avoid the possibility of ramming the structure with the car bombs which became such a favoured terrorist mode of attack in the 1990s.

The pool and the grassy mound combine to create a parkland setting which, it is hoped, will both help provide a green heart for the redevelopment of this long-neglected part of the city but which also subtly protects the embassy without the creating the impression of a walled compound – which was one of the fears about the viability of this building as an anchor for the new Nine Elms.

Kieran Timberlake are arguably surprise winners emerging from a final shortlist of four which comprised Pei Cobb Freed & Partners (the practice of I.M. Pei, architect of the Louvre Pyramid and the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha), Richard Meier & Partners (designers of the Los Angeles’ Getty Museum) and Morphosis (architects of the dramatic new Cooper Union building in New York City).

The successful architects have maintained a low profile, eschewing the self-conscious “starchitecture” of many of their contemporaries and have gained a solid reputation as environmentally conscious pragmatists.

The state department described the building as “a beacon that is a respectful icon representing the strength of the US-UK relationship”. It will provide a huge boost for Nine Elms and a further reinforcement of the cultural and development shift to immediately south of the river exemplified by continuing development at the Tate Modern and the latest set of (perhaps over-)ambitious plans for the hulk of Battersea Power Station.

The cost of construction of the new embassy is estimated to be about $500m (€369m, £324m) entirely financed from the sale of the Eero Saarinen-designed 1960 Grosvenor Square building (Britain’s first modern embassy building) to Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Company in 2009. Outline planning permission for the building has already been granted by Wandsworth Borough Council and groundbreaking on the site is expected to be in 2013 while completion is projected for 2017.

Belgian designer Vincent Callebaut calls the auto-sufficient amphibious city Lilypad a “floating ecopolis for climate refugees”. The floating structure is “directly inspired by the highly ribbed leaf of the great lilypad of Amazonia Victoria Regia increased 250 times.” Sure, whatever. Looks cool. And considering there probably won’t be much land left in our future waterworld, the Lilypad seems practical to me.

American architect firm Kieran Timberlake was selected to design the carbon-neutral glass-sided structure in Wandsworth, south London. The US State Department agreed to sell its current base, in Grosvenor Square, London, after it began showing ''signs of wear and tear''. Louis Susman, US ambassador to the UK, said: ''We will replace our current embassy, which has become overcrowded, does not meet modern office needs and required security standards - and, after 50 years, is showing signs of wear and tear.

''This effort has special significance in that we are creating a new home and focal point for one of our most cherished and bilateral relationships.'' The new 12-storey building, which will be able to house 1,000 staff, covers 45,000 square metres. It is set among landscaping including a pond, which acts as a natural security measure, the design team said. James Timberlake, of Kieran Timberlake, said: ''It meets and exceeds all the security requirements.

Read the complete story

This is what happens when you stack a dozen houses on top of each other and call it architecture. Believe it or not, this crazy building is part of the corporate campus of Vitra, a German furniture company. The Vitra complex is full of spectacular architecture by industry luminaries such as Frank Gehry and Zaha Hadid, but this one's the wildest yet, designed.

By Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, well known for their "Bird's Nest" stadium for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.Now this is a great way to sell furniture. With this building, the company gains a variety of interior spaces to show off its exquisite furniture, mass-produced but still incorporating highfalutin' design. As you'll see in the gallery below, the interior of this unusual space is every bit as beautiful as the exterior.

The Telegraph's Simon Heffer says, "architects should please the public, not spite them", in reference to recent projects by Daniel Libeskind and Zaha Hadid.

On Libeskind's extension to the Dresden Military History Museum Heffer notes...Most of the architects tend to lease themselves first.

In the name of art, they ignore the cost, functional and most of all the constructionability factors. I know, because I have been a structural engineer since early 1960's. Remember the crazy lady from Slackers? "I should know...I'm a medical doctor."

Read the complete story

The Boston Society of Architects is considering relocating from cramped quarters downtown to a more expansive home at Russia Wharf, a redevelopment site in Boston’s Financial District.The move, should it come off, would let the 5,000-member group offer a vast array of programming focusing on the importance of design, Executive Director Tom Keane said in an interview.

Space has long been a limitation for the BSA, which operates out of 3,000 square feet of a building it owns at 52 Broad Street. The non-profit signed a non-binding letter of intent to occupy the first and second floors – a combined 30,000 square feet – at Russia Wharf.

Read the complete story