The Apple Store Falls Far In Georgetown
The once and future site of Apple Georgetown. (Google Street View)
While it is relatively old news that Apple (and ur-designers BCJ’s) efforts to build a new Apple Store in Georgetown are being foiled by a group of local preservationists–I first stumbled upon it on Apple Insider while reading reports from MacWorld–it was a Bloomberg report in today’s ArchNewsNow (h/t) that really got me thinking about the reality of such a store and just how it might take shape. Read More
Obama Goes Home
President-elect Barack Obama spoke to CNBC about the housing challenges facing the nation.
President-elect Barack Obama gave a half-hour interview to CNBC tonight (full interview here, transcript here) that was impressively policy heavy–a real treat for the wonks out there, though who isn’t these days–in advance of the unveiling of his nearly $800 billion stimulus package tomorrow. One of the issues he necessarily touched upon was the housing crisis (video), given its place at the center of the current meltdown. Read More
Is Your Emmenthaler Loadbearing?
Pearls Before Swine by Stephen Pastis (Courtesy Comics.com)
Even in the funny pages, architects are pretentious and engineers are bores.
No One Buying New Housing Marketplace
(Courtesy HPD)
There has been a lot of talk lately about how it is now up to the government to spend stimulate our way out of the current economic doldrums, and how much of that will come through infrastructure spending. One place where such investment is critically important is affordable housing, especially in light of all the foreclosures. While New York has fared better than other areas on that front, it is still unwelcome news that the city has rolled back the timeline for its New Housing Marketplace Plan. Read More
Not So Fast, Seaport Edition
SHoP's Seaport plans far from sunk. (Courtesy GGP)
The news that General Growth Properties–which is on the verge of bankruptcy due to a massive debt-load related to its acquisition of the Rouse Company in 2004–put three historic properties up for sale has led some observers to speculate that development plans for one of them–New York’s South Street Seaport–have hit the dustbin. Not so, AN has learned.
Strike Two? Not So Fast
The Vanderbilt Yards await transformation. (Courtesy threecee/Flickr)
First Laurie Olin, now Frank Gehry. That was the news earlier this week when the Wall Street Journal reported that the Santa Monica-based architect had laid off “more than two dozen” staffers involved with Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards project. What followed was a string of cheers predicting the troubled Brooklyn mega-development’s demise. After all, how could it go on without its signature architect?
While considering this question, I kept thinking of a comment made by Kermit Baker yesterday, during an interview about the abysmal November billings index. Given what’s going on elsewhere in the industry, the termination of a handful of architects may not signal the doomsday scenario the project’s critics would like, and instead may be one more credit-related payroll pause like many others around the nation: Read More
ACC Ascends Council
One day earlier than expected, the Philadelphia City Council voted unanimously to amend the zoning lot at 19th Street and Arch Street, site of the proposed American Commerce Center. According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, the council’s Committee on Rules voted 9-0 in favor of the rezoning.
As we wrote last month, this does not grant approval of the KPF-designed project. Instead, it simply changes the zoning of the lot from medium density commercial site with a 125-foot height limit to a super-dense site with no height limits, making way for the 1,500-foot tower, which would far surpass its neighbors. With zoning in hand, it is believed financing and tenants should begin to follow.
Still, the project must return to the Philadelphia City Planning Commission and the council for final approval within the year, lest the rezoning expire.
SeeCTV
Andrew Yang
Former AN editor and occasional China correspondent Andrew Yang sent us some pictures recently of what he describes as Beijing’s new, unavoidable landmark. Whether it’s on the scale of, say, the Empire State Building, we’re not sure, but it’s certainly looks as symbolic. He writes:
Whenever anyone visits Beijing, it is hard not to run into Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren’s CCTV building, which has clearly finished construction on the exterior, and is now undergoing a massive interior fitout. Read More
One For the Books
In this age of blogs and 24-hour cable news, rarely does breaking news come from an old-fashioned hardcover book. But that is exactly what happened with Studio Daniel Libeskind’s New York Tower, which can be seen above (and which we also talked to the architect about earlier today). Read More
Sidwell It Is
The Sidwell Friends School, the country's first LEED Platinum grade school. (All images courtesy KTA.)
As if we haven’t written enough about Barack Obama or schools of late (what can we say, we’re in the tank with the rest of the press), we still can’t help but weigh in on the Obamas’ decision to send their daughters to the Sidwell Friends School. Sure, there’s been tons said already about the school’s Quaker values and its symbolic standing in D.C., even the hypocrisy of the choice.
But what really matters–and hopefully speaks volumes for the coming administration–is the school itself. No, not the teachers. We’re talking about the building, and the middle school in particular, which happens to be the first LEED Platinum grade school in the country. Read More
Rogers Goes Terminal
AJ got word two weeks ago that Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners had been chosen to develop a new 42-story tower atop the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan. What our colleagues across the pond did not have was the new rendering released yesterday by the PA when it made the announcement official. Read More
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