Mithun Designs Ambitious Seattle Aquarium Expansion
The proposed plan for the Seattle Aquarium expansion. (Courtesy Mithun / Seattle Aquarium)
In its over 30 years resting on Pier 59, the Seattle Aquarium has undergone a series of complex renovations, including the restoration of the original 1905 pier (while staying open), and the addition of a 120,000-gallon marine life viewing tank that helps visitors feel like they are immersed in an octopus’ garden in the shade.
From the Floor> Coverings 2013 Products
SoMa by Bellavita Tile
More than 900 ceramic and sanitary ware manufacturers from 50 countries exhibited at Coverings 2013 in Atlanta, but three days to take in two exhibit halls and a back-to-back education program only made a dent in the offerings. The following is a cross section of some of the stand-out products displayed on the show floor last week.
SoMa
Bellavita Tile
Bellavita Tile translates San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood-style onto ceramic with SoMa (above), a multi functional unglazed porcelain that can withstand high traffic in commercial applications. The collection comes in Matte or Polished finishes for interiors, as well as Structured for exteriors or wet areas, and six colors are available on 24 by 24-, 12 by 24-, and 12 by 12-inch formats. Three mixed formats, mosiacs and coordinating trims are also available.
SVA Offering Co-Working Space to Architects & Designers This Summer
MFA PRODUCTS OF DESIGN COWORKING SPACE. (Courtesy SVA)
This summer, the MFA Products of Design program at the School for Visual Arts (SVA) is delivering a sweet solution to students and community members who seek temporary desk space. The Summer Desk Rental program runs from May 27th to August 23rd inside a sunny andArchitects-designed space, featuring a community kitchen, Internet, a lounge area, and more. Co-Working has become an everyday occurrence as industries look to collaborate and benefit from multi-use spaces. The project promotes the MFA program to visitors and all proceeds will support the school and its students. See more photos and sign up on their website.
Letter to the Editor> Moussavi Missed in Cleveland
MOCA Cleveland. (COURTESY DEAN KAUFMAN)
[ Editor's Note: The following letter is an excerpt of a comment left on archpaper.com. It pertains to the new Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Cleveland designed by Farshid Moussavi, which Stephanie Murg critiqued for AN's Midwest edition last November. AN welcomes reader letters, which could appear in our regional print editions. To share your opinion, please email editor@archpaper.com. ]
MOCA’s form is a simple game of extruded geometry. The base form shifts from a hexagon as it rises to a square at its top. A third year architecture student would have been given a C- and asked, “Is that all you could come up with?” The exterior is clad in black stainless steel panels that are already streaking at the corners. They also present a range of colors that indicate the material selection and/or production was not up to the task of producing uniformity.
On View> do it (outside) at the Socrates Sculpture Park
(Courtesy Socrates Sculpture Park)
do it (outside)
Socrates Sculpture Park
3205 Vernon Boulevard
Astoria, NY
May 12 to July 7, 2013
Socrates Sculpture Park, in collaboration with Independent Curators International (ICI), presents do it (outside), an exhibition curated by art critic and historian Hans Ulrich Obrist. The exhibition is a selection of 65 artist instructions interpreted by other artists, performers, and the public. The results will be displayed in a site-specific architectural pergola by Christoff : Finio Architecture, a New York based architecture and design studio.
A Sartorial ‘Shop in Shop’ for Neil Barrett
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A series of curvaceous, modular display shelves by Zaha Hadid Architects creates a powerful store image for Neil Barrett. (Virgile Simon Bertrand)
Zaha Hadid Architects designed 16 bespoke polyurethane display units for fashion designer Neil Barrett’s shops.
Fashion designer Neil Barrett hired Zaha Hadid Architects to design a cohesive display concept for a new flagship store in Tokyo that could be easily rolled out to his other locations as well, which include four shops in Seoul and one in Hong Kong. The result had to be as sartorial as Barrett’s fashions, so Hadid’s team came up with the idea of cutting the displays for all of the stores from a single block of material. The concept resulted in 16 bespoke display elements, which all fit together like pieces of a puzzle.
“We wanted to design a project that always belongs together but offers a choice between different sizes,” said project architect Claudia Wulf. “The reason we designed a modular landscape is that we have extremely different area requirements [across all of the shops].” The units, which are carved from a solid unit, range in size from 13 1/2 feet by 13 3/4 feet to 4 feet by 6 feet. Paired, the units create a sinuous artificial landscape that unfolds across multiple display levels. The pieces can be grouped to suit the scale and space of each boutique, and display shoes, bags, or accessories just as easily. Read More
Exhibition Celebrates the Architecture of Brooklyn’s 175-Year-Old Green-Wood Cemetery
(Wally Gobetz / Flickr)
The Museum of the City of New York presents A Beautiful Way to Go: New York’s Green-Wood Cemetery, a new exhibition that examines the Brooklyn cemetery’s astonishing 175-year history, on view from May 15 to October 13. As a National Historic Landmark that predates both of Olmsted’s Central Park and Prospect Park, the cemetery grounds cover a vital 19th-century American public green space and remain a critical site in New York’s architectural history.
While most things appear to be going gangbusters in San Francisco, it appears the fun hasn’t spread to HOK’s office there. The rumor mill says the firm has let go of a couple of its most revered staff, including Vice President Louis Schump. Schump, whose partner Todd Hosfelt owns the respected Hosfelt Gallery, headed some of the firm’s best workspace designs. Schump is in fact no longer with the firm. Other rumors are flying about people being put on “standby status,” but we won’t report them until they’re confirmed. We’re learning here at Eavesdrop, aren’t we?
Battery Conservancy Announces 50 Chair Design Finalists in “Draw Up a Chair” Competition
PIVOT CHAIR BY SIMON KRISTAK AND TEAM. INDEPENDENT DESIGN GROUP. (COURTESY BATTERY CONSERVANCY)
After reviewing 679 remarkable entries, a world-renowned jury on behalf of New York City’s Battery Conservancy and NYC Parks has selected the top 50 designs of the “Draw Up A Chair” design competition. The chair proposals are by students and professionals from nine countries around the world. The winning submission will be built and available for public use in Lower Manhattan’s Battery Park.
On View> Sharing Space: Creative Intersections in Architecture and Design
(Courtesy Art Institute of Chicago)
Sharing Space: Creative Intersections in Architecture and Design
The Art Institute of Chicago
111 South Michigan Avenue
Through August 4
This new exhibition at The Art Institute of Chicago explores the influential impact that color inevitably has on our perception of geometry. It presents an extensive collection of modern and contemporary works ranging from the 1940’s to 2012 created by architects, urban planners, graphic designers, and industrial designers. One of the works prominently featured in the exhibit is Camouflage House (above), Doug Garofalo and David Leary’s theoretical project in which the pair “colored-in” the contours of a building, blurring the rigid lines and sharp angles of the structure and causing it to blend in with the surrounding natural landscape. The exhibition underlines the contrasting relationship between color and geometry and highlights the effect this relationship can have on architecture and design.
Boston’s longest serving Mayor, Thomas Menino, will not be seeking a sixth term. Throughout his two decades in office, Menino has ushered in a number of major development projects, most notably the growth of the area around Fenway and the transformation of the once abandoned Seaport into a vibrant mixed-use waterfront neighborhood with offices, residential towers, and retail. This announcement comes on the heels of Menino’s new proposal, the Housing Boston 2020 Plan, aimed at creating 30,000 new units of housing by 2020. (Photo: Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, courtesy Wikipedia)
AIA Chicago Names Small Projects Awards Winners
(Studio Thomas Photography)
The Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Architects honored 107 projects with its annual small project awards last Friday, putting the spotlight on objects, small structures, and small firms. According to the AIA Chicago, “the goal of this award program is to raise public awareness of the value that architects bring to small projects and to promote small practitioners as a resource for design excellence.” This year, the third year for the awards program, small projects were honored in four categories: Additions/Remodeling, Kitchens, New Construction, and Small Objects.
“Big ideas and transformational spaces come from creative people, and those people are at firms small and large,” AIA Chicago Executive Vice President Zurich Esposito said in a statement. “The Small Projects Awards reward that innovative thinking that works on a smaller scale.”
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