The Tower at PNC Plaza Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Vitro Architectural Glass and PNC Financial Services Group have played integral roles in the development of sustainable architecture. PNC has more newly constructed LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)-certified green buildings than any company in the world, while Vitro Glass products have figured prominently in many of PNC’s signature architectural projects, including its boldest yet: The Tower at PNC Plaza. Opened in 2015 and planned to be one of the greenest office buildings ever built, the 33-story high-rise appears on the surface to be a conventional glass-and-steel skyscraper, yet the sleekly polished exterior hides a second glass façade that architectural firm Gensler designed, along with a rooftop solar chimney, to create a “breathing” building that uses fresh air and solar energy to naturally cool, heat and self-ventilate for much of the year.
The Hangar at Kenmore Town Square in Kenmore, Washington
The 4,600-square-foot Hangar and 24,000-square-foot Town Square provide a year-round focal point and a symbolic living room for the city. Located in the heart of downtown, the complex touches upon the primal notions of gathering, creating a venue for passive and active recreation while ensuring a home for nature in the rapidly growing community. The Hangar, conceived as a pavilion, is designed to morph depending upon weather or functional requirements.
Race Pace Bicycles Treads Forward with Challenging Renovation
Ammon Heisler Sachs Architects was hired to conduct a full-scale remodel of the interior and exterior of the warehouse. Plans were also developed to add 4,800 square-feet to house the company’s sales floor and storeroom. A major face-lift was needed to the structure’s façade to attract customers and convey the Race Pace Bicycle brand. To accomplish this, Fabral 12″ and 16″ Silhouette HCF Series™ metal wall panels finished in Valspar Fluropon® coating in Slate Gray and a custom red were installed in a continuous horizontal pattern on the exterior.
Lucas Museum of Narrative Art Officially Breaks Ground
With an iconic building designed by Ma Yansong of MAD Architects, the 300,000 square-foot non-profit museum will feature collection galleries and exhibition spaces displaying original works of art from world renowned artists, cutting-edge digital technologies and daily film screenings in two state-of-the-art theaters. It will also offer extraordinary educational opportunities with hands-on and digital classrooms and a free public research library for educators, scholars and students. Education will be a centerpiece of the Museum’s programming to provide diverse students of all ages the skills to voice their own stories and spark creativity. “The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art will be an architectural wonder, a cultural treasure, and a center of storytelling and creativity at the heart of a reimagined Exposition Park,” said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. “I thank Mellody Hobson and George Lucas for their incredible generosity and vision, which will inspire countless Angelenos and visitors from around the world.”
Minnesota’s new Metro Transit shelters feature Linetec finishes
Minnesota’s Metro Transit owns and maintains more than 700 transit shelters throughout the Twin Cities. Recently, the region’s first Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) – the A Line – added 38 shelters and 40 signage pylons engineered by Duo-Gard. Constructed of aluminum and finished by Linetec in a clear anodize, the shelters and signage offer high-traffic durability in every season.
Shepley Bulfinch Completes New John R. Oishei Children’s Hospital on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus
Shepley Bulfinch is pleased to announce the grand opening of John R. Oishei Children’s Hospital in Buffalo, the only freestanding pediatric hospital in New York State and one of 43 nationwide. The new $270 million, 410,000 SF, 185-bed facility is the regional perinatal center and ACS Level 1 pediatric trauma center. It includes a 64-bed private room neonatal intensive care unit, labor and delivery unit, joint pediatric hematology/oncology unit in partnership with Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center as well as comprehensive inpatient and outpatient services co-located to meet the growing demand of pediatric and women’s health services for Kaleida Health, Western New York and beyond.
Re-Imagining the Media Center for Next Century Learning
Sartell-St. Stephen Independent School District, in Central Minnesota, is dramatically evolving traditional learning spaces and media centers to meet the needs of “next century” learners. Cuningham Group Architecture and IIW Minnesota are partnering with the school district to construct a new 1,350-student high school opening in the fall of 2019. Media centers have historically served as a centrally-located hub of learning and activity. But today’s media specialists, school leaders and designers recognize that as technology continues to evolve, designs need to incorporate flexible learning environments and skill-based learning opportunities.
Chophouse Row in Seattle
Chophouse Row is conceived as a way to merge past, present and future; repurposing existing structures and knitting new and old together in a forward-looking prototype that stimulates and supports its neighborhood. Created from a collection of contiguous properties within a single block in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, the design puts in place the last phase of a larger vision and master plan developed by the client. Rather than consider the eclectic mix of buildings and empty space an impediment to development, the owner recognized the value of the structures’ hard-won patina and unique character. By integrating a diverse, mutually-supportive combination of activities that includes living, working, and retail in one contiguous array of spaces, the development results in a village within a village
Renovation of the Irish Hunger Memorial in Manhattan Completed
Battery Park City Authority (BPCA), CTA Architects, P.C., construction manager The LiRo Group, and contractor Nicholson & Galloway, Inc. have completed the $5.3 million renovation and waterproofing of the Irish Hunger Memorial. The project restored the monument to its former magnificence, while rendering it significantly less susceptible to damage from weather for years to come. The Memorial, designed by internationally renowned sculptor and public artist Brian Tolle, originally opened in 2002. It is a contemplative space devoted to honor the Great Irish Hunger and Migration of 1845-1852, while encouraging viewers to contemplate present-day hunger worldwide. Over the years, it had succumbed to water infiltration from above and subsequent water damage.
Tooker House at Arizona State University
Tooker House at Arizona State University is a new 7-story, 458,000-square-foot living/learning facility for freshman engineering students. The building features 1,582 beds; five staff apartments; a 27,000-square-foot, 525-seat dining hall; a convenience store; numerous dedicated student study and social lounges; a large maker lab and flexible classroom; and a fitness center. Using the vernacular of desert architecture as its point of departure, the design team sought to create a sustainable building appropriate to its context that could endure, and even leverage, the harsh desert climate of Tempe.
Seguin Public Library in Texas earns LEED Gold and awards, features Tubelite’s curtainwall and entrance systems
When the City of Seguin, Texas, decided to tear down its old library and build a new one, the priority was to leverage the natural beauty of its site along the banks of Walnut Creek. In Nov. 2017, the project earned LEED® Gold certification through the U.S. Green Building Council. Bringing the outdoors inside of this two-story facility, Tubelite’s curtainwall and storefront frames these natural views and leverages natural light. In addition, cantilevered decks overlook the creek and a popular walking and biking trail.
Hoefer Wysocki completes $20 million design of Northland Innovation Center
“One of the most important goals of the center was not only to provide a creative learning environment, but to help faculty and students think differently about how they learn and teach, to challenge the status quo and to shift the culture of education,” says Hosam Habib, lead designer at Hoefer Wysocki. “The design is truly an integral part of the learning experience. Being able to create an alternative space for students from kindergarten all the way to those getting their master’s degree is what makes this such a unique project.”
Hoefer Wysocki Architecture completes design for Kansas State University’s Dave and Elle Learning Commons
Hoefer Wysocki’s project scope included architectural programing, planning and design. Design features of the Dave and Elle Learning Commons encourage a collegial experience, focused on the interaction of people and technology. It will include 20 collaboration spaces, a digital innovation center, a 100-seat auditorium, a café, open seating, a large classroom and two seminar rooms. The library offers students five uniquely-designed zones to meet, study, relax, invent and share ideas. Driven by the notion of creating a library without books, the Dave and Elle Learning Commons will provide a natural space for students to interact and work in groups, while also offering areas for direct instruction and controlled, introspective study.
Substantial’s new open work space
Substantial is a digital product studio that was founded in 2006 and moved into the 100-year-old building in 2013. goCstudio was brought on board to redesign the entire 14,000-square-foot upper floor of the building to create an open plan office that would accommodate the growing needs of the company. The challenge was to create a cohesive open plan work space which retained the feel of the original Substantial space and would maximize the existing character of the building; exposed brick walls, old growth Douglas Fir beams and roof decking, and warehouse style window walls.
Shepley Bulfinch Unveils Iconic Library at Ringling College of Art and Design
Shepley Bulfinch announced the formal grand opening of the Ringling College of Art and Design’s new Alfred R. Goldstein College Library in Sarasota, Florida. At a cost of $20 million, the nearly 50,000 SF new facility is one of the largest art research libraries in the southeastern United States. The library creates a vibrant locus for learning at the heart of Ringling College’s expanding campus.
How Vancouver Greened its Waterfront
The Vancouver Convention Centre West holistically integrates a metropolitan downtown with one of the most spectacular natural ecosystems in North America. Completed in 2009, and certified as the world’s first LEED Platinum convention center (and recently becoming the world’s first double LEED Platinum convention center following LEED Platinum certification for Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance, v.4), the project weaves together architecture, interiors, urban design, and landscape in a unified piece of the urban fabric that functions literally as a living part of both the city and the harbor.
Simply Measured in Seattle
Simply Measured, a Seattle-based marketing analytics company, sought to reinvent their existing work environment while satisfying their need to accommodate a growing development team and sales force. Located in the World Trade Center East Building along the waterfront in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood. Recently named one of the “top 25 places to work in Seattle,” the client was interested in providing more informal, communal gathering spaces and work areas as well as traditional desk layouts to support their diverse staff. Splashes of color—blue-painted walls, ceilings, and floors—help organize the space while providing a not-so-subtle nod to the corporate brand color.
YKK AP Curtain Wall Creates a Modern Look
Founded in the 1980s, the prestigious Georgia State School of Law was in need of a new facility that would meet the demands of modern schooling and standards of sustainability. For architect, John Elvin, it was vital that the vision not only be durable for college activity, but also inventive and meaningful to the local area. A key feature of the building would be a 7 ½- inch curtain wall. The team selected the YCW 750 XT IG Curtain Wall System from YKK AP America, a system proven to meet the strictest sustainable building codes and provide excellent energy efficiency.