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Architect: Kohn Pedersen Fox

Structural Engineer: Thornton Tomasetti

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CIRCLE 254

11 2016
NEWS
25 FRANCIS KR REVEALS PARLIAMENT DESIGN

FOR BURKINA FASO By Jenna M. McKnight
27 LEED UNVEILS ARC PLATFORM By Miriam Sitz
28 LIBERTY ISLAND MUSEUM BREAKS GROUND

By Anna Fixsen

PROJECTS

TECHNOLOGY

69

INTRODUCTION

134 CAMPUSES GO GREEN COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES

70

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN

HISTORY AND CULTURE, WASHINGTON, D.C.
FREELON ADJAYE BOND/SMITH GROUPJJR

LIGHTING

By Josephine Minutillo
THE PORT HOUSE, ANTWERP, BELGIUM

143 INTRODUCTION

ZAHA HADID ARCHITECTS By

144 SAYN FOUNDRY, GERMANY CARL LUDWIG

29 RIBA ANNOUNCES 2016 STIRLING PRIZE

By Alex Klimoski

78

30 NEWSMAKER: VISHAAN CHAKRABARTI

By Suzanne Stephens

84 EXTENSION OF THE SWISS NATIONAL MUSEUM,

ZURICH CHRIST & GANTENBEIN

Hugh Pearman

By Fred A. Bernstein

BUILDING TYPE STUDY 976

21 EDITORS LETTER: DESIGN FOR SOCIAL ANIMALS

COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES

35 HOUSE OF THE MONTH: SUPERKLS COMPASS

HOUSE By Miriam Sitz

96 ANDLINGER CENTER, NEW JERSEY TOD WILLIAMS

47 FIRM TO WATCH: EMERGENT VERNACULAR

ARCHITECTURE By Alex Klimoski

61 PRODUCTS: HIGHER EDUCATION By Julie Taraska

ARCHITECTURE By

Naomi Pollack, AIA

159 PRODUCTS: LIGHTING By Julie Taraska

209 READER SERVICE

210 DATES & EVENTS

ARCHITECTS By Josephine Minutillo

116 WEST CAMPUS UNION, NORTH CAROLINA

GRIMSHAW By Beth Broome

53 BOOKS: HERZOG & DE MEURONS TREACHEROUS

TRANSPARENCIES Reviewed by Fred A. Bernstein

59 TRADE SHOW: CERSAIE 2016 By Anna Fixsen

155 GINZA PLACE, TOKYO KLEIN DYTHAM

By Suzanne Stephens

110 VISUAL ARTS BUILDING, IOWA STEVEN HOLL

49 BOOKS: JONATHAN F. P. ROSES THE WELLTEMPERED CITY Reviewed by James Gauer

Chris Foges

BILLIE TSIEN ARCHITECTS | PARTNERS

104 UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO NORTH RESIDENTIAL

COMMONS, ILLINOIS STUDIO GANG By James Gauer

45 GUESS THE ARCHITECT

57 TECHNOLOGY: VIRTUAL REALITY

By Michael Leighton Beaman

150 YORK THEATRE ROYAL, ENGLAND DE MATOS

95 INTRODUCTION

37 INTERIORS: SAKS FIFTH AVENUE DOWNTOWN

By Linda C. Lentz

39 EXHIBITION: LONDON DESIGN FESTIVAL

By Chris Foges

ALTHANS & LICHT KUNST LICHT

By Mary Pepchinski
RYAN By

DEPARTMENTS

TAKE ENVIRONMENTALLY RESPONSIBLE DESIGN TO

NEW LEVELS. By Katharine Logan

122 BRIDGE FOR LABORATORY SCIENCES, NEW YORK

ENNEAD ARCHITECTS By Sarah Williams Goldhagen
128 ROY AND DIANA VAGELOS EDUCATION CENTER,

NEW YORK CITY DILLER SCOFIDIO + RENFRO

By Joann Gonchar, AIA

216 SNAPSHOT: MAMOU-MANIS TANGENTIAL DREAMS

AT BURNING MAN By Alex Klimoski
THIS PAGE: EXTENSION OF THE SWISS NATIONAL MUSEUM,
BY CHRIST & GANTENBEIN.
PHOTO BY IWAN BAAN.
COVER: ANDLINGER CENTER, BY TOD WILLIAMS BILLIE TSIEN
ARCHITECTS | PARTNERS (SHOWING A BAS-RELIEF OF A
BIRDS-EYE VIEW OF THE CENTER ON ONE OF ITS WALLS).
PHOTO BY MICHAEL MORAN.
See expanded coverage of Projects and Building Type Studies
as well as Web-only features at architecturalrecord.com.

SEE ONLINE CONTENT PAGE 19.

ANN I VE R S ARY

REGISTER TODAY
NOVEMBER 14, 2016

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | LOS ANGELES, CA

This special anniversary edition of Record on the Road will take place at the USC School of Architecture.
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educator, Cliff Pearson, at the recently renovated Harris Hall at USCs architecture school, and they will
be joined for Q&A and comments by Architectural Records Editor-in-Chief, Cathleen McGuigan.
Our program begins at the end of the workday and will include sponsored continuing education
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CIRCLE 72

ARCHITECTURAL RECORD

NOVEMBER 2016

19

architecturalrecord.com
V I S I T U S O N L I N E F O R E X PA N D E D S L I D E S H O W S , P R O D U C T S P E C I F I C AT I O N S , A N D M O R E .
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Watch a short movie from Steven Holl Architects about the Visual Arts
Building at the University of Iowa.
COCKTAIL NAPKIN SKETCH CONTEST

Scroll through galleries of the winners, runners-up, honorable

mentions, and quirky favorites from this years competition.
FEATURED HOUSES

Find photos, credits, and specifications for new residential projects in

this monthly online-only feature.

THE MAAT IN LISBON OPENED TO THE PUBLIC ON OCTOBER 5.

SCENES FROM THE NEWS

GREENBUILD 2016

Some 20,000 people and 600 exhibitors attended this years international
green-building gathering in Los Angeles. Read our dispatches and see
photos from the week-long conference and expo.
MAAT OPENS IN LISBON

P H O T O G R A P H Y: F R A N C I S C O N O G U E I R A ( T O P ) ; A R C H I T E C T U R A L R E C O R D ( B O T T O M )

Read about the opening of the London-based firm AL_As Museum of Art,
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Conference of the year, Architecture and Making in the Post-Digital Age,
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NOVEMBER 2016

editors letter

21

Design for Social Animals

P H O T O G R A P H Y: M I C H E L A R N AU D

Campus architecture of almost any typelabs,

dorms, or studiosis designed today with a variety
of spaces for interaction, or just hanging out.
When many of us went to college, no matter how beautiful the campus, the dining hall was for dining only, with few choices on offer; the
snack bars served bad coffee; the gym was generic with old equipment.
But if youve visited a college campus recently, you know how luxurious
new facilities can be. There are athletic centers that could train
Olympians, and wellness facilities that rival those at a luxury spa.
Elegant dining halls serve an array of farm-to-table cuisines, to fulfill
almost every dietary desire. There are cozy spots scattered around
campuses to snack, lounge, study, or just hang out. Gone are the damp
gyms and noisy cafeterias of a more spartan era of college lifeat least
at many private and some public institutions. Like high-powered tech
companies today, top colleges and universities compete to attract talent, and the quality of designnot only of laboratories and libraries but
of communal spacesis part of the draw.
In this issue, we look at projects in the college and university sector by
some of Americas finest architectural firms. And if there is a common
thread among the projects herefor science or art programs, or for the
general populationit is that the architects sought to include light-filled
social spaces that allow students and faculty to interact, or just to get
away from their labs or desks to sit quietly with their laptops and enjoy a
cup of coffee and a view to the outdoors.
Dormitories always have had some kind of shared spaces, but at the
new University of Chicago North Residential Commons, Studio Gang
included public plazas, gardens, walkways, and courtyards to try to help
bridge the town/gown divide; its large complex comprises three towers
that house 800 students (page 104). Inside, the architects created a variety of flexible spaces for studying, cooking, or socializing. At Duke
University, the West Campus Union building by Grimshaw was designed
to be a dining facilitywith a wide variety of both food choices and
places to sitas well as a place where faculty and students can informally
meet and mingle (page 116).
Dukes building is also a campus circulation route, which made places
for spontaneous interaction even more essential. Indeed, using circulation for social space is a common strategy in the projects on the following pages. At the University of Iowas Visual Arts building, Steven Holl
Architects designed purpose-built art studios, but it is the large lightfilled atrium at the core that is the social condenser, says Holl, that
brings students together (page 110). At Vassar College, connecting scientific disciplineschemistry, earth and environment, and roboticsunder
one roof was part of the brief for the Bridge for Laboratory Sciences (page
124), but the building, which spans a ravine, also provides a key route
from one part of campus to another. So Ennead Architects created an

open, double-height, light-filled space along its curving spine for a caf
and informal seating. For their new tower for Columbia Universitys
Medical School (page 128), Diller Scofidio + Renfro made the most of the
stairs and ramps that connect the 14 floors by inserting seating niches,
outdoor terraces, and other social spaces on landings along the way.
And at the Andlinger Center for Energy and Environment at Princeton
(page 96), Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects responded to the challenging site and program by weaving a multilevel building of interlocking
bars and towers with a series of outdoor courtyards and gardens. Yes,
there are modest lounge spaces sprinkled throughout the building, but it
is the many instances of large windows open to daylight and nature that
gives this surprisingly complex yet serene building its humane rather
than institutional quality.
Also this month, record reports on three significant new buildings
that are destined to become landmarks in their cities: the National
Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.;
the Port House in Antwerp; and the National Museum of Switzerland in
Zurich. All three use bold architectural language for great effect within
their surrounding contexts.
So, enjoy this issue of record, packed with writing from the magazines editors and contributors who have, as always, explored firsthand
the impressive works of architecture in the pages ahead.

Cathleen McGuigan, Editor in Chief

LEARN & EARN

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Photo courtesy of Ecore

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Page 188

Green Globes Certification

Overview
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The Benefits of a
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Page 200

ALSO ONLINE AT ARCHRECORD.COM

Sustainable Envelopes with
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Advancing the Daylighting

Discussion

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Interim Executive Dining Facility

Bridges Construction Gap at
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Too Transparent?

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Page 194

Sponsored by Sprung Instant Structures,

Inc. and Kitchens To Go built by Carlin

Fitness for Purpose

Extruded Concrete in
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Image courtesy of Sefaira

Photo courtesy of Digital Sky Aerial Imaging/Todd Quam

Photo courtesy of Huber Engineered Woods LLC

Collaborating Through
Design Challenges

Masonry Wall Systems Well

Positioned to Meet Evolving
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Page 165

Sponsored by Huber Engineered

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The Core of the Matter

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Categorized by Design:
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Photo courtesy of Arup/Kevin Chu

Photo courtesy of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

LLP/ Scott Frances, OTTO

IN THIS ISSUE

Sustainable Stone From Cradle

to Gate
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High-Performing, Resilient, WoodFramed Roofs

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A New Methodology for Successful

Daylighting Design

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Closing the Gaps: Rolling Doors

That Meet Mandatory ASHRAE
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Daylight Autonomy 101

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Code-Compliance Conflicts in the

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* All Architectural Record articles and presentations count toward the annual AIA continuing education requirement. All sponsored exams are available at no charge and are instantly processed, unless
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CIRCLE 37

Airblade hand drying

technology in a tap.
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CIRCLE 93

ARCHITECTURAL RECORD

D A I LY U P D AT E S

architecturalrecord.com/news
twitter.com/archrecord

perspective
news

NOVEMBER 2016

Ive never felt the need to respond to Patrik because, in part, I agree with him.
Alejandro Aravena, responding to Patrik Schumachers criticism of his Pritzker Prize win, in a
discussion with Nader Tehrani on September 22.

Francis Kr Envisions House of

Parliament for Burkina Faso

I M AG E S : C O U R T E S Y K R A R C H I T E C T U R E

BY JENNA M. MCKNIGHT
In late 2014, citizens of Burkina Faso overthrew the countrys dictatorial leader,
President Blaise Compaor, and set fire to the
parliament house, leaving it a charred ruin in
the capital city of Ouagadougou. Now Berlinbased architect Dibdo Francis Kr, who
grew up in the West African nation, has conceived a master plan for a new parliament
complex.
Kr says he was informally commissioned
to design the project by the new head of the
parliament last year and has since been meeting with government officials to push his
concept forward. They say its too visionary. I
still have to convince them, Kr says. I hope
at least some of the ideas will stick. His
scheme is on view at the Architecture
Biennale in Venice, which closes November 27.
Rather than replicating Western models,
Krs design reflects the values inherent in
Burkinab society. We cant keep doing a
cheap copy of the West, he told record. We

have to produce buildings that speak to and

inspire our people.
Krs ambitious design calls for a pyramidshaped six-story building made of concrete and
stone. Members of the public would be invited
to climb up the stepped facades, allowing them
to take in views of the city. The architect believes such a facility would symbolically engage
people in the legislative process in a way that is
similar to the forms of governing found in the
countrys rural communities. In a village
setting, the decision-making process is not a
private matter, Kr explains. Community
members are welcome to sit near the gathering of leaders and observe.
The building also would reflect the agrarian
way of life in Burkina Faso. The terraced exterior walls would accommodate public garden
plots, which would serve as an educational tool
to encourage urban farming.
For the interior of the building, the scheme
calls for a grand 127-seat assembly hall bordered

Visit our online section, architecturalrecord.com/news.

Francis Kr has proposed a stepped six-story parliament

house for Burkina Fasos capital city, Ouagadougou (top,
right; left). The new facility would replace a building that
was destroyed during a 2014 revolt (above).

by a private garden, where parliamentarians

could gather for informal interactions. Krs
design for the meeting space takes into account
local traditions. In Burkinab villages, elders
convene under the shade of a large treereferred to as arbre palabres, or tree of
discussionto talk about critical issues.
The master plan also calls for a public plaza,
new shops and cafs, and a memorial in the
footprint of the old buildinga sunken area in
the earth that would collect rainwater for
on-site irrigation and form a reflecting pool.
While Krs scheme is intended to facilitate
an open and peaceful society, he does recognize
that civil unrest and terrorist attacks are an
ongoing threat. Last January, Islamic militants
ambushed a hotel and caf, killing more than
two dozen people. Mindful of these concerns,
Kr proposes incorporating guarded subterranean tunnels and parking areas for government
officials. In todays time, we have to deal with
security issues. But we also want to provide open
access for the public, he says. The trick is to
find a way to put those two things together. n

25

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CIRCLE 233

ARCHITECTURAL RECORD

NOVEMBER 2016

perspective news

New Arc Platform Aims to

Streamline and Integrate Green
Certification for Existing Buildings
BY MIRIAM SITZ
At Greenbuild 2016, the U.S. Green Building
Council (USGBC) and the Green Business
Certification Inc. (GBCI) announced a new
platform to measure the performance of existing structures and track incremental
improvements. Arc, as its called, is intended
both for buildings that are actively working
toward LEED certification under its existing
building rating system and those that are not.
Using this new tool, architects and designers will be able to record data about any
building, at any point on the sustainability
spectrum, and arc will calculate the performance score. Previously, you had to be
earning LEED credits to be part of the system,
said Gretchen Sweeney, vice president of LEED
Implementation at the USGBC, speaking at
Greenbuild. Scot Horst, USGBCs chief product
officer, who will become arc CEO at the end of

this year, told record by phone,

We want to allow everyone to be
a part of this ecosystem.
Horst, who has long been focused on transforming LEED from
a design tool into a performance metric, compares the rating system to the gym. The way
we had it set up is, youve got to lose a certain
amount of weight before you get a gym membership. You can only get in and get healthy if
youve already lost weight, he said. What
were saying now is that we want everyone in
the gymits just that, once you lose a certain
amount of weight, were going to recognize you
in a different way.
Additionally, arc will eventually allow
project teams to see how LEED standards
overlap with those of other green certification
systems, starting with those under GBCIs

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CIRCLE 5

Scot Horst,
who spoke at
Greenbuild 2016
about the new
platform, will
transition out of
his role as the
USGBCs chief
product officer
to become arc
CEO at the end of
this year.

purview such as WELL, SITES, and PEER. We

came back to the core of LEED, said Melissa
Baker, USGBC technical business development
director, the intent behind the credits that
actually drives the behavioral change and
drives the actions that you take.
By showing architects and designers how
close LEED credits have taken them to achieving other certifications, Baker said, I think it
will drive that desire to really push and do a
little bit more.
Arc will officially launch by the end of
2016, with full integration slated for the middle
of 2017. n

P H O T O G R A P H Y: A R C H I T E C T U R A L R E C O R D

27

ARCHITECTURAL RECORD

NOVEMBER 2016

perspective news

FXFOWLE Museum
Breaks Ground on
Liberty Island
BY ANNA FIXSEN
For the 12 million immigrants who passed
through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1954,
the sight of the Statue of Liberty presiding
over New York Harbor signified their hardwon arrival in the land of the free. Today, 120
years after the French presented this gift to
the United States, the statues symbolism still
endures, though it attracts pilgrims of a different kindsome 4 million tourists each year.
For present-day sightseers, access to Lady
Liberty is highly restricted. Climbs to her
crowndesigned by Frdric Auguste
Bartholdi, and built by Gustave Eiffelmust be
reserved as much as six months in advance; for
the museum, housed within the Richard
Morris Huntdesigned pedestal, only 20 percent of all visitors are even allowed access, due
to post-9/11 security concerns. Everyone else is
left to wander the 12-acre islands uninspired
grounds (free audio tours add to their experience, the website assures), snap a selfie, and
catch a boat back to Manhattan.
A new initiative, spearheaded by the Statue
of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation and the
National Park Service (NPS), is looking to
change that. On October 6, officials broke
ground on a new museum, a 26,000-squarefoot facility at the islands northwest edge,
designed by FXFOWLE.
Only a small number of people get to experience the whole thing when theyre here,
said firm partner Nicholas Garrison at the
event. We wanted to add to this island a joyous new place that could be experienced by
everyone, regardless of age, language spoken,
or type of admission ticket.
The FXFOWLE design, which features an
exterior stair leading to a landscaped roof,

seems to grow out of the island

itself, as if a corner of the lawn
has been peeled away. Its materials are also an extension of the
island, a fusion of stony creek
granite (the same used by Hunt
for Lady Libertys base), precast
concrete, copper-zinc alloy, and
bronze.
One of the primary drivers of
this scheme, according to
Garrison, was storm resiliency.
During Hurricane Sandy, more
than 75 percent of the island was
flooded. The roof stairway in the
FXFOWLE plan means the base
level of the museum will be over
the 500-year storm surge, with some belts and
suspenders, Garrison said.
The generous interior spaces, meanwhile,
were designed to accommodate Lady Libertys
original 18-foot-tall torch (currently housed in
the statues base), and the throngs of visitors
expected when the museum is finishednearly 450 every half hour at peak times, according
to Garrison. The firm ESI Design worked with
FXFOWLE to devise a series of flowing interior
exhibition spaces, which will include an immersive theater and interactive exhibits
detailing the Statues history and construction, and current perceptions of the meaning
of liberty. The exhibition will culminate with
a glazed gallery containing the torch, set
against scenic views of the statue.
Construction is set to wrap up in 2019,
according to the Foundation and NPS.
But freedom isnt free: the new museum
will cost an estimated $70 million. To raise
such a sum, the Foundation enlisted an
unlikely godmother for the islands beautificationthe fashion designer Diane von
Furstenberg. Just as newspaperman Joseph
Pulitzer petitioned the public to raise money
for the Statues pedestal in 1885, von

FXFOWLEs museum, to be completed in 2019, features a

landscaped roof terrace (top) and a generous glazed
gallery housing Lady Libertys original torch (above).
Fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg, FXFOWLEs
Nicholas Garrison, and officials participated in the
groundbreaking ceremony on October 6 (below).

Furstenberg is in charge of fundraising efforts.

(Thanks to my husband [Barry Diller] I usually
sign the check and get it over with, she said.)
Von Furstenberg came up with an idea for a
donor sculpture, spangled with 50 stars made
from the original armatures by Eiffel that supported Libertys internal structure. Stars were
offered to potential donors for $2 million each.
The idea worked: individuals and organizations
including Jeff Bezos, Michael Bloomberg, CocaCola, George Lucas and Mellody Hobson, and
even Chanel (French, made sense, said von
Furstenberg) donated.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, himself a
descendant of Italian immigrants, lauded the
museum at the groundbreaking. My hope for
this great museum is that it will be one of
those bridges that helps us to finally come to
peace with the fullness of who we are, the
complexity of who we are, and the beauty of
who we are, he said. n

I MAG E S : D IAN E B O N DAR EF F/AP I MAG E S (B OT TO M) ; CO U RTE SY F X FOWLE ( TO P, 2)

28

perspectivenews

29

Newport Street Art

Gallery Wins 2016
RIBA Stirling Prize

P H O T O G R A P H Y: H L N E B I N E T

BY ALEX KLIMOSKI
On OctOber 6, the Royal Institute of British
Architects bestowed its highly coveted award
the RIBA Stirling Prize for best building of the
yearto the Newport Street Gallery, designed
by Caruso St John Architects. The building is
located in Londons Vauxhall neighborhood
and houses a free public gallery for English
artist Damien Hirsts private art collection.
The gallery, completed last year, takes on
the entire length of a formerly industrial
street, situated across from a railway. The
design involved the conversion of three neighboring Victorian buildingswhich originally
housed carpentry and scenery-painting workshopsand the addition of new structures on
either end, making for a total of five interconnected buildings. The ground and upper floors
each feature three large exhibition spaces and
are connected with a dramatic spiral staircase.
The new additions nod to the original buildings with their use of red brick. An LED panel

Caruso St John converted three historically listed

Victorian buildings in Londons Vauxhall district into a
gallery for Damien Hirsts private collection. The space
stretches the entire length of the street and includes six
exhibition rooms, a restaurant, and offices.

on its facade is visible to train passengers

across the street, encouraging them to visit.
We see the building as a palace for direct,
intimate, and luxurious encounters with contemporary art, said partner Peter St John in a
statement.
RIBA president Jane Duncan noted, Caruso
St John has created a stunningly versatile

CIRCLE 15

space from a number of linked buildings, with beautifully crafted staircases and superb details including
tactile brick facades. The result is
a succession of wonderful gallery
spaces.
The multidisciplinary group of
judges, which included Patrik
Schumacher of Zaha Hadid Architects, 2015 Stirling Prizewinner
Paul Monaghan, architect Roisin
Heneghan, developer Mike Hussey,
and artist Rachel Whiteread, called
the gallery a bold and confident
contribution to the best of UK
architecture.
Caruso St John, founded in 1990, is a
first-time winner of the RIBA Stirling Prize;
the firm was short-listed for a residential
project called Brick House in 2006 and for
another gallery, the New Art Gallery Walsall,
in 2000.
The other five short-listed entries for the
prize were: Herzog & de Meurons Blavatnik
School of Government; the City of Glasgow
Colleges Riverside Campus, designed by
Michael Laird Architects; the Weston Library,
by WilkinsonEyre; Loyn & Co Architects
Outhouse; and Trafalgar Place, by dRMM. n

ARCHITECTURAL RECORD

NOVEMBER 2016

[ NEWSMAKER ]

Vishaan
Chakrabarti
BY SUZANNE STEPHENS
EvEr sincE McKim, Mead & Whites stately
Penn Station was demolished in 1964 and
replaced by Charles Luckmans ultrabanal one,
which included a doughnut-shaped Madison
Square Garden and dreary office buildings, its
users have suffered. The aesthetic pain has not
been helped by the functional discomfort
caused by excessive numbers (650,000 commuters a day). So cheers resounded with
Governor Andrew Cuomos announcement in
late September: the state and
developers Related Companies
and Vornado Realty Trust
would put into place a longtouted plan by the late Senator
Daniel Patrick Moynihan to
divert Amtrakand now the
Long Island Rail Roadto a
new train hall to be located in
the nearby James A. Farley
Post Office, also designed by
McKim, Mead & White.
Soon after, architect and
planner Vishaan Chakrabarti
and his firm Practice for Architecture and
Urbanism (PAU) unveiled a scheme addressing
the fact that many tracks and platforms need
to remain under the existing Madison Square
Garden (MSG). They urge stripping the present
Garden to its frame, glazing it, and recycling it
as a hall for commuters. (For details on the
proposal and The New York Times editorial endorsement, see archrecord.com.)
record has asked Chakrabarti for more details about his scheme, its genesis, and its future.
After The Timess extensive coverage of your
proposal, have you had any reaction from
Governor Cuomo and his cohorts?
Not directly. But weve had tremendously
positive response from the public. One thing
this has taught me is just the vast number of
people who are touched by Penn Station.
You worked on the previous plan for Farley
(aka Moynihan Station) between 2005 and
2009 as the president of Moynihan Station
Venture, a partnership formed between
Related and Vornado. Why didnt you work
with those developers on this new proposal?
For me, Penn Station is about much more
than the station. What we ultimately do to
solve its problems is really a symbol of whether
we actually believe in a shared, collective
realm. Its also about the role of an architect.

perspective news

noted

You have suggested that a new Madison Square

Garden move to the back (west) end of Farley,
where there is plenty of room for an arena.
That will need backing.
Theres a critical first step: the governor's
office and MSG have to make a deal for it to
move to Farley. I believe that the Garden would
want to move into a new facility: they have
severe operational constraints in their existing
building. The federal government is a stakeholder as well, since its the driver behind the
Gateway plan to build new tunnels under the
Hudson River for tracks that would tie into the
station. Its complicated, but creating a brandnew train station with new structure and
foundations looks like a $6 or $7 billion enterprise. We're trying to say, If the Garden were to
move and if we recycled the existing arena, you
could have a beautiful new
station without a grand public
price tag. The renovated
Garden in Penn Station would
cost about $1.5 billion. The new
arena in Farley should be $1.5
billion too.
But couldnt Vornado and
Relatedalready landowners in
the areahelp by putting money into relocating MSG to the
back of Farley?
The deal the last time
around was that the Garden
would get a new arena free in the back of
Farley, and Related and Vornado were building
it. They would get about 5.5 million square
feet of air rights over the Garden in return.
The only thing now is where you land the air
rights for new development, with the Gateway
tunnels tracks and platforms coming in due
south of the Garden.
Are there other incentives besides air-rights
transfers for the developers?
You could also give tax-increment financing
to basically take advantage of the higher value
of the real estate in the future. Such financing
mechanisms can pay for this without public
money. Creating a truly civic building in the
heart of the district, you get incredibly valuable real estate all around it, which is the
model of Grand Central.
Where do you make money on this?
This is an advocacy project. We make money on the other projects we do. If someone
wants to hire us to do the station, we would be
thrilled. Were a 10-person office, but we could
collaborate with great larger firms where
were the design engine.
What is the next step?
Were going to see if there is a groundswell
around the idea. We all have to keep the vision
alive. Thats the key. n

Renzo Piano to Redevelop Power

Station in Moscow
The V-A-C Foundation, dedicated to contemporary
Russian art, has commissioned Renzo Piano
Building Workshop to redevelop a defunct power
station in Moscow. Built in the early 1900s to
supply energy to the city, the complex is expected
to reopen in early 2019 as a contemporary arts and
culture center.

Designed By Calatrava, Worlds

Tallest Tower Breaks Ground
Construction commenced last month on the
Santiago Calatravadesigned Dubai Creek Tower.
When completed in 2020, the 3,045-foot-high
structure, anchored to the ground with cables,
will surpass the Burj Khalifa, making it the
worlds tallest skyscraper.

Record Vanguard Winner Receives

Kiesler Prize
Spanish architect Andrs Jaque, a 2014 record
Design Vanguard winner, received the 10th
Austrian Frederick Kiesler Prize for Architecture
and the Arts on October 6. The cash prize of
55,000 euros honors achievements in line with
Kieslers interdisciplinary view of the arts and is
granted by the Republic of Austria and the City of
Vienna every two years.

Museum of Art, Architecture and

Technology Opens in Lisbon
After a construction period of two years and an
investment of $22 million, the MAATcommissioned by the EDP Foundation and designed by
London-based studio AL_Ahas opened to the
public. The curvilinear buildings facade features
70
15,000 three-dimensional crackle-glazed tiles.
60

60
50

61

52

58

59

53

52

51

59

48

40
S

2015

INQUIRIES

F M

A M

J A

2016

BILLINGS

ABI Reflects Two-Month Decline

The Architectural Billings Index (ABI) posted a
two-month-long decline in September, the first
such slump in four years. The month finished with
a score of 48.4, down from 49.7 in August (any score
above 50 indicates an increase in billings). The new
projects inquiry index was also low, scoring 59.4.
These scores should act as a warning signal, said
AIA chief economist Kermit Baker.

P H O T O : C O U R T E S Y PAU

30

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CIRCLE 236

ADVERTISEMENT

ARCHITECTURAL RECORD Announces

the Winners and the Runners-up of the

2016 COCKTAIL NAPKIN

SKETCH CONTEST
More than 400 architects, designers, illustrators, and students submitted sketches to this years Cocktail
Napkin Sketch Contest, which, now in its seventh year, showcased the passion and skill of a diverse group of
professionals. Record editors sifted through upwards of 2,000 individual napkins to select the two winners,
six runners-up, and three individuals representative of the best group to submit entriesthis year, a school.
WINNER, REGISTERED ARCHITECT

WINNER, NON-REGISTERED ARCHITECT

ERIC J. JENKINS, PROFESSOR, CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA,

WASHINGTON, D.C. FACULTY MEETING #12

MAKSIM KOLOSKOV, DESIGNER, ROTTET STUDIO, HOUSTON

TWILIGHT EPIPHANY

Architect Eric J. Jenkins challenges students in his course on freehand

analytical sketching to increase their understanding of buildings by drawing
them. How do you inform your imagination? he asks. How do you learn
from the things around you? Often, Jenkins finds, the answer comes by
putting pen to paper. I compare architecture to studying music or literature, he says. When musicians listen to a song, or when writers read a
book, they are attuned to the rhythm and cadence of the words. You can
learn from others work by deeply observing it. In his winning sketch, he
imagines a building overgrown by technological equipment, bursting out
of a square frame. Literalizing the clich, he says, I like to work outside of
the box.

In 2014, as Maksim Koloskov recovered from a liver transplant, he would

take walks around the campus of Rice University, often ending up at James
Turrells Twilight Epiphany. The idea of the skyspace is so strong, he
says. A thin line hovering over the big hill. And in the fog, it has a really
mystic quality. Recently, the designer returned to quickly sketch the
structurea practice that has become part of his daily routine. I dont
care how it looks, he says. I just sketch for myself. Its so freeing.
Working in ink and sometimes with a marker, he finds napkins the ideal
canvas for this type of drawing. They dont let you overwork, he says.
Several strokes and thats it. They force you to think fast and draw fast.

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CIRCLE 161

ARCHITECTURAL RECORD

NOVEMBER 2016

perspectivehouse of the month

A DISCREET RURAL RETREAT WEST OF TORONTO NAVIGATES THE
CHANGING SEASONS. BY MIRIAM SITZ

P H O T O G R A P H Y: B E N R A H N /A- F R A M E I N C .

In rural Ontario, where mild summers give way to cold, snowy winters, a
family of six was ready to chart a new
course in a sustainable second home.
The Compass House, designed by
Toronto-based superkl, responds to the
dramatic seasonality of its context and
the needs of its occupants by reconfiguring shared spaces around a central
point as seasons change.
Returning to Toronto after living in
London, the clients longed for a pastoral
retreat reminiscent of those they had
frequented in the English countryside,
which could accommodate family and
friends. On their 200-acre property in
Mulmur, Ontariopart of a UNESCO
World Biosphere Reservethey selected
a wooded site that offered privacy,
views, and a buffer from winds blowing
across the high plateau of the Niagara
Escarpment. We wanted to blend in
and not be seen, says the husband.

GROUND-FLOOR PLAN
GROUND-FLOOR PLAN
GROUND-FLOOR PLAN

16 FT.
5 M.

A detached garage sits just north of the main wing (top). For warmer
months, operable glass doors open to a patio with an outdoor fireplace and
plunge pool, which becomes a hot tub in the winter (above). Inside, a
skylight connects a lofted room above the kitchen to the outdoors (left).

Taking cues from the English vernacular-style long barn,

the architects designed a low-lying house with perpendicular
volumes, built in two phases, aligned to the cardinal directions. In the winter, the house operates along an eastwest
axis, with communal spaces concentrated at the center of
the main wing. In the summer, when insect screens usually
replace operable glass walls running parallel along the openplan kitchen, living, and dining room, the common areas
expand to include a courtyard and the secondary wing,
effectively rotating the hub of activity 90 degrees to the
northsouth line.
The clients were interested in being as light on the land
as possible, says principal in charge Meg Grahama fact
that influenced both the sustainability features and the
appearance of the house. Passive cooling and a geothermal
system contributed to a LEED Gold certification for the first
1

KITCHEN/LIVING/DINING

FAMILY ROOM

MUDROOM

OUTDOOR FIREPLACE

03

DEN
16 FT.

HOT TUB/PLUNGE POOL

CHANGING ROOM

16 FT.
5 M.
BEDROOM
5 M.

phase of the project. Clad in white

cement-board panels, the wood-frame
structure has a low roofline that
matches the undulation of the surrounding hills. The house is a little
bit stealthy, says Graham, explaining
that in the summer months, when
the fields grow up around it, you
dont see it right away. Then, when it
snows, its stealthy in a completely
different way.
Inside, oak floors and durable knotty cedar walls tie the house to its
forested setting and provide a warm
contrast to the white ceilings, punctuated with skylights. When you look
up from inside the house and see the
boundless sky, for a nanosecond you
dont register the scale of it. You can
just breathe and feel this connection
to the cosmos, says Graham. Its kind
of spiritual. n

35

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CIRCLE 194

ARCHITECTURAL RECORD

NOVEMBER 2016

perspective interiors

37

Downtown Style
Architect Richard Found
creates a cool Saks Fifth
Avenue in lower Manhattan.

P H O T O G R A P H Y: JA S O N S C H M I D T

BY LINDA C. LENTZ
Across the street from the 9/11 Memorial in New York, Brookfield Place, the
former World Financial Center designed
by Csar Pelli in the 80s, is undergoing a
transformation along with the reconstruction of the World Trade Center site
and the opening of Santiago Calatravas
transit hub (record, April 2016, page 50).
The office-building complex is not only
luring tenants like Time Inc. but a spate
of upscale food and retail businesses too.
Among them, a new Saks Fifth Avenue
satellite is notable for its elegant yet hip
boutique stylea fresh take for the iconic
department store.
Designed by London-based Found
Associates, Saks Fifth Avenue Downtown
is tucked into the first two stories of an
octagonal pavilion at the base of a tower
in the complex. Departing from the
sharp edges of the exterior, principal
Richard Found stacked a pair of glazed
rotundas behind the faceted facade,
wrapping the glass on the inside with
fixed, brushed-brass louvers that filter
sunlight into the sales areas. This allows
views out to the World Trade Center,
says Found. At the same time, it provides
a backdrop for the merchandise.
Throughout the store, color and material choices are subtle, serene, and
surprisingly consistent for a multibrand
retail establishment. There are no designer shops here. The soft brass is used
again on garment racks and low-profile
casework; pastel upholstery wraps Fritz
Hansen and HAY seating; champagnehued carpet alternates with terrazzo
floors; and hand-finished polished plaster
coats the walls.
An open plan maximizes the quirky
65,000-square-foot space with avenues
that branch from the rotundas back
toward the building core. Whenever
possible, Found fused structural, mechanical, and decorative elements.
Escalators at the center of the rotundas
bisect circular sales hubs, which are, in
turn, ringed by clothing and accessories.
Tall, modular mirrored displays fade into
the scenery and also serve as storage
units and full-length mirrors.

Warm LED lighting is equally discreet. Concealed in ceiling coves that

follow the lines of the architectural
elements, its glow creates halos around
columns and above the rotundas. The
lighting also delineates a corridor leading to the shoe department, and Founds

one touch of bling: a 15-foot-wide, halfspherical chandelier supporting 50

globes. Mounted on a polished-metal
ceiling, it is a glittering orba dazzling
effect, and all the more so in a Saks that
offers an understated alternative to the
usual luxury experience. n

A 220-foot-long Barry
Reigate mural follows a
corridor into the shoe
department, where
a spectacular light
installation hovers above
mirrored storage blocks
and Fritz Hansen Ro
chairs by Jaime Hayon.

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ARCHITECTURAL RECORD

NOVEMBER 2016

perspective exhibition

The Fairs the Thing

The London Design Festival takes over Englands
capital, offering a bounty of ideas and visual treats.
BY CHRIS FOGES
For nine days in September, when the
London Design Festivals distinctive red
signage appears at scores of event locations, the remarkable breadth of the
U.K.s design industry is made visible.
The 14th edition, held September 17 to
25, was a sprawling affair: hundreds of
designers and manufacturers hosted
events across the city, while five separate trade fairs ran concurrently.
Commissioned projects gave a sense
of order to the dizzying array of pop-ups
and partnerships, lectures and launches.
At the Victoria & Albert Museum, the
festivals official hub, temporary largescale exhibits were installed among
the permanent displays. The Green Room,
by London-based product designers
Glithero, featured a cylindrical curtain
of 160 brightly hued cords that dropped
down through a six-story stairwell;
individual strands gently rose and fell
over the course of a minute, inviting
viewers to reconsider what a clock could
be. In the Tapestry Room on an upper
floor, Benjamin Huberts wavelike

Foilan animated ribbon of 50,000

stainless-steel mirrorsscattered light
across the walls like a giant disco ball.
At the nearby Chelsea College of Arts,
another ambitious project occupied the
courtyard. Alison Brooks Architects
The Smile, a pavilion in the form of
a curved box beam, demonstrated
the construction capabilities of crosslaminated American tulipwood. While
the center of the 112-foot-long arc rested
on the ground, both of its ends rose 11
feet into the air, ending in large openings that offered those inside framed
views of the college and the sky. (Unlike
most of the festivals installations,
which ended on the 25th, The Smile was
on view through October 12.)
Downriver to the east, Somerset
Housea neoclassical cultural center
and home to the Courtauld Institute of
Arthosted the inaugural London
Design Biennale. For that, curatorial
teams from design museums in 37
nations produced pavilions that responded to the theme of utopia,

Alison Brooks Architects The Smile served as a study in the material

possibilities of cross-laminated American tulipwood (top). Bompas & Parrs
garden, LEden, used sensors and mechanics to physically respond to visitors
movements (middle), while Foil (above), by Benjamin Hubert, cast flecks of
light around the Tapestry Room at the Victoria & Albert Museum.

39

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perspective exhibition

P H O T O G R A P H Y: C O U R T E S Y E L E Y K I S H I M O T O

Eley Kishimoto applied its Flash pattern to several crosswalks in the duos Brixton
neighborhood, aiming for the change to reawaken traffic awareness and improve safety.

selected to mark the 500th anniversary of Thomas Mores classic work.

Occupying a prominent spot in the center of the entrance courtyard was
Barber Osgerbys Forecast. The super-sized weathervane, anemometer,
and wind turbine alluded to Britains maritime history, turbulent politics, andof coursefabled obsession with the weather.
In Shoreditch, architect Asif Khan erected three small, enigmatic
translucent polycarbonate structures, which he then stocked with furniture and thickets of plants. Called Forests, the project, commissioned by
MINI Living, explored the potential of third places in the city: spaces
to gather in the public realm, away from home and work. Khan, who
designed a summerhouse for the 2016 Serpentine Pavilion program,
explained that he hoped his interventions would raise questions about
the relationship between public and private space as well as foster interactions among strangers.
Bompas & Parr also used vegetation as a material in LEden, a bioresponsive garden installed in a Soho gallery. The fairy-tale indoor
landscape used concealed mechanics and motion detectors to animate
living plants, having them react as visitors moved through the space.
Thus, under a starlit LED curtain, tendrils drew themselves back to
make a path, and a dancing tree swayed to mirror spectators motions.
Similar levels of ingenuity could be seen in designers showrooms. To
introduce his new lighting range, Lee Broom, for example, transformed
his East London store with an Op Artinspired installation. Opticality
featured geometric-patterned pendant fixtures endlessly multiplied by
mirrored walls to create the illusion of infinite space.
Eley Kishimoto took this energy to the streetsliterally. With graphic
designer Dolman Bowles, the fashion duo applied its signature Flash
pattern to crosswalks at busy intersections in Brixton, improving safety
while adding some visual flair to the urban environment.
In all, the London Design Festivals messy diversity is its strength:
grand spectacles coexist happily with subtle interventions, and culture
nestles with commerce. As the event expands into new territories and
widens its international participation, its mix grows ever richer. n

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Guess the Architect Contest

P H O T O G R A P H Y: C O U R T E S Y L I B R A RY O F C O N G R E S S ( T O P ) ; G A R E T H G A R D N E R ( B O T T O M )

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Because of its manipulation of light, space, and taut planes, the Breakfast Room (left) at No. 13 has
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NOVEMBER 2016

perspective firm to watch

Rules of Engagement
EVA works with displaced communities in Haiti to
design vibrant civic spaces.

I M AG E S : G I A N L U C A S T E FA N I / E VA S T U D I O ( B O T T O M , L E F T; T O P ) ; A L E X B O R R E L L / E VA S T U D I O ( M I D D L E ) ; C O U R T E S Y E VA S T U D I O ( B O T T O M , R I G H T )

BY ALEX KLIMOSKI
Last month, Hurricane Matthew tore
through Haiti with 145-mile-per-hour
winds, causing complete devastation
along the Caribbean countrys southwestern coast. Although the capital of
Port-au-Prince was spared this time, the
storm has hampered ongoing attempts
to rebuild the city, still hamstrung from
the 2010 earthquake that killed nearly a
quarter of a million people. Among the
architects who are part of the earthquake recovery efforts,
the 2-year-old design
and research studio
Emergent Vernacular
Architecture (EVA) has
made an impact with a
number of socially attuned civic spaces.
EVAs eight projects
in Haitian amalgam
of community spaces,
houses, and educational facilitiesare
characterized by an energetic aesthetic:
vibrant colors, verdant landscaping, and
a textured palette of local materials such
as adobe and recycled metal. Just as the
London- and Port-au-Prince-based firm
incorporates patterned details onto
surfaces ranging from pavement to
window shutters, it seeks social, cultural, and economic patterns within a site
to inform a design solution.
EVA began to take shape when cofounder Andrea Panizzo left his job
working for Massimiliano Fuksas in
2010. Shortly after resigning, he left
Rome for Bolivia, where he worked on
numerous design projectsincluding an
arts centerfor the nonprofit organization Alalay. I was asking myself

questions about where the profession

was going, says Panizzo, 37. I came to
realize how architects could have a positive social impact, and how we could
help social needs in the global South.
Panizzo relocated from Bolivia to
Haiti shortly after the earthquake, volunteering with the now-defunct nonprofit
Architecture for Humanity for about
eight months. He then became the lead
designer for a local contractoran opportunity that led to
his work on MASS Design Groups
GHESKIO cholera treatment center
(record, June 2015, page 104), and a
competition to rebuild the historic
Port-au-Prince Cathedral.
As he forayed into solo work in Portau-Prince, Panizzo began talking to a
friend, Simone Pagani, about founding a
private practice there. The pair then
recruited Jeannie Lee (who has since
left), Paganis colleague from Rafael
Violys London office, and tested the waters together by
entering a bold proposal for the 2014 Guggenheim Helsinki
design competition. Although their submission did not move
forward (the competition had a record-breaking 1,715 entries),
the trio decided to establish the now 11-person firm.
The firms first commission, an American Red Cross
funded 16,000-square-foot public space called Tapis Rouge,
was completed this past September, and provides a ringshaped open-air amphitheater with areas for market kiosks,
benches, and landscaping, to serve an informal neighborhood of displaced people in Port-au-Prince. As with all of
EVAs projects, community participation was integral to
every stage of Tapis Rouges development. The projects
physical form was created by the community, says Panizzo.
They asked for gathering spaces and different terraces, so
we came up with these concentric rings. Additionally, locals
made up 75 percent of the projects construction workers. In
the end, theyre the ones who are going to own the space,
he says.

EVA (left, the London members) designed and

completed Tapis Rouge (above), a spiral-shaped
open space with areas for gathering and public
art in Port-au-Prince. The young firm incorporates local materials and spirited colors to
bring life to its projects in Haiti, including the
recently opened Ecole de lEspoir (below, left),
and the Bois Tomb school (below, right).

Despite the magnitude of Octobers

hurricane, Panizzo says that EVAs projects were not badly affected (We only
lost one small tree, he says), a fact he
attributes to their locations, and to the
drainage strategies designed by the
firms group of engineers. Ecole de
lEspoir, a recently completed school in
Port-au-Princes Delmas 32 neighborhood, stayed closed during the storm,
but reopened to students shortly after.
Another educational and rehabilitation
center for children, located south of
Port-au-Prince in the town of Bois Tomb,
is scheduled to be completed in 2017.
Panizzo now oversees projects with
Pagani from EVAs London office, where
about half of the staff is located, focusing on schematic design, while the Port-auPrince satellite oversees community
engagement and construction. Although
the firm has been able to sustain itself
with its current humanitarian work,
Panizzo admits it is difficult, but he
manages to travel to Haiti about once
a month.
The firm is also looking beyond
Haiti. In addition to finding work in
London, Panizzo hopes to address the
global refugee crisis by researching
informal neighborhoods and social
housing in Europe and the Middle East.
But EVAs work in Haiti will be ongoing:
We want to keep going back to see
how people are using the spaces, he
says. Architecture doesnt stop when
architects leave. n

47

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CIRCLE 28

ARCHITECTURAL RECORD

NOVEMBER 2016

perspectivebooks
Fire and Nice.

In Harmony
THE WELL-TEMPERED CITY: What Modern
Science, Ancient Civilizations and Human Nature
Teach Us About the Future of Urban Life, by
Jonathan F. P. Rose. Harper Wave, September 2016,
480 pages, $18.74.

Reviewed by James Gauer

Planner and developer Jonathan F. P. Roses
title for his new book, The Well-Tempered City,
alludes to Johann Sebastian Bachs The WellTempered Clavier. Bachs collection of preludes
and fugues in all major and minor keys was
composed, says Rose, to align our highest
human aspirations with
the sublime harmony of
nature. It is a model of the
task we have today in
designing and reshaping
our cities.
This may sound improbably heady coming from
the scion of a prominent
family of New York City
apartment house developers. But Rose is no ordinary real-estate heir. He is
also the intellectual heir
of Jane Jacobs, and he cites
as a seminal influence her
belief that what looks like
chaos can actually be a
highly advanced form of
order. Rose is a serious
urban thinker and doer who has combined an
academic background in planning and public
policy with a successful business building
green affordable housing. In his ambitious
tome of almost 400 pages, he develops a notion, which he first began to explore as an
undergraduate at Yale in the early 70s, that
the same principles that increase the wellbeing of humans and natural systems could
also guide the development of happier,
healthier cities.
The books five parts each address a quality
Rose believes essential to the future of socially and economically viable municipalities:
coherence, circularity, resilience, community,
and compassion. In the first four sections, he
investigates the interdependent networks,
both physical and cultural, that define metropolitan centers.
The chapters in Part 1, Coherence,
exemplify both the strengths and weaknesses
of this approach. In The Metropolitan Tide,
the author attempts a far-ranging history
lesson that is literally all over the map and

seems somewhat unfocused. But in Sprawl

and Its Discontents, he succinctly analyzes
sprawls causes (federal housing and
transportation policies, suburban zoning
codes, and subprime lending) and this
scourges effects (environmental crises and
suburban poverty, to name just two) and
suggests that the solution lies in an
alliterative paradigm of concentration,
complexity, and connection.
The breadth of Roses interests ranges
from climate change, cognitive neuroscience,
ecology, economics, gardens, green building
technology, history, and infrastructure to
musicology, parks, planning,
psychology, public health,
sociology, and transportation. And more. He makes
the case that, in cities, these
are interconnected, but
tying all that together in a
coherent narrative is a tall
order, and so the book tends
to ramble a bit.
The most focused chapters include Water Is a
Terrible Thing to Waste, in
which the author observes
that one reason for the
decline of cities and civilizations was expansion beyond
the limits of their food and
water sources. He tracks
efforts to address this problem from the third century CE, when the
emperor Diocletian installed an extensive
water-supply system in Split, to the present
day, when the Gates Foundation is funding
experiments in water-saving toilets and
small local sewage-treatment systems. The
chapter Green Buildings, Green Urbanism
is lively and informative, which is not surprising, given Roses considerable experience
with sustainable development. Also excellent
is Prosperity, Equality and Happiness, a
thoughtful essay on the not-always-predictable relationship between economics and
human well-being.
In Part 5, Compassion, Rose circles back
to Bach and espouses an optimistic vision of
cities rescued by science integrated with
harmony and by altruism arising from
trust. His writing takes a lyrical, almost
mystical turn here, which comes as
a surprise after all the dense scholarly exposition that precedes it. But his idealism
seems authentic, and his hopefulness is
welcome. n

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CIRCLE 186

perspectivebooks
A Surprising Critique of a
Modernist Landmark
Treacherous Transparencies:
Thoughts and Observations Triggered
by a Visit to Farnsworth House, by
Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron.
Actar, June 2016, 96 pages, $24.95.

Reviewed by Fred A. Bernstein

In 2014, after accepting the inaugural Mies Crown Hall Americas
Prize from the Illinois Institute of
Technology, Jacques Herzog and
Pierre de Meuron drove from
Chicago to Plano, Illinois, to visit
Mies van der Rohes
Farnsworth House,
completed in 1951. I
was ready to admire
it for its beauty, but I
discovered so many
things that made no
sense, Herzog later
reported. Those
discoveries are
recounted in a
compact volume,
with text by Herzog
and photographs by
de Meuron.
The book, Treacherous
Transparencies, argues that the
house leaves much to be desired
and, perhaps worse, that Miess
statements on architecture are not
coherent. It is a rare attack on one
of the professions deities, but
Herzog supports his arguments
with careful analysis and with de
Meurons incisive, unflattering
photos (taken during the 2014 visit
and on a return trip in the spring
of 2016).
Herzog dislikes the houses use
of glasswhich is, of course, its
defining feature. The glass is not
treated as a material, he writes.
It doesnt count and it has no
identity; it would probably be
better not to have any glass at all.
(Really?) As he also points out, the
single layer of floor-to-ceiling glass
works terribly in both hot and cold
weather.
The building seems to Herzog to
be a kind of torture chamber. He
quotes Miess client, Dr. Edith
Farnsworth, who said, Do I feel

implacable calm? The truth is that

in this house I feel like a prowling
animal, always on the alert. And
he compares it to a work by the
artist Dan Graham, Alteration to a
Suburban House, in which the front
of an ordinary tract house is replaced by a sheer glass wall.
Exposing the interior makes viewers suffer an almost physical panic
attack, Herzog writes.
Herzog also examines glass
surfaces in the work of other artists
he admires, including Gerhard
Richter, whose Eight Gray
(2001) consists of eight
large sheets of mirrored
gray glass hung in configurations that vary
depending on location.
As he writes, One
cannot escape the way
in which these gray,
reflecting pieces of glass
reach out and take
possession of an architectural space, in full
awareness of the psychological impact on viewers. By
contrast, according to the author,
Mies had no awareness of his
houses psychological impact.
Herzog takes one point too far:
he writes that Mies was utterly
blind to the disproportionate distance between house and ground.
But Miesaccording to some scholarschose the height carefully,
ensuring that the view from the
house would be equally divided
among lawn, river, and sky. Is
Herzog unaware of that explanation, or is he simply dismissing it?
Moreover, Herzog focuses on the
space below the house, calling it
extremely inelegant and uncontrolled and noting that you can
enter it only by bending down and
crawling in. Its not clear that
anyone was meant to enter that
space. Still, its great that Herzog
and de Meuron inspected the house
from every angleand that their
large body of work contains so
many triumphs that they can
critique Mies from a position of
strength. n
CIRCLE 4

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ARCHITECTURAL RECORD

NOVEMBER 2016

perspective technology

Total Immersion
Virtual reality is on the cusp of becoming an almost indispensible
part of architectural practice.

I M AG E S : C O U R T E S Y S H O P

BY MICHAEL LEIGHTON BEAMAN

Virtual reality, or VR, has had many
lives. Expensive and clunky, VR, whose
goal is creating an immersive spatial
experience from data, never gained a
foothold outside of academia, the military, or specialized industries. However,
in the past few years, VR has reemerged
as a way of developing and exploring
proposed environments by architects,
builders, and clients.
Todays VR is comprised of three
fundamental elements that can be
traced back to flight-simulator research
from the late 1960s: a virtual environment, a prop to affect that environment,
and a digital display to view it, says Jeff
Jacobson, CEO of ConstructionVR. He
adds that, in its current incarnation, VR
combines hardware advances spurred by
smartphones with the software developments of the gaming industry, making it
an accessible and surprisingly practical
platform for design practice.
Increasingly, architects are playing a
significant role in shaping VR. SHoP has
been working closely with software
developers, including New Yorkbased
IrisVR. The architecture firm has used
Iris applications on a number of projects,
including its expansion of the Site Santa
Fe Contemporary Arts Center, slated to
be completed in late 2017, employing it
both as a design tool and a way to introduce the scheme to museum visitors
through an immersive exhibition.
For the Santa Fe project, SHoP used
Iriss two offerings, which span the
dominant modes of consumer-oriented
VR. Scope is a mobile app that works
with a smartphone in conjunction with
an inexpensive stereoscopic viewer, such
as Google Cardboard; it produces mainly
static yet portable experiences. The more
immersive and interactive Prospect
relies on dedicated VR headsets; those
have motion-enabled controllers such as
Oculus Rift or HTC Vive.
Both modes of VR allow an immediate
spatial understanding of environments.
This is an advantage for architects when
working with consultants and clients
with different levels of experience reading two-dimensional drawings. But it
can also enhance designers comprehen-

SHoP is using virtualization and augmented-reality tools at the Intrepid Sea,

Air & Space Museum to document existing conditions (top), test proposals
for renovating spaces (middle), as well as for exhibitions (above).

sion of the spaces they create. It reveals, even to experts,

things they did not realize about their project, says Joel
Pennington, Autodesk product manager. Autodesks LIVE 360,
released in July, is geared to quick production directly from
Revit models in only a few steps. It also allows individuals to
move through virtual models as they choose.
Rather than developing stand-alone applications, other
software companies, such as Vectorworks, are embedding VR
capabilities in their core platforms. Its 2017 release includes a
one-step 3-D-model-to-VR feature that includes an option to
navigate through a space by moving the smartphone, and a
mono mode which can be used with a tablet.
Some architects are authoring their own VR applications,
including Gensler. While the firm uses a number of commer-

57

cially available design technologies, it

developed its own app, which runs on a
smartphone and uses Google Cardboard
goggles, to offer a custom VR experience
to its clients and designers.
VR, however, is just one aspect of
virtualization, a term used to describe
the spatial presentation of digitized
information. Augmented reality (AR),
created by layering virtual images on top
of real-world views, combines hypothetical spaces with physically existing ones.
ShoP is using AR on New Yorks Intrepid
Sea, Air & Space Museum to record existing conditions, test design proposals, and
create new experiences for visitors. A
number of AR platforms are on the horizon, including Microsofts HoloLens, and
Googles Tango.
Virtualization can also include nonvisual information, says Matthew Krissel,
a partner at KieranTimberlake. The
Philadelphia-based practice has developed its own sensor network, Pointelist,
which allows designers to import data
such as humidity, temperature, and light
levels into a virtual environment and
visually display it. The firm is experimenting with Pointelist on several
projects, including its own office, where
it is assessing environmental conditions
and rethinking the way it operates in
that space.
NBBJ, meanwhile, is involved with VR
startup Visual Vocal. Its Web and mobile
app combines optical virtual reality with
voice recording, providing clients and
designers a way to communicate notes,
thoughts, or technical information in a
virtual environment. The Visual Vocal
team is working out of NBBJs Seattle
offices and beta-testing software with the
firms client base.
Virtualization is seen by many as
essential to the practice of architecture.
But as the technology moves forward
and brings together different types of
information from a variety of sources
into a common spatial experience, it
wont be hardware and software designers setting the path of development.
Instead, it will be users such as industrial designers, filmmakers, and of
course architects. As ConstructionVRs
Jacobson notes, Its the artists who are
going to change VR. n
Michael Leighton Beaman, a visiting design and
technology critic at the Rhode Island School of
Design, is principal of the firms Beta-field and
GA Collaborative.

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NOVEMBER 2016

products trade show

59

Cersaie 2016
For the annual ceramic tile trade fair in Bologna,
Italy, manufacturers revealed smart and
sophisticated twists on classic formats.

By Anna Fixsen
Blu Ponti
While many manufacturers looked to
the future, others
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Ceramica Francesco
de Maio unveiled
Blu Ponti, an exuberant collection
that reproduces 12
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that Italian designer
Gi Ponti created
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Hotel. Meanwhile, Gigacer obtained the
right to use one dozen of the 63 colors Le
Corbusier deemed appropriate for architecture in the companys LCS Ceramics
products.
francescodemaio.it
CIRCLE 106

3D Wall Design
Part of Atlas Concordes 3D Wall Design collection, Angle demonstrates
a trend toward fractal patterns. The tiles white crystalline surface
available in 15" x 31" and a larger, 19" x 43" formatallows for a
dynamic interplay of light and shadow. Manufacturer Del Conca, meanwhile, offered an organic interpretation of this trend with Gran
Paradiso, a line of wood-grain-printed geometric porcelain tiles.
atlasconcorde.com
CIRCLE 105

Ardosolar
Advances in high-resolution printing werent the only new
technologies on display at Cersaie
this year: Ardogres presented
Ardosolar, a roof-tile system
equipped with thin photovoltaic
panels. The 18W, 15"-square module is easily fastened into Ardogress
ceramic roof tiles, which are available in hues including slate black,
stone gray, and garnet red.
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CIRCLE 107

Tailorart

Wood_Mood
Wood-inspired ceramic tiles made a strong
showing at Cersaie, but this year they appeared
in chic herringbone configurations. Take
Fioraneses new Wood_Mood collection, evoking weathered reclaimed timber. The tiles are
available in a variety of shapes and colors; the
3" x 35" format in rovere, shown.
fioranese.it
CIRCLE 108

Many manufacturers this year

unveiled sartorially inspired
collections that took on the
look and texture of woven
fabrics like tweed and madras.
Ceramica SantAgostino, for
instance, introduced porcelain
tiles printed in a neutral tartan pattern as part of its
Tailorart collection. The tiles,
suitable for both wall and floor
applications, are available in
sizes ranging from 6" x 23" to
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ceramicasantagostino.it
CIRCLE 109

For more information, circle item numbers on Reader Service Card or go to architecturalrecord.com/products.

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CIRCLE 232

ARCHITECTURAL RECORD

NOVEMBER 2016

products higher education

Get Schooled
Flexible, eco-friendly furnishings make their way from
the office to the classroom.

By Julie Taraska

Exclave
Herman Millers Greenguard-certified suite of tables, whiteboards,
movable carts, and rail-hung storage aims to foster concentration and
collaboration. The pieces may be specified in a range of sizes and
finishes, including colorful textiles and solid and patterned laminates.
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CIRCLE 100

Turf Tile

Align Lockers
With one to eight compartments, these steel-framed
lockerswhich coordinate
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Align pieces also contain
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LEED points.
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These 24-inch-square cushioning tiles may be used inside

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Trua
Though lightweight,
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Nik Desk
Designed to be used alone or grouped, Nik offers a
concealed drawer and glass privacy panel; the desk
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The desk, which has a frame and legs made of steel, is
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61

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CIRCLE 170

ARCHITECTURAL RECORD

NOVEMBER 2016

PROJECTS

69

LANDMARKS

P H O T O G R A P H Y: H L N E B I N E T

Some buildings are instant icons. In this issue,

record visits three such projectseach highly
anticipated. The first, the National Museum of
African American History and Culture, opened on
September 24 in a moving ceremony led by
President Barack Obama. Over a hundred years in
the making, the handsome tiered structure, by a
design team including David Adjaye and Phil
Freelon, is a standout on the National Mall in
Washington, D.C. In Antwerp, it is the brazen
form of the new Port House (this page) that now
dominates the citys harbor. The crystalline
addition lands atop a century-old building
through sheer willfulness, a lasting
legacy of the late architect Zaha Hadid.
Up-and-coming Swiss firm Christ &
Gantenbein similarly use bold and
unexpected geometry to link old
and new with a zigzagging extension of the Swiss National
Museum in Zurich.

ANTWERPS PORT HOUSE, BY ZAHA HADID ARCHITECTS

70

ARCHITECTURAL RECORD

NOVEMBER 2016

PROJECTS

National Museum of African American History and Culture | Washington, D.C. | Freelon Adjaye Bond/Smith GroupJJR

Crowning Achievement
A museum dedicated to the African-American story fills the last spot on the National Mall.
BY JOSEPHINE MINUTILLO
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ALAN KARCHMER

71

STANDING PROUD The 19th museum of the Smithsonian Institution, NMAAHC sits
on five acres (left). It occupies the last available spot on the National Mall, in the
shadow of the Washington Monument (below).

he opening of the National Museum of African

American History and Culture (NMAAHC) on September
24 was a long time coming. It has been over a hundred
years since such a monument was first proposed by
black Civil War veterans and 13 years since President
George W. Bush signed legislation to build it, following
decades of lobbying. The highly anticipated museum
finally came to fruition just in time for President Barack Obamawho
features prominently in one of its exhibitsto preside over the opening before leaving office.
The freestanding building, occupying five acres on the last available
spot on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., is both monument and
museumand memorial, according to its designer, David Adjaye, who,
with Phil Freelon, led the four-firm architectural team of Freelon

Adjaye Bond/SmithGroupJJR. This story has embedded in it so much

complexity that its not just about telling that story, says Adjaye. This is
more than a functional building to hold content but also a representative
buildingI felt compelled to find symbolism that would start to make a
connection, but symbolism that wasnt too dogmatic. One that was
definitely not familiar immediately but would make you ask questions.
The museums story starts in Africa, and Adjayes symbol is the
corona, a three-tiered crown used in Yoruban art from West Africa.
(The actual sculpture that served as inspiration for Adjaye is on fiveyear loan to NMAAHC from the Haus der Kunst in Munich and is
displayed in the uppermost gallery.) The 250,000 square feet of facade
that take on that shape are covered in a latticework of bronze-colored
cast-aluminum panels that recall celebrated historical patterns by
black ironworkers in the South.

72

ARCHITECTURAL RECORD

FINE FILIGREE
The heritage hall at the
ground level is a vast
lobby for welcoming
visitors (above). Escalators
move visitors through the
upper-level galleries
(opposite, top). At the
south entrance, a massive
canopy referred to as the
Porch spans 175 feet.
President Obama presided
over the museums
opening here (right). In
stark contrast to its
Neoclassical neighbors,
NMAAHCs 250,000
square feet of facade are
covered in a latticework of
bronze-colored cast
aluminum panels
(opposite, bottom).

NOVEMBER 2016

PROJECTS

NMAAHC

WASHINGTON, D.C.

FREELON ADJAYE BOND/SMITH GROUPJJR

The buildings compact exterior belies the sprawling galleries contained within. The structure extends as deep below grade as it rises
abovejust over 60 feet. In fact, visitors are encouraged to begin their
tour at the very bottom. There, the history galleries begin in dark
rooms with the story of slavery.
The buildings location is not far from the site where slaves arrived
by boat in the nations capital, a center for the domestic slave trade.
Built on swampy land where the Tiber Creek once flowed, the entire
foundation had to be reengineered when the support for the excavation wall failed. We encountered similar issues at the Museum of the
American Indian on the opposite end of the Mall, but this area of the
Washington Monument grounds was much more susceptible to the
high water table, says Hal Davis of Smith GroupJJR. The excavated
area contained too much degradable material and large boulders that
interrupted the integrity of the wall, creating opportunities for water
to get through. The new foundation comprises a bathtub-like waterproofing system, with additional piles to tie down the slabs.
The exhibition opens up into a cavernous space as you ascend the
ramping history galleries, passing large installations like a Jim Crow
era railroad passenger car and a plane, soaring overhead, used by the
Tuskegee Airmen. NMAAHC is, in fact, a vertical museum, spanning
multiple levels. As you approach grade, the contemplative court, with
its circular cascade of water, offers a moment of reflection, and rest.
The adjacent cafeteria offers up soul food.
Aboveground, the structure of the museum is more like that of a bridge
than a building. The floors and facadeboth the metal panels and the

73

74

ARCHITECTURAL RECORD

NOVEMBER 2016

PROJECTS

1
1
1

1
2
1

2
1

6
4
4

3
3

5
5

CONCOURSE-LEVEL PLAN
CONCOURSE-LEVEL PLAN

30 FT.
10 M.
30 FT.
10 M.
0

GROUND-FLOOR PLAN

10 M.

1 HISTORYGALLERY

6 HERITAGEHALL

11 CULTUREGALLERY

2 CONTEMPLATIVECOURT

7 GIFTSHOP

12 OFFICES

3 OPRAHWINFREYTHEATER

8 ORIENTATIONTHEATER

13 COMMUNITYGALLERY

4 CAFETERIA

9 PORCH

5 LOADINGDOCK

10 EDUCATIONCENTER

credits
ARCHITECT: Freelon Adjaye Bond/Smith

GroupJJR David Adjaye, Phil Freelon, Hal Davis,

Max Bond
ENGINEERS: Guy Nordenson and Associates,

Robert Silman Associates (structural); WSP F+K

(m/e/p); Weidlinger/Thornton Tomasetti (blast);
RK&K (civil); Froehling & Robertson (geotechnical)
CONSULTANTS: GGN (landscape); Rocky

Mountain Institute (sustainability); Fisher

Dachs Associates (theater); Heintges (facade);

Jensen Hughes (code/fp); Lerch Bates (vertical

transportation and facade maintenance); Poulin
+ Morris (signage); Arup (security); FMS (lighting);
Hopkins (food service)

SOURCES

GENERALCONTRACTOR: Clark Smoot Russell

FURNITURE: Knoll

CLIENT: NMAAHC/Smithsonian Institution

DISPLAYCASES: Goppion

SIZE: 420,000 square feet

COST: $540 million
COMPLETIONDATE: September 2016

30 FT.

METALFACADEPANELS: Enclos
ESCALATORS: Otis
ELEVATORS: Thyssenkrupp, Emco

NMAAHC

WASHINGTON, D.C.

FREELON ADJAYE BOND/SMITH GROUPJJR

12
12

10
10

11

0
0

SECOND-FLOOR PLAN
PLAN
SECOND-FLOOR

30 FT.
FT.
30
10 M.
M.
10

FOURTH-FLOOR PLAN

30 FT.
10 M.

0
0

FIFTH-FLOOR PLAN
FIFTH-FLOOR PLAN

12
11

13
10

SECTION A - A

glass behind themhang off four rectangular concreteand-steel cores (which contain vertical transportation,
restrooms, and mechanical space) toward the corners of
the building, which have varying dimensions but are
roughly 40 feet long. The entire building is supported by a
steel superstructure that spans between those four cores
a convenient reference as well to the four pillars upon
which NMAAHC metaphorically stands, which include
the celebration and sharing of the museums content.
As a place, the museum is not to be missed. The notion
that a place like thisa national commemoration of black
historydid not exist before is astounding. As architecture, it is not beyond reproach. While on the outside it
handsomelyand proudlystands out against its white
neoclassical neighbors, its interiors, with escalators and
terrazzo flooring, leave you feeling as if you are at a mall,
not on the Mall. Ralph Applebaums exhibition design, so
moving inside the history galleries below grade, at times
TRAINING GROUND A Jim Crowera passenger car from the
Southern Railway Company is exhibited within the below-grade
history galleries. The 154,000-pound car was installed in the
museum with two coordinated cranes before construction was
complete. The slab supporting it is specifically designed for the load.

30 FT.
10 M.

30 FT.
30 FT.
10 M.
10 M.

75

76

ARCHITECTURAL RECORD

NOVEMBER 2016

PROJECTS

SPANNING HISTORY
A concrete guard tower
from Louisiana State
Penitentiary was cut from
its original foundations
and transported to the
museum (top, left). A
self-supporting spiraling
steel staircase links the
lobby to the concourse
level below (top, right). A
Tuskegee aircraft hangs
in the History galleries
(left). Views through the
facades latticework
over the capital are
possible from the
upper-level galleries
(above). The underground
Contemplative Court,
with cascading water and
daylight streaming in
from above, offers a
moment of reflection
(opposite).

I M AG E S : A L A N K A R C H M E R , C O U R T E S Y N M A A H C

borders on kitsch within the busy installations of

upper-level galleries that celebrate African-American
achievements in music, sports, literature, and pop
culture. The vast 22-foot-high heritage hall, which
serves as the lobby on the ground floor, feels too empty, too corporate. One wonders if the idea for a forest of
columns hanging from the ceilingpart of Adjayes
original concept for that space but eliminated partly to
save costs, and partly to display art insteadwould
have alleviated that sense.
Where the interiors excel are in the space between
the facade and the enclosed galleries on the upper
levels that allows dappled light to filter in from the
metal screens. According to Adjaye, Going out into
that corridor, into that light-filled space, and then
going back into this sort of dark box is an important
part of keeping you engaged as you go up the building. Indeed, as one completes the journey and
reaches the lookout at the uppermost gallery, with its
views over the capital city, there is a sense of triumph
for this ongoing story and how it is told through the
architecture of this building. n

ARCHITECTURAL RECORD

NOVEMBER 2016

PROJECTS

SOFT LANDING
In transforming a century-old
fire station into the offices for
Antwerps Port Authority,
Zaha Hadid Architects created a
faceted, glazed cloudlike
structure atop the older
building (opposite). While the old
and new sections are stylistically
disparate, the size of the upper
portions glass panes retains the
scale and proportion of the
lower fenestration (right).

P H O T O G R A P H Y: H U F T O N + C R O W

78

79

The Port House | Antwerp, Belgium | Zaha Hadid Architects

Star Ship
A picturesque fire station on the citys docks is transformed
into a striking office building by a multifaceted glass top.
BY HUGH PEARMAN

ne of the first completed projects from Zaha Hadids

office since her untimely death, at 65 in March this
year, the new Port House on the sprawling docks of
Antwerp, Belgium, is a bravura, if distinctly eccentric
work. This nine-story headquarters building for the
Antwerp Port Authority is not just by Hadid, of course:
her long-term codirector, Patrik Schumacher, is equally credited, along with a large team at Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA). But
Zaha was closely involved in this creation, according to Schumacher,
which displays her wit, sense of mischief, and knowledge of the history
of heroic modernism from Futurism and Russian Constructivism onward. Many of her later buildings, such as her gigantic Heydar Aliyev
Center in Baku, Azerbaijan (record, November 2013, page 82) became
softer, more organic in form. Not this one: this comes from the earlier
Zaha mindset, the time of glittering, jagged edges.
It is architecture as giant jewelry, a 66,700-square-foot, four-story
extension above a large 71,000-square-foot, existing municipal fire
station dating from 1911. Constructed by the city architect, the fire
station replicated a long-vanished Hanseatic League merchants palace
of the 16th century. The stoutly built steel-framed masonry structure
fell vacant just as the Port Authority was looking for a new base for its

scattered staff. Since the citys busy docklands area is the second-largest
in Europe and fifth-largest in the world, the authority wanted a headquarters that was a symbol of modernity for visiting trade delegations.
The resulting hybrid is a building of extreme visual dynamism, its
upper portion floating above the roof of the restored old building.
Pointing due south toward the citys historic riverside and center, it
seems both frozen in motion and surging forward. The tops triangulated glazed cladding starts off flush at the prow but erupts into
irregular projections, becoming increasingly crystalline along its
lengtha reference to Antwerps famous diamond trade. According to
ZHAs Belgian-born project director, Joris Pauwels, Zaha did not overemphasize visual metaphor during the design process. The layering of
the city was what she talked about, he says, and how that should have
a clear dynamic.
This diamond vessel assumes an abstract rhomboidal form that is
freestanding, touching the old building only via one of two elevator
shafts housed in a concrete core in the now glazed-over courtyard. A
concrete angled prow rising from the cobbled piazza in front contains a
fire stair. These two supports are connected above and below ground to
form a vertical ring beam, and the whole structure is then braced by
four angled black-painted steel columns rising in V formation from two

ARCHITECTURAL RECORD

NOVEMBER 2016

PROJECTS

3
14

12

SEVENTH-FLOOR PLAN

30 FT.
10 M.

11
12

10

SIXTH-FLOOR PLAN

30 FT.
10 M.

30 FT.
10 M.

7 VIEWING DECK

11 FOYER

8 STAIRS TO SIXTH

12 ELEVATOR LOBBY

5 ARCHIVE
6 LIBRARY

2
1

3
3
6

A
0

30 FT.
10 M.

10 M.

2 ENTRANCE HALL

4 OFFICES
0

BRIDGE-FLOOR PLAN

30 FT.

1 COURTYARD

3 MEETING ROOM

GROUND-FLOOR PLAN

SECTION A - A

12

FLOOR
9 STAIRS TO SEVENTH

13 AUDITORIUM
14 BOARDROOM

FLOOR
10 RESTAURANT

points in the courtyard. They shoot through the courtyards glass roof,
interlocking in the new superstructure to keep it rigid.
Three floors of the shimmering airship are actually a steel-truss
bridgelike structure, while another floor is slung beneath it on hangers.
Large steel subsections were preassembled off-site, floated in by barge,
and hoisted into position by crane. The whole was then wrapped in an
aluminum-framed glazed cladding system, which conceals the fact that
around a third of the panels are solid, to reduce solar gain.
The two halves of the building work as one programmatically in that
there are open-plan hot desking office floors throughout, housing 450
workers now but with capacity for growth, to 600. However, the larger
spacesa 90-seat auditorium, boardroom, and restaurantsare all in the
upper section. A cluster of four panoramic elevators uses the stumpy
firemens tower of the original building, where hoses were hung to dry.

P H O T O G R A P H Y: H U F T O N + C R O W ; DA N I C A K U S (O P P O S I T E , 2)

80

THE PORT HOUSE

ANTWERP, BELGIUM

ZAHA HADID ARCHITECTS

MOVING UPWARD
The original station, a
copy of a 16th-century
Hanseatic League
structure, has been
stripped to its basic frame
for new offices (opposite).
The courtyard (left)
functions as a reception
and exhibition area.
V-shaped black-painted
steel columns push
through its glazed
steel-lattice roof to keep
the superstructure rigid.
The stairway (above)
between the foyer and the
auditorium on the sixth
floor is enclosed by
cloudlike, swerving walls.

81

ARCHITECTURAL RECORD

NOVEMBER 2016

PROJECTS

ANGULAR ARRAY Two diagonal steel supports meet in the sixth-floor restaurant (top). A narrow, vaulted corridor
on the periphery of this floor (opposite) takes visitors along a dramatic route from the foyer to the restaurant. On
the seventh floor, offices and meeting rooms echo the lines of the faceted exterior (above).

These elevators shoot through a flash of open

daylight between old and new structures: what
could have been merely a gap has become
something else. It features an open viewing
deck in smooth cast-in-place concrete that
makes a virtue out of the necessity for the
structural beam clamping the two cores together. A staircase, for all the world like the
gangplank of a ship, leads down to this terrace
from the belly of the floating building above.
The office interiors are as normal as any
office could be in such a structure, where angled columns crash through the spaces at
intervals, and contractors have struggled to
get solar blinds around some of the more
awkward, outwardly-leaning corners. In consequence, there is a fair amount of redundant
space in the floorplatesthough it is a very
different matter in the more efficient, if less
well daylighted, rectilinear floors of the restored building beneath. Throughout, freestanding pods of ancillary office accommodation, from storage to meeting rooms, are
finished in bright yellow, contrasting with the
gray floors. Overall, the building has achieved a
BREEAM very good rating, roughly equivalent

P H O T O G R A P H Y: T I M F I S H E R ( T O P A N D O P P O S I T E ) ; DA N I C A K U S ( B O T T O M )

82

THE PORT HOUSE

to LEED Gold, thanks to groundwater cooling

via chilled beams, the waterborne delivery of
large parts of the building structure, extensive
provision for bicycles and electric cars in a
two-level parking garage beneath the cobbled
piazza, and of course the total conservation and
reuse of the existing building.
The courtyard, now enclosed beneath a
glazed steel-lattice roof, acts as a very generous
reception lobby and exhibition space. To
one side of the courtyard, in the area where
fire trucks used to park, there is now a
public reading room with access to the Port
Authoritys archives.
As with much of Zahas output, this is a
building that is as easy to criticize as to praise.
Many, seeing the images, see only arrogance. It
is an undeniably startling, even shocking,
juxtaposition of forms. But photographs exaggerate the drama: in actuality, in this
wide-open landscape with no nearby buildings, the Port House does not seem so big. And
the century-old host buildingwhich is good
but not greatholds its own pretty well. No
question that, if seen only as a way to achieve
extra square footage, the project verges on the
perverse. But nobody ever hired Zaha to do
ordinary. For me, this is a magnificent work of
architectural surrealism that just happens, by
force of will, to be a functioning, if in places
awkward, workspace. I left shaking my head in
admiration. n
Hugh Pearman is a London-based architecture critic
and the editor of RIBA Journal.

credits
ARCHITECT: Zaha Hadid Architects Zaha Hadid, Patrik

Schumacher, design principals; Joris Pauwels, project

director; Jinmi Lee, project architect; Florian Goscheff,
Monica Noguero, Kristof Crolla, Naomi Fritz, Sandra Riess,
Muriel Boselli, Susanne Lettau, project team
EXECUTIVE ARCHITECT AND COST CONSULTANT:

Bureau Bouwtechniek
ENGINEERS: Studieburo Mouton (structural); Ingenium
(m/e/p); Daidalos Peutz (acoustic)
CONSULTANT: Origin (restoration)
CLIENT: Antwerp Port Authority
SIZE: 224,000 square feet (total): 71,000 square feet, fire
station; 66,700 square feet, new extension
COST: $62 million
COMPLETION DATE: September 2016

SOURCES
ALUMINUM UNITIZED FACADE: Schco
POLYURETHANE LIQUID FLOORING: BASF
OFFICE FLOORING: Lindner
ELEVATORS: Mitsubishi

ANTWERP, BELIGUM

ZAHA HADID ARCHITECTS

83

84

ARCHITECTURAL RECORD

NOVEMBER 2016

PROJECTS

Extension of the Swiss National Museum | Zurich | Christ & Gantenbein

Linked In
A modern addition to a 19th-century museum uses bold geometry to connect old and new.
BY FRED A. BERNSTEIN
PHOTOGRAPHY BY IWAN BAAN

he longtime home of the Swiss National Museum, or

Landesmuseum, in Zurich, is a stolid 19th-century pile.
Its central courtyard opens onto a leafy park overlooking
the Limmat River. But if the buildings C-shape allowed it
to embrace the landscape behind it, it also meant that
circulation routes from the main lobbyto the east and
westled to dead ends.
Commissioned to expand the old museum, designed by Gustav Gull,
and completed in 1898, Basel-based architecture firm Christ & Gantenbein had to solve one problem, the dead ends, without creating
another: cutting off the park. The architects did so by adding a zigzag
connector that completes the circuit begun by the C while rising like a
giant chevron to provide park access and views. The triangular tunnel
created by the chevron is nearly 100 feet across at grade. It is one of
several bold moves employed by Emanuel Christ and Christoph
Gantenbeinboth of whom are teaching at Harvards Graduate School
of Design this fallin their quest to update what is said to be the most
visited cultural-history museum in Switzerland.

The original museum building, directly across from Zurichs main

railway station, is a masonry hodgepodge with too many towers and
turrets, suggesting a cross between a hunting lodge and Cinderellas
castle. Christ and Gantenbeins 80,000-square-foot addition doesnt
replicate the turrets, but it does echo their acute angles in its switchbacks. Still, the shape of the addition is no mere homage. It evolved
from efforts to preserve as much of the park as possible, and even to
protect specific trees, says Christ.
While addressing those constraints, the building attempts to find a
certain autonomy as a sculptural object, continues Christ, who calls
the approach expressive contextualism.
The original buildings adorned surfaces were meant as a showcase
for Swiss decorative arts. Christ and Gantenbein, on the other hand,
clad their addition entirely in board-formed concrete. That includes
even emergency exits, which are practically invisible from the outside.
Roofs are covered in corrugated fiber cement. So determined were
they to keep from breaking the lines of their sharply angled composition that all mechanicals are hidden. The loading dock, inventively, is

RAISE THE BAR The Landesmuseum sits directly across from the main railway station in Zurich, along the Limmat
River (left). The addition connects to the old building at the second level, permitting pedestrian access between the
museums courtyard and nearby park (above). The new buildings exterior is composed entirely of board-formed
concrete (opposite).

85

86

ARCHITECTURAL RECORD

NOVEMBER 2016

PROJECTS

6
7
4

2
3
1

A
0

GROUND-FLOOR PLAN

100 FT.
30 M.

8
6

SECOND-FLOOR PLAN

100 FT.
30 M.

1 NEWENTRANCE
2 LOBBY
3 SHOP
4 BAR
5 RESTAURANT

6 GALLERY
7 AUDITORIUM
8 STUDYCENTER

SECTION A - A

50 FT.
15 M.

LANDESMUSEUM

ZURICH

TUNNEL VISION The triangular passage that forms beneath the raised chevron is nearly 100 feet across at grade
(opposite). The additions bold geometry is a stark contrast to the traditional masonry building with its oriels and
stepped gables (above). A stairway rises 30 feet along one side of the chevron (bottom).

CHRIST & GANTENBEIN

a contraption that rises up into a parking lot,

never touching the aboveground portion of
the building. The only openings in the addition are the porthole windows, which echo
the rows of arched fenestration in the old
building and, in many cases, provide tantalizing glimpses of Gulls confection, as if
concentrated bits of it were inset into Christ &
Gantenbeins thick concrete walls.
Inside, a dramatic stairway set into one side
of the chevron rises 30 feet to the second-floor
galleries. Interior walls are the same gray
concrete, and floors are a buff-colored terrazzo.
Thats a tough combination even for lovers of
spare architecture. But for visual stimulation,
one need only look up at the ceilings, where
metal raceways containing lighting and ductwork angle through the spaces, suggesting a
vast Louise Nevelson sculpture.
For Christ and Gantenbein, the museum
commission came 14 years ago, when, just a
few years out of architecture school at the
ETH Zurich, they won a competition to renovate and enlarge the museum. The renovation
work, which began in 2006, created a brilliant

87

88

ARCHITECTURAL RECORD

NOVEMBER 2016

PROJECTS

COLOR CODED
The exhibition areas are
cavernous spaces that are
not discrete galleries but
parts of a continuous
circulation route (above).
A neutral color scheme
pervades the interiors,
with walls of gray concrete
and floors of buff-toned
terrazzo (left). Even so,
the exhibition designers
have worked to insert
color, with lavender walls
and magenta partitions
backing some displays
(right).

mix of old and new. (Controversy over funding caused the addition to
be delayed.) Gulls ornament is leavened by Christ & Gantenbeins
restrained interventions, including light fixtures that recall the work
of minimalist artist Dan Flavin, and new concrete vaults and columns
placed alongside Gulls stucco and stone.
The scale of the exhibition hallscavernous spaces that are not
discrete galleries but parts of a continuous circulation routerequires
that the exhibition designers create freestanding showcases and islands of objects; most items would be lost if simply hung on, or placed
against, the walls.
The rooms seem to work best for ancient artifacts such as a
large Roman bust or column capital, which are themselves monochromatic. (The museum represents the history of Switzerland from

LANDESMUSEUM

ZURICH

its origins to the present day.) Artworks with bright hueslike a

Renaissance fresco by the Florentine artist Andrea del Castagno that
hangs over a portholeseem practically garish against the all-gray
background. The exhibition designers have worked to insert color,
with a lavender wall backing one exhibition and a magenta partition
cutting through another. The sections of the new building not devoted to showcasing art, which include administrative offices, an
auditorium, and a research library, are relatively colorless.
This is a big year for Christ and Gantenbein, who have also unveiled
an addition to the Kunstmuseum Basel for contemporary art. There
they used heavily veined marble and galvanized metal to variegate the
interior and exterior walls. But in Zurich, it is geometry rather than
surface treatment that gives their architecture its power. n

CHRIST & GANTENBEIN

credits
ARCHITECT: Christ & Gantenbein

Emanuel Christ and Christoph Gantenbein,

partners; Mona Farag, Daniel Monheim,
Anna Flckiger, Michael Bertschmann,
Julia Tobler, Thomas Thalhofer, project
managers

Finance, Federal Office for Buildings and

Logistics
SIZE: 80,000 square feet
COST: $113 million
COMPLETION DATE: August 2016

ENGINEERS: APT Ingenieure, Schnetzer

Puskas Ingenieure, Proplaning

SOURCES

CONSULTANT: Vogt Landschafts

ROOFING: Kmpfer & Co.

architekten (landscape)

FLOORING: Walo Bertschinger

CLIENT: Swiss Federal Department of

FURNITURE: Inch

89

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LOCATION: La Joya, Texas
ARCHITECT: Gignac & Associates
CONTRACTOR: Leyendecker Construction
PANEL PROFILE: CF Architectural/Horizontal
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CIRCLE 239

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ARCHITECTURAL RECORD

NOVEMBER 2016

BUILDING TYPE STUDY 976

95

COLLEGES &
UNIVERSITIES

P H O T O G R A P H Y: I WA N B A A N

Increasingly, college and university academic

buildings are not just about academics. These
days, no matter how specialized or high-tech the
facility, it includes areas to promote student
interaction. The projects that follow demonstrate
this trend, showing that social spaces can take
many forms. At Princeton Universitys Andlinger
Center, for example, leafy sunken gardens are
interspersed among the state-of-the-art research
facilities. Inside Columbia Universitys new
medical school tower, a zigzagging stair expands
and contracts to create a variety of collaborative
environments. And Vassars new laboratory
sciences building, which is literally a bridge
linking two sides of campus, serves as a place
where students can connect with each other.

ROY AND DIANA VAGELOS EDUCATION CENTER, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

MEDICAL CENTER, NEW YORK, DILLER SCOFIDIO + RENFRO

96

ARCHITECTURAL RECORD

NOVEMBER 2016

BUILDING TYPE STUDY COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES

Andlinger Center | Princeton, New Jersey

Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects / Partners

Serene
Machine

An energy research facility brings nature

into its discreet, low-rise precinct.
BY SUZANNE STEPHENS
PHOTOGRAPHY BY MICHAEL MORAN

n presenting its design solution for a research and teaching facility

devoted to sustainable energy and conservation at Princeton
University, Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects | Partners (TWBTA)
surprised the selection committee. As Ronald McCoy, the university architect, recalls, the team showed a sketch of its proposed
buildings poking above a photo of an old brick wall, and called
their scheme Enter into the Garden. The rendering referred to
the site on the northeastern edge of the leafy campus. Formerly devoted to playing fields and an athletics facility (now demolished), it
was bounded on two sides by the masonry wall that McKim, Mead &
White designed in 1911. This fragment of history intrigued the architects: The wall seemed to hold a secret, says Billie Tsien. We wanted
to make it feel as if you were coming into a hidden garden.
While Williams and Tsien had already designed two major science
facilitiesthe Neurosciences Institute in La Jolla, California (1995) and
Skirkanich Hall at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia
(2007)the garden idea was a compelling premise for the selection
committee, McCoy says.

97

FLOATING ABOVE IT ALL From the north side of the

center (this page), visitors have a direct view beyond
the gardens to the entrance lobby and the meeting
room above. A stair tower, with venting apparatuses
on top, looms behind this volume. A path to the
entrance lobby on the west (opposite) skims past the
end of the historic brick wall designed by McKim,
Mead & White in 1911, and a sculpture, Uroda (2015), by
Ursula von Rydingsvard.

98

ARCHITECTURAL RECORD

NOVEMBER 2016

BUILDING TYPE STUDY COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES

3
4

2
7

4
2

SECOND-LEVEL PLAN

30 FT.
9 M.

2
6

6
1

3
5
4

2
7

SPATIAL CONNECTIONS A path links the Andlinger to an existing engineering

building and runs past gardens and sunken courtyards (above). The long horizontal
bricks of the new building emphasize the dynamic interplay of volumes. Inside,
poured-in-place concrete stairs with profiled soffits dramatize a lounge area of the
lower level (opposite), where ample daylight is admitted through glazed walls.
0

GROUND-LEVEL PLAN

30 FT.
9 M.

5
12

8
4
9

11
10

LOWER-LEVEL PLAN

SECTION A - A

30 FT.
9 M.

30 FT.
9 M.

1 ENTRANCE

7. MEETING ROOM

2 ENGINEERING QUAD

8 MECHANICAL

3 BOWEN HALL

9 AUDITORIUM

4 OFFICES

10 IMAGING CENTER

5 INSTRUCTIONAL LAB

11 GRADUATE STUDENT AREA

6 CLEAN ROOM

12 CONNECTION TO ENGINEERING QUAD

ANDLINGER CENTER

PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY

Williams and Tsiens back-to-nature approach for the Andlinger

Center for Energy and the Environment, which opened in May, evidently gave them an edge over short-listed firms Rafael Violy Architects
and Foster + Partners. They won the commission. TWBTA had jettisoned the idea of an object building for one that was ultra-discreet
and deferred to Princetons lush, verdant lawns, trees, and gardens.
We wanted to create a three-dimensional complex of courtyards and
landscaping integrated with labs and offices, says Williams, principal
of the New York firm, which was recently named the architect for the
Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. The university campuss ample
gardens, many designed by early 20th-century landscape designer
Beatrix Farrand, along with its distinctive courtyard typology, had been
ignored by modernist architects, observes McCoy. Here Williams and
Tsien reinvented a tradition.
In pursuing this idea of entering a planted domain and not creating
a showy stand-alone building, the architects arrived at an intricate,
puzzlelike solution that manages to look effortless and simple: they
created an orthogonal weave of low-rise concrete-framed bars and two
mid-rise towers, all clad in a pale gray-beige brick. Since the mission of

TOD WILLIAMS BILLIE TSIEN ARCHITECTS | PARTNERS

the center is to solve problems of sustainable-energy production, pollution, and climate change, TWBTA wanted trees and plants to subtly
signify the centers nature-oriented research. Many of the spaces in the
129,000-square-foot structure have recurrent views of surrounding
vegetation. Working with Michael Van Valkenburgh, the designated
campus landscape architect, Williams and Tsien filled the outdoor
areas with weeping beech trees, English boxwood, witch hazel, and
rhododendron.
The architects placed the volumetric low-rise facility, which is part
of the School of Engineering and Applied Science, so that it would
nestle in and around the Engineering Quad on one side and Bowen Hall
for Material Sciences on another. The center pulls in faculty from other
departments, such as Physics and Architecture, along with scholars,
researchers, and graduate students, as part of its interdisciplinary
mission. Indeed, the universitys acclaim in the sciences (this years
Nobel Prize for Physics was shared by a Princeton professor and two
colleagues at other institutions) is symptomatic of the long history of
the schools investment in them, now shifting to such areas as renewable energy, clean fuel combustion, and carbon capture.

99

100 ARCHITECTURAL RECORD

NOVEMBER 2016

BUILDING TYPE STUDY COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES

The design needed to signal the importance of the new centers

academic vision and emphasize the connection to other disciplines
through the interlocking blocks of classrooms, labs, and lecture halls,
organized around three sunken courtyards. These exterior spaces, 16
to 22 feet deep, bring daylight into belowground areas: one adjoins
the imaging labs and clean rooms, a second is next to the graduate
student offices and teaching labs, while the third courtyard abuts the
208-seat auditorium. Because the imaging labs rely on such equipment as electron microscopes, which are sensitive to seismic
vibrations, they needed to be placed on bedrock. The clean rooms,
27,000 square feet in all, also start down in the ground and are
stacked on two floors, with mechanical spaces between them that
filter out dust. Throughout the upper levels of Andlinger, lobbies and
lounges are interspersed with more laboratories, classrooms, offices,
and conference rooms.
To counter the roughness of the courtyards sandblasted concrete
retaining walls, Williams and Tsien clad the building in a pale elongated brick made in Denmark, known as Kolumba. It had been
developed for the Kolumba art museum in Cologne, Germany, designed

by Peter Zumthor in 2007, and its scale, hue, and texture emphasizes
the centers long, horizontal masses.
Inside Andlinger, poured-in-place concrete stairs with profiled soffits
bring a strong sculptural effect to compressed spaces, heightened by ample daylight admitted through glazed walls. There are frequent, surprising
glimpses of greenery from offices, conference rooms, and lounges in this
complex, given that 60 percent of the building is actually below grade. To
keep the interiors, particularly the long corridors, from looking institutional, the design team created synthetic-felt wall coverings. They are
boldly printed with scribbles taken from notebooks of such scientists as
Galileo, Marie Curie, and Einstein, who lectured at Princeton while at the
nearby Institute for Advanced Study from 1933 to 1955. Panels of vibrantly
polychromed tiles in geometric patterns, by Heath Ceramics, punch up the
concrete walls and add palpably to the sense of craft. Because of these
unexpected elements, Andlinger never feels like an ordinary science
building: this is architecture in the manner of Louis Kahn.
To counteract the energy waste endemic to clean rooms and other
labs, the team has come up with a number of sustainable features.
Natural ventilation and a radiant-panel system that cools the non-lab

ANDLINGER CENTER

PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY

TOD WILLIAMS BILLIE TSIEN ARCHITECTS | PARTNERS

ROOMS WITH VIEWS Thanks to sunken

courtyards, spaces such as a corridor in
the lower level (opposite) receive ample
light and glimpses of the landscaping
outside. Synthetic-felt murals printed
with scribblings by famous scientists add
visual interest. Murals of ceramic tiles
enliven public areas such as the
lower-level lounge (above). A framed
view from the second level overlooks a
garden and the north wing of the center
(left).

101

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BUILDING TYPE STUDY COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES

COLOR PUNCH
The auditorium (left) is
marked by a skylightpierced, faceted ceiling.
The clean rooms (below)
employ glazing with a deep
gold tint, used for its
light-filtering properties.
Throughout the building,
ceramic tiles of different
hues arranged in
geometric patterns help
orient users (opposite).

ANDLINGER CENTER

PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY

areas are significant inclusions, as are low-flow

plumbing fixtures, green roofs, and stormwater retention. Forrest Meggers, a professor
who teaches at both the center and the architecture school, also points out that the thermal
mass of the bricks is particularly efficient.
Considering the complexity and ambitions of the program, it is easy to see why
Princetons president, Christopher Eisgruber,
and so many others are proud. The Center
combines muscular laboratories with a gentle
and graceful aesthetic, says Eisgruber, and
its towers, gardens, and humane scale remind
us of the societal context for the trailblazing
scientific and engineering work performed
within its walls. This is a world and a century
apart from the Princeton campus architecture
that the critic Montgomery Schuyler excoriated in architectural record (February 1910,
page 128) as too individualistic and architecturesque. Yet Schuyler today would have to
admire a new, almost dematerialized building
that fits in superbly with the campus, the
history, and the humanistic heritage of this
centuries-old institution. Williams and Tsien
have elegantly resolved an incredibly complex
brief with artful intelligence. n

credits
ARCHITECT: Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects |

Partners Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, design principals;

Jonathan Reo, project manager; Evan Ripley, project
architect; Aaron Fox, Whang Suh, team
EXECUTIVE ARCHITECT: Ballinger
ENGINEERS: Severud Engineering (structural); ARUP
(m/e/life safety/lighting); Transsolar (sustainability);
Jacobs Engineering Group (clean room and laboratory
planning); Frank Hubach Associates (acoustical/
vibration); Van Note-Harvey Associates (civil); Nitsch
Engineering (stormwater)
CONSULTANTS: Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates

(landscape); Liora Manne (artisan, synthetic felt murals);

Propp and Guerin (graphics); Fisher Marantz Stone
(lighting); Shen Milsom & Wilke (audiovisual design)
CONSTRUCTION MANAGER: Sciame Construction
CLIENT: Princeton University
SIZE: 129,000 square feet
COST: withheld
COMPLETION DATE: May 2016

SOURCES
BRICK: Petersen (Kolumba)
CURTAIN WALL: National Glass & Metal
METAL FRAME WINDOWS: Wausau
GLASS: Viracon
TILE: Heath Ceramics (murals)
FLOORS: Polycor

TOD WILLIAMS BILLIE TSIEN ARCHITECTS | PARTNERS

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104 ARCHITECTURAL RECORD

BUILDING TYPE STUDY COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES

105

University of Chicago North Residential Commons | Chicago | Studio Gang

Full House
A cluster of elegant residence halls strikes a high note for the neighborhood.
BY JAMES GAUER
The UniversiTy of Chicago, long identified with its venerable Collegiate Gothic campus, has historically cordial relations with Hyde Park,
the affluent enclave that surrounds it. But that rapport reached an
urban design low in 1960, when Pierce Tower, Harry Weeses 10-story red
brick box adorned with bay windows and a mansard roof, and hovering
on pilotis, was erected. The dormitory occupied the corner of 55th
Street, a major eastwest boulevard, and University Avenue, a leafy side
street. Often maligned as a fortress, it blocked access and views, and a
loading dock dominated its street presence.
The need for more and better-quality housing and the desire for a
more hospitable connection between town and gown led the university

LEARNING CURVES The universitys Collegiate Gothic limestone

architecture inspired the sinuous precast-concrete panels that clad the
new buildings (opposite). A raised, curvilinear courtyard sits between the
tallest dorm and the dining halls clerestories.

to replace Pierce, which had fallen into serious disrepair, with Studio
Gangs North Residential Commons, a recently completed 400,000square-foot set of residence halls. The $148 million complex provides
housing and dining facilities for 800 studentscompared to 320 at
Piercein a design that architect Jeanne Gang describes as four slender
bar buildings in an urban fabric of plazas, gardens, walkways, and
courtyards. Together, she says, they form inviting public and semiprivate outdoor spaces for students and neighbors.
The four bars vary in height. The lowest, at two stories, is a greenroofed, steel-framed, glass-enclosed dining pavilion, positioned to create
a diagonal pathway that leads from a plaza at the street corner to a new

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BUILDING TYPE STUDY COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES

20
19
17
19

17
17

17

17

16

17
8

21

13

19
8

21

17

13

SECTION A - A

50 FT.
15 M.

1 ENTRY PLAZA
2 PORTAL
3 QUADRANGLE
4 STUDENT ENTRANCE
5 LOBBY
6 MAILROOM

17

7 OFFICE

17

8 STAFF APARTMENT

17
17

9 DINING COMMONS
10 SERVERY
11 LOADING DOCK
12 CLASSROOM
13 RETAIL
14 FIELD HOUSE

LEVEL-FIVE PLAN

15 ART CENTER

50 FT.
15 M.
0

LEVEL-FIVE PLAN

16 GREEN ROOF

50 FT.
15 M.

17 HOUSE HUB
E. 55TH STREET

18 APARTMENT
19 BEDROOMS

20 MULTIPURPOSE ROOM
21 COURTYARD
22 STORAGE

GROUND-LEVEL PLAN

S. UNIVERSITY AVE

50 FT.
15 M.

quadrangle. The heights of the other bars,

which contain dormitories and are framed
primarily in concrete and clad in sculpted
precast panels, range from five to 15 stories.
The lowest responds to the residential scale of
University Avenue. The tallest follows the campus custom of not exceeding the 200-foot
height of Bertram Goodhues 1928 Rockefeller
Memorial Chapel and completes the urban edge
of busy 55th Street, where shops and a restaurant will activate its ground floor. A single
secure entry serves all three dorms, which are
connected at the second level by a glass bridge.
The bars are slightly inflected at their centers to embrace curvilinear and organic
outdoor spaces between them. These include
two landscaped courtyards at the second level,
accessible only to students, and the groundlevel quad, which is open to all and arranged
around a circular rain garden.
The two tallest bars define the quads northern and eastern boundaries, while two
limestone-clad landmarksthe Gothic Henry
Crown Field House (Holabird and Root, 1931)
and the modernist Cochrane-Woods Art Center
(Edward Larrabee Barnes, 1974)delineate the
other edges. At Gangs suggestion, the university enhanced the quads western border by
closing Greenwood Avenue, which ran directly
in front of the Art Center.
The universitys house system, where 80 to
100 live together, gave the architects a module
for distributing and articulating the program.
Gangs new dorms contain a total of eight
houses organized around three-story-high
communal spaces with distinct areas for studying, watching movies, cooking, and socializing.
These hubs are located at the center of each
bar, but, for the sake of variety in section and
elevation, each is offset slightly.
The second tradition informing the design is
the universitys architectural heritage. The
distinguishing characteristics of the Collegiate

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO NORTH RESIDENTIAL COMMONS

CHICAGO

STUDIO GANG

P H O T O G R A P H Y: T O M H A R R I S ( T H I S PAG E A N D O P P O S I T E )

CONCRETE IN CONTEXT
Inflected bar buildings
delineate streets, plazas,
and walkways (opposite).
The interconnected
volumes, which vary in
height to address the
diverse context, define
street edges and create a
campus portal (left).
Undulating concrete
panels alternate with
metal grilles and glass in a
tuned facade with a
precise ratio of void to
solid (bottom).

FPO

107

NOVEMBER 2016

BUILDING TYPE STUDY COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES

Gothic style, explains design principal Todd

Zima, are verticality, rhythm, deep-set windows, limestone, and an organic plasticity that
creates a strong play of light and shadow.
This analysis inspired the Commons
signature move: three-story-tall window bays
articulating the house modulesurrounded by
the boldly scaled sculptural frames of the
precast-concrete panels, whose sinuously
curved and diagonally warped shapes ripple
out from the offset hubs in a subtly syncopated
rhythm. The concretes color and texture,
which results from acid washing and
sandblasting, resembles limestone but costs
much less. And its thermal resistance,
augmented by fritted glass and metal grilles to
create a 6040 ratio of solid to glass, in what
Zima describes as a tuned facade, works with
a radiant heating and cooling system to meet
the universitys energy-conservation goals.
Budget constraints kept interior finishes
basic in the houses, but punchy colors (each
house has its own) and clever detailssuch
as seating platforms and bookshelves integrated with graceful steel stairsanimate the
hubs. Major common areas are more luxe. The

P H O T O G R A P H Y: S T E V E H A L L / H E D R I C H B L E S S I N G ( T O P ) ; T O M H A R R I S ( B O T T O M A N D O P P O S I T E )

108 ARCHITECTURAL RECORD

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO NORTH RESIDENTIAL COMMONS

UNCOMMON SPACES White concrete floors and

plentiful daylight filtered by metal grilles make for a
luminous dining hall (opposite, top). The reading rooms
oak wall and ceiling panels reflect the facade geometry
(opposite, bottom). Bright colors animate the threestory house hubs (right).

double-height dining hallwith polished white

concrete floors, open stainless-steel kitchens,
clerestory windows, and views to the quad
through glass walls shaded by the decorative
metal grillesis luminous and elegant. The
15th-floor reading room is sheathed in oak,
both for the floor and in wall and ceiling panels that riff on the facade geometry while
framing panoramic vistas of the campus, the
city, and Lake Michigan.
Creating welcoming links between a university and an adjacent neighborhood is always
difficult. But when the site is a prominent
corner bound by two streets of differing character at the edge of an historic campus, the
challenge is even greater. Studio Gang rose to
the occasion with a creative approach to context and a sure hand with forms and surfaces.
The result is a stunningly beautiful residential
complex, whose scale and siting are sensitive to
its neighbors and whose underlying intelligence is well suited to a leading university. n
James Gauer, an architect and author based in Victoria, BC; Chicago; and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico,
contributes regularly to architectural record.

credits
ARCHITECT: Studio Gang Jeanne Gang, principal;

Mark Schendel, managing principal; Todd Zima, design

principal; Aurelien Tsemo, John Castro, Emily Licht,
Vincent Calabro, Wei-Ju Lai, Ashley Ozburn, Laura
Ettedgui, Chris Vant Hoff, Beth Zacherle, Paige Adams,
Ana Flor, Zac Heaps, William Emmick, Roger Molina-Vera,
Kara Boyd, Jay Hoffman, Schuyler Smith, Weston Walker,
Juan de la Mora, Christopher Ciraulo, Lindsey Moyer,
Will Lambeth, Danny Jimenez, Angela Peckham, Michael
Leaveck, project team
CONSULTANTS: dbHMS (m/e/p); Magnussen Klemencic

Associates (structural); David Mason & Associates (civil);

Hood Design Studio, Terry Guen Design Associates
(landscape); Lightswitch Architectural (lighting);
Transsolar (sustainability)
DESIGN-BUILD CONTRACTOR: Mortenson Construction
CLIENT: University of Chicago
SIZE: 394,000 square feet
CONSTRUCTION COST: $148 million
COMPLETION DATE: September 2016

SOURCES
METAL/GLASS CURTAIN WALL: Schco
PRECAST CONCRETE: International Concrete Products
GREEN ROOF: Barrett

CHICAGO

STUDIO GANG

109

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BUILDING TYPE STUDY COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES

Visual Arts Building | Iowa City | Steven Holl Architects

Paired Off
Steven Holl revisits the University of Iowa
with a second building adjacent to his first.
BY JOSEPHINE MINUTILLO
PHOTOGRAPHY BY IWAN BAAN

nspired by Picassos Cubist composition for a 1912 guitar sculpture,

Steven Holls first building for the University of Iowa is a stealth work
of architecture whose layered weathering-steel assembly and light
structure hugs its site and juts out over a quarry pond. His second
one is nothing like that.
Perched atop a hill, Holls new 126,000-square-foot Visual Arts
Building is more cube than Cubist. Originally intended to have only
two levels, its boxy form developedafter more than 40 schemeswith
the need to squeeze as much program as possible onto a constricted lot
at the edge of campus that is bordered by private property.
It was Holls deft siting for that first project a decade ago for the
School of Art and Art History (architectural record, January 2007,
page 92), which maintained an open green, that made it possible to
build the new onenearly twice the size of the former and right across
the way from iteven though no one could have predicted the need for
another art building.

111

In 2008, catastrophic floods ravaged the eastern half of Iowa in what

was the fifth-worst natural disaster in U.S. history. The university suffered nearly $800 million in damages, particularly to its arts campus.
Harrison & Abramovitzs Hancher Auditorium (1972), for instance, was
destroyed, replaced this year by a new performing-arts center by Pelli
Clark Pelli.
Holls 2006 building was salvaged. His new one replaces the Art
Building, which was built on the west bank of the Iowa River in 1936
after the plan of Palladios Villa Emo near Venice. It was damaged to
the point where it could no longer support its program. With financial
assistance from FEMA, Holls latest campus contribution, designed with
partner Chris McVoy, restores the exact square footage lost from the
Palladian structure and later additions from the 1960s and 70s. (The
additions were razed, though the original red-brick portion remains
standing; the university hopes to repurpose it.)
The new Visual Arts Building improves on the obsolete Art Building,

SIDE BY SIDE The first campus building by Steven Holl Architects, a weathering-steel
assembly that extends over a pond (opposite), sits immediately adjacent to the firms
latest design for the university. The new buildings facade features angled setbacks
and ellipitically shaped cutouts surfaced in channel glass (above).

offering purpose-built studios for students in painting, drawing, ceramics, sculpture, metals, photography, printmaking, and multimedia, as
well as gallery space, classrooms, and offices. It also presents an architecture that is completely different frombut, according to Holl,
complementary tohis first building.
Concrete rather than steel, volumetric rather than planar, the new
Visual Arts Building comprises bare-bones interiors within a beautifully crafted envelope of zinc-clad poured-in-place concrete walls.
Portions of those perimeter walls throughout the four main levels slip
away from the straight planes of the orthogonal container to create
angled setbacks. (A small penthouse leads to open-air studios and a
green roof.) Six cuts, or scoops, surfaced in channel glass, further ar-

112

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BUILDING TYPE STUDY COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES

credits
11

ARCHITECT: Steven Holl Architects Steven Holl,

12

10

principal; Chris McVoy, partner in charge; Rychiee

Espinosa, project architect
ASSOCIATEARCHITECT: BNIM Architects Rod Kruse,

principal; Jonathan Sloan, associate

ENGINEERS: BuroHappold, Structural Engineering

Associates (structural); Transsolar (sustainability); ShiveHattery (civil); Design Engineers (m/e/p)
CONSULTANTS: LObservatoire International (lighting); WJ
2

Higgins (curtain wall); The Sextant Group (audiovisual)

13

GENERALCONTRACTOR: Miron Construction

13

CLIENT: University of Iowa

SIZE: 126,000 square feet

5
8

CONSTRUCTIONCOST: $57 million

COMPLETIONDATE: August 2016

0

LEVEL-ONE PLAN

30 FT.
9 M.

LEVEL-TWO PLAN

30 FT.
9 M.

SOURCES
METALCLADDING: Rheinzinc
VOIDEDSLABSYSTEM: Cobiax
WINDOWS: Wausau
GLASS: Bendheim (channel glass), Cricursa

16

16

ROOFING: Johns Manville

FURNITURE: Herman Miller, Steelcase, Allsteel, Vitra,

15

Mott & Grainger

PLUMBING: Filtrine, Koehler, Sloan

14

14
16

15

15

14

LEVEL-THREE PLAN

30 FT.
9 M.

LEVEL-FOUR PLAN

16

30 FT.
9 M.

the visual arts building is one of only a

handful of completed buildings in the
United States to incorporate voided concrete
slabs, and the first to use them in tandem
with radiant heating and cooling.
The efficient system places plastic bubbleshaped forms, arranged in a grid, at the
center of the slabs depthwhere concrete is
least effectiveto span farther with the
same thickness. In this building, we were
able to use 25 percent less concrete, says
Kelley Gipple of Structural Engineering
Associates. Reduction in concrete could,
however, be as high as a third.
In addition to creating larger column-free
spaces, the system gives the slab a smoother

1 ENTRANCE

10 KILN

2 GALLERY

11 OUTDOORKILN

3 CLASSROOM

12 FOUNDRY

4 SOUNDDESIGN

13 VIRTUALREALITY

5 3-DDESIGN

14 PAINTING&

6 PROTOTYPING

 

7 WOODSHOP

15 METALS/JEWELRY

DRAWING

8 SCULPTURE

16 PRINTMAKING

9 CERAMICS

finish, uninterrupted by beams, a motivation for Steven Holl to use it here and for
Diller Scofidio + Renfro at the Columbia
University Medical Center (see page 128),
completed within weeks of the Iowa project.
We tried to utilize bubble slabs in several other buildings, including at our Surf
Museum in France, where its use is more
widespread, says Holl.
But according to Gipple, It takes a brave
client to be among the first to try it. There
is a learning curve, though the biggest
difference is that, rather than a continuous
pour during construction, a small amount
of concrete is poured and allowed to set
with the bubbles in place. JM

VISUAL ARTS BUILDING

IOWA CITY, IOWA

STEVEN HOLL ARCHITECTS

SOCIAL CLIMBER
The large central
atrium features
ramps and stairs that
are shaped to
encourage meeting
and interaction. Its
roof features custom
2-foot-by-10-foot
aluminum panels
with a honeycomb
pattern to filter
sunlight from the
glass above it.

113

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BUILDING TYPE STUDY COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES

IN THE STUDIO The spare interiors offer light-filled spaces for study and the making
of art (top and left). Stair railings are composed of painted steel sheets patterned to
reflect the elliptically shaped vertical cutouts of the exterior (above). Similarly
perforated steel panels are placed over the zinc cladding and windows on the
southern facades of the building to modulate light (opposite).

VISUAL ARTS BUILDING

ticulate the facade and bring daylight deep

within the building.
At its core, a seventh, and largest, cutout
creates an irregularly shaped atrium
wrapped by stairs and ramps that stretches
from the ground floor to the roofa much
grander version of the social stair he employed at his earlier building. Holl calls it a
social condenser, a place for the 1,600
students and faculty who occupy the space
daily to meet and interact.
The rest of the interiors are all that they
need to beloftlike spaces with concrete
floors, exposed pipes and ducts, and multiple points of daylight (dimensions for the
variously sized square window openings
follow the Fibonacci series). Maintaining
that spare interior environment, however, is
deceivingly complex, with energy requirements that rival those of a lab building due
to the kilns (both indoor and outdoor),
foundry, and fume hoods used in the creation of art that are spread throughout the
building.
The exterior offers a different kind of
industrial aesthetic. The southwestern and
southeastern faceswhich overlook Holls
earlier building and where the main entrances are locatedare covered in perforated
stainless-steel panels that rest 5 inches away
from the zinc cladding and windows beneath. The screens, featuring a pattern
derived from the elliptical shapes of the
buildings cutouts, modulate light and reduce
solar gain where this is most needed, but also
offer abstracted surfaces during the day, as
well as an alluring glow at night when the
interiors are humming with activity.
The Visual Arts Building at the University
of Iowa is one of seven educational buildings
devoted to studio art or architecture that
Steven Holl Architects has either completed
or is in the process of designing. Most famously, Holl designed the Reid Building at
Scotlands Glasgow School of Art directly
opposite Charles Rennie Mackintoshs touchstone building. There, he deferred to his
famous neighbor by creating something that
was the complete opposite of it. In Iowa, Holl
is in conversation with himself but takes the
same approach. Separated by 10 years and
wholly different aesthetics, his two buildings are as individual as could be but
unmistakably Steven Holl. Maybe the second
one is better than the first; together they are
two of Holls best buildings. And at a university that has long been a patron of
contemporary architectswith buildings by
Gunnar Birkerts, Frank Gehry, Charles
Gwathmey, and Norman Fosterthey are
two of the best buildings on campus. n

IOWA CITY, IOWA

STEVEN HOLL ARCHITECTS

115

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ARCHITECTURAL RECORD

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HIGHER EDUCATION The building can be entered

at grade or via a new elevated walkway by James
Carpenter. This path connects through arched passages
to the main historic quad to the east (just renamed for
the original campus architect, Julian Abele) and to the
Bryan Campus Center to the west (opposite).

BUILDING TYPE STUDY COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES

117

West Campus Union | Durham, North Carolina | Grimshaw

Feast for
the Senses

Duke University serves a broad spectrum of

students and faculty at its new center dedicated
to dining and student life.
BY BETH BROOME
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JAMES EWING

ometimes called the Gothic Wonderland,

Duke Universitys West Campus in Durham,
North Carolina, is a storybook enclave.
Designed by the office of Horace Trumbauer
under the direction of chief designer Julian
Abele, one of the first influential AfricanAmerican architectsand constructed between
1927 and 1932 (with the Olmsted Brothers overseeing the
landscape), it is characterized by its bucolic quads and
Collegiate Gothic architecture rendered in the local variegated Duke Stone. It is not a place that takes change lightly.
But, as one of the countrys most competitive universities,
the school also knows the importance of staying current to
attract the best students and is accustomed to adapting to
the times, as it has with its recent reinvention of the historic
West Campus Union building. Designed by the New York
office of Grimshaw architects, the renovation and expansion
transforms a creaky dining facility into a dynamic community center. For us, there is an important relationship
between the academic, residential, and social environments, says Larry Moneta, vice president for student affairs.
West Union is the nexuswhere these three circles overlap.
The original building, completed in 1930 at the heart of the
campus, was showing its age. The 200-foot-long Great Hall
refectory and adjacent Cambridge Inn dining room may have
been hallowed, but they were inflexible spaces, and much of
the rest of the building was given over to grab-and-go food
vendors and administrative offices. There was nowhere
inviting to gather or linger. And it was impenetrable. It was
like a fortress, says Mark Husser, Grimshaws partner in
charge. You couldnt move through it.
For the buildings next chapter, the university hoped to
reconceive it as a hub for students, faculty, and staff to convene in a variety of spacesformal and informal. Putting
food front and center by displaying preparation, using locally sourced ingredients, and engaging local chefs at 13