6 November 2009 | LEED Platinum, Media Coverage, Offsite Fabrication, Residential, Sustainable
The first residential installation of the home we designed for LivingHomes®, a premier developer of modern, sustainable, prefabricated homes, took place Nov 5th in Newport Beach, California. Footage of the installation is available online.
27 October 2009 | Educational, Materials, Projects
In the spring of 2008, we began design for Brockman Hall for Physics at Rice University in Houston, Texas. This 110,000 SF facility will house research, teaching, and office space for the Departments of Physics & Astronomy and Electrical & Computer Engineering. Nestled between existing buildings in the dense Science Quad, the building envelope respects the scale of the historic masonry vocabulary of the campus while extending it into a 21st century model for architecture and research at Rice. In this manner, lightness and transparency become the foil to weight and opacity. Further, as is common among other buildings on campus, subtle references to the building's program will be made with iconography incorporated into elements of the building skin.
3 September 2009 | Materials, Media Coverage, Offsite Fabrication, Residential
Cellophane House is featured on the award-winning original documentary series from the Sundance Channel, Big Ideas for a Small Planet, Episode 5, airing Tuesday evenings this fall. The series focuses on environmental topics with interviews with forward-thinking designers and features on green products and alternative ideas that may transform our everyday lives. Visit the series website for show times, or go to iTunes to download the full episode.
17 June 2009 | Civic, Projects
Built in the mid-1970s as an urban renewal project, Dilworth Plaza sits above multiple levels of transit infrastructure, linking regional rail lines to city subways, trolleys and buses. Comprising 2.8 acres at the intersection of Philadelphia's major art and cultural districts, the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and the Avenue of the Arts, it has the potential to be a stimulating gathering place in the heart of the city. Yet its multiple level changes, vacant arcades, and confusing passageways deter rather than attract citizens, creating more of an obstacle than a place worthy of lingering.
A proposed redesign, undertaken by the Center City District and created in partnership with KieranTimberlake, OLIN, and Urban Engineers, Inc., outlines strategies to transform Dilworth Plaza into a welcoming gateway and orientation to Philadelphia's extensive network of transit lines, and a vibrant public space on par with other revered town squares in Philadelphia.
28 May 2009 | Announcements, Education, Educational, Materials, Residential
It was announced last month that the Yale University School of Art Gallery and Sidwell Friends Middle School have received 2008 Western Red Cedar Architectural Design Awards, presented by The Western Red Cedar Lumber Association and The Cedar Shake and Shingle Bureau.