AIA convened it's annual meeting in Washington DC this past week:
I quickly figured I covered at least 3 miles just walking the expo floor. Who knows how much more travelling to continuing education rooms, to the Metro station, to the nice cafe around the corner for lunch and to the bag check area.
David McCullough gave the keynote speech- quite good:
jm
Downtown Long Beach was deserted on a Tuesday morning, but the transit hub had some activity. There I found Bikestation A really cool, smart, building for use by bike commuters. Designed by Fernando Vasquez Studio, it is right next to the Blue Line station, which runs along street level at the Long Beach terminus. Surrounded by a garden the building is a glass envelope shielded from the sun with vertical aluminum extrudes:
Pow- front door:
The inner ramp leads up to the upper floor storage area:
It looks like it could be modulized for other sites. Nice to see:
jm
Sure, Fifth Avenue might have the glass cube, but the new Apple store has this terrific view:
And, no doors to open. In fact you are in the store when you are in the station:
Killer space and display fixtures:
Less IS more:
jm
Before Frank (Gehry that is), there was Rudolph. Last week, I had the opportunity to see the first Lovell House, on the boardwalk in Newport Beach. The view from 13th Street. Schindler designed the overhang for four bedrooms:
The view from the beach on a wonderfully sunny day. That would be the 2 story living space behind the large window:
The alley facade, like the others, is an interlocking form puzzle. The concrete frames are expressed on the rear wall:
The service entrance stairs. The stucco guards are only 3" thick:
Searching my library, and the internet, I found that there are no contemporary photos of the interior, except for two details from the 1986 HABS survey. The house was one of the first built on the peninsula in 1926, now it has neighbors galore.This was a real treat:
jm
... is not the name of that "Nuggets" band, but an environmental artwork in Astor Place, New York. It was installed by the Animus Arts Collective on several light poles around the intersection.
Who knew zipties came in colors other then black and white?
JM
Well, the time has finally come! Zion Lutheran Church is complete and the congregation celebrated its opening with a Service of Dedication yesterday. It was a beautiful day and the event was well attended by folks from the church and community.
The service was presided over by Rev. Peter Froehlke and Rev. E. Roy Riley, Jr., who is Bishop fo the New Jersey Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. After the service, the church hosted an awesome Corn Roast with tons of great food, music and tours of the chuch and our new addition.
It really is an honor to be a part of this project, and we thank the folks at Zion for all their patience and team work to complete a really tough project. We also want to thank Twining Construction for their effort and the attention to the details that can make or break a project of this size and complexity. John McIntyre and his team really come through for us here!
One big story here though goes all the way back to the beginning of the project in 2007. When we were brought onto the team and given the site plan, we were shocked by the number and configuration of 'constraints' that the site had. To the south of the site lay the South Branch of the Raritan River and that meant the site had numerous floodplain and wetlands restrictions. To add to that, the church property was bisected by an enormous sewer and water utility easement, hence the somewhat triangular shape of the final building.
In the course of the design work, we set the floor of the new building to be almost a foot over the flood water level that is set by the government. Never did we think that we would ever test that elevation. But during the week of August 28 and then again the following week, Hurricane Irene and the remanents of Tropical Storm Lee dumped well over a foot of rain into the Raritan River basin and pushed the South Branch over its banks.
If you look closely, that is the river going right into the front door of the church. With the exception of the stair landings, which are at grade level, the new buidling escaped the highwater. Too bad the whole site did not. Thanks to the Long Valley Patch for the use of the photos from the flood.
This is the rear of the church showing the parking lot and pre-school play area, and yes, that shed is floating away.
Thankfully, the most damage sustained by the church was some wet carpets and furniture. As I commented to several members at the service yesterday, since that was a 100+ year high water event, maybe they will never have to deal with it in their life times again. Let's hope that is a true statement!
RC
Our project in Vineland NJ, South Jersey Healthcare – LIFE, had a grand opening last week complete with ribbon speakers, speaches and a ribbon cutting. The heat was overwhelming outside, but the event was joyful inside. SJH is expecting the first participants on August 1st.
The former showroom space, now Activities Room 3, was converted into a cozy auditorium:
Guided tours took guests throughout the building.
The former service bay, now Activities Room 2, was the banquet room.
Snip!
The new paradigm for signs?
jm
We just completed our plans for a new prototype house to be built by the Trenton affiliate of Habitat for Humanity. Breaking with their previous direction of a more suburban model, the Board of Directors and the Construction Committee both agreed to let us design a new, simpler model that is fast to construct and is very energy efficient. The exterior shell is constructed of 6 1/2" Structural Insulated Panels (or SIPs) which will provide a tight and well insulated enclosure. The use of SIPs should also decrease the overall construction time and allow Habitat to complete more houses in a year.
This initial design is for a detached single family residence, and later iterations of this will include attached single family (or duplex) and a row-house model. This project is being sponsored by Bloomberg and we hope to start construction this summer, pending approval by the City of Trenton. Check back for updates!
RC
Our South Jersey Healthcare – LIFE completed construction last week and is now awaiting State approvals. Construction began the week before Christimas with a target date of May 15, 2011 for Certificate of Occupnacy. The CofO was issued right on time, and the construction budget was met with room to spare.
My visit yesterday to review punch list completion resulted in these selected photos. The reception desk and entrance hall area in the former service waiting lobby, light box sign by 3form:
The waiting area, with 3form space divided panels:
Activities Room 1, with furnitire provided by BF Molz, in the former service bay. The blue recess is the entrance to the clinic suite:
Activities Room 2 has acces to the serving counter and the kitchen. The fabric covered panels are by Purdue:
The chapel:
The Personal Care hallway:
A typical personal care toilet/shower room:
Activities Room 3, the former showroom. The wood trusses we left and simply repainted. Elliptipar uplights boost the reflected light. Cabinet one has a gas fireplace:
Cabinet two has the TV:
The Cafe is on the left ready for cookies and muffins:
A custom linoleum tile layout for the gardening therapy room:
JM
Just opened in Princetion is the new Frick Chemistry Lab by Hopkins Architects. The whole thing looks like it was fabricated in a factory and assembled at the site. The color scheme is just a bit dry, but it is still striking. This is the main entrance recess:
Each side has an generous arcade walkway:
The center atrium is just an awesome space:
Stairs & bridges:
Refined details & finishes:
I could not figure out if this column was really necessary, but it sure looks good:
As an added bonus, you can get back to the main campus on the new pedestrian bridge:
JM
