Some see a frozen tear clinging to the “cheek” of the new Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Fla. Others see a melting crystal. Depending on the viewer’s vantage point, still others say they are reminded of a misshapen potato, a nose, an amoeba and a dolphin in a nosedive. The builders of the glazed atrium structure that drapes over the side of the boxy building simply call it the “enigma.” After all, the builders had to solve a mystery of how to shape, engineer and hang a transparent and organic structure—75.5 ft at its tallest, 105 ft at its
Frank Gehry’s first Florida building, a big bleached box in Miami Beach, looks more like a high-end department store than an eye-catching piece of “sculpitecture” by the architect of “swoopy.” But contained in the $160-million New World Symphony music academy and performance center—on schedule to open on Jan. 25 despite some last-minute hiccups—Gehry’s signature free-form rooms stand as tall as 80 ft, visible through a 180 x 80-ft picture window. Other than to say “we put all the juice inside,” the architect is mum on whether the music-box shape was selected for context, economy or constructibility. But Benton Delinger, director
Collaborative city greening is gaining international momentum, most recently with the signing of the Global Cities Covenant on Climate by more than 135 mayors attending the World Mayors Summit on Climate, held on Nov. 21 in Mexico City. Also at the summit, the World Mayors Council on Climate Change launched a web-based city climate registry, a mechanism for municipalities to ensure “transparency and accountability of local climate action,” according to the WMC. Related Links: Green Building Thrives in Shaky Economy Airports Push the Green Envelope The actions in Mexico City come on the heels of a Low-Carbon Cities for High-Quality
The lines on the developing U.S. high-speed-rail map have been barely penciled in, and now, after the Nov. 2 elections, at least two lines probably will have to be erased. Republican governors-elect in Wisconsin and Ohio vow to halt work on rail projects in their states, even though they won U.S Dept. of Transportation funds. Florida’s incoming GOP governor has promised to kill a proposed Orlando-Tampa line if state funding is required. Rendering: Courtesy of FDOT Florida's planned 84-mile-long line would run from Tampa to Orlando Rendering: Courtesy of FDOT Florida have four other stations, including one at the University
The National Council of Structural Engineers Associations is ramping up a campaign to lure civil engineering students into structural studies and improve their preparation for practice. A mentoring program, designed to help practitioners move the student from the textbook to the workplace, is under development. NCSEA recently released an education survey listing 53 U.S. engineering schools that offer the association’s recommended curriculum. NCSEA is promoting Northeastern University’s work-study program in Boston as its mentoring model. “Our hope is to publicize nationally that which has worked so well with cooperative education at Northeastern,” says Craig E. Barnes, head of CBI Consulting
The behavior of engineered structures in the magnitude-8.8 Maule earthquake that struck Chile on Feb. 27 is unlikely to lead to big changes in U.S. practice or codes, agree engineers. Photo: Ramon Gilsanz In Chile, apartment-unit doors jammed, trapping occupants, thanks to lightly reinforced link beams over openings. “The performance of modern engineered construction in the quake was quite good, and most instances of poor performance are associated with differences in Chilean and U.S. design practice,” said Ronald O. Hamburger at the 2010 National Council of Structural Engineers Associations conference, held from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2 in Jersey City,
Peter Arbour thinks his patented prefabricated cladding system, with an integrated solar-energy unit, will be a winner in the marketplace, not just the winner of a design contest. The architect expects the concrete-and-stainless-steel system to make its commercial debut in a year or two, after further development of the award-winning prototype. Photo: Courtesy Of The Center For Architecture/AIA NY Award-winning unitized cladding system needs more tweaking and testing before it is ready to be installed on a real building. Photo: Courtesy Of The Center For Architecture/AIA NY Arbour holds a patent on the system, which is cast using 20,000-psi concrete.
Building-sector groups once again are decrying the Portland Cement Association’s revised requirements for sustainable buildings, which were released recently. The move came after a failed attempt by PCA—at code hearings in August 2009—to get any of the provisions of High Performance Building Requirements for Sustainability 2.0 adopted into the model International Green Building Code. Other organizations characterize PCA’s second attempted end run around the accepted model-code development process as a self-serving push for the use of concrete over rival structural materials through the local adoption of code provisions that have been consistently rejected at the national level. High Performance Building
City officials in Seattle say they will select the project manager and engineering team this week for the city�s nine-acre Central Waterfront project, a major redevelopment plan. The city has already named the 12-member design team. Landscape architect-urban designer James Corner Field Operations was selected from four finalists as the lead designer for the stretch of land along Elliott Bay, which includes a surface street, to be made available by the planned removal of the two-level Alaskan Way Viaduct. Design is set to begin in October. A conceptual design is expected in 2012 and a final design in 2015. Construction
Ove Arup & Partners says it is "incredulous" over a lawsuit by the Art Institute of Chicago accusing the company of errors on the museum’s 264,000-sq-ft Modern Wing. Filed in federal district court in Chicago, the lawsuit claims the multidisciplinary engineer failed to discharge its obligations during design and construction of the wing, which opened in May 2009. Photo: Charles G. Young Interactive Design Architects Art Institute of Chicago alleges Arup did not provide adequate engineering services for the 264,000-sq-ft Modern Wing. The lawsuit, filed Sept. 21, claims Arup's services were "woefully inadequate." The museum asked the court to order