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In memoriam: Roger Gant Jr.
July 27th, 2010
Former Glen Raven president Roger Gant Jr. has died at the age of 86. Gant served Glen Raven Inc. for 55 years in a variety of management positions and as president and board member. He also led the Glen Raven team that created Glen Raven’s Sunbrella® brand of performance fabrics in the early 1960s. “It […]
Low-Impact Design: Stormwater management applications for geotextiles
July 1st, 2010
By Adam Regn Arvidson The management of runoff from rain storms is regulated by state and federal governments. This is why nearly all major residential, retail or office developments have large ponds near their edges. These so-called “NURP ponds” are named for the Nationwide Urban Runoff Program (NURP), a study conducted by the U.S. Environmental […]
Tension structure expresses nautical theme at Mexican exposition center
July 1st, 2010
Beautiful Puerto Vallarta is one of the premier tourist destinations in Mexico. Its harbor is home to some of the most beautiful and expensive yachts in the Western Hemisphere. An equally beautiful convention center is located adjacent to the international airport and not far from a marina and major hotels that are located on the […]
Moving wall panels customize classrooms
July 1st, 2010
A historic, three-story brick carriage house at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), Richmond, Va., needed updating, repair and an image makeover to attract graduate students in advertising and media. Instead of breaking down the old, VCU integrated the new—an open space with noise-damping, tent-like walls that can be reconfigured to customize classrooms and conference space at […]
Fiber façade wraps a Dutch master museum
July 1st, 2010
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, the Netherlands, a municipal modern art museum, closed in 2008 to launch a major makeover—including a futuristic building extension built from hybrid para-aramid and carbon fibers. Teijin Twaron, a member of the Teijin Group located in Amsterdam, sponsored the new extension. “Donating a structure made of Teijin’s leading-edge materials to the Stedelijk […]
Shigeru Ban’s Metz museum opens
July 1st, 2010
Called a number of pet names—Smurf House, Chinese Hat, White Toadstool— because of its unusual white undulating roof, the new Centre Georges Pompidou outpost art museum in Metz, France, is a serious work of design by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban and French architect Jean de Gastines (associated with Philip Gumuchdjian). The Pompidou-Metz is encased by […]
Green and blue together in Shanghai
July 1st, 2010
An ETFE cushion roof covers the Shenzhen East Huaquiao amusement and indoor water park. Since part of the roof is retractable, the ETFE cushions and corresponding air circulation systems were designed to move with the retractable roof. The project garnered a 2009 Award of Excellence, Architectural Structures for Shanghai Taiyo Kogyo Co. Ltd.
Participatory environment features flexible poles and bungee cords
July 1st, 2010
The eleventh year of the Museum of Modern Art /P.S.1 Young Architects Program (MoMA/PS1 YAP) will see the installation of “Pole Dance,” a participatory environment composed of a system of flexible 7.6m-high poles on a 3.7m by 3.7m grid connected by bungee cords. Designed by Brooklyn architects Solid Objectives–Idenburg Liu, the installation will fill P.S.1’s […]
Ken Smith’s fabric WallFlowers bloom in New York
July 1st, 2010
Draped over the elegant façade of the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Ken Smith’s temporary city garden grows with some surprising fabrics. By Frank Edgerton Martin Ken Smith is known for challenging old assumptions about landscape architecture. In his adopted hometown of New York, he makes gardens that are vertical, roof gardens without living plants and […]
The High Line: NYC’s mile-long green roof
July 1st, 2010
An urban promenade for the 21st century, the High Line’s linear roof garden offers sophisticated drainage and planting solutions. By Frank Edgerton Martin The reborn High Line is one of the first places in New York that really has a 21st century feel. The irony is that the High Line’s new LED lighting, sleek benches […]