NEW HAVEN , Conn., July 12, 2012 /CNW/ - Ground was broken on July 6th for the Yale-NUS College campus, designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects in collaboration with Forum Architects of Singapore .

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120712/NE38004 )

Jointly created by Yale University and the National University of Singapore , Yale-NUS College is the first college campus established by Yale outside of New Haven , Conn. The campus opens in 2015 and is designed to achieve the highest rating under the Green Mark, Singapore's benchmark for sustainable design.

Comprised of three residential colleges for 1,000 students, and balancing the traditions of Yale with the cultural and climatic influences of Southeast Asia, Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects developed a contemporary architectural language of clear and inviting processional entrances, sun and rain-screened colonnades and roof forms with generous eaves.

"Much like the educational mission of the college, the architecture of Yale-NUS is keenly attuned to its antecedents and committed to the ideas and responsibilities of today," explains Fred Clarke , senior principal of Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects. "In this way, it is also a vision for the future."

Set in a lush landscape, the 62,000-square-meter campus is comprised of courtyards punctuated by residential towers and a community of learning and social spaces. At its heart is a campus green flanked by academic and administrative buildings, including the learning commons, auditorium, sports hall, and an open-air, sheltered gathering place -- the Agora.

The residential colleges, each home to 330 students plus faculty, form nested academic communities. Tower floors are grouped into neighborhoods around skygardens. The tower designs and those of the courtyards, dining halls, and common rooms will differ in each residential college.

The new campus design is based on original programming, a master plan and early architectural plans developed by KieranTimberlake and Pfeiffer Partners Architects.

About Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects

Founded in 1977 and led by Cesar Pelli, Fred Clarke , and Rafael Pelli, Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects has designed some of the world's most recognizable buildings, including the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur , the International Finance Centre in Hong Kong and the National Airport in Washington D.C. The firm has also designed buildings and master plans for many distinguished universities.

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Ground broken in Singapore for new Yale-NUS campus by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects

The Irish Times - Wednesday, July 11, 2012

FRANK McDONALD, Environment Editor

THE NEW Giants Causeway Visitor Centre is to feature at this years Venice Architecture Biennale in an exhibition of work by Dublin-based architects Heneghan Peng representing Ireland.

A model of the 18.5 million (23.4 million) centre which appears to be hewn from basalt and folded into the landscape will be part of an Irish pavilion in the Arsenale di Venezia entitled Shifiting Ground.

This refers not just to Heneghan Pengs play with geometry and landscape in Co Antrim, but more specifically to their success in going beyond national architecture to win major projects abroad.

The Irish pavilion at the 13th biennale will, they say, chart a position for Irish architecture in a global culture where the modes of production of architecture are radically altered.

Its centrepiece will be a responsive oscillating bench that invites visitors to balance their respective weights. This was inspired by an ancient Egyptian rod used to measure water levels of the river Nile.

Heneghan Peng Architects headed by Roisn Heneghan and Shih-fu Peng were selected to represent Ireland because they are working across three continents on a range of competition-winning projects. Several of these are in sensitive locations, including three Unesco world heritage sites: the Grand Egyptian Museum at the Pyramids; the Giants Causeway Visitor Centre; and a Rhine bridge near Lorelei.

Other big projects include a pair of bridges at the 2012 London Olympic Park, a library and school of architecture for the University of Greenwich in London, and the Palestinian Museum near Ramallah.

Minister for Arts and Heritage Jimmy Deenihan said Heneghan Peng epitomises the impact Irish architects can make and the biennale would bring further recognition to Irish architects.

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Giant among visitor centres: Ireland's entry for Venice showpiece

10 July 2012 Last updated at 11:08 ET

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Kenneth Er, chief operating officer of Gardens by the Bay and a forest ecologist, explains what the project seeks to achieve

A team of landscape architects from Bath have helped design part of what are believed to be the world's largest gardens in Singapore.

The workforce from Grant Associates have just completed more than half of the 101-hectare tropical garden.

Director Andrew Grant said its brief had been to make an amazing tropical garden and make it the favourite place for Singaporeans.

The project is part of Singapore's City in a Garden vision.

The scheme is designed to raise the profile of the city.

Mr Grant said a key part of its design is the super tree structure - made out of steel - and the tropical plants which typically live in the rainforest providing a vertical garden.

"These are 25 to 50m-tall (82-164ft) and also do a lot of environmental things.

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Architects design tropical garden

RESTON, Va., July 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Brick Industry Association (BIA) has honored outstanding design incorporating genuine clay brick for both aesthetics and sustainability. Offering architects an increasingly wide palette of colors, textures and shapes for exterior and interior expression, the 2012 Brick in Architecture Award winning projects span 28 states and include commercial, educational, health care, houses of worship, municipal/government, paving and landscape architecture, multifamily and single family residential. Photo Gallery

"As a versatile building material made in America made from abundant natural resources, there is no substitute for genuine clay brick," said BIA President and CEO Gregg Borchelt, P.E. "Unlike manufactured masonry products, brick fired from genuine clay offers permanent, through-body color, proven performance and natural beauty that imitation products just can't match," he said.

In addition to competitive benefits over other exteriors, brick offers great freedom to match the architect's imagination and desires as well as an essential element of sustainable design.

Atlantic Wharf, Boston, Mass., the Best in Class commercial category winner, used a combination of existing and new brick types for both the residences and offices. The 1,200,000 s.f. mixed-use complex is also Boston's first LEED Certified Platinum high-rise.

"Integrating old and new brick was important to maintain the historic character of the area," said Associate Principal Philip Casey, AIA, LEED AP, CBT Architects, Boston. "A lot of effort went into matching mortar to maintain the historic context," he said. "Brick was also an integral part of our objective to achieve LEED Platinum in the Building Reuse category."

The North Carolina State University chancellor's residence, named The Point, won Best in Class in the residential single family category. The 5,400-s.f. residence (comprising 3,100 s.f. of living quarters) was designed by North Carolina Statue University led by Marvin Malecha, FAIA, dean of the NC State University College of Design and president of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). Genuine clay brick was part of the sustainable materials selected, including solar panels and geothermal heating and cooling.

Malecha said that the residence was designed to represent NC State and North Carolina as a "mini stimulus" to help boost the state's jobs and materials. "We wanted it to not only be beautiful and adaptable to the ways it will be used, but also be build using sustainable practices," said Malecha in an NC State article.

The 2012 Best in Class winners include:

COMMERCIAL Atlantic Wharf - Boston, Mass. Architect: CBT Architects Builder: John Ordinary& Associates, Inc. Mason Contractor: A. Jandris & Sons, Inc.

EDUCATIONAL The Ogden International School of Chicago Chicago, Ill. Architect: Nagle Hartray Architecture Landscape Architect: Terry Guen Design Associates Associate Architect: Schroeder Murchie Niemiec Gazda-Auskalnis Architects, Ltd. Builder: Turner Construction Company Mason Contractor: Illinois Masonry Corporation

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BIA Honors the Best in Brick Design

The long and steep housing downturn appears to be coming to an end, according to the 2012 first-quarter AIA Home Design Trends Survey. Residential architects are reporting that home sizes are beginning to turn around, particularly for custom and luxury homes.

In addition, making homes more accessible for an aging population and using the space more flexibly are key home design considerations. Outdoor living remains popular, and with that has come more interest in property enhancements such as low-irrigation landscaping.

With the easing of market conditions, residential architects are reporting better business prospects. Business conditions are improving in each of the major regions of the country, which indicates a broad-based recovery. While the strongest sectors continue to be improvements to existing homes, stability is developing in key new construction sectors for custom and luxury homes, trade-up homes, and entry-level homes.

After exploding during the housing boom, the sizes of new homes peaked and began to decrease during the downturn. Currently, additions and remodels are reported to be increasing in size at an even higher rate than new construction.

In an effort to appeal to as broad a population as possible, in-home accessibility (e.g., wider hallways, fewer steps) is the home layout trend increasing the most in popularity. Almost two-thirds (64 percent) of respondents feel that this feature is increasing in popularity, while less than 1 percent feel that it is decreasing. Features that allow better access into and out of the house (ramps, on-grade entrances) also proved popular.

While changes in home sizes have been driven by the housing cycle, lot sizes seem to be in a longer-term downturn. Even back in 2006 at the peak of the housing boom, only 7 percent of respondents reported lot sizes to be increasing, while more than 40 percent reported declines. This years survey showed a modest bounce back in the share reporting lot sizes to be growing. High land costs, greater emphasis on infill locations and limited interest among homeowners in maintaining a large yard all point to modest lot sizes in the years ahead.

The 2012 survey shows that interest in outdoor living space increased. However, the outdoor feature residential architects report as showing the greatest increase in popularity is low-maintenance, low-irrigation landscaping. Many residential architects also report preparing building lots for construction has become more difficult due to topographical or soil conditions, or zoning limitations on the site.

As the housing market continues to move into recovery, business conditions at residential architecture firms are improving. For the first quarter of 2012, 35 percent of participating residential firms reported their billings had increased over the fourth quarter of 2011, while just over 22 percent reported they had declined. The remaining 43 percent reported they were essentially flat over this time period. This was the strongest uptick in billings in almost five years, since the second quarter of 2007.

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Residential Architects Report Changes for the Better

BUDAPEST, Hungary, July 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- GRAPHISOFT, the global leader in Building Information Modeling (BIM) solutions for architects, announced today that ArchiCAD 16's global rollout process has begun. In addition, the company unveiled its BIMComponents.comGDL objects portal, a cloud-based database thatallows users to create, search, upload, and download custom BIM components of their choice.

The release of ArchiCAD 16 delivers key functionality to end users including the brand new MORPH tool, an optimal solution for creating custom BIM components, custom structures, and custom elements of the built environment, as well as custom-designed building interiors. Built-in Energy Evaluation allows architects working with ArchiCAD 16 to perform reliable dynamic energy evaluations of their BIM model within ArchiCAD, using BIM geometry analysis and accurate, hour-by-hour online weather data of the building's location. BIMComponents.com, a cloud-based, ArchiCAD-integrated community database, allows users to create, search, upload, and download custom BIM components of their choice directly within their native BIM application.

Shipping started with the International, US and German versions the first three of 26 local versions that will reach the market by the end of Q3 2012. For more information about ArchiCAD 16 please visit: http://www.graphisoft.com/products/archicad/

About GRAPHISOFTGRAPHISOFT ignited the BIM revolution with ArchiCAD, the industry first BIM software for architects. GRAPHISOFT continues to lead the industry with innovative solutions such as the revolutionary GRAPHISOFT BIM Server, the world's first real-time BIM collaboration environment, and the GRAPHISOFT EcoDesigner, the world's first fully integrated building energy modeling application. GRAPHISOFT's innovative solutions have fundamentally changed the way architects around the world design and collaborate. GRAPHISOFT has been a part of theNemetschek Group since its acquisition in 2007.

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GRAPHISOFT Ships ArchiCAD 16, Launches BIMComponents.com

SJB Architects has appointed Oliver Mayger as a director in its Melbourne office. Originally from Britain, Mr Mayger joined SJB in 2006 and became an associate in 2007. Since joining SJB, he has been integral to big projects, including the RACV Healesville Country Club and the residential apartment projects, A Place to Live in Richmond, and Green Square in Abbotsford, for Salta Properties. Before joining SJB, Mr Mayger worked in Britain and Western Australia. He joins SJB Architects' existing directors, Michael Bialek, Tony Battersby, Owen Chow and Alfred de Bruyne. The appointment coincides with the retirement of SJB founder and director Charles Justin, who began the practice in 1976 with Mr Bialek and Alan Synman.

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BVN won the 2012 Sulman Architecture Award at the Australian Institute of Architects Awards, becoming the first architecture practice to win seven Sulman awards since the award was first presented in 1932. It is 22 years since BVN received its first Sulman award, with the latest award given for the Ravenswood School for Girls' Mabel Fidler building, which contains a library and resource hub, in Gordon, Sydney. The jury noted the ''elegant planning, the sheer delight of the library space and strong sculptural presence'', terming it ''a fine model for a school of the future''.

Real estate firm CBRE has expanded its valuation and advisory services with the launch of a national rating and taxing division. Kate Adams has joined CBRE to establish the division after five years with m3property and three years with Valuer-General Victoria. CBRE Rating and Taxing will assist owners and tenants in reviewing valuation-based statutory assessments that are utilised to levy rates and land tax.

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New director at SJB

CHICAGO, July 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- IA Interior Architects is pleased to announce that Tish Kruse, MCR, LEED AP has joined the firm as Director of Workplace Strategy. She will be based in Chicago, IL.

Tish brings over 25 years of consulting, management, real estate, and design experience to deliver value-driven solutions. Her focus is developing strategies that are sustainable amidst ongoing change, and the results are engaging environments that increase employee productivity, facilitate innovation, and reduce footprints by an average of 20-30%. Most recently, Tish was with Jones Lang LaSalle's Strategic Consulting group, and prior to that she was the leader of HOK Chicago's Interiors practice.

"Tish is a valuable addition to our Workplace Strategies team. Her expertise in conducting relevant research, establishing the business case, and facilitating buy-in for change has led to powerful design solutions. We are pleased to have her on board," said Tom Powers, Managing Principal.

Tish is a registered interior designer and a licensed real estate broker. She is a member of CREW, CoreNet, and USGBC. In 2011, she was a recipient of Jones Lang LaSalle's coveted DaVinci Award for Innovation.

Tish's new contact information is as follows:

205 West Wacker Drive, Suite 1500, Chicago, IL 60606 p 312.488.5204 | m 312.504.2460 | f 312.553.8208 t.kruse@interiorarchitects.com

ABOUT IA INTERIOR ARCHITECTS

Founded in 1984, IA Interior Architects is the first and largest global architectural firm focused exclusively on interior architecture and workplace strategies. IA helps clients in diverse markets worldwide align their business strategies and core values with the dynamic use of space. IA has offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, London, Los Angeles, New York, Orange County, Raleigh, San Francisco, Seattle, Silicon Valley, and Washington, DC and has partner affiliates in Europe, Middle East and Africa, Asia and Australia, Canada, and Latin America through the IA Global Alliance. For more information, visit http://www.interiorarchitects.com.

Media Contact: Sofia Zimmerman s.zimmerman@interiorarchitects.com 917.579.5702

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Tish Kruse Joins IA Interior Architects as Director of Workplace Strategy

Cebu Daily News

CEBUS BEST architects will once again see the court as the United Architects Basketball Club-Mini Cup 2012 gets underway today with a triple-header at the Cebu Eastern College gym.

The entire roster of members have been divided into six teams in this tournament that is being backed by Boysen Paint and Eastman Industrial Supply Inc.

Players were drafted to six teams, which are being led by Vincent Sesbreno, Oliver Tan, Michael Cinco, Jodl Dabon, Rhyan Pepito and Jay-R Decatoria.

The tournament will be a single round-robin affair with the top two teams earning a twice-to-beat advantage in the semifinals. The winners there will battle for the crown while the losers tangle for the third place trophy.

This competition is done in preparation for the more prestigious Corporate Cup slated next month. /Correspondent Jonas Panerio

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UABC Mini Cup begins

Local architects known for their modern towers, malls, hospitals, plazas and libraries, are scaling down their designs to raise money for families in need.

Their whimsical drawings will be built into futuristic playhouses and put on display at the Pacific National Exhibition this August, and sold off to corporate buyers who will donate them to community groups across the province. The proceeds will go to Habitat for Humanity, a charity that helps low-income families build and buy their own homes. The designs and materials are all donated, and the finished playhouses will ultimately be made accessible to the public.

The idea came from Canfor, a forest-product company, which is celebrating its 75th year in business next year. It's first wood products were used to build the famous Mosquito bomber planes during the Second World War, and the playhouse design they're sponsoring takes the shape of that propeller plane.

The company wants to send a positive message about building with wood while benefiting Habitat for Humanity, said Canfor president Don Kayne. "We're trying to raise our profile as the industry rebounds from a pretty tough recession over the years," Kayne said.

"It's important to connect more with the community and connect more with the younger generation."

Other forestry firms have signed on as well, including West Fraser, Inter-for, Western Forest and Conifex, Kayne said.

Each will work with an architect and a local builder to turn the drawings into wooden playhouses. Kids can play in them at the PNE and then wherever they're placed after the 17-day fair is over.

Michael Green Architecture, DGBK Architects, Dialog Design, and Hughes Condon Marler Architects are among some of the local creative teams that have signed up to participate. There will be eight playhouses in all.

Besides the propeller plane, which was designed by architecture students at the British Columbia Institute of Technology, other playhouses take on cubist or geometric designs.

There's even a teepee, designed by Michael Green and his 11-year-old son, who told him "kids love teepees."

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Forestry firms, architects to create playhouses for charity