Michael Murphy was 26 years old, and deep into final exams his first semester at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, when Dr. Paul Farmer came to campus to speak. Murphy knew of Farmer, who in 1987 cofounded Partners in Health, to serve Haitis neediest.

It was 2006, World AIDS Day, and Murphy headed over to hear what Farmer had to say. He had no idea that the speech he crammed into his busy schedule would determine the direction of his lifes work.

Farmer told the students about the homes and hospitals Partners in Health (PIH) was building in rural Haiti, Rwanda, and Peru. Murphy was moved. This guy was talking about architecture, but hes calling it health care, he recalls. As a student, I thought it was an interesting reframing of architecture as a key piece of the health care delivery system.

After the speech, Murphy found Farmer and asked how he could help.

Architects? responded Farmer. Why do I need an architect? I just draw it all out on the back of a napkin.

But an e-mail correspondence began, and at the end of his first year in graduate school, Murphy spent the summer in rural Rwanda, working with Partners in Health. Farmers team was treating some of the poorest people in the world, people whose lives had been devastated by the 1994 genocide that killed 800,000 in 100 days.

Murphys lofty aim: to show how architecture fits snugly into the health care cause. Farmer and his colleagues, who had already built clinics and hospitals, agreed that professional architects could indeed help. Shortly after Murphy returned to Harvard, they asked if he could help build a state-of-the-art hospital in Rwanda. It would serve Burera, a district with a population of 400,000, one doctor, and no hospital.

I didnt know how to build a hospital, says Murphy, now 32. But when Paul Farmer calls you, you say yes.

Murphys classmate Alan Ricks, 29, offered to help, along with a few other students and professors. Murphy spent the winter term in Rwanda, puzzling the project out with Farmer and the Rwandan minister of health. We realized it was more than just helping draw up a few plans, says Murphy. It really was about a new vision of architecture.

In 2010, that vision would become MASS Design Group, a Boston team of architects committed to projects that will improve both the health and the lives of a community. With nonprofit status pending, MASS Model of Architecture Serving Society has often teamed up with Partners.

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The architects of a new kind of health care

The planned site of the Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem. Photo by Shiran Granot

The original architects of Jerusalem's Museum of Tolerance, who quit the project a number of months ago, say they own the rights to their design and the Simon Wiesenthal Center cannot use them.

The husband-and-wife architect team of Bracha and Michael Chyutin are owed an estimated several million shekels for their work on the Wiesenthal Center's controversial project. The Israeli couple was hired after the prominent Los-Angeles-based architect Frank Gehry, resigned from the project in January 2010.

The Chyutins were awarded the job after winning a closed design competition sponsored by the Wiesenthal Center, also based in Los Angeles. They submitted a new design for the structure in October 2010, and began applying to the Jerusalem Municipality for the required permits. Their relationship with the Wiesenthal Center ran aground last September over what has been described as "a business disagreement."

The Wiesenthal Center has proceeded with the project using the Chyutins' plans, saying it owned the rights to the design. Last month the municipality gave the go-ahead to begin construction.

Early on in the project, controversy erupted over the choice of the museum site, part of which is an old Muslim cemetery.

A spokesman for the Wiesenthal Center, Lior Horev, declined to comment specifically on the Chyutins' claims, which he called "imaginary, but he said the Chyutins' contract provides for binding arbitration in the event of a dispute with the Wiesenthal Center. He said that once all building permits are received construction is expected to take about 48 months. The Chyutins' lawyer, Rakefet Peled, said no architect, engineer or other professional associated with the project has permission to use the plans her clients developed.

Haaretz has learned that detailed plans for the museum are currently being developed by Jerusalem architect Yigal Levy and Aedas, a British-Singaporean group of architects. The choice of Aedas, which is one of the world's leading architectural firms, is seen as a sign of the Wiesenthal Center's determination to proceed with the Jerusalem museum.

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Museum of Tolerance ex-architects fight plans to use their design

Cautious Optimism

By Jim Cronin

Banker & Tradesman Staff Writer

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Boston Architects Drafting Blueprint For Recovery

Originally published on ArchDaily

Architects: Werner Tscholl Architects Location: Brenner Pass, Italy Project Year: 2010 Photographs: Alexa Rainer, Jrgen Eheim

The Timmelsjoch is the deepest, non-glaciated indentation in the main Alpine ridge between the Reschen Pass and the Brenner Pass.

A road, once a mule track, links the Passeiertal valley and the tztal valley. Over thousands of years, unique similarities between the two valleys evolved, triumphing over the natural boundary created by the mountains.

Since 2010 architectural sculptures located at several stopping places along the road, enlighten travellers about the natural surroundings, the history, the culture, the communities and the economy of the region.

All together there are 5 sculptures to be explored, two on the Austrian side called walkway and smuggler and two on the Italian side of the road named telescope and garnets. On the highest point of the pass one can find the pass museum. The concrete structure on the North Tyrolean side juts out like an erratic boulder into the South Tyrolean side, underlining the cross-border nature of the Timmelsjoch Experience. The Ice Cave inside the museum pays tribute to the pioneers of the High Alpine Road and their remarkable accomplishment.

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The Timmelsjoch Experience / Werner Tscholl Architects

The Safe Haven Bathhouse is a new sanitary building to meet the basic personal hygiene needs of the orphanage.

The will to do something meaningful and good lies within all of us, agree architects with heart Hanstad (left) and Gjertsen who stayed in Thailand for a full year studying, designing and building with several different communities.

The Safe Haven Library workshop undertaken in 2009 by TYIN involved the participation of 15 Norwegian architecture students from NTNU to ensure that the Safe Haven Orphanage has a space for the children to do homework, use a computer, read books and play games.

The Soe Ker Tie House in Noh Bo, a small village situated at the border tucked between Thailand and Burma is the realisation of a dream for the Karen refugee children. Here, bamboo weaving technique was used for the creation of the Butterfly Houses.

The Old Market Library built in a 100-year old market building caught on with the locals who have developed an attachment to this place built with local and reused materials.

The Cassia Co-op Training Centre located in an area where 75 per cent of the worlds cinnamon production takes place is designed as a space for educating local cinnamon farmers in Sumatra.

Energetic duo Andreas G. Gjertsen and Yashar Hanstad, partners of TYIN tegnestue Architects from Norway live by Finnish architect and writer Juhani Pallasmaas saying, Architecture is about the understanding of the worldand turning it into a more meaningful and humane place.

We have always been interested in basic solutions to fundamental challenges.

Our architecture is usually based on rational choices with the aim of creating useful and beautiful structures. Our background in Norway has taught us a lot about wooden construction and we cherish other natural materials as well.

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Norwegian architects reach out to the needy

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Architects overwhelmingly agree that people perform better in buildings with abundant natural light. Controlling the natural light, as well as providing it, is an important design concern, according to a new survey conducted by Hanley Wood, a leading media and information company in the construction industry. The survey was sponsored by SAGE, the leading manufacturer of electronically tintable dynamic glass.

More than 99 percent of the nearly 500 architects surveyed believe people perform their jobs or activities better in buildings when exposed to natural light. Additionally, almost 98 percent of architects surveyed felt occupants perform better when they have a view and connection to the outdoors.

When uncontrolled, however, abundant sunlight can adversely affect building occupants as much as it benefits them, with problems such as glare, heat gain and fading. That is a reason why more than 93 percent of architects surveyed also agree that sun control is a significant challenge when designing glass into buildings.

Glass, traditionally a double-edged sword

Traditional approaches to controlling sunlight have frustrated architects who love to design with glass. Controls such as mechanized shades, blinds or exterior louvers may block the sun but also limit exposure to daylight and the view to the outdoors, which are the very reasons why windows are designed into building facades. Consequently, only 39% of architects agree that they are satisfied with options for managing solar control today. Furthermore, 17% of architects pointedly indicate that they are not satisfied with conventional sun control options.

The recent research supports the value proposition of new glazing technologies like dynamic SageGlass, which electronically tints and clears on demand to tame the suns harmful rays without blocking the view to the outdoors.

The survey also found that the use of energy-efficient glass is aligned with a majority of architects green design objectives. Approximately two-thirds of architects surveyed said that they typically design buildings with LEED principles in mind. This viewpoint indicates a growing awareness of sustainable building design practices in the industry over the past 10 years, and bodes well for new glazing technologies that can demonstrate a direct contribution to LEED points and environmental objectives.

The Hanley Wood study validates the SageGlass value proposition and many of the reasons why SageGlass is gaining momentum in the market, said Derek Malmquist, vice president of marketing at SAGE. In addition to energy savings and enhancing sustainability, dynamic glass provides architects and glaziers with a product that uniquely solves the problem of solar control. SageGlass can be controlled to let in exactly the right amount of sunlight to maximize building efficiency without ever having to sacrifice natural light or a connection to the outdoors.

A common misperception in the industry is that dynamic glazing is too expensive for mainstream projects. The survey suggests that attitudes may be changing on this issue. Nearly 75 percent of architects were positive or neutral about the affordability of new technologies like dynamic glass, which is a significant departure from earlier industry perceptions (with one in five architects agreeing or strongly agreeing that dynamic glass is affordable compared to other traditional solar control options).

Original post:
Architectural Survey Finds That Architects Have Love/Hate Relationship with the Sun

American Institute of Architects handed out its annual awards to projects showcasing the best innovative design

By Louise Boyle

PUBLISHED: 22:06 EST, 12 June 2012 | UPDATED: 03:24 EST, 13 June 2012

What do Scottsdale, Arizona, Syracuse in upstate New York and the San Juan Islands off Washington have in common? They are all home to some of the most architecturally inspiring addresses in the United States.

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has handed out the 2012 Housing Awards to projects at the pinnacle of design, creativity and sustainability.

The jury recognized projects in four categories - custom-built homes for one family, large structures which sleep many individuals in their own apartments and specialized buildings such as community centers.

The ten homes selected were: The Nakahouse, a space-age home in the Hollywood Hills; Relic Rock, a luxury home in Scottsdale, Arizona; The Pierre, a strange stone inspired home in the San Juan Islands off Washington state; The Camelview Village, a futuristic condo complex in Scottsdale, Arizona; Hampden Lane House in Bethesda, Maryland; The Live Work Home in Syracuse, New York; the luxury Carmel residence in Carmel-by-Sea, California; a new Jesuit Community centre in Fairfield, Connecticut; new low-budget homes in San Francisco and new college halls of residence in Houston, Texas.

Otherwordly homestead: Optima Camelview Village is a 700-unit condominium development comprised of eleven buildings linked by bridges in Scottsdale, Arizona

Spiritual setting: The Arizona complex draws inspiration from the surrounding mountains and Native American desert communities

Sit back and relax in your surroundings: A lounge area in the Optima Camelview Village in Scottsdale

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American Institute of Architects hand out awards for best designed homes in the U.S.

13 June 2012 Last updated at 19:02 ET By James Melik Reporter, Business Daily, BBC World Service

Institutional figures across the eurozone have been scrambling to offer their latest solutions to the financial crisis.

It is a crisis which, in theory, should never have happened, say the figures who helped create it - if the stability and growth pact insisted upon by the then German finance minister, Theo Waigel, had been adhered to at the time of the creation of the euro in 1999.

Business Daily asked some of the architects of the single currency what went wrong, and whether the euro can survive.

Graham Bishop was a member of the European Commission's Maas Committee - preparing the changeover to the single currency - and then the Financial Services Strategy Group.

He insists that had the requirements for sound public finances, embodied in the Maastricht Treaty, been met and fulfilled, the current crisis would not have happened.

"If countries with budget deficits had kept them low, there would not have been a need for the sort of measures we see now," he says.

"But the other problem that we didn't foresee, was that the US would export its subprime mortgages on such a scale and that the government would need to step in."

He says that it is easy to explain monetary union, but that political union is a very different matter.

"There is already a lot of political union through the European Commission, the European Court of Justice, the European Parliament," he notes.

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Architects of the euro reflect on its origins

The University of Houston took another step toward its journey toward a new football stadium on Tuesday when the school officially announced the hiring of PageSoutherlandPage and DLR Group as the stadium's architects.

PageSoutherlandPage, a local firm that has done work with UH before, is the current designer of the new West Dining Hall and the new Cougar Place housing on campus. It was also the architect for the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center, which was completed in 2003.

DLR Group has extensive experience with college athletic stadiums, including Florida's Ben Hill Griffin Stadium and Nebraska's Memorial Stadium. DLR Group also designed LSU's baseball home, Alex Box Stadium.

"Now, this allows us to get into the nitty-gritty of the design," UH athletic director Mack Rhoades said. "With the two firms, I couldn't be more pleased."

Rhoades said the plan is to begin demolition of Robertson Stadium in December and begin work on the new stadium shortly thereafter.

"It is now the starting point; the work will really begin," Rhoades said. "It's exciting to embark on that project."

PageSoutherlandPage will be led by principal in charge Jeffrey Bricker, design principal in charge Lawrence Speck and senior designer David Quenemoen. DLR Group will be led by stadium project manager Don Barnum and lead stadium designer Greg Garlock.

Rhoades said both groups showed great passion for the project. He said UH has told the architects to think "blank canvas" when it comes to design.

"Having a sports stadium that's commensurate with the achievements of the university I think was a big goal of theirs," Bricker said. "One of the main points we made in our interview when we were pursuing this project was that the University of Houston is the public university for the city of Houston. It's hard to get noticed in a city this big. So to do a stadium where you can be noticed in all of that is a goal of ours, and that's the stadium we're going to deliver."

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UH picks architects for new stadium

LONG BEACH, Calif., June 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --After successfully completing the Programming and Schematic design phases of the project in collaboration with the Long Beach City College District team, user group and bond management team BCA Architects continues their partnership with the LBCCD to modernize their Nursing and Health Technology building.

Long Beach City College (LBCC) is the home of the nationally recognized nursing program offered by the Health and Technology Department. The Health and Technology building is a three-story building constructed circa 1969. The total enclosed area of the building being modernized is 23,250 square feet. Currently the Nursing Department is preparing students to work in 21st century hospitals in a facility built in 1969 - to maximize the use of the existing spaces and to provide a 21st Century Learning Environment, designed for the specific needs of the Nursing and Health Technology program, the College District and BCA Architects have embarked on converting all existing enclosed areas to support new functional needs of the Department.

Paul Bunton, AIA, President of BCA Architects, said, "BCA is enjoying our partnership with the Long Beach City College and their Bond Management Team to assist in the modernization and expansion of this exciting and progressive program. The students of LBCC will be learning in one of the most state-of-the-art nursing and health technology facilities in the State."

Since 1927, LBCC has been serving the needs of the city of Long Beach and its neighboring districts of Avalon, Lakewood and Signal Hill. Long Beach Community College District is making significant improvements to both of their campuses and implementing construction programs under the Measure E Bond Program, Proposition 1A, Proposition 47, Proposition 55, and State-funded scheduled maintenance projects.

The Renovation of Building C - Nursing and Health Technology building project is expected to be complete in the fall of 2014.

BCA Architects partners with clients on a mission to achieve excellence in design. Since 1989, BCA strives to strengthen communities through projects to: design facilities, help define partnerships, locate financing, and save energy or present alternate delivery methods. BCA goes above and beyond the task at hand to ensure their clients succeed. http://www.bcaarchitects.com

MEDIA CONTACT:

Rachel Del Fierro (925) 785-1435 or RachelD@BCAarchitects.com

This press release was issued through eReleases Press Release Distribution. For more information, visit http://www.ereleases.com.

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BCA Architects Selected to Modernize Long Beach City College Nursing and Health Technology Building