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UnBeige logo by Angela Voulangas and Doug Clouse, as part of our regular design our logo feature

architecture

Laura Bush Unveils Design Plans for the George W. Bush Presidential Center

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Way back when in 2007, we were one of the first outlets to tell you that Robert A.M. Stern had been hired to design the George W. Bush Presidential Center, then again earlier this year about its sudden increase in size and Laura Bush finding a landscape architect for the project (who, while we're mentioning Michael Van Valkenburg, was also just hired to work on Chicago's Grant Park). But other than those little bits and pieces, there hasn't been much news coming out of Southern Methodist University, where the center will be built. But now you can expect a lot more talk in the coming years, as this week Mrs. Bush revealed the plans for the new building and its surroundings. Personally, our review of Stern's work is that, well, it's fine. Perfectly pleasant, but likely nothing that future generations will be studying or getting excited about. That seems to be the consensus among most professional critics too. Christopher Hawthorne starts his review "George W. Bush was a lightning rod of a politician. His presidential library is meant to be anything but" and seems to keep to that theme throughout. Here in Chicago, Blair Kamin reports mostly on the news of the release, but does offer some small bits of evaluation, saying that the plans are slightly less than traditional, but "they are by no means as boldly modern as the bridge-inspired William J. Clinton Presidential Library & Museum in Little Rock, Ark." We're not anxiously awaiting its completion, like we are with some projects, but we'll hold off on any complete judgment until the building is finished, which is currently projected to be around 2013.

UC Berkley Decides to Scrap Toyo Ito Designed Building

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We pick you up and then drop you back down. Sorry, but that's just how we roll around here. As positive as that last post was about the Billings Index rise, that doesn't necessarily mean much to a project that's getting shut down. So it is for UC Berkley, who wanted to build a swanky new building for the Berkley Art Museum and the Pacific Film Archive, designed by Toyo Ito and "estimated to cost $143 million" according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Unfortunately, as plans had moved forward since its original conception more than three years ago, it was decided that they just hadn't raised enough money for it and the whole thing would have to be shut down. However, while that building itself might now be just a memory, the university hasn't given up entirely and hopes to at least do something new (albeit on a tighter budget):

"The creation of a new home for the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive in downtown Berkeley continues to be a crucial step in UC Berkeley's longstanding commitment to the visual arts and to engagement with our broader community," said UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau. "While the architectural plans will change, what will not change is our shared goal of building a dynamic, welcoming, and seismically safe new museum at the corner of Center and Oxford streets."

AIA's Billing Index Continues to Rise, Reaches Pre-Bust Numbers

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Have we survived? Have we really put these dark days behind us and come out alive? So it might seem when you hear the news that the AIA's Architecture Billing Index is finally back to the levels it was at in August of 2008, right before the world fell apart. Granted, it's only three points higher than it was back in late-August of this year, and at 46.1 it's still below 50, indicating that there are still more building jobs finishing than starting, but it's still a positive sign. Though certainly no one wants to make the mistake of thinking things are good before they rapidly plunge again, like what surprised everyone with back in July. Here's a bit from the AIA's always-leery-to-predict-anything Kermit Baker:

The increase in billings could be "an early signal towards a recovery for the design and construction industry," said AIA Chief Economist Kermit Baker.

"On the other hand, because we continue to get reports of architecture firms struggling in a competitive marketplace with a continued decline in commercial property values, it is far too early to think we are out of the woods."

Does this all mean, short of just a couple months, that Marvin Malecha was right all along with his predictions late last year? After occasionally poking fun at his more happy vision for the future, this writer feels a little dumb in doubting him. But it's hard to see any sunshine through a full year of gloom, Marvin. Please understand! Apologies to people we don't know personally aside, if you want to read more about this latest uptick, the LA Times has some additional conversation with Baker about things maybe getting better.

On Top of the Burj Dubai

The Burj Dubai might not be ready to open until next year, but that doesn't mean that there's no one inside already. Or up top. And armed with a video camera. The clip below has been steadily making the rounds this week, showing the vantage point from the very top of the world's tallest building. If you don't like heights, you're likely not going to like this (we only made it about a minute in), so be warned.

As an added bonus, and if that weren't enough to terrify you of tall things, here's a clip we found of the first base-jump off the building. What's wrong with you people, being up so high?

Quarterback Profile Leads to Discovery of Kansas' Evil Plot to Control Stadium Design (Maybe)

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Not to brag, but we have it all figured out now. Remember how you, like us, thought it was curious when you learned that the epicenter of stadium design is Kansas [or Missouri, see below]? You have Populous there, which is clearly the biggest player in the game (metaphor!), but there's also Ellerbe Beckett, who grabbed the Atlantic Yards ball from Frank Gehry and is now running it to the end zone (another metaphor!). But how exactly did the city wind up with control of the stadium-building universe? We don't want to go too far with this, but it's clearly a statewide brainwashing experiment, either purported by the government or some Bilderberg-esque group, with Earl Santee pulling the strings. You ask for an evidence? We have your evidence right here. In this story about Kansas State University's quarterback, a young man named Grant Gregory, the focus is on how he knows every possible thing there is to know about every single stadium in America. His teammates call him "Rain Main" because he can rattle off tons of information about any stadium you can think of to quiz him on. Clearly this has been done before, with these minions weeding their way into the upper echelons of professional sports, putting the state's name out there wherever possible, creating this Kansas-based monopoly on stadium contracts. And now with Gregory, we're guessing he's their latest model, who they'll push to get into the pros, then a lengthy television commentator position, then finally, accepted as the NFL's commissioner. From there, we will all be helpless in the face of this total, overwhelming domination! Either that or it's just kind of an interesting story about how much this guy knows about football stadiums.

Update: A reader points out in the comments "Populous is in Kansas City, MISSOURI, among other places. I imagine that's where Ellerbe Beckett has an office, too." This either completely debunks the conspiracy theory, alters it slightly so that it also includes any state with a "Kansas"-named town, or proves that we've touched a nerve and this conspiracy's agents are trying to stop the truth from getting out.

Burj Dubai Delayed Again, Emirate Thinks About Bidding on 2020 Olympics

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Adrian Smith's Burj Dubai tower might be the tallest building in the world, but what use is the title if no one can even enter it? A while back, we'd heard that the Burj was set to open in September. Then that was moved back to early December. And now the latest update puts its opening on January 4th, delayed to help mark the anniversary of Dubai's ruler's appointment as head of the emirate. Given their track record, we're not going to hold our breath. In other Dubai news, despite what has seemed like a total collapse of their economy, with construction stopping and developers fleeing and the aforementioned ruler of the emirate calling for massive investigations into bounced checks, Dubai has announced that they will begin discussing putting in a bid for the 2020 Olympics. Seems like maybe not the wisest move, considering all the troubles they've had over this past year and a half, but they certainly do have ample lodging available and what we hear are lovely beaches and other bits of scenic, so who knows?

A Look at the Restoration of van der Rohe's 860-880 Lake Shore

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It's hopefully an established fact by now that when you want a Mies van der Rohe fix, you head straight to all around good guy, Edward Lifson. We've certainly posted our fair share of links to his writing about the brilliant architect, and have always enjoyed running into him around town and hearing what new things he has to say about van der Rohe's work. So again we make the leap over to Hello Beautiful for this recent look at all the finished restoration to 860-880 Lake Shore Drive, one of the architect's most beautiful high rises. We drive by the two towers nearly every morning on our way into the office and had seen the construction for what seems like years, but now it's apparently all done and ready to be fawned over, which Lifson does in spades, sharing not only some great photos of the newly improved structures, but a rundown of what was fixed as well. Here's a sampling:

All the stainless steel around the lower eight feet of the building was replaced. Much of the rest of the stainless steel was spot repaired and polished. Doors on the south elevation of 880 that had been moved to the center were restored to their original positions.

We also wanted to post this so we could remind you of what we called back in August, "The End All-Be-All of Architecture Critics Panels." The Chicago Architecture Foundation has their program A Conversation with the Critics: Imagining the Future of the City tomorrow night at 6pm. It looks like Jonathan Glancey won't be there, as was first announced, but he's been replaced by the LA Times' Christopher Hawthorne, so that isn't a bad trade at all. Plus, you'll still get to see Paul Goldberger, Blair Kamin, and Sarah Williams Goldhagen. And to pull this all together, full circle, it's hosted by Lifson. We'll be there and we've heard there are tickets still available, so what are you waiting for?!

David Burney and the DDC, Changing New York One Small Project at a Time

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Leaving school but staying in the same place, we turn to this great story in New York about David Burney, an architect many people might not know, but whose work is helping transform New York one small project at a time. Burney is the commissioner of the Department of Design and Construction, and in his past half-decade on the job, he's been actively trying to update and modernize (in a design sense) many of the new building projects the city decides to push through. With new procedures like altering the hunt for architects so that the best plans are chosen, not who can do it the cheapest, and convincing firms that building for the city isn't always a painful, fruitless endeavor. And it appears, at least through the lens of this piece, that he's finding success (the included slideshow of new buildings he's been involved with are beautiful, modern, and don't read at all as "government designed"). It's a great read, particularly if you've never heard of Burney and had wondered how it happens with the city (any city really) decides to build something not horrible to look at.

America's Tallest Tower Prepares to Go Green

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Beautiful as our architecture is here in Chicago, a lot of it wasn't built with the green, LEED-happy practices we use today. Fortunately, there's been movement toward revising some of those negatives, as Julie Wernau reports in her piece about architect Sara Beardsley's efforts to turn the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower) totally green. The project, which would make the US's tallest building energy efficient, is through local super firm Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture and is expected to run somewhere between $200 to $300 million, doing things like replacing all of its windows and adding all sorts of green rooftop additions some hundred stories above the ground. It's an ambitious project, to be sure, and hasn't picked up full steam yet, with plans for funding this massive endeavor still in the works, but here's to hoping it all works out and inspires other older buildings to do the same. Here are some of the details on the changes:

In design plans, the "green roof" project would be expanded to the building's multiple roofs, along with wind turbines and solar panels. But those rooftops would be more symbolic than anything else. The real energy savings will be culled from the 16,000 windows that will be replaced and from lighting automation and reduction.

The window project is estimated to be enough to cut heating needs by 50 percent and allow for new, smaller mechanical systems with a significantly lower environmental impact. A plumbing upgrade is expected to reduce water usage by 24 million gallons a year.

Koolhaas' Burnt Mandarin Hotel Might Still Be Salvageable

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Despite the hopefully-misguided beliefs of apparently a lot of people in China that starchitect Rem Koolhaas wants nothing more than to mock them with his buildings' designs, there's some positive news coming from the neighbor to his "controversial" CCTV Tower, the badly charred Mandarin Oriental hotel he also designed. It was one of the big architecture tragedies at the start of this year, when an errant firework found its way inside the building, setting it totally ablaze almost instantly, taking with it a firefighter's life and nearly $800 million poured into the about-to-open project (here's our report on personally seeing the damage up close back in May). But now Koolhaas' firm, Office for Metropolitan Architecture, has been back to the scene and have announced that despite its utterly-apocalyptic appearance, the building still seems structurally sound and that the damage might all be fixable. OMA hasn't said that they will for sure be working to rebuild, plans to move forward do seem likely, and that means that maybe the worst option has been diverted, that the Mandarin would have to be demolished completely.

"The preliminary findings are that the building can be repaired," said architect Ole Scheeren, the building project's leader. "It's still intact and safe. There will mainly be a repair effort, but not a complete rebuilding."

Previously

NY City Council Gives Jean Nouvel the Okay on MoMA Tower

Embarrassing Cracks Appear in the New Yankee Stadium

A Look at the LAPD's New Home Base

Dror Benshetrit Designing Soho Synagogue

Jean Nouvel's MoMA Tower Gets Shiny, Dissenters Launch TV Campaign

Populous Already Has Its Eyes on 2016

A Look at the New Tiffany & Co. in the Liebskind/Rockwell Designed 'Crystals' Development

Populous Lands Commission to Design 2014 Olympic Stadium

In Final Twist, Prada Transformer Overtaken by Design Students

Santiago Calatrava Runs Into More Bridge Building Trouble, This Time in Dallas

RMJM Get the Okay to Start Work on Europe's New Tallest Tower

Empire State Building to Undergo $550 Million Worth of Upgrades and Restoration

Prince Charles' Foundation for the Built Environment Now Under Investigation

Jean Nouvel Latest Starchitect to Have a Project Meet a Scalpel

Ellerbe Beckett and SHoP's Atlantic Yards Arena Designs Unveiled

Atlantic Yards Developers Bring in Local NY Firm SHoP, Perhaps to Quell Residual Anger

Despite a Ruiling Against and an Ongoing Appeal, Zaha Hadid's Seville Library Continues

Zaha Hadid's Burnham Pavilion 'Welcomes the Future' with Curvy Aluminum, Fabric Skins

Daniel Burnham's Famous Mt. Wilson Observatory in Danger Due to California Wildfires

The Struggle to Stick with LEED Certification After the Good Will Buzz Dissipates

Did Rem Koolhaas Design the CCTV Tower to 'Humiliate the Chinese'?

A Quick Tour Through the Empty Holes of Unfinished Architecture Projects

Andrew Bernheimer Responds to Nicolai Ouroussoff 'No Good Architects Left in NY' Claims

Jim Jennings's Splendor in the Sand

The Standard Hotel in Hot Water Over Steamy Window Scenes

Dubai Determined to Complete World's Tallest Building by End of Year

Rem Koolhaas' Prada Transformer Begins Its Next Movement

Prince Charles May Be Investigated for Architecture Meddling

AIA's Architectural Billings Index Bumps Back Up to Pre-Tumble Levels

Developer Behind Chicago Spire Sued for Defaulting on Loan

CCTV Neighbors Protesting Over 'Forced Removal'

Prince Charles Revealed to Have Tried to Interfere with Jean Nouvel's UK Debut

Norman Foster Removed from San Francisco Restoration Project Over Stimulus Funds Controversy

Sarah Whiting Named Dean of Rice University School of Architecture

Santiago Calatrava's Latest Bridge Debacle Finds Calgary Residents Taking Sides

Making Sense of the AIA's Billings Indexes

With British Museum Plans Canceled, Richard Rogers Loses Second Big Project to Anti-Modern Forces

Design Absent in Public Re-Review of Atlantic Yards Project

AIA Billing Index Quits Being Stable, Drops Five Points

Miami Beach Commission Officially Removes Frank Gehry from New World Symphony Park Project

Food Lion Gets into LEED Greening

Detroit's Argonaut Building Prepares to Start Its New Life as a School

Prince Charles Quits Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, Top Writers Take Sides

AIA Releases Forecast with Gloomy Outlook for Commercial Architecture

AIA Gains Ownership of Their Washington Headquaters, Releases State Department Embassy Report

Parsons Transporation Signs on Santiago Calatrava to Help Redesign Denver's Airport

West Virginia's The Greenbrier Prepares to Go Casino

Muslim and Jewish Groups Join Forces in Another Effort to Stop Frank Gehry's Museum of Tolerance

Decoding the Architectural Symbolism of Neverland Ranch

Brad Pitt's Make It Right Organization Releases New Housing Designs

Richard Rogers and Other Architects Take Tour of 2012 Olympics Sites

Starbucks Announces Move to Go Green with Company-Wide Redesigns

Prada Transformer Successfully Transforms into Film Festival

AIA's Billing Index Levels Out, Stays Flat

Robert A.M. Stern on Starchitects, Limestone, and Life without a Computer

LEGO Makes Child's Play of Frank Lloyd Wright Icons

A Look at SANAA's Relationship as They Ready the Serpentine Pavilion

Guggenheim Launches Online Design Forum

New Jersey Nets' CEO and Ellerbe Becket Principle Respond to Atlantic Yards Critics

MIT Developing Super Concrete That Lasts 16,000 Years

Richard Rogers' Call for Investigation Into Prince Charles' Abuse of Power Likely Not to Get Too Far

Santiago Calatrava to Design 'Cornerstone of New Campus' at USF Polytechnic

Checking in on the Building of MOS's P.S.1 Courtyard

George Lucas Planning to Build a Very Heart Mansion-Like Compound

Norman Foster Loses Russia Tower Project

Clark Manus Named 2011 President of American Institute of Architects

Prince Charles Wins the Anti-Modern Battle, Gets Richard Rogers Removed

Introducing 'The Rubble Club' a Support Group for Architects

William Morrish Appointed Dean of Parsons' School of Constructed Environments

Steve Jobs' House Demolishing Battle Must Return to Court

Atlantic Yards' Gehry Dumping Leads to Kansas City vs. New York Brawl

Guggenheim Teams with Google on Shelter Design Contest

AIA Gets the Green Light to Green Their Headquarters

It's Official (and Surprising to No One): Frank Gehry is Off Atlantic Yards

The Battle Over Mies van der Rohe's 'Test Cell'

Suspect Architect Opens Up Shop in UK, While India Relaxes Strict Requirements for Architecture Schools

A Mixed Review of Central Los Angeles Area High School #9

Atlantic Yards Rumors Appear True as Ellerbe Becket Steps in to 'Reevaluate' Frank Gehry's Plans

Thoughts on China: Seeing the Mandarin Hotel's Burns Up Close

Hauser & Wirth to Open NYC Gallery

Architect Arthur Erickson Dies at 84

Aaron Betsky on Prada Transformer: 'This Is Event Architecture'

Zaha Hadid Designs 'Undulating, Radiating' Boots for Lacoste

AIA's Billing Index Dips, But New Project Inquiries Get Stimulus Boost

Inside David LaChapelle's L.A. Home

Friday Photo: Frank Lloyd Wright on Piano

Peter Morrison Plans How to Steer RMJM Safely Through Economic Peril

Havana's Aging Architecture Continues to Crumble

Rem Koolhaas Talks Sustainability in Front of His Temporary Building

A Look Inside the House Steve Jobs Hates

First Look: Rem Koolhaas-Designed Prada Transformer Lands in Seoul

AIA's Billing Index Continues to Move Upward

When Buildings Quit Being Built or 'Accidental Architecture'

A Thorough Explanation of 'Prince Charles Vs. The Starchitects'

Starchitects Form Alliance to Battle the Anti-Modern Prince Charles

Freelon Adjaye Bond and SmithGroup Win Commission to Build National Museum of African American History and Culture

Venturi's House Finally Safe; Designer Pays $15k to Keep Boston Bridge's Lights On

Earl Santee and the Birth of Populous' Monopoly

AIA, Architects, Local Fans Join Fight to Save Portland's Memorial Coliseum

Peter Zumthor Wins Pritzker Prize

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