Sometimes all it takes to deliver a successful project is a client who is willing to take a chance. When a past residential customer approached Pablo Pérez Palacios, principal of his eponymous firm, Pérez Palacios Arquitectos Asociados (PPAA), about an expansion of an office for the premium dairy company Lyncott in Santiago de Querétaro, Mexico, the
In the human cardiovascular system blood, oxygen, and the heart can’t function without one another. At LifeServe Blood Center, a laboratory and blood donation center in Iowa, the building’s integrated design operates the same way: If you take away any component, it doesn’t work as it should. BNIM Architects designed the facility in Johnston, Iowa, to account for privacy,
Mass timber construction is gradually taking hold on the East Coast. Following D2 Groups’ completion of a timber office building just outside of Philadelphia, Lake Flato—an award-winning practice based in Texas—has delivered the first such project within city limits at the University of Pennsylvania. The new building is designed for Penn Engineering’s growing data science and artificial intelligence program, delivering sleek
KWK Promes, a Polish firm known for its austere and modern residential work, has demonstrated a capacity for humor and kitsch with its latest project. Tasked with designing a new facility for a pipe distribution company in Gliwice, Poland, the firm’s approach evokes the postmodern principles of Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown’s Learning from Las Vegas.
The University of Arkansas is expanding its campus south into the surrounding college town of Fayetteville, Arkansas, to accommodate new programs and a growing student population. Along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, a block-sized development known as the Windgate Arts and Design District is taking shape, providing much-needed facilities for the school’s art department. This new academic district is
In the Exchange District, the post-industrial core of Downtown Winnipeg, local practice 5468796 Architecture has revived the James Avenue Pumping Station, a facility that once moved water across the city. Maintaining the station’s now dormant machinery, the firm suspended office space and a restaurant from a platform within the historic structure, while also adding two new apartment buildings to the
A new facility for retail giant Shinsegae marks the first completed project in South Korea for Robert A. M. Stern Architects (RAMSA). Located in the heart of Seoul, the new building serves as a training center for the corporations employees and also features office space, ground floor retail, and a large auditorium. The structure’s exterior is wrapped in complex brick bond
“Architecture is frozen music,” a quotation attributed to Goethe, might be one of the profession’s worst cliches. However, at a new school in Upper Manhattan, the analogy applies literally. Building above an existing parking garage, GLUCK+, a New York City–based practice, has created an 8-story tower to house the WHIN Music Community Charter School. To reflect the centrality of
Facelift may be the appropriate term for a recent expansion to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, where a 58,000-square-foot addition has transformed the exterior of the institution. Designed by DLR Group, the project adds new exhibition space as well as two acres of landscaping around the perimeter of the building. Previously housed within an inconspicuous brick
Mass timber construction has arrived in Morgan Hill, California, a small city located south of San Jose. A new structure known as the Edes Building has risen near the center of town, housing a contemporary art gallery and a wine bar that draws from the region’s plentiful vineyards. Eager to showcase the building’s use of wood, design architect KTGY exposed glulam
In a dense city like Philadelphia, residential architecture maintains a precarious relationship with privacy, which is often difficult to achieve. On a site in Center City, local office Moto Designshop faced this challenge head on, designing a new row house across the street from a busy and unsightly gas station. To conceal the home and obscure the eyesore
Expectations are always immense when adding to a famous work of architecture. This was certainly the case at the Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand (MASP), where Metro Arquitetos Associados was tasked with complementing the institution’s original building, designed by Lina Bo Bardi. To avoid competing for visual attention with the existing structure, Metro Arquitetos wrapped the
At Fanshawe College—one of Ontario’s largest public institutions of higher education—Diamond Schmitt has sutured a new building, known as the Innovation Village, into the center of the campus. Surrounded by the school’s existing brick buildings, the new structure is distinguished by its size and bold blue color. Diamond Schmitt’s intervention also boasts a number of high-performance features,
In Universal City—the neighborhood-sized home of Universal Pictures’s corporate campus, production lots, and theme park—LEVER Architecture has designed two new buildings: The Commons and One Universal. The former, an employee amenity space, evokes early moving picture technology through its circular structure and lenticular shade screen of thin aluminum tubes. Its companion, One Universal, is a more conventional
In New Westminster, British Columbia, a new aquatic center by hcma architecture + design has redefined notions of progressive design. Known as the təməsew̓txʷ Aquatic and Community Center, the building was planned in close collaboration with First Nations communities while also targeting ambitious sustainability goals. Through a tightly insulated envelope of standing-seam metal, intentionally-oriented glazing, and precast
In Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood, local practice Range Architecture & Design has created a new showroom for Nothing Design Co., a boutique furniture studio. Working with an existing 1-story brick building, the architects added a double-height second floor and implemented a screen of terra-cotta pavers in front of the building to shade large window openings. The expansion also relied heavily
Illuminated at night, the Kiewit Luminarium is a symbol of the revitalization of Omaha, Nebraska’s Missouri River waterfront. The new science museum is named after its largest donor, the Kiewit Corporation, a locally based general contractor. On the other hand, the term “luminarium” reflects the illumination of the structure, while also evoking associations with curiosity and wonder. Inspired
Fordham University’s latest addition is the McShane Campus Center, a 170,000-square-foot facility consolidating the school’s fitness and student leisure programs into a single facility. Designed by HLW, the project stitches together three previously existing buildings through the addition of two glass arcade corridors and a new entrance facing the campus quad. This new street-facing elevation was
The latest addition to Georgetown University’s Capitol Campus in downtown Washington, D.C. is the McCourt School of Public Policy. Previously located at the institution’s primary Hilltop campus, the school occupied an aging midcentury building and was in need of a fresh start. Its new facility, designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects (RAMSA), situates the school of policy in
Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) is leading the construction of Westlake 66, a massive development in Hangzhou, China, that will eventually deliver five office towers and a hotel. Seeking to rebuke the city’s car-centric urbanism and connect two of its important landmarks—West Lake and the Grand Canal, both UNESCO World Heritage Sites—the architects devised a pedestrian corridor at the center
Wolf Point, a four-acre site located at the intersection of the Chicago River’s three forks masterplanned by Pelli Clarke & Partners, is finally complete after a 15-year development saga. The final component of the project wrapped up construction late last year; it is a 57-story office tower leased to Salesforce and Kirkland Ellis, a corporate law firm.
As the year comes to a close, AN is looking back on some of the most interesting building envelopes covered in 2024. The list includes projects from around the world with a variety of material expressions—including glass, aluminum, concrete, and timber—as well as programmatic functions, featuring a library, community center, institutional facilities, apartments, and offices. To keep up
Québécois firm Provencher_Roy has designed a new home for the Hautes Études Commerciales de Montréal (HEC), Canada’s oldest business management program. Named the Hélène Desmarais building as a nod to the HEC’s first female president, the new structure is located in the Ville-Marie borough, Montreal’s downtown core. Out of deference for its historic surroundings, which include St. Patrick’s Basilica, the
In Paris, Kengo Kuma & Associates (KKAA) has designed a wood-clad housing complex for REI Habitat, a climate-conscious French developer that specializes in timber and low-carbon construction. The project received its name, Yama-Tani—a conjunction of the Japanese words for mountain and valley—from its unique facade, composed of ridged chestnut panels. This latest project builds upon motifs in KKAA’s previous