The national aquarium in baltimore, with a jutting triangular glass topper

Baltimore’s National Aquarium will make its iconic glass pyramid bird safe

In keeping with its conservation mission, the National Aquarium in Baltimore has announced plans to make all of the glass in its buildings “bird safe.” The institution is planning to replace all 684 panes in the glass pyramid that covers its Upland Tropical Rain Forest exhibit after several panes shattered, indicating the existing glass is reaching the end of its expected

image of partial section of the facade

Studio Gang crowns St. Louis with a new crystalline residential tower

Though it’s been open for less than a year, One Hundred, a 36-story residential tower in St. Louis’s Central West End neighborhood, carries itself like a city landmark. Designed by celebrated Chicago architecture firm Studio Gang, the building peacocks along Kings-highway Boulevard, its tiered, faceted profile evoking a giant crystalline headdress. ManufacturerLorin Industries Architect Facade ConsultantStudio NYL Structural EngineerMagnusson

Rendering of the Metropolitan Museum of Art window wall

With Eamon Roche in agreement, LPC approves new glass wall for New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art

Should New York’s Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) support a proposal that continues a 40-year-old design approach by an esteemed architect, even though it’s not what environmentally-sensitive architects would propose today? That was the question was raised during the June 2 LPC hearing, as panel members discussed whether to approve a new south-facing glass wall for

aerial shot of the oval shaped thatched roof and surrounding two smaller buildings

The passive house Fass School employs local materials for an active facade

Awarded the 2021 AIA Award for Architecture in late April, the Senegalese Fass School and Teacher’s Residences is the first in its region of over 110 villages to provide secular education alongside traditional Quranic teaching. The project, completed in 2019, was designed by Toshiko Mori Architect (TMA) for the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation and nonprofit group Le Korsa. The oval-shaped main building

MIT Site 4, a tall, narrow building covered in louvers

MIT Site 4 is a new icon for the Cambridge-based school

From the beginning, MIT Site 4, a new 29-story graduate residential tower in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was conceived by its architects as an icon. But not just any icon, said Nader Tehrani of the architecture firm NADAAA; the project, one of several being developed concurrently by MIT in the Kendall Square neighborhood, needed to both anchor this inchoate skyline and

sinuous concrete form of the open terrace facing the water

The concrete Cloudscape of Haikou elevates sinuous form for coastal pavilion

The Cloudscape of Haikou opened on April 21st, 2021, welcoming users and park visitors from the coastal city of Haikou, China, to the intimate library and waystation. Commissioned by the city’s Tourism and Culture Investment Holding Group, the sinuous concrete Cloudscape is the first of 16 coastal pavilions that will be built to rejuvenate the public space along

a corner shot showing the two story poured concrete arches at the mechanical, or "skyview", level and the north herringbone concrete wall

180 East 88th highlights craftsmanship with a waterfall of hand-laid Kolumba brick

New York’s Upper East Side neighborhood is home to an eclectic range of scale and style largely thanks to its early history; a few blocks from the marble and limestone chateaus sprinkling Park Avenue are the brick and stone Neo-Federal and Georgian townhomes from the late 19th century. As nesting ground for some of the most expensive housing in Manhattan,

image of several buildings including The Byrant. View is from Bryant Park and includes trees

New York’s tapering tripartite The Bryant joins the ranks of Beaux-Arts icons

Overlooking New York’s Bryant Park, the (now complete) residential tower The Bryant cuts a striking-yet-austere figure in the crowded Midtown skyline. Designed by the primarily London-based firm David Chipperfield Architects (DCA), the 34-story high-end-rise is notable for its perfect grid of oversize post-and-beam concrete slabs and operable window bays. ArchitectDavid Chipperfield Architects Architect of RecordStonehill Taylor Facade ConsultantVidaris Structural EngineerSeverud

VSA’s dynamic web of steel, glass, and vegetation blooms in West L.A.

Replacing a dilapidated two-story building, Valerie Schweitzer Architects’ Hide and Seek apartment complex is one of many new projects to join the low-slung stretch of Los Angeles’s Overland Avenue. The 4-story, 15 unit building brings a dynamic facade full of depth to a multifamily housing cluster straddling the border of single-family lots—a condition common to

A concrete candy wrapper snakes around San Francisco’s Serif and The Line Hotel

Serif and The Line Hotel, designed by Handel Architects, is well underway and once complete will deliver a 12-story mixed-use hotel and residential building at the boundary of the Tenderloin and South of Market districts in San Francisco. With nearly 400,000 square feet—200,000 of residential and 140,000 for the hotel—the scale of the project was

AN launches its first Facades+ conference of 2021: “Facade+Southeast: Breaking the Georgian Mold”

Facades+Southeast: Breaking the Georgian Mold, AN’s first conference of the summer, will be grounded in the city of Atlanta and co-chaired by HKS Architects. Although the Peach State will feature prominently within the virtual program, the conference’s three panels will be relevant for the entire Southeast, and beyond. The topics respond to architecture’s increasing responsibility

rendering of the L shaped building exterior highlighting the Arizona sun's intense glare

Studio Ma harnesses new climate technologies for ASU’s Downtown Center

In its design of the 284,000 square-foot, 16-story Downtown Phoenix Residence Hall and Entrepreneurial Center for Arizona State University (ASU), Studio Ma demonstrated how new advancements in materials and technologies can be employed to build structures that will better withstand the unique conditions of desert climates. The downtown complex, comprised of an L-shaped residential tower

detail photo of the facade shows the handmade bricks flush with the lintels and window casings at 11-19 Jane Street

David Chipperfield Architects brings a contemporary approach to the West Village

On Jane Street between Manhattan’s West 4th Street and Greenwich Avenue, a handsome, textured Venetian-red brick building sits unassumingly. On its left, it abuts a brick building painted pale-yellow, home to an architectural hardware firm and metal foundry. On its right, it’s separated from a faded red brick Greek Revival townhouse by means of a

up close shot of the textured facade with victorian building in the background

A rainbow of terra-cotta adorns PLP Architecture’s Kaleidoscope office in London

PLP Architecture’s dynamic new London office building, appropriately called Kaleidoscope due to its rainbow hues, has found a welcome and fitting tenant. While construction was completed in December of 2019, the 88,500-square-foot space will finally welcome social media giant TikTok and serve as their U.K. headquarters. The six-story building is situated along “culture mile,” where Pentagram has re-branded the space to

Gothic revival facade at Vanderbilt University “sprinkles” the past with modern efficiency

While gothic revival architecture can be found on nearly any campus, rarely are these traditional exteriors extolled for their energy efficiency. However, the residential E. Bronson Ingram College building showcases the historic character of the treasured Vanderbilt University campus while also achieving LEED Gold. Located in Nashville, the campus holds an eclectic blend of late

Dartmouth’s 1960s-era Anonymous Hall makes a name for itself with 2030 overhaul

As demonstrated by the growing list of firms joining the AIA’s 2030 Commitment, energy performance is rapidly becoming an increasingly pressing and integrated part of architectural design. The standards set by the 2030 goal emphasize how retrofitting an existing building’s energy performance is just as critical to achieving net-zero energy for a project as it

The Susan Wakil Health Building unveils a striking facade in sunny Sydney

A light-filled, triple-height atrium welcomes patients, students, and visitors to the Susan Wakil Health Building, a new satellite of the University of Sydney. Designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Billard Leece Partnership, the healthcare hub consolidates teaching, research, and clinical functions under one roof. At more than 231,000 square feet, the project footprint is

The Buddy Holly Hall complex strums a new chord in Lubbock, Texas

  As a teenager emerging from the Great Depression, Buddy Holly strummed his guitar in Lubbock, Texas to dreams of becoming a pioneering figure in American rock n’ roll thinking, “that’ll be the day.” Decades later, his short music career, traced by its influences from gospel and blues, definitively enshrined Buddy as an icon not

IwamotoScott’s Cellular Origami transforms a San Francisco garage

While some may think that garage design is relevant only for showy car collectors and owners of detached single-family houses, the reality is that many garages are multistory parking structures in dense cities where car use is high. Of four finalists, San Francisco–based firm IwamotoScott won the design competition hosted by University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) to transform the

At Canoe Landing Campus in Toronto, the green roof becomes a fifth facade

Situated in downtown Toronto’s sprawling CityPlace residential district, Canoe Landing Campus is a mixed-use complex that brings life and a spot of color to a 3.3-acre lot that had sat empty for years. The $65 million, 158,893-square-foot compound introduces vertical community in a drastically different manner than the tall, blue-gray towers that have dominated the neighborhood since the