Archinect - News

Reed Hilderbrand signs on for a $22 million sculpture park at Louisville's Speed Art Museum

2023-08-15T17:54:00-04:00

A new three-acre sculpture park design for Louisville, Kentucky’s Speed Art Museum has been unveiled by Reed Hilderbrand Landscape Architecture in a preview of the project, which is expected to host some 500,000 visitors a year after it opens in 2025.

The firm’s $22 million Speed Outdoors makeover will recreate an area surrounding the museum with native flora, a water management system, and 150 new trees in coordination with the adjacent University of Louisville and with a 13-artwork bequest from local collectors.

Image courtesy of Reed Hilderbrand Landscape Architecture

The Museum’s Director, Raphaela Platow, said it will also instill Frederick Law Olmsted’s "dream of a Louisville connected by public parklands" while serving as a "welcoming forum for the whole community to connect with art, nature, and each other for generations to come."

Image courtesy of Reed Hilderbrand Landscape Architecture

The sculptural work of Zaha H...

BIG tapped to design a new $51 million whiskey distillery in Kentucky

2023-03-23T13:55:00-04:00

BIG has been announced to lead the design of a new whiskey distillery in Georgetown, Kentucky for a three-year-old local company called Blue Run Spirits.

The 35,000-square-foot distillery and adjacent 20,000-square-foot rick house structure dubbed ‘Meander’ will begin construction later this year at the Lanes Run Business Park located at the northeastern edge of the city, which is just 15 miles from Lexington.

Renderings appear to show a stream-like curved sequence of four interconnected pavilion-like forms with interiors framed by a glass curtain wall and landscaping on a site that is well integrated into the undulating hillside.

Image courtesy BIG

“For Blue Run, we have boiled the entire process of whiskey-making down to a single linear sequence - from distilling to maturing to bottling,” Ingles describes in a preview. “The half-mile-long process meanders through the gentle hillsides creating bends and banks, inlets, and outlooks. A single shingled roof of photovoltaic tiles twist...

Studio Gang to design new home for University of Kentucky’s College of Design

2022-05-02T14:03:00-04:00

The picture is getting clearer for the Studio Gang-envisioned new, unified home for the University of Kentucky's College of Design after final renderings and a project timeline were just revealed.

The firm beat out five other top-flight firms for the renovation of the former Reynolds Building, which was announced three years ago and has since been bolstered by a $5.2 million gift from local developers Gray Construction.

The building is located in a former tobacco warehouse at the edge of campus. Image courtesy of the University of Kentucky College of Design.

Now simply named the Gray Building, the 145,000-square-foot structure, originally conceived as a tobacco storehouse, had been sitting largely unused for a period of several years (a rare occurrence on most college campuses) and is now set to become the combined home of the College’s five academic programs and landscape department. A special joint studio between the Biomedical Engineering and Product Design programs and a new coll...

The building industry is preventing resiliency efforts in areas increasingly affected by deadly storms

2021-12-23T15:49:00-05:00

While experts say the technology and design standards exist to better protect people and buildings from tornadoes, attempts to incorporate those designs into building codes have repeatedly been blocked or curtailed by the building industry, according to public documents and people involved in efforts to tighten the model codes.

Resilient infrastructure in states like Kentucky and Tennessee that are increasingly falling into the crosshairs of deadly tornadoes as a likely result of climate change-produced atmospheric conditions and non-related weather patterns like La Niña is becoming more and more imperative, as evidenced by the recent storm that killed 93 people in the region on December 10th.

The challenge is not at all unsurmountable but is, however, corrupted by the building industry, critics charge. A 2012 proposal that came in front of the rather powerful International Code Council and even had backers in the deep-pocketed insurance and concrete lobbies was ultimately blocked thanks to a coalition that included the National Association of Home Builders, among others.

A typical “safe room” costs around $7,000 for a single-family residential unit and $100,000 for commercial structures like the ones that collapsed in Kentucky and Illinois, according to The New York Times.

“It really does kind of boil do...

José Oubrerie's Miller House finally finds a buyer

2019-06-05T18:13:00-04:00

After spending months idled on the real estate market, José Oubrerie's Miller House in Kentucky exchanged hands twice in late 2018.

As noted on real estate website Zillow, the home sold in September 2018 for $415,000, significantly lower than the $490,000 sale that had taken place just one month before, and well-below the $550,000 price it had been listed at previously.

Both sales are a far cry from a $1,950,000 listing made for the home in 2010. The home was sold for $1,000,000 in 2008, following the 2006 death of its namesake patron. The identity of the most recent buyer is unclear, as is the future of the iconic house.

Obrerie's Miller House has exchanged hands a few times recently and its future is unclear.

The legendary home was designed by Oubrerie in 1987 while he was dean at the University of Kentucky's School of Design, and represents a key conceptual work in the realm of residential design of the era. Created to house a real estate developer's four-person family, the cube...

Noah's Ark theme park in Kentucky sues their insurance company over rain damage

2019-05-28T15:16:00-04:00

Genesis, this is not. This is the fate of the multimillion-dollar Noah’s Ark replica and theme park in Northern Kentucky, Ark Encounter, which is suing insurance carriers over coverage for rain-related damages to the property. The company is seeking to recoup what it says were $1 million worth of repairs, as well as attorneys’ fees and costs, and an unspecified amount of punitive damages.

Lawyers of the Ark Encounter — the buzzy Noah's Ark theme park in Williamstown, Kentucky that opened in 2016 — filed a lawsuit last Wednesday against the park's insurance company for breaching their coverage policy obligations, after heavy rains in 2017 and 2018 caused a landslide on the park's access road. Reports state that the damage was repaired and the 510-foot ark replica was not at risk.

“By refusing to pay all but a very small proportion of Plaintiffs’ covered claim, the Defendants have failed to meet their Policy obligations and failed to handle Plaintiffs’ claim properly and in good faith, causing Plaintiffs to incur significant additional loss and expense,” the lawsuit states, WLWT reports. The def.endants cited faulty workmanship as the cause of the road damage.

Correction: The headline of this post was edited to indicate that heavy rains caused property damage at Ark's Encounter, not flooding.

Shigeru Ban unveils designs for Kentucky Owl Park whiskey distillery

2018-11-19T18:50:00-05:00

While Japanese whiskey distilleries are claiming top accolades for their finely crafted products these days, one decorated artisanal-minded Japanese master is bringing his craft to the heart of Bourbon country: Pritzker Prize-winning architect Shigeru Ban has been selected to oversee the planning and development of the "Kentucky Owl Park" experience in the Bluegrass State.

Image: Shigeru Ban Architects/Stoli Group

Global spirits enterprise Stoli Group, which had recently acquired the Kentucky Owl Bourbon brand, tasked Ban's firm to transform a 420-acre site at Cedar Creek Quarry into a must-see destination along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail—part tourist experience, part industrial facility complete with state-of-the-art distillery, bottling center, rickhouses for aging as well as office spaces for the corporation's American whiskey division.

Image: Shigeru Ban Architects/Stoli Group

"Shigeru Ban's vision for the site hearkens back to the 19th century with long-span steel structures that...

Get Lectured: University of Kentucky, Fall '17

2017-11-03T14:46:00-04:00

Archinect's Architecture School Lecture Guide for Fall 2017

Ready or not, it's the start of a new school year. Back for Fall 2017 is Archinect's Get Lectured, an ongoing series where we feature a school's lecture series—and their snazzy posters—for the current term. Check back regularly to keep track of any upcoming lectures you don't want to miss.

Want to share your school's lecture series? Send us your school's lecture series poster and details to connect@archinect.com.

Here's the Fall 2017 lecture series from the University of Kentucky College of Design School of Architecture.

Aug 30
José Oubrerie

Sept 25
Pete Wenger / Patkau Architects

Oct 6
Daan Roggeveen / MORE Architecture

Oct 30
Marie & Keith Zawistowski / onSITE Architecture

Nov 1
Adrian Parr / University of Cincinnati

Nov 6
Diana Agrest / Agrest & Gandelsonas Architects

Nov 10
Mark Rakatansky / Mark Rakatansky Studio

Nov 13
Sarah Dunn / UrbanLab

The College of Design at the University of Kentucky/Architecture/ Interiors/Historic P...

Get Lectured: University of Kentucky, Spring '17

2017-03-14T19:20:00-04:00

Archinect's Architecture School Lecture Guide for Winter & Spring 2017

Archinect's Get Lectured is back in session for Spring 2017. Get Lectured is an ongoing series where we feature a school's lecture series—and their snazzy posters—for the current term. Check back frequently to keep track of any upcoming lectures you don't want to miss. Mark those calendars!

Want to share your school's lecture series? Send us your school's lecture series poster and details to connect@archinect.com.

Here's a look at the Spring '17 lecture series at the University of Kentucky College of Design in Lexington.

Jan 21
Dwayne Oyler

Jan 28-Apr 23
Exhibition: Mike McKay / Art Museum at UK

Feb 2
Marlon Blackwell

Feb 13
Phillippe Chavance, Ou Ning & Eric Reece

Feb 17-18
Keely Colcleugh & Nathan Capaccio

Feb 24-25
Satoru Sugihara

Mar 6
Tobias Armbost

Mar 31
Historic Preservation Symposium: “Conflict, Violence & Preservation”

Apr 7
Winka Dubbeldam

For times and locations, click here. Visit design.uky.edu for other info.

Check out p...

LeRoy's Ark: LeRoy Troyer, the architect behind the Noah's Ark replica at Ark Encounter, Kentucky's new biblical theme park, on One-to-One #31

2016-07-18T17:11:00-04:00

The Genesis-sized replica of Noah's Ark is just the beginning of Ark Encounter, Kentucky's new biblical theme park managed by the Christian apologist ministry, Answers in Genesis. Troyer Group are the architects behind the ark, with president and chair LeRoy Troyer as the lead architect.

I spoke with LeRoy about the challenge of building a project with Biblical construction specs, as well as the inherent controversy of designing something that is meant as a kind of proof of concept for Answers in Genesis' ideology: that the Bible "is the true history book of the universe".

Listen to One-to-One #31 with LeRoy Troyer:

iTunes: Click here to listen and subscribe to the new "Archinect Sessions One-to-One" podcast
SoundCloud: click here to follow Archinect
RSS: subscribe with any of your favorite podcasting apps via our RSS feed: http://onetoone.libsyn.com/rss
Download: this episode

Noah's Ark replica opens in Kentucky biblical theme park to “compete with the Disneys and the Universals”

2016-07-12T15:09:00-04:00

The park’s centerpiece features three decks of exhibits explaining Answers in Genesis’ views of the biblical flood account..[It] also features a two-story restaurant, aerial zipline cables and the Ararat Ridge Zoo... “...in a world that we see becoming very secularized before our eyes, it’s really time for Christians to do something of this size, of this quality, that competes with the Disneys and the Universals to get a message to the world.”

This might be worth a pitstop for anyone planning a U.S. summer road trip. Envisioned by the Creationist apologetics ministry Answers in Genesis, a replica of Noah's Ark — measuring 510 feet long, 85 feet wide and 51 feet high — opened last week as the centerpiece of the Ark Encounter theme park in Williamstown, Kentucky. As it goes, the theme park [which apparently has a total construction cost of more than $150 million] is “more than just entertainment” and aims to promote the ministry's views on evolution. As it goes, criticism ensues.

The creative fight to save a masterpiece of Lexington modernism from the wrecking ball

2015-11-19T12:03:00-05:00

Built in 1962, the People’s Bank has distinct glossy, off-teal bricks and a sawtooth, vaulted rooftop. The building is not only one of the finest remaining examples of Googie commercial architecture in Kentucky — it is one of the finest examples in the nation. However, after years of neglect, locals are working to ensure that the building isn’t leveled into a movie theater parking lot.

Related in the Archinect news:

The organization behind Kentucky's Creation Museum is building a Genesis-sized Ark

2015-11-18T13:45:00-05:00

The Ark Encounter is a full-sized replica of Noah’s Ark, as described in the book of Genesis. [...] the actual ark will be 510 feet long ... 85 feet wide and more than 50 feet tall, and that's before you add the sail. It can house up to 10,000 people in a pinch, and when finished will be the largest wooden timber structure in the world. [...] “People expect the quality of a Universal Studios and we’re going to give it to them.”

Perhaps not surprisingly, other riffs on Noah's Ark have already been built (although they probably aren't scaled to cubits):

OMA to master plan a "Food Hub" in Louisville

2015-04-03T14:00:00-04:00

[OMA's] design knits together a complex program of green industry and public engagement. A new master plan just released by Seed Capital shows a zigzagging complex that is expected to be under construction later this year. [...] Heine said Seed Capital, founded by Heine and Stephen Reily, selected OMA to design the Food Hub following a limited request for proposals that generated interest from five firms. [...] OMA is working with the Louisville office of GBBN Architecture on the project.

In case you aren't familiar with the concept of a "food hub", from Broken Sidewalk:

“A regional food hub is,” according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, “a business or organization that actively manages the aggregation, storage, distribution, and marketing of source-identified food products primarily from local and regional producers to strengthen their ability to satisfy wholesale, retail, and institutional demand.” But Louisville’s $46 million food hub is expected to be much more than a distribution hub for local farmers, with plans for on-site farming, processing, recycling, education, and retail.

Apparently the Louisville food hub was one of the sites focused on by students in OMA's ongoing GSD studio, looking at the relationship between food, design and architecture. A couple of students had already focused research and design work on the site by the time OMA was selected.

Get Lectured: University of Kentucky, Spring '15

2015-02-27T12:42:00-05:00

Archinect's Architecture School Lecture Guide for Winter-Spring 2015

Archinect's Get Lectured is back in session! Get Lectured is an ongoing series where we feature a school's lecture series—and their snazzy posters—for the current term. Check back frequently to keep track of any upcoming lectures you don't want to miss.

The next featured poster comes from the University of Kentucky College of Design.

Want to share your school's lecture series? Send us your school's lecture series poster and details to connect@archinect.com.

Below are upcoming events only. Free and open to the public.

Feb 27
2:30 pm
Design Chat - School of Interiors
Mary Lee O'Bryan / The Design Studio - Louisville, KY
Jennifer Dumesnil / Swope Design Group - Louisville, KY
at Pence Hall, Room 209

Mar 6
9 am - 3 pm
HPGO Symposium: Rebranding Historic Preservation
Andrew Hurley / Author of "Beyond Preservation: Using Public History to Revitalize Inner-Cities" - St. Louis, MO
John-Mark Hack / Partner of Marksbury Farm - Midway, KY
Ro...

Bike Louisville implementing Neighborways, a city-wide bike boulevard system

2014-11-11T14:06:00-05:00

Louisville is currently implementing such a system, what the city’s bike department, Bike Louisville, is calling “Neighborways.” The city hopes these new bike boulevards will encourage and enable bicyclists and pedestrians to take advantage of alternate-route options for moving safely around the city—and eventually lead to an uptick in biking overall.

h/t StreetsBlog

Five teams shortlisted for Town Branch Commons in Lexington, Kentucky

2012-11-26T15:15:00-05:00

A public symposium will be held in February where the final proposals will be displayed. The final design will be chosen by a jury. "People can expect some high-level proposals", said Speaks. "We will be the beneficiaries, and the city will get a high-quality project."

The lead firms on each of the five teams are:

Civitas, a Denver-based firm of architects, urban designers and planners
Coen+Partners, a landscape architecture practice based in Minneapolis.
Inside Outside, a design firm with offices in Amsterdam, Netherlands, that addresses interior and exterior space.
JDS / Julien De Smedt Architects, which focuses on architecture and design from large-scale planning to furniture, based in Copenhagen, Denmark.
SCAPE / Landscape Architecture, a landscape architecture and urban design studio in New York City.

UPDATE: SCAPE Wins Lexington Town Branch Commons Competition

UK design dean: Rupp redo would invigorate city's brand

2012-01-23T13:54:00-05:00

The Rupp Arena, Arts and Entertainment District Task Force hired Gary Bates and his firm, Space Group, as master planners for the district. The group's final report to the Urban County Council and Lexington Center Board is scheduled for the end of January. The initial results from Space Group's study are compelling and should be implemented. How that might happen, and more importantly, how the proposals will be funded, are questions now on the table.

UK/CoD Dean Michael Speaks discusses the value of Space Group's Rupp Arena proposal.

Previously: Arena master planner: Rupp could be renovated if convention center moved

Architect Jeanne Gang no longer involved with CentrePointe, developer says

2011-10-27T20:35:00-04:00

Chicago architect Jeanne Gang, hired in March to come up with a new design for downtown Lexington's empty CentrePointe block, is no longer involved in the project, developer Dudley Webb said Thursday. Webb said Gang and her firm Studio Gang Architects were hired to do a master plan for the block "and share her vision of what she thought this project might be."

Arena master planner: Rupp could be renovated if convention center moved

2011-08-29T13:55:00-04:00

Gary Bates, one of three founders of Space Group, a 12-year-old architecture and urban planning firm based in Oslo, Norway, was chosen over 13 other firms earlier this month by the Arena, Arts and Entertainment District Task Force's Planning and Design Committee.

Jeanne Gang's initial proposal for a block in the center of Lexington KY is well-received

2011-06-04T16:24:00-04:00

"It's more about listening to people and hearing what they say is important," Gang said... "And it's also to say, 'Hey, this is a new day because we are starting this again.' It's not going to be the same building that you saw before that looked like it could be anywhere, Atlanta or wherever," she said.

A block on which several historic buildings were razed for a project that then never happened (with accompanying scandal) has a new opportunity for something special. Gang's plan gets high marks from local critics for her interaction with the community, the attention to the existing urban scale, and for her initiative to involve Kentucky architects in some of the individual projects that arise out of the process.

More here, here, here, and here.