Archinect - News

SmithGroup files suit over copyright violations for Michigan hospital design

2024-03-19T18:24:00-04:00

An argument concerning a new pediatric hospital design in Grand Rapids, Michigan, has spurred a lawsuit from SmithGroup against the local firm Pure Architects over an alleged violation of the copyright of an earlier unrealized project. Crain’s business journal is reporting on the disputed Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital project after SmithGroup filed a suit in federal court last week.

In the suit, SmithGroup alleges that the termination of their contract for the new Joan Secchia Children’s Rehabilitation Hospital never resulted in the required payment of licensing and other fees on the part of the hospital. They say that, in the aftermath, the hospital “improperly copied, reproduced, prepared derivative works” before sharing the plans with other architects, “willfully” infringing the copyright to generate new renderings.

Both the firm and the hospital are denying these claims publically. The $60 million project is expected to get underway this spring and be completed in 2026...

Tod Williams and Billie Tsien on their Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park refresh

2022-06-09T13:11:00-04:00

Garden officials said Fred Meijer insisted on surpassing accessibility standards, as demonstrated by a miniature version of Nina Akamu’s 1999 bronze 'The American Horse' that allows the visually impaired to feel the sculpture. Mr. Williams and Ms. Tsien designed the landscape without significant grade changes, eliminating the need for landings and handrails, as well as stairs or steep ramps between buildings. The subtle slopes allow every visitor to use the same paths for the same experience.

As part of the Times’ new dedicated series for Milan Design Week, Matt Shaw previewed Tod Williams and Billie Tsien Architects (TWBTA)’s renovation of the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan ahead of its opening on July 1st.

The preview noted the project's deliberate focus on improved accessibility and the incorporation of local materials, as well as the introduction of new sculptural elements, and an interior inspired by the Pantheon in Rome.

The level of personal involvement for both architects was hand-designed wall tapestries and rugs scattered throughout the new welcome center's visitor and administrative areas. It is the extension of a vision first initiated by the West Michigan Horticultural Society in the early 1980s. As Tsien describes it, the 69,000-square-foot result “is a place both of the spirit and for people to gather."

54Jeff ideas competition winners

2013-10-02T13:50:00-04:00

Competition winners for the redesign of 54 Jefferson were announced at SiTE:LAB in Grand Rapids, MI on Sept. 24. The open one-stage ideas competition challenged participants to create compelling proposals for the redesign of the 54 Jefferson, a former natural museum building that opened in 1940. However, deterioriation and changing museum standards caused the museum to close to the public in 1994.

A Michigan City Bets on Food for Its Growth

2012-11-15T18:22:00-05:00

The Downtown Market, in effect, is the newest piece of civic equipment built here since the mid-1990s to leverage the same urban economic trends of the 21st century — higher education, hospitals and health care, housing, entertainment, transit, and cleaner air and water — that are reviving most large American cities.