Archinect - News

Influential GSA chief architect Ed Feiner passes away aged 75

2022-08-03T13:29:00-04:00

The world of public design is mourning the loss of an influential figure at the news that former General Services Administration chief architect Ed Feiner passed away on July 1st at his home in suburban D.C. Feiner was known as the GSA’s first chief architect and a “driving force” behind some of its most successful programs, including his spearheading of the acclaimed Design Excellence Program, which is now in its 28th year.

"He changed the design and construction of public buildings," Feiner’s former colleague Leslie L. Shepherd remembered last month in the Engineering News-Record.

Among the GSA projects Feiner’s influence was cast over were Thom Mayne’s Wayne Lyman Morse United States Courthouse and San Francisco Federal Building; the Oklahoma City National Memorial design and subsequent Carol Ross Barney-designed Federal Building; and Pei Cobb Freed & Partners pot-stirring John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse in Boston. The list of architects he worked directly with inclu...

Take a VR tour of the new L.A. Federal Courthouse, an “unusually polished work of civic architecture”

2016-10-25T20:01:00-04:00

The $350-million, 633,000-square-foot courthouse, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, is an unusually polished work of civic architecture — especially by the standards of Los Angeles...This is a building that wants to look respectable and rational but not staid, one that is fairly conventional on the horizontal plane and takes a significant if measured chance on the vertical one. Still, it’s a chance that pays off.

Christopher Hawthorne gives a thumbs up in his review of SOM's design for the now-completed Los Angeles U.S. Courthouse, which appears to “float” in mid-air. Don't forget to check out a virtual tour of the building in the video below.

Previously on Archinect:

LA Federal Courthouse under construction

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill to Design Federal Courthouse

LA Federal Courthouse under construction

2013-08-19T18:07:00-04:00

Since we first announced that Skidmore, Owings & Merrill was chosen to design the new federal courthouse in Downtown LA, construction for the new cubic courthouse at the corner of First Street and Broadway began on August 8.

The approx. 600,000 square-foot building was proposed back in 2001 and approved by Congress for $400 million, but the project came to a halt in 2006 when the Government Accountability Office found that costs had tripled due to delays and design changes. The new $319 million courthouse -- designed by SOM in partnership with Clark Construction -- will be an addition to the revived Civic Center area, as reported by the LA Times.

Aiming for LEED Platinum, the serrated façade of the "Cube" is designed to achieve a north/south orientation to maximize views while reducing solar heat gain by 47%. The building has water and electricity conservation strategies and a 400 kW roof-mounted photovoltaic array. Part of the courthouse's design is to appear floating over its...