Archinect - News

Peterson Rich Office transforms former church into an inviting new cultural center in Detroit's East Village

2024-03-12T18:18:00-04:00

The adaptive reuse design for the Shepherd Gallery and Art Center inside the new Little Village in Detroit has been revealed ahead of its public opening on May 18th.

The project from Peterson Rich Office (PRO) transformed a 110-year-old former church into a new cultural center for the local Library Street Collective, a nonprofit dedicated to presenting art in the city's revitalized heritage spaces. It was executed at 16,000 square feet and culminates in two new galleries with a small library, classrooms, and workshop included for local community endeavors.

View of the Charles McGee Legacy Park and the Shepherd. Photo by Jason Keen. Courtesy of Library Street Collective.

In terms of its interior redesign, the architects chose to place an exhibition area in the transept mezzanine while making the altar below into another gallery open for performance and public gatherings. The church's other transept now houses a curated Little Village Arts Library space from Asmaa Walton. A landscaped...

AIA/ALA Library Building Award winners bolster the value in caring for community libraries

2015-04-06T19:16:00-04:00

The arched ceilings, stained glass windows, and other embellished details of some of the world's oldest university libraries or contemporary hotspots like, say, OMA's glass-clad Seattle Public Library get enough attention when it comes to the "best" library designs. While those libraries are impressive in their own regard, smaller and local community libraries are equally valuable. They can be that much-needed catalyst to revive a neighborhood or that comfortable quiet haven to get work done or temporarily escape from it all (including napping). Even as library archives become increasingly digital, libraries are evolving facilities that shouldn't be taken for granted.

In this spirit, the AIA and the American Library Association (ALA) like to recognize and promote local libraries that are considered to be exemplary models of stellar library design in their Library Building Awards program. The awards jury (listed at the bottom) selected six projects for 2015:

Cedar Rapids Public Library...

UNESCO Afghanistan reveals Bamiyan Cultural Centre competition results

2015-02-18T15:28:00-05:00

The UNESCO Office in Afghanistan announced today the grand prize winner and four runner-up teams in the Bamiyan Cultural Centre Design Competition. Launched last November, the single-stage competition invited architects worldwide to propose designs for a cultural center in the Bamiyan Valley of Afghanistan that would contribute to the country's gradual process of reconciliation, restoring peace, and economic redevelopment after decades of political conflict.

In addition to complementing the physical and historical landscape of Bamiyan, the new Bamiyan Cultural Centre will be built as an emblem of heritage preservation, cross-cultural exchange, and strengthening cultural identity.

Out of 1,070 submissions from 117 countries, the seven-member Jury selected "Descriptive Memory: The Eternal Presence of Absence" by Carlos Nahuel Recabarren, Manuel Alberto Martinez Catalan, and Franco Morero from Argentina as the winning proposal, with a cash prize of US$25,000. The Jury included Elizabeth...

Aedas wins top honors for Revitalisation Project at the latest HKIA Annual Awards in Hong Kong

2014-06-12T14:22:00-04:00

In the latest Hong Kong Institute of Architects (HKIA) Annual Awards, Aedas was no doubt victorious once again with two preservation/renewal projects: "Art Community": Revitalisation Project in Wan Chai, Hong Kong and Center 66 in Wuxi, China. As the highest architectural awards program in Hong Kong, the HKIA Awards recognizes outstanding architecture designed by HKIA members.

Aedas once again won the highest honor, Medal of the Year, in addition to the Special Architectural Award in Heritage + Adaptive Reuse for the Revitalisation Project.

Here's a glimpse of the project, which preserved and revived an early 20th-century shophouse building into a public space for arts and culture:

More info and photos on Bustler.

Atelier Bow-Wow helps design Honolulu's first "indoor park" pavilion

2014-02-12T14:30:00-05:00

Interisland Terminal from Honolulu is on a mission to show the creative potential of their city's neighborhood with their latest endeavor known as Kaka'ako Agora. Located in the neighborhood of Kaka'ako, the project is an empty warehouse-turned-community space designed and planned in collaboration with Japanese architecture firm Atelier Bow-Wow.

Surrounded by plenty of local outdoor parks, Kaka'ako Agora will be the first "indoor park" for the Honolulu neighborhood. Once complete, the new space will serve as a local gathering area for various public programs, educational use, and other community-driven purposes.

Interisland Terminal recently launched a Kickstarter with a $15,000 goal to partially raise funds to purchase building materials for the pavilion's final pieces. The Kickstarter closes on Sunday evening, March 16.

For more details on Kaka'ako, click here.

Top three teams prep for final design presentation of MLK Library renovation

2014-02-10T20:19:00-05:00

The historic Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in Washington D.C. is one step closer to finding the architectural team for its major renovation project -- and competition is stiff [...] After submitting their proposals, the top three teams will have one final presentation to persuade the review panel and the public this Saturday, Feb. 15 at 10 a.m. in the MLK Library's Great Hall.

Team 1: Mecanoo + Martinez and Johnson

Team 2: Patkau + Ayers Saint Gross

Team 3: STUDIOS + Freelon

Get more details about each project on Bustler.

Cornell Design Students conceived hub for College of Human Ecology

2013-12-02T15:05:00-05:00

For help designing the College of Human Ecology's newest community space at Cornell, college leaders turned to a team of in-house experts: 10 senior interior design students in its Department of Design and Environmental Analysis. The 5,000-plus square foot Human Ecology Commons, which connects Martha Van Rensselaer Hall and the new Human Ecology Building opened . . . and has quickly become the hub of the college.

Design and Environmental Analysis at Cornell University is doing some amazing things that bring architecture, engineering and the sciences together through the lens of Human Ecology. The DEA department is a very impressive program at the College of Human Ecology, an important transdisciplinary program of great interest to those studying architecture, engineering and the sciences.