Archinect - News

Ennead and Kahler Slater unveil new Milwaukee Public Museum design

2022-07-19T18:30:00-04:00

Ennead Architects and Kahler Slater, together with the Milwaukee Public Museum, have unveiled the design for a new five-story, 200,000-square-foot museum building atop a 2.4-acre site in Milwaukee’s Haymarket neighborhood. It is on track to be the largest cultural project to date in the city.

According to the project team, four core principles influenced the museum’s design: community, nature, education, and the preservation of the museum’s vast collections. It aims to reflect Wisconsin's rich natural history, drawing inspiration from the geological formations within Mill Bluff State Park, while establishing a new community space and educational destination. The museum will also be a hub for research.

Image courtesy Ennead Architects

The building's material palette will primarily comprise concrete and glass, with an exterior texture that mirrors the ancient sea stacks present in the state park. The museum will have rounded corners that are reminiscent of the erosion and weathering ...

Chicago's Shedd Aquarium announces $500 million 'Centennial Commitment'

2022-01-20T17:14:00-05:00

Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium is about to make a big splash — over the next eight years. The venerable cultural institution on Monday announced its Centennial Commitment, a $500 million transformation of the aquarium culminating in 2030, the Shedd’s 100th anniversary.

The eight-year project will be split into four phases and commence later this year. The first phase will cover major interior renovations, including the modernization of the original six historic galleries, enhancement of all animal habitats, the restoration of the original walls of windows, and the revitalization of the public spaces and general amenities.

More than half of the project’s budget will be directed towards both on and offsite educational programming related to restoration, rewilding, and rescue. On a rolling basis, new galleries, programs, and experiences will open throughout the duration of the project. According to the Shedd Aquarium, the Valerio Dewalt Train-led transformation is slated to create more than 2,000 jobs in Illinois and garner more than $340 million in economic activity.

Empire State Building's new observatory culminates $165 million renovation

2019-12-05T11:11:00-05:00

Thinc Design and Empire State Realty Trust (ESRT) have announced the completion of the reimagined Empire State Building Observatory, marking the culmination of the final phase of a four-year $165 million-dollar transformation of the iconic tower. Acting as Experience Designer on the project, Thinc Design led and collaborated with a cross-disciplinary team of individuals specializing architecture, travel, technology, and entertainment to curate, design, and realize the comprehensive rework.

The 80th-floor, which is now the first viewing level of the observatory provides a wide range of interactive exhibits along with panoramic views of the New York City skyline, dynamic "smart" lighting that modifies its levels based on exterior lighting conditions, virtual reality binoculars that introduce users to augmented views of New York landmarks, and much more.

"The Empire State Building brings people together from all around the world. We’ve had the extraordinary opportunity to create an un...

$26M shortfall of Milan Expo U.S. Pavilion calls for change in funding process

2016-03-18T14:51:00-04:00

Since the 1990s, the U.S. State Department has been barred from spending public funds on world expo pavilions. The result has been a series of disasters...Last year, the U.S. made a strong showing at the Milan Expo...But now comes a denouement that may cripple chances of there ever being a successful U.S. pavilion again: the architect, the exhibition designer, and the contractor have been paid only a fraction of what they are owed for work on the pavilion.

"According to sources who participated in a recent conference call between the [Friends of the USA Pavilion Milan 2015] group and the creditors [which includes Biber Architects and Thinc Design], there was discussion about whether federal departments other than State, such as the Department of Agriculture, could make up the shortfall. Another conference call is scheduled for March 24."

Previous coverage about this project on Archinect:

Hot Dogs Around the World: James Biber, architect of US Pavilion "American Food 2.0" at EXPO Milan, joins us for Episode #31 of Archinect Sessions

The now-open Milan Expo U.S. pavilion salutes to the future of food, the American way

Identity Parade: The USA Pavilion and its Neighbors at Expo Milano 2015

Thinc Design's USA Pavilion exhibition presents America's role in the future of food for Milan Expo 2015

The now-open Milan Expo U.S. pavilion salutes to the future of food, the American way

2015-05-06T13:17:00-04:00

Since breaking ground last summer, the U.S. Pavilion -- titled “American Food 2.0: United to Feed the Planet" -- has opened to the public at the Milan Expo 2015, which is now in its first week. The U.S. joins the more than 140 participating countries that prepared exhibitions and pavilions that respond to the Expo's overall theme of "Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life", which addresses the global issue of food security, access, and the ideal goal to nutritiously feeding more than 9 billion people by 2050.

Designed by New York-based Biber Architects, the pavilion puts on display America's pivotal role in the future of food that emphasizes "openness, transparency and accessibility" in an exhibition designed by Thinc Design. The open barn-inspired structure includes a harvestable hydroponic vertical farm and "uniquely American" (if not consumerist-enticing) features like an expansive boardwalk and a series of food trucks.

Check out photos of the fully constructed pavilion and more detai...

Identity Parade: The USA Pavilion and its Neighbors at Expo Milano 2015

2015-04-28T18:01:00-04:00

James Biber can see Russia from his roof. Mr. Biber, the architect of the USA Pavilion at Expo Milano 2015, the world’s fair that is racing to meet its opening date on Friday, also has a good view of Kuwait next door and Iran across the street. “It’s really a kind of identity parade,” Mr. Biber, 62, said about the jumble. [...] “It’s every nation attempting to express itself in a building. It is the very best and very worst of design you’re going to see in its concentrated form.”

Previously:

Thinc Design's USA Pavilion exhibition presents America's role in the future of food for Milan Expo 2015

2015-02-23T21:02:00-05:00

New York-based Thinc Design revealed their exhibition design for the USA Pavilion in the upcoming Milan Expo 2015 this May. Collaborating with Friends of the USA Pavilion, Thinc Design's exhibition highlights America's role in the future of the global food system, as a response to the Expo's overall theme, "Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life."

The food-related topic challenges the Expo's 140 participating countries to showcase their technological solutions on how to provide healthy, safe, and sufficient food for all, but through sustainable methods that won't disrupt the Earth's equilibrium.

Thinc Design's exhibition will be located inside a 26,000 sq.ft space of the USA Pavilion, designed by Biber Architects. Through a series of immersive presentations and with multilingual college-aged student "ambassadors" as guides, the exhibition will include interactive features and digital media that aim to p...