Archinect - News

Montrealers ask: What to do with the Olympic Stadium?

2024-03-28T13:45:00-04:00

But nostalgia rarely makes for good decision making. Keep the tower and repurpose it as a tourist destination. With the money saved, we can erect a better stadium serving the city’s current and future needs. Not all landmarks are sacred. When fire consumed the Notre-Dame cathedral, they raced to replace the roof; Montreal’s Olympic Stadium is not Notre-Dame.

Quebecers face a vexing choice: Keep the stadium or pursue an even costlier demolition that would erase the landmark, which late architect Roger Taillibert called a “poem in concrete,” owing to its location over two underground metro stations. The new, $870 million replacement roof that is being made transparent to let in natural light for the first time won't be completed by 2028. (The original Kevlar roof partially collapsed in 1999 and has suffered several smaller tears since being constructed in the late-1980s.)

Montreal has been floated as a potential location for a new MLB expansion franchise for the past few years. Our preview of the new BIG and HNTB-designed home of the relocating Oakland A's franchise in Las Vegas (another city that was on the league's expansion list) can be found here.

Is the architectural design causing serious Wi-Fi issues at Google's new Bay View headquarters?

2024-03-26T17:28:00-04:00

Google has not publicly disclosed the reasons for the Wi-Fi problems, but workers say the 600,000-square-foot building’s swooping, wave-like rooftop swallows broadband like the Bermuda Triangle. [...] But, a Google spokeswoman acknowledged, "we’ve had Wi-Fi connectivity issues in Bay View." She said Google "made several improvements to address the issue," and the company hoped to have a fix in coming weeks.

The roof of the BIG and Heatherwick Studio-designed Bay View headquarters, which opened in 2022, is a key component of the building’s circular design strategy and features 90,000 "dragonscale" solar panels. Some believe they could be causing the interference.

Related on Archinect: Google's BIG + Heatherwick-designed Bay View HQ campus opens. Photo: Iwan Baan, courtesy of Google

The other culprit would be the building’s internal layout and configuration and the density of routers within it (H/t various Reddiors). Google would not publically address the source of the connectivity issues.

Operations at the company's other new headquarters inside the St. John’s Terminal in Manhattan, which opened in February, however, appear to be running a bit more smoothly.

3XN and GXN offer insights into unique roof design behind Sydney Fish Market

2023-02-09T08:00:00-05:00

With construction underway on the 3XN-designed Sydney Fish Market in Australia, the firm has offered an insight into the design of the scheme’s defining roofscape. When completed, the 700,000-square-foot building will be the largest fish market in the southern hemisphere.

Image credit: 3XN

The building’s undulating roof is described by 3XN as “an integral aspect of the fish market’s iconic design” as well as being key to its overall sustainability strategy. Shaped to respond to the spatial demands of the market below, the roof is designed to harvest rainwater for reuse, protect retail spaces from the sun, and filter daylight through openings on the rooftop.

Image credit: 3XN

The shape of the roof was informed by the site’s prevailing winds, allowing the extraction of hot air while protecting users from southerly winds. Made from timber and aluminum, the roof is also designed to be as permeable as possible, minimizing the need for air conditioning while also deflecting direct sunlight....

Ennead completes dome rehabilitation for NYC's historic Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine

2022-12-28T12:03:00-05:00

But now, after a painstaking three-year, $17 million rehabilitation — and just in time for Christmas festivities — the dome’s 113-year-old aches and pains have been tended to. Its striking terra-cotta tile has been repaired, and a new copper exterior has been added. “The new roofing could easily last 50 to a hundred years and there’s no reason it couldn’t last for centuries with good maintenance,” said Kevin Seymour, associate principal of Ennead

The project follows a 2019 addition and related work to finish the entryway and roof of the unfinished north transept, which was left incomplete after construction was halted in response to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. The new copper dome covers the also incomplete south transept and was originally designed in 1909 by Rafael Guastavino. Costs for the three-year project are estimated to be about $17 million.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by St. John the Divine (@stjohndivinenyc)

MVRDV launches digital tool that lays out design possibilities for Rotterdam's rooftops

2022-11-28T17:21:00-05:00

At the Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona, MVRDV’s computational design arm MVRDV NEXT, multidisciplinary planning organization Superworld, and the Municipality of Rotterdam announced RoofScape, a software that visualizes potential uses for rooftops in Rotterdam.

RoofScape was designed to be used by both professionals and citizens while being detailed enough to assist policymakers and urban planners. As noted in MVRDV’s press announcement, rooftops have become one of Rotterdam’s urban planning priorities. This program builds on prior work between MVRDV and the Dutch city, who launched Rooftop Catalog in 2021, a book containing 130 suggestions for how rooftops can be utilized to increase Rotterdam’s density. The suggestions range from providing more housing and leisure spaces to fostering biodiversity and energy generation.

Image courtesy of MVRDV

The software works by color-coding roofs by what uses they can support. The possibilities are determined through a wide range of ...

How the architect behind Pizza Hut's iconic roof turned a tiny design fee into a small fortune

2022-07-11T17:50:00-04:00

“As the story goes, Burke had originally charged the brothers a hefty upfront fee that the fledgling pizza start-up wasn’t able to scrape together,” the company wrote in a 2015 blog post. “Instead, they offered Burke $100 per store built using his design, never guessing that Pizza Hut would become the global company that it is today.”

Contemporary licensing agreements between architects and chains like the Hut are typically undisclosed, but the low price commanded for each meant that, for all their liminally-pleasurable aesthetic, the otherwise unknown designer of the "red roof" restaurants, Richard D. Burke, might have raked in a small fortune for the services he rendered overtime since the late 1960s (the real number remains unclear, but Curbed once put the number of built units of his design that still existed by 2004 at around 6,300).

The sometimes odd reuses of Burke’s reportedly $100 apizza (forgive me) creations have been well-documented by bloggers since the beginning of the 2010s and brought about a death knell for over 300 former locations as well as many of the iconic red-tiled roofs that came along with their original designs. Yum! Brands, which now operates Pizza Hut, began shifting away from the model and towards a more modernized look in mid-decade.

The Catholic University of America is constructing a replica of a Notre Dame roof truss using medieval techniques

2021-07-26T18:48:00-04:00

Starting today, the Catholic University of America’s School of Architecture and Planning in collaboration with Massachusetts-based nonprofit Handhouse Studio are building a full-scale replica of a truss that belonged to the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris.

As part of a teaching project by Handhouse Studio, which is setting up education workshops in Washington D.C., the approximately 45-foot by 35-foot structure, labeled as Truss #6, will be built outdoors at The Catholic University’s campus in a 10-day workshop. The construction process will be available for public viewing.

Roof truss demonstration for the Gwozdziec Synagogue in Sanok, Poland. Photo: Handshouse Studio

A team of traditional timber framers, carpenters, faculty, and students from across the United States will use the methods and materials of the original medieval builders. The reconstruction is intended to be a gift to France and the collective effort to rebuild Notre Dame following the 2019 fire that destroyed the cath...

Construction images of the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts reveal the completion of its pleated concrete roof

2021-04-28T14:39:00-04:00

In January, Archinect previously reported on the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts (AMFA) and its plans to open in May 2022. The 133,000-square-foot Museum is designed by Studio Gang in collaboration with landscape architecture firm SCAPE and Little Rock-based Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects. While initial renders of the new Museum's design didn't provide specifics to the Museum's distinct roof design, recent construction images showcase a signature roof design that flows, "blossoming out to the north and south," as described by the firm. "Spanning the length of the building, the roofline connects new construction and renovated spaces and establishes AMFA's new architectural identity."

Image © Timothy Hursley

Located within Little Rock's historic Macarthur Park, Studio Gang's design process began by studying the Museum's original building from 1937 and its eight additions. Aiming to create a renewed architectural identity that integrates the building with its surrounding landscape and the ...

Powerhouse Company's "Paper Roof" reception center has been completed in Tianjin, China

2021-01-15T12:26:00-05:00

Powerhouse Company's "Paper Roof," the new design for a reception center in Tianjin, China has been completed. The form is a transparent glass block topped by a light sweeping roof inspired by traditional Chinese architecture.

Photo by Weiqi Jin

The roof raises 18.5 meters at its highest point with a surface measurement of 30 meters x 50 meters. The canopy is made from powder-coated steel, colored a tone intended to mimic the sky.

Photo by Weiqi Jin

Inside the pavilion, a large atrium offers panoramic views of the surrounding lake and gardens. The second floor includes offices and a viewing balcony in addition to seating areas for small and large gatherings.

Photo by Weiqi Jin

In Jakarta residents are living in a "suburb in the sky"

2019-08-06T10:07:00-04:00

It is a surreal urban bubble, where normal life unfolds at an abnormal altitude. To access ground level, residents drive their cars down a ramp. A tall metal fence runs around the perimeter to make sure no one falls or drives off. Peer beyond the fence and you can spot the city’s landmarks below.

In Jakarta, Indonesia exists a suburb, unlike any other. Cosmo Park is unique because it can be found ten stories above ground on top of a shopping mall. At ground level, Jakarta is a city that succumbs to many issues. Many cities around the world suffer from their fair share of obstacles. However, Jakarta has experienced a series of challenges.

The Indonesian capital has had experienced a rapid increase in urban growth resulting from flooding and other natural disasters. Congestion, gridlocked traffic, and a breakdown in the city's ecology are other factors that would beg to question, perhaps the idea of Cosmo Park is a viable option for alternative urban developments?

Image © The Jakarta Post | foto.tempo

In a recent post from The Guardian, the development of Cosmo Park was relatively unknown and out of the public eye for many years. However, thanks to a recent Twitter post from @shahrirbahar1, the photo caught the attention of many. Accumulating nearly 27,000 retweets many began...

10 breezy rooftop spaces for your Friday inspiration

2019-07-12T07:00:00-04:00

In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding projects on various Archinect Firm and People profiles.

(Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect profiles!)

Today's top images (in no particular order) are from the board Rooftop Spaces.

↑ Diane Von Furstenberg HQ in New York, NY by WORKac; Landscape: Town and Gardens; Photo: Elizabeth Felicella

↑ Park Avenue Rooftop in New York, NY by Murdock Solon Architects

↑ QUAD HOUSE in Beijing, China by ARCHISTRY design&research office

↑ Tarbut V'Torah Community Day School in Irvine, CA by LPA Inc.

↑ Harmony Apartment Renovation in Glyfáda, Greece by schema architecture & engineering; Photo: Nikos Alexopoulos

↑ M·Cube in Beijing, China by MVRDV; Photo: Seth Powers Photography

↑ The Ritz Carlton Moskau / O2 Lounge Terrace in Moscow, Russia by destilat Design Studio GmbH; Photo: Monika Nguyen

↑ SL11024 in Los A...

Gianni Botsford Architects raises the roof in London's Notting Hill

2018-11-02T19:23:00-04:00

Located in London's Notting Hill lies a contemporary residential home hidden within the back row of Victorian style villas. Gianni Botsford Architects used the limited space and urban landscape to their advantage when constructing House in a Garden. The 2659 square foot home, originally a dilapidated bungalow built in the 1960's features eye-catching structural details.

Aerial view Image © Gianni Botsford Architects

Due to limited space, the team at Gianni Botsford investigated the possible geometric forms that could be used to create this residential home. Cautious with its construction, the architectural team made it a point not to obstruct the surrounding areas whilst ensuring the home featured enough natural light and space. The decision became clear that to ensure the functional renovation of the home making space started below ground.

Ground floor side patio view Image © Edmund Sumner

On the ground floor the home's defining feature is its copper clad roof. Constructed out of g...

Superhelix creates a house hidden in plain site

2018-10-23T19:30:00-04:00

Polish based design studio Superhelix creates a green roof masterpiece that not only highlights the home's ecological design, but showcases what happens to buildings when they change over time. Located in Krakow, Poland the 189 square meter home's slanted roof was not built for aesthetics, but instead was constructed due to a building requirement. Due to local building codes, the home's roof had to be built at a 45-degree slope. To some this may have been a design obstacle, but to Bartłomiej Drabik, principal architect, he used this as an opportunity to create a progressive roof design that highlights green design.

Image © Bartłomiej Drabik

Through out the construction of this residential home, special attention was emphasized on how the building's materials will allow the home to age and change naturally. The home's elevation was covered with western red cedar planks. This particular wood type does not require wood treatment against insects and the weather. As the wood ages over tim...

10 airy rooftop spaces for your Friday inspiration

2018-05-11T09:00:00-04:00

In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding projects on various Archinect Firm and People profiles.

(Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect profiles!)

Today's top images (in no particular order) are from the board Rooftop Spaces.

↑ The Standard at South Market in New Orleans, LA by Morris Adjmi Architects

↑ Vancouver Convention Centre West in Vancouver, Canada by LMN Architects; Landscape architect: PWL Partnership Landscape Architects Inc.

↑ Birdhouse in Buffalo, NY by asap/ adam sokol architecture practice

↑ Peter's House in San Francisco, CA by Craig Steely Architecture

↑ Fifth Avenue Penthouse in New York, NY by Shenton Architects in collaboration with Sharmila McConnell and Christoper Stevens; Photo: Peter Murdock

↑ Row House 1 in Brooklyn, NY by Office of Architecture; Photo: Rafael Gamo

↑ Gates Family Foundation Offices + Roof Deck in...

Snøhetta gives its new Muttrah Fish Market in Oman a playful canopy roof

2018-01-03T15:00:00-05:00

Doors recently opened at the new Snøhetta-designed Muttrah Fish Market in Oman. The 4,000-square-meter facility is an upgrade from the city's older 1960s fish market and offers refrigeration, packaging, storage spaces for fish, vegetable, and fruit vendors, as well as offices, coffee shops, and a restaurant gathered below the dynamically swooping curves of the canopy roof.

From the architects: "Situated at the heart of Muttrah, on Oman’s largest harbor, the new fish market is a tribute to both the past and the future of Oman. The city of Muttrah is known for its long history of commercial trade, its characteristic port, and long-standing fishery traditions."

"Located close to the city’s original fish market, built in 1960, the new market marks a continuity of the region’s trade and fishing traditions, while also fulfilling Oman’s need to accommodate for the country’s growing tourism industry."

Ten Top Images on Archinect's "Rooftop Spaces" Pinterest Board

2017-08-25T20:32:00-04:00

In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding projects on various Archinect Firm and People profiles.

(Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect profiles!)

Today's top images (in no particular order) are from the board Rooftop Spaces.

↑ Mayfair House in London, UK by Squire and Partners; Photo: Gareth Gardner

↑ J+K Residence in New York, NY by STUDIO V Architecture; Photo: David Rahr

↑ Ocean Deck House in Bridgehampton, NY by Stelle Lomont Rouhani Architects; Photo: Matthew Carbone

↑ PH Fuentes in Monterrey, Mexico by P+0 Arquitectura

↑ Wooster Street Loft in New York, NY by Space4Architecture

↑ deckweiß in Berlin, Germany by brandt+simon architekten

↑ Tsinghua Ocean Center in Shenzhen, China by OPEN Architecture; Photo: Zhang Chao

↑ David Zwirner, 20th Street in New York, NY by Selldorf Architects; Photo: Todd Eberle

↑ Celtic Museum in Glauburg,...

Robots could soon maintain the Sydney Opera House's one million roof tiles

2016-12-27T19:43:00-05:00

One million brilliant white tiles clad the 65m-tall precast concrete roof [...] glazed ceramic tiles need to be hand-checked, or tapped, every five years by specialist engineers, who abseil down the roof “sails” looking for changes in their sound or appearance. Now, thanks to the combined efforts of the opera house, the Getty Foundation, the University of Sydney and the engineering and design group Arup, this expensive, vertigo- inducing process is a step closer to becoming a thing of the past.

Say goodbye to clunky solar panels, and hello to Tesla's sleek new glass solar roof tiles

2016-10-31T15:09:00-04:00

While solar panels have been subsidized in many cities for a while now, the blocky, rectangular panels aren’t heavily implemented in part because they tend to appear as, well, an addition, rather than a constitutive element of home design. That's about to change, as Tesla has announced a (potentially) revolutionary new intervention in the development of self-powered homes.

At a press event at Universal Studios, Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed a line of glass, photovoltaic cell-embedded roof tiles. And they look strikingly like old-fashioned roof tiles, coming in a four distinct styles: “Textured Glass Tile”, “Tuscan Glass Tile”, “Smooth Glass Tile” and “Slate Glass Tile”. From above, the glass is transparent to the sun. From street-level, the solar cells aren’t visible.

Tesla states that the tiles will cost less than traditional roofing when energy savings are factored in. Manufactured out of durable, long-lasting tempered glass, the roof tiles will “last longer than the house”, Musk ass...

New $150M PTFE membrane roof at Arthur Ashe Stadium blocks the rain but not the noise

2016-09-06T12:59:00-04:00

Watch professional tennis, and you'll notice that silence makes up a significant part of the game, to the point where spectators can hear the bounce of the ball each time it lands on the playing surface. The acoustics of the new Rossetti Architects-designed roof for the Arthur Ashe stadium, which reportedly is amplifying crowd conversations when it it closed as well being so noisy during a recent rainstorm that according to John McEnroe it's "hard to hear yourself think," are problematic. Ironically, the 210,00 square foot PTFE membraned retractable roof was installed partly to avoid rain delays during play. As BusinessInsider.com notes:

"It turns out that even casual conversations among fans were amplified as the noise reverberated inside. The roof was eventually fully closed during the second set, and the atmosphere reportedly sounded more like a ballpark and not like a tennis venue the players are used to."

Bi-parting Fixed Fabric Shell

For more in sporty architectural news:

HOK wi...

Forget solar panels: Elon Musk is thinking "solar roof"

2016-08-11T12:41:00-04:00

Why place individual solar panels on top of a pre-existing roof when you could just build an entire roof with solar technology integrated into it? Elon Musk, CEO of the financially underperforming Solar City and Tesla, sees it as an obvious solution. According to CNNMoney, he said that "If your roof is nearing end-of-life, well, you've got to get a new roof anyway. And so, why not have a solar roof that's better in many others ways as well?"

Although details on the solar roof are still elusive, Musk did note in a blog post that he'd like to build the roofs by integrating SolarCity's technology and Tesla's home battery storage systems.

For more on Musk:

A video tour of MVRDV's "The Stairs"

2016-05-26T17:12:00-04:00

It's not exactly a staircase to heaven (more of a "symbolic arising of the city after World War II"), but the intimate rooftop views provided by MVRDV's "The Stairs" of Rotterdam are spectacular. Plus, the gleeful discussion of temporariness by architectural video duo #donotsettle's Wahyu Pratomo and Kris Provoost is worth a watch alone, along with a cameo by MVRDV co-founding director Winy Maas:

Ten Top Images on Archinect's NEW "Rooftop Spaces" Pinterest Board

2016-04-01T18:26:00-04:00

In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding projects on various Archinect Firm and People profiles.

(Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect profiles!)

Today's top images (in no particular order) are from the brand new board Rooftop Spaces.

↑ A Hard Working House in London, UK by Urban Projects Bureau; Photo: Richard Leeney

↑ Hotel Básico in Playa del Carmen, Mexico by Central de Arquitectura

↑ Harrison Street in San Francisco, CA by Dawson and Clinton

↑ Sculptural rooftop & garden in Chicago, IL by dSpace Studio

↑ 930 Poydras Residential Tower in New Orleans, LA by Eskew+Dumez+Ripple

↑ Chelsea Roof Terrace in New York, NY by James Cleary Architecture, Landscape Design: Rumsey Farber Landscape Architecture; Photo: Jason Valdina

↑ DNA Model Management in New York, NY by Calvert Wright Architecture | Spatial Discipline; Photo: Bjorg Magnea

↑ Xafix House ...