Archinect - News

Restoration of Saarinen-designed First Christian Church tower completed in Columbus, Indiana

2024-02-23T08:03:00-05:00

The Landmark Columbus Foundation has shared photos of Louis Joyner Architect's completed tower restoration of the landmark First Christian Church in Columbus, Indiana, designed by Eero Saarinen and his father, Eliel, in 1942.

The project took eight months to complete, wrapping up this past December.

The church’s 166-foot-high freestanding clock tower served as the main focus of the restoration work, which took place in four main parts, with repairs also needed to account for significant masonry cracking, rust, and water damage to its interior.

Photo: Hadley Fruits for Landmark Columbus Foundation

Contractors stabilized the 50 uppermost feet of the tower by first removing its east and west walls and then taking the brick veneer off its north and south edifices, removing parapets, and then installing a new concrete block support onto the 166-foot-tall structure.

Photo: Hadley Fruits for Landmark Columbus Foundation

The brick veneer was later re-installed in addition to locally quarr...

'A home for tea and life': Japanese and Ukrainian influences blend harmoniously in this Kyoto house renovation

2023-09-25T12:25:00-04:00

Ukraine-based MAKHNO Studio has completed work on a residence in Kyoto, Japan inspired by “sado,” a traditional Japanese tea ceremony. The century-old dwelling has been refurbished with attention to its history and the preservation of authentic elements while “adding a drop of Ukrainian color to the Japanese context.”

Image credit: Naoki Miyashita

The experience begins at the house's entrance, marked by a small tea garden named “roji.” Adorned with Japanese ritual stones and Ukrainian DIDO art sculptures from the MAKHNO workshop, the roji garden sets the tone for a tranquil visit, whose “good entities protect the house from sad thoughts and uninvited guests.”

Image credit: Naoki Miyashita

Upon entry through the “genkan,” or entrance hall, guests are greeted by a collection of Japanese and Ukrainian art. The main living area, segmented by a traditional Japanese screen known as “byobu,” serves multiple functions, showcasing art a...

As Milan's San Siro stadium goes, so goes the city

2022-05-23T14:56:00-04:00

AC Milan’s Serie A championship title over the weekend brought out the missives on placemaking and memory concerning the club’s future in the 96-year-old stadium adored by the Milanese as their seconda casa.

The facilities, last upgraded in 1990 and renovated throughout the 2000s by the local firm Ragazzi and Partners, are set to be replaced by a new “cathedral” designed by American sport heavyweight Populous for the year 2027. Many feel it is the last victim of a changed European Soccer landscape dominated by Russian oligarchs and other monied interests from abroad after the late-1990s to early-2000s.

Previously on Archinect: Populous tapped to lead design of new combined Inter & AC Milan stadium

Alternatives, including its reuse as a massive Covid memorial, have been proposed by the faithful, who also claim a demolition effort of such size would be harmful to the environment. A final approval is still on the horizon for later this year. The architects of the new stadium say their...

Reconstructing the home of the last czar of Russia and his family

2022-01-27T12:18:00-05:00

In 2011, the Russian state decided to recreate the czar’s private suite — which had been furnished in the Art Nouveau style and was mostly destroyed during World War II and subsequent Soviet reconstructions — and create a museum around it...To recreate the czar’s private rooms, Ms. Ryadova’s team had to remake almost everything: pickled oak parquet floors, wool rugs and silk draperies, and even spittoons that were used by the imperial family and courtiers.

Ivan Nechepurenko covered the reopening of the restored Alexander Palace, of Nicholas II.

Kengo Kuma sets in stone an impressive stereotomic-inspired cathedral intervention in Western France

2021-10-28T19:17:00-04:00

Kengo Kuma and Associates (KKAA) has begun construction on a much-needed cathedral addition that will add a contemporary feel in "harmonious dialogue" with a 12th-century structure set on the edge of the historic Loire Valley in France.

The cathedral is host to several important polychromatic sculptures from the Middle Ages which will be protected by the new intervention.

With preservation in mind, KKAA’s design will transform the western portal of the Cathédrale Saint-Maurice in Angers into an improved entrance that presents the stone relics in an open gallery with sculptural archways and improved wayfinding from the outside into the bifurcated portal.

Viewed from the western entrance, the addition presents an astounding visual symmetry with the 900-year-old rebuilt Gothic cathedral. The grooved rectangular intervention is a few meters removed from the original structure, cast using stonework processes that...

Donald Trump wants to renovate the West Wing

2020-07-30T20:24:00-04:00

President Donald Trump is pushing for congressional funding that would allow the General Services Administration (GSA) to undertake a long-delayed renovation and modernization plan for the White House West Wing.

Included in a recent legislative framework floated by Republican senators aimed at addressing the lasting impacts of the COVID-19 crisis is a request from the presidential administration for $377 million in funding for the project, AP News reports. The renovation, according to the report, has been in the works since at least the Obama administration and would represent the first modernization effort for the executive wing of the White House since 1933.

President Donald Trump in the Oval office. Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian.

The West Wing administrative suite was built as an extension to the existing White House complex in 1904 by Charles McKim of McKim, Mead & White during the administration of Theodore Roosevelt. Over the years, major additions and reno...

SPF:a breathes new life into Jerrold Lomax-designed oceanfront home in Malibu

2020-05-13T12:55:00-04:00

Los Angeles-based SPF:architects has completed a 5,000-square-foot renovation of a 1970s-era beachfront California modernist home designed by notable mid-century architect Jerrold E. Lomax.

SPF:a's renovations for the home, which is located in Malibu, California among a tightly clustered outcropping of residences sitting directly on the waters of the Pacific Ocean, offers an updated and perfected take on the original daylight-and-views design approach Lomax lent to the home's design.

Top: The home's sunlit living room. Bottom: An aerial view of the house. Images courtesy of Matthew Momberger.

A statement from SPF:a explains that the firm's approach for the renovation "focused on using advances in material technology to enhance the original modernist expressions laid out by Lomax that sought to maximize daylighting within."

Top: View of the dining area and new accent stair. Bottom: The home's streetfront garage. Images courtesy of Matthew Momberger.

The firm continues, "Thinner window...

Rockefeller Center's sunken plaza could receive substantial renovations

2020-01-20T15:40:00-05:00

Architects Gabellini Sheppard Associates and developers Tishman Speyer have unveiled a series of substantial changes for the outdoor public realm areas associated with the Rockefeller Center complex in New York City.

The proposal, presented to the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission last week, aims to improve pedestrian circulation and visibility throughout the iconic sunken plaza and surrounding areas by adding new stair configurations, upgrading the storefronts that currently line the plaza with a ribbon of operable doors, relocating several statues, and repaving the terraces overlooking the sunken court to make them more wheelchair accessible.

View of 30 Rockefeller Center, designed by Raymond Hood. Image courtesy of Wikimedia user David Shankbone.

The 19-building Rockefeller Center complex was originally designed in the 1930s by architect Raymond Hood, the designer behind the Chicago Tribune Tower and other notable early 20th Century skyscrapers. The complex was built in p...

Trahan Architects unveils renderings for Superdome renovation in New Orleans

2019-11-19T15:58:00-05:00

Trahan Architects has unveiled renderings for a recently approved $450 million upgrade package for the historic Superdome football stadium in New Orleans.

The Superdome, one of the few remaining Modernist football stadiums from the post-World War II era, was designed by local New Orleans firm Curtis and Davis in 1975 and is considered among the more iconic structures in the city. The building is topped by the largest single-span dome in the country, Nola.com reports, and was last upgraded in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Those renovations, as it turns out, were also carried out by Trahan Architects.

The stadium's existing ramp system will be replaced with new entrance atria. Image courtesy of Trahan Architects.

Trey Trahan, founder and CEO of the firm tells Nola.com, "The strategy here has been to enhance the quality of experience for the spectator at all levels: general seats, club, the suites, and now there is going to be SROs [Standing Room Only zones]."

The 76,000-seat Me...

What will become of the Theme Building at LAX?

2019-06-18T19:02:00-04:00

[W]hen will Los Angeles International Airport resurrect its own iconic, underused, transportation-adjacent architectural wonder? Maybe soon. As the airport advances on a major expansion and modernization, including a new people-mover train scheduled to open in 2023, Los Angeles World Airports officials are looking for ways to bring a hotel into the core area that includes the Theme Building.

Since its completion in 1961, the Theme Building has greeted visitors to Los Angeles with its uniquely space-age, mid-century design from the center of the Los Angeles Airport. The Pereira & Luckman-designed building has taken on a lot of functions in its 58 year history (including a few restaurants and an observation deck, for example) but its future is currently unknown.

Paul Williams in front of the Theme Building.

According to the LA Times, officials of Los Angeles World Airports asked for ideas from “teams interested in presenting viable options” for adding a hotel and conference center in the middle of LAX." The Theme Building is speculated to be a potential site for the hotel and conference center, in line with the recent renovation of the TWA Building at JFK Airport, built just one year after the Theme Building.

Given the frustration many visitors face when attempting to enter and exit LAX by car through its horseshoe thoroughfare, a hotel in the center might prove to be an...

A historic house with two faces in San Francisco

2019-06-16T10:43:00-04:00

Subtle historic restoration and bold reinterpretation have rarely combined on a site as well as they have in an oft-visited district San Francisco. A stone's throw from the Painted Ladies is a Victorian home built in 1889 which draws little attention to itself upon first glance.

Back Façade of Alamo Square Residence, by Jensen Architects.

A peek around the side, however, and one would note that not only has the façade been lovingly restored, but the back has been completely reimagined for a family with modern tastes. San Francisco-based Jensen Architects were tasked with a radical update for the 19th century home for an adventurous client. The floor plans have been completely reimagined to allow daylight in through the back façade, including a glass-encased elevator which doubly functions as a display for mechanical functions.

Back Façade of Alamo Square Residence, by Jensen Architects.

Drawing one's attention back to the historic façade, one can see a painstaking renovation carried o...

A Russian avant-garde designer apartment has been listed on Airbnb

2018-12-27T16:02:00-05:00

Two Moscow-based architectural heritage activists have renovated a Soviet avant-garde apartment and are now renting it on Airbnb. In the property listing, Alexander Dudnev and Konstantin Gudkov describe the apartment as a “time machine” to the Stalin era: “Located in a historical constructivist building, carefully restored and fully equipped with authentic and reconstructed furniture, lights and tableware, it will transfer you to 1930s utopia.”

We have done stories about beautifully designed rentals in the past, but given its rarity, this recent listing for an immaculately-preserved Moscow apartment from the 1930's stands on its own. It is likely that many of its patrons will miss plenty of its subtle modernist details, but they will be a delight to the few that yearn to experience the last remaining vestiges of Russian avant-garde design. Though many apartment buildings of this design movement still remain across Moscow, only a very small percentage have been taken care of in the way architectural heritage activists Alexander Dudnev and Konstantin Gudkov have treated this listing.

Dining Room. Photo: Sergei Kasyuk

MVRDV to renovate 19th-century building into Concordia Hub in Wroclaw

2018-10-03T18:42:00-04:00

Today, MVRDV unveiled their proposed design to transform a 19th-century heritage building into the Concordia Hub on Slodowa Island in Wroclaw, Poland. With most of Slodowa Island's buildings destroyed during the Siege of Breslau in World War II followed by a handful of other buildings being demolished later on, this particular building became known as the island's sole surviving structure. The rest of the island serves as a popular public park.

Image © MVRDV.

Working with local architect Q2, MVRDV was inspired by Janus — the Roman deity of transitions, the passage of time, and duality — for their concept. The design will retain the building's existing facade and add an extension to the rear, creating a distinction between old and new. The building's “formal” side will feature the historic facade, while the new contemporary addition will be a transparent structure and will face toward the public park.

Image © MVRDV.

“At both ends of the building, triple-height stepped voi...

Two historic NYC theaters in Times Square to be redeveloped

2018-09-20T14:59:00-04:00

Two historic New York City theaters are getting ready to shine brightly under the Times Square spotlight once again. This week, developers behind the Times Square Theater and the Palace Theater, unveiled ambitious renovation and expansion plans for their establishments.

The Palace Theater redevelopment includes raising the structure about 30 feet to accommodate retail space below and an 18,000 square foot wraparound sign. The existing DoubleTree hotel above the theater will be demolished to be replaced by a 46-story tower including retail, dining, and a hotel.

TSX Broadway rendering. Image: TSX Broadway.

The new complex, called TSX Broadway, also includes a 4,000-square-foot performance venue to be suspended 30 feet above Times Square. The new outdoor stage will be the only of its kind located in Times Square.

TSX Broadway retail section rendering. Image: TSX Broadway.

Nearby the Times Square Theater, which has been vacant for 30 years, will be redeveloped as a large retail venue. Architecture and planning firm Beyer Blinder Belle will restore most of the existing building while adding in two glass stories.

Times Square Theater redevelopment rendering. Image: Stillman Development International.

New additions also include a glass box overhang on th...

MAD Architects restore a historic lookout tunnel for Japan's 2018 Echigo-Tsumari Triennale

2018-08-07T18:21:00-04:00

MAD Architects have restored Japan's historic Kiyotsu Gorge Tunnel as a permanent art installation, “Tunnel of Light”, coinciding with the 2018 Echigo-Tsumari Triennale. The art event hosts approximately 160 artworks across 200 villages, inhabiting abandoned spaces as sites for interaction. Located in the Niigata prefecture, the 2,500-foot long passageway cuts through rock formations to offer visitors panoramic views of Japan's mountainous snow country.

"Tunnel of Light" by MAD Architects, located in Echigo-Tsumari, Japan. Image: MAD Architects.

The firm's scheme for this historic lookout consists of transforming several points along the tunnel as spaces for interaction with art and nature.

"Tunnel of Light" by MAD Architects, located in Echigo-Tsumari, Japan. Image: MAD Architects.

Upon approaching the tunnel, a small wooden hut has been constructed to serve as the café and souvenir shop. Inside the pitched cedar roof on the upper level is a hot spring foot spa.

"Tunnel of Light" ...

KAAN Architecten completes Utopia, a library and academy for performing arts in Belgium

2018-06-26T16:06:00-04:00

Utopia, the Library and Academy for Performing Arts, has recently opened in it's new building designed by KAAN Architecten. Located in Aalst, Belgium, the brick structure incorporates a historic school building from 1880 embedded within.

Taking its cue from Thomas More’s acclaimed book "Utopia" (first printed by a citizen of Aalst), KAAN Architecten's building features an entrance located on an intimate square between the reading café and the auditorium.

Moving through tall, wide openings in the brickwork the structure opens to several thick concrete floors that appearing to float. Hanging at...

New renderings of LAN's Grand Palais redevelopment in Paris

2018-02-27T14:23:00-05:00

French firm LAN (Local Architecture Network) won the competition of restructuring the iconic Grand Palais back in 2014. Updates have been released on the firm's plans for this historic Paris venue, a space which was built in 1900 for the World's Fair.

Grand Palais, Mediation space simulation. Image: LAN.

Grand Palais, entrée de la Rue des Palais simulation. Image: LAN.

Among the updated features are six new galleries and a Chanel-sponsored entrance. The $570 million renovation also includes a new entrance from Square Jean Perrin into refurbished science museum, and a new internal walkway linking all parts of the massive complex.

Grand Palais, Curved Galleries simulation. Image: LAN.

LAN describes the undertaking, "For us, the Grand Palais represents modernity both in its design and in its symbolism. It is a hybrid building in terms of its architecture, its use and its history."

Grand Palais, Main Galleries simulation. Image: LAN.

Grand Palais, reception area simulation. Image: LAN.

The G...

The architectural community responds to Snøhetta's proposed update to Johnson's AT&T building

2017-11-01T15:17:00-04:00

The news of Snøhetta's renovation of Philip Johnson's iconic postmodern AT&T Building has the architectural world abuzz, with many lamenting the controversial overhaul. There is a petition going around to give the building landmark status—only recently made possible due to the structure's age—in an attempt to save the building's signature base from the proposed glass-curtain treatment. There is also a protest that has been scheduled for this Friday, more details on which can be found here.

Beyond organizing action, many have also taken to twitter to offer up their opinions on the new design met with mixed reviews, both in particular and in principle. Below are some of the responses.

In our own comment sections regarding the plans, Archinect readers had this to say:

"WTF Snohetta" –Koww

"It’s not hard to give the building a respectful upgrade—brighten up the windows and lighting which are dark and obstructed now (can do the same with the nice interior space). Not sure wh...

Philip Johnson's iconic postmodern AT&T Building is getting a makeover from Snøhetta

2017-10-30T16:57:00-04:00

Philip Johnson and John Burgee's 1984 AT&T Building, for many, signaled the arrival of Postmodernism onto the world scene. Now known as the Sony Tower, the 37-story skyscraper's deployment of historicity contradicted the glass and metal modernism of its neighbors, signaling a new architectural era that landed it on the front page of the New York Times, and it's architect, Philip Johnson, onto the cover of Time.

After housing one of world's largest companies for decades, AT&T, facing financial troubles, sold the building in 2002 to Sony who once again, sold the building to the real-estate developer Chetrit group in 2013. After deserting plans to convert the office tower into luxury condos and a hotel, Chetrit group sold the tower to Olayan America in 2016, who has since tapped international firm Snøhetta for the building's renovation.

The building has never been designated as a landmark, and whether or not it shou...

Work AC designs modern single-family home on top of one of New York’s oldest cast-iron façade buildings

2016-11-02T12:44:00-04:00

Built in 1857, 93 Reade St. in TriBeCa features one of New York City’s old cast-iron façades. WORKac just completed a renovation of the historic, 5-story building, adding a contemporary addition to the roof that skillfully hides behind the existing form.

The 2.5 level penthouse addition features an angled roof, designed to sit behind the roofline so that it disappears when viewed from the street, while gaining as much interior space as possible. Inside, three different levels are joined by an open staircase. Behind the structure, a patio and balcony offer views of the city skyline.

The renovation also included single-story apartments that make use of a partial-height volume to contain services, equipment and storage, “while a series of intricate spaces for gardening, sleeping, display and studying occupy the under-utilized vertical space above.”

WORKac collaborated with the digital sculptor Michael Hansmeyer to create new, 3D-printed capitals to replace the missing originals.

View addit...