Archinect - News

Harvard GSD completes first stage renovation of Gund Hall

2024-10-30T09:26:00-04:00

The Bruner/Cott Architects-led renovations to Gund Hall at the Harvard Graduate School of Design has concluded its first phase after work began to rehabilitate the building’s envelope at the end of the spring 2024 semester.

Both building efficiency and occupants' comfort have been improved with better insulation and an increased quality of light in most spaces as greater accessibility was made possible on the outside with the addition of new handrails and guardrails. The GSD's faculty building committee chair David N. Fixler said it was "important that the GSD project a spirit of innovation but also of legacy, of stewardship, of respect for the historic quality of [the building]."

Fixler had also previously called the project an important teaching tool for students interested in the preservation of other important mid-twentieth-century structures.

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)

Adaptive reuse project transforms former Spanish prison into ethereal community center

2022-07-11T16:18:00-04:00

Adaptive reuse continues to be a powerful tool used to save, preserve, and reform older buildings. In Tarragona, Spain, Josep Ferrando Architecture collaborated with Gallego Arquitectura to transform the former Reus prison into the El Roser Social Centre.

In November 2021, Archinect reported the debate circulating in the U.S. around prison reuse. "The movement to design spaces that are actively working to undo some of the social harms caused by mass incarceration is still fairly nascent [...]." This newly-completed project in Tarragona follows a similar sentiment.

The architects explain that the building's rehabilitation and intervention establish "a dialectic between the new more ethereal, light, tectonic elements, and the composition and stereotomic mineral materials of the heavier existing structure."

"The rehabilitation of the building listed as a Cultural Asset of Local Interest and included in the Inventory of Architectural Heritage of Catalonia." Image © Adrià Goula.

The f...

Empathy Deficit; Archinect Sessions #96

2017-02-09T17:36:00-05:00

This week on the podcast we are joined by Emily Hunt Turner. Emily gives us an update on her restaurant/non-profit startup All Square, as we previously featured in her Working Out of the Box feature. We also talk about her time working as a lawyer for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, as she detailed the challenges and struggles in the past, and concerns with the direction of the department moving forward.

Listen to episode 96 of Archinect Sessions, "Empathy Deficit":

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