Archinect - News

SOM breaks ground on new 53-story office project in Shenzhen

2024-10-16T15:11:00-04:00

Another important new project for Shenzhen—the SOM-designed CIMC Global Headquarters—just broke ground on its path to a 2029 completion. By that time, the 53-story, 886-foot tower will begin welcoming the first of its 60,000 anticipated daily users. Located in the Qianhai commercial district, the design targets both LEED and WELL Platinum certifications.

SOM (currently hiring for three project manager positions on Archinect Jobs) also recently broke ground on the $336 million new NJPAC redevelopment scheme with Weiss/Manfredi in Newark, New Jersey.

Image: Atchain © SOM

Changi Terminal 5 design by KPF + Heatherwick sets date for 2025 groundbreaking

2024-10-09T19:04:00-04:00

KPF and Heatherwick Studio’s collaboration on the new Changi Airport Terminal 5 is set for take off in Singapore after officials there announced plans for to break ground on the $10 billion project in the first half of 2025. Once it is ready by the mid-2030s, the terminal will serve around 50 million passengers annually. This is Heatherwick Studio's third project in Singapore and follows the completion of KPF’s undulating design of the new Terminal A at Zayed International Airport in Abu Dhabi in February.

Studio Gang's Samuel H. Scripps Theater Center breaks ground in the Hudson Valley

2024-09-27T11:01:00-04:00

Work on the first-ever LEED Platinum theater in the United States has commenced in New York’s Hudson River Valley. By summer 2026, the new 14,850-square-foot permanent home for the Hudson Valley Shakespeare company from Studio Gang, the Samuel H. Scripps Theater Center, will welcome guests to open air performances on its donated 98-acre campus in Garrison. Nelson Byrd Woltz is included for the landscape program of the surrounding site, which had been previously been used as a golf course.

Jeanne Gang says: "The architecture weaves in elements of the natural environment to create a unique indoor-outdoor setting for the company’s open-air productions and to offer an unparalleled theater experience."

Image courtesy of Studio Gang

Also in the Hudson Valley, HWKN is designing a new expansion of the CCS Bard Library and Archives and ARO is planning a mass timber visitor center at the Frederic Church Center for Art and Landscape at the Olana State Historic Site with Nelson Byrd Woltz. Stu...

BIG and ICON break ground on Liz Lambert's 3D printed El Cosmico resort in Marfa

2024-09-12T13:17:00-04:00

What could be the world’s first 3D printed hotel development has just broken ground near art and design-rich Marfa, Texas. The vision of a Texas native, the noted Austin area hotelier Liz Lambert, will come together with design and logistical support from BIG and ICON. Both entities announced the project in March of 2023, at the time promising a concept defined by a high desert vernacular that equally purports a "primordial architectural language."

All images courtesy ICON and Bjarke Ingels Group

Their design for the expanded El Cosmico resort calls for multiple structures comprised of different organic forms to be 3D printed on a plot totaling more than 60 acres. Private residences and affordable housing units connect to a hotel with a new amphitheater for the Austin-based Long Center for the Performing Arts included.

All images courtesy ICON and Bjarke Ingels Group

Individually, the homes are to be realized at between 2,000 and 2,500 square feet. The project expands the process and ...

Crow Museum of Asian Art set to open at Morphosis-designed UT Dallas arts and cultural district

2024-08-31T08:00:00-04:00

The Crow Museum of Asian Art is debuting its second location within the Morphosis-designed Edith and Peter O’Donnell Jr. Athenaeum Arts and Performance Complex at the University of Texas at Dallas.

A ribbon-cutting dedication for the Museum and the groundbreaking ceremony for Phase II of the project, which includes the construction of the performance hall and music building, will be held on September 24th. We'll have photos of the new building soon.

Previously on Archinect: Morphosis designs new arts and cultural district master plan at the University of Texas at Dallas

Northwestern University’s Ryan Field stadium breaks ground

2024-08-07T18:02:00-04:00

Northwestern University’s athletics tradition is getting a new crown jewel thanks to HNTB and Perkins&Will’s design for the new Ryan Field Redevelopment project. Work on the venue, which promises to be "most accessible in college football," commenced with a groundbreaking ceremony early last month in Evanston, Illinois, and will yield a total of 35,000 seats plus outdoor plaza areas after an investment of $800 million. Existing ADA requirements will be "doubled," according to HNTB's project page.

Turner Construction is spearheading its construction and expects the stadium to be ready in time for the start of the 2026 season. Thornton Tomasetti is providing structural design and construction engineering services for the redevelopment, which is targeting a LEED Gold certification.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by HNTBCorp (@hntbcorp)

Marvel's Bronx Museum of the Arts expansion breaks ground

2024-07-31T11:56:00-04:00

Marvel’s much-anticipated Bronx Museum of the Arts wing expansion has broken ground ahead of a two-year and $33 million effort. According to the firm’s LinkedIn announcement, the renovation "re-imagines the entrance, connects the circulation throughout all the galleries, and creates a unified experience that invites all users to be immersed into the spaces and the art."

Firm leader Jonathan Marvel had said its scope works to "blur the boundaries of building and sidewalk, and reach a city-wide audience" as a "new front door for the people of the Bronx" at its 2022 announcement. Marvel is also putting the finishing touches on the public esplanade portion of the new Universal Museum of Hip Hop, which opens next summer.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Bronx Museum of the Arts (@bronxmuseum)

Mecanoo’s new Taoyuan Station project breaks ground in Taiwan

2024-07-11T11:13:00-04:00

A groundbreaking ceremony for the new Taoyuan Station from Mecanoo was recently held in Taiwan. The 656,598-square-foot transportation project supports the country’s transition to an underground rail network as part of the initial segment of a two-phase master plan.

Image courtesy Mecanoo

The station is designed in collaboration with Sinotech as a "large, covered plaza" that includes commercial spaces and a bus station forming its reference as an "origami aeroplane." Its roof canopy features three distinct volumes separated by two voids with heavy structural columns that divide further into slimmer forms. The site is informed by the city's central axis. A patterned soffit combines with linear lights to distract travelers with a dynamic and vibrant ceiling to complete the experience, which will premiere finally in 2033.

Image courtesy Mecanoo

SOM's 400 Lake Shore Drive officially breaks ground in Chicago

2024-06-18T15:25:00-04:00

Yesterday marked the official groundbreaking ceremony for Developer Related Midwest’s Chicago Spire replacement designed by the Chicago Office of Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill (SOM) with David Childs. What will become a pair of new architectural centerpieces for the Lakefront and Streeterville neighborhood are set to be realized at 857 and 765 feet each, with the first tower ready to move in the first of its 635 new residents by the third quarter of 2027.

“As we break ground today, we do so with immense optimism for the future of Chicago […] 400 Lake Shore is a testament to the enduring strength of our great city and I am confident it will inspire future generations to continue building and dreaming big," Related Midwest's Curt Bailey said at the ceremony. Its progress follows last week's topping out of the TWBTA-designed Obama Presidential Center museum building on the South Side. Demolition work on the Thompson Center to make way for Google's new $280 million takeover has also be...

Houston's Rothko Chapel breaks ground on 2026 expansion

2024-05-24T11:50:00-04:00

Houston’s iconic Rothko Chapel is expanding for 2026 and recently broke ground on Phase 2 of its $42 million campus plan. The initiative will yield two new buildings designed by Brooklyn-based Architectural Research Office (ARO) and an outdoor garden from Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects. The new buildings will stand at 6,600 and 3,800 square feet, respectively, and the entire project will be targeting LEED v4.0 certification.

Rendering courtesy of ARO

“On the heels of our recent 50th anniversary, the work also gives us a welcome opportunity to lift up and celebrate those who have contributed to the design, building, and stewardship of the Rothko Chapel, including the de Menils, Philip Johnson, Howard Barnstone, Gene Aubrey, Barnett Newman, and so many others. All of them shared a vision that brought together modern art and sacred space to promote human unity, solidarity, and justice. This vision is still as relevant today as it was 50 years ago, and I believe it will remain so...

NYC breaks ground on important new Battery Coastal Resilience project in Lower Manhattan

2024-05-16T17:27:00-04:00

New York City has broken ground on the important new Battery Coastal Resilience project in Lower Manhattan. The critical $200 million component of the city’s larger Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency strategy is meant to protect 12,000 businesses and about 100,000 New Yorkers. It has been developed in unison with the New York City Economic Development Corporation, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, and the Mayor’s Office of Climate & Environmental Justice.

Map of Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency Projects. Credit: NYCEDC

Work in Phase 1 entails rebuilding The Battery’s former wharf and pedestrian promenade. The project will be completed by the end of 2026 and executed to match emissions reduction baselines set forth by the new NYC Clean Construction Accelerator. It joins the South Battery Park City Resiliency Project adjacent to the north in the city's wider plan for Lower Manhattan that includes another large-scale three-phase build on the East Side and other cap...

David Chipperfield’s K-Project corporate headquarters breaks ground in Seoul

2024-05-14T12:53:00-04:00

David Chipperfield Architects has just broken ground on a new corporate headquarters project for a South Korean IT company in Seoul. Construction for the new K-Project will advance toward a late 2027 completion and culminate in a new highly adaptable design that doubles as a piece of “social infrastructure” for the city’s Seongsu district.

Chipperfield says: “The energy and culture of the company occupying the building, and that of the diverse neighbourhood in which it is located are used to define a strong identity for the headquarters both visually through its dynamic façades and programmatically through a multi-use atrium.”

Rendering: Artefactory Lab, DCA, Brick

Programmatically, the concept works by traversing ‘Hardware’ and ‘Software’ layers vertically supported by eight vertical cylindrical cores, which lift the office component above a two-level ‘multiplex’ for retail and culture. This is the firm’s second corporate commission in Seoul after the completed Amorepacific Headqua...

Chicago O’Hare $300 million airport terminal renovation breaks ground

2024-04-25T12:03:00-04:00

Construction has begun on a $300 million renovation of Chicago O’Hare International Airport’s Terminal 3. The upgrades are expected to take three years and will overhaul the terminal’s infrastructure from security checkpoints to baggage claim, as well as adding amenities and improving accessibility.

Named ElevateT3, the project will include the reconfiguration of two TSA checkpoints into a single screening area, an expanded passenger corridor between concourses K and L, and the development of approximately 10,000 square feet of new concessions and amenity spaces. The terminal’s interior and exterior are also to be renovated to improve overall energy efficiency.

Previously on Archinect: FAA gives the final go-ahead to multibillion-dollar Chicago O'Hare expansion. Image render courtesy of Studio ORD.

Construction of the new terminal is expected to be completed by the summer of 2027 and will take a phased approach to allow continuous operations throughout Terminal 3 during construction....

Kéré Architecture breaks ground on new timber childcare center at the Technical University of Munich

2024-04-24T15:45:00-04:00

Kéré Architecture has broken ground on a new all-wood childcare facility at the Technical University Munich (TUM). The design of the Ingeborg Pohl Kinderoase an der TUM is 700 square meters (7,500 square feet) in total and will hold space for 60 children in service to faculty members and their families.

Image copyright Kéré Architecture

The building, made possible through a donation from philanthropist Ingeborg Pohl, is defined by its playful interior, which incorporates a variety of scales and unique circulatory features, such as slides that connect each of its five floors.

Image copyright Kéré Architecture

Administrative suites are placed at the ground level, with three floors dedicated to children and divided by age group. A green roof play area called the Himmelswiese (German for “field of the heavens”) completes the program above. The firm has emphasized its use of timber throughout is meant to “take the sustainability of the building to the extreme.”

Image copyright Kéré Archi...

Brightline West breaks ground on $12 billion Vegas to California high-speed rail project

2024-04-23T17:28:00-04:00

The $12 billion high-speed rail infrastructure project that will connect Las Vegas with various hubs in the Southern California region is off and running. Brightline West’s 218-mile loop is now under construction with a $3 billion push from the Biden administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill and the 2028 finish line in sight to coincide with LA's turn as host of that year's Summer Olympics and Paralympics.

Las Vegas Station aerial view. Image courtesy Brightline West

Las Vegas Station interior view. Image courtesy Brightline West

The trains will be operated at a maximal speed of 200 miles per hour, setting the North American record. (Another project between Raleigh, North Carolina, and Richmond, Virginia, will commence soon.) Wes Edens, Brightline's founder, said: “Today is long overdue, but the blueprint we’ve created with Brightline will allow us to repeat this model in other city pairs around the country.”

Rancho Cucamonga Station exterior view. Image courtesy Brightline West...

Frank Gehry's Colburn Center expansion breaks ground in LA

2024-04-10T17:06:00-04:00

Work on Frank Gehry’s new Colburn School expansion has commenced in downtown Los Angeles toward its eventual completion after Q1 2027. His firm Gehry Partners celebrated the groundbreaking with school officials last Friday, April 5th, in sight of his previous Walt Disney Concert Hall and The Grand designs at the intersection of Hill and 2nd Streets.

Nagata Acoustics and TheaterDNA are leading the interior fit-outs for the extension, which will yield a total of 100,000 square feet of new spaces for performance and rehearsals. A 1,000-seat concert hall, 100-seat theater, and four new dance studios will be added through the construction, along with a new public garden that serves as a gateway to the rest of downtown. Costs for the project are reported to be $335 million.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Colburn School (@colburnschool)

Gehry said in a previous statement: “I hope that it will be well-used and well-loved by the students of the Colburn School ...

Construction starts on MVRDV's new Berlin mixed-use development

2024-03-17T08:00:00-04:00

Construction has begun on the MVRDV-designed LXK Office and Residential Campus in Berlin. The mixed-use complex will add needed office and residential space to a rapidly developing part of the city.

The project is located in the Friedrichshain district. It spans approximately 658,751 square feet and features abundant office, commercial, and residential space. The complex consists of two L-shaped volumes, with the residential component consolidated into a single block. The corners of each volume open up to create an accessible green, public square. This divide allows the project to integrate itself sensitively into the scale of the surroundings.

Image © MVRDV

One of the most distinguishing features of the development is its single continuous luminous band that wraps horizontally around each structure. The band unifies the fragmented structure into a single form. This component is further activated by green, accessible terraces that offer views into the surrounding city. It also hosts ...

Obama Presidential Center pushes opening to 2026, Moody Nolan's athletics center to break ground this month

2024-03-11T12:04:00-04:00

The Moody Nolan-designed Obama Presidential Center Programs & Athletics Center project in Chicago’s Jackson Park has been scheduled to break ground later this month.

Project updates were reported late last week by the Chicago Sun-Times on the occasion of former President Obama's visit to McCormick Place to see a half-scale mockup of the 88-foot "Power of Words" video installation, the largest of 50 that will grace the Obama Presidential Center when it opens at a recently revised date in 2026.

The new opening date was provided by Obama Presidential Foundation CEO Valerie Jarrett in an update to local reporters. The Center is slated to include three other buildings: the main museum tower from TWBTA, a new Chicago Public Library branch, and a forum/auditorium space with an indoor winter garden, completed by Maya Lin's water garden design and a 19.3-acre landscaped design by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates.

Rendering of the upcoming Obama Presidential Center Athletics Center. Image ...

Frank Gehry's transformative Colburn School expansion will break ground in April

2024-02-20T19:14:00-05:00

An official groundbreaking date for Gehry Partners' $335 million Colburn School campus expansion has been set in downtown Los Angeles nearly six years after the project, now dubbed the Colburn Center, was announced in unison with collaborators Nagata Acoustics and TheaterDNA.

Site preparations and other preliminary construction will begin soon on the project, which will yield a total of 100,000 square feet worth of new performance, rehearsal, and education spaces, including a 1,000-seat concert hall, 100-seat theater, and four new dance studios. A special groundbreaking ceremony will take place on April 5th. The Colburn School says they expect construction to reach “substantial completion” by the end of Q1 2027.

View from Hill Street West towards the dance school entrance, dance studios, and public garden. Image: Courtesy of Frank O. Gehry & Gehry Partners, LLP

View East from Olive Street towards the entrance to the concert hall. Image: Courtesy of Frank O. Gehry & Gehry Partners, L...

Morphosis breaks ground on new U.S. Embassy compound in Saudi Arabia

2023-12-26T11:41:00-05:00

Morphosis has broken ground on the firm’s new U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia compound project for Riyadh’s Diplomatic Quarter.

Located on a 27.5-acre site away from the capital’s center near the Hanifa River, the complex will be delivered at an unknown square footage in replacement of the embassy’s current facility from 1984.

In a recent Instagram post, the firm states: “This natural setting provided a key source of inspiration for the campus: we drew from the wadi's geometries to shape the campus planning and buildings throughout the site, guiding circulation and channeling breezes between the structures. The new Embassy design embodies an innovative approach to providing safe, functional, and sustainable facilities for the US diplomatic mission to Saudi Arabia.”

Image courtesy U.S. Embassy and Consulates in Saudi Arabia

According to the project team, the design prioritizes security throughout while integrating the most state-of-the-art and modern hospitality features with sensitivit...

MVRDV begins construction on 'urban oasis' mixed-use concept for Paris

2023-11-29T12:44:00-05:00

MVRDV is behind a newly commenced mixed-use housing tract called La Serre, to be located in the Paris region’s ZAC Léon Blum eco-district at Issy-les-Moulineaux.

The firm’s project announcement details an 18-story development defined by its open facade with a landscaped vertical village provided by landscape architect Alice Tricon.

MVRDV says a total of 390 trees will be planted throughout the structure, helping to defy “traditional housing norms” in order to present a refreshed take on urban dwelling that’s in tune with Paris’ need for biodiversity and constructed using a host of low-carbon materials.

Image: © ENGRAM

The city’s Mayor, André Santini, said: “The project prioritizes nature, placing it at the forefront while the building recedes into the background. This urban oasis is not just a residential space; it's a genuine village square.”

Image: © ENGRAM

An open steel rack superstructure hosts the carefully selected slate of 150 different (mostly native) plant species while provi...

Harvard's new Enterprise Research Campus breaks ground in Boston

2023-11-14T18:59:00-05:00

A master plan project at Harvard University from Studio Gang, Henning Larsen, SCAPE, and Utile has begun construction in the Boston neighborhood of Allston.

The 36-acre Enterprise Research Campus (or ERC) will coalesce an area across the Charles River from the Ivy League campus into a new multi-use innovation district with designs from MVRDV, Moody Nolan, and Marlon Blackwell, in addition to the university's first above-ground mass timber structures from Studio Gang.

Once complete, its initial two phases will entail 14 acres of redeveloped land reserved for offices, labs, conference center, hotel, residential component, and open green space.

Image courtesy SCAPE

The effort was inaugurated in 2018 in the interest of creating a "gateway to a collaborative community," which is Boston's well-known consortium of knowledge industries.

Studio Gang founding principal and partner, Jeanne Gang, said her team’s plan has "provided a framework for a vibrant and inclusive public realm that bring...

Construction begins on Japan’s tallest building, Torch Tower

2023-10-09T15:00:00-04:00

Construction has begun on the Torch Tower, set to be the new tallest building in Japan. The 1,280-foot-tall skyscraper is expected to be completed in March 2028 according to new reporting by The Japan Times.

The Torch Tower is one of four buildings to be constructed as part of a major redevelopment of Tokyo’s historic Tokiwabashi district. Led by developers Mitsubishi Estate, the design team involved in the master plan’s delivery includes Mitsubishi Jisho Sekkei, Koji Matsuda, Sou Fujimoto, Yuko Nagayama, and Takanori Fukouka.

Hotel entrance. Image credit: Dorchester Collection

When completed, the Torch Tower will hold a luxury hotel operated by the Dorchester Collection, as well as a 2,000-capacity entertainment hall, offices, and an observation deck. While the hotel, offices, and rooftop observatory will be housed in the tower form, the entertainment hall and retail spaces will be located within a base plinth rising from a single below-ground floor to a sixth above-ground floor.

Ho...

Snøhetta's Charlotte Mecklenburg Library officially breaks ground

2023-08-24T17:07:00-04:00

Snøhetta’s Charlotte Mecklenburg Library (CML) project officially broke ground on August 15th in North Carolina with a demolition celebration of the existing Main Library building. Designed in collaboration with Clark Nexsen, the new library aims to become a major destination and centerpiece in Uptown Charlotte.

“We wanted to celebrate this demolition to mark the start of a new beginning in Uptown Charlotte,” said CML CEO Marcellus Turner. “From the café to the community living room and the technology hub to the destination reading room, the new Main Library will be an inviting place to learn, grow and engage with others in our community.”

The facility stands at the head of Charlotte’s public library system, which consists of 21 branch libraries that welcome 3.4 million visitors each year. It aims to transcend its use as a conventional library by also serving as a public commons. The project is supported by funding from Mecklenburg County and a major investment by the Knight Founda...

$82 million park space beneath LA's new Sixth Street Viaduct has broken ground

2023-08-09T08:00:00-04:00

Just over one year after the Sixth Street Viaduct replacement made its debut, Los Angeles city officials have commenced work on 12 acres of new park spaces at the foot of the $588-million bridge.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held on August 5th for the $82 million project, also known as the Sixth Street Park, Arts, and River Connectivity project (PARC). Landscape architecture firm Hargreaves Jones led the design.

Previously on Archinect: Take a look at new Iwan Baan photos of LA's Sixth Street Viaduct ahead of its grand opening

The park, which sits beneath the recently completed Sixth Street Viaduct, will include seven acres of open space on the east side of the Los Angeles River in Boyle Heights and five acres of space in the Arts District on the west side.

The Boyle Heights section will feature grass fields, picnic areas, a splash pad, event space, and sports fields and courts. The Arts District section will include a new arts plaza and river gateway, which will host spaces for performances, a café, and restrooms. Construction on PARC is expected to last around two-and-a-half years.

OSD’s new South Cato Springs development provides nurturing space for neurodiverse adults in Arkansas

2023-06-28T18:57:00-04:00

A new neighborhood-scale development from OSD aimed at enhancing the lives of neurodiverse adults has broken ground outside of Fayetteville, Arkansas following a special ceremony held this week with the firm and its client, a local nonprofit organization called SLS Community.

Their master plan for a mixed-use and mixed-income tract called South Cato Springs will eventually endow the region with a workforce housing micro village that also features dedicated space for a new center for the University of Arkansas Medical School, recreation, and agricultural areas all surrounding a central town square on a plot located near Kessler Mountain Regional Park.

Image courtesy OSD

The firm says it will become an example of a concept it calls “mindful urbanism,” offering itself to the community as both an empowering care space and elevating pedestrianism that is built from and deeply rooted in the rich natural landscape surrounding its idyllic 230-acre site.

Image courtesy OSD

This objective will ...

Frank Gehry’s Forma development begins construction in Toronto

2023-06-12T14:49:00-04:00

Frank Gehry’s biggest-ever contribution to the city in which he was born is now underway after construction began on the two-tower Forma condominium scheme in downtown Toronto.

A total of 2,087 residential units will be constructed as part of the process, filling out the pair of 73- and 84-story towers that, once built, will stand as the tallest buildings the 94-year-old Gehry has completed during the course of his illustrious six-decade career in architecture.

Image courtesy Forma/Great Gulf.

Gehry himself was on hand for last week’s groundbreaking ceremony, where he commented on the project’s significance as a new landmark rising from the busy commercial core of the city that has recently become a battleground for developers looking to surmount the fray of tall building proposals proffered there since the beginning of 2021.

Image courtesy Forma/Great Gulf.

"You think about the buildings in other cities like Rockefeller Center, where there’s an ensemble of buildings that create publ...

Adjaye debuts preview of India's new Kiran Nadar Museum of Art project in Venice

2023-05-17T00:01:00-04:00

As part of this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale, David Adjaye will be on hand to present an architectural model of the new Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA) project in New Delhi.

The model will be staged inside the Arsenale as part of the Curator’s Special Projects Mnemonic section, which runs from May 20th until the close of the Biennale.

Once it is completed in 2026, the museum building is expected to become India’s largest cultural center. Offering space for the museum’s collection of over 10,000 modern and contemporary works, the project is being undertaken in collaboration with S. Ghosh & Associates and will consolidate its currently disparate locations in New Delhi and Noida into a 100,000-square-meter (one-million-square-foot) new home on a plot adjacent to the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

Architectural model of the new KNMA, New Delhi. Courtesy David Adjaye Associates and KNMA

The museum’s founder and namesake explains: “Our presentation at the Biennale Architett...

Autodesk breaks ground on new Technology Engagement Center at Cal State Northridge

2023-04-18T17:00:00-04:00

Autodesk has shared a video of an extended reality (XR) walkthrough animation to coincide with their recent groundbreaking ceremony for the new Autodesk Technology Engagement Center at California State University, Northridge.

The 32,000-square-foot facility will support research labs and other endeavors essential to the College of Engineering and Computer Science while serving as the new home of the Global HSI Equity Innovation Hub, which aims to increase underserved communities’ participation in the STEAM fields over time.

Autodesk CEO Andrew Anagnost was instrumental in organizing a $5 million gift to the institution, which is his alma mater. This gift kicked off the project that is particularly meant to help cement the university’s place in a network of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). As a press release noted, currently, only 8% of all workers in the STEAM fields identify as Hispanic or Latino.

Video courtesy Autdodesk

“In the world of technology, it is common to celebrate...

'Hollywood of the Midwest': $100 million media campus in Chicago's South Side breaks ground

2023-02-14T15:42:00-05:00

The City of Chicago and Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot are celebrating the groundbreaking of a 380,000-square-foot, seven-acre enclosed media campus and sound stage development in the heart of the city’s South Side. Called the Regal Mile Studios Campus 1, the privately funded project is sponsored by investment bank Loop Capital, which supports Mayor Lightfoot’s INVEST South/West investment initiative.

The $100 million development is located in the Stony Island neighborhood and intends to reimagine the pre-existing Regal Theater and 79th Street Corridor, with designs led by Chicago-based practice Bauer Latoza Studio. The scheme will include three film studios, office space, staging areas, and adequate parking space. All of these components will be divided across three areas within a triangular site. The studio will feature a central internal portion that will act as an open flex space for staging and staff access.

Aerial view of the project site. Image: Bauer Latoza Studio

The project’s eq...