anyhow, i was just curious if anyone had suggestions of which architect or firm they would like to see tackle the challenging & nuanced terrain of this project. could be international or local. given that breuer did the library at a juncture when his career was begining to pick up steam, i think it would be interesting for a similarly talented and thus far under-the-radar practice to have the opportunity...except i have no idea who that would be? any suggestions?
I would like to see Will Bruder take a shot at it....I don't believe he has ever done an addition to a Library but he has done alot of Libraries. I believe he is also a Cranbrook Graduate, but not in Architecture.
They might also consider Jim Richard and Kelly Bauer from the Phoenix Metropolitian Area. They is a timely presentation of their
work in the Contract Magazine this mMonth. Richard+Bauer
Think they could bring some fresh thoughts to a tough problem.
scogin elam and bray have done quite a few libraries..
if that's an important criteria..and they're pretty small
community libraries so they're probably familiar with
program, budgets etc.
ralph may still be pitching in, and he would certainly be sympathetic, but a lot of the responsibility at rapson is now with his son toby. not that that's bad, just different.
already mentioned on the other thread, in other places, or i'm suggesting for first time:
williams/tsien (work at cranbrook)
will bruder (from MI, worked with birkerts, phoenix library)
meyer, scherer, rockcastle (mpls, library experience)
chu+gooding (sf)
marmol radziner (la, great new work but also a mini-specialization in restoration of moderns like neutra, schindler, lautner)
kieran timberlake (pa)
harry weese + assoc (chicago)
machado silvetti (that GREAT boston 'burbs branch library)
hillier (incl. library specialists, usually team with a local, did a great job on new university of louisville main library - including adding onto earlier modern structure)
eskew+ (new orleans)
leddy maytum stacy (sf)
scogin elam no longer have bray, but they would also be good.
according to a memoir written by one of Breuer's associates (Robert Gatje), Meier used to go by the name Dick, not Richard. Gatje talks about how Dick was clearly talented as a young architect, and that his drawings were meticulous.
the firm where i work would have no trouble with this project especially if they brought lb on board. this is only a twenty million dollar project after all.
yeah steven..
knew that bray was no longer with them..and almost said
something to that effect..but bray was with them when they
were doing all those libraries. as you said though scogin and
elam is where it's at anyway.
machado silvetti would definitely do something 'appropriate'.
twbta as well.
vincent james may be another good choice..especially since
he's already in the midwest..
the proposed budget for a completely new library was in the neighborhood of 22-23 million dollars. i'm not sure what it would be if they decided to keep the the breuer building.
hmm...yeah, i think williams/tsien would be a good choice. i feel like they'd have the a good sense of the weight involved in this project. bruder is talented, but i have a difficult time seeing him working outside of the american west...not that that's necessarily a bad thing. i just tend to identify him with that environmental palette.
a name that i keep thinking of is chinese architect yung ho chang because he seems to have a nice, humble touch with things.
ooh, lars, and when you mention vince james (who could be great - did the tulane student center expansion/renovation) i immediately think of former partner julie snow, who could also be great.
one of plyarch's partners, Craig Borum, lectured in Jacksonville a month or so ago...very good lecture. i spoke to Craig for a while during the pre-lecture happy hour, mostly about UMichigan and grad school in general. very cool guy. he teaches there, and i believe his partner does as well...
also, they have one tangentially related project:
the Mies van der Rohe Plaza in Detroit...
(contemporary yet sensitive intervention alongside modernist architecture)
check the site out for a larger version of this set of images...
steven..
yeah when you mention vja in minn..i guess you gots to mention
julie snow...just didn't know if she'd done any relevant work...
i at least felt that vj has done some nice understated buildings that
would work in the millieu of a library. plus i have a friend there.
i've worked at firms that competed against both of them...beat
snow out for the sd business school...lost to vja for the business
school of the american school in beirut.
i feel like this project deserves an architect that has to deal with
the weather of the midwest year round.
while i didn't say it immediately, vado (in a way) did it for me.
ap, those firms have some cool stuff, but in an rfq/rfp process for a large and complicated library, i'm afraid someone like plyarch's just not going to measure up with their portfolio of houses and site interventions.
true, lars. vja does have more relevant work. snow's children's museum in st paul, though, might put their portfolio in a similar place. anyone hired is going to have to have a library consultant these days, anyway.
what s with that zoka zola project with the sky run on the roof. that looks so incredibly dangerous ie walls jutting in to the area of the run and and what looks to be a 42" high wall that seems as though it would be easy to go over the top of...jeesh
i have to admit that i'm slightly disappointed just because i have actually heard of all of these firms already. maybe i'm not as clueless as i had thought because i was kind of hoping for some suggestions that i'm not familiar with. guess it's just that never-ending quest for the new/freshest thing.
i agree that some of these suggested firms don't quite have the resume for the project...yet i'd also be really disappointed to see it fall in the hands of a star architect who was distracted by bigger commissions. i really think that this could be a perfect project for an architect/firm at just the right moment in their career arc for a significant project that will bring recognition but who will still be fully engaged. in other words, it needs to be a hungry architect, but who's starving these days?
i see what you were hoping for, puddles, but there are some hurdles to overcome with the library board that might make that an issue:
-need for a deep portfolio
-need for some library experience
an up-and-coming firm that hasn't hit national prominence yet AND has a decent body of work is probably going to have to be a firm from your area that we haven't heard of yet. who are the detroit movers-and-shakers? who's in the umich programs that also runs a sizable practice?
separate from giving you names of louisville firms, i was thinking of folks that might be interested in taking an out-of-state job of small-to-medium prominence. unless it's one of the almost-famous firms that we've listed, i think you're talking michiganders.
not the unknown, hungry firm puddles is looking for, but how about machado and silvetti? both good portfolio, library experience [they did the allston branch in ma] and also good thinkers and overall silvetti def. knows his history of 20th century arch.
oh wait steven did mention them before.
in that case, i'll just give a shout out to ww just because i like them and sarah whiting is, literally, the smartest person i've ever met in real life.
1 - i was bumping the thread from page bottom with a few links of firms in the midwest, quickly grabbed from my bookmarks...
2 - i agree with your points on why plyarch (or zokazola) may not be ideal, especially if this ends up being about Qualifications (vs RFP)...
that said, it's not unlikely that, in the end, a local GP firm would act as architect of record for this job, if it were to go forward, and if the RFP was sent outside of the city/state...just a naive thought by me, but this seems like a strategy for the GPL's Board to avoid totally burning bridges...maybe a compromise, but perhaps realistic.
otherwise, John Ronan and Brinstool-lynch have ever-growing portfolios. Ronan has a few civic projects built, and B-L have a few nice attempts.... Ronan's work is spatially complex in a way that could be useful to this specific job. B-L's work (single and multi-family residential) uses brick in a contemporary way, alongside steel and glass...so these 2 aren't totally shots in the dark. up and coming? not sure...
Farr Associates' combination of services (Arch/Planning/Preservation) their environmentally intelligent design sensibility, and their portfolio of work that is not strictly contemporary, make them a well rounded candidate.
oh, and I wouldn't want the firm that I work at to touch this with a ten foot pole.
ok...that last part...not entirely true. there are certainly some people here (my branch and others) that could do something quite nice (and on schedule/budget)...
here are a couple other firms that do sensitive regional work (although they're not local to Detroit, which is an important credential in my opinion):
how about deborah berke? i really like that irwin union bank she did in columbus, indiana and she generally seems to have a good sense for the understated which i feel would be perfectly appropriate for this project.
i would also be curious to see a proposal from maya lin...but i'm not sure is she would have any interest in this project.
yes, deborah berke would be good. she did a very good job working with/within/around existing construction here in louisville. (a project for which my firm at the time was local/architect of record.)
I spoke with an architect on the Grosse Pointe Library Building Committee at Monday's meeting. He had himself begun compiling a list of nationally known architects. I don't think any of the architects already mentioned in this thread are beyond the scope the library may potentially pursue. Eventually, we should should compile this list of suggestions and put it in the hands of the building committee. I believe it would be a welcome addition to their process.
hey i get a corporate discount at the 21c hotel in louisville designed by deborah berke. i may drive down to columbus and check out her bank etc. this weekend. or maybe not.
Feb 28, 07 10:46 am ·
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suggest an architect for the GPCL
as some of you know, there has been recent interest in the grosse pointe central library designed by marcel breuer in 1953 and presently facing an uncertain future.
anyhow, i was just curious if anyone had suggestions of which architect or firm they would like to see tackle the challenging & nuanced terrain of this project. could be international or local. given that breuer did the library at a juncture when his career was begining to pick up steam, i think it would be interesting for a similarly talented and thus far under-the-radar practice to have the opportunity...except i have no idea who that would be? any suggestions?
Or maybe someone who knows the style, Ralph Rapson perhaps?
http://www.rapsonarchitects.com/
Or these guys,
Or these guys.
I would like to see Will Bruder take a shot at it....I don't believe he has ever done an addition to a Library but he has done alot of Libraries. I believe he is also a Cranbrook Graduate, but not in Architecture.
They might also consider Jim Richard and Kelly Bauer from the Phoenix Metropolitian Area. They is a timely presentation of their
work in the Contract Magazine this mMonth. Richard+Bauer
Think they could bring some fresh thoughts to a tough problem.
Ralph Rapson Rocks!
scogin elam and bray have done quite a few libraries..
if that's an important criteria..and they're pretty small
community libraries so they're probably familiar with
program, budgets etc.
ralph may still be pitching in, and he would certainly be sympathetic, but a lot of the responsibility at rapson is now with his son toby. not that that's bad, just different.
already mentioned on the other thread, in other places, or i'm suggesting for first time:
williams/tsien (work at cranbrook)
will bruder (from MI, worked with birkerts, phoenix library)
meyer, scherer, rockcastle (mpls, library experience)
chu+gooding (sf)
marmol radziner (la, great new work but also a mini-specialization in restoration of moderns like neutra, schindler, lautner)
kieran timberlake (pa)
harry weese + assoc (chicago)
machado silvetti (that GREAT boston 'burbs branch library)
hillier (incl. library specialists, usually team with a local, did a great job on new university of louisville main library - including adding onto earlier modern structure)
eskew+ (new orleans)
leddy maytum stacy (sf)
scogin elam no longer have bray, but they would also be good.
big 3rd for Tod Williams Billie Tsein Architects.
...and an historical anecdote:
Early in his career, Tod Williams worked for Richard Meier.
Meier spent some time early in his career working for Marcel Breuer.
also, TWBTA was inolved in the Robin Hood L!brary Initiative in NYC a few years back.
kennedy violich could come up with something cool, i bet.
well none of these people did the charrette so screw them. just kidding.
I have a hard time thinking of Richard Meier as the intern architect.....lol.
according to a memoir written by one of Breuer's associates (Robert Gatje), Meier used to go by the name Dick, not Richard. Gatje talks about how Dick was clearly talented as a young architect, and that his drawings were meticulous.
the firm where i work would have no trouble with this project especially if they brought lb on board. this is only a twenty million dollar project after all.
yeah steven..
knew that bray was no longer with them..and almost said
something to that effect..but bray was with them when they
were doing all those libraries. as you said though scogin and
elam is where it's at anyway.
machado silvetti would definitely do something 'appropriate'.
twbta as well.
vincent james may be another good choice..especially since
he's already in the midwest..
any firms worth mentioning from chicago?
the proposed budget for a completely new library was in the neighborhood of 22-23 million dollars. i'm not sure what it would be if they decided to keep the the breuer building.
hmm...yeah, i think williams/tsien would be a good choice. i feel like they'd have the a good sense of the weight involved in this project. bruder is talented, but i have a difficult time seeing him working outside of the american west...not that that's necessarily a bad thing. i just tend to identify him with that environmental palette.
a name that i keep thinking of is chinese architect yung ho chang because he seems to have a nice, humble touch with things.
and of course, vado retro & friends would be an excellent choice.
ooh, lars, and when you mention vince james (who could be great - did the tulane student center expansion/renovation) i immediately think of former partner julie snow, who could also be great.
a few regional architects pulled from del.icio.us/aaronplewke
http://www.jrarch.com/
http://www.brininstool-lynch.com/
http://www.farrside.com/
http://www.plyarch.com/
http://www.zokazola.com/
plyarch is cool. Good choice, AP.
thanks. i really like John Ronan too...
one of plyarch's partners, Craig Borum, lectured in Jacksonville a month or so ago...very good lecture. i spoke to Craig for a while during the pre-lecture happy hour, mostly about UMichigan and grad school in general. very cool guy. he teaches there, and i believe his partner does as well...
also, they have one tangentially related project:
the Mies van der Rohe Plaza in Detroit...
(contemporary yet sensitive intervention alongside modernist architecture)
check the site out for a larger version of this set of images...
hmmmm i guess the difference between my office and some of these is that we actually have built some buildings.
steven..
yeah when you mention vja in minn..i guess you gots to mention
julie snow...just didn't know if she'd done any relevant work...
i at least felt that vj has done some nice understated buildings that
would work in the millieu of a library. plus i have a friend there.
i've worked at firms that competed against both of them...beat
snow out for the sd business school...lost to vja for the business
school of the american school in beirut.
i feel like this project deserves an architect that has to deal with
the weather of the midwest year round.
while i didn't say it immediately, vado (in a way) did it for me.
ap, those firms have some cool stuff, but in an rfq/rfp process for a large and complicated library, i'm afraid someone like plyarch's just not going to measure up with their portfolio of houses and site interventions.
true, lars. vja does have more relevant work. snow's children's museum in st paul, though, might put their portfolio in a similar place. anyone hired is going to have to have a library consultant these days, anyway.
what s with that zoka zola project with the sky run on the roof. that looks so incredibly dangerous ie walls jutting in to the area of the run and and what looks to be a 42" high wall that seems as though it would be easy to go over the top of...jeesh
i have to admit that i'm slightly disappointed just because i have actually heard of all of these firms already. maybe i'm not as clueless as i had thought because i was kind of hoping for some suggestions that i'm not familiar with. guess it's just that never-ending quest for the new/freshest thing.
i agree that some of these suggested firms don't quite have the resume for the project...yet i'd also be really disappointed to see it fall in the hands of a star architect who was distracted by bigger commissions. i really think that this could be a perfect project for an architect/firm at just the right moment in their career arc for a significant project that will bring recognition but who will still be fully engaged. in other words, it needs to be a hungry architect, but who's starving these days?
Oddly I thought someone would of said Zumthor...quiet elegance, puzzle like solution that's needed.
Otherwise I'd go with Vado & Liberty collab...could be nice. The archinect love child - the grosse pointe library...the site collects 5%, I'll take 1%
thank you.
g'night!
i see what you were hoping for, puddles, but there are some hurdles to overcome with the library board that might make that an issue:
-need for a deep portfolio
-need for some library experience
an up-and-coming firm that hasn't hit national prominence yet AND has a decent body of work is probably going to have to be a firm from your area that we haven't heard of yet. who are the detroit movers-and-shakers? who's in the umich programs that also runs a sizable practice?
separate from giving you names of louisville firms, i was thinking of folks that might be interested in taking an out-of-state job of small-to-medium prominence. unless it's one of the almost-famous firms that we've listed, i think you're talking michiganders.
double secret identity would do a good job. too bad the library is in a cowtown...
not the unknown, hungry firm puddles is looking for, but how about machado and silvetti? both good portfolio, library experience [they did the allston branch in ma] and also good thinkers and overall silvetti def. knows his history of 20th century arch.
oh wait steven did mention them before.
in that case, i'll just give a shout out to ww just because i like them and sarah whiting is, literally, the smartest person i've ever met in real life.
in response to vado and Steven's comments:
1 - i was bumping the thread from page bottom with a few links of firms in the midwest, quickly grabbed from my bookmarks...
2 - i agree with your points on why plyarch (or zokazola) may not be ideal, especially if this ends up being about Qualifications (vs RFP)...
that said, it's not unlikely that, in the end, a local GP firm would act as architect of record for this job, if it were to go forward, and if the RFP was sent outside of the city/state...just a naive thought by me, but this seems like a strategy for the GPL's Board to avoid totally burning bridges...maybe a compromise, but perhaps realistic.
otherwise, John Ronan and Brinstool-lynch have ever-growing portfolios. Ronan has a few civic projects built, and B-L have a few nice attempts.... Ronan's work is spatially complex in a way that could be useful to this specific job. B-L's work (single and multi-family residential) uses brick in a contemporary way, alongside steel and glass...so these 2 aren't totally shots in the dark. up and coming? not sure...
Farr Associates' combination of services (Arch/Planning/Preservation) their environmentally intelligent design sensibility, and their portfolio of work that is not strictly contemporary, make them a well rounded candidate.
oh, and I wouldn't want the firm that I work at to touch this with a ten foot pole.
ok...that last part...not entirely true. there are certainly some people here (my branch and others) that could do something quite nice (and on schedule/budget)...
here are a couple other firms that do sensitive regional work (although they're not local to Detroit, which is an important credential in my opinion):
http://www.patkau.ca/
http://rchstudios.com/
some others w/library experience:
http://www.polshek.com/
http://www.hparch.com/#
and a Florida firm that has done well with a variety of project types:
http://www.alfonsoarchitects.com/
AP I think I'm with you on Rios Clementi... bound to find some equally inspiring work there
how about deborah berke? i really like that irwin union bank she did in columbus, indiana and she generally seems to have a good sense for the understated which i feel would be perfectly appropriate for this project.
i would also be curious to see a proposal from maya lin...but i'm not sure is she would have any interest in this project.
yes, deborah berke would be good. she did a very good job working with/within/around existing construction here in louisville. (a project for which my firm at the time was local/architect of record.)
i reserve comment until i see some of the ideas presented to the board, because something tells me that Team Bell Vado, should have the inside track.
...or Orhan Bell + Vado.
I spoke with an architect on the Grosse Pointe Library Building Committee at Monday's meeting. He had himself begun compiling a list of nationally known architects. I don't think any of the architects already mentioned in this thread are beyond the scope the library may potentially pursue. Eventually, we should should compile this list of suggestions and put it in the hands of the building committee. I believe it would be a welcome addition to their process.
hey i get a corporate discount at the 21c hotel in louisville designed by deborah berke. i may drive down to columbus and check out her bank etc. this weekend. or maybe not.
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