Now called Willis Tower, the building has been a trendsetter since its debut. After starting life as a headquarters for Sears, Roebuck & Co., the building saw its namesake tenant relocate to the suburbs. Along with the rest of downtown, it suffered other blows, including fears raised by the terrorist attacks of 2001 and the Great Recession. It’s always bounced back.
But the tower now faces what might be its biggest test.
— The Chicago Tribune
SOM won the commission from the Sears corporation in 1970 at a time when office parks and the desire to project a stronger image of America against the backdrop of the Vietnam War were separately prevailing forces in the AEC industry. Sears eventually sold the 110-story building, which was the... View full entry
RIBA’s well-publicized overhaul of its longtime 66 Portland Place headquarters building has been put off for at least a year, according to a report published today in the Architects’ Journal. London-based Benedetti Architects has been in charge of the £20 million ($25 million) renewal... View full entry
Toronto builders have a challenging task ahead of them, and with a rapidly approaching deadline: constructing all new buildings with near-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. — Storeys
This goal falls under Toronto’s TransformTO Net Zero Strategy initiative, which aims to reduce community-wide greenhouse gas emissions in the city to net zero by 2040. The building mandate targets the sizable portion of carbon emissions that buildings account for. As reported by Storeys, data... View full entry
Studio Gang has completed work on the $465 million new Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education and Innovation at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Coinciding with the official public opening today, the museum has shared first photos of the project, showcasing... View full entry
The first dedicated museum of modern and contemporary art in Turkish history is finally opening its doors this week following the completion of the Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW)-designed Istanbul Modern in the country’s most populous city. Clad in an “iridescent” envelope of aluminum... View full entry
Beijing-based SYN Architects has offered a look inside their recently-completed Tiangang Village ‘Living Room’ in Baoding, China. The project saw the renovation and expansion of an existing village committee building, as well as the reactivation of surrounding buildings and outdoor spaces... View full entry
The work has been about creating a dialogue between the 18th century and modernity. This theater was born as a space to create dreams, illusions, adventures. It’s still a place of collective imagination. But to effectively make it work today, it needed to be much more flexible and capable than what existed in the 1700s. It had run out of space to perform effectively. We’ve created a series of elements designed to make the theater function for the 2000s. — The New York Times
The Swiss architect began his two-phase restoration in January 2002. It has been the subject of controversy since that time, owing to its scale and derivation from the city council tender approvals process. The project highlights the delicate line between preservation and the ambits of a figure... View full entry
Henning Larsen and Volvo are working on the design of a new consumer-facing experience center called The World of Volvo ahead of its debut early next year in the automaker’s hometown of Gothenburg, Sweden. Henning Larsen computational designer Leonardo Castaman recently explained on LinkedIn... View full entry
A new report published by the Brookings Institution is offering potential solutions for developers, architects, and urban planners engaged in office-to-residential conversions in the hopes of remedying the spate of downtown declines that are beginning to plague cities across the country... View full entry
MAD Architects has unveiled their first project in South America with the Qondesa tower in Quito, Ecuador. When completed, the mixed-use residential and commercial building is set to be the tallest in the city. Image credit: Mir According to the design team, the scheme is inspired by its natural... View full entry
A handshake agreement between New York Governor Kathy Hochul and lawmakers in Albany is on the cusp of banning natural gas in most new buildings statewide as part of a $229 billion budget deal that looks to broadly reduce the use of fossil fuels in the building sector. The proposed ban covers... View full entry
A new collaborative higher-ed project from Two Row Architect and DIALOG has been proposed for Canada’s Seneca Polytechnic College in Toronto. The proposal calls for a new Health and Wellness Centre to be delivered at the eastern edge of the school’s Newnham Campus, transforming an aged sports... View full entry
Canadian construction company PCL Construction is celebrating a major milestone in the construction of George Brown College’s new Limberlost Place on Toronto’s waterfront, with the installation of a mass timber pedestrian bridge. Standing 65 feet above street level, the structure... View full entry
Amid challenging conditions in the real estate and lending markets, a proposed 80-story residential tower that had been planned to be the tallest high-rise in Texas has now been scaled back to 45 stories. [...]
Taylor Wilson, president of Wilson Capital, said the revised design comes in response both to feedback from Austin's Design Commission and to significant changes in the real estate and financial markets, which are grappling with rising interest rates and tightened lending standards.
— The Austin American-Statesman
The revised Wilson Tower proposal would have surpassed I.M. Pei’s JPMorgan Chase Tower in Houston as the state’s record-holder. KPF’s Waterline development is still on track to break it by 20 feet. The episode highlights the economic stasis affecting developers in the city’s insanely... View full entry
A team including Gensler and CIVILIAN has completed the adaptive reuse of an old book depository in Detroit. The new center will serve as the headquarters for Newlab, a technology collective hosting startups in the field of decarbonization, energy, mobility, and materials. Image credit: Jason Keen... View full entry
