Architectural Record | Technology

Inside Beijing's Big Box of Blue Bubbles
A multidisciplinary design team employed an innovative digital process to produce a surprising, highly integrated envelope-and-structure combination.

Photo © Iwan Baan

A Sleek Skyscraper in San Francisco Raises the Profile of Performance-Based Design
The nearly complete tower demonstrates multiple benefits of a nonprescriptive approach.

Photo © Henrik Kam

Let the (Indirect) Sun Shine In
A highly collaborative design process and In-depth analysis produce daylighting systems for two expanding art museums on opposite coasts.

Photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

Rapidly Renewable Materials' Complex Calculus
Evaluating the environmental impact of alternative building products is more involved than a straightforward examination of the length of planting and harvest cycles.

Photo © J.D. Peterson

Learning to Live on Alternative Energy
Three landmark projects show us how to integrate renewable-energy strategies into architecture, without compromising design.

Photo © Doug Snower Photography

Mutsuro Sasaki
Interviewed in his Tokyo office, the Japanese structural engineer reflects on the dramatic turn his work has taken since Toyo Ito’s Sendai Mediatheque, nearly eight years ago.

In Canada, a rammed-earth wall for the ages
The relationship between architecture and nature rarely gets more explicit than with rammed-earth construction.

Photo © Nic Lehoux

Looking Back and Moving Forward
Postoccupancy evaluations offer a systematic process for assessing completed projects, pointing the way to better-performing buildings.

A base-isolated makeover for Pasadena's historic City Hall
Structural base isolation—effectively "floating" a building on rubber pads to safely ride out an earthquake—is nothing new in California.

Photo © Victor Muschetto

California hospitals get a seismic reprieve
The California Building Standards Commission (CBSC) moved in December 2007 to allow the reclassification of potentially hundreds of seismically questionable hospitals in the state to avoid possible closure due to code noncompliance.

Architecture, Hot and Cold
The collaboration between two Australian firms on Melbourne's new Council House 2 shows off the design possibilities for building-integrated HVAC

Building Even Better Concrete
Manufacturers, scientists, and designers strive to reduce a vital material's environmental footprint while exploiting its many beneficial qualities

"Smart Glass" on the Verge
After languishing for years outside the mainstream, "switchable glazing" is poised to become a viable alternative and could soon have a significant impact on facade design.

(Mis)Understanding Green Products
A dizzying array of green-product certification protocols are overwhelming the building industry—even staunch advocates see a tough road ahead for architects

Safety and Security Without the Fortress Look
Designers of public-sector emergency-response buildings eschew the bunker image and incorporate transparency, sustainability, and state-of-the-art technology.

09/07		The New Age of High-Tech Hospitals Information Technology and digitally enabled medicine may be converging onto a single system, but are architects prepared to take the lead with their health-care clients? For Smart Materials, Change Is Good Our tradition of classifying materials in given categories has tended to obscure the potential for unconventional materials to transform architecture

08/07		Miracle on (and Under) Second Avenue A New York City off-again, and now on-again, public infrastructure project depends upon intense collaboration between architects and engineers.

07/07		Toward a Cybernetic Site The artist Mary Miss and architects Marlon Blackwell, Kierantimberlake Associates, and Lake/Flato radically reinterpret site construction in three new projects.

06/07		A Revered Jeffersonian Landmark Renewed With thorough research, testing, and analysis, A Hillier-led design team equips the State Capitol of Virginia for the 21st century, while preserving its rich history. A Temple to Transparency Rises in Athens A technically challenging and long-anticipated Museum devoted to the display of ancient artifacts nears completion at the foot of Greece’s most sacred mount.

05/07		Getting Aggressive About Passive Design Architects cannot approach the final frontier in low-energy, zero-carbon design without addressing that old energy hog—and beloved American friend—air-conditioning.

04/07		Transformative Tools Start to Take Hold A critical mass of building information modeling projects demonstrates the technology’s benefits and its potential for redefining practice.

03/07		Zero-Carbon Cities With cities worldwide facing daunting environmental challenges on a global scale, a multidisciplinary team at Arup seeks to create a model for how cities can develop carbon neutrally. SmartGeometry Conference The SmartGeometry Winter Conference, hosted by Architectural Record, is a day-long event focused on advanced 3D design tools. Part of this year¹s conference was videotaped, with AR editors interviewing some of the leading practitioners in the field. Progressive Project Delivery Engineering News-Record, RECORD’s sister publication, recently published a special feature on “Progressive Project Delivery,” including an opinion piece observing that “Architects Move Belatedly to the Light” and another column, “Could Big Change Happen here?” that warns: “new methods of project acquisition [in Britain]… should send shudders down the spines of American architects and engineers.”

12/06		When Less Powers More With energy-modeling programs and early input, mechanical engineers are increasingly involved in design decisions that are shaping the look of a new architecture. SOM's Pearl River Tower The storied design firm has set its sights on redefining one of its bread-and-butter project types, the corporate headquarters, into a model of high-tech sustainability. In Search of the Zero-Energy Holy Grail A Real-world yet hypothetical design problem in a tough climate challenges engineers to think about the measures necessary for reducing a building’s environmental footprint. An Evolving Edifice That Will Improve With Time Four universities Envision the Centre for Interactive research on sustainability as a Living laboratory with a lofty mission and ambitious performance goals.

11/06		Loblolly House: In Stock and Ready to Ship KieranTimberlake Associates fabricates the loblolly house in a warehouse, setting up a new supply chain and establishing a base to revolutionize the firm’s future production.

10/06		Sleuthing the Mundane and the Catastrophic Forensic architects and engineers employ investigative techniques, not to point fingers, but to find the root cause and recommend solutions for problems that plague buildings.

09/06		Selling the Light of Day Incentive programs and increased demand for building-integrated photovoltaic installations has pushed research and innovation at companies and universities.

08/06		Rooftops Slowly, but Steadily, Start to Sprout Technology begins to take root on roofs in North America as new research supports claims of environmental benefits, and policies encouraging implementation multiply.

07/06		An Abandoned Airport Brownfield Takes Off Parsons cleans up a massive brownfield site at denver’s shuttered stapleton international airport, allowing for the development of new neighborhoods for the inner city

06/06		Lightening up the court system Mitchell/Giurgola Architects transforms an inhospitable brutalist courthouse in lower Manhattan into a light and airy structure more in tune with its neighbors. Stadium Roofs Offer Much More Than Shelter A group of recent innovative projects demonstrates that a long-span roof can provide the primary opportunity for expression and a key design and construction challenge.

05/06		One Project, but Many Seismic Solutions The complex and contextual de Young Museum, set in San Francisco’s lush Golden Gate Park, incorporates an impressive diversity of earthquake-resisting strategies

04/06		Robo Buildings: Pursuing the Interactive Envelope In recent projects, smarter building skins automatically control daylighting, ventilation, and more to benefit occupants and enhance sustainable design quality

03/06		Can a New Kind of Heat Pump Change the World? An Electric-bill-burdened Engineer has developed what the HVAC industry has ignored: a heat pump that works when the temperature is below zero. Will consumers beat a path to his door?

01/06		The Perils of Restoring "Less Is More" Krueck & Sexton architects faced tremendous challenges in the restoration of Mie Van der Rohe’s 1956 masterpiece, S.R. Crown Hall, at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

12/05		H.H. Richardson's Romanesque Revival Masterpiece Prompts Inspired, Green Preservations In a complex project requiring design savvy and tight logistics, Goody Clancy adds an underground space to Boston's Trinity Church

09/05		No longer just pretty pictures, digital models are becoming workhorses Slowly, firms are starting to combine digital building models with wider-scale geospatial data and other information as they design, analyze, build, and maintain their projects.

06/05		Spotlight on Systems Research Four universities strive to improve the way lighting systems, solar-harvesting technologies, and HVAC work.

03/05		Rebuilding ancient history, one megabyte at a time A multinational team of conservation experts have created a system for documenting endangered sites in war-torn Iraq. They’ve got their work cut out for them.

12/04		Getting Down to the Wire Lights, computers, phone systems—the wires that power our buildings are made of a tangle of materials that raise environmental and health questions

06/04		Mass Transportation to Get Sleek and Daring Architects are being challenged to produce transit shelters and stations that are as innovative as the new and improved systems of moving people around the country

03/04		In the U.S., architects are ramping up the design power of photovoltaics Solar power is on the rise, and designers are using it to make a statement

12/03		The fabric of an industry has evolved with technology Designers of carpet and textiles have turned to advanced tools and methods

11/03		Working with telecom consultants

10/03		IT skills: A key to career success

09/03		At long last, hospitals are going high-tech Innovations are changing how health care is delivered—and how hospitals are designed A visit with WESKetch Architecture

08/03		Participatory design with the Internet

07/03		High-tech tools help preserve the past

06/03		Signs of Life: A New Lesson from Las Vegas A souped-up shopping center on the strip uses technology to announce itself as a retail, cultural, and civic destination. Mediated Architecture can finally Make a Public Place. Interview: A Visit with Richard Epstein

05/03		Tablet PCs: Good investment or just hip hardware?

04/03		Licensing: Software by the numbers

03/03		Nondestructive Testing Probes Dome's Safety Is one of the world's largest unreinforced masonry domes safe just because it looks safe? Interview: A Visit with BKSK Architects

02/03		Interiors go with the flow

01/03		Design Software for the Home Front

12/02		Mapping large-format scanner selection

11/02		In tough times, maintain a technical edge For Rob Fortin, today’s downtrodden economy sometimes has an upside. As director of IT for Arrowstreet, a 100-person architectural firm in Somerville, Massachusetts, Fortin provides the design staff with necessary technology tools while trying to keep costs under control.

10/02		E-documents require due diligence

09/02		Man As a Meter At the University of Michigan, an electronic classroom is home to cutting-edge audiovisual research. Focusing on digital cameras

08/02		Taking the pain out of upgrades

07/02		Digital tools for age-smart housing

06/02		Mapping Places and Spaces Geographic information systems are important tools for defining the social and environmental contexts of urban design, planning, and architecture Looking at display devices

05/02		The case for a digital master builder

04/02		The convergence of CAD standards

03/02		Space Invaders Pervasive computing technologies promise to revolutionize the way people use buildings - and how architects design them Tech primer: printers and plotters

02/02		Getting onto the digital fast track

01/02		From atelier to e-telier: virtual design studios