The Architect Newswire is an aggregation of news from media outlets around the world, intended to keep you abreast of all of the industry’s important developments. The stories we feature are not reported, edited, or fact-checked by Architect’s staff.
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Andrew Geller dies
Architect Andrew Geller died at 87 in Spencer, N.Y. Fred A. Bernstein reports that the Brooklyn native and Cooper Union graduate was known for a series of modernist homes on eastern Long Island. “On first impression, these beach houses seem like caricatures, one-liners,” architectural historian Alastair Gordon wrote in 1999, but “they represented a kind of everyman modernism that was both playful and accessible, with most houses costing less than $10,000.” Geller also worked at Raymond Loewy & Associates for 35 years, where he designed the “typical American home” that was exhibited in Moscow in 1959, leading famously to the “kitchen debate” between Vice President Richard M. Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita S. Khrushchev.
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LOS ANGELES TIMES
Long Beach says no to hotel
The Long Beach (Calif.) City Council voted 5-3 to reject a $320 million proposal for a coastal mixed-use development. Ruben Vives reports that the rejection came after eight years of planning. Several council members who voted against the project cited a letter from the California Coastal Commission that recommended revisions to the city’s zoning plan that would reflect the Seaside Village’s bulk. “It's unfortunate that we turned down what I think would have been a spectacular development, and revenue too,” Councilman Robert Garcia says. “Not a lot of people are developing.”
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KITSAP SUN (WA)
Bremerton’s hometown winner
AIA Gold Medal winner Steven Holl, FAIA, is a 1966 graduate of West High School in Bremerton, Wash. Steven Gardner reports that Holl’s parents encouraged early design explorations by Holl and his brother, allowing them to build three tree houses in the family’s backyard. They were “terribly supportive for my brother and I pursuing career paths that were not rationally about making money, but more about the arts,” Holl says. The architect has donated design services for the Youth Wellness in East Bremerton.
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THE STAR PRESS (MUNCIE, IN)
Teachers College renovation for Ball State
The sole high-rise at Muncie, Ind.’s Ball State University, the 10-story Teachers College Building, will receive significant renovations during the next two years. Seth Slabaugh reports that the $13 million project will replace most of the mechanical systems within the 1968 structure. “The renovations will be phased by groups of floors,” BSU spokesman Tony Proudfoot says.
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THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Town gets lighthouse
The 67-ft.-tall North Breakwater Light in Frankfort, Mich., will soon become the property of the city under the National Lighthouse Protection Act. The Associated Press reports that the U.S. Coast Guard asked for proposals in July 2010 and the city applied to receive the building. “It's our symbol, our constant reminder of our maritime heritage, a structure that provides a safe means of getting in and out of our port,” city superintendent Joshua Mills says. “When you think of Frankfort, you immediately visualize this structure.” The six-story light was built in 1912.
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THE OLYMPIAN (WA)
Tumwater picks architect
The Tumwater (Wash.) City Council has hired Tacoma-based Rasmussen Triebelhorn to design the expansion and renovation of the police station at City Hall. Nate Hulings reports that the $3.3 million project includes a 5,000-sq.-ft. addition and interior remodeling. “This is really an important project for us,” Mayor Pete Kmet says. The architect’s contract is for $387,660. Construction is expected to start during 2012.
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LODI NEWS-SENTINEL (CA)
Galt’s Christmas present
Jennifer Bonnett reports that Galt, Calif., received a Christmas present from the Sacramento Area Council of Governments Board of Directors—a $2 million grant for the C Street/Central Galt Complete Streets Project. The group also recognized Galt Place under its SACOG Salutes! Program, which honors “outstanding and innovative land-use, transportation and air quality planning, programs and activism throughout the six-county SACOG region,” according to Bonnett. “Galt Place exemplifies smart growth principles by developing a previously under-utilized parcel in the heart of the city's historic district,” city manager Jason Behrmann says.
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DC MUD
Pei’s National Gallery stripped
Ken reports that 33-year-old East Building at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., is showing off what’s usually under its Tennessee pink marble skin. The 16,200 panels are being removed and reinstalled on the I.M. Pei–designed building due to “systemic structural failure.” The building “is not holding up nearly as well as the John Russell Pope design of the West Building,” Ken writes. The re-skinning is scheduled for a spring 2014 completion.
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FILM SCHOOL REJECTS
Wim Wenders does architecture
German director Wim Wenders is working on a 3-D movie on architecture, according to Cole Abaius. “I have always wanted to do a film about architecture, and I have a lot of architect friends. But that is another subject I never really knew how to approach with film,” Wenders says. “I realized through Pina that architecture is something that could have a real affinity to this medium. We started shooting already, but it’s at the very, very beginning.” No date has been announced for the premiere.
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GIZMAG
Solar paint
Researchers at the University of Notre Dame, in Notre Dame, Ind., have created “solar paint”—a paste-like material that creates electricity when placed on a transparent conducting material and exposed to light. Darren Quick reports that the “Sun-Believable” paint still needs more work. “The best light-to-energy conversion efficiency we've reached so far is 1 percent, which is well behind the usual 10 to 15 percent efficiency of commercial silicon solar cells,” says Notre Dame Center for Nano Science and Technology (NDnano) investigator Prashant Kamat. “But this paint can be made cheaply and in large quantities. If we can improve the efficiency somewhat, we may be able to make a real difference in meeting energy needs in the future.”
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