After recently rediscovering a campus building design proposal by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in 1952, Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind., will bring the project to life. Announced in a June 17 dedication ceremony, the 10,000-square-foot, two-story Mies Building for the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design will be adapted for modern use by the New York–based firm Thomas Phifer and Partners; it is scheduled to open this fall. IU uncovered documentation of the project in the archives of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, finding that the design was similar in approach and materials to the architect's famed Farnsworth House in Plano, Ill. Taking the form of a 60-foot-wide, 140-foot-long steel and glass rectangle, the project has an "impression of transparency," according to the university, thanks to floor-to-ceiling windows and a largely open-air lower level.
"As someone who worked with my grandfather Mies van der Rohe since 1957, I thought I knew all the projects he ever worked on," said Dirk Lohan, FAIA, grandson of Mies Van der Rohe, in the same release. "But I never heard about this project until Indiana University contacted me about its wish to build this 70-year-old design. After contemplating the request, I and the three other grandchildren concluded this would indeed be a wonderful assertion of Mies' significance as an architect." [Indiana University]
A 12-story, 136-unit residential tower in Miami-Dade Country collapsed early Thursday morning without any apparent warning. The northeast, beachfront portion of Champlain Towers South was undergoing a structural and electrical recertification process, which the county requires for any structure that reaches 40 years, and its roof had recently been redone. A study published in April 2020 by Florida International University researchers had found that the building had sunk at about 2 millimeters per year from 1993 to 1999. Still, the exact cause of the building failure remains unknown. At the time of publication, four people were reported dead and 159 remained missing. [Miami Herald]
Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering have developed a new computational fluid dynamics model to cool cities with reflective materials. While many existing urban surfaces (think concrete, roofing, and pavement) absorb and radiate solar heat, reflective materials, including concrete and coatings, could be designed to reflect between 30% and 50% of sunlight, ultimately reducing urban heat pollution. Cities such as Los Angeles, for example, have already deployed the approach on individual streets, but Pitt's model examines what could happen if the reflective materials were placed with consideration of wind flow. The finding: Urban cooling at a fraction of the cost. "This could be an effective solution if the surfaces selected were upstream of the dominant wind direction,” said the study's lead author Sushobhan Sen in a Pitt press release. “A ‘barrier’ of cool surfaces preemptively cools the warm air, which then cools the rest of the city at a fraction of the cost. On the other hand, if the surfaces are not strategically selected, their effectiveness can decline substantially.” [University of Pittsburgh]
Researchers from Stanford University have created a free, open-source software to help urban planners and developers design sustainable cities by illustrating the "links between nature and human well-being," according to a university press release. The software, dubbed Urban InVEST, examines environmental data and social demographics to help officials understand where investments in green spaces can result in maximum benefits for people. [Stanford University]
Cambridge Photon Technology, a photovoltaic manufacturer spin-off from the University of Cambridge, in the U.K., is attempting to push the limits of its product's efficiency. The start-up is developing a technique that allows solar cells to make use of high-energy photons—light particles too powerful for traditional PV technology to process—and thus dramatically increase their efficiency. [Nature]
For the Southern New Hampshire University's College of Engineering, Technology, and Aeronautics in Manchester, the Minneapolis-founded firm HGA embraced New England's barn-style vernacular in a three-story, 67,000-square-foot building. Slate shingles cover the project's two gabled roofs and "strengthen the barn metaphor while its sleek detailing gives the education hub a high-tech character and precisely crafted envelope," writes ARCHITECT contributor Giedon Fink Shapiro in his latest dive into innovative building details. [ARCHITECT]
San Francisco–based Living Carbon is hoping that genetically modified trees could help battle climate change. By altering a tree's photosynthesis, the start-up hopes that its GMO trees will remove and sequester more carbon than natural trees, ultimately creating forests with increased carbon sinking abilities. [Fast Company]
In his latest column, Blaine Brownell, FAIA, takes a look at smart materials through the lens of Things Fall Together (Princeton University Press), a new book by designer, computer scientist, and co-founder of MIT's Self-Assembly Lab, Skylar Tibbits. [ARCHITECT]
What can we learn from the rise and fall of Katerra? Now that the company has filed for bankruptcy, ARCHITECT contributor Daniel Davis examines high-profile AEC start-up's history and $2 billion legacy. [ARCHITECT]
Funded by a $460,000 grant, the global firm Perkins&Will has announced its collaboration with Building Transparency Canada and C Change Labs in Coquitlam, British Columbia, on the Tally Climate Action Tool. [ARCHITECT]
With the building industry invigorated, ARCHITECT highlights 23 newly launched products submitted by manufacturers nationwide to its Spring Product Call. [ARCHITECT]
