Scottish Design Awards

Schmidt Hammer Lassen designed a new library building for the University of Aberdeen campus in Aberdeen, Scotland. Photo: Adam Moerk

The Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS has announced 12 winners of its RIAS Awards for 2013. In addition to winners in its main awards section, as it continues to evolve the program, RIAS also announced three new sponsored topical subcategories for use of timber, for sustainability, and for resource efficiency.

The RIAS Awards 2013 winners are:

Photo:  Paul Zanre Photography

The Beacon Arts Centre, Greenock, Scotland
LDN Architects
Client: Greenock Arts Guild

"This building seems wholly appropriate for its superb waterside setting. It is elegantly contemporary in its materials and form, both open and welcoming.

Moshe Safdie in Los Angeles, California

The fourth phase of the Skirball Cultural Center, under construction in Los Angeles, California will open in October 2013. Image: Courtesy Skirball Cultural Center

Construction continues on the fourth and final phase of the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, California, set to open in October 2013. The thirty-year project has been masterplanned and designed by Moshe Safdie.

This phase of the development will feature two adjoining buildings – Herscher Hall and Guerin Pavilion – on the north side of the campus. These facilities will provide additional space for the Skirball's programming, including the addition of 40,000 square feet of classrooms, conference spaces, gardens, and a grand hall accommodating up to 1,200 guests. The 9,000-square-foot (840-square-meter) grand hall is daylit by nearly 100 custom skylights in a roof supported by Oregon Douglas Fir beams.

Interior rendering of the great hall and its window wall. Image: Courtesy Skirball Cultural Center

A large window-wall frames a view of the cascading terraced courtyard garden, which contains 30 Japanese maple trees. And the entrance plaza to the new building is accented with coral trees, enamel art panels, and a fountain.

The campus building palette comprises pink Tadoussac stone, recessed glazing, stainless steel roofs, vaulted ceilings, and discreet planted areas.

RIBA Awards 2013

The Chapel of Saint Albert the Great, in Edinburgh, Scotland was designed by Simpson and Brown. Photo: Chris Humphreys

From a beautifully-crafted chapel in the back garden of an Edinburgh townhouse to the yellow-roofed Ferrari Museum in Italy, and from a new 'green' flagship store in Cheshire, to a new visitors center at the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland, a total of 52 projects throughout the United Kingdom and European Union are winners of the 2013 RIBA National Awards.

Shiro Studio inherited the design of the yellow-roofed Ferrari Museum, in Modena, Italy following the death of Jan Kaplický. Photo: Studio Cento29

According to RIBA (the Royal Institute of British Architects), one third of this year's UK winners are education buildings. And fewer medium-scale projects won this year, although large- and small-scale projects are well represented. Many of the winners are publicly, charity, or foundation funded, with only one commercial office building in the mix.

A major renovation of the Park Hill estate housing complex was designed by Hawkins Brown & Studio Egret West. Photo: Daniel Hopkins

Foster + Partners in Munich, Germany

Norman Foster designed a two-story addition, and major renovation of the existing 19th-century core of the Lenbachhaus Museum, in Munich, Germany. Photo: Nigel Young/ Foster + Partners

In Munich, Germany, the Lenbachhaus Museum has reopened with a major new golden addition, and extensive renovations designed by Foster + Partners. Originally built in 1891 as a studio and villa for the artist Franz von Lenbach, the Lenbachhaus Museum was gradually extended over the last century as its audience grew to some 280,000 annual visitors.

Section drawing. Image: BPR/ Foster+ Partners

To accommodate these growing numbers, the building's facilities and circulation have been significantly improved. A new building entrance was created and is served by a new piazza to the east of the museum. This move helped to reclaim the villa's courtyard garden as a place of contemplation, separate from the main circulation system.

Inside the atrium of the Lenbachhaus Museum. Photo: Nigel Young/ Foster + Partners

The new social heart of the building is a dramatic top-lit atrium, with ticket and information desks, access to a new temporary exhibition space on the ground floor, and a grand, cantilevered stair leading to the upper level galleries. This large-volume space incorporates a portion of the original villa wall and is intended to accommodate large-scale works of art.

SFMOMA Addition Breaks Ground

Construction has begun on  an 11-story expansion to the SFMOMA building in San Francisco, California designed by Snøhetta. Image: Courtesy Snøhetta

Construction has begun on the new 235,000-square-foot (22,000-square-meter) expansion of SFMOMA in San Francisco, California. Scheduled for completion in 2016, the 11-story structure was designed by Snøhetta. Until the building's reopening, SFMOMA will be staging exhibitions and other events at locations througout

SmithGroup JJR in Salt Lake City, Utah

SmithGroup JJR designed the new LEED Platinum-targeting University of Utah College of Law building which is under construction in Salt Lake City, Utah. Image: ©VCBO/ SmithGroup JJR Architecture/ College of Law

Ground has broken on the S.J. Quinney College of Law building on the campus of the University of Utah, in Salt Lake City. In addition to providing more typical facilities the 155,000-square-foot (14,400-square-meter) building will provide space needed by the college for hands-on training of lawyers including practice courtrooms, and a collaborative research facility, as well as facilities to support the school's tradition of providing pro bono services to the community.

With upper levels projecting beyond a double-height ground floor, the five-story building will feature a predominantly glazed facade, with vertical and horizontal shades to minimize heat gain. Opaque facade materials will include metal, concrete, stone, and an orange-colored panel system that helps to frame and visually unify the disparate glazed volumes of the building's several wings.

Rear overview of Quinney building. Image: ©VCBO/ SmithGroup JJR Architecture/ College of Law

Diederendirrix Architects in Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Caption. Photo: Arthur Bagen

A major reskinning and renovation project on the campus of Eindhoven Technical University (TU/e) in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, converted a derelict boiler plant into the inviting and energy-efficient home of the school's Institute for Complex Molecular Systems (ICMS). Once clad in brick, Boiler House Ceres now has a predominantly glazed curtain wall that connects the two-story building with the surrounding campus.

Diederendirrix Architects designed the transformation, which preserved the building's steel structure, central light monitor, and other industrial details including a large sliding door, even as the building's envelope and systems were substantially upgraded. The building is the 2013 recipient of the annual Royal Institute of Dutch Architects Building of the Year award.

The central light monitor now encloses a central atrium and circulation space. Photo: Arthur Bagen

Siegel & Strain Architects at UC Davis

The new Jesse S. Jackson Sustainable Winery in Davis, California, was designed by Siegel & Strain Architects. Photo: Courtesy Guttmann & Blaevoet Consulting Engineers

The new Jess S. Jackson Sustainable Winery Building (JSWB) has opened on the campus of UC Davis, in Davis, California. The 8,500-square-foot industrial building is the result of a design-build collaboration between Siegel & Strain Architects and Pankow Builders. The JSWB will house teaching and research facilities for winery, brewery, and food-processing activities.

Thanks to a five-kilowatt photovoltaic array, which can be expanded to 30 kilowatts to support future increases in energy needs, the building is expected to operate at a "net-zero" energy level. This is achieved with a series of aggressively sustainable passive systems, including a tight, super-insulated building envelope, and substantial thermal mass, including a concrete slab, CMU stub walls, and a future rock bed, that supports a night-ventilation cooling strategy.

Interior of the JSWB. Photo: Courtesy Guttmann & Blaevoet Consulting Engineers

AIA-ALA Library Design Awards

 

A new atrium and interior structure replaced the original book storage structure inside the north wing of the St. Louis Central Library, renovated by Cannon Design. Photo: © Timothy Hursley

A major renovation of Cass Gilbert's Central Library building (1912) in St. Louis, Missouri is one of six projects to receive a 2013 AIA/ALA Library Building Award. The transformation focused on modernizing the facility and improving public access. Cannon Design restored the library's  Great Hall and four surrounding wings, while at the same time significantly adapting a fifth wing and creating a new atrium.

This adaptation involved removing a cramped book storage structure and replacing it with new, more generously proportioned spaces that seem to float within the building's original envelope. Use of glass balustrades throughout this wing, and improvements to glazing on the north wall result in a light open and inviting space.