This year DETAIL is celebrating its 50th birthday, and it kicks off the year with an issue about Lightweight Construction. Never failing to impress, this issue left me wanting to know more about the topic’s history and its future. For example, the issue leads with a biographical article of Vladimir Grigor’evic Suchov, perhaps the most prolific engineer that few people outside of Russia have ever heard of. Best compared to giants like Alexander Graham Bell or Gustave Eiffel, architects and engineers are still learning and using construction techniques and principles Suchov contributed over 100 years ago. Starting here, the editors nicely framed the incredibly diverse range of projects that follow. Today’s most creative and innovative lightweight construction projects, from the Trift Glacier Suspension Bridge to the Temporary Bar in Porto, almost seem inevitable after reading the first article.

More on this issue after the break.

Today the architecture world is celebrating Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s 125th birthday. To mark this day, the Mies van der Rohe Society is celebrating with cocktails, student exhibits and a brief presentation on collecting the master’s work. If you are in or around Chicago you might to check it out. For all our articles that involve this architectural giant click here.

Garrison Architects are completing designs for Red Hook Green, New York’s first sustainable zero-energy, live/work building. A completion date projected is summer 2011. This unique structure is expected to become one of the most distinctive architectural additions to up-and-coming Red Hook section of Brooklyn.

Architect: Garrison Architects Location: Brooklyn, New York, USA Project Area: 4,000 sqf Renderings: Courtesy of Garrison Architects

After a reflective sabbatical following the 7th issue, The Cornell Journal of Architecture has recently launched itself back on the scene of primer architectural journals. The long awaited 8th issue strives to be “about the now, the new, and the next in architecture, while simultaneously acknowledging that every possible future is intrinsically linked to the existent, to the present and its attendant past. At the heart of issue 8: RE is the understanding that the creative act itself is reiterative; that in rethinking, recombining, reshuffling, recycling, and reimagining aspects of the world around us, we produce work that both belongs to the current moment and establishes new future trajectories.”

Table of Contents following the break.

This week our Architecture City Guide is headed to Philadelphia. The list of influential architects that have either worked, studied, or taught in Philadelphia is perhaps the only list that challenges the numbers of Founding Fathers that descended on this city of “Brotherly Love.” A brief list includes Sullivan, Kahn, Wright, Pei, Rudolf, Corbusier, Latrobe, Gropius, Mumford, and Furness. That being said, our list of 12 barely scratches the surface of buildings worth seeing in this great city. We would like to hear about your must not miss buildings in the comment section below.

The Architecture City Guide: Philadelphia list and corresponding map after the break!

When Jamie Oliver decided to take his “Food Revolution“ movement on the road he sought help from the Rockwell Group to design his mobile food truck. Designed pro bono by the Rockwell Group, the truck will travel to communities to educate kids, parents and professionals about healthy food and cooking.

Architect: Rockwell Group Photographs: Courtesy of Rockwell Group

The Green Building in Louisville, Kentucky incorporates a variety of green energy sources to achieve the city’s first LEED Platinum rating. Designed by (fer) studio, the building has geothermal, ice storage, solar panels, and a energy recovery ventilator. Watch the video to find out more.

This week our Architecture City Guide heads to the “Mile-High City”. In the shadows of the Rocky Mountains, Denver’s architecture can be as dramatic and serene as its surrounding landscape. From the moment your plane touches down at the Denver International Airport you are immersed in state-of-the-art architecture. We have included a dozen places to go once you arrive. Where else would you visit? Please leave suggestions of buildings a Denver visitor shouldn’t miss.

The Architecture City Guide: Denver list and corresponding map after the break!

The Green Wall at The Green Building in Louisville, Kentucky is a painting of plants that also cleans the air. “Painted” by Tracey Williams, the Garden Designer that collaborated with (fer) studio, The Green Wall gives visitors a different perspective of plants and their wonderful details.

Songdo International Business District (IBD) occupies over 1,500 acres of reclaimed land on the West Coast of Incheon, Korea. This waterfront master plan includes a diverse array of programmatic elements and is designed to be a pedestrian friendly city with walkable streets and an urban density that allows for an active street life. Signature features include, the New Songdo City First World Towers, Northeast Asia Trade Tower, the 100-arce Songdo Central Park, and the Songdo City International School.

Architect: Kohn Pedersen Fox Location: Incheon, Korea Photographs: H.G. Esch, KPF, Jaesung

The Green Building, designed by (fer) studio, reached a LEED Platinum status through a series of innovative processes. As the first LEED adaptive re-use project in the state of Kentucky they reclaimed much of the building. This video post details the process of re-milling the original building’s structural wood into finished flooring and furniture.

This 26,800 sqf home, designed by Shubin+Donaldson Architects, not only merges with its remarkable environment, but virtually disappears. Except for a few deft lines and angles – such as the ordered rows of the surrounding vineyard – there is very little perceivable ‘built’ presence. The entrance is marked by a single low wall, delicately cut into the land while sheltering a stairway that immediately begins the descent into the home.

Project description, images, and drawings after the break. Architect: Shubin+Donaldson Architects Location: Los Angeles, California, USA Partners in Charge: Russell Shubin and Robin Donaldson Project Designer: Bradford Kelley Project Area: 26,800 sqf Project Year: In development Renderings: Mike Amaya

For this week the Architecture City Guide series headed to the city of Austin, Texas. Already our third stop in the Lone State, it is easy to see why Texans take such pride in their state, even when the Cowboys go 6 and 10. Both the capital of Texas and Live Music, Austin is a vibrant city that takes pride in being far from ordinary. Austin also plays host to South By Southwest (SXSW) which is being held this week, March 11th – 20th. Its eclectic and liberal lifestyle have led many Austinites to adopt the slogan “Keep Austin Weird.” In this context its architecture is as diverse as its people. This short exposé of a few contemporary and modern buildings hardly tells the story of Austin, so we ask you, the readers, to add to the list. Please share your favorites with us in the comment section below.

The Architecture City Guide: Austin list and corresponding map after the break!

The Columbus, Ohio office of international design firm NBBJ is designing the new headquarters for the Housing Bank For Trade and Finance (HBTF), the largest bank branch network in Jordan. Located in the Schmeisani section of Amman, the new HBTF headquarters will feature a modern, iconic design helping to re-shape the city’s evolving skyline. It will also be among a handful of buildings in Amman created under the current sustainable design guidelines. Once completed, the new facility will provide employees with a state-of-the-art work environment to deliver even better service to customers.

Project description and drawings after the break.

Architect: NBBJ Location: Amman, Jordan Project team: Adam Shriver, Aleksandr Daskalov, Brian Sell, Chandra Wilcox, Dean Stump, Don Kruckeburg, Earl Lee, Ed Mickelson, Ivan Amy, Jim Lehnert, John Woods, Karen Miller Eskandari, Kent Usher, Mark Gammon, Mark Perry, Matt Manda, Mike Suriano, Nick Forbess, Scot Walls, Tony Murry, Tyler Bohm, Katie Hueblein, Michael Denison, Laura Elswick, Jeff Heffner, Jonathan Novak, Teri Umbarger, Brian Rezentes, Budiman Wiharja, Nursah Balcilar Design Engineer: Arup Local A/E: Arabtech Jardaneh Lighting Designer: Quentin Thomas Associates Food Service Designer: Hammer Design Associates Wind Testing: CPP Water Architecture: Dan Euser Construction Manager: Projacs Client: Housing Bank for Trade and Finance Project area: 76,000 sqm Project year: Estimated Completion 2014 Renderings: Li Fang / Illustration on Demand

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is constructing a new facility to replace the existing NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC) located in La Jolla, California, which is threatened by continuing bluff erosion. Designed by Gould Evans, the new facility will include approximately 124,000 sqf with an additional 90,000 sqf of under building parking, and is located on a site east of the existing SWFSC property. The proposed 3.305 acre site enables NOAA to continue its long-term partnership with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) of UC San Diego, but constrains the design, construction and available development due to its steep grade.

Project description, video, and images following the break.

+ 15

Architect: Gould Evans Location: La Jolla, California, USA Associate Architect: Architects | Delawie Wilkes Rodrigues Barker Mechanical/Electrical Engineer and Prime Consultant: Gibbens Drake Scott Structural Engineer: TranSystems Corporation Specifications, Laboratory Consultant, Security Consultant, and Sustainability Consultant: HDR Architecture Life Support Systems Consultant: MWH Americas Civil Engineer: RBF Consulting Landscape Architect: Wimmer Yamada & Caughey Vegetated Roofs Consultant: Jeffrey L. Bruce & Company Project Area: 214,000 sqf Project Year: estimated 2011 Renderings: Gould Evans

This proposed sod house designed by Randy Brown Architects responds to the site and the history of Nebraska’s first settlers of European descent. In the early 1800’s, Nebraska was all open fields filled with native prairie grass. The first settlers were confronted with the challenge of what materials to build with. These pioneers built dugouts, or homes that were literally dug out of the side of hills. Exterior walls were slabs of sod stacked in a running board pattern.

Project description and drawings after the break.

Architect: Randy Brown Architects Location: Omaha, Nebraska, USA Project Team: Randy Brown, Neil Legband Photographs: Courtesy of Randy Brown Architects