Bennetts Associates' green wall lives on, Frank Gehry's Weisman Art Museum extension begins construction and Green! Architects receives honourable mention.
UNITED KINGDOM
Despite having severely thinned on its western surface, the wall of plants at Bennetts Associates' New Street Square office will be 'fine by next spring', says director Rab Bennetts. Plants had to be moved around because the wall's irrigation system was putting too much water in at the bottom. The wall was also struggling because water was switched off in the summer during an exchange of maintenance contractor. The New Street Square wall, which covers three sides of a building at the $350 million RIBA redevelopment, was designed in collaboration with Clarke Associates.
UNITED STATES
The 753 sqm extension of the Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota, designed by Frank Gehry, began construction this week. The design adds five new gallery spaces to the east and south of the museum, two housing American art and the others housing ceramics, photography, works of art on paper and cross disciplinary collaborations between the University's faculty and artists from around the world. HGA Architects and Engineers of Minneapolis will be the local architect for the project, which is due for completion in October 2011.
GERMANY
An office building in Hamburg, Eco Towers by Green! Architects, has been awarded an honourable mention from the Building and Environment Authorities. The upper levels of the building have been set aside for office use, while the lower floors include exhibition spaces and a restaurant, allowing the neighbourhood to have access to the building. It has an excellent carbon footprint, saving more than 1.7t of carbon dioxide per year, and Green! Architects hope that the design will receive a Gold certificate from the German Sustainable Building Council.
UAE
Capita Symonds has announced that it is opening a new office in Abu Dhabi. The office, the consultancy's first in the region, will focus on working with the local real estate and infrastructure sectors. Mark Blake, development director at Capita Symonds, said that the financial crisis in the UK influenced the decision to open a new office and look at new markets in the Middle East, north and west Africa and China. Mike Wing has been appointed as regional director of the new office, and will be responsible for all operations and business development in the UAE and wider Middle East region.
HONG KONG
OMA, Rem Koolhaas' practice, will open a new office in Hong Kong to help cope with the growing number of projects the practice is involved with in the area. Such projects include the West Kowloon Cultural District masterplan, the Taipei Performing Arts Centre and the Shenzen Stock Exchange. The office will employ 25 architects and urban planners and will be managed by David Gianotten.
