News

APRIL 22, 2010 – Alan B. Miller Hall, the new home of the Mason School of Business at the College of William and Mary, has been certified LEED Gold by the U.S. Green Building Council, the School announced today.

"We're delighted by this news," said Lawrence B. Pulley, Dean of the Mason School. "Taking a leadership role in the College's efforts in sustainable design was a project goal from the outset. We are now focused on applying the same principles in how we operate and utilize the facility."

Miller Hall provides the Mason School of Business with a 166,000-square-foot state-of-the-art facility that carries forward the character of the College of William and Mary's Colonial-era architecture. "The Mason School of Business presented us with a wonderful and daunting challenge: to meet the high expectations of a forward-looking institution while respecting the great architectural heritage of the William and Mary campus," said Graham S. Wyatt, AIA, the partner in charge of the project at Robert A.M. Stern Architects. "We are convinced that sustainable design is compatible with all types of architectural expression—in short, that sustainability is not a style—and with Miller Hall we have demonstrated that today's values can be integrated successfully into the traditions of a great university."

Miller Hall opened in June 2009. The building was designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects in association with Moseley Architects.

(Photo by Peter Aaron/Esto)

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MARCH 25, 2010 – The new home of the Farmer School of Business is the first building on the Miami University campus to earn LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The Silver LEED designation was announced by the university today after notification by the USGBC.

"We are absolutely delighted to receive official word of this achievement," said Miami University President David Hodge. "This is a very tangible sign of the university’s commitment to leadership in environmental sustainability."

"We are very grateful to the donors whose combined $50 million in gifts helped make this building possible, and who encouraged us to take the extra steps and expense to meet the LEED criteria," said Farmer School Dean Roger L. Jenkins. "Businesses everywhere realize the need to make their operations focus on sustainability, and we want to model that mindset for our students, faculty and staff."

The building was completed in the summer of 2009 and opened for the fall 2009 semester. The building was designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects in association with Moody Nolan.

(Photo by Robert A.M. Stern Architects, LLP)

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MARCH 4, 2010 - Alexander Lamis, Partner at Robert A.M. Stern Architects LLP, appeared on the panel Beyond Architecture at the Architectural Digest Home Design Show at 11:00am on Thursday, March 18, 2010, at Pier 94 in New York City. He discussed his firm’s product design program and how it fits into the firm’s architectural practice as a whole. In addition to his architectural projects, Mr. Lamis manages Robert A.M. Stern Interiors, LLC, which provides interior design services to the firm’s architecture projects, and Robert A.M. Stern Design, LLC, which licenses product designs.

Joining Mr. Lamis on the panel was Annabelle Selldorf, founder and principal of Selldorf Architects, which currently employs 35 architects, designers, and support staff. Selldorf Architects has won numerous awards for its work, which includes cultural and arts, institutional, commercial, and high-end retail and residential projects. Ms. Selldorf is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and in 2006 was inducted into the Interior Design Hall of Fame.

Donald Albrecht moderated the discussion. Mr. Albrecht is the Curator of Architecture and Design at the Museum of the City of New York and an independent curator. Recent exhibitions include Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future and The High Style of Dorothy Draper. A new exhibition, Cars, Culture, and the City, co-curated with Phil Patton, opened in March at the Museum.

The panel was presented by The New York Times. For more information, please visit www.archdigesthomeshow.com .

FEBRUARY 8, 2010 - Traditional Building magazine has announced that Robert A.M. Stern Architects, LLP, won two 2010 Palladio Awards, topping the field in both of the program's two New Design and Construction categories. Flinn Hall and Edelman Hall, two residence halls at the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut, won the award for new buildings under 30,000 square feet. Alan B. Miller Hall, the new home of the Mason School of Business at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, won the award for new buildings over 30,000 square feet.

These honors represent the firm's third and fourth Palladio Awards: the John L. Vogelstein '52 Dormitory at the Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut, won a Palladio in 2004; and the Irving Environmental Science at Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, won in 2005.

The ninth annual Palladio Awards recognized 11 architectural firms for outstanding work in traditional design for commercial, institutional, public and residential projects. The jurors reviewed more than 150 entries to select five winners in the buildings category and seven residential winners. The jurors for commercial, institutional, and public architecture were Robert D. Loversidge, Jr., of Schooley Caldwell Associates; Eric R. Osth of Urban Design Associates; Daniela Holt Voith of Voith & Mactavish Architects; and Stephen C. Wright of Hanbury Evans Wright Vlattas + Company.

The winning projects will appear in the June 2010 issue of Traditional Building, and the award will be presented in Chicago in October at a conference sponsored by the magazine.

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DECEMBER 17, 2009 – SA Baxter introduced a new collection of door hardware designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects tonight at an event at its showroom at the New York Design Center in Manhattan. Grounded in tradition and sparked by the spirit of innovation, the Robert A.M. Stern Collection for SA Baxter will furnish today's residential and civic buildings with thoroughly contemporary reinterpretations of the neoclassical motifs that have inspired American architectural hardware from the colonial period to the present. The collection will complement with a wide variety of 21st-century interiors.

SA BAXTER designs and manufactures timeless custom and semi-custom architectural hardware for high-end residential homes and buildings. All of the manufacturing for SA Baxter takes place in its environmental-friendly foundry located in New York's Hudson Valley.

For more information, go to www.ramscollection.com or www.sabaxter.com.

DECEMBER 7, 2009 – Today the Robert A.M. Stern Collection for Bendheim, designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects in collaboration with Bendheim, the specialty glass resource, and Omni Décor, the world's leading manufacturer of architectural etched glass, was introduced worldwide. Four patterns of architectural glass offer varying levels of obscuration, with decorative etching on both sides lending dynamic interaction with light and surrounding design elements and a strong sense of dimensionality. The collection is intended for a broad range of interior and exterior applications.

"We are extremely proud to partner with leaders such as Robert A.M. Stern Architects and OmniDécor. This collection of crystal-clear, dimensional patterned glasses is unlike anything currently available on the market," said Donald Jayson, Sr. Vice President of Bendheim.

"Glass technology has achieved a new level of sophistication," said Robert A.M. Stern, "making it possible to step beyond high performance with an exploration of patterning, translucency, and reflectivity."

For more information, go to www.ramscollection.com or www.bendheim.com.

DECEMBER 1, 2009 – Orient-Express Hotels, Ltd, today presented designs by Robert A.M. Stern Architects for five houses at The Estates at Keswick Hall, a country estate community in the rolling hills just outside Charlottesville, Virginia.

The houses were created exclusively for the final 40 lots on the 600-acre grounds of historic Keswick Hall, which also offers a five-star Orient-Express Hotel and an Arnold Palmer signature 18-hole championship golf course and club. These designs will be available to buyers of home sites along with opportunities to personalize the exterior and interior finishes.

"It's a beautiful site, with incredible views across the rolling landscape," said architect Robert A.M. Stern. "Each house we have designed is different, yet grows out of a tradition of country villas that threads back through Thomas Jefferson to Palladio. It's like each family can have its own little Monticello."

Orient-Express first came into being in 1883 as one of the world's most exciting and indulgent train journeys. Today, the company owns and manages 49 businesses, including 39 hotels, each unique in style; two restaurants; two river cruise operations; and six luxury trains.

(Rendering by Michael McCann)

NOVEMBER 18, 2009 – Mrs. Laura W. Bush, Architect Robert A. M. Stern and Landscape Architect Matthew Urbanski of Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates today unveiled the design of the George W. Bush Presidential Center, a modern brick and limestone structure that complements the American Georgian character of the Southern Methodist University campus in Dallas. Set within a low-maintenance, quintessentially Texas landscape, the light-filled building is both presidential and welcoming, evoking both Texas and Washington. The building will house the three components of the George W. Bush Presidential Center: the Presidential archives, a museum, and a policy institute.

“I applaud the work of Robert Stern and Michael Van Valkenburgh in designing a building and landscape that will capture the dignity of the office of the Presidency, while at the same time being warm and welcoming to visitors,” President George W. Bush said. “Laura and I are thrilled with the plans.”

“The building and landscape evoke elements of the full span of George and Laura Bush’s life and service, from their ranch in Crawford to the White House, and help us share the story of a couple committed to public service based on the core principles of freedom, opportunity, responsibility and compassion,” said Mark Langdale, President of the George W. Bush Foundation.

“The George W. Bush Presidential Center reflects a unique design that is appropriate in representing the first U.S. President of the 21st Century,” said R. Gerald Turner, President of Southern Methodist University. “At the same time, it reflects major components of SMU’s Collegiate Georgian architectural tradition of nearly 100 years. As a modern expression of our heritage, this facility will be a welcome addition to the stately buildings and grounds that make the SMU campus a special place for learning,” Turner said.

The building and landscape are designed to achieve LEED platinum certification and include numerous sustainable design strategies including locally sourced building materials, 20% recycled materials, solar hot water panels, native landscaping to reduce irrigation and a storm-water management system that conveys, cleanses and collects surface runoff and roof rainwater.

Groundbreaking is scheduled for November 2010 and the Center is expected to open in February 2013.

(Rendering by Michael McCann)

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NOVEMBER 10, 2009 – ARC Wheeler hosted a reception this morning to celebrate the opening of 10 Rittenhouse Square, a 33-story building on one of Philadelphia's most cherished public squares. Nearly all of the building’s 135 condominium residences feature bay windows, high ceilings, and balconies or terraces. Amenities include a shared roof garden with adjacent pool, spa, and fitness center. Entrances to the residential tower are located on Walnut Street, through the preserved facade of the Rittenhouse Club (1840), and on 18th Street through a garden court; the rest of the site's frontage on Walnut, 18th, and Sansom Streets opens to retail storefronts. The red brick and limestone facades recall those of an early-twentieth-century generation of residential buildings in Philadelphia's Center City.

"We are thrilled to unveil Philadelphia's newest landmark, a project defined by the elegance, access, and sophistication of its location on Rittenhouse Square," said Robert Ambrosi, president of ARC Properties Inc. and managing principal of the building's developer ARC Wheeler. "10 Rittenhouse Square combines the luxuries of a five-star hotel with an unbeatable location in a one-of-a-kind Robert A.M. Stern building."

"Our task was to make 10 Rittenhouse Square the right building for this site, for this time, and for the long haul into the future," said Robert A.M. Stern. "I hope that 10 Rittenhouse Square will find a place in the hearts of Philadelphians as yet one more gift to the city's great tradition of architecture."

NOVEMBER 7, 2009 – The new home of the Farmer School of Business at Miami University was dedicated this afternoon. The 223,000-square-foot building occupies a prominent site at the heart of the campus, facing historic Cook Field and adjacent to the confluence of the three main roads by which visitors arrive in the town of Oxford, Ohio. Three wings embrace a new quadrangle anchored by a stand of mature trees including a majestic sweet gum dating approximately to the university's founding in 1809.

The building features a double-height commons with adjacent study and dining rooms; a skylighted central atrium; and a variety of instructional spaces—cluster classrooms, breakout rooms, a trading room, and a 515-seat auditorium. The building's simple Colonial-Georgian facades of red brick, painted trim, and slate roofs carry forward the architectural identity of Miami University's historic campus.

"The most inspiring aspect of the new building, for me, is seeing the sense of community that it is generating through the vibrancy of interaction among students and faculty, and increased opportunities for spontaneous collaboration," said Roger L. Jenkins, Dean of the Farmer School.

"The Farmer School of Business presented us with a wonderful and daunting challenge: to meet the high expectations of this forward-looking institution while respecting the remarkably consistent architectural heritage of the Miami University campus," said architect Robert A.M Stern. "We hope that the new Farmer School of Business building not only fits in but also stands out as the next step in the evolution of Miami's campus."

Moody Nolan of Columbus, Ohio, was architect-of-record for the new building.

(Photo by Robert A.M. Stern Architects, LLP)

OCTOBER 26, 2009 – The Municipal Art Society of New York tonight presented Robert A.M. Stern with the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Medal, awarded each year to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to New York City. The Municipal Art Society's highest honor, the Onassis Medal was established in 1994 in honor of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis's passionate efforts to preserve great architecture. It was orriginally established as the Society's President's Medal in 1950.

The Medal was presented by Rocco Landesman, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, at a dinner at the New York Public Library; where prominent New York property owner and public citizen Peter L. Malkin was also honored with the Medal.

"As I accept this medal," said Mr. Stern, "I do so on behalf of the very many with whom I have been privileged to work over the years: my partners and colleagues in professional practice; my collaborating authors; my teachers, especially Vincent Scully, who is an honorary chair tonight; my faculty colleagues and students at Columbia and Yale whom I've been privileged to know and occasionally influence."

Founded in 1893, the Municipal Art Society is one of the oldest and most forward-looking civic organizations in New York City. The Society has consistently advocated for intelligent urban planning and design, promoting and fighting for both innovation and preservation to ensure that New York continues to flourish as one of the world's greatest and most livable cities.

OCTOBER 9, 2009 – Franklin & Marshall College has selected Robert A.M. Stern Architects, LLP, to design a new College House residence hall. The design will carry forward the Georgian Revival style of renowned academic architect Charles Klauder, who designed seven of Franklin & Marshall's historic buildings, as well as the college's first master plan in the 1920s.

"It is an honor for us to have a world-renowned architect extending the Klauder tradition into a new century," said Franklin & Marshall President John Fry. "Robert A.M. Stern has amassed an extraordinary portfolio of work that shows sensitivity to integrating architecture into a campus community."

The residence hall, which will be the first new student housing built at the heart of the campus in 25 years, will create a new residential quad adjacent to the recently opened Barshinger Life Sciences and Philosophy Building. It will house 190 students and set the foundation for a new gateway to the campus on Harrisburg Avenue.

Completion is expected in spring of 2011; students will begin living in the College House in the 2011 – 2012 academic year.

(Rendering by Jeff Stikeman)

SEPTEMBER 9, 2009 – The University of Colorado at Boulder today celebrated the groundbreaking of the Jennie Smoly Caruthers Biotechnology Building. The Caruthers Biotechnology Building will bring together scientists and students in the Colorado Initiative in Molecular Biotechnology, the department of chemical and biological engineering, and the biochemistry division faculty of the department of chemistry and biochemistry. To encourage collegial interaction, labs and faculty offices will be organized into neighborhoods; the neighborhoods will in turn be connected to shared support spaces and meeting rooms by a central "main street."

The Caruthers Building will establish the future character of the University's new east campus, holding down one side of what will be a gateway quadrangle. The original campus—one of the finest American university campuses—was endowed with a "Tuscan Vernacular Revival" character all its own by architect Charles Z. Klauder's 1920 campus plan, inspired by hilltop villages to take full advantage of topography and views. The master plan for the east campus adapts the organizing elements and character of Klauder's plan to the larger scale of twenty-first-century academic laboratory buildings.

"This building will solidify the University of Colorado's position as a world leader in biotechnology and biochemistry," said CU President Bruce D. Benson. "It will draw on the talents of scientists and engineers from several disciplines to create an incubator where innovation and discovery will thrive."

HDR Architecture of Denver is architect-of-record.

(Rendering by Robert A.M. Stern Architects, LLP)

AUGUST 11, 2009 – Today Florida Southern College dedicated Nicholas Hall, the second of two residence halls at the college's Barnett Residential Life Center on the shore of Lake Hollingsworth. Florida Southern benefits from a master plan conceived by architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1936; the campus boasts the largest grouping of Wright's buildings in the world. The Barnett Residential Life Center, funded by FSC alumni Carol and Barney Barnett and Publix Super Markets Charities, replaces unsympathetic later buildings that ran parallel to the lakefront with two four-story Y-shaped buildings set on a diagonal to reestablish Wright's geometries and open views from the center of campus to the water. The building's twin, Wesley Hall, was dedicated in May 2008.

"These marvelous residence halls, designed by America's foremost architect, Robert A.M. Stern, set a new standard in the living-learning experience for Florida Southern students," said Dr. Anne Kerr, the President of Florida Southern College. "It is very fitting that Carol and Barney Barnett have named these buildings for their sons, because these buildings will house our students, whose parents share their parental pride in their own sons and daughters and who believe in the dreams of this generation and future generations of Florida Southern students."

"Wright is a tough act to follow," said architect Robert A.M. Stern. "The Barnett Residential Life Center presented us with a wonderful and daunting challenge, not only because of the great architectural heritage of the Florida Southern campus, but also because of the high expectations of this forward-looking institution."

(Photo by Peter Aaron/Esto)

JULY 22, 2009 – Robert A.M. Stern Designs' new furniture for the David Edward Collection was featured at First Look 2009 at the New York Design Center this evening. Lounge chairs and settees in three new lines—Astor, Cambridge, and Clarkson—are designed for a broad range of applications, including hospitality, healthcare, higher education, and residential. Information on these new products is available at www.ramscollection.com

David Edward is a family-owned business with over 300 skilled craftspeople working in environmentally-friendly production facilities to offer highly detailed furniture. Robert A.M. Stern Designs has been working with David Edward since 2003 to provide well-designed furnishings, initially to complement the architecture of the firm's own buildings; the Robert A.M. Stern Collection has been enthusiastically embraced by other architects and interior designers for their own projects.

The New York Design Center, located at 200 Lexington Avenue in Manhattan, has been committed to transforming and enhancing both living and working environments for over 80 years; NYDC has established a worldwide reputation for providing imaginative solutions to any design challenge. The fifth annual First Look introduced a broad array of new contract products to the New York A&D community.

JUNE 3, 2009 – Villanova Heights, a residential neighborhood of traditional houses designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects in the historic Riverdale section of the Bronx in New York City, was introduced to market today at an event showing the first two houses to be completed. Three additional houses are currently under construction. The houses draw on traditional American house styles—Colonial Revival, French Norman, Dutch Colonial, Arts and Crafts, and Shingle—while incorporating modern amenities. The project, which envisions 10 to 15 houses in all, is being developed by Riverdale resident John E. Fitzgerald and is scheduled to be completed in 2013.

"We chose Robert Stern because we were confident he could preserve the integrity of this important community with carefully-designed properties that blend with the personality of the area," said Mr. Fitzgerald.

"It's a pleasure to be able to work in the long tradition of American suburban enclave design, where an inspired developer gives an architect the opportunity to design a neighborhood of houses that relate to each other in scale and character, but exhibit stylistic variety," said Robert A.M. Stern. "We are creating at Villanova Heights the kind of dense, walkable suburb that Americans have valued for over a hundred years, from the time of Olmsted at Riverside, Illinois, to that of Dwight James Baum at nearby Fieldston."

"We're glad to be working once again in Riverdale, following on the conmpletion of the Perkins Visitor Center at Wave Hill in 2004," said Gary Brewer, Partner at Robert A.M. Stern Architects, who is leading the design effort along with Mr. Stern.

(Photo by Peter Aaron/Esto)

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MAY 22, 2009 – Guild Hall, the historic arts center in East Hampton, New York, will celebrate the completion of extensive renovations designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects with three days of events over the Memorial Day weekend. The white painted brick building, Georgian in style, originally designed by Aymar Embury and first opened in 1931, faces East Hampton's Main Street and serves as a meeting place for the significant local cultural community and a venue for the enjoyment of the visual and performing arts. Improvements include restoration and technical improvements to Guild Hall's three art galleries; the creation of a new education center and executive offices; restoration of the lobby; and the creation of a more inviting museum shop. The work culminated with the restoration and technical modernization of Guild Hall's beloved John Drew Theater.

"The grand reopening of Guild Hall marks a true success story," said Mickey Straus, Chair of the Guild Hall Board of Trustees. "We give special thanks to Robert A.M. Stern, without whom this renovation would not have been possible." Executive Director Ruth Appelhof, Ph.D., added, "Now the stage is set: the technological enhancements applied to our theater, museum, and education center allow us to continue to attract internationally renowned works and artists in both the performing and visual arts, as well as to nurture and celebrate local artistry."

(Photo by Peter Aaron/Esto)

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MAY 18, 2009 — Haddonstone, the U.S. and U.K.'s leading manufacturer of fine cast stone landscape features, has partnered with Robert A.M. Stern Designs to create a new collection of ornamental garden urns. The first two lines in the collection, Olympian and Athenian, are now available through distributors and directly through Haddonstone at www.haddonstone.com.

"These classically-inspired, yet wholly contemporary, ornamental planters, operating at the intersection of nature and artifice, are designed to help define outdoor rooms in an architectural way," said Robert A.M. Stern, founder and senior partner at Robert A.M. Stern Architects. The Olympian Collection includes two series of tall, medium, and low urns, a tall slim amphora, along with bases for all elements of the collection, that interpret in a clean, contemporary way the pure shapes of ancient vessels as seen through the lens of late nineteenth-century Neoclassicism. The Athenian Collection includes tall, medium, and low urns in two designs, and their bases, inspired by the pure forms of Art Deco or Art Moderne ornaments of the early twentieth century. These designs will be appropriate for both formal and romantic gardens, whether residential, institutional, or commercial, or for interior uses.

Haddonstone is the U.S. and U.K.'s leading manufacturer of fine landscape ornaments and architectural cast stonework. Haddonstone offers 500 designs in the standard collection as well as custom products created to individual specifications.

The full line of available products designed by Robert A.M. Stern Designs is available at www.ramscollection.com.

(Photo by Haddonstone)

MAY 2, 2009 – A groundbreaking ceremony was held this morning at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York, for the Hancock Technology Center, a new building that will house traditional academic programs and space for collaborative research, innovation, and small business incubation. "Although the Hancock Center will house our School of Computer Science and Mathematics, the concept is that technology is not just for computer science majors but for everyone," said Marist's President, Dennis J. Murray. "The Hancock Center will also enhance our efforts to assist the state's economic development through incubation of start-ups. It will nurture entrepreneurs in their business development with the goal of creating companies and jobs in the Hudson River Valley."

Ellen Hancock, lead donor and Vice Chair of the Marist Board of Trustees, said of the building: "We want to put people in a position where they can exchange ideas and work across disciplines, with technology at the core. When you do that, you get a lot of 'aha!' moments." Ms. Hancock, who was named to the Marist Board of Trustees in 1988, has been a pioneer in the field of technology, rising to senior executive positions at IBM, National Semiconductor Corporation, and Apple Computers before becoming chief executive officer of Exodus Communications and then president of Jazz Technologies.

The building is designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects, LLP, of New York City. The firm's founder and senior partner Robert A.M. Stern said, "Today we look to the legacy of historic academic buildings in the Hudson River Valley as we break ground for a new building to be realized in rustic stone and brick, a building that will reflect on the past as it showcases the most advanced information technology available now and into the future." The building is the first step in a plan to reorganize the central campus around a variety of open spaces that complement the extraordinary topography of this site.

(Rendering by Jeff Stikeman)

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APRIL 22, 2009 – Philadelphia's Comcast Center has earned LEED-CS (Core and Shell) Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. John Gattuso, Senior Vice President and Regional Director of developer Liberty Property Trust, announced "LEED-CS Gold certification for Comcast Center means that the tallest LEED certified building in the nation is located here in Philadelphia. More importantly, it represents a model for how efficient, invigorating, and environmentally sustainable workplaces can and should be integrated into our city and region." Brian L. Roberts, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of lead tenant Comcast, said, "Our first year in Comcast Center has exceeded our every expectation and we are delighted it has received LEED Gold certification."

Robert A.M. Stern Architects led the design team. Looking back on the design process, Robert A.M. Stern, the firm's founder and senior partner, said, "Our clients encouraged us to go as far as possible in our shared search for an environmentally responsible design. LEED Gold certification affirms that working together, we have risen to the challenge."

Comcast Center rises 58 floors above Philadelphia's Suburban Station, Center City's primary commuter rail gateway. The 975-foot-high faceted obelisk provides 1.25 million square feet of Class A office, restaurant and retail space. The tower is clad in silvery high-performance glass that blocks 60% of heat while allowing in 70% of the sun’s visible light. The building uses 40% less water than a typical office building. Shading on the plaza reduces the heat-island effect caused by pavement by 70%.

Liberty Property Trust is a real estate investment trust that owns and manages 77 million square feet of office and industrial properties in the U.S. and the U.K. Comcast Center is owned by a joint venture of Commerz Leasing und Immobilien and Liberty Property Trust.

(Photo by Peter Aaron/Esto)

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APRIL 16, 2009 – Tonight Paul Whalen, Partner at Robert A.M. Stern Architects, LLP, will present "42nd Street: The Reinvention of the Theater Block" as the inaugural lecture of the New York Chapter of the Congress for the New Urbanism. He will talk about the role of design in the public / private partnership that has reestablished the theater block of 42nd Street as New York's premier democratic entertainment center and a widely studied model for urban redevelopment worldwide. Discussion with founders of CNU New York will follow his presentation.

The lecture will be held at the Institute of Classical Architecture & Classical America at 20 West 44th Street in Manhattan; it begins at 6:30. More information is available at http://www.cnu-ny.org; reservations can be made at http://cnuny.eventbrite.com.

JANUARY 13, 2009 – Robert A. M. Stern will discuss two of his firm's recently completed buildings—Fifteen Central Park West in New York and Comcast Center in Philadelphia—in the lecture "The Janus Face of Modernity" tonight at the Union Club in New York. The event is co-organized by the Yale Center for British Art and the Sir John Soane's Museum Foundation. For further information and tickets call 212 223 2012 or e-mail chas@soanefoundation.com.

DECEMBER 2, 2008 – The Greenspun College of Urban Affairs dedicated its new home this afternoon. The five-story, 120,000-square-foot Greenspun Hall provides classrooms, labs, departmental suites, faculty offices, and radio and television broadcasting facilities for the College, and bring its programs—Communications Studies, Criminal Justice, Environmental Studies, Public Administration, Journalism and Media Studies, and Social Work—under one roof. The Greenspun Family Foundation contributed $37 million for the building—the largest single donation in UNLV history.

Greenspun Hall holds down a prominent corner of the UNLV campus where it meets Maryland Parkway; as the first building in the University’s "Midtown UNLV" initiative, it re-engages the campus with the city that has grown up around it. A tower creates an urban gateway symbolizing the University's edge. At the southeast and northwest corners of the site, expansive landscaped stairs ascend to a broad courtyard shaded by a louvered canopy that will tame the harsh desert sun, yet allow it to play across the trees, columns, and open space below. This louvered canopy, the most visible of the building's many environmentally sensitive design features, reduce solar gain on the building's facades and roofs and support a large photovoltaic array that will produce a significant portion of the power required to run the building. Greenspun Hall is on track for LEED Gold certification.

HKS is the architect-of-record.

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OCTOBER 17, 2008 – The Spottswood W. Robinson III and Robert R. Merhige, Jr., U.S. Courthouse in Richmond was dedicated today. The 325,000-square-foot, LEED Silver building will provide nine courtrooms together with offices and support space.

The new courthouse presents a formal public entrance to Broad Street, as do the neighboring Richmond City Hall, the Virginia State Assembly Building, and the Virginia State Library. The building bridges the city's governmental Capitol Square district to the east and its historic commercial core, now being reinvented as a performing arts district, to the west. A 100-foot high north-facing atrium serves as a civic-scale forecourt to the seven-storey courthouse and office facility to the south. Public galleries facing the atrium lead visitors to the public functions and to the courtrooms. The judges' chambers are located along the southern edge of the building, where they enjoy dramatic views to Thomas Jefferson's Virginia State Capitol Building.

Our work was performed for the U.S. General Services Administration's Mid Atlantic Region. HLM Design / Heery International was the associate architect.

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SEPTEMBER 4, 2008 – Yale University President Richard C. Levin announced today that Robert A.M. Stern Architects has been selected to design two new residential colleges of Yale College. The new colleges will expand the average undergraduate population of 5,250 by 15 percent to approximately 6,000, allowing Yale to prepare a larger number of talented and promising students of all backgrounds for leadership and service. The colleges will be built in a triangle north of New Haven's Grove Street Cemetery bounded by Prospect, Canal, and Sachem Streets and are expected to open in 2013.

"We are pleased that Robert A.M. Stern Architects, founded and led by Bob Stern, our distinguished dean of the School of Architecture, will be designing Yale's thirteenth and fourteenth residential colleges," Levin said. "Bob has designed many outstanding academic facilities around the country, and his knowledge of Yale and its architectural tradition is deep and profound. For the past decade, he, along with former Architecture Deans Cesar Pelli and Tom Beeby, has advised me on every major building project we have undertaken. His understanding of Yale coupled with his appreciation of how good design can foster community will lead to a superior result."

Stern follows fellow Yale alumni James Gamble Rogers and Eero Saarinen, who designed ten of Yale's twelve existing colleges. "Yale's residential college system has helped place Yale College at the pinnacle of undergraduate education," said Stern. "It is an honor to work on such an important expansion of a tradition that contributes so much to the life of the students during their time at Yale." The new colleges will follow Yale's proven model with a master, dean, fellows, and students forming a close-knit community, supported by the highest caliber public and private spaces for living and study.

For more information, see Yale University's news page

JULY 14, 2008 – The National Building Museum will present the Tenth Vincent Scully Prize to Robert A.M. Stern, dean of the Yale School of Architecture and founder and senior partner of Robert A.M. Stern Architects, at a gala celebration on November 12, 2008. David Schwarz, chairman of the Prize jury, said Stern was selected "for his years of teaching at Columbia and Yale Universities, his leadership as dean of the Yale School of Architecture, and his seminal publications reflecting on the history of architecture in New York."

The Vincent Scully Prize and endowment were established by the National Building Museum in 1999 in honor of Vincent Scully, Sterling Professor Emeritus of the History of Art at Yale University, Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Miami, and one of the world's most influential architectural historians and critics. The Prize has come to be known as one of the most important awards in the field, recognizing the importance of ideas and scholarship that lead to significant contributions to our built environment. The nine previous recipients were Vincent Scully, Jane Jacobs, Andrés Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, His Highness the Aga Khan, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, Phyllis Lambert, Witold Rybczynski, and Richard Moe.

The National Building Museum, located in Washington, DC, is dedicated to exploring and celebrating architecture, design, engineering, construction, and planning. Chartered by Congress in 1980 and open to the public since 1985, it is a vital forum for the exchange of ideas and information about the built environment. Mr. Stern has served as a member of the museum's board of trustees since 1999.

JULY 12, 2008 – Today the City of Calabasas, California, dedicated its new Civic Center, a complex that provides a new City Hall and a municipal library organized around a variety of outdoor spaces, including a civic plaza, an olive grove, and an amphitheater. The City Hall will include a 125-seat council chamber and well as a service counter for day-to-day municipal business. The library will house traditional library functions along with an acoustically refined 200-seat multipurpose meeting room, which will serve as a venue for spoken word events as well as small-scale musical performances. The City of Calabasas is committed in its charter to a high level of stewardship of its attractive natural environment, and the Civic Center is designed to achieve Gold LEED™ certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Harley Ellis Devereaux of Los Angeles was architect-of-record.

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JUNE 6, 2008 – The 1.4 million-square-foot, 975-foot-high Comcast Center, the new headquarters for the Comcast Corporation, rises 57 stories above Suburban Station in Center City Philadelphia. The tower is clad in silvery high-performance Viracon® glass with ultra-clear, low-iron glass at the building's corners and crown. Comcast Center and its south-facing, half-acre plaza straddle the underground tracks and concourse of Suburban Station—Philadelphia's primary commuter rail gateway. A 110-foot-high light-flooded public winter garden connects the concourse with its shops and food hall (still under construction) to the tower and plaza above. The winter garden features a double-skin glass curtain wall with sunscreens and louvers that optimize daylight and views while modulating daily and seasonal thermal performance. Radiant heating, thermal extraction, and displacement ventilation combine to provide exceptional energy performance for this civic-scaled space. Three three-story "sky-atria" in the lower portion of the tower's south facade overlook the plaza and provide tenants with unique and identifiable homes. Comcast Center is expected to receive LEED™-CS certification.

The building was developed by Liberty Property Trust. Bill Hankowsky, chief executive officer of Liberty Property Trust, developer of the building, said, "Comcast Center is not just a building. It breaks new ground on several fronts—it creates a dynamic new experience for commuters entering their city; it provides a stimulating, efficient home that allows the state's largest corporation to continue to grow and contribute to the city's financial vitality; and it serves as a beacon of sustainability in a world striving for responsible environmental stewardship."

"This is a defining moment in Comcast's history," said Brian Roberts, chairman and chief executive officer of Comcast, who dedicated the evening to his father, Comcast chairman and founder, Ralph Roberts. "Our vision was to create a world class home for Comcast employees in the City of Philadelphia. We have been committed to this great city for over 40 years and this fantastic green building is the result." Comcast leases more than 90% of the building.

"Comcast Center is a monument to our collective faith in the power of architecture to convey not only the dignity of this great city but also its new energy," said architect Robert A.M. Stern, founder of Robert A.M. Stern Architects and Dean of the Yale School of Architecture. "I am grateful to have played a part in this inspiring Philadelphia story."

Kendall / Heaton Associates of Houston, Texas, served as architect-of-record.

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JUNE 1, 2008 – The Lakewood (Ohio) Public Library celebrated its reopening today, marking the completion of a two-phase construction program that began with a 40,000-square-foot addition that opened in June 2007 and then continued with the renovation of 53,000 square feet of the existing building, all integrated into one composition. The new library carries forward Lakewood's rich tradition of civic buildings that speak in the Classical architectural language; a monumental entry porch facing Detroit Avenue provides a civic scale that was previously lacking. A two-story skylit lobby at the building's center serves as an orientation point and opens to the circulation desk, the popular materials room, and the children's department. A grand stair with another skylight leads up to the reading rooms, the general collection stacks, and the technology center.

CBLH of Cleveland, Ohio, served as associate architect.

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MAY 28, 2008 – Tonight Robert A.M. Stern received the Kaufman Center Creative Arts Award at the Kaufman Center Honors gala dinner in New York. Mr. Stern, Dean of the Yale School of Architecture, was the lead designer of the recent improvements at Abraham Goodman House, the center's home on Manhattan's West 67th Street, which included a major reconceptualization and updating of the building exterior and public spaces, as well as technical upgrades of the performance and backstage areas of the much-beloved Merkin Concert Hall, all conceived as an update in harmony with the spirit of the building as originally designed by Ashok Bhavnani of Johansen & Bhavnani and completed in 1978.

"Robert Stern is one of the real superstars in the world of architecture today," said Bethany Millard, chairman of the Kaufman Center's Board of Trustees, in presenting the award. "Bob found a way to refresh our building without losing its original integrity. We're very grateful."

Mr. Stern and his partner Alexander P. Lamis led the design effort and are currently working on the next phase of improvements. Jaffe Holden Acoustics served as acoustical consultant and Auerbach Pollock Friedlander as theater consultant for the work in Merkin Hall.

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MAY 22, 2008 – Today Florida Southern College dedicated Wesley Hall, the first of two new student residences at the Barnett Residential Life Center on the shore of Lake Hollingsworth. The College's Lakeland, Florida, campus boasts the largest grouping of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings in the world. Wright's work developed complex 30º-60º-90º geometry and responded to the local climate with deep overhanging eaves and shaded esplanades.

The Barnett Residential Life Center, funded by FSC alumni Carol and Barney Barnett and Publix Super Markets Charities, replaces unsympathetic later buildings that ran parallel to the lakefront with two four-story Y-shaped buildings set on a diagonal to reestablish Wright's geometries and open views from the center of campus to the water. Broad staircases descend to generous lawns between the residence halls to provide open space for student leisure.

"Today, Florida Southern College launches a new era in the residential life experiences of its students," said FSC president Dr. Anne B. Kerr. "The Barnett Residential Life Center will become the standard for student living and learning spaces throughout the nation."

"We are proud to be a part of the continuing evolution of the Florida Southern campus with a building that we hope is sympathetic to Wright's master works, but with its own presence and identity," said Alexander P. Lamis, partner at Robert A.M. Stern Architects. "We applaud the vision of the Barnett family, who recognize the importance of creating a more welcoming and distinctive public face for the campus along Lake Hollingsworth."

MAY 3, 2008 – The Hotchkiss School today dedicated two new student residences, Flinn Hall and Edelman Hall, which each provide rooms for 30 students, four faculty apartments, study rooms, and a lounge.

Hotchkiss was built in almost seamless fashion in the early twentieth century with leading architects—Bruce Price, Cass Gilbert, Delano and Aldrich—working in the American Georgian style to meet the needs of a growing New England school, with distinguished yet modest brick buildings defining informal courtyards and lawns. Our new three-story residence halls keep to the prevailing scale of the campus by creating a central building framed with gambrel-roofed side wings housing the faculty apartments. The building materials reflect those of the school's best historic buildings: fine brick details complement double-hung shuttered windows and inviting classical entry porticos. Together with Bissell Hall, the two new buildings shape a new quadrangle, adjusting the spatial focus of the Hotchkiss campus as it expands to the north and east.

Flinn and Edelman Halls are on track for Gold-level LEED™ certification.

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APRIL 30, 2008 – Musiskwartier, a mixed-use infill urban development in Arnhem, the Netherlands, has won an Urban Design Merit Award in the AIA New York Building Type Awards program, co-sponsored by the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and by the Boston Society of Architects. Musiskwartier enlivens a fine-grained, formerly industrial neighborhood with a new market square that respects historical patterns of development and new buildings that combine ground-floor retail with residences above organized around shared courtyards. The new structures are carefully woven into and around existing historic buildings, in an idiom that complements but does not mimic the fabric of the surrounding city. Musiskwartier won a Charter Award from the Congress for the New Urbanism in 2006. The developer is Multi Corporation of Gouda, the Netherlands.

INBO of Woudenberg, Netherlands, served as associate architect.

(Photos by Hans Spuijt)

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APRIL 24, 2008 – The Ithaca College School of Business today dedicated the Dorothy D. and Roy H. Park Center for Business and Sustainable Enterprise. The building, which opened in January 2008, is the embodiment of the College's commitment to sustainable business practice; it is on track for Platinum-level LEED™ certification.

The Park Center is sited and massed to take advantage of daylight and prevailing winds for lighting, heating, cooling, and ventilation. Low-velocity displacement ventilation reduces fan power and cooling energy by using higher air temperatures supplied through raised flooring in classrooms and wall registers set low in offices. The building's locally-quarried rubble-stone base, garden terraces and green roof echo the local topography and native vegetation. Inside, Forest Stewardship Council-certified wood is used for finishes and fixed furniture, and a central four-story atrium and a dramatic open stair provide natural daylight and ventilation to classrooms, team study rooms, and a sophisticated trading room on the first two levels, and on the upper two levels faculty and administrative offices. The Park Center will be the hub of educational "eco-tours."

Robert A.M. Stern Architects was selected to design the Park Center following a three-way design competition in early 2005.

APRIL 23, 2008 – Robert A.M. Stern, Dean of the Yale School of Architecture, was presented with Soane Foundation Honors at the "Thoroughly Modern Soane" dinner dance at the Rainbow Room in New York tonight. The Foundation supports the Sir John Soane's Museum in London, in the house that architect Sir John Soane (1753-1837) designed and opened to the public after the death of his wife in 1815 to display his vast collection of arts and antiquities. "Soane's house—the museum that we are supporting tonight—resonates with scholarship and discipline, revealing the unbroken, endlessly self-renewing character of architecture," Mr. Stern said on accepting the award.

The Soane Foundation also honored the Monacelli Press, publisher of monographs on the work of Robert A.M. Stern Architects as well as Mr. Stern's series of books documenting the development of New York City's architecture and urbanism from the end of the Civil War to the millennium.

APRIL 16, 2008 – Robert A.M. Stern was awarded Bronx Community College's Legacy Award tonight at the school's 50th anniversary finale gala. Iris Weinshall, Vice Chancellor for Facilities, Planning, Construction and Management of City University of New York, presented the award.

Robert A.M. Stern, Dean of the Yale School of Architecture, is the lead designer of BCC's new North Instructional Building and Library, which will provide classrooms, offices, and a state-of-the-art library for BCC's 9,000 students. The new building will carry forward the vision laid out in Stanford White's 1892 master plan for what was originally New York University's University Heights campus. The building, scheduled for completion in 2011, is expected to achieve LEED certification at the Silver level.

Mr. Stern and his partners Graham Wyatt and Augusta Barone are leading the design effort at Robert A.M. Stern Architects. Ismael Leyva Architects of New York City is architect-of-record.

(Rendering by Thomas Schaller)

MARCH 28, 2008 – Today was the opening of the International Quilt Study Center and Museum at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. The glass and brick building will house the world’s largest collection of quilts, including the Ardis and Robert James Collection of antique and contemporary studio art quilts, the Cargo Collection of African American Quilts, and the Jonathan Holstein Collection, composed of the seminal Whitney Collection and an unparalleled group of Pennsylvania Amish quilts; and an international study center dedicated to the research, preservation and display of important quilts from cultures around the world. The $12 million facility was privately funded through contributions to the University of Nebraska Foundation, including a lead gift from the Robert and Ardis James Foundation of Chappaqua, New York.

The compact three-story brick building combines simply massed volumes housing the galleries and their support with a bowed facade composed of glass panels "stitched together" to create a large-scale pattern suggesting the activity within. The carefully orchestrated sequence of public circulation from the entry up a stepped ramp to a large reception hall then to the galleries is a journey from daylight to the controlled light of the exhibits. The museum is on target for LEED ™ Silver Certification.

Alley Poyner Macchietto Architecture of Omaha, Nebraska, served as associate architect.

Photo: Peter Aaron / Esto

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MARCH 3, 2008 – Robert A.M. Stern Architects, LLP, today announced nine new partners in the firm: Augusta Barone, Gary Brewer, Melissa DelVecchio, Sargent Gardiner, Preston Gumberich, Michael Jones, Dan Lobitz, Meghan McDermott, and Kevin Smith. RAMSA extends congratulations to each of them. The new partners join founder and senior partner Robert A.M. Stern, managing partner Robert S. Buford, and partners Randy Correll, Alexander Lamis, Grant Marani, Roger Seifter, Paul Whalen, and Graham Wyatt.

JANUARY 29, 2008 – Silverstein Properties President and CEO Larry A. Silverstein today unveiled Robert A.M. Stern Architects' design for 99 Church Street, an 80-story hotel and residential tower in Lower Manhattan. Located between Barclay Street and Park Place, the elegant 912-foot tower will be home to a 175-room Four Seasons Hotel with 143 private residences above. The project will also include a public park.

The limestone and cast stone shaft of the tower rises to a dramatic skyline profile of full-floor penthouses and setback terraces. The hotel entrance on Barclay Street leads visitors into four floors of lobbies, lounges, a restaurant (which also has an entrance of its own on Church Street), ballrooms, meeting facilities, spa, fitness center, and pool. A separate entrance and lobby at 30 Park Place serves the residences.

"Our partnership with Four Seasons at 99 Church Street serves as further validation of Downtown's ongoing transformation into a dynamic, sustainable and unparalleled urban community," said Mr. Silverstein. Kathleen Taylor, President and Chief Operating Officer of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, said, "This development, with the combined vision of Silverstein Properties and Robert Stern, promises to be an exciting project as it reinvents the historic downtown district."

"99 Church will counterpoint the glass-and-steel office towers that Larry Silverstein and his organization are building along Greenwich Street, and together these buildings will help Lower Manhattan realize its potential as a great place to live and work. I am proud to be a part of this effort," said Robert A.M. Stern, founder and senior partner of Robert A.M. Stern Architects and dean of the Yale School of Architecture. Silverstein Properties is simultaneously developing four office towers at the World Trade Center: the Freedom Tower and three office buildings on Greenwich Street.

Yabu Pushelberg is the interior designer for the hotel guest rooms. SLCE Architects is architect-of-record.

(Rendering by dbox)

JANUARY 10, 2008 – Aviva France announced today that Robert A.M. Stern Architects has been selected to design a new office tower at La Défense. Tour Carpe Diem will be an important step forward in the evolution of La Défense toward pedestrian-friendly urbanism and environmentally responsible architecture. The 35-story, 45,000 m2 building connects the raised esplanade—the "dalle" that continues the axis of the Champs-Elysées through the district—and the urban fabric of the city of Courbevoie to the north.

"This is a fantastic opportunity to place greater emphasis on the human dimension at La Défense," said Robert A.M. Stern. "We are very impressed with the efforts of EPAD [The Public Authority for Development of La Défense] and the city of Courbevoie to expand and revitalize this important business center. Aviva has seized the moment to set a new course with this ambitious civic-minded project."

Tour Carpe Diem will significantly exceed French regulations for environmentally responsible development. The building's triple-glazed curtain wall incorporates sunshades that respond to the solar orientation of each facade and innovative grilles that provide natural ventilation to reduce dependence on air conditioning. Additional sustainable design strategies include solar water heating, a heat recovery system, and high-performance lighting.

Robert A.M. Stern Architects was selected to design the project in a three-way design competition; the other competitors were Jacques Ferrier Architecte (Paris) and Foster + Partners (London).

Aviva is the leading provider of life insurance and pensions savings in Europe with substantial positions in other markets around the world, making it the world's fifth-largest insurance group. Aviva's principal business activities are long-term savings, asset management, and general insurance, with worldwide total revenue of €61.9 billion and assets under management of €543 billion at 31 December 2006

SRA Architects of Châtillon, France, will serve as associate architect for the project.

(Rendering by studio amd)

JANUARY 8, 2008 – The Kaufman Center reopened today, marking the completion of the first phase of improvements at Goodman House at 129 West 67th Street in New York City. The renovation is conceived as an update in harmony with the spirit of the building as designed by Ashok Bhavnani of Johansen & Bhavnani and completed in 1978.

Changes include a new marquee and signage to give the building greater visibility from both Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue; a unified entrance for the Kaufman Center's three divisions (Merkin Hall, the Lucy Moses School, and the Special Music School); and new reception spaces at both the orchestra and balcony levels. Metal paneling on the building's exterior has been replaced with translucent channel glass, which admits filtered sunlight by day and allows the building to glow from within by night while maintaining the compositional integrity of the facade. Technical improvements in refurbished Merkin Hall preserve its excellent acoustics and reduce intrusive noise.

"By preserving the basic language of the building, and avoiding the temptation to reinvent an already exquisite concert hall chamber, Mr. Stern has developed design solutions that are innovative, sparkling, and very much a reflection of our future," said Lydia Kontos, Executive Director of the Kaufman Center.

Jaffe Holden Acoustics is the acoustical consultant and Auerbach Pollock Friedlander the theater consultant for the work in Merkin Hall.

(Photo by Albert Večerka)

JANUARY 7, 2008 – The partners of Robert A.M. Stern Architects are pleased to announce that Don Lee, Lenore Passavanti, Jennifer Stone, and Michael Weber have been promoted from Associate to Senior Associate, and that Timothy Deal, Roland Sharpe Flores, Hyung Kee Lee, Christopher McIntire, and Sue Jin Sung are now Associates of the firm. RAMSA extends congratulations to each of them.

DECEMBER 12, 2007 – Yale University President Richard C. Levin today announced that Robert A.M. Stern has agreed to serve a third five-year term as dean of the Yale School of Architecture, effective July 1, 2008. In making the announcement, President Levin cited Mr. Stern's "unprecedented level of energy, leadership, and organization…. he has raised the profile of the School and strengthened its national and international reputation." Mr. Stern, a 1965 graduate of the School and J.M. Hoppin Professor of Architecture since 2000, was first appointed dean in 1998.

OCTOBER 26, 2007 – Florida Southern College held groundbreaking ceremonies today for the Dr. Marcene H. and Robert E. Christoverson Humanities Building. The first new classroom building in twenty years on the campus planned by Frank Lloyd Wright will be dedicated to the study of literature and language, providing classrooms, seminar rooms, a writing center, a modern language learning center, a computer lab, a film studies center, faculty offices, and a gallery lobby.

Dr. Christoverson, the lead donor, is chairman of St. John Associates, Inc., a company she built into one of the largest woman-owned direct mail companies in the world. "The entire campus community is elated by Dr. Christoverson's generosity to make this much-needed facility a reality," said Dr. Anne B. Kerr, the president of Florida Southern College. "The Christoverson Humanities Building gives FSC the opportunity to provide a state-of-the-art learning facility for our talented students and faculty, and it will ensure that our students have an excellent academic experience."

Robert A.M. Stern Architects is also the architect of FSC's Residential Life Center, which is currently under construction.

(Rendering by Thomas Schaller)

OCTOBER 17, 2007 – Centerplan Development, a real estate development company based in Hartford, Connecticut, today announced the selection of Robert A.M. Stern Architects to design a mixed-use project in New Haven, Connecticut, to be known as College Square. The 19-story building will offer shops, hotel and meeting facilities, and condominium residences on College Street, where New Haven's central business district meets Yale University.

"This is a tremendous opportunity to work with one of the greatest architects of our generation to create a landmark-quality building in downtown New Haven," said Robert Landino, President of Centerplan. "New Haven is eager for a first-class hotel and luxury residences. We are all looking forward to bringing our collective vision a giant step closer to reality."

"I know first-hand that downtown New Haven is coming into its own as a great place to live," said Robert A.M. Stern, who is Dean of the Yale School of Architecture. "I am thrilled that Centerplan has asked me to help fortify the revitalization currently under way where downtown meets Yale. College Square will enliven College Street with shops and provide much-needed sophisticated hotel rooms and apartments in a sophisticated setting."

The project is expected to break ground in late 2008 and completion is scheduled for 2011.

OCTOBER 15, 2007 – Silverstein Properties announced today that Robert A.M. Stern Architects has been selected to design a new residential and hotel tower at 99 Church Street in Lower Manhattan. The new building, on Church Street between Barclay Street and Park Place, will include a five-star hotel, a restaurant, and luxury condominiums.

"99 Church will be a valuable and architecturally significant addition to the Downtown Manhattan community. This area has quickly become one of the nation's most dynamic live/work neighborhoods," said Larry A. Silverstein, President and CEO of Silverstein Properties. "I'm delighted to welcome Robert A.M. Stern Architects to the roster of world-class architects—David Childs, Lord Norman Foster, Fumihiko Maki, and Lord Richard Rogers—who are working with us to transform the landscape downtown while at the same time honoring its rich architectural heritage."

"Lower Manhattan is one of the world's great places, and I am thrilled by the invitation of Larry Silverstein and his organization to be part of its rebirth with the design of a first-rate hotel and residences on a key site," said Robert A.M. Stern. "For me, this is a dream project, a chance to help Lower Manhattan realize its potential as a great place to live."

SLCE Architects is architect-of-record for the building. Construction will start in 2008 and completion is scheduled for early 2011.

OCTOBER 10, 2007 – Residential developer Ceebraid-Signal broke ground today for Highgrove, a residential building on Forest Street in Stamford, Connecticut. The 17-story condominium building will satisfy the burgeoning high-end market created by Stamford's renewed economic vigor.

The building meets the street with three-story maisonettes; a formal Belgium block-paved motor court leads to a lobby entrance marked with a glass marquee and to indoor parking. The building rises from a four-story base to a traditional brick shaft articulated by stacked bay windows and balconies with painted metal railings, culminating in a distinctive crown that will contribute an iconic form to the Stamford skyline. Each of the building's 92 apartments is served by an elevator that opens directly into the apartment foyer—there are no long, anonymous corridors. Almost all of the residences are either corner units or floor-through units, endowed with ample natural light and the variety of views more typically found in freestanding houses. Upper-level residences offer views to Long Island Sound. Amenities include a health club; a pool and sundeck under a retractable roof; a wine cellar and a wine-tasting room; a great room for entertaining; and a private screening room.

SLCE Architects is architect-of-record for the building. Sales representatives can be contacted at www.highgrovestamford.com

(Rendering by Thomas Schaller)

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OCTOBER 6, 2007 – Robert A.M. Stern was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences this afternoon at a ceremony at the Sanders Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts, welcoming the Academy's 227th class of Fellows. Founded in 1780, the Academy honors excellence by electing to membership the finest minds and most influential leaders of our time, celebrating superior scholarship, artistic triumphs, and exemplary service to society. "The Academy takes great pride in honoring the accomplishments of these outstanding individuals," said Academy President Emilio Bizzi. "Throughout our history, the Academy has been dedicated to advancing intellectual thought and constructive action in America and the world. We are confident that our newest Fellows will help us fulfill that mission in significant ways."

OCTOBER 5, 2007 – The Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia broke ground today on a new home, Bavaro Hall, to be located on Emmet Street in Charlottesville, adjacent to the school's facilities in Ruffner Hall (1973). The four-story building will nearly double the space currently available to the school's academic, research, and clinical programs. The building will be named for Anthony D. "Wally" Bavaro, who as a history teacher and football coach in Malden and Chelsea, Massachusetts, became a mentor to the donor, Dan Meyers, chair of the Curry School Foundation.

Located on a steeply sloped site at the western perimeter of the University's historic Central Grounds, Bavaro Hall will feature simple massing and traditional detailing – red brick and limestone facades with painted wood trim, six-over-six double-hung windows, and metal standing-seam roof – screening Ruffner Hall behind a fresh face that is in keeping with the architectural traditions first established at the Lawn by Thomas Jefferson. The new building will work together with the old to define a landscaped courtyard framed between two open-air arcades linking the two buildings, creating a campus within a campus for the Curry School.

The ground floor, partially tucked into the slope, will house the clinics that distinguish the School, with a public entrance at grade off Emmet Street. Primary access for students and faculty will be one level above via an existing pedestrian bridge that crosses Emmet Street and new cascading steps that lead from the street up to the courtyard at either end of the building. The first floor will accommodate heavily-trafficked uses, such as student services, the dean's suite, conference and meeting spaces, a coffee bar, and the Commons, the School's primary indoor social space, which opens directly to the courtyard for indoor/outdoor events. Two generously proportioned naturally lit stairs will lead up to departmental suites, faculty offices, and meeting rooms on the upper two floors. The 65,000-square-foot Bavaro Hall is scheduled for completion in early 2010.

(Rendering by Michael McCann)

OCTOBER 5, 2007 – Today the new Student and Academic Services Buildings at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill were dedicated by Chancellor James Moeser and other members of the university family in conjunction with Family Weekend. The new facilities, which opened this summer, are home to more that fifteen university departments formerly dispersed around the campus to accommodate one-stop student services in a coordinated setting.

The 88,000-square-foot project consists of two buildings disposed along a major campus pedestrian path at a key intersection in the south part of the campus. The larger north building contains student services offices on the upper floors and joint meeting and conference spaces on the ground floor. The south building contains 24-hour functions such as a university computer lab and help center. The three-story structures are sheathed in red brick, with oversized wood windows and a metal roof, recalling the architecture of the campus's historic core.

(Photo by RAMSA)

AUGUST 28, 2007 – The George W. Bush Presidential Library Foundation announced today that Robert A.M. Stern Architects, LLP, has been selected to design the Presidential Library and Museum for America’s 43rd President, following a decision by President George W. Bush and Mrs. Laura Bush.

"I am honored to be asked to take on the challenge of shaping this important living institution – a museum, a library, and an institute – at the edge of a major historic university campus," said Robert A.M. Stern.

"As we remain in exclusive discussions with Southern Methodist University and hope to announce a final decision on the location of the library later this year, we believe it is important to take this step of naming the architect to allow for the design process to begin moving forward," said Donald L. Evans, who is leading the library effort. "Robert A.M. Stern brings deep resources and broad experience to this important project."

AUGUST 23, 2007 - Hines, the international real estate firm, and DLF, India’s largest publicly traded property developer and land owner, announced today the selection of the internationally renowned firm Robert A.M. Stern Architects to master plan a site of approximately 14 acres located on Golf Course Road in Gurgaon, India, a fast-growing suburb of Delhi.

The commission will include a master plan for the entire site as well as the design of the first phase of the complex, a major office tower of approximately 80,000 square meters together with ground-floor retail space and a large parking garage. In addition to the office tower, the master plan is likely to include high-end retail shops, restaurant and entertainment venues, a hotel, and landscaped exterior and interior public spaces. It may also include serviced apartments and a second office tower. The total mixed-use complex is envisioned to include approximately 235,000 square meters (2.5 million square feet) of construction.

"We are extremely enthusiastic to have the opportunity to enter the Indian market with the commission for such a major urban complex," said Robert Stern. "We are also honored to have the chance to come to India with Hines and DLF."

This is the first project in India for both Hines and Stern. Previously, the firms have collaborated on several projects in the United States, Spain, Mexico, and Brazil.

JUNE 11, 2007 – Crossville introduced Building Blox, a new collection of Porcelain Stone tile created in collaboration with internationally renowned Robert A.M. Stern Design, today at NeoCon in Chicago. "Crossville is honored to be able to work with Robert A.M. Stern Design, a firm that is known and admired throughout the world," said Frank Douglas, Crossville's Vice President of Business Development. Building Blox comprises three patterns and a coordinating solid, all of which are available in nine colors. Urban Fabric and Greek Key are inspired by architectural decorative details and mosaic floor patterns typical of the classical tradition, and City Garden starts with a traditional floral motif reminiscent of 19th-century wallcovering, yet all three are crisp, clean, and contemporary.

"Our collaboration with Crossville provides an opportunity to reinvent one of architecture's most time-honored components—decorative tiling," said Robert A.M. Stern. His firm has been involved in product design for more than twenty years and currently collaborates with respected manufacturers in the architectural and interior furnishings industry to create a comprehensive design collection of complementary products: Building Blox joins carpeting by Bentley Prince Street, furniture by David Edward, and wallcoverings by Innovations.

Now celebrating its 21st year, Crossville, Inc. is a manufacturer of award-winning Porcelain Stone, Design Solutions, and Accent Innovations for both residential and contract applications. For more information, go to www.crossvilleinc.com or www.ramscollection.com.

MAY 19, 2007 – Robert A.M. Stern received the Congress for the New Urbanism's Athena Award tonight in Philadelphia at CNU XV: New Urbanism in the Old City. The award recognized Mr. Stern's influence "as author of distinguished histories, as dean of the architecture school at Yale, and as the leader of a prospering architectural practice that has helped reintroduce essential architectural traditions into a design culture that had lost its sense of history."

"He is a model in many ways. He combines impeccable academic credentials with brilliant administration and first-rate design," said Andrés Duany, who presented the award. "At Yale, he navigates the treacherous waters, making it possibly the only truly open-minded architecture school in the world. He's also fostered a practice of excellence and groomed the next generation. These achievements and qualities are all too rare."

May 19, 2007 – Robert A.M. Stern Architects has been selected to design the new 200,000-square-foot College of Law Building at the University of Kentucky's Lexington campus. The building, to be located on a prominent 3.3-acre site on Scott Street near the historic center of the campus, will be roughly twice the size of the law school's existing 1965 building, and will provide a new home for the school's classrooms, faculty offices, and student spaces, as well as the 470,000-volume Law Library, the largest in Kentucky. The new building will support student activities and informal collegial interaction and will integrate modern teaching technology. "This new building is a chance for the law school to make a quantum advance," said Dean Allan Vestal. "It is an exciting prospect for the College."

MAY 16, 2007 -- The Preservation League of New York State selected the Excellence Charter School of Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn for its prestigious Excellence in Historic Preservation Award, which recognizes individuals and organizations for demonstrating an outstanding commitment to the preservation of New York State’s irreplaceable architectural heritage.

James W. Naughton’s 1880 gauged red brick and brownstone school building was abandoned in the late 1970s after a major fire. Uncommon Schools, a non-for-profit organization known for developing urban college preparatory charter schools in the northeast chose the building as the site for its new academy in Brooklyn – the Excellence Charter School – after an exhaustive search. “The formerly abandoned Public School 70 is an important part of the urban fabric of Bedford-Stuyvesant, and for too long, it stood as a dangerous symbol of neglect in the neighborhood it once served,” said Jay DiLorenzo, President of the Preservation League. “The quality of the restoration of this once-derelict building and the sensitive new addition, along with the return of this historic building to academic use, is truly exemplary.”

“The lowest-risk strategy would have been to demolish the charred shell of the building,” said David Saltzman, Executive Director of the Robin Hood Foundation and a trustee of the Excellence Charter School. “It required the extraordinary vision of Robert A.M. Stern Architects to reincarnate this lost treasure as a new charter school.” Contributing to the success of restoration effort were structural engineer Robert Silman Associates, P.C. of New York; mechanical engineer MGJ Associates, Inc. of New York; civil engineer Leonard Strandberg Associates of Staten Island; and builder S. DiGiacomo & Son, Inc. of New York.

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(Photo by Albert Večerka)

May 7, 2007 -- The Institute of Classical Architecture & Classical America announced the winners of the 2007 Arthur Ross Awards for Excellence in the Classical Tradition at a dinner held this evening at the University Club in New York City. For the first time, as recommended by the 2007 Ross jury, the Board of Directors presented an award that transcends the established Arthur Ross Award categories to Robert A.M. Stern to recognize his contributions in architecture, education, and publishing. The recent publication of New York 2000: Architecture and Urbanism Between the Bicentennial and the Millennium as the final volume in his important five-volume series on architecture and urbanism in New York prompted this unprecedented recognition.

Jury chair Bunny Williams said, "I am thrilled that the board of directors has elected to make the first-ever award to an individual whose extraordinary contribution cuts across categories. Robert A.M.Stern fits the bill ideally as architect, scholar, educator and civic steward." ICA&CA president Paul Gunther added, "We are pleased that the generous leadership, and civic example of our co-founder and honorary chairman, Arthur Ross, is celebrated each year with these interdisciplinary awards."

April 5, 2007 -- The Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism announced today that Robert A.M. Stern will receive the Governor's Award for Excellence in Culture and Tourism in the field of history on May 2 in New Haven. The award recognizes "individuals who work tirelessly to improve the arts, history, film, and tourism in Connecticut." Recipients are selected based on magnitude of achievement and sustained contribution to the field and to the State of Connecticut. Mr. Stern, founder and senior partner of New York-based Robert A.M. Stern Architects, is Dean of the Yale School of Architecture at Yale University in New Haven. The award will be presented by Mr. Stern's colleague and mentor Vincent Scully, Sterling Professor Emeritus of the History of Art at Yale.

March 16, 2007 – Brown University announced that Robert A.M. Stern Architects has been selected to design the new Jonathan Nelson Fitness Center, which will be located within the Wendell R. Erickson '19 Athletic Complex on the Brown campus in Providence, Rhode Island. The 65,000-square-foot center will provide a three-court gymnasium, five fitness and dance studios, and space for free weights and cardiovascular equipment, increasing options for club sports, intramurals, and open recreation. The new building will create a new quadrangle and will feature a lobby atrium suitable for social gatherings. The center is scheduled to be completed in 2010.

FEBRUARY 21, 2007 -- The Kaufman Center today announced plans for an extensive renovation of the Goodman House at 129 West 67th Street in New York City, to include a major reconceptualization and updating of the building exterior and public spaces, as well as technical upgrades of the performance and backstage areas of the much-beloved Merkin Concert Hall. The renovation has been conceived as an update in harmony with the spirit of the building as originally designed by Ashok Bhavnani of Johansen & Bhavnani and completed in 1978.

Improvements will include a new canopy and signage intended to give the building greater visibility from both Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue; a unified entrance for the Kaufman Center's three divisions (Merkin Hall, the Lucy Moses School, and the Special Music School); enlarged lobby and reception spaces at both the orchestra and balcony levels; and the replacement of metal panels on the 67th Street facade with translucent structural channel glass to admit filtered sunlight by day and to allow the building to glow from within by night. Technical improvements in refurbished Merkin Hall will preserve its excellent acoustics. Groundbreaking will be in May 2007, and the project will be completed in early January 2008.

Jaffe Holden Acoustics is the acoustical consultant and Auerbach Pollock Friedlander the theater consultant for the work in Merkin Hall.

(Rendering by Augustus Wendell)

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February 10, 2007 -- Rafael Díaz-Balart Hall, the first home for the FIU College of Law, was dedicated today at Florida International University in Miami, Florida.

The building terminates a major new axis of the University, the Avenue of the Professions, with a three-story-high entry portico that acts as a new symbol for the College. Public and student areas in the 156,000-square-foot building include courtrooms, classrooms and seminar rooms, lounges, student lockers, a 500-seat registrar's classroom, faculty and staff offices, and a 50,000-square-foot, three-story Law Library. Three programmatic divisions surround two courtyards, carefully proportioned to create an inviting place for movement and contemplation: the southern courtyard is more formal, organized around a central fountain, and the northern courtyard is more relaxed and free flowing. The courtyards keep the building's floor plates narrow, allowing more natural light to enter, lowering internal lighting costs, and providing exterior windows for the many offices and open administrative areas within the building.

The teaching courtrooms, classrooms, and seminar rooms are equipped with state of the art computer and audiovisual systems that offer great flexibility to instructors. Both wireless and wired computer connections are available throughout the library and in the classrooms. While technologically advanced, the building also provides an environment that will help the school make the long and great traditions of the law and legal education relevant to a new and forward-looking generation of scholars and students.

Harper Aiken Donahue & Partners of Coral Gables was architect-of-record.

(Photo by Peter Aaron/ESTO)

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FEBRUARY 8, 2007 -- New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today announced plans to build the first permanent home for the Museum for African Art, the only independent museum in the United States dedicated solely to African Art. The first new museum building on New York's Museum Mile since the completion of the Guggenheim in 1959, the Museum for African Art will be a place for art and also a gathering place for the vast African diaspora and for the vibrant cultural community that is New York City. The museum will stand at the corner of 110th Street and Fifth Avenue where it will create a cultural gateway to Harlem.

The museum, designed in close conjunction with the 19-story residential tower that houses it, will provide the museum with 90,000 square feet on three floors above grade and two below. Its L-shaped plan will cradle a plaza on the circle that faces west toward Central Park. The strong character of the trapezoidal windows with bronze-painted aluminum mullions set into stone panels on the museum's north and west facades suggests – in an abstract way – woven patterns inspired by traditional African art. While the rhythm of the museum facade is carried upward to the residences above, the museum will maintain its own distinct identity within the larger structure.

Visitors will enter the museum through a glass entry vestibule off Fifth Avenue into a 44-foot-high lobby with one wall and ceiling composed of a continuous curving expanse of etimoe wood, a sustainable wood from West Africa. The lobby will lead to the gift shop, ticketing and information, an auditorium, a café, coat rooms, and toilets, as well as to an interactive room for orientation and an arts workshop.

The grand stair will be embraced in a circular perforated-metal drum with diamond-shaped apertures in a spiral pattern, which will glow like a lantern. The second floor will provide 16,000 square feet of flexible gallery space, typically to be organized as three temporary exhibition galleries and two galleries for the permanent collection that can be experienced individually or in a loop. The public spaces of the museum will culminate on the third floor with a gracious event space that will include a roof terrace offering dramatic views west over Central Park.

Administrative offices will also be housed on the third floor, along with the library, the boardroom, the auction room, and catering kitchens. The two levels below grade will accommodate conservation, documentation, and collection storage.

SLCE Architects is the associate architect for this project.

(Rendering by Neoscape)

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FEBRUARY 5, 2007 -- The partners at Robert A.M. Stern Architects are pleased to announce that Kurt Glauber, Jonas Goldberg, Joel Mendelson, Julie Nymann, and Charles Toothill have been promoted from Associate to Senior Associate, and that John Boyland, Joshua Bull, Johnny Cruz, Christopher LaSala, Thomas Lewis, Shannon Ratcliff, Marc Rehman, Mike Soriano, David Winterton, and Siew Lee Yap are now Associates of the firm. RAMSA extends congratulations to each of them.

JANUARY 24, 2007 -- The University of Nevada, Las Vegas will break ground today for Greenspun Hall, the five-story building that will be the new home of the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs. The 120,000-square-foot building will provide classrooms, labs, departmental suites, faculty offices, and radio and television broadcasting facilities for the College, and bring its programs – Communications Studies, Criminal Justice, Environmental Studies, Public Administration, Journalism and Media Studies, and Social Work – under one roof.

Greenspun Hall will occupy a prominent corner of the campus where the southern boundary of the UNLV campus meets Maryland Parkway. As the first project for the University’s “Midtown UNLV” initiative, the new building will re-engage the campus with the city that has grown up around it. A tower and an urban gateway will define the University's edge, while at the southeast and northwest corners of the site two expansive landscaped stairs will ascend to a broad courtyard shaded by a louvered canopy that will tame the harsh desert sun, yet allow it to play across the trees, columns, and open space below. This louvered canopy, the most visible of the building's many environmentally sensitive design features, will reduce solar gain on the building's facades and roofs and support a large photovoltaic array that will produce a significant portion of the power required to run the building.

The design for the new complex complements the Modernist vocabulary of UNLV's existing buildings, all built since the 1950s. Its palette of tawny brick and red sandstone will evoke the desert, and landscape elements designed to thrive in the arid climate will provide respite along the shaded walks and outdoor spaces between the buildings.

HKS is the architect-of-record.

(rendering by RAMSA)

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JANUARY 22, 2007 -- Three upcoming panel discussions will celebrate the November 2006 publication of New York 2000: Architecture and Urbanism Between the Bicentennial and the Millennium, written by Robert A.M. Stern, David Fishman, and Jacob Tilove and published by The Monacelli Press.

On Thursday, January 25, at 6:30 pm at the Wood Auditorium, Avery Hall, Columbia University, the Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture will present a round-table discussion "New York 2000: The Book" with opening remarks by Robert A.M. Stern. Joan Ockman, Director of the Buell Center, will moderate a panel that includes Robert Beauregard, Professor of Urban Planning, Columbia University, and author of The Urban Moment: Cosmopolitan Essays on the Late Twentieth Century City; Kenneth Jackson, Jacques Barzun Professor of History and the Social Sciences, Columbia University, and author of The Encyclopedia of New York City; Suzanne Stephens, architecture critic and Deputy Editor, Architectural Record; and Mike Wallace, Distinguished Professor of History, City University of New York, and author of Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898. The event is free and open to the public. For more information please call 212-854-8165 or go to the Buell Center Web site.

The Architectural League of New York has organized two programs to take place at Caspary Hall at Rockefeller University in New York that will both be introduced by Robert A.M. Stern. On Tuesday, February 6, at 6:30, "The City as Stage" will feature panelists Dan Biederman, President, Bryant Park Corporation; Anita Contini, founder and former director, Creative Time; Alanna Heiss, Director, P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center; Michael Sorkin, Director, Graduate Urban Design Program, City College of New York; and Tupper Thomas, President, Prospect Park Alliance.

On Tuesday, February 13, at 6:30, "The Good, the Bad, and the Appropriate" will feature panelists Kent Barwick, President, Municipal Art Society; Laurie Beckelman, former Chair, New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission; Andrew Berman, Executive Director, Greenwich Village Historic Preservation Society; and Paul Byard, Director of the Historic Preservation Program at Columbia University GSAPP. The discussion will be moderated by Paul Goldberger. Admission is free for League members, $10 for non-members and guests. League members may make reservations for themselves and one guest by calling 212-980-3767 or emailing info@ArchLeague.org. For more information please visit www.archleague.org.

JANUARY 6, 2007 -- The City of Calabasas, California, broke ground today for the new Calabasas Civic Center, a 56,000 square-foot facility that will create a permanent home for the city hall and library. Calabasas, located in the northwest corner of Los Angeles County, was incorporated in 1992. For the past decade its city offices and library have been located in rented space. The new Civic Center will give the City of Calabasas its first opportunity to express in architectural terms its civic ideals of community and environmental stewardship.

The Center will be situated on a gently sloping 7.7 acre site near arid hills that are a gateway to the Santa Monica Mountains. The arcaded library and city hall will be contemporary interpretations of the Mediterranean style architecture prevalent in Southern California, and will be sited informally to create a variety of outdoor spaces, including a grove of olive trees, a civic plaza, and an amphitheater, that together will form the public heart of Calabasas.

The city hall will contain a two-story Council Chamber, seating 125, which will be the focal point for city activities. It will combine traditional wood paneling, beams, and decorative lighting with up-to-date audiovisual and communications systems. The building will provide a public counter for day-to-day interaction with local government and offices for elected officials, the city manager, and department heads. These, along with the workplaces for city staff, will be infused with natural light and have a close connection to the outdoors.

The library will have a tall central hall illuminated by clerestory windows. Together with traditional library functions, the library will contain an acoustically refined 200-seat multipurpose meeting room, which will serve as a venue for spoken word and small-scale musical events.

The City of Calabasas is committed in the city charter to a high level of stewardship of its attractive natural environment, and the Civic Center is designed to achieve Gold LEED^™ certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Environmentally sound design strategies include the use of local and recycled materials, drought-tolerant landscaping, natural daylighting, and low energy lighting and environmental control systems.

The project is designed in association with Harley Ellis Devereaux of Los Angeles, California.

(Rendering by Tom Schaller)

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DECEMBER 15, 2006 -- The University of Michigan’s Board of Regents today unanimously approved our design for the new North Quad Residential and Academic Complex on the Ann Arbor campus. The design reinforces the campus's unique architectural and planning traditions, with massing and forms based on the very special blend of Collegiate Gothic and the Arts & Crafts which uniquely identify the campus. Working in the first half of the twentieth century, architects Emil Lorch, Pond & Pond, and Albert Kahn designed such buildings as the Union, the League, and Lorch Hall, creating a rich tapestry of deep red brick, stone, and slate to shape arcades of flattened arches, grand engaged colonnades, and landmark towers. Just as we did in designing Weill Hall (2006), which now constitutes the southern gateway to the main campus, we looked to this tradition as we approached the design of the North Quad in order to shape a new university environment where living, learning, and academic support will coexist on a full block anchoring the northwest corner of the main campus.

The North Quad accommodates 360,000 square feet of offices and meeting rooms for various academic departments, classrooms, laboratories, residential suites for students, dining, and social spaces on a tight urban site where the University meets the surrounding town. To mitigate the project's density, the buildings are arranged around interconnected courtyards. Welcoming plazas at the northwest and southeast corners of the block open up the quad to its surroundings. To the west, a café and gallery spaces pick up the vibrant retail rhythm of State Street. Along Huron Street, the preserved facade of the Carnegie Library is incorporated into the residential building, which will be the first residential building to be built at the University of Michigan since 1968. At the corner of State and Huron Streets, a broad plaza dramatically welcomes the community to the campus from downtown Ann Arbor.

The massing of the North Quad's buildings rises in a counterclockwise spiral from the dining hall, with its large bay windows overlooking Rackham Green, to the boldly shaped tower at the southeast plaza, balancing the mass of Rackham Hall. The tower, visible from as far away as the Diag, terminates the axis of South Thayer Street, thereby constituting a new icon on the Michigan skyline.

The project is being designed in association with EYP/Einhorn Yaffee Prescott.

(Rendering by Michael McCann)

NOVEMBER 2, 2006 -- The Richard T. Farmer School of Business at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, broke ground today for its new home, the 210,000-square-foot Farmer Hall. The red-brick building is inspired by the traditional Georgian vocabulary of the Miami University campus. The building is designed to take advantage of its park-like setting, with its bulk broken into multiple masses forming three sides of a quadrangle, which is sited around a stand of large trees, including a 200-year-old sweet gum. A hierarchy of entrances punctuates the facades facing the quad, including the entrance to the auditorium, which is designed to have prominence in the complex and visibility from Uptown Oxford's High Street. A grand colonnaded porch signals the main entrance and leads to the double-height commons, with ancillary study and dining spaces, at the heart of the complex. The commons stands at a major crossroads of the building's interior circulation, as does the top-lit atrium, which opens to all floors of the building and includes a grand staircase connecting the ground floor and the lower level, which are the two main classroom levels. Instructional spaces - cluster classrooms, breakout rooms, a trading room - reflect the school's pedagogical style, which emphasizes small group work, seminar instruction, and experiential learning; work spaces, meeting rooms, lounges, and a café encourage collegial interaction.

Richard and Joyce Farmer and the Farmer Family Foundation provided the leadership gift of $25 million for the new building. Construction of the project is under way. It is expected to be completed by the end of 2008. Moody▪Nolan of Columbus, Ohio, is architect-of-record.

(Rendering by Michael McCann)

OCTOBER 13, 2006 -- Today the new home for the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, Joan and Sanford Weill Hall, was dedicated on the University of Michigan's Ann Arbor campus. The new building provides classrooms, offices, and social spaces, all under one roof in support of the collegial interaction that is essential for success in education and in public service. The building's site at the corner of South State Street and Hill Street makes it the first University of Michigan academic building encountered on the approach to the campus from the south.

The building is a welcoming landmark that, turning a friendly face to the town of Ann Arbor, greets the visitor in the spirit of the Michigan campus. The architectural character that distinguishes the University of Michigan from its peers is the work of Emil Lorch, Albert Kahn, and Pond & Pond, architects who created buildings unlike those at any other campus: the Michigan Union, the League, Hill Auditorium, Rackham, and the Hatcher Graduate Library. Weill Hall carries forward this inventive legacy with variegated decorative red brickwork highlighted by bright stone, its stacked and nested massing, and its proud tower.

The five floors of Weill Hall are organized to encourage the Ford School's collegial culture. The change in grade across the site allowed us to create what are effectively two ground floors along the path of travel through the building, with a lower gateway entrance at the base of the south tower, and with a more intimate entry one level above on a courtyard facing the campus to the north. A generously proportioned, naturally lit stair provides the building with a dramatic vertical spine connecting all levels. In our experience, no single architectural element does more to foster collegial interaction than such a stair. The two ground floors house the facilities that will generate the highest traffic: auditoriums and classrooms on the lower, at the south entry; and student services on the courtyard level at the north entry. The library, faculty offices, and seminar rooms fill the quieter upper floors. Throughout, alcoves of various shapes and sizes at every intersection of the corridors, together with the stair, provide the informal meeting spaces that are crucial to the interaction of faculty and students.

We are grateful for the enthusiastic collaboration of the faculty, staff, and students of the Ford School; for the leadership of the dean, Rebecca Blank; for the professional guidance of the University Architect's office; for the support of the Board of Regents; and for the generosity of the many donors, especially Joan and Sanford Weill.

The building was designed in association with Albert Kahn Associates.

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