News bytes

edited by Sheila Kim -- Interior Design, 3/1/2003 12:00:00 AM

The Wright Stuff

Now nearing completion, the redevelopment of Washington Square in Atlantic City, New Jersey, will feature affordable housing based on Frank Lloyd Wright's 85-year-old prototype for panelized prefabricated structures.

The structure is one of the latest development of the CDRA (Casino Reinvestment Development Authority),  which uses casino revenues to fund affordable housing and community amenities. "In the early 1900's several models of what was called American System Built Homes were designed to fit into urban areas and in-fill lots," said William Mims, MIMS Architecture PLC, AIA. "Though updated and adapted for CDRA standards, location and climate, the Washington Square exteriors are not far from Wright's originals."

Ranging in size from 1,260 to 1,630 square feet, the free-flowing spaces are filled with natural light and provide homeowners with friendly front porches and private outdoor space with room for optional garages. The homes have been built using standard "stick-built" construction, with a portion constructed as Wright intended, using prefabricated elements, including trusses and exterior cement siding.

While the originals are located primarily in the Chicago and Milwaukee areas and were completed for $1,200, this new historically significant development showcases updated versions, which sold for $119,500 to $134,500.

Viva Italia

Two Italian design pioneers are teaming up for "50/50 A Design Retrospective: 50 Years of Boffi and Vespa." Held at Boffi Los Angeles, the exhibit traces the companies' evolution through images and objects such as vintage kitchen photos and scooters by Vespa, from the post WWII years to the present. Livesize models of more recent kitchens will be the backdrop of Boffi's display of the evolution of the italian kitchen through the decades, as well as the significant innovations of both companies which helped to propel Itali into its leadership role in the field of industrial design.

The exhibition will take place from May first through the 8th at the Boffi Los Angeles showroom located at 1344 Fourth Stret in Santa Monica, telephone 310 458-9300. Hours are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m, closed Sunday and Monday.

Fit for a Pharaoh

April 12 marks the reopening of the Brooklyn Museum of Art's ancient-Egyptian galleries, whose square footage has doubled. Some 600 colossal heads, terra-cotta figures, and other objects from the New York museum's collection will go on display in a newly refurbished gallery space.

"Permanence and Change" is the name of the opening installation, an overview of all of ancient Egyptian history, and is followed by a chronological presentation ranging from the Predynastic Period through the 18th Dynasty and the reign of Amunhotep III. The new presentation complements the Egyptian treasures installed in 1993.

Kool Haus

Rem Koolhaas's Office for Metropolitan Architecture has won the commission to design Central Chinese Television's Beijing headquarters. His proposed building, a continuous loop sheathed in steel and glass, is to be completed in time for the 2008 Olympics, and will be situated in the new Central Business District in Beijing. The new CCTV headquarters will rise to 230 meters and combine offices and facilities that encompass the entire process of TV production in a sequence of interconnected activites. The building will be a continuous loop of horizontal and vertical sections, reflected in the irregular grid which express the forces traveling throughout its structure.

Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren will be partners in charge, and the media park will be realized in coordination with ECADI, the East China Architecture and Design Institute from Shanghai.

Next Year in Jerusalem

Moshe Safdie has been selected to design the Jerusalem headquarters for the Israel Antiquities Authority. In early 2004, the architect is to begin construction on the campus, which will include laboratories, offices, storage vaults, and indoor and outdoor galleries. The new center will be located on a dramatic, sloping site adjacent to the Israel Museum, and the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem's museum precinct, near the famed Billy Rose Sculpture Garden.

The premise of the design concept is that the Center will be a metaphor for archeological excavation, organized around three descending courtyards. A large tensile canopy will cover the main courtyard and will be composed of cables supporting tall, fritted glass panels that allow light to filter through while providing an overall sense of shade. The roof canopy will be tied down at its center, to a pool in the courtyard below by a circular ring forming a hole through which water may drain into the pool below.

The building will be constructed of a range of materials--glass curtain walls,, Jerusalem limestone,  silver metal panels, and stone wall screens--which will combine to create a palette of earthy, hand-dressed stone set against glass and silver walls, floating under the dark glass canopy.

Design is scheduled for completion in the autumn of 2003, with construction beginning in 2004 and a grand opening in 2007.