Architect Bernard Tschumi has donated forty-three drawings by his father, the Swiss architect Jean Tschumi (1904-1962), to the Architecture and Design Department of The Museum of Modern Art, New York (MoMA). Jean Tschumi, a key contributor toward the evolution of modern architecture and design in the mid-20th century, was known as an influential figure in both architectural education and the development of international architectural practice.

The Edward Cella Art + Architecture (ECAA) Gallery announced a solo exhibition by contemporary West-coast architect Frederick Fisher (principal, Frederick Fisher and Partners of Los Angeles). Entitled Frederick Fisher: Thinking by Hand, this exhibition of new and recent watercolors explores the form making process and composition strategies Fisher employs when envisioning and creating proposals for a wide variety of potential architectural commissions. Surprisingly, this is Fisher's first solo exhibition in Los Angeles. His jewel like watercolors will be on view April 21, through May 22, 2010. An opening reception will be held Saturday, April 24, 2010, from 6:00 to 9:00 pm.

Fisher, Frederick, ORFE, watercolor on paper, 7 X 10 1/4 inches, 2006

On a narrow street of Victorian, working-class cottages in Toronto’s Yorkville neighbourhood, Bishop Street Residence is the renovation of a post-industrial building from a graphic design firm to a bachelor’s residence  by Taylor_Smyth architects. The design negotiates the tightness and public nature of its urban site, while playing out desirable scenarios of a contemporary, urban retreat.


Only inches from the sidewalk, the two-storey façade mysteriously presents itself bound by vertical and horizontal ribbons of black zinc, hovering over a base of grey concrete block, fissured by slot windows of anodized aluminum. The exterior evokes the owner’s desire for privacy while also imparting a provocative face to the otherwise decorous neighborhood. A recess, warmed by the view of an ipe wood gate, provides access to both the interior and the outdoor courtyard, the house’s inner sanctum.

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) announced last week that the King Abdul Aziz International Airport - Hajj Terminal received the 2010 American Institute of Architects (AIA) Twenty-Five Year award.
The award jury commented, “This project exemplifies the power of a clear idea. With a very simple bay repeated quite beautifully, they set the standard for many airports since….The architects created a highly sustainable project well ahead of the green movement….The terminal presents a sense of place, ecology, economy of means, and culture – not imposing on but learning from the local culture and environment.”

Schmidt hammer lassen architects have won a competition for a Congress and Hotel Centre on the central harbour front of Helsingborg in Sweden, which is a 15-minute ferry trip from Elsinore in Denmark. The property development competition was won in conjunction with Swedish developer Midroc and engineering/architect consultants Sweco.

The project consists of a 16,900 m2 congress and hotel facility and 17,100 m2 housing on the most attractive area of Helsingborg – the former central ferry dock Ångfärjan in the city centre. The new facilities will play an important part in the ongoing development of the promenade running the length of the city waterfront.

The building is characterized by a deformation of the grid into a crystalline expression that has coined the nick name “The Salt Crystals”. The 12-storey hotel volume in the south east corner with its light, generic and broken facades will become the new landmark of the city.