The Government Canyon Visitor Center, An AIA/COTE Top Ten Green Project in 2007, floats in a field of native grasses and restored oaks at the mouth of the canyon, forming a gateway to the 8,600-acre Government Canyon State Natural Area , located in Bexar County outside of San Antonio, Texas.

The architects opted for an ecological approach for the project, distancing themselves from the convenient car-friendly concepts for natural parks. They designed their project that would have a minimal impact on the environment. That is particularly important for this site, since it borders the recharge zone of the Edwards Aquifer, the only source of drinking water for the city of San Antonio. The design also demonstrates sustainable water use practices by conserving water, collecting rainwater, minimizing run-off and contaminants, and reducing the use of ground water.

All Photographs courtesy of Chris Cooper Photography 

 
The sleek new Visitor Centre, designed by Architype, provides a unique experience and vastly improved facilities for all those visiting the magnificent landscape of Chiltern Hills at Dunstable Downs, north of London, England.

The purpose designed Centre replaces an undistinguished kiosk snack bar with basic visitor facilities, which until now has serviced visitors.  

Located at Bedfordshire’s highest point – 798 ft above sea level - the new building will provide a rich visitor experience for the 400,000 people who visit each year.

Simone Giostra & Partners Architects have designed the GreenPix - Zero Energy Media Wall - a groundbreaking project applying sustainable and digital media technology to the curtain wall of Xicui Entertainment Complex in Beijing, near the site of the 2008 Olympics.

Featuring the largest color LED display worldwide and the first photovoltaic system integrated into a glass curtain wall in China, GreenPix transforms the building envelop into a self-sufficient organic system, harvesting solar energy by day and using it to illuminate the screen after dark, mirroring a day’s climatic cycle. Arup provided engineering services for the project.

“The Media Wall will provide the city of Beijing with its first venue dedicated to digital media art, while offering the most radical example of sustainable technology applied to an entire building’s envelope to date”, said Simone Giostra.

Photograph courtesy of Simone Giostra, ARUP and Ruogu

The economic boom of the late 1980s and 90s fueled remarkable growth within the City of Redmond, home to software giants Microsoft and Nintendo America. This period saw a similar growth in the size of the City government. As the new century began, it became clear that they had outgrown their existing 1960s era building, and needed a newer, more flexible facility that would serve their needs and represent the City as they faced the future.

The new City Hall building is the largest public works project ever undertaken in the City’s history. In order to ease the financial burden that such a project would impose, Wright Runstad & Company and the City agreed upon a public / private funding mechanism which has become increasingly more popular for the financing of public projects.

STUDIOS was selected by the City of San Jose to design the Evergreen Branch Library, part of a public bond-funded group of city branch libraries.



The architecture of the new one-story library—which is sited adjacent to a public park amid a largely residential area—conveys a distinct civic presence without disrupting the scale of neighboring structures. A pronounced canopy supported by a large concrete column marks the building’s entryway.

Recipient of the RIBA Award 2007, the new Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art gallery building and adjoining Public Square are part of the redevelopment of the town centre in Middlesbrough, in the UK, a community of approximately 150,000 inhabitants in the North East of England, serving as commercial and cultural centre for an area of about 650,000 people.


With the aim to create ‘economic success and cultural diversity’ Middlesbrough’s redevelopment focused on the attraction of leisure and retail facilities, the redesign of major streets and, as a key project, the redevelopment of Middlesbrough’s central Victoria Square, including the new art gallery.

All photographs © Christian Richters

San Francisco based KMD Architects wins international design competition for Seongnam City Hall, Seoul’s largest satellite city.

A year and a half after winning the international design competition for the new Seoul City Hall, KMD in association with Samoo Architects and Hyundai has won a second international design competition in Korea, this time for the new Seongnam City Hall near Seoul.

A second platform and a new footbridge at the Stratford DLR station, North East of central London, designed by architects SMC Alsop, opened to passengers this weekend. While the first platform opened in June 2007, the opening of this platform marks the completion of the whole project. The striking new landmark terminus caters for significantly increased capacity, and planned 3 car train operations on the DLR.

Making space for the 2012 Olympics and future Crossrail, the new station is the first piece in the jigsaw of a wider Stratford masterplan.