William McDonough + Partners News

Greenbridge, copyright William McDonough + Partners

Greenbridge Part of Green House Show
Greenbridge, the mixed use project that’s under construction in Chapel Hill is part of the National Building Museum’s exhibit—Green House: New Directions in Sustainable Architecture and Design—which is featured at the Morris Museum in Morristown, New Jersey through May 4. Greenbridge has received attention for its eco-effective design strategies and broad thinking about quality of life, which includes providing much needed downtown living and retail opportunities. Greenbridge will include 98 condominium residences at various price points and 35,000 square feet of retail in the historic neighborhood of Northside.

Bernheim Arboretum goes Platinum
The U.S. Green Building Council has awarded Bernheim with its highest certification, LEED Platinum, for construction of its Visitor Center. This is the first Platinum rating awarded to a building in Kentucky or the surrounding region—Indiana, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee. The WM+P team collaborated with the architect of record, Barnette Bagley Architects of Lexington and TOPIA design. The large team of passionate professionals also included Gray Construction and Prajna Design/Construction, both of whom were integral to the execution of the project. By integrating the client’s mission of “connecting people with nature” and a sustaining design agenda, this visitors center intentionally blurs the distinction between indoors and out, uniting architectural and garden spaces with a combination of pergolas, trellises, arbors, and glass. As the public threshold for the arboretum and research forest, the new Center functions as the portal and point of introduction for visitors to this 14,000-acre arboretum. The Center also explores the theme of the building as teacher, making its sustaining strategies like passive and active solar design, geothermal heating and cooling, and local and regional materials part of the exhibition.

Future Energy Visions
desert tower copyright 2008 william mcdonough + partners In January, William McDonough was a keynote speaker at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi. His remarks included the presentation of a conceptual sketch exercise for a mixed use tower for a desert climate (right), an adaptation of the office tower of the future commissioned by Fortune magazine. “In our cities, we have to think creatively about density,” he said. “For any region, sustainability is about preserving the cultural and natural context while providing a beacon for verifiably sustainable growth. This scalable concept is designed to give that complex objective a physical form in a desert climate. We believe that Cradle to Cradle thinking is the surest and fastest way to reach thresholds on the path to results that are 100 percent positive. This is the goal—where everything we create can contribute positively to society, the economy, and the environment—that we are working toward using today’s products and technologies.” The Summit was the site of announcements about Masdar, a new initiative in the region with a master plan by Foster + Partners. Sir Norman Foster delivered the closing keynote address at the Summit. McDonough referenced the initiative: “Through Masdar and other path-finding projects, we can reach our goal of a delightfully, diverse, safe, healthy and just world, with clean air, water, soil, and power—economically, equitably, ecologically, and elegantly enjoyed.”

Software Park in China
William McDonough + Partners has begun work, with WSP Energy, on sustainable development strategies and design guidelines for the Dalian Software Park for Shui On Development Co. This is a large scale project in Dalian City, Liaoning Province, PRC; this work is for Phase II and will proceed with reference to the LEED Neighborhood Development framework.

Winter 2008

Greenbridge Part of Green House Show Greenbridge, the mixed use project that’s under construction in Chapel Hill is part of the National Building Museum’s exhibit—Green House: New Directions in Sustainable Architecture and Design—which is featured at the Morris Museum in Morristown, New Jersey through May 4. Greenbridge has received attention for its eco-effective design strategies and broad thinking about quality of life, which includes providing much needed downtown living and retail opportunities. Greenbridge will include 98 condominium residences at various price points and 35,000 square feet of retail in the historic neighborhood of Northside. Bernheim Arboretum goes Platinum The U.S. Green Building Council has awarded Bernheim with its highest certification, LEED Platinum, for construction of its Visitor Center. This is the first Platinum rating awarded to a building in Kentucky or the surrounding region—Indiana, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee. The WM+P team collaborated with the architect of record, Barnette Bagley Architects of Lexington and TOPIA design. The large team of passionate professionals also included Gray Construction and Prajna Design/Construction, both of whom were integral to the execution of the project. By integrating the client’s mission of “connecting people with nature” and a sustaining design agenda, this visitors center intentionally blurs the distinction between indoors and out, uniting architectural and garden spaces with a combination of pergolas, trellises, arbors, and glass. As the public threshold for the arboretum and research forest, the new Center functions as the portal and point of introduction for visitors to this 14,000-acre arboretum. The Center also explores the theme of the building as teacher, making its sustaining strategies like passive and active solar design, geothermal heating and cooling, and local and regional materials part of the exhibition. Future Energy Visions In January, William McDonough was a keynote speaker at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi. His remarks included the presentation of a conceptual sketch exercise for a mixed use tower for a desert climate (right), an adaptation of the office tower of the future commissioned by Fortune magazine. “In our cities, we have to think creatively about density,” he said. “For any region, sustainability is about preserving the cultural and natural context while providing a beacon for verifiably sustainable growth. This scalable concept is designed to give that complex objective a physical form in a desert climate. We believe that Cradle to Cradle thinking is the surest and fastest way to reach thresholds on the path to results that are 100 percent positive. This is the goal—where everything we create can contribute positively to society, the economy, and the environment—that we are working toward using today’s products and technologies.” The Summit was the site of announcements about Masdar, a new initiative in the region with a master plan by Foster + Partners. Sir Norman Foster delivered the closing keynote address at the Summit. McDonough referenced the initiative: “Through Masdar and other path-finding projects, we can reach our goal of a delightfully, diverse, safe, healthy and just world, with clean air, water, soil, and power—economically, equitably, ecologically, and elegantly enjoyed.” Software Park in China William McDonough + Partners has begun work, with WSP Energy, on sustainable development strategies and design guidelines for the Dalian Software Park for Shui On Development Co. This is a large scale project in Dalian City, Liaoning Province, PRC; this work is for Phase II and will proceed with reference to the LEED Neighborhood Development framework.
FACES AT THE FIRM
Katherine Grove has been promoted to Director. Since joining William McDonough + Partners in 1997, she has worked on institutional, commercial and residential projects. She is currently serving as the project manager for William McDonough + Partners’ role on the Make It Right project in New Orleans, and for the American University School of International Service now under construction in Washington, DC. She was project manager and a lead designer for the Cave Avenue Residences in Banff and for a private residence in Charlotte, NC; both projects have received regional awards of merit. She has served as a guest critic at Syracuse University and the University of Pennsylvania. Two Charlottesville studio designers, Tim Gordon and Vanessa Eng, are now working in the San Francisco studio, furthering the positive cross-pollination between our East and West coast teams. Kellie Fiorello has joined the Charlottesville studio as our new Marketing Coordinator. Kellie has a B.A. in Journalism from The Ohio State University. She previously worked for Green Energy Ohio, the Ohio chapter of the American Solar Energy Society. As Program Manager, she promoted the use of renewable energy across the state through publications, public tours to solar and wind power installations, and media / public official outreach. Matt Wagner is an intern in the Charlottesville studio. Matt graduated from Virginia Tech in Spring 2007 with a Master of Architecture. Matt was also on Virginia Tech’s 2005 Solar Decathlon team, which deepened his interest in sustainability. Prior to graduate school, Matt received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Interior Design from VCU. He is an avid cyclist and has participated in a 10-day, 828-mile ride from Montana to Oregon. Megan Livingston has joined the Charlottesville studio as a co-op intern from the University of Cincinnati. Born and raised in Hawaii, this third year UC undergrad is skilled in the Adobe suite, Sketch-Up, and AutoCAD. She enjoys incorporating watercolor and collage in her designs. Last spring, Megan tested her running skills in Cincinnati’s Flying Pig Half Marathon. Megan will study in Denmark this summer.
UPCOMING EVENTS On April 5, Kevin Burke, partner and director of practice, will be keynoting the Royal Institute of Dutch Architects annual conference with a talk about eco-effective design and Cradle to Cradle thinking at the ING Real Estate headquarters in Amsterdam. Bill McDonough will speak at a Haas Business School Alumni event at Gap Inc. in San Francisco on March 19; at the Distinguished Lecture Series at Boise State University on April 17; at a Hawaii Executive Conference in Maui on May 13; and at the EPA’s 2008 Science Forum in Washington on May 20. He will also speak at the “Let’s Cradle” conference in Rotterdam at the end of May. Lance Hosey will moderate a discussion with Stephan Behnisch, Behnisch Architekten; Bill Odell, HOK; and Kenneth Yeang, Hamzah and Yeang. The panel will close a Yale symposium organized by Michelle Addington. Sustainable Architecture, Today and Tomorrow: Reframing the Discourse (April 4-5) comes on the 20th anniversary of the release of the influential Brundtland Commission Report and includes a keynote by Gro Harlem Brundtland herself. Lance will also present “The Shape of Green: Aesthetics, Ecology, and Design” and participate in a panel discussion (with Neil Denari and Merrill Elam) on March 22 at Southern Polytechnic State University’s Go Slow, Move Quickly conference. Kira Gould will moderate Women in Green panels in Kansas City on March 20 and Seattle on April 7. The Kansas City panel includes past World Green Building Council president Kath Williams; Montana architect and educator Lori Ryker; Kansas City architect Laura Lesniewski; and media maven and educator Simran Sethi. The AIA Seattle’s Regeneration conference includes environmental psychologist Judi Heerwagen, landscape architect Lucia Athens, and architects Anne Schopf and Amanda Sturgeon. Gould will also moderate a “Perspectives on Sustainability” panel on April 30 at the Green Roundtable in Boston.
OTHER NEWS AND NOTES
On March 15 in New Orleans, Bill McDonough participated in a Clinton Global Initiative University discussion moderated by former President Bill Clinton along with Dr. Ed Blakely, executive director of the Office of Recovery & Development Administration for the City of New Orleans; Lieutenant General (Ret.) Russel L. Honore, Commander of Joint Task Force Katrina; and Bethany Housman, City Year Louisiana Program Manager. CGIU, a new project of the Clinton Global Initiative, challenges college students and universities to tackle global problems with practical, innovative solutions. Diane Dale, director of the community design studio, is a member of the advisory group to the National Building Museum’s Green Community exhibit, which will be open in October, and will include the William McDonough + Partners work for the Hali’maile community in Maui. “Green Community” will expand on the themes of its highly acclaimed predecessors, Big and Green and The Green House, examining how and why we plan, design, and construct the world between our buildings. William McDonough + Partners is working on three projects in the Netherlands, around which there is a lively public- and private-sector dialogue about Cradle to Cradle principles. In January, Kevin Burke gave a keynote talk at a developer conference put on by PropertyNL; Bill McDonough addressed the same audience on video. In February, as part of the ULI San Francisco’s Green Trends Series, David Johnson, director of the San Francisco studio, presented on a panel about “Creating a Value Proposition for Sustainably Designed Speculative Development.” He was joined by David Radcliffe, vice president of real estate and workplace services for Google; developer Richard Springwater with The Prado Group; and Kacey Clagett of Field Paoli Architects. Bill McDonough wrote endorsements for two new books: Cities as Sustainable Ecosystems: Principles and Practices (Island Press, 2008) by Peter Newman and Isabella Jennings; and The Concrete Dragon: China’s Urban Revolution and What it Means for the World (Princeton Architectural Press, 2008) by Tom Campanella. John Wheeler has become the newest LEED® Accredited Professional at WM+P, bringing the total number of LEED AP staff to 17, which represents nearly 50 percent of architectural staff. Lance Hosey was one of a variety of people (from Richard Florida to Ron Paul) asked by Architect magazine, “How would you fix America’s infrastructure with a budget of $1.6 trillion?” Amidst a slew of high-tech suggestions, Lance urged a mindshift: “Let’s invest in the infrastructure of the human body. To get people out of their cars and onto their feet, the means are simple: more mixed-use zoning; more medium-scale, high-density development; more trails and sidewalks; incentives for businesses to locate near residential areas and for individuals to work close to home; better public education about the health benefits of being active. We can solve the traffic problem and make better communities and healthier people at the same time. We need Jane Jacobs, not George Jetson—less Buck Rogers and more Mr. Rogers.” Lance also wrote the introduction to Green Homes: New Ideas for Sustainable Living, recently published by HarperCollins. One of Senior Planner Will Grimm’s previous design projects with O’Mahony Pike Architects, the North Drogheda Environs Master Plan, was nominated for an Excellence in Planning Award by the Irish Planning Institute. The plan received a certificate of Merit in Planning Achievement. Former intern Mike Benkert’s design internship was recognized as one of the “100 Coolest Co-ops” at the University of Cincinnati. Kira Gould moderated a “Sustainability’s Sensibilities” panel at Building Green, the conference of the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association on March 12. Panelists included architects Maryann Thompson and Chris Benedict; architect Barbra Batshalom of the Green Roundtable; Brandy Brooks of the Community Design Resource Center; Amelia Amon, solar designer; and Cassandra Kling, energy specialist. Gould also participated on a panel entitled “How We Communicate is How We Collaborate.”
Yours, in abundance, William McDonough + Partners 700 E. Jefferson St. Charlottesville, VA 22902 177 Post St., Suite 920 San Francisco, CA 94108 contact: newsletter@mcdonough.com www.mcdonoughpartners.com Forward to a friend