FLW water dome

Today the long awaited FLW "water dome" at Florida Southern will come to life. The water dome has never been realized due to technology and funding, but finally after thirty years as a pond and sidewalk the water dome will be operational. See story in Orlando Sentinel.

It's not easy being Green

Many probably already know about (or attended) the Creative Tampa Bay-sponsored luncheon with Joe Cortright, a Portland-based economist. Cortright spoke about the success and properity Portland has experienced by their focus on being a more sustainable, environmental city. Cortright emphasized to the audience how Tampa's economy could be bolstered by a focus on 'green.'

Forgoing the more fobvious discussion of 'would Tampa leadership really undertake this task', I would ask how you feel about the validity of the mission in general, and how do you think our community of young designers could help bring this culture about in specifics. Being sustainable and bringing environmental awareness has become a much hipper, and less taboo, mindset in the last two years, but how do we affect real change?

As an example of specific actions to help focus on change, look into Lights Out Boston. This is an event planned for next spring, similar to the one in San Francisco last weekend, which will bring people together to turn off unnecessary lighting in the city for one hour.

Tampa Center for the Built Environment?

A lot of you may not know that our local AIA chapter has been exploring the possibilities of leading a team to convert the old federal courthouse in downtown Tampa into a "center for the built environment". This idea has been in the works for months but is now starting to get some real traction as AIATB will sign a letter of intent with the city. AIATB now has 6 months to perform due diligence to determine if the concept is feasible. The adaptive reuse concept for the 102-year-old courthouse building includes office space for AIATB and other organizations, an urban-planning research center, galleries, retail and restaurants.

You can read more about this at the St. Petersburg Times and at the Tampa Tribune.

What do you think of the concept? What things would you like to see go into the building?

I think that this may be a great use for a building that has seen many proposals come and go. It is certainly an opportunity for AIATB to step up and show some leadership in the community. I would like to see the program include a shared studio space for young architecture firms where people could rent desks and have access to shared facilities like conference rooms, voicemail, plotters, etc. Something along the lines of what LTL Architects had in NYC. In its heyday, the collaborative studio with a storefront presence at 147 Essex Street housed the emerging firms LTL, L.E.FT, nArchitects, Architecture Agency, Miloby Ideasystem, and Briggs Knowles Architecture + Design. Essentially, 147 Essex acted as a business incubator for young architecture firms.

Stepping outside of the box

Sarasota Herald-Tribune ran a great story in the real estate section about style (or lack of style) in architecture and the influences of computer modeling on design. Great article which quotes USF assistant professors Michael Halfants and Jim Baek. Read the article here.

Hyde Park Publix

No it won't be like the famous Miami Beach Publix, but I found a site with elevations of the new Publix in Hyde Park on Armenia between Platt Street and Azeele. The first "urban" Publix in Tampa. Due to the small lot, parking is on the roof. Through many hearings with the city and neighbors it seems that the Publix is finally breaking ground. You won't find any incredible architecture in SOHO, another box clad to look like it always belonged there. You know, matching the incredible and unique architecture of that area. Find the images here and here.

Thoughts?

green, green, green.

Below are a list of active "green" blogs. Check them out, there is plenty of useful information to sort through during the day.

Cleantech Blog - Commentary on technologies, news, and issues relating to next generation energy and the environment.
The Conscious Earth - Earth-centered news for the health of air, water, habitat and the fight against global warming.
Earth Meanders - Earth essays placing environmental sustainability within the context of other contemporary issues.
Environmental Action Blog - Current environmental issues and green energy news.
The Future is Green - Thoughts on the coming of a society that is in balance with nature.
The Green Skeptic - Devoted to challenging assumptions about how we live on the earth and protect our environment.
Haute*Nature - Ecologically based creative ideas, art & green products for your children, home and lifestyle, blending style with sustainability.
The Lazy Environmentalist - Sustainable living made easy.
Lights Out America - A grassroots community group organizing nationwide energy savings events.
The Nature Writers of Texas - The best nature writing from the newspaper, magazine, blog and book authors of the Lone Star State.
Sustainablog - News, information and personal meanderings related to environmental and economic sustainability, green and sustainable business, and environmental politics.
These Come From Trees - An experiment in environmentalism, viral marketing, and user interface design with the goal of reducing consumer waste paper.

Libeskind on CNN

With the opening of the Denver Art Museum, his struggles at the WTC, his multiple condo projects, Daniel Libeskind is quickly becoming America's favorite architect. He is the focus of this month's "Revealed" by CNN. go here for everything Libeskind.

FLW at Florida Southern

NPR's All Things Considered ran a story on Frank Lloyd Wright, focusing on Florida Southern and the restoration currently being preformed by architect Jeff Baker.

Go the link here, and be sure to check out the image gallery.

PLY named as one of the 101 world's most exciting new architects

PLY Architecture, the keynote speakers at this year's upcoming AIAFLA Emerging Professionals Conference in Sarasota, have made Wallpaper* Magazine's list of "101 of the World's most exciting new architects." PLY is based in Ann Arbor, Michigan where both partners teach at the University of Michigan. They consider themselves a "research practice" that rejects the "routines of professional practice" in favor of "continuous reinvention." They are one of 5 young American firms to make the list.

See the entire list here.

See more about the conference here. There is still time to register.

kiley park revisited

Found this little tid bit on the "restoration" Kiley Park. Not sure what the restoration will mean, but seems like something might be done to renovate the park. Story from WMNF

Kiley has been a constant battle and in some degree the beginning of e-tba. Earlier this year urban charrette held one of their first meetings at Kiley.

go here for some of the history of the effort to Save Kiley Park.

The Future of Ground Zero

This is the future view from Midtown Manhattan towards the World Trade Center site. The Architects Newspaper has a story on the three recently released designs for WTC 2,3, and 4. The developer, Silverstein Properties, now prefers the names 200, 175, and 150 Greenwich Street, projects designed, respectively, by Foster & Partners, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, and Maki and Associates. AN has renderings of all three projects.

200 Greenwich Street by Foster & Partners

175 Greenwich Street by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (aka Richard Rogers)

150 Greenwich Street by Maki and Associates

What do you think? I'm a little disappointed. But at least things seem to finally be moving forward.

Lebbeus Woods Interview

Given that it is AIATB Annual Gala time, I thought that I'd post a link to an interview of Lebbeus Woods who was the keynote speaker a few years ago. Check it out over on BLDGBLOG.

Also, Lebbeus has a new website that is worth checking out.

Don't miss Monica Ponce de Leon

If you haven't made your reservations yet, be sure to call Paulette at AIA Tampa Bay to get your tickets for this year's Annual Gala. The keynote speaker is Monica Ponce de Leon of the Boston based firm Office dA. It should be a great evening. I hope to see you there.

urban design excellence awards

Downtown Tampa is seeing some of its most dynamic changes in several years come to reality. Many individuals have worked long and hard hours to bring to the urban core some outstanding improvements and projects.
Because of this, the Partnership, through generous sponsorship of Carlton Fields, is launching the First Annual Urban Excellence Awards. The event will be held November 27th. Now is your opportunity to submit the names and projects of those whom you believe have done an outstanding job. To do so, click here for the Urban Excellence Nomination Form.

Will Downtown Dreams Come True?

Will Downtown Dreams really come true for downtown Tampa with the start of 4 high profile projects: The Children's Museum (Gould Evans), The History Center (Verner Johnson and Associates), Tampa Museum of Art (Saitowitz) and the Curtis Hixon Park Redesign (Thomas Balsley)? All projects are scheduled for completion in late 2008 / 2009.

Do these projects deserve the hype that they are starting to receive? What are your thoughts about the future of dowtown Tampa? Are these truly great projects breathing new life into the dowtown core? Or are they missed opportunities for a city that has struggled for the past decade to be something more than a 9-5pm workplace destination?

Are bicycles a valid transportation option?

In an August 15th interview with Gwen Ifill on PBS's "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer", Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters hinted that too much federal money was being spent on bike trails and that was partially responsible for the bridge collapse in Minnesota. In the interview she said, "I think Americans would be shocked to learn that only about 60 percent of the gas tax money that they pay today actually goes into highway and bridge construction. Much of it goes in many, many other areas." She continued on to explain that "there are museums that are being built with that money, bike paths, trails, repairing lighthouses. Those are some of the kind of things that that money is being spent on, as opposed to our infrastructure." You can read the transcript of the entire interview here. You can also read a story about the interview at Salon.

I found Secretary Peters' comments particularly interesting since I just spent a week in Copenhagen, Denmark at a conference. discussing the Future of Cities. It was widely agreed that alternative forms transportation were key to the development of sustainable cities. It was also interesting to learn that in Copenhagen nearly 40% of residents ride their bikes to work. If I remember correctly the breakdown was something like 37% bike, 33% car, and 30% mass transit. Also, in about a month my office will be moving and I will start commuting to work on bike as well.

What do you think? Are bikes a viable transportation option in Tampa Bay? Should 60% of the gas tax be used on building highways? Or should a higher percentage be used for mass transit? What about congestion taxes? They seem to be working great in London and soon may come to fruition in NYC?

engineer vs architect

A receptionist at a contractor's office today asked me, "What's the difference between a structural engineer and an architect?" I laughed in my head, and tried to not be too taken back.
Then I began wondering, what IS the difference. Turns out her question was extremely valid.
According to city's permit office, either an architect of professional engineer can sign and seal drawings. There is no clear designation for when an architect is required to receive a permit. So if an architect is not required for permit (which is the single document that every building requires), then when is an architect required?
It happens every day, buildings are built all around us with no architect involvement. Not just is suburbia, but in urban infill, on main streets, in long established neighborhoods. The ARC does not even require an architect be involved. They are the ARCHITECTURAL review commission.
How did we become so marginalized? Is it because most architects would not want to touch a single family tract house? Is it because of our egos? Is it because big corporations have taken over design, i.e. Target, IKEA, Home Depot, and home design software? Is it because so many contractors and engineers are ready to get dirty and get the job done, while we are worried about AIA contract documents and liability?
How do we get back in the game and truly effect a larger portion of the built environment?

hyde park village

Is it me or does it just take forever to get something done in Tampa?
3 years ago I first heard of the changes coming to Hyde Park Village. The movie theater was closed last year to prepare for the changes coming. and, then, nothing.
The developer has now presented another new scheme hoping for resident approval. see stpete times article.
After this presentation, three additional presentations are required, with one being in December. The redevelopment plans were first announce in February of '06.
Go here to see the May plans on the Old Hyde Park Village website.
From the 'pretty' watercolors the design is decent. CGHJ will definitely pull out a quality design. The important part is the density and creating a streetscape with buildings that are taller than the current single story. The vignettes definitely show a more 'urban' or 'village' feel. Mediterranean without being too literal.
Hopefully we will see construction before 2010.

Art on Friday!

Nueva Evolucion

Friday, September 28, 2007 6pm-10pm

The West Tampa Center for the Arts

At the Historic Former Santaella Cigar Factory

1906 N. Armenia Avenue Tampa, FL 33607813.453.4381

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=1906+N.+Armenia+Avenue+Tampa&ie=UTF8&z=16&iwloc=addr&om=1

Additional info:

http://www.tampaartist.com/artshows.htm

Down with the man

Or at least go to the man when he is offering free stuff…

http://symphony.lotus.com/software/lotus/symphony/home.jspa

Yes it is free and works with MS files.

Open source baby!

Cool websites to waste time

Vérifiez-le dehors!

For present chaos in eye crack design from a-z and around the world:

http://www.thecoolhunter.net/

***************************************************************and so on

Another, one of my personal favorites. This kid is pretty funny, sarcastically highlighting his personal relationship with design along with some bizarre articles. If you explore his site, he also offers tips for computer users, including links to open-source-ware.

http://blog.miragestudio7.com/

florida green buildings forum

The Florida Building Commission is sponsoring a forum on Monday, October 1, 2007 in Tampa, FL, to discuss local government ordinances supporting Building Green and state support of public awareness of Building Green. Interested parties are invited to make recommendations that will be evaluated in the development of a model ordinance for local governments. For more information, visit: http://consensus.fsu.edu/FBC/ECW.html

In other related GREEN news.
October 11, USF & Emerging Green Builders, A conversation on Green Building
October 17, GreenDrinks at McDintons irish pub tampabaygreendrinks@gmail.com
October 23, Green Dividend, hosted by Tampa Downtown Partnership

Ruskin House completed

The long awaited "Ruskin House" by Mike Calvino is complete. Join Mike and others for a final tour before the owner's take full occupancy.

Congrats to Mike Calvino on a job well done, contributing to modern architecture in the bay area, and bringing a whole new meaning to design/build.

more info.

images.

2005 st. pete time article

one bay workshops announces for community involvement

Please join OneBay to participate in a county-wide Reality Check Tampa Bay exercise. Using engaging materials including Legos®, ribbons, and county maps, participants will make decisions about where and how each county should grow in relationship to the region. Participants will have the opportunity to review the guiding principles set by the regional Reality Check participants and comment and vote on these principles. The tabletop exercise, designed by the Urban Land Institute, educates participants about the interrelationship among regional land use, transportation systems, and natural resources. Input received from each of the seven county workshops will be used to create alternative growth scenarios for the Tampa Bay region.
Pinellas County - Thursday, October 4, 2007

Sarasota County - Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Manatee County - Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Hernando County - Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Polk County - Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Hillsborough County - Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Pasco County - Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Click Here to RSVP or Call Katie Nohe at (813) 872-2814

tampa park(ing) day

downtown will get a bit more green space, if at least for one day. here.

Tampa Small | urban charette making the rounds

“Do we really need another group joining the downtown design conversation?” The Urban Charrette makes the case for having the right voices at the table. Young, talented urban planners and architects add a dimension of expertise and creativity to the conversation that is worth hearing, and currently missing.

Urban charette has made more news with the design forum held last weekend. see article in creativetampabay. Seems like last weekend's event was very successful. Let's see where this group goes!

tampa history center moves forward

Contractor has been awarded for the Tampa History Center. full story
One more piece of the Riverwalk puzzle is falling into place. Construction to be completed by the end of 2008. (Superbowl time)
Go here for some design images. Personally the siting of the museum is more important than the actual building. Its interface with Channelside, the forum and the river are the keyes to its success. I would be interested to see some site plans, but have not found any yet.
Story in the trib

central park village plans unveiled

Found a link to some master planning images of the Central Park redevelopment area. The dates on the images are old, but these are the first images I have seen. The redevelopment area is immediately north of downtown. It is pretty much a link between downtown and ybor city.

The work is done by locals, Collman & Karsky. 2,000 residential units, retail, greenspace and a grocery store within 5 years? OK, sure...

The design is pretty typical Tampa, I was hoping for something cooler, but given the location and attention the project is getting, expected something exactly like this.

Hopefully this project will get off the ground unlike the seemingly stalled Heights project.

Thoughts? Concerns?

The Municipal Art Society of New York

We are not NYC,

but I thought this was a nice example of a non-profit getting involved in their home place.
A suite of programs include maintaining public art, re-energizing neighborhoods, funding efforts and coaching, encouraging those with relevant professions to get involved.

The ideas and passion are here:



^Up^Keep Art



East River Charrette

http://www.mas.org/viewarticle.php?id=1731&category=46

'The Municipal Art Society of New York is a private, non-profit membership organization whose mission is to promote a more livable city. Since 1893, the MAS has worked to enrich the culture, neighborhoods and physical design of New York City. It advocates for excellence in urban design and planning, contemporary architecture, historic preservation and public art.'

http://www.mas.org/index.php

Mind your planners

This week's Creative Loafing has a small feature on Urban Charrette. Urban Charrette was founded by AIA Tampa Bay Associate Director Adam Fritz and Taryn Sabia. According to Fritz, the goal of the group is to "serve as a conduit between the public and the Planning Commission." Be sure to check out their upcoming series of urban design forums "Tampa: Small, Medium, and Large." The first forum will focus on small scale issues and is scheduled for Saturday, September 8th. It will feature the following speakers/topics:

Taryn Sabia, AAIA, NCI: Walkability: Creating Opportunities

Vikas Mehta, PhD: Designing the Street

Grant Rimbey, CNU and Ralph Bosek: Temple Terrace Redevelopment

Marc J. Yacht, MD, MPH: Health Promotion Essential to Urban Design

Click here for more information about the forums.

Congratulations to Adam and Taryn on the publicity!

vacancies in Tampa boards

Looks like there are a few prime vacancies in the city of Tampa boards. All vacancies are volunteer and with no pay, but they are great opportunities to shape the future of Tampa. Every act of architecture is political. And every change comes one building or one approval at a time. Some of the vacancies include;
Architectural Review Commision, Variance Review Board, Historic Preservation and Hillsborough Planning Commision.
For more info...

the cigar factory debate continues

Article in St Pete Times describing the development of the Oliva Cigar Factory.
Originally the factory was planned to be an artist enclave. For some reason the owners later decided to sell. This did not sit well with the artists. and they are making their voice heard.
Other than the artist enclave, a hotel is a good answer for this building.
However, the City of Tampa is increasingly making it more and more difficult for developers to invest in infill properties. Another Barrio meeting, another council meeting, this takes time and money, no wonder developers choose to invest money in the outer regions of Tampa Bay. And why are we one of the most decentralized cities in the nation?
There are so many empty buildings in Ybor, becuase the city no longer wants bars, but offers no incentives to invest for offices, restuarants, hotels, or other uses.
Thoughts.

Reality Check

There will be a presentation and briefing from the Tampa Downtown Partnership and Reality Check Tampa Bay to discuss the finding from the May 18th visioning exercise. Remember the event with the legos? Examples of the post-event reports and examples of the "lego tables
can be found here. Some really good ideas and some ...well... ideas.

It seems as though every group wanted the same things, mixed use communities, preserve natural resources and better transportation corridors. The true reality check is actually getting it done without ruining the vision through politics. Didn't we vote 6 years ago for the high-speed rail? Wasn't the Tampa Orlando corridor supposed to be completed by now?

The presentation will also include information on future events and workshops.

The cost is only $25 for non-members and is at 7:30 on August 29th at the Maestro's inside the Tampa Preforming Arts.

This is a great way for architects to shape the future of Tampa Bay rather than question why the city is so dysfunctional. Hope to see you there.

The Future of Architecture?

I just watched the Gregg Pasquarelli (from SHoP Architects) lecture from the Harvard podcasts link below during my lunch break. I highly recommend that everyone check it out. He of course talks about some of their terrific projects, but more interesting to me was his discussion of the future of the profession. He discusses the typical relationship of architect + contractor + developer and the harm that it has done to the profession in marginalizing the architect. He posits a new way for the profession which returns the architect to a position of power. They have now started having ownership or equity positions in about 6-7 of their projects which has allowed them more design freedom. Finally he discusses near the end of the lecture about how they have received an investment of $200 million from Wall Street to pursue their new pattern for the profession. He also throws in a bit of AIA bashing for good measure.

Check it out and post some comments below. How is BIM going to effect the future of the profession? Also, obviously we can't all get $200M investments, but how can we gain equity in our projects? Are their other ways to return the architect to a power position in the building industry?

MacDill media park

Interesting article in the Tampa Business Journal. A group of "creative" thinkers are banding together to come up with ideas to transform MacDill park in downtown. Macdill Park is just South of Kennedy and north of Whiting, on the Hillsborough River. The parcel is known as Section 12 of the riverwalk. Unfortunately, the Biz journal requires a subscription to view the article, but here's the link with a quick abstract. The full article was published on another blog found here.

The idea for the park is similar to Bryant Park in NYC with infrastructure for multi-media events.

They have set up a website for the park "redesign." http://www.designtampa.com/

It looks as though it is something that e-tba could help them out on. I'll try to contact them.

300

Sketch-up training is coming to Tampa on 08.29 and 08.30.

Training is at TechSherpa's in Ybor.

$300 for a 3 hour class, seems completely reasonable. Try to get this one expensed!

Calendar

Sign-up

What does it mean to be green?

GREEN. The catch phrase of the year
Will the TMA be green?
What is GREEN?

More Architecture Podcasts

Harvard's Graduate School of Design has a library of video podcasts of their lecture series. They will also stream their lectures from this year's series. The lectures available include Rem Koolhaas (pictured), Jeff Kipnis, Ben Van Berkel, and David Adjaye, among many others.

Architectural League NY: Young Architects 2007

This year's Architectural League NY Young Architects include PARA (whose Times Square Recruiting Center project is pictured to the left), Productora, UNI, and Ludens.

The Architectural League has posted podcasts from each of the honorees. Also, in the 2006 Young Architects section, you can also check out an interview of Craig Borum and Karl Daubmann of PLY Architecture, the keynote speakers at this year's EP Conference.

There are also podcasts of lectures by such luminaries as Renzo Piano and Bob Stern. Also, if you're interested in sustainability, be sure not to miss the "Architecture and the Environment" podcast from Bill McKibben, the author of the landmark book "The End of Nature".

photo competition

AIA Tampa Bay is pleased to announce its photo competition open to the general public*. Entries will be judged by a panel of professional photographers and artists from the local area. The top fifteen entries will be printed in the 2008 AIA Tampa Bay calendar and exhibited at the 2007 Archifest Dinner Gala at Raymond James Stadium, October 6th. For more info go here

2007 AIAFLA Emerging Professionals Conference

You should have received your "save the date" cards in the mail by now. I got mine in the mail yesterday. You can see some preliminary information about the conference on the AIA Florida website. This year's conference will be held in Sarasota on October 26-27. Mark your calendars now and make sure that you don't miss keynote speakers Craig Borum and Karl Daubmann from PLY Architecture

Be sure to check out the Emerging Professionals Design Problem brief while you're there. The projects will be juried by the aforementioned keynote speakers. This year's design problem focuses on the development of a prototypical light rail system for the Sarasota region.

TMA Approval Featured in ArchRecord

The approval of our very own Tampa Museum of Art is featured in the news section of this month's Architectural Record.

And, if you haven't seen all of the renderings yet, you can check them out here.

What do you think about the design so far??? Is is fantastic? Is it lackluster?

here we go!

finally e-tba blog site has begun.