Architects & Planners for Justice in Palestine (APJP)
Press Release: 21 September 2009

 The "University Centre of Ariel in Samaria" (AUCS) has been excluded from the Solar Decathlon-Europe, an international university competition promoting sustainable architecture. The self-styled "Ariel University Centre of Samaria" claiming to represent Israel, though situated in the illegal settlement of Ariel in the occupied West Bank, was one out of 20 architecture teams short-listed from university entries last April to compete for the Solar Decathlon-Europe 2010. The Spanish Government together with the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid organizes this most prestigious competition for sustainable architecture in the world.
Although this is the first competition of its kind in Europe, it builds on almost a decade of competitions in the US sponsored by the US Department of Energy. Selected teams, formed by architects and engineering students are asked to design and build a real house entirely driven by solar energy. Every house should be built in one of the 20 sites in the "Solar Villa" planned in Madrid to host them. To facilitate participation of the various teams, the Spanish Ministry of Housing allocated a sum of 100,000 Euros to every project.
The International Union of Architects (UIA) has already taken note that Israeli architecture and planning in the West Bank is contrary to its professional ethics and Codes of Conduct and Accords. After a motion raised at the UIA Council meeting in Brazil this July, in relation to these activities, the UIA confirmed its policy that:
“The UIA Council condemns development projects and the construction of buildings on land that has been ethnically purified or illegally appropriated, and projects based on regulations that are ethnically or culturally discriminatory, and similarly it condemns all action contravening the fourth Geneva Convention”
On this basis, the UK based Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine (APJP) initiated a campaign backed by UK and international architects and academics, which was also taken up by the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) in Palestine, against official Spanish recognition of the illegal Israeli university in occupied Palestinian territory. The support of many individuals and organizations in Spain for the cancellation of AUCS’s participation in the Solar Decathlon culminated in a parliamentary question in the Spanish Parliament and the eventual exclusion of the illegal settlement’s academic institution from the competition.
Last Wednesday, September 16th, Sergio Vega, General Director of Solar Decathlon Europe addressed all participant teams to inform them of the exclusion of AUCS: "The decision has been taken by the Government of Spain based upon the fact that the University is located in the [occupied] West Bank. The Government of Spain is obliged to respect the international agreements under the framework of the European Union and the United Nations regarding this geographical area." EU policy is firmly against Israel’s illegal settlements and occupation, and this clear, firm and principled response represents the first case of sanctions against an Israeli academic institution in Spain and one of the very first such actions in the West.
Spain joins the growing number of European governments taking effective steps to uphold international law by boycotting or divesting from institutions and corporations involved in Israel's illegal settlements and Separation Wall built on occupied Palestinian land.
This move of the government of Spain follows the decision of the UK government not to rent offices from Israeli settlement builder Lev Leviev and the divestment of the Norwegian Pension Fund from Elbit Systems, an Israeli company providing surveillance equipment to the Wall. The global company Veolia, has lost major European and Australian contracts due to its construction of the light railway in illegally annexed East Jerusalem.
The Spanish university teachers, parliamentarians and organizations are to be congratulated for this principled stand with the Palestinian people and international law, and professional ethics.
Image by antifluor via Flickr

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Known for his inventiveness and the diversity of his work, Frank Lloyd Wright is celebrated for the awe-inspiring beauty and tranquility of his designs.

Fifty years after the realization of Frank Lloyd Wright’s renowned design, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum celebrates the golden anniversary of its landmark building with the exhibition Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward, co-organized by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.
On view from May 15 through August 23, 2009, the 50th anniversary exhibition brings together sixty-four projects designed by one of the most influential architects of the 20th century, including privately commissioned residences, civic and government buildings, religious and performance spaces, as well as unrealized urban mega-structures. Presented on the spiral ramps of Wright’s museum through a range of mediums—including more than 200 original Frank Lloyd Wright drawings, many of which are on view to the public for the first time, as well as newly commissioned models and digital animations—Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward illuminates Wright’s pioneering concepts of space and reveals the architect’s continuing relevance to contemporary design.

During his seventy-two-year career, Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959), who died just six months before the opening of the Guggenheim, worked independently from any single style and developed a new sense of architecture in which form and function were inseparable. Known for his inventiveness and the diversity of his work, Wright is celebrated for the awe-inspiring beauty and tranquility of his designs. Whether creating a private home, workplace, religious edifice, or cultural attraction, Wright sought to unite people, buildings, and nature in physical and spiritual harmony. To realize such a union in material form, Wright created environments of simplicity and repose through carefully composed plans and elevations based on consistent, geometric grammars.
In his earliest designs, such as the Larkin Company Administration Building (Buffalo, New York, 1902–6) and Unity Temple (Oak Park, Illinois, 1905), Wright carefully deconstructed the boxlike environment of his European contemporaries by opening up corners and using walls merely as screens to enclose tranquil interior spaces. While the aesthetic strength of Wright’s work has invited people to revisit his idiom, it is the ambition of Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward to celebrate the basic idea behind his architecture—the sense of freedom in interior space—and inspire visitors to see the potential that architecture can carry for the here and now and for the future.
Highlights of Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward include newly created three-dimensional scale models that examine the internal mechanics of functional space in relation to exterior form in a variety of Wright’s projects. Among these are an exploded version of the Herbert Jacobs House (Madison, Wisconsin, 1937); a mirrored model for Unity Temple; and a sectional model of Beth Sholom Synagogue (Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, 1953).
Large-scale models of unrealized urban projects, including his Plan for Greater Baghdad (1957), the Crystal City for Washington, D.C. (1940), and the Pittsburgh Point Civic Center (1947), provide insight into Wright’s visions for the landscapes of the city. In addition, special animations offer viewers the opportunity to experience an interpretation of nine of Wright’s unbuilt or demolished projects as well as his own Taliesin and Taliesin West.
The exhibition is curated by Thomas Krens, Senior Advisor of International Affairs for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation; David van der Leer, Assistant Curator of Architecture and Design; and Maria Nicanor, Curatorial Assistant, both for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, in collaboration with Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer, Director of the Frank Lloyd Wright Archives; Margo Stipe, Curator and Registrar of Collections of the Frank Lloyd Wright Archives; and Oskar Muñoz, Assistant Director of the Frank Lloyd Wright Archives. Mina Marefat, an architect and Wright scholar, has served as Curatorial Consultant for the Baghdad module of the exhibition.


Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward is a major publication documenting the landmark exhibition of the same name upon the fiftieth anniversary of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, and the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Frank Lloyd Wright.

Purchase now at Color Daily Mall Amazon Affiliate  Abundantly illustrated, Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward features a lifetime of achievement by this titan of American architecture through newly commissioned contemporary photography, archival photography, and wonderfully detailed drawings of more than 70 projects, both built and unbuilt, including such masterworks as the S. C. Johnson & Sons Administration Building in Wisconsin, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, and Taliesin West—Wright’s own desert home in Arizona, as well as lesser known projects designed for Baghdad, Iraq, and beyond. The book is richly accompanied by authoritative text from some of the most important Frank Lloyd Wright scholars and writers at work today, and presents a timely re-evaluation of the work and life of Frank Lloyd Wright within the context of social spaces, after the spirit of the exhibition. This catalog is a must-have for all Wright scholars, architects, students, and architectural enthusiasts.

  Popular Mechanics

The i-House "looks like a house you'd order from IKEA, sounds like something designed by Apple and consists of amenities--solar panels, tankless water heaters and rainwater collectors--that one would expect to come from an offbeat green company out of California selling to a high-end market." But Clayton Homes, one of the largest manufacturers of mobile homes out of Maryville, Tenn., is looking to enter the market of environmentally friendly, prefab homes with a model that is seriously affordable. The much-anticipated house, which Clayton claims is at least 30% more energy-efficient than traditional homes, is perhaps the most affordable option for a low-carbon lifestyle, with monthly energy costs of under $70.

“The National Museum of African American History and Culture—the institution and the building—embodies the African American spirit. Majestic yet exuberant, dignified yet triumphant, the building will be worthy of the museum’s vision, and its prominent place on the National Mall.”

The Smithsonian today announced that Freelon Adjaye Bond/SmithGroup is the architectural team chosen to design the National Museum of African American History and Culture to be located on the National Mall near the Washington Monument. The selection was made by a jury chaired by Museum Director Lonnie G. Bunch III. Freelon Adjaye Bond/SmithGroup was among six architectural firms that entered a design competition in January.
“I am pleased to have the opportunity to work with this talented team,” said Bunch. “Their vision and spirit of collaboration moved all members of the design competition jury. I am confident that they will give us a building that will be an important addition to the National Mall and to the architecture of this city.”
Philip G. Freelon, FAIA, speaking on behalf of the Freelon Adjaye Bond team, said “This is an incredible time for us as designers—and this museum represents a unique opportunity to give form and substance to the powerful vision that has been established by the Smithsonian leadership. We are truly honored to have been chosen as the architects from such a distinguished list of competitors.
In describing their competition entry, Freelon said, “Our model illustrates a design concept—not a finished building. The design process now begins in earnest with the full engagement of the museum and Smithsonian Institution staff. Together, we will advance the ideas that have been explored to date in an inclusive and collaborative environment.”
Freelon Adjaye Bond said in its design concept materials, “The National Museum of African American History and Culture—the institution and the building—embodies the African American spirit. Majestic yet exuberant, dignified yet triumphant, the building will be worthy of the museum’s vision, and its prominent place on the National Mall.”
The team selected by the Smithsonian consists of four firms that have joined together for this unique project—The Freelon Group, Adjaye Associates, Davis Brody Bond and SmithGroup. The Freelon Group will be the architect of record and Phil Freelon will serve as the design guarantor— making sure that the design reflects the values and priorities of the museum and the Smithsonian. The Freelon Group designed the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco and the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of African American History and Culture in Baltimore.
David Adjaye will be the lead designer. He designed the Nobel Peace Centre in Oslo, Norway, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver. Davis Brody Bond is involved in the planning, design and execution of the National September 11 Memorial and Museum at the World Trade Center in New York. The firm also led the restoration and expansion of the New York Public Library. The SmithGroup is an international architectural and engineering firm with offices in Washington, D.C., that designed the Normandy American Cemetery Interpretive Center in France.
The building design will take up to three years, with construction to begin in 2012. Set to open in 2015, the museum’s total cost is estimated to be $500 million, including design. During the design phase, the Smithsonian will seek approval from the National Capital Planning Commission. In addition, the Institution will continue to consult with other Washington, D.C., agencies and organizations, including the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the National Park Service and the National Coalition to Save Our Mall.
Freelon Adjaye Bond/SmithGroup was one of 22 teams that responded to the Request for Qualifications in summer 2008. The six firms selected to participate in the design competition were announced in January 2009. The architectural team will work directly with the Smithsonian’s contracting office to respond to the formal Request for Proposal.
The National Museum of African American History and Culture was established in 2003 by an Act of Congress. Although it does not have a building yet, the museum is collecting artifacts; conducting seminars and symposia, including a recent two-day program on Black Power; gathering African American oral histories for StoryCorps, a joint program with National Public Radio and the Library of Congress; and creating traveling exhibitions such as “Let Your Motto Be Resistance.” In addition, the museum has its own gallery in the National Museum of American History, which currently is exhibiting “The Scurlock Studio and Black Washington: Picturing the Promise.”

First Presidential Memorial of 21st Century and Only Seventh in U.S. History


 Gehry Partners, LLP, the Los Angeles-based architectural firm headed by Frank O. Gehry, has been selected as lead designer of the national memorial to Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower. The Eisenhower Memorial will be the seventh national presidential memorial in the Nation's Capitol, and the first since the Franklin Delano Roosevelt memorial opened in 1997.
The selection of Gehry Partners, LLP, was announced by the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission and the General Services Administration. According to Commission Chairman Rocco C. Siciliano, "It's appropriate to have one of today's most outstanding architects design a memorial for one of our country's greatest leaders." The Gehry team was one of four finalists in a three-stage competition that began with forty-four design firms from across the United States. Evaluation factors included previous work, interviews, and responses to the memorial's pre-design program, which addressed Ike's extraordinary accomplishments and the physical parameters of the memorial site.
One of the world's most celebrated architects, Frank Gehry has designed iconic buildings such as the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park in Chicago, and the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, Canada. In addition to members of the Gehry firm, the design team is comprised of landscape architects EDAW, Inc., lighting designers L'Observatoire International, and information designers ESI Design.
The memorial will be built on a four-acre site to be named Eisenhower Square, which is at the base of Capitol Hill, across from the National Air & Space Museum. Although the memorial has yet to be designed, it will be a landscaped civic plaza that respects vistas to and from the U. S. Capitol and the historic Maryland Avenue view corridor.
Other finalist firms were Krueck & Sexton Architects (Chicago), Peter Walker, PWP Landscape Architecture (Berkeley), and Rogers Marvel Architects (New York City).
President Eisenhower now ranks among the most successful and most respected U.S. presidents. He led America to invest in infrastructure by creating the Interstate Highway System, completing the St. Lawrence Seaway, and establishing the Federal Aviation Administration. He took America into space and ensured that it would be explored for scientific, not military purposes. He ended the Korean War and created the Departments of Health, Education, and Welfare. He laid the groundwork for major advancements in civil rights through legislation, the Civil Rights Act of 1957, and through executive authority, integration in Little Rock, Arkansas, and desegregation of Washington, D.C. He defused international crisis and inaugurated the national security policies that led to the peaceful end of the Cold War. A soldier from America's heartland, President Eisenhower became a president dedicated to building peace based on international cooperation and respect.
The General Services Administration (GSA) conducted a rigorous, three-stage design excellence competition that began in August 2008. It sought design teams with four core disciplines: architecture, landscape architecture, lighting design, and information design, as well as project management.
A jury of experts and an evaluation panel of design peers, GSA architects, and representatives of the Eisenhower Memorial Commission were involved in the selection. Commissioner David Eisenhower, the president's grandson, who served on both the jury and the evaluation panel, said, "My family and I are pleased that America will honor my grandfather's leadership as a president, a general, and as a selfless public servant."
The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission was created by Congress in 1999 to manage the memorial development. The bipartisan Commission has 12 members -- four Senators, four Representatives, and four private citizens. It is led by Chairman Rocco C. Siciliano and Vice Chairman Senator Daniel K. Inouye, combat-decorated World War II veterans. Senator Inouye stated that "Celebrating General Eisenhower's leadership in both World War II and as President is specially meaningful to me in the 50th anniversary year of Hawaii's admission into the Union as the 50th state. On August 21, 1959, I was in the White House together with other elected Hawaii officials to witness the signing of the Statehood Bill by President Eisenhower. This is a moment of great memories."
More information on President Eisenhower and the memorial program can be found at Eisenhower Memorial   
WASHINGTON, April 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --

The Brown and White

William Baker, partner in charge of Structural and Civil Engineering for the Chicago office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP says the Burj Dubai is distinctive not only for its height, but also its innovative layout.
Its construction was made possible through the use of high-performance concrete and steel, as well as a Y-shaped floor plan with a hexagonal center, intended to distribute the weight of such a tall building most effectively.
Although the Burj Dubai will, upon its projected 2009 completion, be the tallest ever man-made structure in the world, the exact dimensions of the structure are "confidential," Baker said. In order to discourage competitors from constructing an even higher structure, measurements will remain undisclosed until the building's completion.

The Freelon Group, a Research Triangle, N.C.-based architecture and design firm, has been selected as the winner of a design competition for the new Center for Civil & Human Rights (CCHR) in Atlanta. Under the leadership of Philip Freelon, FAIA, The Freelon Group will partner with HOK, an Atlanta-based architecture and design firm, as the Center’s Architect of Record. The announcement comes on the heels of a multi-month competitive design process in which dozens of firms worldwide competed for the contract.

  The Freelon Group and HOK will work with Center leadership, exhibit designer Gallagher & Associates and project manager Cousins Properties/Gude Management Group to finalize the facility’s design prior to breaking ground on the $125 million, 100,000 square foot Center this winter.

The final five teams presented their designs to more than 700 members of the public on March 5 and 6 with feedback collected on the CCHR web site http://www.cchrpartnership.org/ . Taking into account building functionality, aesthetics, cost, and public feedback, a jury of design experts and community leaders made a recommendation to the CCHR board of directors, who made the final selection. The jury of 12 included: civil rights activist Andrea Young, community leader Mtamanika Youngblood, theater and film director George Wolfe, Executive Director of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Sara Bloomfield, architect and Yale University professor Deborah Berke, and Atlanta Architect Craig VanDevere.

The winning design is inspired by “the simple yet powerful image of interlocking arms that signifies the linkages that empower individuals and groups of seemingly divergent interests to find common ground,” said Philip Freelon, president of The Freelon Group. The design, conceived with sustainability as a primary consideration, features a terracotta-clad building surrounding an exterior courtyard, which serves as an amphitheater and exhibit space. The King Papers exhibit, which extends towards Auburn Avenue, is a reminder that non-violence triumphs over bigotry and brutality, and a special events space overlooks the Ellipse at Pemberton Place.

The Freelon Group is noted for their work on the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture in Baltimore (opened 2005), the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) in San Francisco (opened 2005), and the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Arts and Culture in Charlotte (opening Fall 2009).

“We were incredibly impressed with the level of thought and emotion put into all five designs, which made it very difficult to choose just one design. However, The Freelon Group and HOK exceeded the criteria we set forth for the project’s design and truly captured the spirit of exploration and collaboration that is central to the Center’s mission,” said Doug Shipman, executive director for the Center.

The Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta will commemorate the landmark contributions of Atlantans and Georgians to the historic struggle for African-American freedom and equality as well as present the continuing story of human rights efforts around the world. The Center will be a space for ongoing dialogue, study and potential resolution of current and future freedom struggles for all people, at the local, national and international levels. For more information, please visit http://www.cchrpartnership.org/ .