Howard Elkus, FAIA, RIBA, LEED AP, cofounder of the Boston-based architectural firm Elkus Manfredi Architects, died on April 1 in Palm Beach, Fla., 11 days before his 79th birthday. The firm announced his passing on April 3 but did not disclose the cause of death or information about survivors.
“We grieve the loss of Howard as a co-founder of our firm, as a visionary architect, as a mentor, and as a friend. We extend our condolences to his wife, children, and immediate family,” the firm stated.
A graduate of Stanford University (B.S. mechanical engineering) and Harvard University (M.Arch with Distinction), Elkus began his five-decade-long career with the Walter Gropius-founded Architects Collaborative, where Elkus met his future partner David Manfredi. (The Architects Collaborative disbanded in 1995.)
In a statement, Manfredi referred to Elkus as “an extrordinary friend and business partner. He uniquely brought joy to every endeavor, made everyone he met feel special, and lived life fully every day.”
Howard Elkus, who cofounded the Boston firm Elkus Manfredi Architects with David Manfredi in 1988, died on April 1 at the age of 78. Image: Bruce Rogovin
His architectural and interior design work with Elkus Manfredi Architects ranged widely across myriad building typologies. In recent years, the firm has designed headquarters for New Balance, WS Development, and Blue Cross Blue Shield; as well as the Verb Hotel in Boston, and Linq Hotel & Casino (a reimagining of Caesar’s Imperial Palace) and City Hall in Las Vegas.
Other recent major projects Elkus was involved in include Miami Worldcenter, a redevelopment of 27 acres in downtown Miami that will expand the city’s central business district by between 12% and 15%, and create a vibrant walkable pedestrian environment. The first phase build-out includes three residential towers over 1 million sf of podium retail.
The firm also designed the podium retail component of the Hudson Yards project in New York that’s currently under construction. Elkus referred to HudsonYards as “the biggest mixed-use project in the United States, and one of the most impressive in the world.”
Elkus was the grandchild of Felix Kahn, one of the Master Builders of the West, and grandnephew of Albert Kahn, the foremost American industrial architect of his day. In a 2004 interview, Elkus told Visual Merchandising and Store Design (VMSD) that his first real design assignment was Copley Place, which in the mid 1980s was Boston’s largest urban mixed-use project.
He revealed during that interview that his inspiration for projects came from “the world out there. Like music, I get it from the simplest notes to a resounding orchestra. Nature does it for me and so, too, does man’s wondrous works, perhaps most of all the heroism of less-fortunate souls.”
Elkus saw Hudson Yards are part of a broader global urbanization, which he viewed as “wildly exciting and the potential is off the charts.” In a 2015 interview with Interior Design magazine, he said the “great question” of that movement continues to be “how do we maximize quality of life?”
Related Stories
| Nov 1, 2010
Vancouver’s former Olympic Village shoots for Gold
The first tenants of the Millennium Water development in Vancouver, B.C., were Olympic athletes competing in the 2010 Winter Games. Now the former Olympic Village, located on a 17-acre brownfield site, is being transformed into a residential neighborhood targeting LEED ND Gold. The buildings are expected to consume 30-70% less energy than comparable structures.
| Oct 27, 2010
Grid-neutral education complex to serve students, community
MVE Institutional designed the Downtown Educational Complex in Oakland, Calif., to serve as an educational facility, community center, and grid-neutral green building. The 123,000-sf complex, now under construction on a 5.5-acre site in the city’s Lake Merritt neighborhood, will be built in two phases, the first expected to be completed in spring 2012 and the second in fall 2014.
| Oct 21, 2010
GSA confirms new LEED Gold requirement
The General Services Administration has increased its sustainability requirements and now mandates LEED Gold for its projects.
| Oct 18, 2010
World’s first zero-carbon city on track in Abu Dhabi
Masdar City, the world’s only zero-carbon city, is on track to be built in Abu Dhabi, with completion expected as early as 2020. Foster + Partners developed the $22 billion city’s master plan, with Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, Aedas, and Lava Architects designing buildings for the project’s first phase, which is on track to be ready for occupancy by 2015.
| Oct 13, 2010
Editorial
The AEC industry shares a widespread obsession with the new. New is fresh. New is youthful. New is cool. But “old” or “slightly used” can be financially profitable and professionally rewarding, too.
| Oct 13, 2010
Test run on the HP Z200 SFF Good Value in a Small Package
Contributing Editor Jeff Yoders tests a new small-form factor, workstation-class desktop in Hewlett-Packard’s line that combines performance of its minitower machine with a smaller chassis and a lower price.
| Oct 13, 2010
Prefab Trailblazer
The $137 million, 12-story, 500,000-sf Miami Valley Hospital cardiac center, Dayton, Ohio, is the first major hospital project in the U.S. to have made extensive use of prefabricated components in its design and construction.
| Oct 13, 2010
Thought Leader
Sundra L. Ryce, President and CEO of SLR Contracting & Service Company, Buffalo, N.Y., talks about her firm’s success in new construction, renovation, CM, and design-build projects for the Navy, Air Force, and Buffalo Public Schools.
| Oct 13, 2010
Hospital tower gets modern makeover
The Wellmont Holston Valley Medical Center in Kingsport, Tenn., expanded its D unit, a project that includes a 243,443-sf addition with a 12-room operating suite, a 36-bed intensive care unit, and an enlarged emergency department.
