Gehry Technologies (GT) announced that co-founder and chairman, Frank Gehry, has brought together architects and designers to form a strategic alliance furthering his vision to transform the building industry and the practice of design. As part of today’s announcement, this core group of renowned architects will also serve on Gehry Technologies’ board of advisors.
The alliance intends to enable new approaches to design through technology, to create more effective industry processes and a higher quality built environment. By applying and innovating new technology solutions to old problems such as waste, delay, and miscommunication, this new alliance will lead the process change that the AEC industry needs to confront future challenges. The group represents a new type of professional organization for the 21stcentury, one which embraces the possibility of technology to empower design. The alliance will work together to drive technology innovations that support the central role of design in the creation of culture.
This group will work collectively with GT to realize and demonstrate better ways of achieving project outcomes: higher quality, more efficient, and cost effective projects. Most importantly, the alliance wants to ensure a context for professional work where the best designs and the best facilities can be realized. GT’s management team—led by CEO Dayne Myers—will be bolstered with the unprecedented experience and strategic guidance of the world’s leading architects, builders and visionaries. They will test, use and support emerging GT innovations and high-profile projects; participate in marketing and public relations initiatives; and catalyze AEC industry change.”
Initial alliance and board members include:
- David Childs, the Chairman Emeritus of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)
- Massimo Colomban, the Founder of Permasteelisa.com Group
- Zaha Hadid is founder of Zaha Hadid Architects
- Greg Lynn, known for designing the New York Presbyterian Church in Queens, New Yor
- Laurie Olin, a distinguished teacher, author, and one of the most renowned landscape architects practicing today
- Wolf D. Prix, a co-founder, Design Principal, and CEO of COOP HIMMELB(L)AU
- David Rockwell, founder of Rockwell Group
- Moshe Safdie, a renowned international architect, urban planner, and author
- Matthias Schuler, one of the managing directors of TRANSSOLAR Energietechnik
- Patrik Schumacher, a designer at Zaha Hadid Architects since 1988
- Ben van Berkelis the co-founder of UNStudi
- Richard Saul Wurman, described by Fortune magazine as an “intellectual hedonist” with a “hummingbird mind".
The advisors will come together today for their inaugural meeting, which will take place at the Freedom Tower in New York. Discussion topics will include: demonstrations of new GT technologies and initiatives; the future of design; and the role of technology in design. BD+C
Related Stories
| Dec 17, 2010
Alaskan village school gets a new home
Ayagina’ar Elitnaurvik, a new K-12 school serving the Lower Kuskikwim School District, is now open in Kongiganak, a remote Alaskan village of less than 400 residents. The 34,000-sf, 12-classroom facility replaces one that was threatened by river erosion.
| Dec 17, 2010
Luxury condos built for privacy
A new luxury condominium tower in Los Angeles, The Carlyle has 24 floors with 78 units. Each of the four units on each floor has a private elevator foyer. The top three floors house six 5,000-sf penthouses that offer residents both indoor and outdoor living space. KMD Architects designed the 310,000-sf structure, and Elad Properties was project developer.
| Dec 17, 2010
Subway entrance designed to exude Hollywood charm
The Hollywood/Vine Metro portal and public plaza in Los Angeles provides an entrance to the Red Line subway and the W Hollywood Hotel. Local architect Rios Clementi Hale Studio designed the portal and plaza to flow with the landmark theaters and plazas that surround it.
| Dec 17, 2010
New engineering building goes for net-zero energy
A new $90 million, 250,000-sf classroom and laboratory facility with a 450-seat auditorium for the College of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign is aiming for LEED Platinum.
| Dec 17, 2010
Vietnam business center will combine office and residential space
The 300,000-sm VietinBank Business Center in Hanoi, Vietnam, designed by Foster + Partners, will have two commercial towers: the first, a 68-story, 362-meter office tower for the international headquarters of VietinBank; the second, a five-star hotel, spa, and serviced apartments. A seven-story podium with conference facilities, retail space, restaurants, and rooftop garden will connect the two towers. Eco-friendly features include using recycled heat from the center’s power plant to provide hot water, and installing water features and plants to improve indoor air quality. Turner Construction Co. is the general contractor.
| Dec 17, 2010
Toronto church converted for condos and shopping
Reserve Properties is transforming a 20th-century church into Bellefair Kew Beach Residences, a residential/retail complex in The Beach neighborhood of Toronto. Local architecture firm RAWdesign adapted the late Gothic-style church into a five-story condominium with 23 one- and two-bedroom units, including two-story penthouse suites. Six three-story townhouses also will be incorporated. The project will afford residents views of nearby Kew Gardens and Lake Ontario. One façade of the church was updated for retail shops.
| Dec 17, 2010
ARRA-funded Navy hospital aims for LEED Gold
The team of Clark/McCarthy, HKS Architects, and Wingler & Sharp are collaborating on the design of a new naval hospital at Camp Pendleton in Southern California. The $451 million project is the largest so far awarded by the U.S. Navy under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The 500,000-sf, 67-bed hospital, to be located on a 70-acre site, will include facilities for emergency and primary care, specialty care clinics, surgery, and intensive care. The Building Team is targeting LEED Gold.
| Dec 17, 2010
Arizona outpatient cancer center to light a ‘lantern of hope’
Construction of the Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center in Gilbert, Ariz., is under way. Located on the Banner Gateway Medical Center campus near Phoenix, the three-story, 131,000-sf outpatient facility will house radiation oncology, outpatient imaging, multi-specialty clinics, infusion therapy, and various support services. Cannon Design incorporated a signature architectural feature called the “lantern of hope” for the $90 million facility.
| Dec 17, 2010
Cladding Do’s and Don’ts
A veteran structural engineer offers expert advice on how to avoid problems with stone cladding and glass/aluminum cladding systems.
| Dec 17, 2010
5 Tips on Building with SIPs
Structural insulated panels are gaining the attention of Building Teams interested in achieving high-performance building envelopes in commercial, industrial, and institutional projects.
