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
| Aug 11, 2010
Balfour Beatty agrees to acquire Parsons Brinckerhoff for $626 million
Balfour Beatty, the international engineering, construction, investment and services group, has agreed to acquire Parsons Brinckerhoff for $626 million. Balfour Beatty executives believe the merger will be a major step forward in accomplishing a number of Balfour Beatty’s objectives, including establishing a global professional services business of scale, creating a leading position in U.S. civil infrastructure, particularly in the transportation sector, and enhancing its global reach.
| Aug 11, 2010
Construction unemployment rises to 17.1% as another 64,000 construction workers are laid off in September
The national unemployment rate for the construction industry rose to 17.1 percent as another 64,000 construction workers lost their jobs in September, according to an analysis of new employment data released today. With 80 percent of layoffs occurring in nonresidential construction, Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America, said the decline in nonresidential construction has eclipsed housing’s problems.
| Aug 11, 2010
Billings at U.S. architecture firms exceeds $40 billion annually
In the three-year period leading up to the current recession, gross billings at U.S. architecture firms increased nearly $16 billion from 2005 and totaled $44.3 billion in 2008. This equates to 54 percent growth over the three-year period with annual growth of about 16 percent. These findings are from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Business of Architecture: AIA Survey Report on Firm Characteristics.
| Aug 11, 2010
CHPS debuts high-performance building products database
The Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) made a new tool available to product manufacturers to help customers identify building products that contribute to sustainable, healthy, built environments. The tool is an online, searchable database where manufacturers can list products that have met certain environmental or health standards ranging from recycled content to materials that contribute to improved indoor air quality.
| Aug 11, 2010
ICC launches green construction code initiative for commercial buildings
The International Code Council has launched its International Green Construction Code (IGCC) initiative, which will aim to reduce energy usage and the carbon footprint of commercial buildings.Entitled “IGCC: Safe and Sustainable By the Book,” the initiative is committed to develop a model code focused on new and existing commercial buildings. It will focus on building design and performance.
| Aug 11, 2010
Green Building Initiative launches two certification programs for green building professionals
The Green Building Initiative® (GBI), one of the nation’s leading green building organizations and exclusive provider of the Green Globes green building certification in the United States, today announced the availability of two new personnel certification programs for green building practitioners: Green Globes Professional (GGP) and Green Globes Assessor (GGA).
| Aug 11, 2010
Potomac Valley Brick launches brick design competition with $10,000 grand prize
Potomac Valley Brick presents Brick-stainable: Re-Thinking Brick a design competition seeking integrative solutions for a building using clay masonry units (brick) as a primary material.
