University of Michigan’s Central Campus residence hall, as seen looking west from Hill Street. Rendering © RAMSA

The University of Michigan addresses a decades-long student housing shortage with a new housing-dining facility

The University of Michigan has faced a decades-long shortage of on-campus student housing. In a couple of years, the situation should significantly improve with the addition of a new residential community on Central Campus in Ann Arbor, Mich. The University of Michigan has engaged American Campus Communities in a public-private partnership to lead the development of the environmentally sustainable living-learning student community.

MFPRO+ New Projects

Shipping containers converted into attractive, affordable multifamily housing in L.A.

In the Watts neighborhood in Los Angeles, a new affordable multifamily housing project using shipping containers resulted in 24 micro-units for formerly unhoused residents. The containers were acquired from a nearby port and converted into housing units at a factory.

Adaptive Reuse

Empty mall to be converted to UCLA Research Park

UCLA recently acquired a former mall that it will convert into the UCLA Research Park that will house the California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy at UCLA and the UCLA Center for Quantum Science and Engineering, as well as programs across other disciplines. The 700,000-sf property, formerly the Westside Pavilion shopping mall, is two miles from the university’s main Westwood campus. Google, which previously leased part of the property, helped enable and support UCLA’s acquisition.

Geothermal Technology

Rochester, Minn., plans extensive geothermal network

The city of Rochester, Minn., home of the famed Mayo Clinic, is going big on geothermal networks. The city is constructing Thermal Energy Networks (TENs) that consist of ambient pipe loops connecting multiple buildings and delivering thermal heating and cooling energy via water-source heat pumps.

Engineers

Engineering goes hand-in-hand with design, putting a practical lens on the architect’s vision and finding the best way to make it happen. Without a talented engineer, the project will never reach completion, and certainly will not reach the standards of functionality and sustainability that the architect and client are seeking.

The Triple Five Group has now signed an agreement with the Bergen County Buildin

May 6, 2014

'Ugliest building in New Jersey' finally getting facelift

After a decade of false starts and mishaps, the American Dream mall in the Meadowlands may finally get built.

May 5, 2014

Toronto residential tower to feature drawer-like facade scheme

Some of the apartments in the new River City development will protrude from the building at different lengths, creating a drawer-like "push-pull" effect.

Steven Burns | May 3, 2014

4 easy steps to being a great project manager

Managing a team of people, especially creative people, is a task that not everyone is up for. Keeping your team on the same page while maintaining a schedule and budget that can keep your corporation happy will take confidence and bountiful people skills. Here are some tips for effectively managing a project. SPONSORED CONTENT

The Tree, on Bergen, Norway's, waterfront, will consist of wood structural modul

May 2, 2014

Norwegian modular project set to be world's tallest timber-frame apartment building [slideshow]

A 14-story luxury apartment block in central Bergen, Norway, will be the world's tallest timber-framed multifamily project, at 49 meters (160 feet).

May 2, 2014

Top 10 countries for LEED buildings outside the U.S.

The list of the top 10 countries for LEED reflects the global adaptability of the world’s most widely used and recognized system guiding the design, construction, operations and maintenance of green buildings.

The new University Student Union at California State University San Marcos featu

May 1, 2014

First look: Cal State San Marcos's posh student union complex

The new 89,000-sf University Student Union at CSUSM features a massive, open-air amphitheater, student activity center with a game lounge, rooftop garden and patio, and ballroom space.

The Anaheim (Calif.) Regional Transportation Intermodal Center, designed by HOK,

May 1, 2014

Super BIM: 7 award-winning BIM/VDC-driven projects

Thom Mayne's Perot Museum of Nature and Science and Anaheim's new intermodal center are among the 2014 AIA TAP BIM Award winners.

The Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre, now under construction, will be 530 meters tal

May 1, 2014

Chinese spec 'world's fastest' elevators for supertall project

Hitachi Elevator Co. will build and install 95 elevators—including two that the manufacturer labels as the "world's fastest"—for the Kohn Pedersen Fox-designed Guangzhou CTF Finance Center.

The plans for Chaoyang Park Plaza were floated two years ago, and now the design

Apr 30, 2014

Visiting Beijing's massive Chaoyang Park Plaza will be like 'moving through a urban forest'

Construction work has begun on the 120,000-sm mixed-use development, which was envisioned by MAD architects as a modern, urban forest.

60 Richmond East Housing Co-Operative in Toronto, designed by Teeple Architects.

Apr 29, 2014

Best of Canada: 12 projects nab nation's top architectural prize [slideshow]

The conversion of a Mies van der Rohe-designed gas station and North Vancouver City Hall are among the recently completed projects to win the 2014 Governor General's Medal in Architecture.