Columbia Space Shuttle Memorialized
Columbia Memorial Space Science & Learning Center to break ground next month
Downey, Calif., soon will be proud home to the new 18,000-square-foot Columbia Memorial Space Science and Learning Center. The center will honor the memory of the Columbia Space Shuttle crew who died on February 1, 2003. The center also will serve as a tribute to those who have worked in the aviation and aerospace industry in Downey over seven decades. Arquitectonica will design the project and Los Angeles-based Tower General Contractors won the contract to build the center. The facility will include historical displays and interactive learning experiences. The silver, S-shaped design, made of glass and steel, evokes the experience of moving through space. The center will break ground next month and is expected to be completed on the five-year anniversary of the tragedy, February 1, 2008.

AIA Maryland Recognizes Design Excellence
AIA Maryland announced this fall the winning projects of the 2006 AIA Maryland Design Awards competition. The 2006 AIA Maryland Design Awards encourage and recognize distinguished architectural achievement and focus public attention on the architect's role in shaping the quality of life through design excellence. A jury of distinguished architects from AIA New York State selected single- and multi-family residences, institutions, urban planning projects, mixed-use development, green building designs, commercial projects, interiors, and the public building of the year for their design excellence.

project watch
TONA Upgrades and Expands Spaces at Covenant House New York
Terrence O’Neal Architect LLC (TONA), New York City, currently is hard at work on a $25 million, 125,000-square-foot reconstruction and upgrade of one of Covenant House New York’s Manhattan locations. The three-building renovation for the nation’s largest adolescent-care agency—serving homeless, runaway, and at-risk youth—makes up the second step in a 2002 master plan by the firm to rebuild the nonprofit’s busiest location. Principal Terrence O’Neal, AIA, says every part of the redesign reinforces the concept of shelter and welcomes young people in crisis and transition under a name that is both familiar and comforting.