January 4, 2008
  Mississippi Gets a Gehry that Lounges with the Trees
An architect and a potter who both see their work as art not craft converge in Biloxi
Frank Gehry’s Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art splits five different museum spaces into small, separate buildings that relate and collaborate with the site’s landmark oak trees. The stainless steel-paneled Ohr Gallery pods house the pottery of its namesake George Ohr and demonstrate Gehry’s most quintessential element of the museum campus. Some of the other buildings take cues from local vernacular forms. Construction of the museum was interrupted by Hurricane Katrina, and today elevated construction costs jeopardize the progress of the museum.

Lattice Cube-Shaped Laboratory Offers a Dutch Treat
New Atlas Building opens at Wageningen University in the Netherlands
Wageningen University in the Netherlands recently opened its Research Centre campus, anchored by the seven-floor Atlas Building that houses laboratories and offices. The Atlas Building is defined by its cube shape and concrete lattice design. New York-based Rafael Viñoly Architects designed the signature façade, which also supports a column-free interior with sloped ramps above its open atrium. Wageningen University and Research Centre is a leading education and research center focused on plant, animal, food, and environmental sciences. The Atlas Building is the recipient of a 2007 AIA New York State Award of Merit.

FLW Water Dome Functioning Properly for First Time at Florida Southern
Largest collection of FLW buildings now on WMF endangered list
Being placed on the World Monuments Fund 2008 list of Most Endangered Sites may well be the best thing that’s happened to Florida Southern College (FSC) in the last 60 years. Located in Lakeland, Fla., FSC is the unheralded home to the largest single-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings in the world. Unfortunately, as has proven common with his buildings, Wright’s technology outpaced the knowledge of the day and resulted in a campus with serious structural flaws throughout. Now, with global attention focused on Wright’s forgotten campus, FSC is mounting a capital campaign to restore his 12 structures. On October 25, Wright’s newly restored Water Dome was rededicated.

 

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Welcome to the Design Zone
Here is where you will find our weekly Project Watch, short vignettes on notable projects in this country and abroad. The Design Zone is also where you will find coverage of awards programs, including the national Honor Awards as well as state and local component awards.