 Renamed Sears Tower to Get Green Retrofit
Chicago’s Sears Tower has been renamed Willis Tower. Willis Group Holdings, a London-based insurance broker, announced the name change for late this summer after the company moves 500 employees into the building. Willis Group Holdings gained naming rights to the 36-year-old landmark as part of negotiations. In June, Chicago-based Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture announced it was commissioned to design a retrofit/greening project for the 110-story skyscraper. 
 Iowa’s Cordova Center on the Rock Will Offer Education, Recreation
The Orlando office of VOA Associates Inc. has completed schematic design for Cordova Center on the Rock, a new $50 million environmental, cultural, and entertainment center located on the shores of Lake Red Rock, near Des Moines. The project is seeking LEED Gold.
 Grimshaw Breaks Down Barriers Between Science and the Sublime
The Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is the sort of building that lends itself freely to iconic, enigmatic comparisons. This ultra high-tech hybrid of performing arts venue and research lab is dedicated to investigating the intersection of art and science and is defined by its 1,200-seat concert hall contained in a curving, ovular shape midway between cylinder and sphere.
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