Architect-US Career Training Program

[News] Hennebery Eddy Architects has transformed a large vacant commercial building in Portland, Oregon, into the new Multnomah County Library Operations Center, a net-zero energy facility that combines adaptive reuse, solar panels and vibrant works of art.

The project converts a former 1995 grocery store into the operational “heart” of the county library system, with workspace, storage areas and a second-hand bookstore run by the Friends of the Multnomah County Library.

[Participants] An evening at the David H. Koch Theater offers a return to a very particular kind of New York glamour: discreet, sophisticated and deeply tied to the city’s cultural identity. Located within Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, this modernist Manhattan landmark, designed by Philip Johnson and inaugurated in 1964 as the home of New York City Ballet, retains a restrained elegance in its monumental staircases, travertine surfaces and luminous chandeliers, elements that enhance the theatrical experience without ever overshadowing it.

[Get to know "NYC Ballet: Innovators & Icons at Lincoln Center" in the first comment below]

Image courtesy of George Bakos / Unsplash

[Featured Company] Arquitectonica / Arquitectonica International is an award winning architecture company that was founded by Principals Bernardo Fort-Brescia and Laurinda Spear and they have led the firm since 1977. Since its' inception, the firm received instant attention from critics and the public alike for its bold modernism design that was reminiscent of the renaissance. Today, it continues to push boundaries with its creative use of materials, geometry, color, and pattern to introduce the world to a new kind of humanistic modern design.

Arquitectonica is incredibly devoted to sustainability. It is widely recognized for being capable of creating unique forms of imagery in harmony with the environment. The firm explores the challenges of contemporary built and natural environments and develops solutions that keep modern aesthetics and environmentally friendly practices in balance to create value, identity and sustainable environments.

Arquitectonica‘s practice can be found all over the globe, across five continents in 59 countries! The firm is famous for being one of the pioneers of globalization in the architecture profession with offices in Miami, New York and Los Angeles, and international offices in Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and South America!

We can definitely say that Arquitectonica's growth and influence is an inspiration to architects and entrepreneurs alike!

[ All about Arquitectonica's work in the first comment below! ]

[News] PAU, together with HNTB and HOK, has unveiled its proposal for the redevelopment of Penn Station in New York, one of North America’s most important rail hubs. The project aims to transform the passenger experience through new entrances, expanded concourses, upgraded waiting areas and clearer circulation throughout the station.

The intervention restores a sense of urban ambition to this historic site, located where the original 1910 Pennsylvania Station once stood before its demolition in the 1960s. With a new main entrance on Eighth Avenue, more natural light, improved connections and larger public spaces, the redevelopment seeks to reconnect infrastructure, architecture and the city.

Image courtesy of PAU

[Participants] A participant in our Job + J1 Visa Program came from a place where fútbol stops streets, fills stadiums, and brings entire cities together. For her, baseball felt distant, very American, with caps, hot dogs, and many pauses that were hard to understand from the outside. Until she went to an Astros game at Minute Maid Park.

There, she discovered that baseball is not in a hurry, that it is experienced with a different kind of patience and a different kind of emotion. At first, she watched the crowd more than the field, but little by little she began to understand the tension between pitcher and batter, the crowd’s anticipation, and that sense of belonging that is built slowly, inning by inning.

[Get to know "My First Baseball Game: What the Astros Taught Me About the United States" in the first comment below]

Image courtesy of Cameron Agostino / Unsplash

Be better prepared this time around for the uncertain times ahead by being proactive and planning ways in which you can maintain your income and livelihood! Here we provide you with 5 different ideas that can help you get ahead instead of falling behind.

✅ Improve your skills and become indispensable: First thing first! You are able to decide how you will improve yourself, or not. Start by being honest with yourself about the areas that you can improve in.

📲 Network! Network! Network! Connect with the decision makers: During tough times, your network may help you gain access to opportunities that normally would be more accessible, but due to the uncertainty, may lead to the firm going with the safer choices.

💪 Be able to wear many different hats and have a flexible attitude: When the firm is forced to make hard decisions, they will be forced to weigh the different options they have.

🔎 Create many different streams of income: As an individual, you should have multiple income streams, so that you are not dependent on just one. This can range from tutoring classes to freelance work to applying your hobbies towards making money.

💬 Be willing to make concessions and have a strong grasp of the industry currents: This ties into the previous point, that you must be willing to be flexible and have various options to choose from when planning your next career steps.

Do you already apply any of these tips? Tell us which one in the comments!

[Get to know "5 Ideas For Architects To Weather The Current Economic Storm" in the first comment below]

Photo: Scott Gummerson / Unsplash

[News] Gensler has unveiled renderings for Thistle Data Center Campus, a large-scale data centre in Arizona developed for Menlo Digital. The project will occupy the former site of a call centre and will consist of five buildings with a capacity of between 36 and 72 megawatts, set across a campus of more than 90,000 square metres.

The proposal aims to go beyond purely technological infrastructure. With a facade of weathering steel, textured concrete and glazed entrance areas, the studio envisions a building that can better integrate into Arizona’s arid landscape while bringing a more considered urban presence to an industrial area currently dominated by surface parking.

Image courtesy of Gensler

[Participants] Summer has officially arrived in Los Angeles. After more than a month of gray skies, low temperatures, and the well-known June gloom so typical of Southern California, the sun is finally taking over the city again. Although one of the participants in our Job + J1 Visa Program admits that they enjoyed the cooler, cloudier weather, after more than a year living here, they understand that Los Angeles just doesn’t feel the same without the sun. Before moving, they feared that summer would last all year and that they would miss the seasons, the cold, and rainy days.

[Get to know "Another summer in sunny LA" in the first comment below]

Image courtesy of Lisha Riabinina / Unsplash

[Featured Company] GF55 Architects is our fourth Featured Company and they have provided us with top-notch projects to share with you! To start, we have two projects being shown this week, Alvista Towers and Dutch LIC. GF55 Architects is an award-winning design studio, dedicated to the practice of architecture and the realization of concepts into reality.

GF55 have a genuine love of being architects and bring a joyfulness that is fundamental to the creative process. They seek excellence through a collaborative search amongst themselves, their clients and expert consultants.

[All about GF55 Projects in the first comment below ]

[News] California studio Johnston Marklee has completed Ray Phoenix, a 26-storey residential building located in Phoenix’s Roosevelt Row Arts District, just outside the city’s downtown area. Designed in partnership with Lamar Johnson Collaborative, the project includes 401 apartments and aims to make art, architecture and design more accessible to the local community through a contemporary residential concept.

The building is composed of a slim tower set on a wider rectangular base, which contains parking levels and shared amenities, topped by a pool deck. Its mint green metal facade, informed by Arizona’s desert landscape, creates a distinctive architectural gesture designed to both complement its surroundings and stand out within the Phoenix skyline.

📸 Photo: Jesus Curiel / Unsplash