from CNN
New World Symphony (Miami
Beach). The New World
Symphony, which brought vitality to Miami Beach's Lincoln Road when it moved
into the Lincoln Theater many years ago, is having the same impact at its new
location nearby. The symphony, which prepares graduates of major music schools
for roles in leading orchestras around the world, hired architect Frank Gehry to
design its $160 million New World Center campus in collaboration with symphony
founder and artistic director Michael Tilson Thomas. The campus, which hosted
its inaugural concert in January 2011, has an adjacent 2.5-acre public space
designed by Dutch architecture firm West 8. Free and affordable events are often
scheduled at the outdoor space.
Natural History Museum of
Utah (Salt Lake City). Appearing to be hewn out of the foothills of the
Rocky Mountains, the Natural
History Museum of Utah's new $140 million Rio Tinto Center looks like Utah.
Unlike designers of many natural history museums in urban locations, Ennead
Architects and GSBG Architects could take advantage of the 17-acre site's
location at the edge of Salt Lake City. The building is above ancient Lake
Bonneville's shoreline, with the Bonneville
Shoreline Trail cutting through the site.
Times Square, the High
Line and more (New York). Since the banishment of vehicular traffic
from parts of Time Square, the neon and digital people "have gone nuts" with
signage in Times Square. It creates an almost performance art-like scene for the
pedestrians taking a break from their walks, says Bloomberg Media architecture
critic James Russell.
After a walk through Times
Square, head south to an innovative urban park built atop an unused elevated
train line in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood. The High Line has been a hit
since it opened in phases over the past three years. Unencumbered by moving
vehicles or traffic lights, landscape architect James Corner Field Operations
and the architecture firm of Diller Scofidio + Renfro designed a garden oasis
above the hustle and bustle of the West Side.
Clyfford Still Museum
(Denver). After gaining national fame and attention for his work into
the 1940s, abstract expressionist artist Clyfford Still withdrew from the
commercial art world and kept most of his work rather than selling it. Although
his work was discussed along with peers such as Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock,
he shunned the public eye. He died in 1980, and his will stipulated that his
estate be given to an American city that would create a permanent space solely
for studying and exhibiting his work. Denver accepted the challenge; Brad
Cloepfil of Allied Works Architecture designed the structure, and the Clyfford Still Museum
opened in November. The museum houses 94% of the artist's known work, most of
which has never been on public display before now.
With a series of skylights
designed to bring in natural light to illuminate the collection, "the quality of
light in this museum is one of the best I've ever seen," Russell says.
Oslo Opera House
(Norway). Part of a redevelopment project to reconnect the cutoff
waterfront to the rest of the city, the Oslo Opera
House has an incredible amount of public space that allows people to walk up
the outside of the structure to its rooftop plaza. The building, which houses
the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, was designed by the internationally
renowned Norwegian architecture firm Snøhetta. It opened in 2008. If you'd like
to attend any of the artistic performances, make sure to purchase tickets in
advance online.
Parque Biblioteca España
(Medellín, Colombia). For the adventurous architecture traveler, try
visiting Medellín, Colombia, where a renaissance in design and infrastructure is
taking place. Former Medellín Mayor Sergio Fajardo made the development of
public architecture to revitalize poor areas and connect them to the rest of the
city a central tenet of his administration. "Our most beautiful buildings must
be in our poorest areas," Fajardo has frequently said.
Designed by architect Giancarlo
Mazzanti of Bogota, Parque Biblioteca España, in the Medellín neighborhood of
Santo Domingo, is the most famous of a half-dozen libraries designed with park
space in the city. Along with improvements in roads and schools, the city has
built a system of gondola-like public transit to transport residents of the
poorest hillside communities down to the city's public rail system. Although
Medellín is much safer than it was during the height of the drug wars, check
with local officials and the U.S. State Department before heading to Santo
Domingo.
The libraries are part of the
city's commitment to its poorest residents.
"It represents an investment in
the whole urban fabric, using culture, architecture and design to improve
people's lives and connect them to transit, architecture and culture," says
Davidson, the New York magazine critic. "It's a showy piece of new architecture
that represents something broader that a place is trying to accomplish. One
building does not do that in isolation."
