The LINK took top honors in the 30th annual Valley Forward Environmental Excellence Awards, announced in Phoenix on October 2. The mixed-use building, which was renovated in 2008, received a Crescordia (first place) Award (Commercial/Mixed-Use) and a Merit Award (Historic Preservation).

In contrast to prevailing trends, the LINK boldly chooses to preserve the cultural identity of the structure’s facade and neighborhood while re-purposing it. Located at the heart of the Phoenix Cultural District, the 7,000 square foot LINK re-purposes the structural shell of this two-story mid-century commercial structure and, ...[more]

The Library and Science Center at the Ashley Hall School in Charleston has received a 2010 Merit Award for Excellence in School Building and Design from CEFPI’s South Carolina chapter.

The center was dedicated in 2009, the centennial year for this independent girls’ school. The school’s rich history informed the project design, which drew inspiration from the proportion and detail of nearby McBee House, the campus’ iconic structure. The Library occupies two floors of the new building, while the third floor and renovated space in adjoining Jenkins ...[more]

When looking at the design aspirations institutions executed in mid-century modernism, one is looking at the forefront of progressive campus design in that era. Concerned at once with the pragmatism of program, form following function, and the honesty of the new building technology of steel and glass, one is looking at a language of forms with universality that could be applied in any place or typological context. What is most striking about many built and unbuilt projects of the mid-century is the theoretical abstrac- tion of the plane on which ...[more]

Picking up where our annual posters left off, we designed and developed a series of bookmark-like cards for our 2010 annual mailing. They feature inspirational quotes on one side and architectural photo details on the other. The cards are die-cut with slots that allow them to interlock for assembly into a basic structure. These cards can also be used individually as bookmarks or pinned up for a daily dose of inspiration. A PDF of the cards can be downloaded here.

The format was inspired by the Eames House of Cards designed by Charles and Ray Eames in 1952. The original 32 interlocking cards featured ...[more]

Building on the award-winning tradition set by our 2009 poster, which received an AIGA Best of New England Design award, the poster for this year’s Summer Design Fellowship was designed by world-renowned graphic design firm Experimental Jetset out of Amsterdam. The poster, which is mailed out to accredited architecture schools across North America, is often posted in common areas within the architecture or design department. I’d like to share some insights about the design process, strategy, and design thinking behind the poster itself.

- Dan Vlahos

An ...[more]

One in an occasional series

Shepley Bulfinch’s technology department manages tools and culture, with a goal of trying to create the intimate connection between ideas and how we communicate them as much as possible and have these very complex systems run in the background without the designer needing to worry or know about them. We want to be like electricity. Or rather, we want to be like paper and pencil.

The space in design between ideas and communicating them, filled with the casual and formal interplay of tools and culture, is the most interesting to me. ...[more]

BOSTON, MA – Applications are now being accepted for Shepley Bulfinch’s 2010 Summer Design Fellowship. The application deadline is February 26, 2010.

Is this for you? This highly competitive Fellowship offers a unique opportunity for a promising architecture student to spend the summer immersed in real design problems in the design studio of an international architectural firm in Boston. We welcome applications from a diverse range of students and institutions. Past Fellows have come from architecture schools throughout the country, including Penn, the University of Kansas, NC State, Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, and MIT.

The Fellowship ...[more]

Yale Daily News video on Smilow’s design

Amir Sharif from the Yale Daily News, Yale’s student newspaper, created this video recap of the design of Smilow. Did you work on the building? Know the building? What do you think?