Most of J. Brett Blantons nomination hearing before the Senate Rules Committee to be the next architect of the Capitol on Thursday was essentially a one-on-one public interview between him and Chairman Roy Blunt, as the remaining 18 members of the committee were absent for the majority of the hearing.

No opposition to Blanton, a Virginia resident, is evident, making him likely to be confirmed as the 12th architect of the Capitol. If confirmed, Blanton said he expects to start leading the agency by mid-January.

The lack of senators present at his nomination hearing does not underscore apathy, but the notion that there wasnt any controversy associated with his selection to lead the office tasked with maintaining the Capitol complex facilities and renovations, according to Blanton.

That it wasnt controversial so that they didnt have to come in, Blanton said, adding that the congressional screening process was extensive and involved 14 different offices, including the minority and majority in both chambers.

Blanton is poised to bring stability to an agency that has been led by a succession of acting directors. He told Blunt, a Missouri Republican, that he plans to serve a full 10-year term. Acting director Christine Merdon announced her resignation in August and was replaced by Thomas Carroll, who holds the same acting title.

Blanton hasmore than 25 years of experience in facilities operations and construction management, most recently as deputy vice president for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, a background that gives Blunt confidence in Blantons ability to lead in government.

[Blantons] probably one of the few people that can come from a job and say 3 million visitors every year is a big deal but maybe if youve been dealing with 50 million passengers every year, 3 million visitors a year sounds a little more manageable, Blunt said.

In his current job, Blanton oversees construction at the authoritys locations. He is a retired Navyofficer who earned a Bronze Star with Combat V for heroism in Iraq. He has a degree in aeronautical engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy and a graduate degree in ocean engineering from Virginia Tech.

Blanton will have to address a Cannon House Office Building renovation projectthat is behind schedule and could go $100 million over budget.

Ive only heard of that in the press, Blanton said. So I have to get briefings on it and figure out what the root cause is for the issue and come up with a plan for how we would address it.

Additionally, Blanton will have to manage workforce management issues that have become public in recent years. The agency is set to be in district court over discrimination cases, and congressional oversight panels are expecting changes to staffing and workforce practices following a report fromAOC Office of Inspector General in March.

I will have a zero tolerance policy for harassment, discrimination or unethical behavior, Blanton said. We cannot expect to attract the nations top workforce without adapting and changing our culture.

Katherine Tully-McManus contributed to this report.Correction: An earlier version of this story misidentified the office that issued a report regarding sexual harassment and staffing practices.

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J. Brett Blanton on track to become next architect of the Capitol - Roll Call

Channel your inner Ludwig Mies van der Rohe or Philip Johnson by participating in The Forge Prize, an annual steel design competition that awards $20,000 to the architect who develops the most visionary design concept that embraces steel as the primary structural component to increase project speed.

Established by the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC), The Forge Prize recognizes innovation in the use of steel and how it can be used to reduce design and construction time.

The two-stage design challenge will culminate in the selection of up to three Finalists in February 2020 (each will receive a $10,000 stipend) and the public announcement of a Grand Prize Winner ($20,000 total prize) in Spring 2020.

The competition is open to U.S.-based emerging architects who are either pursuing licensure or are licensed 10 years or less in the year 2020. Participants must be working professionals in any of the following firm types: architecture firm, AE firm (but submitting as an emerging architect), or design-build firm (but submitting as an emerging architect).

There is no cost to enter. The deadline for stage one submissions is January 15, 2020. Entry details at: http://www.forgeprize.com/about

Looking for inspiration? Meet last year's winner and finalists:

WINNER: The 2019 Forge Prize Grand Prize Winner was Jin Young Song, AIA, Assistant Professor at University at Buffalo, and Founder of DIOINNO Architecture PLLC, for hisSIMS (Snap-Interlock Module System) design concept. The design is pictured here (and above. All photos courtesy AISC.):

FINALIST: The 2019 Forge Prize Finalists includedValeria Rybyakova, Achitectural Designer with Perkins Eastman, for her submission "Responsive Enclosure for Public Pool," pictured here:

FINALIST:Jingyu Lee, PE, RA, LEED AP, Design Engineer, Magnusson Klemencic Associates, was named a Finalist for his design concept, "Reimagined Office Tower Using Cantilevered Trusses," pictured here:

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Calling all emerging architects: Enter to win the $20000 Forge Prize - Building Design + Construction

NL architects has completed a major project in groningen, a city in the northern netherlands, which it describes as a cultural department store. titled forum groningen, the multi-functional building includes exhibition spaces, movie halls, assembly rooms, restaurants, and books. forum groningen is not a library, not a museum, not a cinema, but a new type of public space where the traditional borders between these institutes will dissolve, explains the design team. information will be presented thematically in a way that transcends the different media.

image: NL architects & ABT deon prins (also main image)

working alongside engineering firm ABT, NL architects designed forum groningen as a monolithic volume a shape that represents an ambition to combine different cultural facilities into a single structure. the form is further influenced by the surrounding urban fabric, with the volume sculpted to present different appearances from different angles. forum groningen has been engineered to accommodate finding not searching, the architects continue. the design stimulates exploration. it hopes to catalyze the desire to wander, to browse endlessly through a staggering interior landscape.

image: NL architects & ABT deon prins

internally, the building is articulated around a central atrium where escalators traverse the void from floor to floor. the void works as a spatial interface that binds all functions, movie theater, book collection, expo, auditorium, and as such hopes to catalyze the exchange of knowledge and ideas, says NL architects. connected by the escalators, a series of public squares emerges that provides entry to the ticketed activities. the building offers continuously changing perspectives on the surrounding city, which culminate with a roof terrace with a viewing platform and outdoor theater.

image: NL architects & ABT deon prins

image: NL architects & ABT marcel van der burg

image: NL architects & ABT marcel van der burg

image: NL architects & ABT marcel van der burg

image: NL architects & ABT marcel van der burg

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image: NL architects & ABT marcel van der burg

site planimage NL architects

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project info:

title: forum groningenclient: municipality of groningen delegated client: twynstragudde location: groningen, the netherlands size: 17,000 sqm +10,000 sqm parking area design: 2006 (competition, 1st prize) completion: 2019 architect: NL architects with ABT engineering

design team (NL architects) pieter bannenberg, kamiel klaasse, walter van dijk, thijs van bijsterveldt, florent le corre, sren grnert, iwan hameleers, sybren hoek,kirsten hsig, mathieu landelle, zhongnan lao, barbara luns, gert janmachiels, sarah mller, gerbrand van oostveen, giulia pastore, guus peters,jose ramon vives, laura riao lopez, arne van wees, zofia wojdyga, genyamamoto with christian asbo, nicolo bertino, jonathan cottereau, marten dashorst, rebecca eng, antoine van erp, tan gaofei, sylvie hagens, britta harnacke, jana heidacker, sergio hernandez benta, johannes hbner, yuseke iwata, cho junghwa, linda kronmller, jakub kupikowski, katarina labathova, ana lagoa pereira gomes, qian lan, justine lemesre, amadeo linke, fabian lutter, rune madsen, phil mallysh, jos maria matteo torres, victoria meniakina, shuichiro mitomo, solne muscato, lea olsson, pauline rabjeau, thomas scherzer, michael schoner, martijn stoffels, jasper schuttert, bartek tromczynski, carmen valtierra, elisa ventura, benedict vlkel, vittoria volpi, murk wymenga, qili yang, yena young, alessandro zanini

architectural engineering: ABT with NL architectsinterior design: NL architects i.c.w.: demunnik-dejong-steinhauser, &prast&hooft, tank, northern lightbuilding engineer (incl geotechnical): ABTstructural engineer: ABTbuilding costs: ABTbuilding physics, acoustics and safety: DGMRtechnical installations: huisman en van muijen HVMacoustics: peutzcontractor: BAMseismic engineering: ABT i.c.w. BORG & BAM advies & engineering art in parking: nicky assmann

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NL architects completes 'forum groningen' in the netherlands - Designboom

WESTLAKE, Ohio -- The Meadowood golf course was a successful venture in Westlake until the recession of 2008. Still, the course has remained open year-round even though revenue is decreasing.

City Recreation Director Bob DeMinico said discussions are going on to decide just what to do with Meadowood. The golf course is located at the northwest corner of Center Ridge and Crocker roads.

We have been through various meetings and, through the master plan process of 2015, it was mentioned we should look at and consider whether to abandon the course, continue it or find other uses, DeMinico said.

One thing is clear already, though, as DeMinico said that Mayor Dennis Clough is committed to always having that as green space. There is no interest in developing it into any kind of development. The property is prime real estate and we want to make sure we do the right thing with it.

Ideas include things such as a practice facility (driving range) with a short game area or a putting green.

"We are also looking at just a nine-hole golf course, he said, noting that a lot of people today dont have the time to play a full 18 holes.

A city ordinance was passed Nov. 7 authorizing Clough to enter into a professional services contract with Fry/Straka Global Golf Course Design for professional architectural services.

We feel we have one of the best, if not the best, architectural firms in the country, said DeMinico. If all goes well in the spring with a minimum of three plans presented to council, we hope the project will be ready for the golf season of 2021.

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Architects to present three plans to Westlake council on what to do with Meadowood golf course - cleveland.com

A retired Mexican police official who once led his countrys equivalent of the F.B.I. was indicted in New York on Tuesday on charges of taking bribes while in office to protect the Sinaloa drug cartel, one of Mexicos most powerful criminal mafias.

The official, Genaro Garca Luna, served as the head of Mexicos Federal Investigation Agency from 2001 to 2005, and for the next six years was Mexicos secretary of public security, a cabinet-level position. In that role he was tasked with helping the president at the time, Felipe Caldern, craft his strategy to battle their countrys drug cartels.

But according to prosecutors in Brooklyn, even while Mr. Garca Luna presented himself as the public face of the war against the drug trade in Mexico, he was quietly receiving millions of dollars from the Sinaloa cartel, which was run at the time by the drug lord Joaqun Guzmn Loera, better known as El Chapo.

Mr. Garca Luna is now in custody in Dallas.

An indictment unsealed on Tuesday in Brooklyn, where Mr. Guzmn was himself convicted on drug charges in February, also accused Mr. Garca Luna of lying to American investigators and taking part in a conspiracy to traffic cocaine.

The arrest of Mr. Garca Luna, on Monday, was a signal event in the history of the drug war in Mexico something akin to the director of the F.B.I. being taken into custody for receiving bribes from the head of the Gambino crime family. The charges against him, prosecutors said, were a direct result of testimony at Mr. Guzmns trial in New York.

At the trial, Jess Zambada Garca, the brother of Mr. Guzmns chief partner, Ismael Zambada Garca, told the jury that he had twice personally given Mr. Garca Luna briefcases filled with at least $3 million in cash.

Mr. Zambada also testified that a syndicate of Mexican traffickers was putting together a separate package of as much as $50 million in bribes for Mr. Garca Luna, although those payoffs seem not to have been made.

In statements to reporters at the time, Mr. Garca Luna denied the allegations made during the trial.

In court papers, prosecutors said that they had obtained financial records showing that Mr. Garca Luna had amassed a vast personal fortune that was inconsistent with a civil servants salary in Mexico.

In 2012, after his public service ended, Mr. Garca Luna moved to Miami. The financial records indicated that Mr. Garca Luna continued to live in the United States off the millions of dollars in bribes that the Sinaloa Cartel paid him, the court papers said.

Prosecutors also said that when Mr. Garca Luna submitted an application to become a naturalized United States citizen in 2018, he affirmatively lied about his past criminal conduct on behalf of the Sinaloa cartel.

Mr. Garca Luna was expected in Federal District Court in Dallas on Tuesday afternoon for an initial appearance. His lawyer, Rose Romero, was not immediately available for comment.

Mexicos attorney generals office said Tuesday afternoon that it had been investigating Mr. Garca Luna for a range of possible crimes, including conspiracy to traffic cocaine, organized crime, making false statements and bribery. In a statement, the office said it planned to request the extradition of Mr. Garca Luna to Mexico.

Politically astute and well-liked in Washington, where he often met with senators and White House aides, Mr. Garca Luna was, at least in public, a vocal critic of corruption in Mexico. He spent much of his time in office trying to reform the Mexican federal police, increasing their salaries and firing hundreds of police commanders he did not trust.

He is considered the main architect of Mr. Calderns militarized approach to battling drug traffickers, which began in 2006 with the deployment of the armed forces against organized crime and the presidents official declaration of war on them. A cornerstone of the strategy was to focus on kingpins, on the theory that cutting off the head of a criminal organization would wither the body.

Mr. Caldern and Mr. Garca Luna were partly successful in that approach, capturing or killing many of the most-wanted traffickers in the country. After almost every major arrest, Mr. Garca Luna delighted in posing suspects alongside captured weapons and drugs in a show for the news media.

Among Mr. Garca Lunas trophies while serving in Mr. Calderns cabinet was the arrest in 2010 of Edgar Valdez Villarreal, known as La Barbie, an American-born drug trafficker.

Mr. Valdez, in a letter sent to a national Mexican newspaper, later accused Mr. Garca Luna of having accepted bribes from organized crime groups and from him directly. A spokesman for Mr. Garca Luna at the time denied the allegations and said they were an attempt to publicly discredit the Mexican authorities and blackmail them in exchange for privileges inside the federal prison where Mr. Valdez was being held.

Mr. Calderns successor, Enrique Pea Nieto, took office in 2012 and followed a similarly militarized approach. And though the countrys homicide tallies declined from 2011 to late 2014, they have since trended upward.

The current president, Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador, has vowed to end his predecessors war on drugs and remove the military from the streets in the fights against drug trafficking organizations.

But despite his creation of a new force, called the National Guard, violence has continued at record levels. And dramatic eruptions of violence like a city siege by cartel gunmen and the murder of three women and six children have raised questions about whether his strategy can staunch the bloodshed.

Mr. Caldern, the former president, said in a tweet that he had learned about the alleged arrest of Mr. Garca Luna through social media and was waiting for more information about the case.

I do not know details, he said. My position will always be in favor of justice and the law.

Kirk Semple and Paulina Villegas contributed reporting.

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Architect of Mexicos War on Cartels Is Accused of Taking Bribes From One - The New York Times

Critical By Aaron Betsky December 13, 2019

"East River Valley" rendering (2018)

Get ready for fake architecture. Now that architects have the same tools as moviemakers and meme-posters to make anything look like anything else, buildings can seem more real in renderings than they do when they are actually built. At the same time, some structures are taking on shapes so weird and fantasticalsuch as the impossibly thin towers of Manhattan or the convoluted, gravity-defying curves of some museum buildingsthat you are left to wonder whether they are, in fact, real. Pretty soon, we will be living in a mix of virtual and physical reality, if we arent already. How do we make sense of it? By telling good stories. And if the future of architecture is fairy tales, as some experts insist, then perhaps nobody tells better tales than experimental architect Mark Foster Gage.

Imagine teetering over the ledge of a Manhattan skyscraper with no rails to hold you back. Turn around and slowly realize how the entire tower consists of childrens toys, car parts, and even a dildo tucked away among the stack of stuff that has, as if through alchemy, turned into steel or chrome, or maybe even gold. Where you are standing is only one of the structures that the New York City designer has dreamed upthough never builtover the past few years. Another imagines the East River completely transformed into a field of verdant meadows behind fanciful dams. In real life, a clients cottage in the English countryside recasts detritus as the building blocks of his bucolic vision of rural living.

"East River Valley" vertical parks, rendered views

If Gage is the magician of modern architecture, he is also its Wizard of Oz, tantalizing us with photo-realistic renderings of structures built from leftovers dipped in what looks like chrome. But dont just get swept up in the fantasyGage takes his craft very seriously. A professor and assistant dean at Yale University, he is one of the foremost practitioners of Object-Oriented Ontology (Triple O, if youre a tuned-in design student), a theory equally cryptic and of-the-moment. It gives him a basis to keep spinning his fantastical tales by means of conceptual buildings. Like many younger architects, Gage wants to push the envelope of construction; unlike most, he achieves that not through material experimentation, but by showing whats possible, he says, making images that seduce you into the future. For Gage and the other Triple O-ers, real buildings are whatever they can convince you they are. And renderings are the end result. These are not preparations or ideas for buildings, but complete shortcuts to the real world, he says.

As he sees it, the proliferation of images is an opportunity: pull up any image or form imaginable on your computer, and watch it be transfigured into something else entirely before dropping it inside a rendering so realistic that you swear you saw your own reflection in the stainless steel kitchen appliances that somehow landed in the lobby of an imposing building. I want to work not just with bricks, but with Pokmon, toasters, and whatever else is available, he says. Weve moved way beyond pyramids and boxes as models.

Gages buildings morph into monsters and cliffs that dissolve into smithereens, appearing as collections of all the bits and pieces the architect gathered to build up his designs. They blur the distinction between a single structure, its surroundings, and even the natural world. Youve seen this sort of technique in the movies and maybe in Las Vegas or Disneyworld. Gage just wants to make something good out of all that fake reality: I want to make a real reality out of the fiction that surrounds us.

"West 57th Street Residential Tower" rendering, New York City, (2015)

To do this, Gage uses something called Kitbashing; the term describes the mashing up of bits and pieces borrowed and stolen from everywhere, a trusty technique for hipsters kluging together their own tools and clothes. Gage, meanwhile, dreams of castles in the sky. Does he want to actually build anything? I spend a lot of time crafting images that make a building appear built instead of actually building it, he says. I really want to use technology to create something truly beautiful, and right now the only way to do that is through these super-realistic images.

They have a higher resolution than anything I could build now. Gages message is clear: Reality is less real than we think, and these fairy tales can usher us into a primeval universe that elevates the ordinary into the extraordinary. I want to awaken your curiosity and make you wonder: If my buildings seem real but arent, what about the one down the street? he says. Start reading into your surroundings, Gage suggests, and enjoy the ride into a new kind of reality, for which his architecture sets the stage. Jump off the ledge of his hyper-realistic skyscraper, even if only in your mind (because you know it cant be real), and fall in love with the idyllic alternative he has built for you.

Gage and the Triple O gang may be far away from making whatever we still think of as real buildings but, like great storytellers, moviemakers, and other weavers of tales and images, they give us something to dream of, something to aspire to, and something that tells us the deep truth that most of what we see around us today is just manipulated surfaces.

(Photos courtesy Mark Foster Gage Architects)

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Mark Foster Gage is the Most Prolific Architect of Buildings That Dont Exist - surfacemag.com

On Monday, President Trump announced J. Brett Blanton as his nomination for the Architect of the Capitol (AOC).

Blanton is currently the deputy vice president for engineering at the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority where he leads the planning, design, construction, and code enforcement for all properties controlled by the Airports Authority. While in the United States Navy he also oversaw some of the largest infrastructure projects undertaken by the Department of the Navy, according to the Whitehouses website.

All that said, Blanton is a licensed engineer (in the state of Georgia) but is not a licensed or practicing architect. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from the United States Naval Academy, followed by a Master of Science in Ocean Engineering from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

If confirmed by the United States Senate, Blanton will serve a 10-year term and will be put in charge of maintaining the 18.4 million square foot Capitol complex, which includes Washington, D.C., landmarks such as the Library of Congress, U.S. Supreme Court building and Senate and House office buildings.

The previous AOC, Stephen T. Ayers, served from 2010 through November 2018 and oversaw the restoration of the U.S. Capitol Dome and the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial. He also launched the renewal of the Cannon House Office Building, a monumental, five-phase project that Blanton would take over during his term. Ayers completed his Bachelor of Science in Architecture at the University of Maryland and received his Master of Science in Systems Management from the University of Southern California, as well as an honorary Doctor of Public Design from the Boston Architectural College in recognition of his work in historic preservation.

According to Engineering News-Record, the Senate Rules and Administration Committee will have a scheduled confirmation hearing for Blanton on December 12.

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Will this airport engineer be the next Architect of the Capitol? - The Architect's Newspaper

A young, small architectural firm working in Los Angeles typically doesnt land business with the Amazons of the world, but one architects wide scope of services has opened doors, not only to Amazon but also to Ring, Blue Bottle Coffee and Lendlease the latter two are major companies in Los Angeles.

The reason? Weve brought properties to some of these companies (at no risk to them) and that is how we have been able to work with them, Matthew Rosenberg, founder and CEO, Los Angeles-based architectural firm M-Rad, told a seminar audience recently at the Buildings Show in Toronto.

Along with offering traditional architectural services, Rosenbergs firm provides pre-architecture and post-architecture services in a fiercely competitive market where architectural fees often are not enough to keep a design firm in the black.

Among Rosenbergs business strategies is investing in properties his firm designs. Forming partnerships with owners, property managers and other key players is integral.

Originally from Saskatchewan, Rosenberg said his Los Angeles firms extended business scope covers site sourcing, property analysis and parcel assembly. The firm also sources capital and underwrites properties.

To some extent we act like a developer, Rosenberg said, noting it adds an enormous value to M-Rads services.

Instead of looking for developers to hire us, we present them with capital deals, assemblages of four or six properties basically in a wrapped-up package ready to go, he said. M-Rads service includes yield and massing studies and development options on a given property basically delivered (to developers) on a gold platter.

It allows us to take part in the equity, get referral feesinstead of just working off (architectural) fee structures. It gives us a safety net to continue to grow.

He told delegates architects run very difficult businesses. The fee structure for designs is typically low, making it difficult for firms to get ahead.

Added value comes through meetings with the community to see what residents and business owners want to see developed, he said, noting that M-Rads scope includes interior design and furniture design.

The idea of these post architecture (services) is to speed up some of the revenue verticals. It also allows us to brand (through marketing strategies) our projects.

A case in point is the firms design and production of two fragrances because smell is one of the strongest ways to tap into someones (potential client) memory sense.

Rosenberg said his firm analyzes one or two properties daily all over the world for everything from zoning to building codes.

The ultimate objective is to learn as much about properties and the roles of all the consultants involved in a project in order to improve the final product.

If everybody at the table is not standing togetherthats a problem.

Rosenberg said a wakeup call came six years ago after M-Rad lost money on one of its first design commissions a multi-family development because the firm underbid the competition to get the job.

We had to pay for that project with another project. Its an endless vicious cycle, he said.

A 740,000 square foot bio-tech research campus commission M-Rad won involved a lot of free spec work. Architects work for free because they must, but they can also ask for something.

The developer provides time and gets equity. Engineers can do that, owners can do that, and architects can do that, Rosenberg told the seminar.

We have to realize that the angle is not for one person to get rich.

The end goal is to design and develop better projects and if we can all come together at the beginning of the process, that is where we will be able to add greater value than we are adding now.

In the long run he hopes M-Rads agenda raises the bar across the industry, creating a shift in the way architects do business to improve efficiencies and create new revenue channels.

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M-Rad re-thinks an architect's relationship to a project - Daily Commercial News

The post World War two city boom was filled with dreams of cars and highways that extended across fast-growing cities. But much of that boom came at the expense of ensuring that these metropolises catered to basic human needs.

Thanks to the vision and expertise of four trailblazing female architects, some of north Americas iconic cities evolved to ensure a balance between modernism and human urbanism.

The last major push for urban planners to create new city spaces was after World War II, when towns were expanding rapidly to create a new modern era of suburban living, cars and highways.

Among those urban planners were four women -- all architects.

These trailblazing women are the focus of a documentary called City Dreamers by Montreal-based director Joseph Hillel.

Through rare film clips of the women and the work they did throughout the 20th century, he pieces together thelegacy left by these architects.

Many of the attempts to improve cities today look backto the work of these women.

Old boys club

Their names may not be well known outside architectural or urban planning circles, but they have been there since these cities began changing in the 1950s.

They are Phyllis Lambert, based in Montreal.

Denise Scott Brown, who worked primarily in Philadelphia.

Blanche Lemco van Ginkel, who worked in both Toronto and Montreal.

And Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, who was based in Vancouver.

Back then, architecture was really seen as a man's job.

They managed to break into theold boys club and assert themselves not as the assistants, but as the architects, which wasn't always easy.

In the documentary, one of the architects jokes about the fact that when the doors close at a meeting and she was asked to leave as it was assumed she was one of the secretaries.

But to really appreciate what they accomplished in the 20th century, you have to understand that architecture is not just about designing houses.

That's the first lesson Hillel learned in putting together this documentary.

Architecture is not only buildings, its more of a holistic point of view and its more human than I thought,Hillel toldRFI.

They [are] always putting the people, the humans, in the centre of their work and their thinking, he adds.

Milestones

Each woman contributed her own theory, vision, or approach to urban landscaping and planning.

The starting point for the documentary for Hillel was via van Ginkel.

Shes a woman I had heard about, since Im in Montrealbecause she saved Montreal, Hillel explains matter-of-factly.

During the 1960s when many large cities were destroying old parts of the city to make way for highways to accommodate increasing commutes between the city and the suburbs, she pushed back to save Montreals old port.

Along with her husband, Sandy van Ginkel, they co-found van Ginkel Associates in 1956 that focused on conserving historic districts, and ensuring pedestrian-friendly spaces abound.

Lambert is also well-known in Montreal for her activism in preserving many of the patrimonial buildings that were slated for destruction to make way for new buildings that took away from the identity of the city.

Shes also responsible for the first building of The Seagram building, in New York City, as well as the founder of the Canadian Centre for Architecture.

I knew Denise Scott Brown from readings. . . I read Learning from Las Vegas, its a classic, explains Hillel.

She, along with her husband Robert Venturi, designed many building complexes and developed architectural theories.

But when he was awarded the Prizker Prize in 1991, the equivalent of a Nobel Prize, he asked that his wife also be included, but the panel refused.

In 2013, a petition was passed around asking that she be given a prize retroactively, but the jury declined to revisit the decision.

Oberlander is considered the world leader in landscape architecture, which means she looks to build spaces that are filled with local nature that suit the needs of the urban population. She imagines and promotes sustainable and socially conscious designs that look to benefit entire communities of all ages.

She invented for example, the concept of green roof tops in many major cities.

A great and loved creation of hers is Vancouvers Van Dusen Botanical Garden Visitor Centre.

Lasting Legacy

Through their vision and determination, city centres were saved, nature was incorporated into metropolis, and people were included in urban planning plans. Cities are not just about the buildings.

In his hometown of Montreal, Hillel attests to the impact of these women.

In Montreal. . . we didnt have that drive to have high rises, as was the case in Toronto, Vancouver, New York and many other cities.

Theres an impact to that; you walk in Toronto and you dont see the sun. So in a way Montreal was not growing like all thosewe developed a more human scale city, with the likes of Lambert and van Ginkel leading the way.

Despite the women being between the ages of 87 to 93, they remain active in their work, or at least as consultants.

Hillel is currently making the circuit of film festivals to screen his documentary.

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City Dreamers: The female architects who built 20th century cities - RFI

December 11th, 2019 by Editor

The International Window Film Conference and Tint-Off (WFCT) 2020, to be held September 22-24, announces the Architects Window Film Forum. Architects will be provided a single day track designed specifically for their needs. These courses will provide insight into the various window film products and services available. The Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida will host the full day of educational seminars earning architects 4 continuing education units (CEUs).

Film sponsors may support the Architects Window Film Forum program by providing industry subject-matter experts. Show management will encourage architects to enjoy a full day of education, and will be given the opportunity to visit the WFCT exhibition floor as well. The educational track will be held on Wednesday, September 23, 2020.

The expansion came as a result of requests from those allied to the industry. We are delighted to be able to develop this offering during the International Window Film Conference and Tint-Off, said senior event director, Tricia Lopez. This program helps to meet two growing needs while providing a platform that services the architectural community, said Lopez.

More information on the Architects Window Film Forum will be available in coming months and on wfctevent.com. Contact 540/720-5584 with questions.

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International Window Film and Conference and Tint-Off Expands with New Program for Architects - Window Film magazine