Goettsch to Design $90M Northwestern Music School

Northwestern University has selected Chicago-based Goettsch Partners Inc. as the architect on the new building for the Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music on the Evanston campus. A contractor has not bee announced.

The project, which is expected to cost $90 million, will emphasize a sustainable design approach throughout, with a minimum of achieving LEED Silver certification. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2010, with completion expected in spring 2012.

The announcement follows a four-month search for an architectural firm for the project.

Northwestern will construct the building facing an arts green that will replace the existing Arts Circle on its Evanston campus. Envisioned as a signature building, the facility will enable the Bienen School of Music to consolidate all of its programs in one area for the first time in more than 30 years.

The building will be located just south of the School’s Pick-Staiger Concert Hall and Regenstein Hall of Music on the southern end of Northwestern’s lakefront campus.

It will include classrooms, teaching labs, academic faculty offices, teaching studios for choral, opera, piano and voice faculty, practice rooms, student lounges and administrative offices. There also will be a choral rehearsal room and library, an opera rehearsal room/black box theater and a 400-seat recital hall.

Architecture Billings Index Falls More than Six Points

The Architecture Billings Index fell “precipitously” in September, dropping more than six points, the American Institute of Architects reported.

The ABI rating was 41.4, down sharply from the 47.6 mark in August (any score above 50 indicates an increase in billings). This is the first time in 2008 that the institutional sector has fallen below the 50 mark.

“With all of the anxiety and uncertainty in the credit market, the conditions are likely to get worse before they get better,” says AIA Chief Economist Kermit Baker. “Many architects are reporting that clients are delaying or canceling projects as a result of problems with project financing.”

Given these realities, it might be cold comfort that the Midwest had the highest regional average (45.2).

Sector index breakdown were all down: mixed practice (45.9), institutional (45.6), commercial / industrial (42.1), multi-family residential (40.3). One bright spot was that inquiries for new projects score were 51.0.

Chicago No. 1 in Green Hotels

Chicago leads the nation by having five Green Seal-certified hotels, Mayor Richard Daley’s office announced.

The hotels comprise the Hotel Monaco Chicago, Hotel Burnham, Hotel Allegro Chicago, InterContinental Chicago and the Talbott Hotel.

Meanwhile, 20 other hotels in the city are striving for the environmental designation.

The initiative challenges hotels in waste minimization, energy efficiency, water conservation, waste-water management and green procurement. The program also offers resources, best practices and recognition to the hotels going green.

Research data from the Chicago Climate Action Plan shows that 71% of green-house gas emissions in Chicago result from buildings.

With its 24 hour operations, the hotel industry can be carbon intensive. As a result, hotels can play an important role in helping reduce emissions and providing tourists and visitors with world-class accommodations that are also environmentally-friendly.

Military to Go Green

Sustainable design and life cycle will be taken into account in military construction projects submitted to Congress for approval, according to the Dept of Defense authorization bill signed into law. This pertains to U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force projects.

These new requirements could require a shift on the part of the DOD in the way building materials are selected. Some branches favor the use of durable building materials, but others have sacrificed long-term cost-effectiveness and performance in the interest of achieving short-term objectives.

First Illinois Building Gets Green Globes

The Remington Medical Commons in Bolingbrook is reportedly the first building in Illinois to get the Green Globes environmental assessment and rating system for a commercial building.

Remington was recognized for reasons that include the selection of environmentally friendly building materials, the incorporation of an integrated design process and implementing site design and enhancement measures to minimize the building’s environmental impact.

Green Globes is a green building guidance and assessment program. It has been recognized by legislation or executive order in 18 states as well as by the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services and the Department of the Interior. It has been recognized by private sector institutions such as Aon, Liberty Mutual and the Fireman’s Fund.

Remington Medical Commons is a medical office building near the new Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital. It offers accommodations for family practice and orthopedics groups.

Park Ridge Redevelopment Earns Urbanism Award

Chicago-based OKW Architects recently received an award from the Illinois chapter of the Congress of New Urbanism for the Uptown Redevelopment Project in Park Ridge.

The project was entered in the “neighborhood, district and corridor” category. OKW was the lead designer on the project.

The Uptown Redevelopment Project is a 5.5-acre mixed-use transit-oriented development consisting of more than 80,000 sq ft of retail and commercial space, 164 condominiums, 24 townhomes and 550 below-grade parking spaces. Construction on the $95-million project ended in September.

OKW plans to enter the project in the national CNU competition.

CNU/Illinois judged the entries according to neighborhood/regional context and transit systems; sense of place; range of housing choices; careful, participatory planning; quality of street character; a scale of central space; and how the project improves and involves the community.