Category: famous female architects

Architecture and Windows: Duchamp, Cage and Contemporary Architectural Production: Exploring the Window; Architecture, Scientific Determinism + Artistic Production

August 6th, 2010

hanrahan Meyers architects (hMa) are great fans of Marcel Duchamp and John Cage, and bring their enthusiasm for these two giants of the artistic avant-garde forward in time through hMa's on-going collaborations and conversations with contemporary avant-garde artists including Michael Schumacher, Bruce Pearson, Monica de la Torre, Roxy Paine, Joe Amrhein, and Susan Swenson, and including several other artists who we work with, mostly from the New York area.

Reunion by John Cage, featuring John Cage, Marcel Duchamp, and Teeny Duchamp playing chess. Post: Victoria Meyers architect

What hanrahan Meyers architects (hMa) love about Cage, Duchamp, and our contemporary friends in the arts, is how the most intelligent works in the fine arts foster on-going discussions about science, technology, and culture. Great artists look at culture as a whole, and create visual and sound interpretations of the technological changes of that period in time. This discussion places viewers and listeners into that conversation, through an incisive and intellectually challenging presentation of ideas.

hMa's architecture incorporates contemporary discussions into buildings and space design. hMa does this by bringing on-going discussion with artists who are making some of the most challenging contemporary art into the firm's design process. hMa invites artists whose work poses challenges beyond the ordinary to incorporate their works onto and into hMa's buildings.

three early versions of the 'WATER' score frit pattern by NY composer Michael Schumacher in collaboration with hanrahan Meyers architects. For information contact: info@hanrahanMeyers.com. Post: Victoria Meyers architect

As part of hMa's ongoing discussion with the arts, they are developing an interactive glass wall for their Digital Water i-Pavilion (DWi-P): Battery Park City Community Center in collaboration with Michael Schumacher. The facade will be activated so that Visitors passing by the building will be able to wave cell phones at the building's facade and receive sound samples of Michael's 'WATER' score, depicted on the facade as a bar-coded frit pattern.

The DWi-P collaboration takes the idea of the 'normal' glass window which has been 'altered' by being selected for interpretation by the artist (and – in this case - by the architects) and uses that otherwise mundane and everyday piece of the built fabric to generate an architectural armature that works as a building - but also as in interactive work of art.

scale mock-up of the frit pattern seen on-site of the Digital Water Pavilion: Battery Park City Community Center, with WATER composition shown as a bar code. For information contact: info@hanrahanMeyers.com. Post: Victoria Meyers architect

Above, we are showing a full scale mock up of the glass - fragments of a future 550-foot long glass wall – in our office for on-site installation - at the building site at DWi-P. hMa will keep Visitors to the blog updated on progress with the WATER score / glass installation. DWi-P is scheduled to receive a Platinum LEED rating.

More to come….

for more information about the hMa / Schumacher collaboration, visit our website: www.hanrahanMeyers.com. Contact: info@hanrahanMeyers.com
Infinity Chapel and Won Dharma Center win Faith & Form Design Awards for 2010

July 22nd, 2010

hanrahan Meyers architects (hMa) are pleased to announce that two hMa projects have won awards in the 2010 Faith & Form / IFRAA International Design Awards Program for Religious Art and Architecture. Infinity Chapel has won an Honor Design Award in the Religious Architecture – Renovation category and Won Dharma Center won a Merit Design Award in the Unbuilt Work category.

These and all winning entries will be published in the Winter 2010 Awards Issue of Faith & Form magazine. Read more about the awards program, Faith and Form magazine, and the Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art and Architecture here.

detail: Infinity Chapel by hanrahanMeyers architects click here to see more images of the Chapel at hanrahanMeyers.com. Post: Victoria Meyers architect

The Infinity Chapel for the Tenth Church of Christ, Scientist features a cubic sanctuary deformed by light. The new sanctuary is a place where the sacred geometries of squares, golden section rectangles, and ‘spheres of light’ will surround worshipers. Three curving walls – one from the south, one from the north and one from the east – suggest the large spheres. These forms evoke the shape of a ‘Klein bottle’ or moebius strip, simple figures that suggest infinity by having no beginning and no end.

view of Meditation Hall: Won Dharma Center by hanrahanMeyers architects click here to see more images of Won Dharma Center at hanrahanMeyers.com, Post: Victoria Meyers architect

hMa's latest Green project for a spiritual group is the new Won Dharma Center compound to be located in Claverack, New York. This is to be a Green community designed with sensitivity to Nature and issues of Sustainable design.

The Won Dharma Center will be a retreat in rural, upstate New York for spiritual reflection and discussion. The property gently slopes toward the west, offering views of the Hudson Valley and the Catskill Mountains. The buildings for the center, which include permanent and guest residences, an administration building and a large meditation hall, are placed in the northern end of the site, set back from the highway. The buildings are all oriented towards the west and south to maximize view and light, while each building is organized around an internal courtyard.
Urban Renewal and the Current Downturn: Levi’s leads the WayLevi’s ‘Ready to Work’ campaign; Levi’s ‘Go Forth’ campaign; urban renewal in Braddock, Pa.

July 10th, 2010

Post by hanrahan Meyers architects (hMa) principal, Victoria Meyers:

I often travel from New York City to Baltimore on Amtrak. Whenever I take that train ride, I look out at an urban landscape that I refer to as the: ‘Amtrak Urban Corridor’. It starts at Trenton, New Jersey, and continues right through Baltimore, Maryland: an unbroken corridor of urban decay and poverty.

abandoned factories and warehouses: the Amtrak Corridor. Post: Victoria Meyers architect

This landscape is an urban map that describes many of the things that have gone wrong in American society.  What is really concerning, first and foremost, are the empty and abandoned warehouses and factories. In between the abandoned and ruined industrial buildings, are blocks and blocks of neighborhoods that are half abandoned, where the residents are obiviously impoverished, and could use the jobs that have left from those factories.   This country could reuse and recycle these warehouses to build up a new industrial base for the 21st Century. What happened to the American spirit? How could we have allowed this to happen? If one of us is impoverished and in need, all of us feels that condition. We are all without.

What is needed here is a plan. An Urban Corridor Master Plan! A Master Plan that links new 21st Century start-up businesses with abandoned places. A Plan that links unemployed people with jobs.

People in these neighborhoods need the jobs that these factories could create if some smart or philanthropic investor would provide the start up money, coupled with a smart entrepreneur with new technologies to be assembled.  America needs to rebuild. Our Cities represent who we are and define us. Abandonment is not a pretty legacy.

abandoned brick row houses: Baltimore, MD.

President Obama has led the thinking on a lot of the innovations in urban renewal, with his push for a new ‘Green Economy’, with a new, post-industrial jobs base building the components we need to develop Solar, Geo-Thermal, Wind-Power, and Bio-Fuel technologies. In the 21st Century, the country that solves the current energy crisis is the country that will emerge as a super-power. The consequences of not changing the United States' energy-based economy to sources other than oil is evident right now in the Gulf of Mexico.

There was a very interesting article in the June 23, 2010 New York Times, titled: ‘Levi’s Features a Town Trying to Recover’ – that deals with many of these issues. Levi’s has ‘adopted’ the town of Braddock, Pennsylvania: a town trying to pick itself back up after losing its industrial base. Levi’s is doing a great thing by doing this, and deserves credit for their foresight.  Levis is making a difference not just in the lives of the people in this small American town, but also in the overall recovery and re-invigoration of the American psyche and Vision. The campaign slogan: 'Ready to Work' – is a tagline for America in the current downturn. The campaign also states: 'we are all workers'.



Braddock, Pa.: Levi's 'Go Forth' campaign and urban renewal

We all could use the Vision that Levi’s is bringing to their ‘Go Forth’ campaign. I encourage anyone reading this blog post to visit the Levi’s campaign website, and watch some of the film clips there: http://www.levistrauss.com/news/press-releases/levis-proclaims-we-are-all-workers-launch-latest-go-forth-marketing-campaign. The campaign shows many images similar to the ones I've been describing along the Amtrak corridor, and includes some very smart film clips by very talented filmmakers, including one short that won an award at Sundance Film Festival this year. I have just one complaint. If Levi's is really sincere about this campaign - they'll also renovate one of the abandoned factories in Braddock, and install a new Levi's factory. (Levi's - I'm throwing down my glove).

hanrahan Meyers architects (hMa) is an internationally known design firm with experience designing sustainable master plans and landscapes for urban centers (hMa are the Master Plan Architects for Battery Park City's North Neighborhood, winner of the 2010 Heritage Award from the Urban Land Institute); small town centers (hMa designed a 550-acre zero-carbon footprint site plan and master plan in Claverack, New York), as well as private, residential landscape design (Holley House landscape layout and design).

Battery Park City, North Neighborhood: Teardrop Park. Master Plan design by hanrahan Meyers architects. Post: Victoria Meyers architect

hanrahan Meyers architects (hMa) is a full service Master Planning and Design firm. We bring expertise and experience to landscape and master plan projects. hMa has successfully laid out site topography, overviewed the installation of site services, including electrical, water, sewage, and gas. hMa has advanced expertise in integrating high-energy use, traditional site planning with the latest sustainable ideas and services, to create an integrated approach to achieving LEED certified design goals, and Zero-Carbon Footprint site designs.

For more information about hanrahan Meyers architects, and their innovative and green ideas for cutting edge 21st century Master Plans and Landscapes, visit hMa’s website: www.hanrahanMeyers.com; go to ‘Projects’: ‘Master Plans and Landscapes’.
Battery Park City Master Plan wins Urban Land Institute Heritage Award : Urban Waterfront Design

July 10th, 2010

hanrahan Meyers architects (hMa) are proud to announce that the firm's Battery Park City Master Plan project has won a Heritage Award for Excellence from the Urban Land Institute (ULI). Since 1997 hMa have been the Master Plan Architects for Battery Park City's North Neighborhood. In that capacity, hanrahan Meyers have been Leaders in applying Sustainable Design practices to Master Plan and Landscape Design. One of hMa's achievements includes writing the Green Guidelines for the Solaire - the world's first Green Residential high-rise Tower.

In addition to hMa's Green Master Plan winning a coveted Heritage Award, Battery Park City's Visionaire was also honored with a 2010 Award for Excellence from the Urban Land Institute. The Visionaire is a high-rise residential tower that received the top design Award from the ULI as 'America's Greenest Residential High-Rise Tower' - one of only 10 buildings in the Americas - and the only building to be recognized for Green Design in New York. The Visionaire received the US Green Building Council's highest rating for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED Platinum).

ULI Awards for Excellence define the standard for real estate development practice worldwide. In its 32nd year, the awards program is the centerpiece of ULI’s efforts to identify and promote best Green practices in all types of real estate development.

North Neighborhood, Battery Park City Master Plan, hanrahan Meyers architects. Post: Victoria Meyers architect

In 1997 hMa were hired as the Master Plan Architects for Battery Park City Authority’s North Neighborhood, the most forward-thinking Green urban master plan in the United States. The North Neighborhood is the location of the first Green high-rise residential tower in the United States (Green Guidelines by hMa) and is the first Sustainably designed high-rise neighborhood in the world (Green Master Plan by hMa). When the Master Plan is complete in 2012 it will include a total of 5 million square feet of sustainable buildings, an array of new technologies and operating practices and a unique integration with the spectacular natural features of New York's waterfront.

diagrams showing park spaces, green roofs and green landscapes – Battery Park City North Neighborhood Master Plan, hanrahan Meyers architects. Post: Victoria Meyers architect

hanrahan Meyers Architects' configuration of the North Neighborhood buildings emphasizes the area's engagement with nature by creating an interweaving grid of outdoor spaces – including 4 major parks – with 11 residential and public buildings including Stuyvesant High School. Individual buildings are designed to complete the urban blocks by aligning with lot lines up to the 11th and 14th floors, after which towers are placed up to the 25th and 32nd floors in a complex pattern of offsetting alignments to open up view corridors to the Hudson River, and bring light and air into the parks below.

Irish Hunger Memorial – Battery Park City North Neighborhood Master Plan, hanrahan Meyers architects. Post: Victoria Meyers architect

When the Master Plan is complete in 2012 it will include a total of 5 million square feet of sustainable buildings, an array of new technologies and operating practices and a unique integration with the spectacular natural features of New York's waterfront.

Read more about the ULI Awards competition and view other award winners at http://www.uli.org. Read more about hMa and their master plan designs by visiting our website: www.hanrahanMeyers.com, and go to: 'Master Plans and Landscapes'. To read more about hMa's Green Designs, visit our website, http://www.hanrahanMeyers.com, and go to: 'Green'.

Teardrop Park – Battery Park City North Neighborhood Master Plan, hanrahan Meyers architects. Post: Victoria Meyers architect
Furniture Design Minimalist furniture design: Design Furniture: Furniture + Nature; natural furniture design

June 24th, 2010

Victoria Meyers architect, hanrahan Meyers architects (hMa) partner, designs custom furnishings to fit clients' needs. Many projects result in spaces where off-the-shelf furniture doesn't fit. For White Space / Ash 4Ways, for example, this included most of the apartment furniture.

White Space / Ash 4Ways dining room table : hanrahan Meyers architects with Miya Shoji. Contact: info@hanrahanMeyers.com; Post: Victoria Meyers architect

For the living room hMa designed a coffee table that opens to become a bed. For the dining area, hMa worked with hMa collaborator Miya Shoji to design a custom dining room table that fit within the confines of a limited dining space. For the Bedroom, hMa designed a bed that incorporates storage and also elegantly controls the flow into and out of the room. The solution faces the bed toward the apartment's Central Park view. Closets lining the bedroom open to reveal an enclosed work desk. Tight New York spaces work when furnishings are customized to fit the space.

Master Bedroom custom bed : hanrahan Meyers architects with Miya Shoji. Contact: info@hanrahanMeyers.com; post: Victoria Meyers architect

In addition to designing elegant and beautiful solutions to everyday living, hMa designs award-winning, one-of-a-kind specialty furnishings. This includes WaterFall Table, hMa's winning design entry to the 'Wonder Women' furniture competition.

WaterFall Table by Victoria Meyers, available through Dune Furniture. Contact: info@hanrahanMeyers.com, Post: Victoria Meyers architect

WaterFall Table was designed as a simple slab of (sustainably harvested) ash, supported on two planar leg supports, so that you read the horizontal line of the table-top as a strong line, floating in space. At the two edges, steel beads make a translucent WaterFall. The table was designed to transport interior spaces into Nature.

Music Box: Designed for New York Composer Michael Schumacher; hanrahan Meyers architects. Post: Victoria Meyers architect

The Music Box, commissioned by New York Composer Michael Schumacher, was designed as a container for an ambient sound art installation. Schumacher's ambient sound pieces use everyday sounds to make compositions. Schumacher requested an object that would perform as the sound-art equivalent of Duchamp's urinal. To create a box that took the everyday, and force it into a new geometry, hMa designed an anamorphic cube. An Anamorph is a figure that appears randomly distorted, that pops into its normal shape when viewed from the correct angle. The Music Box is a distorted cube.

To read more about hMa's furniture designs, visit our website, www.hanrahanMeyers.com.
Exhibition Design”Changing Hands: Art Without Reservation” at the American Craft Museum; Art Gallery Design; Art + Architecture

August 13th, 2009

In 2002, hanrahan Meyers architects (hMa) collaborated with the Museum of Arts and Desgin (formerly the American Craft Museum) in the design of their exhibition 'Changing Hands : Art Without Reservation'. 'Changing Hands' was the first in a series of three exhibitions to focus on and celebrate Contemporary Art created by the native peoples of the United States (including Hawaii) and Canada.

Click here to see more of the exhibition on hanrahanMeyers.com

exhibition view : Changing Hands : Art without Reservation (formerly the American Craft Museum)

second floor gallery : hMa's Pratt Pavilion, Post: Victoria Meyers architect

hMa is dedicated to promoting the arts through their architectural practice. In 2007, hMa’s Pratt Design Center opened to international acclaim. Pratt Design Center’s public face is hMa’s Pratt Pavilion, a 10,000 square foot building featuring a new gallery on the second floor and a sculpture garden on the ground floor. Pratt Design Center is located on Pratt Institute's main campus.

hMa's Arts International Headquarters, NYC; Post: Victoria Meyers architect

In 2000 hMa’s Headquarters for Arts International received international notice, opening to reviews from publications in the U.S. and Europe. The project received design awards from the American Institute of Architects and Architectural Record magazine, which gave the project awards for it’s design ideas, as well as its use of sustainable and recycled materials. Arts International includes a 7,000 square-foot space for arts installations as well as performance. Founded by Noreen Tomassi, Arts International sponsored arts exchanges between the United States and other countries. Noreen Tomassi is currently the Executive Director of the Mercantile Library in New York City.

hanrahanMeyers architects practice began in 1987, when the firm came to international attention for their winning entry for the Chattanooga Nature Interpretive Museum in Chattanooga, Tennessee. hMa also produced competition winning designs for the Queens Museum of Contemporary Art in NYC in 2002 in addition to several other arts related projects.

hMa is a woman-owned business. Their practice is known for award-winning Nature-based design, and their portfolio includes Platinum LEED rated projects, as well as several projects for clients in the arts, including custom homes for arts collectors. For more information about hMa, please visit our website: www.hanrahanMeyers.com. hMa maintains a blog featuring several of hMa’s collaborative partners in the arts, www.culturalconversations.com.