A combination of the German word for energy — energie — and the name of the building material company — the Gienger group — that occupies the space, ENER[GIE]NGER is innovative retail and exhibition space that uses the latest sustainable technologies. The 2,600-square-meter (28,000-sf) space is a helix-shaped building clad entirely in solar and photovoltaic panels, glass, or metal elements. Serving as the showroom and outlet for Gienger products, the spiraling building structure forms a glittering point of attraction within an otherwise ordinary industrial park in Munich, Germany.
The Pinnacle@duxton is an international housing model for addressing the social, physical, and economic issues associated with housing development in extremely dense and urbanized settings. At 50 stories, the tallest project developed by Singapore’s Housing and Development Board, the residential complex comprises seven towers connected by two continuous sky bridges that provide unique recreation and community spaces. Occupying an irregular 2.5-hectare (6.2-ac) project area that was the site of the first two apartment blocks ever built by the Housing and Development Board, the Pinnacle@Duxton features 1,848 modern apartments, injecting 7,400 residents—many young families—into an area of aging households.
The Pinnacle@Duxton reflects the ceaseless life cycle of the redevelopment of public housing in Singapore. Returning to the site of the Housing and Development Board’s first project, which was built to ease a national affordable-housing crisis, it illustrates the level of excellence that Singapore’s national housing authority has reached. The interconnected high-density development redefines what high-rise living can be with its sky gardens and open spaces, breathes new life into an area of aging households, and provides affordable housing options in a central location. The building has become a point of national pride, winning numerous awards, including the Best Tall Building 2010 award from the Chicago-based Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.
On the site of a former railroad engineering works and popular recreational facility, Wolverton Park, a mixed-use community with an array of building types that acknowledges the area’s history, has quickly become one of the most desirable places to live and work in Milton Keynes, a planned community near London.
Wolverton Park has been completely transformed through a carefully calibrated mix of housing, commercial space, history, and deep community involvement. The 4.25-ha (10.5-ac) site has 300 mixed-income housing units, 2,787 square meters (30,000 sf) of commercial space, and one hectare (2.5 ac) of open space. All of these new uses are woven into Wolverton Park’s original facilities through cutting-edge design. A number of Victorian-era industrial buildings on site, including three that were designated as historically significant structures, were in an advanced state of disrepair, including an aging canal that has been restored as an important on-site amenity.
The New World Center concert hall has helped usher in a new development model, turning the traditional concert hall — with its orderly rows and grand décor — inside out. Establishing new connections among architecture, technology, education, and culture, the Frank Gehry-designed glass-and-steel box contains the free-flowing theater space, while the front facade doubles as a 7,000-square-foot (650-m²) projection wall, displaying concerts and video art to patrons in an adjacent 2.5-acre (one-ha) urban park. Known as the Miami Beach Soundscape, this outdoor venue brings classical music and performance to an audience beyond the formal environs of most symphony halls.
The 1.5 million square- foot (139,355-m²) Westfield San Francisco Center, one of the nation’s largest urban shopping malls, comprises more than 170 specialty stores; two anchor department stores, Bloomingdale’s and Nordstrom; four floors of Class A office space; a gourmet marketplace; and a nine-screen cinema. The $460 million expansion project restores the 1890s-era emporium building to its original grandeur and re-creates what a century ago was San Francisco’s premier retail street.
More than 95 percent leased and occupied, Westfield San Francisco Center has generated $17.5 million in property and sales taxes for the city, created approximately 3,000 new jobs, and drawn more than 25 million visitors per year to the previously underused Market Street area. Among the 172 retailers, almost 47 percent are new to San Francisco, and preexisting San Francisco Shopping Center tenants are reporting a 10 to 15 percent increase in sales since the reopening. After an eight-year development process, Westfield San Francisco Center has become an economic engine for downtown San Francisco, creating connections with nearby Union Square, the city’s established shopping district, and Yerba Buena, a cultural and entertainment area.
Once a sleepy residential and industrial area in Shanghai, China, the Jinqiao precinct of the Pudong New District has gained new life through the development of the mixed-use Life Hub center. The new lifestyle center integrates culture and public art into its six hectares (14.8 acres) of land. The development centers around 98,000 square meters (1,054,863 sf) of retail space and includes 16,000 square meters (172,223 sf) of office space along with 34,515 square meters (371,516 sf) of open space. The open space largely serves as an exhibition area for public art produced by local artists who teamed with the developers to bring a strong sense of place to the Life Hub @ Jinqiao through art.
Comprised of six buildings on 4.67 acres (1.89 ha) in downtown Charlotte, North Carolina, the Levine Center for the Arts brings a cultural center to a growing central business district. The mixed use project includes three museums, a theater, an auditorium, 1,558,000 square feet (144,743 m2) of office space in Duke Energy’s corporate headquarters, and 32,035 square feet (2,976 m2) of ground-level retail space. This development represents a significant investment in Charlotte’s central business district and its public cultural offerings.
The Manitoba Hydro Place in Winnipeg, Manitoba, is cutting-edge office development with a strong focus on sustainability. In an effort to revitalize its urban core, the city of Winnipeg partnered with Manitoba Hydro to bring new high-density, high-quality office space into the downtown area. Covering 0.85 (2.1 ac) hectares of land, the development is primarily composed of 64,590 square meters (695,241 sq ft) of office space and includes a 6,195 square-meter (66,682 sq ft) park and galleria, providing open and sheltered public space.
The Mirabella is a sustainable vertical retirement community in the South Waterfront area of Portland, Oregon. Comprised of a 30-story building on 1.15 acres (0.47 ha) just south of downtown Portland, the Mirabella houses over 400 residents. The 517,000 square-foot (48,031 m2) building has 224 upscale apartments, 16 assisted care units, 23 skilled nursing beds, 25 memory care beds, 70,000 square feet (6,503 m2) of common area amenities, and a 250-car below-grade parking garage. The amenities offered include dining areas, commercial kitchens, retail space, fitness areas, office space, and classrooms.
Red Oak Park is an urban infill residential community in Boulder, Colorado, that concentrates on making affordable housing available by rehabilitating a deteriorated mobile home park. The 59 single-family detached, duplex, and triplex units on a 3.85 acre (1.6 ha) site are permanently affordable and primarily rented to the former mobile home park residents. The project includes 21 single-family detached units and 38 duplex and triplex units. Construction began in June 2010 and the community was completed in August 2011.
Using a creative financing structure, the new homes were built sustainably to house residents earning between 30-50% of the area median income. The development incorporates sustainable and energy-efficient principles with socially conscious and community-oriented housing.
