Archinect - News

WEISS/MANFREDI’s Longwood Gardens overhaul in Pennsylvania to open November

2024-03-28T10:57:00-04:00

Pennsylvania’s Longwood Gardens has released an update of an overhaul of its horticultural campus by WEISS/MANFREDI which will open in November 2024. Titled 'Longwood Reimagined: A New Garden Experience,' and designed in collaboration with Reed Hilderbrand, the project is described by the venue as “the most ambitious revitalization in a century of America’s greatest center for horticultural display.”

West Conservatory. Image credit: WEISS/MANFREDI with Reed Hilderbrand for Longwood Gardens

Currently under construction, the project sees 17 acres on the Longwood Gardens site transformed into a visitor experience to host exhibitions, programs, and events. At the core of the scheme is a 32,000-square-foot conservatory designed by WEISS/MANFREDI as a “living and breathing glass house” with walls and roofs that open and close in response to the weather. The conservatory contains gardens, pools, and fountains designed by Reed Hilderbrand.

Aerial view of construction. Image credit: Bancroft ...

Weiss/Manfredi, Hood Design Studio, and Moody Nolan to design new Amsterdam Avenue enhancements at Lincoln Center

2024-03-04T16:32:00-05:00

The new Amsterdam Avenue face of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts will be designed by a team that includes Weiss/Manfredi, Hood Design Studio, and Moody Nolan, the beloved New York City cultural institution announced Monday.

The revitalization plan entails first a radical overhaul of Damrosch Park, which will be transformed into a dynamic new outdoor area for artistic performance and public gatherings. All three firms will impart their extensive experience in public realm designs that has recently included work on the International African American Museum in Charleston, South Carolina and master plan of the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum in Los Angeles, respectively.

East side of Amsterdam Avenue, north of 62nd Street. Photo by Lawrence Sumulong

The design will take shape in response to a participatory planning process that drew the opinions of over 3,400 New Yorkers and surviving former residents of San Juan Hill, the neighborhood that was demolished to make way for the 14-y...

LA's La Brea Tar Pits project picks Kossmanndejong to lead exhibition design

2023-01-31T19:32:00-05:00

Amsterdam’s Kossmanndejong (KDJ) has been announced by the Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County as the lead exhibition designer for the La Brea Tar Pits overhaul following a competitive international search process.

In tandem with WEISS/MANFREDI and Los Angeles-based Gruen Associates, the studio will be tasked with handling the schematic design for the project, which will “reimagine” the 13-acre campus located nearby LACMA and the new Academy Museum of Motion Pictures inside Hancock Park over a seven- to ten-year construction timeline.

Image: Weiss/Manfredi, courtesy NHMLAC

“We have been building toward a reimagined La Brea Tar Pits for several years now, as we plan for a visitor experience equal to the promise of sharing discoveries from a research site unique in the world,” the Museums’ Director Dr. Lori Bettison-Varga said in a statement. “Our goal is to highlight the vital relevance of the Tar Pits to our own era of climate change, provide facilities that better support ...

Cornell Tech celebrates Roosevelt Island Campus phase one completion

2022-02-24T14:33:00-05:00

Cornell Tech, Cornell University’s urban campus for technology research and education, has announced the completion of the first phase of its Roosevelt Island campus development in New York City. This news comes following the recent completion and opening of the Snøhetta-designed Verizon Executive Education Center and the Graduate Roosevelt Island Hotel in 2021.

The first three buildings at Cornell Tech, which opened in September 2017 include the Emma and Georgina Bloomberg Center, designed by Morphosis Architects, the TATA Innovation Center, designed by Weiss/Manfredi, and The House, designed by Handel Architects and developed by The Hudson Companies and Related Companies.

Previously on Archinect: Snøhetta completes two new buildings for Cornell Tech campus in New York

The Emma and Georgina Bloomberg Center is the campus’s first academic building offering a variety of spaces designed to support different learning modes, while incorporating advanced sustainability features and comm...

La Brea Tar Pits overhaul: Los Angeles County begins environmental review ahead of Weiss/Manfredi's redesign

2022-02-18T19:01:00-05:00

An official start to the transformation of one of Los Angeles’ longest-standing tourist attractions is underway as Urbanize LA is reporting that county officials have now begun the Environmental Impact Report portion of the La Brea Tar Pits master plan effective February 1st.

The Weiss/Manfredi-led design scheme will reconfigure the layout of the 12-acre park and George C. Page Museum into a better spatially organized program called La Brea Loops and Lenses. The comprehensive overhaul coincides with the more-publicized new Academy Museum and LACMA expansion next door to create a totally reinvigorated Hancock Park area in increments along a seven- to ten-year timeline.

Previously on Archinect: Weiss/Manfredi to lead La Brea Tar Pits overhaul in Los Angeles

Weiss/Manfredi’s plan beat out DS+R and Dorte Mandrup for the commission thanks in large part to its emphasis on keeping the existing museum, which will be given an addition in order to expand the role of education for the 45-year-...

Weiss/Manfredi reveal cantilevered museum expansion overlooking Tampa’s Hillsborough River

2021-11-12T12:29:00-05:00

In a follow-up to its recently announced renovation, the Tampa Museum of Art is growing once again thanks to a new $65 million expansion effort led by Weiss/Manfredi.

Image courtesy Weiss/Manfredi

Overlooking Tampa’s Hillsborough River, the new expansion affords a footprint that is almost double in size to 120,000 square feet. The added space allows for more education and exhibition initiatives while creating public amenities like a roof terrace and café that will enhance the museum’s status as the premier cultural destination in the rapidly growing metropolitan area.

Image courtesy Weiss/Manfredi

The TMA is currently in the process of renovating its existing 69,000-square-foot facility designed by Stanley Saitowitz in 2010. The renovation, meant to coincide with the institution’s centennial anniversary, is also being overseen by Weiss/Manfredi and is expected to wrap up next June. Put together, the overall effort will add some 51,000 square feet to the museum’s waterfront campus t...

Weiss/Manfredi to repurpose jail facility in Dallas for alternative uses

2020-08-20T15:37:00-04:00

New York City-based Weiss/Manfredi and Dallas-based Malone Maxwell Dennehy Architects (MMDA) have been selected by the Trinity Park Conservancy to redesign an existing jail facility in Dallas for alternative uses.

The project comes to the two firms, MMDA will serve as Architect of Record while Weiss/Manfredi works as the design architect, after a lengthy selection process that involved 45 other competitors and a shortlist made up of seven other firms. An announcement highlighting the team's selection explains that the project team will work with the Trinity Park Conservancy to "integrate the building and its surrounding neighborhoods" into Harold Simmons Park, a forthcoming 200-acre park designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates that will eventually connect downtown Dallas to surrounding areas.

“We are inspired by the potential of 106 W Commerce to create a dynamic community destination and gateway to Harold Simmons Park, and are thrilled to begin work with the Trinity Park Con...

Weiss/Manfredi to lead La Brea Tar Pits overhaul in Los Angeles

2019-12-11T18:14:00-05:00

A design team led by interdisciplinary, New York City-based architecture and landscape firm Weiss/Manfredi has been selected to reinterpret the La Brea Tar Pits and George C. Page Museum building in Los Angeles.

The design team includes experiential designers Imaginary Forces, horticulturist and water conservation experts Perry and Associates Collaborative, paleobotanist Carole Gee, artist Mark Dion, and Michael Bierut of Pentagram. Locally, the team will draw on the expertise of Brenda Levin of Levin & Associates for architectural and historic preservation assistance, among others that have yet to be announced.

The Lake Pit at La Brea Tar Pits features a trio of fiberglass mammoths that will be preserved by the selected scheme. Courtesy of La Brea Tar Pits.

Upgrading and Expanding the Museum and Site

The project seeks to repurpose, upgrade, and expand the 1970s-era George C. Page Museum building, a partially submerged paleontological and educational complex designed by Los Angele...

Marion Weiss on inspiration, teaching, and feminism

2019-11-06T16:00:00-05:00

Architecture, which benefits from intensity and focus, will never be easily slotted in the nine-to-five day. If support systems can evolve and grow, I think the potential for new models of leadership will continue to expand to include an even more diverse community. I am impressed by the breadth and depth of architects that are emerging—both male and female—who are simultaneously teaching, practicing, raising families, and publishing incredibly remarkable work.

An excerpt of an interview of Marion Weiss, principal and co-founder of Weiss/Manfredi, by Franca Trubiano, associate professor of architecture, and graduate student Ramona Adlakha, has been published by the Weitzman School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania. The interview is an excerpt from Women (Re)Build: Stories, Polemics, Futures, a book recently published by Applied Research and Design that reflects on feminist thought in architecture.

View of the Women's Memorial in Washington, D.C. designed by Weiss/Manfredi. Image courtesy of Weiss/Manfredi.

In the interview, Weiss discusses her long career in academia and practice, how she came to study architecture, her designs for the Women's Memorial in Washington, D.C., and how teaching and practice influence one another, among several other topics.

Conceptual diagram for the Women's Memorial site. Image courtesy of Weiss/Manfredi.

"Sometimes history has less depth and importance than we might think—even if the forms look his...

Weiss/Manfredi, DS + R, and Dorte Mandrup unveil competing schemes for L.A.'s La Brea Tar Pits

2019-08-27T13:00:00-04:00

Weiss/Manfredi, Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS + R), and Dorte Mandrup have unveiled a trio of competing schemes for Los Angeles's La Brea Tar Pits, George C. Page Museum, and Hancock Park.

The proposals are aimed at rejuvenating and updating the 12-acre park and its iconic tar pits installation, which includes a tar-filled lake populated with life-size fiberglass woolly mammoth figures. The three schemes differ in terms of their approach to retaining the existing Page Museum structure, an iconic and submerged Mayan temple-inspired facility designed in 1977 by architects Willis Fagan and Frank Thornton.

The proposals, expanded below, will be on view at the La Brea Tar Pits museum through September 15th. A jury that includes Milton Curry, Dean of USC School of Architecture; Christopher Hawthorne, Chief Design Officer, City of Los Angeles; Kirk Johnson, Director of the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution; Kristin Sakoda, Executive Director, Los Angeles County D...

DS+R, Weiss/Manfredi, and Dorte Mandrup to reimagine L.A.'s La Brea Tar Pits

2019-06-07T15:37:00-04:00

Diller Scofidio+Renfro (DS+R), Weiss/Manfredi, and Dorte Mandrup have been tapped to reimagine the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles.

Under a new initiative, the selected firms will compete to "reimagine and renovate" the 12-acre portion of L.A.'s Hancock Park that is home to the La Brea Tar Pits and the George C. Page Museum. The museums and surrounding grounds are owned and managed by a public-private partnership that includes the Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County and Los Angeles County.

The teams will unveil their masterplan proposals for the campus in August 2019 for public review. It is expected that a winning proposal will be selected by the end of 2019.

The George C. Page Museum is home to an extensive paleontological collection. Image courtesy Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County.

The improvements, according to a press release announcing the team selection, will be undertaken to "advance NHMLAC’s scientific research and public engagement for the next half...

The WEISS/MANFREDI-designed Kent State Center for Architecture and Environmental Design opens

2016-12-07T13:08:00-05:00

The new Kent State Center for Architecture and Environmental Design has just opened. Designed by WEISS/MANFREDI, the 117,000 square foot building was the winner of an international competition. The soon-to-be LEED Platinum certified structure is intended to link the Kent State campus with the recently revitalized city of Kent through a continuous gallery and new esplanade. Additionally, the Center features a cafe, a gallery, a 200-seat lecture hall, classrooms and a library. On the top of the building is a 650-seat space dubbed the “Design Loft”. On the roof, an 8,400 square foot green roof manages storm water and connects the “Design Loft” to the surrounding area.

The building includes regional materials, specifically an iron-spot brick façade that was fired at a local kiln. On the north side, the building has a large glazed curtain wall that lets natural light into studio spaces. The south façade has a cantilevering staircase with views of the rest of the campus. Other parts of the...

Mark Mistur named Kent State University College of Architecture dean

2016-03-24T19:30:00-04:00

Professionally, [Mistur's] experience includes his firm, the Troy-based Mark Mistur Architect, from 1993 to present, as well as time with Mistur Riebe Architects in New York City and Glynn, Spillane, Griffing Architects PC and Crozier Associates PC, both of Albany, N.Y. Mistur said in the release that he was honored to be chosen and said the college was “by all indicators a vibrant learning community.”

Formerly an associate dean at the School of Architecture at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, Mistur hasn't announced what direction he plans to take the school in, although he did praise the university's new building (designed by Weiss/Manfredi,) as evidence of pre-existing institutional excellence.

“Opening an extraordinary new facility demonstrates a strong commitment to the college and to design excellence on the part of the university leadership and its alumni," Mistur commented. "Launching an architectural competition that attracted exceptional design firms from across the nation speaks volumes for the outstanding leadership and direction of the college.”

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Plans reworked for new Kent State architecture college

2014-01-17T14:22:00-05:00

Architects, developers, consultants and university officials shared updates on the building's design at a public presentation Thursday at Cartwright Hall where planners announced the building will now comprise four step-like floors instead of five. [...] The changes have been made in the name of efficiency and cost-effectiveness, said Michael Manfredi of the WEISS/MANFREDI firm that won a competitive search to be the $40 million college's lead designer.

Previously: KSU picks Weiss/Manfredi's "Design Loft" concept for its new $40 million architecture school building

KSU picks Weiss/Manfredi's "Design Loft" concept for its new $40 million architecture school building

2013-04-02T18:30:00-04:00

Kent State University has chosen a glassy, light-filled design concept by the firm of Weiss/Manfredi from New York for its $40 million new building for the College of Architecture and Environmental Design. Richard L. Bowen & Associates of Cleveland will be the “architect of record” for the project.

Previously: Four teams unveil concepts in competition to design $40 million architecture school at KSU

Weiss/Manfredi's BBG visitor's center in the WSJ

2012-05-16T15:55:00-04:00

The Brooklyn Botanic Garden, entering its second century, is hardly a novice at branding, but at the new Visitor Center it is exercised with comprehensive aplomb. … the green roof is no small engineering feat. With a pitch of up to 27 degrees, it requires complicated networks of special soils held in place with cleats and geo-nets involving drip irrigation systems woven into capillary fabrics, and other impressive techniques with specialized vocabularies known only to au courant gardeners…

The Wall Street Journal embraces eco-technical gardening while finding a way to point out traditional marriage.

Big Name Semi-Finalists for the St. Petersburg Pier Design Competition

2011-07-30T10:35:00-04:00

Six New York City firms were selected, including BIG, which Saitowitz said had designs of past projects that were "jaw dropping."

On Friday, a five-member panel narrowed down a list of 23 firms and teams competing to design a new $50 million Pier to nine semifinalists. They are:

West 8 Urban Design, New York City
Michael Maltzan Architecture, Los Angeles
BIG, New York City
James Corner Field Operations, New York City
HOK, Tampa
Frederic Schwartz, New York City
Weiss/Manfredi Architectural/Landscape/Urbanism, NYC
Farshid Moussavi Architecture, London
!melk Urban Design, NYC