In passive solar building design, windows, walls, and floors are made to collect, store, reflect, and distribute solar energy, in the form of heat in the winter and reject solar heat in the summer. This is called passive solar design because, unlike active solar heating systems, it does not involve the use of mechanical and electrical devices.
Bank of America Plaza is a supertall skyscraper between Midtown Atlanta and Downtown Atlanta. At 311.8 m (1,023 ft), the tower is the 125th-tallest building in the world. It is the 23rd tallest building in the U.S., the tallest building in the Southeastern region of the United States, and the tallest building in any U.S. state capital, overtaking the 250 m (820 ft), 50-story One Atlantic Center in height, which held the record as Georgia's tallest building. It has 55 stories of office space and was completed in 1992, when it was called NationsBank Plaza. Originally intended to be the headquarters for Citizens & Southern National Bank, it became NationsBank's property following its formation in the 1991 hostile takeover of C&S/Sovran by NCNB.
Contemporary architecture is the architecture of the 21st century. No single style is dominant. Contemporary architects work in several different styles, from postmodernism, high-tech architecture and new interpretations of traditional architecture to highly conceptual forms and designs, resembling sculpture on an enormous scale. Some of these styles and approaches make use of very advanced technology and modern building materials, such as tube structures which allow construction of buildings that are taller, lighter and stronger than those in the 20th century, while others prioritize the use of natural and ecological materials like stone, wood and lime. One technology that is common to all forms of contemporary architecture is the use of new techniques of computer-aided design, which allow buildings to be designed and modeled on computers in three dimensions, and constructed with more precision and speed.
The ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum is an art museum in Aarhus, Denmark. The museum was established in 1859 and is the oldest public art museum in Denmark outside Copenhagen. On 7 April 2004, ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum opened with exhibitions in a brand new modern building, 10 stories tall with a total floor area of 20,700 m² and designed by Danish architects Schmidt Hammer Lassen. Today, ARoS is one of the largest art museums in Northern Europe with a total of 980,909 visitors in 2017.
Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) are photovoltaic materials that are used to replace conventional building materials in parts of the building envelope such as the roof, skylights, or façades. They are increasingly being incorporated into the construction of new buildings as a principal or ancillary source of electrical power, although existing buildings may be retrofitted with similar technology. The advantage of integrated photovoltaics over more common non-integrated systems is that the initial cost can be offset by reducing the amount spent on building materials and labor that would normally be used to construct the part of the building that the BIPV modules replace. In addition, BIPV allows for more widespread solar adoption when the building's aesthetics matter and traditional rack-mounted solar panels would disrupt the intended look of the building.
Manitoba Hydro Place (MHP) is an office tower serving as the headquarters building of Manitoba Hydro, the electric power and natural gas utility in the province of Manitoba, Canada. Located at 360 Portage Avenue in downtown Winnipeg and connected to the Winnipeg Walkway system, Manitoba Hydro Place received LEED Platinum certification in May 2012, making it the most energy-efficient office tower in North America and the only office tower in Canada to receive the LEED Platinum rating.
Perkins&Will is a global design practice founded in 1935. As of 2022, Perkins&Will had 28 offices and over 2,500 employees. In the same year, Perkins&Will generated $572.47 million in earnings, making it the second largest architecture firm by revenue in the United States. Phil Harrison has been the firm's CEO since 2006.
Schmidt Hammer Lassen (SHL) is an international architectural firm founded by a group of Danish architects in 1986 in Aarhus, Denmark. It currently has three offices in Copenhagen and Aarhus in Denmark, as well as Shanghai, China. In 2018, Schmidt Hammer Lassen became part of global architecture and design firm Perkins and Will.
Arkitektfirmaet C. F. Møller, internationally also known as C. F. Møller Architects, is an architectural firm based in Århus, Denmark. Founded in 1924 by C. F. Møller, it is today the largest architectural firm in Denmark based on number of employed architects. About half the revenue is earned outside Denmark. Besides the main office in Århus, the firm has offices in Copenhagen, Oslo, London and in 2007 it bought the Stockholm-based Swedish architectural practice Berg Arkitekter which is still operated under its own name.
Performers House was a folk high school in Silkeborg, Denmark, specializing in offering programs for young people with a special interest in music, dance and theatre.
The ABB LEAF Awards is an annual international architectural prize. It recognises innovative architectural design that sets the benchmark for the international architectural community of the next generation.
The Black Diamond is a modern waterfront extension to the Royal Danish Library's old building on Slotsholmen in central Copenhagen, Denmark. Its quasi-official nickname is a reference to its polished black granite cladding and irregular angles. Designed by Danish architects Schmidt Hammer Lassen, the Black Diamond was completed in 1999 as the first in a series of large-scale cultural buildings along Copenhagen's waterfront.
Erik Reitzel was a Danish civil engineer who started work in 1964 and was for many years a professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and at the Technical University of Denmark, in the disciplines of bearing structures and structural design.
Fænø is a small Danish island in the Little Belt off the west coast of Funen in Middelfart Municipality. With an area of 3.9 km2, as of 1 January 2010 it has a population of just 2. Reaching a height of 39 metres above sea level at its highest point, the island is privately owned. Fænøgård, which used to be the island's farm, has now been completely rebuilt in an architecturally modern style. It caters for private parties and has residential facilities. The island is separated from Funen by the 500-meter-wide Fænø Sund and can be reached by private ferry.
The year 2011 in architecture involved some significant architectural events and new buildings.
Kalvebod Brygge is a waterfront area in the Vesterbro district of Copenhagen, Denmark. The name also refers to a section of the Ring 2 ring road which follows the waterfront from Langebro in the north to the H. C. Ørsted Power Station in the south. The area is dominated by office buildings, Tivoli Conference Center, several hotels and the shopping centre Fisketorvet.
The New Beijing Poly Plaza is a building complex in Beijing, China. Completed in 2007 for the China Poly Group Corporation, it houses the company headquarters, other office space, retail, restaurants, and the Poly Museum.
The Halifax Central Library is a public library in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is located on the corner of Spring Garden Road and Queen Street in Downtown Halifax. It serves as the flagship library of the Halifax Public Libraries, replacing the Spring Garden Road Memorial Library.
Dokk1 or Dokken is a government building, public library and culture center in Aarhus, Denmark. It is situated on Hack Kampmanns Plads in the city center by the waterfront next to the Custom House. Dokk1 is part of the much larger development project Urban Mediaspace Aarhus, jointly financed by Aarhus Municipality and Realdania for 2.1 billion DKK. It is designed by Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects and Kristine Jensen, with construction managed by NCC AB. Construction broke ground 8 June 2011 and the building was inaugurated four years later on 20 June 2015.
The Sir Duncan Rice Library is the main academic library for the University of Aberdeen. It was designed by Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects and completed in 2011. It is named after Duncan Rice, a previous Principal of the university. The cube-shaped building can be seen prominently from the entire campus and much of the city. It is a seven-storey tower, clad in zebra-like jagged stripes of white and clear glass. The building has a floorspace of 15,500 square metres. It houses several of the University's historic collections, including more than a quarter of a million ancient and priceless books and manuscripts that have been collected over five centuries since the University's foundation. There is also public exhibition space. The library replaced the smaller Queen Mother Library as the university's main library.
