Architecture + Design

How green jobs are taking root in Cincinnati

With the volatility of energy prices, the sagging economy and the continued loss of manufacturing jobs across the Midwest, the environmentally conscious or modern “Green” phenomena is set to become more than a marketing tag or a trend for the Cincinnati region.

P&G and Google team up to trade knowledge

Procter & Gamble has announced that it has done job swaps with Google Inc. to teach each other about targeting customers.The Wall Street Journal reports that discussions about employee swaps began last year, and that two Tide detergent brand managers swapped places with a pair of Google officials in January.P&G spokeswoman Allison Yang tells the New York Times that her company is looking to reach more online customers, and embedded Google officials have been schooled in P&G's innovative brands and strategies.The two companies expect to continue job swaps and information exchanges in the future.Read the full article here.

UC students win international underwater architecture competition

Three University of Cincinnati architecture and interior design students have won France's Archipelaego Competition, a global contest to design forward-looking underwater architecture.Sarosh Ali, Jason Rohal, and Heather Vorst submitted designs for an eco-hotel/research center to be located on the Belize Barrier Reef that incorporated a skinned frame that would conserve divers' energy, a façade that was resistant to the growth of underwater organisms, and the use of tidal energy to supply the center's electricity.The three will jointly receive the Jacques Rougerie Architecture of the Sea Award and will share a cash prize of about $2,000.Archipelaego, which was open to both architecture students and professional architects, was held to encourage the public to preserve the oceans by increasing public awareness of the need for better management.Read the full article here.

Cincinnati’s creative class convenes for the city’s first-ever Digital Non-Conference

Board hopes event spurs interest in Emery Theatre

After a decade of dormancy, the board of the Emery Center Corp. hopes that the November 23 Cincinnati Entertainment Awards spurs interest in raising the $3 million needed to make the historic theater functional.Built in 1911 by Samuel Hannaford and Sons and owned by the University of Cincinnati, the Emery Center board has been busy preparing renovation cost estimates, performing valuation studies, demolishing and removing debris, and generally freshening up the space.With parking available in the nearby Gateway garage and the thriving surrounding arts scene, many see a need for a 1,600-seat theater like the Emery.It's still unclear if the city will have money in the budget to support the project, or if a proposed theater at Fifth and Race will materialize.Read the full article here.

CPA honors excellence in education, renovation

Over 100 members and guests were in attendance as the Cincinnati Preservation Association presented its 2008 Preservation Awards at its annual meeting on November 9.Chuck Lohre and Janet Groeber of Clifton were honored with the CPA Education Award for sharing their Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Usonian home, the Boulter House, and for raising awareness of preserving Cincinnati's Modern architecture legacy.Lohre is also a co-founder and co-chair of Cincinnati Form Follows Function (cf3), a non-profit Modern design forum.Winners of the Rehabilitation Awards included: Bishop's Place, Clifton: A Chateauesque-style house completely restored.  Ken Hughes of Decorative Restorations, Steve Lichtenberg of Lichtenberg Landscaping, Jason Reinhold of Land & Stone, and Kimball Derrick.Cincinnati Observatory Center, Mount Lookout: The completion of an eight-year restoration of the National Historic Landmark.  Craig Niemi of the Cincinnati Observatory Center and Gus Thierry of ICS Construction.Dillon House, Madeira: A mid-century Modern house that was saved from the teardown trend and restored. Vernon's Corner, Over-the-Rhine: A five-year renovation project that has resulted in new apartments and an art gallery.  Vernon Rader and Mark Bernhardt, Don Beck of Beck Architecture, and Mark Brunner.Verona Historic Residences, Walnut Hills: Renovation of historic apartment house into 76 luxury condominiums.  Ed Horgan of Campus Management and Denis L. Back of Denis L. Back & Associaties. At the conclusion of the awards ceremony, a special Design Excellence Award was presented to architect Natalie de Blois.As the lead designer of the Terrace Plaza Hotel, widely considered Cincinnati's greatest mid-century Modern building, de Blois was recognized for her significant contribution to design during a time of blatant discrimination against women architects.De Blois was involved in approximately 48 projects at the firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, designing such notable structures as New York City's Union Carbide and Pepsi Cola buildings, the Connecticut General Life Insurance Building in Bloomfield Hills, CT, and a Hilton Hotel in Istanbul, Turkey.Writer: Kevin LeMasterSource: Margo Warminski, preservation director, Cincinnati Preservation Association

Finding room for Blue Whitespace to grow

Make room for Blue Whitespace. With a new parent company, a slew of awards and accolades and a passion for design, this marketing firm is moving up and out and showing clients nationwide Cincinnati knows good design.

UC team virtually rebuilds lost architecture of the Shakers

An ongoing University of Cincinnati public education project is virtually rebuilding the lost structures of the Shakers, with a focus on the White Water Shaker Village near Harrison.Jose Kozan, adjunct professor of architecture and research associate in UC's College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning, is working in conjunction with members of the Center for the Electronic Reconstruction of Historical and Archaeological Sites to recreate the buildings and interiors that have been lost since the site was vacated in 1916.Using Google's 3D Warehouse and Google Earth, the team has created 3D virtual models of nearly a dozen buildings, taking great care to present the interiors as they would have looked when the village was established in 1824.According to UC News, Kozan's goal is to expand these virtual reconstructions to include other Shaker communities throughout the United States, to spread the architectural lessons to be learned, and to encourage tourism via preservation.Read the full article here.

Cincinnati’s Architectural Nuance

Cincinnati boasts a long list of historical and contemporary architectural statements dotted throughout downtown and Over-the-Rhine. Soapbox now gives you 10 great reasons to cut a new swath across your city as we explore some of the most stunning and surprising buildings in the region.