The new FEMA facility in Winchester, Virginia, designed by KMD Architects, is operational. Photo: Courtesy KMD Extra Large Image

Chicago · 2008.0924
International design and engineering firm Thornton Tomasetti has promoted four staff members in its Chicago, Illinois, office. Principals Carol Post, P.E., S.E., LEED AP, and Thomas Poulos, P.E., M.L.S.E., S.E., S.E.C.B., have been promoted from vice president to senior vice president. Garret Browne, S.E., and David Weihing, P.E., S.E., LEED AP, were promoted from senior associate to vice president.

Post and Poulos both joined the firm in 1997. Post is the higher-education market sector leader for the Chicago office and has over 25 years of structural engineering experience. Poulos has over 20 years of experience, and serves as the firm's aviation sector leader.

Browne joined in 1994 as a senior engineer, and has 22 years of experience with many types of structures. Weihing joined the firm 1998 in the role of engineer, focused on technical engineering.

Thornton Tomasetti recently opened a new office in San Francisco, California, headed by principal John Abruzzo. Abruzzo has been with the firm for 14 years and previously led the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, office.

Los Angeles · 2008.0922
Michelle Ives has joined the Los Angeles, California, office of multidisciplinary firm Leo A Daly as director of interiors. Ives has over 20 years of design and management experience in the architectural and interior design industries, in addition to work in the real estate, product development, and construction sectors. She has designed interiors for many large-scale commercial, residential, and community projects in California and Hawaii. Prior to joining the firm, Ives served as director of client services for Wirt Design Group of Los Angeles. She previously founded her own design firm.

Winchester · 2008.0918
A new U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) facility (pictured above) in Winchester, Virginia, has been completed and occupied. San Francisco, California-based KMD Architects designed the $28 million, 165,000 square-foot (15,300-square-meter) complex, which serves as operational headquarters for FEMA's Emergency Preparedness and Response Group.

The LEED-certified office complex consists of two adjacent structures, with office and warehouse space and an emergency command center. The exterior features a curved facade and ten-foot- (three-meter-) high rock wall. Excavated boulders serve as security bollards around the building. Outdoor spaces include a third-floor patio and an amphitheater.

Sustainable features include an underfloor air distribution system, a half-acre (0.2-hectare) green roof, permeable surfaces in the parking areas, bioswales to filter rainwater, and native landscaping. The building orientation and vertical perforated-metal sunshades on the front facade optimize daylighting while managing heat gain. New York-based Cowperwood Company developed the project.

Honolulu · 2008.0918
A $28 million renovation is complete at Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort & Spa in Honolulu, Hawaii. In the oceanfront Kealohilani Tower, 605 rooms and suites now feature beach house-inspired interiors designed by Woodland Hills, California-based Creative Resource Associates, Inc., with granite tops, birch wood furnishings, and bright color accents.

Group 70 International of Honolulu worked with the interior designers to implement sustainable features, including low-flow bathroom fixtures, efficient chillers for air conditioning, and sensors that turn off the A/C when balcony doors are open. Windows in all guest rooms and public spaces were tinted to reduce heat load.

Buenos Aires · 2008.0918
Construction has begun on The Aleph, a high-end residential development in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Foster + Partners of London, United Kingdom, designed the project, the first phase of which includes 57 apartments on nine floors.

The traditional courtyard concept is reinvented inside the apartments in the form of "external room." Each dual-aspect apartment is enclosed by glazed panels and bronzed aluminum sun screens, balancing solar shading with daylight and natural ventilation. A number of the apartments feature double-height balconies. The three penthouses have open terraces, and a swimming pool will top the building.

The bronzed screens, limestone flooring, and organic colors were selected to cohere with the postindustrial brick buildings around the revitalized dock area. As part of a wider master plan for the Puerto Madero district, phase one of The Aleph will also include two additional residential blocks, arranged around two central gardens in a T formation, with ground-floor shops. Completion of The Aleph is expected in 2010.

Fort Worth · 2008.0917
Two new distribution centers have opened at Mercantile Center in north Fort Worth, Texas. Hardy McCullah/ MLM Architects of Dallas was the architect for the speculative facilities, which provide 319,000 square feet (29,700 square meters) of new warehouse, distribution center, and office space. Both buildings have skylights and are finished with a two-tone paint scheme to match other buildings in the business park. Bob Moore Construction of Arlington, Texas, served as general contractor.

Ebersberg · 2008.0910
Stephen A. Kliment, FAIA, the editor of Architectural Record from 1990 to 1996, died of cancer on September 10, 2008, at age 78. "He led Record during the construction industry's worst recession since the 1930s," said the recent obituary in Record, "shaping a leaner publication that emphasized straightforward writing and concern for architectural practice, not just architectural design." Kliment was traveling in Ebersberg, Germany, at the time of his death; he lived in Manhattan.

Kliment was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, in 1930. He grew up in England, and moved to the United States in 1950. He earned a bachelor's degree in architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1953), a master's from Princeton University (1957), and also studied in Paris and Havana. He practiced architecture at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) after graduating, and as a partner at Caudill Rowlett Scott (1969 to 1972).

Kliment was editor of Architectural and Engineering News (1961 to 1969) and an acquisitions editor at John Wiley & Sons (1987 to 1990). He later returned to Wiley and was founding editor of the Building Type Basics series. For several years until his death, he was the editorial director of Oculus, the magazine of the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), and of eOculus. He also wrote the book Writing for Design Professionals.

An honorary member of the National Organization of Minority Architects, Kliment promoted diversity in the profession.

Los Angeles · 2008.0904
The new Rampart Community Police Station has officially opened in Los Angeles, California. The Los Angeles office of Perkins + Will designed the LEED Gold-certified building. Elements such as glazing were incorporated to make the station more welcoming. The facility includes community meeting facilities and outdoor public green space. Perkins + Will principal and L.A. design director Nick Seierup served as principal designer of the building.

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