Survey: Chicago No. 1 for Green Roofs Planted

A first-of-its-kind industry survey shows that Chicago is the No. 1 city in North America for green roofs.

Toronto-based Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, a non-profit industry association whose mission is to increase the development of the green roof industry in North America, announced the results from the first survey of its corporate members independently administered by Kendon Light, E.A.

The top ten cities by square footage planted in 2005 are as follows:

1. Chicago
2. Washington, D.C.
3. Suitland, Md.
4. Ashburn, Va.
5. New York
6. Culpepper, Va.
7. Austin, Texas
8. Arlington, Va.
9. Des Moines, Iowa
10. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Pelli Named to Design U. of I. Building

Cesar Pelli has been announced as the designer of the Business Instructional Facility, a 160,000-sq.-ft. facility on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The project represents a bit of a homecoming because Pelli received his master's degree in architecture from the U. of I. in 1954.

The Illinois College of Business enrolls about 3,000 undergraduates and 850 graduate students in MBA, master's and doctoral programs.

Another key feature of the building is that it will be the first green building on the campus.

The brick-and-limestone building to incorporate features expected to reduce energy consumption by as much as 75 percent in comparison with older campus buildings.

For example, a reflective membrane solar-panel roof will reflect heat and decrease the building's cooling load, while special windows will help minimize heat loss. Between 5 and 7 percent of the building's energy needs will be provided by photovoltaic solar cells, which convert sunlight directly into electricity, installed on the roof of the auditorium.

The building's interior has been designed to encourage interaction and teamwork among students as well as to accommodate alumni events and corporate receptions.

In addition to the auditorium, the first floor will include a cafe, student lounges, study areas, a corporate recruitment center and multi-purpose interview rooms.

Two upper floors will feature state-of-the-art classrooms. A fourth floor on the east wing, paralleling Sixth Street, will be used for faculty offices and meeting spaces.

Construction of the $60-million facility is expected to be completed by fall 2008.

Providence, R.I.-based Gilbane Building Co. is serving as the construction manager.

Viñoly Initiates Concept for U. of C. Hospitals Pavilion

The University of Chicago Hospitals has engaged New York-based Rafael Viñoly Architects and Grand Island, N.Y.-based Cannon Design to begin the process of conceptual design for a new hospital pavilion that will be devoted to complex specialty care, with a focus on cancer and advanced surgical programs.

Viñoly recently completed the university's Graduate School of Business building in Hyde Park. Cannon Design brings national expertise in healthcare architecture.

This project, as currently conceived, could add approximately 500,000 sq. ft. of space and increase the hospitals' total clinical capacity by more than one-third.

The site under consideration is on the south side of 57th Street, between Cottage Grove and Drexel Avenues, adjacent to current UCH facilities.

The new building's design will place a premium on flexibility, the capacity to adjust to the rapid and unforeseen changes at the forefront of medicine in the 21st Century.

The architects are developing a building approach based on a grid system that is built from a standard structural cube. This cube element could be configured over time for a very wide range of purposes, from inpatient beds to radiology suites to surgical operating rooms, without changing the basic frame of the building.

"Our thinking thus far has focused on how we could build a new hospital pavilion that could accommodate the rapid-fire, hard-to-predict changes that have swept through medical science and technology in the last three decades and that continue to gain speed," said UCH president and CEO Michael Riordan.

If the pavilion concept is approved by the UCH and University Boards of Trustees, UCH would proceed with detailed design work, followed by the governmental review and approval process. The Trustees would make a final decision on whether to proceed with construction in 2007. If approved, the facility could open in 2011.

VOA Expands Health Care Interior Design Practice

Chicago-based VOA Associates Inc. announced recently that it is building on its architectural health care practice with the establishment of an expanded interior design health care practice.

Sharon Gonzalez was named to lead the practice. She was previously with DMJM/Rottet in Los Angeles.

The practice is part of the health care group at VOA that has managed projects throughout the country, including the creation of Northwestern Memorial Hospital's new Prentice Women's Hospital with joint venture partner OWP/P, scheduled to open next year.

Patty Looker, who heads the health care group for VOA, is a former health care industry consultant and advocate for women's health care issues.

$1,000 Donated to Architecture Foundation