The Architect's Newspaper July/August 2021
New Tools for Development page 8
www.archpaper.com
Tribute to Paulo Mendes da Rocha page 14
@archpaper
Learning from Margaritaville Times Square page 16
An ambitious new development in central St. Louis hopes it can build communitarian values through design. But will it push out an existing community along the way? Read on page 24.
The Opposite of Ticky-Tacky?
COURTESY OWEN DEVELOPMENT/ TATIANA BILBAO ESTUDIO
Tankhouse, a design-forward Brooklyn-based developer, is cut from a different cloth. Read on page 26.
Do Tank
$3.95
The origins of public space page 58
6 ICYMI 7 Eavesdrop 54 Marketplace 56 Highlights
Fall Guy
Who was William Friedman, the mystery man who designed Champlain Towers South?
The collapse of Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida, leaves questions that will take years to answer: What caused the structural failure? What parties bear responsibility? What can be done for the survivors? And perhaps most critically: What other local buildings may also be at risk, requiring measures to prevent similar incidents, from urgent repairs to preventive evacuation and demolition? Curiously missing from the extensive media coverage to date is any detailed characterization of the collapsed building’s architect. Whether his design, its realization, deferred maintenance, or other factors caused the structure to fail will remain uncertain, at least until investigations are complete; still, documented professional lapses on his part predated the construction of Champlain South by over a decade and caused the Florida State Board of Architecture to suspend his license for six months in 1967. His legal dispute with
the board over the decision in 1966 created a public legal record, and the board’s more extensive files contain substantial adverse information that bears consideration as the wider architectural community grapples with the challenges of protecting public safety. Champlain South was not the first structural failure associated with him. The name of William M. Friedman (1930–2018) surfaced in the 2018 engineering report by Morabito Consultants warning the Champlain Towers South condominium association about the building’s condition. A key passage in structural engineer Frank Morabito’s document describes the flat, nonsloping pool slab of reinforced concrete, prone to accumulating rainwater rather than draining properly, as “a major error in the development of the original contract documents prepared by William M. Friedman & Associates Architects, Inc., and Breiterman Jurado & Associates, Consulting Engineers.” continued on page 12
Renaissance City Redux
Detroit’s Prince Concepts rejuvenates the business of development, while transforming communities in the process. Read on page 22.
COURTESY TANKHOUSE/SO-IL
JASON KEEN
Glass Read on page 28.
Read on page 26.
ALBERT VECERK A /ESTO
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