Ralph Johnson of Perkins & Will, Chicago, has put his hand to a 15-story, 96,000-sq.-ft. condominium development in the city's River North area. The concrete and glass design calls for a 45-ft.-high concrete column supporting a cast-in-place cantilevered roof. The structure, scheduled for completion next October, is programmed for retail space and parking on the first four floors, with 28 luxury apartments ranging in size from 1,500 sq. ft. to 5,000 sq. ft. above. Developer is Chicago's CMK Development, with McShane Construction Corp., Rosemont, Ill., providing construction management for the Building Team.
Visteon Corp., the Dearborn, Mich.-based automotive supplier (2001 sales: $17.9 billion), breaks ground this month for an 800,000 to 1 million sq. ft. complex on a 265-acre site in western Wayne County. David King, chairman of Detroit-based SmithGroup, the designer, claims the complex will be "like no other corporate headquarters ever designed." Four thousand "Visteonites" will be housed in "Visteon Village," consisting of numerous "diverse, human-scaled buildings" using a variety of shapes and materials. "Team-oriented" studio lofts will encourage "informal interaction and nonlinear thinking," according to King. A mid-2004 completion date is scheduled. Rounding out the Building Team is contractor Walbridge Aldinger, Detroit.
Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership, Washington, D.C., is designing a 324,000-sq.-ft. engineering and medical science building at Duke University, Durham, N.C. The double-winged structure will house a photonics and communications system in one arm and a medical teaching/lab facility in the other. Contractor Beacon-Beers, a partnership between Beacon Skanska, Boston, and Beers Skanska, Atlanta, anticipates an August 2004 finish.
