Starchitecture meets agriculture: OMA unveils design for Kentucky community farming facility

After a slew of projects in the world’s metropolises, such as Milan, Hong Kong, and Paris, it is West Louisville, Ky., that will now be graced with the presence of an OMA-designed building.

The Rem Koolhaas-led firm recently unveiled its designs for a community farming facility in West Louisville, which Dezeen reports will be built out of a vacant tobacco plantation.

Food Port, as the project is called, will feature expanses of agricultural space to support local farmers and the agricultural industry. An estimated 200 jobs will be created by the $460 million project, which is being led by the nonprofit Seed Capital KY. The project is expected to break ground this summer.

From OMA: The Food Port provides a comprehensive survey of the food industry and its processes while relocating many food programs typically separated from the buyer back into the heart of the city. It defines a new model for how the relationship between consumer and producer can be defined and addresses uncaptured market demand and inefficiencies within the local food industry.

Logistically heavy programs such as the recycling facility and processing facilities are oriented toward the elevated railway on the West, while public programs such as retail and educational facilities face 30th Street. The intersections of programmatic bars take advantage of the unique combination of tenants to introduce shared facilities where private producers and public consumers meet.

Dezeen has the full report.

While green data centers will continue to be a trend within the industry, technology is also driving infrastructure upgrades that have never been seen before, according to the 2011 Data Center Technical Market Report from Environmental Systems Design. The report also includes an overview of the national data center market, construction costs, blackouts and disaster prevention, and site selection.

| Jan 4, 2011

Grubb & Ellis predicts commercial real estate recovery

Grubb & Ellis Company, a leading real estate services and investment firm, released its 2011 Real Estate Forecast, which foresees the start of a slow recovery in the leasing market for all property types in the coming year.

| Nov 29, 2010

Data Centers: Keeping Energy, Security in Check

Power consumption for data centers doubled from 2000 and 2006, and it is anticipated to double again by 2011, making these mission-critical facilities the nation’s largest commercial user of electric power. Major technology companies, notably Hewlett-Packard, Cisco Systems, and International Business Machines, are investing heavily in new data centers. HP, which acquired technology services provider EDS in 2008, announced in June that it would be closing many of its older data centers and would be building new, more highly optimized centers around the world.

| Nov 3, 2010

Public works complex gets eco-friendly addition

The renovation and expansion of the public works operations facility in Wilmette, Ill., including a 5,000-sf addition that houses administrative and engineering offices, locker rooms, and a lunch room/meeting room, is seeking LEED Gold certification.

| Oct 12, 2010

The Watch Factory, Waltham, Mass.

27th Annual Reconstruction Awards — Gold Award. When the Boston Watch Company opened its factory in 1854 on the banks of the Charles River in Waltham, Mass., the area was far enough away from the dust, dirt, and grime of Boston to safely assemble delicate watch parts.

| Oct 12, 2010

Building 13 Naval Station, Great Lakes, Ill.

27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Gold Award. Designed by Chicago architect Jarvis Hunt and constructed in 1903, Building 13 is one of 39 structures within the Great Lakes Historic District at Naval Station Great Lakes, Ill.