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| Gensler receives Gold award for Santa Monica Nomadic Museum  The Nomadic Museum was among the winners of the 2006 Industrial Design Excellence Awards (IDEA). Gensler and Shigeru Ban received a Gold award for its Santa Monica installation of the Nomadic Museum, which made its debut on Pier 54 in early 2005. IDEA, one of the world's most prestigious design competitions, is co-sponsored by BusinessWeek and the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA). From more than 1,494 entries, this year's jury awarded 27 Golds, 38 Silvers, and 41 Bronzes, for a total of 106 awards.In selecting The Nomadic Museum for this honor, juror Aura Oslapas, IDSA, principal of A+O Design Methods, commented, "The concept for this building structure is fantastic. Kudos to the design team for using locally available shipping containers to construct such a large temporary structure, and for pulling this off in multiple locations." The Nomadic Museum was initially designed by Shigeru Ban to be a temporary structure housing Ashes and Snow, the traveling exhibition of large-scale photographic works and films by the artist Gregory Colbert. Gensler joined the design team with Ban after the initial exhibition in New York to implement a broader sustainable program, fulfilling the client's original vision of a 100% sustainable structure. Driven by a zero-waste ethic, Gensler developed a program that assured that each component was not only a local reused or 'found item, ' but that the entire structure could remain demountable and 'nomadic' for the life of the project and beyond. The museum is composed of 152 steel cargo containers stacked and secured in a checkerboard pattern. The entire exhibition is packed into a dozen of those same containers as it travels from place to place. The remaining containers are borrowed at each new location, along with recycled paper tubes for the roof and reusable wooden planks and local gravel for the floor, all which can be reused or recycled after the show. Meant to reflect the exhibit's subject matter -- the harmonious relationship between human beings and the natural environment -- the museum is a transitory environment that evokes the journey of the exhibition. Winners will accept their awards at the IDEA 2006 National Conference in Austin, Texas in September. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Construction News :: home page |