Originally built in 1991 as one of the earlier phases of the renowned Broadgate development, the eleven storey office building, 199 Bishopsgate in central London recently benefited from a £35 million refurbishment project, including a new roof level Louvred plant enclosure and internal Roller Blinds, both courtesy of Levolux.John Robertson Architects carried out the refurbishment design, which followed a comprehensive brief from building owners British Land and Blackstone to transform the building’s interior and upgrade its energy performance, leading to carbon emission reductions of 60%.The refurbished building, which is BREEAM ‘excellent’ rated, provides 140,000 sq ft of high quality office space, set in a prominent Broadgate Estate location in the heart of London’s financial district.For more information – http://www.levolux.com/L_case_studies/199-bishopsgate-london.htm

We spent last weekend in Aspen, CO and had a little bit time to tour the local VM ZINC projects. The Christ Episcopal Church on 536 West North Street in Aspen is a one of the projects we liked most for its contemporary design and its great craftsman ship. Does anyone know who the architect is and did the install?

Gas Natural Torre Marenostrum in Barcelona (EMBT Miralles&Tagliabue, 2006) – http://bit.ly/la7tvl

To help accommodate visitors to Liverpool ONE, a major retail, residential and leisure centre, Q-Park developed a new 550-space multi-storey car park with an architecturally impressive Solar Shading system from Levolux. Read here: http://bit.ly/ifvf9t

Museum of Arts and Design NYC renovation Allied Works Architecture preserved the sweep of its concave facade but updated it in a shimmering rainscreen of glazed terra-cotta tiles. That new iridescent cloak, produced by NBK Architectural Terracotta, The New York Times called the $90 million project “a transformation no one would have imagined.”

Show at the Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery honors international leader in design, Dominique Perrault. The exhibit will display a crosssectionof Perrault’s work, nearly all of the featured projects feature metal fabric as a primary design element.

Dane Residence in Santa Monica CA. 316 Stainless Steel honey comp panels from Hunter Douglas have been used, to create a highly reflective facade without any oil canning.

I don’t know about you, but going to the dentist is not on my list of favorite things to do. An awkwardly mounted TV hanging between the wall and the ceiling is supposed to distract me from the things to come. It is safe to say, it almost never works. I wish every dentist office would have a printed ceiling like in the pictures below, helping me to escape to my “happy place” before the drilling starts.

Zinc Facade, Center for Creative Arts at Brown University. Architect is Diller Scofidio + Renfro Do you like it?