CSO Architects president Jim Schellinger, who was campaigning to be the Democratic nominee for Indiana governor (Q&A, April 2008, page 104), narrowly lost his bid to former Indiana congresswoman Jill Long Thompson. The unofficial vote tally was 50.2 percent for Long Thompson, 49.8 percent for Schellinger.
Robert A.M. Stern Architects has appointed nine new partners: Augusta Barone, Gary Brewer, Melissa DelVecchio, Sargent Gardiner, Preston Gumberich, Michael Jones, Daniel Lobitz, Meghan McDermott, and Kevin Smith.
Christian Menn‘s design for the Peace Bridge, which would connect Buffalo, N.Y., and Fort Erie, Canada, has been scrapped in favor of a lower profile bridge from Figg Engineering Group. The Environmental Protection Agency said Menn’s two-tower, cable-stayed design—which is 2.5 times as tall as Figg’s design —would create a danger to migrating birds.
Plans are under way to build the world’s most powerful hydroelectric dam in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Grand Inga, first proposed in the 1980s but never built because of political turmoil, is expected to be twice as powerful as the Three Gorges Dam in China and could provide power as far away as South Africa, Egypt, and perhaps even Europe.
Environmental nonprofit American Rivers announced its 2008 list of the nation’s most endangered rivers in April: Catawba-Wateree River, Rogue River, Cache la Poudre River, St. Lawrence River, Minnesota River, St. Johns River, Gila River, Allagash Wilderness Waterway, Pearl River, and Niobrara River. Learn more at americanrivers.org.
The U.S. Geological Survey has released updated National Seismic Hazard Maps, which show that 46 states are threatened by earthquakes. Most of the nation saw a drop in estimates for ground shaking, but a few areas—including western Oregon and Washington—are at a higher risk than before, according to the 2008 survey. Learn more at earthquakes.usgs.gov /research/hazmaps.
The Hangzhou Bay Bridge in China, which links Shanghai and Ningbo, opened on May 1. At 22 miles long, it is the world’s longest transoceanic bridge. The cable-stayed structure took five years to build, and its $1.5 billion price tag was paid for through a combination of state and private funds, a first in China for such a large project. The bridge is expected to cut travel time between China’s financial and industrial capitals by 90 minutes.
An oversight: In our coverage of the 2008 architecture awards announced by the American Academy of Arts and Letters (Report, May 2008, page 35), we neglected to note that Richard Meier received the prestigious Gold Medal. The award is offered only once every six years. Previous honorees include Louis Kahn, Philip Johnson, and Frank Lloyd Wright.