© 2010, All rights reserved.

Kristin

Dispenza

Architecture & Design Writer

Art of the Hills
Looking Back: History and the Built Environment, Spring 2010
By Kristin Dispenza

Browse through almost any travel magazine, and you’ll see titles such as, “The 10 Prettiest Towns in America,” “Charming Towns of the Midwest,” or, “Best Getaways.” These articles list the top spots to visit, the best venues in which to enjoy arts and culture -- essentially, where to go to enjoy “the good life.” And each year, millions of travelers flock to places like those named in these stories.

What criteria are used to select towns for this kind of honor? Beautiful, unique architecture usually heads up the list.

 

Buildipedia.com

Contributing Writer

January 2010 – present

 

When Building Green, Spend Money Where it Counts, March 2010

By Kristin Dispenza

 

Tenants want to lease space in green buildings. Expand your design options by finding creative ways to partner with ‘green’ tenants early on.

 

In the current market, building green is a sound business practice, and it doesn’t have to require spending money on trendy green products. It is feasible to build to LEED certification standards by focusing on a few core building systems. Furthermore, cost and risks can be defrayed if everyone on the project – even the end user – is working toward the same goal, as is exemplified by the DiscoveryGreen building located in Vancouver, B.C., which achieved LEED Platinum certification.

 

 

Metal Architecture

LEED Moves into New Markets:

Real Estate Company Becomes First  

in the Area to Earn Certification, September 2009

By Kristin Dispenza

 

In 2007, Russell Chamberlain, owner of the Athens Real Estate Company in Athens, Ohio, discovered that he was in possession of a desirable building spot. He already owned an existing retail/office plaza on a well-traveled arterial street connecting rural areas to Athens' downtown core. Views from the front of the property featured a picturesque river valley, complete with an historic mill and waterfall, and a backdrop of tree-covered hills.

 

Columbus C.E.O
Executive Estates, September 2008

By Kristin Dispenza
 

From a historic, Spanish-inspired house in Bexley  to a new-build condominium in Marble Cliff, four local execs give a sneak peek at their homes.

 

 

Commercial Real Estate Insider
Certified Green Broker: Helping Buyers Find Green Buildings, Summer 2008

By Kristin Dispenza
 

Over the past few years, the building industry has made significant progress in terms of sustainability. In part this is because the public sector has been so supportive of the USGBC’s LEED program. However, further advances in green building depend upon the private sector; in order for the building industry to continue to change, first its market must change.

 

Important Media

40+ Blog Posts

December 2007-

November 2008

 

Seattle Shopping Mall Evolves into a Mixed Use Village, July 2008

By Kristin Dispenza

The Pacific Northwest has always been progressive. For Seattle in the spring of 1950, that meant the opening of the country’s first mall. According to HistoryLink, Northgate Mall, located on 62 acres outside the city limits, was built to accommodate a total of 80 stores clustered around a “wide shopping walkway,” although it was not fully enclosed and climate-controlled until 1974. (Confused shoppers reportedly parked in the mall space itself when the center first opened.) By 1968, 50,000 cars a day were using Northgate.

 

Archi-Tech Magazine  

Command and Control: AV Helps Operations Center Field Emergencies, July/August 2007

By Kristin Dispenza

 

When the twin towers fell on 9/11, they took with them a building space vital to protecting the city: The New York City Office of Emergency Management (OEM).

 

 

 

Podcast text developed for New World Design Ltd.

Introduction to "Paris", 2007

By Kristin Dispenza

 

For centuries, the city of Paris has captured the imagination of the Western world. Rising from Roman ruins, it was a thriving kingdom in medieval times. By the end of the middle ages, it had become an established center for the intellectual and artistic avante garde - a distinction it still enjoys today.

 

 

Design Magazine

Ultimate Luxury Column: Stained Glass, January 2003

By Kristin Dispenza

 

Step inside one of Northern Kentucky's historic homes, and chances are one of the first things to catch your eye will be a stained glass window. These classic elements recapture the elegance and luxury of days gone by, but the beauty of stained glass is no longer restricted to older homes.

 

Design Magazine

Art in the Garden, July 2002

By Kristin Dispenza

 

Most of us have already finished our summer gardening ritual - visited local nurseries, planted the attractive annuals that we found there, and taken a stab at fixing the problem areas we've created in years past. We all know what we want to end up with: welcoming gathering spaces interspersed with thriving planting beds and perfectly arranged accent pieces.

 

 

The Architecture Reference Collection, Oculus Visualization LLC (1997-1999)

Paris: A Walking Tour of Selected Buildings

Institut du Monde Arabe,

Kristin Dispenza, Contributing Writer

 

The 1981 competition for the Institut du Monde Arabe initiated President Francois Mitterand's series of Grands Projects. Intended to host educational activities promoting cross-cultural understanding and information exchange, especially in the disciplines of science and industry, it houses a museum, a library, a documentation center, an auditorium, a restaurant, and children's workshops.

In addition to accommodating this diverse program, architect Jean Nouvel and his design team at Architecture Studio were confronted with a series of dichotomies inherent to the unique nature of the project. Stylistically, the building would have to unite themes of western and Arab cultures, as well as themes of modernity vs. historicism. Physically, the site was sandwiched between the very urban faubourg Saint-Germain and the more free-flowing campus of the Université de Jussieu.

Paris: A Walking Tour of Selected Buildings

Cité de la Musique

Kristin Dispenza, Contributing Writer

 

The Cité de la Musique was built in the early 1990's at the southern tip of the Parc de la Villette. It was the only entry in the 1983 competition that departed from the traditional solution of placing a formal, symmetrical structure at the termination of the park's axis. Instead, architect Christian de Portzamparc constructed two completely separate buildings, each opening off of the pivotal "Fountain of the Lions" courtyard south of the Grande Hall.

The west wing, which houses the National Academy of Music and Dance, is rectilinear in plan. Its overall composition is relatively centralized and controlled. But the east wing, with its loosely connected fragments, seems to explode outward from its point of entry at one of Tschumi's follies. De Portzamparc describes this half of the Cité as a puzzle, giving one a sense of the animation and plasticity with which he has imbued the structure.

Cincinnati Preservation Association Newsletter

Zoning Makes Somewhere Into Nowhere, Nov/Dec 1996

By Kristin Dispenza

 

Support for historic preservation has been growing steadily in recent years. One reason for this upsurge of interest in historic buildings and older neighborhoods may be a corresponding dissatisfaction with contemporary building and planning practices.

Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce

One-Stop Shopping is a Growing Trend, July 1994

By Kristin E. Mingus [Dispenza]

 

In the post-World War II era, America saw a shift in focus from small town streetscapes to "the strip." Here, shopping malls, banks, and restaurants - surrounded by ample parking lots - flanked the roadway. It was a new urban landscape scaled primarily to the automobile, and it provided the type of convenience that the modern consumer was looking for.

 

Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce

Engineers Do Their Best to Battle Earthquakes, March 1994

By Kristin E. Mingus [Dispenza]

 

In response to the frequent seismic activity along the west coast, engineers have invested a great deal of effort into developing techniques that enable both new and retrofitted structures to better resist seismic forces. Implementation efforts have been underway in cities that are vulnerable to tectonic motion, including Seattle.

 

Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce

Alternative to Traditional Blasting Techniques, January 1994

By Kristin E. Mingus [Dispenza]

 

Over the past two decades, products known as Soundless Chemical Demolition Agents, or SCDAs (alternatively called expansive agents, soundless cracking agents, and other variations on the terminology) have attained increased usage in this country for the demolition of rock and concrete structures. Although fairly specialized in their application, these products offer an alternative to traditional blasting techniques.

Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce

Ferry Terminals: Steel Pile Wingwalls Installed, June 1993

By Kristin E. Mingus [Dispenza]

 

By midsummer, landing structures at several Washington State Ferry (WSF) terminals will have undergone extensive renovation. The traditional timber wingwalls - piles lashed and bolted together to form walls which absorb impact and hold the ferry in place as it docks - will be replaced with steel pipe structures.

Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce

Out with the New, In with the Old, July 1992

By Kristin E. Mingus [Dispenza]

 

The Securities Building lobby, first built as part of the Washington Securities Building in 1910, has recently undergone restoration and renovation under the direction of Bittman Vammen Taylor Architects. Three years ago, the architects - who are building tenants - and the owner, the Washington Securities Co., started work on the project to restore the lobby's original character (reminiscent of the Italian Renaissance style) after the purity of its design was compromised during remodeling efforts in the early 1960s.

 

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