Moule & Polyzoides, Architects and Urbanists

Great discussion last week led by principal, Vinayak Bharne, on Alex Athenson’s presentation of what was learned from his M&P Traveling Scholarship trip to study German postwar reconstruction. M&P grants an annual traveling scholarship to advance deeper learning into our practice.

Liz joined a distinguished group of scholars, educators and urbanists gathered by the dean to participate in a Workshop on New Urbanism Research at the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture. Participants discussed challenges facing the global population and how research can uncover solutions within the realm of the built environment.

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It was an exciting start to the week with M&P’s annual Traveling Scholarship presentation. Thanks to for sharing his wonderfully insightful research into German postwar reconstruction. By studying the lessons of how German cities such as Berlin, Dresden, Nuremberg, and Munich restored their character and sense of place following mass destruction in 1945, Alex shared how M&P can learn from these histories and adapt their successes to revitalizing similarly neglected places in the 21st century. Prost!

Alys Beach mosaic tiles coming to life!

Getting in the holiday spirit!

M&P is proud to be designing the heart of this new village for vets in West Los Angeles.

The answer to veterans homelessness could be one of LA's most expensive neighborhoods A massive VA campus in West Los Angeles is finally housing hundreds of vets, and may finally change the city's worst-in-the-nation status on veterans homelessness.

Moule & Polyzoides is pleased to spread the word about the publication of the fourth issue of the Journal of Traditional Building, Architecture and Urbanism, which was completed with Liz and Stefanos’s support! Explore the online version at https://www.traditionalarchitecturejournal.com/index.php/home/issue/view/5.

1880 Walnut, a new 58-unit condominium building has passed the plan check process and will begin construction in the coming weeks. It will be the first net-zero for-sale affordable housing project in Southern California where nearly 50% of the units will be designated as income-restricted.

We look forward to continuing to support Heritage Housing on their mixed-income projects.

Autumn on the Gulf Coast looks good on the Della, a project we are proud to be a part of in Alys Beach. Construction is progressing rapidly as the beautiful white plaster skin, glass mosaic tile, and Western Red Cedar timbers bring the building to life!

Photo Credits: Brassfield & Gorrie, DAG Architects, Alex Athenson

Stefanos led the 2024 Driehaus Awards jury last weekend in Charleston, SC with a trip to I’On hosted by Vince Graham. What a pleasure to revisit such a beautiful town and the work of such a talented developer.

The American Institute for Architecture (AIA) presents its annual Joseph E. Founder’s Award to Moule & Polyzoides partner, Elizabeth Moule, in recognition of her distinguished career in architectural and urban design, education and service.

The nominating committee noted that Ms. Moule is the first Founder’s Award recipient to be honored at a career peak and recognizes that hers is a career of many “firsts:” having established an architecture-planning firm that has earned worldwide recognition over its 35-year history, co-founded the Congress of New Urbanism (CNU), and developed their own three projects - all while raising three children.

Last week the City of Napa Planning Commission overwhelming approved the Old Sonoma Road Mixed-Use Master Plan district and issued a Design Review Permit. Our designs for three courtyard buildings and eight single family houses (totaling 103 residences) are designed in the Craftsman style, typical of the traditional architecture of the Bay Area. The project is designed as a neighborhood fragment around distinct streets and blocks and is composed of three courts over parking and eleven single family houses rendered in three types. The buildings have their own unique form, facing streets and paseos with house scaled frontages that impart a residential character throughout. They are all wood- framed and clad in Hardy shingles. Environmental design features include passive ventilating and daylighting, water harvesting and the extensive use of solar panels for power generation and water heating.

Genova’s Mercato Orientale is tucked inside of an urban block, off of Genova’s monumental Via 20 Settembre. This is a typical market hall with small shops double- loaded along a wide, skylit corridor, organized on a horseshoe plan. The market is sectionally unique, with the center of the market elevated by half a story. The underground portion is used as storage for the needs of the various shopkeepers. The raised atrium is skylit and clerestory lit both, is arcaded on its edges and is used as Food Hall. Its arcade is divided into tiny restaurants with the light-filled central atrium providing restaurant seating. This is a vital urban market that serves the daily needs of the residents of the downtown of the city, and a engaging place to grab a bite next time you find yourself as a visitor to the Ligurian Riviera.

Completed in 1876, the Galleria Mazzini is a marvelous example of late 19th c. architecture built in the service of a reasoned city extension for the City of Genova. It is a world- class example of mixed- use urbanism at its best. A 200 meter-long shopping arcade, it was inspired by the passages of Paris and the Galleria in Milan. The steel-framed, light-filled gallery is flanked by residential buildings on both sides. The 100 foot long palazzo- scaled buildings are separated by 30 foot entrance pavilions, a pattern that is repeated on the west side of the Galleria, to form Via Roma. The backs of those buildings defining gardens against the fabric of the historic city. This sensitive modulation and coordination of massing, public and private space, retail ground floors and robust materiality is rendered as a highly detailed classical composition. The ensemble feels and looks as good as new, 150 years after its completion.

Marcello Piacentini, the most important architect of the Italian midcentury, could design brilliantly and contextually at any scale.

In 1926, he created the entrance of the Quirinetta Movie Theater at the base of an existing 19th c. arcade building in Rome. Rendered in four kinds of marble, the facade endures as a study in architectural elegance and thoughtful new design within the body of an existing historic building. The famous neorealist film by Rossellini, “Roma citta’ aperta,” (Rome, Open City) opened here in its initial commercial run on September 27, 1945. Shuttered in the 1990s, the movie theater has since reopened as a popular discotheque.

In Genoa, he designed Torre Piacentini, once the tallest building in Europe. Although it towers over its neighbors, the skyscraper achieves an unusual state of harmony in its urban setting, through a few key design strategies: Its base corresponds to the height of surrounding buildings; its façade rendered in a striated pattern evokes traditional Genoese architecture, creates a material connection to the urban fabric; the scale of the building is reduced by a repeating three story pattern of double and single windows separated by a horizontal molding. The vertical massing of the tower is articulated as a regular shaft with projections added to each of its sides. In sum, a most extraordinary building.

We love how this thin screen of lights is draped across the stone facade of the Palazzo della Regione Liguria, becoming elegant signage at night.

Medieval streets might be narrow and windy, but you almost never get lost while walking them. The rhythm of compression and expansion, suspense and delight draws you through the old city of Genova.

One of the “new streets” built during the Renaissance, Via Garibaldi cuts a straight line through the medieval city. The street is fronted by fine aristocratic palazzi, some of which comprise the Musei di Strada Nuova. It is predominated by pedestrians, but where cars are necessary they are ingeniously concealed in old courtyards.

Rome is a bottomless fount of inspiration. Every street in the Eternal City has something to teach us about the construction of timeless urbanism.

M&P Partner Elizabeth Moule will be a juror in an upcoming charrette for new Smithsonian sites in D.C. The design team will present urban concepts for the American Women’s History Museum and the National Museum of the American Latino. These important institutions deserve sites of civic prominence that contribute to the architectural cohesion of our Capital’s historic fabric. (Photo Credit: The White House)

Thank you to our Alys Beach client Ebsco and our contractor B&G, who facilitated a tour of the Della. We visited the construction site with weImpact Group, a visionary team that we are privileged to work with on transformative work in the Midwest.

Work continues at The Della, which already has stunning views of Alys Beach. The first image shows how the dramatic sweep of the south-facing arcade embraces the town square and coastline beyond. In the second photo a large window looks out on charming residential neighborhood.

It is remarkable to see how Seaside has grown in place over the last few decades. In the quiet of the off-season, you can really appreciate the craft and quality of the architecture, which helped jump start new traditional building nationwide.

Over the weekend, The Seaside Prize brought together some of the greatest innovators of the New Urbanism. Pictured is architect and planner Andres Duany, honoree Donald Shoup, and town cofounder Robert Davis leading a tour of the community’s downtown.

This year’s Seaside Prize was awarded to parking guru Donald Shoup, and we are honored that both Liz and Stefanos spoke at the event. Through innovative research and tireless advocacy, Professor Shoup has revealed the high cost society pays for parking. We thank him for his invaluable contributions to realizing more livable cities.

Saarinen had immersed himself in the modernist style by the time he designed the Cranbrook Art Museum and Library, but you can still see the echoes of classicism in his formal compositions. The last photo shows Marshall Fredericks’ homage to “The Thinker,” a great ape in deep thought. He must be ruminating on his incredible architectural surroundings!