Innovative Design

Intended to contribute to Seoul’s initiative of becoming one of world’s top five cities in innovative urban design, this project for a stadium would be located near No-Eul Park is Seoul, serving the local colleges, high schools and adjacent communities. It’s dynamic form and tectonic qualities communicate both to the natural surroundings and the need for attractive and versatile public spaces.

The entrance is situated at the center of the structure, bringing visitors to the tessellated secondary structure. Shell-like structures help distributing the tension through the varied curved type and contain a gradient cavity that screens sunlight for the stadium audience. Triangulated panelization follows the building’s curvature, structuring its body and enhancing the dynamic effects of the structural shells. Stressing the conceptual importance of “poly-valiant qualities of the building”, the architect Michael Arellanes states:

”Poly-Valiant structures are tectonics with multi-performance properties that address engineering, aesthetics, technology, surfaces, space, and component based typologies. The urban stadium attempts to contain sleek elements and lines like that of high performance sports cars. This gives the stadium valiancy in aerodynamic formal bodies and operational function. The aesthetic formalizes an exploding force that compounds into a structural shell, and then stretches across in a simple-elegant curve. It expresses the varied stages of force.”
 

an Underground Cemetery

Over the next four decades the number of people over 65 years old will increase by more than three-fold in developing countries, reaching 1.6 billion by 2050. On the other hand, Mexico City’s buildable area is extremely scarce and limited growth is only possible towards the outskirts of the city, with the consequent loss of agricultural land and environmental consequences.

This project proposes an underground vertical cemetery for Mexico City – a vision that takes into consideration the overpopulation, the scarcity of land, and the psychological and sensory experience of grieving. The ‘Tower for the Dead’ allows the family members of the deceased to be reborn, after a trip to the underworld, where they just buried their loved one.

The proposal was conceived as a large-scale screw with curved retaining walls and ramps with an enormous light-well that provides light and ventilation.

an Obsolete Factory

During the modernization of Beijing, except for some historical houses, independent housing typology was almost eliminated. Afterwards, the new model became huge, stacking commercial residential buildings.

Thus, with the support of the client, project Beijing House II is trying to seek new methods of bringing the independent housing typology back to Beijing’s contemporary city life. This design scheme adds a new house onto the exterior of an obsolete factory building. Inside the house there are bedrooms, a studio and a green room. By doing this, the design uses the empty city space in the air and rediscovers the typology of independent housing in Beijing city.

Meanwhile, this scheme also brings about new challenges because Beijing has frequent earthquakes and this design scheme suggests a big cantilever house, which is attached onto the exiting building. Therefore, to keep this in mind, a mechanical system is introduced to counteract a potential earthquake.
The design attitude of this scheme is very honest when dealing with the fluid geometry and the mechanical system. This scheme tries to mix and merge these two different styles together instead of hiding any one of the two different systems. This becomes one of the main features of the design.

Architect: Yaohua Wang Architecture
Location: Beijing, China
Structural Engineer: Organization Group
Client: Confidential
Site: An historical factory area in Beijing, which no longer working as a factory anymore
Program: Single-family residence and creative studio
Size: 500 m²
Cost: $2 million
Completion: 2015

oily Skins, organic Volumes

Yuliyan Mikov, the Bulgarian artist, designed this dramatic proposal for the Museum of Architecture. A set of organic volumes interlock to create a versatile structure that shelters the public space below. It is a lofty building, supported by a network of pillars and a core of vertical communication.

The design is accompanied by a piece of reflexive writing, elaborating on the project’s  inspirational origins:

“During walk along Lipscani, ( a fable about the old merchants of the past centuries) my eyes are taken by huge piles of garbage where as if on a throne, stood empty plastic bottles. And then I saw the ghosts of the past, creeping out of their deformed mouths, rising slowly just like the ghost of the magic lamp. But they were many, the same number as the empty bottles, wearing clouds with their semitransparent bodies, as if embracing each other and rising towards the heavens. When the night attracts affection with her darkness, the ghosts shaking in the cold atmosphere gather closer to each other, lying in cluster and folding themselves, beginning to exchange ideas, furtively communicating in order to escape the fear of the normality, the habits, and the fear of becoming animals, casted in form, driven by reflexes…

The next night I followed the pouchy ghosts and noticed on that special place of the world’s creation ” trees, growing from the ruins, between the metal and the piles of garbage, dancing with their leaves like sirous creeping between the ghosts, entering their small navels.

The ghost’s domain does never dry out. Depending on the spot you are looking you can see them, sweet and huge, playing hide and seek, squeezing between each other’s white and oily skins.”

a Road passing

This project was designed for Cheraga, Algeria by Barcelona-based DNA Architects. Le Far du Grand Vent adapts itself to the surroundings. It follows the forms of the urban surface given by the road passing by and the built areas around. The building itself reminds of a ship due to the angular basis which is considerably bigger than the upper part of the construction. It could also remind of melting ice, backed by the presence of the sea nearby. The floors are separated on the exterior, with angular edges, giving the impression of fragility and that the huge integrating parts could fall apart.

Due to the used materials, such as the glass, Le far has a sophisticated and light air, contrasting the huge dimensions making it eye-catching, becoming a landmark at the city-skyline even more at night.
The situation of Le far is appropriate to make it the centre of attention and attraction. It offers a quality semi-public space for residents and visitors: service, commercial and office area, hotel, and apartments. Terraces create private promenades towards the city. Each part of the building is different according to its program and the views, all coming together with transition or buffer zones like the vertical cores connections.

DNA Barcelona Architects is a studio of Architecture, Planning, Landscape, Interiors and Design, that develops projects with a high index of innovation inside a global strategy of internationalization. The projects are located principally within Spain, North and Central Africa, the Middle East, South Asia and Central America for residential, hospitality and tourist developments.

virtual Urban Green

Off Architecture, in partnership with Duncan Lewis Scape Architecture, has proposed a series of low rise apartment complexes that becomes virtual urban green belts in Anglet, France. The design is for two developments with differing egress and layouts. The buildings themselves are somewhat conventional, sitting two to four stories tall with standard floor plans and patios. They are set on a tiered landscape and follow the ground, stepping down a story at a time.

Site One stands at it tallest four stories with a passage at the ground floor in the middle of the complex, allowing access to the inner courtyards. Tucked under parking along the length of the project eliminates adjacent hardscapes. Site Two is a low set series of apartments placed on a slope with individual walkouts above the next unit.

What sets the design apart of is the extreme green space surrounding and on top of the buildings. The greenery is encouraged to climb trellises on the balconies, along the side of the apartments and over the roofs. The flora is so intense that the projects have the quality of an abandoned space in which nature has reclaimed. Renderings show deer and sheep on the wooded grounds, as though the city has dissolved into a nature/bourg hybrid, fed by dirt paths and copious living elements. An urban back to the earth movement enshrined in the built environment.
 

Flowall Mobile Elements

Awarded the Red Dot Best of Best Concept Award 2011, Flowall is a wall lamp designed by the Korean designer Jeil Park. It provides light through a curtain of mobile elements, reacting differently, depending on the interaction with the user.

Jeil Park’s work explores the relationship established between objects and users in a physical and phenomenological manner. ”Objects designed with materials, colors and specific shapes will quite possibly get different meanings, depending on context and situation around them, despite being the same design,” says Park. Flowall drafts present a series of slats that hang vertically from the wall and bend at different heights. When one of the blades is pressed, a motion sensor receives the signal and the structure is bent up to form an obtuse angle. The module pulls neighboring slats, creating an undulating surface and progressive rhythmic repetitions. LED lighting installed in the interior of each board affects differently depending on the angle of the bend of each piece of the screen.

Currently, Jeil Park is working on a version of Flowall work with a system of ropes in tension and a shooter instead of a kinetic sensor. Made of fabric and linked together by a thread, the blades will be lighter and cheaper for a possible future commercialization of the design.

to Build in Chicago

488 pages | 12 color plates, 250 halftones, 22 line art | 8-1/2 x 10 | © 2005
Chicago Architecture and Urbanism
Cloth $45.00 ISBN: 9780226870380 Published July 2005
Paper $25.00 ISBN: 9780226870397 Published March 2007

When you think of modern architecture, you think of Chicago, the birthplace of the skyscraper, the cradle of twentieth-century American design, and the home of enduring works by such iconic figures as Louis Sullivan, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and Frank Lloyd Wright. Idealized through tourism and celebrated in the groves of academe, the city's majestic skyline and landmark buildings remain a living testament to the modern movement.

“It is hard to believe that there is anything new to say about the development of modern architecture in Chicago in the 19th and 20th centuries. Skyscraper history has been recorded in detail, as have major architects and their buildings, particularly Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Mies van der Rohe. However, this fascinating and important book demonstrates how wrong that belief is. . . . The book’s 28 essays, by a wide variety of authorities, include alternatives to the archetypical story of modern architecture in Chicago, the importance of the Columbian Exhibition, William Le Baron Jenney and parks, and such less-regarded works as Marina City and O’Hare Airport. There are fascinating essays on women architects, as well as ones on seemingly less-important subjects such as postcards of Chicago architecture and the photographs of Hedrick Blessing, the importance of real estate developers and public housing.”—Choice

to House a Casa.! in Corsica

Corsica Traditional Houses and Architecture

The traditional Corsican house, referred to as a casa ('the house'), is made of stones; Corsica basically being a mountain in the Mediterranean with plenty of granite and schist available.

In the traditional Corsican village houses are built close to one another, this because of the original ancient family links between the inhabitants of a same village. The first time that you visit such a village you may think it is a real mess but there is actually a family logic behind this.
The traditional Corsica houses are made of granite (centre and south of the island) and of schist (north).

These French properties generally have between 3 and 6 storeys, with the stairs often being outside the house to save space inside it. Windows are of small dimensions as it allows to be protected from the rigours of the Corsican weather. Corsica is a gorgeous French region, many houses boasting outstanding views.
  
On the roofs there are wide thin schist tiles called teghje in the local dialect. These can be of grey-blue colour (in the town of Corte), green (Bastia) or silver grey (Castagniccia). In some areas, classic tiles can be seen. The walls are generally whitewashed.

Top Tip!
If you are planning to restore a house in Corsica, financial aid can be obtained from the regional council (Conseil Général de Corse) when you plan to use traditional material like lauze on your roof for instance.

The classic house in the Corsica region of France is austere and massive. The front façade has generally no shutters, no curtains and the decoration is very simple. It is not rare to see a cellar and an oven attached to the house on the ground floor.
Corsican houses are pretty rare since the locals generally refuse to sell them or even to rent them. Corsica properties are indeed one of the most important sign of the traditional culture in this region of France.
 

a Contemporary Record

Architecture Australia is the premier magazine recording architectural activity in Australia, and by Australians working around the world.

Architecture Australia presents:

•the latest projects
•award winning works,
•issues, events and industry politics.

Architecture Australia is the most read architecture magazine in Australia, according to independent market research.

Architecture Australia is an authoritative and contemporary record - essential reading.

Architecture Australia is published six times a year for architects, interior designers, building designers and other building industry professionals.

Architecture Australia is the official national magazine of the Australian Institute of Architects. 

Architecture Australia is audited by the Circulations Audit Board (CAB).

Editor: Timothy Moore
Editorial Director: Cameron Bruhn
Publisher: Sue Harris
Email: aa@archmedia.com.au
Published by: Architecture Media Pty Ltd
More Contact Information 

a Sebastien Light

These constructions made of polyethylene plastic tubes, usually used for water, gas and electrical distribution, are strong and flexible pieces of public furniture. The designer, Sebastian Wierinck considers them to be experiments in contemporary design, aiming to “bring some new creative freedom, and some opportunities to follow the researches in the design and production of objects and spaces.”
These installations continually transform from bench seating to lighting elements, ultimately conveying the artist’s main conceptual goal:

“…there is the metaphorical aspect of the tube. A tube is not just an object or a surface, it’s a shape related to a content, drift or flux (something like a vain in our body). This flux can be energy, electricity or light, just like the one used into the OnSite installation projects, but it could be also information or data. This is probably one of the interesting parts of the project. Could we actually give shape to information? When we talk about furniture we talk sometimes about a manufactured prosthesis for the human body, like an extension of our bodies . Perhaps the aim behind the OnSite project is to mix this concept of human prosthesis/furniture object with the concept of digital interface between people and information into a particular space? Who knows?”

 

to House Systems in Art

The Berimbau Tower was designed as a sustainable structure that would house telecommunications systems and other activities during the two major events planned for Rio de Janeiro: the World Cup 2014 and 2016 Olympic Games. After a thorough investigation the team has decided upon the final design of the high-rise which was largely inspired by Brazilian culture: Capoeira dance and especially its ancient musical instrument-the berimbau. The spherical building, suspended in the air, comprises 5 levels. The lower level is home to recreational activities. The immediate level houses offices while the middle level houses a gazebo and souvenir shops. The penultimate level houses offices. A conference room is located on the upper level.

All building components are recoverable, so that the skyscraper can be removed in its entirety, and its components repaired, recycled and reused. Due to its bioclimatic characteristics, the building has a very low energy consumption. The skyscraper has a heated greenhouse, and an efficient geothermal heat pump. On the other hand, it is cooled through an efficient sunscreen, a geothermal system and architectural generation of fresh air (underground), and a geothermal heat pumps. The double glass skin has an intermediate air chamber (width variable). The outer skin consists of a tempered laminated glass curve, which enables the spherical shape of the building. This curved glass outer skin has a special screen so that sunlight passes very perpendicular to the glass in the winter and does not let the sun flush in the summer. The inner skin is in turn a double glass, which has an exterior system of tarps and a triple inside rail of blinds. The set provides a very high insulation and prevents energy loss in the winter.

The double skin of glass screen printing is equipped with thousands of small multicolored LEDs, individually controlled, allowing the user to compose scenes and images. In addition, this double glass skin images are projected through a set of synchronized video projectors. Thus, images are able to manipulate the shapes and spaces, giving the whole an ethereal, weightless and intangible appearance. Physical spaces are mixed with virtual spaces, and one can’t tell where architectural elements end, and visual information begin. It is therefore a true multimedia building that changes shape and color according to circumstances.

a Globalization, an Architecture

Established in 2006, the eVolo Skyscraper Competition has become the world’s most prestigious award for high-rise architecture. The contest recognizes outstanding ideas that redefine skyscraper design through the implementation of new technologies, materials, programs, aesthetics, and spatial organizations. Studies on globalization, flexibility, adaptability, and the digital revolution are some of the multi-layered elements of the competition. It is an investigation on the public and private space and the role of the individual and the collective in the creation of dynamic and adaptive vertical communities.

Over the last six years, an international panel of renowned architects, engineers, and city planners have reviewed more than 4,000 projects submitted from 168 countries around the world. Participants include professional architects and designers, as well as students and artists. This book is the compilation of 300 outstanding projects selected for their innovative concepts that challenge the way we understand architecture and their relationship with the natural and built environments.

The projects have been organized in six chapters that describe the current position and the future of vertical architecture and urbanism. The first chapter, Technological Advances, is an investigation on the use of digital tools and computing fabrication. Ecological Urbanism explores sustainable systems, including new materials and clean energy generation processes to achieve zero-net-energy buildings. Projects that analyze the reconfiguration of existing cities and the colonization of new environments, such as underwater cities and floating habitats, are part of New Frontiers.  The improvement of our way of living is the topic of the fourth chapter, Social Solutions, which is a collection of ideas that respond to social, cultural, and economic problems. A more experimental approach to architectural design is exposed in Morphotectonic Aesthetics, with proposals that use fields of data and self-regulating systems to respond to internal and external stimuli -the results are fascinating explorations of function and form. Finally, Urban Theories and Strategies is a group of projects that establish new methods to alleviate the major problems of the contemporary city, including the scarcity of natural resources and infrastructure, and the exponential increase of inhabitants.

The eVolo Skyscraper Competition is a forum for the discussion, debate, and development of avant-garde architectural design in the 21st century. eVolo is committed to stimulating the imagination of designers around the world – thinkers that envision the future of our cities and a new way of life.
 

a SkyWater Tower

Designed as a proposal for the Taichung Gateway City Project, the Skywater Tower deals with issues of water production. While many countries already face the water crisis, Taiwan is ironically the second nation in terms of annual rainfall. However, the country’s steep topography leaves its tropical and subtropical zones surprisingly dry and with the soil unable to retain water. The shortage has become more severe in the last years, impacting individuals, agriculture and industries.

Drawing from a long tradition of researching water harvesting techniques, Atelier CMJN has designed an architectural object which also acts as an atmospheric water generator. The principle is the following: water vapor is condensed by cooling the air below its dew point or pressurizing it. Sun and/or wind are used to provide power for refrigeration. Refrigerated panels capture moisture. The verticality of the building enhances the ability to harvest more powerful winds in order to provide more water.

The new tower design is based on water production principles, but is also in line with Taiwanese cultural values. With its hydrodynamic shape, the structure is a landmark that contributes to its environment. The proposal envisions clusters of such water harvesting objects, optimally positioned within cities. They act as both urban attractors and plants, contributing to raising awareness about the water shortage issues.

energy inSide

Μία νέα σειρά Απογευματινών Συναντήσεων προγραμματίζει το ΙΕΝΕ για την περίοδο 2011-2012. Σε συνέχεια της πολύ επιτυχημένης σειράς συναντήσεων που είχε πραγματοποιήσει την περίοδο 2009-2010, το Ινστιτούτο διοργανώνει τώρα μία νέα σειρά πέντε εκδηλώσεων πάνω σε εξειδικευμένες και επίκαιρες πτυχές της ελληνικής ενεργειακής ατζέντας. Οι εφετινές Απογευματινές Συναντήσεις θα πραγματοποιηθούν με την ευγενική χορηγία του Ομίλου Κοπελούζου, ενώ η πρώτη συνάντηση, με θέμα: «Ερωτήματα και προβληματισμοί για την ανάπτυξη των ΑΠΕ στην Ελλάδα», θα λάβει χώρα την Δευτέρα, 12 Δεκεμβρίου.


Οι εκδηλώσεις θα πραγματοποιηθούν στο Αμφιθέατρο του Ομίλου Κοπελούζου (Λεωφόρος Κηφισίας 209, Μαρούσι). Θα ξεκινούν στις 18:00 και θα ολοκληρώνονται στις 20:30 βάσει του προκαταρκτικού προγραμματισμού. Το πλήρες πρόγραμμα των Απογευματινών Συναντήσεων του ΙΕΝΕ έχει ως εξής:


- 1η Συνάντηση :Δευτέρα, 12 Δεκεμβρίου 2011


Ερωτήματα και προβληματισμοί για την ανάπτυξη των ΑΠΕ στην Ελλάδα.


- 2η Συνάντηση: Δευτέρα, 23 Ιανουαρίου 2012


Η αγορά Ηλεκτρισμού στην Ελλάδα μετά την ψήφιση του Νόμου 4001/22.8.2011


- 3η Συνάντηση: Δευτέρα, 20 Φεβρουαρίου 2012


Το Νέο Τοπίο στην Έρευνα και Ανάπτυξη Υδρογονανθράκων στην Ελλάδα


- 4η Συνάντηση: Δευτέρα, 5 Μαρτίου 2012


Προβλήματα και προοπτικές για την περαιτέρω διείσδυση του Φυσικού Αερίου στην Ελλάδα και στις γειτονικές χώρες.


- 5η Συνάντηση: Δευτέρα 19, Μαρτίου 2012


Οι νέες προκλήσεις για την Εξοικονόμηση Ενέργειας και την Συμπαραγωγή.


Σε κάθε συνάντηση θα υπάρχουν μία ή δύο βασικές εισηγήσεις και αμέσως μετά θα ακολουθεί συζήτηση. Με την ολοκλήρωση κάθε Απογευματινής Συνάντησης θα προσφέρεται ένα ποτήρι κρασί.


Η συμμετοχή στις απογευματινές συζητήσεις είναι εντελώς δωρεάν, ενώ δικαίωμα συμμετοχής έχουν μόνο τα τακτικά μέλη, τα ανταπεσταλμένα μέλη και οι συνεργάτες του ΙΕΝΕ, οι εκπρόσωποι των ΜΜΕ και προσκεκλημένοι του Ομίλου Κοπελούζου και της Προμηθέας Gaz.


Πριν τα τέλη Νοεμβρίου, θα υπάρξει λεπτομερής ανακοίνωση για την σειρά Απογευματινών Συναντήσεων καθώς και Δελτίο Συμμετοχής.

a Singing Phenomenon

Singing dunes is a phenomenon found exclusively in desert environments. “The sounds are produced when grains drum against one another; exciting elastic waves on the dune surface of the sand bed acts like the membrane of a loudspeaker.”The sounds resemble the beating of a drum or the noise of a low-flying jet. They can be heard up to 10 km away.

The skyscraper was designed by Barbara Leonardi and Oliver Dibrova as part of Hani Rashid Studio. The main inspiration was found in a phenomenon of singing dunes. Hypothetically located in Dubai, the project is a hybrid space, with diverse surfaces representing different programmatic conditions. A spiraled structure continues the public space and contains four plugged in hotel-units, which can act independent from each other and are specialized on diverse topics (business hotel, recreation hotel, sports hotel and city hotel).

The final configuration of the building is set upon through an experiment: a plate or drum is forced to vibrate historically with a violin bow or with a speaker. A fine sand or powder is sprinkled on the surface and allowed to settle. It sets at those non-vibrating parts of the surface, namely the nodes of vibration. Using an equation for the zeros of standing wave on square plate, different sound-files are extracted and used as input. They’re translated into frequency and amplitude, eventually generating a 3d structure.
 

a Dragon View

Led by Enrico Taranta, a team of architects, urbanists and interior designers constitute the core of an internationally oriented practice. With finished projects as the Shanghai Expo Tea Pavilions and recent designs commissions like a hotel design in the Beijing Bird’s Nest Stadium, the office is establishing itself more and more in China. Their head-office is located within the Red Town Sculpture Park in Shanghai, China.

The Eco-Bridge Project was designed for the Chongqing municipality. This suspension bridge is a piece of engaging sculptural infrastructure, displaying different aesthetical and functional features depending of the view. Observed from the top, the structure reveals a dragon-like shape- a composition of graceful curvatures supporting the gridded roof that diffuses the sun’s glare from above. Seen from the side, the complexity of the bridge is translated into a simple sinuous curvature that gently traverses the river. The platform of the bridge is interconnecting with the green mountain sides, blurring the line between natural surroundings and man-made design. The project is currently under construction, with the deadline for completion of works planned for the year 2012.

a Wood Mystery

A self-taught furniture designer and studio owner Joseph Walsh is considered one of the world’s most promising and forward looking young artists. The extraordinary quality of his craftsmanship is widely recognized, receiving critical attention of curators, academics and the media. The design approach is derived from a body of knowledge accumulated over the years, working almost exclusively with wood. This intimate understanding of the material resulted in a fluency with design and production techniques, altogether enabling him to take a more conceptual approach.

The title Enignum is derived from the Latin words Enigma (‘mystery’) and Lignum (‘wood’), explaining the conceptual intent of the whole series: the mystery of the composition lies in the material. In the Enignum series of work the artist manipulated wood by stripping it into thin layers. The amount of freedom achieved with this process resulted in a wide array of practical objects and installations. All work is done by hand, expanding the definition of what a piece of wood furniture can be. The inspiration is found in notions of layering, erosions, rock formations, etc. Sweeping, flowing forms of wood are in line with the organic nature of the material; it spontaneously adapts to physical barriers and influences when in its natural surroundings. That idea of formal versatility is skillfully articulated by the artist.

to Explore Technologies

Designed by Amsterdam-based NL Architects as one of their two proposals for the Taiwan Tower Competition, the design tries to explore the means of integrating sustainable technologies into high-rise architecture. By combining the two typologies, windmill and observation tower, the project aspires to affect the content of the new generation of tourist towers and at the same time alter the appearance of future wind energy generators. It is a attempt to give technology an aesthetic dimension and turn it into objects of beauty, while taking renewable energy production to new heights.

The building is an exo-skeleton, a structural net wrapped around the segmented and ever-changing floor plans, assuming the role of support as well as generator of sustainable energy. The functionality of the required program -lobby, parking, museum, offices, conference center and observatory- results in a specific shape for each unit. The program is stacked and positioned on specific heights. The weaving of the structure creates an intricate pattern. A new category of wind turbines occupies the empty spaces in between, a variation of the Vertical Axis Wind Turbine. Their flower-like shapes create an effect of sculptural treatment. Strong, affordable and most importantly-silent, they can produce energy with wind coming from any direction.

 

a Numen Use

The Austro-Croatian design collective Numen/For Use was established in 1998, as a collaborative effort of industrial designers Sven Jonke, Christoph Katzler and Nikola Radeljković. Since then they have worked on numerous projects, some of which investigating ideas beyond the field of industrial design. From the scenographic project for the production of “Inferno” in the National Centre for Drama in Madrid, to the series of temporary installations under the common title “Tape Project”, their work seems to be continually engaging with issues of spatial experimentation.

The main idea for the installations was to attempt to capture visual residues of choreographed movement. The form evolved from retroactive visual mapping of the dancer’s movement, as if representing a frozen 3d recording of the choreography. The subtlety of the movement is translated into a surprisingly strong object, capable of sustaining  human weight. It is an organic, web-like structure made from transparent adhesive tape. Wrapping of the existing building elements results in a surface that can be entered by visitors. The sculpture is thus transformed into architecture, inhabitable and public, communicating concepts of “social turn” and “community-based art”.

The Tape Projects were so far executed in Vienna, Frankfurt, Berlin, Belgrade, and most recently, Melbourne, all part of local design exhibitions and festivals. They are travelling examples of informal art, discreetly inhabiting empty auditoriums, lobbies and public squares.

a Roll House

The curved surface of the California Roll House is extended across the ground, creating a paved surface that can be used for various outdoor activities. Made of prefabricated elements, easily assembled on site, the building is mobile and versatile. The materials provide energy efficiency, including reflecting heat from the sun. The glass panels are electronically controlled and react to changes of weather conditions by adjusting the level of transparency.

Underneath the entire structure is a carbon fiber truss frame, elevating it above the ground plane.  Adopting ideas from automotive design industry, hydraulic powered automatic door controlled by number lock panel is installed on the sloped wall as main entrance to minimize the space required for operation and avoid contact with user while in operation. When the door is fully open, the clearance height is up to 2 meters. The door opens into two pieces, the upper piece lifts up over head, and the lower piece unfolds onto the floor for visitors to step on. When the door is completely closed, the material on the outside of door continues with the material of the exterior surface to achieve conformity and hide the entrance.
The modularity of the house offers a customized positioning of openings. The residents can choose the placement of their windows. The bedroom area is completed with curtain divider and bookshelf with translucent middle part to provide privacy. In this way, the residents can have sense of privacy by delicate visual hints over as well as providing lights through.
 

a Vascular System

Designed by Michela Tonelli, Wei Ye and Thomas Bagnoli, the project is a vascular system of hypothetical paths and pockets of activity that plugs into the old city. It is distributed to reach all parts of Venice. The project for the Venice CityVision Competition was designed under the name of Venice 2, referring to the fact that by introducing a new habitable system; a new urban fabric is created. The “high water” issue and the strong presence of flow, whether of people, goods or water, are principles that inspired the design. It is, above all, a system of communication. The pockets contain housing, schools, work and leisure. Spaces are supplied with natural light and fresh air through openings in the form of suction cups that characterize the skin.
The system is energetically self-sufficient through the arteries draws in seawater, as a result of the passage in turbines, ensuring the production of energy from sunlight and become a source of energy due to the presence of green in the bubbles, it generates a balanced cycle of oxygen production.

 

a Home, Home...

As homes are becoming abandoned and foreclosed at an astonishing rate, suburbs are becoming a new safe haven for squatters and thieves. The “haunted house”, once reserved for homes on the territorial fringe, is making its way rapidly into suburban America. What you can’t see may kill you. The paranoid neighbor(hood).

There is an element present in all good horror/suspense films, an extreme feeling of discomfort and paranoia, something that works subliminally beneath the surface. Psycho, Paranormal Activity, Poltergeist…all of these movies play upon the fear of the unknown. The scariest monsters are the ones you never see, or perhaps only see glimpses of. The feeling of unease, or the uncanny, runs parallel to that of seduction. I’ll just show you a little. A tease. The promise of something is always more poignant than showing it outright. But what about when you finally see what you fear, what you lusted after, can the process be transformative? Can a glimpse of what may seem unsettling metamorphose into beauty?
This project designed by Michael Young focuses on the idea of replacement through mutant form and the misfit condition, not as a means of destruction/construction, but as a process over time, one of metamorphosis and transformation, slowly revealing what lies beneath, and by doing so, this transformation affords a different look at the contemporary home and the ontology of the nightmare which is bound with it.

“The house, like a man, can become a skeleton. A superstition is enough to kill it. Then it is terrible.” -Victor Hugo

Skyscrapers For High Density

The construction of skyscrapers has been an architectural solution for high-density urban areas for almost a century for its ability to combine height with a small footprint. Today there is a constant race between large metropolises and nations to build the tallest structure, but it has been proven that this typology is sometimes not desirable for medium-size cities where skyscrapers destroy the skyline and disrupt the infrastructure of a specific location.

The Flat Tower is a new high-density typology that deviates from the traditional skyscraper. It is based on a medium-height dome structure that covers a large area while preserving its beauty and previous function. The dome is perforated with cell-like skylights that provide direct sunlight to the agricultural fields and to the interior spaces. The dome’s large surface area is perfect to harvest solar energy and rainwater collection.

Community recreational facilities are located at ground level while the residential and office units are in the upper cells. An automated transportation system connects all the units, which are different shapes according to their program. It is also possible to combine clusters of cells to create larger areas for different activities.

Although this proposal could be adapted to any medium-size city around the world, it has been designed for the city of Rennes, France, in an old industrial area.

Living Ocean

The theme of the 2012 International Exposition in Yeosu, South Korea, is “The Living Ocean and Coast”. As a response, architects at MVRDV have designed a pavilion that will contribute to raising awareness of the fragility of ocean ecosystems. The building is a kind of aquarium, a glass structure made of water basins that surround the central void. The idea was for each of the basins to display specific aspects of the ocean-the deep see, the tropical waters, the mangroves, reefs-entertaining and educating the public.

The structure is devoid of columns. The walls of the cube bear all weight, acting also as a thermal insulator for the inter object. Their latter function is particularly interesting, as it presents an empirical proof of the oceans importance as regulator of the world climate. Structural support elements are integrated within the walls. The water pressure and weight of the basins are additionally supported by using double-layered glass.

The building is accessed through an underground tunnel, leading the visitors to the central hall. From there they can take a tour of the world oceans which guides them past the water basins. The illumination of each basin can be individually programmed, according to phase of the day-night cycle they’re in.

 

Light and Sculptural Space

The design uses light and sculptural space in order to illustrate different aspects of druguse. It doesn’t include conventional tools accompanying similar events. It aims to become a mind-opening experience whose architecture lures the visitors in. Through the creation of a hallucinogenic space, chance is given to discuss drugs. Space, light and sound is interacting with the visitor, giving a personal experience created by the visitors movement and mindset. Only one person is allowed inside at a time and may stay for as long as he/she wants to.

The installation contains three continuously linked spaces – pleasure, repetition and awakening. Entering the first space, the door is shut behind the visitor, who is given beauty and tranquillity. Soft, crystalline music and subtle light phenomenons, bring peace and pleasure. Sliding into the second space, the surroundings are closing in around the visitor.

A harsh sound and light environment is brought on the person, who is deprived of direction and is given heaven and hell in a quick rhythm. In the last space the visitor starts to reach for reality and a numbing bass is growing through the body, giving a will to leave for solid ground. The wooden floor hide triggers that activate different scenes manipulating the subjects experience of the journey through the container. Thus reflections on drug use and abuse are raised.

CCPP (Chantier créatif de prévention partagée) is a design collaboration between the collectives Cochenko and Quatorze. It was carried out by Butong, together with the two collectives. The installation will travel to schools and institutions in a drug awareness campaign commissioned by the French Ministry of Culture and MILDT.

 

a Flamenco Pedagogy

This project designed by Cheng Gong and Jinming Feng received a honorable mention at the International School Museum of Flamenco Competition. Flamenco is one of the traditional Spanish dancing arts that still exists and is actively practiced.  Its most impressive aspect could be found in the strong rhythm that is generated between the synthetic reaction of music and dancing.

Based on the inspiration of the articulated expression of ancient ornamental iron patterns as well as the order of the columns and arches in Spanish churches, the architects’ strategy is to re-appear the exuberant atmosphere within the context. Architectural programs are mainly defined by the columns and the fluid partitions offset from the outer domain. At the same time, a more active and dynamic roof and vertical sub-structural system grow from the regular column matrix with the purpose of not only forming a highly rhythmic sound wave cover but also extracting people from the surroundings and gathering them into the site to have an interactive moment such as dancing and communication. The transformation of shading and light effects emphasizes the comparison between the columns and the mutated roof.

In terms of the traditional mode of flamenco pedagogy, dancing teaching is more a face-to-face process than a dogmatic step. To encourage the interactive mode of dancing, the project magnifies the role of public space with the method of intersecting two matrixes of columns so the spatial regularity is partially destroyed and replaced by  apparent chaos. Dancing happens in the columns, the roof, and the building itself.

a memory of Kobe

An installation project by 24° Studio will be exhibited at Kobe Biennale 2011 from October 1 through November 23. The project was one of the winners for Shitsurai Art International Competition organized by the city of Kobe. This multi-use environmental installation serves as a meeting place where every area can be used as seating for visitors to contemplate the surroundings, thus invoking a social interaction.

The design motive was influenced by the history of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake of 1995 that led to inevitable changes within built environment sparring only the nature that surrounds Kobe. This devastating experience is remembered by Kobe residents making them a persistent and tight community, but remaining open and friendly to the visitors of the city. Strong social ties between people helped them to overcome the disaster and rebuilt the city making it a better living environment. However in the everyday life without problems and crisis, the face to face social interaction between people is decimating and it is one of the biggest problems in our technology driven time.

Crater Lake, an installation – environment where people have a place to meet to observe the beauty of the surrounding environment and more importantly to call forth an emphasis on sustaining social interaction, which was the important catalyst that brought Kobe residents to revitalize their city after the disaster. The installation is situated in the man-made Port Island, Shiosai Park that provides a vast view of the Kobe urban center, its surrounding mountainscape and seascape.
Design intent of Crater Lake installation is to take this unique location into advantage; by creating an undulating wooden landscape that provides a variation of open and unconstrained settings with 360° viewing vista. Every surface may be utilized as seating and lying down surface. Additional seating stools are set in the middle of the space that can be reorganized according to the user’s preferences. The gentle hill surfaces invites people of multiple generations by providing spatial conditions that allow to interact with the landscape space like a playground device, relax in the shade of the mount, and socialize by seating in preferred order.

Multiple ideas and materials were tested to realize the complexity of smooth and undulating form. Wood was chosen for its strong structural capacity, ease of work with, and natural qualities. One of the main issues was to express continuous and smooth surface without using costly techniques of wood steaming, bending or digital fabrication. The solution was to divide the circular surface into a number of radial parts, with optimal number of 20 parts. Factors that determined this optimal number were, overall surface expression, production schedule, and transportation method (vehicle bedsize).  These 20 radial parts were preassembled off the site and transported by a vehicle to the main site of Shiosai Park.

Standard wood and off-the-shelf hardware were used in construction to avoid any costly customized fabrication process. 2×4 studs were used for all structural members and 30×60 mm treated cedar wood was used for the surface. The structure of radial parts consists of series of free-form ribs composed in segmentations with horizontal support and cross bracing for rigidity. Each radial segment has 64 surface planks that are attached to three structural ribs that are rigidly connected between each other with horizontal supports. The surfaces with the most anticipated traffic flow have narrow spacing between each plank. And as the mount becomes higher, the spacing distance of surface planks increases, allowing users to climb the mount. The rising mount resulted from understanding the site and seasonal conditions, functioning as a sun shading and wind protection from the bay winds when sitting at inner area.

a Mercedes Forest

HTDSTUDIO competition entry for the Mercedes-Benz Business Center is less concerned with form-following-function as it is with form being functional.  The tower sited in Yerevan, Armenia is hyper-rationally organized, with a layout synthesized from user-flow. The program ranging from hotel, apartment, and fitness center, to theater, restaurant, and conference room, require a reconsidering of the public-private relationship. This relationship is reinterpreted as an opportunity for inclusion opposed to separation. As a result, the functional activity is aligned along the exterior, with discreet separations occurring within the core. This new programmatic arrangement is projected to the façade, with the juxtaposing programs serving as cladding elements that animate the elevations with social exchange.
The form is derived to enhance both site efficiency and seismic flexibility. Four main pylons lift the tower off the ground enabling an unfettered flow across the site. Program volumes are suspended from one another in an effort to anticipate and absorb seismic activity. The quad-core superstructure along with a steel monocoque allow for the floors to be designed based on client desires opposed to structural needs.

Hailed as a significant landmark and beacon of progress, the tower stitches together old and new, reusing the wall-base from the Yerevan Youth Center which previously occupied the site. The selected site allow for dramatic views of Yerevan and Mt. Ararat, enabling visitors to experience the city’s history from the frame of its future.

Zahner's Soul

An internationally acclaimed engineering and fabrication company, Zahner, sought to expand its existing facility at 8th and Paseo Blvd. in Kansas City, Missouri. The design would have to provide partial transparency and showcase the company’s ability to produce highly engineered forms. Designed by Crawford Architects, the building is able to accommodate Zahner’s expansion needs and show off their impressive abilities to manipulate metals.

The team’s investigation into patterns on metals in nature resulted in a design resembling sand ripples. The natural oxidation pattern was used to create a 3 dimensional digital surface model of the façade. The design also explores Zahner’s skin systems, with the steel backup system being completely exposed. The surface, which is usually applied to the structure, is exempted for the design. Instead of the applied skin defining the form, the totality of all the fins combine to create the overall pattern, while converting an inherently 2-dimensional skeletal system into a collective 3-dimensional sinuous wave pattern. The system’s key components are vertically oriented DT* fins made from a half-circle shaped aluminum extrusion riveted to a water jet cut 3/16” aluminum plate. Placement of the fins is every 24 inches on center with an Inverted Seam™ dry-set glass panel system in-between producing a structural curtain wall set on a cast-in-place concrete base.

The resulting envelope seems to grow out of the rigid form of the existing facility, at the same time providing transparency between the interior activities and the surrounding urban environment.

the Face of Landmark

The design of the Pushkinsky Cinema facade renovation places the face of the landmark venue behind a sculptural veil which acts as a dramatic backdrop to Pushkin Square and an iconic face to the cinema. Inspired by the screened views, geometric intricacy and flowing surfaces of a “Russian Veil”, the design contrasts the imposing presence of the Brutalist architectural icon by simultaneously enclosing and revealing its contents behind a delicate yet robust open air lattice materialized as thermo-formed sheets of DuPont Corian. The solid mass of the building is clad in a series of Corian panels which gently morph the relentless diagrid pattern of the existing facade into a flowing and varied matrix of warped hexagon modules.

The composite effect of the varied orientations of the hexagonal screen components creates a rich and dramatic moiré effect which dissolves from opaque to transparent and back again as one moves around, through and within the building. With each step the building appears to change through the interplay of light, shadow, and visual connectivity as the thin 13mm thick Corian sheets nearly disappear upon perpendicular viewing while those at oblique angles to the viewer are revealed through their 500mm depth. This dynamic effect encourages visual interaction and connectivity between the cinema and Pushkin Square by simultaneously revealing and concealing the contents of the cinema through a multiplicity of varying and directed views into and out of the lobby.

 

to propose a Post-Diluvian prototype

Bangkok authorities still consider flooding a crisis, instead of a constant. This negative mindset contributes to the economic loss the city has experienced over the last years. With the city sinking 10 cm below sea level, the latter rising by 40 cm annually, the safest place to create architecture is above water.  Architects at S+PBA propose a Post-Diluvian prototype community that translates the principles of traditional, flood-conscious architecture into a contemporary, sustainable Wetropolis.

The project examines the entirely supra-marine stilt home community of Koh Pan Yii, a settlement that floats on the Andaman sea in Southern Thailand, successfully sustaining all of the typical functions of an urban community—schools, public spaces, hospitals, utilities, industry. The proposal will further advance the concept by minimizing its footprint on the water, enabling the continued cultivation of mangrove forests.

The forests will supply the community with carbon dioxide mitigating flora, a natural effluent filtration system, some of the only green open space in Bangkok and with moderate local shrimp farming. The prototype community will be elevated above the acres of underutilized shrimp farms, aligning the interests of shrimp farmers, urbanites, developers and the government by simultaneously sustaining mangrove restoration, modest shrimp farming.

 

in Busan, such a View

The Cinema Center in Busan, South Korea, designed by Wolf D. Prix / COOP HIMMELB(L)AU, the new home of the Busan Film Festival (BIFF), was inaugurated with a grand opening on 29 September 2011 in the presence of the president of South Korea. The innovative building combines open space, cultural program, entertainment, technology and architecture in a novel way. Over 800 guests, among them the Mayor of Busan, the cultural minister, the sports minister as well as film celebrities attended the ceremony.

After winning the competition for this project in 2005 construction started the same year. The roof’s ceiling surface is completely equipped with LED projectors which allows for unique visual spectacles highlighting the Busan Cinema Center. The dynamically illuminated ceiling will serve as the center’s platform of communication with visitors and passers-by. A free span of 85 meters and a roof surface of 60 x 120 meters makes the roof the worldwide largest cantilevered roof. The complex comprises about 60,000 m2 of performance, event, gastronomy and administrative spaces and has a capacity of up to 6,800 visitors.

 

Ενέργεια στο Βραδεμβούργο

Φωτοβολταϊκό πάρκο ισχύος 78MW εγκαίνιασε ο πρωθυπουργός του κρατιδίου του Βραδεμβούργου, λίγο έξω από τη γερμανική πόλη Ζένφτεμπεργκ. Στην πραγματικότητα πρόκειται για νέο τμήμα υπάρχοντος φωτοβολταϊκού πάρκου, η ισχύς του οποίου αυξάνεται με αυτήν την προσθήκη στα 166MW, γεγονός που - όπως υποστηρίζουν οι υπεύθυνοι- καθιστά τις ηλιακές εγκαταστάσεις τις μεγαλύτερες παγκοσμίως.

330.000 ηλιακοί συλλέκτες και 62 κεντρικοί αντιστροφείς τοποθετήθηκαν σε άγονη έκταση, όπου κάποτε βρισκόταν ανθρακωρυχείο. Το έργο, που φέρει τη σφραγίδα του βερολινέζικου ομίλου Unlimited Energy, ολοκληρώθηκε μέσα σε μόλις τρεις μήνες, ενώ ιδιαίτερη έμφαση δόθηκε στην προστασία του οικοσυστήματος της περιοχής. «Διατηρήσαμε μεγάλες εκτάσεις γης μεταξύ των εγκαταστάσεων, ώστε να αναπτυχθούν περιοχές για την αναπαραγωγή πτηνών και άλλων ζώων», δήλωσε ο διευθύνων σύμβουλος του ομίλου Τόρστεν Κες.

Λίγες εβδομάδες μετά από την οριστικοποίηση της απόφασης για σταδιακό κλείσιμο όλων των πυρηνικών σταθμών στη Γερμανία έως το 2022, οι επιχειρήσεις του κλάδου των ανανεώσιμων πηγών ενέργειας έχουν επιδοθεί σε αγώνα δρόμου για να εξασφαλίσουν όσο το δυνατόν μεγαλύτερο κομμάτι της ενεργειακής πίτας.

Παρά τη δυσμενή οικονομική συγκυρία, αναλυτές προβλέπουν περαιτέρω ανάπτυξη του κλάδου των φωτοβολταϊκών κατά το τελευταίο τετράμηνο του 2011, εκτιμώντας ότι η συνολική εγκατεστημένη ισχύς θα ξεπεράσει τα 7GW.

Κινδυνεύει η ηγετική της θέση

Παρότι κατά μέσο όρο έχει μόλις 1.500 ώρες ηλιοφάνειας το χρόνο, η Γερμανία διατηρεί επί σειρά ετών ηγετική θέση στον κλάδο των φωτοβολταϊκών παγκοσμίως, με την Ιταλία, την Ιαπωνία και τις Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες να ακολουθούν. Αυτό αποδίδεται συχνά στις γενναιόδωρες επιδοτήσεις της γερμανικής κυβέρνησης για όσους διοχετεύουν ενέργεια στο εθνικό δίκτυο ηλεκτροδότησης.

Όλα αυτά ωστόσο κινδυνεύουν να ανατραπούν, όπως αποκαλύπτουν νέα στοιχεία γύρω από τις πωλήσεις ηλιακών συλλεκτών. Με λίγες εξαιρέσεις, οι μεγαλύτεροι όμιλοι του κλάδου καταγράφουν απώλειες, ενώ εκφράζονται φόβοι για απολύσεις και αιτήσεις πτώχευσης.

Πολλοί επιρρίπτουν ευθύνες... στην Κίνα: παρέχοντας δάνεια με ευνοϊκούς όρους στις κινεζικές επιχειρήσεις, το Πεκίνο έχει καταφέρει να ρίξει τις τιμές 30% κάτω από το κόστος παραγωγής, όπως σημειώνει σε συνέντευξή του ο Φρανκ Aσμπεκ, πρόεδρος γερμανικής εταιρίας φωτοβολταϊκών.

Παρά τον πανικό πάντως, οι μακροπρόθεσμες προβλέψεις είναι αισιόδοξες. Όπως λέει ο Ντάβιντ Βέντεπολ της Γερμανικής Ένωσης Ηλιακής Βιομηχανίας, ακόμη και εάν το μερίδιο των γερμανικών εταιριών στην παγκόσμια αγορά φωτοβολταϊκών μειωθεί, τα κέρδη τους θα ενισχυθούν - υπό την προϋπόθεση ότι οι Γερμανοί θα κάνουν αποφασιστικότερες κινήσεις να κατακτήσουν και άλλες αγορές με τα προϊόντα και τις υπηρεσίες τους, εγκαταλείποντας την ασφάλεια των κυβερνητικών επιδοτήσεων.

a Street Scape

The Acceleration Interchange is M1A’s proposal for an installation at Anaheim’s new regional transportation hub ‘ARTIC’. The project, a wayfinding pavilion, reflects Meridian 105′s ongoing exploration of equation-based parametric modeling and design-to-fabrication processes.

Placed in the facilitiy’s large exterior plaza, the piece activates the streetscape, encouraging circulation within and around and a primary orientation point for connecting travelers. The form finds reference to the transportation theme of the larger facility, modeled by the application of wave and acceleration formulae acting on its form. The resulting pavilian is a twisting organic gesture.

The installation is a fabrication of GFRP (glass fiber reinforced polymer) tube volumes formed from the digital model. The finished GFRP encases a structural steel frame cantilevered from concrete foundations, stabilized horizontally by a spine. A structural diaphram provides additonal rigidity at the pavilian’s open edge.

 

a prototype SeatSlug

The promise of 3d printing for usable mass consumed objects seem to have been just around the corner for nearly a decade now. A new formulation cement-based polymer developed by Rael San Fratello Architects in partnership with the University of Washington and University of California Berkeley replaces more expensive powder mediums for large scale objects. The prototype SeatSlug bench is a demonstration project of the potential of the material and 3d printing process to make sophisticated large pieces using low cost, non repetitive objects. The bench is comprised of 230 individual pieces, each developed as a unique shape. The cement based polymer has a compression strength of 4700 pounds but cost up to 90% less than conventional fusible powders. Rapid 3d printing technologies have been traditionally used to create relatively expensive prototypes for industrial design or more recently small scale objects with low cost devices.

The SeatSlug is based on the shape of the recently discovered flabellina goddardi sea slug and surface inspired by karakusamon patterns, traditional Japanese designs. The unique shape is both functional and collectable with its provocative massing and highly polished finish, possibly with an eye to be built individually for higher end furniture stores or galleries. The manufacture of large scale merchandise as low cost printed objects with hand assembly near the end user addresses the issues of scale and cost of high quality products, which are often not available to market due to restraints in supply and demand.
 

an Ultra Performance

The observation tower is the result of a study into the optimal application of Ultra High Performance Concrete by a case study team comprising of UNStudio, ABT, BAM Utiliteitsbouw en Haitsma Beton.

The design for the observation tower is the result of a case study which aimed to apply the characteristics of Ultra High Performance Concrete in a functional, operative design. The case study team consisted of designers, engineers and builders who together sought a solution through which architecture and construction could reinforce one another. According to Ben van Berkel, “The observation tower afforded our Inventive Materials Research Platform the opportunity to investigate the properties of Ultra High Performance Concrete and to truly test out the full potential of this new material in a real structure.” Ultra High performance Concrete differs from normal concrete as it has a very high density, contains steel fibres and has an extremely fine grain structure. These properties facilitate the application of large compressive stresses in structures of narrow dimensions. UNStudio’s Inventive Materials Platform is one of four in-house research platforms and aims to investigate custom-made material applications and to facilitate inspired and imaginative collaborations with other experts and with manufacturers in the construction industry.

The 25 metre high observation tower will be realised on the forested boundary of ‘De Onlanden’ nature reserve on the outskirts of Groningen. Once built, the tower will extend 5 metres above the trees and will offer views over the 3,000 hectares of natural landscape which form the largest water storage area in the Netherlands.
 

a Morphotel by ex-IAAC

The project was designed by an ex-IAAC student, Gianluca Santosuosso, during the MAA Self Sufficient Buildings Development Studio directed by Willy Müller. MORPHotel introduces the idea of luxury accommodation to the concept of floating systems. The hotel would be a mobile assemblage of habitable units, able to navigate the seas as a cruise ship.  It would be able to adapt its shape to the weather conditions and site morphology.

The linear structure is developed around a vertebral spine, achieving a high degree of organizational flexibility. Entering the main vertebra – where all the reception, administration and catering services are located – the guests will reach the services offered by this structure, which are located along the central axis of the structure (this consists in a covered “linear park” that serves as a connection between the different sectors). The two ends of the structure will contain the hotel rooms; these are conceived as capsules attached to the organism’s spine that will have varying degrees of luxury and comfort: from glass room located at the water level, to luxury rooms that function as independent boats that can leave the main structure and sail within a fixed range established for security reasons.

During its continuous movement, this artificial organism would stop for short or long periods in different cities, thereby becoming their temporary extension. Unlike the cruise ship, the MORPHotel would be moving slowly. It offers an opportunity to live within and explore the world by traveling, instead of simply transporting people from one point to another

a/LTA architects in Nantes

a/LTA architectes unveiled their winning design for 142 homes in Nantes, France. The project was conceived as a sustainable neighborhood with green technologies and a highly articulated landscape. The design consists of three housing buildings placed on top of a retail plinth. The whole is articulated by a landscaped garden with vegetal and mineral nuances.

The architects believe that “beautiful” housing accommodations are bright, well-oriented and offer large views. That is why they developed for the three buildings, views to the city center of Nantes and to the river. They used the same codes and registers, but declined for each operation. The aim is to distinguish each entity while having an overall unity. Thus, the staging of homes through their extension outside (loggias, terraces), scripted buildings from public spaces. The inherent quality of the housing draws the facades. The architecture emphasizes the use and the opportunity offered by the housing.

The architects are particularly interested in the orientation of housing. Thus the vast majority of the units have a Southeast or Southwest exposure. And most units have a double crossing angle or orientation. The slenderness of the corners buildings forms two “towers” that mark the ends of the plot and dialogue with Picasso’s Walk, as the central building, below, maintains a relationship with the garden.

a Cybernetic Green

The New York artist Mary Miss has proposed building a 1,500-foot bridge across a canal at a new 100-acre art and nature park for the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Miss is working with the New York structural engineer Guy Nordenson on developing the bridge as an innovative viewing device-a central platform for walking across, surrounded on either side with ha-ha's, or walkways depressed 42 inches that form a sort of moat, which visitors can occupy along the bridge's length. Imagine a "W" section through the bridge, with a wider center peak as the main path. The idea is to confront the viewer with nature, lessening the force of architecture by making such things as handrails effectively disappear.

"I'm trying to get people to notice what they take for granted in a landscape, to reveal multiple aspects of the site," Miss says. "The bridge seems to be a platform with no edges-I want you to feel free to see this place as you've never seen it before." In the 1970s, the art historian and critic Rosalind Krauss placed the work of artists like Miss in a new conceptual framework of practice, in an expanded field that included "site construction." For Krauss, these artists did not work in the conventions of sculpture, but in a category that existed between traditional notions of landscape, architecture, and sculpture.

An increasing number of architects and designers embrace this notion of site development-spanning between the traditional roles of architect and landscape architect-embedding a variety of interpretations of site conditions into a new performance-based architecture of sustainable principles. But an architect must be interested enough in this new scope of opportunity, in areas such as groundwater-recharge and wastewater-treatment design, since it falls outside traditional practice.

The site of the Indianapolis project lies within an elbow of the White River, which runs from north to south, looping around the western edge of the park. A 35-acre lake, the legacy of a quarry mined to build a nearby highway, occupies the park. A canal dating to the 19th century slices the site off from the main museum building on a bluff to the east. The new park lies in a 100-year floodplain, though the park's landscape architect, Ed Blake, wonders if the impact of global warming doesn't make such considerations for a site as utterly dynamic as this one a little bit useless. Blake's approach is not to keep water out, but to understand how it will travel.
 

a Solar Shift

Solar Shift is a proposal for an exterior art piece for the new Evansville Arena. Design by PROJECTiONE LLC, the structure looks at the large public outdoor space in combination with concepts of sustainable interactive lighting.  The project will dynamically change in response to individuals and groups in the space through the use of motion sensors, photovoltaics, and LED lighting.

Solar Shift is created as a fully self contained system that acts as a solar collector, using photovoltaic panels to charge during the day, and in turn power the reactive lighting in the evening. As the sun sets each day, the project shifts and slowly comes to life, recognizing the individuals inhabiting it and lighting up to follow their movement in space. Each component in the system will power itself and react independently, eliminating any electrical connections between panels or tapping into an existing power grid.
Formally, Solar Shift derives its shape from the sun path data of Evansville, Indiana. We began by digitally 3d modeling a surface that is optimized for ideal solar radiation throughout the year from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. From there, the form was modified to accommodate access to the site, circulation paths, and visual aesthetics. We then utilized parametric design software to divide the surface into a triangular component system, where each panel relates to the original sun path data.

a House weather

Architects at 10 Design have designed a prototype house able to tackle extreme weather. Equipped with high-tech mechanisms for tornado evasion and flood resistance, the building is able to change positions in order to avoid damage. The house has a set of hydraulic levers that are activated by high-velocity winds that can pull the house into the ground to safety. Once the house is underground, the roof locks to make it water and wind proof. With the optimal environmental conditions re-established, the building emerges, exposing its inhabitants to open air and natural light. Ted Givens, a design partner at 10 Design, apparently has a vision of communities wired up with sensors and can process weather data to tuck away the homes in case of an emergency.

Solar cells on the exterior rotate and flex to maximize solar power generation, while the skin itself is composed of a translucent insulation sandwiched between two layers of Kevlar. This high performance exterior provides maximum insulation, a weather tight barrier, strong protection and a translucent skin to let light diffuse in. 10 Design is also exploring photocatalytic coatings and carbon nanotubes on the skin to absorb toxins, pollutants and CO2, which in turn would be used to power the hydraulics.
 

a Roc Green model

For the hundredth birthday of the creation of “Taiwan R.O.C.”, the main aim of the Taichung City Government is to honour the local building traditions and symbolize the new Taiwan dynamics into economic, political, social and cultural achievements.

International model of the green building of the 21st century, the innovative and pioneering design of the Bionic Arch by Vincent Callebaut Architecture is part of the new master plan “Taichung Gateway – Active Gateway City”, the future urban oasis for lifestyle, innovation, culture and biodiversity in the heart of Central Taiwan.

The green tower combines and surpasses the nine major indicators defining a green building by law, and intensifies the relation between the building site and the surrounding Taichung Gateway Park, including an environmental integration of the park and the green land, the integration of green vertical platforms, sky gardens and living façades, interaction between human and natural environments. It actively contributes to the development of the use of new sustainable energies (solar and wind generated power, coupled with botanical and bio-technologies), emphasizes cohabitation and respectful attitude in order to reach even higher standards than regular green buildings.

Raising awareness of climate changes and the need for environmental protection, Taiwan Tower will become the new landmark of sustainability, 100% self-sufficient with CO2 zero-emission, therefore contributing to the government’s policies in terms of energy saving and carbon emission reduction.

material HI Macs

The natural acrylic stone material HI-MACS® was chosen by eminent French artist Ora-ïto for his entry into the recent Wallpaper/Reebok exhibition in London. Fabricated by Candido Hermida in Spain, HI-MACS® was selected for its outstanding properties, visual and tactile effects and the ability to offer the artist thermoforming capabilities that placed zero restriction on his vision and ability to create a stunning three-dimensional creation.

Five of the world’s leading creative artists were invited to participate and Ora-Ito’s contribution was an interpretation of the Reebok RealFlex shoe in the form of a wall-mounted installation made entirely from HI-MACS®.

The detail of Ora-Ito’s work was what he described as the “iconic sneaker soles”. In creating this by using HI-MACS® the designer was able to exercise various sculptural experiments taking inspiration from the RealFlex sole’s “hidden art” aspects, resulting in a topographic landscape made to touch and explore its own poetic qualities.

This amazing sculpture was fabricated by Candido Hermida, who commented, “To work for a top designer like Ora-Ito, is always a challenge and a pleasure, his creations are wonderful in terms of design, but inevitably extremely complex in terms of fabrication. In this case the fabrication complexity was mainly because we had to understand the design and determine how to program the software that controls the CNC machine automatically, in order to achieve the 3d shape required.

An Audi Ring

The project is a temporary building, part of the upcoming Frankfurt Motor Show. It is designed by Schmidhuber + Partner and will remain in place until October 20, 2011, to house the Frankfurt Book Fair. The Audi Ring is 100 meters long, 70 meters wide and 12 meters high. The exhibition in the Grand Hall leads visitors through the vehicle presentation, followed by a technology park with various interactive exhibits. .The 400 meter-long  test track extends across both levels of the interior, visible from the exterior via cutaways along the structure’s sides and top, and permitting the travel of up to nine vehicles at once. The course is open for visitors to experience by riding as passengers alongside professional drivers in a range of current and future Audi vehicles. As co-drivers, visitors are immersed in the driving experience, provided by the combination of technology and architecture.

Audi elaborates on the design concept: “The test track pervades the building like a pulsating artery, forming the core of the architectural ensemble around which the whole building is shaped; all entrances, openings, and façade contours are geared towards this dynamic vehicle presentation. Movement, not only of the vehicles, can be felt in every corner of the building. [...] the sophisticated choreography of the test track defines the overall spatial and brand experience, [forming] the emotional climax and end of the tour.”

 

a Pavilion X

To honour London’s imminent hosting of the 2012 Olympic games, James Law Cybertecture has presented an Olympic Pavilion X design to offer a statement of passion and excellence whilst providing a thrilling platform for memorable celebrations by the city and its citizens.

Inspired by the fluid shape of a raindrop splash, Olympic Pavilion X becomes a modern iconic landmark to inject both fun and flair to the monumental Trafalgar Square. With an electrifying exterior façade stretching 375 square meters, Olympic Pavilion X offers functional features of information center, souvenir shop and administration office at the tip of its three separate corners.
In stunning style, Olympic Pavilion X captures the moment of the Olympic summer games to augment a vibrant and intense sporting atmosphere for the crowd. Infused with visual technology innovations, the core auditorium contains an internal 360 degrees display screen, whilst three external visual devices composing hundreds of minuscule LCD monitors are designed to relay and display live Olympic games real-time.

 

entropic Elements

Designed by Benjamin Ferns at the University of Nottingham, UK, St. Mary’s Church is an entropic product, dealing with a series of interrelating networks in a dynamic, fluctuating and self-augmenting system. Mechanisms maintain the coastal balance, whilst the architectures of Happisburgh are continually consumed through a cycle of 200 years. Elements from previous systems become reclaimed devices, suspended for eternity in the sunken courtyard of the time arena, a metamorphosis of energy. The architecture seeks to establish a new legacy of St. Mary, one of saviour and recollection, sacrificing the graves of HMS Invinsible to the storms, in exchange for the salt lines that inform the scavenging mechanisms of the impending loss.

A system of petrification and archive, these lands may be re-augmented but they will never be forgotten
 

forces of Beauty and Darkness

The interest of creating this project was to provoke opposing forces of beauty and darkness – the idea of immersing survivors into their environment of global flooding through an elegant and energetic fusion of floating architecture.

The project has the appearance of a glamorous water cube emerging from billowing cloudscapes to flood location by a hot air dirigible. The Water Capsule is a simple form constructed of highly engineered, gleaming white fiberglass-reinforced panels. The structure folds into a sequence of spaces illuminated by two skylights and a window to the sea below. The project’s overall organization follows the drift of its curving form floating experientially through air and water giving freedom to “one’s” imagination from their loss.

The project’s designer, Jay Stoughtenger, was born in 1975 in New York, USA but currently lives and works in Kuwait. He received a degree in architecture from USA and is a Senior Architect for a progressive office in Kuwait. The designs he develops address urban density and suggest capsule living alternatives which allow him to escape from the reality of his professional practice. Often his designs shifts dramatically – scale with vibrant colors and minimal details, dream-like scenes of the natural world and their inhabitants become an idyllic way of living.

an OperaHouse

OODA’s scheme for the Busan Opera House engages with the natural topography, articulating a multi levelled building and integrating the different cultural activities and program seamlessly. The dominant flow circulation, flexibility and concept strategy enables full accessibility.

The design concept creates spaces that blur the difference between building and landscape, intensifying the fluidity between interior and exterior spaces, indoor and outdoor venues. The formal approach is driven from the natural proportion of the program merged with inspirational themes (like sea shells – music – and butterfly typical pacific fish) that allows the building to assume its own unique charm and identity. The formal image with its vibrant and meaningful presence helps to create a brand new-age landmark for South Korea as a strong symbolic voice to the world.

Iconic shell sound towards the sea

The Opera Auditorium has a pioneering and innovative design concept, it is as flexible and efficient as it is elegantly sculpted. The center area can rotate around itself so in the same space it is possible to have an Opera with all its requirements, but also some more intimate concert and a centered stage venue allowing to have audience all around.
The Multi Purpose Theatre has its own identity and articulation. According the design concept it could be used from multiple perspectives and programmatic needs.

The auxiliary facilities (high level restaurants, café/bars, shopping, convention center, exhibition space, banquet hall, event room, etc) flows all along the both main structures creating a perfect bind between all.

The building envelope is devised as a continuous skin that is embedded with multiple levels of program. Natural light, cross ventilation, access and views become the key operators of the transition between interior and exterior.

The organic morphology blends perfectly with the landscape and it´s designed to become landscape and to symbolize the new Busan Spirit and identity.

OODA: Diogo Brito, Rodrigo Vilas-Boas, Francisco Lencastre, Francisco Rugeroni, Ezhil Vigneswaran, Francisca Lopes dos Santos.

in a Desert environment

Comfort Confrontation is a project designed by Johan Tali, Marte Ringseth-Helgeland and Daniel Prost at the Studio Wolf D. Prix of the Die Angewandte in Vienna. It researches the possibilities of living in a desert environment, further more creating an off-grid self-sustainable university campus for 2500 students.

The actual building mass is hovering above the desert surface and is used as an apparatus to organize the public space that is the desert itself. The endless sand horizon is considered as an open field, where shade, brightness, and moisture are the variables to create a diverse public space. As the desert surface expands into the public buildings it becomes more shaded, creating a landscape of oasis like condition and manifests a forum contition for the academic buildings. The massing is developed simulating a field of connected focal points. The fieldlines are manifested as the main arteries and are represented as surfaces that organize the shading shells for housing and as the surfaces meet at a focal point, the bundling surfaces turn into a study of surface contitions like surface-to-volume (and the relation of different volumes to each other) and transparency in relation to sun conditions.

The climate concept consists of self shading shells for residential units, the residential units themselves as shading apparatus for inter-connected campus walkways and using groundwater for cooling via circulating in the hovering masses. A network of suspended roofing systems in the open courtyards is derived from the surface curvature of the self-shading shells of residential units. The landscaping language of the desert ground is shaped according to wind studies and direct access routes with the main purpose of creating wind blocking landscape elements.
 

OODA in Taipei City

It’s another in a series of cutting-edge projects designed for the blooming Asian market. The competition for the Taipei City Museum of Art has drawn a large number proposals, including the one by Porto-based OODA Architecture, which received a merit award. The aim of the competition was to provide a new landmark for the urban center.

The proposed concept is based on two hypercubes; a 90 degree angled cube suspended within a larger contorted volumetric box. The main museum is located within the cube, and above the Children Museum of Art. The latter is positioned below the open public space and sheltered by the main building. The Museum of Art itself flows on a continuous ramp between the outer skin and the hyper core cube inside, all the way to the top. The galleries are located along the ramp, which spirals upwards, around the art resource center. The administrative units are situated at the top.

Structurally, continuous steel frames run from corner to corner and support the entire object. The double skin system provides a double curvature of the façade, suitable for facilitating mechanisms for harvesting rainwater and sunpower. Optimal ventilation is achieved by inserting atrium spaces within the volume.

 

Toxic by Kadri Kerge

Toxicity/contamination/mutation/distortion is a hybride which synthesizes a library and garden into a one spacial continuum. The project designed by Kadri Kerge at the University of Applied Arts Vienna is located in the Burggarten, Vienna – which served as a private royal garden for the Habsburg family. It is situated between the Austrian National Library and a large greenhouse called Palmenhaus that sits at a right angle to it. The roots of the plants from the greenhouse grow out of the container, break the sealed ground and as a mutants combine nature and building. They overlap with the context in housing part of the program of institutions nearby like The Austrian Film Museum, the National Library, and the Albertina Museum.

Toxic Garden is a self-sustainable building generating heat and power through the plants which are growing in the building. The energy design concept provides a range of microclimatic conditions as interfaces between user, information and nature. The building of the Austrian National library is an opulent baroque structure that has housed the Imperial book collection between 1721 and 1918, that was then nationalized.
Since 2011 the National Library archive has been fully digitized, and therefore the physical space of books has been abstracted. The extension of the library is a new type of social environement. It creates different types of atmospheres forreading, working, discovery and community.

The Toxic Garden is an integration of nature and the artificial, of garden and information that has no body. The vegetation of the Burggarten becomes part of the library space and according to the four seasons it transforms atmospheres and functions. In the could season when the Burggarten is naked, the library becomes a green house. In summer the building is naked and opens the program to park activities .
 

Skyricketing Housing

In China, the number of young bachelors is drastically raising because of the skyrocketing housing prices and women are unwilling to marry men without a property. As a result, young graduates spend most of their time working hard but remain single until they can afford a property. In order to cater for this trend, developers start launching smaller housing units to the market. This project designed by Kellen Qiaolun Huang from Cornell University aims at exploring different ways of how these bachelor housing units can be designed other than just being smaller.

Home activities can be divided into two categories: private activities (sleeping, bathing, etc.) and public activities (cooking, eating, reading, relaxing, etc.). Researching and remapping the topological relationship between these two categories are the keys to this project. An X-shaped pattern is generated as result: a private space is being placed in the center with four quarters of public spaces in the corners. The pattern may seem meaningless to individuals until all units are aggregated to form a large interconnecting social network. This network becomes the prototype of X-House.

Several studies have been carried out to investigate the evolution from an X-pattern to the spatial prototype. The mature X-spatial prototype is a model with bedroom and bathroom space in the center and four quarters of sharable space in those four corners. A typical sharable space includes living room, reading/study room, dining room and a multifunctional room.

Another issue addressed by this X-spatial prototype is the concept of connectivity. There are three degrees of connectivity within this model. The largest degree is allowed by a staircase at the back of the design which provides direct and physical connection. The intermediate degree allows visual connection among people in different spaces at the front of the model. The smallest degree lies in the middle of the X-spatial prototype and gives people some privacy.

e Volo

eco Manhattan

New York-based architects Chimera unveiled a proposal for a new skyscraper in Manhattan that explores the emergent logics of adaptation and evolution that are constitutive of ecosystems in nature. The architects’ vision is to define an urban ecosystem which supports housing and cultural programs and has the ability to adapt, transform, mutate, and adjust according to the specific urban and social character of the site. This urban ecological system is taking as a model an organism in nature, specifically the mangrove plant. The mangrove plant and its collective the mangal, provide examples of social associative principles as well as structural capacities and hybrid responses to environmental and contextual conditions.

The project deals both with the complex topography of the site and its connectivity to the Manhattan. The new ground has been defined by creating an elevated plateau  generated by the potential directionality of human fluxes on the site. This oriented space is being partitioned following a logic of cellular aggregation, embedding neighbouring relationships at different scales, and is also the ground reference of the urban housing massing negotiation. Models from nature such as phyllotaxis and branching have been our driving paradigms to define a parametric machine which is able to create a responsive urban ecology.
 

a new eating Down

Περαιτέρω κάμψη παρουσίασε η οικοδομική δραστηριότητα στη χώρα τον Απρίλιο, με τις οικοδομικές άδειες να σημειώνουν νέα πτώση της τάξης του 25,3%, όπως προκύπτει από τα στοιχεία της ΕΛ.ΣΤΑΤ.

Πιο αναλυτικά, το μέγεθος της συνολικής οικοδομικής δραστηριότητας (ιδιωτικής - δημόσιας) στο σύνολο της χώρας μετρούμενο με βάση τις εκδοθείσες οικοδομικές άδειες διαμορφώθηκε σε 2.789 οικοδομικές άδειες, που αντιστοιχούν σε 494,3 χιλιάδες m2 επιφάνειας και 1.903,4 χιλιάδες m3 όγκου.

Παρουσίασε, δηλαδή, μείωση κατά 25,3% στον αριθμό των οικοδομικών αδειών, κατά 36,4% στην επιφάνεια και κατά 32,3% στον όγκο, σε σχέση με τον αντίστοιχο μήνα του 2010.

Το μέγεθος της ιδιωτικής οικοδομικής δραστηριότητας, στο σύνολο της χώρας, διαμορφώθηκε σε 2.772 οικοδομικές άδειες, που αντιστοιχούν σε 476,1 χιλιάδες m2 επιφάνειας και 1.847,5 χιλιάδες m3 όγκου. Παρουσίασε, δηλαδή, μείωση κατά 25,2% στον αριθμό των οικοδομικών αδειών, κατά 35,7% στην επιφάνεια και κατά 30,3% στον όγκο σε σχέση με τον αντίστοιχο μήνα του 2010.

Αντίστοιχα το μέγεθος της δημόσιας οικοδομικής δραστηριότητας κατά το μήνα Απρίλιο 2011, στο σύνολο της χώρας, ανήλθε σε 17 οικοδομικές άδειες, που αντιστοιχούν σε 17,7 χιλιάδες m2 επιφάνειας και 55,9 χιλιάδες m3 όγκου.

Το ποσοστό συμμετοχής της δημόσιας οικοδομικής δραστηριότητας στο συνολικό οικοδομικό όγκο, για το μήνα Απρίλιο 2011, είναι 2,9%.

Κατά την περίοδο των τελευταίων δώδεκα μηνών, δηλαδή από το Μάιο 2010 έως τον Απρίλιο 2011, το μέγεθος της συνολικής οικοδομικής δραστηριότητας μετρούμενο με βάση τις εκδοθείσες οικοδομικές άδειες, στο σύνολο της χώρας, διαμορφώθηκε σε 42.891 οικοδομικές άδειες, που αντιστοιχούν σε 8.644,9 χιλιάδες m2 επιφάνειας και 31.296,7 χιλιάδες m3 όγκου.

Παρατηρήθηκε, δηλαδή, μείωση κατά 22,2% στον αριθμό των οικοδομικών αδειών, κατά 29,7% στην επιφάνεια και κατά 30,7% στον όγκο σε σχέση με την αντίστοιχη περίοδο Μαΐου 2009 - Απριλίου 2010.

naftemporiki.gr

by Takasaki in the Mining History

The Everrest project designed by Simon Takasaki is a  monument that commemorates the end of mining in Duhamel, Germany. The design characterizes by its careful integration to the landscape, urban context, and historical site..
The 30 meters-high, walk-in sculpture, holds the ‘path of the history’ of the site.
As a memorial, the sculpture offers the viewer a path within a mountain appearing as part of the natural topography.
The path leads over a natural base of broken bricks, boulders, and a well lit and airy great hall -a space designed for contemplation and inspiration.
It serves for exhibitions or smaller events such as chamber of music or reading room .

The project’s geometry gives the impression of being  a cave that communicates to the outside world through a series of openings.
The syncretic inversion of the mountain surrounds the visitor as continuos space that extends to the observation deck.

Seen from outside, the sculpture seems to be formed by invisible forces of nature: an amorphous entity.
On the one hand strong winds have been compressed and formed a dynamic,
harmonious formation,
on the other, destructive forces and dissonances are at work and fragment the choreography of the monument.

into a Science Center

Award-winning architects KSP Jürgen Engel Architekten International has won the first prize in an international competition for the new Beijing Science Center. The original building housing the Museum was opened at the same location in Beijing in 1988 and at the time was the first national science and technology museum in China. The museum building will be constructed on behalf of the Beijing Association for Science and Technology, China.

In the south and east the building opens onto a spacious public plaza, shielding the adjoining residential quarters in the north from the busy roads. At the same time the museum forecourt is not only the place where visitors arrive but also somewhere the inhabitants of the neighbouring districts can spend time. Trees and expanses of greenery create a natural transition and a visual dividing line between the exhibition building and the road.

The new building’s key element is a floating structure measuring 133.5m x 133.5m, which rises above the pedestal building at a height of around 20m. This roof is supported by numerous, extremely slender columns, which, based on the image of a bamboo grove, form a concentrated forest of columns. They create a spatial transition from the public road to the scientific exhibition area.

e Volo

in north Jeddah, the Highest

Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture just unveiled their proposal for the new world’s highest skyscraper. At over 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) and a total construction area of 530,000 square meters (5.7 million square feet), Kingdom Tower will be the centerpiece and first construction phase of the Kingdom City development on a 5.3 million-square-meter site in north Jeddah. The tower’s height will be at least 173 meters (568 feet) taller than the world’s current tallest building, Dubai’s 828-meter-tall Burj Khalifa, which was designed by Adrian Smith while at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Kingdom Tower will feature a Four Seasons hotel, Four Seasons serviced apartments, Class A office space, luxury condominiums and the world’s highest observatory.

Design development of the tower is under way, with construction to begin imminently. Foundation drawings are complete and the piling for the tower is currently being tendered. Kingdom Tower will cost approximately $1.2 billion to construct, while the cost of the entire Kingdom City project is anticipated to be $20 billion.
AS+GG is leading an interdisciplinary design team that also includes building services engineering consultants Environmental Systems Design, Inc. (ESD) and structural engineering consultants Thornton Tomasetti. The developer of Kingdom City, Jeddah Economic Company (JEC), selected the AS+GG scheme after a lengthy competition process in which SOM, Pickard Chilton, Kohn Pedersen Fox, Pelli Clarke Pelli and Foster + Partners also participated.

“Our vision for Kingdom Tower is one that represents the new spirit of Saudi Arabia,” said Smith, whose experience in supertall tower design at SOM also includes Jin Mao Tower in Shanghai, Nanjing Greenland Financial Center in Nanjing, China, the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago and Pearl River Tower, now in the late stages of construction in Guangzhou, China. “This tower symbolizes the Kingdom as an important global business and cultural leader, and demonstrates the strength and creative vision of its people. It represents new growth and high-performance technology fused into one powerful iconic form.”

e Volo

 

a Design by Lu and Joongsik Yang

This project for a new bus terminal near San Francisco’s Bay Bridge was conceived as an investigation on parametric design and Voronoi algorithms. The project was developed by Bin Lu and Joongsik Yang at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (Sci-Arc) as a urban strategy that considers scripting, parametric design, and sustainable technologies as a design tool that produces form through the analysis of environmental, urban, and economic data.

The architects used voronoi patterns that analyzed the main stream of people coming to the bus station from different directions at various points in time. The result is a tree-like structure with a cellular pattern that opens to the sky, catches solar energy, and directs the visitors to specific views.