Singing Dunes

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).
http://www.evolo.us/architecture/hybrid-hotel-in-dubai-is-inspired-by-singing-dunes-phenomenon/

isolated Cities Islands

Cities are aggressively expanding its size and population; Urban Swirl is a new design concept that re-thinks the relationship between skyscraper and its immediate urban context.

In metropolises like Tokyo and New York City, the shortage of land is the major reason for vertical developments, but skyscrapers are increasingly becoming isolated islands within the cities – disconnected from the horizontal plane.

Urban Swirl examines the opportunity to connect the vertical with the horizontal by building connections between towers, as well as connections between the towers and the ground plane.

The project is a ‘cluster’ of buildings composed of three major towers and connection spaces between them which provide a smooth transition between the vertical and the horizontal plane while creating a multi-layered experience of urban life.

Instead of traditional program organization, different programs are categorized and nest to each other throughout the whole site. Starting from the edge of the site, the program intensity gets stronger as the program swirls into the buildings. In general, the base is the least rotated part of each building. The base is more ‘loosen’, and the space is open up to accommodate public programs. In the upper floors, rotation becomes vigorous, space tightens, and partitions are formed along the rotation axis – spaces become more private and rooms for offices and residential are created. Therefore, the building with a more drastic rotation, the shortest one, would have more individual spaces, and will serve as hotel building while the least rotated one would serve as office building.
 

Flowers to Build

Liquid Building is designed by Mohsen Marizad, as part of the Emergent Territories Course at the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia. The three essential elements were considered during the design development of the project: parameters and contextual restrictions pertaining to Barcelona building standard, parameters introduced by the program itself and zero emissions and sustainability as an ultimate design goal.

The original design idea consisted of flower-like elements which interacted with a type of intelligent skin system. The flower elements are supposed to function as rainwater collectors and structural reinforcements, while the skin reacts to environmental circumstances. Openings within the roof skin are designed to adapt to seasonal changes. In order to resolve the natural light deficit of the building, a central courtyard is introduced. The high program density resulted in the site being able to house only one third of predicted functions. This issue influenced the vertical distribution of activities and their overall connectivity. The green spaces are delicately positioned to interact positively with the levels, structural units and public spaces. The dominant  principle of fluidity also relates to spatial distribution of habitable units; the liquid “bubbles” of similar functionality float towards each other and create units, from which all the structures are derived.

iconic Promenade

The competition challenge consisted in designing a 100 meters high tower-museum, containing exhibition areas of 20th century fashion history and becoming a landmark for Tokyo. For this purpose, the site was located at Omotesando Street, since this avenue gathers the world’s most important fashion houses, at their maximum magnificence. Cre8 Architecture’s proposal reacts to both the specific nature of the site, as well as the visual impact of the building.

Le Mannequin stands as a new landmark on this iconic promenade. The alabaster facade draped in a black concrete robe unveils itself to its audience – invites the visitor to cross a bottom lit cat-walk within a large entrance atrium space that respects the scale of the existing Omotesando Street buildings. The 20’s – 60’s exhibition spaces tumble over each other allowing glimpses into and from adjoining genres. The runway space articulates the building form between the 60’s and 70’s spaces and provides an exhilarating skyline to the street. The crimson spine – zipping the fabric of the building together allows visitors to meander between spaces whilst high speed 3D dynamic lifts whisk you up to the rooftop Japanese garden and sky bar.


 

Houses in Thessaloniki, GREECE

in Thessaloniki, in front of the sea, appartments to rent and buy, all in a building, special view and
facilities.
the hole Building, is to be sold for a million euro, three stages, shops, appartments, garage, marbles, tiles, beautiful architecture, in front of the sea in Peraia, where somebody can also swim.
a Building to invest, also for offices and families on vacation.
there is interest from Russia and Bulgaria.
Contact, Miss Magda Kalaitzi, for fotos and details
meg.windsurfing@gmail.com
only serious proposals

OMA Books

The Architectural Association School is mounting the first ever retrospective of the books produced by the Office for Metropolitan Architecture – a practice co-founded by a writer, Rem Koolhaas, largely on the basis of a book, Delirious New York (1978).

The centrepiece of the show is a specially-made 40,000-page book, binding together hundreds of OMA’s pamphlets and books made over 35 years of architectural thought, work and provocation.

OMA Book Machine: The Books of OMA runs from 8 May until 4 June 2010 at the AA School Gallery.

Many OMA books – like S,M,L,XL (1995) and Exodus or the Voluntary Prisoners of Architecture (made by the founders of OMA in 1975, and submitted by Koolhaas as his fifth-year thesis at the AA) – have had a decisive impact on architectural practice and book publishing in general.

Others, like MoMA Charrette, made for the (lost) competition to expand New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1997, have remained hidden in the OMA archive.

By compiling and presenting the depth and relentlessness of OMA’s dedication to the making of books as a still-revolutionary architectural form, OMA Book Machine reveals how central books remain to architecture today.

a Passive House

Under the current economic pressure, cities are no longer able to develop the way they used to, especially in the regeneration of unused industrial areas, which have become increasingly in demand due to lack of housing and infrastructure. Although nearby, they represent disconnected areas from the city centers. Considering that city expansion and large regeneration schemes remain as unrealized masterplans due to shortage of public funds and lack of incentive to private initiatives, its now a challenge to devise schemes which could trigger progressive regeneration in harmony with existing urban structures. From an environmental perspective, large amounts of infrastructure and many buildings, which could have been adopted and reused, have been destroyed. The destruction of heritage and memory, the environmental cost of willful demolition and the scale, speed of erection and brutality of the new are most of the time too much for communities to absorb. Therefore, revitalizing bits of the city that need repair, that need healing is becoming increasingly important.

The main feature of the proposal by Evgeni Leonov Architects is minimization of the A/V ratio of the building. Minimal external surface means minimal heat losses. Egg shape is used as inspiration to this project. As known, the egg is one of the most energy-efficient forms of nature. To make A/V ratio minimal, we blocked houses together, linked walls, chose effective dimensions, delete corners, using egg shape in section, and adopted form to site. The result is twice reduced A/V ratio (0,39).

Isover materials used in proposal allow meet the Passive House standards – specific annual heat demand for the building is only 3.33 kwh/m2.

Another feature of the proposal is the design of sustainable neighborhood. Local community core is planned in the center of the development. The core is a common recreation space to all people living in the neighborhood.

The common playground, swimming pool, garden and common underground parking is a cost-effective solution and as well the place for communication and socialization between the neighbors.

Sustainable community advantages: no cars inside the block, common underground parking with a common entrance, common opportunities for recreation – swimming pool, garden, playground, sustainable environment for common living, working and socialization, Built-in services in some homes: shops, galleries, offices, common space for picnics and celebrations, common kindergarten in historic building of Trent Villa.

residual Spaces

Evgeni Leonov Architects is the winning proposal for the Tablet ‘Rethinking Hotels Ideas Competition,’ which asks entrants to challenge the notion of what it means to be an ‘exclusive’ hotel and to do so with an eye towards human psychology and physical experience. Connecting Rooftop focuses on creating ‘Mix-Zones,’ where visitors and locals can engage in a variety of experiences and activities along a variety of programmatically-unique zones.

Connecting Rooftop takes the shape of  a deformed donut, with portions of the structure touching the ground at two points. Inhabitable areas are created by the interstitial spaces, a product of the digital morphogenesis inherent in Connecting Rooftop’s design. When the structure soars into the air, access is provided to a central courtyard on the ground while elevating the occupied interior space above it. Glass walls along the perimeter of this interior dining room -as well as an occupiable roof terrace and ‘skyline bar’- provide 360 degree views to the city. Again, programmatic spaces result from the shifting geometries of the structure on the roof, where stepped terraces provide dining platforms while the hyperbolic shapes above the ground help to frame an open air amphitheatre. A swimming pool takes shape along the ground level, where the structure is raised.

This project is an attempt to create a programmatically- and formally- complex structure out of simple geometric shifts in structure, with program being inserted into residual spaces.

kinetic Movements

As an architectural problematic, the pursuit of this project by Fernando Herrera is to de-compose things/ objects legible to the organization of human meaning or program in the many-folded relations that cause objects to index and constitute vast economies of material formation, and which in turn allows them to emerge as tangible, concrete wordly facts.

The program is a house in Los Angeles, a city that has a rich history of innovative and unconventional house ‘types’. A species needs a lineage to be acknowledged as such, indeed a type also needs a lineage to become such. The studio proposes to conduct an extensive research in the cellular logic and construction of structural instability. To radicalize the agenda of the autonomy of form, using the possibilities of kinetic movement. The house is an accumulation of materialized contours or “strands” that resonate from the topography and is a presupposition of the seismic activity that is linked with the area. Intense and relaxed bundling of the strands define fenestration and walls where the bundling gives surface.

a Protagonist Steel

Designed for USIMINAS, one of the largest producers of steel in the Americas, the building is aimed at creating a positive effect in strengthening the image of steel production. The monolithic appearance is combined with a wealth of detail on the outer surface. The project premise refers to the current state of Brazilian architecture, stating that technology and digital tools allowing interaction between design and manufacturing have been poorly adopted. The building aims to fully exploit the potential presented by software that includes prior analysis of structural behavior of buildings.

Quite apart from being a work of expressive image, the CTU should become a reference for the consistency of the solutions achieved by new technologies, both in projects and in their manufacture and assembly, putting steel in the condition of the protagonist of an architecture focused on sustainability. The installation of CTU in the Technological Park of Fundão can be seen as a significant step in bonding the company to the coast. As a result, there is a vast iconographic repertoire associated with the local marine life. The organic characteristics of the envelope mimic the geometric formation of the fish scales, creating forms that satisfy both aesthetic, symbolic, structural and environmental requirements.

in the spirit of a Music

Steven Holl Architects has been selected as architects of the Maggie’s Centre at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London. Maggie’s Barts will replace an existing 1960s block that was once used as offices, which is located at the periphery of the square.

Steven Holl said, “It is a great honor to design a Maggie’s Centre and a very special challenge to be given such an important central site in London. The hospital has been at the forefront of medial understanding for centuries. We are inspired by the deep history of the area, and particularly the nearby St Bartholomew the Great church, which has been in continuous use with marvelous music since 1143. Our proposal is like a vessel within a vessel within a vessel. In the spirit of music, architecture can be a vessel of transcendence.”

Laura Lee, chief executive of Maggie’s said: “We are very excited that Steven Holl Architects is working with us to design a Maggie’s Centre. It is also a huge privilege to be able to build a Centre at St Bartholomew’s Hospital and we look forward to opening our doors and helping Londoners who are affected by cancer.”

St Bartholomew’s Hospital which serves a population of 1.5m in North East London is the oldest hospital in the country. It was the first hospital to train female doctors and the first to trial high voltage radiotherapy for people with cancer.

Today, it is home to one of the most advanced cancer centers in Europe with world-leading specialists and state-of-the-art technology

in Afsluitdijk

Studio’s SHIFT proposal for the World Sustainability Center in Afsluitdijk, Netherlands sets out to connect the local and global community in a progressive arena of emerging technologies and investigations in a park-like setting near the Wadden Sea. Located along a 20-mile long dike, the center serves as a hot spot for educational, corporate and institutional topics on emergent sustainable practices and technologies. Temporary exhibitions on sustainable topics are stationed on floating piers and are also integrated into the natural landscape. In order to compensate for its remote physical location, the state of the art research facility projects an iconic form in order to inspire and capture the attention of visitors.

to create Biodiversity

The vision by Maxthreads Architectural Design and Planning responds to the extending aim of positioning Taiwan in general, and Tainan city in particular, as a major historical based tourism destination, contributing Taiwan’s economic diversification from its current infrastructure lead planning system.

Tainan main station master plan is imagined as a cultural based community and nature intervention, with sustainable residential development and the potential for natural habitat areas. It aims to be a cultural and vibrant edutainment intervention as well as a secluded haven of peace and tranquillity. Tainan main station is conceived as a new gateway of Taiwan’s history.

The proposal aims to reconcile community and biodiversity. It will act as an eco-transitional urban device, transferring and linking the diversity of the surrounding urban districts and programmes. The concept behind the master plan proposal derives from the area’s original function as transportation node. The proposal will maintain the areas historical identity, whilst providing a boundary free and a self-sufficient urban planning, incorporating a number of sustainability systems.

Project Team: Max Yang, David Millar, Samya Kako

asymptote Architecture

Adhering to the rising trend of skybridges and twin tower design in the Yongsan district, Asymptote Architecture‘s design for the Velo Towers creates social environments through the stacking of a series of rotated oblong volumes.  Uniquely oriented to views of the Han River and the adjacent Yongsan park, residents of the eight residential units can access public housing amenities and green roof spaces through light filled atrium spaces and two bridge structures. The base of the towers offer a communal landscape over a raised plinth, and a Skybridge soars thirty stories to provide access to cafes, pools, lounges, recreational centers, housing fitness, and a sky garden with spectacular views of the city.

A similar breakdown in volume and materiality is observed in the prefabricated faceted facades of the Velo Towers, which have helped this proposal be realized. Presenting materials and digital fabrication prevalent in automotive, aerospace and marine industries, the towers’ mixed  use units consist of large pre-fabricated components made of glass within custom molded composite shells finished in pearlescent automotive paint. The project is to be completed in 2024, and is to be located next to MVRD’s Cloud Towers and BIG’s Cross T.
 

Oscillation Realms

This proposal by Emergent is based on creating a complex visual oscillation between two and three dimensional realms. Somewhere between the disciplines of sculpture and painting, the piece registers as a mass but also as a graphic. Loopy, spotted patterns flow over manifold surfaces, simultaneously dissolving the mass and re-establishing it. Transparent zones allow people to view deep inside the object, their gaze pulled into involutions in interior surfaces. They can see the inside of the mass-painting.

The human brain, recent neuroscience suggests, is not engaged in “seeing” space, but in actively “modeling” space1. Residing on multiple ontological levels, this project is an attempt to force the brain to hedge and guess in its “modeling” of physical reality.

The colorful pattern language, while fanciful at first glance, is not simply a visual phenomenon. It is the result of intersecting a map of structural stresses with a painterly sensibility. The loopy mass is analyzed as a composite shell structure, revealing areas of low and high stress. The resultant color-gradient map is manipulated to produce certain visual effects but also broken down into layers of variable thickness and material strength. Color and pattern therefore only partially index material forces; the piece exceeds simple material expression towards something which correlates nature and culture.

Finally, layers of super-thin technology are embedded into the structurally sedimented fiber composite shell. Thin film solar tape is tucked beneath the outermost layer of the shell, while organic LED  lighting film is embedded on the inside of the shell, in accent layers. The solar tape creates micro-patterning which breaks down large surfaces and generates energy to power the lighting system. At night, mysterious graphic and silhouette effects are produced, heightening the dimensional play of the piece.

applied Sciences

The “Vertical Ground” project reexamines the “norm” for the organization of college campuses. Students today want proximity to the culture, activities and networks available in urban settings, but typical campuses are horizontally oriented and require large swaths of land for development, which are increasingly rare in desirable urban areas. By orienting a college campus vertically instead, colleges can locate in dense areas and perhaps even better facilitate social communication amongst students and faculty.

20,000 students are located on a campus complex that is comprised of several towers that occupy a small city footprint, and are connected at varying heights by sky bridges. By spacing programmatic needs properly throughout the towers, the vertically orientated campuses can give students both space for privacy and opportunities for dynamic interactions with others. The campus tower typology is composed of series of clustered departments and open spaces that are located amongst the college’s three schools: Applied Sciences, Design, and Social Sciences schools.

The designers imagined two test sites for campuses within Manhattan, transforming the typical sprawling land model of a campus to one that is a super block. Lighting conditions and restrictions at ground level and in relation to other nearby buildings present new issues with which vertical campuses need to adapt. Neighborhood restrictions also pose interesting issues: Due to building requirements, a campus in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood would look different than one built in Midtown, for example, as Midtown would allow for construction with taller tower heights. This might give a Chelsea campus difficulties should it ever need to expand, but despite these issues, the designers contend that orienting a campus vertically allows for more programmatic flexibility and opportunities for dynamic interaction than a campus plan that requires an open expanse of land.
 

in Thessaloniki

The proposal by SAKELLARIDOU/PAPANIKOLAOU ARCHITECTS which received the first place in the international competition attempts the reconstruction and upgrading of the ‘Balkan Square’, in the former military camp ‘Strebenioti’, in Neapoli – Sykies, Thessaloniki. It aims at the reorganization of uses and accesses to the square, the redesign of existing facilities and the incorporation of new ones. The concept deals with the notion of hybrid space, time and place, as these coexist and express themselves in the Balkan Peninsula as a mixture of people, languages, religions, myths and traditions; as a mixture of colours and nature. It chooses nature as the active base that unifies the whole, that is continuously renewed, as a canvas, just like the balkan earth which blends people, toponyms, tales and history and binds them together in one mixture. It proposes the natural landscape as a hybrid container of multiple activities: both park and landscape and football field and theatre, as well as an event place and a space for the enjoyment of nature.

Architectural design: Rena Sakellaridou, Morpho Papanikolaou (sparch / Sakellaridou Papanikolaou Architects) Anastasia Papadopoulou, Vanessa Tsakalidou (40.22.Architects | Papadopoulou + Tsakalidou) Collaborators: Κ. Olympios, Ε. Papaevangellou, C. Karakana, Κ. Toubektsi. Students of architecture AUTh: S. Georgiou, Ε. Koumbli, Α. Niaka
Urban planning: Geochoros Meletitiki EPE, dr. A. Giannakou, dr. A. Tasopoulou, D. Zeka
Collaborator: S. Tsovras
Traffic design: K. Derpani
Collaborators: D. Samaras, G. Papandritsas

human Interaction

This building is a proposal by award-winning firm from Los Angeles, P-A-T-T-E-R-N-S, for a 120-bed student dormitory for the Pontificia Catholic University of Puerto Rico in Ponce, the second largest city of the island and the old capital before San Juan. As part of a larger master plan aiming to attract students from the whole Caribbean region and fulfill the current demand of 500 apartments, the proposal aims to create a new presence within the campus.
Articulating a vertical mass with a figural void that encapsulates the main social areas of the program, our proposal aims to induce human interaction among students and visitors in a vertical environment while enhancing unprecedented urban vistas from and to the historic center of the city just beyond the university campus.

Design Team: Marcelo Spina, Georgina Huljich, Matthew Kendall, James Vincent, Chia-ching Yang.

ink Materials

LAMBAME is a design experiment by Melike Altinisik using a ‘Handmade-Scripting’ process instead of using the digital manufacturing process but achieving the result of a digital process by handmade production.

During the design process different ink sketches have been drawn on the several layers of 3mm MDF, mirror and perspex materials. After cutting the designed patterns from different materials, several versions of the lightbox  has been composed with LED Lighting between each layer. It has a modular shape 60cm x 60cm x 5cm.
 

Love Addis Ababa

Football and athletics-loving Ethiopians will have a new FIFA and Olympic-standard 60,000 seat stadium in Addis Ababa thanks to a competition winning design combining local identity with new technology.

LAVA, the Laboratory for Visionary Architecture, and Designsport collaborated with local Ethiopian firm JDAW to win the international architecture competition for a national stadium and sports village, held by the Federal Sport Commission, Ethiopia. Chris Bosse, LAVA director, said: “We have gone back to the very origin of stadium design with a sunken arena surrounded by grandstands formed from excavated material. This man-made crater is a clever remodelling of the existing terrain and generates efficient spaces, optimises environmental performance, minimises construction costs and integrates facilities within the existing landscape. ”

Addis architect Daniel Assefa and director of JDAW said: “The design references Ethiopia’s world-famous excavated architecture – centuries-old rock churches, dwellings and cisterns. We see the sports city as a natural extension to this heritage, one that will draw many more visitors to our beautiful country.”

The façade material that wraps the stadium is inspired by the Massob, an Ethiopian communal serving basket made from woven grass, whilst the shapes of the facade system appear as coffee beans, the main source of income in Ethiopia. The roof of the stadium, an intelligent membrane, appears like a cloud on the horizon of the vast Ethiopian sky, a lightweight tensile structure floating over the formed-earth landscape.

The masterplan includes the IOC-standard stadium for FIFA matches, athletics events, concerts, religious and national festivals; and a sports village comprising indoor and outdoor aquatic centres, outdoor pitches, sports halls and arenas, dormitories and the headquarters for the Federal Sport Commission. Hospitality, retail and commercial zones will ensure that the precinct is vibrant throughout the year.

dynamic Landscapes

The research Proposal by Michael Ippolito from the California College of the Arts proposes a radical rethinking of architecture and landslides. The Marin Headlands is home to over twenty landslides. The most notable and fastest acting landslide in the Headlands is located on the Oceanside of the park between rodeo cove and Tennessee Valley. It is known as place that has been left behind and rendered a volatile wasteland. This wasteland has consumed many man-made structures including eight abandoned military buildings, and two roadways.

The DISPENS(FILTRATOR) proposal renders the existing landslide to be inhabited by an architecture that filtrates the landscape for scientist, students, and recreationist. There are three major components of the DISPENS[FILTRATOR] ; one: the harvesting zone that filtrates boulders, rocks, soil, and water into four different levels, two: the recreational zone that dispenses recreational mechanisms such as the stargazer, climbing cage, and nature watcher, and three: the collection zone (after life) where the mechanisms are collected and jumbled into an artificial habitat where plant and animal life can thrive.

The DISPENSFILTRATOR is an architecture that curates the environment and blurs the distinction between BUILDING, LANDSCAPE, and WASTELAND. This radical rethinking of architecture and landslides allows the populations that visit these kinds of sites to experience a heightened awareness of savvy inhabitance for increasingly dynamic landscapes.

my Orange World...

Orange stained Finnish hardwoods wrap an egg shaped pavilion dubbed “My Green World” designed by 2D3D. The project took only 6 months from concept to completion using roboticly precut wood members with a resulting woven exterior reminiscent of a seed. The building was commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation for the Floriade 2012 Expo in Venlo, the Netherlands.

The self supporting wooden sphere stands 15 meters tall, 35.2 meters long, and 14.4 meters wide. Units were built as ‘cartridges’ off-site and assembled into a self supporting grid. All wood is sustainably harvested.  The timber strand beams and stained plywood skin is gridded with large windows throughout. Set to the solar south the structure is evenly daylit and illuminated by LED lighting at night. A separately supported floor is entered though an elevated bridge.

Like a great orange seed parlaying its environmental message the color reflects the Dutch’s relationship with the glowing color. Originally the color of the royal family orange has become a mark of Dutch popular society evidenced in 30’s wealthy circles to the national football team. The 1200 square meter program contains Dutch environmental innovation displays and will be turned into offices after the expo concludes.

to Mimic Rain

Atelier Brückner, an architecture and exhibition design studio based in Germany, designed the GS Caltex Pavilion for the 2012 Korea Expo in Yeosu, South Korea. The structure, commissioned by Korean oil company GS Caltex, bears programmed blades as the main feature that mimic various weather/natural conditions, such as rain, waves, fire, lightning and wind. The blades light up by touch to represent each of the elements.

The pavilion architecture presents itself as a dynamic ensemble that is reminiscent at first of an oversized rice field. 18 meters high, known as blades of grass blades swaying in the wind, sometimes they are interactive and light up when touched. In the middle of this energy field is a star-shaped, mirrored pavilion, which will be visually completely back. About lifted corners of the star, the visitor access to the entrance area is also mirrored on the ground floor. Upstairs is the center of the pavilion: a seven-meter high round room with a panoramic projection. Poetic images in black and white aesthetics reduced the willingness to take responsibility of the company give in sustainable energy concepts.

algorithmic Architecture

The objective in designing the ‘Living Bridge’ was to describe a new type of nonlinear algorithmic architecture through the design of an inhabitable bridge in Tokyo.  The chosen site integrates with the residential neighborhoods of Ginza and Tsukishima.  Through the harnessing and intensification of the discrete flows of the two neighborhoods, and through algorithmic generation of turbulent spatial and programmatic structures, a reinvention of the inhabitable bridge type is achieved.

Creating Living Bridge was a three-step process.  Using Processing, the designers identified the movement patterns of people and vehicles in the city, considered them as agent-based systems of entangled flows, and modeled their interactions as a vector field.  Next, they released decking agents to read the vector field, moving through it and creating walking, cycling, and vehicular paths.  Finally, the designers introduced self-organizing components that changed their shape and connectivity depending on the turbulence of the field.  The components thereby simultaneously create, channel, and enclose the interactions of the circulation and programs inhabiting the bridge, leading to a dynamic space that connects and activates the riverfront.

The project is the culmination of nonlinear design research by Dave Eaton, Geoffrey Klein, and Michael Wetmore from the studio Complex Phenomena taught by Cecil Balmond and Roland Snooks at the University of Pennsylvania School of Design.

Cyberpunk Culture

The urban night club project from Changpei Jang & Xie Zhang in University of Pennsylvania looks deeply into Tokyo’s robotic and cyberpunk culture as an inspiration for sci-fictional and mechanical interior design for an urban night club in Aoyama, Tokyo. And the project creates different psychedelic interior spaces as well as sci-fictional out-looking for a cultural night club. It represents Tokyo as metaphor. This is a megacity that represents hypermodernism in all its dimensions, from hyper-technology to individual alienation to the explosion of urbanization since1990s, it is an urban club as an urban fair tale to Tokyo’s psychedelic urban situation: it is a mega-city in which its realities are more or less intentionally detached.

Curvaceous Shadows

The recently opened design museum in the suburbs of Tel Aviv was built in hopes of transforming the city of Holon into an epicenter of culture and education. To that end they brought in a famous architect and renowned group of international guest curators to make the museum famous. The Design Museum Holon was designed by Ron Arad Architects, led by Tel Aviv born industrial designer and architect, Ron Arad. After four years of construction the museum was inaugurated on January 31st, 2010 and its first exhibition just opened.

The structure itself is not merely a box to house works of art and design, rather it is meant to be the first exhibit visitors see when coming to the museum. Arad’s creation is most notably characterized by the metal ribbons wrapping around the building. Five sinuous bands of varying shades of Corten weathered steel form the exterior facade casting curvaceous shadows down onto an outdoor courtyard, by which the visitors enter. Inside are various exhibition halls, gallery spaces, a design lab and an archival collection for the many shows the museum soon hopes to hold within its confines.

an Urchin Shape

The new convention center in Yingkou, China, was designed by 2DEFINE Architecture, supported by their local partner Dalian Urban Planning & Design Institute. Located in the northwest province of Liaoning, the sea urchin-shaped building is designed to reflect its natural environment. As a satellite business district of the future harbor, the building, surrounded with outdoor promenades and gardens, aims to be a prominent port location. The oblong building will have no front or back, so it will face all directions to allow 360-degree views.

According to the architects, the aim was to design a building that could be used throughout the year, thus becoming the heart of the city. The 45 meter high center will feature several exhibition spaces, meeting rooms, a 200-sseat auditorium, a 900-seat banquet hall and a large atrium. The super structure will feature a unique rain screen system on the roof that will reflect natural light during the day, and create a soft glowing form at night with minimal use of artificial light. The half-acre roof-top terrace will overlook the Bohai Sea, and offer an outdoor space adjacent to the ballroom. An elevated four-lane road with pedestrian walkway will connect the island with the mainland.

Construction of the island will begin in 2012 and the building is slated for completion in 2014.

fluid Horizons

The research proposal by Shellar Garcia from the California College of Arts focuses on the horizon line, which is created by the convergence of the Earth’s surface and the sky. In architecture, the site or ground acts as part of the horizon, where buildings impose their presence, therefore fragmenting the horizon. This creates what is called a visible horizon, consisting of the current existent horizon containing transformation. The question then is: Can architectural structures be seamlessly spliced into the horizon line to form new fluid horizons? Fluid horizons refer to characteristics such as continuity and seamlessness, where panoramic views are achieved and not obstructed by existent architecture.

The proposal is located at Russian Hill, which is extremely varied in its topography, specifically at the currently abandoned, Francisco Reservoir. Its drastic slope provides views to strategic places such as Alcatraz, Golden Gate Bridge, Ghirardelli, and Sausalito.

A 60-degree angle cone of vision was used as a strategy for the design. This generated a surface, which redefines the horizon and guides towards specific views. It also provides the opportunity for program such as sightseeing, play, art, and planting; as well as incorporating other program lacking in Russian Hill such as commercial and office space. This program acts as plug-ins occurring underground to the surface, which also blends and takes advantage of the surface by extending outwards and merging with exterior surface program and views. Since the site is currently an abandoned Reservoir, the surface reincorporates that aspect, where rain water travels throughout and ends on several actual empty lots on the site acting as reservoirs.

Using the horizon line and the views focused within each line, a new form of architecture design emerges, where the design doesn’t start from a plan or elevation, but instead on the perception and perspective performances it will carry. Architecture will not be molded to the ground’s surface, but rather the ground will be treated as part of the architectural construction.

ecology Redux

The skyscraper has paradoxically enjoyed a renaissance since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, which brought world attention to the tragedy while raising multiple questions about its future. The boom in the Middle East has focused purely on new aesthetics and a lavish display of economic wealth. In contrast, Vertical Ecology Redux is a project that brings a new level of per formative organization into the design equation; it is fully integrated into the urban fabric and existing infrastructure.

Vertical Ecology Redux is located on the waterfront of Hong Kong. The ground level is a continuous path that fuses the tower to the port and offers a series of cultural amenities. The tower emerges as three distinct geometries that merge into a structure with housing and commercial space. The façade is a hybrid structural system of pleats, seams, subdivisions, lacing, and cells.
 

Landscape Elements

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.

new Wave Architecture

The project is located in the Iranian city of Semnan, and acts as an extension of the existing university campus. Taking a pivotal role in the complex and acting as a vibrant social hub, the added structures are two separate buildings – an auditorium and a library. The buildings pertain to the same architectural articulation, while creating different spacial characteristics. The dynamic and welcoming spaces of the auditorium are juxtaposed with the calm environment of the library. The achitectural dialogue creates a academic context that encourages interaction and learning.

The project attempts to approach a monumental and memorable picture of academic library and auditorium. The woven and crossing hasps on the façade link volumes visually while triangular dark glass openings illuminate spaces and illustrate authentic play of light and shadow. These elements provide a quiet atmosphere while diminishing the sunlight radiation, particularly in the hot summer. The Auditorium complex includes a 1000 seats auditorium, and 100. 200 seats convention halls, ,a multi-functional hall and a foyer. The library includes reading cluster, informal sitting newspaper, multi-lingual storages, computer station, reference collection hall, offices, exquisite book area and etc.

Design Methodology

Progression Through Un“Progression Through Unlearning” is part of an ongoing research by Bao An Nguyen Phuoc, Arie-willem De Jongh, and Mingy Seol from TU Delft into an architecture which explores the generation of programmatic, structural and spatial order through a multi-agent based design methodology which operates in a high pressure environment. The intention was to achieve highly varied heterogeneous spatial formations, catering to a wide variety of human activities and programmatic demands. The strategy of the project was to explore the possibilities of connecting exclusive programmatic and hard threshold zones through a continuous and gradient experience of the multifunctional voids and gree“Progression Through Unlearning” is part of an ongoing research by Bao An Nguyen Phuoc, Arie-willem De Jongh, and Mingy Seol from TU Delft into an architecture which explores the generation of programmatic, structural and spatial order through a multi-agent based design methodology which operates in a high pressure environment. The intention was to achieve highly varied heterogeneous spatial formations, catering to a wide variety of human activities and programmatic demands. The strategy of the project was to explore the possibilities of connecting exclusive programmatic and hard threshold zones through a continuous and gradient experience of the multifunctional voids and green areas.n areas.learning” is part of an ongoing research by Bao An Nguyen Phuoc, Arie-willem De Jongh, and Mingy Seol from TU Delft into an architecture which explores the generation of programmatic, structural and spatial order through a multi-agent based design methodology which operates in a high pressure environment. The intention was to achieve highly varied heterogeneous spatial formations, catering to a wide variety of human activities and programmatic demands. The strategy of the project was to explore the possibilities of connecting exclusive programmatic and hard threshold zones through a continuous and gradient experience of the multifunctional voids and green areas.

YIBD to Lead the World

International architecture firm Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF) is pleased to present its design for Block H of the Yongsan International Business District (YIBD) in Seoul. The goal of YIBD is to create a new symbol for the 21st Century city; a new urban center in Seoul for international business, living, entertainment, and shopping. YIBD will lead the world in innovative design, maximizing the site potential and taking advantage of connections made to its urban and natural assets. The master plan, created by Studio Daniel Libeskind, is a dynamic urban environment containing contributions from 19 different architects practicing in diverse locations around the globe.

Scheduled for completion in 2016, Block H consists of a luxury 5-Star hotel and high-end serviced residential building containing 167,225 square meters of space. The 385-meter-tall tower sits on a 14,600-square-meter parcel of land on the northeastern border of the YIBD, achieving an FAR of 11.4%. KPF’s building is situated in a way that seeks to mediate the extreme height (665m) of the landmark office tower to the northwest, and transition this height to the lower scale of the residential blocks beyond. KPF sought to intensify the social aspect of the street through a distinct urban landscape and diverse program at the lower levels of the building.

According to KPF Design Principal, Trent Tesch, “Our goal for this project is to establish and make connections to street life, the new city of Yongsan, and to the larger context of Seoul. We do this through a thoughtful approach to the building’s program, position, and character.”

Fundamental to the logic of the unique shape of the design is the idea that the building is comprised of apartments and hotel rooms that demand ample natural light, dramatic views, and maximum privacy. These three internal parameters have shaped the DNA of the Architecture. Like an organic system that seeks equilibrium with nature, the design grows outward from the center, towards views and light, into three distinct “wings.” The three wings guarantee that the residential apartments will have a major corner view from the living space, while maximizing its privacy from the adjacent unit. Unlike most “Y” type high-rise towers, the design “steps” each wing asymmetrically so there is a low-wing, a mid-wing and a high-wing. The building is carefully oriented to increase views to the Han River to the south (low-wing), the Yongsan Park to the east (mid-wing), and the Nam-San historic district and adjacent landmark tower to the north (high-wing).

KPF Managing Principal, Richard Nemeth adds, “As demonstrated by this futuristic new city center, Seoul is one of the leading innovative Architectural Arenas in Asia, and we are proud to design the hospitality component of it. We hope that it will successfully bridge the high speed rail network with the commercial components to invigorate the master plan.”

KPF’s tower contains casino, retail, and spa functions in the basement, and the firm proposed a podium building to accommodate a large banquet hall and other amenities for the hotel. The desire, however, is not to create a composition of tower and podium, but rather to create a tower that emerges or grows out of the podium like the organic growth of a crystal. The tower and podium are treated as one singular form, with a language of terraces and set-back forms that grow upwards and outwards towards light and views.

The hotel and serviced residences will be expressed with different but interrelated material palettes. The solid elements on the façade will be expressed as a dynamic pattern of non-repetitious surfaces that create a field on the side walls of the tower and expose the end walls where maximum views are desired. These surfaces transition from stone slab at the base of the building to textured metal surfaces at the top of the building (where the program shifts from hotel to residential), subtly exposing the program of the building. Natural materials such as stone, metal, and wood, are used in ways that heighten their character. Large slabs of stone, planks of wood, and real alloys comprise both interior and exterior surfaces.

a Movement of a Plant...

The project explores principles of responsive structures, installations that interact with users through a combination of motion sensors and various other electronic components. The Succulent Hispid marries biological and technological mechanisms, evolving into a hybrid lighting system mimicing the movements of petals. It is inspired by succulent plants and their ability to retain water, thus adapting to arid climates or soil conditions. Designed by UCLA students Harlen Miller, Francesco Valente-Gorjup and Jordon Gearhart, the installation is an emotionally charged, interactive, electro-material object.

The petals are made of plastic, with acrylic substructure and silicone membrane lining. The surfaces are covered with metal pin hairs. Combined with silicone inflatable bladders, they hide the LED lights that emanate a central glow. When approached, the Succulent Hispid senses one’s proximity and closes up, exposing its outer skin in defence.

Among other studio projects, the Succulent Hispid explores different manufacturing techniques such as 3D printing, lasercutting, milling, vacuum forming, casting and various molding methods. It also researches computer controlled robotic movement, LED lighting and sensor technologies in order to introduce interactivity and kinetics to the structure. Instead of focusing on a single material or manufacturing technology the students worked on the problems involved in combining a multiplicity of technologies and materials into sensible electro-material wholes.

biomimicry Structure

This project is a design proposal conceived by Philip H. Wilck during his studies at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna under the guidance of Hernan Diaz Alonso. The project for a Concert Hall at the Stadtpark in Vienna rethinks the concept of a concert hall through the architectural emsemble of different geometrical and material configurations that offer the opportunity for a multilayered and complex music experience. The system includes central positioned classical, symmetric concert hall geometry, and two areas created as sound shells related to biological shell geometries (biomimicry) such as an ear or a muscle structure. Other elements provide spaces and areas for a fully energy self-sufficient building through host interaction and active materials.

Wilck rethinks the concert hall by intruding botanical gardens functioning as structure and evolving absolutistic symmetric building configurations that morph into free floating geometries. The project analyzes system hierarchies with an adequate circulation organization.

Key elements coming from Romanticism are also important for the proposal such as: untamed wilderness, the unfinished, and the validation of obscure perceptions. Committed to the futility to comprehend the world with the aid of rational systems, as well as from the inferiority of every perfect thought compared to the inherent laws of nature. A New Romanticism approaches new areas in design and architecture processes – emerging aestetic paradigms and systematic specifications.

a Generic Volume

The project’s goal by Johannes Beck and Stefano Passeri was to combine techniques developed in an initial exploration on digital drawing, with a building-scale proposal sited in West Hollywood (Sunset Blvd, Holloway Drive intersection). The approach to the architecture starts from the main programmatic elements: office space, three auditoria, and a large public garden. We decided to give each of these ‘blocks’ an independent generic volume. The resulting intersecting boxes are connected via a language of ‘joints’ – a direct consequence of our intention to avoid booleaning the middle. A spacious, central, mostly interior void becomes the indirect by-product of this move.

The gaps between the joints and the resulting edge were our real design focus – and the natural condition for the application of the techniques learned in the first exercise. The idea of edge works well as a defining moment for the dialectic of interior and exterior in built form. If you presuppose a black interior and a white exterior, as we did, the edge is the space for the opposites to meet and generate unexpected interactions. The black and the white never turn gray but clash and collide, producing large areas of interpenetration as well as small trickles and graphic traces on the volumes. In places, to really emphasise the importance of the edge condition and of the blackness ‘bleeding out’ from the interiority, almost eroding the outer white, the reaction ‘indexes’ parts of the boundary area with a slight relief. And lastly, a function of the extended eroded joint edge is to produce apertures whereby the black interior can be glimpsed from outside.

Morphotectonic Aesthetics

Limited Edition book EVOLO SKYSCRAPERS. The publication has been praised by the critics, including the Wall Street Journal for its importance in showcasing the future of architecture.

Title: EVOLO SKYSCRAPERS
Cover: Hardcover
Size: 9″ x 11.5″ x 2.5″
Pages: 1224
ISBN: 978-0-9816658-4-9
Limited edition: 500 copies (sold out!)
Second printing: Printed on demand. To be delivered in July 2012
Price: $120 – Includes shipping to any part in the world.

INTRODUCTION

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.

Human Rights to be Concreted

Illegal acquisition of land by local Chinese government entities has caused thousands of residents incredible grief and even death recently, plus social instability, say the designers of the Structure of Human Rights in Beijing. Though private property doesn’t really exist in China (and buying a property only ensures its use for 70 years), the designers of this structure feel that land use needs to be reexamined in China, as a private home is a basic human right. Their proposal to bring every person a place to live takes into account the country’s exploding population and need for dense development, and thus is oriented vertically.

Inspired by the Chinese character 田 the traditional siheyuan residence and ancient Chinese urban planning, these designers have dreamed up a giant reinforced concrete structure that serves more as infrastructure than a building. It is “land” for housing, instead of the housing itself – a 3-D checkerboard that houses units within each cell. The structure is the same length as the Forbidden City, and is located directly to the east of it. (“Ironically,” the designers say, “it confronts the Forbidden City, the symbol of the superpower of despotism, emphasizing the priority of human rights in a dramatic and symbolic way.”) Living spaces within the structure measure 25 by 30 by 25 meters. This proposal was not made by politicians, they stress, or economists. “We are people. We just want a house, and land.”

Collectible Architecture

Daniel Simmons unveiled his design for a series of structures small enough to be collected as artworks. They can be disassembled and transported to a variety of venues for exhibition, both outdoors and in gallery spaces.

As new structures are acquired, they can be clustered together in configurations freely decided by their owner, forming the fragment of a laneway or small courtyard

Choreographed Movement

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.

Complexing Winter

Super-Stadium is a proposal designed by Alan Lu for an Olympic complex for Harbin’s bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics that seeks to integrate the multitude of Olympic arenas and villages into one continuous entity, allowing for a seamless transition between programs and events.

With the economic burdens of hosting the Olympic games a key issue in the local and global economy, the proposal attempts to inject the current model of sporting arenas with a social and cultural initiative. Thus, the building itself becomes a series of typological layers, with the ground floor programmed as a cultural landscape with libraries, museums, convention halls, and screening rooms. The layer above exists as the main sports level with four large multiuse arenas, and the upper most layer becomes a public promenade that weaves through the landscape lines with retail stores and cafes. The layers are connected visually through shifts in section that allow users to watch the sporting events from other programs and vice versa. The end effect is one of specialized spaces that resist the urge for unprogrammed space to go unused, yet still inform each other spatially and visually. The Olympic village itself is transformed into a vertical tower, tailored for the athletes during the games, but easily converted to valuable real estate once the games are over.

advanced Architecture

X|Atelier is organizing an international intensive workshops of Advanced Architectural Design, part of an ongoing academic research, which introduces participants into contemporary discussions of formal exploration in Architecture and Art, through technical attainment of design and production. Omni(progra)chromatic by X|A is under the auspices of Benaki Museum, the Hellenic Institute of Architecture and the Athens School of Fine Arts. It is an opportunity for architects, students of Architecture and Art, professionals, designers and artists to challenge new territories.

The workshops led by Erick Carcamo and Nefeli Chatzimina -principals of X|A- will be held at the Benaki Museum in Athens 138 Pireos st, with daily meetings from 10am to 6pm. Our goal is to explore innovative, potential architectural expressions of the current discourse around form through computational tools (Autodesk MAYA). We will focus on technique elaboration, material intelligence, formal logic e ciencies and precision assemblies as an ultimate condition of design. The workshop will develop and investigate the notion of pro cient geometric variations at a level of complexity, so that questions towards geometrical e ectiveness, accuracy and performance can begin to be understood in a contemporary setting. The workshop is a discourse based in the use of multi-layered techniques and production processes that allow for control over intelligent geometries, calibration of parts, and behavioral taxonomies, normalizing an innovative held of predictability. We will focus simultaneously in the attempt to negotiate the question of topology vs. typology, odd genus (Greek. ) and species within the condition of space and how fragmented surface state emerges through, constituting a potential assembly of parts and quanti ed normalities. Within this context, our work will turn into design and production each student will operate within an expertise towards intuition by means of software and advancement of the discipline through a precise contemporary understanding of Architecture’s reliance on surface performance, unspeci ed systems, scale within the scale, mechanical parts and absurd precisions to expand its discourse.

to Heal a Building

http://valuesinarchitecture.blogspot.com/2011/07/healing-buildi

Grayson Highland State Park
What would it mean to create “healing buildings?”  I believe that well-designed buildings make people more productive, protect their health and can support a positive, hopeful attitude.  But I’ve always seen the role of the human-made physical environment in a passive, “first-do-no-harm” kind of way.  Having grown up in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley, I find what humans build to be a pale imitation of the mountains, fields, forests and streams crafted by God.  The story arc of God interacting with His creation begins in the Garden of Eden but ends in a new city – the New Jerusalem.  So maybe there is a role for building that goes beyond mere shelter and utility and includes healing the brokenness we all have in some form.The person who got me thinking about this, again, is Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms. Utilizing nature’s template for farming, their approach recognizes the inter-connectedness found in growing healthy, wholesome plants and animals.  Their website proclaims that they are in the business of, “healing the land, healing the food, healing the economy, and healing the culture.”

Green roof at Nationals Park, Washington, DC
There is an analogous way of thinking about how and what we build. Most of the green building movement is about limiting the damage done by modern building methods.  I believe we can move beyond a “limiting damage” mentality to one where what we choose to build and how we go about it can make us better people.  It begins with question, “Do we need to build?”  If the answer is yes, then come discussions about scale and context – what does the size and locations of our building(s) say about our values and priorities?  The techniques we employ should harness the natural forces of sun, wind and rain and utilizing these forces, not overcoming them with brute force -- making us constantly aware of the cycles of the natural environment – a connection with creation that can be healing.  Such questions are only the beginning; the conversation can and should go on.

By more carefully considering what and where and how we build we will inevitability question our values and purposes – discussion that can transform communities and culture.  The act of building can be either be an expression of our brokenness as human or demonstration of our faith and hope in a redemptive future.

to Ecology From a Nuclear World

The “ecological model project” designed by LAVA is a proposal for the ‘Green Climate Fund Headquarters’ in Bonn, Germany. The future structure will be situated along the rhine river within walking distance of several system departments, including the federal ministry for the environment, nature conservation and nuclear safety and economic cooperation and development. With a design inspired by the setting in the Rhine valley, and with curvilinear forms, nature light wells, roof top gardens and a large sunken terrace for the restaurant, the three-level structure will comply with the latest energy and building ecology standards, meeting the highest demands in terms of sustainability (German Gold Certificate), ecology and energy efficiency.

Besides functional offices with state-of-the-art office technology, planning includes an access and logistics area with security controls and a visitor reception zone, an auditorium, a conference room, a canteen/cafeteria and an underground car park. The Fund will provide input on the functional division of areas to create optimal working conditions.

The proposed building has excellent transport connections, is in walking distance from several Federal ministries, including the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. Chris Bosse, Tobias Wallisser and Alexander Rieck set up LAVA as a network of creative minds with a research and design focus in 2007 with offices in Sydney, Shanghai, Stuttgart, Berlin and Riyadh.

Building Performance

The 2011 d3: Housing Tomorrow competition called for the design of “transformative solutions that advance sustainable thought, building performance, and social interaction”. David Zhai and Alexis Burson’s winning selection for the New York category was an innovative project that speculated on the future of the network society through the hybridization of data and living.

The design strategy called for a series of server farms established within a network of high and low-density housing. The servers interface with surrounding domestic spaces allowing informational feedback to occur between the inhabitants and a kinetic architectural system that responds to the various spatial needs of its community.

Revenue generated from the data servers help to subsidize the cost of living while the substantial heat created from the processing of data is used in a heat-exchange process to support domestic heating and hot water. Heat from the servers also support a network of vertical farming which provides sustenance for the community. An integrated biometric monitoring system allows residents to better improve on their health and lifestyle while increasing the effectiveness of health and emergency response services.

By re-conceptualizing new modes of informational collection and distribution on an urban scale, with consideration for health, privacy, economy, and the environment, this project tests but also begins to define the emergence of the post-computing society and the creation of a new urbanism and a new model of community.

a Membrane for Tennis

This is an innovative Tennis complex designed by Matija Djedovic M.Arch.  ”Tennis complex Varna” is situated in Bulgaria, on the  island in the central part of town Varna called “Ostrovo”. The project aims to be landmark for new impulses to urban development in Varna.

The idea is to create a visual link between the City of Varna and the observed locations. So the morphology of Varna transferred  in three steps  to the field configuration. When you’re approaching the Tennis complex, your attention is attracted by the amorphous shaped, modern Central stadium that is in harmony with environment, on one side, and on the other side Stadium 1 which is dig  in the hill so it wouldn`t change the shape of terrain.

The complex is divided into five zones: auxiliary fields, Central stadium, Stadium 1, the central public space between the two stadiums and parking located under ground (1 000 vehicles).  The capacity of the Tennis complex is about 14000 seats and area of the complex is 117429 m2.

Membrane of the Central stadium is seen as a new architectural element, which contributes to the creation of the aesthetic richness of the project. The final treatment of membrane is perforated sheet.  In the structure of the building where exist indoor and outdoor spaces, heated and unheated spaces…. holes cane be treated in three ways (1.unheated spaces – no filling; 2.heated air spaces – ETFE foil; 3.heated dark spaces that do not require light – PVC membrane). The use of this materials unfluence on the depth on texture of the facade, shaped facade and effect on her aesthetic qualities. This element increases the interest and enjoyment in the building, improving its usability and positive impact on visitors.

On the Copmlex can be applied different types of renewable energy. Because of  the excessive frequency of people this project will focus on the piezoelectric plates.  The intention is to build the most efficient Tennis complex, which will base its maintenance without the use of non-renewable energy. In this way the whole complex not only to produce electricity for their own maintenance, but in the future could be supplied and a residential block, part of town…,  with electrical energy. This kind of design will represent the small power plant based on „clean energy“ where the object lives 24.07.

For all its respectful understatement, the Tennis complex will become a distinctive feature of the City. It improves the inmediate environment of „Ostrovo Varna“ and acts as a stimulus for other positive developments in the adjacent urban structure, the surrounding district and the whole urban environment.
 

Deployment Strategy

The Transient Response System (TRS-1) is a deployable architectural base that quickly assembles a tower to provide immediate shelter for victims of natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods. This structure designed by architecture students Adrian Ariosa and Doy Laufer at SCI-Arc in Los Angeles is proposed for cities like Jakarta which could be underwater by 2025.

Once a flood subsides, the architectural base could serve as a rally point with a residential tower and a civic plinth for diverse programs including factories, refineries, and recycling plants. The residential tower is comprised of 3-story modules that adopt an open program to accommodate as many inhabitants as possible with adequate air, light, and space.

The deployment strategy of the TRS-1 follows seven steps:

Deployment – The vehicle arrives and deploys the base. The carrier returns to the main factory.
Stabilization – The tower expands and plug into existing infrastructural systems.
Expansion – The tower is raised as the base continues to expand and merge with the existing urban fabric.
Occupancy – The structure is opened to the displaced residents.
Operation – The residents are trained and helped to rebuild their homes and neighborhood.
Progression – The city is completely recovered and the TRS-1 could become a permanent structure for necessary infrastructure or could be dismantled and transported to a new disaster zone.

Cobogó Brick to Create Clouds

Could emergent settlement tendencies as seen in slums of the third world become more than a problem; a new way of living and an example to learn from?

Favela Cloud is a conceptual proposal for a future development of favela Santa Marta, a vision for a new way of building inhabitable structures in the area. The design proposes an alternative way of developing the build environment, drawing on the social and organizational qualities of the favela itself. Based on the self-organization logic, the proposal exhibits an additive system that can grow and adapt to its site conditions, hovering above buildings and vegetation to utilize the existing paths and openings of the site.

Inspired by the cobogó brick, widely used in a Brazilian context, the cloud is designed to act as an urban cobogó shading the open spaces inside the cloud as well as the public plaza underneath.

The cloud deals with a hybrid program, combining new dwellings with a set of flexible platforms for cultural functions such as a library and media space, dance studio and learning centre. The intention is to merge a diverse program into a flexible architectural design that can evolve according to future needs of the favela, and the design is intended to be a new landmark functioning as a communicator to the formal city.

“Favela Cloud” is a master thesis project by Johan Kure, Kemo Usto and Thiru Manickam developed at the AD:MT at Aalborg University, Denmark.

A Geometry Living

Fashioned by a simple circle Andrew Maynard Architect’s Mt. Macedon House is currently under construction near the town that the home derives its name in Victoria, Australia. Incorporated into the wooded landscape the home’s geometry grows out of the hillside keeping it from being walled off from its environment. The landscape adds variety to the circular form as well which provides elevated views throughout the main living floor. The home’s open expanse to a central courtyard, divided by a lap pool in the center, articulates a recreational and social presence as each space can see and been seen from the rest of the home. The interior floor plan, with bedrooms to one side, kitchen and living in the middle and office and garage on the opposite end is egressed by an inner path lining the courtyard. The total effect is one of relaxation.

The landscape continues to a vegetated slope which then turns into a deck that is approached appropriately enough by a circular staircase. The integration of the hill into the house is key design element providing a path to the upper hillside, roof or across the home. The entrance’s centerpiece is a tree growing from the floor and through the circular opening in the roof. Wrapped externally by vertical louvers the entire house’s glazing is protected from unwanted solar heat. On the roof a solar electric system and solar thermal collection for the swimming pool provides renewable energy resources, furthering the intention of integration of the home into the land.
 

to Feel Brain

Housing, like the majority of architectural genres, has always been a permanent construction attached to the ground for long-term residence. This project explores the possibility of creating a nomadic type of dwelling that should be seen as an industrial product rather than architecture.

In the 1960’s, Archigram designed a ‘Walking City’ in which an entire community could move from one place to another. Although a very innovative concept, it has been proven to be economically and technologically unfeasible over the last 50 years. ‘Capitalist Symbiosis’ is a small scale version of Archigram’s utopian vision, a small inhabitable transportation unit for the global resident. It is consumer product, just like ipods, laptops, and mobile phones.

In 1984, William Gibson envisioned in his cyberpunk novel ‘Neuromancer’ a world in which the boundaries and interactions between men and machine will blur, thus making it impossible to tell them apart. He described a world not far from ours, in which humans would only need minimal dwelling space, and in which virtual reality would provide an unlimited amount of space; the only traditional aspect of this proposal would be to provide shelter from the natural elements.

The aim of this scheme is to design a mobile structure that could continuously modify the urban configuration of a specific site. It could be seen as a benign parasite that will transform and enrich the city through consumer demand.

The first of two different projects is a summer bungalow that plugs into the sides of a modified robotic pier. The main goal is the creation of new programmatic opportunities through the interaction of the bungalow and the pier itself. There is a reconfiguration of the tectonic qualities of the host by the insertion of the guest.

to Parametric Fjords

Designed to connect the two shores of the Limfjord seaway in Denmark, the project explores the structural, experiential and functional variability of bridges through use of parametric tools. It was part of a research project aimed at discovering possibilities in associative geometry and the building of structures, functions and materials into one model where it could analyzed and change according to selected criteria. It develops and tests methods of parametric design and digital/analogue form-finding.

The bridge will be used for light traffic and will connect the Nørresundby area to the future urban context at the east harbor and the House of Music site. Instead of simply facilitating communication between future architectural interventions, the bridge introduces a visual direction, imposing a spatial statement to be followed. The idea of flow is expanded by introducing several paths that create diverse pedestrian experiences. Users are offered the option to choose different paths and rooms-they are given the ability to design their own crossing scenario. Using the notions of floating material and open spatial qualities of the fjord, the project aims to distance itself from the city architecture.

Students: Mathias Kræmmergaard Kristensen, Christian Raun Jepsen
Supervisors: Jens Klitgaard, Poul Henning Kirkegaard
Aalborg University: Institute of Architecture and Design

the Position of Humans

........The book presents a wonderful insight into the lives of three poets in particular, William Carlos Williams, Wallace Stevens and Marianne Moore, and is enlightening as to the ways in which they responded and reacted to the increasingly science and technology oriented society they lived in. Since this trend towards a reliance on science and technology has only escalated since the 1920s and 30s it is interesting to compare their position to our own. Certainly, I have gained a new appreciation for the poetry, and a new understanding of the period. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the ways poetry is written to reflect our position as humans within a social context.............
 

to Desalinate the Water

The Bridge of Hope is a symbolic structure that seeks to link the shores of the Dead Sea to promote peace between Jordan and Israel. Construction of the bridge would commence from both sides of the sea, ultimately meeting in the middle; there, a settlement for Arabs and Jews to live harmoniously is established.

The water level of the Dead Sea is dropping by 1 meter per year, and plans are currently underway by the Jordanians to replenish the water levels by connecting it, via pipelines, with the Red Sea. In addition to the bridge’s construction, this project also proposes the creation of aqueducts from Israel’s side to help replenish the sea with water from the Mediterranean. These aqueducts would generate electricity as the water flow drops 400 meters; this electricity is used to desalinate the water, making it useable for irrigation purposes (residual water is discharged into the Dead Sea). Salt water pools  (with normal salt levels) are created within the Dead Sea for fish farming, and other pools are also created to cultivate mineral baths for a variety of uses (potash is used for fertilizer, Bromine for fire retardants, fresh water for hydroponic farming, Dunaliella bacteria for its high CO2 sequestration rate, etc.).

The houses within the bridge settlement are adaptations of traditional Middle Eastern “wind catcher chimney” house designs. These will differ, though, in that all sides of the structures will offer shaded areas and openings of varied sizes that lead to green terraces and water pool terraces. These openings allow for fresh airflow, which creates cool breezes to cool the homes in this warm environment.

As approximately 7 million tons of water evaporates each day, a water cycle within the buildings will be established to create fresh water from condensation; this will help irrigate the gardened terraces. The condensation is created when ocean water is brought from a depth of 15 meters to the surface; when the salt water meets the warm air, the temperature difference (which is 20 degrees Celsius or more) creates vapor, and the molecules regroup without the salt, creating fresh water.

to Galaxy a Park

The project attempts to integrate rural landscape and the city. Located in the fast growing city of Shenzhen, in China’s Guangdong Province, the Galaxy Yabao Hi-Tech Enterprises Headquarter Park covers an area of about 65 ha. It is a complex comprised of 18 high-rise towers, a 5 star hotel, 3 service apartment towers, 3 residential towers, a shopping mall and a 32 ha park. In order to introduce nature as a strong element in space, the architects at 10 design decided to pull off the tower facades to allow for vegetation to grow up the sides of the buildings.  Mounted on the western facades are the algae tubes. The strips of vegetation, climbing up the towers are transformed into rooftop gardens, reducing the heat-island effect.

The buildings of the Galaxy Yabao Hi-Tech Enterprises Headquarter Park are designed with façades that neutralize air pollution 24 hours a day, an algae system that produces oxygen, organic fertilizer, and cleans grey water, and a series of subterranean chambers that naturally cools outside air and pushes it into a series of outdoor courtyards. The buildings take full advantage of technologies that help shape the temperature and air quality of their micro-climate.

to Promote Science

The Centre for Promotion of Science in Belgrade, Serbia designed by Austrian architect Wolfgang Tschapeller will be an institution of service and a national bank of knowledge in the field of science. It will organise innovative and educative exhibitions, and bring science closer to the people. The main goal of the Centre for Promotion of Science will be to facilitate scientific education, a continuous training as well as social and economic growth, both with direct action, and in partnership with other actors – primarily the Ministry of Science and Technological Development and the Ministry of Education.

The Centre  will be floating high above the ground. It will operate in 3 main levels. On the level of the City it will be an optimistic sign positioned on one of the main routes of the capital. For the Blok 39 it will be a sign, a canopy and a portico. The  building being programmed to promote sciences, it plays on visions of technology and construction. The architectural language of the centre will  be one of state-of-the-art technology and the display of structural principles. A special role is given to the underside of the centre; it will have mirroring qualities, able to reflect all the movement on the ground as well as the visitors that by entering the centre are penetrating the reflections of the earth’s surface.
 

human Amenities

This proposal examines the benefits of a field of small footprint skyscrapers. The main concept is to create visually and spatially linked pockets of recreational areas at the ground level.

It is common to see deserted streets at night and weekends in downtown areas where traditional skyscrapers do not offer public amenities and visual connection between different spaces is nonexistent.

to Form Identity

BIG, Martha Schwartz Landscape, Buro Happold , Speirs & Major, Lutzenberger & Lutzenberger, and Global Cultural Asset Management are today announced as the winning team of the international design competition for a new 27.000 m2 cultural complex in Albania, consisting of a Mosque, an Islamic Centre, and a Museum of Religious Harmony.

The capital Tirana is undergoing an urban transformation which includes the restoration and refurbishment of existing buildings, the construction of a series of new public and private urban structures, and the complete reconceptualization of Scanderbeg Square. This important square is the site of the new cultural complex that will consist of a Mosque, an Islamic Centre, and a Museum of Religious Harmony.

Albania is the crossroads of three major religions: Orthodox Christianity; Catholicism; and Islam. With the recent completion of two new churches, all three religions will now have new places of worship in the heart of Tirana. The complex will not only serve the Muslim community of the city and surrounding areas, but will educate the public about Islamic values and serve as a beacon for religious tolerance.

BIG’s winning entry was selected out of five finalists, including Spanish Architect Andreas Perea Ortega, Architecture Studio from France, Dutch SeARCH and London-based Zaha Hadid.

“The winning proposal was chosen for its ability to create an inviting public space flexible enough to accommodate daily users and large religious events, while harmonically connecting with the Scanderbeg square, the city of Tirana and its citizens across different religions. Additionally the project shines through its beautiful garden surrounding the new Mosque and Center of Islamic Culture which symbolically features the rich vegetation described in Islamic literature. Finally the team’s awareness of the economic aspects of this important development will contribute to a successful realization of this project.” Mayor of Tirana, Edi Rama.

The buildings’ forms emerge from two intersecting axes and formal requirements: the city grid of Tirana which calls for the proper framing of the square and a coherent urban identity, and orientation of the Mosque’s main wall towards Mecca. BIG’s proposal incorporates Tirana’s grid by maintaining the street wall and eaves line, yet rotates the ground floor so both the Mosque and the plaza face the holy city of Islam. This transformation also opens up a series of plazas—two minor ones on the sides of the Mosque and a major plaza with a minaret in front—which are semi-covered and serve as an urban extension of the place of worship. By turning the mosque inside out and bringing the program and qualities of the Mosque to a public arena, the religion becomes inclusive and inviting, and the cool shaded urban space can be shared by all.

“This project is very significant for us for two reasons: Firstly it is a privilege to contribute to the ambitious rejuvenation of Tirana City – especially since it is happening not by the random accumulation of singular monuments – but rather in accordance with a careful and considerate holistic master plan. Secondly and perhaps most importantly –religious tolerance is one of our greatest challenges today– politically, culturally and even urbanistically. With the construction of the New Mosque of Tirana, The Islamic Center and The Museum of Religious Harmony – Tirana will reestablish the equilibrium by adding a mosque to the newly completed Orthodox and Catholic Cathedrals – making Tirana an example for the rest of the world as a global capital of religious harmony”, Bjarke Ingels, Founding Partner of BIG.

to Appareil Agriculture

The population of the world is expected to double by 2050. This fact does not only raise interrogations for the future of food production and the increasing necessity of land cultivation, it also creates concerns towards endangering the future of natural resources and biodiversity.

Today, food is longer being produced where it is being consumed. Vegetables sometimes travel to other continents to be processed or even simply packed before returning for consumption. The transport infrastructure for refrigerated food products, besides being costly, is strongly energy un-efficient and is an important contribution to global warming.

Can agriculture make its way into the city? Can it integrate our urban fabric despite its apparent necessity to occupy large horizontal surfaces little available in the economically-driven metropolitan densities?

Agriculture 2.0 designed by Appareil attempts to propose an answer to these questions. It consists of a generative system for the design of the infrastructure for urban vertical farming, which can be used in any city of the world.

It is defined as a parametric model which necessitates three pieces of information as inputs to produce the local design for the vertical infrastructure:
•The climatic conditions of the city in which it is to be inserted.
•The area of the city, in m², to be covered in vegetable production.
•The specific site on which the tower is to be constructed.

The building itself is composed of a support structure for plant incubators which travel down the full height of the tower. Their journey last the necessary time of the plants’ growth from crop to maturity. 45 days in the case of the lettuce. The incubator is an expandable 4-8 m² closed pool which contains a controlled environment collecting rain water, regulating sunlight, temperature, air quality and CO2 concentration. Although limited in terms of species, the agricultural production include most lightweight crops such as lettuce, tomato, peppers, eggplant, marrow…  In its largest and most dense version, a single tower can reach a production rhythm of 42 kilograms of vegetables per day, which can cover a city area of approximately 1.5 km².

illusory Cuts

Rather than taking the “true” or literal approach to materials, this project designed by Dave Bantz and Michael Gross attempts to adopt techniques mastered by artists and apply them at an architectural scale. Material in art is used as a representational device for effects and a gateway to sensation. The”Artificial Matters” studio, run by SCI-arc professor Elena Manferdini, aims to provoke new sensations through texture, geometry, coloration, and finish. The studio began by 3D scanning literal materials (in this case a sliced peach) and modifying the raw data to produce a synthetic material with the potential to create new sensations.

The project footnotes artists such as Murakami for his use of distortion through an object in the landscape, while the attempt here is to implement distortion and blurring of context and figuration. The conceptual pavilion proposal for the Milan 2015 Expo takes massing, which has traditionally been absolute and legible, and makes it simultaneously illusory and viscerally evocative. This is where fact and fiction coexist. The exterior causes a distortion and blurring of reality through refraction and density, blurring the figure. While the indexical cut reveals the interior materiality of the pavilion and is concerned with more visceral and immediate sublime sensations.

via suckerPUNCH

make A city to be Free

Free City is a conceptual prototype for the XXI century city, conceived by FREE Fernando Romero EnterprisE in response to global issues brought forth by population growth and urban transition in the developing world. It proposes the design of a new urban infrastructure that integrates a sustainable and systematic framework into the grain of the urban fabric, stimulating innovation, production, services and growth.

a Geodesic Yerevan

This intriguing skyscraper proposal by Vahan Misakyan designed for the city of Yerevan in Armenia consists of an assemblage of structural geodesics that form three piercing towers linked by habitable bridges at the top and bottom. Different programs, including offices, residences, and hotel are located in each tower – the geodesics change in size and configuration depending on the program. The bridges are used as commercial and recreational areas for the general public.

One of the main concepts of the proposal is to create a soft transition between the vertical and horizontal planes by creating surfaces that peel off from the ground and transform into habitable areas. A transportation hub for the entire region emerges from one of these structures while a second one creates a bridge and a recreational park.

The building is designed with the latest green technologies. An “intelligent” skin controls, through mechanical openings, the amount of light incidence and could also be used to reduce heat and provide natural ventilation. This skin is also equipped with rain water collection systems, photovoltaic cells, and wind turbines.

enormous Arenas

City Futura” is a visionary urban design proposal by Los Angeles-based firm B+U for an expansion of the City of Milan set in the year 2210. The project is part of a development plan for fifteen different sites located on the outer ring connected by the Milan Metro line.

City Futura is superimposed over the existing city leaving most of its buildings untouched and tapping into existing infrastructure and expand it.

Urban design concept: Tissue and Void.  The 600m tall structure hovers over the city covering about one million square meter area and is divided into nine districts that are organized around three programmatic topics including: I- Civic; II- Entertainment and Recreation; and III-Art, Fashion and Manufacturing. Initially the nine districts were represented as spherical void spaces and randomly placed across the site, floating above the ground and varying in size and height they became placeholders for enormous civic arenas which expand up to 250 meters in diameter.

These public supercenters act as a scaffold for developing a new kind of urban tissue that is not defined by conventional massing and zoning rules within a two dimensional city grid but are based on emergent growth models and developed by linking together families of massing elements that form larger subsystems in-between and around these public hubs, which then in turn are linked again to give rise to a grander systems vastly expanding across the city. Elevating this system off the ground exposes the underside of the city, a quasi sixth façade. It allowed us to rethink the city quite literally from the ground up envisioning how one might move through it and how infrastructure might develop, how our spatial perception and experience might change, how our organizational models can be expanded and new interrelations can be made.