Design in Cologne

The project was created for the recent SPOGA furniture design exhibition in Cologne, Germany and is part of an ongoing research into Expandable Surface Systems, which began in collaboration with the Emergent Technologies and Design Programme at the Architectural Association. The project was designed, fabricated and mounted by the designers.

The design manifested into an exhibition and meeting room pavilion that explores complex geometries generated by simple cut patterning in sheets.

To realize the built structure, the team underwent extensive structural and geometric digital analysis to understand and anticipate the reaction between the material and pattern. A system of mathematical relationships were derived to control found material properties digitally. This iterative process was then scrutinized and revised by findings resulted from structural analysis. The ability to understand material properties from the standpoint of geometry lead to the success of the project.  It was a great lesson for the designers to learn from the material – this feedback was the guiding factor in the design process.
The success of the design was contingent on questions of fabrication, minimal waste, and deployabilit. The fabrication process is down to less than 2 percent waste. The system logic and geometric design is embedded in the material directly, rendering no need for excessive explanation to a contractor.

Location: Cologne, Germany
Client: RESOL
Project Year: 2011
Size: 16M2
Design Team: Pablo Zamorano, Nacho Martí, Jacob Bek.
 

Liesma, Latvia

Proposal is designed for music-themed upscale Hotel Competition in Jurmala, Latvia. It is the meeting point of waves and coast, wind and pine-trees, ideas and people, various music rhythms and audition. Music has the power to stop time. An oasis of peace hides behind the shape of the dynamic hotel like calmness subsists in the deep below the waves of the sea. The hotel is a place where to offload the daily stress, to gain the peace of the soul, the feeling of freedom and harmony with the environment. It is the uniformity with lights and shadows, color tones and textures, forms and sounds.

Architecture of the building is characterized by calisthenics of facades. The basic construction has remained untouched but facade has been changed completely. The facade has a wavy shape with vertical wooden constructions. Hence the classical traditions of architecture of Jurmala have been honored. Wooden materials in various tones and factures are used as the predominant materials in the design. The rhythm of vertical lines of glued pine wood gives the building an appeal as it associates with boles of the wood and embraces the building in the landscape of Jurmala.

Transparent and frosted glass is used in the external design behind the wooden constructions. Hence the external pattern is independent and is characterized by form of free plastics. The musical form of the building has been achieved by using the parametric principles of architecture: both internal and external design is dominated by wavy lines, parametric plastics and rhythmical modeling of bearing constructions. It is of particular importance that wavy design has been achieved by rather simple elements – straight frames which form wavy effects by changing parametrically. Such solution does not increase the costs of building. Frames that change the blocks of rooms of the Soviet building form rectangle to musical, rhythmical form are not there only for decoration – these frames are basic structure for wavy balconies. In this way the spacious balconies do not only allow enjoying the rustling sea, observing the changing colors of the sky during sun sets or simply watching the sun but also serves as natural shading for rooms of lower floors. As well, the frames of the facade form shading hence protecting from overheating in hot summer days. It is worth mentioning that facades that are more open for the sun feature larger balcony extensions than those which are less impacted by the sun.

In the complex of the buildings the block of rooms and most of the lobby block have been retained which is an advantage for this proposal. The complex buildings feature three different but organized zones. First, the public zone with conference halls and a restaurant (a kitchen and supplies have been organized in a basement under the zone), Second, recreational zone with swimming pool. Third, the zone of hotel rooms. Functionally they have been separated but the planning is done to eliminate the feeling of seclusion for visitors. Therefore, the planning allows visitors to glance over every detail and fluently move from one zone to other. It has been achieved with galleries and wide lobbies with small lounges and large outdoor terraces.

The objective of the proposal in not only to attribute a musical form to the architecture of the hotel but, most importantly, creating a building which brings into different environment where musical spirit resides. Proper elements in interior and exterior help to achieve the aim and bring in comfort, silence and beauty. Grand piano and chosen interior materials such as glass, crystal, silk, linen and wood, portraits of musicians and silenced sounds of music characterizes the hotel. Small stages are planned inside and outside of the hotel. It is done so to loosen up visitors and make them feel free.

The composition of the hotel includes seaside nature elements – decorative ponds and fountains, inside waterfalls built into glass structures, electrical fireplaces in rooms that correspond modern tendencies and traditions of antique homes. The main element of the organization of the construction and territory is the musical emphasis – a pavilion in large area of water. It is association with a shell and vinyl record that is a source of fluent sounds. The great design of the hotel sparkles in evening sun beams. The visitors will be granted with white sand, rustles of pine-trees and great emotions when walking along the shore of the sea. The hotel will serve as a continuation of beach accents like accords in music. It will be a place to return to…

Architects: Jevgenijs Busins, Liva Banka
Collaborator: Sandra Laganovska, SIA  - Arhitekta Modra Ģelža birojs
Client: Hotel Liesma
Location: Jurmala, Latvia
Site Area: 15,000 m2
Project Floor Area: 10,300 m2

an Architecture of Air

As a shining pearl in the Pearl River Delta, Hong Kong connects four places between two sides in China. Its characteristics of identity, interchanging and flexibility are more and more emphasized not only in the future metropolitan context, but also in the role in the historical and political sense that it plays.

We propose to rethink HKBCF as the architecture of air, a geyser of fire, flaming on the moving surfaces of the sea by holistic way.

Initially, as a transportation junction adjacent to HK International Airport, its identities are affected mainly by both the general view approaching the boundary and the vision relationship between the plane and boundary. In terms of this we create voids with landscape inside to emphasize the contrast between the building forms and the figure-ground petal patterns. Second, we explore the formal principles of Chinese traditional decorative knots and paste its inner sense into the architecture. The boundary is not only a space for connecting but a place for emotional intersection but also as a container of flexible functions and complicated circulations. Lastly, flowing transportation route is another key point we seek for. Linear circulation substituted by centrality form smartly separated the two fields of vehicle and pedestrian. Within the nodes, Hong Kong incessantly connects to its motherland and the world.
Design team:
Cheng Gong, Southern California Institute of Architecture [SCI-Arc], Los Angeles, California, USA
Etienne Mares, DCF(Dynamic City Foundation)/MARS-1 Space Design
Franck Constans, AUBE Conception d’Architecture France

Innovative Technologies

Conceived as a forerunner of Ukraine’s development of sustainable means of communication, the project uses principles of biomechanics in linking form with function. Designed by KO+KO Architects, the Center for Development of Innovative Transportation Technologies comprises an entire network of factories, technologies and spaces. It uses principles of biomimicry in a strategic way, as well as aesthetically. The building is a living organism, with its mechanics, structural configuration and visual appearance. A particularly important issue for the architects was establishing a state between chaos and order, whole and fragments, organic and industrial imagery.

In order to facilitate the entrance to the building an additional street was introduced from the Moskovskyi Bridge in the direction of Podil. The street itself is divided into three parts, establishing maximum accessibility of the structure and leading towards parking lot, driveway and exhibition areas. The left wing of the building has a courtyard with the economic turn pocket for easy movement of freight cars. Through the first branch the one can contemplate a provision of urban amenities, which also serve as a resting-place (in addition, it is close to the projected subway station). The first branch will actually serve as a transit point for visitors, yet the central axis of the building will serve as the main access to the facility. It separates the general layout on mentioned car park and provision of urban amenities. Car park is designed for 140 vehicles with a possible extension and provision of separate facilities for disabled people at the top. The new building will become a prominent symbol of the quay.

parallel to Kuta Beach

Solus4 recently unveiled  a 2,500 sm Marine Research Center Located 100 meters away, parallel to the shore of Kuta Beach, Bali, Indonesia. The program is composed of three main components: public, semipublic and private. The spaces vary from underwater labs, scientist bedrooms and aquatic garden to sea water pool, swimming pool terrace, bar and an auditorium. The spaces are located above and under water and allow the visitors and scientist to take full advantage of the amazing landscape that surrounds the project.

This project represents a new typology for stationary in-water based projects reached by boat, which in the past have been mostly relegated as merely work, non-destination platforms which do not take into account the design possibilities that the in-water sites present.

Three major events generate tsunamis; meteors, landslides, and large earthquakes. Underwater earthquakes—the most common type in Indonesia—with epicenters close to coast lines, form the conceptual basis of the architectural proposal. It uses the initial elliptical pattern and cross section diagram of the tsunami wave, one of the main focus of the centre’s research and prevention efforts, as the morphology generators and guides of programmatic organization. The design is both aesthetically imposing and seamlessly integrated into its aquatic natural environment. The result is a very fluid structure with an immediate and direct visual connection to the exterior. The center will serve not only as an architectural icon for Bali but also as an international model for modern sustainable design with its use of on-site renewable energy resources through its integration of such technologies as tidal wave energy generation, natural ventilation, rain water collection, passive solar energy, low E glass, and high reflectance fiber glass materials.

via Inhabitat

Performance of Nature

The intelligent dynamic wall is an installation designed by E/B Office for Leonardo Museum of Art, Science and Technology in Salt Lake City, Utah. It aims to communicate the global environmental information through an interactive interface embedded in the material of the wall. It tries to convey the idea of applying green techniques to built space as a live, conscious system, fully integrated with the environment.

Environmental sensors capture data from sources throughout the planet and feed the data to solar-powered LED’s embedded in the sine-wave form made of recycled plastic. As the sensors register changes in temperature, wind, seismicity, and other factors, the LEDs reflect these fluctuations with continuous spectral waves that represent minute shifts in the data feed from moment to moment.  At 92 feet long and over 14 feet high, the structure covers 1300 sqft of vertical exhibition space traversing the museum’s ground floor lobby and acting as a programmatic threshold between exhibit spaces. It’s composed of 176 unique recycled HDPE fins embedded with 1,888 full-color RGB LED’s and held together by approximately 8000 individual set screws.  The estimated amount of plastic this project diverted from a landfill is around three tons.

The different colors flowing through the wall indicate temperatures around the globe, while also showing actual wind speed. In a situation of earthquake, the world map displays the location and strength. Visitors are able to interact with the installation, using Twitter to alter the global weather feed, consequently changing the visualization displayed on the wall.

Innovative Design

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

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

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

an Underground Cemetery

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

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

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

an Obsolete Factory

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

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

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

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

oily Skins, organic Volumes

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

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

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

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

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

a Road passing

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

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

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

virtual Urban Green

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

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

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

Flowall Mobile Elements

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

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

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

to Build in Chicago

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

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

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

to House a Casa.! in Corsica

Corsica Traditional Houses and Architecture

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

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

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

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

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

a Contemporary Record

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

Architecture Australia presents:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

a Sebastien Light

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

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

 

to House Systems in Art

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

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

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

a Globalization, an Architecture

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

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

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

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

a SkyWater Tower

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

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

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

energy inSide

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


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


- 1η Συνάντηση :Δευτέρα, 12 Δεκεμβρίου 2011


Ερωτήματα και προβληματισμοί για την ανάπτυξη των ΑΠΕ στην Ελλάδα.


- 2η Συνάντηση: Δευτέρα, 23 Ιανουαρίου 2012


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


- 3η Συνάντηση: Δευτέρα, 20 Φεβρουαρίου 2012


Το Νέο Τοπίο στην Έρευνα και Ανάπτυξη Υδρογονανθράκων στην Ελλάδα


- 4η Συνάντηση: Δευτέρα, 5 Μαρτίου 2012


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


- 5η Συνάντηση: Δευτέρα 19, Μαρτίου 2012


Οι νέες προκλήσεις για την Εξοικονόμηση Ενέργειας και την Συμπαραγωγή.


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


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


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

a Singing Phenomenon

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

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

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

a Dragon View

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

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

a Wood Mystery

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

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

to Explore Technologies

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

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

 

a Numen Use

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

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

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