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.
 

to Membrane all Deformations

Membrane structures are used quite often in modern architecture, such as stadiums or big canopies, but how can they be used in a tower? In this proposal Tingwei Xu from the University of Pennsylvania designed a membrane structural component for a skyscraper. Each component contains a continuous surface which has structural properties and it is made of plastic that can resist deformation in different configurations and directions.  The structural units grow from the surface and melt into each other like biological cellular membranes – each unit squeezes into each other with great strength. The secondary component contains a inhabitable space unit and antenna.