ArchDaily Architecture News

© Plasma Studio

About a year ago, we shared one of our favorite Plasma Studio designs with you – an International Horticultural Fair Complex.  The project is a large master plan that blends architecture, landscape and circulation into one system using a network of organic paths.  Four major buildings and a range of smaller interventions are scattered within the landscape.  The studio has shared recent construction photos with us, and more renderings, that we’ll share more with you after the break.

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© Peter Bennetts

Architects: Hassell
Location: Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Project Team: Mariano DeDuonni, Timothy Horton, Sharon Mackay, Alex Hall, Nicholas Persons, Ed Mitchell, Hugh Fraser, Josh Palmer, Maciek Furmanik, Andrew Schunke, Sam Wee, Meaghan Williams, David Bills, Amy Reed, Susie Nicolai
Client: Zoos SA
Main Contractor: Hindmarsh
Project Year: 2010
Photographs: Peter Bennetts & Edward Mitchell

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What do you think of this TED talk by Mitchell Joachim and his discussion about growing homes?  The strategy he proposes for creating “green villages”, pleaching – which is where vegetation is fused together to then create desired geometries –  makes an architecture that is the landscape.   We could potentially “pre-grow” a community, as Joachim puts it, providing homes for millions of people that instead of harming the environment, will just eliminate carbon from the air.   Things get even  more interesting when Joachim shares how his own studio is growing extracellular matrix from pigs, and can print geometries to make objects.  Check out his new wall section idea for a meat house which replaces standard wall construction with fatty cells for insulation and cilia for tackling wind loads.   Joachim is doing some interesting things in his studio and we want to know what you think of his ideas.

© Courtesy of OnSite Architecture

Architects: OnSite Architecture
Location: Virginia, USA
Project Managers: Marie and Keith Zawistowski
Project Team: Sean King, Patrick Hummel, Erin Carraher
Structural Engineering: Pierre LaFlamme
Project Year: 2007
Photographs: Courtesy of OnSite Architecture

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© Workshop Architecture|Design

Architects: Workshop Architecture|Design
Location: Tacoma, WA, USA
Principal in Charge: Steve Bull, AIA, LEED
Project Team: James Steel, Dan Rusler
Interior Design: LairDesign
Lighting Design: Precision LD, Seattle
Structural Engineering: Quantum Consulting Engineers
General Contrator: Norpoint
Project Area: 10,900 sq ft
Project Year: 2009
Photographs: Workshop Architecture|Design

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© Plasma Studio

Plasma Studio’s newest project in China, a bold angular set of towers, speaks to the firm’s geometric obsession.  The project was recently awarded first prize in an invited competition in Datong, Shanxi province. The mix-use complex, measuring of 70,000 m2, will include a hotel in one tower and offices in the other. Running along a highly trafficked street, the towers create a strong presence along the streetscape and are pulled away just enough from the site’s edge to provide places for pedestrians and greenery.

More about the awarded project after the break. read more »

Grand Prize: LAPD Administration Building / AECOM in a joint venture with Roth Sheppard Associates

A few weeks ago the LA Business Council hosted the 40th version of the LA Architectural Awards.

Selected by a jury of 10 notable design and building professionals, the winning projects cut across a wide range of building types, from commercial office spaces to affordable apartment complexes to sports arenas. The call for entries went out in December 2009 to more than 7,000 industry leaders. From the hundreds of submissions received, the jury selected 31 winning projects in 20 overall categories. All winning projects, except the “Best of LA Architects” award winners, are located within Los Angeles County. “Best of LA Architects” recognizes local architects for projects completed outside of Los Angeles County.

The Grand Prize went to the LAPD Administration Building by AECOM (in a joint venture with Roth Sheppard Associates), and we also find projects recently featured at ArchDaily such as the Hidden House by Standard Architecture, the Cherokee Lofts by Pugh + Scarpa, the Graduate Aerospace Laboratories  by John Friedman Alice Kimm Architects or the Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics by Morphosis.

All the awarded projects after the break:

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© Environment Museum Annex Competition (Botanical Garden of Rio de Janeiro)

Antonio Pedro Coutinho shared with us the entry he designed with Estelle Dugachard, Fabiana Araújo, Nanda Eskes, Ricardo Caruana for the competition regarding the expansion of the Environment Museum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The main challenge dealt in this competition was finding a way where the architecture would be inserted on the ecosystem where it was being planned; the magnificent Botanical Garden of the city of Rio de Janeiro.

More images and description after the break.

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© Woods Bagot

Recently awarded first prize, Woods Bagot’s vision for the Shijiazhuang International Exhibition and Convention Center will be manifested in a sleek faceted glass tower that rises from smaller geometric exhibition halls.   The master plan is designed to uplift the city’s coastal area, which is currently underdeveloped, by attracting tourists and locals to the entire complex for different programmatic activities.

More images and more about the master plan after the break. read more »

© Iwan Baan

Architect: SANAA
Location: 235 Bowery, New York, NY 10002
Client: New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York City; Zubatkin Owner Representation
Project Leadership: Saul Dennison, Chairman, Board of Trustees, New Museum; Lisa Phillips, Toby Devan Lewis Director, New Museum; Lisa Roumell, Deputy Director, New Museum
Architect of record: Gensler Architects
Project Management: Plaza Construction Corporation, New York City

Structural engineers: Guy Nordenson Associates, Simpson Gumperts & Heger Inc., New York City
Lights and illumination: Arup
Constructed area: 58,700 sq ft
Year of enchargement: 2002
Year of completion: 2007
Photographs: Iwan Baan, Dean Kaufman, Benoit Pailley

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© J. Mayer H. Architects

J. Mayer H. Architects shared with us some images of this customs checkpoint, situated at the Georgian border to Turkey, at the shore of the Black Sea. With its cantilevering terraces, the tower is used as a viewing platform, with multiple levels overlooking the water and the steep part of the coastline, as well as for patrol officers keeping an eye on the border. In addition to the regular customs facilities, the structure also houses a cafeteria, staff rooms and a conference room. The building welcomes visitors to Georgia, representing the progressive upsurge of the country.

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From left: Andy Warhol, David Whitney, Philip Johnson, Dr. John Dalton, and Robert A. M. Stern in the Glass House in 1964. Photography by David McCabe

So, if you had to choose between a pencil, a knife, or a hammer as the only tool you could ever own, which would you choose and why? – John Maeda, the President of the Rhode Island School of Design, and this week’s guest moderator for the Glass House Conversations, asks us. These conversations have a rich history rooted in Johnson’s New Canaan creation. Not only did the Glass House offer an elegant example of Modern Architecture, the residence also played hostess to some of the greatest creative thinkers of the twentieth century. Described as “the longest running salon in America,” the Glass House witnessed dozens of intense conversations about art, architecture and society between Philip Johnson and David Whitney and their invited guests, including Andy Warhol, Frank Stella and Robert A.M. Stern. The conversations, not doubt, spurred debate, yet the meetings were the perfect opportunity to share ideas and philosophies that ultimately impacted our culture. read more »

© Chien-Ho Hsu

Architects: Vector Architects
Location: Beijing, China
Partner in Charge: Chien-Ho Hsu
Project Area: 265 sqm
Project Year: 2008
Photographs: Chien-Ho Hsu

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Check out this video from metacafe of an amazing piece of architecture….an ant hill! After pouring a ton of cement into the ground (actually – make that ten tons) to take to the shape of all the tunnels, a team removed about 40 tons of soil to reach the ant hill. The underground network is an intense system of main tunnels and branching side routes with short connections to decrease circulation time. The planning, as the video states, is so cohesive that it seems to have been designed by an architect. It is phenomenal that thousands of ants could design and construct this system that extends over 50 sqm and 8 meters down. It makes you wonder what other architectural masterpieces are hidden from view…

If you like this, be sure to check out The Truffle, another natural creation, yet this one is man made.

© Courtesy of feld72

Architects: feld72
Location: Mistelbach, Austria
Client: Community of Paasdorf, Public Art Lower Austria
Floor Area: 1,590 sqm
Project Year: 2005-2007
Photographs: Courtesy of feld72

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© Ken'ichi Suzuki

Architects: Mount Fuji Architects Studio
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Site area: 162.69 sqm
Building area: 78.76 sqm
Total floor area: 80.45 sqm
Project Year: 2009
Photographs: Ken’ichi Suzuki

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Temporary Exhibit "Cool Water, Hot Island" by Molly Dilworth © NYC Department of Transportation

We just found exciting news from Bustler that the Norwegian architecture firm Snøhetta recently won the Times Square Reconstruction Project in New York City. Times Square is the epitome of a chaotic New York block, with signs, noise and tons of people and taxis.  The area currently has a public space which was deemed traffic free, yet now the city is looking to make the space more permanent and Snohetta will be heading the project.

More about the project after the break. read more »

The Amman Lab Workshop is an intensive three week exploration of emergent issues concerning contemporary public space in the Middle East. With the city of Amman serving as an active testing ground, students and faculty from universities throughout the region collaborate to expand their understanding of design issues through research, experimentation, discussion and feedback.

The 2010 session of the workshop focuses on Comfort. As a precondition of public space, Comfort is necessary to provide an environment in which assembly and exchange may occur. With physical, virtual, sensorial and emotional attributes, Comfort can be expressed through different mediums and at varying scales. It is delicate, elusive, and necessary.

The workshop ends with an exhibition of the students’ final work at the Nabad Art Gallery and we want to invite you visit it and check what the students are developing these days.

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© Miran Kambič

With our fourth selection of leisure projects, you can relax in Slovenia, Romania, China, and Chile. Check them all after the break.

Orhidelia Wellness / Enota
Main goal while designing the building was to diminish as much as possible its presence in the surroundings. Since the demanded program of wellness center is very extensive and in parts it demands overcoming great spans and big heights of inner spaces, putting up classically conceived building on central green plot would fill up last remaining open area in thermal complex and largely degraded its spatial quality (read more…) read more »

© MVRDV

MVRDV presents the design for the Pushed Slab office building at ZAC Gare de Rungis in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, France. The 19.000 m2 building will be one of the first low energy buildings realised in France; with low energy consumption and an energy production of appr. 200.000kWh per year. Construction of the 35 million Euro building commissioned by French project developer ICADE Promotion is expected to start 2011. read more »