American actress Gwyneth Paltrow has commissioned Gensler to design a new branch of London's exclusive Arts Club in West Hollywood. The eight-story members-only club will feature a number of luxury amenities, including a spa, gym, art gallery and rooftop pool. Paltrow is collaborating with business partner Gary Landesberg to complete the 132,000-square-foot facility, which will also include a restaurant and dining terrace, screening rooms, 15 guest rooms, and helicopter pad.
Shigeru Ban has designed a retractable, refillable "SCALE" pen for ACME Studio that was inspired by the architect's ruler. The aluminum pen, designed to fit comfortably into your hand, serves as a fully functional architect's scale outfitted with a ballpoint pen that retracts with a simple twist of the pen's two halves.
Sou Fujimoto has been commissioned by Swedish clothing brand COS to design its installation for this year's Salone del Mobile in Milan. Taking place from April 12-17, the event will be the brand's fifth year participating.
"In this installation for COS, I envisage to make a forest of light," said Fujimoto. "A forest which consists of countless light cones made from spotlights above. These lights pulsate and constantly undergo transience of state and flow. People meander through this forest, as if lured by the charm of the light. Light and people interact with one another, its existence defining the transition of the other."
Mecanoo architecten and MAYU architects+ have won a competition to design the new Tainan Public Library in Taiwan. Their winning design "represents the meeting of cultures, generations and histories," says the architects. It will feature an inverted stepped facade that houses reading rooms, special collections, study spaces, a children’s area, café, conference hall, a 200-seat auditorium, and public courtyards.
Update: In addition to the previous announcement of Neri Oxman and Kevin Spacey as keynote speakers, the AIA has now announced Rem Koolhaas as the headline speaker for day three of this year's convention in Philadelphia. Koolhaas' speech will be titled "Delirious Philadelphia," a playful twist on his seminal book Delirious New York. The following article was originally published on February 11th.
An image of Ismael Levya Architects' transformation of a six-story parking garage in New York City's Upper East Side has been revealed. The project, already under construction, will expand the structure into a 19-story residential tower that will house 56 luxury apartments. Described as a "lantern," the 210-foot-tall building was designed as "four distinct townhouse volumes with metal and glass."
Swiss filmmaker Alexandre Favre has explored his passion for architecture with the creation of this film about Mies van der Rohe. Starting with the German Pavilion replica, Favre began a journey that would lead him to a number of Mies' most notable works, filming them with equipment that was contemporary at the time of each project's fruition. Inspired by the architect's "less is more" motto, Favre aimed to capture the essence of Mies' architecture by revealing the projects in a simple format taken from the human perspective.
COBE has been announced as winner of an international competition to masterplan Christiansholm island (also known as Paper Island) in Copenhagen’s inner harbor. COBE's plan calls to replace the artificial island's existing warehouses with new "Copenhagen Halls" that are topped with housing and commercial space, and anchored by "informal, public functions," such as event, gallery and swimming halls. All will be connected by a public promenade the surrounds the island.
“Our vision for the island’s future is to create a place that celebrates the city’s culture and the Copenhagen way of life. It was important for us that Christiansholm also in future will be a first class example of Copenhagen’s generous urban living that can attract tourists and visitors at the same time has a strong local presence,” says Dan Stubbergaard, owner and creative director at COBE.
Collective–LOK's Heart of Hearts installation has officially opened in New York City's Times Square, just in time for Valentine's Day. Winner of this year's annual Times Square Valentine Heart Design, a competition curated by the Center for Architecture, the "faceted ring of 12 golden, mirrored hearts" will remain on view in Duffy Square through March 6.
Eleven women are being considered for the Moira Gemmill Prize for Emerging Architecture prize for their "use of innovative architecture to effect positive social change." Read on to see them all.
French department chain Galeries Lafayette has commissioned BIG to design its new flagship on Paris' historic Avenue des Champs-Élysées. BIG's first retail client, Galeries Lafayette hopes to position the project "as an upmarket department store for the 21st century" that will "endow the legendary boulevard with renewed cachet," according to a report on Business of Fashion.
Sited for 52 Champs-Élysées, the 7000-square-meter space will take its inspiration from the historic Art Deco building its housed in. As BIG described, they hope to enhance that space and respect the existing architecture, rather than radically transform it.
With a death toll that may exceed 100, the unfortunate collapse of the 17-story Weiguan Jinlong (Golden Dragon) apartment complex in Tainan this past Saturday has caused some major confusion. As the BBC reports, the 200-unit building, built in 1983 by a construction company that has since gone out of business, crumbled after a 6.4 magnitude earthquake while surrounding buildings remained unscathed. Though some are suspicious of the use of empty oil cans as fillers in the concrete pillars, structural engineers do not believe that to be the cause. The building is under investigation for "shoddy construction." Its developer (Lin Ming-hui) has been detained on charges of negligence leading to death.
Ron Arad Architects will soon break ground on Beit Shulamit (or “Shulamit House"), a new cancer centre for the Emek Medical Centre in Afula – a regional hospital campus in the north of Israel. Designed to be "an inviting and unthreatening intervention within the hospital context," the center will be situated east of the main campus’ perimeter road within the foothills of the nearby Giv’at Hamoré mountain.
"The three-story building is arranged upon a generous new ground level deck, which rests over two covered car parking levels," says the architects. "The Centre’s three upper floors step down towards the South, to create a terraced arrangement in keeping with the site’s topography. This enhances both the views out of all parts of the building towards the natural environment, and offers a variety of indoor/outdoor spaces for circulation and reflection."
Santiago Calatrava has won an international competition to design a "landmark" observation tower in Dubai Creek Harbor. Selected over five other proposals, the design was inspired by Islamic architecture with the intention to "fuse modern, sustainable design with the rich culture and heritage of the United Arab Emirates."
“This architectural wonder will be as great as the Burj Khalifa and the Eiffel Tower,” said Sheikh Mohammed, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates.
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Ganga Maki Textile Studio / Studio Mumbai. Image Courtesy of Naomi Milgrom Foundation
The Naomi Milgrom Foundation has chosen Bijoy Jain of Studio Mumbai to design Melbourne's 2016 MPavilion. Following Amanda Levete's rendition of the unique commission, which closed its doors Sunday after hosting four months of free events, Jain will be the third architect to design the annual MPavilion.
"I’m honored to be commissioned by the Naomi Milgrom Foundation to design the next MPavilion in Melbourne. I want it to be a symbol of the elemental nature of communal structures. Like Naomi, I see MPavilion as a place of engagement: a space to discover the essentials of the world - and of oneself," commented Jain.
Developer Tishman Speyer has commissioned BIG to design a new office tower on the northern end of the High Line at Hudson Yards in New York City. Dubbed "The Spiral," the 1005-foot-tall tower is named after its defining feature - an "ascending ribbon of lively green spaces" that extend the High Line "to the sky," says Bjarke Ingels.
"The Spiral combines the classic Ziggurat silhouette of the premodern skyscraper with the slender proportions and efficient layouts of the modern high-rise," adds Ingels. "Designed for the people that occupy it, The Spiral ensures that every floor of the tower opens up to the outdoors creating hanging gardens and cascading atria that connect the open floor plates from the ground floor to the summit into a single uninterrupted work space. The string of terraces wrapping around the building expand the daily life of the tenants to the outside air and light.”
Could you be one of TED's first Residents? TED is offering a new space in their New York SoHo headquarters for a brand-new program: TED Residency. Searching for creative individuals who believe their work deserves more exposure and can benefit from interdisciplinary interactions, the TED team will give each resident a chance to develop their idea for four months with the support of their team. If chosen, you will be provided an office space, technical assistance, and an opportunity to present your idea in the TED theater.
Submissions are due February 24. This year's residency program will run from April 1 to July 31. Apply here!
