Sebastian Jordana
AD Round Up: BIG
Housing projects, a new City Hall for an Estonian city, a master plan for an island and the Danish Pavillion for Shanghai Expo 2010 are just some of the enormous variety of projects designed by BIG. Check them out on our first Round Up of the week.
Denmark Pavillion for Shanghai Expo 2010
In my opinion Bjarke Ingels, founder of BIG, is one of the best architects when it comes to give shape to the interests of an “unspoken” client on public buildings,either representing the values of a country or a culture. All with exceptional syntax and presentation skills. And BIG’s latest project (in collaboration with Arup and 2+1), the Danish Pavilion for the Shanghai 2010 Expo, does it again (read more…)
Zira Island Carbon Neutral Master Plan
Carbon Neutral master plans are being adopted in several countries, in times when energy and emissions are becoming very important. And that´s exactly what Azerbaijan will do to develop Zira Island on the Caspian Sea, located in the bay of the capital city Baku. The master plan was developed with danish BIG Architects and Ramboll engineers, with an architectural proposal based upon the country’s dramatic natural setting (read more…)
Mountain Dwellings
How do you combine the splendours of the suburban backyard with the social intensity of urban density? The Mountain Dwellings are the 2nd generation of the VM Houses. The program, however, is 2/3 parking and 1/3 living. What if the parking area became the base upon which to place terraced housing – like a concrete hillside covered by a thin layer of housing, cascading from the 11th floor to the street edge? (read more…)
Kaufhauskanal Metrozone (with Topotek1)
The IBA Hamburg is a building exhibition which is running in Hamburg until 2013 and has as its mission to develop solutions for the future of the metropolis. One in a long line of building exhibitions held throughout Germany which also included the 1927 Weißenhofsiedlung in Stuttgart which showed the latest developments in architecture and house construction (read more…)
Tallinn’s new City Hall
An international idea competition was held for Tallinn’s new City Hall in Estonia and the best concept was presented by the Bjarke Ingels Group from Denmark together with Adams Kara Taylor of the UK. The purpose of the international idea contest was to find the best architectural solution for the new administrative building of the city government that will be situated on a 35,000 m2 plot near the Linnahall building (read more…)
Future Shack: Housing the 21st Century
What does ‘neighborhood character’ mean to you? Why is it important and what is the role of architecture? Join AIA Seattle as our own local characters Steve Scher of KUOW’s “Weekday”, author Knute Berger, activist Kent Kammerer, and real estate maven Bob Melvey debate and discuss specific projects shaping the future of residential architecture in our region.
A new residential architecture program for our times, FUTURE SHACK celebrates progressive solutions for urban living across a wide range of building types, budgets, constraints, and social agendas. Architects from around the region have submitted projects to the program which will be selected separately by two juries-one comprised of outspoken members of the public and another comprised of design professionals.
FUTURE SHACK will be held at Seattle Center, Fisher Pavilion, 305 Harriston Street on September 13 between 5pm till 7:30 pm. For more information, click here.
French Pavillion for Shanghai Expo 2010
Jacques Ferrier Architects were selected to design the French Pavillion at Shanghai Expo 2010. Their project ‘The Sensual City’ is a simple building with a big style French garden inside. Surrounded by water it appears to be floating.
The 6000 square meter pavillion will use advanced building materials and environmental protection technology including solar panels on top of the roof.
Seen at designboom. More images after the break.
Crisis Modes, a workshop in New York
Crisis Modes is a one-week intensive design workshop to be held in New York City from August 17-21.
The workshop will take place in a studio setting and will be devoted to exploring relational design strategies and digital design methodologies for speculative infrastructures. New York City, with its breadth of ecological and urban complexity and in particular its urbanizing industrialized waterways, will be the primary context explored.
The aim of the workshop will be to empower designers to negotiate the complex and data-rich environments that are available through professional mapping and information systems and to develop speculative design proposals through the use of computational techniques and methodologies. Participants will develop design interventions that address emerging ecological crises and opportunities found in New York ecologies of the present and near-future.
The format of the workshop will include daily intensive workshop sessions focusing primarily on Grasshopper, Rhino’s parametric design plug-in, and evening lectures and presentations from practitioners and experts in the fields of sustainability and computational design. The workshop will cover strategic workflows for data set analysis and mapping, complex rule-based geometries, as well as techniques for digital fabrication.
For complete details, click here.
More images of the Quingpu Pedestrian Bridge
Last week, we featured the Quingpu Pedestrian Bridge designed by CA-DESIGN. The project received many good reviews from you, so they sent more images of the bridge, taken by Nacasa & Partners. See all the fantastic images of the project by day and night after the break.
AD Round Up: Theatres Part I
There are few things more entertaining than enjoying a good show in a good theatre. From all over Europe and USA, we bring you our Round Up of previously featured theatres in ArchDaily.
Quarterhouse Performing Arts and Business Centre in Folkestone
Secretary of State for Cultura Media and Sport Andy Burnham, will officially open Alison Brooks Architect’s Quarterhouse Performing Arts and Business Centre in Folkestone, located in the Kent district, England. The ceremony will take place in March 5. The building is the centrepiece of the city’s arts-led regeneration programme spearheaded by client The Creative Foundation (read more…)
Vila Joiosa Auditorium Theatre / Arquitecturas Torres Nadal
The importance of the project of La Villa Joiosa is it’s ability to build itself as a public project generating a public space. Indeed, the volume of construction which requires the program of a large auditorium is huge. It is one of the programs with a greater volume to be inserted in the city. And it is essentially, a horizontal volume. And generally, unless it falls into a capricious situation, the ideal is to be blind (read more…)
Bijlmer Park Theater / Paul de Ruiter
In 2004, Paul de Ruiter was invited to compete in the selection of the architect who would design a cultural building in the southeast district of the city of Amsterdam. This cultural building was to be a multifunctional building for four users; a circus (Circus Elleboog), a theatre (Krater Theater), the Youth Theatre School and the Theatre Workplace, all professional organisations in the field of talent development (read more…)
UNStudio wins competition to design dance theatre in St. Petersburg
UNStudio’s design has won a competition to build a 21,000 square meter dance theatre in the historic centre of St. Petersburg, Russia. The new complex houses the Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg, headed by choreographer Boris Eifman. From the four projects presented (Jean Nouvel, UNStudio, Snøhetta & Zao), UNStudio’s design was yesterday unanimously chosen by the jury for realisation (read more…)
Bengt Sjostrom Starlight Theatre / Studio Gang Architects
Rock Valley College wanted to develop a new regional facility for the performing arts at Starlight Theatre to replace an existing outdoor venue. Expanded facilities and a roof enclosure were needed so that performances could go on without the threat of rainouts. At the same time, there was a strong desire to maintain the sense of being outdoors (read more…)
Belgian Pavillion for Shanghai Expo 2010
Conix Architects in collaboration with JV Realys have won the competition to design the Belgian Pavillion for Shanghai Expo 2010.
The structure of a brain cell is the dominant conceptual image for the pavilion. It aims to evokes the artistic and scientific richness of Belgium and the country’s central position within Europe.
The brain cell also refers directly to the role of Belgium as one of Europe’s main gathering centres and cross-points of 3 great cultural traditions: the Latin, the Germanic and the Anglo-Saxon. Belgium, closely connected to its surrounding countries, has always been a ‘place of balance’ where people have gathered with common interests that surpass their national needs.
Seen at designboom. More images after the break.
The Citadel: A floating apartment complex in Netherlands
The Dutch have been fighting the rising and falling tides for centuries, building dikes and pumping water out of areas that are below sea level. Now, rather than fight the water infiltrating their land, the Dutch will use it as part of a new development called ‘New Water‘, which will feature the world’s first floating apartment complex, The Citadel.
This “water-breaking” new project was designed by Koen Olthuis of Waterstudio, and developed by ONW OPP/BNG in the Netherlands, and will use 25% less energy than a conventional building on land thanks to the use of water cooling techniques.
Seen at Inhabitat. More images after the break.
British Pavillion for Shanghai 2010 Expo
The Pavilion of Ideas, designed by Heatherwick Studio, beat five other short-listed designs, including plans put forward by the creators of the London Eye – the largest Ferris wheel in the world – to becomes the winner. The pavilion looks like a box with thousands of spines that hover without visible support above a public square.
All the spines, which can swing in the breeze, are tipped with tiny colored light sources which can display a variety of images together.
Inside the pavilion, visitors will see an enormous digital screen showing various contents. The outside area of the pavilion will be an exhibition space and auditorium as well as a cafe and shops surrounded by two strips of grass. The pavilion will be as ecological as possible and the designers are trying to make all the aspects recyclable and carbon-neutral. It is light, without heavy concrete foundations and will “touch the ground softly,” according to the introduction by Heatherwich.
Seen at Archtracker. More images after the break.
AD Round Up: Cultural Centers Part I
From Mexico, Greece, USA, Denmark, and China. For today’s Round Up, we bring you previously featured Cultural Centers from all over the world on AD.
The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center by Renzo Piano
The design for the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center at the Faliron Delta area in Athens, Greece. The building is being designed by -in my opinion- the master of sustainable architecture: Renzo Piano. The SNFCC is not an ordinary building, as it will house a very important program: the National Library of Greece and the Greek National Opera. This 187,800 sqm project will have a cost of € $450m (read more…)
Vladimir Kaspe Cultural Center / Jorge Hernandez de la Garza
The composition of the of the building is based on three fundamental and concordant elements to form a complete balanced one; on one hand a skeleton made of steel. Followed by an extremely sure and and resistant armed concrete body and to give the touch of subtle solidity, glass. The pieces that conform it, are assembled by means of punctual elements made by these materials (read more…)
Youth Recreation & Culture Center / Dorte Mandrup + Cebra
The building is situated in a residential area in a northern suburb of Copenhagen, Denmark. The area predominately consists of large villas from the turn of the century. The site is long and narrow- on one side bordering the railroad and on the other a busy road- Gersonsvej – hence there was a noise problem to be solved. The program was a mixed use complex containing several different institutions (read more…)
Alice Tully Hall Lincoln Center / Diller Scofidio + Renfro Architects
Dutch photographer Iwan Baan shared with us this great photographs he took for Domus Magazine’s June edition. This building is a part of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in NYC and it was created thanks to the donoations of Alice Tully, a chamber music benefactor and patron of the arts. This is the first major renovation since the Juilliard School building, designed by Pietro Belluschi, opened in 1969 (read more…)
Guangzh Culture Center / Shuhei Endo
Japanese architect Shuhei Endo sent us some impressive images of his latest project: the Guangzh Culture Center in China. You can see all the images after the break (see more…)
11th International Alvar Aalto Symposium
“Edge-Paracentric Architecture”, the 11th International Alvar Aalto Symposium will take place in Finland between August 7 and August 9.
Inside the urban hubs of the Western world, a feeling of safety prevails. We continue to enjoy the highest standard of living ever known to humankind. At the same time, we are fully aware of the results of our culture of consumerism. Therein lies the greatest paradox: We are forced to actively forget reality to be able to enjoy the facade of excess we have created around us.
Yet outside the main stages of the metropolis is where our work is needed. There are a few architects who challenge the conventions of the profession and the ever-dictating forces of the market; they go where the real problems are and try to solve them with insight, economy and wit. These people are the pathfinders towards the next revolution in architecture, which will not focus on style, but on the balance between man and nature -or, in short, survival.
The symposium venue is in the main auditorium of the University of Jyväskylä. Lecturers include Alexander Brodsky, Yrjö Haila, Anna Heringer, Saija Hollmén, Geir Tore Holm, Bijoy Jain, Francis Kéré, Olavi Koponen, Juhani Pallasmaa, Mauricio Pezo, Dan Rockhill, Patama Roonrakwit, Carin Smuts, Mark Isitt (Moderator), and Sami Rintala (Chairman).
More information on the official website.
Spain Pavillion for Shanghai 2010 Expo
The Spain Pavilion will have a steel structure and a wicker cover. Spanish handcrafters will weave out different patterns by using different colors of wicker, said Benedetta Tagliabue, designer of the pavilion. The wicker will be covered by a special material that is water-proof. It will also keep the pavilion at a comfortable temperature, said Tagliabue.
Also, the pavilion of course is very strong, she said. The designers have considered the possibility of bad weather during the Expo period such as typhoons or the summer Plum Rain season, said Tagliabue. The Spanish government is going to invest 1.8 million euros (US$2.6 million) in the pavilion, said Javier Conde de Saro, Spain’s commissioner general for World Expo Shanghai.
The pavilion, with a total floor area of 8,500 square meters, will have both open squares for cultural performances and an indoor area for exhibitions and cafeterias.
Seen at Archtracker. More images after the break.
Switzerland Pavillion for Shanghai Expo 2010
Switzerland unveiled the model of its national pavilion for World Expo Shanghai, a pavilion with soybean-fibre coverage and entertaining rooftop cable cars.
The design by Buchner Bründler Architects, chosen out of the 104 candidates through a world-wide competition, focuses on the sustainable development as well as harmony and balance, which coincide with the Chinese philosophy of Yin and Yang.
“This piece of work best shows the characteristics of modern Switzerland – pursuing excellence, innovation and high-quality life,” said Manuel Salchli, deputy commissioner general of the Swiss pavilion in the Expo. “We hope to attract a big percentage of the 70 million visitors to the Expo Shanghai.”
The most distinguished feature of the pavilion is the outside curtain, made from degradable soybeans and dye-sensitized solar cells that are capable of generating electricity, introduces Salchli. The curtain will present an image of forest, which will remind people of the nature, said Salchli. And the fibre of the curtain could be degraded after being disposed in the soil in two week.
Seen at Archtracker. More images after the break.
Up to 35: Student Housing International Competition
OLIAROS, a young property development company, is calling architects up to 35 years old to submit proposals for the construction of an affordable student housing complex in Kerameikos and Metaxourgeio (KM), an area in the historic centre of Athens, Greece.
The selection process consists of two stages: first all participants need to submit Schematic Design proposals due by September 7th 2009, at which point the jury will select the 5 finalists who will be invited to submit Design development propositions due in January 11th 2010. The 5 finalist submissions will be exhibited in situ together with all the Schematic Design propositions during October 1st-4th, at which point the public can vote via SMS for one of the 5 finalists. The final winner will be determined in January 2010 by the seven votes of the jury plus one deriving from the public, the “public vote”. The five finalists will receive 3000 Euro each when invited to participate in the Design Development stage, while the final winner will receive 10.000 Euro plus the 30.000 Euro commission.
Seen at Bustler. More information on the competition’s official website.
AD Round Up: Houses in Brazil
Brazilian architects have always surprised us with their architecture. You can see some creative houses from Brazil previously featured on AD with this last Round Up of the month!
Joanopolis House / UNA Arquitetos
The house was designed for friends who used to visit Carambó, a farm two kilometers away where we built a pavilion in 2002. The region is located at the foot of the one thousand feet high Mantiqueira Mountain, on the border of São Paulo and Minas Gerais states. The condominium is located along the banks of Piracaia Lake which belongs to the water supply system of the capital (read more…)
Osler House / Marcio Kogan
In front of the entrance of the Osler House, located in Brasilia, there is a panel of tiles by the artist Athos Bulcão, designed especially for this wall. Dozens of buildings in Brasilia have panels by Athos, among them are: Planalto Palace, Itamaraty and the National Theater, all by Niemeyer. The artist’s modular tiles are an outstanding feature incorporated into the modern architecture (read more…)
Rio de Janeiro Residence / TAMABI
Two basic principles guided our project for the construction of a new penthouse foor to house a single 234-square-meter apartment, located at the base of the Corcovado Mountain in Rio de Janeiro’s forested Jardim Botânico neighborhood. The first was a demand for an open space with the least possible amount of internal subdivisions, with the intent to provide good cross ventilation (read more…)
Bento Golçalves House / Studio Paralelo
The house is located in the city of Bento Gonçalves, mountain region of Rio Grande do Sul – Brazil, in an area that originally was part of a rural site. The proposal was developed for a couple that will receive, eventually, its three children. The land, almost a square, 32 x 30 meters has flat topography broken by a smooth declivity in the North limit. Next to that natural irregularity, a set of araucarias trees (read more…)
Carapicuiba house / Angelo Bucci & Alvaro Puntoni
The most remarkable feature of the site where the house is located is its depression, in topographical terms. From the street, we cannot clearly see its ground level because the ground surface falls abruptly into a little valley and woods: a stage 6 m below. The program joins two different purposes: a house and an office, it is a place to both live and work. Although these two functions share the same space, it is as separate as possible (read more…)
Luxembourg Pavillion for Shanghai Expo 2010
The idea “forest and fortress” comes from the literal meaning of the Chinese term for Luxembourg. The pavilion, built from steel, wood and glass, will be an open fortress around with greenery. The 15-meter-high main structure will resemble an ancient castle with large openings surrounded by medieval towers,
“All the materials are recyclable,” said the architect of the pavilion, Francois Valentiny. Also, the outside walls will be translucent, on which Chinese characters will be shown. The exhibition area of the pavilion is about 1,300 square meters. The downstairs hall will stage a satellite video show displaying live scenes from the country. “Visitors will be able to talk with Luxembourg people through satellite. And we will bring live programs of Luxembourg events here,” said Jeannot Krecke, the country’s Minister of the Economy and Foreign Trade.
Seen at Archtracker. More images after the break.
Ferry Terminal / F451 Arquitectura
Our friends from F451 Arquitectura, a Barcelona-based office have shared with us their design of a ferry terminal that won a competition in Spain. The terminal will be located in the Mahón Port, on the island of Menorca. More images after the break.
Canada Pavillion for Shanghai Expo 2010
The 6,000-square-meter Canada Pavilion, among the biggest at the site, will feature an exhibition themed “The Living City: Inclusive, Sustainable, Creative.” It is expected to welcome up to 5.5 million people or 30,000 visitors per day during the six-month Expo period.
The pavilion will be anchored by an open public place and surrounded by three large structures. The square will be a performing area, where visitors can watch the performances of Cirque du Soleil before checking out the pavilion, said Gregson.
The overall budget for the Canadian pavilion will be 45 million Canadian dollars (US$43.57 million), she added. Canada has also given environmental protection consideration into the pavilion. Part of the pavilion’s exterior walls will be covered by a special kind of greenery and rainwater will be collected by a drainage system for use inside the pavilion.
Cirque du Soleil created the concept design for the Pavillion and will also create public performances, organize cultural programs and develop strategic corporate alliances for the pavillion.
Seen at archtracker. More images after the break.
AD Round Up: Awarded Competitions Part I
Many great projects are a result of important competitions around the world. So to start this week’s Round Up, we bring you previously featured awarded competitions from Croatia, Denmark, France, Spain, and Norway.
Zamet Centre Competition
3LHD is a croatian office that has developed some interesting houses, sports facilities and urban projects. And now they just won the private competition for the Zamet sports and community centre in Rijeka, Croatia. Rijeka is an industrial harbour city on the Adriatic Sea and the new complex will provide it with a new civic hub for both business people and the general public (read more…)
New Incineration Line in Denmark Competition
Erick van Egeraat has won the international competition for the design of a new incineration line in Roskilde, Denmark for Kara/Noveren, a local waste management company. Due to its large scale, the incinerator is destined to become an outstanding structure in the wide and open landscape of the Roskilde area. After its completion in 2013, the facility will produce both electricity and heating for the Roskilde district (read more…)
New Market in Barcelona Competition
b720 just informed us that they won the ideas competition for the new Market dels Encants in Barcelona, Spain, commissioned by the city. Near the iconic Agbar Tower, the project develops as a continuous platform that deals with the topography of the site, covered with a big roof that unifies all the activities on this platform. The roof varies its inclination in order to reflect different views and daylight changes (read more…)
Tour La Signal at Paris Competition
The La Defense is a 160 ha business district in the west of Paris, currently under a renewal plan to strengthen its place among the great international business districts. The plan is managed by the EPAD (The Public Establishment for Installation of La Défense), an organization formed by local authorities, government and neighbors focused on developing the La Defense for the best interests of its 20.000 residents (read more…)
Oslo Central Station Competition
Norwegian architects Space Group won the competition for Oslo´s new Central Station. The project consists on demolishing a big part of the existing station, to build a 4 stories tall structure that will unify the station. It will include 2 floors for offices hanging over the station. Also, an adjacent U-shaped building will be occupied by the biggest conference hotel in Norway (read more…)
Gensler Architects entry for Open Architecture Challenge video
Gensler Architects finalist entry for the Open Architecture Challenge included an interesting video, on which we can see an important part of the project that is often unnoticed on publications: the community.
Check out all the finalists here.
Thanks Lisa!
The video was procuded by After ED TV. You can see more of their videos for the Open Architecture Challenge here.
Call for entries for The 2009 AIA Seattle Honor Awards
In this era of change, how do architects remain inventive, agile and break boundaries? Submit your project to the 2009 AIA Seattle Honor Awards. Jurors include: Nigel Dancey, RIBA Foster + Partners, London, Mark Rios, FAIA, FASLA, Rios Clementi Hale, Los Angeles, and Teddy Cruz, eStudio Cruz, San Diego.
All entries are available online prior to the awards presentation. Awarded projects will be featured in an upcoming feature in Forum, AIA Seattle’s quarterly magazine. For more information, visit the official website.
