Sports Centre Zuidrand / UR Architects
UR Architects were awarded first prize for their design of a sports center in Antwerp. The center, which is intended for non-competition sports, is aligned with the existing sports hall along the main street of the new master plan development. The building attempts “to communicate” on all sides as the sports hall, dance hall and rental depot are positioned on the edge, interconnected by a T-shaped service area. This extroverted model opens the building to the community and the architecture reflects the modernism of the surrounding buildings. The roof is designed as a fifth facade to relate to the nearby housing blocks of Renaat Braem while the facades of the halls are made of multi-layered polycarbonate. Partly translucent, partly transparent, this material combines the dynamic spectacle of changing light and shade, with diffuse daylight admission and a high insulation value, resulting in a low energy building.
More images of the sports center after the break. (more…)
Shuffle Haugerud Center / Eriksen Skajaa Architects
Eriksen Skajaa Architects shared with us their awarded proposal for Europan 10 with their design of the Haugerud Center, entitled Shuffle. Haugerud, originally an area born from the utopian ideals of the Modern Movement, now struggles to a have a clear sense of what it stands for. Shuffle aims to rediscover Haugerud’s lost identity by exploring low rise/high density urban planning. The buildings create a village-like atmosphere with multi-functional structures that can be used for housing as well as public functions.
More images and more about the project after the break. (more…)
SO-IL wins P.S.1 competition
Since 2000, the MoMA and the P.S.1 have been running a competition under their Young Architects Program, inviting each year a group of emerging architects to experiment with new shapes and materials, resulting in a summer installation at the P.S.1.
Interesting projects have come out of this competition, such as the Public Farm (PF1) by Work AC in 2008, and Afterparty by MOS last year. And today, the winning proposal for 2010 has been announced: Pole Dance by Brooklyn based SO-IL (Solid Objectives Idenburg Liu) a practice ran by Florian Idenburg and Jing Liu.
Conceived as a participatory environment that reframes the conceptual relationship between humankind and structure, Pole Dance is an interconnected system of poles and bungees whose equilibrium is open to human action and environmental factors. Throughout the courtyard, groups of 25-foot-tall poles on 12 x 12-foot grids connected by bungee cords whose elasticity will cause the poles to gently sway, creating a steady ripple throughout the courtyard space.
To explain this to one of my friends, I used a fabric and a few sharp pencils (so they stick to the fabric, and the eraser in the back sticks to the table) and we started to move it around… I´m pretty sure that the built installation will be very fun to visit. As you can see on the renderings, the net waves around, and touches the soil at the pool in the center, with a few holes that let you pass by.
SO-IL worked with Buro Happold for this structure, and with Sciame for cost analysis, to keep the installation on a $85,000 budget.
After the break, more images and a video from SO-IL’s winning proposal.
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Hua Qiang Bei Road / Work AC
WORKac‘s design for a 1-kilometer section of Hua Qiang Bei Road in Shenzhen was awarded first prize. The design responds to the area’s growing commercial character which has unfortunately created traffic problems. For the proposal, the road becomes a series of “strategic interventions” where “five iconic lanterns”, (twisting bands of required program) create unique, visible destinations through a process of “urban acupuncture”.
More images and more about the design after the break.
Europan 10 Results
Europan is a biennial competition for young architects that looks for innovative housing solutions in sites across Europe, incorporating social and economic variables specific to each territory. Several renowned practices have participated on this competition in the past, becoming a platform for emerging architects. Abitare just posted that the results for Europan 10 are out.
This year, there were 56 winners and 67 runners-up on 62 European sites, totallizing prizes for more than 1 million euros. The 123 winning teams live in 24 different countries, and 54% of them won in the country they inhabit. So 46% won in another country. You can find more information on the results, on Europan’s official website.
Tafoni Floating Home
The Tafoni Floating Home is a conceptual project from designer Joanna Borek-Clement. The primary goal is to change the attitude towards living on a houseboat and promote a lifestyle that limits disruption of the environment. Tafoni is spacious, yet compact. Typical houseboats have low ceilings and often feel cramped, which can detract from comfort many residents desire of their homes. In contrast, even though Tafoni has a relatively small floor plate, it is spacious because of the high ceiling and the minimal amount of full-height interior partitions.
The partial-height sculptural walls divide the space visually and increase the interaction between people without limiting views. Tafoni is a multi-purpose living pavilion that serves as a permanent house, a weekend retreat, a relaxing summer destination or a place to entertain friends and hold business parties. In the current era of overpopulation and decreasing greenfields, building houseboats is a solution we should consider. More after the break. (more…)
OMA wins first competition for Chu Hai College Campus in Hong Kong
OMA in association with Leigh & Orange Architects have won the international competition for a 28,000m2 campus for the Chu Hai College of Higher Education in Hong Kong.
The project consists on two 8-stories tall parallel volumes with a rich public space in between, housing three faculties (arts, science and engineering, business), with 10 departments and 2 research centers.
What I like about this project is how OMA incorporated the multidisciplinary focus of this college, trough a rich public space between these two volumes, a topography with library, cafeteria, gym and lecture theaters, which given its ramps, steps and shaded platforms, generate several different spaces for socializing, meeting, studying, etc. So, students from this 3 faculties will flow into this central public space, mixing together.
This project is led by Rem Koolhaas, General Manager of OMA Asia (Hong Kong) David Gianotten and associate Chris van Duijn.
More images after the break:
Bohemian Flats Boathouse Competition winner
John Vierra, an architecture student from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo sent us his winning entry for the AIAS Vinyl Competition.
The Bohemian Flats, located in an old residential area of Minneapolis, Minnesota has a long history of flooding. According to FEMA, the site has a 1% chance of flooding every year. To respond to this history and promote the longevity of the project, the entire structure rests on a PVC (vinyl) floatation system, allowing the building to move in sequence with the unpredictable nature of the site. The boat house also has the ability to move off site and become an extension elsewhere.
Full architect’s description and more images after the break. (more…)
Kolelinia / Martin Angelov
Martin Angelov shared his funky concept for a new urban way of transportation dubbed “Kolelinia” with us . Kolelinia proposes that we ride our bicycles on a steel wire as a new type of bicycle lane. The idea was awarded first for the international “Line of Site” competition.
More about Kolelinia after the break. (more…)
Za(breg) 2012 / njiric+ arhitekti
njiric+ arhitekti‘s design for a large stadium has been nicknamed as the “Blue Volcano” by the public and the press, an overwhelming built form that creates a presence in the city, a new landmark for the area. The stadium was conceived not as a building typology but rather as a topography. Using the natural undulation of the landscape, the new civic arena is housed within an artificial hill made of recycled rubber and blue pigment sprayed onto corrugated aluminium sheets.
More about the stadium after the break.
Cite du Design / LIN Architects
After winning an international competition, LIN Architects’ “Centre International du Design” facility for research, communication and education in design is now open. In addition to renovating several buildings on the historic site of the National Arms Manufacture in St. Etienne, the project also incorporates the integration of a new building, the “platine” which is an interclimatic laboratory, a 31 m high observation tower, gardens and a public esplanade.
More about the project after the break.
Ossuary Orthen / Buijsenpennock Architects
When much needed landscape maintenance at the 150 year-old cemetery in Orthen required many graves to be emptied, a competition was held to design a new resting place for the remains of 12,000 people. Buijsenpennock Architects responded by designing an ossuary that can be seen as a series of walls, made by a mesh of rough oak columns and beams.
More about the ossuary after the break. (more…)
SANY Beijing / Perkins and Will
Perkins+Will’s master plan for SANY Beijing was awarded first prize in the “Conceptual Design” category at the 8th International Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism due to the project’s strength in the categories of spatiality, connectivity, originality and sustainability. SANY is the largest heavy equipment manufacturer in China and one of the top 10 heavy equipment manufacturers in the world. The company wanted to achieve a higher degree of efficiency in their manufacturing process and create a memorable visitor experience.
More about the SANY project after the break. (more…)
Kunstmuseum Extension / Christ & Gantenbein
Swiss architects Christ & Gantenbein placed first among tough competitors, such as the five Pritzker laureates (Peter Zumthor, Zaha Hadid, Rafael Moneo, Tadao Ando and Jean Nouvel) in the competition to design an extension for the Kunstmuseum. Thanks to a generous donation to the Canton of Basel-Stadt, the Basel Kunstmuseum was able to hold a competition to expand the museum to an adjacent lot. Christ & Gantenbein’s awarded design was defined as a “contemporary brother” of the 1930’s Kunstmuseum.
More about the awarded winning design after the break. (more…)
Schmidt Hammer Lassen designs zero-energy building in Aarhus
Schmidt hammer lassen architects, whose project Urban Mediaspace was featured a couple of weeks ago in ArchDaily, have been announced as winners of the competition for a new zero-energy administration building of the Municipality of Aarhus. The competition, involving six firms, was won in collaboration with the contractor E. Pihl & Son, Engineers Grontmij / Carl Bro and GHB Landscape Architects.
Schmidt hammer lassen architects has taken the environmental ambitions of the municipality of Aarhus as a key driver for the project and created a zero-energy office building, the first of its kind in Denmark. The building has 1,100 m2 of solar cells for the production of electricity, 420 m2 of solar thermal panels for absorption cooling and heating water, and rainwater harvesting for reuse in lavatories and for watering.
More images and full architect’s description after the break. (more…)
Master Plan Ideas Competition for Gold Coast won by Super Colossal
The Gold Coast is Australia’s sixth largest city and one of the fastest growing regions. It’s also home for one of the most popular spots in Australia’s East Coast. The Gold Coast’s population is around 500,000 and, if as forecast, it continues to grow by 13,000 to 16,000 annually, it will be home to 900,000 residents by 2030.
Gold Coast City Council, with endorsement of the Australian Institute of Architects, organized an open Master plan Ideas Competition for a proposed Gold Coast Cultural and Civic Precinct. The 16.5 hectare site is bordered on three sides by rivers and canals. Formerly a simple rural cane farm, the site is now at the heart of a growing city with views across the skyline of Surfers Paradise, Main Beach and Broadbeach.
The purpose of the Master plan Ideas Competition was to generate creative new visions and ideas for the future of this key site and its facilities stimulate community discussion about the future of the Gold Coast Cultural and Civic Precinct. The competition was won by Sydney-based office Super Colossal. You can see more images of the winning project and architect’s description after the break. (more…)
Faroe Islands Education Centre / BIG
Danish firm BIG, in collaboration with Fuglark, Lemming & Eriksson, Sámal Johannesen, Martin E. Leo and KJ Elrad, was awarded with 1st prize on a competition for a new Education Centre in Torshavn, at the Faroe Islands.
The Faroe Islands are an autonomous province of Denmark, and this is the largest educational project in the country’s history, and will house the Faroe Islands Gymnasium, the Torshavns Technical
College and the Business College of Faroe Islands.
The schools are stacked and twisted, generating a central patio which will be the main gathering space of the center. Each of this programatic stripes is then open to the landscape, getting the most out of its location on a hillside with views over the sea, mountains and the harbor. A very simple scheme, which I like a lot as it doesn´t fragment the public space.
But apart from being a whole when seen from the common areas, each school escapes on its own, through the cantilevered volumes that generate a wide array of different views, giving character to each one of the programatic units. I find this reunite/desegregate scheme very good to get a sense of individuality at the center, and have an intense social life at the same time.
More information after the break, and take a special look at the structural diagram.
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Best Architectural Animation Competition Winner
Couple of weeks ago we launched a competition through our Facebook Fan Page to find the best architectural animation video you could send us. After looking at 34 videos and receiving more than 2,500 votes, we have a winner!
Armir Shapllo, with his Space Camp Nou video (see it after the break), received more than 800 votes to win a brand new iPod Touch. Matej Štefanac came second and Alex Roman third. Congratulations to Armir, and to everyone who participated. And remember to follow us through Twitter and our Facebook Fan Page for more competitions! (more…)
Creative Zone / UNStudio
UNStudio teamed with ARUP to win a competition held by the People’s Government of Yanqing County, Beijing Municipality and Beijing Institute of Architectural Design. The proposal is the design of a creative zone on the edge of the Beijing River that compresses open space and an economic zone by weaving nature with the urban fabric. The open spaces will provide Beijing residents with the ability to enjoy the peace of the greenbelt while still being in proximity to the local stores and shops.
More about the project after the break. (more…)
Beijing Patent Office / KSP Jürgen Engel Architekten
KSP Jürgen Engel Architekten was awarded first prize for their proposal for the Beijing Patent Office. Located in downtown Beijing, the site is near a new subway line and sits opposite the entrance hall of Caishikou Station. The proposal integrates the Patent Office into the site’s sustainable traffic infrastructure. The building is divided into a central hall, towers, bridges, open spaces and spacious rooftop gardens that creates an interconnected, communicative structure. A surrounding strip embraces the individual parts of the building, extending from the roof to the façade, spanning open spaces, thereby giving the Beijing Patent Office a specific identity in the urban context.
More about the proposal and more images after the break. (more…)
Soms Atoll / Radical Craft
Radical Craft was awarded third for their proposal Soms Atoll for the World Sustainability Center (one of the winning proposals by KOW was previously featured on AD). For the project, the architects questioned the possibility of the World Sustainability Centre in Friesland creating a new interpretation of the relationship between the man-made and the natural.
More about the proposal after the break.
