© Tim Harris

Tim Harris just shared with us some photos of the Doha Office Tower in Qatar, a 45-story tall tower by Jean Nouvel currently under construction, with an interesting skin.

Tim says: The Tower is in the West Bay area of Doha, close to the iconic pyrimidal Sheraton hotel, built in the 1980′s when it was alone and terminated the view of the prettiest corniche’s in the Middle East.

Now there is a frenzy of building and this area has become the financial and business hub of the city. Nouvel’s tower stands amid a mixed bag of buildings some dating back closer to the Sheraton but most built in the last few years.

The adjacent cylindrical building that expands at the bottom and top, is the ‘Tornado Tower’, and has just won the best tall building award in the Middle East and North Africa.

The ‘Tornado Tower’ lacks shading and becomes very dusty. Nouvel’s tower acheives the opposite with effortless ease, elegance and elán.

Expect this building to be winning awards soon.

More pictures after the break:

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Architects: Christian Pottgiesser - architecturespossibles (Paris)
Location: Paris, France
Client: private
Design Team: Christian Pottgiesser (architect) , Alejandro Ratier (designer), Pascale Pottgiesser (artist)
Engineer: Joël Betito
Assistant: Dr. Florian Hertweck
Furniture design: arch. Raphael Budin (low table + dining table)
Contractors: ERCN (main construction), Carrières du Bassin Parisien (masonry), Menuiserie du Val de Loire (carpentry), ATN (landscaping), CMBR (windows), Miroiterie MARUT (mirrors), ESBEI (waterproofing), EGEBAT (plumbing), SAP/ABD (paintwork)
Design year: 2002
Construction year: 2003
Constructed area: 140sqm extension, 40sqm entrance + winter garden,
160sqm terraces + gardens + 160sqm existing house
Budget: private
Photographs model: Pascale Thomas
© Photographs: Gert von Bassewitz (Hamburg)

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One of the challenges of prefab housing solutions is that not all families live the same way, resulting on standard environments not suitable for family living. With this in mind, KKA (Kjellgren Kaminsky Architecture) desgined Villa Grow, a Villa that is adaptable to all to all kinds of families and can be extended as they grow.

This villas have a common basic unit that can be extended by adding new modules. The angles at the end of each unit allow for different orientations, on which you can have a linear house, a patio house, or an organic layout that opens to the landscape. They can even be put together to form a large neighbor.

Interesting presentation on how an evolving family (single with dog, just married, 2 kids…) can grow its house by just adding modules as needed, a true custom prefab.

The Villas are sold in the United Kingdom and Sweden, and are produced by Kjellgren Kaminsky and Emrahus.

For more info about getting your own Villa Grow please visit Emrahus.

Architects: V+/Bureau vers plus de bien-être
Location: Ternat, Belgium
Client: Cortier – De Lat
Design Team: Jörn Aram Bihain, Thierry Decuypere, Shin Hagiwara
Engineers: Kathleen Mertens
Contractor: CPR Construction (main construction), De Meersman (carpentry), FMP (metalwork)
Design year: 2001-2003
Construction year: 2003-2005
Surface: 360 sqm
Budget: 325.000 euro
Photographs: V+, Olivier Chenoix, Patrick Van Roy

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The city within a building – Mario Fiorentino

In the last 50 years, we have built a massive amount of buildings, experimenting techniques and philosophies as never before. Reinforced concrete, cheap energy and cars allowed us a freedom to build that we never experienced before.

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Architects: Monolab architects (Rotterdam)
Location: Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Client: Tijs van Ruiten & Paula Colenbrander
Engineers construction: K-constructies (Rotterdam),  Ove Arup (London)
Engineers specifications/costs: Ingenieursbureau Multical (Rotterdam)
Advisor installations: Schwagermann (‘s-Gravenzande)
Contractor: Bouwbedrijf Hofman (Maasdijk)
Construction Roof tent: Stre@m (Rotterdam)
Design year: 2001
Construction year: 2003
Budget: 238.000 euro incl. tax
Constructed Area: 156 sqm, 537 cbm
Photographs: Monolab

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Architects: R&Sie(n)
Location: Paris, France
Creative Team: François Roche, Stéphanie Lavaux, Jean Navarro
Hydroponic System: R&Sie(n)
Key dimensions: 130 sqm
Construction year: 2008
Photographs: R&Sie(n)
Glass Beakers : Pedro Veloso including the consulting of  Vanessa Mitrani
Structural development and construction of the green prototype: Christian Hubert De Lisle & Cie

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© Danny Bright

Our green friends over Inhabitat just tipped us on a  new project by NYC/Napoli based office LOT-EK, a practice that has been doing an interesting job by reusing containers.

24 containers are put together to create a 3 storey store with over 11,000 sqf, including a bar/lounge area and 2 decks.

The store is currently at the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-2009, and it´s transported to each location (Alicante, Boston, Stockholm) and assembled quickly.

More pictures details after the jump.

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Architects: LAVA – Chris Bosse, Tobias Wallisser and Alexander Rieck
Location: Sydney, Australia
Project year: 2008
Project Team: Chris Bosse, Tobias Wallisser, Alexander Rieck
Collaborators: Jarrod Lamshed, Esan Rahmani, Kim Ngoc Nguyen, Anh Dao Trinh, Erik Escalante Mendoza, Pascal Tures, Mi Jin Chun, Andrea Dorici
Materials: Specially treated high-tech Nylon and light
Area: 300 sqm
Volume: 3,000 sqm
Fabrication and installation: Mak Max
Photographs: LAVA

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Architect: Felipe Assadi / Assadi + Pulido
Location: Santiago, Chile
Collaborators: Pablo Casals, Francisco Duarte
Project year: 2008
Constructed Area: 400 sqm
Material: Scaffolding, Hunter Douglas aluzinc stripes, Wood
Photos: Felipe Assadi & Nicolás Saieh

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Architects: Shuhei Endo
Location: Sayo-cho, Hyogo, Japan
Project team: Kengo Sasamoto, Aya Umemoto
Design year: 2005-2006
Construction year: 2006-2008
Principal use: Institution and exhibition of earth environmental
Site Area: 5,000 sqm
Constructed Area: 968 sqm

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The University of Sheffield’s state-of-the-art music practice and studio facility, the Soundhouse, is now complete. The striking development, conceptually designed by careyjones architects and delivered by Jefferson Sheard Architects, is completely enveloped in black rubber – a technique never seen before in the UK.

More info & pictures after the break.

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Architects: Triptyque - Greg Bousquet, Carolina Bueno, Guillaume Sibaud e Olivier Raffaelli
Location: Sao Paulo, Brazil
Project chief: Tiago Guimarães
Project year: 2007- 2008
Construction year: 2008
Site area: 500 sqm
Constructed area: 1,060 sqm
Hydraulic engineer: Guilherme Castagna
Landscape: Peter Webb
Contractor: Bassani Arquitetos Construtores
Structure: Rika / Eng. Rioske Kanno
Photographs: Nelson Kon

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Various Architects is a collaborative design office based in Norway, and they shared with us a very innovative project: a Mobile Performance Venue. Designed to host the performance “ID – Identity of the soul” (touring worldwide in 2009), the client requested a unique and iconic structure. Also, this venue needs to be mobile, so volume/weight were key on this design developed as a flexible ellipse structured with aluminium frames and an inflatable hexagonal skin.

Once built, it will be the world´s largest mobile performance venue, fitting on 30 standard containers for shipping.

Can´t wait till 2009 to see it? Be sure to check the test inflation of a  full scale mock-up, a preview of how it will look like when finished. Below, project description, plans and renderings. Thanks to Jim Dodson from VA for sending this in.

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The iPhone can be a very useful tool for an architect, as it allows you to check drawings and even do sketches on site. But today i found this  new application for the iPhone OS v2.0: A-Level, an electronic version of the good ol’  bubble level. I have to recognize that it’s a clever use of the iPhone’s accelerometer. You can get it at the iTunes App Store for 99 cents. To download follow this link (it will open iTunes).

Seen on Wired Gadget Lab.

Public Farm 1, Work AC‘s installation for the PS1 opened on June 16th. The above video shows the construction process that took a month to be finished (May 15th to June 18th).

You can check the list of the DJs and artists that will playing at the PS1 this summer on the 10th version of the Warm Up Sessions (including LCD Soundsystem and Au Revoir Simone) here.

I still remember when i saw the cardboard tubes on their office,  and now they are part of this innovative green canopy. Below, pictures sent by photographer Elizabeth Felicella of the completed structure. She has more pictures available for editorials.

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The Jewish Contemporary Museum by Daniel Libeskind we published some weeks ago opened this Sunday, and Fernando Herrera sent us a complete set of photos of the opening.

Now we can take a deeper look at the interiors and details of this remodelation of an old power plant adjacent to the Yerba Buena park in San Francisco, an area with great public spaces.

Photos and plans after the break.

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Undoubtly, Wall House was one of the most innovative house designs in the last few years. But after winning the AR Emergent Awards 2007, being selected as one of the Record Houses 2008 by Architectural Record and their clients response, FAR frohn&rojas architects decided to go one step ahead and now they present Your Wall House, a customizable kit to build your own Wall House.

The kit goes from squematic drawings to a full custom climate concept, which will result on a variaton of the original Wall House according to personal needs, interests, local building code and the local climate conditions.

Kits and prices:

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The 2008 Olympic Games aren´t just a gathering of athletes, it´s also a showcase of the most innovative buildings and technologies like GreenPIX, the Zero Energy Media Wall by Simone Giostra & Partners and ARUP, pictured above.

This curtain wall covers the front of the Xicui entertainment complex in Beijing, near the site of the 2008 Olympic Games. It features the worlds largest color LED display, powered by a photovoltaic system integrated into the glass curtain wall.

This Media Wall will showcase a selection of specially commissioned video installations and live performances by artists from China, Europe and the US, starting in May. Pictures, construction progress, diagrams and videos after the break.

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Architects: Alison Brooks Architects – Alison Brooks, Michael Woodford
Location: Wandsworth, South London, UK
Client: Alex Wingate
Area: 400sqm per house
Construction start: Junio 2005
Completion: Diciembre 2006
Phase 1 contractor: Unimead Ltd
Phase 2 contractor: Kaymac Construction
Structural Engineer: Price & Myers
Mechanical and Electrical/Health & Safety: Peter Deer & Associates
Quantity Surveryor: Carruth Marshall Partnership
Photos: Cristóbal Palma

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