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Our friends at EXH Design shared their design of a hotel in Ordos, which is scheduled to be completed within a few months, with us.  Taking inspiration from the yurt, the circular tent-like dwelling of Mongolian peoples,  the team transformed the traditional scheme to meet the demands of modern life.   The design “makes an accommodation experience in Ordos different from anywhere else and arouses a local cultural interest,” explained the architects.

More about the hotel and more images after the break.

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The exhibition ”Eurovisions”, designed by Fantastic Norway, features the winners of Europan 10.  It recently opened at the Norwegian Centre for Design and Architecture in Oslo.

“Eurovisions” consists of a vast number of hovering cityscape profiles, portraying the three current Europan sites. Together the silhouettes create a vast graphical landscape, creating a pseudo-3D or “two-and-a-half-dimensional” effect as you walking through it. This technique was widely used in early Disney movies (as well as in classic theatre scenography) to create the sensation of depth and movement through 2 dimensional drawings.

Runner up – and winner projects were exposed at the back of these silhouettes. In addition to this the exhibition features an educational area where information, facts and models of the Europan cities are exposed. Projected onto the walls, fake TV-news clips (set in a not to distant future) reports a variety of stories portraying possible futures for the cities at hand.

More images after the break. read more »

EXP Architects + Archi-art + ANMA collaborated to design the headquarters for Sonatel in Dakar.  The long building is comprised of several layers and wrapped in a geometric skin. The building’s main entrance is slightly elevated making the massive form seemingly float over those who enter and colored volumes mark different activities which complement the main offices.  The large masses of office areas are distributed around a center circulation hub and clad with vertical fins to shade the sun.  As one moves through the building, the offices vary in style as the three levels contain double heights.  The large roof provides open views of the sea for all workers to enjoy.

More images after the break. read more »

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. read more »

Latvian architects Mailītis A.I.I.M., were selected to design the Latvian Pavilion for this year’s Shanghai World Expo. Construction started in the end of 2009.

More images and architect’s description after the break. read more »

For their latest hotel design in Kefalonia, Greece, Divercity Architects intended to blend this contemporary hotel with the vernacular architecture of the surroundings.  Due to the site conditions, the hotel conforms to the sloping topology of the steep hill it rests on and then breaks into four distinct strands that divide the site into north and south plots.   While fifteen luxury villas occupy the northern plot,  the southern portion contains gardens and areas for relaxation.  The facade is clad in operable perforated wooden panels that both serve to separate and extend the private living space into the outdoors.

More images after the break. read more »

Paris-based Fontaine-Vanhaesebrouck Architects shared with us their project Macro-Micro, one of the winners in Europan 10.

More images and architect’s description after the break. read more »

Currently, Amsterdam is expanding at an exponential rate with space becoming limited and streets becoming even more congested.  Zwarts + Jansma have addressed the need for Amsterdam to develop a way to accommodate the growing society by taking a concept by Dutch engineering company Strukton and pushing it to new levels.  AMFORA (Alternative MultiFunctionele Ondergrondse Ruimte Amsterdam – Alternative Multifunctional Underground Space Amsterdam) is a network of almost 50 km of tunnels that will be built underneath the canals in the town center to provide space for parking,  and sports and leisure facilities.

More about AMFORA after the break. read more »

Plano B’s small cabin in Arruda dos Vinhos is an elegant, yet simplistic housing solution. Conceived as an exercise in the juxtaposition of materials to originate a new body, the project uses pre-existing materials found in a ruined structure which neighbors the site as the basic components for the new constructive system.

More about the project after the break. read more »

As the key words “Sustainability, Innovation and Communication” cornerstones, the Swedish Pavilion, designed by SWECO, showcases how the nation’s spirit of innovation solves problems, improves the urban environment and living standards, and demonstrates the importance of communication under the new technology situation.

The pavilion comprises four cube-like structures that are arranged to form a cross-like space between them — a shape much like Sweden’s flag when seen from above.The outside walls show a city-like grid; the inside walls are covered with images of nature. These cubes are connected by elevated walkways, and house the exhibition,VIP areas, a shop, a café, and a large covered courtyard — room enough for everyone.

More images and description after the break. read more »

4of7 Architecture’s competition proposal for a pediatric clinic in East Africa is a modular configuration that will expand to accommodate more people when necessary.   The proposal was an entry for the “Design for the Children“ competition which asks designers from around the world to develop a sustainable, culturally responsive, pediatric clinic model for Rwanda.  This modular configuration is a “spatial solution” that will connect a major network of health care.

More about the project and more images after the break. read more »

San Francisco’s newest transit hub will centralize all the transportation in the city by accomodating nine systems under one roof.   Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects have designed a new terminal, a 1.3 mile extension of the Caltrain rail line, and the redevelopment of the surrounding area which will add 2,600 new homes, a 5.4 acre park roof and a retail street.  And a loan of over $170 million given by the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act has given the project an extra push foward.   Once completed in 2014, the terminal will include wind turbines, geothermal heating methods and a graywater recycling system.  The hub will be a strong message that green technology can successfully be combined with modern transportation.  “We are thrilled to be one of the first modern rail stations in the United States to achieve this historic milestone and look forward to continuing to make progress on the Transbay Project,” explained Maria Ayerdi-Kaplan, Executive Director of the Transbay Joint Powers Authority (TJPA).

More images and a video of the project after the break. read more »

Working with the idea of “creating a society that is based on quality not quantity, on cooperation and not competition,” CTRLZ architectures have rethought a new model for, not just a building, but rather for society.  Due to the on-going “cultural revolution” we are experiencing, the way we approach solving the problems of the world have changed, and architecture along with it.  Now, the architect must not merely respond to designing spaces, but to other factors, such as  society, energy, the internet, and politics, as well. “We believe that architecture is not anymore about form and/or/…function, but that it is about relations. The development of network systems shows us that the power resides in links and connections.”

More about the model and more images after the break. read more »

Samoo Architects and Engineers’ green roof design for Seoul covers a massive 131 acres.   The project  gives an “eco-upgrade” to the run-down Garak Wholesale Market by inserting an extensive public garden into the newly restored commercial center.    The roof becomes a large public park that “mitigates rainwater runoff, insulates the interior spaces, and infuses Seoul’s city center with a breath of fresh air.”  The design also includes three market pavilions which contain “eco-tubes”, channels that slice through the entire structure allowing daylight and ventilation to reach lower levels.   

More images after the break. read more »

© Eriksen Skajaa

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. read more »

Work AC’s design for a utilitarian industrial building for the Brooklyn navy yard becomes an opportunity to explore the efficiencies of scale through possibilities of long-span structures.  A two-story truss rests on four columns at the ground level, allowing the upper floor to cantilever out past the entrance, creating a dynamic entry point and a new shared entrance plaza.  The stripped facade is comprised of low-cost standing seam metal panels in a variety of colors.  The color palette is taken from the varied hues of the surrounding buildings as a way to tie this contemporary structure with the existing context.  The form, a long rectangle with the top level shifted off center, allows space for a shared green terrace on the back side of the building while the protruding side makes the protected entry condition.  The top floors are also lifted and clerestory windows inserted to provide extra natural light for the lower floors.  The building’s placement on the site was studied using the assumed 23,333 sqf footprint as well as acknowledging the fact that buried 138 KV electric lines still had to be accessible.

More images and diagrams after the break. read more »

Nicolas Dorval Bory Architect designed an extension artist residency for the International Art & Landscape Center on the island of Vassivière.  Situated in the middle of an artificial hydro-electric lake, the project explores the concept of  ”de-spatialization” and “blurred architecture” by breaking the building components down into fragments, lines and dots.  The building gradually begins to dissolve allowing “its temporal dimension to be experienced as its geometrical dimensions disappear into architecture and landscape.”   The team studied time progression to invent a new kind of space and organization based on their conceptual ideas.

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On Office’s Grand Terminus Hotel in Bergen, Norway is situated next to an exisiting traditional “Heritage” building.  For the modern extension, the architects focused on maintaining a relationship with the existing hotel, while also working with sun exposure levels.   The triangulated form morphs off the end of existing to become an unique entity that is still tied to its context.  The geometric form provides dynamic interior spaces that aim to “establish an intimate relation with the existing small houses in the surroundings.”

More images after the break.

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This video clearly explains the concept for SO-IL’s winning proposal for the P.S.1 summer installation we presented you yesterday. Now it is easier to understand the concept proposed by Pole Dance,  encouraging people to move the structure to create a dynamic space.

And as we have done for the last 2 years, expect a full coverage of this years summer installation.

On Office (Joao Vieira Costa, Leon Rost, Ricardo Guedes, Francesco Moncada) designed a housing project located right outside Oslo.  Since the existing neighborhood presents the same architectural atmosphere, where nature and landscape dominate the land between houses, for this project, the architects wanted to preserve that natural and built relationship.  Working within the confines of a small site, the design of the stacked villas creates separate private gardens for each of the homes.  And, their orientation toward the river provides great views to the users.  Inside, the layout is simple and efficient, shaped to meet the landscape of the exterior.

More images after the break. read more »