Browsing: News

© Armin Hess, Isochrom

Coop Himmelb(l)au has designed a temporary mobile performance space for the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Germany.  The pavilion will house performances during the annual Opera Festival  in 2010, and once that festival is over, the pavilion will be reassembled in various locations.  Designed to “give the impression of a quieter environment,” the pavilion reduces the apparent noise  to create a ‘zone of silence’ where visitors can sense a change in the soundscape.

More images and more about the pavilion after the break.

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Situated on the southern bank of the Han River, Gimpo is a city in the process of transforming from an agricultural economy toward a consumer-based economy.   Seoul architects G.Lab*’s, of Gansam Partners, proposal for the Gimpo Art Hall embraces the fact that the city is emerging as a contemporary regional hub and the design also reflects upon the region’s history.

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

G.Lab*, a department of Gansam Partners in Seoul, was awarded first prize for their design of a Navy Museum in Korea.  The design reflects “the turbulent history of the Korean Navy and the unwavering spirit of the men and women who serve this branch.”  Inspired by the unpredictability of the ocean,  G.Lab*’s form for the museum is an undulating mass that folds.  On the interior, the volume creates a circulation path which weaves and intersects in multiple spaces.

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

ProjektStudio has designed a multifunctional townhouse at the corner of Dlouhá a Zámecká in Moravian Ostrava.  The townhouse includes commercial spaces on the lower levels while the upper floors can be rented for residential or office purposes.   For the design of the townhouse, the architects have mixed the historical forms of the area with a contemporary expression.   Inspired by the historical horizontal emphasis of the facade treatment, the architects have shifted the facade to creating an irregular textured effect across the building.  This triangulated facade creates a new dramatic effect and provides a break from rows of traditional building faces in that area.  The historical regular window ordering as been modified as windows rotate and combine to form new rhythms in the fenestration.   “Dramatic effect by the view at the proposed new-building is reached with the minimum of devices but all at once in the classical way so that the new building is fresh and progressive, but at the same time it is  accepting  character of its neighbourhood,” explained the architects.

More images of the townhouse after the break. read more »

Arch Group shared their innovative SLEEPBOX design with us.  Intended to provide a comfortable night sleep, the mobile 3.75 m2 unit can be located anywhere people need a place to rest or relax such as airports, train stations, shopping centers, or even in the middle of the streets. “We believe that urban infrastructure should be more comfortable for people,” explained the architects.  Rented for between fifteen minutes and several hours, the SLEEPBOX provides moments of quiet sleep and rest from the city as clients can rest on foamed polymer beds, which are equipped with an automatic system that changes bed linen once the client leaves. But a bed is not the only accommodation the SLEEPBOX provides.  The unit is also equipped with a ventilation system, sound alerts, built-in LCD TV, WiFi, sockets for a laptop, charging phones and space for luggage.   After clients feel refreshed and leave the unit, the automatic change of bed linen starts and the quartz lamps turn on.   Clients can pay for the time spent in the unit at a shared terminal, which provides the client with an electronic key.

More images after the break. read more »

The Finnish pavilion at Shanghai World Expo 2010 is called “Kirnu” (“Giant’s Kettle”). Designed by a team from Helsinki-based architect’s office JKMM, Kirnu won first prize among 104 entries in the design competition, which was announced in May 2008.

The results were made public in October 2008 in Helsinki. The planning started immediately, and construction began in April 2009, with the pavilion due to be completed in December 2009. The head designer of the pavilion is architect Teemu Kurkela. Below is a description of the Kirnu concept as seen by the architect.

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

PATTERNS has designed a new three story cultural center for West Hollywood, California.  The center, known as Prism, will become a cornerstone of artistic experimentation, carving a new niche for the arts in Southern California.   The facade will be the first in the nation to be constructed entirely out of a resin based composite polycarbonate. Inspired by automotive design supple forms, streamlined detailing and plastic finishes; the façade has a dual aesthetic performance associated to its plastic materiality and responsive to the lively energy of its context: it behaves as a reflectively glossy surface during daylight and as a translucent skin at night.

More about Prism after the break. read more »

Reva and David Logan Center for Creative and Performing Arts, © Tod Williams Billie Tsien

Tod Williams and Billie Tsien Architects, a renowned practice with expertise in public/cultural buildings, just unveiled the details for the new Reva and David Logan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts at the University of Chicago.

This new building will offer 170,000sqf for studios, rehearsal space, director’s cut screening rooms, state–of–the art acoustical theaters, lecture rooms and set–building shops, that will be shared by many departments including visual arts, theater, music, as well as cinema and media studies.

The project includes a 11-story tall tower, which will become a new landmark at the south of the campus. At the top of this tower we find the Performance Penthouse, a tall space for performances and rehearsals with an amazing view over the city (see render below).

The rest of the complex is distributed on smaller buildings, with an interesting set of skylights to naturally lit the interiors.

As usual in Tod Williams Billie Tsien works, such as the American Folk Art Museum in New York, the Phoenix Art Museum and the East Asian Library at Berkeley, the simplicity of the materials (stone and glass) give the building a contemporary yet ageless look, a building that will stand over time, not just a fad.

More renderings after the break.

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Ginseng Chicken Architecture P.C. has proposed a renewed identity for the St. Paul Church and Vadabus Square in Rakvere, Estonia by attempting to integrate three disparate elements of the site into a cohesive design strategy for a main concert hall.   With Arvo Pärt’s musical legacy and contribution to the genre of minimal music in mind, non-organization and non-sequentiality became the main driving force behind the design of the annex and were then translated into an architectural language.

More images and further project description after the break. read more »

Studio Nicoletti Associati’s design for an oceanic pavilion placed third in the Yeosu Expo.  The pavilion, which was conceived as a Great Blue Whale hurling itself out of the port, intends to represent the Expo’s theme: The Living Ocean and Coast. The pavilion draws attention to the fundamental influence of the planet’s oceans and coasts resources, and how dangerous it is for such a fragile ecosystem, to ignore them. The jury added that the pavilion has “a strong and powerful form that would become instantly recognizable. The theme of the Expo is symbolically represented with a shape drawn from marine life. The image of the pavilion is consistent with the theme of the ocean. Its fluid shape celebrates the nature of water and the marine life that has adapted to it. It makes a very simple but powerful metaphorical relationship. The exhibition space is very practical for post-use.”

More images of the pavilion after the break. read more »

A3+ Architects recently finished an urban renovation project in Marsala, Italy for an international competition.  The project is situated in Porta Nuova, where the historical center of the city is connected to the sea by an urban road and an archeological park.

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

Jesus Robles, Dale Rush and Cade Hayes from DUST design build have designed a mountain retreat for a small family of three in Arizona.  The home attempts to preserve as much of the land as possible as a way to hold on to the “history and mysteries of the Sonoran Desert.”  Users must walk through a dense forest of saguaros, ocotillo and Paloverde trees before seeing the house unfold in the landscape and ultimately arriving at the sculptural entry stairs.

More about the home after the break. read more »

Cornell University

Every year, the Greenway Group led by James Cramer (chief executive of the AIA from 1988 to 1994) assembles the architecture-schools rankings. The rankings include the top 10 undergraduate architecture schools and the top 10 graduate schools.

Also, there are different skills rankings, like “analysis and planning”, “communication”, “computer applications”, “construction methods and materials”, “design”, “research and theory” and “sustainable design practices and principles”. This may be a great tool for architecture students when looking for a school and useful also for architecture firms when deciding on who to employ.

Read the complete rankings after the break. Seen at Architectural Record. read more »

LAN Architecture’s Mirror Tower contains more than 30,000 identical facets that reflect 14 of the city’s monuments and are orientated to produce smooth transitions between these panoramic viewpoints.  “The starting point of the project was to imagine Beirut in all its complexity. We have imagined the city as an ‘un-finished’ superposition of histories, contexts, architectures and situations; Our project was conceived as an interface, an algorithm that generates new connections and that creates new view axis, ways of observing the history, the present and the future,” explained LAN architects.   The building’s complex envelope reflects changes in surroundings, the seasons and light.  The reflective façade works by globally defining the orientation of each facet of the cylinder’s surface to create the desired reflection.  With the help of specialists, LAN Architecture produced an automated 3D tool that allowed the team to visualize different instances of the facade by changing viewpoints at will, both the reflective area and the position of the reflected images on the tower.

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

The foundation of the Nepal Pavilion was completed this week. With the theme “Tales of Kathmandu City,” the pavilion will capture important historic moments of the city. The pavilion will put on display the luster of Katmandu, the capital city of Nepal and an architectural, artistic and cultural center that has developed over 2,000 years.

The theme touches upon the soul of a city by exploring its past and future. Another highlight of the pavilion will be Nepal’s efforts in environmental protection and developing renewable energies. The pavilion is in the form of an ancient Buddhist temple in Kathmandu, surrounded by traditional Nepalese houses.

A car or motorcycle rally will run from Lumbini to the Expo site. The rally will bring the “eternal flame of peace” to Shanghai from Nepal. More images after the break. read more »

© Coop Himmelb(l)au

Coop Himmelb(l)au’s House of Music in Aalborg, Denmark is a  shared hybrid space that becomes a center of inspiration, “both of the shared-synergetic behavior and of the form and expression of the architecture..” Cultural and educational functions are interspersed between shared public and performance spaces, creating a network of interaction among the public, artists, students and educators.  Situated in a dynamic urban grid, the House of Music becomes a full extension of the  city, linking the character of the city with the new opportunities the Music Hall provides.

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URBANUS was awarded with the 1st prize on the competition for the new integrated teaching building at the Chinese University in Hong Kong.  Entitled “Windows on Community,” the building strives the link the two parts of the campus together, while also providing a visual connection with those who approach.  Through the implementation of a Moebius Strip, the design mixes the inner circulation of the building with the exterior circulation of the streets.  “This loop of circulation and urban internal street for us is not only a vertical linkage but more the heart of the college-a lively community space at the center of it all,” explained the architects.

More about the University after the break.

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© José Miguel Hernández Hernández

The RIBA Stirling prize is given each year to one selected building. And this year’s prize went to the Maggie Center by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners.

http://www.vimeo.com/7120744
Richard Rogers on the Maggie’s Center building, by The Architects’ Journal

This small buildings has a great inside/outside integration, given by the combination of several transparent planes and the independent roof, as you can see on the photos.

After the break, more photos by architectural photographer José Miguel Hernández Hernández, and a short video by AJ.
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The Jerde Partnership’s Namba Parks, in Osaka, Japan, was just named one of the winners of the Urban Land Institute’s 2009 Awards of Excellence: Asia Pacific competition.  When asked to create a gateway to redefine Osaka’s identity, the architects responded with this project that would become a natural intervention in Osaka’s dense and harsh urban condition.  The rooftop park offers a sloping park plane that is “bifurcated by a sinuous, open-air ‘canyon’ path that reinforces the connection with nature while forming the primary circulation pattern.”

More about the park after the break. read more »