SOM Awarded Commission for Green Tech City in Vietnam
The commission for a Green Tech City in Hanoi, Vietnam was recently awarded to Skidmore Owings & Merrill. SOM’s preliminary master plan focuses on reducing demand for non-renewable resources while integrating local traditions and utilizing the existing green urban character of Hanoi. At the heart of this new green district is a riverfront park. A series of landscaped green spaces, formed from existing agricultural water channels, would connect into this linear riverfront park creating a well connected network of public parks.
More information on this news after the break.
House In Barra da Tijuca / Progetto
Architects: Gisele Taranto e Izabela Lessa – Progetto Arquitetura e Interiores
Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Project year: 2010
Photographs: Courtesy of Progetto Arquitetura e Interiores
Bohouse / xsite architecture
Architects: xsite architecture
Location: Middlesbrough, England
Project area: 1,704 sqm
Project year: 2010
Photographs: Jill Tate Photography
Summer Terrace / za bor architects
Architects: za bor architects / Arseniy Borisenko, Peter Zaytsev
Location: Moscow Region, Russia
Principal Use: recreation
Engineer: za bor architects
Project area: 43 sqm
Project year: 2009 – 2010
Photographs: Peter Zaytsev
The Modules / Interface Studio Architects
Architects: Interface Studio Architects
Location: Philadelphia, PA, USA
Client: Templetown Realty (Jonathan Weiss)
Major Funding: Private development
Concept/Lead Architect(s)/Designer(s): Interface Studio Architects
Structural Engineers: Larsen and Landis
Electrical/Mechanical Engineers: n/a
Additional Consultants: MaGrann Associates – LEED
Project area: 80,000 sq. ft.
Project year: 2009 – 2010
Photographs: Interface Studio Architects, Sam Oberter
Chicago Children’s Museum / Krueck & Sexton Architects
Chicago Children’s Museum’s mission is to create a community where play and learning connect. The museum’s primary audiences are children up through fifth grade including their families, along with school and community groups that support and influence children’s growth and development. In its current location at Navy Pier, the Museum lacks meaningful connections to the outdoors and is challenged with the heavyly commercial environment of what has become Illinois’ most popular tourist attraction.
Follow the break for more drawings of this projected Leed Gold project.
Architects: Krueck & Sexton Architects
Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA
MEP Engineers: Environmental Systems Design
Environmetal Design Consultants: Atelier Ten
Structural Engineers: Thornton Tomasetti
Renderings: Courtesy of Krueck & Sexton Architects
AD Round Up: Leisure Part VI
For our sixth selection of our Leisure Round Up we even have a dog spa. Check them all after the break.
Unleashed Dog Spa / Square One Interiors
A Spa-like setting was created for this unique high quality, full service dog-grooming environment. Three functional components are contained in a confined space – retail, grooming and lounge / play-care area. Each component required it’s own function and identity, yet became an extension of the other, designed for relaxation and comfort (read more…)
Say It Write: Power Tools for Communicating Effectively
With the explosion of technology and social media, the overall quality of our communications has disintegrated. Preventable communication mistakes happen daily and the worst ones even make global headlines. Now, more than ever, our methods are overtaking our messages. In this program, we’ll examine how to communicate effectively, what works and what doesn’t, the best practices and the worst stories.
Our three experts will explore the power of language, everyday tactics to effectively get your point across, and what to do when an inevitable communication mistake is made.
This event will take place next March 14 from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm at the Center for Architecture. For more information, you can click here.
Seven Chambers Exhibition / Cheungvogl
As time defines history and events turn into memories, time itself again stands in the way to recall both as the constantly changing subjectiveness of presence determines the perspective of view onto the past. This is the main concept of Cheungvogl’s Seven Chambers Exhibition in Dalian, China, which is designed to cut the visitor through the exhibited art of the private collection and the occasional cultural and communal events out of the context of the presence to create a moment of individual reception, reflection and interaction with the long lasting history of China without any influence of singular materiality of temporary circumstances. More images and architect’s description after the break.
Cornell Journal of Architecture Issue 8: RE
The Cornell Journal of Architecture recently released 8: RE, addressing the now, the new and the next in architecture – the understanding of the creative act itself being reiterative. Marking the first publication of the Journal in eight years, 8: RE features some big name contributors, Philip Johnson, Peter Eisenman, and Rem Koolhaas, just to name a few. The Journal was released at a special exhibition in Ithaca, College of Architecture, Art, and Planning at Cornell University, which also included a re-release of the Journal’s official website now featuring archives of the previous seven volumes, along with 8: RE.
A special launch event for the Cornell Journal of Architecture Issue 8: RE will be held tonight in New York City at the Storefront for Art and Architecture at 7pm. Many of the Journal’s contributing authors will be attending and be on hand to discuss their articles.
Meltino Coffee House / LOFF Atelier
Architects: LOFF Atelier - Cláudia Costa
Location: Braga, Portugal
Project year: 2010
Photographs: FG+SG – Fernando Guerra, Sergio Guerra
Transitory Dwellings In Parla Madrid/ Rueda Pizarro Arquitectos
Architects: Rueda Pizarro Arquitectos SLP - María José Pizarro, Óscar Rueda
Location: Madrid, Spain
Collaborators: Alberto Galindo, Ramiro Losada, Laura Montero, Jesús Muñoz, Daniel Muñoz
Quantity Surveyor: David Herrera
Contractor: Ayuntamiento de Parla, UNIFO S.A.
Structure: PROYTEC
Mechanical Engineering: DPI ingenieros
Photographs: Miguel de Guzmán
Update: “WHATAMI” by sTARTT, winner of the 2011 YAP at the MAXXI
As we told you on a previous article, Italian firm sTARTT has been selected as the winner of the YAP summer installation at the MAXXI museum in Rome, as the result of a partnership with the MoMA and the MoMA P.S.1.
sTARTT’s entry WHATAMI is based on the manufacturing of an artificial archipelago-hill, generating smaller green areas in the garden and potentially outside the museum. The hill works as a garden, injecting “green” into the concrete plateau of the museum’s outdoor space, allowing it to serve as a stage and/or parterre for concerts and other events, or as a space to rest and look at the museum itself.
The artificial landscape will be punctuated by large “flowers” providing light, shadow, water, and sound. The materials proposed for the installation involve a two-fold recycling process, the supplying of the materials for the construction (straw, geo-textile, plastic) and the dismantling of the “hill” (turf, lighting).
stARTT is the brainchild of Simone Capra and Claudio Castaldo, a practice with interesting projects that move between landscape, city, infrastructure, and context. On this project they worked with Francesco Colangeli, Andrea Valentini and Massimo Brizzarielli worked as green consultants.
More details after the break.
Midwest Retreat / BNIM
Designed by BNIM, the 2011 AIA National Architecture Firm, the Midwest Retreat is located in rural Iowa. The retreat was designed as a venue for both social and business gatherings. Because of this dual use, the programmatic relationships and requirements depart in subtle but important ways from that of a typical residence.
Architects: BNIM
Location: Iowa, USA
Structural Engineer: Charles Saul Engineering
General Contractor: W.R. Main
Project Year: 2010
Photographs: Assassi Productions
The Diana Center at Barnard College Achieves Leed Gold Rating
The Diana Center at Barnard College has achieved a LEED Gold rating, the highest level of certification by the U.S. Green Building Council. A 98,000-square-foot multi-use building designed by Weiss/Manfredi, the Diana Center serves as a campus center for the Barnard community and as a cultural destination for visitors from near and far.
The structure won the 2011 American Institute of Architects (AIA) Honor Award for Architecture and the AIA Best in New York State Award. It was also recently named Building of the Year in the Educational category, by ArchDaily. Full press release after the break.
Sectionhouse / The Cloud Collective
Sectionhouse is a public outdoor concrete sculpture, a fragment of a house that displays the ways in which daily life is enacted within architecture. The project is located in the small Dutch rural town of Oisterwijk and was designed by The Cloud Collective, a collaboration of young designers, architects, urban designers, artists and theorists, spread out all over Europe, working for different offices, schools and governments.
More on this project after the break.
Newport Station / Grimshaw
Architects: Grimshaw
Location: Newport, Wales, England
Client: Network Rail
Project area: 1,000 sqm
Project year: 2009 – 2010
Photographs: Courtesy of Grimshaw
Philips Livable Cities Award Finalists
The Philips Livable Cities Award has announced a shortlist of eight initiatives, narrowed down from 450 ideas received from 29 countries around the world. The eight simple solutions all share a common thread, a reasonable approach to improving the health and well-being of people living in cities. Shortlisted designs include a smart grid athletic light for city recreation in NY, design your own park competition, a shade stand in Kampala, and a moveable street park in Buenos Aires.
Cast your vote for your favorite Philips Livable City by March 24th.
Bay Adelaide Centre / WZMH Architects
Architects: WZMH Architects
Location: 333 Bay Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Client: Brookfield Properties
Architect team members: Carl Blanchaer, Jay Bigelow, Robert Sampson, Nicola Casciato, Paul Brown, Arnold Zaragoza, Bill Brown, Janet Nowakowski, Len Abelman, Mike Lukachko, James Machin, Federico Butac, Roby Ocampo, Greco Lavilla, Iwona Fido, Tino Augurusa
Structural Engineer: Halcrow Yolles
Mechanical Engineer: The Mitchell, Partnership Inc.
Electrical Engineer: Mulvey+Banani, International Inc.
Landscape Architect: Dillon Consulting
Interior Designer Base Building: WZMH Architects
Contractor: EllisDon Corporation
Other specialist consultants: Lighting Artist – James Turrell
Project area: 111,000 sqm
Project year: 2010
Photographs: Tom Arban
House for Two Artists / Marcy Wong Donn Logan Architects
Designed by Marcy Wong Donn Logan Architects, the House for Two Artists replaces a dilapidated shack that was on their secluded property. The clients, a composer and a photographer, desired a home that could be a refuge drawing from and connected to the land. Their view of their role as custodians of this beautiful site bolstered their motivation to design and build as sustainability as possible – an objective shared by the architects as well. The surrounding vistas consist of rolling hills with dense covers of various species of native California trees. This context in concert with the owners’ and designers’ principles of environmental stewardship, were the guiding inspirations for the placement, form, and materials of the house.
Architects: Marcy Wong Donn Logan Architects
Location: Sonoma County, California, USA
General Contractor: Sawyer Construction
Structural: Greg P. Luth & Associates, Inc.
Project Area: 1,660 sqf
Project Year: 2004-2007
Photographs: Mark Citret Photography
Residential Building In Slovenia / Ravnikar Potokar Arhitekturni
Architects: Ravnikar Potokar Arhitekturni
Location: Majske poljane, Nova Gorica, Slovenia
Competition Designers: Vojteh Ravnikar, Matjaž Bolčina, Nika Grabar, Ernest Milčinovič, Teja Savelli, Jure Zavrtanik
Design Group: Vojteh Ravnikar, Robert Potokar, Marjan Starič, Petra Slukan
Structural Engineering: Primorje d.d.
Mechanical Installations: Pinss d.o.o.
Electrical Installations: Elita i.b. d.o.o.
Contractor: Primorje d.d.
Investor: Majske poljane d.o.o.
Project area: 8,200 sqm
Project year. 2007 – 2010
Photographs: Peter Krapež
