Azahar Group / OAB
The Office of Architecture in Barcelona, OAB, just finished the Azahar Group headquarters in the Castellon region of Spain. Since the Azahar Group is very active with recycling, waste-treatment plants, and the like, the building intends to serve as a manifesto, in a way, to showcase their ideas of the importance of maintaining a relationship with nature.
More about the headquarters and more images after the break.
BIArch Open Lectures: Yoshiharu Tsukamoto, Atelier Bow-Wow
The Barcelona Institute of Architecture (BIArch) is an international institution set up to further interaction between academic research, specialized practice and the dissemination of contemporary architecture. The academic core of the Barcelona Institute of Architecture as a postgraduate institute is its MBIArch Post-Professional Master’s Degree program, currently open for applications for the 2010-2011 term.
The Open Lectures series is part of their public program, which included Yoshiharu Tsukamoto from the Japanese firm Atelier Bow-Wow. Atelier Bow-Wow has conducted an extensive research on japanese micro architecture, presented on their books Pet Architecture
This is also seen on their works, such as their own House & Atelier (video here).
After the break, the second part of his lecture “Architectural Behaviorology”.
Traces + Patterns at the Olympic Sculpture Park / PIQUE
PIQUE often engages in the practice of Guerrilla Architecture. In an effort to exercise their design process, critical eye and interest in the urban fabric, they undertake subversive interrogations & interventions. This latest research project for the Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture Park is one such project that is beginning to get some real traction.
More images, a video and the architect’s description after the break.
Vitus Bering Innovation Park / C. F. Møller Architects
Architect: C. F. Møller Architects
Location: University College Vitus Bering, Horsens, Denmark
Client: University College Vitus Bering Denmark
Landscape architect: C. F. Møller Architects
Engineers: Grontmij | Carl Bro
Contractor: Pihl & Søn A/S
Project Area: 8,000 sqm
Project Year: 2008-2009
Photographs: Julian Weyer
Museum of Pontevedra, First Phase / UP Arquitectos
Architects: Pesquera Ulargui Arquitectos
Location: Pontevedra, Spain
Collaborators: Carlos Domínguez Santana, Daniel Rojas, Luis Sarabia, Margarita Aldeamil, Ana Peigneux Lojo, Natalia Domínguez Santana, Juan Enrique Álvarez Cabezuelo, Manuel Cifuentes Antonio, Cristina Gómez Abecia, Alfonso Peralta Muñoz, Javier Mosquera González, Jorge Sánchez Limón, Judith Sastre Arce
Technical Architect: Fernando Rodríguez Nespereira
Surveyors: Diego San Isidro San Cristóbal, Jose Antonio Vilches Menéndez
Structures: Jose Luis de Miguel
Services: JG & Asociados
Contractor: Dragados
Project Area: 10,500 sqm
Budget: 11,850,469.28 €
Project Year: 2004-2008
Photographs: Duccio Malagamba
Green Water Sports Station / Peter Kuczia
Architect: Peter Kuczia
Location: Upper Silesia, Poland
Contractor: HB Unibud s.a. | Czechowice-Dziedzice
Site Area: 14,800 sqm
Project Area: 670 sqm
Construction year: 2009
Photographs: Tomasz Sinek, Peter Kuczia
AD Interviews: Scot Horst
Over the past decade, sustainable design has been transformed from a fringe movement to big business. However, given the sheer scale of the environmental damage caused by the built environment, it’s clear that far more must be done. To prevent future catastrophes, the industry must both scale up its green initiatives and increase their effectiveness.
On the quantity front, the entity most responsible for the explosion of green building is LEED. Developed in 2000 by the US Green Building Council (USGBC), the voluntary project rating system has won over the industry by providing both a convenient set of guidelines for sustainable practices and a clear marketing incentive for designers and firms to go green (or at least appear to).
City Hall / Frédéric Haesevoets
Frédéric Haesevoets, a Beligan architect, recently won a competition for his design of a new city hall for Herstal. The international competition asked participants to design a new city hall to accommodate office spaces for central administration, archives and mixed use areas. The project is divided into two major forms that bookend a public open courtyard. Connected by a bright red bridge, the two arms house the major program areas and open to a landscaped area for the public to enjoy. The geometric form offers a break from the surrounding structures, emphasizing the importance of this communal structure. The faceted facade fuses the natural and the synthetic as sections of greenery are scattered among sections of glass. Inside, bright warm colors greet workers, a drastic change from the typical office color palette.
More images after the break.
RATP Offices & Laboratories / RH+Architectes
In a small site, surrounded by Industrial buildings, RH+Architectes designed this office building for the Paris Transport Company (RATP) with a combination of 2 different volumes: A translucent and light first floor, and an opaque black volume on top with a great overhang, creating a sheltered terrace on the underground.
All images shared by Stéphane Chalmeau.
Sky, a Dubai video
Filmed by Philip Bloom over 5 days and nights, this beautiful video gives us another view of the amazing city of Dubai.
High Desert Pavilion / PIQUE
Gravatt 48 / Debbas Architecture
Architects: Debbas Architecture
Location: Berkeley, CA, USA
Client: Charles & Amal Debbas
Project Area: 320 sqm
Project Year: 2008
Photographs: Nic Lehoux & Cesar Rubio
AD Recommends: Best of the Week
Just in case you missed any, here’s our selection of best posts of the week. Check them all after the break!
Conference Center in Ibiza / UP Arquitectos
The formal result of this first building depends largely on its relationship with the rest of the proposal, and as such its justification lies in the completion of both buildings. In the future, one will be in debt to the other: the Palace will form its own enclosure, understandable from the first glance, from which Cultural Center will take shape, itself divided into multiple volumes, each with its own activity (read more…)
Butcher’s Bridge / SADAR + VUGA
Designed by SADAR + VUGA, the new Butcher’s Bridge concludes the arrangement of the Jože Plecnik’s covered market from the mid-1930s. It connects the market area on the Adamic-Lunder embankment with the new market area on the regulated Petkovšek embankment.
More images and architect’s description after the break.
Big Black House / FABRE/deMARIEN architectes
Architect: FABRE/deMARIEN architectes
Location: Bordeaux, France
Project Year: 2008
Project Area: 210 sqm
Budget: 300,000 Euros TTC
Photographs: Stéphane Chalmeau
Office Building 810 / H Arquitectes
Designed by Catalunya-based H Arquitectes, (check all their projects on ArchDaily here) this office and commercial building is located in Reus (Tarragona) at the city’s Tecnoparc.
The urban context did not show any interest because of the building will be seen from the main approach road towards the city and, therefore, due to commercial reasons, it should be a singular icon for those who drive by.
More images and full architect’s description after the break.
Théâtre de Quat’sous / FABG
Architects: Les architectes FABG
Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Principal in Charge: Éric Gauthier
Structure engineers: Aecom Tecsult
Mechanical and electrical engineers: Aecom Tecsult
Acoustician: Legault Davidson
Theater consultant: Trizart Alliance
Builder: Aecon
Project Area: 860 sqm
Budget: 4.5 M$
Project Year: 2009
Photographs: Steve Montpetit
La Llotja de Lleida / Mecanoo + labb arquitectura
Architects: Mecanoo
Location: Llerida, Spain
Client: Centre de Negocis i de Convencions S.A., Lleida, Spain; competition Municipality of Lleida
Local Architect: labb arquitectura, Barcelona
Contractor: Dragados, Barcelona
Structural Engineer: ABT bv, Delft; BOMA, Barcelona
Acoustics: Peutz b.v., Zoetermeer; Higini Arau, Barcelona
Electrical and Mecanical Engineer: Deerns, Rijswijk; Einesa, Lleida
Technical Architect: Ardevols S.L, Barcelona
Building Cost Consultant: Basalt Nieuwegein; Ardevols S.L. Barcelona
Fire safety Consultant: Einesa, Lleida
Budget: € 35,000,000
Design Year: 2004-2005
Construction Year: 2006-2010
Photographs: Christian Richters / Lafotogràfica
Floating Gardens / Studio Noach + Holtrop
In five days, a new type of spa exhibition will be on display during the “Architecture of Consequence” in the Netherlands. Studio Noach, along with Anne Holtrop, developed a floating spa that seems to be a “construction of a landscape”, an extension of the land into the water to create a serene environment. Using recycled polystyrene and Patrick Blanc’s “living wall” ideas, the architecture of the spa makes the walls and ceilings the outer for hills and valleys while the interior follows the counter form of the landscape.
More about the spa after the break.
AD Round Up: Public Facilities Part III
For the third selection of public facilities (check the first here, second here), we chose four projects from Spain and one from France. See all of them after the break.
Picos de Europa / Capilla-Vallejos Arquitectos
The Picos de Europa (Peaks of Europe) forms an enormous karstic complex. Through the years, the action of water and ice on the limestone has generated spectacular canyons, glacial cirques, lakes and moraines. La Liébana is a region surrounded and protected by the three massifs of the Picos de Europa (read more…)
Eric Owen Moss Construction Manual 1988-2008
When I visited Eric Owen Moss’ office to interview him, I saw a big book on a desk titled “Eric Owen Moss Construction Manual”. Given the complex type of works he does, I first thought it was a guide for new architects that joined the office, regarding file naming, color codes, etc.
But after talking with Eric, he told us about his new monograph published by AADCU. The book (3″ thick) presents 40 works (built and unbuilt) by EOM designed between 1988 and 2008, including recent buildings such as the Multimedia Tower and 3555 Hayden Studios, and projects such as the Warner Parking and Retail, Republic Square and Glass Tower.
The works are very well documented as you can see on the below photos, including several physical models and detailed drawings used to study the complex forms developed by EOM.
More after the break.
