© Alex Morris Visualisation

John Pawson, OMA, West 8 and Arup were all asked to come together to design The New Design Museum in London. Their design will accommodate up to 500,000 visitors per year. Notable for its superb complex hyperbolic paraboloid copper roof intended by the architects to symbolize a tent in the park, it is regarded by English Heritage as the second most important modern building in London, after the Royal Festival Hall. Plans to bring the new design to fruition is scheduled to be completed by 2014. More images and architects’ description after the break. read more »

The destruction of the Mercado de la Encarnacion in Seville left a huge void in the urban character of the city center which remained unfilled for over thirty years.  The market enriched the city with life, and with its absence, the vitality of the Plaza de la Encarnacion was soon challenged by the negative implications of economic downturn. In April of 2011,  Jürgen Mayer H and Arup teamed to complete their solution for Seville’s central square – an architecture that brings a contemporary spirit to such a historical and traditional space.  Entitled Metropol Parasol, the massive timber structure (which is one of the largest timber structures built in the world)  draws residents and visitors back to the city center as its striking aesthetic provides a variety of markets and restaurants bounded by the dynamic shape of the parasols.  We enjoyed the video as it illustrates the impact architecture can bring economically and socially to enrich even one of the most established city centers in the world. The ability for the design team to look toward the future allows Seville to preserve its historic cultural prowress while not limiting itself for future greatness.  Special thanks to Marina from Arup for sharing the video with us!

Check out more images of the project after the break, and be sure to read our previous coverage on the project. read more »

© Foster + Partners, ARUP, Kier + Wright, Apple

Apple has released updated plans revealing an ambitions solar installation for their proposed campus in Cupertino. Announced back in June, the campus will include an office, research and development building, research facilities, corporate auditorium, fitness center, a central plant and associated parking. Foster + Partners will collaborate with ARUP North America and local civil engineering firm Kier & Wright for the completion of the project.

Continue reading for more details.

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© Christopher Frederick Jones

Architect: Cox Rayner Architects
Location: Tank Street, Brisbane,Queensland 4000 Australia
Project Year: 2009
Cost at completion of construction: $63M
Gross floor area (m2): Span 130 metres
Project Team:Michael Rayner, Antony Scott Pegum, Hang Ling, Casey Vallance, Philip Cox, TristramCarfrae ,Ian Ainsworth, Tom James
Consultant Team: Arup
Photographs: Christopher Frederick Jones, Roger D’Souza

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Courtesy of Richard Meier & Partners Architects

Richard Meier & Partners have released their final design submission for the new Royal Alberta Museum in Canada.  Considered as one of the four finalists the firm, although not chosen as the winning entry, proposed “a timeless work of architecture that would engage the ongoing discourse of civility and urban place making while establishing a forward-looking museum destination and technologically advanced educational facility. While we are disappointed we won’t be working in Edmont this year, we are continuing to expand or work overseas. We thank the jury for their consideration,” commented design partner-in-charge Bernhard Karpf.

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© Foster + Partners, ARUP, Kier + Wright, Apple

The city of Cupertino has released more details about the new Apple Campus, revealed back in June.

The new documents confirm Foster + Partners as the architects, working with ARUP North America and Kier & Wright, a local civil engineering firm that has worked on Apple’s current campus and buildings for other tech companies (eBay, Nvidia, Cisco, Netflix and Sun, among others).

About the program:

• An Office, Research and Development Building comprising approximately 2.8 million square feet for up to 13,000 employees
•  A 1,000 seat Corporate Auditorium
•  A Corporate Fitness Center
•  Research Facilities comprising approximately 300,000 square feet
• A Central Plant
• Associated Parking

It’s a pretty amazing building. It’s a little like a spaceship landed. It’s got this gorgeous courtyard in the middle… It’s a circle. It’s curved all the way around. If you build things, this is not the cheapest way to build something. There is not a straight piece of glass in this building. It’s all curved. We’ve used our experience making retail buildings all over the world now, and we know how to make the biggest pieces of glass in the world for architectural use. And, we want to make the glass specifically for this building here. We can make it curve all the way around the building… It’s pretty cool.

- Steve Jobs

The round shape has also been cited as an important part of the campus’ security (better perimeter control) and to improve internal circulations.

It’s interesting to see that the objectives of the project are focused on reducing the use of electricity by generating its own energy on an on-site Central Plant, provide open green spaces “for Apple employees’ enjoyment” and to “exceed economic, social, and environmental sustainability goals through integrated design and development”. It seems Jobs choose the right firms for this.

By looking at the drawings it seems that the project is ready to go, and now it’s waiting for city approval. The city has revealed that they are very likely to approve the project, so it seems everything is on route for an opening in 2015.

Drawings and renderings after the break:

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© Family, PlayLab

A 30-day Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for the continued development of + Pool is underway. From the creative minds at Family and PlayLab, + Pool is a collaboration to design a floating riverwater pool for everyone in the rivers of New York City. Beginning the next phase of the project, material testing and design, the online fundraising campaign hopefully will raise the initial $25,000 needed to begin physically testing the filtration membranes providing results to determine the best filtration membranes and methods to provide clean and safe riverwater for the public to swim in.  A preliminary engineering feasibility report was initially conducted by Arup New York, which assessed the water quality, filtration, structural, mechanical and energy systems of + Pool.

Family and PlayLab launched a Kickstarter online fundraising campaign this month with the ultimate goal of generating enough support to prototype the filtration system by building a full-scale working mockup of the one section of + Pool. Research, design, testing and development will continue through the year in conjunction with permitting, approvals and building partnerships with community, municipal, commercial and environmental organizations.

Donation levels for the Kickstarter campaign range from $1 to $10,000 with the hope that everyone interested in cleaner public waterways can get involved. Donors can choose from a variety of incentives and gear up for a day at the pool.  For more information about the project and the campaign or to donate click here.  Or write to info@pluspool.org.

Follow the break for more details about this project and the history of floating pools in New York City, which date back to the early 19th century.

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Park form the south / © KCAP

KCAP Architects & Planners present their vision today for NEO Brussels, the redevelopment of the Heysel plateau, , to the political arena, the press and the public. The team, KCAP working together with advisors Arup and Fakton, won the international design competition in September 2010. The area is one of the most strategic locations in the Brussels Metropole Region. The design for NEO Brussels aims to strengthen the significance of the Heysel, and to qualify it within a framework for sustainable development. More images and complete press release after the break. read more »

(Amsterdam) The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40) released two landmark reports on June 7th that underline the critical role played by cities in confronting climate change. The complementary reports were published to coincide with the C40 Cities Summit being held this year in Sao Paulo, Brazil (May 31 – June 2). Representatives of the core C40 cities are attending the event with delegates from cities affiliated with the global climate group and a host of international experts to discuss strategies for building a low carbon future. The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group releases two complementary reports to help megacities mitigate and adapt to climate change impacts. Arup produces one of the reports that details how cities are already confronting climate change and highlights opportunities for action.

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ARUP. Ding He Tower

Arup, the engineering firm behind dozens of architectural masterpieces [check out our coverage of ARUP here], has opened three new architecture offices, officially known as Arup Associates.  Stretching to Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzehen, the overseas expansion marks the first of its kind for the 65 year old practice. These offices will employ about 15 architects and 12 engineers.  While Arup’s London office has faced declined in the recent years, the Chinese offices are already thriving with the design of a campus for Nokia and an insurance building for Ding He in Shenzhen.  Declan O’Carroll, Arup’s head of global architecture, told the British publication Building Design,  “The traditional model of the Western international practice has been to have a shop window in developing countries but with the work executed back at home.  We are looking at a much more fluid, unorthodox model.”

Source ArchRecord

Modern Wing at the Art Institute of Chicago by Renzo Piano. Photo by Nic Leoux.

A $10 million lawsuit has been filed against Arup for flaws in Renzo Piano’s addition to the Art Institute of Chicago’s Modern Wing (check out our previous coverage of the museum). The museum claims that certain documents made by Arup were flawed and have resulted in serious problems for the museum. Although most of the problems were addressed before the 264,000 sqf wing opened in 2009, the Institute still states that errors have led to condensation in the vestibule and incorrectly sized temperature and humidity controls. Determined to maintain their highly esteemed reputation as a world-class museum, the Art Institute has clarified that although the building has experienced problems, no artwork was ever in jeopardy of being harmed.

More about the lawsuit after the break. read more »

UNStudio teamed with ARUP to win a competition held by the People’s Government of Yanqing County, Beijing Municipality and Beijing Institute of Architectural Design.  The proposal is the design of a creative zone on the edge of the Beijing River that compresses open space and an economic zone by weaving nature with the urban fabric.  The open spaces will provide Beijing residents with the ability to enjoy the peace of the greenbelt while still being in proximity to the local stores and shops.

More about the project after the break. read more »

City as Living Factory of Ecology, winning entry by ARUP, Sauerbruch Hutton, Experientia and Galley Eco Capital.

In my opinion, the best sustainable projects have been in small scales. Urban scale projects have been more difficult to get going, due to the their inherent complexity.
But I am confident that recent initiatives are about to make the step forward, specially the ones that are being produced on countries that have the have their governments focused on this.

On of this examples is the recently awarded Low2No design competition, organized by Sitra (Finnish Innovation Fund) and the City of Helsinki, to find a on design a large building complex on a reclaimed harbour at the western edge of Helsinki’s central business district.

Given that the repertoire of sustainable urban development models is still in its infancy, the question of “who & how” is our question of first order. WHO: We believe that identifying the best team and approach is the key factor impacting the robustness of the final solution. HOW: Our competition is designed to seek approaches for four central objectives applied at the scale of a city block:

1. low- and one day no- carbon emissions
2. energy efficiency
3. high architectural, spatial and social value
4. sustainable materials and methods

The finalists included top practices and consultants such as ARUP, Sauerbrunch  Hutton, Space Syntax, Transsolar, ARO, REX, Front, BIG, among others.  The award went to C_Life by ARUP, Sauerbruch Hutton, Experientia and Galley Eco Capital.

Videos and boards for the winning and finalists entries  after the break.

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Hamburg-Harburg Harbor, Germany, is on the cusp of it’s first nearly entirely sustainable creative-industrial complex.  The development ECO CITY, designed by tec architecture with the help of ARUP, aims to attract industry, entertainment and pedestrian life back to the neighborhood.  ECO CITY’s ten major structures, ranging in size from studios to large warehouses, offer a variety of “different spaces for different purposes, bringing both large-scale industry and creative start-ups together in one, cooperative, and eco friendly business community.”

More about ECO CITY after the break. read more »

Architects: Coll-Barreu Arquitectos – Juan Coll-Barreu & Daniel Gutiérrez Zarza
Location: Jaca (Huesca), Spain
Collaborators: Pablo Castro, Gorka García, Estibaliz Sanz Reyero, Jorge Bilbao
Project year: 2004-2005
Construction year: 2005-2008
Constructed area: 18,123 sqm
Budget: 24,418,149 EURO (US $32,97M)
Structure: Arup
Ice Production: Ati
Contractor: Vías
Photographs: Aleix Bagué

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Architects: Baulderstone Hornibrook Queensland & Cox Rayner Architects
Location: Brisbane, Australia
Design year: 2007
Construction year: 2008-2009
Structural Engineer: Baulderstone Hornibrook Queensland Pty Ltd and ARUP Engineers
Budget: $63,3 million
Images: Cox Rayner Architects

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Architects: J. MAYER H. Architects
Location: Karlsruhe, Germany
Project Team: Juergen Mayer H., Andre Santer, Julia Neitzel, Sebastian Finckh, Wilko Hoffmann, Marcus Blum
Client: Vermoegen und Bau, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Amt Karlsruhe
Project Year: 2005-2007
Constructed Area: 3,500 sq
Architect on site: Ulrich Wiesler
Multidisciplinary Engineers: ARUP GmbH
Landscape Architects: Karl Bauer, Karlsruhe
Photographs: David Franck

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The last 2 times I went to San Francisco, I saw the progress of the new California Academy of Sciences building, by italian architect Renzo Piano. It was amazing to see how the 2.5 acre green roof took shape. The building is now complete, it was opened to public yesterday.

The building recovers two and mixes it with a whole new structure, which is actually very transparent, connecting it visually with the Golden Park, away from the old conception of dark museums. Shade will be provided by a canopy that goes around the bulding, with solar panels on it.

Sustainability was a key aspect of the design, as this project is one of the ten pilot “green building” projects of the San Francisco Department of Environment, aiming to get platinum LEED certification. Actually, the building will consume 30-35% less energy than required by code.

The project conserves two limestone walls from the previous building (1934), and houses a planetarium, a rain forest habitat and an aquarium, and several exhibition spaces to house the several Academy collections.

The planetarium and the bubble that contains the rain forest habitat are the two big spheres that shape the green roof. The roof becomes a landscape with California native species, that won´t need extra maitenance or water, attracting local species to occupy it. Thus, the green roof won´t be fully accesible to visitors, who can only walk through a small path.

All the pictures on this post are © Tim Griffith. Check out his website for great architecture photography.

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In  my opinion Bjarke Ingels, founder of BIG, is one of the best architects when it comes to give shape to the interests of an “unspoken” client on public buildings,either representing the values of a country or a culture. All with exceptional syntax and presentation skills.

And BIG‘s latest project (in collaboration with Arup and 2+1), the Danish Pavilion for the Shanghai 2010 Expo, does it again, by taking the best of living in Copenhagen and placing it on China for visitors to experience.

Basically, the pavilion is a big loop on which visitors ride around on one of the 1,500 bikes available at the entrance, a chance to experience the Danish urban way. At the center of the pavilion there’s a big pool with fresh water from Copenhagen’s harbor, on which visitors can even swim.

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¿Remember GreenPix, the 2,200 sqm LED media wall powered by solar panels we featured some months ago? Alexandra Lerman published a  documentary about the GreenPix on which Simon Giostra, founder of Simone Giostra & Partners. Giostra explains the challenge to design and build this gigantic media wall, with the help of engineering experts ARUP.

Actually Giostra  is trying to convince the chinese goverment to display user generated content on the media wall, which is currently under the curatory of the authorities. This will make if fully interactive.

You can also download a software -available for Mac and PC- to simulate the media wall on your computer using Quicktime videos.

Reminds me of the display on the stage where Beck played at the Oulands Festival in San Francisco last week.