KSP Jürgen Engel Architekten wins competition for the Beijing Science Center in China
KSP Jürgen Engel Architekten International received first prize in the international competition for the new Beijing Science Center. The original building housing the Museum was opened in the same place in Beijing in 1988 and at the time was the first national science and technology museum in China.
The museum building will be constructed on behalf of the Beijing Association for Science and Technology, China. You can see more images and complete architect’s description after the break.
“A Fluid Dream” Art Hotel / dEEP Architects
dEEP Architects have developed a design concept for the development of an art-based hotel that will be constructed just north of the Beijing National Stadium (The Bird Nest) as part of Beijing’s “Post Olympic Commercial Strategy.”
The design concept, which the architects call “A Fluid Dream,” borrows from several sources. The surrealism of Salvador Dali is a driving force of formal fluidity of the design, while the concept of a nest egg is the source of privacy for the hotel units, derived from the affectionate nickname of the nearby stadium.
Read on for more on this project after the break.
Sanlitun Village North Area East / Beijing Matsubara and Architects
Architects: Beijing Matsubara and Architects / Hironori MATSUBARA, Atsushi YAMAOKA, Liang FANG
Design: BMA Beijing Matsubara and Architects
Location: Beijing, China
Client: Beijing Guofeng Real Estate
Project area: 10,436 sqm
Project year: 2006 – 2007
Photographs: SHU He
PKU University Of Law / Kokaistudios
Architects: Kokaistudios
Location: Beijing, China
Team: Andrea Destefanis, Filippo Gabbiani, Li Wei, Fang Wei Yi, Liu Wen Wen, Yu Feng
Local Architect: BIAD
Structure: BIAD
Mechanics & Electricity: BIAD
Project Area: 10,000 sqm
Photographs: Charlie Xia
Y House / Beijing Matsubara and Architects
Architects: Beijing Matsubara and Architects / Hironori MATSUBARA, Norio KATSUTA, Zhichao LI, Daijiro NAKAYAMA, Xiaoli LI
Design: BMA Beijing Matsubara and Architects
Location: Beijing, China
Construction: LI Qiyun
Client: Individual
Project area: 1,200 sqm
Project year: 2007 – 2009
Photographs: Misae HIROMATSU
Studio X Beijing / O.P.E.N. Architecture
Architects: O.P.E.N. Architecture
Location: Beijing, China
Principals In Charge: Li Hu, Wenjing Huang
Project Architect: Yu Qingbo
Project Team: Wang Jianling, Wang Tao, Julia Ting Yan Mok
Project Area: 388 sqm
Project Year: 2009
Photographs: ShuHe
Non-Linear Architecture Parametrics Workshop 2010 at Tsinghua University
171 Students from around the world attended the one-week workshop at the Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. In association with the AA summer school and sponsored by Gehry Technologies the workshop taught students how to generate, parametrically control, and fabricate complex geometry.
After the break, you can see a few projects from the 37 Advanced Design studio students which Daniel Gillen co taught with Xu Feng, Nikolaus Wabnitz, Rob Stuart-Smith, Raymond Lau, Xiaowei Tong, and Zhang Xiaoyi.
Images and more information after the break.
Flockr Pavilion / SO-IL
Get It Louder, an acclaimed biannual media and arts festival sponsored by Modern Media of China, features a series of lectures, screenings and exhibitions by over one hundred Chinese and foreign designers, artists, writers and filmmakers. Organized by an international team including Chinese curator and writer Ou Ning and design writer Aric Chen, this year’s theme “SHARISM” focuses on the relationship between public and private realms in the digital age. SO-IL was commissioned to design Get It Louder’s main pavilion, which serves as a central hub for the event and houses many of the festival’s activities.
AIM International Competition proposal / Andrei Lucian Rusu
Andrei Lucian Rusu shared with us his proposal for the AIM International Competition in Beijing, China. More images and architect’s description.
AIM International Competition winner
Iranian architects Massoud Afsarmanesh and Ali Afsarmanesh received first prize for their proposal for the AIM International Competition in Beijing, China. More images and architect’s description after the break.
Happy Magic Water Park / Forrec
Back in 2008, we marveled at Australian architecture firm PTW’s Water Cube. With its iridescent cellular façade, the swimming facility played host to top notch swimming competitions within an energy efficient and dynamic piece of architecture. But, move over Michael Phelps – there are new swimmers in town! After a ten-month renovation, the facility will now house a 140,000-square-foot water park (Asia’s largest) designed by Toronto-based planning and design firm Forrec.
More images and more about the water park after the break.
South West Hotel Competition proposal / Henn Architects
Henn Architects have won second price in the international competition to design the new South West Hotel in Beijing, China. The proposal was designed by Henn Architects Design & Research Studio HENNStudioB. You can see more images and architect’s description after the break.
Architects in Mission Competition
Architects in Mission (AIM) Competition is organized by Zeybekoglu Nayman Associates (ZNA), and its goal is to promote high quality design among architecture students and young professionals, and to provide a stage for them to demonstrate their design gifts and abilities.
Cable 8 was a factory complex in Beijing, China, producing electrical cables, and has recently evolved into a re-vitalized incubator for art and design. The low rise Cable 8 buildings, with their ivy-covered brick walls, form a sharp contrast to the high rise structures that have sprung up around it.
Participants are asked to come up with strategies and mechanisms that will improve Cable 8, making it more susceptible to the rapidly changing urban landscape, and perform better as a cultural carrier that helps to diversify the otherwise homogeneous nature of the CBD area. Participants can either improve the existing buildings in Cable 8 or introduce new architecture.
For more information, visit the competition’s official website.
SOM wins 2010 “Good Design is Good Business” China Award
The San Francisco office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) has received a 2010 “Good Design is Good Business” China Award for the new U.S. Embassy Complex in Beijing, China. Architectural Record and McGraw-Hill Construction recognized 17 projects with their third bi-annual program. The awards celebrate projects that demonstrate the power of design in the advancement of business and civic objectives.
The U.S. Embassy in Beijing, which opened for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, received its award in the Best Public Project category. Working with the U.S. Department of State, SOM responded to the building’s diplomatic role by creating a space that is welcoming, secure, and respectful of local traditions. As a sovereign U.S. presence on Chinese soil, the Embassy reflects American cultural, social and political values while paying respect to the host country’s ancient and extraordinarily vibrant culture.
More images and information after the break.
Beijing Hutong Bubble / MAD
Architects: MAD
Location: Beijing, China
Director in Charge: Ma Yansong, Dang Qun
Design Team: Dai Pu, Yu Kui, Stefanie Helga Paul, He Wei, Shen Jianghai
Type: Courtyard Renovation
Construction Engineers: Beijing Nade Environmental Art Design Co., Ltd.
Construction Cost: 400,000RMB
Project Year: 2009
Photographs: ShuHe, Fang Zhenning & Daniele Dainelli
Creative Zone / UNStudio
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.
Beijing Patent Office / KSP Jürgen Engel Architekten
KSP Jürgen Engel Architekten was awarded first prize for their proposal for the Beijing Patent Office. Located in downtown Beijing, the site is near a new subway line and sits opposite the entrance hall of Caishikou Station. The proposal integrates the Patent Office into the site’s sustainable traffic infrastructure. The building is divided into a central hall, towers, bridges, open spaces and spacious rooftop gardens that creates an interconnected, communicative structure. A surrounding strip embraces the individual parts of the building, extending from the roof to the façade, spanning open spaces, thereby giving the Beijing Patent Office a specific identity in the urban context.
More about the proposal and more images after the break.
Beijing Central Business District / Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
The Chicago and Shanghai offices of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) won the international design competition to expand the Beijing Central Business District (CBD). This project was also awarded an AIA Honor Award.
Basically, their plan proposes the creation of 3 new districts anchored by parks and green boulevards as you can see on the renderings. But the an important aspects of this project is on the small scale, a network of walkable blocks to offer pedestrian (and bike) friendly scale for development. Because sustainable doesn´t have to mean just “green”, but also to offer an environment on which people can actually establish social relations on a neighborhood scale.
The plan also proposes an express commuter rail service between the Beijing Capital International Airport, the CBD, and high speed rail service at Beijing South Station. A new streetcar system is proposed to conveniently link all areas of the CBD.
Sometimes, a good transportation system and focusing on the pedestrian scale sound obvious, but they are the foundations to establish neighborhoods that can bring life to parts of the city 24/7, instead of business districts that die at night with dormitory cities with a lack of services.
More images after the break.
Visa section of Swiss Embassy in Beijing / EXH Design
Architect: EXH Design – (Erich Diserens, Xi Zhang, Peter Becker, Kenan Liu)
Location: Beijing, China
Constructor: Beijing Shouhua Construction Group
Existing area: 104 sqm
Extension area: 213 sqm
Project year: 2007 – 2009
Photography: Shu He
National Library / KSP Jürgen Engel Architekten
KSP Jürgen Engel Architekten recently designed a 77,000 square meter library extension to accommodate the existing National Library of Beijing. The new addition will hold approximately 12 million books and be used by an estimated 12,000 people per day.
More about the library after the break.
In Progress: Conrad Hotel by MAD
Architects: MAD
Location: Beijing, China
Structural Engineers: Beijing Institute of Architectural Design (BIAD)
Mechanical Engineers: Beijing Institute of Architectural Design (BIAD)
Façade/cladding consultants: King General Engineering, SuP Ingenieure GmbH
Interior Designers: Lim.Teo + Wilkes Design Works Pte Ltd
Landscape Designer: Earthasia Design Group
Site Area: 7,779 sqm
Constructed Area: 56,994 sqm
Building height: 106 meters
Images: MAD
