Metropol Parasol © Javier Orive

This article, recently seen on The New York Times, was kindly shared with us by the author Sarah Williams Goldhagen.

A REVOLUTION in cognitive neuroscience is changing the kinds of experiments that scientists conduct, the kinds of questions economists ask and, increasingly, the ways that architects, landscape architects and urban designers shape our built environment.

This revolution reveals that thought is less transparent to the thinker than it appears and that the mind is less rational than we believe and more associative than we know. Many of the associations we make emerge from the fact that we live inside bodies, in a concrete world, and we tend to think in metaphors grounded in that embodiment. read more »

Courtesy of J. MAYER H. Architects

In a three-level peer review process that resulted in two first-prize winners, an urban planning concept was developed by J. MAYER H. Architects for the area of what was once the post office on Erkrather Strasse. The so-called “Quartier M” is to serve as the future link between the Hauptbahnhof central station and Tanzhaus NRW/Capitol, becoming a lively city quarter for living and working. In addition to offices and a hotel, the trend-setting urban design also provides for both privately financed and government subsidized public housing. 
Other plans include space for a day care center for children and service providers for the quarter. More images and architects’ description after the break. read more »

© Jesko Malkolm Johnsson-Zahn

Architects: J. Mayer H. Architects
Location: Sarpi, Georgia
Client: Ministry of Finance of Georgia
Project Team: Juergen Mayer H., Jesko Malkolm Johnsson-Zahn, Christoph Emenlauer
Project Year: 2011
Photographs: Ucha Tsotseria, Jesko Malkolm Johnsson-Zahn, Beka Pkhakadze

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© J. MAYER H., Jesko Malkolm Johnsson-Zahn

Architect: J. MAYER H. Architects
Location: Georgia
Project Team: Jürgen Mayer H., Paul Angelier, Jesko Malkolm Johnsson-Zahn, Marcus Blum, Guy Levy
Architects on Site: Kobulieli and Partners / Ltd.”Alioni 99”
Preliminary Design: 2009
Completion: 2011
Clients: JSC Wissol Petroleum Georgia / Socar Georgia Petroleum
Photographs: J. MAYER H., Jesko Malkolm Johnsson-Zahn

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Why Berlin? Once an industrial center and later a city divided, Berlin’s walls fell years ago, and its gates have since remained open for experimentation. The city attracts artists and designers from around the world to its former factory buildings, transformed into studios and galleries. Berlin’s streets foster potential for what is new, perhaps more than any other place today. It has become an avant-garde capital for design in an unlikely locale, inviting international talent in the overlapping disciplines of art, architecture, industrial and product design.

The exhibition $H!T HAPPENS In Berlin explores the aesthetic and technical innovations of creatives in the city, showcasing both emerging and established designers. The unexpected is the norm; trials and errors, miscalculations and failures, experimentation and surprise–all result in ingenious design strategies.

The outcome of those experiments will be on view at special press and AD events starting May 14, 2011 in the New York City showroom and June 17, 2011 in the Toronto showroom of Relative Space & Floorworks. A custom video Clarity Matrix wall by Planar will be installed in the storefront of the Relative Space showroom, with all creative content streamed 24/7 to showcase the upcoming exhibit of over 10 Berlin based designers. More information may be found about individual participating designers at berlinhappens.com.

© Javier Orive

Last week we told you about J. Mayer H. Architects’ Metropol Parasol recent opening. Today, photographer Javier Orive shared with us some great photos of the redevelopment of Plaza de la Encarnación in Sevilla. Check them out after the break. read more »

© Angel Vilches

We’ve told you before about “Metropol Parasol”, the Redevelopment of Plaza de la Encarnación in Sevilla, designed by J. MAYER H. Architects. March 27 marks the opening, while the final completion of the project is scheduled for April 2011. More images and complete press release after the break. read more »

© J. Mayer H. Architects

Architects: J. Mayer H. Architects
Location: Mestia, Georgia
Project Team: Juergen Mayer H., Jesko Malkolm Johnsson-Zahn, Hugo Reis, Mehrdad Mashaie, Max Reinhardt
Architect on Site: Beka Pkhakadze
Client: Tbilisi International Airport
Project Year: 2010
Photographs: J. Mayer H.

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© J. Mayer H. Architects

Spring 2011 marks the opening of “Metropol Parasol”, the Redevelopment of Plaza de la Encarnación in Sevilla, designed by J. MAYER H. Architects. After finishing the concrete works in 2008, the parasols are under construction now. Visiting the site at the moment gives an impressive imagination of the final dimension and appearance.

The project becomes the new icon for Sevilla, – a place of identification and to articulate Sevillas role as one of Spains most fascinating cultural destinations. “Metropol Parasol” explores the potential of the Plaza de la Encarnacion to become the new contemporary urban centre. Its role as a unique urban space within the dense fabric of the medieval inner city of Sevilla allows for a great variety of activities such as memory, leisure and commerce. A highly developed infrastructure helps to activate the square, making it an attractive destination for tourists and locals alike.

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Courtesy of J. Mayer H.

This morning, we featured BIG’s proposal for the Audi Urban Future Award. Now, we show you the winning proposal by German architect J. Mayer H. More images and architect’s description after the break. read more »

© J. Mayer H. Architects

J. Mayer H. Architects shared with us some images of this customs checkpoint, situated at the Georgian border to Turkey, at the shore of the Black Sea. With its cantilevering terraces, the tower is used as a viewing platform, with multiple levels overlooking the water and the steep part of the coastline, as well as for patrol officers keeping an eye on the border. In addition to the regular customs facilities, the structure also houses a cafeteria, staff rooms and a conference room. The building welcomes visitors to Georgia, representing the progressive upsurge of the country.

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The RE.FLECKS exhibition presents panels J. MAYER H. has derived from data-protection patterns. Developed by chance in print shops around 1900, the patterns were used as an envelope lining to protect the confidential content inside.

One of these many patterns was selected and interpreted spatially in the form of various art objects. Like the inkblot pictures by Rorschach, an early 20th century psychoanalyst, the RE.FLECKS panels support the viewer’s own interpretation and reading.

Exhibition will open June 11 at 6pm at Magnusmuller, Weydingerstrasse 10/12, 10178 Berlin.

© Courtesy of J. MAYER H. Architects

A ceremony on April 16th marked the official groundbreaking of “Sonnenhof”, a landmark development designed by J. MAYER H. Architects consisting of four new office and apartment buildings extending over several allotments in the historic center of Jena, Germany.

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Property development group Euroboden is building a unique apartment house at Johannisstraße in Mitte, Berlin’s downtown district. J. MAYER H. Architects’ design for the building, which will soon neighbor both Museum Island and Friedrichstrasse, reinterprets the classic Berliner Wohnhaus with its multi-unit structure and green interior courtyard.

More images and description after the break. read more »

Architects: J. MAYER H. Architects
Location: Hamburg, Germany
Architect on Site: Imhotep, Donachie und Blomeyer
Sturctural Engineers: Lydia Thiesemann, CBP
Building Services: Energiehaus, Sineplan
Light Engineers: Andres – Lichtplanung
Landscape Architects: Breimann & Bruun
Project Year: 2007
Constructed Area: 5,436 sqm
Photographs: fotografieSCHAULIN, Hiepler Brunier, Dirk Fellenberg & Schraubverschluss

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J. Mayer H. Architects and Art + Com Berlin were commissioned to design a permanent exhibition to highlight the topic of sustainability for the Autostadt in Wolfsburg, Germany.  The 1,000 m² exhibit design, entitled Level Green, creates a complex webbed form that slowly reveals information to users.  The exhibition material argues for scientific research and the use of latest technological development as necessities for survival in the future.

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

An exhibition on the works of German architect Juergen Mayer H., entitled “Patterns of Speculation”, just opened at the SF MoMA. Mayer joins two modes of exhibiting architecture in a gallery – installation and documentation – to present a unique, hybrid environment.

The first solo museum exhibition to focus on this internationally recognized, Berlin-based studio, Patterns of Speculation offers a kind of dreamscape: a chamber of hypnotic imagery in which sound and light are set within a three-dimensional matrix of constructed and graphic elements. Data protection patterns serve as the source material for the installation.

These patterns – which are used to conceal information, similar to the lining on the inside of bank envelopes – are translated into different scales and media, from the freestanding modules to frameworks for projected imagery and sound, as well as models for the designs of the depicted buildings.

Long a subject of fascination and object of research for J. MAYER H., the patterns are presented here as the precondition or pretext for the studio’s architecture, a code that lies at the core of its design language.

You can see J.Mayer H. works previously featured on AD here.

More info at the SFMoMA website.

Architects: J. MAYER H. Architects
Location: Nordborg, Denmark
Client: Danfoss Universe, Nordborg, Denmark
Project Team: Juergen Mayer H., Marcus Blum, Thorsten Blatter, Andre Santer, Alessandra Raponi
Design Year: 2005-2006
Construction Year: 2006-2007
Constructed Area: Cafeteria_500 sqm / Curiosity Center_1,200 sqm
Architect on site: Hallen & Nordby
Technical Consultant: Carl Bro
Budget: US $3.86 million
Photographs: J. Mayer H.

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Architects: J. MAYER H. Architects
Location: Ludwigsburg, Germany
Project Architects: Georg Schmidthals, Thorsten Blatter
Project Team: Juergen Mayer H., Simon Takasaki, Andre Santer, Sebastian Finckh
Project Year: 2005-2008
Site Area: 6,900 sq
Constructed Area: 569 sq
Architect on site: AB Wiesler, Stuttgart
Structural Engineers: Dieter Kubasch, Ditzingen und IB Rainer Klein, Sachsenheim
Service Engineers: IB Hans Wagner, Filderstadt
Landscape Architects: Büro Klaus Wiederkehr, Nürtingen
Photographs: David Franck

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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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