Spiral Booths / Vazio S/A

Courtesy of Vazio S/A

This summer, the V&A has commissioned seven architects at the forefront of experimental design to create their first built structures in the UK (see Rintala Eggertsson Architects’ structure here). The structures are installed in a number of locations across the landscape of the Museum and are designed as immersive spaces – places both of encounter and reflection – where visitors can escape the chaos of everyday life and directly experience the architecture first hand. 19 architects were originally invited to submit proposals, the designs and models of which are on display in the V&A+RIBA Architecture Gallery.

A space for theatre and performance that fragments the stage into six micro-stages, Vazio S/A created a series of inter-connected booths set around a central spiral staircase in the V&A’s Porter Gallery. The structure takes as its inspiration elevated dwelling spaces in high-density areas in Brazil. A number of practitioners from working across theatre, dance and music were commissioned to devise new pieces of work in response to the structure, to be performed in the six booths at various points during the exhibition.

See more images after the break.

Stratford Kiosks Competition

Stratford Station

The Architecture Foundation is pleased to announce the launch of an open international competition to design a permanent yet flexible, free standing group of kiosks in Meridian Square, Stratford, , for use before, during and after the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Situated at the front of Stratford Regional Station and hosting a variety of uses, the kiosks will serve as key venues for information, orientation and services within the rapidly changing town centre.

The design competition is open, but not limited to: architects, designers, artists, product designers, and related disciplines. The Architecture Foundation encourages design teams to suggest flexible and innovative yet realisable designs for this permanent structure. For more information, go to the competition’s official website. Seen at Death by Architecture.

Largest Apple Store Opens Today!

YouTube Preview Image

A short while ago, we shared ’s latest cylindrical store designed by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson in Shanghai (check out great photo sets by Flickr user Lesh51 and Roy Zipstein previously featured on AD).  This Saturday morning, Apple is set to open its biggest store yet!  The 30,1000 ft store will be situated in Covent Garden in with more space, more staff and more merchandise than any other Apple store.  The project is a refurbishment of an 1876 building featuring Peter Bohlin’s classical glass and steel details, such as the trademark Apple staircases.  While Bohlin had to work within an existing framework, he was still able to bring Apple’s personality into the project.  Each room is dedicated to a specific Apple gadet, whether it be an iPod or a Mac book, and entire walls are covered with rows of iPads.  If you’re in the area, let us know what you think of the new store!

Video via YouTube user electricpigtv.

Strata SE1 / BFLS

©

Architects: BFLS
Location: London,
Structural/M & E Engineer: WSP Group
Acoustic Consultant: Acoustic Logic Consultancy
Environmental Advisor: URS Corporation Ltd
Construction Advisor: Brookfield Construction UK
Client: Brookfield Europe
Landscape Architect: Townshend Landscape Architects
Wind Engineer: RWDI‐Anemos Ltd
Wind Turbines: Norwin AS
Project Area: 306,000 sqm
Budget: £113.5m
Project Year: 2007-2010
Photographs: Will Pryce, James Brittain, Edmund Sumner, BFLS

Update: Serpentine Gallery Pavilion / Jean Nouvel

We shared the news of Jean Nouvel’s Serpentine Gallery with you as soon as it was completed at the beginning of July.  Today, we’re featuring Jonathan Glancey’s talk with Nouvel about his red ‘sun machine’, the 10th design to grace the Serpentine’s grounds. Nouvel describes the pavilion as a “simple place” that can accommodate the needs of its users, from providing a place to sit down to the amenities for a friendly game of ping-pong.

More about the pavilion after the break.

Bartlett School of Architecture Year 1 Program Videos

YouTube Preview Image

The Bartlett’s BSc degree programme aims to develop a creative, diverse and rigorous approach to architecture and design from the outset. Year 1 is centred on the design studio and is taught to the year as a whole. Students observe, draw, model and design, based in the School’s design studios and workshop from the first week onwards.

You can now see three videos of the Year 1 program, including a sketchfilm by Brook Lin, who sketched for 13 hours, transformed in a 10 minute film. For more information click here. See the other two videos after the break.

Giant Knitting Nancy / Superblue Design

©


This year’s theme for the Festival of Architecture, “The Welcoming City”, inspired Superblue Design to create an installation where all could sit together to enjoy the space, but also take an active role in making that place.  Entitled Giant Knitting Nancy, the project is a metaphor for the “interwoven cultures, spaces and places that help make the London a distinctive place.”  By collaborating with sculptor Dan Preston and jewelry designer Holly Packer, the team created a large-scale knitted structure which doubles as an “interactive architectural seating unit.”

More about the installation after the break.

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2010 / Jean Nouvel

© Ateliers . Photograph by Philippe Ruault

This just in from the Serpentine GalleryJean Nouvel’s pavilion is complete!  In honor of the Serpentine’s 40th Anniversary, Nouvel’s pavilion is a bold and strong expression comprised of lightweight materials with dramatic cantilevers.  Designing the pavilion allows international architects to experiment with different architectural ideas, and over the years, the commissions’ varied aesthetics have added to the thrill of the exposition.  Nouvel’s bright red pavilion  is drastically different from SANAA’S subdued silvery curvillinear form of 2009, and its vivid color contrasts the park’s greenery, immediately drawing the eye.

More images and more about the new pavilion after the break.

A New Landmark for Aldgate International Competition submission by Sean Gair

Sean Gair shared with us his submission for the New Landmark for Aldgate International Competition. Within the historic area Aldgate, on the eastern edge of the City of , GINA (Global Information Network Amplifyer) could stand for the duration of the year 2012, coinciding with the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

More images and architect’s description after the break.

Pizza East / Michaelis Boyd

© Richard Lewisohn

Architect: Michaelis Boyd Associates
Location:
Contractor: Giles Contracts Management Ltd.
M&E Contractor: Link Projects Limited
Kitchen: Exclusive Ranges
Structural Engineer: Akera Engineers
Photographs: Richard Lewisohn

The Shard: London’s Tallest Tower / Renzo Piano

We just featured an article about London’s construction frenzy, which includes over half a dozen skyscrapers for the city.   This new era will completely alter the city’s skyline as tall buildings will be sprouting everywhere to house new office, commercial, and residential activities.  Of these new structures, ’s 310 meter high mix-used tower, The Shard (be sure to check out our coverage of the tower), will not only become ’s tallest tower, but also the tallest building in all of Western Europe. Of all of ’s new developments, we are excited to see this dynamic tower’s impact on the city and its relationship with ’s context and future neighboring skyscrapers.

We have new images to share from Renzo Piano Building Workshop and more video clips of the construction progress after the break.

Royal Parks Foundation Drinking Fountain Competition

The RIBA is delighted to announce the launch of an international open design competition on behalf of The Royal Parks Foundation and Tiffany & Co. Foundation for the design of a new drinking fountain which can then be installed throughout the Royal Parks in . The programme, called Tiffany – Across the Water, focuses on ornamental and drinking fountains in the capital’s eight Royal Parks and will see the creation of a stunning new fountain in St James’s Park, restoration of the Italian Gardens in Kensington Gardens, as well as improvements to drinking fountains to benefit the Royal Parks’ 37 million visitors each year.

The competition challenge will be to create a well-designed drinking fountain to replace older Parks’ fountains which cannot be restored. The winning designer will see their work turned into reality in the Parks, with the hope that the design will eventually be adopted in other green spaces around the world. For more information click here. Seen at Death by Architecture.

South London Gallery / 6a Architects

© David Grandorge

Architect: 6a Architects
Location: 65 Peckham Road, SE5 8UH
Team: Tom Emerson, Stephanie Macdonald, Takeshi Hayatsu (project associate),
Max Beckenbauer, Alessandro Cairo, Sylvie Duvoisin, Trevor Brown, Lucia
Frescaroli, Max Retegui, Mariana Simoes, Susanne Sauter, Eva-Maria Stadelmann, Katharina Schworer, Jonathan Wong

Client: South London Gallery
Structural engineer: Jane Wernick Associates
M&E engineer: Serge Lai Engineers Ltd.
Quantity surveyor: Stockdale
Main contractor: John Perkins Projects
Year: 2006-2010
Photographs: David Grandorge and

The Towers of London

's Shard

London’s skyline is about to get a complete makeover.  While in the past, almost every tower proposed was stalled due to financial shortcomings, or workers just leaving the job site, now, London is dusting off their old building plans and getting ready to move into a construction frenzy. Thanks to Kieran Long’s article at the Evening Standard we get to know more details about this process:

The Emirates Glass LEAF Awards

This year’s Emirates Glass LEAF Awards entry categories have been announced. This prestigious event, once again sponsored by Emirates Glass, will take place on 10 September 2010. Following the success of last year’s event which took place in Berlin, the 2010 LEAF Awards, now in their seventh year, move to , where it will attract entries from around the world.

The awards are open to individuals and organisations that have made an outstanding contribution to the world of architecture. Previous winners have included Woods Bagot, Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects, Zaha Hadid, David Chipperfield, SOM, Steven Holl and Terry Farrell. There are 9 categories and the closing date for entries is July 1. For more information, visit the LEAF Awards official website. Seen at Bustler.

1:1 Architects Build Small Spaces exhibition by Pasi Aalto

Photo: / pasiaalto.com

Architectural photographer Pasi Aalto sent us this photos of the 1:1 – Architects Build Small Spaces exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. The V&A invited nineteen architects to submit proposals for structures that examine notions of refuge and retreat. From these nineteen concept submissions, seven were selected for construction at full-scale.

This photos belong to the project designed by Rintala Eggertsson Architects. The exhibition started on Tuesday and will be on display till August 30. You can see more photos by Pasi Aalto after the break.

London Festival of Architecture

The Festival in 2010 will be a city-wide celebration of architecture in the capital. As gears up for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games we look at ways that planners, architects and local communities play their part in the development of ‘The Welcoming City’.

Everyone is invited to join the Festival community, to develop projects to take part in debates; to investigate ways that London can be made a better place to live, work and play; to explore the city through guided walks and bike rides and to examine change in the capital in a celebratory way.

A wide range of independent events will surround a number of core activities – some focused on high profile weekend events – others taking place throughout the Festival period. For a complete list of event, go to the festival’s official website.

OMA Exhibit at AA

AA Exhibit Photograph: Architectural Association

Master mind, Rem Koolhaas, is obsessed with research.  At his exhibit currently showing at the Architectural Assocation School of Architecture in London, hundreds of pages of paper filed with research, theories and sketches rest on a plinth in the middle of the room.  Those pages compile an astonishing 400 volumes bound in black folders and contain the story of each one of OMA’s complete works from the past 40 years. So, Koolhaas, prolific writer or awesome architect?  We’re going to go with a little bit of both…

Critical Subjects: Architecture & Design Winter School 2010

Mantownhuman hosts Critical Subjects, Architecture & Design Winter School on 17-18 November. Critical Subjects is a unique opportunity for 20 or so of the keenest students in the country to engage in a series of intellectual architectural design challenges facilitated by leading names in the field.

Over the course of a day and a half, they will explore topics such visionary architecture, social criticism, historical-thinking and the nature of Good Design. Workshops will provide an open dialogue on classic texts and film, as well as sessions on measured drawing, the politics of design, human creativity, culture, development and the role of expertise. This experimental event will take place at The Kowalsky Gallery, Great Sutton Street, EC1.

For more information click here.

A New Landmark for Aldgate international competition

The Architecture Foundation is pleased to announce the launch of an open international competition to design a New Aldgate, a temporary landmark on the eastern edge of the City of , to stand for the duration of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, to open in January 2012.

The competition for the design of the project is open to (but not limited to) architects, designers, artists, product designers, and/or any other disciplines. The Architecture Foundation encourages design teams to suggest inspiring and innovative yet realistic designs for this temporary and flexible structure.

The competition will be open to entries from 19 April until 12noon on 28 May 2010. More information on the competition’s official website.

Benson & Forsyth wins competition to design Islington towers

London-based Benson & Forsyth has won the competition to design two skyscrapers in north London. They defeated John McAslan & Partners, Panter Hudspith, Flacq and Studio Egret West, and will design two 21-storey towers, with 355 flats, shops and office space.

Seen at the Architect’s Website. More images after the break.