Who Should Win the OMA vs. BIG Miami Showdown?
The Miami Beach Convention Center, a giant box of a building constructed in 1957, is in desperate need of a makeover and two design teams have bravely accepted the challenge. Team 1 is dubbed South Beach ACE (Arts, Culture, Entertainment District) and is a collaboration between Rem Koolhaas‘s OMA firm, Tishman, UIA, MVVA, Raymond Jungles and TVS. Team 2 goes by the name of Miami Beach Square and includes BIG, West 8, Fentress, JPA and Portman CMC. Both proposals completely re-imagine 52 acres of prime beach real estate and cost over a billion dollars in public and private funds. So, who does it better?
Vote for your favorite after the break…
Farrells to Masterplan £1bn Business District in London
London-based practice Farrells will be teaming up with UK developer Stanhope and commercial developer ABP China (Holding) to regenerate London’s historic docklands into a thriving, mixed-use business district. The deal, which represents one of the first direct investment by a Chinese developer in London’s property market, will act as a platform for financial, high-tech and knowledge driven industries looking to establish their business in UK and European markets.
More on the Farrells’ masterplan after the break…
Parking Is Hell (But Designers Can Help)
Most parking is free – but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a high cost. A recent podcast from Freakonomics Radio (which you can listen to at the end of this article) examined parking in US cities, investigating the “cost of parking not paid for by drivers” – a cost paid not just by the government, but by the environment – due to congestion and pollution caused by people searching for kerbside parking. For example, in a 15 block area of Los Angeles the distance traveled by drivers looking for parking is equivalent to one trip across the USA per day.
One potential solution which they discuss is a San Francisco project called SF Park, which makes use of sensor technology to measure the demand for parking in certain areas of the city and adjust price according to demand. In theory, this would create a small number of empty spaces on each block and dramatically reduce the time that many drivers spend cruising for parking spaces.
Though the idea is certainly an intelligent approach to the problem of kerbside parking, unsurprisingly all this talk of supply, demand and pricing sounds very much like an economist’s answer to a problem. But what can designers do to help the situation?
Perhaps, from the designer’s point of view, the real problem with kerbside parking and surface lots is that they are always seen as a provision “coupled with” a building or area of the city. There have been a number of attempts by architects – some successful and some tragically flawed – to make parking spaces less of a rupture in a city’s fabric and more of a destination in themselves. Could these point to another way?
Read about 3 examples of parking’s past, and one of its potential future, after the break…
New York City Preserves Public Housing by Leasing Infill Land
For the past four decades, as cities faced financial pressures, high-rise public housing met its decline. Cities throughout the country demolished public housing that was failing financially and socially, like Chicago’s Cabrini-Green Housing Project whose demolition was completed in 2011, to make way for mixed use developments that encouraged economic and social diversity by way of the HOPE VI Program. This strategy resulted in the uprooting and relocation of former residents who faced uncertainty throughout the process.
The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) stands out among housing authorities in the United States due to its size – 179,000 units in 2,600 buildings across the city – and the fact that the buildings are relatively well maintained. NYCHA has avoided resorting to demolitions to deal with its issues, instead resorting to special police services that costs NYCHA a purported $70 million a year. Over the past decade NYCHA has been underfunded by approximately $750 million causing backlogs in necessary repairs.
To address the mounting costs of public housing, New York City’s Mayor Bloomberg has proposed an infill strategy that would attract developers onto NYCHA land and create a new layer of commercial space and residential units in public housing developments. The goal over the next five years is to develop methods of preservation for the housing development and promote mixed-use and mixed-income developments to generate income for NYCHA.
More on the plan after the break.
City Council Approves Redevelopment of NYC’s Historic Pier 57
New York’s City Council have unanimously backed a proposed plan to restore and redevelop the aging giant that is Pier 57. Built in 1952, the 300,000 square foot pier was hailed by Popular Mechanics as a ‘SuperPier’ for its vast size and unconventional construction, as most of the pier’s weight is supported by ‘floating’ air-filled concrete cassions. The pier was originally used as a bus depot by the New York City Transit Authority, however it has been lying vacant since 2003. The latest decision brings a concrete end to years of speculation as to what the fate of the pier would be.
Read more about the proposal after the break…
City Point / COOKFOX
City Point is a proposed 1.8 million square foot, multi-phase, mixed-use development designed by New York-based practice COOKFOX for the center of the rapidly transforming Downtown Brooklyn. The project will create an iconic presence by acting as a cornerstone for the Brooklyn skyline and establishing a critical mass of new growth. The three distinct phases of City Point encompass retail space, affordable and market-rate housing, office space and a market hall, which together create a strong base for growth and integration in the core of Brooklyn. City Point will foster a multi-use urban environment, connect subway commuters with green spaces, and create a vibrant heart in the downtown area.
More about City Point after the break…
Fountainhead Quad City: East Moline’s Future Development Along the Mississippi River
East Moline, Illinois, will soon have an all new, highly developed waterfront mixed use area that will include park space, retail and commercial areas and luxury apartments along its Mississippi River front. The $150 million development will be a host to 300 apartment units, senior citizen housing, condominiums, storage facilities, a sports recreational center, medical facilities along with a variety of amenities that includes neighborhood retail shops, food courts, banks, pharmacies and restaurants, hotels and a central park with a band shell. At over 3.5 million square feet, Fountainhead Quad Cities - developed by Beitler Real Estate Services with James DeStefano of LVD Architecture as the master planner – will bring new residents to the area while attracting the thousands of motorists that pass through the region today.
More after the break.
The Beam / MVRDV and de Alzua+
Development corporation ADIM Nord with MVRDV and de Alzua+ have been announced the winners of an urban renewal competition in the French town of Villeneuve d’Ascq. Dubbed ‘The Beam’, the winning proposal will transform a cluster of disused parking lots and a former petrol station into a dense, pedestrianized haven, whose 15,000 square meters of offices, retail space and lodging will hover over the adjacent motorway as a icon of a larger urban regeneration effort for the town center.
More information on The Beam after the break…
Foster + Partners Approved for Mixed-Use Development on London’s Albert Embankment
Foster + Partners have received the green light from the Lambeth Council for three mixed use towers on the 20-21 Albert Embankment in London. Ranging from 15 to 27 stories, the curved steel and glass structures will provide the area with 253 apartments, including affordable homes for senior living, along with offices, restaurants and a residents’ bar, gym, pool and spa.
Grant Brooker, Senior Partner at Foster + Partners: “We are absolutely delighted that 20-21 Albert Embankment has received planning permission – working alongside our clients at St. James and with great support from Lambeth and the GLA, we hope to transform this important and highly visible site into a vibrant riverside community that sets a benchmark for the regeneration of this part of the river.”
More after the break…
Santa Monica Shortlists Three Teams for Mixed-Use Development
Gehry’s chiseled, 244 foot tower is not the only mixed-use proposal currently being considered by the city of Santa Monica, as officials have selected three international teams led by prominent architects to submit proposals for a “significant” and “signature” development on a 2.5 acre site downtown. Located on Arizona Avenue between 4th and 5th streets, the parcel is currently occupied by a parking lot and two banks. Although the city did not specify a size constraint, the proposed designs will be expected to fit within the surrounding context and include an appropriate mix of of retail, office, hotel and residential space.
The following teams have been asked to submit proposals in May:
Gehry Designs Mixed-Use Tower for Downtown Santa Monica
Developers M. David Paul Associates and the Worthe Real Estate Group have commissioned Frank Gehry to design a mixed-use hotel and residential tower in his hometown of Santa Monica, California. The 22-story “Ocean Avenue Project” aims to stimulate the coastal city’s economy with street-level restaurant and retail space below a 125-room hotel and 22-unit condominium tower topped with a rooftop observation deck. As for accommodating the car-centric lifestyle of the West Coast, resident and visitor parking will be available in a three-story subterranean garage beneath the tower. In addition, the developers plan to integrate a 36,000 square foot museum campus that will add a cultural perk to the development just North of its two-acre site.
Although this project looks promising, the 244-foot, Gehry-esque tower is currently pending approval from the City. A vote by the end of March will decide its fate.
More images of the “Ocean Avenue Project” after the break…
Where Does Zoning Fit Into Our Future City Planning?
“Let’s dump the word “zoning,” as in zoning ordinances that govern how land is developed and how buildings often are designed. Land-use regulation is still needed, but zoning increasingly has become a conceptually inappropriate term, an obsolete characterization of how we plan and shape growth.” - Roger K. Lewis
Zoning, a concept just over a century old, is already becoming an outdated system by which the government regulates development and growth. Exceptions and loopholes within current zoning legislation prove that city planning is pushing a zoning transformation that reflects the current and future goals and needs of city building. To determine how zoning and land use needs to evolve we must first assess the intentions of future city building.
Planners, architects, legislators and community activists have already begun establishing guidelines and ordinances that approach the goals of sustainability and livability. For example, the AIA has established Local Leaders: Healthier Communities through Design and has made a commitment to the Decade of Design: Global Solutions Challenge. New York City has come up with Active Design Guidelines: Promoting Physical Activity and Health in Design and its Zone Green initiative in regards to updating its zoning resolution. In addition, Philadelphia has augmented its zoning to include urban farms and community gardens and it is safe to assume that many other cities will follow this precedent.
So what is it about current zoning codes that makes it so outdated? Follow us after the break for more.
Video: Izu Book Cafe / Atelier Bow-Wow
Two Izu retirees hired architects Yoshiharu Tsukamoto and Momoyo Kaijima to design them a home equipped with a neighborhood bookshop and cafe. The Japanese practice stepped up to the challenge and constructed an elegant, curved structure whose white walls and wooden ceiling hug the hundred degree undulating street on which its located and embraces the wooded forest it backs to. The home – which features two bedrooms, a kitchen, cafe, bookshop and atelier – is accessed beneath a bridged part of the structure and organized as a sequence. Take a tour through this interesting space with this short video made by JA+U Magazine.
Two Short Films Capture the Essence of Steven Holl Architects’ Sliced Porosity Block
Steven Holl Architects collaborated with Spirit of Space to create two short films that capture the essence of Chengdu’s newest sustainable micro-city: Sliced Porosity Block. Shaped by the distribution of natural light, this multi-use complex of five sun-carved concrete towers defines itself by the formation of three large public valleys that, not only supports a hybrid of different functions, but anchors the building into the surrounding urban fabric.
View an intimate account of these poetic spaces in the film above and then discover the ideas that inspired them in a conversation with Steven Holl below. The interview also includes an exclusive take on Holl’s post-completion thoughts of Lebbeus Woods’ last built installation: the Light Pavilion.
More information and images of Sliced Porosity Block can be found here on ArchDaily.
City Design Panel Endorses BIG’s Mixed-Use Vancouver Tower
A BIG step forward for Vancouver’s latest mixed-use tower making international headlines, as the 497-foot tall Beach and Howe proposal has received an “enthusiastic endorsement” from the city’s design panel.
Commissioned by Canada’s real estate mogul Ian Gillespie of Westbank, the Bjarke Ingles Group-designed tower promises to add a foreign twist to Vancouver’s skyline and create a new identity for an undefined section of town at the fringe of the city’s residential area. The 700,000 square foot complex – which contains shopping, social housing and market rental apartments – was praised by the panel for anchoring itself on a nine-story podium that occupies the disused, interstitial spaces found between the Granville Street Bridge’s entry and exit ramps.
More after the break…
PRD 845 / Studio Ma
Architect: Studio Ma, Inc.
Design Team: Christiana Moss, Dan Hoffman, Christopher Alt, Robert Des Rosiers, Jonah Busick, Brad Pfahler
Location: Phoenix, Arizona
Project Year: 2008
Project Area: 24,000SqFt
Project Cost: $3.5M
Contractor: UrbanEdge Builders
Client: Greenroof Development Company LLC
Civil Engineer: Evans, Kuhn & Associates
Structural Engineer: Rudow + Berry
Soil Consultant: Foree & Vann
Mechanical Engineer: Associated Mechanical Engineers
Electrical Engineer: Woodward Engineering
Landscape Architect: Levinson Studio
Photography: Michael Weschler Photography
[OVER]fill / Architekton
The Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art Flip a Strip competition challenged designers around the country to re-imagine the suburban strip mall as an urban typology, proposing an alternative to the ubiquitous developments which have emerged as an economic response to a rapidly outward expanding residential market and the availability of inexpensive land.
AD Classics: Haas Haus / Hans Hollein
The modern Hass Haus, designed by Hans Hollein, was controversial from its initiation in 1987. The intrusion of a contemporary glass and stone building was met with a resistance, much to do with its location in the shadow of Vienna’s oldest and greatest architectural masterpieces – St. Stephen’s Cathedral. If anything, the building’s locale in St. Stephens Square is most complementary to the antique cathedral; the contours of the church are brilliantly mirrored on the Hass Haus’ façade and display that modern architecture can be momentous, as well as unobtrusive to its historical context.
More on the Hass Haus after the break.
Songdo Landmark City Block A4 / REX
Architect: REX
Location: Incheon, Korea
Client: Songdo Landmark City (SLC)
Program: Residential towers with a total of approximately 2,000 units, community facilities, retail, and underground parking
Area: 342,900 sqm
Project Status: Completed Concept Design
Landscape Architect: Bureau Bas Smets
Executive: HYUNDAI Architects & Engineers; SAMOO Architects & Engineers
Key Personel: Adolfo Albaisa, Haviland Argo, E. Sean Bailey, Keith Burns, Nicolas de Courten, Rob Daurio, Jeremiah Joseph, Hui Lee, Katharine Meagher, Clinton Miller, Roberto Otero, Michelle Petersen, Joshua Prince-Ramus, Jacob Reidel, Nikolas Rychen, Tal Schori, Hala Sheikh, Nuo Xu
Consultant: Magnusson Klemencic Associates
Library + Restaurant + Multifunctional Space / BOB361 Architects
Architects: BOB361 Architects
Location: Dendermonde, Belgium
Project Team: Goedele Desmet, Ivo Vanhamme, Jean-Michel Culas
Collaborators: Gunther Slagmeulder, Ward Verbakel, Annelies Augustijns, Annelies Staessen, Nathan Ooms, Griet Moors
Interior Architect: Venlet interior architecture – danny venlet
Structural Engineer: BAS – dirk jaspaert- kathleen mertens
Environmental Engineer: Daidalos – filip descamps
Acoustic Engineer: Daidalos – paul mees
Hydraulic & Mechanical Engineer: BBT – guido neuhard
Project Area: 6,300 sqm
Budget: 8,500,00.00 Euro
Project Year: 2003-2010
Photographs: André Nullens
Skillbill / Maxwan
Architects: Maxwan
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Partner in Charge: Rients Dijkstra
Team Leader: Martijn Anhalt
Project Team: Artur Borejszo, Jason Hilgefort, Nara Lee, Nobuki Ogasahara, Michiel Raats, Harm te Velde
Client: Crimson / Estrade Projecten, Blauwhoed Project Development and dS+V
Site Area: 15 ha
Project Area: 10,000 sqm
Images: Courtesy of Maxwan
