Internationally recognized practice RMJM Architects have recently announced their groundbreaking $1 billon mixed-use complex for the Atasehir district, the growing residential and business area of Istanbul, Turkey. RMJM’s complex will allow the new business center to flourish by serving 20,000 people and providing for a variety of their needs. The project will be revolutionary for Turkey as it will become the country’s first LEED-certified mixed-use development upon its 2011 completion date.
More images and more about the complex after the break.
Bert from Moving Cities (a blog focused on contemporary architecture in China) just told us about a new project by Zaha Hadid in Beijing: Chaoyangmen Soho.
The announcement was made by Pan Shiyi, a real estate mogul chairman of SOHO China. Pan has been working on huge developments, such as the Commune by the Great Wall and several commercial projects in central Beijing.
What’s interesting on SOHO’s developments, is that they invite renowned architects to participate, under heavy budgets restrictions in order to delivery quality projects for the “stylish middle class”. They also have a great corporative culture as you can see on their website.
But back to this project, Bert points us out to a recent interview with Pan Shiyi:
Q: Which development project is your favourite? A: Chaoyangmen SOHO. It is our latest development. I asked British architect Zaha Hadid to design a creative project, and she did. The project is unique, like the Beijing bird´s nest .
Read more about this project at Pan Shiyi’s blog. More images after the break.
Today at 11.00 AM took place the laying of the foundation stone of what will be the new iconic building in the area of Barcelona’s Forum, the Spiral Tower. This university campus will be located at the end of Avenida Diagonal, one of the main avenues of Barcelona, beside the Forum building designed by Herzog & de Meuron for the Forum of Cultures held in 2004.
Zaha Hadid came around 11:15 and the event had an intense political presence (the Mayor of Barcelona Jordi Hereu, mayors from areas like Maresme and Besós and key representatives of the Consorsi). The building, located at the confluence of streets Taulat and Sant Ramon de Penyafort, will have a ground surface of 20,650 sqm.
Hadid’s speech was short, she recalled his first trip to Spain when she was 7 years and then she talked about a competition in which she participated 20 years ago, related to the design and extension of the Diagonal Avenue. At that moment she had the opportunity for a better understanding about the urban development of Barcelona and it has been a big influence on the design of the Spiral Tower.
We just received this from OMA: After almost 12 years in the boards, OMA announced that the De Rotterdam complex will enter construction during December 2009, expecting completion in 2013.
Tree stacked towers with a total height of 150m, will result on a gross floor area of approximately 160,000m2, making De Rotterdam the largest building in the Netherland, with a total cost of €340m.
The mixed-use program (offices, apartments, a hotel, conference facilities, gym, shops, restaurants, and cafes) and the resulting density make this project a vertical city, located in the old harbour district of Wilhelminapier, next to the iconic Erasmus bridge.
Italian based Stefano Boeri Architetti shared with us their latest project: The requalification and recovery of the ex Military Arsenal on the island of La Maddalena, Italy. This project includes a hotel, a congress centre, a conference building, two large exhibition and commercial spaces and a quay for 700 boats.
Paolo Rosselli
It was conceived as the central point of the G8 summit at Maddalena, event that was recently moved to the earthquaked zone of L’Aquila, and it was developed in only 18 months, thanks to the work of 1600 construction workers, a dozen developers and a large group of professionals and technicians, fulfilling a vision that confirms “the level of distinction of contemporary Italian Architecture”.
The end result is impressive: over 155.000 m2, providing a series of port, receptive, formative and convention infrastructure that will transform the ex Arsenale at Maddalena into one of the principle nautical poles of the eastern Mediterranean. The mixed use project incorporates advanced systems to use solar power and seawater for heating and cooling, reflecting the strong relation of the project with the sea.
Architects description and more photos by Paolo Rosselli after the break.
Architects: Sadar Vuga Arhitekti (lead architect); KSS, London (consultant in sports architecture); MYSI, Tel Aviv (shopping centre concept); OFIS arhitekti, Ljubljana (architect shopping centre) Location: Ljubljana, Slovenia Landscape Architects: AKKA, Ljubljana Construction Engineering: Gradis; Atelier One, London Mechanical Engineering: Lenassi; Jelen & Zaveršnik Electrical Engineering: Elprojekt; UTRIS Fire Engineering: EKOsystem Client: Ljubljana City Municipality, Grep Project year: 2007 Site Area: 182,000 sqm Constructed Area: 460,720 sqm Photographs: Sadar Vuga
https://www.archdaily.com/22268/sports-park-stozice-sadar-vuga-kss-mysi-ofisAmber P
The Biotope converts the remains of an old water purification plant in an ecological mixed use development. Conceived as an ecological education centre, the Biotope will be the home for eco-related institutes like IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), for several schools of Amsterdam, for residential spaces and for sport facilities.
Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects was recently announced as the winner to design ‘Urban Mediaspace’, the largest public library in Scandinavia. The 228 million euro project is located in Aarhus, Denmark and is only the latest in the studio’s history of library designs. Other finalist in the competition included Mecanoo, GPP architects and A-team, a collaboration between two danish studios, Aart and Arkitema.
Schmidt Hammer Lassen’s deisgn aims to re-examine the traditional concept of library design. Rather than focusing on books, the building is envisioned as a hub for social interaction that includes indoor and outdoor recreation spaces, as well as studying, socialising and relaxing areas. Measuring 30,000 square metres, ‘Urban Mediaspace’ is located in Aarhus’s old cargo docks area. The building is heptagonal in shape and features a glazed-facade.
Eric Owen Moss Architects created a mixed use tower that neighbours the capitol building in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The republic square is part of a large-scale development across the city of Almaty.
The tower itself is 126,000 square feet that will be divided up between retail, office, hotel and residential spaces. The building is a long tower which is anchored to the ground by a 38 meter diameter spiral. This feature will enclose an indoor plaza or ‘winter garden’ connecting the two sides. The spiral provides major support for the structure and encapsulates the five public venues near the ground level. In between these five spaces, four courtyards let natural let in and are each shaped to represent the four seasons of the year.
Amsterdam City Council recently held ‘The Silo Competition’ which involved the adaptive and reuse design for two former sewage treatment silos in the city’s Zeeburg district.
For the competition NL Architects proposed silos dedicated to climbing, sports and culture. In their design the existing structures were extended to the maximum height to benefit from the views.
The cultural silo consists of two theaters with dressing rooms and rehearsal spaces, spaces for workshops, exhibition spaces, music studios and a space for hair design. A bridge connects the silos at the height of the original roof level and office spaces will be positioned on top. The top level will be dedicated to a restaurant with 360 views and a roof terrace.
