1000 dwellings for the 'Ant Tribe'

The project ‘housing with a mission’, featured at the Hong Kong and Shenzhen Biennale on architecture and urbanism, is designed as a co-production by five Chinese and five Dutch architectural offices and aims at building 1000 dwellings for the ‘Ant Tribe’ in Beijing. This is the Chinese name for the generation of millions of young graduates who live in cramped conditions in the outskirts of cities and work in low-paid jobs.

The Chinese offices include Standard Architecture, Urbanus, O-Office, Node and CAFA. The Dutch firms include aronsgelauff, Next, KCAP, NL architects and Barcode. More images and project description after the break. read more »

© Paula Bailey - http://www.flickr.com/photos/auntiep/

In today’s world “going green” has become a top priority in our society, and sustainable buildings and design are at the forefront of this green revolution. While many designers are focusing on passive and active energy systems, the reuse of recycled materials is beginning to stand out as an innovative, highly effective, and artistic expression of sustainable design. Reusing materials from existing on site and nearby site elements such as trees, structures, and paving is becoming a trend in the built environment, however more unorthodox materials such as soda cans and tires are being discovered as recyclable building materials. Materials and projects featured after the break.

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© NL Architects

NL Architects’ winning cultural stage proposal will activate the Port of Amsterdam as its unique configuration is suited for a variety of activities.   Situated on the Haparandada near the IJ River, the flexible and movable base will accommodate different forms of art such as film, fashion, sculpture, dance, etc.  “The versatility of the assignment is the ultimate challenge for Architecture: how can one single spatial given host all these functionalities in a credible way?” explained the architects.

More about the winning proposal after the break.

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Hong Kong Boundaries Crossing Facilities

Dutch NL Architects’ newest bridge is part of their proposal to connect Hong Kong with the mainland of China.  The bridge’s dynamic twisted form is a great resolution to the  differences in driving styles, namely that in Hong Kong, people drive on the left side of the road and in the mainland China, they drive on the right side.

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

NL Architects‘ Blok K is part of a master plan for 500 dwellings in Amsterdam.  The site’s triangular shape sits between the historic center and the recently redeveloped harbor area.   The block measures 31 x 28 meters and is about 2.5 stories tall.   According to the guidelines established in the master plan, it was obligatory to build the first two stories in alignment and the third story had to contain 50% roof terrace.  The volume’s form is “redistributed” in an effort to push it as far away as possible from the adjacent volumes.  The roof’s strong diagonal stands as a bold contrast to the orthogonal grid.

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

NL Architects have designed a stepped volume for the office of SOZAWE (Welfare Department and Work Agency) in the city of Groningen.   The design includes an open marketplace which supports the architects’ intentions of creating an “open,  inviting and sustainable place.”  This public square allows interaction between the department and its customers, and the terracing condition of the building creates cross relations between floors.  Each of the nine office floors open to an individual terrace, allowing workers to enjoy fresh air and take in the view of the city.

More images after the break. read more »

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.

Seen at designboom. More images after the break. read more »

This is the design proposed by NL Architects for the Taipei Performing Arts Center. The structure contains three theaters, including a 1500-seat Grand Theater, and two 800-seat theaters. Although critics praised the aesthetics, they noted two critical issues: acoustics would be disastrous and the lack of sun for several of the cubes. The competition was finally won by OMA.

You can also see Abalos proposal here.
More images after the break. read more »

This villa is located in plot #13 of the ORDOS project.

Architects: NL Architects – Pieter Bannenberg, Walter van Dijk, Kamiel Klaasse
Location: Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China
Project leader: Michael Schoner
Project team: Jung-Hwa Cho, Gen Yamamoto, Florent Le Corre, Wei-Nien Chen, Amadeo Linke
Structural Engineer: ABT Delft, Walter Spangenberg
Climate Consultant: DGMR, Paul van Bergen
Design year: 2008
Construction year: 2009
Curator: Ai Weiwei, Beijing, China
Client: Jiang Yuan Water Engineering Ltd, Inner Mongolia, China
Constructed Area: 1,000 sqm aprox

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