Five practices have been selected to move on to the second stage of the Sydney Modern Project, a $450 million expansion of the Art Gallery of New South Wales (NSW). Of the twelve firms invited to participate in the competition, the five that will advance are: Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA; Kengo Kuma & Associates; Kerry Hill Architects; RMA Architects (Rahul Mehrotra Architects); and Sean Godsell Architects.
As any self-respecting world city now knows, when the time comes to change the calenders, you'd better also have an iconic building from which to hang some fireworks. With people all over the world looking out for the most impressive New Year's celebrations, we've picked the most impressive architecturally-focused displays. Not surprisingly, Dubai - the world capital of "go big or go home" - probably had the most impressive show of the year, with a combined light-and-firework show to turn the Burj Khalifa into the world's largest celebratory canvas. However, a special mention goes to Paris' Arc de Triomphe, where a tasteful 14-minute light mapping display paid homage to the city's other great architectural works, from the Eiffel Tower to the Centre Pompidou, before moving onto stylized scenes of Paris life to bring in the new year.
Continue after the break for all the videos of the world's best New Year celebrations.
It is now just over a year since the unveiling of Zaha Hadid's Al-Wakrah Stadium in Doha, Qatar, and in the intervening twelve months, it seems like the building has never been out of the news. Most recently, remarks made by Hadid concerning the deaths of construction workers under Qatar’s questionable working conditions created a media firestorm of legal proportions. Hadid’s stadium has been widely mocked for its ‘biological’ appearance, not to mention the fact that the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, for which the stadium will be built, has encountered a storm of controversy all of its own.
The criticism surrounding Al Wakrah has prompted us to look far and wide for the world’s most debated buildings. Could Al Wakrah be the most controversial building of all time? Check out ArchDaily’s roundup of nine contenders after the break.
Find out which buildings top our controversial list after the break
The City of Sydney has selected the team of Andrew Burges Architects working with Grimshaw and TCL, as the winners of a competition to design a new park and aquatic centre in Green Square, around 4 kilometres to the South of central Sydney. One of the city's six "Major Development Zones," the park and aquatic centre is part of a larger development in the centre of Green Square, with an adjacent site slated for a new public square and library.
This year’s title of “Best Tall Building Worldwide” has been awarded to One Central Park, in Sydney, Australia. The award, presented by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), was chosen after a year long selection process across 88 entries in four regions. Senior representatives of each of these four winners presented at the CTBUH Awards Symposium on November 6th at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, and the winner was announced at the Awards Dinner following the Symposium. Read on after the break to learn more about the winning building.
Twelve local and international practices have been invited to participate in a two-stage competition for the “Sydney Modern Project,” a $450 million expansion of the Art Gallery of New South Wales (NSW). Five practices from the shortlist, which also includes SANAA, Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, and Herzog & de Meuron, will move on to produce conceptual designs in the competition’s final round.
“The Sydney Modern vision for expansion and transformation is much more than just a building project,” stated gallery director Dr. Michael Brand. “Through this invited competition the Gallery is seeking ideas that will create an architecturally ambitious, intelligent, sensitive, sustainable and highly functional design. Our site overlooking Sydney Harbor will inspire each of the invited architectural practices, all of whom have extraordinary design skills.”
The invited architectural practices are…
In Sydney, a recent discussion about "Cultural Precinct Planning" hosted by the City Government has raised important questions about how the city can compete in the global cultural arms race. However, Sara Anne Best thinks it raised all the wrong questions. Originally posted on Australian Design Review as "Cultural Ribbon or Coastal Connections" this article argues that Sydney, with a culture and tourism industry so focused on outdoor leisure, could find a more unique way of attracting attention which includes the wider metropolitan area more than the usual city centre cultural hub, asking: "With three of the city’s iconic beaches currently undergoing renewal, what is the role of the seaside CBD in the context of Sydney’s cultural identity?" Find out the answer after the break.
Sydney's historic George Street is about to receive a major facelift with the soon-to-be built 333 George Street, an 18 storey mixed use office and retail tower. Designed by Grimshaw Architects and executive architects Crone Partners for Australian property developer Charter Hall, the minimal glass and steel tower will contrast the historic structures on Sydney's well-preserved original high street, with a 15 storey 12,500 square metre contemporary office tower tower atop a three storey 2,100 square metre retail podium.
Read on after the break for more on Sydney's newest tower.
Set to be installed over a set of light rail tracks, Junya Ishigami’s Cloud Arch will soon be one of the biggest landmarks in downtown Sydney. Commissioned by Sydney’s public art program, City Art, the arch will symbolize Sydney’s qualities of being “Green, Global, and Connected.” Over 50 meters high, it will change shape as viewer’s walk past it. Cloud Arch will act as both a gateway for the pedestrian George Street, and a defining feature of the city.
The government of New South Wales have announced plans for Sydney's largest program of urban renewal since the 2000 Summer Olympics. The proposal seeks to utilise and regenerate a series of former docklands from the area of Blackwattle Bay, through the Sydney Fish Market, Rozelle Bay and Rozelle Rail Yards, to White Bay Power Station (a protected building).
Make Architects have been selected from a shortlist of five practices to renovate the area around Sydney's Wynyard Station, beating SOM, Grimshaw, Bates Smart and Ingenhoven to the $1 billion project.
The scheme, called One Carrington Street, involves the renovation of the historic Shell House, creation of a new 27-story, 58,000 square metre office tower, a new eastern transit hall for Wynyard Station including 5,000 square metres of retail space, and a new grand entrance to Wynyard Station from George and Carrington Streets.
More on the scheme after the break
OMA_ByRichardJohnSeymour.jpg?1415587158 "© Richard John Seymour")
Tim_Griffith.jpg?1415587171 "© Tim Griffith")
