Earlier this week, we shared a great clip of a comparison video betwen Lady Gaga and SANAA’s new Museum – if the comparison has you scratching your head, be sure to check out the video!  Great Spaces has also made a short video of UNStudio’s Amsterdam Pavilion.  Upon its opening back in the summer of 2009, we had the opportunity to interview van Berkel about his inspiration for the design.   Since then, the landscape and hardscape around the pavilion have been completed, giving it a stronger presence in front of the Staten Island Ferry terminal as it seems more integrated into the swirls of the bike and pedestrian paths.  Thanks to Delaine Isaac for sharing the clip.

© UNStudio

We are continually impressed by the variety of projects from UNStudio’s office.  The firm just unveiled a new vertical city highrise for Singapore previously featured on AD, and recently, the Dutch studio’s international air terminal and traffic control tower for Kutaisi was officially presented by Mikheil Saakashvili, President of Georgia.  The country is growing quickly and changing rapidly, with new tourist and economic activity, plus different political developments.  As such, the design for the new airport seeks to showcase Georgia new identity by providing a contemporary gateway to the country.

More about the airport after the break.  read more »

UNStudio

Last summer, we had the opportunity to discuss Ben van Berkel’s design ideas behind his New Amsterdam Pavilion for New York (see our past coverage here).  At that time, while the pavilion’s sleek sculptural form was complete, the interior the pavilion was still under construction.   Now, with the interior and landscape complete, the pavilion has opened for public use.  Situated outside the South Ferry terminal in Peter Minuit Plaza, the pavilion will serve as a new cultural hub in the middle of an intersection crossed by more than 150,000 residents each day.    Conceived as a contemporary “outdoor living room”, the project will provide visitor information, locally grown gourmet food, and a space for spontaneous and schedule activities.  Plus, at 12:00, the pavilion will glow with an array of colors in tribute to Peter Minuit whose name translates to ‘midnight.’

More about the pavilion after the break. read more »

© UNStudio. Photographed by Ronald Tilleman

In recent years, UNStudio – which has been internationally recognized for its approach to developing dynamic forms – has also grown to focus on sustainability with the intent to decrease C02 emissions. With this in mind, the firm, with consortium DUO², has realized one of the most sustainable large office buildings in Europe for two governmental offices, the Education Executive Agency and the Tax Offices. “The design contains numerous new innovations related to the reduction of materials, lower energy costs and more sustainable working environments. It presents a fully integrated, intelligent design approach towards sustainability,” explained Ben van Berkel.

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

UNStudio Furniture Designs

This year, I Saloni of Milan will be celebrating its 50th year! The cultural institution has grown dramatically over the years from an initial 328 exhibitors featured in 11,000 square meters to over 2,500 in an area now measuring over 200,000 square meters. The Salone Internazionale del Mobile is almost here and several architects will be presenting new furniture. Ben van Berkel of UNStudio has shared three new seating designs that will be featured this month: My Lounge Chair for Walter Knoll, the New Amsterdam Chair for Wilde+Spieth and the SitTable for PROOFF. “The architectural approach to furniture is different from that of the industrial designer as the architect begins with the space and the environment that the chair will become a part of.  All the details of the chair are considered for their spatial effects. This architectural approach to furniture is connected to a very personal ideology of space,” explained Ben van Berkel.

More about the chairs after the break. read more »

© UNStudio. Photographed by Kim Jong-Kwan

Our friends from UNStudio have shared their latest 66,000 square meter Galleria in Cheonan, South Korea, with us.  The Galleria attempts to re-define the traditional typology of such a place, as changing societal norms in Asia have led supermarkets to operate as “social and semi-cultural meeting places,” according to Ben van Berkel.   As a result, the project blends the functional aspect of a large scale commercial store, while placing emphasis on maintaining a sense of public space for social and cultural aspects.

More information and photos after the break. read more »

Ben van Berkel's New Amsterdam Pavilion in New York. Photographed by Richard Koek.

This weekend on April 2nd, Ben van Berkel of UNStudio will be presenting a lecture during the Smart Geometries 2011 Copenhagen – an event that focuses on the role of digital parametrics in architectural experimentation and design strategies.  van Berkel, an avid believer in computational design, will focus on his firm’s projects, such as the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, the Raffles City mixed use development in Hangzhou and the Star Place Luxury Shopping Plaza in Kaohsiung, to illustrate their application of smart geometries.  ”"Parametric design is in itself not so interesting. It needs meaning. We need to combine the possibilities of the virtual with how we discipline the real in a new way,” explains van Berkel.   With digital modeling allowing for greater innovation, creativity and experimentation, van Berkel explains how such technologies improve communication on projects to such an extent that design and construction can be much more compact, accelerated and efficient.  “In the 90s we were fascinated with the potential of these emerging techniques and their ability to control geometry. However our interest was never solely focussed on the geometry, nor on the computational techniques themselves. Our interest lay largely in the possibility to carry out spatial experiments and to see how the resulting structures could actually be constructed,” states van Berkel.  For more information about the lecture, check out the Smart Geometries website.

© Christian Richters

Architects: UNStudio in collaboration with B + M, Den Haag
Location: Lelystad, The Netherlands
Project year: 2005-2007
Photographs: Christian Richters, Iwan Baan

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Courtesy Archpartners 2008

When Ben van Berkel of UNStudio first unveiled his vision for Five Franklin Place, the elaborate façade of layered strips offered a dynamic picture of what TriBeCa’s newest architectural creation could be. A contemporary take of the area’s traditional metal facades of the 19th century, the 20 story residential tower incorporated a series of metal bans that became the building’s trademark. The black undulating lines served more than a mere aesthetic as they branched from the building’s vertical plane to become spatial entities – providing balconies for residents, and even dual functioning as sun screens.  Yet, as Liana Grey shared with ArchRecord, van Berkel’s artistic vision may quickly be coming to a hault.

More about the status of the project after the break. read more »

© UNStudio

This just in from UNStudio, Ben van Berkel, in collaboration with DP Architects, has been chosen to design the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD). Selected from a shortlist of five practices, UNStudio + DP Architects have created a proposal that reflects the university’s curriculum by “using the creative enterprise of the school to facilitate a cross-disciplinary interface; interaction is established between the professional world, the campus, and the community at large.”

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

© UNStudio. Photography by Ding Musa

UNStudio shared their new pavilion for the 29th Art Biennale in Sao Paulo, Brazil with us.   The project is intended to encourage interaction between the participants and visitors by creating a place for display, discussion, and debate. An artistic expression that also functions programmatically, the pavilion embodies the dynamic geometry and spatial qualities common in the firm’s work (to compare, be sure to check out UNStudio’s New Amsterdam Pavilon or the Burnham Pavilion previously featured on AD).

More about the pavilion, including photographs by Ding Musa after the break. read more »

UNStudio teamed with ARUP to win a competition held by the People’s Government of Yanqing County, Beijing Municipality and Beijing Institute of Architectural Design.  The proposal is the design of a creative zone on the edge of the Beijing River that compresses open space and an economic zone by weaving nature with the urban fabric.  The open spaces will provide Beijing residents with the ability to enjoy the peace of the greenbelt while still being in proximity to the local stores and shops.

More about the project after the break. read more »

UNStudio

After winning a limited competition, UNStudio will move forward with their design of a 38,500 m2 stadium for the Dalian Shide FC, China’s most successful club in the Chinese Super League.  The new stadium will be located in the Shide’s hometown of Dalian, on the southern tip of Liaodong peninsula.  Working with the idea of layering and overlapping, an aesthetic deeply rooted in ancient Chinese cuju football, Ben van Berkel has created a stadium where the articulation of the structure and its openings and overlapping moments serve as “the starting point for visitor experience”.

More about the stadium after the break. read more »

Richard Koek

Yesterday afternoon, we had the pleasure of attending the opening day of  Ben van Berkel’s New Amsterdam Pavilion in Peter Minuit Plaza, just outside Battery Park in Manhattan.  After walking around the pavilion and watching New Yorkers’ first encounters with the new sculptural piece, we had the opportunity to study the project with Mr. van Berkel as he explained his ideas and process. The pavilion is a gift from the Netherlands to New York in honour of 400 years of friendship; yet the pavilion does not attempt to physically manifest a representation of that relationship.  Rather, the pavilion can be interpreted in different ways and speaks to both the history and the future of the city.

More about our talk with van Berkel and more images after the break. read more »

After our UN Studio’s Burnham Pavilion gallery, many of you wondered how it was built. This photo reveals the woodenstructure for this pavilion, which was later finished with a plastic-like material.

Photo via Construmatica.

© Guillermo Hevia

A couple of days ago we featured Zaha Hadid’s Burham Pavilion at the Millenium Park in Chicago. Some of you asked about the UN Studio pavilion, and I got Guillermo Hevia to share with us a very good set of photos of the project.

If you want to know more about this pavilion’s background read our previous article.

More photos after the break.

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UNStudio‘s new mixed-use Raffles City is situated near the Qiangtan River in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province, China.   This Raffles City marks CapitaLand’s sixth large-scale shopping center, including those in Singapore, Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu and Bahrain.  For UNStudio’s design, a sleek twisting tower will provide residential and hotel accommodates in its 300,000 square meter total floor area.  The project aims to highlight the area and attract visitors, “In the chain of events and attractions of Hangzhou, like the West Lake area and the commercial centre, the Raffles City project will be at the core of the Qianjiang New Town area and contribute to the recognition of this area as a new destination in the city,” explained the architects.

More about Raffles City and more images after the break. read more »

UNStudio’s design has won a competition to build a 21,000 square meter dance theatre in the historic centre of St. Petersburg, Russia. The new complex houses the Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg, headed by choreographer Boris Eifman.

From the four projects presented (Jean Nouvel, UNStudio, Snøhetta & Zao), UNStudio’s design was yesterday unanimously chosen by the jury for realisation.

Seen at designboom. Architect’s description and more images after the break. read more »

With the combined effort of Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos of UNStudio, the Retreat Exhibition will kick off on June 28^th at KunstFort Asperen.  The exhibit, which will feature the works of 12 artists, aims to reflect different points of view on their interpretations of ‘retreat’.  The installation creates an atmosphere where “the functionality of the space is interrupted and reality is stretched.”

More after the break. read more »

UNStudio's Pavilion

Zaha Hadid's Pavilion

We introduced the Burnham Plan Pavilions designed by Zaha Hadid and UNStudio a few months ago, and now, both are almost ready to be opened to the public.  Continuing Millenium Park’s tradition of displaying dynamic public art, the pavilions emphasize bettering the future, which echo the ideals of the 1909 Burnham Plan.  Although opening day was June 19th, only UNStudio’s pavilion was complete, as Hadid’s pavilion will require a few more weeks until it will be opened to the public due to its geometric complexities.

More about each pavilion after the break. read more »