Australian firm HASSELL Studio, OMA and Populous have been announced as the winners for the redevelopment of Sydney’s new convention, exhibition and entertainment precinct (SICEEP) at Darling Harbour.
The 20-hectare, billion (Australian) dollar project, which will stretch from Cockle Bay to Haymarket and Ultimo, will include Australia's largest convention and exhibition facilities, Sydney’s largest red carpet entertainment venue, a hotel complex with up to 900 rooms, and a new urban neighborhood in Haymarket.
The project, known as "The Lens," has hit speed-bumps due to local dissidents, who have been vocally wary of the new Pier's price-tag/design and have called for a voter referendum. However, the architects have been sensitive to the process; since first winning the competition in January (beating out both BIG and West 8), the firm has taken part in local workshops in order to get community input, making some significant changes to the original design.
After receiving local criticism that the Pier include more things "to do" and more shading, the firm has adjusted the design to include two restaurants, shaded balconies, and - in order to improve access - a road that can support service vehicles and a tram. Most noticeably, the plan for an underwater reef garden, the signature feature which gave the project its name, has had to be scratched: scientists have determined that a reef garden would be unrealistic with Tampa Bay's dark water.
Last night's 7-1 vote determined that the project will now receive funding in smaller, pre-approved increments in order to safeguard against potential legal complications. However, no mater the outcome, the closure and the demolition of the current St. Petersburg Pier will take place between May and August 2013; if all goes to plan for Michael Maltzan Architecture, "The Lens" will open in summer 2015.
See updated Renderings for "The Lens," and a really cool video, after the break...
With China’s ‘Ring of Fire’ being one of the latest pieces of landmark architecture to hit the media, one must begin to wonder how many of these so called ‘landmarks’ will be constructed until they become an everyday sight in their major cities. With the rapid rise of the construction of these icons, it almost seems as though new cities of the rapid urbanization process think they need to build landmarks in order to be complete. As a consequence of this drive toward an urban identity, what may their impact be in a world where these icons are turning into generic structures? Let us know your thoughts!
Designed for the market square cover competition, the ‘flying carpet’ proposal by Michael Labory & Bertrand Schippan is a modular and sustainable cover with the goal for the efficient arrangement of the functional facilities. This is attained by putting them along the site border thus maximizing the space to be used for market. They revive the dull facade of the neighboring building by bringing the volume of the facilities into the shape of its skyline. Among all other things, it contributes to the increase in urban density as windowless facade becomes a part of lively market place. More images and architects’ description after the break.
The proposal for an urban itinerary, designed by Comac Architects, presents an urban path to extend “Marseilles 2013″ European Capital of Culture throughout the entire city. A total of 13 key-districts will be connected by the path and interspersed with urban pavilions, each focused on a famous artist from Marseilles. Each unit will offer a certain perspective of Marseilles, and will offer tourists a new way to discover our city and its emblematic districts. More images and architects’ description after the break.
The west side of midtown Manhattan is probably one of the more unexplored areas of New York City by residents and tourists alike. Aside from the Jacob Javits Center, and the different programs off of the Hudson River Parkway that runs parallel to the waterfront, there is very little reason to walk through this industry – and infrastructure – dominated expanse of land full of manufacturers, body shops, parking facilities and vacant lots. The NYC government and various agencies, aware of the lost potential of this area, began hatching plans in 2001 to develop this 48-block, 26-acre section, bound by 43rd Street to the North, 8th Ave to the East, 30th Street to the South and the West Side Highway to the West.
The new Hudson Yards, NYC’s largest development, will be a feat of collaboration between many agencies and designers. The result will be 26 million square feet of new office development, 20,000 units of housing, 2 million square feet of retail, and 3 million square feet of hotel space, mixed use development featuring cultural and parking uses, 12 acres of public open space, a new public school and an extension of a subway line the 7 that currently terminates at Times Square-42nd Street, reintroducing the otherwise infrastructurally isolated portion of the city back into the life of midtown Manhattan. All this for $800 million with up to $3 billion in public money.
Erik Giudice Architects were recently announced as the H+ Bredgatan Winner of the WAN Awards 2012 Urban Regeneration for their innovative solution in Helsingborg, Sweden. The ‘social atmosphere and ability to encourage residents’ integration reconnects the city with a central spine around a canal theme, creating a number of public spaces that are servicing the scheme but also connecting with the key movement around the site,’ according to WAN jury members. More images and architects’ description after the break.
The Kuntsevo Centre, designed by The Jerde Partnership, will provide a new stage for dynamic public activity and distinct commercial offerings in central Moscow. The pedestrian-oriented center will establish a vibrant leisure, shopping, business, and residential complex reconnecting the urban fabric of the historic Kuntsevo district, while creating a new landmark for the city. Delivering a modern community gathering destination rooted in art, nature, and urban connectivity, the project’s design enhances its potential to become a continuously active public realm. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Designed by Gemawang Swaribathoro, Indra Nugraha, and Morian Saspriatnadi, their ‘Urban Sponge’ concept aims to unify, organize and manage, in one solution, the inner power of this marvelous city. Prague, an ancient city that has a long history of its own architecture style is no longer an underdog city in the European region. With the city becoming one of the most important places in this continent, the sponge concept can be described as a tool of connectivity to absorb the quality of life, to attract people, to make a better living. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Winners of the 2012 Land Art Generator Initiative Competition for Freshkills Park in Staten Island, NYC are out. With 4 placed winners and a long list of shortlisted projects, the range of ideas shows how designers are exploring many different options for sustainable energy infrastructure.
The Winners:
First: Scene-Sensor // Crossing Social and Ecological Flows byJames Murray and Shota Vashakmadze
Second: Fresh Hills by Matthew Rosenberg, Structural Engineering Consultant: Matt Melnyk, Production Assistants: Emmy Maruta, Robbie Eleazer
Third: Pivot by Yunxin Hu and Ben Smith
Fourth: 99 Red Balloons by Emeka Nnadi, Scott Rosin, Meaghan Hunter, Danielle Loeb, Kara McDowell, Indrajit Mitra, Narges Ayat and Denis Fleury
The redevelopment of Sydney’s an inner-city waterfront precinct of Barangaroo is making progress, as the Barangaroo Delivery Authority (BDA) has announced the five teams shortlisted for the master planning services for Barangaroo Central. The project will complete the long term vision for Barangaroo, which was masterplanned by Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners, by forming the “heart of the site” that will be the transition along the waterfront walk from the southern urban and commercial spaces to the natural form six hectare of the Headland Park.
Maybe Sandy, the colossal hurricane that has barreled across the East Coast this week, will finally get the message across: "We are all from New Orleans Now."
Thanks to climate change, America's coastal cities, and particularly New York, have become increasingly vulnerable to nature's wrath. Over two years ago, MOMA asked five architects to come up with a redesign of lower Manhattan that would prevent damage in the event of major flooding. Barry Bergdoll, the Curator of the "Rising Currents" exhibit, put it to the architects this way: “Your mission is to come up with images that are so compelling they can’t be forgotten and so realistic that they can’t be dismissed.”
Unfortunately, they were. As the many images from traditional news sources and social media users reveal, Sandy's damage has been extensive - and perhaps, in many ways, preventable.
It often takes tragedy to instigate change. Let's hope that Sandy will finally get the conversation of New York's vulnerable urban landscape on to the table.
More images of Sandy's damage, as well as plans from MOMA's "Rising Currents" Exhibit, after the break...
Michael Van Valkenburg Associates (MVVA) and Thomas Phifer & Partners have been announced as winners of an international competition set to transform 15 blocks of the neglected Waller Creek in downtown Austin, Texas, into a vibrant local attraction. Co-sponsored by the nonprofit Waller Creek Conservancy and the City of Austin, the ambitious project intends to spearhead redevelopment within the city’s central business district with the 1.5 mile urban scheme that represents approximately 11 percent of Austin’s downtown.
“Today, we glimpse a transformation of Austin through a new community gathering place. This design team selection illustrates our City’s desire for great civic space, unique culture and opportunity for interaction with nature,” Austin Mayor Pro Tem Sheryl Cole said during the City Hall announcement. “We look forward to each new milestone of this development.”
Team innergy, composed of Frank Marcus, Pieter Wackers, Gerben Pennings, Gertjan Rohaan, Chris Van Der Zwet, recently won the first prize in the Energetic City 2050, competition about the sustainable future of the city of Arnhem, Netherlands. The jury felt that the vision of Innergy was “hopeful, with a strong belief in humanity & technology”, “focusing on individuals, for the city of the future will be the people themselves” and that “housing subscriptions and building material plazas will turn the city into a fluid place full of creativity “. More images and architects’ description after the break.
To celebrate the start of a seven-month land use review process, Cornell has released preliminary renderings of the first academic building planned for Cornell Tech – the new world-class technology and entrepreneurship campus in New York City that was masterplanned by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM).
The modern campus strives to rethink academic workspace, prioritize environmental performance, and exploit the unique urban condition of Roosevelt Island. In May, Pritzker Prize laureate Thom Mayne, founder of Morphosis, was appointed as architect of the first landmark building, which will set the stage for the carbon positive campus.
