Designed as a sustainable master plan, the concept of water, waste, and energy management are integral to the concept of the Kanpur Riverfront Development project. Proposed by Studio Symbiosis, conservation of energy on the basis of transport management has been designed as an active design element in the master plan, which is a part of an overall scheme for rehabilitation of the Ganga river and the Ganga riverfront. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Instead of perceiving water as something to defend against, The Open Workshop took on the challenge of repositioning the water as a performative feature that connects across the obstructions currently on Arvene East of Far Rockaway. Taking the logic of the stabilizing rock jetties, the 'Recon-Figure' proposal utilizes a series of nested figures to augment the existing coastline. The figures engage the water, functioning as groynes and breakwaters that also offer recreational spaces, stabilize the coast, and concentrate wave action and associated energy capture. More images and architects' description after the break.
Aedas recently unveiled their master plan proposal for the CTS Temple of Heaven Performance Zone. Located in Beijing, their concept consists of a trio of urban, garden and lake environments while aiming to become the capital’s core cultural and commercial district and establish an international modern city life standard. More images and architects’ description after the break.
"I have a lot of big plans for the gallery, but every idea is an experiment; I don't necessarily want to enforce what it will be, but rather find out what it wants to be." This is how Thomas Ermacora described his vision of the Lime Wharf Gallery, a largely hidden series of spaces squeezed between Vyner Street and Regents Canal in the middle of Hackney's burgeoning creative quarter.
Ermacora hopes the gallery will become an "accelerator of change through culture", bringing arts, technology and social enterprise together for projects which generate optimism for the future. All of these traits made Lime Wharf Gallery the perfect space to present "Future Fitting." This evening of talks, orchestrated by Ermacora and Lucy Bullivant (editor of the new webzine Urbanista), focused on urban design that has the foresight and flexibility to deal with the needs of the future.
Read about the ideas presented at the Future Fitting event after the break...
SCAPE and Rogers Marvel have been unanimously selected from 27 international applicants to create a schematic design for one of the most visited destinations on the Mississippi River: Water Works in downtown Minneapolis. The SCAPE-Roger Marvel Team, which also includes New York-based James Lima Planning + Design and Minneapolis-based SRF Consulting, will be responsible for transforming the historically significant Central Mississippi Riverfront Regional Park, within which the Water Works district exists, with a master plan based on a series of “visionary” parks and trails.
JAPA Architects shared with us their proposal, Dyv-net, Dynamic Vertical Networks, which deals with the development of modern, efficient and environmentally acceptable farming structures. Located in the Tai Po District, the second largest administrative district in Hong Kong, the architects foresee a paradigm shift to vertical agriculture structures which can be integrated into a territorial network along the country. More images and architects' description after the break.
One of the selected entries in the MoMA PS1 Rockaway Call for Ideas, Stephen Yablon Architect’s "Yona on the Beach" accepts the inherent and increasingly dynamic weather conditions of barrier islands. Their idea is a new model for barrier island settlements; entire beach neighborhoods are raised high above the 100 year flood plain so that the barrier island below can naturally shift and change during storms with minimal impact to human habitation. More images and architects' description after the break.
MVRDV was just announced by the city of Emmen, Switzerland as the winners of the Feldbreite competition for a housing block, which consist of 95 homes of 16 different types. Their urban hybrid development proposal combines characteristics of city dwelling – central location, privacy, underground parking – with the characteristics of suburban life: gardens, multilevel living and a neighborhood community. Construction is expected to start in 2015. More images and architects’ description after the break.
AD Classics presents you with great buildings of the past, providing inspiration and motivation for architects to design for the future. But why must inspiration only come from poured concrete and erected walls? For this edition of AD Classics, we share a work, the Plug-In City, by the avant-garde group Archigram. Though never built, their projects and ideas provoked debates, combining architecture, technology and society; when Plug-In City was proposed in 1964, it offered a fascinating new approach to urbanism, reversing traditional perceptions of infrastructure’s role in the city.
More on this radical project after the break...
With the potential to become one of the most attractive cities in the greater Moscow region, the proposal by de Architekten Cie. for Odintsovo integrates dispersed urban fragments and the landscape into a harmonious whole. By injecting the iconographic urban fabric, cultivating existing greenery, enabling forest to penetrate to the center, forming green rooms, and greening (planting trees) on existing boulevards, the scale of the city is formatted on a human scale. More images and architects' description after the break.
Titled 'Between earth and sky', this proposal for the new Gateway of Shenzhen Southern University of Science and Technology by penda is a metaphor of formal contrasts to design a campus landmark. Their design for an entrance sculpture at the University is a connection of 2 opposites: the fluid, lower part connects the gate to the gentle hills of the landscape in the background and carries a grid of lights, which can be seen as a connection to the cosmos - a contrast of the earth and the sky. More images and architects' description after the break.
Recently chosen as one of the selected entries for the MOMA PS1 Rockaway Call for Ideas, the 'Occupy the Dune' proposal by Balmori Associates focuses on an infrastructure as the center for civic activity, protecting the community while connecting it socially and ecologically. Vegetation that colonizes the dunes surface is the most critical part of the ecosystem, adding strength and stability to blunt extreme winds and storm surge. More images and architects' description after the break.
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Rocco Design Architects Ltd., in collaboration with Gravity Partnership Ltd. and Wang Weijen Architecture, recently won the international competition for the new campus for the Chinese University of Hong Kong in Shenzhen. Currently in construction, the planning concept for the new campus is “Academic Clusters, Campus Green and Natural Terrain”. Phase one of the campus is expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2015. More images and architects’ description after the break.
In response to MoMA PS1's call for new ideas for rebuilding in the Rockaways after Hurricane Sandy, the 71% proposal by Reddymade Design + Horns and Tails Productions was one of the selected entries which suggests ways in which uncontrollable natural phenomena might be absorbed by the environment to create a balanced system of landscape, infrastructure, and architecture. A multi-layered proposal, it suggests several lines of defense and integration. More images and architects' description after the break.
Aiming to connect Haifa with the sea, the proposal for the New Haifa Waterfront Plan by Amir Mann-Ami Shinar Architects and Planners focuses on the making of large open public space along the water. Some new "warehouse-like" linear structures will be built, only two-story high, and all buildings, old and new, will maintain industrial character. Also, with the old cranes, the overhead grain-conveyers and other working port facilities will keep the unique port atmosphere. More images and architects’ description after the break.
The efforts of thousands who occupied Gezi Park, and those who joined them in solidarity via social media from around the world, have paid off. According to Reuters, a Turkish court has ruled against the Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan-backed development in which proposed to redesign Istanbul’s iconic Taksim Square and replace one of the populated city’s few public parks with a mall.
NC-Office shared with us their 'Floating Plaza' proposal for the competition that called for the urban concept and architectural design and development of Sveta Nedelya Square, in the city of Sofia. The main strategy for the project is to provide a clearly defined plaza for congregation in the heart of Sofia. To achieve this, the architects propose a plane which “peels” away from the north side of Sveta Nedelya Church and floats over Boulevard Vitosha. This ‘plane’ alludes to the historical use of that area of ancient Serdika. More images and architects' description after the break.
In response to the MOMA PS1 Rockaway Call for Ideas, ‘The Water Dyke’ proposal, which was one of the selected entries, focused not only on rebuilding the boardwalk, but on creating the boardwalk as a community gathering place and a functional infrastructure to protect the shoreline. Designed by Sorg Architects, their concept of the Water Dyke is to harness water itself to retain a storm surge and thereby the shoreline from damaging floods. More images and architects’ description after the break.
