After selling the previous Repsol tower, designed by Norman Foster to Caja Madrid, Spanish architect, Rafael de la Hoz was commissioned to design the company’s new headquarters. In an extensive area in southern Madrid, he designed a set of four buildings, which are intended to reflect the image of a campus.
A minor transatlantic controversy erupted last month after UK “architecture minister” aka Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport with responsibility for architecture and the built environment John Penrose apparently compared architects with other negatively-stereotyped groups, noting architects are “just one of those groups people love to mock.” The comments were part of a longer blog post about Rowan Atkinson, Dreamland, and VisitEngland’s new Smartphone-based marketing campaign.
The recession that began in 2007 technically ended in 2009, but you wouldn’t know it from visiting Detroit. The capital of U.S. auto manufacturing has been hit particularly hard, and stories of its plight during the economic downturn abound. Less reported, though, are the ideas and proposals put forth to return this city to its former glory. The urban renewal projects proposed are some of the latest in a long line of design projects that attempt to bring renewed prosperity and well being to the downtrodden sections of cities throughout the world. More on urban renewal and Detroit after the break.
Trahan Architects, among several elite design firms to contend, was selected to design “one of the most significant ecclesiastical commissions in the nation,” also known as the First Presbyterian Church of Colorado Springs. The proposed 1,750 seat sanctuary, along with a master plan comprises this project, which sits in the heart of downtown Colorado Springs, Colorado. The structure is relatively independent of overt signs of a church; its design aspires to revive the church’s identity through an architecture which articulates convergence.
More on the First Presbyterian Church of Colorado Springs after the break.
Inspired by varied and complex geographical environment of Taipei city and in order to fit to playful topography and landscape of the provided site, the design by Pikasch Architecture Studio proposes a land form architecture where the building with its striking form not only blends into the existing landscape and paths, but also works as an attractive centre point and organizes the site with optimal consideration of given parameters. More images and architects’ description after the break.
For years, we’ve kept a watchful eye on the entries of the Solar Decathlon competition -an amazing student collaborative effort which showcases the latest in sustainable design. Today, we’re bringing you a sneak peak of the 19 houses for the 2011 competition. The form and materiality may be different from one team to the next, yet the projects’ attitudes toward optimizing solar gain and having the design serve an educational example of clean energy is all the same. While the winner of the competition best blends affordability, consumer appeal, and design excellence with optimal energy production and maximum efficiency, we enjoy seeing each team’s proposal and learning about their process. Over the course of the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing more information about some of the projects of the 2011 competition (check out our in-depth look at Team New Jersey’s eNJoy House). Which would you like to learn more about?
Check out a sampling of the teams’ models and renderings after the break and let us know which you’d like to learn more about.
The Picker Art Gallery at Colgate University will host a reception on Tuesday, September 13, 5-7 p.m. to celebrate the new exhibition, An Architect’s Vision: Paul Rudolph and Colgate’s Creative Arts Center and the concurrent exhibition, After You Left, They Took It Apart, photographs by Chris Mottalini. Both open on August 30th and remain on view through October 7th
In 2007 Mottalini photographed three homes by the late Modernist architect Paul Rudolph (1918-1997), just days prior to their demolitions. The resulting images capture a state of Modernist architecture few people have witnessed, revealing the grace of these homes as they stood in defiance of severe neglect and ‘progress’. Mottalini’s photographs are the final portraits of these destroyed homes. More information and images on the exhibition after the break.
All interested architects are invited to partake in an open international competition for a new 4 star hotel in Jurmala, Latvia. The resort city, located on the coast of the Baltic Sea, is well known for its musical heritage, and the hotel will express elements related to music in its design concept.
The history of Jurmala has long been tied together with the musical character of the Baltic Sea – the sound of waves crashing on the beach, the whistling of old pine trees in the wind, the shrieking seagulls in the sky, the shifting sand under your feet, and even the distant chime of the leaving train – all of this and more creates a whole symphony in the memories of everyone who has ever been here. More competition information after the break.
STUDIO_KICK shared with us their proposal for the New Taipei City Art Museum competition. Their main goal is not to design an iconic form for the museum, but an iconic field activated by the museum, with events and interactions for the people. Rich in culture and natural scenery, Yingge, a western district in New Taipei City is an energetic city full of ongoing events. Therefore, the solution for a Modern Art Museum lies far from the traditional modern museum typology. More images and architects’ description after the break.
This video from McGraw-Hill Construction is a close look at the Mason Lane Farm, a LEED-Gold Farm Storage and Service Center in Goshen, Kentucky. Narrated by architect Roberto De Leon of De Leon & Primmer Architecture Workshop, the video gives insight into the strategies associated with passive, economic and simple construction systems. De Leon discusses orienting the buildings on the site, assessing appropriate materials and providing comfortable conditions for the workers on the farm.
In honor of its LEED Platinum certification earlier this year by the U.S.Green Building Council (USGBC), The Green Building of Louisville, KY will host an official plaque ceremony and exhibition reception for the public on Friday, September 2, 2011.
Details after the break.
Facing an abbreviated schedule for the information-gathering phase of the Surrey City Centre Libary, Bing Thom Architects (BTA) turned to social media for real-time public input. The result was spectacular!
Everyone knows the old adage and has most likely been stung by its inevitable truth. What happens, eventually, is that the other shoe unfortunately falls; the truth rears its ugly head and leaves us with egg on our face.
Well, it is no different in the world of architecture, construction, and real estate. Being deceived is a product of wanting something for less than its real value. Oftentimes we fall into the deception trap to close an unwanted gap between our budget and what we want actually costs. Budget and cost either match or they don’t! Expecting to get something for nothing, while human nature, is foolish. Either today or somewhere down the line, the truth will come out or it may be very hard to accept.
Five years ago, when the real estate and construction boom was out of control, there was always a shortage of really competent help because everyone was so busy. Prices became artificially high. People who were less and less qualified entered the workforce and were being hired regardless of the obvious. Let’s use Brooks as an example. I remember Brooks say, “He’s only a plumber. I’m not him paying $32,000…it’s only plumbing.” So instead of paying the licensed/insured/bonded plumbing company what they deserved, he had his general contractor friend (first mistake) hire some under qualified guy in order to “save” about 30%. “That’s gonna pay for my Viking stove,” he boasted at the time.
In the wake of Hurricane Irene it only seemed appropriate to take a second look at Rising Current, an exhibit that was featured at the MoMA just last year. To give you a refresher, the exhibit was a cohesive showcase of five projects tackling the lingering truth that within a few years, the waterfront of the New York harbor will drastically change.
Team Zero, comprised of ARO and dlandstudio, specifically took a look at the lower Manhattan landscape, proposing to develop a new soft and hard infrastructure solution paved with a mesh of cast concrete and engineered soil and salt tolerant plants. This would create greenways that act as absorptive sponges for rainwater. The porous green streets address daily tidal flows and storm surges with 3 interrelated high performance systems (network of parks, wetlands and tidal salt marshes). These systems stop sewage overflow, block higher sea levels and mitigate storm surge.
Rising Current provided an emphasis on how to re-think the city, relevant before, and even more pressing now after the flooding from the hurricane. Let’s hope that the ideas for solutions that were generated from the exhibit can now be considered for implementation. More about Rising Currents and Team Zero’s solution following the break.
Resources about the pros and cons of cargo container architecture can be found here.
The new Busan Opera House, designed by Nabito Arquitectura, will put the city on the international map, allowing it to become part of the network of world renowned opera houses. As another node in the network, the I-Opera, the title of their project, will not only be integrated on an international level, but it will also serve as a landmark on the local level. It will be present in the collective memory of the people of Busan and also be a part of their daily life experience. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Last week we presented you the book Blueprints of the Star Wars Galaxy, an amazing compilation of over 200 highly detailed architectural drawings created for all six films of the Star Wars Saga.
The book will be limited to only 5,000 prints in english, and thanks to ArchDaily and Epic Ink Books you can win a copy!
To win this 35-pound book (priced at $500) all you need to do is follow these simple instructions:
We recently received the newest edition of Mark Magazine. Number 33 offers in depth looks of several projects ArchDaily has previously featured such as: Sunset Chapel by BNKR Arquitectura, iGuzzini Illuminazione Spain Headquarters by MiAS Arquitectes, Villa Geldrop by Hofman Dujardin Architects, the 3D Athletics Track by Subarquitectura, Helicopter Building by Stephane Maupin & Nicolas Hugon, House in Nasu by Kazunori Fujimoto Architect & Associates, House in Sunami by Kazunori Fujimoto, Merida Factory Youth Movement by Selgas Cano, Metropol Parasol by J. Mayer H. Architects, Inside House & Outside House by Takeshi Hosaka Architects, Atelier Tenjinyama by Ikimono Architects, and The Termite Pavilion by Rupert Soar. If you enjoyed these features you’ll want to pick up this copy of Mark. There are several more project featured and an interview with structural engineer Niccolo Baldassin who has worked with Frank Gehry, Tom Mayne, and Renzo Piano.
Check out a preview we spotted on PublicInterestDesign of Tulane University’s School of Architecture URBANbuild program, a total collaborative effort of “individuals, organizations, and businesses committed to revitalizing New Orleans’ rich cultural and architectural heritage.” Working with Professor Byron Mouton, Make It Right and Neighborhood Housing Services of New Orleans, students have designed and built several LEED-certified homes such as URBANbuild 04 featured in the clip. This particular residence is situated in Central City of New Orleans and completely breaks with the traditional “shotgun homes” that line the streets. The young homeowner, Tami, appreciates the students’ talents and abilities to go beyond what the neighborhood, and even the city, is comfortable with to create a new urban identity. Challenged by Mouton to introduce new ideas, the students have created a beautiful residence that they can certainly be proud of and one that Tami loves View her story and a bit of the project’s journey in the video.
With exhibitions, venue-specific installations, theme specials, talks, and of course plenty of opportunities to party and network, Vienna Design Week is an attraction not only for the international design scene. It most explicitly aims to appeal to a wide public audience in Vienna, including international guests: in cooperation with many partners – museums, institutions and companies – the whole city becomes a platform and a showcase for design. The Vienna Design Week does not have the character of a trade fair, but instead offers a variety of venues and approaches specific to Vienna. More information on the event after the break.
Based in Egypt, young architecture firm Task Architects shared with us their proposal for the Busan Opera House competition. With the largest port in the country, Busan makes for one of the most important cities in Korea as the project is located in the newly developed area of the north port. Therefore, they wanted to create an Icon. A monument that would shift the vision of the locals and international visitors alike. The design would create new experiences for each visitor in order to be welcoming and inviting to become the city’s vision of future development. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Among the exhibition highlights this coming fall at the CCA (Canadian Centre for Architecture) is Imperfect Health, which premieres on October 25th, 2011 and will be on view until April 1st, 2012.
Imperfect Health, the latest in a series of thematic investigations produced by the CCA, examines how architects, urban and landscape designers are critically responding to society’s increasing concern with health issues. Presented in the main galleries of the CCA, the exhibition is curated by Giovanna Borasi, CCA Curator of Contemporary Architecture and Mirko Zardini, CCA Director and Chief Curator. More information on the events after the break.
“Unfinished Spaces” is a critically acclaimed documentary about the ambitious design and construction of the Escuelas Nacionales de Arte, or National Art School in Havana, Cuba in 1961, which was to feature schools of ballet, modern dance, music, drama and plastic arts. The university was the brain child of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara who wanted to establish a prestigious, cutting-edge arts university for the people of Cuba. The project was abandoned due to cut funding and ideological differences, but the three architects responsible for the design, Ricardo Porro, Vittorio Garatti and Roberto Gottardi, were still excited when in March 1999 they were called to lay out a budget to preserve the languished schools.
Read on for more on the history of the Escuelas Nacionales de Arte and images of the campus.
Brooklyn based interaction designer Cooper Smith has created an amazing series of videos documenting pedestrian travel within Manhattan. By tracking the paths of 1000 Nike Plus (Nike’s new smart running shoe) runs, he was able to produce and distill a wide variety of data. The results are quite elegant in terms of graphics, and offer insight into the patterns of urban travel. For more videos visit Cooper’s website.
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