C.F. Møller Architects just won a shared first prize in the competition for the new Opera and Culture Center in Norway, entitled Kulturkvartalet. This new Opera Center will house the country’s oldest opera in Kristiansund, the capital of the region of Nordmøre. The site proposes an interesting challenge as the new design must integrate two existing buildings with the proposed new urban center, and the most critical component becomes the shared urban space between the old and the new which will ultimately connect the Opera and Culture Center with pedestrian streets and a nearby park.
This past week, we’ve featured several of Jeffrey Durkin’s videos, such as Lindsay Brown’s ideas for the SD Waterfront and Miki Iwasaki’s philosophy on furniture design, architecture and society. This video highlights Jonathan Segal, a San Diego developer and architect, who focuses on urban projects such as high-density residence, mixed use, and live/work units.
A few days ago, we introduced Junya Ishigami’s Kanagawa Institute of Technology Workshop, a lightweight studio space with an interesting interior due to 305 slender columns. Our friend, Brandon Shigeta, shared his photos with us that illustrate Ishigami’s technique of using column distribution as a space generator. Although the slender columns appear randomly distributed, the architects’ seemingly scattered order has created defined zones that subdivide the large studio workspace.
More images and more about the columns after the break.
We have told you in the past about Brad Pitt´s Make It Right Foundation. They have been working with a group of international architects to redevelop the Lower 9th Ward in New Orleans, after hurricane Katrina. The name of the foundation addresses the desire of Pitt, architecture enthusiast, to design these houses the best way and not just as a temporary solution, in a process that also included working not only with these renowned firms, but also very close with the community, with a focus on sustainable development.
Recently, we were invited to see Sir James Dyson’s newest technology in the Pomegranate Gallery. Perhaps the name sounds familiar, and rightly so. The company continually makes innovative products that remain at the top of their market, such as their Dual Cyclone which became the fastest selling vacuum cleaner ever to be made in the UK, or their washing machine with two rotating drums which move in opposite directions, or even their hand dryer which produces an air stream flowing at 400 mph. With a background in industrial design, Dyson’s work combines modern engineering with an aesthetic undertone, all in an effort to achieve energy efficiency. Their creativity comes to life within their Malmesbury headquarters, a long span structure topped with an undulating roof designed by Wilkinson Eyre Architects.
Our friends from Studio One Eleven have just broken ground on Long Beach’s newest urban farm. The design is an extension of the New City School, a charter campus within the Long Beach Unified School District, that will teach children important lessons about the environment and nutrition.”The need to grow locally, provide affordable organic foods, and reconnect people to the land is an issue we are very passionate about at Studio One Eleven. All of our projects…represent our interest in improving the natural and built environment while creating a better community,” explained Michael Bohn, principal of the firm.
More images and more about the urban farm after the break.
Jeffrey Durkin, founder of Breadtruck Films, has documented the ongoing efforts of the architect + developer movement to revitalize San Diego’s urban waterfront. In a city where a tree, let alone a patch of grass, is hard to come by, architect Lindsay Brown has proposed a public park along the edge of the city to break the monotonous hardscape of buildings and highways that dominate the area.
More about the design, including renderings from the architect.
We featured Chilean firm Supersudaka several times previously on AD because we enjoy their architectural philosophy – especially their claim that, “We don’t want to change the world with architecture, we want to change architecture with the world.” For their Mirage House, the client could not make a decision about what to build on his 5000 m2 plot, leading Supersudaka to think up an interesting solution.
Check out Junya Ishigami and Associates‘amazing studio + workspace where students of the Kanagawa Institute of Technology get to spend their days designing. The studio is about the closest you can get to the feeling of working outside while being indoors. The floor-to-ceiling glass makes the building appear weightless and elegant, and the open plan preserves the building’s sense of transparency as the viewer’s eye can shoot directly across the uninterrupted space. 305 columns of various sizes support the stripped roof of skylights, yet their white color keeps the focus on the space and the view, not the structure. The columns, although seemingly random, as specifically placed to create the sensation of zoned spaces, but their nonrestrictive quality provides a flexible layout to suit the changing needs of students.
Our Cities Ourselves: The Future of Transportation in Urban Life has just kicked off its worldwide tour starting in New York at the Center for Architecture. The exhibit shows the visions of ten of the world’s developing cities from ten of the world’s leading architects. Over the next 20 years, these places will experience urban growth on a grand scale and the urban planning efforts will create successful cities through better transportation.
We are loving the fact that as Field Operations and DS+R’s High Line keeps developing, new residential and commercial entities are following suite, popping up adjacent to the tracks, over the tracks, and even under the tracks. And now, Konyk Architecturewill join in the urban renewal which is unfolding in the Meat-Packing District with their new event space that will rest underneath the High Line adjacent to Neil Denari’s HL23 Condominium (previously featured on AD).
More about the winning event space after the break.
The DMY International Design Festival Berlin Awardannually highlights the most exceptional works in contemporary product design, with strong consideration of the teams’ approaches, rather than just their final results. This year, a facet of the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne - EPFL + ECAL Lab – was named one of the winners for their exhibition ‘Give Me More’. Eight installations depicted augmented reality scenarios, combining analogue materials and digital applications to “turn technology into a new medium.”
Shot by architect turned filmmaker Jeffrey Durkin, this introspective piece on designer/architect/professor Miki Iwasakiexplores how “the small objects in our life shape the big picture of how we live.” What began as a video aimed to capture the essence of Iwasaki’s furniture design quickly transformed into a short piece which addresses larger issues of society and the ramifications of design and consumerism.
In our latest AD Futures, we introduced JAJA Architects, an up-and-coming Danish firm. The backgrounds of the firm’s three principals (Norwegian, Danish, Japanese, Thai and Swiss) form an interesting design aesthetic, as their influences fuse together to make a strong statement. The young firm recently won a competition for a mix-use building in Denmark with their proposal entitled the Cornerstone – an office building that gives Vanløse a new visual anchor point and a place where people can meet to see the urban life unfold.
Not so long ago, we featured Cyril-Emmanuel Issanchou’sMaison Eco-rce, a timber residence, and today, we share his EC*-Cocoon, a low energy house. Designed for the competition BETWIN, the low energy houses are prefabricated modules that are installed upon a set of walls and plinths made from locally gathered stones.
This year is looking positive for women in the architectural field in San Francisco. As The Architect’s Newspaper reported, the city just sent out an RFQ to firms for its “as-needed work” list, a procedure which happens every three years.
Proposals should contribute to SUPERFRONT’s mission of supporting and promoting radical contemporary architecture while fostering creative interdisciplinary exchange. Please include list of exhibitors, description of works, select images, and relevant curatorial or exhibition experience.
We are sure that SO-IL‘s PS1 installation, Pole Dance, will be a hit this summer. On Friday we had a preview by Alan R Tansey and today, we found at Iwan Baan’s website another view on the installation. We hope you’ll be able to visit the project in person sometime.
We shared GENETO’sIvy Building a few days ago, and we just got our hands on this video of the project. Be sure to check out the full story on the project, and enjoy the video.
One World Trade Center has reached a construction milestone by rising 260 ft above street level. Upon its completion in 2013, it will become the tallest office building in the United States reaching 104 stories.
The University of California, Berkeley just announced that they have chosen to work with Diller Scofidio + Renfro to design the new Berkeley Art Musuem + Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA). The site of the new museum is a crucial component for connecting the Berkeley campus while also activating the downtown arts and commerce districts.
