L&L Holding just unveiled an exhibit of conceptual designs created by the four finalists in its recently-concluded international architecture competition to design a new 425 Park Avenue tower in Manhattan’s prestigious Plaza District. The exhibit is running as part of the Municipal Art Society’s 2012 MAS Summit for New York City being held at Jazz at Lincoln Center on until today, October 19.
The two-day exhibit includes brief narratives and a host of visuals that were included as part of each finalist’s submissions, which were first presented to L&L Holding in July. The submissions on display are from the following international firms, each led by a Pritzker Prize-winning architect: competition winner Foster + Partners (Lord Norman Foster), Rogers, Stirk, Harbour + Partners (Lord Richard Rogers), OMA (Rem Koolhaas) and Zaha Hadid Architects. More images and information on the finalists’ proposals after the break.
The Daegu Gosan Public Library Competition Entry by Eduardo Lopez arises from two considerations; in the first place, understanding the importance of the facade as a foreground and background to the library site and secondly, taking up the radical change to the direct link between the ‘green belt’ and the surrounding area. To resolve this, the architects attempt to merge the library volume with the buildings next to it and create a movement in the facade, where the trees of the ‘green belt’ carve the facade vertically, creating a sense of dynamism. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Named in tribute to Ken Roberts, a Dallas-based architect, the annual Ken Roberts Memorial Delineation Competition has grown from an event that recognized hand-drawn renderings of local area architects to a competition that encompasses architectural delineation made in a variety of media by students and professionals the world over. Organized by AIA Dallas, “KRob” is the longest-running architectural drawing competition anywhere. New to this year’s competition is a category dedicated to travel sketches, open to all students and professionals. Prize winners in all categories will receive a generous assortment of hardware from Doghouse and Wacom as well as software provided by Corel.
A small group of diverse students participating in the inaugural AA Visiting School Eugene were given the responsibility to design and build something that would enhance and reflect the forest, within a ten-day timeframe.
MAS Context, a quarterly journal created by MAS Studio, recently released their fifteenth issue: VISIBILITY. Making visible the invisible. That was the title of their interview with interactive designer George Legrady. Conceived for the Seattle Public Library, it visualizes the circulation of books going in and out of the library’s collection. This issue continues to make visible the invisible conditions present around us that inform the way we engage with the city. At the same time, they are bringing forgotten landscapes, hidden away systems and lost environments back to the forefront of the discussion, all of them significant in our history and waiting to be reexamined. To download the journal, please visit here. More information after the break.
The competition also included Atelier Christian de Portzamparc, Ateliers Jean Nouvel, Herzog & de Meuron, KPF, Maki and Associates, Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Richard Meier, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners and Zaha Hadid Architects; and all the projects will be presented today at the MAS NY Summit.
Constructed for Beijing Design Week 2012, the ‘Ban’ pavilion draws inspiration from floral petals in the way the shape of the flower is created by its bent petals. Designed by Orproject, Ban is constructed from bent polymer sheets which form a self-supporting structure and create shapes and volume from a multitude of leaves. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Scheidt Kasprusch Architekten shared with us their first prize winning proposal in the competition for the new building of depot and workshops for the regional authorities for culture and preservation of historical monuments and state museum in Schwerin, Germany. Located on the former barrack ground on the Johannes‐Stelling Street, the proposed concept completes the former military base in the southern part. Records and documents from over 60 different sites are combined in the central repository and its associated workshops while a connecting structure combines three different depots to the workshop building in the South. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Snøhetta was recently selected as the winner of the Busan Opera House Competition in South Korea with their ‘Unpacking the Box’ concept. Their proposal is conceived not as frozen music but rather as an instrument, upon which we can play. This instrument is neither a white cube nor a black box, empty devoid of expression; this Opera building outward expresses the values and ethos of the place and content. More images and architects’ description after the break.
The design proposal for a new tramway line in the city of Luxembourg by Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands aims to revive the city’s original tram system which was installed in 1859 and ceased in the 1960s. The project will provide enormous strategic improvement in public transport in Luxembourg and hopes to achieve a new standard of urban space for Europe. The new tram line is a central element in the Government of Luxembourg’s sustainable mobility or “MoDu” strategy, which sets out to improve transport connections across the city. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Mayor Vincent C. Gray has announced Davis Brody Bond, KADCON and Robert Silman Associates as the winning team to design the new St. Elizabeths East Gateway Pavilion on the St. Elizabeths Hospital east campus in Washington D.C. Designed by Davis Brody Bond, the $5 million Gateway Pavilion will transform an existing “weedy, fenced-in plaza fronting Martin Luther King Avenue SE in Congress Heights” into a sustainable, multi-purpose structure that will provide “a venue for casual dining, a farmers’ market and other weekend and after-hours community, cultural and arts events”.
Indeed, largely because of their gargantuan energy requirements and high-tech secrets, Data Centers have been shrouded in mystery since their beginnings. This is particularly true in Google’s case. When Andrew Blum, author of Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet, visited Google’s Data Center in The Dalles, Oregon, he said it was like “ a prison,” and couldn’t even get past the cafeteria. Nary a peek has been seen of a Google Data Center.
Until now, that is. Google just launched a new website,Where the Internet Lives, which features never-before-seen images of eight of Google’s 9 data centers, the places the “physical internet” calls home.
Check out the images of these never-before-seen Data Centers, after the break…
