Each year the Kultur Gut Poggenhagen Foundation opens up a competition for young architects to design temporary low-cost dwellings for artists. The aim of Studio Bang’s design is an optimal cost-benefit ratio reached by well selected, qualified materials and a simple multifunctional form. More images and brief description after the break.
Calling for a 3.500 sqm combined community center and sports facility with an emphasis on sustainability, both in construction and use, PARK decided to go with a bold strategy they titled ‘Pulsen’. Rather than applying the traditional repertoire of green technologies to the building, after initial concept design was developed, the client called for an architecture that embodied the idea of the sustainable approach. More images and project description after the break.
The ARTCUBE exhibition contains a novel interactive sculpture comprising photographs of the artistic processes and techniques captured by Brandon Shigeta. Stacked into random arrays forming a single cubic massing, the sculpture includes hidden signed cards and custom artwork on the surface of the postcards by artists. Perhaps qualifying the exhibit as the heaviest photographic exhibit ever, the sculpture consists of approximately 65,000 postcards of approximately 80 various images to be removed by visitors as souvenirs. More images and description of the exhibition after the break.
Designed for the Ordos 20+10 project, this office complex by Preston Scott Cohen serves to create a whole new office building typology in its stance on site, promenade, and public space.
A new set of tools have been developed by researchers at MIT in collaboration with China’s Tsinghua University that will evaluate the performance and energy consumption of large-scale projects. Led by Dennis Frenchman and Christopher Zegras from MIT’s School of Architecture + Planning, these new set of guidelines and tools are a proactive response to the rapid urbanization of China and its ever-increasing development and infrastructure projects. The main goal is to introduce sustainable methods of implementation and construction, and responsible energy patterns one neighborhood at a time.
Architects: Parametr Indonesia
Location: Depok, Indonesia
Project Year: 2011
Project Area: 163 m2
Photographs: Sispriyadi Budiyarso
Recent graduates of the Masters program at Ball State University’s College of Architecture and Planning, Adam Buente and Kyle Perry have spent the last couple years developing their unique interests and ideas into a business of their own. Working with fellow students Elizabeth Boone and Eric Brockmeyer, they began a collaborative graduate thesis project focused on exploring the possibilities of design and fabrication via digital equipment as a business platform. After their first year out of school they have begun to independently manage their Indiana based company. PROJECTiONE recently produced the ACADIA competition winner HYPERLAXITY and boast other projects such as EXOtique, bitMAPS, and Radiance. Words and images from the PROJECTiONE team after the break.
This summer design/build program for architecture students aims to get their hands dirty with both design and construction experience. Relocating from their Brooklyn studio home at Direct Design Institute students and professorers participated in a one week building work shop at the Five Sisters Farm in Perrysville, New York. Funded by Kickstarter (today is the last day to donate!) +FARM provides students with the opportunity to learn about “direct design” by observation and the physical act of making a movable Chicken Coop and restoring an old farm house to be later used as an artist colony and hunter’s house.
INDEX dreams of a world that is designed to suit the needs and aspirations of mankind. Their ten years of experience have shown, through thousands of conversations and thousands of life-improving designs, that design is a decisive factor towards creating a better world.
The 60 finalists for INDEX: Award 2011 have been carefully selected by the international INDEX: Jury as the best of the best Design to Improve Life. As a whole, the finalist group offers unique proof of the wide reach and huge potential of Design to Improve Life in terms of challenges addressed, solutions created and people affected. More images and description after the break.
The city of Korla has announced that inFORM Studio has been selected as the winner of an international design competition for the Civic Cultural Exhibition and Activity Center in Korla, China. It will be a symbol of a progressive future for the region of Xinjiang. The conceptual proposal embraces the master plan vision for an axial relationship of cultural buildings and a strong east/west pedestrian linkage through the site; it also responds intelligently to the climate, geological heritage, ecology, and contextual views and relationships. More about the Civic Cultural Exhibition and Activity Center after the break.
OPEN Architecture was invited to participate in a competition to design a zeppelin hangar situated in the serene landscape of Maan Mountain of Auhui Province, China. The challenge is to design a single structure with a clearance of 100 meters wide by 300 meters long and 100 meters in height to house the production and storage of the zeppelin. The structure also demands a single door with a clear opening of 100 meter by 100 meter to let the zeppelin go in and out. Heavy duty cranes are to be hung off the ceiling of the structure, adding substantial loads to this super structure. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Designing a gathering point for the city of Timisoara, Prechteck’s main focus for the pavilion was to stand out as an attractor and fit in the context at the same time. Located within the green lung of the city with direct connection to its surrounding districts and due to its vertical orientation, the highseat has a great potential to serve as a cultural, social and urban focal point to attract people back to the park. More images and brief project description after the break.
In an open competition, Alireza Mahdizadeh Hakak, Ali Aleali, & Fatemeh Farmanfarmayee were challenged to design a 10,000m2 commercial center for building industry in the Gilan Province, which is located in the northern part of Iran within a moderate climate and surrounded with forests. Enough precipitation and unique landscape scenes are the main characteristics of the site. More images and architects’ description after the break.
A new vision of the map for London’s Tube has been posted to depict a more geographically accurate representation of the underground train system. Navigate through the map for yourself here: http://www.london-tubemap.com/.
Cushman & Wakefield, in collaboration with the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance’s BetterBricks Initiative, recently released its second annual Green Building Opportunity Index and three New York City submarkets cracked the top ten. Midtown, Midtown South, and Downtown placed second, fourth, and seventh, respectively in the Index. One of the goals of this initiative is to assist urban planners and policymakers in examining data to understand what new policies and incentives may be useful in accelerating green building practices at the local level.
The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc., currently the sixth largest bank in the United States, is a leader in green design, currently possessing over 100 green buildings. PNC was an early adopter of sustainable design, opening its first green building in 2000. PNC and Gensler have recently announced plans to design and construct the world’s most environmentally friendly skyscraper at PNC’s headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. More information and images after the break.
Vernacular architecture, the simplest form of addressing human needs, is seemingly forgotten in modern architecture. However, due to recent rises in energy costs, the trend has sensibly swung the other way. Architects are embracing regionalism and cultural building traditions, given that these structures have proven to be energy efficient and altogether sustainable. In this time of rapid technological advancement and urbanization, there is still much to be learned from the traditional knowledge of vernacular construction. These low-tech methods of creating housing which is perfectly adapted to its locale are brilliant, for the reason that these are the principles which are more often ignored by prevailing architects.
More on vernacular architecture after the break.
Material Landscapes is an exhibition that recently opened at the Sheldon Art Gallery in St. Louis, Missouri. The show is curated by Liane Hancock, Assistant Professor at Louisiana Tech University. It features materiality in contemporary landscape architecture through projects by a group of national and international landscape architects.
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