Tomorrow, Amazon representatives are scheduled to present their design for a three-block proposal that will introduce three new towers to the Seattle skyline and add 3.3 million square feet of office space to the downtown area. Quite possibly the largest development ever proposed downtown, the complex will consume five acres in the Denny Triangle Urban Village that is currently being used for parking, the Sixth Avenue Inn and the King Cat Theater.
Continue reading for more information on the Denny Triangle project.
A mix of twenty local and internationally renowned firms have been invited to participate in a design competition seeking “creative and practical design concepts” on thirteen acres of prime waterfront real estate at the historic Fort Mason Center in San Francisco. Although mostly comprised of parking lots and former military buildings, the site attracts nearly one million annual visitors with its stellar views, cultural events, historic background and well-respected restaurant.
Danish architects from 1:1 Arkitektur, in collaboration with Facit Homes, are constructing an entire house in just four weeks with only their computer and a CNC machine. Constructed entirely out of wood, the printed house demonstrates a sustainable, quick and affordable alternative to conventional building that minimizes waste and simplifies the buildings process. Many argue that this way of building is the future of construction.
The votes are in! Elected officials have voted 11-10 against the resolution to demolish Paul Rudolph’s iconic Orange County Government Center in Goshen, New York. The long, intense debate on whether or not to keep and restore the 1970’s Brutalist building has added an immense amount of interest to an ever-growing discussion focused on the value of modern architecture.
New York-based architectural photographer Paul Clemence has shared with us recent images and his thoughts on Massachusetts College of Art and Design’s new student residence hall that is being constructed in downtown Boston. The 21-story, $61 million building is planned for completion this year.
Boston is not particularly known as a destination for trendy, contemporary architecture; but some new buildings are beginning to change that perception. From Diller Scofidio Renfro’s Institute of Contemporary Art to Norman Foster’s new wing at The Museum of Fine Arts to the recently completed Renzo Piano addition to the beloved Gardner Museum, the city’s urbanscape is getting a much needed updating. And now, a soon to be finished bold new project by the firm ADD Inc is bringing a colorful twist to the mix. They are the designers behind the new MassArt Students Residence Hall.
Our friends at Dwell have shared with us their short film featuring the legendary Michael Graves inside his beautiful Princeton home in which he created out of a disused warehouse. In the film, Graves shares the discoveries he made when renovating his house and thoughts about his career, his practice and universal design.
The film was directed and edited by Gary Nadeau. Continue after the break for the complete list of credits.
After an intense and highly publicized competition, the Trust for the National Mall has announced the three winning teams selected to redesign the neglected sites of America’s front yard. As reported by the Washington Post, Rogers Marvel Architects &Peter Walkerand Partners will redesign Constitution Gardens east of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, while Weiss/Manfredi&OLIN will bring new life to the Sylvan Theater, southeast of the Washington Monument. The Union Square will be forwarded to the Architect of the Capitol and transformed by Gustafson Guthrie Nichol&Davis Brody Bond.
Continue reading for more on the winning proposals.
An interdisciplinary team of Princeton University students have been awarded top honors, along with 14 other collegiate teams, for their ‘Power in a Box’ invention that converted a standard shipping container into a sustainable source of energy for remote or disaster-torn regions. The 18-month national competition, known as the “P3: People, Prosperity and the Plant Student Design Competition for Sustainability”, began in the fall of 2010 with 165 competitor and culminated April 21 and 22 on the Washington, D.C. Mall. The U.S. Environment Protection Agency has awarded the students with a $90,000 grant to further develop and implement their project.
Continue reading for more information on ‘Power in a Box’.
Mark your calendars! In less than three weeks, ArchDaily founders David Basulto and David Assael will join Bjarke Ingels of BIG, Toru Hasegawa of Morpholio and Columbia University, and Carlo Aiello of eVolo for a lecture and panel discussion that will explore the impact of social media, technology and device culture on the way we design and practice. Moderated by Ned Cramer, editor-in-chief of Architect, Going Viral is part of the AIANY 2012 Global Dialogues that has been dedicated to “uncovered connections” with the intention to investigate issues that are similarly impacting multiple regions, cultures and individuals. In addition, selected game changing blogs and websites will be exhibited as Voices Going Viral on the evening of the event.
Going Viral will take place at the NY Center for Architecture on May 21st at 6:00 pm. It is free to join, but please RSVP. Continue after the break for more information.
The Garage Center for Contemporary Culture – a non-profit international arts space based in Moscow founded by Daria Zhukova – has unveiled plans for a new building in Gorky Park. Designed by OMA, Garage Gorky Park will renovate the famous 1960s Vremena Goda (Seasons of the Year) restaurant, a prefabricated concrete structure that has been derelict for more than two decades. Garage is expected to complete and occupy this 5,400-square-meter building sometime next year, with plans to later expand to the nearby Hexagon pavilion (or Machine Pavilion).
Rem Koolhaas: “We were able, with our client and her team, to explore the qualities of generosity, dimension, openness, and transparency of the Soviet wreckage and find new uses and interpretations for them; it also enabled us to avoid the exaggeration of standards and scale that is becoming an aspect of contemporary art spaces.”
Metro officials have released six conceptual visions that suggest how the historic Los Angeles Union Station could be transformed by 2050. Preliminary “Vision Boards” were released in a public forum at Union Station last week, and although they are not part of the formal evaluation process, they have ignited an immense amount of public interest in the competition.
In an article posted on The Source, Los Angeles Mayor and Metro Board Chair Antonio Villaraigosa described that this competition is “about preparing for the future.” As plans for the California High-Speed Rail System evolve, it is imperative that Union Station is redeveloped to meet the standards of a 21st century transportation hub.
Continue after the break to view each Vision Board provided by the six well-known practices shortlisted for the competition.
Aerial photographer Jason Hawkes captures London’s hazy skyline in both day and night. Although still under construction, The Shard appears to already dwarf most to the city. The building is designed by Renzo Piano and is slated to become the tallest in Europe. In addition, Norman Foster’s infamous Gherkin, formally known as the Swiss Re Building, is instantly recognizable in nearly every frame as it is a landmark within the dense metropolis.
With the installation of a girder on the 100th floor, the One World Trade Center has become the tallest building in New York. Currently standing at 1,271 feet (387m) tall, the “Freedom Tower” has surpassed the 1,250 foot Empire State Building. Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the One World Trade Center will become the tallest building in the US and the third tallest in the world upon completion.
SADAR + VUGA, in collaboration with LENS°ASS Architecten, has been selected as winner of an invited competition to design three new buildings on the Campus Schoonmeersen of the University College Ghent in Belgium. The campus development master plan will include a new building for the Study of Social Work (SOAG), a Sports Hall Extension and the Renovation of Building B that includes the adjoining Student Plaza. This highly anticipated project is expected to commence in late May. Continue after the break to learn more about each new facility.
Filmed back in 2009, this TED Talk by Daniel Libeskind has yet to diminish in popularity. Once a free-verse poet, an opera set designer and a virtuoso musician, Libeskind has evolved into an internationally-renowned architect with an illustrious style that has been praised and criticized by many. In just seventeen words, Libeskind describes what inspires his unique approach to architecture. Believing that optimism is what drives architecture forward, he begins by stating, “Architecture is not based on concrete and steel and the elements of the soil. It’s based on wonder.”
Enjoy the talk and continue after the break to review Libeskind’s seventeen words of architectural inspiration.
Just two years after its opening, the Maxxi Museum in Rome is threatened with closure. The country’s current economic crisis has resulted in major cuts in cultural funding, causing a great deal of stress on the arts. As BD reports, earlier this month the museum was told that the government’s contribution to its €11 million budget would fall to less than €2 million for 2012. Now, as the museum officials failed to set a budget for 2013, the government has reportedly begun proceedings to put the high-profile museum under special administration.
Designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, the 2010 Stirling Prize winning national art and architecture museum has attracted more than 450,000 visitors per year. Hadid has described the museum’s success as “remarkable”, as it quickly built a prestigious, international reputation within the world of contemporary art.
In 2011, the Russian Federation Council confirmed that the city of Moscow will annex 150,000 hectares to the southwest in order to overcome its chronic space problems, making Moscow 2.4 times larger than its current size. The expansion is designed to relieve pressure on the over-populated, historic city center by redistributing the working places to the annexed part of the Moscow Oblast, thus addressing transport, ecological and social issues that result from high levels of commuting.
Before Moscow’s new administrative borders come into force this July, the Council invited 10 teams to develop the concept of the Moscow Agglomeration. OMA has been announced as winner of the competition’s first round that focused on a plan for the Moscow Agglomeration as a whole.
Continue reading for more on OMA’s Moscow City Agglomeration Development Concept.
