News: The Latest Architecture and News

With ever-increasing rates of chronic and veteran homelessness amongst low-income households, Los Angeles’ pressing demand for affordable social housing is being addressed by Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects, with their design of MLK1101 Supportive Housing, which has just begun construction.

Working in collaboration with non-profit Clifford Beers Housing, LOHA’s intention is to focus on health and community within a comfortable environment. This is achieved through a number of strategies, including exposing the building towards the street to integrate the building into the neighborhood creating strong community ties.

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BAD. Built by Associative Data, in collaboration with MARZ Studio, has released the plans for its newest project, No. 5, a mixed-use space in the heart of Jonah in Beirut City, Lebanon. Designed with parametric studies in mind, the project takes into account view orientations, solar radiation, wind infiltration, and program through its various levels of massing.

Sited next to the prominent Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium on one of the busiest corners in the area, the building is “very present and visible from the street level, hence the proposal’s pixelated massing.”

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Have you ever felt yourself teetering on the edge of insanity? Or how about being this close to your tipping point? No? Well, it seems that architect Christophe Benichou has, and the result is a cubic small scale structure balancing upon the precipice of Pic-Saint-Loup.

Aptly named Tip-Box, the fictional project was originally conceived for a soon-to-be 30-year-old friend of Benichou’s. Perhaps realizing that presents should be restricted to more traditional boxes, the space is intended to serve as an outpost for contemplation and rest for hikers in the mountains of Montpellier.

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Australia-based Bates Smart has released the plans for 5 King, a high-performance commercial space and the tallest engineered timber building in Australia. At 52 meters tall, the building will additionally feature the largest gross floor area (GFA) for an engineered timber office building worldwide.

Based on the concepts of connecting with nature and preserving the environment, 5 King will utilize a combination of cross-laminated timber (CLT) and glue-laminated timber (Glulam) to achieve “the structural strength of concrete and steel with a low carbon footprint.”

Rome-based Schiattarella Associati has unveiled its designs for the King Fahd International Stadium, a refurbishment project that will modify the existing structure, located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to accommodate almost 50,000 spectators.

In order to link the ground level with the concourse level of the structure, the design focuses on creating an artificial hill at the base of the stadium.

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Planning approval has been granted to British firm FaulknerBrowns Architects, for the construction of a new residential tower on the site of a dilapidated warehouse building, in Newcastle upon Tyne.

“We have worked extremely hard to design a building of the highest quality and we believe this development will create a positive landmark for the city, representative of its ambitious and forward thinking outlook,” said Paul Rigby, partner at FaulknerBrowns.

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AART Architects have won the competition to transform the Aarhus Municipal Hospital into a new campus for Aarhus University in Denmark.

In an effort to renew and enhance the original qualities of the site—like its red tile façades and consistent compositions of public space—as well as to support academic and urban life of the future, the project will uphold “the site’s historical potential by paving the way for new prospects to create a forward-looking transformation of this unique spot.”

The Singapore Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) has selected KCAP Architects&Planners as the primary consultant to develop Singapore’s Jurong Lake District, leading a varied design team that includes SAA Architects, Arup, S333, and Lekker.

Submitting a dense, commercial mixed-use concept masterplan centered around a new high-speed rail (HSR) terminal in Singapore, the team’s intention was to facilitate the Jurong Lake District’s progress as a ‘district of the future’, as well as creating the country’s second Central Business District. Waterways and a variety of landscaped green spaces were also key components of the proposal, giving the area a striking identity.

Eleven of the United States’ most prestigious architects have been selected by developers Hoffman-Madison Waterfront (HMW), to commence Phase 2 of The Wharf, a $2 billion neighborhood situated on the southwest waterfront of Washington D.C. The development is adjacent to the National Mall, spanning 24 acres of land and 50 acres of water.

“We have selected a diverse group of locally, nationally, and internationally renowned designers, knowing they will bring their talent and expertise to The Wharf, building a waterfront neighborhood that is an integral part of the city,” said Shawn Seaman, principal and Senior VP of Development at PN Hoffman.

“Who would’ve thought a parking garage could be so interesting?”

In this video aired by the Louisiana Channel, Kathrin Susanna Gimmel and Jan Yoshiyuki Tanaka, both co-founders of Copenhagen-based firm JAJA Architects, explain the ideology behind the “Park ‘n’ Play” parking garage. Bright red, atop the 24-meter high car park, sits a playground which, in combination with a rooftop garden, provides a unique public setting offering sought after views of the Copenhagen harbor. Watch the video for more insight into JAJA’s design methodology and how the playground helps redefine roles of public space and usage while integrating into a historical urban identity.

Artist Rachel Whiteread has won the 2017 Ada Louise Huxtable Prize, which recognizes individuals working in the wider architectural industry who have made a significant contribution to architecture and the built environment. Whiteread was selected by respondents to the Architectural Review’s Women In Architecture: Working in Architecture survey.

Some of Whiteread’s notable work includes her 1993 Turner Prize-winning House, her collaboration with architects like Caruso St John on the UK Holocaust Memorial International Design Competition, and her participation on the RIBA Stirling Prize 2016 jury.

Denise Scott Brown has won the 2017 Jane Drew Prize, an award that recognizes an architectural designer who has “raised the profile of women in architecture” through their work and commitment to design excellence, as a part of The Architectural Review’s (AR) Women in Architecture Awards.

Scott Brown’s receipt of the prize is a culmination of the grassroots drive to see her contribution to the profession adequately recognized – a movement that sprung from the Women in Architecture campaign in 2013–a quarter of a century after her partner Robert Venturi was awarded the Pritzker.

“Things have happened which have made me very happy in my old age and one of those is this prize,” said Scott Brown.

Previous winners of the Drew prize, named after advocate Jane Drew, include Odile Decq, Yvonne Farrell, Shelley McNamara, and Zaha Hadid.

Preliminary Research Office has recently been selected to design a pedestrian bridge in Shenzhen, connecting the two tower buildings, each 210 meters (689 feet) high, which will serve as their client’s future headquarters.

The bridge’s formal composition is the result of two intersecting conic masses, positioned about their common axis and directed towards the towers’ core. Perpendicular cones are split by these larger cones at two points on the bridge’s axis, extending to form observation platforms for flying and viewing drones, while also serving as meeting spaces.

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Design Forum International has unveiled Dakshineswar Sky Walk, a 380-meter long pedestrian intervention designed to improve traffic and movement leading to the Dakshineswar Kali temple in Kolkata, India.

Located on the banks of the Ganges River at the northern tip of the city, the Dakshineswar Kali temple is one “of the most revered places of worship in Hinduism, the seat of divine female power, Shakti,” and draws in a large number of devotees year-round. Because of its popularity, the roads leading to the site have become congested due to increased vehicle traffic, foot traffic, and the appearance of small shops and kiosks.

Taking these existing conditions into account, Dakshineswar Sky Walk aims to become a dynamic solution to the site’s problems. At 10.5 meters wide, the skywalk will connect a nearby traffic rotary with the gates of the temple compound, with 12 escalators, four elevators, and eight staircases to allow users to embark and disembark.

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Amongst the rapid materializing of telecoms, media and tech companies within the Blackfriar’s Southbank region, PLP Architecture has been chosen for the design of a new office building with the challenge of successfully integrating into the ever-changing local fabric.

“Our proposal speculates on the nature of the contemporary office tower,” explained the firm. “What is the architectural expression of today’s high-density workplace? How does the building acquire an identity specific to its media/tech occupiers and how is that identity conveyed to the city?”

Videos

The team at TwoEyes Tech made up of HunJoo Song, SeonAh Kim, and Vivek Soni has launched a kickstarter campaign for its TwoEyes VR 360 camera, which is the first binocular 360-degree VR, 4K camera that mirrors human eye sight.

Using two pairs of 180-degree lenses that are placed 65 millimeters apart—the average distance between a person’s eyes—the camera captures 360-degree footage, “just like your natural eyes would view the world.” This footage can be uploaded to 360-degree-compatible social media platforms like YouTube 360, Facebook 360, and Twitter 360, or enjoyed through virtual reality binoculars or 3D television.

Videos

A giant, smooth coral? A cloud-like barnacle? A woman's floral swimming cap?”

Such phrases are how art and architecture studio Marc Fornes / THEVERYMANY attempts to describe it’s latest curvilinear project, Under Magnitude.

Suspended within Orlando’s Orange County Convention Center, the installation is a two-storey structure, formed from a network of branches that are synthesized by a single, smooth white surface. The form expresses the studio’s aim to “unite surface, structure, and space in order to create a new kind of experience.”

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Russian artist Nikolay Polissky has unveiled his latest project, a large tower for the upcoming traditional holiday of Maslenitsa, a coming of spring celebration that ceremonially burns a symbol of winter.

Currently in the construction phase, the project is made from recycled wood pallets and the tops of logs, which typically are only used as cheap firewood. Additionally, the tower will be covered with hay rolls that cannot be used as animal feed, before being burned at a ceremony on February 25.

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