Restoration: The Latest Architecture and News

New York-based, Serbian-born performance artist Marina Abramović has successfully secured funding via Kickstarter for phase one of an interdisciplinary performance and education center in Hudson, New York. The project, known as the Marina Abramovic Institute for the Preservation of Performance Art (MAI), aims to be the first crowdfunded cultural institution ever to be built as well as the only international arts center dedicated to presentation and preservation of long-durational work. With the help of Abramović’s “global community of collaborators,” OMA will now move forward with the project’s design development process. More information on the MAI’s design can be found here.

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A collaborative effort by Osamu Tsukihashi + Tsukihashi Laboratory, many professors and architecture students at all over Japan, "Projects Lost Homes" aims at lamenting lost towns and considering the disaster and the damaged areas brought about by Great East Japan Earthquake. Damaged areas were looked at dreadful circumstances, and the original sites were flowed away by Tsunamis, especially lots of areas on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Tohoku. Since 2011, their project has consisted of restoring damaged towns and villages, especially the coastal areas devastated by the following terrible tsunamis, by 1:500 scale models. More images and architects' description after the break.

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James Corner Field Operations (JCFO) and nARCHITECTS have released updated renderings for their competition-winning redesign of Chicago’s 3,300 foot long Navy Pier. The slightly scaled-back, revised plans seemed to have dismissed the more “dramatic” and costly facets reviewed in last years’ submittal, such as the floating pool and sand beach, to depict a contemporary “park-like feel.” Highlighted features include the south-facing Wave Wall and grand stairway, inspired by the Spanish Steps in Rome, along with an interactive splash fountain-turned-winter ice skating rink at the beginning of a heavily vegetated promenade.

These updated plans for phase-one of the Navy Pier redesign were released alongside an announcement by the Chicago Mayor’s office that confirmed the project will receive $55 million in public funding.

More images and information after the break...

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The Marie-José Van Hee + Robbrecht & Daem designed Market Hall in Ghent reinstates the presence of old urban areas that had become unrecognizable. As an urban interior, the inside embraces the passer-by with a dual modulated wooden ceiling, whose small windows scatter light inwards. The exterior, the entire building in fact, seems to assume a respectful role relative to the nobler historic stone buildings.

We have previously brought you images of the project, but these latest images by Hufton + Crow truly capture the experience and highlight the project's materials and principles. A complete gallery of their photos can be viewed after the break.