R2 Companies and Gensler have teamed up to revitalize the Milwaukee Post Office building and convert it into a mixed-use destination with retail and an activated riverfront arcade. The master plan aims to transform the brutalist building, which is one of Milwaukee's largest and most iconic, by carefully considering the existing site and accordingly defining an identity for Milwaukee's downtown.
.jpg?1476415842 "© R2 Companies")
How do you make school fun and sustainable in the age of technology? S.Misagh Architecture and Planning's design for an Iranian village school creates an edgy alternative to the antiquated classroom. The firm's three principle concepts for their Deh-e Now Village School — identity, knowledge, and the natural environment— allow students an array of opportunities for interactive engagement with their surroundings.
MVRDV and Zhubo Architecture Design have won a competition to design the Xili Sports and Cultural Centre in Shenzhen, China. The new experience center will consist of four distinct volumes housing a theater, a basketball and badminton arena, a multi-function arena and a swimming pool, as it seeks to “transform the lives of the different generations of people living nearby, through offering a more humanistic model for sports and culture.”
The City of Montreal has selected KANVA's IMAGO as the winner of Vivre le Chantier Sainte-Cath, a competition seeking to maintain access to and usage of St. Catherine Street, downtown Montreal's primary commercial artery, as it undergoes a four-year construction period. The construction includes infrastructure developments—enhancements to underground infrastructure, new public transit systems, and increased pedestrian access—and while segments of the street will be closed to car traffic, pedestrian paths and all businesses will remain open during construction.
Büro Ziyu Zhuang and RSAA have released images of Kunstsilo, their proposal for the Tangen Collection and Sørlandets Kunstmuseum in Kristiansand, Norway. The design is centered around a historical grain silo, simultaneously preserving, modifying, and adding to the existing site.
The design carves a curved void into the concrete silo, producing a shelter for visitors and revealing the form within. The circulation then follows the former path of the grain through a new structure on the eastern side envisioned as an open box with an industrial glass envelope. The extension of the silo, new volumes, and adjacent canal produce a new plaza that spans the length of the silo.
Oslo-based Transborder Studios is one of nine international firms competing to transform St. Petersburg’s “Grey Belt,” a 4,000-hectare territory of inactive industrial buildings and open spaces. The firm, which just won a competition for the development of Oslo’s new “Agricultural District,” is proposing a green rejuvenation with four multi-performing landscapes, a productive buffer, and development hubs.
Hamonic+Masson & Associés is envisioning a new Casablanca via the redesign of its financial district, Casa Anfa. The Paris-based firm, which just won a city-sponsored competition to pioneer a transformation of the area, has unveiled big plans for Lot 65-2. The plans respond to questions on the urban scale as well as preservation and sustainability.
"Form and urbanity” underscore the project’s drive for reimagining the links between high-rise entities in the Moroccan city.
Danish firm COBE has been announced as the winner of a competition for the revitalization of Deutzer Hafen, the harbor district of Cologne, Germany. Unanimously selected over proposals from Lorenzen, Diener & Diener Architekten, Scheuvens + Wachten, and Trint + Kreuder dna, the winning design will transform the old industrial harbor into a vibrant, sustainable neighborhood through the addition of a new city landmark: a new public pool and huge waterfall at the end of the harbor.
The pool will be sustained through environmentally-friendly methods, utilizing collected rainwater and excess heat expelled from buildings to provide the public with an exciting new attraction.
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Design firm Benoy has just revealed its design for “Gala Avenue Westside,” a future mixed-use structure set within the iconic Lujiazui HARBOUR City development of Shanghai. Benoy (who recently created a green architectural design for Taiwan’s High-Speed Rail’s Hsin Chu Station Mall) have been appointed as the Masterplanner, Architect and Interior Designer of the Gala Avenue, set for completion in 2018.
Henning Larsen Architects, in collaboration with SLA and Tyréns, has won a competition for the design of a new city hall in Uppsala, Sweden, beating out proposals from Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects, White Arkitekter, Ahrbom & Partners, and 3XN Architects.
The project will include a refurbishment and addition to the existing city hall building, which was built in 1957 and only partially completed in accordance with the original drawings. Henning Larsen Architects’ design will close off the L-shaped building, connecting the old and the new with a glass-roofed courtyard to create a new public gathering place for residents of Sweden’s 4th largest city.
Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects has won an international competition for the design of an urban redevelopment plan and high-rise in Stavanger, Norway. Beating out entries from Snøhetta, UNStudio, Dark Arkitekter and Eder Biesel Arkitekter, the winning proposal, “Breiavatnet Lanterna,” features a dynamic scheme to support the proliferation of sustainable and creative work environments throughout the city.
The project encompasses a new public center, the transformation of an existing park and a new 101 meter (331 foot) tall tower that will contain 18,170 square meters (195,580 square feet) of highly-flexible space for offices, restaurants, conferences and exhibitions. Both the ground and top floors of the high-rise will be publicly accessible, ensuring the building will remain an asset for the entire community.
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One of the most public and politically relevant debates about spatial borders, that of the United States and Mexico, has been probed in a project currently being exhibited at the London Design Biennale. Helmed by Fernando Romero and his team at fr*ee, "Border City" puts forward the idea of a binational city on the border, a place where cultures "both clash and blend to create something altogether unique."
The states along the border of these two countries now have a population of over 100 million people - ample to facilitate the introduction of a new city. fr*ee explained: "Border City is the first integrated masterplan for a binational city conducive to both sides of the border, employing tools of enterprise such as special economic zones to argue for its viability." The masterplan is unrolled in detail at the London Design Biennale, as seen in the video below. The exhibition is open from the 7 – 27 September.
10 DESIGN has won a competition to design China Resources Land’s (CR Land) "Hengqin Wanxiang World," a 2.3 million square meter (25 million square foot) mixed used development to be located in Zhuhai, China. The complex will include destination retail locales centered around an “Experience Central Square,” which will serve as a venue for a variety of cultural and performance programs. Construction on the massive development is set to begin this month.
Cross-continental architecture practice KOSMOS Architects have revealed the full design intent for their HelloWood 2016 installation. The wooden structure, dubbed "Thread," subverts the conventional notion of the wall as a divider of space, reinventing it as a new zone of inclusivism and human engagement. Their entire design and construction process was guided by Maslow's hierarchy of human needs, leading to a structure that brings people together and fulfills them in different ways, level by level.
Danish firm Vilhelm Lauritzen Architects has lead a team comprised of COBE, Sted, and Rambøll in the design of a brand new island in Copenhagen's harbor. Situated in the Kronløb water basin in Nordhavn, the monolithic presence of the Kronløb Island references the geological processes by which the topography of Denmark was formed. The floating new district will include parking facilities, housing, and public spaces.
Urban Agency and OUALALOU+CHOI have drawn heavily from local inspiration for the design of a new adult education center in south-west Morocco. The isolated site is set against a harsh environmental backdrop, and in response the proposal only uses 10 000 of the allocated 22 000 square meters to create a compact building centered around an internal courtyard. This will allow it to be expanded upon in the future, as the building fulfills its intent as a world class education facility.
The project uses the traditional "Medersa" (first universities) as precedent, incorporating a dynamic internal courtyard and a simple exterior envelope. The Medersa, known for their "social, cultural and climatic ingenuity," not only foster communal activity in their internal spaces but are protected from harsh sun, winds and sandstorms, creating a climatically controlled interior zone.
MVRDV with co-architects morePlatz have won a competition to design the masterplan of the Hamburg Innovation Port, a new 70,000 square meter waterfront development that will add to the high-tech hub of Channel Hamburg in Hanse City, Hamburg. The plan for the mixed-use development uses a fusion of existing port typologies and dynamic architectural interventions to create a network of buildings containing hotels, laboratories, research facilities, offices for start-ups and a conference center.
.jpg?1473780126 "A total surface of 70,000m2 will transform the waterways of the Channel Hamburg development, the southern high-tech hub of Germany’s northern metropolis.. Image Courtesy of MVRDV")
.jpg?1473780195 "The roofs of some buildings are partly green and partly used for terraces and solar cells.. Image Courtesy of MVRDV")
A department store in Shenzhen, China, is currently undergoing a major transformation into what the architect describes as an "a new sustainable and iconic design for the city." Designed by Aedas, the Shenzhen Luoho Friendship Trading Centre will include a new skyscraper and a "vibrant and porous" 7-story retail podium. Integrated landscaping and green balconies turn the development into an "urban oasis" in the heart of the city.
Slangen+Koenis Architects, in collaboration with Cordeel-Farys-Hellebrekers, have been selected transform a historic site in Temse, Belgium, into a new public pool and fitness center. The complex is situated in the Scheldepark, a scenic English landscape garden that once hosted a castle, and more recently a mid-century pool that has now fallen into disrepair.
The provision of three new pools; a leisure pool, a combination pool and a competition pool as well as a fitness centre, an indoor playground and a restaurant will turn the complex into the epicenter of activity within the park. Slangen+Koenis explained in a press release that "the aim of the design is to combine functions and activities creating a vibrant place during both day and night."
Petras Architects has revealed their third-prize winning entry in the competition to design a new cultural center in Paphos, Cyprus. The brief called for "spaces for the production of ideas and art," to provide new cultural infrastructure in the expansion of the village. Along with the new buildings, existing buildings were to be adapted to suit the new program, which was to include a school of fine art, workshops, and spaces for communal activity.
Oslo-based Transborder Studio have won a competition for the development of new “Agricultural District” surrounding a former dairy factory in East Oslo. Selected from 5 proposals from invited architect teams, the winning design, entitled “Follow the Milk,” strives to develop the district into a place where “ agriculture has a new relevance related to urban food culture, bioproducts and the agricultural sector’s role in a sustainable future.”
EFFEKT and collaborators karres+brands, WTM Engineers, ARUP and ALECTIA have won a competition to transform an industrial waste site into a new vibrant urban district and infrastructural hub in the historic center of the city of Roskilde, Denmark. Beating out seven other invited teams, the winning design will encompass 100,000 square meters of mixed-use development across existing railroad tracks, reuniting the city and “reinventing the station as an integral part of the city center.”
HASSELL has unveiled a contemporary new addition to the Geelong Performing Arts Centre in Geelong, Australia. Just over an hour south-west of Melbourne, the complex is a significant hub for the growth and promotion of the arts in regional Victoria. Over its illustrious 35 year life, it has built a reputation as one of the premier performing arts spaces in the state, and the $38.5 million upgrade will cement its prominence.
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