Earlier this month, Roche held a foundation stone-laying ceremony for their new office building that is currently being constructed in Basel, Switzerland. Designed by the Basel-based architecture practice of Herzog & de Meuron, the 178-meter-tall tapering structure will be formed by superimposed floor slabs that narrow as the high rise ascends. Its simple shape and predominantly white color scheme will anchor itself within the urban setting of Basel and become one of the few high rises scattered throughout the city’s skyline.
Continue after the break for more images and information.
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.
We have been keeping close watch on the progress of Barclays Center, SHoP’s 650,000+ stadium for Brooklyn at Atlantic Yards. The project has an interesting history as the client, Bruce Ratner, originally looked to Gehry to design an urban solution and iconic image for the 22 acre site, prior to teaming with Ellerbe Becket and SHoP. As we’ve reported earlier, SHoP’s response has developed to become a sweeping pre-fabricated volume, with a perforated latticework steel skin and a transparent ground level. Photographer Roger Edwards has shared some recent photos with us of the construction process as the building is quickly beginning to take shape.
Bosco Verticale, by Boeri Studio (now recognized as Barreca & La Varra and Stefano Boeri Architetti), is a high-density tower block that experiments with the integration of a lush landscape within the facade of the architecture. The Vertical Forest, currently in construction in Milan, Italy, deal with the concept of regenerating the lost forests on the ground within the inhabitable space of buildings. The towers are 80 metres and 112 metres tall. Together they will have the capacity to hold 480 big and medium sized trees, 250 small size trees, 11,000 groundcover plants and 5,000 shrubs – the equivalent of a hectare of forest. For more on this project, follow us after the break.
Architects: VIGLIECCA&ASSOC Location: Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil Date: 2008 – under construction Client: State of Ceará Government / Special Department of the State of Ceará for 2014 Cup Total Intervention Area: 215.000 sqm Design Team: Hector Vigliecca, Luciene Quel, Ronald Werner, Neli Shimizu, Caroline Bertoldi, Bianca Riotto, Fernanda Trotti, Hernani Paiva, Kelly Bozzato, Luiz Marino, Mayara Christ, Pedro Ichimaru, Rafael Alcantara, Paulo Serra, Luci Maie, Renata Haring Construction: Galvão + Andrade Mendonça Landscaping: Rodolfo Geiser Paisagismo e Meio Ambiente Photographs: Azul Serra
Apple has released updated plans revealing an ambitions solar installation for their proposed campus in Cupertino. Announced back in June, the campus will include an office, research and development building, research facilities, corporate auditorium, fitness center, a central plant and associated parking. Foster + Partners will collaborate with ARUP North America and local civil engineering firm Kier & Wright for the completion of the project.
Construction of Richard Meier’s Shenzhen Clubhouse is nearing completion. Unique geometry fully clad in white metal panels play with overlays of solid and void, unmistakably consistent with the Richard Meier signature style. Being located on an island in the center of OCT Bay, the facility is surrounded by large bodies of water and lush gardens. The Shenzhen Clubhouse is scheduled to be completed early next year.
Continue reading for the architects project description, photographs, renderings and drawings.
The modernization of the Messe Basel is making progress. Developed by Basel architects Herzog & de Meuron on behalf of the MCH Group, the project aims renew the existing exhibition space and become a popular destination for pedestrians and foreign visitors. The new multifunctional exhibition building is scheduled for completion in 2013.
Ten years since the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, the National September 11 Memorial was dedicated in a private ceremony with the victims’ families. It was officially opened to the public as of today, September 12th. The opening of the 9/11 Memorial is a first step towards the closing of a long chapter of construction at the World Trade Center site.
Architecture photographer Paul Clemence shared with us a recent photo set of the current status of the One World Trade Center building by SOM.
I was downtown today, checking out the commotion by Ground Zero and snapped these images of the Freedom Tower. Is for sure going up and we can already glance at its connection to neighborhood buildings, its presence on the skyline and some interesting architectural nuances.
Architects: K2S Architects Ltd Location: Helsinki, Finland Client: Helsinki Parish Union and the City of Helsinki Structural engineering: Insinööritoimisto Vahanen Oy Matti Kivinen, Ulla Harju Project Year: 2012 Project Area: 300 sqm Photographs: Courtesy of K2S Architects
Architects: Lucio Morini + GGMPU Location: Córdoba, Argentina Client: Government of the Province Cordoba Collaborators: Julia Garayoa, Adrián Castagno, Verónica Gordillo, Diego Andres Gómez, Mariana Pelliza, Guadalupe Daher, Cecilia Villareal, Luciana Antonucci, Agustín Elies Project Year: 2011 Project Area: 21,380 sqm Photographs: Courtesy of Lucio Morini Studio
Last September, we shared the news of Louis Kahn’s memorial park for the southernmost tip of Roosevelt Island. Kahn had designed the park in the 70s, but after his sudden death, the plan was forgotten until 1992 when the MoMA featured the scheme in an exhibition. Upon learning of Kahn’s thoughtful and architecturally compelling ideas to commemorate FDR and his Four Freedoms speech, the public quickly advocated its completion. As we reported earlier, at the end of Kahn’s axial tree-lined triangular “Garden”, a 72 sqf “Room” will contain excerpts from the text of President Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms speech. This room, contained by 12 foot high granite columns, is meant for contemplation and remembrance as Kahn’s stoic material palette, clear formal attitude, and forced perspective of the skyline will create, what we imagine will be, a quiet and peaceful atmosphere. With Kahn’s simple gestures, the memorial will preserve a time in American history where FDR’s leadership inspired hope to endure the Great Depression and the second World War. We’re excited for the memorial to be completed and we’ll keep you up to date with its progress.
A great sample of construction photos and renderings after the break.
Architect: EDGE Studio, Pfaffmann & Associates Location: Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaEDGE Studio Design Team: Gary Carlough AIA, Jonathan Golli, Matt Fineout AIA, Stephen Mrdjenovich Pfaffmann & Associates Design Team: Rob Pfaffmann AIA, Carl Bergamini RA, Erik Hokanson Completion Date: 2011 Photography: Carl Bergamini, Pfaffmann & Associates
We’ve been coveringCEBRA + JDS + SeARCH + Louis Paillard’s geometric harbor project for Arhus, Denmark. The huge project, which measures over 21,000 sqm, will include mixed dwellings types and commercial space. CEBRA has shared a few short video clips with us, highlighting the progress of the project. This featured clip is shot from the bridge connecting the future harbor promenade across the nearby canal. The grey concrete wall shown is the beginning of the southern facade (the actual floor is on top of the wall) and behind the wall is where the parking is situated.
Another video, as well as a few construction photos, after the break.
The NASDAQ equivalent Shenzhen Stock Exchange by OMA, continues to progress forward nearing completion. The latest photographs of the new building, which poses a strong representation of capitalism in China, highlight the robust exoskeletal grid and the and complexity of construction.
“For millennia, the solid building stands on a solid base; it is an image that has survived modernity. Typically, the base anchors a structure and connects it emphatically to the ground. The essence of the stock market is speculation: it is based on capital, not gravity. In the case of Shenzhen’s almost virtual stock market, the role of symbolism exceeds that of the program – it is a building that has to represent the stock market, more than physically accommodate it. It is not a trading arena with offices, but an office with virtual organs that suggest and illustrate the process of the market.”
- OMA
More construction photographs of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange after the break.
Opening in 2012, the $118 million steel, glass, and copper-clad expansion to Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum by Renzo Piano Building Workshop will more than double the size of the current facility. Included in the project are a new entrance, music hall, gallery space, and other amenities for an institution that has remained largely unaltered since opening in 1903.
The Allianz Headquarters is an office complex linked and interlocked by a series of bridges and voids that aims to progress the 21st century work environment by becoming a second home to employees.
Cybertecture is the ultimate expression of innovative art married with functional needs in consideration of the environment and humanity. The new commercial complex located in Mumbai, India ”The Capital” deliberately reveals her calmness, gracefulness and elegance. It is an extremely challenging work to develop a revolutionary design concept for an office with AAA- grading and achieving over 80% efficiency simultaneously. It integrated the sustainable concept, form and functionality that inspire the office building design and urban context in India like never before.
Two young architecture firms have joined forces to create the non-profit association Adobe for Women. The goal of the association it to both recover and teach vernacular construction skills while simultaneously providing aide to women in need.
Inspired by the work of Mexican architect Juan José Santibañez, who twenty years ago helped twenty women in difficult living conditions to build their homes, two decades later blaanc borderless architecture and CaeiroCapurso have planned to construct twenty sustainable houses in the indigenous village of San Juan Mixtepec, in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca.
The construction of the first house began in March of this year, enthusiastically lifting the women’s hopes for this project. With their commitment and determination they have produced more than 40.000 adobe bricks using earth from the surrounding areas. The houses are energy efficient and built with local materials such as adobe and bamboo. Each house costs only 3 830,84€ (the price of half a square meter in Paris or Amsterdam or a square meter in the Baltic capitals). For these twenty women with limited financial resources, having a home represents the dream of a lifetime.
