It has been reported that 3 million people (about a third of Haiti’s population) have been affected by the recent earthquake. With that number expected to climb as the days progress, the number of casualties will be somewhere nearing 50,000. Many countries are supplying immediate help as millions of dollars, and tons of food, water and medical supplies are rapidly being delivered to the small country.
Visiondivision‘s latest project, a residential extension for two children in Stockholm, utilizes a landscape surface that is enhanced by elements around and inside the house. The young children will be spending most of their day enjoying the outdoors, so Visiondivision “wanted to give the two new citizens a safe base where they can explore their new surroundings and be able to appreciate it to the fullest.” By deliberately choosing inexpensive building components, such as windows and façade materials, the architects saved a bigger part of the budget to create as many playful elements as they could.
More about the Hill House after the break.
Martin Angelov shared his funky concept for a new urban way of transportation dubbed “Kolelinia” with us . Kolelinia proposes that we ride our bicycles on a steel wire as a new type of bicycle lane. The idea was awarded first for the international “Line of Site” competition.
More about Kolelinia after the break.
Beijing Sunlay Design Office designed a Protestant Church in Inner Mongolia that takes its inspiration from the land’s topography. Set on top of a hill of Ordos, the scheme, entitled “Dove of Peace” gives its metaphor and poetry to the church by re-interpreting a contemporary and abstract silhouette of the bird carrying an olive branch. Made of concrete and with the facades finished in white crepi, the church’s form follows the adjacent curved road that crosses the site. “The dialogue between the outside and the inside space is emphasized by the play of shadows and light that creates complexity and depth in the reading of the space.” Delicate streams of light reflect harmony and tranquility, providing the perfect atmosphere for prayer and contemplation.
More images after the break.
With its final height kept as a secret until the last minute, we witnessed the incredible opening of the tallest building in the world.
Oncuoglu Architecture designed the B199, a 74.500 m² mix-use development for Istanbul, Turkey. Inspired by the urban landscape of Istanbul, the project occupies the intersection of the Gultepe and Buyukdere, two districts with different urban patterns. The project is designed to act as a “bridge integrating the spatial discontinuity between two sides of the site.”
More about the B199 after the break.
The theme of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo is “Better City, Better Life”, and the special theme for the Hong Kong Pavilion is “Hong Kong – a city with unlimited potential“. A concept design competition was held in 2008 and received some 80+ submissions. Ida & Billy’s submission was awarded the Frist Prize, and formed the basis for the final design and execution by the government and another architectural firm.
Their design is driven by the functional needs of the pavilion, that is how to provide the required exhbition space and other facilities within a limited space and with a height limit; and to make the Hong Kong Pavilion, which is much smaller in size than the other pavilions, to still have its own attraction and uniqness.
More images and full architect’s description after the break.
When asked to design a luxury hotel and spa at Hersham Golf Club in Surrey (which is within London’s Green Belt) ReardonSmith Architects responded with plans for a subterranean building. Matthew Guy, ReardonSmith’s project designer, explained “Our concept integrates hotel, spa, and golf facilities into a single architecturally exciting and organic composition below and above ground. The design fulfills the requirements of the brief for a bespoke five star hotel while returning hard standing to the Green Belt and improving the physical layout and visual attraction of the entire site. It represents a commercially viable solution to developing in the Green Belt and is, we believe, a world-first.”
More about the hotel after the break.
Perkins+Will’s master plan for SANY Beijing was awarded first prize in the “Conceptual Design” category at the 8th International Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism due to the project’s strength in the categories of spatiality, connectivity, originality and sustainability. SANY is the largest heavy equipment manufacturer in China and one of the top 10 heavy equipment manufacturers in the world. The company wanted to achieve a higher degree of efficiency in their manufacturing process and create a memorable visitor experience.
More about the SANY project after the break.
Architecture students attending the Chinese University of Hong Kong will enjoy the spatial variety and openness of Ida and Billy’s New School of Architecture situated on the edge of the campus. The form, a diagonal shape which is pierced to preserve views of the sky, has large openings to capture the campus’ topology and views of Tolo Harbor, “giving an infinite boundary to architectural thinking and design.”
More images and more about the school after the break.
Rryuichi Ashizawa Architects designed a series of temporary wooden buildings for the Aqua Metropolis Osaka Event. While visitors can meander through the delicate wooden open structures, other wooden pods provide more shelter for varying activities. Extending past the small island, a geometric, almost folding, form provides the perfect setting to take in the panoramic view of the city.
Sauerbruch Hutton was announced first prize winner for their design of a new home for Hamburg’s Behörde für Stadtentwicklung und Umwelt/BSU (Office for Urban Development and Environment). The new colorful BSU building will be erected in Hamburg Wilhelmsburg and is slated for completion in 2013.
More images and more about the project after the break.
MAD Architects’ latest contribution to Shenzhen came in the form of two huge monster footprints. The design, made for the Urbanism\Architecture Shenzhen & Hongkong Bi-city Biennale, is a sunken space that functions as a playground. Paved in pink EPDM material, the Monster’s Footprint attempts to enter a very “surreal reality”, and offer a possibility for city dwellers to find their own freedom and joy in the Citizen Square. The playful space illustrates MAD ‘s ability to bring their design attitude to smaller scale projects.
More images after the break.
wHY Architecture has shown us their expertise on cultural projects at different scales: the Grand Rapids Art Museum (the first LEED Gold certified museum) on the large scale in one side and the Royal/T Gallery on a smaller scale, among other cultural projects shown on their website.
And now they share with us a cultural project on the infrastructure scale that I had the chance to see when I visited their office early this year, which got green light and enters construction phase in 2010: the Art Bridge.
The project is located over the Los Angeles river and it’s very related to it, as most of its structure will be built from trash salvaged from the river itself. This project will achieve what many have been looking for, and that is to reconnect with the river that crosses LA. And I think that it will make it.
You can also watch our interview with Yo-ichiro Hakomori from whY Architecture, filmed at Postopolis! LA earlier this year.
Project description and more images after the break:
York University has selected Levitt Goodman Architects to develop detailed designs for its competition-winning design for a 26,390 ft2 renovation of York University’s main library on its Keele campus. The “Learning Commons” will provide users with a mix of group study areas that will shift York University’s 40-year old Scott Library into a progressive learning environment.
The $2M renovation will be the first initiative on the campus specifically designed to reflect York’s pedagogical shift from a teacher-centered approach to active and collaborative learning. More images and description after the break.
The international studio Urban Art Projects (UAP) transformed a standard parking garage into a large scale “art-come-architecture project” on Albert Street in Brisbane. The art project entitled ’Landlines’ is a contour map of the area that wraps itself around three faces of the 9 floor parking garage.
More about Landlines and more images after the break.
With a shopping center already under construction, ROW Studiowas asked to design the facade for the center in Zona Esmeralda, in Mexico City. The clients asked for an interesting, and almost contradictory mix of requirements: the façade must be both dynamic and eye-catching, while still blending into the surrounding forest line.
More images and more about the facade after the break.
Chris Lee and Kapil Gupta from Serie Architects have converted a disused building from Mumbai’s colonial past into a banquet hall, restaurant and bar called ‘The Tote’. The site was covered with mature rain trees whose wide spread leaves shaded most of the spaces throughout the year, permitting almost the entire new program to occur outdoors.
More images and more about the project after the break.
