Greeen! Architects have been awarded an honorable mention for their Eco Towers, an office building in Hamburg, Germany for the Building and Environment Authorities. The office will accommodate 1400 people and will include several public areas as well as green gardens to “give room to nature and a create a green ambiance to all workers and visitors.”
More about the Eco Towers after the break.
The pavilion consists of three areas — Whispering Garden, Hall of Light and Hall of Innovations. The Whispering Garden is a green orchard that greets visitors as they enter the building. Some facilities will be installed to make the trees begin to “whisper” in both English and Chinese when visitors walk close to them, Haim Z. Dotan, chief designer of the pavilion, told Shanghai Daily.
The hall of Light includes a 15-meter high screen. It will display films highlighting the country’s innovations and technological achievements.
The Hall of Innovation is the centerpiece of the Israel Pavilion. A special audio-visual show will allow visitors to talk with Israeli children, scientists, doctors and inventors via hundreds of screens. These Israelis will introduce themselves and share their hopes for a better future. Israel allocated about US$6 million for its participation at Expo 2010, which includes the cost of its pavilion and other activities. It is the first time Israel has committed to building a national pavilion at a World Expo. Images and video after the break.
Amanda Levete Architects shared with us their submission for the extension for the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester.
The form intends to compliment the 19th century gallery, yet still maintain its individuality as a separate element. The extension, then, becomes not “one building connected to another but as something more abstract: a gesture that merges landscape with building.” The urban gallery’s setting within Whitworth Park allows the building to merge with the landscape to “create a dynamic and inhabitable” space. “As the park becomes the folds of fabric, these folds are sliced, peeled, and pulled to house, expose, and articulate the new program of activities of that embodies the new Whitworth Gallery,” explained the architects. The park seems to be gathered together and drawn into the building, creating an extension that fosters a relationship between interior and exterior, object and landscape.
More images after the break.
Last month, we featured a post about James May, a toy fanatic (and presenter of the television show James May’s Toy Stories), that built a house using LEGO bricks. The house was complete, but unfortunately, it’s now demolished after a deal to sell it didn’t quite go well.
Because the home didn’t have planning permission on its site, the builder was hoping to find a buyer to transport the house elsewhere. LEGOland theme park showed interest, but the high cost of transportation didn’t make seem like a good deal. The 3.3 million LEGO bricks used to build the home will be donated to charity once the home is teared down.
Seen at designboom. More images of James May with the completed house and demolition process after the break.
MONU – magazine on urbanism is a unique bi-annual international forum for artists, writers and designers that are working on topics of urban culture, development and politics.
Each issue collects essays, projects and photographs from contributors from all over the world to a given topic. Thus MONU examines topics that are important to the future of our cities and urban regions from a variety of perspectives.
They have just released their latest issue on the topic of “Clean Urbanism”. You can see more about the articles on their official website. Also, you can browse the entire issue YouTube (video after the break).
Resting on the outskirts of Naples, Renzo Piano latest Volcano Buono is a mixed use center that aims to become integrated into the landscape, rather than just occupying it. The central piazza of the Volcano includes a 150 meter-wide space that holds an outdoor theater and market, while a series of concentric rings form the center’s commercial areas. Piano explained that the Volcano is “a contemporary take on a Greek marketplace, a void as a place for events, meetings, dialogue and the gathering of people”.
More about the Volcano and more images after the break.
This morning Google announced Google SketchUp 7.1. This new version will be a free upgrade for existing Pro users, and has emphasis on three important aspects of this easy-to-use (yet powerful and extensible) software: performance, an improved version of LayOut (2.1) and collaboration.
As for performance, the engine has been improved and you will notice that orbiting, zooming and drawing can be quicker and smoother in 7.1, for both PC and Mac editions.
LayOut 2.1, the SU componente that enables you to create presentation boards and design documents straight from your model, has now the ability to apply dimensions to scaled SU models and vector graphics. Based on my personal experience, LayOut is very good to deliver quick construction documents and has helped me a lot working with furniture manufacturers. The new dimension tool is something I was waiting for.
LayOut 2.1 also includes snap to the model, an improveed Freehand tool, lists (bullet or numbered, very useful) in the text area, improved grids and improved copy/paste, making it easier to work with other design softwares. You can see more on the video and images below.
The Pakistan Pavillion will be a replica of the Lahorte Fort, an iconic symbol of the city of Lahorte. The fort dates back to the year 1025 AD and is the cultural capital of modern-day Pakistan.
The 2,000 square meter pavillion is themed “harmony in diversity”, and will show various aspects of the best of Pakistan’s cities, merged into one showcase of tradition, culture, modernity and history.
In the pavilion, visitors will be able to experience the life of a typical Pakistani citizen through detailed visual and multimedia presentations. More images, after the break.
Designed by Matsys Designs, Sietch Nevada is a response to the idea of a water-poor world becoming a reality, especially in the American Southwest. With so much of the press focused on wars over oil, the world is often unaware of the slowly depleting water sources, which are indeed exponentially more valuable than oil. This futuristic urban prototype addresses the water situation as a complex underground network of tunnels and canals offers protection and the “storage, use, and collection of water essential to the form and performance of urban life.”
More about Sietch Nevada after the break.
Construction for the Malaysia Pavilion for Shanghai World Expo began a couple of weeks ago. The 3,000-square-meter pavilion will be like a traditional and high Malaysian hut. The facade of the pavilion will be made from a combination of palm oil and plastic, which will be recycled for other constructions after Expo.
The country will showcase its natural landscape and the solidarity of its different ethnic groups with the theme “One Malaysia — City Harmonious Living.” Malaysia has 47 ethnic groups, who live comfortably together in urban and rural areas. The country would highlight the harmonious conditions and interactivity between cities and villages, Malaysian Tourism Minister Ng Yen Yen said.
Visitors will be able to pitch and putt at an indoor golf area in the two-story pavilion. The pavilion would hold lucky draws on key days during the Expo, such as August 31, Malaysia’s national day, and May 31 when China and Malaysia set up diplomatic relationships, Ng said.
More images and a video after the break.
The Fall 2009 lecture series of the Rice Design Alliance will present architects involved with tower design and building. The speakers will discuss the trend in architecture to build up, the slow-down in the industry with regards to many of these large scale projects, and what all of this means for the future skylines of the world.
Getting High: Towers in Architecture begins today September 16th with a presentation by Peter Buchanan from London. The series will continue on consecutive Wednesdays until October 7th. All lectures will be held at 7:00 p.m. in Brown Auditorium, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, located at 1001 Bissonnet (enter via the Main Street door.) Pre-lecture wine receptions begin at 6:00 p.m. in the MFAH Foyer at 1001 Bissonnet. For more information click here. Complete lecture lineup after the break.
The Bamboo Lantern designed for the Gwamgju Design Biennale in Korea by Atelier FCJZ (a prominent chinese firm who is also designing the Shanghai Corporate pavilion for the Expo 2010) appears to be a solid heavy mass. Yet, as visitors separate its two halves and occupy its interior, the mere cubic form turns into something else completely. The lantern is a “ dialogue between opposites” , as its plan is comprised of a circle nested within a square. The circle and square illustrate strong symbolism from the Ancient Chinese tradition, with the former representing the heavens, and the later, the earth. These two shapes are inherently different and yet, when combined, they work together to organize the exterior space and provide a new sense for the interior. “The directionality in the square is used to organize the surrounding exterior viewing space while the stillness of the circular shape that defines the interior intimately collects the rest space,” explained the architects.
More about the lantern after the break.
Steven Holl Architects, in collaboration with Glasgow-based JM Architects, was awarded first prize in the international design competition for the Glasgow School of Art Competition. The selection committee, chaired by Barcelona-based architect David MacKay, sought to select an architect-led team, not a design. The committee unanimously chose Steven Holl Architects because Holl’s work demonstrated “a poetic use of light and their submission demonstrated a singular creative vision, scale of ambition, profound clarity and a respectful rivalry for the Mackintosh Building.”
More about Holl’s project after the break.
A few weeks ago, we shared Jean Nouvel’s design for 53 West 53rd Street, a 1,250 foot project that would dominate the site. Reactions to the project were different across the board as some felt the tower would push New York forward in the architectural world, whereas others did not agree with the scale or aesthetic of the project. As we previously mentioned, Nouvel’s project had a long way to go before construction, and this week, as Nicolai Ouroussoff reported for the New York Times, it seems that the City Planning Department has decided to shorten the proposed tower by 200 feet.
More about the City Planning Department’s decision after the break.
As New York and the rest of the world reflect over events on this day 8 years ago, fresh images have been released showing the designs for the National September 11 Memorial Museum. Steven Davis, Partner at Davis Brody Bond Aedas attended a ceremony yesterday at the 9/11 Memorial Preview Site to brief media on the updated designs.
The 9/11 Memorial Preview Site, at 20 Vesey Street in Manhattan was opened to the public on 24 August where renderings and models of the museum are on display. The museum is situated within the 8 acre landscaped Memorial Plaza, bracketing the memorial pools set in the footprints of the pre-existing twin towers. The new images show the interior of the three-levelled museum where visitors will be able to witness remaining elements of the twin towers.
Seen at World Architecture News. You can see the latest construction photos here. More images after the break.
Yesterday afternoon, we had the pleasure of attending the opening day of Ben van Berkel’s New Amsterdam Pavilion in Peter Minuit Plaza, just outside Battery Park in Manhattan. After walking around the pavilion and watching New Yorkers’ first encounters with the new sculptural piece, we had the opportunity to study the project with Mr. van Berkel as he explained his ideas and process. The pavilion is a gift from the Netherlands to New York in honour of 400 years of friendship; yet the pavilion does not attempt to physically manifest a representation of that relationship. Rather, the pavilion can be interpreted in different ways and speaks to both the history and the future of the city.
More about our talk with van Berkel and more images after the break.
Sander Architects have designed a residence for the historic Movie Colony of Palm Springs that can combat the site’s harsh environment. Facing the San Jacinto mountains, the house features a simple roof that opens to the home toward the surroundings. With temperatures in Palm Springs reaching over a stifling 120 degrees, the western exposure of the home ”has created an enormously difficult problem with solar exposure”. Sander’s design of a fifteen-foot horizontal cantilever reduces (to practically zero) the time when the setting summer sun’s rays will penetrate the interiors; however, the cantilever is angled in such a way to allow winter sun to ”more readily enter the house to warm it when the weather turns colder.”
More about the residence after the break.
The much anticipated Termite Pavilion arrived at the International Arts Pestival in London earlier this week. The Pestival is “a festival celebrating insects in art, and the art of being an insect…it is a rare creature: an international, inter-disciplinary, community-led festival.” Inspired by the Namibian termite mounds, the six square meter walk-in solid timber structure ”allows Pestival goers a unique insight into these extraordinary organic forms.”
More about the Pavilion after the break.
