Cultural: The Latest Architecture and News

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Videos

Designed and directed by Iceland based architect Marcos Zotes and his studio UNSTABLE, their Pixel Cloud installation is the winning competition entry for the Reykjavik Winter Lights Festival 2013, organized by Höfuðborgarstofa, Orkusalan and the Iceland Design Center. The installation creates an opportunity for Icelanders to reconsider the use and management of their urban public spaces. With the current financial situation leaving a permanent landscape of obsolete scaffolding structures scattered across the city, this has resulted in urban scars that remind us of the fragility of their current society. This installation takes advantage of this condition by transforming an ordinary scaffolding structure into a fully immersive environment of light and sound in the heart of Reykjavík. More images and architects' description after the break.

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Designed by DMP Partners, their winning proposal for the Sejong Art Center (SAC) is composed of two theaters, a main theater with more than 800 seats, a medium sized theater with 300 seats, a film theater with 250 seats, and an art gallery. Located in the international cultural area between nature-scape and urban-scape, the building combines nature and city through its straight, linear shape. This form is applied in accordance with the city and its curvature shape is in accordance with nature to create a comfortable feeling. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Mediating between iconic metaform and the human scale, this proposal by FAR frohn&rojas is one of the winners of the architectural competition for the new central library of the state of Berlin at the airfield of the former Tempelhof Airport in Berlin. By twisting a three dimensional grid from horizontal to vertical, the three key urban drivers of the site - the runway, the motorway and the former airport building - are resolved. More images and architects' description after the break.

New York's City Council have unanimously backed a proposed plan to restore and redevelop the aging giant that is Pier 57. Built in 1952, the 300,000 square foot pier was hailed by Popular Mechanics as a 'SuperPier' for its vast size and unconventional construction, as most of the pier's weight is supported by 'floating' air-filled concrete cassions. The pier was originally used as a bus depot by the New York City Transit Authority, however it has been lying vacant since 2003. The latest decision brings a concrete end to years of speculation as to what the fate of the pier would be.

Read more about the proposal after the break...

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The proposal for the Green Square Library & Plaza in Syndey rethinks a common emphasis on new technologies and the transformation of a reading room in a library being an inside storage space of books to a public space that communicates with its boundaries. For this design, Gus Wüstemann Architects suggests a bridge from the virtual world to the authentic world, from nature to culture, society and technology. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Designed by Archiplan, their second prize winning proposal for the Performing Arts Studio of the National Theatre of Korea is an extension design concept for the performers practice facilities in the basement of the existing plaza. The main issue is the vitalization of the environment which is now 'blocked' by the retaining wall on the edge of the main road and by the steep slope that makes a disconnection of the site. By embracing art, culture, and the city itself, this proposal connects the two-dimensional old theatre-plaza and the nearby park to link the performer and the citizens while allowing the art and culture flow well. More images and architects’ description after the break.

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