Cultural: The Latest Architecture and News

Our friends from XTEN Architecture just sent us one of their latest projects. The Saphire Gallery is a residential gallery addition to a private residente in Los Angeles, California. It is designed to display a private collection of contemporary art while also providing for a home office with views to the sorrounding hills.

More images and architect’s description, after the break.

Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas has designed the facility for the dramatic 2009 season of the National Institute of Ancient Drama.

NRJA, previously featured on our AD Futures series, shared their entry for the House of Arts and Culture competition in Beirut, Lebanon.

Project description and images after the break.

The Royal Palace at Scholssplatz, located in the german city of Berlin, was destroyed by the German Democratic Republic in 1962 and in its place, they built the Palace of the Republic which was also demolished in 2005.

Since then many proposals have come, till in 2007, the Bundestag (German Parliament), decided on a reconstruction plan. Three façades of the palace will be rebuilt, and the interior will be renewed. One of the proposals came from Graft Architects who designed an art heaven in the form of a kunsthall for the young and vital international art scene in Berlin. The design is envisioned as an art cloud a temporary light structure of exhibition space, seemingly floating and resting for a moment above the topography of soft mounds.

Seen at designboom. More images after the break.

In late 2008 the City of Punta Umbria, located on the coast of Huelva, Spain, organized a Competition for a Congress, Exhibition and Fairs building. MRDP Arquitectos sent us the winning entry.

The results:

1st Prize: FARO; MRDP Arquitectos | María Romero y Daniel Pérez 2nd Prize: CÓNCAVO-CONVEXO; Joaquín Aramburu y Asociados 3rd Prize: BI.VALVO; JOSÉ ÁLVAREZ CHECA

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Japanese architect Shuhei Endo sent us some impressive images of his latest project: the Guangzh Culture Center in China.

You can see more renders after the break.

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Today Amsterdam city planning councilman Maarten van Poelgeest announced the winner of the adaptive reuse design competition for the two former sewage treatment silos in Amsterdam’s Zeeburg district: the Annie MG Schmidt House. Annie MG Schmidt (1911-1995) is Holland’s most famous author of childrens books.

The winning plan is a mutifunctional cultural center, housing a wide range of diverse activities, including a spectacular open rooftop playground on one silo, and restaurant Praq op ‘t daq built on the rooftop of the other. The doors to the exhibition spaces and media center, movie theater and theater hall, tower room and shops, as well as those of the restaurant, are open seven days a week the whole year through, welcoming visitors and locals alike. The project breathes new life into the silos, transforming them into an inspiring and lively place which will help shape the character of the new Zeeburgereiland housing district.

The plan is the result of the inspired cooperation between the development companies AM and De Alliantie, the Annie MG Schmidt Huis foundation, restaurant Praq, Arons en Gelauff architects, landscape architect Rob Aben, and Janneke Hooymans (This is Jane-interior design).

The Annie MG Schmidt House is expected to be completed in 2011. Images by Arons en Gelauff architects / Pixel Pool, after the break.

Italian architect Alberto Catalano of Teknoarch has just won the international competition to design the New Arts and Culture House in Beirut, Lebanon. Catalano won a $75,000 prize and a comission for the project. The Arts and Culture House will be the first of its kind in Lebanon and is funded by a $20 million gift from the Sultanate of Oman. The project should be complete in 2013.

The second prize went to Beatriz Ramo Lopez de Angulo with STAR strategies+architecure, from The Netherlands. The third prize went to Grigoryan Yury with Project Meganom from Russia.

Seen at Bustler. More images after the break.

Architect: Beckmann-N’Thépé architects – Aldric Beckmann, Françoise N’thépé Landscape design : TN+ / Bruno Tanant & Jean-Christophe Nani Location: Helsinki, Finland Project Manager: Wilfried Daufy Project Architect: Anne-Catherine Dufros Assistant Architects: Constance Héau, Jessica Pallatier Landscape design team: Guillaume Derrien & Agathe Turmel Zoo expert: Jean Marc Lernould Constructed Area: 26,2 ha

The zoological island of Korkeasaari will be cut off again. Its architectural interventions will be concentrated to make it wild and mysterious once more – a park / garden as a place of popular privilege, the nobility of the future city.

The Taipei Performing Arts Center design was finally won by OMA. However, we already feature other two proposals. One by NL Architects, other by Ábalos + Sentkiewicz. Now, we bring you the futuristic design by Morphosis Architects.

More information about the proposal here. Images after the break.

The folks at Art & Seek published a video with interesting insights on the construction of the Wyly Theater in Dallas, TX designed by REX | OMA, which is almost complete.