Dover Street Market has commissioned Zaha Hadid to design this site-specific installation to showcase in their London store during the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The concept behind “Aqua” references the formal language of Hadid’s London Aquatics Centre.
Zaha Hadid: “Designing for Dover Street Market is an exciting opportunity to install a piece inspired by the fluid geometries of the London Aquatics Centre: a wave of liquid, frozen in time, right in the heart of London.”
This post features time lapses of the construction of various venues that will be hosting the 2012 London Olympics. With the opening ceremony Friday, July 27, these construction time lapses give you an inside look to all of the effort put into the games. If you get a chance to watch the games, you will now have a new found appreciation for the amount of work it takes to hold a major event such as this. More videos after the break.
As reported on bdonline, Zaha Hadid is currently the preferred suitor for the London’s Design Museum. The Pritzker Prize winning architect has apparently wooed the sellers with her plans to turn the 1950s building into an architecture museum. She has reportedly teamed up with a private backer and is one of eight pursuers for the Design Museum, which will be relocating into a new home in 2014.
Like no other style, Art Deco represents a built manifestation of the interwar period’s enthusiasm and splendor. In London, buildings of this era reflect the elegance, progress and assertiveness that describe the modern metropolis age. Even today, these buildings have lost none of their aura and appeal, yet they lack any proper documentation.
Together, Niels Lehmann and Christoph Rauhut have worked tirelessly for the past three years researching and photographing London’s architectural Art Deco heritage. With your help, they will feature over 230 buildings with large-scaled photographs in the soon-to-be published book “Modernism London Style.” Follow this link to become a supporter and learn more.
While many buildings try to go Green these days, few attempt to do so literally.
Last week, York Minster Abbey, one of the largest Gothic Cathedrals in Europe, was decked out with 1,500 square meters of – what else - grass.
The occasion for the makeover, the York Minster Rose Dinner to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee (which we marked with a post on Britain’s Built Legacy), hosted about 900 people to raise funds for the York Minster Fund. And with £150-a-head tickets, sold months in advance, perhaps we’ll start seeing other Gothic Cathedrals turn green too (and not just with envy).
‘What is proposed is like a monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much loved and elegant friend.”
It’s easy to see why British Architects get their hackles raised when it comes to Prince Charles. The oft-quoted gem above, said in reference to a proposed extension to the National Gallery in 1984, is one of hundreds of such Architectural criticisms Prince Charles has made over the years. Which wouldn’t matter of course, if, like any average Architectural layman’s opinions, his words didn’t have much weight.
His do. They’ve resulted in the intervention, squelching, and/or redesign of at least 5 major plans over the last twenty years. But let’s not write off Charles just yet.
Grimshaw Architects recently announced that they have been selected by the All England Lawn Tennis Club to design their “Wimbledon 2020” masterplan for future development requirements. After a competitive selection process, it was decided that they will design the new masterplan to continue the previous ‘Long Term Plan’, which was commissioned in 1993 and completed in June 2011. Working with such a prestigious British and internationally renowned institution, Grimshaw will embrace Wimbledon’s unique history of tradition and innovation to enhance further its position as the pre-eminent tennis Grand Slam. Another image of their design can be viewed after the break.
