Saturday in Marseille, France, pedestrians and city officials joined Foster + Partners to celebrate the completion of the Vieux Port Pavilion at the mouth of Marseille’s World Heritage-listed harbor. Minimal, yet effective, this “discreet” intervention provides a new sheltered events space on the eastern edge of the port. With six slender pillars supporting its razor-thin profile, the polished 46 by 22 meter stainless steel canopy amplifies and reflects the surrounding movement, creating a spectacle that encourages pedestrians to linger.
More on Foster’s Vieux Port Pavilion after the break...
Designed by Arthur Kupreychuk , the proposal for the railway station, located in Sevastopol, Crimea, Ukraine, consists of a passenger terminal building and a hanging in the air cloud-canopy above it. The supporting structure of the canopy is similar to the structure of an airship. The canopy strives upward by buoyancy forces, if its average density is less than the density of the atmosphere. More images and Kupreychuk’s description after the break.
As pressure mounts to solve the UK’s aviation crisis, the Mayor of London has appointed Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) alongside a world-class team of aviation experts to develop plans for a new major airport in southeast England. The team is expected to resolve the debate on how and where the capital’s next multi-runway airport hub should be constructed, a decision that will play a critical role in the future of the British economy.
Zaha Hadid said: "This work is essential to deliver the most integrated transport solutions for London and the UK. It will enable London to maintain its position as one of the world's most important economic, commercial and cultural centers; outlining the city's future growth and development which has always been founded on global connectivity."
PlusUrbia, an architectural and urban design firm, led the design of the new trade/commercial district in the Port of Miami in collaboration with GSHstudio, OskiStudio and studioLFA. The team developed a concept coined “Port-Side Miami” to become the city’s new commercial district on the west end of the Port’s Dodge Island, which was designated by the “PortMiami 2035 master plan” to be developed into office space, retail, restaurants and a number of high-end hotels.
More images and the architect´s description after the break.
Grimshaw Architects are the latest practice to add their voice to the debate surrounding the capacity problem of London’s airports. Their innovative proposal, entitled ‘London: Hub City’, bucks the trend of recent ‘superhub’ proposals, which are frequently suggested as a solution to the problem.
Instead of creating a large ‘airport hub’ on a single site separated from the city, Grimshaw’s design prioritizes construction of new express lines by creating a ‘City Hub’ that allows passengers to transfer between London’s existing airports via the city center. The benefit being that expansion could be spread amongst its four existing airports incrementally, as needed, instead of being concentrated on the construction of one ‘super-hub’.
More on Grimshaw's aviation proposal for London after the break.
In an effort to maximize Istanbul’s potential of becoming a bustling regional hub, Transport Minister Binali Yildirim has released a request for proposals to construct and operate what could potentially be one of the world's largest airports. With the Ataturk airport - Turkey’s largest airport which handled nearly 45 million passengers last year - steadily reaching capacity and limited by land restrictions, the new $9 billion dollar, six-runway airport promises to expand the country’s aviation capacity with the potential of handling 150 million yearly passengers.
“The new airport project will be bigger than any other in Turkey and will be part of our plan to build a new city on the Black Sea coast,” Yildirim said, according to Bloomberg.
The Centre for Visual Arts and Amsterdam design bureau Carve recently invited ten European design firms to develop unconventional, inventive, and playful objects for a new public space in the western Netherlands city of Dordrecht. Responding to the challenge, Spanish architecture firm Ecosistema Urbano designed the Dordrecht Energy Carousel - an energy-generating chandelier of hanging ropes meant to engage kids of all ages in the densely populated suburbs surrounding Governeusplein Square.
Read more about Dordrecht Energy Carousel after the break!
Manhattan West; Courtesy of Brookfield Development
New York City's Midtown West will be experiencing a large makeover over the coming years. Shortly after Hudson Yards broke ground in late 2012, Brookfield Properties initiated the first phase of its 5.4 million-square-foot master plan for Manhattan Weston the corner of 33rd Street and 9th Ave. Hovering over Penn Station's Railroad tracks, an engineering feat will support two 60-story towers that will encompass residential and commercial functions,as well as public and community space.