Marking a transformative milestone for Phibsborough, about 2 km north of Dublin's city center, Part 8 of the planning application for the Dalymount Park Stadium remodeling project has been submitted by the Dublin City Council (DCC). As part of a collaborative design effort, IDOM and Gilroy McMahon Architects have crafted proposals for the new stadium, which will have the capacity to accommodate approximately 8,000 spectators. The design also includes plans for the regeneration of the area, seeking new urban connections and incorporating a community center as an integral part of the project.
Sir Peter Cook and Gavin Robotham’s CRAB Studio has unveiled the design for a new cultural center to be constructed in New Delhi, India. Located on the site of a former quartzite quarry, the BRIJ offers facilities for the visual, performing, literary, and culinary arts as well as a new arts academy. The scheme, aiming to promote interactions between artists and audiences via an immersive environment, is designed by CRAB Studio, now led by Gavin Robotham, and CP Kukreja Architects (CPKA) as Executive Architect.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, along with the New York City Department of Design and Construction, has announced the breaking ground on the construction of the Studio Gang-designed Shirley Chisholm Recreation Center. Located at the Nostrand Playground in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, the center aims to bring new amenities to the residents of East Flatbush while honoring the history and heritage of the community. The new center is named after Brooklyn-born politician Shirley Chisholm, the first African American woman to serve in Congress and the first woman and African American to seek the nomination for president of the United States.
Bjarke Ingels Group has revealed the design of Park Rise residences, a new development the Little Athens neighborhood of Ellinikon, featuring modern homes, greenspace, retail, office, and hospitality. The Ellinikon is an ambitious urban regeneration project that reimagines the grounds of Athens’ old international airport and transforms it into a 6.2 million-square meter smart city. Within this development, the Little Athens neighborhood aims to become an integrated part of Ellinikon’s smart urban ecosystem and bring over 1100 new residences to the northwestern coastline of the development.
AKIN has been announced as the winning team in the Barangaroo Harbour Park Design Competition, a project that will transform a central location along the waterfront of Sydney, Australia. The winning team is a First Nations-led and Sydney-based ground composed of Yerrabingin, Architectus, Flying Fish Blue, Jacob Nash Design, and Studio Chris Fox, with Arup as engineering consultants. Through its designers, the group integrates Indigenous knowledge systems along with landscape architecture, regenerative design, public art, and place-making.
Following an international competition, MVRDV has been selected to lead the design of the Hangzhou Oil Refinery Factory Park, an extensive project aiming to transform the former industrial district into a cultural center set in a green environment. Complete with a new art and science museum, offices, retail, and a wide variety of cultural offerings, the redevelopment demonstrates a way forward from an oil-based infrastructure to more sustainable alternatives, while retaining the memory of the past technologies. The park sits alongside the southern end of China’s Grand Canal, the world’s longest and one of the oldest man-made waterways created to strengthen economic connections between the south and the north of the country.
Danish Maritime Architecture Studio MAST, working together with the Municipality of Segrate, plans to transform a former sand quarry into a central park to reconnect the surrounding neighbourhoods and create a new destination for the residents of Milan, Italy. The abandoned quarry has left behind a unique landscape. The off]ice’s proposal includes a series of buildings along the lake’s perimeter linked by a public walkway and a cluster of islands in the centre of the lake. MAST is currently working with the Municipality of Segrate toward realising the project.
Snøhetta, in collaboration with MQDC, has released the design for Cloud 11, a large-scale mixed-use complex in the South Sukhumvit district in Bangkok, Thailand. The new development addresses the pressing need for urban green spaces in the densely built neighborhood. The project, measuring a total of 250.000 square meters, also aims to help transform the Sukhumvit into a hub for innovation and tech companies in the city while providing the area with a large, green public space and spaces for artists, makers, and tech entrepreneurs. Construction has already started, and the project is expected to be completed by the end of 2024.
Designed by URB, The LOOP is a 93-kilometer-long sustainable highway that aims to encourage Dubai’s residents to opt for a healthy mode of transportation. The structure provides a climate-controlled all-year environment to make walking and cycling the preferred type of transportation in the city. The initiative aligns with Dubai’s 20-minute city initiative, which hopes to see 80% of Dubai’s residents commute to work by walking or cycling. The project is currently in the research and development phase.
Heatherwick Studio has been commissioned to redesign and transform a central element of Harley-Davidson’s Headquarters in Milwaukee, US, the Juneau Avenue campus. The location is set to become a public park and green gathering space for the employees of the motorcycle company, as well as for the local community. In its center, the park features a large-scale amphitheater and sunken multi-use events space designed to be accessible to motorcycle riders. The project is set to break ground in 2023, with the park becoming available for use by the summer of 2024.
New York-based studio Practice for Architecture and Urbanism (PAU) has been selected to lead the design for the Niagara Falls Heritage Gateway project. This reimagined public gateway aims to reinvigorate the site, attract new visitors, and stimulate the local economy. As part of the “Downtown Niagara Falls Development Strategy,” the project also aims to strengthen the connections between downtown Niagara Falls and the Niagara Falls State Park. The project is expected to be completed in 2024.
International office MVRDV has been selected by the Taiwan Ministry of Economic Affairs to design the Hoowave Water Factory, a large-scale redevelopment of Huwei’s Beigang and Anqingzhen waterways. The project combines a strategic master plan with the landscape design in an effort to move beyond the mono-functional approach for controlling and distributing water. Besides storing and capturing water, the proposal also opens up access to the river and the natural ecosystem by integrating cycling paths, cultural amenities, and ecological systems. The master plan also includes a comprehensive strategy for flood resilience while improving the quantity and quality of available water. The project is expected to be completed in 2026.
Kalita Humphreys Theater Restored, view from Katy Trail . Image Courtesy of Diller Scofidio + Renfro
Diller Scofidio + Renfro, in collaboration with Dallas Theater Center, unveiled the design proposal for the Kalita Humphreys Theater master plan, centered around one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s lesser-known buildings. Over the years, neglect and additions have compromised the building’s integrity. The project aims to restore the mid-century theater to its original state by applying a multifaceted approach. According to the architects, this includes surgical extraction, selective reconstruction, preservation, and a faithful reinterpretation of Wright’s design intent. The master plan also aims to transform the surrounding public green space into an active and attractive park connected to Turtle Creek and Katy Trail, some of the most visited destinations in Dallas.
The Athens International Airport was decommissioned in 2001, leading to two decades of work for the local government to establish funding and a governance mechanism to transform the 600 acres of unused space into Europe’s largest coastal park. The site has a layered history, from prehistoric settlements to the construction of the airport in the 20th century and the site being used for as an Olympic venue in 2004. Architecture office Sasaki is leading the design to transform the site again and create the Ellinikon Metropolitan Park, a restorative landscape and climate-positive design that will serve as a park, playground, and cultural center for the city of Athens. Developers are planning to break ground early next year.
The climate crisis has accentuated changes in the amount of rainfall, causing droughts or storms with large volumes of water, which result in floods that can cause great damage to urban infrastructure. To combat this, the sponge city is a solution that has a green infrastructure to operate the infiltration, absorption, storage and even purification of these surface waters.
Paul Clemence’s capture of Zürich’s MFO Park is an evocative photo series for Archi-photo, demonstrating the juxtaposition between the metal shell of the man-made and the wild nature of the park itself. Vines intertwining themselves upon the skeleton of the structure create an attractive destination, replenishing the brownfield land and replacing it with a renewed and captivating image.
Zürich’s MFO park is a vibrant parkscape in Switzerland, previously a site used for around a century by the Oerlikon Machine Works (MFO). Saturated with construction debris and pollution during a long period of industrialization, it has been transformed into a green paradise with the nearby wooded Oerliker Park brimming with ash trees. Offering a diverse area of open space it is available to the public for a wide range of activities and events, with the presence of ‘Park House’, a large open hall, and trellis enveloped with climbing vegetation.
It is nearly impossible nowadays not to present accompanying renders when proposing a new project. No matter the method, software or style that is used, it is a valuable reference that bares more practical weight than one might think. Not only can it be one of the closest possible representations of the architect's vision, if approved, it can also become a promise to clients, investors, and the general public.
When it comes to works from renowned architects, the render becomes a critical reference to the project participants and to the expectant community. A lot of details can be developed and considered when creating the images. In most cases, special attention is brought to the lighting, materials, and context in order to make the most accurate representation possible.
As part of a strategy developed in late 2021 by Ken Salazar (US Ambassador to Mexico), Deanna Kim (US Consul General in Nuevo Laredo), and Esteban Moctezuma (Mexico Ambassador) in collaboration with leaders politicians, and businessmen from the southern region of Texas and the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, Overland Partners has been announced in conjunction with Able City as the creators of the new 6.3-mile "Binational River Park" that will extend along the Rio Grande - Rio Grande between Laredo, Texas and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. This new space aims to restore and revitalize the ecosystem as well as attract tourism and celebrate the multiculturalism that takes place in this border territory.
