2014

+ 29

• Architects

  MAD Architects

• Location

  Harbin Xiangfang Cultural Center, Zhujiang Road, Xiangfang, Haerbin, Heilongjiang, China, 150090

• Directors

  Ma Yansong, Dang Qun, Yosuke Hayano

• Area

  1800000.0 sqm

• Project Year

  2014

• Photographs

  MAD Architects

After fifty years of neglect the Empire Stores, located next to the Brooklyn Bridge, are now the most coveted waterfront property in New York. Midtown Equity has partnered with Studio V Architecture to adaptively reuse the 19th-century coffee warehouse into 380,000 square-feet of office, restaurant and commercial space, highlighted by a Brooklyn-centric cultural museum. "After the Brooklyn Bridge," says Joe Cayre, Chairman of Midtown Equities, "the Civil War era Empire Stores are the most iconic structures on the Brooklyn waterfront. As a Brooklyn native who raised my family in the borough, it is an honor for my firm to be chosen for the redevelopment of the Empire Stores."

Learn more after the break...

In 2003, BOLLES + WILSON won a national competition that gained them commission of the new Luxemburg National Library (BnL Bibliothèque Nationale de Luxembourg). After years of hibernation, the 39,000 square meter library will break ground in 2014.

Follow us after the break for more analysis on the library...

On schedule to be China’s tallest and the world’s second tallest skyscraper, the Gensler -designed Shanghai Tower has topped out at 632 meters (2,074 feet). Upon completion in 2014, the spiraling megastructure will complete a trio of towers - including the adjacent Jin Mao Tower and Shanghai World Financial Center - to become the centerpiece of the city’s Lujiazui commercial district - one of Asia’s leading financial centers which developed from farmland in just over 20 years.

Defined by series of distinctive sky gardens, the state-of-the-art tower will house Class-A office and retail space, along with a luxury hotel and cultural venues. 

Continue reading to learn how the Shanghai Tower’s structure saved millions and why it will achieve LEED Gold.

+ 12

• Architects

  luis vidal + arquitectos

• Location

  Heathrow Airport Terminal 3, Heathrow Airport (LHR), Longford, London, Middlesex TW6 1QG, UK

• Team

  O.T. Ferrovial Agroman, Fhecor, Cg Proyectos, Solventa, Hoare Lea Consulting, Davis Langdon Schumann Smith, Warrington Fire Research, Reef Associates, Siemens- Vanderlande, Immodo, Carma, Euroestudios, Merebrook, Fractal, Gleeds

• Project Year

  2014

• Photographs

  Courtesy of LHR Airports Limited

• Area

  210000.0 m2

San Francisco-based Aidlin Darling Design has broke ground on the Windhover Contemplative Center at Stanford University. Inspired by Nathan Oliveira’s meditative Windhover paintings, the single-story, 4,000 square foot spiritual retreat is intended to provide students, faculty and staff members a quiet place of refuge from the intensity of daily life.

Coop Himmelb(l)au has come up with an incredibly unique design for the new Grand Theatre and International Culture & Art Center for Changsha, China. The site is located on the northeastern side of the newly created Changsha Meixi Lake in the Daheexi District, with the design engaging both land and water with a flowing and undulating white form of enormous scale. The architects hope to create a new cultural center that interacts with the existing natural landscape, not only visually, but scientifically by running on alternative energy sources and efficient passive energy systems to reduce environmental impact.

The architects' description after the break...

OMA is designing a new department store concept in Kuwait City. The Exhibition Hall, in the popular 360° Mall, will showcase the creativity of the region alongside international fashion brands through a flexible curated retail space, featuring cultural programs, exhibitions and installations. The project is led by OMA partners Iyad Alsaka and Rem Koolhaas, in partnership with Tamdeen Real Estate Co.

• Architects

  OMA

• Location

  Kuwait City, Kuwait

• Project Architect

  Alessandro De Santis

• Architects in Charge

  Iyad Alsaka, Rem Koolhaas,

• Collaborators

  Tamdeen Real Estate Co.

• Area

  9400.0 m2

• Project Year

  2014

• Photographs

  Courtesy of OMA

• Architects

  OMA

+ 5

To further the promotion of art education, the China Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing and China Academy of Art in Xiangshan have announced plans to construct a new university within the hilly suburbs of Hangzhou by the Spring of 2014. Designed by Kengo Kuma & Associates, the Museum at the China Academy of Art will harmonize with the lush topography and resist modifying any existing slopes to accommodate the 4,936 square meter facility. Instead, the museum’s configuration will mimic the lozenge shaped pattern that was discovered within the contour lines, generating a fluid exhibition space with linear and altering floor levels buffered by partially external galleries.

In addition, Kengo Kuma is investigating the possibility of reusing clay tiles and stones from Hangzhou's old house district so the body of the museum may appear as if the “soil of the tea gardens” were “transformed into architecture”.

More images after the break.

+ 54

• Architects

  Bjarke Ingels Group

• Location

  COCONUT GROVE, MIAMI, FL, USA

• Architect in Charge

  Bjarke Ingels, Thomas Christoffersen

• Design Team

  Tiago Barros, Jitendra Jain, Brian Foster, Ed Yung, Terrence Chew, Ji-Young Joon, Kasper Hansen, Chris Malcolm, Alana Goldweit, Martin Voelkle, Greg Knobloch, Ho Kyung Lee, Mina Rafiee, Cat Huang, Maureen McGee, Chris Falla, Valerie Lechene

• Project Leaders

  Leon Rost, Ziad Shehab

• Area

  58,900 m2

• Project Year

  2014

• Photographs

  Courtesy of BIG

• Architects

  Bjarke Ingels Group

+ 38

+ 20