The ‘Fiction’ collection, by photographer Antoine Mercusot, features miniature worlds and figures to create spaces made of wood, cardboard, plastic, and paper. Inspired by his work as an architectural photographer, he then stages imaginary parts, inspired by real life characters and crossings without markings, arranged in his imagination. As Mercusot states, “These worlds refer to contemporary architecture, where simplicity of lines, righteousness of the form, the work of matter are the source of this discipline. Only the light is able to reveal and highlight these volumes. The environments appear to be empty spaces, sanitized, where time stopped, leaving room for attitudes and the psychological dimension of silhouettes that are emerging.” More photographs of his collection can be viewed after the break.
Creating a gateway entry to south China’s new planned commercial hub, the winning competition proposal by 10 Design + Buro Happold for their Infinity Loop Bridge marks the connection of the Shizimen Canal to the Pearl River Delta. The 10 and Buro Happold team set out to create a simple and elegant structural solution for a bridge that would be a visual focal point both within the Shizimen District itself and along the Pearl River Delta coastline. More images and architects’ description after the break.
A nationally recognized leader in modern, sustainable, regionally appropriate architecture, Frank Harmon, FAIA, principal of the multi-award-winning architecture firm Frank Harmon Architect PA in Raleigh, NC, will present a talk entitled “How Architects and Landscape Architects Can Work Together” during the North Carolina chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects’ (NCASLA)2012 Spring Conference. Harmon, will discuss the urban and rural landscape, how architecture fits into it, and how architects and landscape architects can combine efforts “to leave the landscape better than we found it”. His talk will take place Friday, June 15, from 3:15-4:15 p.m. More information on the event after the break.
Best know as a musician, Moby is quickly gaining lots of attention for his “weird architecture blog” that is centered around his fascination with Los Angeles architecture. In this video published by 1883 Magazine, Moby discusses his thoughts on some his personal favorites, starting with Frank Lloyd Wright’s Ennis House, which Moby depicts as an Incan spaceship from 100,000 years ago.
A jury of internationally recognized design professionals and Seattle civic leaders has declared a winner among three semi-finalists in Urban Intervention: The Howard S. Wright Design Ideas Competition for Public Space. The winner is ABF, of Paris, France, for its design, In-Closure, which envisions an interactive wall around a forested landscape that is both flexible and dynamic, embracing social life in the city at multiple scales.
The ABF team consists of Etienne Feher, architect; Paul Azzopardi, urban engineer; and Noé Basch, climate engineer. Continue reading after the break for more details.
Earlier this month, Roche held a foundation stone-laying ceremony for their new office building that is currently being constructed in Basel, Switzerland. Designed by the Basel-based architecture practice of Herzog & de Meuron, the 178-meter-tall tapering structure will be formed by superimposed floor slabs that narrow as the high rise ascends. Its simple shape and predominantly white color scheme will anchor itself within the urban setting of Basel and become one of the few high rises scattered throughout the city’s skyline.
Continue after the break for more images and information.
Partially cloudy with a high in the mid-seventies, this was weather we couldn’t say no to on the Sunday after the 2012 National Convention. Therefore we took advantage of the Washington D.C.Capital Bikeshare and set off on a self-guided tour of the National Mall. Although the National Mall was packed with graduates and tourists, we managed to weave in and out of pedestrian traffic quick enough to visit many of the historic buildings and memorials before heading off to Eero Saarinen’s beautiful Dulles International Airport. What a perfect way to wrap up an eventful week in the nation’s capital.
With Expo 2012 debuting this month in Yeosu, South Korea, EXHIBITOR Magazine is now seeking entries for its Expo 2012 Awards competition. The contest will be judged by a star-studded panel of multidisciplinary design, marketing, and communications experts who will ultimately choose which entries represent the best the World Expo has to offer. Entries must be pavilions, exhibits, presentations, or elements of pavilions and exhibits appearing at Expo 2012 in Yeosu. The early bird deadline for entry is June 8, 2012, and the final deadline is June 18. More information on the competition after the break.
Foster + Partners was awarded first prize for their museum design in collaboration with Adrien Gardere for Narbonne in southern France. The museum’s central collection includes more than 1,000 ancient stone relief funerary blocks excavated from a nearby archaeological site, as Narbonne’s historical past as a vital Roman port has left an impressive legacy of buildings and ancient relics. Within the new design, Foster + Partners has created a wall to insert the stones that will act as a natural barrier to separate the public galleries from the more private restoration spaces. The building will also reinforce the strong landscape connection between water and gardens due to the site’s adjacency to the Canal du Midi.
With an arrival sequence that starts at curbside with a new canopy system providing both shelter and a new architectural image for the building, the renovations for Terminal 1 at Raleigh-Durham International Airport have been carefully considered and addressed. Designed by Pearce Brinkley Cease + Lee, their main challenge was the transformation of the existing building in support of the passenger travel experience. As the canopy extends the length of the building and transforms itself at the crosswalk linking the commercial curb canopy, both arrival and departure experienced are emphasized. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Approach, a two-day parametric design workshop June 23-24, put on by Studio Mode / modeLab, will introduce participants to advanced topics in Grasshopper for Rhinoceros. In a fast-paced and hands-on learning environment, participants will iteratively engage a diverse set of parametric approaches to case-study design scenarios, each requiring advanced creation and manipulation of Data Structures and/or the extension of Grasshopper’s Parametric Workflow. The collection of case-studies will furthermore provide a mechanism to critically assess the value in each approach relative to workflow, best practices, linear versus non-linear design processes, and opportunities for modular re-use in other design contexts. For more information, please visit here.
HOK was recently selected to design the new University at Buffalo (UB) School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences on its downtown campus upon winning a global design ideas competition. Located at the center of the region’s emerging bio-sciences corridor, this new transit-oriented medical school development will anchor a lively, urban mixed-use district on campus and bring 1,200 students, faculty and staff downtown. With the goal of fostering collaboration and interdisciplinary care, the new academic medical center will create connections that allow students, faculty, biomedical researchers and clinicians to move easily from classroom to bedside to lab. More images and archtiects’ description after the break.
Last night, dozens packed into the Center for Architecture to join the conversation among some of the most influential in our field. With the energy levels high, panelists Bjarke Ingels of BIG, Toru Hasegawa and Mark Collins of Morpholio and Cloud Lab Columbia University GSAPP, and ArchDaily founders David Basulto and David Assael, shared insight into the impact social media and technology have on our profession and the way in which we design. While the panelists all share a background in design, their differences in applying technology to their particular niche – whether to aid the design process, to collect and redistribute data, or to share information and bring awareness - fueled a dynamic dialogue that kept the crowd engaged and informed way past the closing hours of the Center for Architecture.
Read on for the story behind ArchDaily, and, if you happened to catch the event, let us know in the comments below.
Christopher Hawthorne’s article “Atlantic on the Move“, published in the Los Angeles Times, covers the transitions taking place along LA’s boulevards and one in particular: the 5600 block of Atlantic Avenue. Hawthorne reveals the changes taking place that are “reversing decades of neglect” among LA’s roadways. Among those that have promoted a cultural association with Los Angeles: traffic, congestion and miles of roadways. The article covers the small steps that take place over time via minor interventions that combine to change the face of the boulevards to more pedestrian and bike-friendly spaces for alternative modes of transportation.
On May 11, 2011, the performance of Aeschylus’s Prometheus Unbound premiered on OMA‘s (Office for Metropolitan Architecture) stage set for the Greek Theatre in Syracuse, Sicily. The design consists of three transformable architectural devices that can be reinterpreted among the different spaces of the theater. These devices date back to 5th century BCE.
Two weeks ago we started proposing films relevant to our field for you to primarily enjoy and also to encourage its discussion. First with “The Belly of an Architect”, and then “Blade Runner”, this week is the turn for a slightly more contemporary movie written and directed by Andrew Niccol, Gattaca. The film presents a future were the human condition is already defined in DNA, therefore human’s opportunities for life development are pre-established. Beyond the interesting ethical issue, the architecture where this story occurs is carefully selected in order to fit the director’s image of the future. Locations include the Marin County Civic Center by Frank Lloyd Wright and the CLA Building by Antoine Predock.
The masterplan for the National Creative Cluster by Sasaki Associates integrates the urban form with the surrounding landscape by creating a series of green wedges, interspersed within the urban clusters and forming a series of community parks. Located near Songzhuang, a quiet village on the outskirts of Beijing, the success of the district is tied to its openness, where people can interact in both structured and spontaneous ways to exchange ideas and have constructive dialogue. More images and architects’ description after the break.
The project for an office buiding in Boulogne Billancourt, France consists of the renovation of building B’s existing 10,402m² surface area, the redesign of the facade taking into account the overall structure, the renovation of the technical premises, and the optimizing of office surface space. The competition winning design by Atelier Zündel Cristea is conceived with the logic of functional flexibility in which a central technical core frees the 8 floors, including the ground floor, from bearing concerns.
Built during the 1970’s, building B forms part of a larger whole located at 122, avenue du Général Leclerc, in the Silly-Gallieni neighborhood. The complex is made up of 11 buildings for housing, situated in the northern section of the site, along with the two office buildings, interconnected at ground floor level via a shared lobby with accompanying spaces for businesses to the south. More images and architects’ description after the break.
The public space project by Domitianus Arquitectura of this unique urban neighbourhood comes at a time of re-foundation of the modern process, reflecting in its urban structure the main issues from the time it was done. In this housing complex, their design overcomes the idea of urban center, and instead, long sets of “bands” are adapting along the road structure, promoting advances and setbacks of buildings or misalignments in the implementation of several blocks, situations diversity, which take on greater meaning when incorporated into the structure of green frame. More images and architects’ description after the break.
International architectural practice Swanke Hayden Connell has won the international competition commissioned by Tahincioglu Gayrimenkul (Tahincioglu Real Estate) for the Palladium Tower in Istanbul, Turkey. The 49,500 sq meter tower will be situated on a 1.7 hectare site. The project is due for completion in 2014.
In celebration of LEG0’s 80th birthday, Danish Crown Prince Frederik unveiled the world’s largest LEGO tower in South Korea last week. Nearly 4,000 children stacked 50,000 bricks in five days to help build the 105-foot-tall tower in front of Seoul’s Olympic Stadium. The structure surpassed the previous records set last year in France at 103-feet and in Brazil at 102-feet. As reported by The Daily Mail, the record has been broken more than 30 times since the first LEGO tower was constructed in London in 1988 at a height of less than 50-feet.
Stantec’sdesign for the DjavafMowafaghian Centre for Brain Health at UBC, in Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada is envisioned as a translational research facility defined by present and future medical practices that collaborate under research and patient care. To achieve this, designers considered the intersections within the spatial dynamics of the facility to coordinate interactions between researchers and clinicians. The facility is 134,500 square feet and includes exam / consultation rooms, lab benches, a full conference centre, a brain tissue and DNA bank of samples collected from consenting patients, and patient and animal MRI capabilities.
There are few organizations that would utter the words: “we need to constantly look for ways to make ourselves redundant” (46).
But Architecture for Humanity isn’t your typical organization. Since its inception in 1999, the company has put design professionals in the service of local communities, empowering these locals to the point where, frankly, they don’t need the architects any more.
Beyond chronicling inspired designs and against-the-odds accomplishments, the book importantly offers a provocative philosophy : architecture belongs, not to the architect, but to the people and the world for whom it is designed.
More about life lessons and tips from Design Like You Give A Damn after the break…
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