New York based architects SO-IL conceived the “Flockr” pavilion as a structure that responds to its environment while also creating a sense of place through its basic form. Covered with thousands of tinted mirrored panels, the skin reflects its surroundings and makes the changing contexts of this temporary and mobile installation—the cityscapes of Beijing and Shanghai— an integral part of its expression. In SO-IL’s experimental façade, only the top of each panel is attached to the structure, allowing the individual pieces to respond to wind and creating a kinetic skin that is permeable by light and air. The pavilion’s structure is made out of 56 thin, flexible steel rods that connect at the bottom and the top into two large steel rings. The larger bottom ring frames the interior perimeter of the structure while the smaller top ring creates a skylight; the relationship between the two results in the pavilion’s curvilinear womb-like shape. The activities that take place within are gently enclosed by a dynamic pattern of thousands of flickering reflections. Because it is circular in plan and curvilinear in section, the pavilion does not discriminate any direction; once passing through the entryway, the interior is generous and encompassing. Read the rest of this entry »
Flockr is a Pavilion of Thousands Tinted Mirrored Panels / SO-IL
Wiel Arets Architects Won Competition to Design Amsterdam’s Central Station
Dutch studio Wiel Arets Architects won the first prize to design the Ijhal – the pedestrian portion of the Amsterdam’s Central Station which is currently undergoing a drastic transformation to become the centrepiece of the city’s plan to reconnect neighbourhood clusters through the restructuring of its public transportation systems. The IJhal, to be located in the rear of Amsterdam’s Centraal Station, on the waterfront of the river IJ, will be the main pedestrian centric portion of the renewed station, adding gastronomic, leisure and service areas to the station’s program.
Historically, the neighbourhood of Amsterdam North has been separated from the rest of the city by the river IJ. With the opening of the IJhal at Centraal Station – and later, the North-South Metro line that will travel under the IJ and physically connect Amsterdam North with the rest of the city – this barrier will be broken down. Read the rest of this entry »
Fake Hills / MAD Architecture
The wryly named Fake Hills is a large apartment complex set on the water in the city of Beihai, China. MAD architects took the long lived Chinese principle of architecture mimicking or responding to nature to counterpoint the modern monolithic residential building trend by using local hill formations as a reference. Its principle design intention was to move away from the current residential towers that are sprouting up in the metropolitan area and reconnect the city with the local hillsides and natural formations. Currently the bulk of building construction in China is cheap residential towers and row buildings that are intended to maximize developer profits but dehumanize and denature the environs. Developed in such a large scale the apartment complex will create an iconic symbol for the city. Read the rest of this entry »
OFL Architecture Reinterprets the Silk Road
Italian architectural studio OFL architecture received the first prize in the international competition “New Silk Road Map” that aims for the recovery, reinterpretation, and reconfiguration of the Silk Road – a network of commercial, cultural, and religious paths that connected the Eastern and Western civilizations for more than 2000 years.
OFL’s project description:
Silk Road Map Evolution (SRME) is a project born out of the will to revive and regenerate the current layout of the silk road. This is to be accomplished by means of a social, economic, political and architectonic redevelopment of the historic stretch of the road that once belonged to Marco Polo.
The project deeply integrates infrastructure with architecture and by means of a new railway system functioning on gravitational platforms follows the trail from Venice to Xian, Shanghai and Tokyo, extending its “arms” to create new infrastructures, commercial services and residences. A wiry MOTOR CITY extends itself to help out urban realities and struggling economies. The (linearly) diffused city runs into other micro-cities in such a way that the greater entity hooks onto the smaller ones to help them survive and, like an economic pump, extends life from the greater nodes to the smaller and poorer extremities. The 15,000 km of the silk road shall be broken up by bionic towers which will represent the centers of new urban sprawls. The new silk road line will also serve as the GENERATOR of other paths that will branch off of the main course of the road to develop a larger economic armature. Read the rest of this entry »
Mixed-use Hall in Prégny-Chambésy / Complex City
French architectural studio Complex City unveiled their design for a mixed-use hall to be located in the small city of Prégny-Chambésy, Switzerland. The project is based on intimate relationship between exterior and interior areas where each space is codependent of another. The outer skin is inspired on traditional embroidery and plant cell patterns allowing an interesting play of light and shadow. The new hall to be completed by the end of 2010 will contain exhibition and performing spaces and serve as a cultural destination for the city and region. Read the rest of this entry »
Qatar 2022 World Cup Stadium / Foster + Partners
The design for the Lusall Iconic Stadium in Doha, Qatar was recently unveiled in a ceremony in London as part of Qatar’s bid for the 2022 World Cup. The energy efficient stadium was conceived by Foster and Partners as a floating bowl with a retractable roof. It will seat over 86,000 spectators which will be protected from the extreme hot by an innovative canopy that allows light while blocking the heat. The stadium’s parking is covered by photovoltaic cells that will provide sufficient energy during matches and will power a large portion of the neighborhood when not in use.
Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem / Chyutin Architects
Chyutin Architects won the international competition to design the new Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem.
Architect’s vision:
The Museum of Tolerance is located at the heart of modern Jerusalem, in its rejuvenated city center, on the borderline between the spacious Independence Park, and the urban built environment. The location is a meeting site of three main streets which differ in character and function. Hillel street: a bustling commercial zone; Moshe Ben Israel street: a road crossing the park; and Moshe Salomon street- Nachalat Shiva’s pedestrian mall, a tourist hub, full of restaurants and shops.
The buildings surrounding the museum site have diverse architectural characteristics, representing the history of Jerusalem architecture from the 19th century up today. We wanted the MOTJ building to be integrated into the landscape without overshadowing the preexisting urban setting on the one hand, while asserting its own unique character on the other, an iconic structure that reflects transparency and openness and generates visual interest at close and distant views. The MOTJ is to act as a bridge between the different architectural styles present in its location on one hand, while stylistically using contemporary architectural language and exploring advanced technology and materiality. We wanted the MOTJ building to stand in the warm embrace of the urban fabric and the park around it, shinning as a jewel set to the skyline of Jerusalem. Read the rest of this entry »
Innovation Tower / Zaha Hadid Architects
The proposed vision of the new Innovation Tower presents a unique opportunity to re-examine and address a creative, multidisciplinary environment. Zaha Hadid concept collects the variety of programmes of the school. Having undergone a strict process of examination of the multiple relationships amongst their unique identities they have been arranged in accordance to their ‘collateral flexibilities’. Priority lies in the drawing in of the campus staff, students and public into a welcoming new space that acts as both the building’s entrance and organiser for the existing complex.
The first architectural gesture is to raise the landscape of the existing football field and tennis grounds, so as to place the main pedestrian entrance of the new school building on a level open to it’s immediate context at podium level. The free ground below becomes accessible from the established main campus route (Yuk Choi Road) to proposed workshops, parking and access to future development on ‘Phase 8’. The new Innovation Tower on podium level is established as an open public foyer that channels deep into the building through a column-free, open showcase forum. The long integrated path from Suen Chi Sun Memorial Square guides the visitor to the main entrance and from here, a generous and welcoming space openly leads its visitors access to supporting public facilities (shop, cafeteria, museum) through a generous open exhibition ‘showcase’ spanning over two levels between podium and ground level.
New School in Fréchy Inspired by Local Embroidery Patterns / Complex City
Dress Code is an elementary school designed by French architectural firm Complex City in Fréchy, Switzerland – a delightful site surrounded by farming areas and beautiful hills. The focal point of the project is the outer skin inspired by local patterns of embroidery. Olivier Brouillard, the principal at Complex City, studied solar and wind exposures to create a façade module that resembles the region’s artistic heritage and protects the interior from the extreme weather and light conditions – the membrane filters the elements and creates a cellular connection between exterior and interior. The project is a playful composition of space, color, light, and geometries that is attractive to children and responds to the local culture. Read the rest of this entry »
Peace Pentagon in New York City / Sphere Architecture
The Peace Pentagon is an initiative in New York City that promotes Peace through food. Chefs from war torn areas around the globe are invited to share their food and culture with New Yorkers. “Thirty-two Tents” is the winning proposal by Austrian studio Sphere Architecture to design the Peace Pentagon Building in lower Manhattan.
Architects vision:
A new shape for this building can succeed only as a visible restatement of its most basic assumptions. But a building embodies basic assumptions best when it effectively restructures its entire environment— even as economically, socially, and architecturally diverse environment as lower Manhattan! The original building will double in size. The white superstructure amplifies its dimensions, both transforming the impression it makes and reconfiguring its surroundings. Read the rest of this entry »