The topic of the upcoming EXPO 2015 in Milan is “Feeding the planet – Energy for life.” So how could a pavilion deal with that topic? It’s name is Biolosophy, a design by architecture student Patrick Vogel at Wismar University, Germany The basic idea was to design a building, that seems “alive” and maybe eatable. Food is getting scarce on the planet, and meanwhile the world population is increasing. One almost infinite resource that we have is algae. The building is created with special columns and beams, made of steel, concrete and acrylic glass with algae growing in it. So the visitor of the pavilion feels like they are moving in a huge cell structure and can watch the algae grow and also eat it. Read the rest of this entry »
German Pavilion for 2015 Milan EXPO / Patrick Vogel
Hangzhou Gateway Competition Winner / JDS Architects
Internationally-recognized architectural firm JDS Architects has won first place at the Hangzhou Gateway Competition for the high-rise design in Gongshu District of China. The district is a part of an industrial area needing to be reintegrated into the urban fabric. The aim of the project is to create a new urban landmark as well as to offer housing capacities. The fifteen story high tower is designed to be an icon for the urban transformation of the city. Read the rest of this entry »
Groove Box – Display Case for Vinyl Records / Amorphis
Vinyl albums have somewhat of a retro/cult status within contemporary culture that is generated from the unique sound it produces as well as the cover art that defines the packaging. Groove Box is a display case designed by Amorphis to frame a collection of vinyl as well as heighten its status as a cultural artifact within the domestic setting.
A generic plywood box is wrapped with an articulated, thickened surface, characterized by a sequence of draped effects ranging from pleats in the middle to a quilt-like condition at its ends. The pleats within the top middle portion are intended to perform as display grooves for individual records. The wrapped surface is CNC milled Baltic Birch plywood and finished with “Lexus Starfire White” automotive paint. Read the rest of this entry »
Port of Kaohsiung Passenger Transportation District / Maxthreads Architects
With a view to create a quality environment in which to serve passengers and clients, the Kaohsiung Harbor Bureau, Ministry of Transportation and Communications of Taiwan R.O.C. has formulated a plan for the “Port of Kaohsiung Passenger Transportation District” and the construction of the “Port and Cruise Service Center”. The aim of the competition is to improve the passenger service facilities and the surrounding environment, providing the visitors with more convenient and comfortable facilities. Furthermore, the plan will help promote international exchange and boost international as well as domestic tourism.
Designed by Maxthreads Architectural Design, the project’s task is to create a international gateway not only for the port and cruise service center as the entry and exit point, but also for local public leisure activities. The intimate interconnected relationship created between port and cruise service center and general public by revisiting port operational event is the key element of urban integration. Read the rest of this entry »
Living Roof for the Contemporary City Dweller / NAU
The Living Roof by NAU is a living environment boiled down to its most essential elements: Arefuge to recover, plan excursions into the city, or simply stare into the stars. Offering you the essence of the city, it condenses all the functions of daily life into a compact and self- sustaining capsule, intended for urban rooftops, but ready to be airlifted into the savanna at short notice. The minimal interior allows for concentrated thought and recuperation, while the highly efficient enclosure helps resolve one of the paradoxes of modern life: the contemporary citizen seeks mobility, but also wants to tread softly on the environment. For just this sort of traveler, NAU has designed the Living Roof, the first short-term housing unit to produce more energy than it consumes. Read the rest of this entry »
Tianjin-Samaranch Memorial Olympic Museum / Holm Architecture Office
The five interlocking rings of the Olympic symbol serves as the foundation for the 25,000 square meter (250,000 square foot) building design by Holm Architecture Office. By re-arranging the rings and varying the scale, the HAO design creates a museum consisting of two rings above ground with three sunken courtyards.
The two main rings serve as counterparts in the story of the life of Juan Antonio Samaranch. The first ring invites visitors in through a public courtyard, lifting them onto a circular ramp. This ring will house exhibits that speak to the legacy of Juan Antonio Samaranch’s work with the Olympic Committee and the impact it has had on China and the world. The second ring encloses a garden and focuses on the life and work of Juan Antonio Samaranch, serving as a memorial to his achievements.
Together the two rings create a continuous loop taking the visitor through both the exhibition and memorial areas. The building design incorporates green technologies, from the installation of energy-producing solar cells on the building’s roof to climate control through geothermal heating and cooling. Read the rest of this entry »
EDP Foundation Cultural Centre in Lisbon / Amanda Levete Architects
The EDP Foundation Cultural Centre in Lisbon is a project about water, light, reflections and people – a building that captures the essence of the unique riverside site and the extraordinary southern light of Lisbon.
The site is of strategic importance. Acting as the gateway to the culturally rich area of Ajuda / Belém, the building will be a magnet, drawing people from the heart of the city to the panoramic views along the Tagus estuary. The currently neglected riverfront area will be activated, and the cultural centre will become one of Lisbon’s leading destinations.
This project is also about democracy. It is a building for the people – for the people of Lisbon, for cultural visitors and for tourists. It is a building for culture and leisure that defies the boundaries between public space and building. A simple and organic gesture creates a topographic form that blends into landscape making a fluid and natural relationship between inside and outside – people move over as well as through the building.
The building creates an attractive landscape, stepping down into the river Tagus. At high tide the steps are covered with water creating a constantly changing space that converses with the tide and the reflections from the water. The reflections play with the overhanging façade to give unexpected lighting effects both inside and out, capturing and magnifying the unique light qualities of this south facing site. An area of welcome shade is naturally created by the cantilevered structure. Read the rest of this entry »
The NY-BILLBOARD by Prechteck
Despite unique identities, geographic spread and differing economies, cities all over the world are being challenged by the same mega trends. With more than 60% of the world population predicted to live in cities by 2030 we are asked to develop sustainable strategies for the future. There is no doubt that the density of cities will increase and therefor the cities fabric will grow vertically. But with reaching a certain height, towers are facing problems:
Height is isolating: towers are monuments elevating the cities population form its urban grid. At the height of towers, ones experience becomes isolated from the public and urban conditions.
Height is dangerous: exiting a highrise in case of an emergency (natural or manmade catastrophes for instance) is facing serious difficulties.
Height is insufficient: when it comes to getting down by elevator 50+ floors for an hour-long lunchbreak and going the same way back later on, towers get inefficient with a certain height.
The NY-BILLBOARD
The proposal designed by Prechteck seeks for a way to add a new horizontal layer to Manhattan. An elevated link between towers, separated from traffic and noise, filled with public functions, bicycle lanes and walkways. The groundarea covered by towers will be given back to the public by integrating its roofs to the grid of linking walkways, elevated gardens and public facilities and, as a unique aspect, it introduces public life into the skyline of Manhattan. NY-BILLBOARD is an accentuation of this new layer on a strategic important site. Read the rest of this entry »
Billboard Architecture – A Tower for Abu Dhabi / Leah Nichols
Leah Nichols has designed a “gateway” tower for Abu Dhabi that attempts to both embody and aggravate the idea that architecture is a site for the projection of political power and commercial gain. Taking a cue from the omnipresence of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s image, – which is scattered throughout the region on large-scale, American-style billboards – the project embraces the typology of the billboard in order to meet the programmatic needs of a gateway to Saadiyat Island. The proposal considers how a building is perceived by drivers on the highway and attempts to successfully engage viewers through the articulation of a two-sided surface that communicates the single image of Sheikh Khalifa – acting as a site marker similar to U.S. state welcome signage. Made up of 1400 protruding apertures, the building’s exterior skin translates depth onto a second internal skin read from the opposite side or direction of the highway. These double skins, along with a glazing wall encased in structural framing, make up the layers of this seemingly superflat form. The collective layers create an interiorized spatial condition, while the exterior provides visible states of change from multiple directions throughout the day. Therefore, the image typically applied to architecture becomes embedded in the architecture itself. Read the rest of this entry »
Beijing National Hotel / Emergent
At 1,500 rooms, this hotel will be the largest hotel in Beijing. It is located near the Beijing International Airport in the 5th Ring, and will be used to host international conferences. The building is 303 meters long and is intended to become a major landmark, visible to landing aircraft.
The building is organized around three volumetric rings fused together by surfaces draped from the top and bottom. The rings create atriums which are enclosed by ETFE domes, housing a 10,000 m2 interior rainforest as well as the conference center and hotel amenities. Rooms, radiating out along each ring, are oriented both outwards and inwards, creating views out to the city as well as down into the rainforest. The droop of the rings towards the perimeter of the building also allows views outward from the interiors of the rings. Structural bays are flexible and can be broken down into standard, business suite, and presidential types. A sky restaurant is located at the highest level of the building, with views out to the city in all directions.
The enclosure of the building is a double skin system where the outer layer is a weather break and the inner layer is the weatherproof enclosure. This creates a thermal buffer zone as well as the freedom to design a freeform pattern of apertures unrelated to the relentless horizontality of the hotel floor plates. The outer skin is supported by a lightweight cable-net structure which is stabilized by large tension rings affixed at the top and perimeter of the building. Read the rest of this entry »