Designed to be a monumental memorial to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the Zayed National Museum by Foster and Partners is the centerpiece of the Saadiyat Island Cultural District. As a landmark, the museum showcases the history, culture and social and economic transformation of the United Emirates. The aim of the architects, regarding the form, was to combine a contemporary, highly efficient form with traditional Arabic design elements, in order to create the sustainable and welcoming place of cultural gathering. Celebrating Sheikh Zayed’s legacy and love of nature, the museum is set within a landscaped garden, based on a timeline of his life. Read the rest of this entry »
Cultural Landmark For Abu Dhabi: Zayed National Museum By Foster and Partners
Update on “League of Shadows” – SCI-Arc Graduation Pavilion Hosted the Ceremony
SCI-Arc Graduation Pavilion, designed by P-A-T-T-E-R-N-S has finally served its primary purpose – after being built this spring, it hosted the graduation ceremony in Los Angeles. The winning entry aimed to fully exploit what its architects recognized as the most fundamental aspect of the project – the temporal use of the pavilion as a large outdoor event space. Immediately after the purpose has been met, the temporary pavilion usually faces the problem of eventual dissembling or transformation from a space of spectacle to an abandoned venue. The architects at the P-A-T-T-E-R-N-S therefore strongly believed that, if executed correctly, the pavilion could activate a node within the downtown area.
Due to its location, at the corner of 4th and Merric Street, the pavilion is given the possibility of double life – as an outdoor public event space and a formal landmark that assures school’s institutional presence in downtown Los Angeles. As the requirement was to produce enough shadow during the early and late afternoon hours, the pavilion is developed vertically which created comfort zones, sheltered from the sun. Read the rest of this entry »
Redefining Chicago Union Station / Todd Swanson And Louie Bofill
This project by Todd Swanson and Louie Bofill, done at SCI-Arc centers around Chicago’s Union Station, is a complex shared between a historic terminal and a mid-high-rise office building overlooking the Chicago River. In authors’ own words, the abstract addresses the continuing problem of a public space in decline due to its subterranean concourse and dark enclosed spaces, and creates a hub for a future high speed rail intersecting the city. The proposal aims to improve the messy circulation between the current train station and the busy city that surrounds it.
The design team was influenced by the famous Prada Store, Tokyo by Herzog and de Meuron, Mies van der Rohe, and Le Corbusier in general. The initial project redefines the space by retrofitting the tower with a hexagonal exoskeleton, allowing for an adjustment of structure and increased traffic flow throughout the floors.
Through re-systematizing the space, new program was introduced at intervals along the tower. Public venues of hybridized indoor-outdoor space intersect with the conventional floor plates, accentuating views of the surrounding context. The new proposed structural system eliminates congestion, allowing flexibility and the freedom of loading and traffic flow throughout the ground floor and lobby spaces, and introducing openings to the platforms below which provide natural sunlight and ventilation. Read the rest of this entry »
3XN’s UN City Inaugurated In Copenhagen
The new regional head office of the United Nations is designed with clear references to the UN’s identity and values; it is a building that physically reaches out to all parts the world, while the sculptural staircase in its core reflects the UN’s work to create global dialogue.
Bringing together the various agencies and functions of the United Nations regional offices in Copenhagen, the new UN City is located at Marmormolen (The Marble Pier) north of Copenhagen’s city center. 3XN’s design is a response to the UN’s wishes for an iconic building expressing the organization’s values and authority. It reflects the independent, efficient and professional nature of each UN unit. Located on an artificial island the building is naturally separated from its immediate surroundings, while still being highly visible from both the city and the water. Read the rest of this entry »
SANE Architecture Offers Permeability Through Cantilevered Volumes For Taichung
This strong and straightforward design proposal comes from based SANE Architecture studio. Their design for Taichung City Cultural Center involve a courageous environmental approach and it challenges the common notion of a cultural center in general. However, the program objectives were ambitious – the cultural center had to combine a public library and municipal fine arts museum—the cultural flagships of a city—into one area, synergizing art, education and recreation in one location. Besides serving the public functions of reader service, exhibition and guided tour, the two institutions had to be also each fulfill policies and objectives related to reading promotion, artistic development and collection and research of artifacts. The competition required the design which would, as a showcase of Greater Taichung’s distinct cultural ambiance exemplify her intelligent residents, history and urban identity.
As a response to competition requirements, SANE Architecture proposed light structure with the key idea of permeability. Their proposal offered innovative mix between natural and artificial and a new landmark for the area. The building combines the library and museum functions with the park, as a third one, therefore the unique public experience is offered to the visitor. Read the rest of this entry »
Haute Couture Goes Chrome – NOVA Shoe By Zaha Hadid And Rem D Koolhaas
What happens to be an outcome of not so rare marriage of architecture and fashion? This latest joined venture of two famous architects – Zaha Hadid and Dutch Rem D Koolhaas, has resulted with the NOVA shoe, for United Nude – it is limited edition haute couture experimental piece which combines innovative material and ergonomic consideration with the striking dynamism of their architectural language and expressive sense of movement.
Koolhaas stated that he couldn’t resist working with Zaha and that they gave themselves the greatest degree of experimentation while using the latest digital design and manufacturing technologies in order to create one of the most innovative shoes ever produced. On the other hand, his collaborator Zaha confessed that she always appreciated those who dared to experiment with materials and proportions and that she understands their collaboration with United Nude as a request to reinterpret the classic shoe typology by pushing the boundaries of the possible, without compromising the integrity. Read the rest of this entry »
Housing For The Homeless And Agricultural Park For Athens
This proposal concerning a housing scheme for the homeless and the creation of an agricultural park, located in the northern suburban area of Athens comes from Dionysis Gonatas and Vangelis Lantavos of Greece.
Lately in Greece, the debate regarding the state-owned property has been intensified. In the case of buildings, many of them are unfortunately in poor condition due to lack of maintenance or complete abandonment. On the other hand as a result of the economic crisis, a large number of citizens are at risk of poverty, while the number of homeless people, especially in large urban centers, has increased dramatically according to recent statistics. Read the rest of this entry »
Helsinki Central Library
In the recent, well known two-staged competition for Helsinki Central Library, the jury decided not to award the second price, but to give a shared Third, to entries “LIBLAB” by Playa Architects and “Kasi” by various authors.
The Playa Architects’ concept for the Library is clear and straightforward – it presents simple but strong form of joyful architecture, modern and innovative, yet functional and human. The design has strong and respectful relation to the surrounding, taking into consideration both the small and the big scale of the built environment and the logic of the urban tissue in which center it is placed. The design preserves positive aspects of the existing situation and creates new covered spaces in smaller scale, while providing an active and distinctly recognizable addition to the city-scape, in bigger scale.
The sculptural maneuver of preserving the long view from south, towards the Aalto’s Finlandia Hall, by sculpting the southern edge of the block, creates a welcoming and easy-to-locate entrance to the new urban point from the main directions of approach. The main spaces of the Library are superposed – the vertical organization allows the quieter spaces to be situated on the very top, while the noisier rooms and halls are closer to the most public function and the city center itself. Read the rest of this entry »
Shifting Floor Plates Allow Program Differentiation In New Mixed-Use Development In Guangzhou, China
International architectural practice Aedas has designed mixed-use development and a new hotel in China. The complex is located outside of Guangzhou at an island within the Pearl River, and the project comprises of four distinct uses split between two different sites. The first site features a large retail exhibition area in the podium and a large office showroom building on top. The other site, 1401, contains a traditional multi-floor exhibition center in the podium with a 500-key 5-star hotel.
The project fronts directly onto one side of the water while the location affords views to the water from both directions. The design responds to the surrounding context and its direct and unapologetic reaction to the passive middle neighbor is the driver of both the volumetric placement of the towers as well as the articulation of both towers and their podium. Read the rest of this entry »
Life Aquatech: Investigating Biological Systems And Current Practices In The Building Sector
The Life Aquatech project by THINK Tank investigates relationship between the building systems that mediate between interior and exterior and architectural design, via shifting from air based to water based systems. The initial research started with a general concern about poor development of building systems over time which has huge impact on human comfort and its relation to architectural form. The authors advocate that the buildings can be seen as a layering of architectural design and structural support, similar to skin and bones. However, the systems that allow for human comfort act as mediators between interior and exterior operate like grey matter which lacks real interaction with the design and architecture.
As the research aims to find an ideal relationship between the user’s comfort in relation to temperature and how the building can self-regulate in order to provide it, it focuses on the behavior of fluid as part of both generative design methodologies and evaluation tools for functional criteria. The Life Aquatech proposes the deployment of a building system where water plays an integral role in the building tectonic. Read the rest of this entry »