Studio Gang together with four other firms from Chicago – Hamburg’s sister city – were asked to contribute to the design of the HafenCity urban development project. It is currently the largest inner-city development in Europe and the main idea was to create a master plan which would explore the potentials of a former container yard at Hamburg’s southern entry point. Studio Gang’s concept of Grüner Elbe Bogen – “the Green Elbe Elbow”- links the Hafen site with a much larger green ring already planned by the city. The completion of such a ring, in combination with the site’s water access, would put Hamburg on par with more famous cities such as Paris and Vienna. Read the rest of this entry »
HafenCity Crane Tower / Studio Gang
Z8 Office Tower Redefines The Classical High-Rise Tower Into A Contemporary Architectural Language
Located in the Central Business District of Beijing, China, the 300 meters high tower by Henn Architects at the south facade addresses the street, while the secondary entrance on the west facade relates itself to the park. The tower has a constant, efficient, square floor plate. The façade strategy of the building is simple, elegant and redefines the classical high-rise tower into a contemporary architectural language. Since the profiles have certain depth, they also provide a significant impact as sun shading elements which reduce glare and direct radiation into the office interior.
The structural scheme of the tower is a tube in tube with an internal concrete core and a perimeter structure aligned with the regular 3m grid of the façade. Due to the density of the grid, the perimeter structure will have a large lateral stiffness. As a consequence the core will attract less load and the core walls can be optimized. The dual system composed of the perimeter and the core provide substantial stability and ductility for such a tall building in a high seismic zone like Beijing. At refuge floors, belt trusses will be used to stiffen the structure. As the perimeter structure is quite strong, outriggers might not be necessary so that the overall construction program can be shortened. The regularity of the perimeter structure will make possible the use of standard prefabricated structure modules. This can help to significantly reduce the construction time and cost. Read the rest of this entry »
Super Docking Brooklyn Navy Yard: Living Infrastructure to Seamlessly Connect Land And Water
On an urban industrial site in Brooklyn, New York, Super Docking by Nurhan Gokturk, imagines a self-sustained working waterfront as a center for clean industries that are incubators for new technologies. The designed landscape is adapted to local climate dynamics and is outfitted for a living infrastructure to seamlessly connect land and water. The project interfaces the historic dry-docks, which are retrofitted into five distinct research and production facilities; massive 3D digital prototyping/ scanning, replicable test beds for studies in limnology and restorative ecology, freight delivery of raw materials and finished goods, automated shipbuilding, and phyto-remediation barges for CSO (Combined Sewer Overflow) issues. Read the rest of this entry »
Aluminum Flowers In Ginza / Amano Design Office
The client for this filigree-façade building by Amano Design, located in Ginza Central Street of Tokyo is a developer company. The company purchased a long-sought after lot in Ginza, and planned to build a commercial, office building. The atmosphere is quite different from the gorgeous Central Street, and the site is on an empty street which is often seen behind the street with large-sized buildings. Attracting as many people as possible into such a street is our task. As they state in Amano Design Office, the client desired the building to be a gorgeous existence. In addition, the designer desired to provide a “slight feeling of strangeness” to the passersby that would attract them to the building.
Due to the fact that the street scenery is hectic, a double skin structure for the façade is employed, consisting of glass curtain walls and graphically treated aluminum punched metal. The façade therefore becomes a part of the interior decoration and obviates the need for window treatments such as blinds or curtains. By using a double skin, reduction of the air conditioning load and the glass cleaning burden was also intended. Read the rest of this entry »
Helsinki Central Library / HENN
The new Helsinki Library is a design that reinterprets the classical library. Henn’s proposal for a library competition was represented as a meeting point of urban life, a place to exchange knowledge and a physical interface for traditional and new media. The flexible spatial concept allows for various workspaces and event formats, providing the framework for this extensive challenge. A spacious lobby with a café and bookshop dominates a large section of the ground floor. The two upper floors hold the collection of books as well as digital workspaces and learning facilities. The partially glazed roof landscape is based on a modification of the classical shed roof. Its expansive scale not only forms the character of the building, but also leads through its diagonal structure to a realignment of the building along the urban axis. Read the rest of this entry »
Zaha Hadid’s Glacial Ice Museum For Reinhold Messner
Messner Mountain Museum Corones by Zaha Hadid Architects is under construction. Located in Kronplatz, South Tyrol, Italy, this museum is the final piece in the series of mountain museums. The museum is dedicated to the great rock faces of the work, and will focus on the discipline of mountaineering. This unique composition of fluid, interconnected volumes, is carved within the mountain and informed by the geology and topography of its context. A sharp glass canopy resembling a fragment of glacial ice, rises from the rock to mark and protects the entrance to the museum.
A cascading ramp connects the exhibition spaces and creates dynamic volumes of circulation throughout three levels of temporary exhibitions, presentation areas and an auditorium, enabling the museum to showcase its permanent exhibition together with objects and images from Messner’s archive. Read the rest of this entry »
Brain Technology Center
The project of “Brain Technology Center” by Vojtech Geryk of Sfera Archtects, is an experimental research center dealing with neuroscience. This project aims to create an interactive learning environment that should offer a way to improve or regenerate brain activity. The center with its own focus should build on existing research centers around, which has been involved in neurosurgery and neuroscience. The project program presents new interactive training environment as a way of regeneration and improving of brain activity.
The design is creating a landmark in the park. Building activates topology of the surrounding by the modification of the ground which follows geometry of the building. Elevated pavilions present one of the key spaces from the interior as a continuing piano nobile floor pointing to the treetops. Ground floor of this project presents interactive park environment under canopy which offers different outdoor activities for park visitors, such as sound therapy garden, yoga terraces or sports performing fields. It is a blending of the building into the park on one side and it is a iconic landmark on the other side. Read the rest of this entry »
Harbin Ice Hotel / LAVA
Icebergs and quartz crystal are the design inspiration for a new hotel, retail and cultural center by LAVA. The clash of fire and ice in a dramatic lobby contrasts the electro light transparent facade. Icebergs, quartz crystal formations and elegant swans are the design inspiration for a new hotel, retail and cultural center in Harbin. The tenth largest city in China is a key political, economic, scientific, cultural and communications hub in the North China.
Known as the ‘Ice City’, it is renowned for its annual international Ice and Snow Sculpture festival. The combination of Han, Manchu and Russian cultures influences the local architecture style, food, music, and customs. A new re-development, ‘Ice Hotel’, is a dynamic clash of fire and ice, with a dramatic crystalline lobby that draws the user into a warm, cave-like interior. The visitor moves from the perceptually ‘cold’ exterior of a transparent facade and vertical linear iceberg geometry. The grouping of several crystal-shaped buildings adds to this drama. Read the rest of this entry »