Paul Preissner Architects conceived the new Museum of Polish History as a sculptural volume designed along conceptual terms of fluidity, velocity, and lightness in order to produce a seductive and progressive artifact within the historic context of Warsaw. The building appears like a mystical object floating above the extensive artificial landscape, spanning the Trasa Lazienkowska at the edge of the embankment. This museum defies gravity by exposing dramatic undercuts towards surrounding entrance plazas, it does not sit as a barrier to the site, but as another viewing point to the historic and modern city.

Paul Preissner Architects designed the park site specifically to maximize the excitement, energy and functionality of all forms of urban transit, including automobile, bus, truck, bicycle, and pedestrian pathways.  New commercial, retail, residential, and cultural facilities can be accessed and serviced through park decks that connect the entire site with a network of pedestrian paths. Read the rest of this entry »

Graham Thompson, a recent graduate from The Bartlett School of Architecture in the United Kingdom proposed a new type of green urbanism based on synthetic hyper-structures. The aim of the project was the exploration of the integration of architecture and technology for creating a new kind of urbanism that rethinks urban density, personal spaces, and communal areas.

The proposal consists of urban farming zones, undulated surface towers, solar recharging zones, and recreational areas. The farming zones are designed as planes in multiple levels with its own watering and nutrient monitoring systems.

The towers stretch themselves vertically under the premise of a bionic tower to relocate a new urban biotope for the local flora and fauna and recreating a food production which is automatically managed by the inhabitants.  The distribution of flow is made around a spreading spine in the loop of numerous elevators. The use of truncated and elongated curvatures throughout the buildings calls for a better circulatory fluidity and accessibility by being able to mediate the environmental flows. Read the rest of this entry »

UNStudio’s recently completed design for an existing loft located in Greenwich Village in Manhattan explores the interaction between a gallery and living space. The main walls in the loft flow through the space, and together with articulated ceilings create hybrid conditions in which exhibition areas merge into living areas.

The existing loft space was characterized by challenging proportions: the space is long and wide, but also rather low. Gently flowing curved walls were introduced to virtually divide the main space into proportionally balanced spaces. This created zones of comfortable proportions for domestic use, while simultaneously generating a large amount of wall space for the display of art.

Ben van Berkel: “The loft really is a hybrid space; as much a private museum as a living space. Because of that, flexibility is all; few rooms are actually fixed and most are interchangeable, so that in the end the areas devoted to living and to art are completely merged.”

While the walls form a calm and controlled backdrop for the works of art, the ceiling is more articulated in its expression of this transition. By interchanging luminous and opaque, the ceiling creates a field of ambient and local lighting conditions, forming an organizational element in the exhibition and the living areas. Read the rest of this entry »

Klingmann Architects and Brand Consultant’s recent work in the Middle East illustrates solutions for New York City’s densely-packed urban landscape. The award winning mixed-use master plan was designed as a concept for prominent Middle East cities. It’s intended to be an eco-friendly cohesively “branded” destination. “It will be a destination for all to enjoy year round as a holistic, sustain able environment,” says, Anna Klingmann, Principal.

There are six functions within the master plan. The “exchange district” incorporates office buildings and public transportation. “This project is an innovative concept for inner city living and working, transit-oriented but principally people oriented,” says Klingmann. There’s a “leisure district” that includes a plaza, themed gardens, restaurants and retail, and water feature. Read the rest of this entry »

Our friends from SOFTlab have finished the design and installation of their latest project: CHROMAtex.me at the Bridgegallery in New York City. The continuous surface of gradient colors was constructed with more than 5000 individual panels, each one of a different color. It is really interesting how SOFTlab is creating complex geometries out of everyday materials. In this case the project only utilizes ink, photo-paper and paper clips. Each individual panel was laser cut and engraved with the sponsor’s name. The project was possible through the sponsorship of hundreds of individuals willing to see a gallery filled with color.

If you happen to be in New York City, the opening is on Thursday, August 26^th at 6 p.m. at the Bridgegallery. Don’t miss the opportunity to enjoy this incredible project. Read the rest of this entry »

Kyoai Gakuen University sought proposals for a new building on part of the campus’ recreation grounds. BAKOKO design response was to not to build over this existing amenity space, but to lift it to a higher level, supported by the building underneath. The site is also located adjacent to the school’s sports field which currently lacks spectator seating. By sloping the roof in this direction, the proposal could provide additional value by providing seating for sports events.

In addition to being a valuable leisure space, the green roof has numerous sustainable benefits. Soil and biomass help to insulate the building, reducing the level of mechanical heating and cooling. Rainwater runoff is reduced and biodiversity is fostered within the roof’s trees and natural vegetation.

Supporting the green roof is a grid of perforated concrete vaults. The curved form optimizes its compressive strength whilst being permeable to air and light. Similar structural strategies may be observed throughout biology – such as the intricate mineral skeletons that protect microscopic protozoa called radiolaria. Read the rest of this entry »

With a rising global population and increasing political focus on the future of power generation, the task of designing a 49 mega-watt, bio-mass fuelled power station in Stockton-On-Tees is an interesting design challenge.

The site at Clarence Works is on the banks of the river Tees and is classified as brownfield, being both post-industrial and ecologically sparse. On the opposite bank is Middlehaven, a major new development of 3000 new homes.

The studio’s approach has been to treat the power station as an opportunity to make a positive architectural and cultural contribution to the area. Rather than placing yet another large industrial building onto this flat landscape, the studio’s proposal is integrated into it. By reconfiguring the arrangement of the energy generation equipment permitting it to be housed within an efficient single volume, the scheme occupies only a third of the site and provides four hectares of indigenous grasslands, which are literally pulled up the façade.

The scheme includes the creation of a publicly accessible park, education facility and events venue. The riverside site enables the fuel to be delivered by ship, achieving a further reduction in carbon emissions compared to road transport. The parabolic hyperboloid form is clad with a proprietary panelised façade system supported on a steel frame, which is structurally very efficient as it also carries the load of the internal equipment, effectively making it a lean-to. Read the rest of this entry »

Hani Rashid co-founder of the award-winning, New York-based practice Asymptote Architecture recently unveiled the UBU-FUGU-ROI.MGX vases. With their metalized nickel coated surfaces, these three vases appear as tornadoes and whirlpools in constant motion. Produced using stereolithography and selective laser sintering, they possess the ability to create and reflect the atmospherics of a place, both absorbing and transmitting light. Read the rest of this entry »

While the Kota is the center of power, a manifestation of Jakarta, as the center of the Indonesian government in all activities: social, cultural, economic, and political; the Kampung is an unstructured, informal settlement characterized by high population density, poverty, and compact community patterns.

The forced dispersal of Kampung communities disrupts social networks and forces citizens to horizontally relocate to inhabitable flood plains. A vertical Kota infrastructure for Kampung settlement condenses social relations and provides a foundation for the future of the city.

In order for Indonesia to participate globally a symbiotic relationship must exist between Kota and Kampung. Architects Robert Gilson and Catherine Caldwell proposed this project which is interested in the multiple scales of economic symbiosis within the skyscraper as an urban from. 

The ‘Kampunkota’ is a tower that seeks to engage the wider possibilities of vertical dwelling. It is a gradient of Indonesian lifestyle that challenges and respects the socioeconomic divisions within Jakarta.  The skyscraper emerges from a Kampung, blending perfectly with its urban fabric and providing new infrastructure. As it goes up, the tower slowly transforms into a Kota for more cultural and luxurious lifestyle. The idea is to create a fusion between the two with intersections, where a new type of lifestyle emerges – one that benefits from the wealthy Kota, but nurtures from the strong communal bonds and traditions of the Kampung. Read the rest of this entry »

The Transient Response System (TRS-1) is a deployable architectural base that quickly assembles a tower to provide immediate shelter for victims of natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods. This structure designed by architecture students Adrian Ariosa and Doy Laufer at SCI-Arc in Los Angeles is proposed for cities like Jakarta which could be underwater by 2025.

Once a flood subsides, the architectural base could serve as a rally point with a residential tower and a civic plinth for diverse programs including factories, refineries, and recycling plants. The residential tower is comprised of 3-story modules that adopt an open program to accommodate as many inhabitants as possible with adequate air, light, and space. Read the rest of this entry »