The jury for the international competition for Prishtina Central Mosque failed to agree on a clear first prize winner; however it seems that some of the un-awarded entries caught the attention as well. MI’RAJ is the proposal of APTUM, Swiss / American architectural practice, named by one of two parts of the night ascension journey that the Islamic prophet Muhammad took one night. The proposal materializes the journey of ascension to prayer and the spatial experience that follows. Islamic community of Prishtina was searching for a unifying symbol and identity that can bring together many disparate mosques of Kosovo capital, APTUM’s design harnesses that need and brings together a sense of place and provides public space for the greater good of the community.

Stairs are wrapping the south side of the building and the journey begins. At the end of the slow stairs, the round plaza opens, providing the great space for sitting, relaxing of proceeding to the very entry of the mosque. The plaza is suitable for gathering, contemplating or simply enjoying the weather. Read the rest of this entry »

Terra Insola is an architectural workshop taking place this summer (2013) in Crete, Greece. This workshop will have four areas of development: theoretical, computational, material fabrication and film documentation:

• Research (material in situ expertise, know-how, political and cultural involvements, rituals, literature, mythology, extraction-transformation, symbiosis)

• Process – computation (logic of aggregation, scattering, staggering, stacking, with variable components, on Rhino Grasshopper and Python scripting)

• Material experiment (prototyping, test of resisting and decay, strategy of construction, machinism and robotic developments)

• Report (photography, recordings and film / stop motion during all the process of construction)

Instructors: Francois Roche, Ezio Blasetti, Stephan Henrich, Camille Lacadee, Danielle Willems, Andreas Theodoridis, Lydia Kallipoliti

The daily experience of the workshop will be balanced between computation and hands-on work in situ (local knowledge, memories and know-how knitted with global tooling, computation and machinism) as exogeneous-endogeneous apparatuses. A machine will be designed dedicated to a non-repetitive component, which is able to be re-introduced as a non-standard process to create the geometry of a shell-ter (specific “agencements” and assemblage in the pursuit of the ceramic ornamentation of the Minos Castle, embedded in a computation procedure). This project (design, process, researches, documentation, construction, etc.) will entirely emerge from the collaborative work of our group, as a unique and engaged realization. Blurring the limits between students and instructors, we will define together a strategy of co-responsibility and co-authorship. Read the rest of this entry »

London firm Farshid Moussavi Architecture has won a competition to design an apartment block in Montpellier, Southern France. Les Jardins de la Lironde in Montpellier is residential complex of elegant homes on the outskirts of the city – Les Folies Montpellieraines as eighteenth century bourgeoisie called it.

Continuing its tradition of innovative architecture, the city has commissioned the first prize winner to design first of twelve folies to be built. The site of the future residential tower is located in the green surrounding on the periphery.  In order to minimize the impact on the landscape of the site, the tiny high-rise is designed to have smallest possible footprint. In order to decrease size of the floor plans, the area of shared communications and internal circulation space in general are designed as least possible, therefore providing the maximum amount of privacy. Read the rest of this entry »

The building is located on Tatarbeyi Sokak, is one of the most virginal and underdeveloped streets of the rapidly transforming Galata District under conservation. Comprised of eight 80-m2 studio flats and one 190-m2 penthouse up for sale, it has a total surface area of 1000 m2. The building is a residential project that extends beyond the conventional codes of the already-built environment, yet manages to reproduce these codes, respecting the existing architectural fabric. In this regard, it continues to find new solutions to the existing problems of architecture by utilizing contemporary technologies and taking into consideration the newly burgeoning socio-economic structure of the region, as well as the infrastructure, environmental conditions, climate, and solar movements.

The building is comprised of a wooden shell that covers the largely transparent living area in an uncompromising manner and set between two blind and extremely thing exposed concrete curtain walls. The wooden components on the front elevation run parallel to the glass façade that evolves into a saddle rood and entirely cover the front and back of the building. Perceived as a gigantic blind façade from one perspective, yet appearing as a translucent veil from the other, the wooden surface also functions as a sun filter. Comprised of parallel horizontal laths that angle at various points, the wooden element divides the façade into four as the middle segments expand outwards, towards the street; leaving the sides exposed, the wooden elements thus allow a view of the street and create a bay window effect that establishes a link between home life and life on the street. Read the rest of this entry »

This project designed by Giacomo Pala is the result of the contrast between elaborately formal and incoherent shape and program: a detailed investigation of real specific housing problems in relation to the expansion of the city of tomorrow and the issues of globalization.

The project is divided in two parts: the upper one is the housing block where 650 people can live.
There are four Typologies of apartments: 1. Apartments for singles or couples ( 60 %) 2. Apartments for four people ( 17 %) 3. Apartments for three people ( 17 %) 4. Double height apartments for four people ( 6 %)

The second part of the building is the lower one which is composed by the public spaces. This part of the building is a 3 floors block (containing sports Clubs, Swimming Pools and gyms) defined by a dynamic shape and not directly connected to the housing part in order to maintain a diversification of the public, semipublic and private spaces.

How can we look at the world today?
How can we imagine a project for the future in a realistic way?
We know now: Reality is not “Reality”.
Reality is an Incoherent and dense mix of realities.
It is a swarm which we generically call “reality”.
How can we use it to design? Read the rest of this entry »

Zaha Hadid’s  Serac bench is finally unveiled at this year Milan Design Week. It is created in collaboration with product designers and lanners at Lab 23 – a company known for its development philosophy and long standing activity in a direction of future technological developments.  Graceful in its smoothness and fluidity, the bench is powerful piece of urban sculpture serving as urban furniture for seating and resting. Evoked by the image of a block of ice formed by intersecting crevasses in a glacier, the bench is made of hard-wearing resin quartz, a durable engineered stone. This specific material is chosen because of the perfection of its curvature when moulded. As a bonus, the surface of the bench has a sparkle from quartz component, therefore capturing light. The bench could be considered perfect example of beautiful synergy of form and material and their harmonious relationship.

The object meets the solid ground at the crest of two sweeping curves that wrap the stepped void. Designed in a consistent formal language of Zaha Hadid, layered lines of intersecting curves create crisp shadows resulting from its form. Dynamically changing as one move, the bench offers set of smooth transitions between the different frames. Designed in contemporary understanding of street furniture, this particular object would surely elevate the public realm, with the touch of class and freshness. Read the rest of this entry »

Coop Himmelb(l)au’s design for the the new Grand Theatre and International Culture & Art Center for Changsha, China, won by Zaha Hadid Architects, is offering unique and eclectic design, full of surprising turns. The site of the competition is located on the northeaster side of the newly created Changsha Meixi Lake in the Daheexi District and the proposed design is engaging both the water and the ground. Undulating white form is announcing the shiny and smooth spectacle while the architects wanted to create a new cultural center that interacts with the existing natural landscape, visually and scientifically – the development was designed to use alternative energy sources and efficient passive energy systems, in order to minimize environmental impact.

The overall concept was driven by the aim to position the elements of the Center like the objects of an urban Chinese garden, where the elements of water, stones, hills, bridges and flowers are transformed into urban shapes animating and vitalizing the daily life of the entire Daheexi District. The waterfront promenade closes the loop between the west and east end of the development opening with a generous plaza in front of the Grand Theater. By thickening the surface, the ground becomes flexible and lively landscape that integrates the service and leisure facilities in order to provide an active and attractive support for the cultural site. Read the rest of this entry »

We are pleased to inform you that our very own Editor-in-chief, Carlo Aiello, will be part of the “Viral Voices: Global Discussions” panel at the Center for Architecture on May 02, 2013. If you are in the city please reserve your place as soon as possible. Admission is free.

When: 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM THURSDAY MAY 02
Where: Center for Architecture (536 Laguardia Place, New York, NY 10012)

The AIANY Global Dialogues Committee has dedicated this year to “uncovered connections,” with the intent of investigating issues that are similarly impacting multiple regions, cultures and individuals. Viral Voices: Global Discussions will explore the impact that social media, technology and device culture are having on our design process, and ultimately the way we practice. How do we shape a global conversation? How are we changing the relationships between academia and the profession? What is the impact of hyper information sharing and critique? Throughout the evening, the topics of communication, research, collaboration, and data distribution will be addressed and debated.

Mark Wigley, Dean of the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (GSAPP) at Columbia University and David Basulto with David Assael of ArchDaily will come together for an evening discussing how these technologies affect the relationships between academia and profession. Following their talks, Carlo Aiello from eVolo, David Fano from CASE, Jill Fehrenbacher from Inhabitat, Toru Hasegawa from The Morpholio Project/the GSAPP Cloud Lab, Tim Maly from Wired Magazine and Cliff Kuang from Fast Company will join the speakers for a panel discussion addressing the impact that social media, technology and device culture are having on our design process, and ultimately the way we participate in a global discussion.

Price: Free
Please RSVP
Organized by: AIANY Global Dialogues Committee Read the rest of this entry »

Designed as an experimental hybrid between urbanism and landscape design, BIG’s proposal is a winning entry for EuropaCity. Along with fellow team members Tess, Transsolar, Base, Transitec and Michel Forgue, Denmark based architectural office will be in charge for designing the new urban center in France, between Paris and Roissy. It will be a mixture of retail, culture and leisure, gathered around the defining theme of the European urban experience, diversity and culture.

The winning proposal is a sustainable urban form, combining dense city with an open landscape and is predestined to become a cultural and commercial gathering point for surrounding cities. Recreational areas, hiking paths and urban farming found its place at the accessible green roof that covers the whole city. The vast roof features allow visitors to experience the panoramic views of central Paris and La Defense skylines.

The new contemporary urban settlement is designed as a laboratory for sustainable technologies and experimental ground for viable green tech implementations which not only save energy but improve the quality of urban environment. The chain of culture and leisure programs like concert halls, skiing hill, swimming pools and urban farming form an urban ecosystem where the resources feed each other. Waste heat form retail is channeled into leisure spas, water is reused for irrigation. EuropaCity is actually going to provide the surrounding neighborhoods with district heating and cooling. The development will be powered with the powerful combination of solar, biofuel and geothermal energy. Read the rest of this entry »

2b is the second year undergraduate studio at USC School of Architecture, and the studio agenda focuses on materials, their properties, limitations and effects. The process that led to the glass pavilion was a succession of exercises. The studio section taught by Roland Wahlroos-Ritter started with precedent studies of the primary building materials timber, masonry [brick], steel, concrete and glass. Shelley Fu and Vicky Wong, the students that designed the glass pavilion started with a precedent study of the glass pavilion in Toledo by SAANA. They translated their interest in structural glass, as well as it reflective and refractive qualities, into their first project design of a glass bench. Since they were unable to bend glass similar to the glass in Toledo, they became interested in origami techniques and folding glass. The design developed into a simple but elegant folded plate structure.

Through the discovery of the amazing structural abilities and seductive reflections of folded plates in their bench, they became more ambitious in their design for their second project. They explored various geometries in paper models and developed a number of detail solutions. At the end of the second project review all pavilion designs within the studio section were put up for a student vote to choose which design was going to get built by all students. The glass pavilion, by far the most ambitious and expensive, won the vote.

After the vote, the project design had to be re-strategized, since within the time constraints of only two weeks of design revisions, fabrication and installation it would have been impossible to be built in glass. So in this sense the project is seen as a 1:1 prototype for a future glass pavilion; to test the geometry, spatial qualities and fabrication process. Thus glass was substituted for 6mm polycarbonate. In the process the overall geometry was refined, rhino scripts written to generate the folded plate geometry, and shop drawings developed to allow fabrication. The final design consisted of over 800 polycarbonate pieces fastened together with over 2500 zip ties. The prototype revealed unexpected moments in terms of structural behavior, especially of the two cantilevers at the end and it’s ability to transform the perception of the environment.

Studio Instructor: Roland Wahlroos-Ritter
Students: Meaghan Camp, Amrine Katherine, Feng Zhentao, Fu Shelley, Ghods Saeed, Jeung Peter, Lee Dong, Mendoza Andrea, Nicholson David, Prabhakaran Krithika, Sakaamini Zenah, Su Yang Chun, Wong Vicky, Wood Graham Read the rest of this entry »