Foster and Partners in collaboration with d’Unienville and Associates Architects have designed a discreet and environmentally friendly masterplan for a series of residences in Corniche Bay, Mauritius. The main concept was to create a contemporary architecture that blends harmoniously with the lush landscape. Fingers of tropical vegetation are inserted into the buildings that respond to the contours of the landscape and recedes into the green totality.

The buildings are equipped with green technologies such as water collectors and solar panels. All the building materials are indigenous and mostly 100% recyclable. An interesting feature of the project is the undulating roof that allows for cross ventilation and few vertical supports.

images @Foster and Partners

A central priority in Zaha Hadid Architect’s urban design concept for a new Beethoven Festival Hall is linking the city of Bonn to the Rhine River promenade and leveraging that idea’s potential to enrich public life on the river’s edge.

Learning from the missed opportunities during the planning of the existing building in the 1950’s, Zaha Hadid Architect’ proposal not only incorporates a high degree of porosity in its site plan, but intensifies the connection by introducing a transparent “Rhine Foyer” into the building mass; a dramatic atrium that stretches from the City to the Rhine. With two main façades, the building presents itself in an open and inviting manner to the River and the City, allowing for deep visual links through its crystalline mass. The light Rhine Foyer will make audiences and performers feel comfortable and relaxed but simultaneously excited by the anticipation of a unique experience.

Site circulation can take place uninterrupted through various levels inside and around the building. Artificial landscape formations lead from inside the building to terraced outdoor areas, interweaving the elevated foyer levels with surrounding exterior plateaus. The stepped topography on the Rhine invites Bonn residents and visitors to informally enjoy outdoor performances. The main public route is a large diagonal passage, an ‘erosion’, running from the city through the Rhine Foyer and down a large exterior staircase to the river promenade. The promenade is sliced into curvilinear seating that gently step down to the Rhine, facing a seasonal floating performance area on the water’s edge. Illumination from within the foyer, embedded in the ground, and floating in the water will change the character of the site and building during evening performances.

images ©Zaha Hadid Architects

Joining creative forces once again, KiBiSi, PUMA and Biomega extending the PUMA Bike portfolio to include a fashionable cargo bike, accommodating true urban lifestyle. Mopion lets you cruise the streets in style, while transporting your daily groceries or bigger loads. The smooth steering provides you with easy maneuvering around the city just like a commuter. Mopion is a unique lightweight and highly practical cargo bike with a fashionable twist that will make heads spin.

PUMA Mopion is rock steady for the daily grind. It mixes city bike features, and cargo bike features, making it a sturdy companion. It comes with a super-size innovative front carrier for heavy duty transport of your groceries or other needs. Developed for city dwellers, Mopion features a light aluminum frame, making it a one-of-a-kind lightweight cargo bike weighing only 22 kilos. The geometry holds the body in a slightly inclined, but still heads-up position for navigational ease and exceptional balancing.

The name Mopion derives from an island in the Atlantic Ocean, symbolizing the new Trans-Atlantic approach and balancing PUMA’s European heritage with American popular culture. Mopion will be available in white, black and in the bold color combination magenta/blue/lime. The colors are likewise inspired by vibrant island colors. Mopion defies the expected.

FC Barcelona’s Camp Nou Stadium, one of the world’s greatest football venues, is to be extensively remodelled by Foster and Partners. The stadium, already the largest in Europe, will be enlarged to accommodate over 106,000 fans, together with extensive new facilities including hospitality and public areas. A new roof will also be created to shelter the fans. The stadium will be enclosed by a brightly coloured mosaic outer skin that wraps around the building and continues over a new roof. The multi-coloured enclosure comprises overlapping translucent tiles in the club colours. The myriad of tiles can be seen as symbolising the loyalty and devotion of FC Barcelona’s fans worldwide.

The remodelled stadium retains the essential elements of the original Camp Nou, designed by architects Francesc Mitjans-Miró, García Barbon and Soteras Mauri, which was inaugurated in 1957. On match nights, the stadium will glow, providing a new architectural icon for the city. In the same way that FC Barcelona is ‘more than a club’, the new Camp Nou will be much more than a stadium.

Zaha Hadid’s design for the Edifici Campus confirms the role of the 22@ area at the very forefront of Barcelona’s changing water edge. The tower’s striking design creates a new presence in a territory of transition.The spiralling tower stitches the border of the municipalities of Barcelona and Besòs, creating a new infrastructure that is a joint-venture of the two cities and two clients: El Consorci, Zona Franca de Barcelona y b –TEC, Consorci del Campus Interuniversitari del Besòs.

The design articulates the transition between the forum and the campus, between the new equipments and parks water-front area, in Barcelona, and the requalification of the delta of the river Besòs area, in Sant Adriá del Besòs. The formal theme of the spiral actively binds the two together with an encompassing movement, stimulating the seamless integration of the city fabric, connecting in a dynamic way, the different surrounding areas.

images ©Zaha Hadid Architects

Architecture studio Populous has been selected to design a new sports park in the historic city of Datong, in the northern Shanxi Province, near Beijing, China. This is the second major sports hub for Populous in China.

The sports park which includes a 30,000 seat stadium, an 8,000 seat arena, a 1500 seat natatorium and a multiuse training hall, is part of a larger plan by the Datong Mayor to regenerate the historic old city and create a new city centre with other development including a city hall, museum, convention centre.

Inspiration for the new Datong Sports Park has come from both its impressive cultural heritage and the stunning rugged beauty of the surrounding landscape outside the city. The rich valleys, escarpments and weathered mountain faces surrounding the Loess Plateau outside Datong City rival the brutally etched Judean desert as it stretches towards the Dead Sea. The colour and texture of the mountain ranges are comparable to the landscape of the Grand Canyon in America.

The win for Populous, which has its Asian base in Queensland, comes as its first sports park in Nanjing celebrates five years of successful operation. Populous won an IOC/IAKS Gold Award for the design of Nanjing, built for the 2005 China National Games, and the catalyst for a major city centre development.

The Sports Park in Datong will provide work for 10 professional staff in Populous’ Brisbane office. The firm’s senior principal Paul Henry said the win reflected Populous’ future strategy in Asia.

“Our strategy in China as elsewhere in Asia hinges on producing world class design in the Queensland office, and investing in the development of long term Client relationships.

China recognizes the value sporting venues have as gathering places for modern communities yet, which also reflect the unique qualities of each particular city.”

Populous Principal Andrew Colling says the inspiration for the unique design in Datong has come from the surrounding Yungang Grottoes or Cloud Ridge Caves, “These shallow caves just out of Datong are symbolic of the rich cultural heritage of the region, which has evolved over several thousand years. The visitor approach and entry to the stadium is like entering the nearby caves, with the sandstone bases clad in a series of irregular titanium shells.

The Datong Sports Park provided the opportunity to celebrate a number of strong, unique features in the city’s history and cultural character combined with the more humanistic ideals and ambitions embodied in the design of modern sports parks.”

via Archicentral

Architectural studio SOMA has finished the design of the thematic pavilion for the 2012 Yeosu World Expo. The project was selected in late 2009 and is expected to begin construction during the next couple of months.

As a major and permanent facility the thematic pavilion embodies the expo’s theme ‘the living ocean and coast’ in manifold ways. The ocean is experienced in two ways, as an endless surface and in an immersed perspective as depth. The plain duality of the ocean motivates the building’s spatial and organisational concept. Continuous surfaces twist from vertical to horizontal orientation and define all significant interior spaces. The vertical cones induce the visitor to immerse into the thematic exhibition. They evolve into horizontal levels that cover the foyer and become a flexible stage for the best practice area. Continuous transitions between contrasting experiences also form the outer appearance of the pavilion. Towards the sea the conglomeration of solid vertical cones define a new meandering coast line, a soft edge that is in constant negotiation between water and land. Opposite side the pavilion develops out of the ground into an artificial roof landscape with gardens and scenic paths. The topographic lines of the roof turn into lamellas of the kinetic media facade that faces the expo’s entrance and the ‘digital gallery’.

The building will be erected in a former industrial harbour along a new promenade. Bridges will connect the pavilion to the expo site. after the expo and the aspired improvement of water quality the promenade will be transformed into an ‘urban beach’ offering leisure activities to the public. The main entrance is situated on ocean plaza, which is partly covered by the pavilion to achieve a shaded outdoor waiting area. The space boundaries of the open foyer are defined by the twisting surfaces of the cones.Tthe interstitial spaces between them frame the view onto the ocean and create niches for the visitors to take a pause from the exhibition.

Ateliereen Architecten just completed a 25 meters high viewing tower in Ruesel, Netherlands. The project is composed by six wooden boxes made out of half logs (from the park) supported by a steel skeleton.

Project description by Ateliereen Architecten:

In the Netherlands over 50 spots are marked on the map as starting points for recreational use of the rural landscape. People are encouraged to park their cars at these locations instead of at other, more preserved, areas. From here they can explore nature by foot, mountain bike, horse etc.

In the small town Reusel, the nomination motivated a local sports merchant to found an outdoor sports park. A tower, 25 meters high, with sport facilities like climbing and abseiling is the main attraction. It consists of six cubes, hanging on a core of steel columns. Straight flight staircases raise in between and cross the cubes several times in different positions.

Two of the six cubes are accessible. The third one is the start platform for a rope slide and a high rope track. In the top box people can enjoy a panorama view of the surrounding landscape and there is a starting platform for abseiling. The athletes on the 13 meters high climbing wall are observed by visitors of the adjacent bistro.

Huge stacks of logs can be found in the surrounding production forest. The cladding of the tower consists of the same halved, stripped logs. This way it is an addition, as well a product of it’s surroundings. The climbing of the stairs is a surprising experience, because of the different intersections of stairs and cubes and the varying directions of the cladding.

The use of wood makes the object fit in it’s setting. The orthogonal (unnatural!) shapes on the other hand create an exciting composition.

The renovation of the Taastrup Theatre in Copenhagen by Cobe has just been completed and the building has already gained praise by critics. The project has been shortlisted and will comete for the “Old-New” award at the World Architecture Festival in Barcelona.

Cobe’s description of the project:

The project for the extension and renovation of Taastrup Theatre seeks to improve the communication of the building with its environment – a social housing neighborhood. Formally we were commissioned to improve the energy consumption of the 1970s local community theatre in the Copenhagen neighborhood of Taastrup. Yet, we use this opportunity to improve the general appeal and functionality of the building by introducing a second (isolating) theatre curtain around the rough concrete structure.

By adding this new layer in front of the existing rough concrete structure, the building is extended and opened as wide as possible towards Kjeld Abels Plads north. The new translucent facade subtly reminds us of a theatre curtain about to open when the play starts. In fact, when the tickets are outsold or the show is on, red lights underneath the facade broadcast the special atmosphere of this magic moment towards the square. This new composition underlines the unity of the old building and its extension as one piece of architecture.

The facade is conceived as a translucent curtain of acrylic prisms elegantly embracing the existing building, and creating a new open foyer, arrival area, and café. A whole new spatial dimension is added to the building newly connecting the formerly enclosed interior with the outside. Now the theatre visually and spatially connects to both Kjeld Abels Plads north and the protected green courtyard south of the theatre. With this overall concept, the theatre now has the possibility to involve the surroundings by exposing its activities. The facade is assembled from acrylic prisms. The material is very robust and because of its shape it has an exciting effect at day and night time, when the light from inside will glow out to the surroundings. The prisms vary from totally clear and transparent over translucent to opaque. Because of the many elements of irregular shapes and the variance in translucency, the facade is a beautiful play of shadows and reflections.

photos ©Stamers Kontor

The board of Sberbank, the leading bank of Russia, signed a contract with the Dutch Architect Erick van Egeraat for the realization of their new Corporate University, west of Moscow, close to the Novorizhkoye highway.

Sberbank is Russia’s largest and oldest state run bank with over 250.000 employees and 20.000 branch offices in the country. The new Sberbank University will provide education, seminars and team building programs to the company’s top professionals, to continuously improve their performance within the corporate standards. The most prominent Russian bank implies the highest standards for its employees and therefore it aimed for the most ambitious educational project in terms of design and quality. Erick van Egeraat’s design for the 32,000-m2 Corporate University was chosen from 4 other proposals including David Adjaye’s entry.

The site is located in a suburban, almost rural setting, bordered by woods on its southern side, and the Istra river embankment on the northern side. The University will consist of education and conference spaces, dormitories, guest teacher quarters, teacher housing, a club building and sports facilities.

The spacious and picturesque setting allows for a campus model; the program’s distribution on site creates comfortably scaled public spaces that intensifies interaction with the natural surroundings. Education, lodging and sports functions are each clustered in orthogonally defined volumes. Taking into account the climate, all building elements except the teachers’ housing are connected with an elegant and climate controlled colonnade. This colonnade is programmed with recreational, bar, relaxation functions and serves as an identifying backbone of the entire complex.

Technical side of the project aims at the highest level of sustainability and considers a very short construction process. The campus lay-out allows for many building elements to be constructed simultaneously. The load bearing structure consists largely of prefabricated wooden construction elements. All facade and space dividing elements are executed with prefabricated wood and glass elements. The complex fully integrates sustainable design tools and technologies, putting sustainability in the centre of the corporate agenda. The floor slabs have considerable cantilevers providing terraces, summer shading and adding to the building’s thermal mass, reducing the need for mechanical cooling and heating. Heating and cooling capacity needs to vary per functional cluster, and surplus heating or cooling capacity between these functional clusters will be exchanged, further reducing the need for mechanical cooling and heating. The majority of the buildings allow for predominantly natural cross ventilation, only assisted with mechanical ventilation under exceptional circumstances.

Most horizontal surfaces will be executed as vegetated roofs, thus improving both the appearance and the insulation qualities of the building. The aim is to execute the project as much as possible with materials of low environmental impact, such as wood, mineral stucco and granulated concrete foundation.

This winning design proposal provides Sberbank with a modest, recognizable all-season training resort that will be an asset of the company, and a perk to attract and keep talented professionals within its ranks. Design works for next stages have commenced. The project is scheduled for opening in the first quarter of 2012, making it the 6th executed project of Erick van Egeraat in the Russian Federation after Housing Barvikha Hills, Chess Club in Khanty-Mansiysk, Vershina 1 in Surgut, a private residence in the Klyazma area and two towers for Capital City in Moscow.