Cities Of Tomorrow
Carlo Aiello
Digital copy
130 pages

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eVolo_03: Cities of Tomorrow

How do we imagine the cities of tomorrow? This is one of the most difficult questions that architects, designers, and urban planners need to answer in a time where more than half of the world’s population lives in urban settlements – a mere century ago only ten percent did.

In this issue we examine innovative urban proposals that will transform the way we live; projects that preserve the natural landscape with integral architecture and urbanism with deep connections to site, culture, and environment. These are concepts of hybrid urbanism that offer a juxtaposition of programs to live, work, and play for a hyper-mobile population.

Arup Biomimetics
AS/D
BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group
LAVA – Laboratory for Visionary Architecture
MAD Architects
Matter Management
MONAD Studio
NH Architecture
Rag Urbanism
Rojkind Arquitectos
SOFTlab
Ted Givens
Terreform One
Trahan Architects
UNStudio
Vincent Callebaut
Will Alsop
WOHA Studio

2010 Skyscraper Competition
Australia in 2050
Urban Visions: 1850 – 2100

Essays and Interviews

Since the concrete dried last winter the Natural Science Center has attracted a lot of attention worldwide. The Danish building situated in Bjerringbro far away from the capital Copenhagen even went as far as getting cited by the World Architecture Community Awards. Now the innovative building designed by Nord Architects Copenhagen is nominated for the Mies van der Rohe Award.

The Natural Science center is a building out of the ordinary. If you thought atriums spanning two floors were cool, think again. In the Natural Science Center all spaces are open and have views spanning several floors. The building itself is shaped as a cylinder with terraces, openings and cuts to explore and get lost in.

“The idea behind the Natural Science Center is to make young people interested in natural science and pursue a career within that field. Natural Science is about exploring and asking questions, so we wanted to design a building that made them do just that.” – Johannes Pedersen, partner Nord Architects Copenhagen Read the rest of this entry »

McGill University architecture students Yan Jie Chen and Camille John have designed, directly across from Montreal’s Old Port, a skyscraper of glass and gardens that houses residents of the 2030s in the Néocité, a cultural revitalization project seeking to transform Montreal’s Cité du Havre.

The inspiration for the design of “Hanging Gardens” is playful yet complex: the building is based on a Chinese puzzle game with six unique, interlocking rectangles that can only be arranged in one certain way so that no spaces exist between the pieces. The students took this model and stacked it 20 times, rotating as they went, to create a 220-meter tower. The tower has a core that is wrapped by two “identical helices” that twist clockwise until the height reaches 86 stories tall.

This geometrical precision results in a skyscraper that can house 250 apartment units, and also has ample private and public outdoor gardens, meeting grounds and meditation spaces. Read the rest of this entry »

Russian architects Gagarinskaya Anastasiya and Gaydukova Varvara from the Moscow Institute of Architecture propose a three-hundred meter tall space station on the western side of Moscow. The strong architectural forms are inspired by the Russian Constructivists of the early 20th Century with the use of platonic forms and clean lines. It consists of a main multifunctional round platform with additional horizontal landing strips. The station is linked to the city on the other side of the Moscow River by a pedestrian bridge where a hotel and other amenities would be located. Read the rest of this entry »

The war-torn city of Amiens, France faced the same difficult task presented to many European cities in the aftermath of World War II: find places to house the city’s urban population displaced by mortar shells and bombs. The result was an odd mix, say emerging architects Sylvian Hilaire and Pierre Loeulof Lyon, France, of high-density buildings sprawled from one another across the city, with vacuous voids in between.

As time progressed to modern day and the mid-sized city in northern France recovered, the housing trend turned to that of individual homes. If Amiens was to be suburbanized, the citizens at least wanted a low-density lifestyle to go with it – provided, of course, that shopping amenities were still nearby.

Seeking to combat the resulting “inconsistent urban spread,” and retain a sense of community, the architects have responded to Amiens’ situation by designing a 74-floor tall skyscraper that serves to refocus the city around one center, which is the building itself. By serving as the culminating point in a route that includes the city’s most important stops – the cathedral, the citadel, the college – the tower city is located right before the cut-off barrier of the highway, meaning it is connected to the rest of Amiens, and still within its boundaries. Read the rest of this entry »

Zaha Hadid Architects unveiled a fascinating hotel and retail centre in Italy to be completed in 2014. Jesolo is one of Italy’s most established seaside resorts and the design of Jesolo Magica makes full advantage of its location near the Venice Lagoon. The project aims to be the catalyst for reinvention and regeneration – giving the of the town of Jesolo an excellent opportunity to further develop as a conference and holiday destination. The design creates a continuum of fluid space that instigates a renewed sense of possibility. The disparate elements of the Jesolo Magica complex fit together to form a coherent field of buildings, each one separate – but logically connected to the next in a continually changing ensemble. The volumes encompassing the retail centre ‘open-up’ around a central space, like the petals of a flower. The hotel building forms the final ‘petal’, framing the views over the adjacent lagoon. In addition to offices, retail spaces and restaurants, the Jesolo Magica project features a hotel with conference center, spa, nightclub and outdoor spaces for events. Read the rest of this entry »

Egyptian architect Karim Elnabawy unveiled his design for a sustainable power plant in Dubai. His project was designed as part of the Land Art Generator Initiative which goal is to design and construct a series of public art installations that combine avant-garde aesthetics with clean energy generation. Karim’s project takes advantage of the harsh weather conditions in Dubai with a project that harness wind and solar energy through different methods.

The design consists of a large metallic surface with two towers that emerge from it. The intention is to use the sun to heat the air underneath the surface. Hot air will later ascend through the towers (chimneys) while powering wind turbines.  At the same time, the entire surface is covered with photovoltaic panels that will provide enough power for the adjacent neighborhoods.  Another interesting aspect of the design is the filaments that cover the wind exposed façades of the towers. These filaments oscillate with the wind and produce energy in a similar way as tidal waves are used at sea. Read the rest of this entry »

Enter any skyscraper in New York City, and you’ll likely have to provide personal information and have a mug shot taken to even approach the elevator bay – and that’s only if you have an appointment, or permission to be there. This reality disturbs Brooklyn architect Clara Klein: though a proponent and designer of the skyscraper form herself, Klein feels that its very nature is isolating, exclusive, and detrimental to the urban goal of promoting ample public space within a city center.

So how does she propose mitigating the intrinsic displacement of public space and natural resources that comes with building a new structure? Make sure the skyscraper has ample space open for the public, of course. Within her geometrically-patterned cylindrical tower, Klein designed a building with space for typical residences and offices, but she has also interspersed areas for an ice skating rink, a concert venue, a park, a market, and direct access to the Brooklyn Bridge, a pedestrian icon that links Manhattan and Brooklyn, all within the building. And while the residences and offices are permanent, the public spaces within the building have the ability to evolve and change with the season, or public demand. Read the rest of this entry »

The Hive is a vertical city proposal by Hungarian architect Gergeley Gaal. The project consists of a steel exoskeleton where residential and workings “cells” plug-in according to density requirements. Gergeley’s vision includes open areas at different levels for leisure activities. Some of these spaces are organized as a vertical park that includes running tracks, picnic areas, and small “pockets” or sports fields.

The project is designed to be located outside big cities and support its expansion in a sustainable way. Among its green technologies, The Hive is a water treatment plant and reservoir. The façade is covered with solar panels and wind turbines are located between cells. In addition, each residential unit will have an orchard for local produce. Although the project is on conceptual stages, Gergeley plans to offer the design to the Hungarian government to further develop it. Read the rest of this entry »

Vincent Callebaut Architectures in association with Frederic Magnien Architect unveiled their project for a mobilization swimming pool in Royat, France.

Architects’ statement:

In the heart of the water city of Royat and its green mall in the confluence of the Tiretaine and Liaboux rivers, our extension project is a dynamic response to the ambition of Royat city to build a mobilization swimming pool represented by a very attractive and contemporary architecture researched by the patients of spas.

By increasing also the choice of cardio-arterial and rheumatologic cares, our architecture proposes the construction of a “planted wave” that covers the pool hall under its curve. The ecological wave projects thus its curve towards the avenue de Royat such as a new green setting, true urban signal dedicated to the welfare and laid out in the urban Northern façade of the spa site. By meeting the needs of the programme as precisely as possible, our project emphasizes three major themes as detailed below: the urban signal, the welfare of the patients and the high environment quality.

From the avenue de Royat our project expresses thus itself clearly as a strong architectural signal leading the slightly austere line of the mineral façade laid out in bar codes of extensions dating of the sixties to the eighties. Our “green wave” takes into account all the constraints of the site and presents a compact made-to-measure volumetric on stilts of the scratched surrounding frame. Actually, the arched architecture of the pool hall sets up against the bank of the main building, lining up along the firemen lane to the laundry and the workshops located below. Read the rest of this entry »