X|Atelier is organizing an international intensive workshop of Advanced Architectural Design. The X|A Winter Workshop 2013 is led by X|A principals Erick Carcamo (SCI-ARC) and Nefeli Chatzimina (USC) both Graduates of Columbia University in New York City, GSAPP AAD.

The X|Ornamentism Workshop is organized under the auspices of the Hellenic Institute of Architecture and the Athens School of Fine Arts. Selected Participants will attend the Computation Workshop, the Final Review and Exhibition at Benaki Museum of Athens from the 15th -23rd of July 2013. Daily meetings will take place from 10am to 6pm at the Benaki museum of Pireos 138.

As part of an ongoing academic research,X|A workshops introduce participants into contemporary discussions of formal exploration in Architecture and Art. Through technical attainment of design and digital production the X|A Workshops give the opportunity to students of Architecture and Art, Professional Architects, Designers and Artists to challenge new design territories. Our goal is to explore innovative, potential architectural expressions of the current discourse around Form through computational tools (Autodesk MAYA). We will focus on technique elaboration, material intelligence, formal logic eefficiencies and precision assemblies as an ultimate condition of design. The workshop will develop and investigate the notion of proficient geometric variations at a level of complexity, so that questions towards geometrical eeffectiveness, accuracy and performance can begin to be understood in a contemporary setting. The workshop is a discourse based in the use of multi-layered techniques and production processes that allow for control over intelligent geometries, calibration of parts, and behavioral taxonomies, normalizing an innovative held of predictability.

X|A Winter Workshop 2013: workshop@xatelier.com
For more information www.xatelier.com/workshop
Participation cost is 350 euros

Red Dot Design Awards

For almost 60 years now, Red Dot stands for belonging to the best products from various areas of the industry. A new round is about to start for evaluating which products are ground-breaking in an international comparison and will receive the sought-after quality seal. The starting signal for the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2014 will be given on 11 November 2013 – companies and designers are encouraged to enter their current achievements.

In the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2013, designers, architects and manufacturing companies from 54 countries submitted almost 4,700 of their best products – clear proof of the international relevance of the competition. In 2014, a total of 23 product categories ranging from interior design to “Babies and children” and consumer electronics cover the entire spectrum of modern design.

To stand out from the crowd, every participant has to fascinate the international Red Dot jury with outstanding design quality and innovative solutions. In a conscientious jury session, the more than 30 experts discuss and evaluate every single product live and on site in Essen, Germany. Only the most convincing projects receive the renowned Red Dot and play in the top league of design.

Red Dot initiator and CEO Prof. Dr. Peter Zec: “The importance of a competition is defined only by its credibility. Clear criteria for granting awards, jury members with integrity as well as excellent framework conditions for product presentation are the characteristics of the Red Dot. With the great reliability that these factors ensure, our award has been uncovering design excellence in all conceivable product areas for a period of almost 60 years now.”

The laureates of the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2014 will gain the respect of the international design scene as well as the highest degree of attention for outstanding design quality: On 7 July 2014, Red Dot will officially honour the best achievements during the traditional Red Dot Gala in Essen’s opera house. Afterwards, all products will be presented in the four-week winner exhibition “Design on Stage – Winners Red Dot Award: Product Design 2014” in the Red Dot Design Museum Essen. Surrounded by the historical industrial architecture of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Zollverein, they will be put in the spotlight against an impressive backdrop.

Red Dot Award: Product Design 2014 – Dates and Facts

Early Bird: 6 December 2013
Regular: 28 January 2014
Latecomers: 5 February 2014

Jury session: February 2014
Awards ceremony: 7 July 2014
Special exhibition of the award-winning products: 8 July – 3 August 2014

Further information and registration

A new architecture slowly redefines the urban landscape of Rome historic center. Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas are the architects behind the project of refurbishment of the ex “Unione Militare” building situated between Via del Corso and Via Tomacelli that crosses the four floors of the building from the ground-floor up to the panoramic terrace with a view of the dome of the Basilica of Saint Ambrose and Carlo al Corso.

Outside interventions are minor – the architecture of the facades has been highlighted through alight design intervention, which gives a touch of contemporary to the building whilst putting it in connection to the city. However, the large “Lantern” is the symbol of the project – the very heart of the intervention. It contains the vertical connections, the service and accessory rooms as well as part of the plants. The full-height void created by lantern offers a glimpse along the structure. The part of it which acts as a roofing reaches height of 7.5 meters and accommodates huge panoramic restaurant space. Viewed from the city, the lantern appears as an irregular mirror during the day, while at night it takes on the shape of a large lamp. In the evening, the facades of the building light up and look like a theater set, the atmospheres change and the audience can enjoy from the outside the internal show of lights and colors. Read the rest of this entry »

On November 21 OMA finally marked the completion of De Rotterdam, mixed-use vertical city on the river Maas. Efficiency has been very important or even central design parameter from day one, as they stated in OMA. The extreme market play directed the course of the project, but that has been far from a design constraint and in fact has reinforces the original concept. The overall result is a dense, vibrant building for the city, in words of Ellen van Loon, partner in charge. With the completion of the building, a critical mass has been established on the Kop van Zuid, realizing the long-established vision of a second city center south of the Maas.

The building – De Rotterdam – is named after one of the ships on the Holland America Line, which transported emigrants from Europe to New York from the Wilhelmina Pier, next to which the building is located.

The high-rise is composed of the three stacked and interconnecting towers, 44 floors high and with a width of over 100 meters. The building is highly compact, and program mix is organized into distinct, overlapping blocks of commercial office space, residential apartments, hotel and conference facilities, restaurants and cafes. Office employees, residents and hotel guests are brought together in conference, sport and restaurant facilities. The building’s shared plinth is the location of the lobbies to each of the towers, creating a public hub by means of a common hall. Read the rest of this entry »

Surya represents a solution for Dallas – an option which didn’t require changing the construction of Museum Tower or the Nasher, due to intense “hot spot” caused by the tower’s very reflective skin. Designed by New York based practices REX and Front, this 400-foot sun-responsive proposal shields Nasher from the Museum Tower. The dynamic, ever-changing structure carefully tracks the daily reflections caused by the Museum and generates unique compositions, therefore presenting an icon, an identifying symbol for the Dallas Arts District.

In order to precisely determine the intervention’s extents, the harmful reflections for the Museum Tower were mapped at each time of day, every day for one year, on a vertical plane which separated Museum from the Nasher. As a result, analyses gave the rough shape of the 343 feet tall and 168 feet wide silhouette which would act as a perfect shield. Read the rest of this entry »

3xLP by Christopher Romano and Nicholas Bruscia has finally been announced as the winner of SKIN – the international digital fabrication competition, organized by TEX-FAB Digital Fabrication Alliance. Regarding the jury, TEX-FAB invited five leading figures in the world of digital fabrication and parametric design to jury the competition with a global understanding and presence within the digital design and fabrication communities. Their goal was to enable the role of digital fabrication and parametric design at the speculative level.

The competition began with 68 entries from 14 countries and the first round ended in July. It seems it was no hard task for the jury back then – the entry was selected without much deliberation and with just few comments on how small undulations or changing panels can have dramatic impact from the viewing standpoint moving around the building, boldness of the prototype and super clean design. The jury was impressed by the depth of their engagement with the primary concepts and the way they have engaged with the manufacturer in order to test and investigate those ideas. Read the rest of this entry »

BBK Bank Headquarters in Bilbao, Spain, by Zaha Hadid Architects is under construction. This 25,000 square meter tower represents the future headquarters for a socially-conscious savings bank and it will be sited at the south-eastern end point of Zorrotzaurre peninsula, facing central Bilbao, offering wide views onto the river and the famous Guggenheim Museum. At Zaha Hadid Architects, they consider this project eventual continuation of what they have started while ago with their master plan for Zorrotzaurre.

The tower will contain office support spaces – shared meeting rooms and seminar rooms, amenities, charitable activities space and an auditorium, in addition to their own office facilities. As the site called for strong architectural statement, the proposal set out very sculptural form derived from two star-shaped plans rotated 45 degrees from each other, at the top and the bottom of the tower. The outcome of their merger is the profile that changes as the view angle changes.

The very visible structural exo-skeleton serves both as primary structure and the sub-structure for the curtain wall. Together with structural core it acts as the only structure needed – interior columns are completely eliminated. Read the rest of this entry »

The “Pure Tension” Volvo Pavilion is a joint venture of Synthesis Design + Architecture, Buro Happold and Fabric Images. This tensile structure is a lightweight, rapidly deployable, free-standing membrane, a portable charging station, commissioned by Volvo Car Italia. The membrane is an experiment, developed through a process of rigorous research that investigated methods of associative modeling, dynamic mesh relaxation, paneling, geometric rationalization and pure material performance. It illustrates the dialogue between design, engineering and fabrication. Read the rest of this entry »

Billard Leece Partnership recently completed the La Trobe University Wodonga campus student accommodation which provides residential support for students studying in rural and regional areas in order to access ongoing studies. A dining room of 175 seats supports new student accommodation for 200 students in Bendigo. The Center caters for all residential students, provides a commercial kitchen to undertake wider campus and off-site catering and generally provides greater campus amenity for students and staff enhancing the Bendigo campus collegiate atmosphere.

The structure of a dining room is conceived as a veranda or treetops space. The dining hall takes advantage of a northerly aspect and has views across the campus, to the city and into bush land. The views out at both ends are framed by, or through, tree canopies. Established trees form an outdoor eating area at the entry.

The dining room building is wrapped in faceted aluminum mesh pyramid-like cells, providing aesthetic quality, shading and sense of privacy, while it actually offers hidden space for outdoor vertical communications. Read the rest of this entry »

In recent years high-rise residential towers is Asia have undergone a significant transformation. No longer only mass replicated tower blocks dot the skyline of most Asian cities, a new generation of bespoke towers now provide aesthetic, singular silhouettes and incorporate comfortable living spaces, attractive landscaped gardens and an array of amenities for residents.

The Ardmore Residence at 7 Ardmore Park in Singapore is one of this new breed of residential towers. Located in a prime location close to the Orchard Road luxury shopping district the Ardmore Residence enjoys both expansive views of the panoramic cityscape of Singapore City and the vast green areas of its immediate western and eastern surroundings.

Living landscape
The primary concept for the design of the 36 storey, 17.178 m² residential tower is a multi-layered architectural response to the natural landscape inherent to the ‘Garden City’ of Singapore. This landscape concept is integrated into the design by means of four large details: the articulation of the facade, which through its detailing creates various organic textures and patterns; expansive views across the city made possible by large glazed areas, bay windows and double-height balconies; the interior ‘living landscape’ concept adopted for the design of the two apartment types and the introduction of transparency and connectivity to the ground level gardens by means of a raised structure supported by an open framework.

Textured facade
The facade of the Ardmore Residence is derived from micro-design features which interweave structural elements, such as bay windows and balconies into one continuous line. The façade pattern is repeated for every four storeys of the building, whilst rounded glass creates column-free corners, visually merging the internal spaces with the external balconies. Intertwining lines and surfaces wrap the apartments, seamlessly incorporating sun screening, whilst also ensuring that the inner qualities of the apartments and the outer appearance of the building together form a unified whole. Read the rest of this entry »