“Meta-Follies for the Metropolitan Landscape” by ecoLogicStudio is a spatial mechanism which aims at establishing a playful dialogue with the user enabling the development of clouds of knowledge, a form of meta-language based on material experience, patterns recognition, sedimentation of feelings as well as a real-time meta-conversation.

This smart and responsive installation, a fibrous structure, has been conceived algorithmically and will keep evolving algorithmically once it will be handled over to its end users and it will commence its exhibition tour following unknown itineraries across different regions, cultures, languages and environmental contexts; it cannot be predicted how would these contexts read and respond to the project nor the pavilion can be designed to respond to a specific context in a traditional sense. However the machine nature of this proposal allows a dynamic form of contextual relationship with the surrounding urban environment, one that works through intuitive aesthetic appreciation as well as behavioral response.

Referring to Slavoj Zizek’s call for the development of a “new terrifying form of abstract materialism” the pavilion confronts the artificiality of the contemporary urban landscape with the production of a new form of hyper-artificiality able to offer refuge and consolation to the crowd of post-ecologists. Such emerging group of urban dwellers have stopped searching for a new Arcadia and are determined to develop a new ‘shanty’ version of it. Within this paradigm aesthetic codes are redefined – the beauty of nature, the proportion of the classic and the idealization of the early ecologists are substituted by the abstraction of digital meta-fields, of mathematical minimal paths, which define an algorithmic manual for the assemblage of new material systems made of processed industrial waste, post-consumer recycled plastic, bundles of electrical wires, solar photo-voltaic cells and cheap reused Chinese sound kits.

Such an improbable assemblage of ‘urban trash’ is pushed to the limit and engineered to reveal a new aesthetic, spatial and behavioral milieu, a new urban eco-language.

Regarding fabrication and material technologies, the process used for the pavilion is “slow prototyping” – few specific components of the project are custom-prototyped while on the others will be re-used, re-cycled and hacked existing trash technologies, to become integral part of our new prototype. In ecoLogicStudio they believe that there is no need for fast architecture, like there is no need of fast food, but there is a new need for a slow architecture, able to simultaneously embody the object, the process and the interface. They advocate architecture that operates like a swarm, or in the swarm – able to convert a multitude of simple instructions into an emergent meta-language of forms, movements and effects. Read the rest of this entry »

Koichi Takada Architect’s design for Sydney by Crown, focuses on providing a building that both enhances the existing street-scape and provides an iconic and recognizable addition to Sydney’s skyline. Inspired by the masonry character of significant heritage buildings and their characteristic arches, a duality is introduced to the facade, represented by the varied aesthetics of the podium and tower. The through-site link comprises an eight-storey atrium and is designed to enrich and regenerate public amenity in this area of the CBD. The sculptural tower element floats above the podium, shaping the skyline with a gentle and organic form.

The design is exciting, innovative and unique and is intended to set a new benchmark for architectural design in the western skyline of Sydney’s CBD. It represents a shared outcome that captures the objectives of the council controls while allowing an imaginatively refined design.

Organizing a total of 220 apartments, including 42 serviced apartments, Koichi Takada’s scheme focuses on a design that enhances both public and residential amenity. A ground plane opens to Kent and Clarence Street, with an arcade activated by retail and commercial uses. The apartments on the lower levels are protected by recessed balconies, defining a visual and spatial identity similar to a New York loft.

In Koichi Takada Architects, they learn from the processes, formations, structures and natural life in the environment to inspire their design. They state that nature teaches them and there is more to architecture than the creation of beautiful forms – it must involve all of our senses. The feeling of a soft breeze, the acoustics in a cave or the ambiance of natural light through a tree canopy – these are elements they try to involve in the experience of architecture. Read the rest of this entry »

Like most of Singapore’s architectural city-scape, Changi airport is meant to be iconic with its multi-functionality of mixed-use space. Iconic as the design that had to be provided is the chosen design firm -Dutch UNStudio with lead architect Ben van Berkel. The new 125,000m2 development for the airport in Singapore is located at the heart of the airport complex and serves to connect the airport’s ensemble of terminals and existing structures.

UNStudio’s design proposal for the new complex offered a blend of nature and mall, with unique attractions that additionally provide an attractive destination for the residents of Singapore. The new structure accommodates food and beverage areas, garden activities, retail areas, lounges and a cineplex and movie themed attraction.

The three main components – Attraction, Aviation and Retail are merged to form one program and are weaved together throughout the building. The garden attraction forms the main thread within the design and is a theme of all the activities in the building. The varied hexagonal units in the double-layered facade control daylight penetration and views while maximizing shading in the areas where this is required. UNStudio’s design for the new complex presents a high-performance building targeting low consumption energy levels and high standards of comfort.

The main aim was to increase Changi’s international reputation as a transport hub and strengthen its connections with Singapore’s infrastructure – and this is way design turns into a very effective tool for communication and realization of major ideas. The so-called Project Jewel’s area is calculated at 3.5 ha of building site, thus providing Singapore’s residents with a new cityscape attraction to visit, enjoy and reside in. Read the rest of this entry »

Seattle’s burgeoning waterfront, home to the world class Olympic Sculpture Park, will get a new residential mid rise inspired by the park’s wedged paths. The stepped tower is designed by Perkins+Will to create a dynamic but sensitive relationship with the park as a public and aesthetic resource. Aiming for a LEED Platinum certification the design is intended to be environmentally astute and regionally adapted. The folded veil facade is a core design gesture to facilitate multiple relationships both internally and externally. The diverging planes of the southern facade breaks the massing into more discrete elements, verticalizing the Z shaped topography of the park. Read the rest of this entry »

Studio Echelman installed its largest sculpture at the TED Conference’s 30th anniversary, March 2014. The monumental aerial sculpture spanned 745 feet between the 24-story Fairmont Waterfront and the Vancouver Convention Center, challenging the artist to work on her most ambitious scale yet – over twice the size of her largest previous sculpture.

The most interactive sculpture of this studio was presented with an original, interactive work created in collaboration with artist Aaron Koblin, Creative Director of the Data Arts Team in Google’s Creative Lab. At night the sculpture came to life as visitors were able to choreograph the lighting in real time using physical gestures on their mobile devices. Vivid beams of light were projected across a massive scale as the result of small movements on spectators’ phones. In the daytime, the sculpture’s delicate yet monumental form is subtle, blending in with clouds and sky. A complex matrix of 860,000 hand and machine-made knots and 145 miles of braided fiber weighing nearly 3,500 pounds span 745 feet make up Skies Painted with Unnumbered Sparks.

In order to achieve such scale and complexity, Echelman turned to Autodesk and they collaborated to create custom 3D software to model the sculpture and test its feasibility. Therefore it was possible to manipulate the design and to see the results immediately. The structure is made entirely of soft fibers and is attached directly into existing city architecture. The project embodies the infusion of art and technology, as both continuously evolve together. Read the rest of this entry »

National pavilion for the United Arab Emirates by Foster and Partners occupies a large site and is accessed via its main circulation axis – the decumanus. From here, visitors are drawn into the mouth of a canyon-like space, defined by two undulating 12-meter-high walls. Influenced by ancient planning principles, the pavilion’s interior evokes the narrow pedestrian streets and courtyards of the traditional desert city, and its contemporary reinterpretation in the sustainable Masdar master plan. The high walls continue through the 140 meter site in a series of parallel waves, unifying the visitor spaces within a dynamic formal language designed to convey the ridges and texture of sand dunes. A ramp leads gently upwards from the entrance towards the auditorium.

The irrigation aqueducts that have historically supported agriculture in the region are introduced in digital form. The path further leads to a state-of-the-art auditorium, contained within a drum at the heart of the site. After the screening, visitors follow a route through further interactive displays and digital talks, including a special exhibit celebrating Dubai as host city for the 2020 Expo. The pavilion responds to the Milan Expo’s theme of ‘feeding the planet’ by integrating a variety of dining options around the theme of modern Emirati food. The exhibition trail culminates in a green oasis leading into a ground level café, with a formal restaurant on the first floor and a hospitality roof terrace on top.

Conveying a unique sense of place, the landscaping around the pavilion is designed to evoke the UAE’s terrain and flora, while the texture of the walls derives from a scan of dunes and represents the different shades of sand across the Emirates. The design targets LEED ‘Platinum’ through a combination of passive principles and active techniques, from capturing rainwater on the roof garden to integrating photo-voltaic cells. Most significantly, the building is designed to be recycled – wall panels are supported by a steel frame, which can be easily disassembled and reconstructed for the pavilion’s eventual relocation in the UAE. Read the rest of this entry »

‘Infinity by Crown’ Landmark is ambitious mixed-use, multi-residential complex, designed by Koichi Takada Architects. Located at the gateway of the Green Square Town Center in Sydney, the proposed scheme aims to engage the public through architecture and to become a seamless interchange of public and residential activities. Constant pedestrian movement around the perimeter of the building, as well as public activities and traffic flow, sculpts its fluid architectural form entertaining more than a static architectural state. It defines a new and interactive residential typology. It is a symbol of new architectural influence and the future of a new living center in Sydney.

The relationship between the public and residential activation has become intrinsic to the concept of ‘Infinity by Crown’. The design features are represented in the blend of two loops – one designed to activate the public plaza and street-scape, the other providing amenity and open space for residents. The feature loop provides an iconic and recognizable form in the skyline, with a strong presentation to, and activation of the public domain.

The residential loop, north-oriented, lets sun and breeze into the public loop and central courtyard throughout the year, making it an inviting and attractive space for the public to gather. The continuing loop, as it tilts toward the plaza, defines and enhances the connection to the public domain and protection of the solar access to the adjacent Green Square Plaza. The unique garden terraces provide a gentle transition into the urban fabric, relating to the ambitions of a lively, connected, green and sustainable master plan.

The two loops connect, becoming a seamless and continuous part of the architectural fabric. The resulting design is one that is fluid, connected, activated and responsive to the urban context of Green Square Town Center and its desire for a new vision of architecture. Read the rest of this entry »

As they state in 3XN Architects, Green School Stockholm, Sweden, is a new type of school with a modern approach to sustainable living. By actively educating about locally grown food, and by creating a multitude of green exterior public spaces, the building encompasses a full lifetime of sustainable living: from kindergarten to high school, college dorms to senior apartments.

The building is formed by two adjoining arcs – the green school and accompanying greenhouse constitute the public arc and allow for internal and external circulation through the building with the vegetation growing all around. Nine levels of housing for students and seniors twist, slide and shift to create wide private terraces and maximum daylight exposure.

Wide atriums open up the green school to accommodate spontaneous learning. This green pathway through the school culminates with a large greenhouse as the focal point. The greenhouse encompasses three enclosed levels for maximum productive growing and extends upwards with hanging gardens and vertical farming alongside the student and senior residences.

The inside public area houses an organic food store, where the organically grown vegetables from the greenhouse are sold. The Green School’s kindergarten is located directly adjacent to a birch grove. Here, the children get their own safe oasis. With the green terraces outside the building, allowing pedestrians to ascend and move from the lower northern side of the site up and across the street to the higher southern side, the building becomes a productive extension of the planned green corridor for the area as well as an avenue for the public. Read the rest of this entry »

Battersea Power Station Development Company has recently unveiled the plans for Phase Three of the development, designed by world-renowned architects Gehry Partners and Foster + Partners. Following an international design competition held in September 2013, the two architectural practices were chosen for the bold and innovative designs they had for both new homes and a new pedestrian retail street in the area to the south of the Power Station. The designs reflect the shareholders’ commitment to creating world-class buildings that will complement the iconic Power Station, while becoming destinations in their own right.

The third phase will comprise over 1,300 homes in a range of sizes and styles in two zones on either side of the boulevard. In addition, a 160 room hotel and 350,000 sq ft. of retail and restaurant space plus additional leisure space will be delivered as part of the proposals. 103 affordable homes from the total of 517 being provided across the development will also be delivered as part of this third phase.

Gehry Partners has designed the five buildings to the east of The Electric Boulevard known as “Prospect Place”, which comprises around half of the planned residential units, double-height retail spaces at street level, a community park and multi-use community hub, and the distinctive “Flower” building.

Foster + Partners has designed the undulating building to the west of The Electric Boulevard called “The Skyline”, which brings together the other half of the planned homes, including 103 units of affordable housing, in addition to a medical center and 160-room hotel. Two floors of retail front on to the western side of the street, while generous breaks in the façade allow daylight to reach the public spaces below. The entire top of the building is laid out as one of London’s largest roof gardens – over a quarter of a kilometer long, the garden will have views of the Power Station, river and city beyond. Read the rest of this entry »

Cotai’s City of Dreams Hotel Tower is new design by Zaha Hadid Architects and the development of this new, skeleton-exposed, iconic feature commenced in 2013. Melcro Crown Entertainment – a developer and owner of casino gaming and entertainment resort facilities in Asia has recently unveiled the project details for their fifth hotel tower at City of Dreams, the company’s flagship property in Cotai, Macau.

The tower houses approximately 780 guestrooms, suites and sky villas, over 40 floors. The hotel includes a variety of meeting and event facilities, gaming rooms, restaurants, spa center and sky pool. All the programs are wrapped in single, cohesive envelope and due to integrating extensive back of house areas and supporting ancillary facilities, it is possible to have them all working perfectly under the same roof.

The design of the tower combines dramatic public spaces and generous guest rooms with innovative engineering and formal cohesion. The rectangular outline of the site is extruded as a monolithic block with a series of voids which carve through the center of the tower, merging traditional architectural elements of roof, wall and ceiling, in order to create a sculptural form that defines many of the hotel’s internal public spaces.

The tower’s exposed exoskeleton reinforces the dynamism of the design. Expressive and powerful, this external structure optimizes the interior layouts and envelops the building, further defining its formal composition and establishing relationships with the new Cotai strip. Read the rest of this entry »