This tower designed by award-winning firm FXFOWLE, the tallest on the Anatolian side of Istanbul, makes a memorable presence for the headquarters of a dynamic construction and development company. Occupying an “edge-city” context at the intersection of two major highways, the tower is completely freestanding and seen in the round. Functioning like an obelisk, it marks the end of long vistas and announces the entrance to the city from the east. Read the rest of this entry »

This proposal designed by Brandon Martella is for a mixed use dormitory facility at the New School of Architecture and Design in San Diego, California.

The primary purpose of 3 block is to hold a group of modules within a fluid ribbon of vertical community for 360 students at New School of Architecture and Design.  The vertical sprawl of greenscape is a continuation of the balboa to bay park that runs along park blvd. dividing the New School campus.  Through a division of city, home, and community a new realm of San Diego is created.

Whether its tight rope walking the twin towers or using Renzo Piano’s louvered New York Times Building as a ladder, people around the world see buildings as urban terrain, wanting to feel like a kid once more with imaginative ambitions afloat on the playground. With 3 block these treasured experiences are made real again, a vertical hiking path integrated into the buildings southern exposure, enables the adventurous to finally use the cityscape as their playground.  With various green spaces and local shrubbery the walkways become a shading device to reduce the high-rises overall solar gain, plus the exploration of the building can be turned into an entire day adventure. Read the rest of this entry »

DCPParquitectos proposal for the New Taipei City Museum of Art is an open and welcoming design that erases the barrier of exclusivity normally surrounding the world of art, patrons, and experts.

As such, the architecture of the New Taipei City Museum of Art is one that embodies this idea of erasure through eliminating the traditional borders between exhibition space and circulation, as well as exterior and interior. Every part of the museum is represented by a space without limits that can hold any type of expression.

Put together, each space is part of a large connected organism that expands and extends itself through the site, acting as a filter and transitional space between public and art. Read the rest of this entry »

1oAM Architecture unveiled their design for Istanbul’s Disaster Prevention Centre. The emotional influence of the facade is a reflection of the nature conditions during the seasons, the day and the night. The climate features: rainfall, wind, air humidity, temperature amplitude ,and sunshine create dynamic facade effects. Polarization, reflections, steam, scatter… bred by the interaction of water and sun. Crying facade, a metaphor of contextual presence of the building, is dematerializing the shape. The facade absorbs humidity and energy from the air by its mossy surface and electrochemical process, it recognizes the presence of people in the space of the building by means of the air exchange of heating ventilating installation. The facade tectonics is developed by the authors in collaboration with Bulgarian academy of sciences / institute of physical chemistry.

Metro Station 20 designed by StudioATM is part of “Metro Line 1” which connects the center of Sofia with the International Airport.The new Metro Station and public plaza transforms a former local, non urbanized area into an invigorated center. “Metro Station 20” integrates infrastructure and civic space, synthesizing a diverse range of public, retail, commercial and transportation programs. Read the rest of this entry »

From now until January 29, 2012 the Rotonda di via Besana in Milan will host the exhibition “Drawing and Design – Italian patents and creativity” produced by Fondazione Valore Italia and the Ministry of Economic Development and promoted by the Department for Culture, Expo, Fashion and Design of the Municipality of Milan. Read the rest of this entry »

The main purpose is to design a multifunctional complex for people with an interest in knowing about Islam during the time of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire was the last big Islamic Empire and one of the most powerful during the Islamic era up until recent times. The building will serve as a hub for social activities and will portray the Ottoman Empire, especially, in an artistic sense.

The building conceived by Yusuf Onder will have a library, museum, lecture rooms, workshop level and a rooftop garden/cafe. Another goal is to offer people a place to learn and understand about this unique, hybrid of, culture and religion and it’s place in the Ottoman Empire in a hope to diffuse the sense of xenophobia towards the religion and culture. This thesis expounds on the, long old, idea of constant integration of religion and culture from history. Read the rest of this entry »

The aim of the Centre designed by Vulmaro Zoffi is essentially to make citizens aware of and prepared for natural disasters using specific training rooms and simulation areas.

To express this intent in architectural forms the architect decided to use the metaphor of a falling raindrop. In fact, when catastrophes occur, the balance of a phenomenon seems broken by a very small force, so it’s possible to find in the micro-event of the falling raindrop some of the primitive geometric forms involved in macro-natural disasters.

A large platform inside the innovative complex, in the form of a broken fragment of a tectonic plate, provides access to the peaceful environment of the greenhouse. This effect results in the gradual merging of two opposing faces of nature: peace and upheaval. The ETFE space of the greenhouse also acts as an open public square surrounded by grass and trees, providing a proper dimension for socializing. Read the rest of this entry »

Shenzhen is one of the most important industrial locations as well as a very popular tourist destination in China. The fast developing city is located in the south of the Guangdong Province, neighbouring the Pearl River delta and Hong Kong. Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport is the fourth largest following Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou in China. In 2008 Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas Architects won the international competition for the extension of the airport with the design of Terminal 3.

The concept of the project provokes the image of a sculpture with its organic shape. The structure of the building is in steel with a concrete substructure. The skin that envelops the structure, both on the inside and on the outside, shows the honeycomb motive. Read the rest of this entry »

The project was developed by IAAC students Carolina Aguirre, Xiomara Armijo and Carlo Caltabiano during the MAA Emergent Territories Studio directed by Willy Müller. FlexHubDock envisions Barcelona city 40 years later, with the Port Area as new Hub not only for commerce/logistics but for people and the city, rethinking it as a new social layer.

The FlexHubDock is the best example of how Port and City can coexist in harmony. A smart-shared surface will enable the Port area as both a Dock for ships and public Plaza. Depending on the needs for public space and activity as dock, it can be totally managed in real-time, by embedded sensors and network system that receives information of space requirements to begin its transition. In a single day the function and shape of the FlexHubDock can change several times and even share functions. Read the rest of this entry »