Creativity and innovation meet design, Disney meets DuPont-Corian at the next Milan week of design (11-17 April, 2011), the most important venue for design companies and professionals from around the world. DuPont – Corian and Disney will showcase at “Padiglione Visconti” (via Tortona 58, Milano) “TRON designs CORIAN”, a design exhibition inspired by the film “TRON: Legacy” from Walt Disney Studios.

For the participation of dynamic international kitchen manufacturer Ernestomeda at “TRON designs CORIAN”, Milan-based architectural and design studio AquiliAlberg have conceived a kitchen and dining area inspired by the movie. Read the rest of this entry »

The Ecological Wall is a project designed by Polish architecture student Stanislaw Mlynski for an international competition organized by National Taipei University of Technology (NTUT) School of Architecture.

“I proposed to create structural wall using organic waste containers. I believe that arrangement of elements, as well as their shape have potential to create shelters for animals, gather water, reduce CO2 . The solar system has the aim to ensure energetic independence.

The subject of my interest was every -existing or built in the future- useless, dirty, not-adapted city wall. As in nature every organism consist of huge amount of repetitious cells, which ensure reliability, I decided also to make up a universal modular system, which will allow to transform industrial building, grey skyscrapers, office blocks or even typical fences in green ecosystems. Such system would also provide with possibility to create buildings. On every step of the project I was seeking inspirations in nature, because to my mind it is the master of OPTIMIZATION and usage of resources from surrounding (to which it is trying to adjust). Read the rest of this entry »

Designed by Meridian 105 Architecture, Lincoln Mixed Use is a proposal for an urban mixed-use complex in Denver, CO, consisting of a hotel, retail, parking structure, restaurant, and movie theater. The building is sited on a transition lot between high-rise residential and a primary commercial corridor running through the city. Overlapping, cross circulation is established onsite, easing visitors through the various program uses between these two zones.

The building enclosure employs an aggressive energy strategy, with the hotel facade designed to perform as a twin glazed assembly, but consisting of prefabricated window units in lieu of labor intensive curtainwall installation. The units have densely fritted top and side panels angled to resist solar gain into the cavity during the summer, while allowing it to heat the shell in the winter. The facade is naturally vented in the summertime by the heat stack effect, with air intake at the base and exhaust at the top. Read the rest of this entry »

Designed by CLS, headed by award winning Architect Darren Chan, the “Helios Rehab Sanctuary” innovates application of sustainable technologies.

Within an ethereal rehabilitating tower, shades of society gather forming communities of hope. Occupants are treated with supported clean peaceful living. The tower, vertically zoned, focuses on healing the BODY (lower), MIND (mid-section) and SPIRIT (high).

Truly sustainable cities should focus on the economy of resources but also the health of the people. Sufferers briefly “escape” pressured living to rehabilitate within the tower and ultimately release back into society.

The tensegrity-network-based outer-frame houses horizontal access to pods via green ramps. The “hexa-skin” and pod shells incorporate air pollution cleansing TX-Active integrated white panels which also reflect light onto the Solyndra Solar rod arrays encasing the kinetic pods. The Solyndra capture direct, diffused and reflected sunlight across 360-degree photovoltaic surfaces. Depending on climatic variation, it opens promoting cooling and the rod-system induces ventilation and views, it closes for protection, insulation and energy saving. Read the rest of this entry »

The Cloud Room designed by Shanghai-based One Design Inc. sits on the roof terrace of the National Art Museum of China, a historical landmark from the 1960’s in Beijing.

The outside white polycarbonate panels follow a computer generated cloud-like profile. Each piece revolves according to the wind, casting moving shadows and reflections onto a second layer of translucent polycarbonate. Standing inside, people can think of this cloud room as an apparatus of urban observation or meditation – the translucent interior screen gives a mix of vague pixel urban image intertwined with wind and sun.

This Beijing installation can be a starting point of a sequence of works. As the exhibition is travelling to Taiwan this summer, The Cloud Room is expected to transform and to dialogue with the mild and warm environment of Taichung. Read the rest of this entry »

Stefan Ritter designed a proposal for an extension to the Riga International Airport in Latvia. The project’s architectural effects are based on three distinct surface qualities (clad solids, screened semi solids, and exposed trusses) which are composed over a geometric system with a strong tectonic expression. The consequence is a tension of simultaneous perception of surface figures juxtaposed with geometric volumes. The architecture becomes an esthetical experience of oscillating volumetric readings throughout the spaces of the building.

The terminal is an extension of Riga international airport for airBaltic. The architecture is concentrated on the roof – creating an artificial sky that modulates the spaces of the main hall through its undulations. The geometry condenses at the slowest point of circulation (security check) and expands towards the two gate arms, thus amplifying the circulation flows and simultaneously orientating passengers in the building. The main hall is subdivided into zones of land-side and air-side circulation by the cladding patterns of the roof and broken into rooms by “fake columns” that replace walls – they come down from the ceiling but don’t or just barely touch the ground. The roof includes spaces for longer waiting periods for transfer passengers, with an atmosphere of a semi underwater camera – looking down into the terminal hall, through the structure, and up over the roof scape out to the airplanes taking off and landing.

via suckerPUNCH Read the rest of this entry »

BIG + Grontmij + Spacescape are the winning team for the Stockholmsporten master plan competition to design an inviting new entrance portal into Stockholm at the intersection of a newly planned super-junction.

The planned Hjulsta Intersection 15 km north of Stockholm where two European highways the E18 and E4 Bypasses converge into a three level intersection, amounts to the largest infrastructure project in Sweden, required due to the growth and development of the capital. The Stockholmsporten competition seeks to define the Hjulsta intersection through sculpting the surrounding landscape and framing the automotive scale of the intersection. Additionally the proposal connects the adjacent Järvafäl¬tet recreation area through a continuous promenade to the distinctive natural and heritage-laden environment and adds new qualities to the site. BIG was selected as the winner of the invited competition among proposals from Norwegian Snøhetta, Danish landscape architect Kristine Jensen and Swedish Erik Giudice Architects.

”The magnificent bowl shape of this proposal is an ingenious solution which interacts with the geometry of the intersection while at the same time creating an urban context linking together the different areas surrounding the site. Possibilities of adding qualities and activities to the place which will benefit residents are very elegantly added.” Jury Report, Stockholmsporten.

Prior to this competition, the intersecting roads would create physical and visual barriers between the surrounding neighborhoods and divide them into four areas totaling 580.000 m2. BIG’s proposal, the Energy Valley, re-connects these in an un-hierarchical and democratic way through a continuous circular bike and pedestrian loop aligned with public buildings and functions, including a shopping- and sports centre, a hammam and a mosque which will attract visitors from Stockholm and its suburbs. Read the rest of this entry »

Lea Ceramiche is taking part in Interni Mutant Architecture & Design with an installation designed by Zaha Hadid.

The installation features Lea Slimtech, the ultraslim slab (just 3mm) available in large sizes (up to 3m x 1m): the chosen site is an 18th century courtyard, one of the most attractive areas at Milan’s University, where the slabs will be used to bring a three dimensional structure to life. It will be a sort of vortex made entirely in porcelain stoneware; a dynamic space demonstrating a flexible and unconventional use of this innovative material.

The project started out as a contemporary take on courtyard architecture. It is a dynamic composition that starts out at the perimeter of the space and then follows the orthogonal shape of the columns and lines, meeting at the centre, creating complex and sinuous geometrical patterns: The 800 m2 area is covered with 7 different colours of Slimtech slabs (from milk white to black coffee) that are 1 metre wide and in various heights ranging to a maximum of 2 metres. The installation transforms the courtyard into a space with a constantly shifting shape and colour depending on the many possible viewing angles. Fluorescent light tubes by Artemide run along the structure, lighting up the building and creating a link between the formal layout of the setting and the flowing lines of the project. Read the rest of this entry »

eVolo Magazine is pleased to announce the winners of the 2011 Skyscraper Competition. Established in 2006, the annual Skyscraper Competition recognizes outstanding ideas that redefine skyscraper design through the use of new technologies, materials, programs, aesthetics, and spatial organizations, along with studies on globalization, flexibility, adaptability, and the digital revolution. This is also an investigation on the public and private space and the role of the individual and the collective in the creation of a dynamic and adaptive vertical community. The award seeks to discover young talent, whose ideas will change the way we understand architecture and its relationship with the natural and built environments.

The Jury of the 2011 edition was formed by leaders of the architecture and design fields including: Juan Azulay [principal Matter Management, professor at Southern California Institute of Architecture], CarloMaria Ciampoli [port director Live Architecture Network], Mario Cipresso [principal Studio Shift, professor at University of Southern California], Ted Givens [principal 10 Design], Eric Goldemberg [principal Monad Studio, professor at Florida International University], Jose Gonzalez [principal Softlab, professor at Pratt Institute], John Hill [editor Archidose], Mitchell Joachim [principal Terreform One, professor at New York University], Andrew Liang [principal Studio 0.10., professor at University of Southern California], Javier Quintana [principal Taller Basico de Arquitectura, Dean of IE School of Architecture], Rezza Rahdian [Architect, Second Place 2009 Skyscraper Competition], Michel Rojkind [principal Rojkind Arquitectos], and Michael Szivos [principal Softlab, professor at Pratt Institute]. The Jury selected 3 winners and 32 honorable mentions. eVolo Magazine received 715 projects from all five continents and 95 different countries.

The first place was awarded to Atelier CMJN (Julien Combes, Gaël Brulé) from France for their ‘LO2P Recycling Skyscraper’ in New Delhi, India. The project is designed as a large-scale wind turbine that filters polluted air with a series of particle collector membranes, elevated greenhouses, and mineralization baths.

The second place was awarded to Yoann Mescam, Paul-Eric Schirr-Bonnans, and Xavier Schirr-Bonnans from France for a dome-like horizontal skyscraper that harvests solar energy, collects rainwater, and preserves the existing urban fabric at ground level thanks to its large skylights and small footprint.

The recipient of the third place is Yheu-Shen Chua from the United Kingdom for a project that re-imagines the Hoover Dam in the U.S. as an inhabitable skyscraper that unifies the power plant with a gallery, aquarium, and viewing platform that engages the falling water directly.

Among the honorable mentions there are “waterscrapers” that clean oil spills and desalinate sea water, inverted skyscrapers for a floating Olympic villa, recycling towers, research skyscrapers that harvest lightning power, vertical cemeteries and amusement parks, sports skyscrapers, fish farms, and “living mountains” for desert climates. Other proposals use the latest building technologies and parametric design to configure environmentally conscious self-sufficient buildings.

eVolo Magazine would like to acknowledge all the competitors for their effort, vision, and passion for architectural innovation and the members of the Jury for their knowledge, time, and enthusiasm during the long review process.

eVolo Magazine is also pleased to announce the publication of a Limited Edition  book (only 500 copies) that celebrates the sixth anniversary of the prestigious international Skyscraper Competition. With more than 3,000 projects received, we are showcasing the best 300 proposals from the past six years, including 2011, in a large-format hardcover book. Our goal is to edit a true gem of contemporary architecture printed in over one-thousand full-color pages.

ORDER LIMITED EDITION BOOK

First Place
2011 Skyscraper Competition

Atelier CMJN
Julien Combes, Gaël Brulé
France

Conceived as a giant turbine the LO2P skyscraper would be located in New Delhi, one of the most polluted cities in the world due to the exponential increase in population and cars -it is estimated that number of cars grows by one-thousand every day.

The idea behind this skyscraper is to recycle the old cars and use them as building material for the new structure. The building is designed as a giant lung that would clean New Delhi’s air through a series of large-scale greenhouses that serve as filters. Another set of rotating filters capture the suspended particles in the air while the waste heat and carbon dioxide from the recycling center are used to grow plants that in turn produce bio-fuels. Read the rest of this entry »