Faced with the task of revitalizing the “sober” town of Andalsnes, Norway, Swedish firm Jagnefalt Milton jumped light years outside the box and drew up plans for a district set completely on existing railways. Their bold idea won 3^rd place in a master plan competition for the small Norwegian town. The Switching City is admittedly novel at first glance, but is in fact a surprisingly practical approach for cultivating seasonal tourism in Andalsnes.

The plan takes advantage of proposed and existing railroads running through Andalsnes and requires very little permanent development. Instead of drastically changing the Andalsnes landscape, The Switching City is a series of individual railcar modules collected and placed as needed for a particular event or function. Jagnefalt Milton specifically pointed out the flexible capacity of the project with their proposals for a rolling hotel, rolling public bath, and a rolling concert hall. The design, like the overall concept is tastefully simple and courts to the local geography and Andalsnes’ austere setting. Read the rest of this entry »

December 2010 saw the finishing of the Actelion Business Center in Allschwil, Switzerland. The Center’s designers, Herzog & de Meuron melded functionality and aesthetics with a multi-cantilever design that provides space for green roofs and unique angles to allow in maximum natural lighting for each office section.

The Center provides 350 offices for Actelion employees and encourages a transparent workspace both inside and out. Ducts and piping and installations are all set in the floors and ceilings to open up the interior for glass walls and entryways while large open window facades open the Center to the surrounding environment.

Like many of their designs, Herzog & de Meuron listed sustainability as their main objective. They put reactive louvers on all of the triple glazed windows to adjust with the sun’s position. They angled windows so those on the lower floors incline upwards and those on the upper floors downward to better capture and utilize solar heat and incorporated photovoltaic cells for electricity.

The cantilever design evokes a vision of a structural Picasso and the basic aesthetics, construction, and visible structural supports give the building a 20^th century modernist feel. Where the design is most forward the geometric offices of the Business Center seem to explode outward from its core form towards the surrounding environment, furthering the synthesis of form and environment. Read the rest of this entry »

New York interior/architecture firm Axis Mundi presents their vision of a polyhedral based residence nested on the cliffsides of the Palisades in New Jersey. Axis Mundi designed the Polyhedra to showcase both their architectural style and interior design work.

The exterior structure is a simple angular and geometric design that contrasts the natural chaos of the Palisades with striking . The entire structure cantilevers slightly over a top edge on the cliffs. A glass façade opens the interior to the breathtaking views overlooking New York City. The glass is treated with a solar reducing panel to prevent the Polyhedra from quickly becoming a glorified greenhouse.

Axis Mundi maintained the clean and angular design in the interior of the Polyhedra by making visible the almost bone-like support structures that criss cross the walls. The bones of the structure are complemented by a backbone-like staircase that floats through the center of the Polyhedra. The entirety is white, opening itself completely to the natural lighting coming in from the glass façade. At the lowest floor is the kitchen and living area, up one floor is the bedrooms and one further is a sort of observation space. Read the rest of this entry »

Gensler’s design, called the London River Park picked up awards earlier this month for Best Conceptual Project and the Planning Excellence Award handed out by the Mayor of London Boris Johnson. Spearheaded by Gensler’s London office, the Park was conceived it as a part of the 2012 London Olympic Games events. According to Gensler’s press release, the park will be a “theatre for a programme of changeable events, gardens, and educational features”.

The Park would be situated on the north side of the Thames and would be the first continuous riverwalk between Blackfriar’s Bridge and London Bridge. The walk would feature six floating pavilions to host a number of cultural and education events including plans for “Sustainability” and “Culture” islands.

Hopes are high for the project, described by London Mayor Boris Johnson as a “fantastic catalyst for rejuvenating the Thames as a major transport artery”. Mayor Johnson went on to say he has “no doubt that (the London River Park) could become one of the capital’s most popular attractions”. Read the rest of this entry »

Serving as a monument and memorial to the UAE’s founding President Sheik Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the Zayed National Museum will be a focal point of the emerging Saadiyat Island Cultural District. All aspects of the Museum, from architectural design to museum exhibit themes were conceived to reflect the life and values of the late Sheikh Zayed.

The Museum’s striking wing shaped towers were designed to evoke thoughts of a flying falcon to pay homage to Sheikh Zayed’s love of falconry. They act as thermal towers, an integral part of the natural cooling system that draw hot air up and out creating a low pressure flow of cool air from outside in through the museum. This system will cut down on climate control costs and reduce environmental impact, in line with Sheikh Zayed’s advocacy of environmental friendliness. The wing towers will also hold the museum galleries in their bases.

The wings will shoot out of a manmade 30 meter high earth mound, which will house the underground lobby area complete with retail, open performance areas, dining and an auditorium. The underground lobby will take advantage of the thermal effect of the earth, further reducing climate control costs. The entire museum will be surrounded by a body of water to create a distinct cultural landmark amongst many planned for the Cultural District on Saadiyat Island. Read the rest of this entry »

LOOP City is an urban plan for future growth in and around Copenhagen, Denmark created by the Danish capital’s own BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group). The focus of the plan is largely on reimagining the residential and industrial areas to the west of central Copenhagen that were developed in accordance with the Finger Plan, a post-WWII urban plan headed by Steen Eiler Rasmussen. The Finger Plan laid out “fingers” of urbanization that reach west out from central Copenhagen as well as green spaces to occupy the spaces between the fingers, all in line with answering what they saw as the 10 essential issues facing the city in the future. However well conceived, under the pressures of post war industrialization, the Finger Plan has led to extensive urban sprawl and transportation issues.

LOOP City seeks to reimagine Greater Copenhagen by centralizing urbanization around a light rail system that would ultimately be a part of a larger transportation/development loop that would extend around the entirety of the Oresund Region.

The plan is for an area equal in size to central Copenhagen with a similar urban profile, turning areas of 25% urban density to areas more like the central city, where density is as high as 200%. According to BIG’s plans, if the new areas were urbanized similarly to central Copenhagen it could provide housing for over 325,000 new residents and create more than 280,000 working places. Read the rest of this entry »