The intelligent dynamic wall is an installation designed by E/B Office for Leonardo Museum of Art, Science and Technology in Salt Lake City, Utah. It aims to communicate the global environmental information through an interactive interface embedded in the material of the wall. It tries to convey the idea of applying green techniques to built space as a live, conscious system, fully integrated with the environment.

Environmental sensors capture data from sources throughout the planet and feed the data to solar-powered LED’s embedded in the sine-wave form made of recycled plastic. As the sensors register changes in temperature, wind, seismicity, and other factors, the LEDs reflect these fluctuations with continuous spectral waves that represent minute shifts in the data feed from moment to moment.  At 92 feet long and over 14 feet high, the structure covers 1300 sqft of vertical exhibition space traversing the museum’s ground floor lobby and acting as a programmatic threshold between exhibit spaces. It’s composed of 176 unique recycled HDPE fins embedded with 1,888 full-color RGB LED’s and held together by approximately 8000 individual set screws.  The estimated amount of plastic this project diverted from a landfill is around three tons. Read the rest of this entry »

Intended to contribute to Seoul’s initiative of becoming one of world’s top five cities in innovative urban design, this project for a stadium would be located near No-Eul Park is Seoul, serving the local colleges, high schools and adjacent communities. It’s dynamic form and tectonic qualities communicate both to the natural surroundings and the need for attractive and versatile public spaces.

The entrance is situated at the center of the structure, bringing visitors to the tessellated secondary structure. Shell-like structures help distributing the tension through the varied curved type and contain a gradient cavity that screens sunlight for the stadium audience. Triangulated panelization follows the building’s curvature, structuring its body and enhancing the dynamic effects of the structural shells. Stressing the conceptual importance of “poly-valiant qualities of the building”, the architect Michael Arellanes states: Read the rest of this entry »

Designed by Fletcher Priest Architects, the tower is intended to celebrate the cosmopolitan, urban and global character of New York City. It is a high-rise monument located at the tip of Manhattan on a pier projecting from Battery Park. While revitalizing the immediate surrounding and integrating it with the existing urban tissue, the Tower Museum also functions as an architectural landmark, terminating the north-south axis that extends to uptown Manhattan. The building would facilitate various exhibitions, with the emphasis on the 1970’s memorabilia: personal effects, souvenirs and photos of a new generation of immigrants who arrived after 1960. Read the rest of this entry »

By playing with reflections and their impact on the experience of a space, Arnaud Lapierre’s installation changes the rhythm and urban flow of Place Vendôme in Paris. Created for the FIAC 2011 Conference, sponsored by Audi, a reflective cylinder composed of mirrored blocks stacked in a variegated fashion is placed on a public surface, surrounded by classical buildings. Read the rest of this entry »

An interesting Studio Project program was introduced for the spring semester 2011 at University of Applied Arts Vienna, titled-Vertical Mass, Neither One nor Many. The idea was to propose large scale urban developments as an alternative to a collection of towers resting on a retail and public plinth.  The designs would have to reinterpret notions of skyline voids and spaces within masses, putting the emphasis on the urban void instead of a tower of any kind. Read the rest of this entry »

Awarded the Red Dot Best of Best Concept Award 2011, Flowall is a wall lamp designed by the Korean designer Jeil Park. It provides light through a curtain of mobile elements, reacting differently, depending on the interaction with the user.

Jeil Park’s work explores the relationship established between objects and users in a physical and phenomenological manner. “Objects designed with materials, colors and specific shapes will quite possibly get different meanings, depending on context and situation around them, despite being the same design,” says Park. Flowall drafts present a series of slats that hang vertically from the wall and bend at different heights. When one of the blades is pressed, a motion sensor receives the signal and the structure is bent up to form an obtuse angle. The module pulls neighboring slats, creating an undulating surface and progressive rhythmic repetitions. LED lighting installed in the interior of each board affects differently depending on the angle of the bend of each piece of the screen. Read the rest of this entry »

The project is designed by Boston based PRAUD Studio as a competition proposal for the music-themed hotel in Jurmala, Latvia. The main idea was to take a more aggressive stand and focus on creating a unique experience of a “music park”. Creating an urban landscape, equivalent to the hotel’s natural surroundings resulted in an architecturally strong statement. An elevated structure  facilitating the new hotel was introduced to the site, achieving widely open public space on the ground level, and a better view of the Baltic Sea from the hotel rooms. Every room in the new mass has direct view towards the sea and has access to the balcony on the roof. Read the rest of this entry »

These constructions made of polyethylene plastic tubes, usually used for water, gas and electrical distribution, are strong and flexible pieces of public furniture. The designer, Sebastian Wierinck considers them to be experiments in contemporary design, aiming to “bring some new creative freedom, and some opportunities to follow the researches in the design and production of objects and spaces.” Read the rest of this entry »

Commissioned by FOCUS Gallery Cape Town, the project reevaluates our perception of immediate spatial contexts by heightening the experience of being in a natural environment. According to the architect, Margot Krasojevic, the reinforced glass pods offer resting areas for climbers, but also prevent and contain anomalous perceptual experiences during mountain climbing. The spaces within the hotel can either enhance the perception of the surrounding area or block it to aid recovery and overexposure, depending on the desired effect. It is a hanging hotel with viewing platform, providing structural security for climbers and a rest stop to enjoy the view.

The glass spaces protect the climber form glare reflecting light in an uniform direction, creating an illusion that the sun at in a lower position than it is. The high tech prism louver system alters the views, controlling and editing mirages and illusions by using the prismatic optical elements which divide color with changing viewing points. The glass also filters the number and types of wavelengths entering the spaces, reducing the harmful UVB rays. Read the rest of this entry »

The Berimbau Tower was designed as a sustainable structure that would house telecommunications systems and other activities during the two major events planned for Rio de Janeiro: the World Cup 2014 and 2016 Olympic Games. After a thorough investigation the team has decided upon the final design of the high-rise which was largely inspired by Brazilian culture: Capoeira dance and especially its ancient musical instrument-the berimbau. The spherical building, suspended in the air, comprises 5 levels. The lower level is home to recreational activities. The immediate level houses offices while the middle level houses a gazebo and souvenir shops. The penultimate level houses offices. A conference room is located on the upper level.

All building components are recoverable, so that the skyscraper can be removed in its entirety, and its components repaired, recycled and reused. Due to its bioclimatic characteristics, the building has a very low energy consumption. The skyscraper has a heated greenhouse, and an efficient geothermal heat pump. On the other hand, it is cooled through an efficient sunscreen, a geothermal system and architectural generation of fresh air (underground), and a geothermal heat pumps. The double glass skin has an intermediate air chamber (width variable). The outer skin consists of a tempered laminated glass curve, which enables the spherical shape of the building. This curved glass outer skin has a special screen so that sunlight passes very perpendicular to the glass in the winter and does not let the sun flush in the summer. The inner skin is in turn a double glass, which has an exterior system of tarps and a triple inside rail of blinds. The set provides a very high insulation and prevents energy loss in the winter. Read the rest of this entry »