The EQUIP Xavier Claramunt is a multidisciplinary architectural practice founded in Barcelona in 1990. The firm develops proposals which range from cutlery to complex architectural structures, priding itself on working without preconceptions or preformed notions and ideas.

The Sphere building is a hundred stories high tower, with the total area of 1.660.900 square meters. Two spheres, one inside the other, constitute a complete habitable structure, offering programmatically different content. The inner sphere houses a mixed program of offices, green public spaces and cultural facilities. The outer sphere is designed to accommodate housing units, providing views to both inside and the outside environment. Positioned in the space between two structures, large public spaces are shielded from the environmental influences and constantly changing atmospheric conditions. Large ruptures in its body allow natural light to reach the centrally positioned facilities, avoiding the impression of a hermetic, artificial megastructure. Read the rest of this entry »

Mecanoo architecten has been declared winner for the design of the new cultural complex in Shenzhen. The 83,500 square meters of the cultural facilities will comprise a public art museum, science museum, youth center, a bookshop, and a public square and parking. The project is to provide the district with its own landmark and destination and transform the existing Longcheng Park into a lively destination point.

The key consideration for the design was connecting the new structure with the surrounding areas and new residential development. The linearity of the existing urban masterplan created a barrier between the western development area and Longcheng Park, further cutting up the area and contributing to its lack of urban vitality. Longcheng plaza will become a lively square which will further strengthen the quarter’s identity and provide residents and visitors with a much needed sense of place. Read the rest of this entry »

Conceived as an extension of the Austrian National Library, the Chris Prechteck’s design proposal contains a number of cultural and educational facilities. Situated in the baroque settings of Vienna, in the vicinity of the Hofburg Palace, the building attempts to blend into the surroundings by creating a single spiraling gesture. Straddling the border of a nearby park, it contributes to the continuity of open public spaces by housing much of its content underground. Public circulation is uninterrupted by the extension, as a curvilinear roof garden in created at the top. The main entrance is accessible by vehicles through a drop-off and fire emergency line placed under the arch. Gradually descending towards the entrance, visitors are intuitively directed to the foyer, and into the programs. The project offers 1,200 square meters of exhibition space as well as 600 square meters of multifunctional facilities, creative studios, restaurants and shops.

Its faceted façade is reminiscent of the decorative ornamentation of baroque architecture. The mosaic form of crystal-like openings allows natural lighting to filter through the interior, creating strong light-and-shade contrasts. The seamless structure of the extension generates a discreet curvature in the urban landscape, offering a different spatial experience from each perspective, whether from the interior or from the street level. Read the rest of this entry »

Between monument and building, the proposal for the Gdansk World War II Museum Competition by Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects attempts to translate notions of conflict and peace into the sensory language of masses and forms. In addition to offering the expected range of exhibition and educational spaces, it focuses on portraying the duality of human nature. The concept of contrasts is consistently expanded by opposite treatment of building and landscape.

Monumental threes surrounding the building are part of the Bialowieza forest, one of the remaining parts of the immense primeval forest which once spread across the European Plain. During the war it served as refuge for Polish and Soviet partisans.  It played a significant part in, as the architects state, “maintaining the continuity of Polish identity in times of political turmoil”. Flowing from below the hovering building, fractured paths extend towards the landscape and lead to small outdoor exhibits, as if discovering lost and found traces of the Great War. Read the rest of this entry »

“…We’re not tourists. We’re travelers. A tourist is someone who thinks about going home the moment they arrive…Whereas a traveler might not come back at all…”

Whether in search of escapist traveling experiences or simply looking for luxurious accommodation with a breathtaking view, the primal qualities of a stone carved retreat present the opportunity to explore both.

Carved into the sandstone cliffs of  southern Jordan, an hour and a half outside of Petra, The Wadi Resort is a design of powerful architectural gestures. The 80,000 square foot form is a winning competition entry by Oppenheim Architects. It is comprised of 47 desert lodges, accompanied by assorted pools and hammams littered around the site.

The walls are to be built from rammed earth and cement mixed with local red sand. Energy consumption is meant to be minimized by utilizing the natural cooling effect of the rocks. Various conservation measures establish a closed system of harvesting rain water. Using subterranean cisterns and re-harvesting gray water should contribute to low environmental impact. Read the rest of this entry »

The business residential building designed by two joint Slovenian offices- Arhimetrics and Enota is located in an important but degraded part of Celje, Slovenia. Even though the area is considered part of the city center, there are no historical or municipal building in its immediate vicinity.  The location is surrounded by modern city blocks, residential villas and freestanding multi-residential buildings. West of the site a large park connects it to the Savinja River.

The uniformity and repetitiveness of the building elements are intentional, derived from the need to reconnect exceptionally  heterogeneous surroundings into a logical whole. The starting volume of the new building is determined in three steps. The lower floors, set up along the edges of the lot, epitomize the height of the freestanding residential buildings in the south. Together with the public program of the existing city block buildings they embrace the central area and form a new city square. The tallest point of the new building in Herman’s square relates to the height of the existing residential high-rise, which is located along the road in the north-western edge of the lot. The number of floors of the building softly traverses between the heights adjusted according to surrounding buildings. Equal opening of the facades are enabled by positioning the building near an open public park. Read the rest of this entry »

The aim of  the TRESTLES FOOTBRIDGE – International Design Competition was to deliver a safe and compliant route between the existing parking lot and the surf beach, while preserving and enhancing the co-existence of coastal ecology and recreational activities. Organized by Architecture for Humanity, the competition would provide a design to be implemented in repairing the San Onofre wetlands, damaged by excessive foot traffic.  The proposal by Dan Brill Architects was not selected as one of the 5 finalist. However, the design was ranked 5^th on Dezeen’s  “most-viewed” page of 2010. The competition entry received great number of public votes, earning the People’s Choice Award and an honorable mention.

Exceeding the actual distance between two points by 300 feet, the 1,100 feet long bridge incorporates elements of necessary infrastructure: toilets, outside showers, drinking fountains, a lifeguard tower etc. Its 11 feet width is sporadically increased to accommodate informal seating areas, positioned to enjoy dramatic vistas along the coastline. Educational content is distributed along the structure, informing visitors of local history and habitats of endangered species. Read the rest of this entry »

Afsarmanesh Architects won first place at the Long Island Cinema Center Competition organized by suckerPUNCH. Their three turn concept is an architecturally eloquent investigation into what constitutes a cinematic experience. The essence of the design can be elaborated by three terms, equally immanent to both architecture and cinema – image, motion and space. Three frames facing the river provide different treatment of those motifs.

Within the first frame a large screen equipped with hologram technology  projects the faces of people entering the Center. The faces are overlapped with the image of Manhattan, creating a film-like experience. Set in a scenography of an actual city, simultaneously shot, edited and presented, the story follows its hero-the common man. To paraphrase Bachelard, the design creates a lived existential metaphor that structures the being , leading to the Cinema Center becoming integrated with our self-discovery.

The second frame is a screen for the open auditorium located on the roof of the lower indoor space. It gives the building a quality of an urban attractor, constantly generating movement.

By treating the third frame as a void, the proposal uses notions of emptiness and negative space to create a window with a view of the city. Rather than to fill it with mass, the building encompasses space, blurring the line between object and urban fabric. Read the rest of this entry »

Located next to basilica St Castor, in the vicinity of Deutsches Eck in Koblenz, Germany, the temporary pavilion will facilitate diverse events during summer of 2011. Occupying a plot that was previously used as a parking space, the treelike structure holds a pivotal position between The Gardening Show and the surrounding urban fabric. The aim of the project is to create a versatile space suitable for exhibitions, lectures, workshops and spontaneous gatherings of students. The members of Düsseldorf based office One Fine Day commented that one of the important aspects of the design was to educate both students and craftsmen of recent computational design and computer aided manufacturing technology.

The polygonal geometry and manifold symmetries of nearby St. Castor’s stellar vault have been a major inspiration for the project. Together with a rotationally symmetrical order a system of interdependent geometrical relations was defined that was resilient, yet rigorous enough to adapt to specific structural and functional needs. Furthermore the “branching” and inherent “porosity” of the trees’ leafy canopy above has been abstracted into the similarly “porous” pentagonal and rhombic tessellation of the surfaces. Read the rest of this entry »

Looking at The Station 5 Water Tower designed by Ariel Noyman, one can not but recall Mendelsohn’s design for Einstein Tower. Not comparable by aesthetic sensibility nor by programmatic parameters, both structures emphasize the possibility of turning small non-commercial  facilities into valuable urban landmarks. Allocated along a network spreading across the city, these now outdated and usually vandalized architectural études seek reinvention, thus eliciting valid design excitement.

As the finalist submission to the “Water Tower-new perspectives” Competition in 2010, Station 5 attempts to revitalize an important town square surrounded by municipality buildings and primary urban institutions. Being a checkpoint for an organized cultural tour, it will offer a variety of educational and cultural activities. Furthermore, it will function as a lookout and a leisure attraction assuming the role of a true city icon.

On the entry level, the lower water pool will be converted into an exhibition space displaying the history of the local site and the city. The open gap of concrete columns between the lower and the upper pool will be transformed into a vertical garden, holding observation shafts and explanations points. The upper concrete pool cylinder will host lectures and movies; a wide porch will offer panoramic views, while the rooftop of the tower will function as a cafeteria accessible at all times. Read the rest of this entry »