Taipei Herbal Baths by Linda Hagberg is a project inspired by an investigation into materials and their properties change according to surrounding environment, particularly in wood and its change of shape due to humidity. It is a proposal for the Herbal Bath and Aquatic Center between Danshui River and Taipei Main Station. The main idea of this research is to explore possibility of creating a responsive space through materialistic approach, an architecture of which ephemeral and sensorial qualities are constructed from environment and material.

The bath is releasing humidity, increasing the level, which is directly affecting the wood and creating a synergy between active variable parameters. The proposed building is highly responsive – it adapts to the existing site context, the surrounding landscape, access and paths, heat extraction process, spatial layout and landscape formations. The open loop water source heat pump uses filtered river water heated up by geothermal conditions using waste heat from transport infrastructure, MRT and High Speed Train Tunnels which is used to heat pools of herbal baths. The water from River Danshui is filtered and used to extract redundant heat from existing underground transport infrastructure, constructing an environmentally sustainable system directly influenced by the varying levels of water and the heat produced by the flow of people through the site. Read the rest of this entry »

Located on the corner of Yonge and Bloor Street in Toronto,Ontario, One Bloor Street will be a truly mixed-use development, re-defining the typical ratio between residential, commercial and retail space within a single tower. Designed by Hariri Pontarini Architects, the new high-rise acts like a tool for restoring the urban experience of the street, by providing new corner landmark location. The new and exciting high-rise houses various uses – street level podium facilitates six-story retail and commercial space, while the 75 stories of the tower are residential. Carving into the existing zoning envelope, the six-story podium terraces away from the street as it stretches northward; dissolving the corner mass and preserving the existing street scale.

The corner site of the building is a gate to Canada’s premier shopping district therefore the goal was to further increase density while contributing to the public realm with new transit connections, active street level and improved pedestrian routes. The Northerly corners of this area were redeveloped in the early 1970’s, but failed to celebrate the importance of this destination by locating the retail below grade; effectively turning their back to the street. Read the rest of this entry »

Sonumbra is a light project by Loop.pH, London based art and design studio, intervening at an urban scale to re-imagine life in the city. For its very beginning, studio’s design practice aimed to reach beyond specialist boundaries, mediating between digital and biological media and facilitating urban crafts and participatory design. As Loop.pH specializes in the design and fabrication of ephemeral textile architecture and living environments, they create successful urban interventions informed by ecologically based parametric design and principles of community engagement.

Sonumbra is an outsize parasol, that could easily be planted in African village. During the day, it would offer shelter from the sun and by night it would shed light for the local community, using the energy collected in solar cells of the canopy. This smart design explores a new  role for textile while showing serious concern for the planet. At Loop.pH state that they were driven by the present situation in Africa,  where almost 80 percent of population lives without electricity. Read the rest of this entry »

Narrow tower, designed by SHoP Architects for New York, wins city approval. This skyscraper to be built on W. 57th St. was called ‘daring’ by Landmarks Commission and is higher than Empire State Building. Located in the heart of town, this residential high-rise represents quintessentially New York. The aim of the design is to bring back the quality, proportions and materiality to historic NYC towers, while also taking advantage of the latest technology in order to push the limits of engineering and fabrication.

The east and west facades of this strikingly slim building are clad in Terra Cotta, which brings a sweeping play on shadow and light from the city scale and the richness of the material, seen from small distance. The façade in general is designed to be read at multiple scales and vantage points. The north wall is wrapped in glass curtain and offers sweeping views of Central Park. Read the rest of this entry »

The Liquid Glacial Table, made in clear polished Plexiglas is Zaha Hadid’s newest product design, exhibited at David Gill Galleries in London, UK. The design unites complexity and refraction of surfaces and powerful and seductive fluid-like dynamics. The basic geometry of the flat table top appears transformed from static plane to fluid by the waves and ripples which are evident below the surface, while the legs of the table seem to pour from horizontal in an intense vortex of water frozen in time.

The depth and complexity are highlighted due to using the transparent acrylic material which provides infinite kaleidoscopic refractions. The result is very playful and wonderful surface dynamics that inherits a myriad of colors from its context and continually adapts with the ever-changing viewpoint of the user.

The form of the table doesn’t compromise functionality or ergonomic requirements and a coherent evolution or Hadid’s architectural narrative. Zaha Hadid stated that she has always been interested in the concept of fluidity, which is at least very obvious, knowing her work both in fields of architecture and design. Due to advances in design, material and construction technologies, greater results are now highly achievable. Read the rest of this entry »

Designed to be a monumental memorial to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the Zayed National Museum by Foster and Partners is the centerpiece of the Saadiyat Island Cultural District. As a landmark, the museum showcases the history, culture and social and economic transformation of the United Emirates. The aim of the architects, regarding the form, was to combine a contemporary, highly efficient form with traditional Arabic design elements, in order to create the sustainable and welcoming place of cultural gathering. Celebrating Sheikh Zayed’s legacy and love of nature, the museum is set within a landscaped garden, based on a timeline of his life. Read the rest of this entry »

SCI-Arc Graduation Pavilion, designed by P-A-T-T-E-R-N-S has finally served its primary purpose – after being built this spring, it hosted the graduation ceremony in Los Angeles. The winning entry aimed to fully exploit what its architects recognized as the most fundamental aspect of the project – the temporal use of the pavilion as a large outdoor event space. Immediately after the purpose has been met, the temporary pavilion usually faces the problem of eventual dissembling or transformation from a space of spectacle to an abandoned venue. The architects at the P-A-T-T-E-R-N-S therefore strongly believed that, if executed correctly, the pavilion could activate a node within the downtown area.

Due to its location, at the corner of 4^th and Merric Street, the pavilion is given the possibility of double life – as an outdoor public event space and a formal landmark that assures school’s institutional presence in downtown Los Angeles. As the requirement was to produce enough shadow during the early and late afternoon hours, the pavilion is developed vertically which created comfort zones, sheltered from the sun. Read the rest of this entry »

This project by Todd Swanson and Louie Bofill, done at SCI-Arc centers around Chicago’s Union Station, is a complex shared between a historic terminal and a mid-high-rise office building overlooking the Chicago River. In authors’ own words, the abstract addresses the continuing problem of a public space in decline due to its subterranean concourse and dark enclosed spaces, and creates a hub for a future high speed rail intersecting the city. The proposal aims to improve the messy circulation between the current train station and the busy city that surrounds it.

The design team was influenced by the famous Prada Store, Tokyo by Herzog and de Meuron, Mies van der Rohe, and Le Corbusier in general. The initial project redefines the space by retrofitting the tower with a hexagonal exoskeleton, allowing for an adjustment of structure and increased traffic flow throughout the floors.

Through re-systematizing the space, new program was introduced at intervals along the tower. Public venues of hybridized indoor-outdoor space intersect with the conventional floor plates, accentuating views of the surrounding context. The new proposed structural system eliminates congestion, allowing flexibility and the freedom of loading and traffic flow throughout the ground floor and lobby spaces, and introducing openings to the platforms below which provide natural sunlight and ventilation. Read the rest of this entry »

This strong and straightforward design proposal comes from based SANE Architecture studio. Their design for Taichung City Cultural Center involve a courageous environmental approach and it challenges the common notion of a cultural center in general. However, the program objectives were ambitious – the cultural center had to combine a public library and municipal fine arts museum—the cultural flagships of a city—into one area, synergizing art, education and recreation in one location. Besides serving the public functions of reader service, exhibition and guided tour, the two institutions had to be also each fulfill policies and objectives related to reading promotion, artistic development and collection and research of artifacts. The competition required the design which would, as a showcase of Greater Taichung’s distinct cultural ambiance exemplify her intelligent residents, history and urban identity.

As a response to competition requirements, SANE Architecture proposed light structure with the key idea of permeability. Their proposal offered innovative mix between natural and artificial and a new landmark for the area. The building combines the library and museum functions with the park, as a third one, therefore the unique public experience is offered to the visitor. Read the rest of this entry »

What happens to be an outcome of not so rare marriage of architecture and fashion? This latest joined venture of two famous architects – Zaha Hadid and Dutch Rem D Koolhaas, has resulted with the NOVA shoe, for United Nude – it is limited edition haute couture experimental piece which combines innovative material and ergonomic consideration with the striking dynamism of their architectural language and expressive sense of movement.

Koolhaas stated that he couldn’t resist working with Zaha and that they gave themselves the greatest degree of experimentation while using the latest digital design and manufacturing technologies in order to create one of the most innovative shoes ever produced. On the other hand, his collaborator Zaha confessed that she always appreciated those who dared to experiment with materials and proportions and that she understands their collaboration with United Nude as a request to reinterpret the classic shoe typology by pushing the boundaries of the possible, without compromising the integrity. Read the rest of this entry »