Madrid based studio Herreros Arquitectos designed Headquarters and satellite control center for Hispasat – Spanish company in charge of managing communication satellites. The project is a renovation of an old building from the 1970’s and the architects had to deal with the complicated issue of overcoming the gaps in use and operation of an existing structure and the specific and demanding requirements of the new one, as well as to solve the internal problems of radiation and illumination, generated by the old façade.

The building had to be re-designed for the headquarters and that demanded re-use of the space and re-distribution of the operational areas, district offices as well as its institutional zones. The architects resolved the issue by using th glass screens which vary in opacity, colors and designs and the diversity creates a new artificial landscape of outer space, which is rendered differently from every zone. Read the rest of this entry »

The winners or international design competition in Brazil – [RIO DE JANEIRO] Symbolic World Cup Structure – have been recently announced – first prize went to Mekene Architecture for their Wing of Glory. The aim of the competition was to design a free standing World Cup Structure in Lapa square, in the very heart of Rio de Janeiro, during the 2014 FIFA World Cup. That will be the second time Brazil hosts the competition with the first being in 1950. The competition aimed to encourage the employment of sustainable design in all aspects of the proposal, research in respond to unique aspects of designing and to ingrate function, structure, details and the spirit of the World Cup.

The winning structure, in the words of its architects, doesn’t stand somewhere in the middle of the square. On contrary, it seeks to establish strong relationship with the structuring spine and main landmark of the site, the Arcos de Lapa. The aqueduct is the supporting structure for the wings and it shelters various spaces, defining the initial profile. The profiles of the wings vary from the regular and semi-circular to more freely shape. Read the rest of this entry »

This year’s Pratt Institute Graduate Architecture & Urban exhibition is showing the result of student work in a course taught by Michael Szivos, SoftLab principal. The work is grouped into clusters, based on the type of project, location, how it was conceived and the semester the work was produced in. The projects from Spring to Fall 20112 we arranged in a three dimensional grid – a large scale installation conceived in Robet H. Siegel gallery with the aim to explore digital fabrication methods while exhibiting their work.

Each project generated a cell, fitting into the grid which was dynamically adjusted into clusters. The whole concept provided a cloud like structure that seamed naturally grown rather than artificially conceived and strictly organized. The underside of the structure was clad with color coded images of the work and it created a landscape of images, explored by visitors like one is exploring the cave. Very porous structure appeared continuous and solid when looked from down under. The porosity allowed the artificial light to actually overcome the barrier and to enter the gallery. Read the rest of this entry »

Designed by Adrian Smith & Gordan Gill Architecture, Dancing Dragons is a pair of mixed-use towers, a new architecture landmark in the sky of , South Korea. It is a playful development, whose sharply angled mini-towers cantilever around the central core. Regarding the aesthetics, the architects aimed to find a compromise between two extremes – the contemporary language and the traditional Korean culture.

Yongsan, the name of the international business district, means “Dragon Hill” in Korean and the building’s skin further suggests the scales of fish and Korean mythical creatures – the dragons. The skin of these towers is active – it gaps between its overlapping panels just enough that the air can circulate making the façade breathable.

The two towers, 1 and 2, around 450 and 390 meters tall, are similar but not identical. In the tower 1, the massing cuts at the top and bottom of the mini-towers are V-shaped while in the other, 77 story one, the cuts move diagonally in a single line, arranged in a radial pattern around the core, visible as the visitors move around the tower. The “mini-tower” cuts are clad in glass, enabling dramatic skylights effects above the units and transparent floor beneath, which provides the opportunity for high-end, luxury penthouse duplex units. Read the rest of this entry »

Flinders Street Station Design Competition has been burning topic in architectural circles these days. The site of Station is in the very center of Melbourne and is sandwiched between the Central Business District and the bank of Yarra River. The building of the existing station separates the city from the railway and from the river. Herzog & De Meuron’s proposal tries to keep the very specific linear use of this site, considering it a strong marker and urban element, while providing the architectural solution that would improve this very important location through public access and use of the entire site.  Various connections across the site and diverse public functions are only the part of the proposal.

In the words of the architects, the proposal for Flinders Street Station offers new civic destination with a distinct architectural identity, offering a holistic experience on many levels and times of the day and forming an urban linchpin in the heart of the city of Melbourne. Rather than simply creating an iconic gesture, the architects at Herzog & De Meuron decided to revive the originally planned roof for the existing building, and by tracing the arches and vaults the key element of their design was defined. It works as a passé-partout, due to the framing of the existing building. Read the rest of this entry »

KK100, designed by TFP Farrells for Shenzhen, China, is an innovative project, located on a 3.6-hectare site, which previously housed the old dwellings of Caiwuwei Village, an area known for its bad environment, insufficient transportation infrastructure, and degraded buildings. The developer took the initiative to form a company with the villagers (a Joint Development Initiative), for a new model for the district that would benefit everyone. The existing buildings were mainly run-down housing with inadequate living conditions.

This 100-story and over 440 meters high tower is one part of the master plan for a 417,000m2 mixed-use development which includes five residential and two commercial buildings. The tower is horizontally divided into different uses – levels from 4 to 72 houses 173,000m2 of Grade- A office space while the uppermost levels from 75 to 100 are occupied by a 35,000m2 St. Regis Hotel complete with a cathedral-like glazed sky-garden. Due to the curved and smooth roof surface, the generators were not put on top of the building. Read the rest of this entry »

A new pavilion, covered in galvanized steel plates, is constructed on a sloping lawn on the temporary Dover Campus of Singapore University of Technology and Design. Designed by City Form Lab in collaboration with ARUP, the shell pavilion is accommodating three mature trees and forming a buffer, a noise barrier toward the Expressway in the north. The outdoor space behind the existing library building is therefore activated. In daytime, the structure of the pavilion offers shaded open-air place to work, mingle or relax. During the night, the place becomes the spot for informal gatherings, event lectures and community events.

The free-shaped temporary structure is a third space, between the classrooms and the dormitory, and the main place for spontaneous intellectual and social exchange. Due to its design and chosen structural principle – a catenary structure, the pavilion uses little material in order to achieve necessary spans while the canopy forms a lightweight timber shell, free of columns, beams and vertical walls. The double curvature of the form, which follows the lines of the compressed thrust, is enabled by hanging-chain model.

In order to execute the pavilion in precise manner, the computational design and computer fabrication was used – complex three-dimensional form is achieved with readily available materials and the cost is reduced to minimal. Read the rest of this entry »

Zaha Hadid Architect’s Innovation Tower for Hong Kong Polytechnic University is near its completion. The architectural office was commissioned to design the architectural landmark that would symbolize the dynamic development of Hong Kong as Asia’s greatest design hub as well as the high level educational institution offering variety of design and research programs.

The design for the University’s Innovation Tower came as a result of the re-examining the characteristics and the requirements of such an institution and therefore the creative multidisciplinary environment called for something other than the classical typography of a tower rising from the podium – the design team proposed seamlessly fluid new structure. However, the tower still references University’s rich tradition, but with an accent on the upcoming, future achievements.

“Collateral flexibility” is a concept derived from the university’s many different programs and their interconnections, which provided a clear guiding principle, used to govern the building’s internal logic and to create a structure inherently organized and easily attended by visitors from the entering point. Read the rest of this entry »

As it has been recently announced, UNStudio is commissioned to design Yongjia World Trade Center in Wenzhou, China. The winning concept by architectural team led by Ben Van Berkel proposes five towers, ranging from 287 meters for the central tower to 146 meters for the smallest. The towers offer traditional mixed-use, due to the fact that the residential apartments are located on top of offices of World Trade Center, therefore the users will experience 360-degree views. Located in the new riverside city of Wenzhou, the complex represents necessary functional shift of the WTC area from a business and financial district to a more sustainable, mixed-use development incorporating cultural and recreational facilities as well as residential layer.

In the words of architects, the landscape of the complex was used as a unifying factor, offering the common ground for the precious singular objects, as it was the main design concept. The continuous podium serves as a green plain for the towers which are in specific dialog with the existing surrounding – they quietly coexist, but still clearly outstand from the environment. Read the rest of this entry »

Live. Learn. Work. is a design by Brian Richter, created as a response to the recent expansion of Lexington, Kentucky. As the city is becoming a new regional urban model of a mid-size city center and being surrounded with many important public and private institutions and businesses with incredible cultural, social and economic potential, Lexington surely has the necessary intellectual capacity to attract new businesses that could take advantage of both the existing and proposed urban, social and cultural infrastructure.

This particular design aims create a network with Lexington’s proposed projects, such as the Scape Town Branch Park System, Space Group’s Rupp Arena expansion, Centerpointe, Downtown Theater District and the Sasaki Master plan for the University of Kentucky, in order to form a stronger link between the urban center of downtown and the University of Kentucky. Due to combination of many diverse and complex urban conditions and Lexington’s historic districts there is true and dynamic opportunity to successfully combine existing business and research initiatives with Kentucky University while enhancing the public infrastructure of the city. Read the rest of this entry »