Another impressive proposal for Prishtina Central Mosque comes from Iran-based office TARH O AMAYESH Consultant Architects & Town Planners. Their design is funded on a belief that the mosque is a place for praying and going from body to soul. In their understanding, the prayer connects the earth to the sky and the mosque is a space for be becoming. As the becoming is a symbol of movement and movement is a source of mosque, the building is done in this theoretical framework – they designed a space that symbolizes ascending spirit from soil to the sky, from the city to the KIBLAH.

Due to its central location in the urban area, the surrounding gives the immediate identity to the project which acts as a link for different levels of the city.  The very concept of the mosque is defined by the composition of open and closed spaces. Several plazas are designed in south, north and east, therefore supporting the access from the city to the mosque. The green plaza with the inevitable water is a symbol of close relation with the nature, having in mind that the order of nature is a sign of God. Read the rest of this entry »

Designed by FR-EE Fernando Romero Enterprise,  building for MADU – small museum for a collection of Art, Design and Urbanism,  is situated in a park in Mexico City and is a piece of art itself. Due to the fact that the building is shaped as a deformed sphere it perfectly fits into surrounding, co-existing with it in pure harmony.

The form of the Museum is derived from the construction strategy: undulating concrete slabs are stacked so that the peaks of the lower curves connect with the valleys of the upper, opening organic spaces in a helicoidal organization. The characteristics of the construction strategy forms a fluid path of circulation that increases vertically as it winds around the periphery of the building.

The building is designed in recycled materials and reused objects; therefore defining a new destination for objects in the end of their lives. The façade openings actively react to its solar orientation and the amount of light for each room is optimized. The façade openings react to its solar orientation as well has the ideal amount of light for each room’s content. The building sits in the perimeter of a park and the spatial pocket are oriented radially so each room has a particular view over the park or the city. Read the rest of this entry »

In an era of rising environmental awareness, it is necessary to provoke the society in order to change the way it perceives energy use. International practice Sériès et Sériès has been awarded second place for Greenoplasty – the design of Los Angeles Cleentech Corridor and Green District – their successful proposal offered inspiring environment, allowing its residents to look beyond the common and the easily consumed, in favor of the responsive, daring and stimulating. SES’s design has derived from strong belief that the urban planning has to propose radically new and more environmentally conscious way of living which further helps breaking old habits.

In this particular case of the Cleantech Corridor, their urban strategy consisted of compressing the four mile site by implementing a local tram way and proposing new zoning for specific areas, in order to promote most sustainable way of commuting and give space back to the pedestrian. Architects at SES committed to keep as much of the existing context intact, while giving the residents their right to the city and public space. Read the rest of this entry »

Elegant design of the Taiwanese Tower, designed by Decode Urbanism Office is derived from natural parameters of the wind combined with the characteristics of the base. Designed as landmark architecture, the tower stands out due to its uniqueness and progressive approach. The façade of the high-rise is innovative – composed of multiple wind-driven generators supported by the structure. When the generator rotates, the façade changes along and the amount of produced energy is sufficient for the whole tower.

The tower is a showcase acting as a proof that tells the natural password – wind energy can actually supply energy for the entire building. The diamond-type wind generator is fixed in the middle of a façade grid, with a net structure. The overall appearance of the façade is shown when the weather lane is parallel with vertical face. The shade of weather vane and structure makes shadow in the space of tower building, therefore controlling the entrance of light and reducing the consumption of energy. In case when the wind blows the veil of the tower, the weather vane is vertical to the façade and the structure becomes transparent.

The facade of the tower is dynamic and it renders differently from situation to situation, therefore the Taiwanese people feel it is given with life. At night, due to LED lamp positioned between wind generators is powered by wind and lights with thousand lights. The light color is changing according to the temperature of season. From all the above, it becomes clear that Taiwanese Tower is an elegant decoder of nature. Read the rest of this entry »

Due to the fact that the main purpose of Beijiao Sports Center in China, designed by Decode Urbanism Office, is to serve people and surrounding neighborhoods, it was of crucial importance to design it as a multi-functional and friendly, gathering place. The traditional concept and the image of the sport facility are abandoned, in favor to a vivid, active space full of energy night and day, both during sport events and after. The aim of the architects was to create a community space for higher social resilience.

The divergent general layout creates a base and city with permeable interface between the site and the existing, surrounding urban context, and activity venues of various sizes are formed.  Created spaces differ in height; therefore allow the host wide range of outdoor activities.

This amusing and playful design is unifying in its concept and it brings together separate spaces into one, through a central “event” – the valley. The design also introduces the rising trend of ecological architecture. The valley is the center of all the activities, moderately sized sport field is located in one side of the central gathering place and is utilized both as a field for sport activities and outdoor performance venue. The platform of the valley is extended outwards so that it became a roof and formed the auditorium. Great porosity of the geometry of the valley allows it to be adaptable and to create flexible multi-purpose spaces for different events, such as shopping, performing, lecture and exercise. The ground level of the park provides the development with a pleasant environment for the hot summer days. Read the rest of this entry »

Flint Public Art Project and Flint Chapter of the American Institute of Architects have recently announced winners of Flat Lot Competition. Two Islands – team of architects and designers based in London won the $25,000 grand prize and will design and build temporary summer pavilion on Flint’s central downtown parking lot. The project opens June 14 for Flint Art Walk and will remain on the site in Michigan until fall. The competition was launched last fall and it called for a temporary structure that would support public programs by providing amenities such as seating, shade, cooling devices, and a stage for performances, taking up no more than eight parking spaces. 221 entries were submitted by the March 1 deadline.

Satisfied with the winning proposal, executive director of Flint Public Art Project said that they are thrilled that the first design-build competition co-organized with AIA-Flint produced a beautiful symbol of a new city. Read the rest of this entry »

The jury for the international competition for Prishtina Central Mosque failed to agree on a clear first prize winner; however it seems that some of the un-awarded entries caught the attention as well. MI’RAJ is the proposal of APTUM, Swiss / American architectural practice, named by one of two parts of the night ascension journey that the Islamic prophet Muhammad took one night. The proposal materializes the journey of ascension to prayer and the spatial experience that follows. Islamic community of Prishtina was searching for a unifying symbol and identity that can bring together many disparate mosques of Kosovo capital, APTUM’s design harnesses that need and brings together a sense of place and provides public space for the greater good of the community.

Stairs are wrapping the south side of the building and the journey begins. At the end of the slow stairs, the round plaza opens, providing the great space for sitting, relaxing of proceeding to the very entry of the mosque. The plaza is suitable for gathering, contemplating or simply enjoying the weather. Read the rest of this entry »

Terra Insola is an architectural workshop taking place this summer (2013) in Crete, Greece. This workshop will have four areas of development: theoretical, computational, material fabrication and film documentation:

• Research (material in situ expertise, know-how, political and cultural involvements, rituals, literature, mythology, extraction-transformation, symbiosis)

• Process – computation (logic of aggregation, scattering, staggering, stacking, with variable components, on Rhino Grasshopper and Python scripting)

• Material experiment (prototyping, test of resisting and decay, strategy of construction, machinism and robotic developments)

• Report (photography, recordings and film / stop motion during all the process of construction)

Instructors: Francois Roche, Ezio Blasetti, Stephan Henrich, Camille Lacadee, Danielle Willems, Andreas Theodoridis, Lydia Kallipoliti

The daily experience of the workshop will be balanced between computation and hands-on work in situ (local knowledge, memories and know-how knitted with global tooling, computation and machinism) as exogeneous-endogeneous apparatuses. A machine will be designed dedicated to a non-repetitive component, which is able to be re-introduced as a non-standard process to create the geometry of a shell-ter (specific “agencements” and assemblage in the pursuit of the ceramic ornamentation of the Minos Castle, embedded in a computation procedure). This project (design, process, researches, documentation, construction, etc.) will entirely emerge from the collaborative work of our group, as a unique and engaged realization. Blurring the limits between students and instructors, we will define together a strategy of co-responsibility and co-authorship. Read the rest of this entry »

London firm Farshid Moussavi Architecture has won a competition to design an apartment block in Montpellier, Southern France. Les Jardins de la Lironde in Montpellier is residential complex of elegant homes on the outskirts of the city – Les Folies Montpellieraines as eighteenth century bourgeoisie called it.

Continuing its tradition of innovative architecture, the city has commissioned the first prize winner to design first of twelve folies to be built. The site of the future residential tower is located in the green surrounding on the periphery.  In order to minimize the impact on the landscape of the site, the tiny high-rise is designed to have smallest possible footprint. In order to decrease size of the floor plans, the area of shared communications and internal circulation space in general are designed as least possible, therefore providing the maximum amount of privacy. Read the rest of this entry »

The building is located on Tatarbeyi Sokak, is one of the most virginal and underdeveloped streets of the rapidly transforming Galata District under conservation. Comprised of eight 80-m2 studio flats and one 190-m2 penthouse up for sale, it has a total surface area of 1000 m2. The building is a residential project that extends beyond the conventional codes of the already-built environment, yet manages to reproduce these codes, respecting the existing architectural fabric. In this regard, it continues to find new solutions to the existing problems of architecture by utilizing contemporary technologies and taking into consideration the newly burgeoning socio-economic structure of the region, as well as the infrastructure, environmental conditions, climate, and solar movements.

The building is comprised of a wooden shell that covers the largely transparent living area in an uncompromising manner and set between two blind and extremely thing exposed concrete curtain walls. The wooden components on the front elevation run parallel to the glass façade that evolves into a saddle rood and entirely cover the front and back of the building. Perceived as a gigantic blind façade from one perspective, yet appearing as a translucent veil from the other, the wooden surface also functions as a sun filter. Comprised of parallel horizontal laths that angle at various points, the wooden element divides the façade into four as the middle segments expand outwards, towards the street; leaving the sides exposed, the wooden elements thus allow a view of the street and create a bay window effect that establishes a link between home life and life on the street. Read the rest of this entry »