By treating the extreme conditions of the California Mountains site as the means for formal and conceptual evolution of the project, Ecoscape integrates nature and architecture into a responsive system. The building’s skin is constituted of photovoltaic cells. Its surface geometry maximizes solar exposure by responding to a wide range of environmental parameters. These parameters are integrated to an algorithm that transforms and optimizes the surface geometry. Considering the requirement to design a project that would be self-sustainable, the maximized skin offers an important increase of energy production.

Customized according to the principles of discreet geometrical systems, the structure is a contemporary system led by a technological convergence of properties that generates its own natural paradigm. Its hypothesis seeks a modality that would engender architecture as nature by the use of cladding that generates both internal climatic and external architectural conditions such as skin and landscape. The structure does not only concentrate on the performance of the architectural entity as a matter of climatic conditions, but asks to treat the environment as an inclusive situation in which climate, surface and landscape are integrated to propose the evolution of events. Read the rest of this entry »

Adhering to the rising trend of skybridges and twin tower design in the Yongsan district, Asymptote Architecture‘s design for the Velo Towers creates social environments through the stacking of a series of rotated oblong volumes.  Uniquely oriented to views of the Han River and the adjacent Yongsan park, residents of the eight residential units can access public housing amenities and green roof spaces through light filled atrium spaces and two bridge structures. The base of the towers offer a communal landscape over a raised plinth, and a Skybridge soars thirty stories to provide access to cafes, pools, lounges, recreational centers, housing fitness, and a sky garden with spectacular views of the city. Read the rest of this entry »

Instead of taking the conventional approach of building upwards in a successive manner, Vladimir Plotkin and Roberto Meyer have designed a new tower typology – one that rises by stacking housing blocks on top of each other. The M-City project references the stylobate, stepped platform  on which colonnades of columns are placed in classical Greek architecture. The entire building is pierced with triangular openings of multi-level atria and open-air courtyards, forming a silhouette of a symbolically rendered letter “M”. Read the rest of this entry »

Adaptive Mutations is a design predicated on the fact that nature exists not in stasis, but in perpetual flux. Just as life forms in nature evolve to their surroundings, so must our design considerations. “Adaptive Mutations” are the DNA rather than the collective composition, understanding the relationship among discreet modules, rather than the global agenda. Thus, the design situates itself not in physical locations on the site, but at the intersection of a design discussion, open to collaborative adaptation. Read the rest of this entry »

A zero-energy house under construction in Germany is set to provide the first real-life test for a new façade system that uses live microalgae to provide shade and generate renewable energy at the same time.

The world’s first ‘bio-adaptive façade’ will be installed in the ‘BIQ’ house for the International Building Exhibition (IBA) in Hamburg, which runs through 2013.

The façade concept is designed so that algae in the bio-reactor façades grow faster in bright sunlight to provide more internal shading. The ‘bio-reactors’ not only produce biomass that can subsequently be harvested, but they also capture solar thermal heat – both energy sources can be used to power the building.

In practice, this means that photosynthesis is driving a dynamic response to the amount of solar shading required, while the micro-algae growing in the glass louvres provide a clean source of renewable energy. Read the rest of this entry »

Our modern times are unimaginable without planning. The growth of settlements and cities is so tempestuous that a slow process of adaptation is no longer possible. This, therefore, poses the question, whether by means of more adaptable planning theories, processes can be promoted or simulated.

This work examines the thesis of Frei Otto regarding the future direction of urban planning theory through the lens of parametric urbanism. The urban theory proposed translates the type of generating principles of the natural systems and unplanned settlements invoked by Otto, into a means of developing new forms of emergent urbanism.

Within these naturally evolving systems, whether biological, chemical, or physical, a base structural principle becomes the foundation for intelligent pattern generation, as seen in the supply systems of leaves, bubbles, foams, or crack patterns. The result may not be read as typical or predictable, but offers an optimized solution capable of adaptation and growth. Rather than simply mimic the form of such systems, this approach to urban planning uses foundational principles as a means of developing new, informed patterns of connection and territory. Read the rest of this entry »

Airspace is a full-scale prototype that produces double curved, mathematically-based shape design methods, digitally designed advanced geometry, using completely standard, scalable fabrication technology.

The concept of Airspace is an experiment which is inspired by existing ceiling frameworks transform to three-dimensional space. Built from four hundred uniquely cut, two-ply museum boards, the installation favors intense detail over seamless elegance. This project develops Fibonacci sequence that adapts to diverse performance requirements through modulating the system’s inherent geometric and material parameters, while remaining within the limits of available production technologies. The idea was to move away from the idea of “the corridor as a service/ access space” and towards the idea of a “field of aesthetic” that extends the architectural potential of Airspace form by incorporating such an architectural system as structure, aperture, fenestration, and construction directly into the project’s geometry. By existing ceiling frameworks, the research evolved into the concept of the confluence of patterns, where the primary force of the site is the connections that constantly intersect and separate to create both access and void spaces. Read the rest of this entry »

What is the definition of a building? Somthing that is built for human habitation. It can also be described as a structure that has floors and walls. But why should a building always stay at one place. Ships are one of the largest entities that human mankind has ever constructed. If we take the the aircraft carrier as an example. It is not just a ship, it is also a hybrid of programs, a connection between air and water. Hans Hollein was referring to the spatial performance of this vessel in his project “der Flugzuegtraeger in der Landschaft”. Besides the Aircraft carrier as ship typlogy I want to mention one special vessel. The SS Normandie for me is really interesting. The designers decided to create a huge open space in the center of the ship to provide space for events, concerts and performances. So they decided to make the planning and the construction of this ship more complicated to achieve more spatial quality. Read the rest of this entry »

Steel train truss bridges have been a staple in American culture since the early 19th century. Truss bridges have helped shape the steel industry with new truss construction and engineering able to hold 120-240 ton trains. As technology progresses and steel has become almost a 100% recyclable old train truss bridges are being retrofitted and torn down due to increased shipping loads; creating a wide range of adaptive reuse possibilities.

The Culinary Arts School of San Diego designed by Kyle Duvernay, Ian Patzke, Siah Afrasiabi – students with the NewSchool of Architecture and Design – aims to take advantage of existing resources and couple them with new design projects and programs. The school’s mission is to show how the culinary industry is all about efficiency and circulation. The continuous ribbon that transforms from double skin into the walls, floors and façade represents these culinary ideas. This school will become an icon which emanates green design by utilizing existing trusses for the long span structure, growing rooftop herbs, and using a double skin to control lighting conditions. The culinary school’s positive ideology will go hand in hand with San Diego’s East Village identity, which aims to connect the community through education and involvement. Read the rest of this entry »

The Earthquake Disaster Prevention Center in Istanbul was designed as a competition proposal  by CRAB Studio led by Sir Peter Cook. It was designed to resist the destructive forces of cunamis.The building’s concrete “blades” are meant to divide the streams of water and reduce the impact of the wave. The building meanders along the site as a chain of events. Its form is both structurally invaluable and lyrical, as it takes the appearance of a chain of flowers. The Center creates a series of highlights and shadows, rises and falls, with expressions of resistance and caress that, with their sense of dynamism, aim to be a focus for an otherwise unattractive piece of suburbia.

The building is a series of five Clusters. Beneath them are a series of shallow pools and dampened earth with indigenous plants. At the more formal edges of the site these rise to being banks of small trees, towards the south the ground is treated as a brittle, fractured shale-like surface with fissures that are themselves a reminder of the seismic inheritance. Most visitors will enter at the North-East corner, either parking below the building or walking directly in from the higher ground to the lobby and coffee shop in the First Cluster. From then on the route through the building is really an experience, but always having a simple interface with each of the Clusters. The Second Cluster contains the Planetarium and hovers over the parking area. The Third Cluster contains the Conference Room. The Fourth Cluster contains the Earthquake Simulation Section and the Fifth Cluster houses the Rainstorm Simulation and the Training Evaluation Section.