Engaging in the discourse on redefining the architectural vocabulary of infrastructure, the project designed by Stephane Malka Architecture reinvents the footbridge typology. Using building potentials of abandoned roads, it reveals the realm of mutating territories and establishes new local identities. The single line unifying local pedestrian flows from the banks of the Seine and the Boulevard Victor RER station serves as an infrastructural transversal to and from Issy les Moulineau, a suburban area of Paris.

By reducing the structure of the E05 periphery ring road and increasing the visibility of Issy, main views from Paris are identified and exposed, obtaining urban clarity and clear marking of entry points to the area. After determining various disadvantages of the site such as zones of congestion as well as visual and physical restrictions, a synthetic equation of different uses is created. The bridge structure, a veritable vegetal muscle, weaves the major points of the site, directing them towards the entry to Issy while filtering pollution. The  blade that constitutes the structure benefits both pedestrians and cars by intermingling with their immediate context. By overhanging, covering the ground, and providing shade as well as moments of discovery, the vegetal elements refer to specific aspects of the site and are oriented by strong urban directives. These elements unite the ensemble, creating a cohesive green ribbon. Read the rest of this entry »

Tyler Johnson Johnson

We are pleased to share with you a group of projects developed by students at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University in New York City. The Bad Weather studio was taught by Florian Idenburg and Jing Liu, partners at the award-winning innovative architecture firm SO-IL. The main idea behind the studio was to explore architecture’s potential in relationship with natural forces beyond mankind’s power and reason – being the weather one of the last unpredictable and instable systems. The studio used the typology of the skyscraper as the enabler of the contemporary sublime. Read the rest of this entry »

Cocoon Housing is a highly conceptual housing typology that was designed by John Farrace at the USC School of Architecture for the purpose of exploring techniques of representation. The project is an attempt to reduce both technical and experiential drawings to their essence (at a graphic level), and hybridize them into a homogenous set of drawings that reference the mediated experience of a camera lens (in perspective) and the raw look of black and white technical line drawings.  Each drawing fits into a given category — plan, elevation, perspective, for example — but have specific components of other categories, leaving an “in-between drawing” that represents and speaks to multiple ideas at once. Read the rest of this entry »

This parametric project designed by Dimitrie Stefanescu, Patrick Bedarf, and Bogdan Hambasan started out as an ambitious student-powered endeavor to design and fabricate at a 1:1 scale the flagship pavilion for the ZA11 Speaking Architecture event in Cluj, Romania; while at the same time integrating it into its historically-charged context. The design boasts a strong representational power which was much needed in order to fulfill its main goal: attracting passers-by to the event. At the same time, the object, through its tectonic characteristics, tries to make legible the new ontology which is slowly defined by computational architecture and thus becomes a showcase for the design processes empowered by digital tools. Read the rest of this entry »

The short series of films in the project Resonance are works by teams of audio artist and studios paired with visual artist and studios. Based on the idea of matching geometry (SEE) with sound (HEAR) each movie vignette is an abstract experiment of 4D design immersion. Organized by SR Partners, over 30 groups participated.

Pieces are 20 seconds long or less and represent a diverse set of design modeling formulations both in content and aesthetic, with only occasionally representational or natural backgrounds incorporated. Narrative is downplayed in the short pieces, with both organic and geometric kinetic forms often shape shifting, changing scale or context matched with corresponding soundscapes. Sounds are musical and descriptive of the movement, using ambiance techniques to underscore the tone of the visual environment. Read the rest of this entry »

Joenniemi Manor in Finalnd was originally built as a large residence before it was converted into a museum with 500 sqm of exhibition spaces. Due to its original planning as a home, large-scale travelling exhibitions cannot be conveniently displayed in the current exhibition facilities. In addition, the service facilities are insufficient, and the collection and office areas are also inadequate. The program, the necessary heights, and its integration with the landscape led to the idea of piling up the functions to minimize the groundfloor area of the building and keep intact as much landscape as possible. Read the rest of this entry »

Super-Stadium is a proposal designed by Alan Lu for an Olympic complex for Harbin’s bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics that seeks to integrate the multitude of Olympic arenas and villages into one continuous entity, allowing for a seamless transition between programs and events. Read the rest of this entry »

Allied Works was named one of eighteen international finalists to create the Pôle Muséal Lausanne, which encompasses transforming an historic train shed and industrial site into a new cultural district. The design was developed in collaboration with an international team of designers, including Latz+Partner for Landscape, Resnicow Schroeder Associates for Cultural Planning, and Nicolet Chartrand Knoll for Structural and Civil.

The forms and spaces of the new museum are both monumental and transparent. The building’s geologic form is fractured by activity, providing glimpses into and through the heart of the building. Ideal gallery proportions establish a rhythm of space and structure along the Arts Walk and rail lines. Between galleries, structure, circulation and light form fissures of transparency – filtering and diffusing light into the galleries, providing views to the landscape and city while connecting the building vertically. Read the rest of this entry »

The project can be interpreted as an attempt to create an urban landmark and a new identity for contemporary Taiwanese architecture. As a result of collaboration between two firms, OODA and OOIIO, the design won the Merit Award at the Taiwan Conceptual Tower International Competition in 2010.

The 300 meters high tower would include offices for Taichung City Government, leisure and recreational functions, retail and educational centers and the new Museum of Taichung City Development. The three entrances are located in three separate volumes joining approximately at the middle of the rise. The main body of the structure would accommodate most of the public activities. The sky lobbies form sightseeing zones offering numerous views of the city. Read the rest of this entry »

The Aldgate Landmark Pavilion designed by Easton + Combs is a temporary entrance marker to the City of London in celebration of the 2012 Olympics. The site’s importance is that it is the location of the former city gate, the Aldgate, a historically significant point of entry to the city of London that was famous for being open to all social classes when the other city gates were reserved for various elites.

As the architects state, the Pavilion serves as a symbolic greeting hall, a light filled, multicolored, transparent surface that creates a momentary envelope for the celebration of the 2012 Olympics and a spatial marker of London’s archeology of social exchange. The Aldgate 2012 Pavilion addresses the city as a multilayered set of possibilities that constitute an urban theater. As an architectural celebration of the 2012 Olympics, the structure is vibrant and porous yet asserts a sense of place and provides for a variety of possible events. Readings, music and gatherings are accommodated in the large room with a unique cylindrical inverted crown that suggests a space of performance and social exchange. Read the rest of this entry »