Created by Iraqi born British architect Zaha Hadid for CHANEL in 2007 and commissioned by Karl Lagerfeld, the Mobile Art Pavilion’s opening exhibition showcases a selection of work by the 2004 Pritzker Prize laureate Zaha Hadid, designer of some of the world’s most highly acclaimed projects.

A genuine immersion into the architect’s formal and conceptual repertoire, this exhibition of Hadid’s work is presented within its own architecture. Translating the intellectual and physical into the sensual and using a wide range of media, the Mobile Art Pavilion unfolds through spatial sequences which engage the visitor in unique and unexpected environments.

The Mobile Art Pavilion, donated by CHANEL to the Institut du monde arabe, will allow the institute to further develop its cultural programmes in the field of contemporary creation.

Mobile Art Pavillon: Historic “Zaha Hadid” will be the first exhibition held inside the Mobile Art Pavilion since the installation of the pavilion in front of the Institut du monde arabe. CHANEL donated the pavilion to the Institut du monde arabe at the beginning of 2011. It had previously travelled to Hong Kong, Tokyo and New York since 2007. It will now have a permanent location at the IMA, where it will be used to host exhibitions in line with the centre’s policy of showcasing talent from Arab countries.

“I think through our architecture, we can give people a glimpse of another world, and enthuse them, make them excited about ideas. Our architecture is intuitive, radical, international and dynamic. We are concerned with constructing buildings that evoke original experiences, a kind of strangeness and newness that is comparable to the experience of going to a new country. The Mobile Art Pavilion follows these principles of inspiration.” states Zaha Hadid. Read the rest of this entry »

Afsarmanesh Architects won first place at the Long Island Cinema Center Competition organized by suckerPUNCH. Their three turn concept is an architecturally eloquent investigation into what constitutes a cinematic experience. The essence of the design can be elaborated by three terms, equally immanent to both architecture and cinema – image, motion and space. Three frames facing the river provide different treatment of those motifs.

Within the first frame a large screen equipped with hologram technology  projects the faces of people entering the Center. The faces are overlapped with the image of Manhattan, creating a film-like experience. Set in a scenography of an actual city, simultaneously shot, edited and presented, the story follows its hero-the common man. To paraphrase Bachelard, the design creates a lived existential metaphor that structures the being , leading to the Cinema Center becoming integrated with our self-discovery.

The second frame is a screen for the open auditorium located on the roof of the lower indoor space. It gives the building a quality of an urban attractor, constantly generating movement.

By treating the third frame as a void, the proposal uses notions of emptiness and negative space to create a window with a view of the city. Rather than to fill it with mass, the building encompasses space, blurring the line between object and urban fabric. Read the rest of this entry »

The Plein & Pavilion project was conceived by the Battery Conservancy to create an extraordinary ‘outdoor living room’ for spontaneous and scheduled activities, public markets, seating and shade, and a gleaming white, state-of-the-art pavilion for visitor information and delicious locally grown gourmet food. Designed by UNStudio in collaboration with Handel Architects LLP, New York serving as associate architect. The project’s landscape was conceived by Parks Dept. Landscape Designer Gail Wittwer-Laird.

UNStudio’s design for New Amsterdam Plein & Pavilion creates a 5,000 square-foot, carefully programmed space located within Peter Minuit Plaza, housing regional organic food by Merchants Market, as well as the Alliance for Downtown New York’s Visitor Information Booth. This highly sculptural pavilion stands as a gateway to the Battery’s park and waterfront, with an expressive, undulating roofline and curving walls; a compact little building with the authority of a major landmark, evoking a flower opening to its surroundings. Read the rest of this entry »

The opening of Scandinavia’s largest hotel symbolizes not only the identity of the modern Ørestad area of Copenhagen, but also marks the Capital’s increasing importance on the international convention and congress scene. The sculptural profile and visibility of the hotel from the various corners of Copenhagen make it an architectural landmark which will draw many visitors to the Ørestad neighbourhood.

With its 814 rooms and 30 conference rooms, the Comwell Bella Sky Hotel offers a wealth of new accommodation and resources for the Bella Convention and Congress Center in Copenhagen. In future this will draw an even larger segment of the international world class conferences and events to Copenhagen. 3XN has designed the Bella Sky Hotel to create a distinct new profile on the Copenhagen skyline, with the two towers reaching up 76,5 meters, and leaning out at a staggering 15 degrees in each direction (11 degrees more than the leaning tower of Pisa). This results in a sculptural building unique in Copenhagen which has started drawing many curious looks from all over the city.

‘We have knowingly worked towards designing a building unlike anything else in Copenhagen – And we did that because Ørestad, which is a new city neighbourhood is also unlike any other place in Copenhagen. Bella Sky is designed specifically to reflect the identity of Ørestad, contributing in a positive manner,’ says Kim Herforth Nielsen, Principal and Founder of 3XN.

3XN has also designed a large portion of the interior, and in that regard has aimed to differentiate itself from other hotels. Read the rest of this entry »

Located next to basilica St Castor, in the vicinity of Deutsches Eck in Koblenz, Germany, the temporary pavilion will facilitate diverse events during summer of 2011. Occupying a plot that was previously used as a parking space, the treelike structure holds a pivotal position between The Gardening Show and the surrounding urban fabric. The aim of the project is to create a versatile space suitable for exhibitions, lectures, workshops and spontaneous gatherings of students. The members of Düsseldorf based office One Fine Day commented that one of the important aspects of the design was to educate both students and craftsmen of recent computational design and computer aided manufacturing technology.

The polygonal geometry and manifold symmetries of nearby St. Castor’s stellar vault have been a major inspiration for the project. Together with a rotationally symmetrical order a system of interdependent geometrical relations was defined that was resilient, yet rigorous enough to adapt to specific structural and functional needs. Furthermore the “branching” and inherent “porosity” of the trees’ leafy canopy above has been abstracted into the similarly “porous” pentagonal and rhombic tessellation of the surfaces. Read the rest of this entry »

The Austrian hydro power firm Verbund is planning the construction of a new mountain restaurant at 2250m above sea level. The same building is also to house the top terminal for the Reißeck incline railway, as well as information and display areas. The Viennese architects, Zechner & Zechner, have been chosen for the project, from among a field of international competitors.

The new top terminal has been interpreted as constructed landscape, which has developed naturally from the topography. The curving lower part of the station follows the contours of the surrounding landscape, and these are accentuated by their stone materiality. The roof encroaches on the building like a protective overhang of snow. Despite avoiding the usual visual language of alpine construction, this solution has produced a sensitive response to this unique location, and one which also captures the the client’s wish to present themselves as an ecological energy producer. Read the rest of this entry »

The project was created for the competition of the quay of Kiev in the contest of the Ukrainian architectural festival CANactions 2011. The main goal was reorganization of public spaces to EURO 2012. For the development was chosen the part of the European area with access to the Dnipro river.

In  “Grasshopper” – the plug-in for “Rhinoceros 4” had been made the scheme that simulates the random movements of human crowds in the limits of selected territory and attractors.

The further research was continued in the program “Processing” in which with the help of certain script the conception of Frei Otto had been simulated. The construction itself bounds over the new dominant of the area – the cableway. The other part of the area cultivation was the separate research of the slope from the observation platform to the Dniproriver. This time had been used RhinoScript. The written script gives the possibility to find the best ways of descend of a human. The last feature of the project is it’s sustainability. Besides the sanitation of the whole territory the using of the volume-spatial construction as a basis for the landscaping is also envisaged. Read the rest of this entry »

Looking at The Station 5 Water Tower designed by Ariel Noyman, one can not but recall Mendelsohn’s design for Einstein Tower. Not comparable by aesthetic sensibility nor by programmatic parameters, both structures emphasize the possibility of turning small non-commercial  facilities into valuable urban landmarks. Allocated along a network spreading across the city, these now outdated and usually vandalized architectural études seek reinvention, thus eliciting valid design excitement.

As the finalist submission to the “Water Tower-new perspectives” Competition in 2010, Station 5 attempts to revitalize an important town square surrounded by municipality buildings and primary urban institutions. Being a checkpoint for an organized cultural tour, it will offer a variety of educational and cultural activities. Furthermore, it will function as a lookout and a leisure attraction assuming the role of a true city icon.

On the entry level, the lower water pool will be converted into an exhibition space displaying the history of the local site and the city. The open gap of concrete columns between the lower and the upper pool will be transformed into a vertical garden, holding observation shafts and explanations points. The upper concrete pool cylinder will host lectures and movies; a wide porch will offer panoramic views, while the rooftop of the tower will function as a cafeteria accessible at all times. Read the rest of this entry »

Designed by Slovenia-based OFIS arhitekti, the aim of the project is to create a recognizable image of the dominant facility, placed in soft greenery. Though middles-sized, the arena gives the impression of a large and powerful landmark. Its tensile, lace-like skin completes the image of a single enclosed object, while incorporating different sets of facilities.

Internally, a rounded arena provides good acoustics and extroversive atmosphere during the game for both, players and fans. During training it prevents interruptions, allowing players to be fully concentrated on the game. Distribution of the program takes into account the natural advantages of location and existing interventions in the terrain and the fact that the stadium has 13.000 seats, has to obtain 4 stars according to UEFA categorization and have additional 3.000 m2 of public program.

Foyer for visitors is on the first floor level and has 4 accesses by stairway with access control. Foyer is a covered plateau, naturally ventilated and unheated area. This is a place for a break during the half with the visitors’ toilets, bars (drinks and snacks), first-aid room and detention. The space extends all around the inner part of the stadium arena. Read the rest of this entry »

In 2008 a prestigious competition to design Dublin’s new National Concert Hall had two finalists narrowed down from a shortlist of prominent architectural firms. 3XN and Henning Larsen Architects, both Danish Studios, presented powerful design ideas. However, due to client’s difficult financial situation caused by the global economic crisis, appointing of a final winner has been cancelled.

3XN’s proposal for the Concert Hall is a sculptural composition of volumes reflecting the interior layout of the building. Three Halls, each different in size, function and acoustic objectives, are connected by a foyer promoting flow and social interaction. The foyer expands and contracts, adapting to the new structure.

From the garden side, a transparent façade cascades down from the three Concert Hall volumes, drawing the gardens forth into the foyer and extending into a new public plaza towards Hatch Street.

The design concept from Henning Larsen Architects follows an entirely different logic. The Symphonic Hall is located at the heart of the site, becoming a pivotal point and affecting the entire organization. The Hall’s unique acoustics and lightness affect the performing act by discreetly creating unity between art and audience. Read the rest of this entry »