Studio Mode/modeLab is pleased to announce the upcoming Material Matters Workshop in New York City. During the weekend of May 14-15/16, 2011, the workshop will focus on parametric design to fabrication strategies and iterative development of prototypes on a 3-Axis CNC Mill.

Material Matters will examine the procedural distinctions between two modes of design production: the first relying primarily on cerebral processing (a conceptual domain isolated from the wildness of matter and energy) and the second motivated by material’s capacity to act as an agent in the discovery of form. The workshop will operate through a framework of computational, parametric, and fabrication strategies that hinge on the peculiarities of material and the emergent set of knowledge associated with the work of the hand. Participants will develop multiple instances of parametric prototypes to be represented in digital as well as fabricated output. Read the rest of this entry »

Gustafson Guthrie Nichol (GGN) has broken ground on the CityCenterDC development by Hines|Archstone in downtown Washington, DC. A new mixed-use development located on the 10-acre site of the former convention center, CityCenterDC is one of the largest downtown development projects currently underway in any U.S. city. Gustafson Guthrie Nichol participated in developing the master plan for the site with lead architect Foster + Partners, and acted as lead landscape architect, working with DC-based Lee and Associates. Additional members of the design team include DC-based Shalom Baranes Associates, serving as associate master plan architect, project Architect of Record, and lead designer of the residential rental buildings.Construction commenced on March 23, 2011, and is expected to reach completion by the fourth quarter of 2013. The project includes the development of Northwest Park, a lively addition to downtown DC, the creation of a Central Plaza, aswell as dramatic terraces with green roofs and gardens incorporated into all the buildings. Read the rest of this entry »

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Kundalini inaugurates the first collaboration with AquiliAlberg, presenting Evita, an innovative floor and wall lamps with an intense visual impact and strong poetic expression. As in a sartorial artwork, the metal is wrapped around the luminous body of Evita in a garment stitched together by a single continuous gesture, forming a spiral rotation of 90 degrees. It is characterized by a strong graphic style and a clean and refined image that easily becomes imprinted in one’s memory, as it unwinds in space and traces out curved lines and surfaces, lightness and dynamism.

With its fine lines, Evita clothes the light with its physical elusiveness, delicate elegance and stylistic cogency. Its name recalls the gracefulness and strength of far-reaching feminine figures such Evita Peron, whose character evoked the imagination of the whole world, inspiring writers, musicians and directors. Read the rest of this entry »

As urban densities continue to intensify, architects are seeing an increased demand for designs that must fit within the preexisting frame of large, vertical buildings that are both designed and constructed by other architects. More often than not, the projects that evolve out of this situation end up manifesting images of fragmentation and flatness – disparate spaces that act as featureless framing devices for life. Complexity becomes embodied in what is impermanent, with the cohesion and dynamism of place being contained within the user, not the architecture. Tregunter, a recent project by Davidclovers, inverts this condition through the harnessing of precisely what typically hinders this type of project: the architectural constraints created by the encasing building.

From the architect: “Nestled amongst a forest of towers on Old Peak Road above Central Hong Kong, the Tregunter tower holds unique layered views of Victoria Harbor.  The abundance of bay windows, structural walls and beams that are common to residential towers would appear to constrain the possibilities of the apartment. However, by turning constraints into opportunities, davidclovers re-works the volumes of this apartment by using the ceiling and the floor.  Subtly elongating, pressing upward, and sloping downward, the ceiling produces variable sensations of compression and expansion – making the apartment seem larger than it is, drawing delicate lines that separate dining from living. Skillfully dodging and maneuvering around air-conditioning units and structural beams, the ceiling integrates artificial light and various materials – re-orienting the apartment toward the exterior. Read the rest of this entry »

This colossal bridge design by Mexico City based BNKR Arquitectura is a unique approach to the problem of project financing. Knowing the municipal government of Acapulco wouldn’t be able to fund a three-kilometer bridge, BNKR thought to attract private investments by transforming the supporting structure into habitable spaces. Without a bridge to span it, the Bay of Acapulco is extremely inconvenient to round. The bridge would complete a loop around the bay and connect to existing highways and roads.

The roadway and parking for the bridge is set within a square tube that splits the superstructure from the support system below. The top of this is covered in walkways, bikepaths and green space. The triangular support structures house the habitable spaces above and below this main artery. The bridge is set upon island-like bases that could act as docks for watercraft and allow inhabitants and visitors to enjoy the bay at water level. Read the rest of this entry »

The ContemPLAY pavilion is a student led initiative developed at the McGill School of Architecture as part of the Directed Research Studio program under the MArch course Community Design Workshop. It is built under the leadership and supervision of Maria Mingallon, the Gerald Sheff visiting Professor, in collaboration with F.A.R.M.M. (Facility for Architectural Research and Media Mediation) directed and founded by Michael Jemtrud (Director of the School of Architecture at McGill University) and led by Jason Crow.

The pavilion project is an excellent demonstration of the latest developments in the DRS program, exposing advanced construction techniques, digital processes and theoretical approaches to architecture in the public realm. Furthermore, the project highlights the student potential as well as the capacity for trans-disciplinary team work on a high level project. The project benefits from the use of novel design and fabrication techniques, utilizing algorithms for digital modelling and thus, facilitating fabrication of complex geometries and assemblies.

The project is a unique opportunity to allow students and the McGill School of Architecture to present an unprecedented graduate studies project in North-America, setting the standard for new architectural programs. It creates an opportunity for debate and discussion as two what public space can be, and how its structures can be conceived. The pavilion is donated to the public and open to all as a means of making architecture relevant and important in the community. Read the rest of this entry »

MY Lounge Chair – for Walter Knoll

Extending Ben van Berkel’s earlier MYchair into a family of related designs, My Lounge Chair will be presented for the first time at the Walter Knoll stand in Milan. My Lounge Chair continues and extends the formal qualities and spatial effects of the earlier MYchair, with the facet shapes of the chaise longue inspired seat echoed in the curves of the supporting frame.

“My Lounge Chair is literally an expansion of the MYchair, both physically and conceptually. An actual stretching of the original chair extends the ‘Coming Home’ concept of relaxation and reflection even further.” – Ben van Berkel Read the rest of this entry »

Xin-yu Wan unvieled a proposal  to replace St. Stephen Cathedral in Vienna. The project was designed during the Excessive Workshop of Hernan Diaz-Alonso in The Institute of Architecture of Vienna  the overall concept is based on a fantasy about the architectural history of Vienna. That is to say: if Art Nouveau had had a greater influence and had lasted for a longer period in Vienna; if the articulated geometries not only work as ornaments or enclosure as is the case for the Secession, but also serves as real structure to hold the main parts of the building, what would a new cathedral be and what its sublime and magical effects.

This project is based on two kinds of elements and their respective mutations. The white elements, which combine to form both the soft curvilinear and the hard straight body. They are the main structure and first layer of the enclosure. The black elements are more of an organic nature and work as the second layer of enclosure on the outside and as floors inside. The contrast and transition between these elements give the project its unique character. Read the rest of this entry »

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company opened The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong, located in the International Commerce Centre (ICC) designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF). Soaring 490 meters above Victoria Harbor, the hotel occupies floors 102 to 118 of the building, and boasts a 360-degree view of the entire city and surrounding islands.

With interiors by Singapore’s LTW, the hotel will offer 312 guest rooms, all providing spectacular city and harbour views. Other hotel amenities include six unique dining venues, an 860-square-meter spa by ESPA, a glass-enclosed infinity pool with LED screen ceiling and an outdoor terrace with a glass-enclosed bar, both on the 118th floor.

ICC is the essence of Hong Kong in one destination: world-class hospitality, high-powered finance, global tourism, and luxury shopping, all in a single tower built over a sophisticated transportation network spanning the Pearl River Delta.

KPF Managing Principal Paul Katz said, “We applaud Sun Hung Kai Properties Group on the completion of the final element of the building, and on the opening of the highest hotel in the world. This building type is very important to us, especially in Hong Kong, a city that has taken the lead in high rise development. ICC speaks to the promise of the tall building as a sustainable paradigm, in which individual buildings form part of a larger ecosystem of vertical centers linked by horizontal networks of public transportation.” Read the rest of this entry »

The use of louvers define Guosen Securities Corporation’s new headquarters, planned for construction in Shenzhen, China, taking it from a plain office building to an exciting “green” structure – one that resembles a Chinese lantern.

The design, by the MVRDV firm, is also an ideal working environment: the skyscraper is tall (204 meters) but slender, with tight, square floorplans that locate every worker no further than 11 meters from the façade (and natural daylight).

Surrounding each floor is a lip that extends down to create a shadow in the floor below. Louvers connect these lips with the tall glass windows, and vary in shape and size depending on their orientation to the sun. The louvers not only control the sunlight intake, but they can also have solar cells placed on them as well, maximizing their environmental impace. Architects estimate that the building is able to use 33 percent less energy than it would take to typically provide enough power for the structure thanks to the louvers. Read the rest of this entry »