Italian architects AquiliAlberg unveiled their design for a new urban landmark in Perth, Australia. The project consists of a fluid folding surface that peels off from the ground to create three pavilions. The project is located at Forest Place, one of the most representative plazas in Perth and offers a new and exciting urban destination for the residents and visitors. The pavilions count with diverse seating and gathering areas as well as canopies and relaxation spaces. At night the project will be illuminated with multi-colored lights according to seasons, events, and celebrations. Read the rest of this entry »

A massive, mixed-use office and retail complex that will span two city blocks in Düsseldorf, Germany is currently being designed by New York architecture firm Studio Daniel Libeskind.

The “Kö-Bogen” building will be six stories tall and a total of 432,300 square feet. Located in Düsseldorf’s downtown, the building will serve consumers with flagship retail stores on the first three floors, and further fuel the economy with office space on floors four through six.

Kö-Bogen‘s façade has spaces of straight geometry, and others of flowing curves. The curves wrap around the building’s courtyards; though these open spaces let light flow into the building’s office space, from the street the building will appear to have one continuous, green roofline.

Its living roof and proximity to Hofgarten, Düsseldorf’s main park, aren’t the building’s only green features. The façade has literal cuts that allow foliage from the interior courtyards to peek through to the street.

Traffic will be eliminated from the area surrounding the Kö-Bogen building, bringing a new sort of pedestrian experience to Düsseldorf. The building’s span, extending from the Schadowplatz plaza to the park, will bring an upscale and green pedestrian route through the city’s downtown. Read the rest of this entry »

A cave-like bar designed with simple materials has created a new, visually stunning modern space in Shanghai.

The Zebar was first conceived in 2006 by a Singaporean movie director and an ex musician from southern China. Designed by Francesco Gatti of the 3Gatti Architecture Studio, the bar is one hypnotic space after another, with white plasterboard fins stacked along walls to create a mesmerizing effect that draws visitors in.

The design, says the architect, is “a caved space formed from of a digital Boolean subtraction of hundreds of slices from an amorphic blob.” A byproudct of the age of 3-D computer modeling programs, the Zebar is a “digital design created in an analogic world,” Gatti said.

Each plasterboard wall section was cut by hand. Aside from the plasterboard, the only materials used were plywood and black cement, making the project low-cost, and quick to assemble. Read the rest of this entry »

The “Metropol Parasol” in Sevilla, Spain has a loft goal: to become the new icon for Sevilla, and remind the world just how culturally rich this Andalucían city is.

A goal so bold must be executed with a bold design, and the Metropol Parasol offers just that: with honeycomb-like bowls floating high in the air, supported by concrete trunks, the Parasol creates, with its expansive roof, an open air gathering space that is well defined, yet has no walls to impede pedestrian traffic.

The design of the complex is busy, but the materials are simple: a concrete base supports the parasols, which are made of wood coated with polyurethan.

Located in the Plaza de la Encarnacíon, the Metopol Parasol was designed by the J. MAYER H. architecture firm. The project is currently nearing completion: its concrete base was finished in 2008, and the wooden roof is currently being built. The architects hope the project will be completed by April of this year. Read the rest of this entry »

A new design by one of the world’s most esteemed architects, Frank Gehry, was unveiled last month in Australia. Plans for a new business school at Sydney’s University of Technology (UTS) will bring, school officials hope, a new archietcural landmark for the city of Sydney.

The Dr. Chau Chak Wing Building will be 11 stories tall, with a total floor area of 16,030 square meters. The building’s front and back will have very different facades: on one side, a curved and squished brick design will create wavy walls that reference the sandstone and brick of Sydney’s traditional built environment. On the other side, large sheets of glass will be pieced together to reflect the images of the surrounding buildings.

The UTS campus is an urban one, blending into Sydney’s Ultimo neighborhood. While they hoped for architectural greatness, school officials focused, in choosing a design for the building, says UTS Vice-Chancellor Professor Ross Milbourne, on ensuring that the needs of students and professors were well met. UTS is spending $150 million to construct the building. Read the rest of this entry »

The result of an international design competition, the Chengdu Contemporary Art Centre (CCAC) designed by Zaha Hadid Architects will be a new cultural destination for Sichuan Province and will provide Chengdu with an unprecedented collection of world-class arts, performance, leisure, and congress venues. CAC will be a regional art and music centre of international standing. CCAC accommodates three auditoria, an art museum, an exhibition centre, a conference centre, a learning centre, bars, restaurants and shops.

The largest of the three halls, a multifunctional theatre, seats up to 2,000 people.The second hall caters for lyrical theatre and music events, with a seating arrangement of up to 870 people. The third auditorium will be used as a music hall. Designed for natural acoustic, this hall will provide space for an audience of up to 1,000. The conference centre comprises 8,000m2, which can be separated into 16 equal and independent accessible conference rooms. A flexible 10,000m2 exhibition centre is located at the main entrance level. The art museum comprises approximately 15,000m2 net exhibition area which is located below the roof and will take advantage of natural lit exhibition spaces. Our design aims to resolve the complexities of the programme, while combining spatial clarity with the design of a unique and iconic structure. Read the rest of this entry »

Melbourne based Architect Toby Horricks recently had an installation tilted “Icon” installed in the Gallery of Australian Design in Canberra. Four cardboard freestanding sculptures each represent a magazine from the publisher Architecture Media, with copies of the corresponding building design publications available at each installation. Each work stands on a simple cardboard pad of 1.8 x 1.8 meters.

Horricks experiments in cardboard lead to dynamic forms that share a common grid but unique forms, exploring the dynamics of a lightweight material forming complex structure.  The parametric abstracts reflect the aesthetic dynamics and tension between solid and negative space, as well as that of the fixed grid and free form.

Developed to be flat packed for simple transportation and display as freestanding objects the use of cardboard has a low initial environmental impact and is entirely recyclable. Cardboard as building material, explored by architects such as Shigeru Ban, shows promise as a way to focus on pushing the limits of low impact design within building science and aesthetic. Horricks has focused much of his work in the development of cardboard furniture to examine environmental materials, design and space issues. Read the rest of this entry »

The Hydro House by Rael San Fratello Architects is a conceptual design which, using water, creates a micro climate in desert regions to regulate internal temperatures. A roof pond along with a pond in the courtyard and a unique water retaining wall system are the primary water sources. Through evapotranspiration, breezes penetrate the outer courtyard’s skin and are cooled as they crosses the water surface and then into the home. A large operable skylight on the leeward side allows air to escape, and by stack effect draws air through the structure.

The thick walls collect and store rainwater that overflows from the roof pond. The water’s thermal mass in the walls along with the roof act as a thermal flywheel. By absorbing the heat of the day the mass then expels it at night, moderating internal temperatures. The top of the walls also house planters which help shade the roof. A white patina also assists in reflecting unwanted daytime heat gain.

The inner courtyard pond is flanked by the private quarters and public spaces forming a V shaped footprint. All rooms facing the pond feature shaded glass doors that allow cross ventilation. The roof and walls have multiple round skylights to distribute daylight. Read the rest of this entry »

The Centre for Promotion of Science in Belgrade, Serbia designed by Austrian architect Wolfgang Tschapeller will be an institution of service and a national bank of knowledge in the field of science. It will organise innovative and educative exhibitions, and bring science closer to the people. The main goal of the Centre for Promotion of Science will be to facilitate scientific education, a continuous training as well as social and economic growth, both with direct action, and in partnership with other actors – primarily the Ministry of Science and Technological Development and the Ministry of Education.

The Centre  will be floating high above the ground. It will operate in 3 main levels. On the level of the City it will be an optimistic sign positioned on one of the main routes of the capital. For the Blok 39 it will be a sign, a canopy and a portico. The  building being programmed to promote sciences, it plays on visions of technology and construction. The architectural language of the centre will  be one of state-of-the-art technology and the display of structural principles. A special role is given to the underside of the centre; it will have mirroring qualities, able to reflect all the movement on the ground as well as the visitors that by entering the centre are penetrating the reflections of the earth’s surface. Read the rest of this entry »

The design for the Kaohsiung Cruise Terminal by Emergent is interior driven, biasing building section, and interior spatial effects. The goal is to create a cavernous space which will appear simultaneously massive and lightweight. The project oscillates between volume and surface, avoiding the limitations of exclusively surface-based and volume-based architectures.

The Port Services Center, made up of string of hard elliptical volumes, is pushed down into the soft bubble of the Ferry Terminal, so that exterior skin becomes interiorized. This nesting action allows for functional division between the programmatic elements while creating complex interior formations. While the Ferry Terminal is oriented towards the inside, the Port Services Center– consisting primarily of offices– is oriented towards the outside, with views out to the city and the ocean. It is a building within a building. The skin of the Ferry terminal is constructed out of transparent ETFE membrane and hard fiber-composite Armor Plates. These Armor Plates operate as both structure and ornament. They create stiff zones in the skin where the membrane can be affixed. Ultimately, the construction system is a hybrid of shell and membrane construction types– what we now call Shell-branes. Read the rest of this entry »