The open international two-stage architectural competition for Helsinki Central Library was launched in 2012, and 544 entries were submitted from all over the world. The six entries selected for the second phase of the competition were announced in November 2012 and now the winner is finally announced – Helsinki-based architectural practice ALA Architect won the first prize. The Central Library is slated to open in 2018 and it will be a center piece of Helsinki’s public library network.

The winning entry’s primary concept was the strict division of library functions into three distinctive levels – an active ground floor, calmer upper floor and enclosed volume, located in the middle, containing functions requiring more specific space. Due to this concept – the dynamic interplay between the building’s three individual floors, the arching form has been developed, directing the visitors to utilize the spaces underneath, inside and on top of it. As a result, the building will be highly functional, significant and motivating addition to Helsinki’s urban life. Read the rest of this entry »

The Theater in Spijkenisse, Netherlands, designed by UNStudio, is currently under construction. The greatest issue the architects at UNStudio were dealing with was the placement and the orientation of the theater building in the urban location, in order it fits the surrounding and at the same time provides all the necessary architectural solutions for programming, functional needs.

The thoughtful distribution of the programs within the building was required in order to enable efficient routing through the theater. The very design and the placement of some volumes of the building take advantage of the natural variations in the ground levels of the site.

The visitors, coming from the outside – the public square and from the foyer, are pretty much directed by the two main theater spaces positioned to receive the flow. When in foyer, the sculptural stairway forms the binding element, further directing the audience to the theater rooms. The theater cafe is designed as a third theater, in the form of an amphitheater, and is located adjacent to the nearby water.

The double curvature of the roof of this theater building is smoothing the transition from the ground to the built structure, therefore minimizing the impact the building has done to the surrounding urban tissue. That artificial “landscaping” is further translated into the interior – the ceilings are matching the roof, creating almost dune-like ambient. This elegant and unique landmark piece of architecture is a statement design and a new meeting point, which completes the waterfront of this Dutch city.

Daniel Caven of the Illinois Institute of Technology was featured in the American Institute of Architecture‘s Architect Magazine and was a finalist for Schiff Fellowship Award for his Relief Tower. Caven’s concept is capable of generating active energy outputs as well sustainable mechanical devices that will achieve economic gains for major cities, such as Chicago. Past ideas of towers acting as modern monumental statues in this modern world have become obsolete. Now towers must incorporate adaptive qualities for climate change and environmental conditions to withstand tests of sustainability as well as create a generative life.

The Relief Tower is designed around environmental conditions from a parametric mind-set while using rules of analysis to govern design choices. Located in the River North area of Chicago, the Relief Tower will be able to generate power to several neighboring buildings as well as a triple zero goal for itself. The form was generated by computational fluid dynamic analysis, as well as large physical models that underwent wind tunnel analysis. The animalistic (amphibious) form was manipulated to push wind into the outer, non-habitable, wing like extremities, that house vertical wind turbines. The funneling conditions in the outer extremities, push the wind faster towards the inset turbines, as well as push air towards the atrium. The energy created through this technique not only powers the towers own-self, but many neighboring buildings. Conservation of energy in the Relief Tower is one of the many factors and goals for itself. The outer skin of the tower creates a screening effect that protects itself from outside elements, as well as creating a play with shadows to the people within. The outside skin opens and closes due to sun radiation and changing elevation in relationship to program (using parametric alterations in the metals’ properties). The tower accommodates offices for a third of the tower as well as luxury hotels for the remaining levels, with a rooftop sky bar/pool area for attendees. Read the rest of this entry »

Countries all over the world are adopting Carbon Neutral master plans, in an era of rising environmental awareness and energy scarcity. Denmark based BIG Architects, very active architectural office, has developed the master plan for Azerbaijan – the Zira Island on the Caspian Sea, located in the bay of Baku, the capital city. The master plan is designed in collaboration with Ramboll, engineering firm.

The architectural proposal for Zira Island is developed on the base of the country’s dramatic natural setting, in the words of Bjarke Ingels. He states that the new architecture of the island not only recreates the iconic silhouettes of the seven peaks, but also creates an autonomous ecosystem, where the flow of air, water, energy and heat are channeled in natural ways. The mountain itself creates biotopes and eco-niches – it channels the water and stores heat, providing viewpoints and valleys.

BIG’s proposal is offering organic skyline, regarding the fact that the peaks of the surrounding mountains are translated into the urbanized peaks of the hill-like development. The structure is therefore merged into the existing topography of the island. The public central valley connects the series of private resorts and beaches, together with 300 private villas with the panoramic views over the Caspian Sea.

The Zira Island is designed as a completely independent entity, regarding the external resources, which is achieved through the mix of local, traditional building strategies and new, sustainable technologies. The aim was to provide high-end living, while decreasing usage of the resources to the minimum.

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Miami Beach is a unique city; It is one of the youngest cities in America—and perhaps right now one of the most vibrant and dynamic. Its streetscape is characterized by a lively, walkable, urban fabric with a friendly human scaled environment under the cool shade of tropical trees and art deco canopies—except at the convention center. It is a dead black hole of asphalt in the heart of one the most beautiful and lively cities in America. BIG‘s mission along with West 8, Fentress, JPA and developers Portman CMC is to bring Miami Beach back to the Convention Center and to imagine an urban space unique to the climate and culture of Miami Beach. They propose Miami Beach Square as the centerpiece of their 52 acre convention center. Read the rest of this entry »

Architect Massimo Guidotti conceived the design of the New Museum for Underwater Antiquities and of the surrounding park ensuring that the design enriches the port of Athens with elements and events able to stimulate the visitors’ senses and curiosity assuring, at the same time, visual continuity and a sense of belonging to a single environment.

The architectural project of the Ex Silos Building originated from the idea of creating an imaginary section level, which cuts the main elevation overlooking the sea, replacing it with an EFTE “liquid” skin, as a tribute to the sea which has preserved and brought back the ancient archeological findings. The shape combined with the technology makes the building evocative of natural scenes, and reflects the sea through the continuous transparencies, both during day and night, merging a natural organism within a monument. Read the rest of this entry »

IS ARCH competition for architecture students and young architects has recently announced its winners. In this second edition, 153 projects were submitted. The jury was composed of Sou Fujimoto, Benedetta Tagliabue Miralles-tagliabue EMBT, Tomislav Dushanov (Associate Herzog & De Meuron), Taba Rasti (Partner in Foster + Partners ), Rik Nys (Senior in David Chipperfield Architects), Carlos Ferrater. First prize went to Adria Escolano Ferrer, young Catalan architect currently based in Paris, for his project – Peripheral Lab.

The place of action of this unique design lies in periphery of Figueres, Spain. In order to understand the context, the measurements were taken by sorting out the traces of previous activities and their leftovers. The strategy for the design consisted of superposing the already localized activities, therefore the topographic map was easily created – the highest point is where the place of highest activity is and the project further develops there. The slopes are the outcome of the same exercise, developed in five levels – conscience, action, manipulation, construction and architecture. Read the rest of this entry »

sparch Sakellaridou / Papanikolaou Architects won the 4th Prize in the architectural competition for redesigning the existing grain stock house building facilities (SILO) and its surrounding open space into a Museum for Underwater Antiquities in the Piraeus Port Authority (OLP) Coastal Zone including in a transformation with an open public space for outdoor activities, in February 2013.

The concept is of a continuous flow of diving and emerging, from the level of the sea to its depths and back again to knowledge. A continuous flow of people, via escalators sculpted to the body of the SILO, gives rise to the “sea level” placed on top. Visitors rise, enjoy the view of the horizon and enter the mysterious world of the museum in order “to dive to the sea-depths.” A large internal void, sculpted through vertical concrete-ribs in reference to the Antikythira Mechanism, becomes the heart of the museological narrative. A continuous belt of ramps winds around the internal void, bringing visitors deeper to the “bottom of the sea.” Natural light enters from above and winds around the shipping-wrecks along with the flow of people and their shadows. Read the rest of this entry »

Feiyu Qi at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna aimed to design a new train station for Vienna by reinterpreting the existing Westbahnhof station. In terms of the aesthetics and the form, there is a psychological disease called Trypophobia which would cause visitors with it to fear the clusters of small, similar shapes and holes. Read the rest of this entry »