This summer, a blow-up pavilion will be touring through various parks and green spaces all around London. The Portavilion, designed by Berlin-based art and architecture collective Raumlaborberlin, is a portable pavilion made out of a translucent membrane that stuffs into the back of a van. Upon arrival at their destination, the membrane is inflated and supported by air and acts as a temporary pavilion. The Portavilion will play host to a number of dynamic cultural programs, including dance programs, festivals and music events led by leading organizations like the English National Ballet, London Festival of Architecture, Tate Modern, the Roundhouse and the Royal Society of Arts. Read the rest of this entry »
Raumlaborberlin Bubbletecture Pavilion in London This Summer
Light Tree: A Very Green Solution to Pedestrian Lighting
A brilliant solution that combines public art, pedestrian scale lighting, and greenery is easy to imagine beautifying parks, paths and public venues. The Light Tree, designed by Omar Ivan Huerta Cardoso uses hydroponic techniques with LED and solar cell technology. Read the rest of this entry »
ArcelorMittal Orbit by Anish Kapoor
Artist Anish Kapoor has won the commission to design a 115m high public artwork at Olympic Park in London, to be built as part of London’s Olympic Games in 2012.
The sculpture, called ArcelorMittal Orbit, has been designed in collaboration with structural engineer Cecil Balmond of Arup.
The sculpture – the largest in the UK– will consist of a continuous looping lattice of tubular steel mimicking the orbital trajectory of space objects. The tower will offer views of the Olympic Park and London’s skyline from a viewing platform. Visitors will be able to take a trip up the structure in a large elevator and will have the option of walking down the spiralling staircase. Read the rest of this entry »
MTV Awards Stage / Laboratory for Visionary Architecture – LAVA
The LAVA designed MTV Awards Installation has been shortlisted for the 2010 Australian Interior Design Awards Environmentally Sustainable Design category. Suspended in the Sydney Convention Centre for the 2009 award program, the sculpture provided an intense visual environment for the global TV show.
The design is at once comforting, yet alien. Drawing its design inspiration from natural patterns found perhaps in membranes and sea anemones, the digital design was realized in lightweight fabric, using the latest digital fabrication and engineering techniques. The design seeks to create more with less. The 108m3 of space is enclosed within a minimal surface area of 568m2 and uses only113.6kg of lightweight material. Yet there is no shortage of eye candy to keep a fickle TV audience glued to their seats as the engaging interior landscape supports the MTV award experience. Read the rest of this entry »
ZEROprize for Re-Skinning awards – University of Technology Tower in Sydney
The proposal from the Laboratory for Visionary Architecture (LAVA) to re-skin the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) tower in Sudney Australia has won the ZEROprize for Re-Skinning. The proposal aims to transform the identity of the brutalist-style high-rise and reduce its carbon footprint. LAVA has developed a simple, cost-effective and easily constructed building skin that forms a translucent cocoon to create a micro-climate. The skin can generate energy with embedded photo-voltaic cells, collect rain water, and improve the distribution of natural daylight. It can also use available convective energy to power the building’s ventilation requirements, reducing HVAC dependency. The skin is self cleaning and quite striking to the eye. The skin could be applied to other similar existing structures inexpensively, contributing to a low-cost, efficient way to beautify cities everywhere. Read the rest of this entry »
Self-Sufficient Street Light
It is estimated that street lighting accounts for over 30% of all electricity purchased for most cities. Inefficient lighting wastes billions of dollars each year and can account for 28% of total greenhouse gas pollution produced by a municipality. The City of Sydney, Australia and others across the world are taking a strong look at converting the conventional street lights to more environmentally friendly technologies. Sydney estimates that if their trial is successful, low energy lights could reduce energy consumption by up to 50%. There is clearly a market for low energy street lights, but unfortunately, most of the designs have been uninspired. This self-sufficient street light breaks the mold. Read the rest of this entry »
Peelback Bench
The park bench, much like other public, utilitarian furniture, has too often been regulated to uninspired mediocrity. They seldom have a contextual relationship to their surroundings and they almost never contribute to the story of a place. Ben Thorpe’s Peelback Bench however, manages to do all of the above with grace and elegance.
The bench seems to peel away a layer of history, presenting for the person sitting on the seat, a short explanation of the history of the area. As Thorpe explains “The basic principle of the bench is to give the effect that it has been peeled away from the ground, revealing a typographical story based upon the history of the particular area where the bench would be placed, giving the impression that you were reading from the foundations of the town”. Read the rest of this entry »
Alternative Tower for MoMA
Axis Mundi
John Beckmann, CarloMaria Ciampoli, James Coleman, Nick Messerlian, Pauline Marie d’Avigneau, Taina Pichon
United States
Project submitted to the 2010 Skyscraper Competition
As the city takes stock in a post-boom era, architect John Beckmann sees this as the time to rethink the tall buildings that have become synonymous with New York City’s identity.
“Instead of disguising the rich potential of towers that have a mix of uses, we looked for a way to express that diversity,” Beckmann explained. The firm used parametric computer-modeling software to test a wide range of possibilities. Out of this iterative process, Beckmann and his firm, Axis Mundi, propose a new way to organize and express tall buildings: the Vertical Neighborhood. “A more diverse, complex, heterogeneous, and environmentally minded city need no longer be represented on its skyline by one-note architecture that makes a singular visual image and little else,” explained John Beckmann, the founder of Axis Mundi, a Manhattan-based architecture firm.
Rethinking Hines Tower Site
Beckmann proposes a conceptual alternative to business-as-usual, choosing the site of the proposed 53W53rd, among the city’s largest skyscraper proposals in one of the most overbuilt parts of Midtown. Hines, the developer, engaged Paris architect Jean Nouvel, who designed an 82-story hotel and residential tower higher than the Chrysler Building. Read the rest of this entry »
SOFTlab’s CHROMAesthesiae at Devotion
CHROMAesthesiae: An installation of modular color
SOFTlab’s latest installation, CHROMAesthesiae, arrives at Devotion just in time for spring. CHROMAesthesiae is a flourishing landscape of color, blooming across the ceiling in high contrast-gradated clusters. This installation is an investigation on the spatial and chromatic perception of space. SOFTlab uses modularity as a core modality in order to generate complexity from repetitive form, allowing for rapid expansion or contraction of every piece created. With the motto, “everything changes,” the ability to adapt and grow conceptually underpins their entire body of work. This customizable installation is made of discrete, laser cut paper structures held together with binder clips: everyday objects are repurposed and precisely recombined. Forms evolve and shift color throughout the exhibition. Read the rest of this entry »
Jim Kazanjian Hallucinated World
Artist Jim Kazanjian from Portland, Oregon created a hallucinated and surreal world with rich black and white photographs that tell the story of the relationship between man, architecture, and nature.