International architecture firm Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF) is pleased to present its design for Block H of the Yongsan International Business District (YIBD) in Seoul. The goal of YIBD is to create a new symbol for the 21st Century city; a new urban center in Seoul for international business, living, entertainment, and shopping. YIBD will lead the world in innovative design, maximizing the site potential and taking advantage of connections made to its urban and natural assets. The master plan, created by Studio Daniel Libeskind, is a dynamic urban environment containing contributions from 19 different architects practicing in diverse locations around the globe.

Scheduled for completion in 2016, Block H consists of a luxury 5-Star hotel and high-end serviced residential building containing 167,225 square meters of space. The 385-meter-tall tower sits on a 14,600-square-meter parcel of land on the northeastern border of the YIBD, achieving an FAR of 11.4%. KPF’s building is situated in a way that seeks to mediate the extreme height (665m) of the landmark office tower to the northwest, and transition this height to the lower scale of the residential blocks beyond. KPF sought to intensify the social aspect of the street through a distinct urban landscape and diverse program at the lower levels of the building.

According to KPF Design Principal, Trent Tesch, “Our goal for this project is to establish and make connections to street life, the new city of Yongsan, and to the larger context of Seoul. We do this through a thoughtful approach to the building’s program, position, and character.”

Fundamental to the logic of the unique shape of the design is the idea that the building is comprised of apartments and hotel rooms that demand ample natural light, dramatic views, and maximum privacy. These three internal parameters have shaped the DNA of the Architecture. Like an organic system that seeks equilibrium with nature, the design grows outward from the center, towards views and light, into three distinct “wings.” The three wings guarantee that the residential apartments will have a major corner view from the living space, while maximizing its privacy from the adjacent unit. Unlike most “Y” type high-rise towers, the design “steps” each wing asymmetrically so there is a low-wing, a mid-wing and a high-wing. The building is carefully oriented to increase views to the Han River to the south (low-wing), the Yongsan Park to the east (mid-wing), and the Nam-San historic district and adjacent landmark tower to the north (high-wing). Read the rest of this entry »

The project is located in the Iranian city of Semnan, and acts as an extension of the existing university campus. Taking a pivotal role in the complex and acting as a vibrant social hub, the added structures are two separate buildings – an auditorium and a library. The buildings pertain to the same architectural articulation, while creating different spacial characteristics. The dynamic and welcoming spaces of the auditorium are juxtaposed with the calm environment of the library. The achitectural dialogue creates a academic context that encourages interaction and learning. Read the rest of this entry »

The project explores principles of responsive structures, installations that interact with users through a combination of motion sensors and various other electronic components. The Succulent Hispid marries biological and technological mechanisms, evolving into a hybrid lighting system mimicing the movements of petals. It is inspired by succulent plants and their ability to retain water, thus adapting to arid climates or soil conditions. Designed by UCLA students Harlen Miller, Francesco Valente-Gorjup and Jordon Gearhart, the installation is an emotionally charged, interactive, electro-material object.

The petals are made of plastic, with acrylic substructure and silicone membrane lining. The surfaces are covered with metal pin hairs. Combined with silicone inflatable bladders, they hide the LED lights that emanate a central glow. When approached, the Succulent Hispid senses one’s proximity and closes up, exposing its outer skin in defence. Read the rest of this entry »

The AIAS, ADC and AIGA, the Morpholio Project, along with Death By Architecture, congratulates the Pinup 2012: Student Competition Winners and Honorable Mentions. Pinup 2012 was assembled as a means to publically promote the research, exploration and investigation currently happening in academia. All of the submissions exemplified outstanding work and the competition organizers are grateful for the enormous amount of students who were bold enough to confront the world with their voice.

The proliferation of device culture, social networking, and cloud technology are changing the way we work, and connect on a daily basis. For designers, this means that technology is not only transforming the process of production, but also the processes through which we share, critique, and organize ourselves around the work we do. The competition is first, and foremost an experiment in distributed intelligence. By leveraging the “wisdom of crowds” every designer can see and understand how his or her work is experienced by others. It has been predicted that in 2020, there will be 50 billion mobile internet connections worldwide, the equivalent of seven devices per person. Thus, this competition is not simply about the existence of technology, but rather why and how we harness it as designers. Read the rest of this entry »

Most people believe cardboard is the mundane material that is used to make boxes, after which, carelessly thrown away. Yet, this thin shell structure, made by the professor and students at University of Minnesota, along with help of MATSYS, uses that exact material to produce a walkway installation for the school. The students completed the project within a 4-day workshop focusing on parametric/thin shell structures, student team design competition, fabrication, and assembly.

The hex shell deals with the design aspect of parametric process. Using tools provided by MATSYS, the students generated the form  in response to the circulation of the area. To guide and reinforce circulation, dimensions of the structure coincide with traffic flow and usage density.

The structure itself challenges the conventional thinking of materials and their properties. The team uses cardboard, which is very deformable and often lack aesthetics appeal. However, knowing the limits of the material being utilized, the design exploits the properties and compensates for the weakness. Throughout the installation process, the team used the cardboard’s ease of manipulate as an advantage in terms of assembly and reshaping. In the final product, the design utilizes a method of folded plate to compensate for lack of structural integrity. In doing so, the structure is not only reinforce but also provided the units with attaching point for construction. Read the rest of this entry »

Sitting in the countryside of Bedfordshire, UK is an old barn. Or at  least that is what it used to be. The innovative minds at Nicolas Tye Architects reinvented the old farm landscape by converting the barn to an elegant studio. Home to Nicolas design team, the Long Barn Studio is representational of their design philosophy. This 2,200 square foot studio space, erected on the ruins of an old barn, lies harmoniously with the landscape and adjacent to an existing barn.

The studio boasts a modern yet subtle appeal, utilizing materials that enhance the surrounding context and vice versa. The studio is composed of a glazed elevation with ends enclosed in larch timber cladding that resembles “book ends”. The overall aesthetics is elevated through the use of Cor-ten detailing that furthers the sense of place, reflect the old machinery and steelwork of the barn. Read the rest of this entry »

The following is a design proposal for the iSymphony Comprehensive Building Design Studio by Garrett Ryan Miller and Mike Atherton, Master of Architecture students attending California College of the Arts in San Francisco, California

The design proposal is a redefinition of the conert hall typology through past, present, and future parameters. The reason for this approach is that there is a movement towards open sources, highly accessible music rather than a music industry of exclusivity and ownership. Geographical, Climatic, and Experiential parameters were chosen to inform the project at each phase of design. The form of the building was derived by both speculative and current conditions. Susceptible to flooding in the near future due to elevation, poor soil quality, and rising sea levels, the site will have to deal very intimately with a fluctuating water table. By raising up the building, the flooded terrain can exist underneath the building, requiring less of an architectural resistance. Wind patterns have helped derive the shape of the building’s swooped stance, while a twisting of the form allows for the building to orient itself with views of the new master plan and the East Bay. Read the rest of this entry »

The Heart of the Metropolis is a proposal for a new central library in the city of Helsinki. The building takes its inspiration from the city and nearby surroundings. It is a volume shooting out from the ground, like many other places in Helsinki rocks naturally appear as popping out in the city centre.

The building is interacting with people on a human scale, by making it possible for people to walk on top of the sloped roof. The sloped roof drags the surrounding park on top of the building, and connects the building with its surroundings. The building is pointed towards the surrounding parkland and the bay, which gives a great view from the inside and from the roof. Read the rest of this entry »

The Tumamac Habitat Center designed by Daniel Caven is situated near the foot of the Tumamac Hill, within Tucson Arizona. The site is between the city and the Tumamac Hill, creating a disconnection between city and natural environment. The center is designed around the idea of adaption to its surroundings and its inhabitants.  Just as plants and animals in the desert have to adapt to changing environments through water retention and swelling, the Tumamac Habitat Center adapts and evolves to its daily usage. Read the rest of this entry »

Chroma[RED] is an interactive installation designed by architect Carlos Moncada at Sci-Arc which has placed in public and semipublic spaces in Los Angeles, California. This project is focused on the perception of the object inside the space in order to stimulate people to experience a new recreation of it through interaction. Each individual experience makes invisible tangible limits, developing a dialogue that induces the observer to create new limits, dynamics and interpretations of the space. Read the rest of this entry »