It often happens that the small-scale, programmatically simple design tasks tap into the basics of the practice and remind of what is the initial creative act in designing – Asking Questions. To most with formal architectural education, designing trade show pavilions presents starting challenges that help solidify their understanding of space. By returning to questions, small competitions act as a bloodletting treatment for the current global discourse. These also take on a didactic role for architecture beginners, reminding them of the complexity of the design process that can be revisited, but certainly not avoided by relying solely on the abstract art of mathematics.

The winning proposal for the Ceramics of Italy Competition is a recognizable, functional and versatile space, achieved by using the design elements organically and making them part of a clear, cohesive architectural thought. The project marries archetypal spatial preoccupations with modern technologies and computational design. Read the rest of this entry »

The proposal for Sofia’s new Metropolitan Station 20 on line one was designed by Zeybekoglu Nayman Associates. The design strategy seeks to take advantage of the intense relationship between Obikolna Street and the future station. Organized along a glass spine that covers the space below ground level, the station is meant to capture as much natural light as possible.

Architects state:” The sun penetrates down through sculptural skylights illuminating the entire station in a warm glow. The use of daylight as an architectural element assists orientation for passengers and provides a sense of security.   It allows for the atmosphere of the station to be transformed by the color of the sky.  Underground the station is efficient, easy to read and comprehend through its organized masses.  The descent down to the metro is designed as an elegant, modern addition to the street life above. Public access areas on B1 contain places to sit, shop, and dine. Open to all, this level has direct access to both sides of Obikolna Street through a new pedestrian underpass.  Ticketed areas on B2 including the platforms are separated by a series of turnstiles that lead to zones of vertical transportation. Read the rest of this entry »

Cheap, dull, unattractive and unpleasant spaces – that’s the reputation of school ‘relocatables’. They’re the decades old, utilitarian solution to changing school demographics, remote community needs and disasters such as fires, floods and cyclones.

But a new plan by the Laboratory For Visionary Architecture [LAVA] turns these unpleasant spaces into smart buildings, the design an education in itself. In sustainability, social interaction, nature and adaptive technology. Chris Bosse, Asia Pacific director of LAVA says: ‘we wanted to turn this idea upside down and create spaces that are sustainable, practical, cost-effective whilst fun and exciting to be in’. Read the rest of this entry »

The main feature of patterns and parametric surfaces addressed by architects at Atelier Manferdini is using the principle of repetitiveness to play with the figurative and structural role of computational design. Versatile applications of those motifs are explored through a wide variety of the Studio’s work, ranging from fashion and lighting design to architectural projects. Somewhere between ornament and structure, the lacy metal roof of the Malpensa Airport seeks to find common ground between decorative aspects of patterns and their role in the digital optimization of architecture.

The project involved the replacement of the connecting tunnel between the Express Train Station and the Terminal 1 of the Milan Airport, all in preparation for the World Expo in 2015. The designed segment comprises a covered area that will serve as an exhibition space as well as a pedestrian trajectory, connecting the sides with roof gardens. The part of the roof overhang on the west side is clearly visible from the street lanes that flank the underlying construction of the new Hotel Malpensa. Read the rest of this entry »

An addition to a series of projects involving the architecturization of parking facilities, the Car Park proposal designed by Interface Studio Architects tries to integrate the automobile culture into the vertical environment of Hong Kong. Through a playful use of ramps, repetition and uniformity, elements of the car park typology are exaggerated. In the attempt to create a distinctive urban structure that competes with the neighborhood of Hong Kong’s high-rises, the design evolves into a multi-functional building, introducing various programs: shopping, cafes, restaurants and green spaces.

The tower look of the project appears to derive from the city’s existing attitude towards infrastructure, acknowledging its all-present, overwhelming personality. It takes is further, as it mixes the car traffic trajectories with central functions in a single kinetic gesture of swirling ramps. The structure is then deformed as if physically influenced by forces and volumes of adjacent buildings. Read the rest of this entry »

Small spaces influenced the concept behind the News Coffee Table, a three section surface radiating from a central newspaper and magazine repository. Taking the traditional newspaper rack and combining it with a coffee table is certainly not new, but Architect Boris Ignatov’s unique but simple solution is to turn the fold 120 degree and connect the receptacle with a flat surface. The casual nature of the design has the quality of origami, radiating outward and offering easy access to periodicals for casual reading. Read the rest of this entry »

With the optical and physical qualities of the crystal of Bohemia and Venetian hand blown glass in mind, artists Francisco Gomez Paz and Paolo Rizzatto designed for Luceplan the Hope chandelier. A period of extensive technological research preceded the final lighting source design; the multifaceted interpretation of the classic chandelier was made up of ultra light polycarbonate sheets, capable of reproducing the outstanding optical qualities of solid glass. Based in the principles of the Fresnel lenses, a molded polycarbonate leaf was developed and engineered, characterized by a glossy external surface and a textured internal surface treated with a series of concentric micro-prisms. The result was an extraordinary high quality plastic, referred to by the authors as “meta-crystal”, because of its capacity to capture and reflect light. Read the rest of this entry »

Agent Forms is a two-day intensive design and programming workshop by modeLab to be held in Brooklyn during the weekend of February 04-05, 2012. In a fast-paced and hands-on learning environment, this workshop will interrogate agent-based simulation and strategies for simple, low-level objects to generate higher order, dynamic, and visually rich forms. We will cover technical programming concepts including Control, Modularity, and Development while incrementally building the complexity of our objects and the relationships established across class contexts. Furthermore, we will utilize the power of the Processing environment and its to capacity to compute, visualize, and capture the behavior of large populations of agents. Read the rest of this entry »

The winning proposal for the science centre in Copenhagen was designed by CEBRA, in cooperation with Wilkinson Eyre Architects, Orbicon, Die Asta and Kollision. The aim of the competition was to expand the existing premises and achieve a stronger presence within the urban space of the city. Limited by the layout of the existing building and additional urbanistic constrains, the Fremtidens Experimentarium was to be expanded inwards and upwards. Read the rest of this entry »

Part of the Young Architects Program, an initiative for promoting emerging designers, the Latin America branch was established and launched in 2011 by CONSTRUCTO, in collaboration with MOMA and MOMA PS1. It’s an active platform for creating new opportunities for talented Latin American architects to explore and design within the scope of collective-use spaces and informal live events, with strong emphasis on sustainability issues. In 2011 it was particularly oriented towards young Chilean architects, few of whom are members of the GUN Arquitectos team, a collective whose Water Cathedral Project was chosen as this year’s winning proposal. Read the rest of this entry »