MARS Architects recently won open architectural competition to design Walltopia Headquarters in Sofia. The building will be Bulgaria’s first sustainable activity center. Walltopia was founded in 1996 as a manufacturer of artificial climbing walls and holds. Now the company is global leader in its field, supplying its products to every country in the world where climbing is popular – including all West European countries, USA, Canada, Japan, and Australia. Starting with just 5 people, the company now employs over 300 people working in the areas of design, engineering, manufacturing and installing of the climbing walls.

MARS’s proposal is a hybrid structure whose program is folded by an interweaving climbing atrium. The proposal is characterized as flawless integration of a complex program with a spectacular user experience and it undoubtedly showed that sustainable can be seductive.

The authors found inspiration in emerging market of Bulgaria and its refreshing vitality. The program, consisting of climbing and brand head offices is supplemented by a diversity of functions – from leisure and entertainment to health and wellness. The climbing walls of the winning entry are folded through the entire office program therefore the constant crossover is achieved.  The project reveals the outer limits of what can be achieved with these climbing walls as sculptural interior spaces. Read the rest of this entry »

It is finally revealed that Dubai has been chosen to host the 2020 World Expo. HOK, teamed with Populous and Arup, has developed the master plan for the expo and more then 25 million visitors are expected to be drawn from October 2020 through April 2021. The plan is futuristic but it also pays homage to Emirati heritage and culture. Dubai will become the first Middle Eastern city to host this event in its 150-year long history.

HOK’s plan reflects great qualities of the city and the form and spirit of a World Expo, with its mixture of education, innovation and entertainment. The site is on the southwestern edge of Dubai in Jebel Ali, near Dubai’s new Al Maktoum International Airport and Jebel Ali Port. Read the rest of this entry »

Jenny Sabin’s Greenhouse and Cabinet of Future Fossils was Commissioned by the American Philosophical Society Museum, funded by Heritage Philadelphia Program, a program of The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. This greenhouse for the 21^st century is located in the garden of American Philosophical Society. It is conceived by artist, researcher and architectural designer Jenny Sabin and it is an outgrowth of the Museum’s current exhibition.

Sabin’s ecologically savvy structure re-envisions greenhouse architecture using digital design tools while it also represents a striking and playful work of art. It is made of recycled and recyclable materials and it is 52’-long. The structure has no glass and requires no heat. The curving, structural ribs are the structural support of this futuristic greenhouse and they hold 110 translucent, jewel-toned cold frames – mini-greenhouses, filled with edible and ornamental plants. he 2’ x 1’ x 1’ cold frames are removable and portable, intended for winter gardening in small urban spaces. Read the rest of this entry »

Deployability is a project by LabStudio, that features a structure – a deployable system that combines two types of connections that allow for a locally responsive deployment. the first connection type – the scissor joint, has one degree of movement. The opposing top and bottom joints are connected by a strut which requires a simultaneous movement between every top and bottom connection. A structure built with purely scissor joints is limited to even deployment.

Deployable structure is understood through its surface packing and its part to part connections. These two readings of deployable structures are applied to two main points of connections with in an acini that effect surface conditions. First one is cell to stromal extracellular matrix (ECM) connection and second one is cell to cell adhesion.

During the morphogentic process in breast cell duct formation, in the words of the researchers from LabStudio, the extra-cellular matrix responds and reacts to various stimuli from the external and internal environments, continuously transforming the surface depending on site specific conditions. The internal cells are connected to the ECM and respond to these changes creating a continuous feedback loop. This response system is explored through abstracting the packing behavior and cell – cell relationships of two different cases 1. tenascin- C untreated breast cells 2. tenascin- C treated breast cells. Read the rest of this entry »

The architecture acts in and upon the city through mediums of code-building codes, zoning codes, civil, social, environmental codes,etc. It should be less considered the simple design of objects – it is more the configuration of multiple and differentiated codes into new sequences and relations. The code is a systematic arrangement of relationships that specifies the legitimate and illegitimate function of the objects and behaviors. The contemporary city is one dense mesh of codes, overlapping into frantic dialogue. Whatever the design begins from –  politics, economics and finance, the codes always exist in advance.

Unlike in a conventional design method, this design project required to encode and test whether the intended code worked properly or not. In order to encode the specific code, the group of GSD Harvard students, authors of this project, researched Tokyo city. Unlike other cities, Tokyo has evolved based on train transportation system, and it has diversified local culture at every station. The interesting fact is that Tokyo still has a form of livable city, despite his very dense populated condition. Read the rest of this entry »

BIG Architects won the competition for designing the Museum of Human Body in Montpelier, France. Le Cité du Corps Humain, as the project title is in French, is conceived as a confluence of the park and the city – or the nature and architecture – bookending the Charpak Park along with the Montpellier city hall. The urban pavement and the parks turf flow together in an embrace, while forming pockets of terraces, overlooking the park and elevating islands of nature above the city.

The form of the museum resembles the seismic fault line, and the architectural crusts of planet earth are lifted and mingled in order to form an underlying continuous space of niches and caves, lookouts and overhangs. The series of singular pavilions weave together to form a unified institution, almost as individual fingers united together in a grip. Read the rest of this entry »

X|Atelier is organizing an international intensive workshop of Advanced Architectural Design. The X|A Winter Workshop 2013 is led by X|A principals Erick Carcamo (SCI-ARC) and Nefeli Chatzimina (USC) both Graduates of Columbia University in New York City, GSAPP AAD.

The X|Ornamentism Workshop is organized under the auspices of the Hellenic Institute of Architecture and the Athens School of Fine Arts. Selected Participants will attend the Computation Workshop, the Final Review and Exhibition at Benaki Museum of Athens from the 15th -23rd of July 2013. Daily meetings will take place from 10am to 6pm at the Benaki museum of Pireos 138.

As part of an ongoing academic research,X|A workshops introduce participants into contemporary discussions of formal exploration in Architecture and Art. Through technical attainment of design and digital production the X|A Workshops give the opportunity to students of Architecture and Art, Professional Architects, Designers and Artists to challenge new design territories. Our goal is to explore innovative, potential architectural expressions of the current discourse around Form through computational tools (Autodesk MAYA). We will focus on technique elaboration, material intelligence, formal logic eefficiencies and precision assemblies as an ultimate condition of design. The workshop will develop and investigate the notion of proficient geometric variations at a level of complexity, so that questions towards geometrical eeffectiveness, accuracy and performance can begin to be understood in a contemporary setting. The workshop is a discourse based in the use of multi-layered techniques and production processes that allow for control over intelligent geometries, calibration of parts, and behavioral taxonomies, normalizing an innovative held of predictability.

X|A Winter Workshop 2013: workshop@xatelier.com
For more information www.xatelier.com/workshop
Participation cost is 350 euros

Red Dot Design Awards

For almost 60 years now, Red Dot stands for belonging to the best products from various areas of the industry. A new round is about to start for evaluating which products are ground-breaking in an international comparison and will receive the sought-after quality seal. The starting signal for the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2014 will be given on 11 November 2013 – companies and designers are encouraged to enter their current achievements.

In the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2013, designers, architects and manufacturing companies from 54 countries submitted almost 4,700 of their best products – clear proof of the international relevance of the competition. In 2014, a total of 23 product categories ranging from interior design to “Babies and children” and consumer electronics cover the entire spectrum of modern design.

To stand out from the crowd, every participant has to fascinate the international Red Dot jury with outstanding design quality and innovative solutions. In a conscientious jury session, the more than 30 experts discuss and evaluate every single product live and on site in Essen, Germany. Only the most convincing projects receive the renowned Red Dot and play in the top league of design.

Red Dot initiator and CEO Prof. Dr. Peter Zec: “The importance of a competition is defined only by its credibility. Clear criteria for granting awards, jury members with integrity as well as excellent framework conditions for product presentation are the characteristics of the Red Dot. With the great reliability that these factors ensure, our award has been uncovering design excellence in all conceivable product areas for a period of almost 60 years now.”

The laureates of the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2014 will gain the respect of the international design scene as well as the highest degree of attention for outstanding design quality: On 7 July 2014, Red Dot will officially honour the best achievements during the traditional Red Dot Gala in Essen’s opera house. Afterwards, all products will be presented in the four-week winner exhibition “Design on Stage – Winners Red Dot Award: Product Design 2014” in the Red Dot Design Museum Essen. Surrounded by the historical industrial architecture of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Zollverein, they will be put in the spotlight against an impressive backdrop.

Red Dot Award: Product Design 2014 – Dates and Facts

Early Bird: 6 December 2013
Regular: 28 January 2014
Latecomers: 5 February 2014

Jury session: February 2014
Awards ceremony: 7 July 2014
Special exhibition of the award-winning products: 8 July – 3 August 2014

Further information and registration

A new architecture slowly redefines the urban landscape of Rome historic center. Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas are the architects behind the project of refurbishment of the ex “Unione Militare” building situated between Via del Corso and Via Tomacelli that crosses the four floors of the building from the ground-floor up to the panoramic terrace with a view of the dome of the Basilica of Saint Ambrose and Carlo al Corso.

Outside interventions are minor – the architecture of the facades has been highlighted through alight design intervention, which gives a touch of contemporary to the building whilst putting it in connection to the city. However, the large “Lantern” is the symbol of the project – the very heart of the intervention. It contains the vertical connections, the service and accessory rooms as well as part of the plants. The full-height void created by lantern offers a glimpse along the structure. The part of it which acts as a roofing reaches height of 7.5 meters and accommodates huge panoramic restaurant space. Viewed from the city, the lantern appears as an irregular mirror during the day, while at night it takes on the shape of a large lamp. In the evening, the facades of the building light up and look like a theater set, the atmospheres change and the audience can enjoy from the outside the internal show of lights and colors. Read the rest of this entry »

On November 21 OMA finally marked the completion of De Rotterdam, mixed-use vertical city on the river Maas. Efficiency has been very important or even central design parameter from day one, as they stated in OMA. The extreme market play directed the course of the project, but that has been far from a design constraint and in fact has reinforces the original concept. The overall result is a dense, vibrant building for the city, in words of Ellen van Loon, partner in charge. With the completion of the building, a critical mass has been established on the Kop van Zuid, realizing the long-established vision of a second city center south of the Maas.

The building – De Rotterdam – is named after one of the ships on the Holland America Line, which transported emigrants from Europe to New York from the Wilhelmina Pier, next to which the building is located.

The high-rise is composed of the three stacked and interconnecting towers, 44 floors high and with a width of over 100 meters. The building is highly compact, and program mix is organized into distinct, overlapping blocks of commercial office space, residential apartments, hotel and conference facilities, restaurants and cafes. Office employees, residents and hotel guests are brought together in conference, sport and restaurant facilities. The building’s shared plinth is the location of the lobbies to each of the towers, creating a public hub by means of a common hall. Read the rest of this entry »