McDonald’s and the fuel station are gathered under the same roof in one of the newly urbanized parts of the seaside city of Batumi, Georgia. Designed by Giorgi Khmaladze, ambitious piece of art includes also recreational spaces and reflective pool. Due to the importance of the given location, the imperative was to maximize the recreational area therefore the footprint of the building is very limited as well as the vehicular circulation. As a result, all the contents are compressed in one volume.

Two major programs – dining and vehicle service are physically and visually isolated from one another, so that the operations at the fuel station are not visible from the restaurant. Restaurant starts from the lobby and is having a separate entrance on the ground floor. The interior is designed in a manner that offers smooth and seamless transition between levels, the floor steps upwards creating inhabitable decks on intermediate levels which are actually occupied as dining spaces. Views from the restaurant spaces are partly directed towards outside water features while the rest look into open air patio on the second level. The patio acts as a buffer zone, ensuring soundproof interior space and open air lounge. Giant cantilever canopy is covered in vegetation, acting as an ecological shield for the shaded terrace while also helps avoiding energy loss. Read the rest of this entry »

The 196 meter long curvy and twisting China Wood Sculpture Museum in Harbin, China, by MAD Architects is complete. Unveiled building, sheathed in metal, sits nestled in a densely populated Chinese-style residential area, adding a cultural and surreal essence to the surrounding urban context. Harbin gets regular snowfall and is known as the Ice City, so MAD Architects designed the Museum with a horizontal, twisted body modeled on the shapes made by frozen liquids. Beijing-based MAD first revealed images of the China Wood Sculpture Museum in 2011, when construction began. Now is the moment when we can finally compare for ourselves how these seductive and shiny, curved structures actually look when built.

Museum is clad in plates of polished steel, mirroring the surrounding and changing light, interrupted by curving strips of glazing forming central entrance, windows and skylights. In the words of the architects, the museum actually embodies some of the foremost conceptual and formal ideas that define the work of MAD, bringing out an expression and abstraction of nature to an otherwise quotidian surrounding. The aim was to reference the local natural scenery and landscape; therefore the boundaries between solid and liquid are blurred throughout the building. Read the rest of this entry »

Designed by UAP Principal, Daniel Tobin, Matthew Tobin and Jamie Perrow, KAUST Breakwater Beacon has been recently revealed – as a part of $7 billion research institution, the honeycomb tower becomes a symbol for the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. The magnificent 60-meter high-rise is comprised of amorphous hexagonal sections in the form of an elliptical spire, reaching into the air.

The Tower is located on a new University Campus, as a part of a larger master plan – a new town of 10,000 people, living over 6.5 million sqf along the Red Sea, 80km north of Jeddah. The design process was accelerated with a “Racing the Sun” approach, in which planners from 10 offices across multiple time zones contributed to the plan over one 24-hour period.

Due to its fantastic presence, one could be deceived that the tower is all about the look, but the skyscraper is actually designed as natural cooling tower for communal events and celebrations. The hot air from the foyer is pulled up through the building and cooler breezes are brought in instead, while the skin of the atrium is creating a dappled shaded effect. Read the rest of this entry »

In words of the architects at Saraiva + Associados, the ambition was to design landmark building for Awaza Congress Center in Turkmenistan, not only as a national monument, but an icon that would be recognized internationally. Its monumental form is derived from a strong symbolic concept which reflects patriotic and cultural values of the country. Transmitting internal organization of Turkmenistan, the volume of the building is broken into five larger groups of spaces, materializing five provinces and forming a Congress Hall as a whole. Five elements are Circulation element, Auditorium element, Events, Business and Square element. National motifs in interiors and dominant green color tone – color of Turkmenistan flag reflect patriotic aims. Read the rest of this entry »

Set in world’s densest metropolis of Hong Kong, Hydropolis, a student project by Yoonsun Hwang and Lois Soo Kyung Suh of PennDesign challenges common understanding of skyscrapers by provoking the existing typology. Vertical mega-structure is proposed for a reclaimed site at the harbor of Hong Kong, therefore the uniqueness of the location demanded high aesthetic qualities and representative design. Emerging organic form yet floating and light presence characterize this monumental high-rise that creates new waterfront line for the harbor.

The concept behind this architectural piece is to accumulate and reflect diverse attributes of megalopolis, in order to reinterpret and express them at multiple economic and social scales and translations. As a result, the façade of the tower is transformative while the structure and the circulation system are re-investigated and reinvented, ranging from intricate and entangled to ludicrous. The proposal challenges the aggressive attitude of land reclamation – the harbor front is embraced and became the part of crucial importance for the project while operating closely with water. Read the rest of this entry »

New Atlantis is utopia; a vertical city designed by Adam Dayem, as a shelter for I-Kiribati people who refused to become refugees of climate change and decided to remain in their city in shallow water of South Pacific, above what used to be South Tarawa. The new vertical habitat proposal is situated in the open ocean, with the foundations anchored into the earth, 20 feet under. It is year 2100 and the emerging structure is funded by donations of Chinese government who chose to give away billions of Yuan to island nations disappearing under rising oceans rather than enforcing carbon reduction measures.

Physically cut-off and isolated, this vertical city is highly networked as any metropolitan high-rise and as such it is a significant base of information and operations. Read the rest of this entry »

Perpetuum Mobile conceived by O + R is a system of mobile smoking point units that proposes an alternative relationship between smokers and non-smokers in open public spaces in the city of Tokyo. The project generates a new platform of social interaction capable of adapting to different urban situations that creates unpredicted distributions on the site according to sites’ needs and seasonal changes.

Each unit is composed of 3 main elements:

A. Inner Garden Core of 2,70 x 2,70 meters of 1 meter height, that integrates: 9 seats, 9 cigarette disposal units, 4 planters, and a main bamboo central planter with a water outlet system. Each seat and back has a smoking add printed finishing. The garden is composed of Bamboo Trees, Aromatic Plants (Japanese local Variety of Mentha arvensis) and Chrysanthemum. The use of local varieties facilitates the maintenance and survival of this small landscape system. Cigarette Disposal Units are integrated on the unit with a top aluminium center chute and a metal lined Container. Cigarettes are contained and extinguished inside the metal lined container. The disposal units can be removed for cleaning, maintenance, and recycling.

B. Shelter System. Composed of a triangulated aluminium mesh structure with a variable thickness of 10 to 50 mm approx., and a recycled glass finishing on both sides with colours in gradient from black – yellow – green, and a total height of 5,00 m. The structure is connected to the core by a system of tubular columns in which a system of rings provides stability to the system. This design is inspired by the traditional Amigasa hats and developed after different operations of manipulation according to the project.

C. Motion and Support System. The complete unit is supported by wheels of 6’’diameter, tire rubber and swivel bracket with one brake per wheel and a brake control for all the wheels of the unit; each wheel is estimated to support up to 300 kg load. Read the rest of this entry »

Design Rhizome conceive by Farooq Khayyat is located in the heart of San Francisco. Rhizome operates as the city’s fulcrum; leveraging the ideas of design leaders, students, creators, and change makers with the needs of educators, entrepreneurs, and local food merchants.

Innovation is the result of combined ideas. Design Rhizome is a place where design professionals and novices alike join in spontaneous interaction and collaboration to give life to the ideas of tomorrow. Proximity, exchange of ideas, and shared resources are the key ingredients for practical creativity and innovation. The creatives can unite in a supportive space with the tech, finance, and government leaders of the day to awaken and strengthen the community. Read the rest of this entry »

Elegant Embellishments have installed a depolluting facade on the Torre de Especialidades at the Hospital Manuel Gea Gonzalez, Mexico City. The 2500m2 quasicrystal facade is composed of prosolve370e modules- three dimensional architectural modules with photocatalytic pollution-fighting technology.

prosolve370e is a decorative architectural module that reduces air pollution in urban environments. The modules are a functional, yet highly decorative modular ornament that achieve a synergy between design form and molecular technology. Inspired by fractals in nature, the undulating shapes maximize the surface area of active coating to diffuse light, air turbulence and pollution.

The modules contain superfine titanium dioxide (TiO2), a pollution-fighting technology that is activated by ambient daylight. When positioned near pollution sources, the modules break down and neutralize NOx (nitrogen oxides), VOCs (volatile organic compounds), SO2, and FPM directly where they are generated.

Derived from a quasicrystal grid, the underlying mathematical grid generates patterns that appear irregular, yet are made of only two constituent types. This modularity creates aperiodic, biomimetic tesselations that bear strong semblance to sponges or corals. The tiling method ultimately enables visual randomness, typically associated with the bespoke, to occur in a modular system.

As a modification to traditional built structures, prosolve370e essentially “tunes buildings” to perform better to the invisible criteria of air pollution.

Queen Alia International Airport in Amman, Jordan, by Foster + Partners, is designed to serve as a main gateway to Amman, one of the oldest cities in the world as well as to continue exploration airport terminals as the new building typology. Its visionary yet cellular architecture supports local building expertise and Amman’s climate, therefore integrating strategies which successfully provide efficient passive design. Modular and flexible concept of the terminal allows for future expansion, ensuring annual growth of 6 percent and increasing capacity from 3 million to 12.8 million passengers per year by 2030 – the Airport is predestined to be the most important hub for Levant region.

Located in Amman where summer temperatures vary markedly between daytime and nighttime, architects at Foster + Partners used concrete as a main material – high thermal mass provides high passive environmental control.

Plants and trees in open-air courtyards filter pollution and precondition air before it is drawn into the system. The large forecourt is designed as a landscaped plaza with seating in shade and allows people to gather while saying goodbye or welcoming returning travelers. Read the rest of this entry »