SDA | Synthesis Design + Architecture’s design concept for Xiamen Dream City in China challenges the conventional notion of the city waterfront. This monumental artificial landscape facilitates 300,000 square meters of programs. Almost continuous contour line of natural topography of the complex is activated by careful placement of the main programmatic elements. The result of this strategic arrangement is pleasantly chaotic – endless play of surfaces generates undulating dunes, canyons and valleys. Dynamic effect of cascading openings creates articulated network of continuously connected spaces. Final line of the waterfront is a joined venture of view vectors, programmatic forces and pedestrian circulation.

Due to the selection of materials of the envelope and its seamless transition between the ground, the facade and the roof of the complex, the enormous structure is perfectly embedded within the context as it seems to be emerging from the beach itself.

Contents of the low-rise buildings are revealed beneath the surface, therefore conserving precious ground level for a gradient network of public plazas, linear gardens and pathways. Below rests a vast, underground, multi-level concourse, facilitating numerous entertainment venues, luxury retail and dining, lit by sculptural north-facing glass surfaces on the roof, providing diffuse, north skylight. Read the rest of this entry »

OODA‘s unconventional design for Disaster Prevention and Education Center in Istanbul is a proposal  for ThyssenKrupp international competition. In an era of increased environmental concerns, developing public awareness about natural disasters, in this case earthquakes, is of crucial importance. The project augments the experience of these situations and acts as a cautionary tale by simulating actual scenarios, predicting spaces and creating eventual ambiances. The Center, fully equipped by adequate technology is allowing its visitors to actually experience hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, fire fighting and smoke.

The interior of this enormous cross-shaped building is a multi-level roller coaster of overlapping programs, connected through a central point, which receives and guides the public in its interaction with the building. Six separate programmatic areas – the entrance, planetarium, training, simulation, library, conference area and administration need specific connectivity along both axes; therefore the form of the building actually follows the requirements of its main program components. Read the rest of this entry »

This design for the Fresh Kills landscape by Barker Freeman Design Office engages visitors and the environment into generating energy using piezoelectricity, which is the conversion of mechanical movement into electricity. Energy from wind, sound vibration, and human movement can collectively be harvested from the movement of natural piezoelectric materials embedded in walkable surfaces and bendable wind-capturing stalks and streamers. Systems of piezoelectric components are combined to create a series of spaces, including walking trails, a “playscape,” and an amphitheater that support a range of activity for the Park as a destination for large-scale events as well as for more individual recreational activities. Read the rest of this entry »

The project designed by Olga Kovrikova, Asa Darmatriaji, and Timothee Raison continues to explore the notion of housing as a cellular component of an urban organism. Our project is a masterplan that is being informed with the landscape previously scanned and analyzed by swarming robots in order to be able to classify certain geological conditions that would lead to produce the network structures on site.

The project is being developed through a layered multi-agent system that is inspired by nature—in our case, desert-dune field pattern formation, desert erosion processes, which are proliferating continuous spaces that have striated, contoured, cavernous surface aesthetics. The scanning robots are developed to avoid obstacles—which can be elements such as high rock formations—and trace geological formations. By applying this scanning technique we are able to generate the height map and geological consistency of the scanned area. Elements such as sand, clay and rock are maps on site and are informing the robots for the next stages of the process—settling the buildings on the site, excavating and printing. Read the rest of this entry »

Brooks + Scarpa and KZF Design have released their proposal for the new Interfaith Chapel at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, FL. The proposed 7000 square foot Interfaith Chapel is designed to be a special place where students and others can slow down their lives, re-focus on their spiritual needs and reflect. At the same time, the Chapel will support a variety of diverse religious services, student ceremonies, weddings, other intimate events, lectures, meditative practices and musical performances.

The informal shape of the building footprint symbolizes an allegorical figure, such as Justice, Faith, Hope, Charity, Prudence and Fortitude. The buildings form draws upon references of flowing formal gowns used in weddings and other ceremonial rituals. The top of the building culminates with a large skylight that is shaded by a wooden lattice spire whose form is derived from the symbol of infinity. This combination of flowing natural and cosmic elements results in a unique, formal building while providing a warm interior with soft filtered and reflected light. It inspires an indelible wonder; a dreamlike state of mind that engages the user, heightens their sense of awareness, and brings a deeper understanding to their experience.

The building is organized with a variety of features that reinforce a sense of spirituality and self-reflection, and embrace the local natural environment as well as the macro, cosmological world. Viewed from the center of the sanctuary, a window has been placed high above the ground, facing directly north at 30 degrees above the horizontal. This window is aligned with and provides a direct nighttime view of the Polaris.

The Polaris, or North Star, is a historically important navigational and otherworldly star. Because of its position in the sky, no matter where you are in the Northern Hemisphere, if you face north you are facing toward Polaris. This direct connection from the sanctuary’s interior to an important cosmic symbol encourages the viewer to reflect and forge a deeper and more meaningful understanding of the fundamental, yet delicate relationships that exist between themselves, our collective cultures, the natural world and its vital resources.

The proposed design has other windows and openings strategically placed around the building to allow for views and visual connections to adjacent lake, nearby woods, and other important natural and cosmic features. Some windows are aligned with the winter and summer solstices to allow for the penetration of unique qualities of natural light that occur only during sunrise and sunset of this special moment. Other openings view the lake, garden and provide a welcoming arrival to the chapel. All of these features allow the opportunity for users to co-mingle with special moments of natural phenomena that connect to and honor the role of faith and spirituality. Read the rest of this entry »

The Leviathan as an ancient sea monster is mentioned six times in the Book of Job where it is described in detail. Among Job’s portrayal of Hell’s gatekeeper are numerous material depictions manifesting the creature’s physical traits which allow him to move speedily at sea despite its heavy build. His back has rows of shields tightly sealed together; Each is so close to the next that no air can pass between them; They are joined fast to one another; they cling together and cannot be parted; The folds of Leviathan’s flesh are tightly joined; they are firm and immovable; His chest is hard as a rock, ‘hard as a lower millstone’ (Book of Job). This underwater wriggling serpent is here re-imagined as armor for the human torso, inspired by the Leviathan’s anatomy and physiology. Composed of a thin stiff shell, cuts are introduced into the surface to allow for the flexibility required for movement and stretching. This body suit is designed as a single continuous surface with thin slots printed in two materials. Each slot is double-sided such that soft materials make up its internal composition providing comfort, while a stiffer material is deposited externally to provide for a protective outer shell.

Design: Neri Oxman in collaboration with W. Craig Carter (MIT) and Joe Hicklin (The Mathworks)
Photos: Yoram Reshef  Read the rest of this entry »

In 2012, Doshisha University held a competition to build a new chapel and Center for Christian Culture sited upon adjacent sites on their Kyoto campus.

Architects BAKOKO, in collaboration with engineers Structured Environment, proposed to connect the two new facilities with a bridging roof. The notion of continuity is extruded within the cores of this figure-eight formation, to house two sanctuaries devoted to religious worship and culture.

It is a building where structure, form, and function are moulded into a singular totality. Our intention is not to draw attention to the form of the building, but rather, to merge floor, walls, and roof into an immersive experience prioritizing personal reflection and human interaction within the central sanctums.

At the point where the loops merge, the roof arches over a campus thoroughfare, linking two new buildings dedicated to worship and parochial classes, gatherings, and exhibitions. The green roof reduces rainwater runoff and also helps to offset the loss of plants and trees which previously inhabited these greenfield sites. Read the rest of this entry »

With urban housing needs increasingly growing and competing with other resources such as green spaces Zoka Zola Architects designed a clever urban topography that makes room for both. To be completed at the end of 2013 on the outskirts of Rijeka, Croatia INTERPOLATION will consist of 80 condominiums among four buildings. Each building sits a story above the virgin landscape and at a distance from each other creating a continuous band of untouched green belts boarding on a forest. Read the rest of this entry »

BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group and Cymbal Development transform a portion of Fort Lauderdale’s New River front into a vibrant addition for the local community and future residents of the city.

The mixed-use development, Marina Lofts, in downtown Fort Lauderdale seeks to infuse a currently run-down stretch along the New River with a thriving pedestrian friendly public space thereby attracting new residents into its development. Totaling 1,000 rental apartments, 10,000 sq ft of restaurants and 25,000 sq ft of retail, the mixed-use development is broken into three phases. The Florida-based developer, Asi Cymbal, expects the project to have a positive long-term economic benefit to the city and local community of Fort Lauderdale.

“Our intent here is to create a world class project that will serve as a model for architecture, creativity, and energy along the most prime stretch of waterfront in Downtown Fort Lauderdale,” says Asi Cymbal, owner of Cymbal Development.

Situated in an industrial gap in Fort Lauderdale’s Riverwalk park, Marina Lofts stitches together the final arm of the currently fragmented public space along the New River. BIG’s design frames the space with a generous public promenade bounded towards south by a 3-phase series of residential towers, creating public life along the riverfront while maintaining the existing marine activities of Fort Lauderdale. The two initial housing towers are treated as one continuous building “breaking” at the center to form an opening which allows maximum pedestrian activity to flow between the buildings and extends the city life out to the waterfront. Read the rest of this entry »

Proposal by HHF and Burckhardt + Partner for the new Basel Aquarium. Zoo Basel is embedded in the city and used as a park by residents and visitors. The redesigning of the green area Nachtigallenwäldeli and the construction of the new Ozeanium, an ocean aquarium, on the Heuwaage are bringing the zoo and the park area even closer to the city center, to form an attractive living environment and recreational area. The proposed Ozeanium accommodates the scale of the surrounding buildings, such as the Rialto swimming pool, the market hall and the tall buildings on the city ring. The striking, con!dent construction volume is a clear indication of what an attraction this will be, enriching the city in a central location.

The roof and facade are homogenous in terms of the materials and the language of forms: exposed concrete, horizontally graduated by rough boarding and with sediment-like exogenous inclusions. The archaic building is riddled with differently sized openings and recesses, making it possible to ascertain the most important themes from the outside. Some of the spherical indentations in the building volume are planted with vegetation and serve as habitat for birds and small animals. Read the rest of this entry »