SOFTlab and The Living produced the exhibition design for ReGeneration at the New York Hall of science. ReGeneration includes ten installations produced by various artists that explore immigration, urbanization, and sustainability through art, science and technology. Our brief was for the exhibition design to not only be a platform for the other installations, but to also be an installation in and of itself making it one of the ten artist installations.

The New York Hall of Science is located in Queens, NYC, the most ethnically diverse county in the United States. The exhibition framed the idea of sustainability as a system that is exothermic. That New York City is an exothermic system that thrives on the infusion of energy through immigration and generates energy through ideas and knowledge. We looked at this idea at various scales: global, national, city, borough, etc. We found that it is not simply the infusion of various groups or energies into a system, but the mixing and tangencies of these energies and mixing that produces a “melting pot” of ideas. It is through this mixing and turbulence of many ideas that a larger community forms—one that can be seen as a larger whole while still retaining the ability to show a “finer grain,” much like the interconnected loops of an ecosystem, or like many local “weathers” within a regional or global weather system. We treated the overall exhibition as an opportunity for the mixing of various artists responding to the community in many ways, in hopes to create a critical mass of tangencies that extend an influence outside of the museum into the larger community.

We inverted the typical exhibition design of white walls and subdivisions and created a floating cloud that not only marked the zones of each artist installation but connected them under a common roof. More specifically, the “cloud” consists of multiple interconnected “weathers” at the multiple scales of the artwork, the community, Queens, New York City, the country, and the world. While each “weather” has its own features and identity, they have many overlapping, “common” themes, and there are many threads that tie them together into one “common” ecosystem. In other words, the cloud is a kind of weather for the Regeneration exhibition–but rather than a single weather, it is really several common weathers. Read the rest of this entry »

Designed by Vancouver-based Bing Thom Architects, the new Xiqu Center will be the first of 17 arts and cultural venues to be opened within the new West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong. Symbolizing the importance and the richness of Xiqu (Chinese opera), the center aims at making this piece of Asian cultural heritage accessible to new audiences. The Center will blend theater, art and public space and host international cultural programs. Like the soft glow of a lantern behind a bead curtain, the Xiqu Center will light up the Eastern entrance of the West Kowloon Cultural District and act as a lantern for Hong Kong. Read the rest of this entry »

The spiral silhouette of Sonik Module’s Sity project traces the river valley in Shanghai, reflexing the heavily contrasting roof levels in the area. It undulates by lowering itself to the ground and then rising to achieve and then exceed the maximum height of the surrounding buildings. The spiral shape encompasses and frames space, offering unique sights of the horizon from different angles. Read the rest of this entry »

The project of Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas was conceived as a symphony of architectural volumes, creating the effect of a music that you can listen to with your eyes. On a total area of ​​about 110,000 square meters, the elliptical shape of each building gives the impression of a perpetual motion and continuous vibration. The surface of the facade is a continuous ribbon coated with a metal skin with openings geometric design that allow natural light to enter the interior of the four volumes. Read the rest of this entry »

1001 was produced by the ID5 Interactive Systems faculty as the result of an iterative draft design process. Apart from design aspects, permanent adaption of the surface to the human body was the working team’s main focus. They adopted various approaches as a means of controlling spatial movements. CAD was essential in order to simulate specific deformation of the surface and, in subsequent work stages, to shape this deformation in all its conditions. The aim was for 1001 to be formally convincing not only as an object but also in every possible use situation. More than 30 clusters, each consisting of three elastic rods, are mounted on a spherical base and support the reclining surface, which has a corresponding geometrical pattern but consists of rigid segments. Read the rest of this entry »

This project designed by Juan Jose Sanchez Martinez from the European University of Madrid is a proposition for a subaquatic archeological park of Yenikapi, Istanbul. The grounds of a forgotten harbor for more than 16 centuries restructured into a subaquatic museum transited through a hammam. We face the preservation by the evolution of a new cultural tourism where history and body create an emphatic bond. The project folds with the exterior, it flows towards the landscape, not imitating its forms but its evolutionary process. Read the rest of this entry »

The Golden Moon designed by Kristof Crolla and Adam Fingurt revisits the concept of a Chinese lantern and makes a direct link to the legend of Chang’e, the Moon Goddess of Immortality – two elements strongly associated with the Mid-Autumn Festival. According to the romantic story Chang’e lives on the moon, away from her husband Houyi who lives on earth. The couple can only meet on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival when the moon is at its fullest and most beautiful. To symbolise the passionate love burning between the reunited couple that day, the 6-storey-high, spherical spherical moon lantern is clad with abstracted flames in fiery colours and patterns. The lantern is placed in a reflection pool and is made large enough for up to 150 people to enter and be fully immersed in the sound and light experience.

Traditional materials for making lanterns, such as translucent fabric, metal wire and bamboo, have been translated to a large scale. A light-weight steel geodesic dome forms the pavilion’s primary structure and is the basis for a computer-generated grid wrapped around it. This grid is materialised through a secondary structure from bamboo. For this, Hong Kong’s traditional bamboo scaffolding techniques were used – a high-speed, instinctive way of building scaffoldings for e.g. the city’s many skyscrapers. This highly intuitive and imprecise craft was merged with exact digital design technology to accurately install and bend the bamboo sticks into a grid wrapping the steel dome. This grid was then clad with stretch fabric flames, all lit up by animated LED lights. Read the rest of this entry »

DrawDEL Strands designed by Nikita Troufanov and Gonzalo Padilla is an experiment in the oscillation of materiality—layering information sets and shifting focus, materialized as part drawing part model.

In this hybridized 2d and 3d presentation neither mode of communication can stand without the other. It is an artifact to push the modality of fabrication not only for presentation but for its use as a design tool. Read the rest of this entry »

Austin-based Miró Rivera Architects are the designers of the signature buildings at the Circuit of The Americas, the first purpose-built Formula 1 Grand Prix™ facility in the United States. The architectural features of this new world-class motorsports and entertainment venue include the Grand Plaza, the 6,500-seat Tower Amphitheater, the Main Grandstand, a 251-foot tall Observation Tower, ticketing buildings, concession areas and two bridges over the track. As the designers of the main public spaces and buildings around the 3.4-mile track, Miró Rivera Architects are responsible for the aesthetic and much of the experiential qualities of the site. Circuit of The Americas hosted its first major event, the 2012 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix, November 16-18, 2012.

The main architectural language of the facility evokes the precision, dynamism and performance-driven design of racecars. It is also visually stimulating, incorporating banners, billboards and bold graphics. The architects bring their innovative approach to the structural systems: rather than being concealed behind a building’s façade they are articulated and become significant parts of the design. An architectural theme reoccurring throughout the site is the use of red steel tubes. The tubes cascade down the side of the Observation Tower to form a canopy for the Amphitheater stage and also frame the Main Grandstand. Evocative of sports cars and movement, this element ties the structures together creating a consistent visual experience.

The Observation Tower serves as the centerpiece of the complex, which rises over the racetrack offering sweeping views of the entire venue, downtown Austin and the nearby Hill Country. The tower, a dramatic backdrop to the Amphitheater, provides a visual end to the Grand Plaza and also serves as a reference point for spectators throughout the site. Its observation platform at the top can hold up to 75 people and features glass railings and a glass floor. Read the rest of this entry »

Located in downtown Phoenix, the 70,000 sf Observation Tower shall add a significant structure to the Phoenix skyline from which to enjoy the city’s spectacular views of the surrounding mountain ranges and dramatic sunsets. Phoenix-based developer Novawest, commissioned the team to create a destination event to provide tourists and citizens of Phoenix alike the chance to enjoy the unique features of the Valley of the Sun.

“This is the right place and the right time for a signature project for downtown Phoenix and we knew the design needed to be something extraordinary. BIG has delivered something exceptional, blending form and function in a way that will change the local skyline forever and will give visitors a once-in-a-lifetime experience.” Brian Stowell, Novawest.

The future observation tower is conceived as a tall core of reinforced concrete with an open-air spiral sphere at its top, resembling a metaphorical pin firmly marking a location on a map. The spiraling sphere contains flexible exhibition, retail and recreational spaces which are accessed via three glass elevators that connect the base with the summit and offer panoramic views of the city and the tower’s programs as visitors ascend or descend. Walking downwards from the top through a continuous spiral promenade, the visitors of the observation tower experience all of the building’s programs in a constant motion, while enjoying dynamic 360 degree views of the city of Phoenix and the Arizonian landscape. Read the rest of this entry »