New York City’s Watershed is in crisis. Not only is there a larger demand for water due to the growth of the population, but due to further suburban development in upland areas, water catchment sites are not as hygienic as before. Within the Croton Watershed lies Carmel,  a suburban town in Putnam County with large basins for water catchment integrated into a developed suburban community. The distributed system currently in place for the dispersal of sewage, though, has a very high risk of contaminating the watershed.

Based on a topological study using sand and cavities to represent the density and area of groundwater contamination risk, a landscape was generated by Carla Lores and Michael Yarisnky. The areas that are highest upland have the highest ground water capacity and lowest contamination risk, and the areas downland have the lowest capacity and highest risk. This relationship is key to the remediation strategy, by creating a topography that channels effluent water to these specific sites. The exo-landscape is then populated with components that not only allow the material flow relationship but can also be modulated to allow for varying lighting conditions and the ability to contain soil and plants. This passive system is then activated by integrated pumps that draw sewage to biogas processing sites. Read the rest of this entry »

Inspired by the jagged and characteristic landscape of Lanzarote the Palacio de Congresos by Henning Larsen Architects emphasises the surrounding nature. The building is an elegant mountain of lava with an inner red glow and a vivacious inner life. The building is designed to become the new cultural converting point for Lanzarote and a showcase of the islands characteristics, the vast nature with mountains, ocean and the high sky. The building is created for this place and this place alone. The crystalline shape accentuates the identity and evolves the profile of the city. As a geological formation it creates a special skyline for the city and the island. With a silhouette similar to a mountain ridge the compo-sition creates a foreground and background in constant change, depend-ing on the different viewpoints.

From Arrecife, the Palacio de Congresos is very visible and significant at the end of the promenade. With no rear side, the building will appear a landmark from the ocean, the city and from all the access roads. The main entrance hall is elevated from the traffic and opens up towards the city and the ocean promenade. It welcomes visitors and shows the inner glow and activity, and the city park is activated as a part of the en-trance plaza, leading the way to the “red carpet area” and a grand entry of the building. One collective foyer, as a cave, accomplishes visual contact to all levels and converts, with precise views back to the city and the city park, the skyline of the mountains, the ocean horizon and the sky. Read the rest of this entry »

Innen Stadt Auen (Inner City Out) is the first solo exhibition by the Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson in a Berlin institution. The central theme of the show, which has been curated especially for the Martin-Gropius-Bau by Daniel Birnbaum, is Berlin, the city in which the artist has lived and worked for many years. Here he has set up his multifaceted studio, which combines research, experimentation and production; and as a professor at the Berlin University of the Arts founded the Institut fr Raumexperimente (Institute for Spatial Experiments) in April 2009. The exhibition concerns itself closely with the relationship between museum and city, architecture and landscape, and space, body and time. The site-specific investigations within the museum are amplified through various projects in public space, thus linking the Martin-Gropius-Bau to other places within the city. The entire project includes 28 works, most of which have been created especially for this occasion. Read the rest of this entry »

This opera house designed by Emergent is a synthetic mountain. It stands in stark contrast to the horizontality of the Marine Culture District, and relates to the mountainous topography that bounds and characterizes the city. It can be seen from all over the bay as a strong silhouette.

The mountain contains two nested volumes which house the 2,000 seat Opera and the 1,300 seat Multifunctional Theater. The outer shell of the mountain loosely contains these volumes, sometimes fusing with them, sometimes vaulting over them, and sometimes dissolving away to create views and passageways through a cavernous public space. Openings in the mountain are positioned towards picturesque views of the city and the waterfront.

The manifold skin of the mountain varies from razor-thin and roof-like to extremely thick and spatial, where it is packed with public amenities and private support functions. Elevator cores and other circulation elements also inhabit these poché spaces rather than being expressed. The double-layer mass is therefore an organizational device rather than simply a formal expression. Read the rest of this entry »

Ten architecture students from Columbia University GSAPP have recently completed Polymorphic, a kinetic installation utilizing an innovative design and engineering solution inspired by the kinetic action of a see-saw and the reverberating motion of a slinky. The group consisted of Charlie Able, Alexis Burson, Ivy Chan, Jennifer Chang, Aaron Harris, Trevor Hollyn Taub, Brian Lee, Eliza Montgomery, Vernon Roether, and David Zhai.

The installation is comprised of a double-sided bench which transforms through a series of 119 unique and interconnected sections into a chaise lounge and finally an interactive balance board. These sections are connected via an inventive pivot and bolt system which allows the vertical movement of one section to be picked up by others down the line. Together, this motion allows the installation to transform from a series of leveled sections into an undulating form that becomes activated through interaction with its occupants.

While the overall form of the bench is realized as a continuous landscape, each seating condition was designed according to existing ergonomic profiles in order to maximize comfort and functionality. This is further realized by allowing the tolerance of its motion to conform to the postures of the occupants using simply their weight as a point of activation for the movement of the sections. A series of internal notches linked together by elastic bands and reinforced by couplings located on the central pivot rods prevent lateral movement and ensures safety during motion. Read the rest of this entry »

The project is a temporary building, part of the upcoming Frankfurt Motor Show. It is designed by Schmidhuber + Partner and will remain in place until October 20, 2011, to house the Frankfurt Book Fair. The Audi Ring is 100 meters long, 70 meters wide and 12 meters high. The exhibition in the Grand Hall leads visitors through the vehicle presentation, followed by a technology park with various interactive exhibits. .The 400 meter-long  test track extends across both levels of the interior, visible from the exterior via cutaways along the structure’s sides and top, and permitting the travel of up to nine vehicles at once. The course is open for visitors to experience by riding as passengers alongside professional drivers in a range of current and future Audi vehicles. As co-drivers, visitors are immersed in the driving experience, provided by the combination of technology and architecture. Read the rest of this entry »

Nympha Cultural Center in Bucharest is a concept proposal designed by Brasov-based upgrade.studio, an architectural practice oriented towards computational design and cutting-edge concepts. Their Urban BY-PASS project received a Special Mention at eVolo’s Scyscraper Competition in 2008.

The proposal is conceived as a programmatic addition to the studio’s Digital University project. It comprises Art galleries, Cultural Center, Performing Arts Center and the University library.The two morphologies seem to be deliberately conflicted, expressing opposite approaches. Read the rest of this entry »

The natural acrylic stone material HI-MACS® was chosen by eminent French artist Ora-ïto for his entry into the recent Wallpaper/Reebok exhibition in London. Fabricated by Candido Hermida in Spain, HI-MACS® was selected for its outstanding properties, visual and tactile effects and the ability to offer the artist thermoforming capabilities that placed zero restriction on his vision and ability to create a stunning three-dimensional creation.

Five of the world’s leading creative artists were invited to participate and Ora-Ito’s contribution was an interpretation of the Reebok RealFlex shoe in the form of a wall-mounted installation made entirely from HI-MACS®.

The detail of Ora-Ito’s work was what he described as the “iconic sneaker soles”. In creating this by using HI-MACS® the designer was able to exercise various sculptural experiments taking inspiration from the RealFlex sole’s “hidden art” aspects, resulting in a topographic landscape made to touch and explore its own poetic qualities. Read the rest of this entry »

To honour London’s imminent hosting of the 2012 Olympic games, James Law Cybertecture has presented an Olympic Pavilion X design to offer a statement of passion and excellence whilst providing a thrilling platform for memorable celebrations by the city and its citizens.

Inspired by the fluid shape of a raindrop splash, Olympic Pavilion X becomes a modern iconic landmark to inject both fun and flair to the monumental Trafalgar Square. With an electrifying exterior façade stretching 375 square meters, Olympic Pavilion X offers functional features of information center, souvenir shop and administration office at the tip of its three separate corners. Read the rest of this entry »

This proposal by Emergent is based on creating a complex visual oscillation between two and three dimensional realms. Somewhere between the disciplines of sculpture and painting, the piece registers as a mass but also as a graphic. Loopy, spotted patterns flow over manifold surfaces, simultaneously dissolving the mass and re-establishing it. Transparent zones allow people to view deep inside the object, their gaze pulled into involutions in interior surfaces. They can see the inside of the mass-painting.

The human brain, recent neuroscience suggests, is not engaged in “seeing” space, but in actively “modeling” space1. Residing on multiple ontological levels, this project is an attempt to force the brain to hedge and guess in its “modeling” of physical reality.

The colorful pattern language, while fanciful at first glance, is not simply a visual phenomenon. It is the result of intersecting a map of structural stresses with a painterly sensibility. The loopy mass is analyzed as a composite shell structure, revealing areas of low and high stress. The resultant color-gradient map is manipulated to produce certain visual effects but also broken down into layers of variable thickness and material strength. Color and pattern therefore only partially index material forces; the piece exceeds simple material expression towards something which correlates nature and culture. Read the rest of this entry »