The recently completed Cubus building designed by Woods Bagot boasts exclusive open decks of differing sizes throughout various locations in the building, creating a strong identity that differentiates itself from surrounding structures.

“The development of ‘Podium Tower’ buildings continue to prevail in Hong Kong due to local site coverage regulation, however, the design team transformed this potential constraint into an opportunity by creating exclusive open decks through the reduction of the lower-level floor, floorplate sizes,” said Stephen Jones, Principal, Woods Bagot.

Visitors experiencing exciting retail and restaurants on offer, or travelling inside the glass elevators will be able to enjoy striking views towards the city. The design of this vertical retail building with original façade features, and lighting effects is inspired by ice cubes.

“The value proposition for this project was to create a landmark building exhibiting a strong identity that differentiates itself in the market. The project team has fulfilled the client’s vision, with the building set to become a landmark in this busy area of Hong Kong Island,” continued Stephen Jones, Principal, Woods Bagot. Read the rest of this entry »

The urban night club designed by Tiffany Dahlen and Virginia Melnyk responds to the vibrant and eclectic youth culture of Harajuku and balances the high end fashion of Omontesando. The urban club consists of a large meet and greet entry area, sushi restaurant, sake bar, music lounge and two VIP lounges; Pockets of unique intensities are held within a white framework, creating zones of spatiality, surficiality, and crenalation. Five distinct qualities corresponding to the specific programs and aesthetic desires, transform between the different spaces through the medium of the framework and are embedded within it. They differ from a sweet salivating sushi restaurant to a soft pillowy lounge space. Read the rest of this entry »

Gensler’s design, called the London River Park picked up awards earlier this month for Best Conceptual Project and the Planning Excellence Award handed out by the Mayor of London Boris Johnson. Spearheaded by Gensler’s London office, the Park was conceived it as a part of the 2012 London Olympic Games events. According to Gensler’s press release, the park will be a “theatre for a programme of changeable events, gardens, and educational features”.

The Park would be situated on the north side of the Thames and would be the first continuous riverwalk between Blackfriar’s Bridge and London Bridge. The walk would feature six floating pavilions to host a number of cultural and education events including plans for “Sustainability” and “Culture” islands.

Hopes are high for the project, described by London Mayor Boris Johnson as a “fantastic catalyst for rejuvenating the Thames as a major transport artery”. Mayor Johnson went on to say he has “no doubt that (the London River Park) could become one of the capital’s most popular attractions”. Read the rest of this entry »

Serving as a monument and memorial to the UAE’s founding President Sheik Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the Zayed National Museum will be a focal point of the emerging Saadiyat Island Cultural District. All aspects of the Museum, from architectural design to museum exhibit themes were conceived to reflect the life and values of the late Sheikh Zayed.

The Museum’s striking wing shaped towers were designed to evoke thoughts of a flying falcon to pay homage to Sheikh Zayed’s love of falconry. They act as thermal towers, an integral part of the natural cooling system that draw hot air up and out creating a low pressure flow of cool air from outside in through the museum. This system will cut down on climate control costs and reduce environmental impact, in line with Sheikh Zayed’s advocacy of environmental friendliness. The wing towers will also hold the museum galleries in their bases.

The wings will shoot out of a manmade 30 meter high earth mound, which will house the underground lobby area complete with retail, open performance areas, dining and an auditorium. The underground lobby will take advantage of the thermal effect of the earth, further reducing climate control costs. The entire museum will be surrounded by a body of water to create a distinct cultural landmark amongst many planned for the Cultural District on Saadiyat Island. Read the rest of this entry »

The project is a proposal by Italian architect Tommaso Casucci for the new library of the school of architecture, located at the limit of the old town of Florence. It is part of a renovation plan of a large area used until recent times as convent and later penitentiary. Pre-existing spaces are converted in archive, the new addition provide study areas, meeting spaces, auditorium, exhibition spaces in a continuous varying experience.

The project explore the emergent qualities derived from surfaces modulation in an intensive fields, aiming to equilibrium states of program, structure and function trough morphodynamical processes. Form, structure, function and decoration are emergent qualities of the same coherent system strictly related to his environment.

At a global scale the system explore how the modulation of isosurfaces, based on intensive field from site analysis data, can achieve highly differentiated spaces and performative structures. The research uses a generative methodology to test multiple solutions based on the same process from which was selected the one that represent the best compromise between structural performance, program and connections. Read the rest of this entry »

Isaie Bloch experimented with form production at the Excessive studio II, Urban strategies, Die Angewandte Wien in Austria to produce a music pavilion that embraces monstrosity as a design tool.

How boring has perfection become?

Evidence of this lies in the fact that our contemporary design obsessions are based on an appreciation for the perversity of mutant form, a taste learned from the movies and set to work on architecture.

By subverting the logic of perfection and beauty, non-perfect images coming from controlled methodologies are generated. What used to be about mastering the result of a non-perfect process is now about the production of monstrosity and the grotesque throughout accurate mechanisms.

Key elements coming from Romanticism such as: ruinification, untamed wilderness, the unfinished and the validation of obscure perceptions are used as modus operandi. Intruding botanical gardens functioning as structure, dens calcified structures organizing circulation, decaying metal formations forming apertures and growing organic tissue transforming the internal morpholgy are all contributing to the architectural qualities of the design. Read the rest of this entry »

The House of the Future designed by  Kuangyi Tao from Texas A&M University,  College of Architecture is a project reacting to the problems emerging during modern times: overpopulation, resource shortage and virtual world development.

Inspired by images of “body cells” depicted in the Matrix, the house is based on a similar system of energy and information exchange. The major difference is that people will be in control.  Memory alloy tubes of infrastructure system can be stretched apart to create the basic skeleton of the house. The overlaying skin acts like a heart. The material, which is electro-responsive, is able to expand or contract under different electrical stimulation, just like cardiac muscles. It is responsive to changes in program and daylight. For example, higher occupancy in a room will result in higher voltage, causing the skin to expand and allow more space. STEM algae, embedded in the skin, react to different amounts of sunlight, allowing the skin to become either more opaque or translucent. In addition, they also generate oxygen to purify the atmosphere. Overgrown algae can be composted as bio-fuel, and extra fuel is feed back to the city. Other tubes buried in the skin distribute water and energy throughout the house. Space pattern of the house is much like a klein bottle, twisting the traditional space sequence. Read the rest of this entry »

Nigeria is already Africa’s most populous country, but the city of Calabar has been increasing the masses by attracting visitors from around the world with recent conferences and events. A conference center designed to impress is just what Calabar needs to keep this momentum going, city officials decided; thus, they hosted a design competition for the Calabar International Convention Center.

The winner is Henning Larsen Architects, a firm based in Copenhagen, who designed a four-part, modernist mass that will be sited on top of a hill and feature stunning views of a nearby river delta.

In addition to providing space for conferences, the geometrical building will serve as a cultural hub for the city’s residents, hosting events such as concerts and film festivals.

This added benefit is one that comes as a responsibility to the designers, according to Louis Becker, the firm’s international design director and partner. “Nigeria is developing rapidly at the moment and, as an architect invited to contribute to this development, you have a special obligation to consider architecture as more than a question of geometry,” he is quoted as saying on Henning Larsen’s website. “Architecture also contributes to the development of society.” Read the rest of this entry »

The design for a new central library in downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia was recently revealed by architects Fowler Bauld & Mitchell and schmidt hammer lassen architects after many months of working with the community.

The firms’ modern design was based largely on the needs expressed by community members in charettes and workshops. These ideas included recommendations for how light enters the building, allotments for green gathering spaces, and how seating and working spaces should be arranged.

The Halifax Central Library will be prominently located downtown, surrounded by historic neighborhoods, the Dalhousie School of Architecture and Spring Garden Road, the busiest commercial street east of Montreal. Its design speaks to its surroundings, with the modern, geometric massing standing in conversation with the Dalhousie campus’ classic forms.

The building will serve as the flagship library for the city’s 14 branches, and will, say the architects, be “an iconic reflection of the diversity of the community and modern life within the municipality as a whole.” Read the rest of this entry »

Prechteck’s design for the extension of the National Library of Austria located at the Hofburg in Vienna contains a number of cultural facilities including a 1200sqm underground core exhibition hall, a smaller 600sqm multifunctional hall, creative studios, a restaurant, and shops.

The design is to be seen as an extension of the bordering park and takes off at its north-west end to cross over the fire / drop-off lane with a twist that after crossing arches back to the ground level to melt into the landscape. All the  facilities are housed in one seamless structure, creating at each point a different spatial experience towards the Hofburg and directing its visitors intuitively to the foyer and to the different programs. Read the rest of this entry »