It’s like the largest, most attractive Brita pitcher ever created – and you could live in it.

By placing their skyscraper directly in the Mapocho River, which flows directly through Santiago, the capital of Chile, five architecture students from the Universidad de Chile have designed a modern, honeycomb-like structure that not only provides space for housing and commercial endeavors, but filters the water as it flows through its lower levels.

The dirty river’s pollution manifests problems throughout the capital city, the students say. So as the murky river reaches their skyscraper, networks of microscopic filaments clean the water; the structure continues horizontally to create a giant “L,” with polygonal forms to hold vegetation so that the area acts as a lagoon. This manmade wetland completes the processes of decanting and phytoremediation, cleansing the river and city simultaneously. To celebrate the restored environment, a large city park is then planned for the banks of the purified Mapocho River. Read the rest of this entry »

Czech architect Jiri Richter recently unveiled his proposal for a self-sufficient vertical city to be located in pristine landscapes. Richter’s project investigates the possibility of creating a building that will support an entire community without a nation’s help. The structure is designed as two 150-meter tall arches with hanging floors. The central core is an open space aligned to wind currents where two wind turbines, along with photovoltaic cells will generate the required energy for the community.

The program is distributed throughout the building with crops fields in the higher levels in direct contact with sunlight while residences, educational, cultural, and recreational areas will occupy the lower floors. An interesting aspect of the proposal is the retractable canopy between the two arches that will allow airflow during hot summer days and be closed in winter. Read the rest of this entry »

Italian architect Gianluca Santosuosso unveiled the DUNEhouse as a flexible tool where the client has the possibility to define his own house. Mainly, the idea is based on a system composed by different volumes where each of them represents a program or a cluster of it (bedroom and bathroom, kitchen, swimming poll, etc.) and the client is able to distribute them on the plot and creating every kind of space and connection that he prefers.

In the project, the most important parameter is the wind, so the base geometry of the house (the sequence of air flow analysis shows some of the wind test) is organised in order to maximise the wind flow and consequently the natural ventilation inside the building. To increase the effect of this mechanism all the house volumes (made of reinforced and insulated concrete shells) have been thought on the top of small artificial dunes working as thermal mass with the aim to regulate the income air temperature. Read the rest of this entry »

The proposed skyscraper designed by Marie-Alice Kacou and Khanh Do, students at the Savannah College of Art and Design, seeks to become iconic edifice that helps to raise the awareness of recycling and sustainable development in terms of material reuse and water efficiency in the city. Located in south-east Raleigh, the site could be perceived as an abstracted edge of the downtown landscape as well as a transitional locus in the urban context. The parti is based on the converging points of three dynamic forces that meet at the site: the urban transition, the edge condition, and the human interaction. The investigation began with the metaphor of infinity underlying the concept of sustainable recycling and the interpretation of the universal symbol of recycling. The Symbol consists of three arrows pointing back at each other, denoting an abstraction of infinite cycles. Therefore, the infinity sign is being dissected in 2 dimensional and 3 dimensional configurations to establish the structure and fabrication of the building. What is proposed is a prototype for a mix use skyscraper acting as an architectural locus where these three forces will interact and generate interaction. Read the rest of this entry »

Vertical Landscape is an urban intervention proposed by Pratt Institute graduate student Sejal Bhimjiani where architecture and landscape appear as a continuous element. The project creates an exchange between rigid urban grids of metropolises such as Shanghai or New York City and “soft” landscape through a series of vertical experiences. The topological and continuous areas in a multipurpose plaza at ground level transforms into a serene vertical sculptural park, jogging trails, and camping grounds. Sejal describes the project as a new typology that activates and transforms the cityscape at different scales. The structure also defines public and private spaces through an innovative structural ribbon that expands at lower levels. Read the rest of this entry »

The Wind Tower is a spiraling mega-structure designed by British architects David Arnold and Alexa Ratzlaff as a twisted steel and concrete diagrid aerodynamically shaped to take advantage of the prevailing wind currents. At the center of the tower is the core which contains the main vertical circulation and storage areas. Spiraling around the core is a series of platforms that will accommodate a variety of programs including commercial, residential, institutional, and recreational facilities. Located above the program, turbines measuring 45 meters will generate enough power for 2,000 residences. Read the rest of this entry »

The construction of the Bella Sky hotel designed by 3XN in Copenhagen is the largest building site in Denmark. In only 6 months Bella Sky will open as one of Scandinavia’s largest and most spectacular hotels. Visually the hotel will be characterized by the two leaning towers, creating a  unspoiled view over the green meadows, the sea, and the Copenhagen skyline.

The two towers incline 15 degrees – by comparison the leaning tower in Pisa leans at an angle of 3.97 degrees – amounting to a staggering 20 meter slope difference between the ground and top floor. In order to accommodate such working conditions special fitters were trained to abseil down the building to mount the façade.

The unique design creates diversity at almost every floor level and thereby challenges the scopes for conventional construction. The complexity of Bella Sky reflects not only the great engineering and constructional achievements, but also the architectural ambition to create a unique and personal hotel experience.Inside the hotel will accommodate the luxurious feel of a four star hotel with interior inspired by the Scandinavian design tradition. Due to the complex architecture hotel guests will find more than 200 room variants, which contribute to creating an individual, exclusive and warm atmosphere. Accommodating 814 rooms, 32 conference rooms, 3 restaurants, lounge, a sky bar and a 850 m2 wellness centre the hotel will meet the wishes of a much needed extension to the Bella Centre Conference facilities and prepare Copenhagen to host large international events in the future. Read the rest of this entry »

The dramatic design set forth for Campus Center in Miami designed by Oppenheim Architecture is visually daring and bold: yet upon further introspection, inherently elemental and concise in its organization of the complex programmatic mix. The proposed LEED certified structure is conceived of as a portal comprised of a base and a top supported by two towers that allow large exterior public spaces at ground and in sky. The project is to serve as a catalyst-exasperating significant enhancement to the campus experience and image through a local revitalization of the surrounding neighborhood.

The Campus Center is fully integrated with the building and serves as the projects heart and soul. Organized around the 3rd level Quad- the various cultural components (museum, sculpture garden and Theater) of the College are fully engaged from this vantage point. A sloping landscaped plan provides a natural auditorium and opportunity for various cultural activities (spontaneous concerts, and nighttime cinema). Read the rest of this entry »

Elements of natural beauty can often astound visually, but they are always infinitely more awe-inspiring when one considers the millions of complex details involved in their existence. Leng Pau Chung, an architecture student in Sarawak, Malaysia, harnesses this wonder in the skyscraper complex Mangrove City: the buildings mimic nature in their holistic form and evolutionary capabilities, but Chung shows the complex’s beauty through the details.

Set amongst mangrove wetlands, the buildings combine complex “green” technology and materials to create a structures that, like the mangroves that surround them, will endure.

Plans for a wind turbine, rainwater harvesting, seawater filtration, daylight shutters, and water and energy distribution throughout the complex are fleshed out in great detail in Chung’s eVolo skyscrapers entry. As an example, Chung shows how, during different times of the day, the buildings’ solar integrated ETFE film can be repositioned to best generate energy and filter incoming sunlight. Read the rest of this entry »

Celebrating BIG’s third project with the same development team in the maturing neighborhood of Orestad, the construction of the 61,000 m2 8 House has come to an end, allowing people to bike all the way from the street up to its 10th level penthouses alongside terraced gardens where the first residents have already moved in.

The bowtie-shaped 61,000 m2 mixed-use building of three different types of residential housing and 10,000 m2 of retail and offices comprises Denmark’s largest private development ever undertaken. Commissioned by St. Frederikslund and Per Hopfner in 2006, the 8 House sits on the outer edge of the city as the southern most outpost of Orestad. Rather than a traditional block, the 8 House stacks all ingredients of a lively urban neighborhood into horizontal layers of typologies connected by a continuous promenade and cycling path up to the 10th floor creating a three-dimensional urban neighborhood where suburban life merges with the energy of a big city, where business and housing co-exist.

“We have now completed three remarkable buildings in Orestad, the VM Houses, The Mountain and finally the 8 House – which is the sole result of a good and constructive collaboration with talented young architects who had a good understanding for the economical aspects,” Per Hopfner, CEO, Hopfner Partners

The 8 House creates two intimate interior courtyards, separated by the centre of the cross which houses 500 m2 of communal facilities available for all residents. At the very same spot, the building is penetrated by a 9 meter wide passage that allows people to easily move from the park area on its western edge to the water filled canals to the east. Instead of dividing the different functions of the building – for both habitation and trade – into separate blocks, the various functions have been spread out horizontally. Read the rest of this entry »