The Architectural Association School is mounting the first ever retrospective of the books produced by the Office for Metropolitan Architecture – a practice co-founded by a writer, Rem Koolhaas, largely on the basis of a book, Delirious New York (1978).

The centrepiece of the show is a specially-made 40,000-page book, binding together hundreds of OMA’s pamphlets and books made over 35 years of architectural thought, work and provocation.

OMA Book Machine: The Books of OMA runs from 8 May until 4 June 2010 at the AA School Gallery.

Many OMA books – like S,M,L,XL (1995) and Exodus or the Voluntary Prisoners of Architecture (made by the founders of OMA in 1975, and submitted by Koolhaas as his fifth-year thesis at the AA) – have had a decisive impact on architectural practice and book publishing in general. Read the rest of this entry »

Last week we compiled photos of all the national pavilions at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. This time we want to show you all the pavilions built by corporations and institutions.

Aurora Pavilion

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On May 17^th, 2010 the City Museum of Antwerp (MAS) designed by Neutelings Riedijk Architecten was completed and the international architectural press was invited to an exclusive visit of the building. The museum will remain closed to the public for one year until all the artworks and exhibitions have been completed. Read the rest of this entry »

Designed by Alisa Andrasek, the Seroussi Pavilion was “grown” out of self-modifying patterns of vectors based on electro-magnetic fields (EMF). Through logics of attraction/repulsion trajectories were computed in plan and than lifted via series of structural microarching sections through different frequencies of sine function. Additional feature built into script allows for local adaptation to the site in regards to the section (pavilion is implanted into a steep hill _ EMF trajectories needed to “find the ground”). Six different geometrical systems were used for design and are all steaming out of primary trajectories. The plan of the pavilion differs greatly from a classical notion of architectural plan drawing _ it is a dynamic blueprint closer to musical notation _ deep ecology of imbedded algorithmic and parametric relationships are the seed for possible materialization procedures and adaptation to the site conditions. In a design of the roof tilling resolution was increased by the algorithmic differentiation of components features. Read the rest of this entry »

pALICE Exhibition by SOFTlab

The American Institute of Architects New York Chapter announced the winners of its biennial design competition, New Practices New York, which recognizes innovative new architecture firms.

In order to qualify for the competition, the practices had to be founded since 2004, and be located within the five boroughs. This is the first year that the New Practices competition has been open to firms without a registered architect, widening the field of entrants to architectural designers and young professionals in the process of becoming licensed architects. Sixty-five registrants entered, and a distinguished panel of jurors selected the competition’s winners on Wednesday, May 12. The jury members were: Toshiko Mori, Joe MacDonald, William Menking, Guy Nordenson, and Galia Solomonoff.

The New Practices New York 2010 competition winners are: Easton+Combs, Archipelagos, Leong Leong, Manifold, SOFTlab, SO-IL, and Tacklebox. Read the rest of this entry »

The Dutch Selection Committee led by Herman Tjeenk Willink announced the sixteen finalists for The Hague’s Dance and Music Center Competition. Renowned architects such as Zaha Hadid, OMA, Diller Scofidio & Renfro, and Mecanoo are among the selected proposals. The projects have been on display since April 20^th, 2010 at The Hague City Hall and the public has been invited to vote for their favorite proposal. The Committee will select three firms to further develop their idea.

1. Aedas Limited

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Born from unique environmental conditions, GEOtube is a new kind of urban sculptural tower designed by California-based Faulders Studio. Gravity-sprayed with adjacent Persion Gulf waters, its building skin is entirely grown rather than constructed; is in continual formation rather than fully completed; and is created locally rather than imported. The world’s highest salinity for oceanic water is found in the Persian Gulf (and the Red Sea) – local salt water is supplied to GEOtube via a new 4.62 km buried pipeline and misted onto the tower’s exposed mesh. As the water evaporates and salt deposits aggregate over time, the tower’s appearance transforms from a transparent skin to a highly visible white solid plane. The result is a specialized habitat for wildlife that thrives is this environment, and an accessible surface for the harvesting of crystal salt. Read the rest of this entry »

London-based architect Daniel Widrig has recently unveiled the Lexus Tower, a 98,000 sqm development in Japan. The futuristic design will include apartments, shopping center, hotel, and recreational areas. One of the most fascinating aspects of the proposal is the structural skin that fuses with the landscape in a fluid and organic form. The development will occupy four city blocks – a large green area with cycling paths, lake, and botanical gardens. Moving away from the traditional dichotomy of towers resting on plinths, Daniel designed a continuous skyscraper that masterfully integrates with the urban fabric – a soft transition between the horizontal and vertical planes. Read the rest of this entry »

The living building challenge was created by the Cascadia Green Building Council to guide commercial development that would be net-zero energy and net-zero water use. Based in Portland, the Oregon Sustainability Center has stepped up to the challenge as they are working to build the first high rise of its kind to follow this standard. They first approach the issue with aggressive passive design. Proper fenestration, thermal mass and natural cooling is carefully incorporated. User energy consumption will be carefully monitored with feedback and active systems to encourage the occupant’s management of energy usage.

Active solar energy production, then, is anticipated to provide the building with its net yearly energy consumption. Four separate solar panel installation systems will be incorporated into the building to maximize solar output while shading the glazing from midday solar gain. Water systems are designed to minimize consumption and maximize reuse before final treatment and discharge. Rain catchment and greywater are plumbed into the building. All excess water will be discharged by various means onsite or nearby.

The building has a 4 degree shift in orientation per floor to maximize proper solar orientation, which dictates a more organic look to the structure. A shallow oval floor plate allows natural lighting to replace artificial during peak occupancy hours. It also allows occupants to be no more than 30 feet from an operable window for fresh air and cooling needs, a requirement for the Living Building Challenge. No conventional AC will be used, natural ventilation and ground source heat pumps will provide all the necessary heating and cooling.

The building will contain offices for non-profits that collectively make up the Center as well as a campus facility for the Oregon University System. The occupants are expected to work at developing an experimental framework in the building to maintain a net zero energy, water and waste foot print. The building program is also to be a classroom environment for outside parties to learn how zero energy design and implementation works.

X-aperitivo is an innovative tableware collection designed by Vienna-based architect Steven Ma.   Its glassware is very fluid and dynamic with different patterns and textures while its silverware is ergonomic and aerodynamic with attention to every detail. A very interesting piece of the series is a wine rack that could be configured in different ways to create clusters of organic forms. Read the rest of this entry »