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 »

The Hong Kong – Zhuhai – Macao Bridge (HZMB) is a strategic commercial corridor that links three important regions of China’s Pearl River Delta. The government of the three regions launched, in early 2010, an international architectural competition for the development of the maritime transportation terminals.  The competition was divided in Professional Groups only by invitation and Open Registration Teams.  The winning entries were announced on May 14, 2010 and will be exhibited in Hong Kong during the next three months.

Winners of the Professional Groups:

1^st Place
Paul Mui, Benny Lee, Agnes Hung
Hong Kong

2^nd Place
Stephen Chan, Christopher Wong, Simon Ng
Hong Kong

3^rd Place
Kevin Chan, Louis Lee
Lawrence Wong, Jerry Wang, Chun Pun, Athena Chau
Hong Kong

Honorable Mention
Adham Selim
Egypt

Honorable Mention
Zhenqing Que, Xing Xiong, Shi Zhou, Yan Zeng
Hong Kong

Winners of the Open Groups:

1^st Place
Siming Chen, Xincheng Lin, Liang Wu, Jin Zhou, Yuxin He, Yimin Yang
China

2^nd Place
Steven Ma, Wendy Fok, Dominik Strzelec
Austria

3^rd Place
Nard Buijs, Floris Peek, Alexander van der Meer
The Netherlands

Honorable Mention
Vitaly Kojuev, Elena Kuznetsova, Viktor Koshuev
Russia

Honorable Mention
Wang Lam
Hong Kong

The design for the Emerald Plaza in Abu Dhabi by Emergent Architecture is a contemporary reinterpretation of the Northern African souks where the community gathers for diverse commercial and recreational activities. These areas are characterized by narrow streets, fountains, and tents that provide shelter from the harsh environment.  The project is based on creating continuity between the three elements called for in the brief: a garden, a central sculptural volume, and a network of canopies. The canopies merge into a landscaped Roof which provides shade for walkways below. This Roof also connects the perimeter high-rise buildings together, creating a bi-level entryway into each. Read the rest of this entry »

ec-O is a multifunctional green concept bench system designed by Steven Ma which generates electricity through embedded thin solar films on the top surface of four lighting channels. ec-O will use stored electricity to function as night-lighting system. It also has a built in water collector and filter. The structure and shell is made out of Bio-Aluminum tiles from retired airplanes. It is a sustainable design solution that has the strength of an aircraft and contributes to LEED credits and USGBC project certification. The ec-O bench also utilizes Bio-Glass from 100% recyclable glass bottles with no colorants or additives. Read the rest of this entry »

Alexandre Guillaume is a New York-based artist whose paintings have been widely exhibited and it is now recognized as an emergent voice in contemporary art. Alexandre’s work is the amalgamation of his childhood memories in a small village of Northern France with his constant travels and migrations. Powerful colors and strong lines create a “pure instinct of movement” – the speed and impatience of everyday life is compressed in a canvas. His minimalistic compositions are praised for its rigor, clarity, and strength. Alexandre approach to color is one of contrast where half-tones do not exist. Read the rest of this entry »

Newsweek recently asked three leading architecture firms to imagine what our future cities would look like in 2030. They posed the question to Richard Meier & Partners, Cooper Robertson & Partners and HOK and had them take a look at the future of New York City, and how the way we commute, live, work and play would all change. All of the firms proposed that sustainability would be a major factor in our development, with more efficient transportation and buildings, more green space, more walking and homes that are closer to our place of work. The firms underlying vision of the future was that quality of life was richer and healthier as a result of the sustainable advances.

Richard Meier & Partners proposed that waterfront areas would be covered in green spaces to add more recreational places for city residents. While transportation along the North and South cooridors, the cross town transportation needs significant improvement. They proposed strengthening cross town public transportation and adding destinations at the end of the nodes. In the future, Richard Meier & Partners thinks that people will work closer to where they live to reduce time spent commuting and that the segregation between work areas and live areas will lessen.

Richard Meier – Live Work

Richard Meier – Recreation Read the rest of this entry »

Designed by Kenneth Loh and Michelle Lim this project is an investigation for a new urban prototype of solar powered towers. The entire façade is covered with a thin membrane of solar cells and a water collector system. The main idea is to develop a green building with different types of programs. The building core is a hollowed cylinder that moves hot air from the surface and creates micro-climates for gardens, farm fields, and recreational areas. Residential units for low, medium, and high density are attached to a continuous ramp or street. Along the entire structure there will be ‘pockets’ of different sizes and materials for cultural and educational areas. The building is connected to an underground cistern with a power plant. Rainwater is collected, filtered, stored and used to produce sufficient energy for the entire community. A series of these towers will cool the environment and solved the housing problems of some urban settlement worldwide. Read the rest of this entry »

Tom Wiscombe’s (Emergent Architecture) design for the Cheongna City Tower is based on creating an innovative spatial, structural, and energy production device which will become an operational symbol of the future for the IFEZ Cheongna region. Located at the intersection of the main pedestrian passageway from east to west and the main artificial waterway from north to south in Lake Park, the Tower is intended to be a hub of urban activity and a new destination for the region. It is 400 M. tall and offers views of the ocean, the Incheon Airport to the west and Mt. Geyang to the east. The lower levels of the Tower contain various leisure and cultural activities such as art and design exhibition spaces, an assembly and lecture space, gift shops, and bars. The mid-levels of the Tower contain public Sky-Terraces every 50 M. as well as a Business Spine which contains showroom office space for various technology companies and cultural institutions. The upper levels of the Tower contain an astronomical observatory, a seasonal high-end restaurant with star chefs, and various lookout points and observation decks. Read the rest of this entry »