Heatherwick Studio designed unique river boat as part of ‘Estuaire’ – an innovative project that has brought about the construction of major works of art along the banks of the River Loire, in France. The vessel will travel between the city of Nantes and the port town of Saint-Nazaire, reinforcing the connections between these towns and allowing up to 200 passengers to see the artworks from the river. The boat had to be designed for flexibility since it will be available for general hire, as well as organized art trips, and used as a venue for civic functions and meetings. It also seemed important to allow passengers to look in all directions, instead of facing forward as they do on a bus.

The boat takes the form of a catamaran, a shallow-draft boat with two hulls, which is stable and agile and travels comfortably at both high and low speed. Read the rest of this entry »

This museum, designed by Kyle Branchesi and Larisa Rus of the Southern California Insitute of Architecture examines interrelated systems which both modify the spatial structure of the building, and articulate expectations of the performance structurally, thermally, acoustically and environmentally. This project creates a contextualized assemblage of spaces for contemporary art to be explored. 
The interior is formed through a series of morphologies looking at the juxtaposition of larger and smaller galleries. The spaces formed between connecting galleries creates a surface which wraps through the museum. This gesture fades the transition between floor and wall. Circulation wraps into and out of the gallery spaces in a similar motion which can be observed in section.The continual motion expands to the facade of the building. A series of design explorations focus on the organization of splines. The facade couples and expands which creates surfaces aligning to interior conditions.
The facade is comprised of multi-layered ETFE panels that are coated and pumped with air. The panels expand both inwards and outwards; filtering sunlight and act in relation to seasonal weather patterns to allow natural ventilation.

“Pollution is nothing but the resources we are not harvesting. We allow them to disperse because we have been ignorant of their value.” Referencing the quote from Buckminster Fuller, Chang Yeob Lee adds that pollution could be seen as another economy; therefore Royal College of Art graduate has developed a concept to transform the BT Tower in London into a pollution-harvesting high rise.

Synth[e]tech[e]cology is Lee’s diploma project from the architecture program at the Royal College of Art in London and he was one of two winners of the Sheppard Robson Student Prize for Architecture at the Royal Academy of Arts ‘ Summer Exhibition.

Named Synth[e]tech[e]cology, the project predicts the eventual redundancy of the 189-meter tower – currently used for telecommunications – and suggests re-purposing it as an eco-skyscraper that collects airborne dirt particles and helps to reduce the level of respiratory illness in London. The process would involve extracting the carbon from petrol fumes and using it to produce sustainable bio-fuel. The exterior of the tower would form a giant eco-catalytic converter, while the interior would house a research facility investigating methods of increasing air movement and maximizing the efficiency of the structure. Read the rest of this entry »

Body Raft

The story of New Zealand-based designer David Trubridge is that of a man discovering, experimenting, and understanding nature. David’s professional journey is linked to his ongoing relationship with the landscape as a source of energy and inspiration.

Trained as a naval architect in England, David Trubridge began his career as what he describes a “craftsman-designer-maker” submerged in the study of materials properties and capabilities. His first furniture designs borrowed from the admiration of artists like Brancusi and the Art Noveau movement – a period in his career of interpretation and translation rather than experimentation.

In 1981 David set sail around the world to finally settle in 1985 in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand. The five-year experience transformed his vision as a designer; he started to focus on the concept and process behind a product rather than the final outcome. This is the story of one of his most celebrated designs, Body Raft, which borrowed from his nautical background. The rocking chaise lounge fabricated in steam-bent American ash and Australian Hoop Pine plywood was exhibited in 2001 in Milan, Italy becoming an instant success among the media and critics. Italian design powerhouse, Cappellini, licensed and began manufacturing the design, which put Trubridge on top of the international design scene. Read the rest of this entry »

Registration is open to students and professionals alike, who are interested in participating in a 10 day AA Visiting School design workshop focused on exploring the legacy of experimental housing in Los Angeles through the lens of contemporary design methodologies.

Expect to explore computational design strategies, implement digital fabrication processes, work with a global network of like-minded designers, researchers, and educators, and experience the iconic legacy of Los Angele’s mid-century modernist homes.

Confirmed design instructors:

Nanjing Culture and Conference Center by Zaha Hadid Architects is under construction. The center’s master plan expresses continuity, fluidity and connectivity between the urban environment of hexi New Town, the agricultural farmland along the Yangtze River and the rural landscapes. The development consists of two towers – the taller is 68 floors high while the shorter one is 59 floors in height. The towers share a five-level, mixed-use podium.

The towers create rather dynamic transition from the vertical urban topography to the horizontal one of the river. The natural landscapes of the river are connected to the urban streetscape of the new center through the fluid architectural language of the mixed-use podium and conference center. At the interface between the tower and the podium, the glass façade slowly transforms into a grid of rhomboid fiber-concrete panels, therefore giving the large surfaces of podium and conference center almost sculptural appearance which underlines the dynamic character of the form and providing daylight to the building’s interior. Read the rest of this entry »

Graft’s design for the Austrian pavilion ‘Naturally Yours’, in collaboration with Alex Daxböck, has won 1st runner up for the Milan Expo 2015, themed ‘Feeding the planet’. The idea provides visitors with the opportunity to plant seeds and then directly eat the food grown on the pavilion. Based on Austria’s high quality, locally grown food, the concept for the pavilion lies within its structural framework – at the end of the expo it will be fully taken over by organic food.

Due to Austria’s size, no other country has more organic food from local farmers in shops and food markets. Being a small country means short distances from locally produced food to its customers. At the beginning of the Expo, the 3.6m structural grid will be fully exposed, its timber frames eventually filled with seeds of vegetables, fruits or herbs. The pavilion is organized as a modular grid system, which enables it to flexibly adapt to increasing numbers of visitors and also easily deconstructed and reused afterwards. Read the rest of this entry »

BIG+Allard Architecture, along with three other international firms, has unveiled their proposal for ArtA, a cultural hub on the edge of the Rhine in Arnhem, the Netherlands. ArtA will house the Museum Arnhem and the Focus Film Theater and reconnect the City with its waterfront. BIG proposes the two programs to be merged with a public Art Plaza – making ArtA a vibrant public building for art, public life, education and recreation.

ArtA brings together creative professionals, entrepreneurs, artists and visitors locally and regionally. Attractively located at the waterfront, the axis of the site forms a symbolic connection between the historic city center and the Rhine River. The architects propose a simple building volume with two poles: The Film Theater, facing the city, and the Art Museum – facing the river. Combining a contemporary exhibition facility with a film theater in a vibrant public building is paradoxical challenge – most successful contemporary art galleries are characterized by the spatial qualities of industrial warehouses – large open floor plans with generous ceiling heights and great flexibility for internal division and daylight control. The film theater is inherently a black box – an introvert space for contemplation and focus. Read the rest of this entry »

La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science has got a new building which will meet University’s long-term needs. The cell façade edifice is designed by Lyons won the competition sponsored by the Australian Institute of Architects and the brief was for the project to have a transformative effect on the overall architecture and identity of the campus, previously built within the strict guidelines for heights and materials employed.

The building offers an environment where students can develop their research needs to the end; therefore it is designed around the University’s specific model for creating a pathway for students in scientific fields. Read the rest of this entry »

Oyler Wu Collaborative designed the winning entry for Beijing Biennale competition. The Cube, a 3-dimensional solid object bounded by six square faces, is exhibited with ten other pavilions at the Beijing Olympic Park. This iconic piece installation is combines basic geometries while presents the successful synergy of art, design and science. At Oyler Wu Collaborative they were interested in challenging the traditional notion of a cube as a solid object, a cube as a space that can lose its distinct boundary once occupied, and the fundamental way a cube sits on the ground. The aim was to create an experience that is optically stimulating and spatially rich through the design of an abstract geometric figure.

The tree-dimensional spatial experience is designed to activate the urban environment, one that capitalizes directly on the inherent spatial characteristics of line. In Collaborative they used semi-repetitious field of twisting “surfaces” and the proposal moves back and forth between complex field and coherent geometric pattern. They were interested in the transcendence of line into a completely engulfing experience that could be occupied as a kind of three-dimensional drawing. Therefore the level of curiosity about the piece is created – the trajectories form the dynamic field while shifting while producing a sense of enclosure. Read the rest of this entry »