Back in the 2010, MAD Architects won the competition to design the cultural center of Harbin. Recently, in August 2013, the structure of the Cultural Center was completed and the project finally began to take shape. The city of Harbin has the reputation as the musical capital of the north and is influenced by both Chinese and Russian culture. MAD’s cultural center, unlike many public facilities of the similar kind, wasn’t designed to be the lonely landmark in the city center, but the natural continuation of the human spirit.

The Cultural Island embraces the riverbank and appears as a glacier stretching and connecting the banks into a cohesive whole. The movement of the terrain strategically directs the flow of people from different directions to the entrance of Harbin Theater and Harbin Labor Recreation Center. The ramp of the Grand Theater guides people in, resembling a mountain path. The entire building acts as an undulating snow covered mountain, following a natural rhythm.

The cladding of the Cultural Center is custom-made, in pure white aluminum. Mimicking ice and snow, the white stone and concrete are also used as for the part of the wall. During the day, the need for interior lighting can be completely satisfied with energy-saving and special lighting effects. Read the rest of this entry »

Competition entry at first, Ocean North’s design for Jyväskylä Music and Art Center was later, in phase 02, redesigned for Venice Architectural Biennale. Second phase was a joined venture of Ocean North and Achim Menges, researcher and professor at the University of Stuttgart where he is the founding director of the Institute for Computational Design, and it retained the principle design ideas of the competition scheme, while redefining its spatial, geometric, material and ambient articulation.

The aim of the project was to generate differentiated event space as well as the extension of the landscaped town square into an animated interior multi-purpose landscape space that serves for formal and orchestral events, art exhibitions and less formal cultural activities. The structure of the interior and the surfaces that articulate it are derived through iterative growth processes, informed by performance requirements. Read the rest of this entry »

Vertical Velocity is an experiment in conceiving and organizing a piece of architecture solely based on the climatic parameters of the site. This is achieved by investigating three basic types of heat transfer, or thermodynamics – convection, conduction, and radiation, and manipulating their respective behaviors accordingly, in relationship to the climatic site condition of the site, in order to create a predominantly passive architectural system. The design by Glenn Hajadi of HighStreetStudio, is conducted as a final project in Thermodynamic Somatism, core studio by Inaki Abalos and Renata Sentkiewitz, at Barcelona Institute of Architecture.

In establishing Mediterranean coast city Barcelona as the site, two essential external climatic conditions immediately surfaced. First, high annual solar insolation and second – a mild external natural temperature throughout the year (14 – 24 degree Celsius range). The first is to be avoided, and the second is to be desired. This means interior space can be completely ventilated to the exterior with very minimal architectural intervention.

The resulting form is a manipulation of cubic massing to reach these two objectives. Courtyard typology is implemented as a traditionally used passive system in tropical and sub-tropical regions to ventilate interior space, taking advantage of the wind velocity to travel through the thin interior space (no more than 13m deep) with the void in the middle to perform suction. The height of the building is determined to optimize the rising wind velocity in higher elevation.

A residential complex layered with a gaming and computer center is a key combination for a contemporary hybrid typology, chosen due to the amount of energy produced in 24 hour cycle, thus allowing the transmission of heat. The objective was to achieve zero energy balance building. Internal organization is constructed to optimize energy production – consumption by vertical multi layering. Heat producing programs are located below absorber programs – programs using heat. Read the rest of this entry »

New Contemporary Art Museum for Buenos Aires, Argentina, designed by Batay-Csorba Architects, surely takes advantage of the long but narrow dockside of the renewed waterfront. Building’s skin is mirrored therefore the envelope mimics the surrounding while representing a clear sign of the renewal of the neighborhood.

This museum on the docks of Puerto Madero traded the introverted and expected role of an institutionalized public art facility for a role of a catalyst for public space and interaction with the public realm. Due to the special requirements regarding light in the museums, as well as the access and views, most buildings settle for blank facades and the aim of the architects at Batay-Csorba Architects was quite the opposite – they designed engaged envelope in order to bring the museum to the public and not the vice versa. The design erased the exact border between the museum proper and public space, the walls of the urban gallery have been elevated and extended to the edge of the water so that the pedestrians actually walk through the gallery space. The large exhibition spaces are using latest technologies for continuous daily projections and the high gallery space enables big scale installations. Read the rest of this entry »

A sun-tracking instrument indexing time and temperature, “Bloom”, designed by Los Angeles-based DOSU studio architecture, stitches together material experimentation, structural innovation, and computational form/pattern-making into an environmentally responsive installation. Architecture has long been valued for its static nature and sense of permanence but lately that has changed and the focus is on making buildings more responsive to their uses and the climate. Although this has often accomplished through mechanical means, Doris Kim Sung, the principal of DOSU architectural practice, is researching how the building materials themselves can be responsive and integrate changeability into the structure itself.

The dramatic shell form of the Bloom pavilion can suggest that its simply one cutting-edge piece of digitally computed design, but the real and slow innovation is happening in the layer of metal panels, which are bending according to heat levels generated by the sun. The form’s responsive surface is made primarily out of 14,000 smart thermo bi-metal tiles, where no two pieces are alike. Each individual piece automatically curls a specified amount when the outdoor ambient temperature rises above 70F or when the sun penetrates the surface. Bloom is, according to Sung, the first architectural application of the laminated metal material, which includes nickel and manganese with a bit of iron –the material is typically used in industrial applications. Read the rest of this entry »

Designed by J.Majer H. Architects of Berlin, the “Schaustelle” meaning “Show Site” is temporary pavilion and platform for the four collections housed at the Pinakothek der Moderne, in Munich. As the Pinakothek der Moderne is closed for few months due to renovation works, the temporary closure has been seen as an opportunity that would give rise to a makeshift exhibition building – the Schaustelle. The Schaustelle is a place of interaction, a provisional art gallery and a space for large format works and new concepts, all at the same time.

The Schaustelle is to be seen as a platform for transdisciplinary exchange, reflection, experiments and open-ended processes. The scaffolding structure, set up for the duration of renovations, will provide the four collections with a lively platform that will host exhibitions, workshops, talks, performances, film screenings and video installations. The organizational scheme was requested by the Pinakothek.

The large exhibition space at the ground floor is flexible and therefore could be easily adapted to suit requirements of the various exhibition settings of the four collections. The building is a tall and partly cantilevered framework structure made of reusable scaffolding elements. The outdoor space will serve as a projection area and also as an additional exhibition space. The scaffold structure invites visitors to walk through it, while they catch new glimpses of the city beyond. Read the rest of this entry »

The vivid construction of Orchideorama by Plan B Architects + JPRCR Architects, bridges the gap between the architecture and living organisms, the artificial and man-made and the nature. Wood and steel honeycomb structure, derived from the drawing of 14 orchids which are centered on the columns, aims to erase any distinction between those two worlds, accepting them as a unity that allows architecture to be conceived as a spatial and environmental organization highly related to the processes of life.

The project of this botanical garden in Medellin, Colombia, explores the term “organic form” from various aspects and in different scales – the micro scale, which holds the principles of material organization and defines the subtle geometrical patterns which are rooted in configuration of living structures, and eternal – visual scale, which allows the visitors to relate phenomenologically and environmentally to the ambient and to the world as a whole. Read the rest of this entry »

Dror’s proposal for Havvada in Istanbul, Turkey, revisits old concepts for urban environment, such as urban design theories – the Garden City by Ebenezer Howard and the Anarchist Urban Ecosystem by Nathan Revercomb, as well as Buckminster Fuller’s work and innovations in structural engineering. The design proposes a landscape that will constantly adapt to the dynamics of the site. Turkish developer Serdar Inan has commissioned New York architect Dror Benshetrit to design a proposal for net-positive community for 300,000 residents off the shore of Istanbul.

As we witnessed tremendous change over the past century – urban migration, growth of the urban fabric, increased density, and economical globalization, human’s mobility and environmental concerns, we are aware of the necessity to rethink urban planning and to offer a possibility of historical turning point. This proposal from Dror offers the opportunity utilize one billion cubic meter of soil, carved out in order to create the canal, to build a new land and a new model for progressive and innovative environment. Read the rest of this entry »

A design experience to engage, entertain and inspire with exhibits from leading names in the industry, plus educational programs & workshops, networking events and more.

WestEdge Design Fair makes its debut October 3-6, 2013 in Santa Monica, California at the Barker Hangar. This newest destination for modern design showcases a curated selection of over 150 leading national and international brands, many new to the West Coast. Attendees will find design inspiration, and be able to shop from leading manufacturers of furniture, lighting, kitchen, bath, outdoor furnishings and other products for the home. The show caters to trade, press and consumers alike, and offers a complete experience for attendees, including panel discussions and workshops, custom installations, a series of special events, and an opening night party to benefit Heal the Bay. Read the rest of this entry »

The SOHO Hailun Plaza is designed by UNStudio for Shanghai, China. The development is located at the intersection of two metro lines, therefore providing great connections to public transport and a desirable location for office and retail. It consists of 130m, 33 storey high office tower and 5 mixed-use and retail-office pavilions. Due to their placement as objects in the flow of commuters, the pavilions together with the tower direct the crowd and organize the outdoor spaces in different scales, providing the platform for a variety of urban activities.

The façade is the key element of this multi-object structure – it is constantly changing and it is multifaceted so it resembles the dragon skin. In the words of the architects, it’s the façade design that emphases the buildings as singular objects. The geometry is curved, yet with strong vertical lines and it permanently connects the buildings with the city of Shanghai. Together with colored texture of faceted facades, the development provides changing and dynamic appearance when approached from different directions. Read the rest of this entry »