Berlin’s architectural practice Barkow Leibinger has won an invited competition to design a new hotel tower and conference center as part of Berlin’s largest hotel complex, the Estrel. Complimenting the existing Estrel Hotel, the largest in Germany, a new hotel tower and conference center will establish a new gateway to the center of Berlin from the soon to be completed Schönefeld International Airport. The tower at 175 meters will be the tallest high-rise in Berlin to date. Located on the Sonnenalle at the intersection of the Ship Canal, S-Bahn and Autobahn the site is a threshold between the heterogeneous industrial – residential periphery and the historical neighborhoods of Neukölln. Free from the historical constraints of the center the project is an ensemble of elements revolving around the sloped silhouette of the tower with its roof terrace orienting to the city.

In response to the existing Estrel Hotel and resembling the children’s game “Tangram” the proposal is organized into a series of extruded triangulated volumes of different sizes and heights mediating the tower into the low-rise surrounding neighborhoods. This cascading family of forms, from high to low-scaled, radiates to form two strong orientations: to the street side and to the water side – Ship Canal.  Functions are distributed into the different sized volumes including the hotel, an office building, park house, glass-roofed hotel entrance atrium, and the low-flat conference center. This programmatic clarity allows easy phasing variations, which is important for such a large scale development. A ground floor promenade begins with the hotel drop-off which continues into the hotel atrium and on to an arcade fronting the conference center.

Facades compliment the idea of “similar but distinct” building volumes and are articulated to enhance the verticality of the individual parts of the ensemble in metal and glass. Read the rest of this entry »

Foster and Partners’ headquarters tower for Citic Bank has a prominent location in Hangzhou, on a main axis through a new central business district being constructed next to the Qian Jiang River. The site is also adjacent to one of the city’s most recognizable landmarks – the distinctive golden sphere of the Intercontinental Hotel. The challenge for its design therefore, has been to create a new building that harmonizes with its surroundings, yet has its own integrity and presence and provides an iconic headquarters for the Bank. The design draws inspiration from the elements of traditional Chinese culture – using the symbol of wealth, dignity and stability.

The tower has a striking geometric form – the diagonally-braced façade is pulled inwards to form a symmetrical V-shape across the south-facing elevation. Wrapped in a bronze-colored diagrid lattice, the floor plates widen as the building rises, expanding to provide panoramic views of the river and the surrounding public plaza. The design maximizes the available area within a compact rectilinear footprint, while respecting views of neighboring structures. The tower will provide the highest quality office space – tailored to the current needs of the Bank, but with the flexibility to anticipate future working patterns and demands.

A-frame canopy stretches 72 meters across the ground, in order to create a dramatic entrance experience. This leads to the heart of a diamond-shaped central atrium, which rises up through the full height of the 20-storey tower and helps to encourage natural ventilation during the mid-seasons. Sky-gardens line the perimeter of the upper floors and a generous winter garden with a mezzanine level accommodates VIP club and meeting spaces at the top of the building. The tower is naturally ventilated for part of the year, grey water will be recycled and local materials utilized where possible to reduce embodied energy. Read the rest of this entry »

The architectural vision for the Mandarin Oriental high-rise by Urban Office Architecture explored the idea of a complete merging of architecture, city, the river and the surrounding urban landscape. The base concept of a morphing floor plan allows the building structure to enjoy a “dancing” form. The floor plates change at all levels, therefore accommodating variety of programmatic requirements as well as making a unique environment for each occupant.

The building responds to the surrounding both at larger – metropolitan and local scale. The three sided lower floor plates address both mixed-use program and the converging urban forces. A base plinth allows users to interact with the building while bridging between the structure height and the human scale, acting as urban catalyst. It allows citizens and tenants to meet, mingle and enjoy dining, shopping and various cultural events.

The complexities of the programmatic needs are met by highly functional, but ever morphing floor plates. The building features a two-sided and three-sided organization plan around the central core, both for the office and hotel levels. This enables tenant to organize their spaces with great flexibility while taking advantage of the most natural daylight. As the building rises vertically into a rectangular floor plate, the opportunity of full floor suites is emphasized together with maximum access to daylight on all sides.

The tower is designed so that maximum use of the floor plates is achieved. Going from three sided to a two sided to a single layout four public spaces organize distribution of program vertically, allowing for interaction and sharing of these areas by variety of users. Read the rest of this entry »

“The City Rises” is Urban Office Architecture proposal for Parramatta’s architectural competition. They proposed a set of “Siamese pair” of towers, which would represent diversity rising out of unity. The unique form performs better and more efficiently from the heat loss-gain point of view as less dispersion is generated. It also reacts better to structural and lateral forces. However its ultimate advantage is that of offering unique interior opportunities for the office requirements. In particular, as the building rises offices take advantage of the relationship with the vertical public spaces, allowing for an innovative and pleasant working environment.

From urban point of view, the building is envisioned as an extension of the public spaces. Its outermost layer is composed by a vertical circulation which allows pedestrian to climb to the building top via an enclosed glass circulation system – glass boxes. While rising, the visitor will stop at suspended publicly programmed “floating rooms” – black boxes. At a distance the building is seen as both one and two separate buildings, but most importantly as an asset to the public realm rather than a form isolated from the field.

Located on the northern exposure, the black and glass boxes become both an effective filter for the entire building, collecting, harvesting and re-circulating water, light, and energy. The sinuous building shape is ideal against winds and sun glare. The building skin is made of several layers of glass with an inner photosensitive film who is able to adjust to the amount of solar impact and become more or less transparent. Read the rest of this entry »

800m Tower for China by MAD Architects questions what the future skyscraper should be. Unlike the traditional skyscraper that embodies its greatness in height and monumental form, the 800m Tower declares its significance in the unique way in which it relates to the city around it. The institutional framework of the traditional skyscraper is limited – it is defined by a simple, linear structure and mediocre duplication in business districts across the globe. At a time when the height record for such buildings is almost instantly replaced, the building’s landmark status quickly wanes as taller versions rise around it. As such, it becomes increasingly necessary for a building to create and realize a higher level of complexity in its expression of modern city relationships.

The two towers are connected with a cable car at the top, allowing all people from the city to make the journey around it and through it, echoing the dynamism and movement of the city. The previous conception of form and style establish landmark appears outdated by contrast.

The 800m Tower will not act as an office machine. On contrary, it will become a living admixture. Space for commerce, service and entertainment are elevated to the same level as the office and hotel functions, forming a solid city element that makes the sister towers and its users part of the metropolitan life.

Exciting and dynamic, the 800m tower will house office spaces and a hotel, on a 310,840sqm area. Read the rest of this entry »

Koichi Takada Architect’s design for Sydney by Crown, focuses on providing a building that both enhances the existing street-scape and provides an iconic and recognizable addition to Sydney’s skyline. Inspired by the masonry character of significant heritage buildings and their characteristic arches, a duality is introduced to the facade, represented by the varied aesthetics of the podium and tower. The through-site link comprises an eight-storey atrium and is designed to enrich and regenerate public amenity in this area of the CBD. The sculptural tower element floats above the podium, shaping the skyline with a gentle and organic form.

The design is exciting, innovative and unique and is intended to set a new benchmark for architectural design in the western skyline of Sydney’s CBD. It represents a shared outcome that captures the objectives of the council controls while allowing an imaginatively refined design.

Organizing a total of 220 apartments, including 42 serviced apartments, Koichi Takada’s scheme focuses on a design that enhances both public and residential amenity. A ground plane opens to Kent and Clarence Street, with an arcade activated by retail and commercial uses. The apartments on the lower levels are protected by recessed balconies, defining a visual and spatial identity similar to a New York loft.

In Koichi Takada Architects, they learn from the processes, formations, structures and natural life in the environment to inspire their design. They state that nature teaches them and there is more to architecture than the creation of beautiful forms – it must involve all of our senses. The feeling of a soft breeze, the acoustics in a cave or the ambiance of natural light through a tree canopy – these are elements they try to involve in the experience of architecture. Read the rest of this entry »

Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Poly International Plaza in Guangzhou, China, is 116,000-square-meter complex of three speculative office buildings, which offers a spacious and light-filled work environment. Its long-span structural design strategically opens up the interior spaces and employs a highly sustainable approach to addressing the climatic and air quality issues specific to Beijing. A faceted diagrid exoskeleton system forms an outer thermal envelope around the office spaces enclosed within a second glazed interior envelope, creating day-lit communal areas. These areas not only accommodate meetings and foster social interaction, but they also allow physical and visual connectivity between floors. Read the rest of this entry »

The Taichung Echo Wind Tower by Oxo Architects is an expressive green tower. Overseeing the Taichung basin, the Taiwan tower is the observatory of the central Taiwan ecosystem, ranging from the central mountain range to the South China Sea. The tower’s envelope is composed of 2 million suspended thin metal leaves that tilt up against the wind which operates 64 internal helicoidal wind turbines, generating enough energy to make the building fully sustainable. The facade shows patterns of air flows as a monumental expression of the natural context and its immediate climatic conditions. Its skin symbolizes the cohesion of the surrounding habitat while the evolving winds provide transformations of its form.

The tower is 350 meters high and this slight obliquity allows the metal leaves’ polished surfaces to reflect Taichung to itself. Approaching visitors seize in these reflections their city at different scales and from contrasting viewpoints. At night, the tower turns into a 2 million pixel led vertical screen with infinite possibilities to provide dynamic digital visuals. A tripod emerges from within the reservoir comprising of a lobby, an office block and a singular mirrored shape. The tower floats above ground fitted on top of the tripod.

The museum of the Taichung city development is suspended under the tripod and exhibits a model of the metropolis composed of key historical urban fragments, architectural landmarks and views of the cityscape. It hosts group and individual educational programs about the city, its achievements and digital projections on the sky scrapping screen. The achieved technology acts not only as a monumental object but functions as an instrument to promote cultural ventures and moreover democracy. Read the rest of this entry »

IO Design envisioned KL Gateway to be a peaceful green oasis mixed residential and retail development in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The heart of the project is an outdoor courtyard surrounded by a series of garden spaces. The courtyard is designed to be a public room attracting people from the surrounding neighborhood and city. The ring binds the courtyard to a surrounding retail mall and becomes a gathering spot for the entire mixed use complex. The roof of the ring becomes an outdoor jogging trail and garden for the surrounding residential towers.

Using the latest technology in sustainability, the Corporate Office Towers will be covered in a nano-coating of Titanium Dioxide. This is a photo-catalytic coating that will remove dirt, bacteria and pollution triggered by light. KL Gateway takes bold, responsible steps to be one of the First towers in Malaysia using this green technology. As a green building, it is structured to be environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout its life-cycle, hence able to save energy and resources as well as harmonize with the local climate, traditions, culture and the surrounding environment. KL Gateway acts as one of the climate saviors with environmental-friendly features. Read the rest of this entry »

Hidden Wonder is a Hotel and Office Complex in Fort Mc Murray, Alberta, Canada. Designed by David Clovers, this mega structure offers a feeling of an indigenous forest draping over the top of an urban hub, in the center of Fort Mc Murray. On further inspection, one discovers that the forest blossoms into a vertical garden of exotic plants, housed in a green house – atrium. The design is a new hybrid of tower and a podium, landscape and architecture. It acts as an active and multidimensional vertical park that anchors the corner of the block and allows for a combination of urban indoor and outdoor activities.

In the podium, hotel guests have their own private balconies which are calmly nestled among the forest, while retail and gastronomical visitors get oblique glimpses of the landscape through the skylights. In the tower, office employees are engulfed in an enchanting environment of plants and rooms that capture the beauty of the merging rivers beyond.

The materiality of the tower is contemporary – it uses a textured concrete and double glass skin to produce spectacular optical illusions. The sculptural massing appears and disappears by day and by night, reflecting the surroundings and glowing as a beacon in the Northern twilight. The textured double skin acts as a mechanical device, augmenting the building systems of the design by conserving heat through passive solar means and ventilating the building naturally. As additional sustainable feature, planted roof serves as an insulating blanket for both the podium and tower, as well as a device for gray water retention.

Expected completion of the complex is scheduled for late 2014.