“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 »

In Studio Daniel Libeskind they know architecture is communicative and every building tells a unique and particular story which is reflecting both the programmatic content and the singularity of the site. The Tour Signal La Defense proposal for Paris radiates a new spirit with a vibrant, sustainable, mixed-use development. The tower is rich and powerful, unique icon, expressed in a very dynamic volume in La Defense.

It not only the form of the building that makes it iconic, but also its content with a new, expressive architecture, signifying radical innovation in sustainable design.  The aim was to create a building before its time – the synergy of bold, sustainable innovation and exiting design makes it progressive and direction for the future.

Two intertwined ribbons spiral together formally and programmatically, creating a tower. Once completed, the place between the ribbons is filled with southern-facing vertical gardens which act as biotopes for workers, visitors and residents, while illuminating sky with life. These gardens actually relate to ancient French landscape tradition as they bring innovation to 21^st century towers, allowing nature to fill the skylines. Read the rest of this entry »

Located in the Central Business District of Beijing, China, the 300 meters high tower by Henn Architects at the south facade addresses the street, while the secondary entrance on the west facade relates itself to the park. The tower has a constant, efficient, square floor plate. The façade strategy of the building is simple, elegant and redefines the classical high-rise tower into a contemporary architectural language. Since the profiles have certain depth, they also provide a significant impact as sun shading elements which reduce glare and direct radiation into the office interior.

The structural scheme of the tower is a tube in tube with an internal concrete core and a perimeter structure aligned with the regular 3m grid of the façade. Due to the density of the grid, the perimeter structure will have a large lateral stiffness. As a consequence the core will attract less load and the core walls can be optimized. The dual system composed of the perimeter and the core provide substantial stability and ductility for such a tall building in a high seismic zone like Beijing. At refuge floors, belt trusses will be used to stiffen the structure. As the perimeter structure is quite strong, outriggers might not be necessary so that the overall construction program can be shortened. The regularity of the perimeter structure will make possible the use of standard prefabricated structure modules. This can help to significantly reduce the construction time and cost. Read the rest of this entry »

The client for this filigree-façade building by Amano Design, located in Ginza Central Street of Tokyo is a developer company. The company purchased a long-sought after lot in Ginza, and planned to build a commercial, office building. The atmosphere is quite different from the gorgeous Central Street, and the site is on an empty street which is often seen behind the street with large-sized buildings. Attracting as many people as possible into such a street is our task. As they state in Amano Design Office, the client desired the building to be a gorgeous existence. In addition, the designer desired to provide a “slight feeling of strangeness” to the passersby that would attract them to the building.

Due to the fact that the street scenery is hectic, a double skin structure for the façade is employed, consisting of glass curtain walls and graphically treated aluminum punched metal. The façade therefore becomes a part of the interior decoration and obviates the need for window treatments such as blinds or curtains. By using a double skin, reduction of the air conditioning load and the glass cleaning burden was also intended. Read the rest of this entry »

The Haikou Towers by Henn Architects are designed to become the heart of the new Central Business District of Haikou, the capital city of Hainan. The master plan comprises an ensemble of 10 towers ranging from 150 to 450m height with an overall building area of 1.5 million square meters. The proposal’s centerpiece is the 450metre high middle tower. Form and structure have been directly influenced by the program requirements and the drive for a highly efficient structural scheme. The occupant’s needs for large and flexible office spaces on the lower floors and an unobstructed view from the hotel rooms on the upper levels have led to a shift of the cross-bracing system at the boundary between the two functions.

The shift in systems occurs at the hotel lobby area in the form of a large outrigger truss. This truss is purposefully exposed and integrated into the architecture to articulate a multistory high atrium on the upper floors and to provide a clear distinction between functions and structural systems. Read the rest of this entry »

Commercial Office Towers for Zhengzhou, China, is one of the most recent projects by Asymptote Architecture. These two towers aim to have a powerful presence and stature in the overall master plan as envisioned by Arata Isosaki and his planning team. The design for two new commercial office towers, for a new central business district Longhu in China, draw inspiration from a variety of historic Chinese architectural references and the rich tradition of ceramic art in the region.  The main design features for both these towers consist of cylindrical towers placed within circular plinths that in turn provide each tower with large interior atriums and foyers. These large volumes spaces are highly accessible to the public and serve both as entryways as well as multi-use commercial space.

From these central spaces the main core elements in each tower extend upwards into a cruciform cantilevered office component. These suspended office spaces house new trading floors and other high volume programs high above and open void below while located at the base of the cylindrical towers above. Read the rest of this entry »

On November 21 OMA finally marked the completion of De Rotterdam, mixed-use vertical city on the river Maas. Efficiency has been very important or even central design parameter from day one, as they stated in OMA. The extreme market play directed the course of the project, but that has been far from a design constraint and in fact has reinforces the original concept. The overall result is a dense, vibrant building for the city, in words of Ellen van Loon, partner in charge. With the completion of the building, a critical mass has been established on the Kop van Zuid, realizing the long-established vision of a second city center south of the Maas.

The building – De Rotterdam – is named after one of the ships on the Holland America Line, which transported emigrants from Europe to New York from the Wilhelmina Pier, next to which the building is located.

The high-rise is composed of the three stacked and interconnecting towers, 44 floors high and with a width of over 100 meters. The building is highly compact, and program mix is organized into distinct, overlapping blocks of commercial office space, residential apartments, hotel and conference facilities, restaurants and cafes. Office employees, residents and hotel guests are brought together in conference, sport and restaurant facilities. The building’s shared plinth is the location of the lobbies to each of the towers, creating a public hub by means of a common hall. Read the rest of this entry »

BBK Bank Headquarters in Bilbao, Spain, by Zaha Hadid Architects is under construction. This 25,000 square meter tower represents the future headquarters for a socially-conscious savings bank and it will be sited at the south-eastern end point of Zorrotzaurre peninsula, facing central Bilbao, offering wide views onto the river and the famous Guggenheim Museum. At Zaha Hadid Architects, they consider this project eventual continuation of what they have started while ago with their master plan for Zorrotzaurre.

The tower will contain office support spaces – shared meeting rooms and seminar rooms, amenities, charitable activities space and an auditorium, in addition to their own office facilities. As the site called for strong architectural statement, the proposal set out very sculptural form derived from two star-shaped plans rotated 45 degrees from each other, at the top and the bottom of the tower. The outcome of their merger is the profile that changes as the view angle changes.

The very visible structural exo-skeleton serves both as primary structure and the sub-structure for the curtain wall. Together with structural core it acts as the only structure needed – interior columns are completely eliminated. Read the rest of this entry »

The Ballart Regional Integrated Cancer Center by Billard Leece Partnership is ambulatory facility that supports a multidisciplinary collaborative approach to patient care. The addition – new glazed tower changes character through the day and with the seasons. Profiled aluminum fins cast shadows across the glass surface façade which reflects the clouds, sky, and trees around the facility. The medical center tower is one of the tallest buildings in the city and its distinctive profile and surface patterning project an image of state-of-the-art care for the people of Ballarat and the region.

The Center provides the latest technology for cancer treatment supported by a radiotherapy facility, Medical Oncology Unit, a satellite pharmacy ensuring immediate access to medication and treatments and a multidisciplinary consultation suite supporting the concept of a ‘one stop shop’ for patients and their families. Education and administrative spaces encourage collaboration and support research with a clinical trials unit closely aligned to treatment spaces. A Wellness Center is included where all those involved in the patient journey can access amenities that offer a break from routine clinical spaces Read the rest of this entry »

German studio HENN is announced winner of a competition to design a 280-meter skyscraper in Taiyuan, China. The new tower for the Venke Group will be located on the north-south axis in the center of the Chinese metropolis. It is designed as a mixed-use – office space will be housed together with a hotel on the upper floors and a retail area at the basement level.

Regarding the form of the skyscraper, the longer sides are shaped as convex shells with vertically accented facades, constructed with opaque aluminum elements and glass of different degrees of transparency. Due to trapezoid-like shape which significantly reduces with the building height in the upper levels, the amount of directs sunlight is precisely determined, as it has to perfectly suit the planned use of the space within. Therefore the offices receive optimum solar shading and maximum interior daylight, the hotel guests can enjoy the widest possible views over the city. The overall presence of the building is powerful and solid, and the narrower sides of the tower with their concave curvatures and smooth glass surfaces are helping the appearance. The structure is elegant and diagonally braced, and it allows views into the building’s interior. The entrance area of the high-rise is located on the west side of the building, along the busy boulevard. Read the rest of this entry »