Amsterdam based project development corporation NIC started sale of the MVRDV designed Alphabet building. In Amsterdam small and mid-size creative companies have trouble finding suitable office space. The Alphabet building communicates through a clear exterior design which reveals on the East façade the house number and at the main façade the extension for each company, a letter of the alphabet. The interior is highly flexible and completed with a rough and pure finishing. The 3200m2 creative industry building will be completed in 2012 according to high energy efficiency standards.
Is architecture employment improving? According to C. J. Hughes recent article some firms need for design services has increased providing an opportunity to hire employees. That being said the employment opportunities are still minimal some firms hiring only one or two employees while others are able to hire in the double digits. Many principals are tentative about the future and are therefore proceeding cautiously not to over hire employees.
Miami University graduate students, Brian Albrecht and Kristopher Kunkel, and their faculty adivsor, Mary Rogero, recently sent us their submission for the AIAS School of Tomorrow 2010 Competition. They chose to design for the Phillis Wheatley Elementary School that we recently featured on our site. Their proposed design seeks to accomplish two vital aspects of sustainability and design: the preservation of an iconic Modern structure that embodies the period in which it was built, and secondly adapts that structure to suit present day needs for an area with unique problems and a unique culture.
https://www.archdaily.com/137857/proposed-renovation-to-the-phillis-wheatley-elementary-school-for-the-aias-competition-for-schools-of-tomorrow-brian-albrecht-kristopher-kunkel-and-mary-rogeroChristopher Henry
Five great kindergartens for our seventh selection of previously featured projects. Check them all after the break.
Kindergarten Kekec / Arhitektura Jure Kotnik Kindergarten Kekec is an extension of a typical Slovene prefab kindergarten from the 1980s. Situated in one of Ljubljana’s residential areas, Kekec answers the growing demand for kindergartens. This comes as a result of Ljubljana having witnessed considerable population growth as well as legislative changes and a planned increase in building density inside the highway ring surrounding the city (read more…)
At an international symposium from 26/05/2011 till 28/05/2011 in Graz, attention turns to the question of how to shape an active role for architecture in the development of “Dense Cities“. The range of questions covers all levels of scale ranging from urban landscape and agglomeration through districts to blocks and individual buildings, covering everything from the development of new building typologies on through actual interventions in the urban setting to analyses of transformations of urban density.
As an all-electric vehicle, the Ecco has no emissions of its own, and can be quickly charged at a standard 240V station. But when used for extended living purposes, even where no electricity is available, its built-in photovoltaic panels and solar sail roof mean that it can cut out the middle man, and charge directly from the sun.
Two of Scotland’s leading design firms have won an international competition to transform Berlin’s famous Tempelhof Airport. GROSS. MAX. with Sutherland Hussey Architects have been awarded the commission to design a new park and associated buildings on the site of the recently closed airport. Additional images of the winning entry are available after the break.
I first learned about Preston Scott Cohen’s work when I read about the Goodman House, a simple and elegant operation of a concrete shell housing an ancient Dutch barn frame. But after further investigation, I was surprised to see a constant spatial and formal research of his work, that we have witnessed in the latest three public buildings from his office and featured on ArchDaily.
Juan Antonio Samaranch of Spain was the president of the International Olympic Committee from 1980 to 2001. Throughout his presidency he advocated for reform and inclusion and was a strong supporter of China’s bid as host city for the 2008 Olympic Games. Tianjin, a city of over 12 million people in northwestern China near Beijing, was the site of several Olympic events. The new museum and memorial will both highlight Samaranch’s professional history and look to the future, offering space for rotating exhibits of contemporary art and culture.
The new – third Ecological Borders competition calls for a radical reimagination of the current relationship between humans and the built environment through the establishment of new architectural protocols of coexistence in the search of a new Partial-Total Ecology: “YUmentec-pharming”.
Regional Associates and 42 Architects have collaborated on the design of a mixed use scheme for Nuuk, Greenland. The design is part of a larger master plan designed by TNT Nuuk (GL) and Dahl&Uhre architects (NO) (D&U in collaboration with MDH architects(NO). The project is due to be exhibited in Nuuk, Greenland, opening on 5 April 2011. Images and a brief description of Regional Associates + 42 Architects work can be seen after the jump.
Continuing our coverage of Xi’an Horticultural Exposition, a new garden exhibition by Dutch firm West 8 with DYJG Beijing has recently opened at the expo. Entitled Garden of 10,000 Bridges, the project features gently curving red bridges that are speckled across a wild landscape. According to the designers, “As both a distinct sense of enclosure and vantage points are provided, the Garden plays with the sensation of surprise. In the design advantage is taken of the strategic, central position of the plot, and views to other parts of the exhibition are integrated with those to the features of the park and surrounding landscape.”
The Tel Aviv Museum of Art, located in the center of the city’s cultural complex and designed by Preston Scott Cohenhas completed construction and will open to the public shortly. The program for the Tel Aviv Museum of Art Amir Building posed an extraordinary architectural challenge: to resolve the tension between the tight, idiosyncratic triangular site and the museum’s need for a series of large, neutral rectangular galleries. The solution: subtly twisting geometric surfaces (hyperbolic parabolas) that connect the disparate angles between the galleries and the context while refracting natural light into the deepest recesses of the half buried building.
Architects:Preston Scott Cohen Location: Tel Aviv, Israel Project Area: 200,000 sqf Project Year: 2007-2011 Photographs: Courtesy of Preston Scott Cohen
Three of last week’s best posts were museums! Did you see them? Check them all after the break.
Felix Nussbaum Museum / Daniel Libeskind The Felix Nussbaum Museum is an extension to the Cultural History Museum in Osnabrück and is dedicated to the work of Felix Nussbaum, the Jewish artist born in Osnabrück in 1904. The Museum displays Nussbaum’s graphics and paintings done prior to his extermination in Auschwitz, and houses a temporary exhibition space focusing on the themes of racism and intolerance (read more…)
Scheduled for demolition in Summer 2011, the Phillis Wheatley Elementary School is a treasured piece of regional modernism in New Orleans. Designed by Charles Colbert, the school has served the historic African-American neighborhood of Tremé since it opened in 1955. It is just one of over thirty public schools that were constructed at that time. These schools were designed by architects who practiced a regional modernism, incorporating innovative design for circulation, ventilation and lighting. Of the thirty schools only four are still standing, three of which are threatened with demolition (including Phillis Wheatley). DOCOMOMO Louisiana is advocating for the restoration through adaptive reuse for the Phillis Wheatley Elementary School. “A Plea For Modernism” was created by Evan Mather and is narrated by actor Wendell Pierce.
Poland-based UGO architecture shared with us their proposal for the Barcelona 2011 Bohemian Hostel for Backpackers International Competition. More images and architect’s description after the break.
Hosted by Design By Many, the Passive House for New Orleans competition challenged designers to design a single-family dwelling that is sustainable in the broadest sense of the term: affordable to build and purchase, long-lasting, with minimal impact on the local environment, and affordable to heat and cool throughout the life of the building.
The winning proposal, designed by sustainable.TO, is based on the vernacular shotgun typology. The affordable, low-energy, single-family low cost, low energy house will help to revitalize the existing neighborhood of the Lower Ninth Ward. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Each week, progress is being made on Manhattan’s Freedom Tower as it slowly rises to meet its 1,776 ft mark. In addition to the skyscraper, we’ve shared Calatrava’s Transit Hub design with you and we are excited to see the completed complex. Although the new project will offer dynamic architecture in conjunction with a spiritual environment to remember the victims of the attacks, many wonder what companies will occupy the 2.6 million sqf of office space. A few days ago, media company Conde Nast (a publishing company responsible for the likes of Vanity Fair, Vogue, The New Yorker, among others) announced their plan to lease 1 million sqf, giving the Tower its first high-profile anchor. Christopher O. Ward, executive director of the Port Authority, told the Times, “We built a new reality at the World Trade Center, and this transaction will be the exclamation point on that turnaround.” This deal has appeased rising concerns that the Tower would be solely occupied with government offices; with such a progressive company slated to move in, hopefully others will follow suit. Governor Andrew M. Cuomo told the Times, “ sends a message to the global business community that Lower Manhattan is alive, growing and open for business.”
Field Architecture‘s goal for Bodega Bauer was to create an architecture informed by the same particularities of the earth which are embodied in the wine of the region. Siting and materiality are guided by the subtleties of sun and wind exposure, climate, the unexpected nuances of each season, and the presence and absence of water and shade.
https://www.archdaily.com/135825/in-progress-bodega-bauer-winery-field-architectureChristopher Henry
With a primary focus for new construction in Amsterdam South, 2700 new houses will be developed in the Havenstraat and Zuidas zones. The Havenstraat masterplan is currently the biggest project in this area, with construction due to start in 2014. The plans are yet to be finalised, as the city must reclaim the land from companies which occupy the existing temporary buildings. As a result, Allard Architecture was triggered by these plans to develop a dwelling scheme that adapts to the specific qualities of the Havenstraat area, near the old Olympic stadium in Amsterdam. More images and architects’ description after the break.
