Complications could be on the rise for Snøhetta and AECOM, who were recently announced as the Golden State Warriors’ architects of choice to design their new sports and entertainment complex on the San Francisco waterfront. Despite the complications, however, the architects still have time to execute the hoped-for ‘slam dunk’. More information after the break.
Designed for Lausanne Lumieres (Urban Light Festival), Flux Cocoon was selected as one of the winning projects of the the city’s first Light Festival, which inaugurated on November 23rd and will run until early January. Designed by Allegory, the project was installed in the heart of the city and was inspired by its location at the crossing between vertical and horizontal pedestrian movements (flux). The project is also an abstraction of the knot created by the crossing of each pedestrian’s path at this precise point in the Flon area, which is city’s major transportation hub. More images and architects’ description after the break.
A few months ago we informed you about a competition to re develop the massive “wedding-cake” style building at 425 Park Ave in NY, near Mies’ Seagram Building and SOM’s Lever House. The objective of the developer, L&L Holding, was to turn this project into the next iconic building of the city, and for that they invited a group of eleven renowned practices, including ten Pritzker laureates.
The shortlist was announced in October, and included OMA, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, Zaha Hadid Architects and Foster + Partners, which was later announced as the winner of the competition a few weeks ago.
Over the last days, the presentations of the architects to the clients appeared on YouTube, and now we have the opportunity to see these interesting group of architects doing a fundamental part of their work. In the videos we see each architect using their own presentation style, either a PPT, video or just physical boards, connecting it to the practice’s research and discourse, projecting their passion about certain features of their projects and engaging with the client around their main objective: to turn this into an iconic project.
Four videos that take us further into how we understand projects, showing insights that we often don’t have access to, turning the competition into a particular moment of architecture this year.
Zaha Hadid Architects, OMA and Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners presentations after the break:
Artist Gijs Van Vaerenbergh shared with us his recent project, Framework, a monumental geometric sculpture, which was recently on display in Leuven, above the ring road on the Artoisplein. With this sculpture, Vaerenbergh has once more produced a work in the public space that is based on the language and expertise of the architecture to create an autonomous art object. The result has become a tangible spatial drawing that plays on the visual experience of the object in space as well as the environment. Both interact and determine each other’s ‘view’. More images and artist’s description after the break.
Designed by Tomas Ghisellini Architects, the first prize winning proposal for the Domus Vitae, a new city morgue and social facilities complex, is aimed at being a new architectural presence with a continuous but porous body. The design includes balconies, porches, patios, terraces, overhangs and suspended volumes which capture, tame or magnify natural light. These features create spaces for which the atmospheric quality is supposed to be a decisive added value. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Moving from concept sketch to parametric model, this webinar by modeLab, which takes place this Friday at 2:00pm-4:30pmEST, will cover the ins and outs of working with and managing data trees in Grasshopper for real world design applications. Through a series of short presentations and “live” case studies, learn to streamline your parametric workflows using complex data structures. With two instructors offering guided curriculum and continuous support, their goal is to provide you with an in-depth and personal learning experience. A video of the webinar as well as instructor files will be uploaded after the broadcast. To register and for more information, please visit here.
To honor the great Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, who died today, we've selected few of his inspiring quotes. Take a moment to read his words, which truly advocate architecture's higher purpose, and remember the great work he accomplished...
Perhaps his most famous quote, which not only describes his work but also his way of life: "I deliberately disregarded the right angle and rationalist architecture designed with ruler and square to boldly enter the world of curves and straight lines offered by reinforced concrete. […] This deliberate protest arose from the environment in which I lived, with its white beaches, its huge mountains, its old baroque churches, and the beautiful suntanned women."
More after the break:
With his incredibly prolific portfolio of architecture, sculpture, furniture and design, the late Oscar Niemeyer truly left his mark on Brazil, and the world, over his 104 years. The Brazilian great is proof that quantity needn't destroy quality.
Check out the extensive list of Niemeyer's major works, after the break...
Stemming from the idea of creating a perfect synergy between architecture, nature and social technologies, the competition winning proposal for the St. Horto project by OFL Architecture fits perfectly within the project area in Rome. By redefining the boundaries through a game of compressions and expansions, the architects create a dynamic and attractive space. More images and architects’ description after the break.
New York, San Fran, Chicago…Columbus, Indiana. Which of these doesn’t go with the others? Well, according to the AIA, none. Columbus, Indiana, a small town of about 44,000 has been ranked by the AIA as the nation’s 6th most architecturally important city, right after Washington DC.
So what’s so special about Columbus? Apparently, a 1950s philanthropist by the name of J. Irwin Miller took it upon himself to foot the bill for any new public building in the city. The result? Today, Columbus has more than 70 buildings designed by internationally renowned architects – including I.M. Pei, Eliel Saarinen, Eero Saarinen, Richard Meier and Harry Weese.
Check out a Video on Columbus “The Athens of the Prairie,” after the break…
Architects: Archi5 Location: Pontault Combault, France Project Year: 2008 Photographs: Thomas Jorion
For once, British architects, the Prince’s Foundation, and NIMBYs have something they can all agree on. In a speech to the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA), UK planning minister, Nick Boles, has come out swinging against the “pig-ugliness” of British housing, which has given it a bad name:
“We are trapped in a vicious circle. People look at the new housing estates that have been bolted onto their towns and villages in recent decades and observe that few of them are beautiful. Indeed, not to put too fine a point of it, many of them are pig-ugly In a nutshell, because we don’t build beautifully, people don’t let us build much. And because we don’t build much, we can’t afford to build beautifully. My personal mission as planning minister is to help us break out of this vicious cycle once and for all.”
The criticism has been welcomed by many British architects as a necessary wake-up call for Britain and a call-to-action for its architects.
More on this story, after the break…
Going back to the times when cinema was recorded with no colours or sound, the German film “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” by Robert Wiene is a masterpiece that utilizes fully stylised sets with abstract spaces to represent different scenes. It’s considered one of the most influential movies of German expressionism, since many of the film’s unusual characteristics (from the geometric nature of the sets to the actors’ costumes) were decades ahead of their time.
Have you seen this classic? What do you think about how silent-era films depict space? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Kjellgren Kaminsky Architecture (KKA) shared with us their winning proposal for Nya Kollaskolan, which is expected to be the largest passive-house school in Sweden, as well as one of the largest passive house buildings in the country. A centerpiece in the new Kollastaden area in the center of Kungsbacka, the school will supplement the existing school, built in 2000, and host around 360 students and 75 employees. More images and architects’ description after the break.
The new Água Espraiada Operação Urbana urban planning program in Sao Paulo has taken a major approach to sustainability. With this plan in action, the Rochaverá Corporate Towers, a high profile mixed residential, office, and shopping complex, is a great example. The recently built project is located at a former industrial area along the Pinheiros River Basin. This enormous 1.2-million-square-foot development, designed by Aflalo and Gasperini Architects, was built to be highly energy efficient, control water usage, cut greenhouse gas emissions, and ease traffic congestion. With the success of the mentioned project, we can begin to ask ourselves, ‘How can a development accomplish all of those objectives?’ Start with urban planning that mitigates sprawl, one of biggest threats to the planet today. More information after the break.
Architects: Equipo Olivares Arquitectos Location: Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain Design Team: Javier Pérez-Alcalde Schwartz Photographs: Lluís Casals
Architects: Hampton+Rivoira+Arquitectos Location: Escobar, Provincia of Buenos Aires, Argentina Architects In Charge: Jorge Hampton, Emilio Rivoira Associated Architect: Cristian Carnicer Design Team: Roberto Lombardi, María Eugenia García Castera, María Eugenia Viña Raznovich, Juan Reartes, Ignacio Ruiz Orrico, Diego Tablada, Emilia Alvarado, Anahi Fedrizzi Project Year: 2009 Photographs: Jorge Hampton, Emilio Rivoira, Fernando Mayán, Fundación Temaikén
Opening at 6:00pm tomorrow at the Museum of Finnish Architecture, UNBUILT HELSINKI is an exhibition about the Unbuilt City and its inhabitants as part of the World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 program. Drawn from the museum’s archive and beyond, unrealized projects in Helsinki are studied by a team of researchers who generate new relationships with local resources in order to translate the projects into architectural models. Their findings and the narratives behind the buildings are displayed in an exhibition at the museum. The event is curated by Åbäke and Nene Tsuboi and will be up until February 24. For more information, please visit here.
Architects: OAB - Office of Architecture in Barcelona Location: Castellbell i el Vilar, Spain Design Team: Carlos Ferrater, Nuria Ayala Technical Architect: Alexandre Pararols Project Year: 2010 Photographs: Alejo Bague
A small group of students and architect Tobias Holler of sLAB Costa Rica at the New York Institute of Technology, have teamed up to design and build a communal recycling center for Nosara, Costa Rica – a city that is facing grave problems with sanitation and illegal dumping of garbage on beaches and in wildlife areas. Construction started last summer after a Kickstarter campaign that raised $15,000 helped provide expenses and costs associated with housing the students that assisted with the construction. A relaunch of the Kickstarter campaign will provide the project with additional funds to bring the students back to accelerate the pace of construction. The funds also support the documentary by Ayana de Vos, whose film follows the progress of the project and features waste management and sustainability in Costa Rica.
Join us after the break for more.
The motivation behind building a Communal Recycling Center is based in the severe problems that Nosara specifically, and Costa Rica in general, has in municipal waste management. Without appropriate infrastructure and policies, over 1400 tons of waste is deposited into unregulated dumps daily. A lot of the garbage makes its way into rivers and forests, pollutes ground water, threatens the health of local communities and destroys wildlife.
Diller Scofidio + Renfro‘s ‘Bubble’ project (featured here) has recently come under fire by critics for its “ballooning” cost. Meant to be a seasonally inflated, temporary structure at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, DC., the Bubble’s original price-tag ($5 million) has now inflated to $15.5 million. The federally-funded price tag would be less relevant if the project were universally accepted, but many feel that the “Bubble” represents a misguided attempt to get into the spectacle game.
More information after the break.
Located in the Seodaemu-gu district of Seoul, the Swiss Embassy proposal by Personeni Raffaele Schärer Architects stands as a pavilion sitting on four mushroom columns. Reaching the maximum authorized height, the project becomes part of the makeover that the neighborhood is about to undergo with its global and drastic transformations. The end result is a tree house like structure floating over a canopy of dense trees in an extremely urban context. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Similar to what LEED did for buildings, City Protocol promises to do for cities. The first certification system for smart cities, due to come out in April 2013, is being developed with the guidance of over 30 organizations. It will provide a framework for designing sustainable systems in a model that integrates the vast number of elements that contribute to urban development. This global thinking expands upon the goals of the LEED certification system, which provides a more isolated, building specific agenda for architects.
