This house is a contemporary version of an Earthship, an ecologically benign house type popularized in the 1970s by Mike Reynolds, founder of Earthship Biotecture. This version is similarly set into the earth, cut into a hillside facing Pike’s Peak. Because of its rural location, it relies on PVs and solar thermal energy for electricity and heat. It also has a shallow plan, south facing windows, and a finished concrete floor to maximize passive solar gains during winter months.
Headed for Palm Springs, California, BOOM Community is a new master-planned community costing $250 million and will provide an exciting new design for the desert that surrounds it. Collaborating to create this pedestrian friendly, neighborhood development are ten architecture firms, including Diller Scofidio + Renfro of New York. Envisioned for the gay community BOOM aims to provide an urban lifestyle promoting healthy living. Included within the masterplan: a boutique hotel, gym and spa, BOOM health and wellness center, and entertainment complex.
In 2005, an invited international competition was announced for a design of the reclaimed area above a tunnel holding a section of the M30 ring motorway immediately adjacent to the old city centre. The team proposed to resolve the urban situation exclusively by means of landscape architecture, and were the winning submission. The design is founded on the idea »3 + 30« – a concept which proposes dividing the 80 hectare urban development into a trilogy of initial strategic projects that establish a basic structure which then serves as a solid foundation for a number of further projects, initiated in part by the municipality as well as by private investors and residents.
President Obama in his State of the Union address shared plans for making American businesses more energy efficient. Focusing on investing in innovative clean energy technologies, the ‘Better Buildings’ initiative aims to increase energy efficiency in commercial buildings by 20 percent over the next decade. Building on his other contributions, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and proposed “HOMESTAR” legislation, this series of incentives would hope to propel private sector investment to upgrade offices, stores, schools and other municipal buildings, universities, hospitals, and other commercial buildings.
Las Vegas is our destination for the Architecture City Guide series this week. Some of the most famous hotels and casinos grace the streets of Las Vegas, we’ve included those and much more. We want to hear from you, so take a minute to add your favorite can’t miss buildings in Las Vegas in our comment section below.
The Architecture City Guide: Las Vegas list and corresponding map after the break!
The awkwardly shaped large site at West Side Highway and 57th Street is about to get a whole lot more attention. Bjarke Ingels and BIG will finally make their architectural debut in North America, with an unusual apartment building design in none other than New York City. The asymmetrical peak almost pyramid in shape is the result of blending the mismatched forms of a typical Manhattan tower podium and a low-rise apartment block European in style.
BIG’s reinvention of the ‘New York apartment building’ somehow is able to check all of the boxes, providing a connection to the waterfront and the Hudson River Park, acknowledging the surrounding context both in relationship to building size and neighbors’ views, and alleviating traffic noise. The leafy green courtyards that pop up within this new residential typology help to balance a steeply sloped facade, 450-feet at its peak. Designed for client Durst Fetner Residential, the building offers both a cultural and commercial program and will accommodate 600 residential units varying in size.
Follow the break for the architect’s description and more photographs.
Studio O+A, principals Verda Alexander and Primo Orpilla, were named this week by Contract magazine as the 2011 Designers of the Year. Known for designs such as the Facebook Offices in Palo Alto, the award is recognition of Studio O+A’s consistency of bringing creative quality design to start-ups and venture firms in Silicon Valley.
Hydrogen House is a series of house prototypes and suburban planning strategies for the Hilltop neighborhood in Denver, Colorado. Advocating a shift from a corporate fuel economy to a grassroots one, the project uses hydrogen fuel cells to link the design of domestic environments to ambitions for suburban development. Follow the break for more drawings of Hydrogen House.
The Crown Fountain in Millennium Park is a gift to the people of Chicago by the Crown family. Located at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Monroe Street, this interactive piece is a poetic meditation on the elemental and sensual qualities of water and light. The world renowned Spanish artist Jaume Plensa was commissioned to create the work.
Rice University’s School of Architecture has shared with us their Spring 2011 Lecture Series which will feature several international architects and professors. All lectures begin at 5:30pm and are free and open to the public and take place in the RSA’s Farish Gallery, Anderson Hall, unless otherwise noted. Below are the dates of the lectures:
Dallas is hosting both the Super Bowl this coming Sunday and this weeks Architecture City Guide! If you are heading there for the big game be sure to take a look at our list of buildings featured after the break. We want to hear from you, so take a minute to add your favorite can’t miss buildings in Dallas in our comment section below.
The Architecture City Guide: Dallas list and corresponding map after the break!
Chapter 1: The New City focuses on the way we live, and how it will impact the way we move. Part of a four film series about the future of mobility “Wherever You Want To Go” is the first release under BMW Documentaries.
Situated on a prominent waterfront site just across the East River from the United Nations and Roosevelt Island, the Queens Library at Hunters Point is scheduled to begin construction early next year. The design, which was approved this month is a collaboration between Steven Holl and partner Chris McVoy.
Miami Marine Stadium, designed by architect Hilario Candela in 1963, hosted many events – political rallies, boat races, concerts, church services, television shows, movie set for Clambake staring Elvis Presley, and was an important part of the Miami area until 1992 when it fell to disrepair. After much dialogue and arm twisting the Miami Marine Stadium is to be preserved many thanks to the Friends of Marine Stadium. Original architect Hilario Candela, along with Jorge Hernandez, Catherine Lynn and students from the University of Miami’s Architectural Preservation Studio, have created a concept for the revitalization which has been incoprated officially in the to the Virginia Key Masterplan. A hopeful 2012 grand re-opening is planned for this important local neighborhood civic plaza.
Focusing on projecting new living conditions circa 2085 in the Netherlands, “A Wonderful World” master class with Wiel Arets at the Berlage Institute Postgraduate Research Laboratory, challenged participants to rethink the proposition of living in a metropolis, high-rise building. Researching and redefining the map of the world, all of the continents were being projected to be within a 288 minute radius with a maximum travel distance of 72 minutes between continents. The basic question put forward: How will the city develop within our extremely exciting, complex, but shrinking world?
The Future Outdoors team shared with us their research and proposal to this question. Follow the break for a description and drawings.
Project Team: Juan Carlos Aristizabal, Gabriel Cuellar, Silvia Gioberti, Samia Henni, Ivan Nasution, Githa Ong Photographs: Courtesy of Future Outdoors
Collaborative work between artist and architect, Pedestrian Strands is a quasi-permanent installation on four bridges in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. Renovating the decks of these bridges was intended to extend the usefulness of the bridges for another ten years, after which full replacement will be required and the re-application of Pedestrian Strands reconsidered. At the insistence of the Downtown Council and the Crossroads Community Association, these renovations were to include increased attention to the pedestrian experience.
Architects: el dorado inc Location: Kansas City, Missouri, USA Lighting Designer: James Woodfill, Inc. Client: Downtown Council of Kansas City | City of Kansas City, Missouri, Public Works Photographs: Mike Sinclair
We are headed to the windy city of Chicago for this weeks Architecture City Guide series. Jam packed with architecture from Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies van der Rohe, here are our 12 recommendations if you are visiting Chicago. Head to the comment section and share your recommendations for additional buildings to include on our list!
Continuing our coverage of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SSE), OMA recently shared the latest photographs of the building while under construction. The building, located in the downtown area of Shenzhen, China, is expected to reach completion in April 2011. The SSE, a new headquarters for China’s equivalent of the NASDAQ, is 132,000 sqm of offices, registration and clearing house, accessory area, securities information company, SSE office area, trading floor and technical operations. The floating podium design, which is suspended 36 meters over a public plaza, projects 54 meters from the base of the tower. The building broke ground in November of 2007, Rem Koolhaas along with local government and the officials from the SSE were in attendance. Check out our previous coverage here.
Follow the break for the latest photographs of SSE.
