Architecture is always evolving. The practice and business of architecture are undoubtedly evolving alongside the more obvious technological advances, but what we often forget is that there are no new ideas. When it comes to design, what we see manifested in our daily lives is the result of evolution. And at the root of that design evolution is inspiration.
A new initiative from Gianpiero Venturini and his firm Itinerant Office titled Past, Present, Future aims to open a research path based on the analysis of successful practices in the 21st Century while ultimately providing a new form of inspiration for the next generations of architects and designers. The documentary series begins with a select group of 11 international architects, including Jacob van Rijs, co-founder of MVRDV, Mario Cucinella, and Simone Sfriso, co-founder of TAMassociati. Each architect is featured in three video interviews in which they reveal the methodology behind their designs, the themes and approaches within their architectural practice, and the predictions they have for architecture in the near and distant future.
Continuing towards its goal of creating design-forward structures that are available to the public and installable anywhere, Revolution Precrafted's series has unveiled its latest pavilion design by Ben van Berkel, founder and principal architect of UNStudio. The limited edition Ellipsicoon (a portmanteau of Ellipse and Cocoon) is available now through Revolution Precrafted’s website, joining the selection of prefabricated pavilions and single-family home designs by the likes of Zaha Hadid, Jean Nouvel, and Daniel Libeskind.
A bounty of technological innovations in the 21st century have led to the theorization and implementation of so-called "Smart Cities," urban environments driven by data, and designed for efficiency. Although most smart technology focuses on infrastructure, a new tech startup named UNSense has been launched with adopts a human-centric approach, focusing on health and wellbeing.
Founded by Ben van Berkel, Principal Architect of Dutch firm UNStudio, and based in an Amsterdam innovation hub, UNSense aims to use technical interventions in the urban realm to improve people’s physical, mental and social health. As an independent, sister company of UNStudio, UNSense will specialize in sensor-driven technology for user-focused architecture – a "software" approach offering a counterpoint to the "hardware" of UNStudio.
https://www.archdaily.com/890744/unstudio-founder-launches-startup-for-shaping-human-focused-smart-citiesNiall Patrick Walsh
Aerial view. Rendering by Flying Architecture. Image Courtesy of UNStudio
UNStudio has been selected as the winner of the largest ever private initiative architectural competition to be held in France – for the keystone ‘Centre Culturel’ of the new EuropaCity development currently being developed in the Triangle de Gonesse region just north of Paris.
As a brand new ground-up district, in 2017 EuropaCity launched a call for the design of 8 key buildings to be located within BIG’s competition winning master plan, including a concert hall, hotels, contemporary circus and exhibition hall. UNStudio was chosen to design the new Centre Culturel Dédié Au 7è Art, which will house a cinema complex and “cultural laboratory.”
So many of our readers around the world celebrate Chinese New Year and welcome fresh beginnings in the Year of the Dog, we would like to take a look back at 2017 and share with you the most visited projects from China. This is a collection of projects coming from world-famous practices such as MVRDV and MAD Architects, and also from the younger, local talents who have demonstrated great potential in bringing positive changes to China’s built environment.
https://www.archdaily.com/889257/the-best-chinese-architecture-of-2017Joanna Wong
UNStudio has won a competition to design a new, 3-kilometer long cable car in the Swedish city of Gothenburg. The cable car's route, which will connect the old city on the south of the river with three locations to the north, will feature a total of six towers which have been designed around an adaptable, asymmetrical structural system intended to mimic the cranes in the city's shipyards. The expected opening date for the cable car is in 2021, with the new transportation system being inaugurated as part of the celebrations of Gothenburg's 400th anniversary.
UNStudio has revealed new renderings of their massive development and master plan for FOUR Frankfurt, as the firm joins forces with HPP Architects (UNS + HPP) to carry out the next stages of the project.
Located on a 16,000 square meter site in the Frankfurt financial district formerly housing offices for Deutsche Bank, Frankfurt FOUR will consist of a multi-story, mixed-use plinth and four skyline-changing high-rise towers, the tallest of which will cap out at 748 feet (228 meters).
Less than five years after the opening of Georgia’s Kutaisi ‘King David the Builder’ International Airport, rapidly increasing usage (from 12,915 passengers a year in 2012 to more than 300,000 in 2016) has prompted the airport to begin plans for an expansion that could serve as many as 1,000,000 passengers by 2020.
To achieve these goals, the airport has returned to the architects who designed the original structure, UNStudio (with local architects Artstudio Project), to develop a unique airport concept featuring terraced waiting areas and a rooftop viewing garden.
UNStudio, working in collaboration with Werner Sobek, have unveiled their designs for the Wasl Tower, a 300-meter tall skyscraper in Dubai. Centrally located along the main thoroughfare that connects the Emirates north to south, the Wasl Tower sits directly opposite the Burj Khalifa and, once completed, will feature one of the world’s tallest ceramic facades. Inspired by the movement of the city, the 300-meter supertall building takes on a "contrapposto" form, responding to the Sheikh Zayed Road along which it is sited.
Zumtobel Group has announced the 2017 winners of its Zumtobel Group Awards for architecture, which rewards the year's innovations which best promote "sustainability and humanity in the built environment." Leading the awards is Los Angeles-based firm Michael Maltzan Architecture whose Star Apartments project, which provides 102 homes for previously homeless individuals in LA, was awarded the prize in Zumtobel Group's Buildings category. Also winning prizes were UNStudio, Atelier TeamMinus, and Arturo Vittori. Read on for more details and the full list of winners and honorable mentions.
Designed by UNStudio in collaboration with MDT-tex, Prototype II is a modular membrane structure that recently premiered at Techtexil’s Living in Spaceexhibition. Providing a space at the exhibition for visitors to experience a Virtual Reality trip to Mars created by European Space Agency (ESA) and the German Aerospace Centre (DLR). UNStudio and MDT-tex have previously teamed up on temporary envelope exhibits before; their contorting LED-backlit biomimetic Eye_Beaconpavilion debuted at the Amsterdam Light Festival late last year.
UNStudio has been selected as the winners of an international competition to design a new mixed-use development on the site of the former Deutsche Bank offices in Frankfurt, Germany. Selected to complete the urban strategy for the district last March, UNStudio has now been unanimously selected to carry out the architectural redevelopment of the site, beating out third prize proposals from the teams of Dudler / Jahn and MSW / Snøhetta, and an honorable mention from Christoph Mäckler / CoopHimmelblau.
The new mixed-use development will consist of four high-rise towers ascending from a multi-story plinth in the heart of the city. The project includes space for retail, restaurants and hotels, as well as a full range of residential accommodation. The four towers, rising up to 228 meters (748 feet) high, will serve as a new landmark on the Frankfurt skyline.
Employing the latest in aluminum and metals innovation, Ben van Berkel and UNStudio have erected the ALPOLIC fair stand at BAU 2017, the world’s leading trade fair for architecture, materials and systems. Emphasizing the inherent strength of the ultra-light material, the parametric design utilizes geometric principles to create a self-supporting semi-private stand for gathering and the display of products.
UNStudio and textile manufacturer MDT-tex have completed the Eye_Beacon Pavilion for the Amsterdam Light Festival. Serving as a ticketing and information booth for event goers, the pavilion’s design draws inspiration from the festival’s 2017 theme of biomimicry, specifically the bioluminescent organisms of the deep sea world.
UNStudio, in collaboration with Korean firm Heerim Architects & Planners, has won the competition to design the 32 tower masterplan of Eunma Housing Development in the neighborhood of Daechi-Dong, Seoul. The unique project commission is being led by the residents of the Eunma Housing Development themselves, who have tasked the architects with redeveloping their current homes into a new, future-orientated eco-design that can be used as a blueprint for other resident-driven development projects.
Ben van Berkel and UNStudio have collaborated with a multidisciplinary team including Goudappel Coffeng (mobility consultants), GeoPhy (data specialists) and 2getthere (automated transit systems) to produce a study examining the future of infrastructure and city development for the area around Amsterdam’s A10 ring road and the Leylaan district.
Proposals resulting from the study comprise a new multimodal transportation hub located at the intersection of Cornelis Lelyaan and the A10, and new urban districts flanking the highway that will link to adjacent neighborhoods while provided a much needed new address in Amsterdam.
Three new sessions have been announced for the 2016 World Architecture Festival (WAF), held from November 16-18 in Berlin, Germany. Adding to the impressive list of speakers at the event will be Ben van Berkel, founder of UNStudio, who will lecture on “Superliving - from exclusive to inclusive”; Carlos Zedillo of Infonavit discussing “Architect as instigator”; and Qutub Mandviwala, MQA, who will present on “Housing and cultural difference.”
Said Ben van Berkel about the event: “It is essential to understand that ‘housing for everyone’ is not simply a matter of providing homes for all, it is also a question of what the home of the future should be; how we can meet the demands of all future residents and provide housing that fulfils their varied and changing needs.”
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