After winning a recent international design competition, EID Architecture out of Shanghai aims to redefine high-density mixed-use development in Asia through their design for the OCT Xi’an International Center (OXIC) in Xi’an, China. The architects consider their approach an exploration of vertical urbanism; the project consists of a 320-meter tall tower for offices and a boutique hotel, a 220-meter tall apartment tower, and a 12-floor podium full of retail and entertainment spaces. Visualized as an icon and cultural landmark, the design is strategically organized horizontally and vertically to create a vibrant, permeable urban center.
Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects has unveiled the design of their first-ever project in the United States: the Monroe Blocks, a new mixed-use development that will become an iconic symbol of the rejuvenation and future development of downtown Detroit. Prioritizing public access both indoors and out, SHL’s scheme will consist of Detroit’s first new highrise office tower in decades, more than 480 residential units and a network of new public plazas and green spaces.
Oslo-based architecture firm Dark Arkitekter hopes to jumpstart the revitalization of the city’s cultural center with their proposed rehabilitation of the National Theatre and redevelopment of the surrounding public space. The government is currently planning to renovate the 118-year-old structure, but Dark Arkitekter was unimpressed with the minimal-effort plan and so put forth their design on behalf of the Theatre.
International offices HUNI Architectes has received the highest prize in an international competition to design the Da Nang City Center Square in Vietnam. Organized by the Department of Construction, the city launched its competition for the square, with HUNI beating out 15 other designs competing for first place. HUNI has experience in Vietnam-based projects, already having collaborated with OMGEVING & Partners to restore Da Nang’s riverfront.
The design adopts the symbolic shape of a typical local element: the Lotus lake. Featuring distinctive ‘Lotus flower’ and ‘Lotus leaf’ canopies, the square aims to increase bike and pedestrian access, along with decreasing water runoff in Da Nang’s rain-filled location. Using its canopy-like shade structure, the Lotus Square will host a playground, market, and water feature symbolic of its chosen motif.
Spanish architecture studio PRÁCTICA and Rodrigo Pérez de Arce have released designs for their proposal of the Punta ArenasInternational Antarctic Center in Chile. The proposal was one of the contenders in the design competition for the building, which plans to become the Antarctic’s point of entry for the world.
Peter Pichler Architecture has been selected as the winners of a competition to design a new residential tower complex in the town of Maarssen just outside of Utrecht, Netherlands. Called the “Looping Towers,” the scheme consists of two L-shaped residential towers that connect as their ends to create a figure-eight shape that is optimized for its site.
Located along a main artery connecting the cities of Amsterdam and Utrecht, the 35,000 square meter complex is envisioned as a “social engine” for the area, which is expected to grow significantly over the upcoming years. The scheme will contain approximately 260 apartments as well as a parking garage and an abundance of amenities, including a unique running track on the roof.
Dmytro Aranchii Architects have started construction on a large interactive green roof in Kyiv,Ukraine. Called the Signature Garden, the 6000 square meter park sits on top of a shopping center and provides a space for visitors to dine, play, and enjoy both vegetation and water features.
Dr. Margot Krasojević, known for creating impossibly futuristic architecture has unveiled her latest project: a bridge that can sail across the water. Dubbed the “Revolving Sail Bridge” - the experimental project was commissioned by the Ordos government in the Kanbashi District of Inner Mongolia (China) to be built across the Wulamulum River. Featuring a main floating section topped with a carbon-fibre triple sail, the flexible structure is capable of sailing anywhere across the river to relocate itself.
Orange Architects have been selected as winners of a competition to create a new mixed-use residential building situated at the port of IJburg in Amsterdam. The neighborhood of IJburg is comprised of a series of artificial islands developed to address the growing need for housing and lack of available land near Amsterdam's city center. Commissioned by Amvest, the 29,000 square meter development aims to provide a sustainable, inviting heart for the area.
gmp Architeckten (von Gerkan, Marg and Partners) has revealed their competition-winning design for a 150 meter-tall glass tower at the new global headquarters . Located across from the former Expo site on the banks of the Huangpu River, the tower features a vertically structured glass facade offering expansive views and reflecting its impressive surroundings back towards visitors to the site.
MVRDV, in collaboration with local co-architects ACS Integrated and PWA Architects, has broken ground on a 12,000-square-meter mixed-use office block in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Known as the Veranda Offices, the 8-story building draws inspiration from local Sri Lankan weaving patterns, creating a system of flexible interior office spaces that open onto verandas and panoramic glass windows.
VTN Architects has revealed plans for a new training complex for Vietnam’s largest mobile network operator located within a training center campus at Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park, 30 km outside of the capital city of Hanoi. Currently under construction, the Viettel Academy Education Center has been designed as a “cooling microclimate” with short-term residential accommodation aimed at creating a quiet, peaceful space for the company’s new trainees to focus on their studies away from the distraction of the city.
SO-IL and Laisné Roussel architects have been selected as the winners of an international competition to design a new masterplan for Place Mazas in Paris. Titled L’Atelier de l’Arsenal, the proposal seeks to integrate the historic fabric of the site into a new, flexible urban strategy organized around a variety of new buildings and public spaces.
MAD Architects has unveiled designs for a new campus for Faraday Future (FF), makers of “the world’s fastest-accelerating electric car.” Located on the site of a former Naval base on Mare Island, adjacent to the Napa River in Northern California, the campus has been envisioned as a “zero-emission base” that will support not only the company’s research, development, and manufacturing headquarters, but also public outreach programming and ecological restoration of the river.
Text description provided by the architects. Chinese firm OPEN Architecture has revealed their latest project in progress, a museum located on the coast of Bohai Bay in northern China. Titled "Dialogue by the Sea," their project comprises two complementary art spaces: a cave-inspired space hidden within the beach's sand dunes, and a second space that rises from the sea "like a solitary piece of rock." Both projects are currently under construction, with a timeline yet to be released.
Situated at the intersection of a forest-scape and harbor, Helen & Hard’s winning museum competition entry, Navet, offers the Norwegian island of Odderøya a place to reflect on the area’s heritage and naval history. Located in the city of Kristiansand, Navet will join a group of institutions in the region called the Vest Agder Museums that celebrate Norway’s past. Developed through careful consideration of its surrounding landscape, the form of the building situates itself to activate both the water and existing mountain front.
Stefano Boeri Architetti’s next vertical forest project will be found in Utrecht, after the firm was selected as winners in an international competition for the construction of a new urban district in Jaarbeursboulevard. Dubbed the “Hawthrone Tower,” the first Dutch Vertical Forest will be one of two new high-rise towers to rise on the site in the Utrecht city center, located near the Utrecht Central Train Station, alongside a tower designed by Amsterdam-based MVSA studio.
The 90-meter-tall tower will be covered by 10,000 plants of different species (360 trees, 9,640 of shrubs and flowers), aimed at creating “an innovative experience of cohabitation between city and nature.” The green facade will allow Hawthorne Tower to absorb more than 5.4 tons of CO2, scrubbing the air for healthier living conditions for both residents of the tower and the wider city.
A year ago, Dutch telecom company KPN announced the move from its former headquarters in The Hague, to the famously leaning tower designed by Renzo Piano, at the foot of Rotterdam’s Erasmus Bridge. Completed in 2000, the tower is now set to undergo extensive renovation and expansion as part of the company’s relocation, to be headed by local firm V8 Architects with the intention of creating a new distinctive entry of the Wilhelminapier.
Piano himself was consulted in the design process, with the final proposal receiving his approval. "As a Rotterdam office, we are proud to have been asked to bring this characteristic building—and the first tower on the Wilhelminapier—to new life," said Michiel Raaphorst of V8." And we are honored our intervention is welcomed by Renzo Piano."
https://www.archdaily.com/874799/v8-architects-to-expand-renzo-pianos-tilted-kpn-tower-in-rotterdamOsman Bari
Dutch firm KAAN Architecten has revealed plans for the new Faculty of Medicine of the Universidade Anhembi Morumbi (UAM) in São José dos Campos, as the firm announced the opening of a new office in Brazil’s largest city, São Paulo.
The campus will be located on an elevated site perched over a main highway leading into the city, creating both isolation and visibility that will allow the building to become a new landmark within the dense urban fabric.
In response to the Yangjaegogae Eco Bridge Design Competition commissioned by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, SLOPEWALK is a mountain-inspired bridge designed by a Lithuanian team, KILD, proposing a structure evoking the “pictorial passage through the southern slopes of the two discontinued mountain peaks of Mt. Umyeon and Maljukgeori Parks.” Seeing a current infrastructural void, the project aims to unite the two neighboring mountain parks over the Gyeongbu Expressway, as a continuation of the sloped landscape.
Aedas has unveiled their Phase II designs of Hengqin Headquarters Complex in Zhuhai, China. The site is located on an island that sits near the Lotus Bridge linking Zhuhai to Macau, overlooking some of the largest casino resorts across the river.
The complex is set to be an integrated cultural tourism-oriented complex with two high-rise Grade-A office towers and a series of retail, banquet, entertainment and leisure venues. The form of the main buildings is said to have taken inspiration from the traditional Chinese symbol of two dragons chasing for a pearl, meant to symbolize good fortune and happiness:
Rotterdam’s skyline is set to welcome a soaring new addition in the form of Cooltoren, V8 Architects’ 150-meter tower that upon completion, will become the city center’s tallest residential tower. Located in the Baan quarter, the design aims to integrate itself within the post-war urban fabric of the district and embody Rotterdam’s historical double layered characteristics – that of the low rise and the skyline.
Hong Kong based architecture firm Cheongvogl has won an international competition to build the Yeoui-Naru Ferry Terminal in Seoul, South Korea. Founded by Judy Cheung and Christoph Vogl in 2008, the international practice aspires to “touch human hearts with poetic senses” through their projects. With that in mind, their winning design impressed an illustrious jury including architects Ryue Nishizawa (SANAA, Nishizawa, and Associates) and Alejandro Zaera Polo of APML. Using an approach called “Poetic Pragmatism” – the design aims to enhance the flatness and monochrome characteristics of the Han River site through its architecture. The masterplan connects the entire design to the city’s existing infrastructure while creating a sense of place along the riverbank.
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