Southwest Facade After. Image Courtesy of Perkins Eastman
Perkins Eastman has released plans for a two-story expansion and redesign of the SOM-designed Laboratory for Astrophysics and Space Research at the University of Chicago campus in Chicago, Illinois. Construction on the 63,500 square foot building has just begun, and once completed, will serve as the renewed home of the University’s Department of Physics. The addition and renovation will create a new physics hub on campus that will allow students of different sub-disciplines to collaborate under the same roof for the first time.
Czech firm PLUKK has released designs for a community center and town hall in the city of Brno-Kohoutovice, Czech Republic. Located in the historic downtown, the project takes advantage of a sloping site to create two buildings of differing architectural language, connected together with active public space to create one multifunctional town center.
Woods Bagot has revealed designs for the new Biological Sciences building at the University of New South Wales (UNSW Australia). Currently under construction, the 21,000 square meter (226,000 square foot) building will provide world-class facilities for UNSW biomedical and environmental researchers and create a new northern gateway for the university’s upper campus.
In the design process, Woods Bagot explored a series of iterative responses aimed at dividing the eight-story structure into three distinct elements: the laboratory box, the workplace box, and the atrium. The building skin takes inspiration from natural elements, such as the movements of a butterfly and the colors of Australian rock landscapes, to produce a distinct aesthetic for the Biomedical Precinct, as well as reference the terra cotta heritage on the university grounds.
NARTARCHITECTS has released the plans for its Csontváry Museum in Pécs, Hungary, which will feature the work of Tivadar Csontváry Kosztka, a Hungarian painter known for his technical skill and spiritual messages.
The design of the Museum reflects Csontváry’s symbolic and interpretive work. Rather than utilizing the typical “plaza-museum” typology, the Csontváry Museum will be located on the outskirts of the city in a crater of a former coal mine near a lake. Through this location, the space gives a dramatic ambiance suited to its program.
Exterior Perspective. Visualization by Sang Yeun Lee. Image Courtesy of Hanna Johansson, Juras Lasovsky and Filip Lipinski
A team of three young architects based in Copenhagen has unveiled their proposal for a new cultural center in Skellefteå, Sweden. The Möjligheternas Hus (House of Opportunity) extends the existing city grid with new "culture streets" at ground level, giving rise to a thriving central "living room" of arts, hospitality, and culture. The design was developed as part of an open competition, in which the first-time collaborators placed second against a pool of established international practices.
Architecture and Urban Planning firm group8asia has won third prize in the Seoul Metropolitan Government competition for the design of Nodeul Island with its sustainable project Seoul Green Dot.
Nodeul Dream Island leads with the idea of Neverland in mind, and isdesigned as “a utopia where nature and serenity are abundant.” Here, it is hoped that environmental economy, and socially sustainable practices can be utilized to create a space to transform the dense urban fabric.
Architects for Urbanity has released its designs for Seoul Urban Womb, a mixed-use women’s and family complex in South Korea. Located in Daebang-dong at the former site of the Seoul Women’s Shelter, the project aims to revitalize the current Seoul Women’s Plaza, a space previously described as “gloomy” and “deathlike.”
The new facility will serve as a connection between the Women’s Plaza and nearby train station, as a mix of public and private space, and is hoped to help “form creative culture, [teach] traditions, and expand the value of gender equality in family and community.”
Ennead Architects has released images of the new Engineering Education and Research Center for the University of Texas at Austin’s Cockrell School of Engineering. Currently under construction, the 433,000 square foot (40,200 square meter) building will house undergraduate education, interdisciplinary graduate research and two distinct engineering departments, and will become a new hub of activity at the edge of campus. The design takes advantage of a unique section featuring stacked atrium and outdoor spaces to serve a variety of educational and public functions.
AGA Architects have designed a new mixed-use development which is currently under construction in the Hong Xing district of Changsha, China. The project is set to become the first prototype of a combined leisure park and shopping mall in the country. A mix of retail, office, residential and hotel space is interspersed with "joyful" elements such as a sky walking corridor, 360-degree restaurant and a sky pool which overlooks the complex. Integrated landscape and a focus on sustainability transform the center into what the architects call a "green park mall."
Park Associati has revealed their plans for a new landmark business center in central Milan. A series of differentiated volumes make up the complex, one of which rises far higher and has been articulated as a "lantern," illuminating the skyline. The plan for the Pharo Business Center focuses on visibility and accessibility, taking advantage of the site's prominent position.
Update 7/5/17: Zaha Hadid Architects has announced the signing of Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group as manager of the new signature hotel and branded residences located within the Collins Street Tower. Mandarin Oriental, Melbourne will manage 196 guestrooms and suites and 148 of the tower’s upper floor residences, as well as an all-day dining restaurant, a spa and fitness center, and a bar with roof terrace access. Owners will have access to hotel amenities, as well as shared spaces including a private residents’ lounge. The project is expected to open in 2023.
Zaha Hadid Architects has released new images and an animation of the firm’s “Stacked Vase” tower in Melbourne’s Central Business District to coincide with the building receiving approval from the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, the City of Melbourne and the Office of Victorian Government Architect. The 54-story (178m) mixed-use skyscraper will be Zaha Hadid’s only tower in Melbourne, and upon completion will become an new emblem of “the most livable city in the world.”
Following the news last week that the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art will abandon plans for their Chicago location, OMA has released images of their proposal for the museum, which had been beaten out in the original competition by MAD Architects' Volcano-like entry. OMA’s design attempts to preserve as much of the lakefront park space as possible, lifting the majority of gallery and educational spaces into the air and capping them with a sky garden enclosed within an ETFE envelope. The plan would have offered up to 8 times more public space than the footprint it occupies.
Zaha Hadid Architects have released plans for a 70,000 square meter (750,000 square foot) hotel and residential tower in the Marina District of Lusail City, Qatar. The design is the first of two ZHA projects commissioned by H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al Thani for Lusail City’s integrated community master plan, which when complete will become Qatar’s first and largest sustainable city, providing entertainment, employment and accommodation for up to 450,000 residents and visitors.
Inspire by Modernist aesthetics, Elysee’s is a luxury condominium where the floor plan expands as it grows higher, “creating a multi-tiered exterior structure.” In this sense, the tower is meant to become three vertical neighborhoods.
The building permit for MVSA Architects’ 'Mall of the Netherlands' has officially been approved by the municipality of Leidschendam. Commissioned by Unibail Rodamco, the project entails a renovation and extension of the existing Leidsenhage shopping center, as well as an entirely new interior design.
After receiving building permit approval, Twelve Architects has revealed their design for a 42,000 square meter international exhibition center in Yekaterinburg, Russia. The design, which houses a series of conference halls, a media center, gallery, exhibition space, seminar rooms and lounges, has been developed from their initial 2015 competition winning entry. Partnership with a local practice has helped to guide the design of the center, enabling the creation of a major cultural hub within Yekaterinburg.
Ingenhoven Architects have released images of Marina One, a high-density mixed-use complex for the new Marina Bay Financial District in downtown Singapore. The plan consists of two office towers, two residential towers and a retail podium set between two large urban parks. The project’s centerpiece is the “Green Heart,” which upon completion will become the largest public plaza in the central business district. Construction has currently topped out, with an expected completion date falling sometime in 2017.
Dreem Arkitekter have been announced as the co-winners of a competition to design a new urban plan for a three block area in the Stockholm neighborhood of Kista. The project will include a large mixed-use complex consisting of residential, commercial and active public spaces, and is anchored into the neighborhood through a cornerstone residential tower. Together with joint winner ÅWL, the offices will finalize the project this fall.
Ennead Architects has released plans for a new 40,000 square meter (430,550 square foot) Music Center in the Chinese city of Xiamen. The design, produced for a six-week design competition held by Xiamen City Municipal Planning, draws inspiration from the island city’s dramatic topography and history to create a new public institution along the harbor. To provide the beachfront with a new public gathering place, the project’s feature element will be a grand stair likened by Ennead to Rome’s timeless Spanish Steps.
The city council of the Flemish city of Aalst have awarded KAAN Architecten with the commission for a new library and home of the Academy of Performing Arts. The building will also integrate the existing “Pupillenschool” (formerly a military school for children) to anchor the new tenant into the Belgian town’s rich history. The complex will be located at the corner of Oude Graanmarkt and Espalnadestraat, becoming a new cornerstone project where the many communities of Aalst can gather, learn and engage in cultural activities.
White Arkitekter’s Copenhagen studio has been selected as winners of a competition to design 115 individual homes as part of a social housing project in Denmark’s Allerød Municipality. Located north of the capital city of Copenhagen, the new neighborhood will be bordered by forest and a lake, inviting the nature in to complement and screen individual buildings. The project, titled “By the Woods,” will attempt to subvert typical preconceptions about social housing through the blurring of public and private space.
Netherlands-based Mecanoo Architecten has unveiled its plans for the new Kaohsiung Station, the centerpiece of the massive Kaohsiung Metropolitan Area Underground Railway Project in Taiwan.
The project, which will occupy an 8.5-hectare site, will act as a green connector unifying different modes of transportation and represent Kaohsiung’s vision for its future as a sustainable city.
Courtesy of Moore Ruble Yudell And Tongji Architectural Design and Research Institute
A team comprised of Moore Ruble Yudell (MRY), Tongji Architectural Design and Research Institute and SWA Landscape have proposed the winning design for the new College of Architecture and Design at Wenzhou-Kean University in Wenzhou, China. Their design is made up of a series of rectangular volumes, at the core of which lies a large forum, central to both the building and the university as a whole. Prominently sited at the entrance to the campus, the new College presents a grand portico to welcome visitors into the university through the formal entry quad.
Courtesy of HAEAHN Architecture and H Architecture
New York’s H Architecture, in collaboration with South-Korea-based Haeahn Architecture, has won a nation-wide competition, organized by the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation, to design the renovation of the 1988 Olympic Gymnastics Arena, which is located within the Olympic Park in Seoul, Korea.
The arena not only holds historic significance with its role in the 1988 Olympics but is also “the premiere cultural performance venue of Korea,” with its location inside one of the largest man-made public parks in Korea.
_AlexanderSchmitz.jpg?1467999479 "© Alexander Schmitz. Courtesy of Ingenhoven")
