schmidt hammer lassen architects, together with New Zealand-based Architectus, has unveiled plans for Chirstchurch's New Central Library (NCL). An "anchor project" for the city's 2010 and 2011 earthquake Recovery Plan, the new 12,000-meter library will built by 2018 on the northern edge of Cathedral Square – Christchurch´s key civic space defined by Christchurch’s Cathedral.
It is hoped that the NCL will become an important gathering space within the city, offering easy access to digital technologies and local heritage collections, as well as exhibition and performance space, a learning center, indoor and outdoor areas of relaxation, and activities for young citizens.
Intersection of Tengdahlsgatan and Barnängsgatan. Image Courtesy of Utopia Arkitekter
A new housing development called Söderkåkar in Stockholm is aiming to provide a modern interpretation of the area’s 19th century vernacular architecture. Designed by Utopia Arkitekter, the residential structures impose the contemporary emphasis on sustainability and function within the traditional all-wood construction of the past, fitting into the existing infrastructure while maintaining a distinct character.
Construction is due to commence later this year on "Antalya Tower," the winning entry of "The Expo 2016 Antalya Tower" competition. Situated on Antalya on Turkey's southwest coast, the tower was designed by local firm NITA (Nitelikli Tasarımlar Atölyesi), and will cater for the city's 10 million annual visitors. The completion of the tower will coincide with the "World Botanic Expo 2016," to be held in Antalya and marking Turkey's first international Expo.
Construction is underway on a striking new tower by Morphosis Architects in Shenzhen. "A departure from conventional towers," as the practice describes, the "Hanking Center Tower" merges commercial retail with private office space through the folding of its steel structure. Beyond that, tenants are connected via a series communal sky gardens and a massive sun-lit atrium that occupies the building's core.
Studio Gang Architects has gone public with what will be Chicago's third tallest tower, Wanda Vista. The massive mixed-use development, planned to open adjacent to the Chicago River in the city's Lake Shore East community by 2019, will reach 1100 feet (335 meters) and encompass more than 1.8 million-square-feet of residential and hotel space.
Defined by three vertical elements, the tower is shaped to maximize resident views of the city and river below.
Seoul-based architecture and art practice Planning Korea has unveiled their design for a seaside resort hotel, to host visitors to the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. Offering 946 rooms and sprawling across a 29,493-square-meter site, the hotel will offer a combination of marine and mountain leisure activities.
Where the Panamerican Route passes along Rancagua, Chile, it does so in a seemingly interminable straight line, intersecting with the H-35 toward the Pacific and the Andes. At this junction between two of Rancagua's arterial roads German practice raumspielkunst has envisioned "The Cloud," a new form of self-sufficient gas station.
Responding to the nature of its site as a meeting point between the industrial and the touristic, the environmentally efficient gas station would cater for thousands of commuters each day.
The tower forms a new landmark within this fast developing city in China. Image Courtesy of Urban Systems Office
London-based design group Urban Systems Office has developed a work-flow system employed in their 180-meter "Bundle Tower" to redefine the office typology of the Bank of China. Informed by its specific site features, the mixed-use Bundle Tower creates an open floor plan that responds precisely to its surrounding conditions and unique site requirements.
Marc Koehler Architects (MKA) has taken first-place in the Open Oproep 28 design competition to design a leisure center, dubbed "The Missing Link." The competition challenged them to develop a community center, art center, and library for a municipality in Belgium. Located in suburban Edegem, the design strives to become the region's cultural hub and form a cohesive connection between its established public spaces.
Mecanooand Ayesa have broke ground on its "Palace of Justice" courthouse in a residential area of Córdoba, Spain. The first-prize winning proposal of an international design competition in 2006, the project was significantly delayed by the area's economic instability. Slated for completion in 2017, the building aims to unify the neighborhood's mix of contemporary and historic influences while providing essential public services for the region.
Kitchen expansion and courtyard renovation . Image Courtesy of Snøhetta
Snøhetta has unveiled designs for a new kitchen at "one of the world's best restaurants," The French Laundry in Napa Valley. The restaurant's first major overhaul in 20 years, its kitchen will be expanded by 25 percent while the historic structure will remain untouched.
“An experience at any of Chef Keller’s restaurants transcends expectation. The kitchen is the starting point for an architecture of connection, energy and authenticity. As Chef Keller makes us aware, the kitchen is where all the senses are first ignited,” said Craig Dykers, Founding Partner of Snøhetta. “The French Laundry kitchen is both primal and innovative, setting the stage for culinary magic.”
Flohara by XTU Architects envisions an inhabitable desert wall that constructs itself from the natural processes of its environment. Featured at the Venice Biennale'sMorocco Pavilion exhibition entitled “Fundamental(ism)s,” this ecological phenomenon defies the conventions of housing, offering shelter from varying climatic conditions and supporting both human and plant life in the harsh desert.
Courtesy of Sou Fujimoto Architects, Manal Rachdi OXO Architects and Nicolas Laisné Associates
With an idea based on "flexibility, mingling and openness," Sou Fujimoto Architects, Manal Rachdi OXO Architects and Nicolas Laisné Associates have been announced as winners of a restricted competition to design a new Ecole Polytechnique learning center at Paris-Saclay University. The winning scheme, chosen over four finalists, will consolidate six institutions under one roof: Ecole Polytechnique, Institut Mines-Telecom, AgroParisTech, ENSTA ParisTech, ENSAE ParisTech and Institut d'Optique (IOGS).
Imagine a future in which all the Earth's divisions are removed: countries abolished, borders dissolved, and governments overthrown. Such is the version of planet Earth for which "Civilization 0.000", the 2013 master's thesis project by Dimo Ivanov of RWTH Aachen University, is designed. Envisioning a future free of "unnatural division" and where the earth's resources are measured and meted out according to human need, the project proposes a series of interlinked skyscrapers or "0.000 Units" that harness local earth resources. Each of the units assumes one of 6 key functions: living space, education, resource management, production, energy storage, and electricity generation. Functions are determined by the environment in which the units are sited.
A team from UNStudio, led by Ben van Berkel, has launched an interactive new work station inspired by the health advantages associated with standing while working. Dubbed the StandTable, the innovative officefurniture is designed to support numerous working positions and fosters interaction and collaboration within the work place.
“The splendor of the Italian cities are beautifully represented by their domes,” says Miralles Tagliabue EMBT. Embracing this notion, EMBT has designed a wooden dome for COPAGRI, a confederation of agricultural producers that brings together hundreds of Italian farmers, to showcase their products at the 2015 Milan Expo.
“The design started from the observation of Italian landscapes, both natural and man-shaped,” said EMBT in a press release. “In our project the domes are not only representing the magnificence of the Italian past, but they also show us potential for the future lying in the construction of domes.”
The winning design of an international competition in 2010 to house the world-renowned Sinfonia Varsovia Orchestra, Austrian firm Atelier Thomas Pucher's Sinfonia Varsovia European Music Center has been approved to begin construction. As part of a larger campaign to revive Warsaw's historic character and inspire cultural exchange, the Music Center has ranked high on the priority list of the Renewal Program, and is slated to open in 2020.
Read on after the break for a closer look at the Music Center.
Tham & Videgård Arkitekter is the latest to investigate the potential of tall wooden structures. Planned for a site in the former transport harbor of Loudden, which will soon be revived as a new urban area, the practice's mixed-use scheme proposes to integrate 240 apartments within a cluster of four wooden high-rise buildings that reach up to 20 stories.
“The buildings are constructed entirely in one material, Swedish solid wood, from the frame to the facade, finishes and windows,” says the architects. “Through consistent use of a renewable material like wood, the result is a sustainable, well insulated and robust house structure with good potential to perform well over time, and minimize the total energy consumption.”
Warsaw-based firms KAMJZ and Kurylowicz & Associates have shared their proposal for an office building in Poland, as part of the Gdańsk Central Business District Development Strategy. Centrally located at the interchange of several arterial roads and public transit routes, the complex will house a mixed-use program combining office spaces with retail, leisure, sport, and civic functions.
Learn more about the project and view selected images after the break.
Developed for an international planning and architectural competition, this proposed masterplan for the Città della Scienza by Vincent Callebaut Architectures, coffice - studio di architettura e urbanistica, and Studio d'Architettura Briguglio Morales fuses sustainability with history to propose a self-sufficient urban ecosystem in Italy. Operating on the principle of living facades, the Città della Scienza revitalizes the forgotten military district into a vibrant, continually regenerating living city.
Read on after the break for a closer look at the plan.
Envisioned with a height of 130-meters and comprising a combined total of 41 floors and 63,800-square-meters, the bipartite Mennica Legacy Tower project in Warsaw has been slated for construction, to commence in the last quarter of 2015. Featuring two adjacent towers designed by Chicago-based international firm Goettsch Partners, the project is located at the site of the former headquarters of the Mint of Poland.
On completion, Mennica Legacy Tower will function predominantly as an office complex, integrating secondary retail and commercial functions. View selected images and learn more about the project after the break.
The Brønshøj Parish Centre by NORD Architects provides a space for community congregation informed by the surrounding religious architecture. With warm materials, a multi-functional program, and a form that physically opens up to the city, the Parish Centre presents an inviting social and reverent space for Copenhagen.
WE architecture and CREO ARKITEKTER A/S have won one of three prizes in the first phase of an invited competition to design a new Moscow Medical Center. Combining the functionalism of today's healthcare with the humanistic qualities of past architecture, the proposal introduces a facility fine-tuned for those inside.
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