Stemming from the idea of creating a perfect synergy between architecture, nature and social technologies, the competition winning proposal for the St. Horto project by OFL Architecture fits perfectly within the project area in Rome. By redefining the boundaries through a game of compressions and expansions, the architects create a dynamic and attractive space. More images and architects’ description after the break.
New York, San Fran, Chicago…Columbus, Indiana. Which of these doesn’t go with the others? Well, according to the AIA, none. Columbus, Indiana, a small town of about 44,000 has been ranked by the AIA as the nation’s 6th most architecturally important city, right after Washington DC.
So what’s so special about Columbus? Apparently, a 1950s philanthropist by the name of J. Irwin Miller took it upon himself to foot the bill for any new public building in the city. The result? Today, Columbus has more than 70 buildings designed by internationally renowned architects – including I.M. Pei, Eliel Saarinen, Eero Saarinen, Richard Meier and Harry Weese.
Check out a Video on Columbus “The Athens of the Prairie,” after the break…
Architects: Archi5 Location: Pontault Combault, France Project Year: 2008 Photographs: Thomas Jorion
For once, British architects, the Prince’s Foundation, and NIMBYs have something they can all agree on. In a speech to the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA), UK planning minister, Nick Boles, has come out swinging against the “pig-ugliness” of British housing, which has given it a bad name:
“We are trapped in a vicious circle. People look at the new housing estates that have been bolted onto their towns and villages in recent decades and observe that few of them are beautiful. Indeed, not to put too fine a point of it, many of them are pig-ugly In a nutshell, because we don’t build beautifully, people don’t let us build much. And because we don’t build much, we can’t afford to build beautifully. My personal mission as planning minister is to help us break out of this vicious cycle once and for all.”
The criticism has been welcomed by many British architects as a necessary wake-up call for Britain and a call-to-action for its architects.
More on this story, after the break…
Going back to the times when cinema was recorded with no colours or sound, the German film “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” by Robert Wiene is a masterpiece that utilizes fully stylised sets with abstract spaces to represent different scenes. It’s considered one of the most influential movies of German expressionism, since many of the film’s unusual characteristics (from the geometric nature of the sets to the actors’ costumes) were decades ahead of their time.
Have you seen this classic? What do you think about how silent-era films depict space? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Kjellgren Kaminsky Architecture (KKA) shared with us their winning proposal for Nya Kollaskolan, which is expected to be the largest passive-house school in Sweden, as well as one of the largest passive house buildings in the country. A centerpiece in the new Kollastaden area in the center of Kungsbacka, the school will supplement the existing school, built in 2000, and host around 360 students and 75 employees. More images and architects’ description after the break.
The new Água Espraiada Operação Urbana urban planning program in Sao Paulo has taken a major approach to sustainability. With this plan in action, the Rochaverá Corporate Towers, a high profile mixed residential, office, and shopping complex, is a great example. The recently built project is located at a former industrial area along the Pinheiros River Basin. This enormous 1.2-million-square-foot development, designed by Aflalo and Gasperini Architects, was built to be highly energy efficient, control water usage, cut greenhouse gas emissions, and ease traffic congestion. With the success of the mentioned project, we can begin to ask ourselves, ‘How can a development accomplish all of those objectives?’ Start with urban planning that mitigates sprawl, one of biggest threats to the planet today. More information after the break.
Architects: Equipo Olivares Arquitectos Location: Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain Design Team: Javier Pérez-Alcalde Schwartz Photographs: Lluís Casals
Architects: Hampton+Rivoira+Arquitectos Location: Escobar, Provincia of Buenos Aires, Argentina Architects In Charge: Jorge Hampton, Emilio Rivoira Associated Architect: Cristian Carnicer Design Team: Roberto Lombardi, María Eugenia García Castera, María Eugenia Viña Raznovich, Juan Reartes, Ignacio Ruiz Orrico, Diego Tablada, Emilia Alvarado, Anahi Fedrizzi Project Year: 2009 Photographs: Jorge Hampton, Emilio Rivoira, Fernando Mayán, Fundación Temaikén
Opening at 6:00pm tomorrow at the Museum of Finnish Architecture, UNBUILT HELSINKI is an exhibition about the Unbuilt City and its inhabitants as part of the World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 program. Drawn from the museum’s archive and beyond, unrealized projects in Helsinki are studied by a team of researchers who generate new relationships with local resources in order to translate the projects into architectural models. Their findings and the narratives behind the buildings are displayed in an exhibition at the museum. The event is curated by Åbäke and Nene Tsuboi and will be up until February 24. For more information, please visit here.
Architects: OAB - Office of Architecture in Barcelona Location: Castellbell i el Vilar, Spain Design Team: Carlos Ferrater, Nuria Ayala Technical Architect: Alexandre Pararols Project Year: 2010 Photographs: Alejo Bague
A small group of students and architect Tobias Holler of sLAB Costa Rica at the New York Institute of Technology, have teamed up to design and build a communal recycling center for Nosara, Costa Rica – a city that is facing grave problems with sanitation and illegal dumping of garbage on beaches and in wildlife areas. Construction started last summer after a Kickstarter campaign that raised $15,000 helped provide expenses and costs associated with housing the students that assisted with the construction. A relaunch of the Kickstarter campaign will provide the project with additional funds to bring the students back to accelerate the pace of construction. The funds also support the documentary by Ayana de Vos, whose film follows the progress of the project and features waste management and sustainability in Costa Rica.
Join us after the break for more.
The motivation behind building a Communal Recycling Center is based in the severe problems that Nosara specifically, and Costa Rica in general, has in municipal waste management. Without appropriate infrastructure and policies, over 1400 tons of waste is deposited into unregulated dumps daily. A lot of the garbage makes its way into rivers and forests, pollutes ground water, threatens the health of local communities and destroys wildlife.
Diller Scofidio + Renfro‘s ‘Bubble’ project (featured here) has recently come under fire by critics for its “ballooning” cost. Meant to be a seasonally inflated, temporary structure at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, DC., the Bubble’s original price-tag ($5 million) has now inflated to $15.5 million. The federally-funded price tag would be less relevant if the project were universally accepted, but many feel that the “Bubble” represents a misguided attempt to get into the spectacle game.
More information after the break.
Located in the Seodaemu-gu district of Seoul, the Swiss Embassy proposal by Personeni Raffaele Schärer Architects stands as a pavilion sitting on four mushroom columns. Reaching the maximum authorized height, the project becomes part of the makeover that the neighborhood is about to undergo with its global and drastic transformations. The end result is a tree house like structure floating over a canopy of dense trees in an extremely urban context. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Similar to what LEED did for buildings, City Protocol promises to do for cities. The first certification system for smart cities, due to come out in April 2013, is being developed with the guidance of over 30 organizations. It will provide a framework for designing sustainable systems in a model that integrates the vast number of elements that contribute to urban development. This global thinking expands upon the goals of the LEED certification system, which provides a more isolated, building specific agenda for architects.
Inspired by Design Indaba, the Your Street Live Challenge aims to transform space and improve life at the street level in Africa through creative thought, one street at a time. Want to be part of something big? This is an opportunity to participate in a global movement that is working to ensure a better world through creativity. Your Street Live is open to anyone living anywhere in the world. Simply send your proposal for how the area where you live, work or play can be improved by harnessing the transformative power of creativity, design and innovation. The deadline for entries is January 28. In total, R1 million (Approx. $115,000 USD) will be awarded to the best ideas. For more information, please visit here.
The Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and World Stage Design 2013 are currently seeking proposals for the competition to design a sustainable temporal theatre. The winning design will be built in Cardiff and house performances and events as part of the World Stage Design 2013 festival. Open to students and professionals from across all related disciplines, the structure must be weather and sound-proof and be designed using either existing and readily available building components or alternative sustainable elements. The deadline for submissions is March 1, 2013. More information after the break.
In contrast to the other buildings in the Töölönlahti District of Helsinki, an essential component of the design by PAR and Arup for the Central Library involved creating a public space at the top of the library—visually connecting Töölönlahti to Senate Square and the city at large. The library is organized by six intersecting axes that afford spectacular vistas while creating a variety of spatial configurations for the library’s program. With it’s six floor levels each pointing toward a celebrated landmark, the Central Library becomes a symbolic center for city. More images and architects’ description after the break.
The members of the Master Jury were just announced for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, which is given every three years to projects that set new standards of excellence in architecture, planning practices, historic preservation and landscape architecture. The Jury, which includes Mr. David Adjaye, Dr. Howayda al-Harithy, Mr. Michel Desvigne, Professor Mahmood Mamdani, Mr. Kamil Merican, Professor Toshiko Mori, Ms. Shahzia Sikander, Mr. Murat Tabanlioglu, and Mr. Wang Shu, independently selects the recipients of the US$ 1 million Award, will convene in January 2013 to select a shortlist from hundreds of nominated projects. The shortlisted projects will then be subject to rigorous on-site reviews by independent experts. The Jury will meet for a second time in June 2013 to examine the on-site reviews and then select the final recipients of the Award. More information on the Master Jury after the break.
The proposal for the Helsinki Central Library by OODA tries to merge the most efficient program articulation with a strong concept which intends to suggest the overall theme integrated with Helsinki’s context. Their building acts as a shifting point between the two demarked city urban networks – ancient and modern – merging both, creating a public path that connects to the park while it simultaneously generates the formal composition. The new central library will be much more than a traditional library. It will be a dynamic entity, fully equipped, comprised of the physical spaces themselves as well as technology, library collections, staff, tourists in an all-age designed forefront building. More images and architects’ description after the break.
The Golden State Warriors recently announced that Snøhetta and AECOM have been selected as the architecture team to design the Warriors’ new sports and entertainment complex on the San Francisco waterfront. Currently in the final stages of the agreement, the new stadium will be a true centerpiece in hosting the Bay Area’s NBA basketball team, as well as provide a great venue concerts, cultural events and conventions, which are all prominent events the city currently cannot accommodate. More images of the architects’ design can be viewed after the break.
Above is a video by OFIS Arhitekti featuring their Shopping Roof Apartments project in Slovenia. With the initial task from the client to build a new shopping mall on the plot of the existing one, their project cleverly proposed use of the shopping roof for additional volume-as new apartments. The organization of the housing and the envelope of the apartments open towards mountain views and the sun. Therefore the front, wooden facade is mostly transparent with panoramic windows.
In their ‘Flying Market’ concept for the sustainable market square proposal in Casablanca, which won the third prize, the architects began with a simple exercise, utilizing associative words, gathering inspirations and ideas to define the project and its aim. Designed by Florent Chagny, Soufia Louzir, Thomas Sponti, and Florian Chazeau, they decided to propose a ‘magic’ cover, a transformative cap to the utilitarian every-day market. The design, a structural network, levitates over the market utilizing a suspension system of twenty-three colorful Helium balloons. More images and architects’ description after the break.
