Mozhao Studio shared with us their first prize winning proposal for the Hong Kong Alternative Car Park Tower competition which was held by held by AC_CA. Their design integrates the Hong Kong City Hall, the second-floor pedestrian system and streets on the second-floor level, provid¬ing a convenient and enjoyable network of public spaces. Because of this strategy, the park tower presents the citizen¬ship, which relates and echoes to the Hong Kong City Hall nearby. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Recently completed by Spirit of Space, the film above displays the cadence of morning rush hour reflecting the rhythm of the Chicago River, but how often do we allow the river to reflect a wandering glance from us? This “glance” aims to bring to light the potential of Chicago’s socially under utilized, aqueous artery.
HOK has been selected to design Porsche Cars North America’s new headquarters in Atlanta, following an intense design competition. This innovative development includes a contemporary workplace, a Technical Service and Training Center, and a Customer and Driver Experience Center with an integrated road handling track. The dynamic design embraces the on-site road handling track, celebrating the Porsche driving experience at every turn. More images and project description after the break.
One organism, one body, that understands and reflects the functional complexity of nature, interpreting it in its relationship with the resources and translate this to architecture, in the use of light, the sun or the water and consecutively in the way the architecture itself generates these resources. Therefore the built morphology is understood as habitat resonance. These were the main goals of AND-RÉ for their proposal for the Pools and Public Sports Complex in S.João da Madeira, Portugal. More images and architects’ description after the break.
DesCours is a free, public, ten-night architecture and art event now in its fifth year, held December 2-December 11 in New Orleans.
This event invites internationally renowned architects and artists to create architecture installations within ‘hidden’ locations in the heart of New Orleans, including private courtyards, rooftops, abandoned buildings and walkways, all locations normally unseen, inaccessible or unused by the public.
Today, ideology appears to have become, and to have been reduced to, something merely aesthetic, something you can buy yourself into as Wouter Vanstiphout explains in an interview with us entitled “Acrobatic Narratives”. In that sense cities have become suspicious territories where hypocrisy and fakery prevail when it comes to urban ideologies and one wishes to have some kind of optical device that detects all the lies, similar to a kind of night vision infrared technology that Thomas Ruff used in his “Nacht Series” applying the same technology that was used during the Gulf War.
You can see more about the articles on their official website. Also, you can browse the entire issue YouTube (video and more images after the break).
The Society of Architectural Historians/Southern California Chapter will be presenting architect Hicks Stone, son of Edward Durell Stone, and author of the new book Edward Durell Stone: A Son’s Untold Story of a Legendary Architect (Rizzoli, October 2011). The free lecture and slide presentation is hosted by SAH/SCC Life Member Edward Cella at Edward Cella Art + Architecture in Los Angeles on December 10th from 4-6pm. More information on the event after the break.
Duosegno Visual Design, a project of architecture photos and videos, shared with us one of their videos for the Niemeyer Center designed by Oscar Niemeyer. In collaboration with the cultural center, they are shooting the interiors for the second part of the project.
For the International Conceptual Design Competition of The Two Towers – CDB Tower & Minsheng Financial Tower, Saraiva + Associados focused on a unique and harmonious force, along with a modern and innovative approach to create a building of intense character. The essence found in this project was the result of an international competition in which Saraiva & Associados reached the six finalists: The Two Towers in Shenzhen. More images and architects’ description after the break.
The Guangfa Securities Headquarter, designed by Jaeger and Partner Architects, is a 308-meter tall class-A high-rise office building that will serve as the new landmark for the eastern portion of Guangzhou’s new CBD. Its orientation is rotated slightly from the dominating orthogonal grid of the surrounding area to mark the site as a transformational pivot point of the urban fabric. More images and architects’ description after the break.
The 17th International Conference on Urban Planning and Regional Development in the Information Society GeoMultimedia, hosted by CORP is part of their annual events which has been taking place since 1996 and are Europe’s major congresses on Urban Planning, Regional Development and Information Society. The events are extraordinarily interdisciplinary, whereby usually a lot of new ideas and projects are generated.
Challenged with a highly innovative plant, combining scientific research and modern production of concrete on an international standard, Synarchitects have been asking themselves to not only provide all tasks, but to add something special that makes the Xinao Concrete Research Plant shine out the typical factories. More images and architects‘ description after the break.
REX shared with us their proposal for two of China’s major financial institutions, CLC and MSFL, which chose to consolidate their new headquarters on a single site within Shenzhen’s CDB. Although the planning regulations permit tall buildings on the site, the maximum allowable building area and the proposed combination of offices and retail seemingly dictate a perfunctory tower-and-plinth scheme. Instead, CLC’s and MSFL’s offices are organized into two highly efficient blocks with: an ideal 9 meter distance between core and façade; an entirely flexible, column-free plan; the largest floor area allowed by code and urban design requirements; and an efficiency ratio of 80%. More images and architects’ description after the break.
ECDM Architects’ proposal is for a unifying building, a building that represents both the Mériadeck neighborhood and the old city, that participates in defining an urban landscape and carries the values of a society more open to its environment. It was therefore around the creation of an open space, a space of convergence and exchange that they wanted to organize the program, a space framing the city, organizing open programs and services around the borders, a space animated by its users and actors. It acts as a beautiful and lively space, where the dynamism of Bordeaux is displayed for a close and urban administration. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Ferley Sergey, who currently works with Zotov & Co, shared with us his design for the revitalization of the industrial areas in the Kyiv city center, a former factory “Radar” and the surrounding areas. Currently, these areas are in terrible condition. The main task is to transform the useless territory in the central part of Kiev into a “cultural cluster” in its scientific, cultural and educational functions and imbued with a single public park. More images and project description after the break.
Jaeger and Partners Architects’ design for the Shenzhen Archive Towers recently received a Design Excellence Award in the AIA Chicago 2011 Design Awards program. This competition scheme was acknowledged in the Unbuilt Design Award category. Shenzhen’s Meiling District resides between City Center and new north railway station, forming an urban center with the Archive site at its heart. Creating an authentic urban space, the design unifies four parcels (city blocks) by removing dividing streets. Circulation is re-organized, thereby harnessed, by introducing a perimeter one-way street system. The enlarged spatial boundary establishes an appropriate scale and symbolic relationship with the City Plaza. More images and project description after the break.
Just recently, the author of architectural videos blog shared with us a video on OMA’s founding partner Rem Koolhaas‘ lecture which he gave at Cornell University on October 20th. His lecture was given on the occasion of opening Milstein Hall, the new extension to the faculty of Architecture, Art and Planning designed by OMA.
