Beijing Sunlay Design Office designed a Protestant Church in Inner Mongolia that takes its inspiration from the land’s topography. Set on top of a hill of Ordos, the scheme, entitled “Dove of Peace” gives its metaphor and poetry to the church by re-interpreting a contemporary and abstract silhouette of the bird carrying an olive branch. Made of concrete and with the facades finished in white crepi, the church’s form follows the adjacent curved road that crosses the site. “The dialogue between the outside and the inside space is emphasized by the play of shadows and light that creates complexity and depth in the reading of the space.” Delicate streams of light reflect harmony and tranquility, providing the perfect atmosphere for prayer and contemplation.
For njiric + arhitekti‘slibrary in Zadar, Croatia, the team worked with interpreting the local context as a “conflict of two matrices – the urban and suburban in the east to the west.” The new library emerges at the crossroads of these two different zones. With emphasis on the erosion of public space and an explosion of new technologies, the library becomes a series of environments with access to different activities. In this way, the library becomes a host for different purposes, for instance, “the library = market = hotel = shopping. ” The Mediterranean variant for the library is based on the density and the interdependencies between the university building, student hostels, major public buildings, and the diverse landscape structure.
ROW Studio shared with us their new Fine Arts School design for the Universidad Autonoma Benito Juarez de Oaxaca. Their proposal in posed as an alternative to contrast the actual project for the state school, which is already under construction. For ROW’s proposal, the school aims to create all the necessary spaces for the teaching the varying techniques and fields of artistic study, while preserving the green areas of the campus.
More about the school and more images after the break.
Oncuoglu Architecture designed the B199, a 74.500 m² mix-use development for Istanbul, Turkey. Inspired by the urban landscape of Istanbul, the project occupies the intersection of the Gultepe and Buyukdere, two districts with different urban patterns. The project is designed to act as a “bridge integrating the spatial discontinuity between two sides of the site.”
njiric+ arhitekti‘s design for a large stadium has been nicknamed as the “Blue Volcano” by the public and the press, an overwhelming built form that creates a presence in the city, a new landmark for the area. The stadium was conceived not as a building typology but rather as a topography. Using the natural undulation of the landscape, the new civic arena is housed within an artificial hill made of recycled rubber and blue pigment sprayed onto corrugated aluminium sheets.
After winning an international competition, LIN Architects’ “Centre International du Design” facility for research, communication and education in design is now open. In addition to renovating several buildings on the historic site of the National Arms Manufacture in St. Etienne, the project also incorporates the integration of a new building, the “platine” which is an interclimatic laboratory, a 31 m high observation tower, gardens and a public esplanade.
When much needed landscape maintenance at the 150 year-old cemetery in Orthen required many graves to be emptied, a competition was held to design a new resting place for the remains of 12,000 people. Buijsenpennock Architectsresponded by designing an ossuary that can be seen as a series of walls, made by a mesh of rough oak columns and beams.
When asked to design a luxury hotel and spa at Hersham Golf Club in Surrey (which is within London’s Green Belt) ReardonSmith Architectsresponded with plans for a subterranean building. Matthew Guy, ReardonSmith’s project designer, explained “Our concept integrates hotel, spa, and golf facilities into a single architecturally exciting and organic composition below and above ground. The design fulfills the requirements of the brief for a bespoke five star hotel while returning hard standing to the Green Belt and improving the physical layout and visual attraction of the entire site. It represents a commercially viable solution to developing in the Green Belt and is, we believe, a world-first.”
Perkins+Will’s master plan for SANY Beijing was awarded first prize in the “Conceptual Design” category at the 8th International Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism due to the project’s strength in the categories of spatiality, connectivity, originality and sustainability. SANY is the largest heavy equipment manufacturer in China and one of the top 10 heavy equipment manufacturers in the world. The company wanted to achieve a higher degree of efficiency in their manufacturing process and create a memorable visitor experience.
Swiss architects Christ & Gantenbein placed first among tough competitors, such as the five Pritzker laureates (Peter Zumthor, Zaha Hadid, Rafael Moneo, Tadao Ando and Jean Nouvel) in the competition to design an extension for the Kunstmuseum. Thanks to a generous donation to the Canton of Basel-Stadt, the Basel Kunstmuseum was able to hold a competition to expand the museum to an adjacent lot. Christ & Gantenbein’s awarded design was defined as a “contemporary brother” of the 1930’s Kunstmuseum.
More about the awarded winning design after the break.
Architecture students attending the Chinese University of Hong Kong will enjoy the spatial variety and openness of Ida and Billy’s New School of Architecture situated on the edge of the campus. The form, a diagonal shape which is pierced to preserve views of the sky, has large openings to capture the campus’ topology and views of Tolo Harbor, “giving an infinite boundary to architectural thinking and design.”
More images and more about the school after the break.
Rryuichi Ashizawa Architectsdesigned a series of temporary wooden buildings for the Aqua Metropolis Osaka Event. While visitors can meander through the delicate wooden open structures, other wooden pods provide more shelter for varying activities. Extending past the small island, a geometric, almost folding, form provides the perfect setting to take in the panoramic view of the city.
MAD Architects’ latest contribution to Shenzhen came in the form of two huge monster footprints. The design, made for the Urbanism\Architecture Shenzhen & Hongkong Bi-city Biennale, is a sunken space that functions as a playground. Paved in pink EPDM material, the Monster’s Footprint attempts to enter a very “surreal reality”, and offer a possibility for city dwellers to find their own freedom and joy in the Citizen Square. The playful space illustrates MAD ‘s ability to bring their design attitude to smaller scale projects.
Upon being commissioned for three shoe stores on Reunion Island, Visiondivision designed a Plexiglass shoe box that can be multiplied and arranged in a variety of forms. The arrangement of the shoe boxes create varied store layouts while still providing an easily recognizable element to identity with the Mangrolia Shoe store.
More about the store and more images after the break.
In less than three months, construction will begin on Nabito Architects’ Domus Aquae. The project is a thermal complex club that is situated next to the Roman Colosseum. The project will use an existing structure and include a restaurant, swimming area and thermal baths. The form was derived after studying and analyzing maps, plans and drawings of the Old Roman Termae. Once completed, the project will be a nice compliment to those visiting the Colosseum.
The international studio Urban Art Projects (UAP) transformed a standard parking garage into a large scale “art-come-architecture project” on Albert Street in Brisbane. The art project entitled ’Landlines’ is a contour map of the area that wraps itself around three faces of the 9 floor parking garage.
More about Landlines and more images after the break.
Leong Leong Architecturedesigned a 550 square meter store for 3.1 Phillip Lim in Cheongdam-Dong, Seoul’s premiere fashion district. The store is characterized by the simultaneous need for sameness and difference. “Typically, the consistent repetition of brand traits is necessary to reinforce an identity, while novelty can refresh the aura and desire for the brand,” explained the architects.
More photos by architectural photographer Iwan Baan, and more about the store after the break.
