Steven Holl Architects, in collaboration with Glasgow-based JM Architects, was awarded first prize in the international design competition for the Glasgow School of Art Competition. The selection committee, chaired by Barcelona-based architect David MacKay, sought to select an architect-led team, not a design. The committee unanimously chose Steven Holl Architects because Holl’s work demonstrated “a poetic use of light and their submission demonstrated a singular creative vision, scale of ambition, profound clarity and a respectful rivalry for the Mackintosh Building.”
A few weeks ago, we shared Jean Nouvel’s design for 53 West 53rd Street, a 1,250 foot project that would dominate the site. Reactions to the project were different across the board as some felt the tower would push New York forward in the architectural world, whereas others did not agree with the scale or aesthetic of the project. As we previously mentioned, Nouvel’s project had a long way to go before construction, and this week, as Nicolai Ouroussoff reported for the New York Times, it seems that the City Planning Department has decided to shorten the proposed tower by 200 feet.
More about the City Planning Department’s decision after the break.
Yesterday afternoon, we had the pleasure of attending the opening day of Ben van Berkel’sNew Amsterdam Pavilion in Peter Minuit Plaza, just outside Battery Park in Manhattan. After walking around the pavilion and watching New Yorkers’ first encounters with the new sculptural piece, we had the opportunity to study the project with Mr. van Berkel as he explained his ideas and process. The pavilion is a gift from the Netherlands to New York in honour of 400 years of friendship; yet the pavilion does not attempt to physically manifest a representation of that relationship. Rather, the pavilion can be interpreted in different ways and speaks to both the history and the future of the city.
More about our talk with van Berkel and more images after the break.
The conceptual master plan for the Milan World Exposition 2015 resulted from the teamwork of five architects: Jacques Herzog, Mark Rylander, Ricky Burdett, Stefano Boeri, and William McDonough. Working with the theme “feeding the planet, energy for life”, the exposition will be a planetary botanical garden that will “feed Milan literally, spiritually and intellectually.” The architects created the framework for the exposition and organized an orthogonal bridge that contains an agrofood park and is surrounded by water ways.
We’ve featured several master plans where countries implement eco-friendly community measures in their newest developments. The desire for a well planned, green city now belongs to South Korea, who announced not one, but two master plans (Foster + Partners’ plan soon to be featured on AD). For the Songdo International Business District, Kohn Pedersen Fox has created a functioning network of over 120 green buildings placed amidst acres of landscaped open spaces. Located on 1,500 acres on the waterfront of Incheon, the $300 billion plan will provide housing for 75,000 residents and handle 300,000 commuters.
More about the sustainable community after the break.
Sander Architects have designed a residence for the historic Movie Colony of Palm Springs that can combat the site’s harsh environment. Facing the San Jacinto mountains, the house features a simple roof that opens to the home toward the surroundings. With temperatures in Palm Springs reaching over a stifling 120 degrees, the western exposure of the home ”has created an enormously difficult problem with solar exposure”. Sander’s design of a fifteen-foot horizontal cantilever reduces (to practically zero) the time when the setting summer sun’s rays will penetrate the interiors; however, the cantilever is angled in such a way to allow winter sun to ”more readily enter the house to warm it when the weather turns colder.”
The much anticipated Termite Pavilion arrived at the International Arts Pestival in London earlier this week. The Pestival is “a festival celebrating insects in art, and the art of being an insect…it is a rare creature: an international, inter-disciplinary, community-led festival.” Inspired by the Namibian termite mounds, the six square meter walk-in solid timber structure ”allows Pestival goers a unique insight into these extraordinary organic forms.”
Sander Architects shared their Grace Restaurant design with us. Located in the rectory of the decommissioned St. Vibiana’s cathedral, the project includes an addition on a triangular piece of property adjoining the rectory. The addition includes a new kitchen on the first floor with additional cooking facilities and a private chef’s table on the upper floors. Putting a new spin on restaurant design, the building itself will provide great food. Working with the idea “the building you can eat”, the project becomes an edible form that is sheathed in a vertical garden, covered with tasty plants. Passers-by will be free to pick fruits, vegetable and herbs from the building as they walk along. An open street-side counter will also cater to walk-up orders. With this edible idea, the building become both environmentally and people friendly.
A few months ago, we shared the University of Melbourne’s six short-listed finalists for their new Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning building (short list can be read here). Of the six finalists, the team of Melbourne-based John Wardle Architects and Boston-based Office dAhave been named the winners. Professor Tom Kvan, Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, stated, “The winning design showed a detailed understanding of the teaching and research activities of the Faculty and the potential for contribution to research across the campus.”
More images and more about the winning project after the break.
Designed by LAR + Fernando Romero, the Soumaya Museum, slated for completion in 2010, will house a diverse collection of international painting, sculpture, and object art from the 14th century to the present, including the world’s second largest collection of Rodin sculptures. Conceived as a sculpture, the museum’s amorphous form will be a contemporary icon for Mexico City that is also a functional curatorial space.
More about the museum, including images and videos, after the break.
Sander Architects was awarded first place with their design for the IPAC, a new performing arts center for Idyllwild Arts Academy, one of the country’s top three feeder high schools for the arts. Situated in the mountains outside Los Angeles, the IPAC rests on one side of the site, with the empty space forming a “new green quad at the heart of campus”.
Nestled into a forest of Australian mimosa trees, a small family chapel designed by 57STUDIO provides a quiet and serene place for religious contemplation. The chapel can hold approximately 40 seated people and focuses on providing ” the proper sense of religious spaces…through its communication with the natural surroundings.”
Rothe Lowman Architects‘ 18 storey tall AIR Apartments will be the first true high rise residential apartment building ever built in Coburg. The tower is comprised of 259 apartments and will bring “high density living to one of Melbourne’s five designated activity centers.” The tower is expected to be one of the most striking buildings in the city. “Its dynamic new architectural profile and sculptural façade foreshadows a renewed sense of place, taking Coburg’s exciting transformation to unscaled heights,” explained the architects.
Renzo Piano‘s latest project, the Shard, has recently moved to the construction phase. The 1,016 ft high skyscraper will be the tallest building in Western Europe and will provide amazing views of London. The mixed use tower, complete with offices, apartments, a hotel and spa, retail areas, restaurants and a 15-storey public viewing gallery, will sit adjacent to London Bridge station as part of a new development called London Bridge Quarter. Replacing the 1970′s Southwark Tower on Bridge Street, the Shard is a welcomed addition to the London skyline, and its central location near major transportation nodes will play a key role in allowing London to expand.
Our friends at Visiondivision passed along their Cover Up project which is part of a bigger commission to improve several power plants for an energy company. The firm created a storage facility for several heating containers that could be quickly outsourced and serve as back-up power should the city experienced a black-out. Working in an industrial area where the company was used to break ins and vandalism, the firm designed a “good looking, roofless, and flexible-as-an-anaconda building.” Good looking in the sense that this storage facility could better the rough surroundings; roofless due to the fact that the large containers needed to be transported with a special crane truck; and flexible since the need for additional containers in the future should also be considered.
The Frontier Project, located in Cucamonga, Southern California, is a 14,000 square foot demonstration building that will educate all in the community about the latest information, technologies and approaches regarding environmental friendliness. The project will make resident consumers, commercial builders, and sustainable advocates aware and informed of the alternative building methods to encourage sustainability. HMC Architects’ building will not just be something for visitors to look at and admire; rather, the building will become more of a learning experience as visitors are welcomed into its spaces and sustainable strategies are pointed out with their importance explained. “Everything from material and plant selection, the layout of space, and the maintenance regime will have a purpose, demonstrating the principle of green design for home owners, consumers, contractors, design professionals, sustainability advocates and the general public,” explained the Frontier Project founders.
More about the demonstration building, including a video and images, after the break.
When the Jurmala City Council asked Substance to build a sports venue for the popular Latvian sea resort, the firm designed a structure that could be open all year long in any weather. Inspired by the amber – crystallised resin of pine typically washed up on the Baltic coast, the venue’s form incorporates translucent polycarbonate cladding inside a structural framework to accentuate the building’s varying height.
