Dubai based X-Architects recently unveiled the Urban Oasis, their latest sustainable master plan for Al Ain. The 12-hectare urban development was conceived as a “micro-specific, compact, and passive sustainable urban oasis.” Inspired by the existing natural environment and the traditional dense urban fabric of Islamic cities, the master plan develops an “environmental synergy between landscape and urbanity.” More about the master plan after the break.
ECDM Architects recently designed another housing project (we just shared their Student Housing Project earlier on AD) in the Issy les moulineaux, France. Entitled ZAC bords de seine the project features retail and mixed service areas in addition to several gardens that create “an intelligent living space that turns to its surrounding environment and weather elements for assistance.”
More about the project after the break.
French architects Manuelle Gautrand Architecture shared with us their new showroom and leisure center design for Cairo, Egypt. The concrete structure consists of connecting circles and spherical cavities that create a flexible interior allowing users to seamlessly flow through different showrooms. “Most of the time, the cars are exhibited like art-pieces on those turning platforms. The entire project is imagined around this monumental way of showing cars,” explained the architects.
More about the showroom and more images after the break.
Greeen! Architects shared their competition proposal for a new library and office building for the University Duisburg-Essen, in Germany. The young architectural practice specifically focuses on ecological and sustainable design approaches. For their proposal, a large ecological complex intends to “create a place where city and university are woven together.”
More about the proposal after the break.
The winners of the idea competition for the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR) 2009 in collaboration with Ikatan Arsitek Indonesia (Indonesian Institute of Architects Jakarta Chapter) have just been announced. The IABR introduced this competition to ‘explore to what extent architects, with their knowledge, skills, and imaginative powers, can contribute to solving urgent problems in contemporary society. It therefore challenges the design disciplines, using the specific expertise of architecture, to conduct “research by design” and to develop concrete proposals, based on the Biennale’s theme’. The theme of this year’s competition Gotong Royong City (translated to be “mutual assistance”) is took create an “urban condition that enables diverse cultures and lifestyles to coexist….in the context of the extended metropolitan region of Jakarta.”
First prize was awarded to Jakarta Bersih!, second place was awarded to Let’s Catch the Water! Jakarta Sponge City, third place for Field Estate: A Platform for Symbiotic Urbanism, and special mentions to Ojek City: Permeable Mobility, Stitching the Strip, and Eco Gate as Border Device.
Winning project descriptions and images after the break.
Napper Architects shared their design for the Sunbeams Music Center, a project for a charity based in England that works with handicapped people of all ages. The project will be the first of its kind as it will offer a new music therapy center that is closely linked with its surroundings. The Sunbeams Music Trust, a charity started almost 15 years ago by local resident Annie Mawson, “uses music in a therapeutic way to encourage communication and social inclusion, build up self-esteem, and self-confidence, and improve quality of life, making a real difference in people’s lives.” The small charity has now grown to become one of the leading Arts In Health organizations in the United Kingdom. “We are thrilled Eden District Council has recognized that the Sunbeams Music Center will be an architecturally unique and inspirational building. Not only can Sunbeams transform the way they help people, the center is designed to enhance and work with the surrounding landscape,” explained Ms. Mawson.
More about the Music Center after the break.
We have shared architects’ different approaches to addressing the pressing food issue, from the highly conceptual designs to the more classical ideas. It seems that more competitions and clients require architects to implement gardens for harvesting food, or create an available food solution to accompany the structure. Statistics estimate that more than 80% of the population will live in cities by 2050 and the oil transportation needed to ship food from rural areas will only become more expensive. Soon, adding alternative farming methods won’t be an option; it will be a necessity if food for cities is to remain cost-efficient.
Plantagon, a Swedish-American company, has recently created their take on the vertical farm idea: a geodesic dome containing an urban Plantagon® greenhouse. The farm “will dramatically change the way we produce organic and functional food. It allows us to produce ecological with clean air and water inside urban environments, even major cities, cutting costs and environmental damage by eliminating transportation and deliver directly to consumers,” explained Plantagon.
More about the dome after the break.
In addition to the temporary pavilions by Hadid and UNStudio (As we reported earlier) the celebration of the 100th anniversary of Daniel Burnham’s Plan for Chicago will also include a permanent memorial. For the memorial, which will honor the legacy of Burnham and his plan, Richard H. Driehaus Charitable Lead Trust and the AIA Chicago Foundation funded and organized, respectively, a small design competition consisting of 20 invited competitors. The jury unanimously selected Chicago-based architect David Woodhouse’s proposal noting, “it has elegance, simplicity and, in the end, it’s a modern solution. It almost looks evitable. It’s that appropriate to the site.”
More images and more about Woodhouse’s memorial after the break.
Rasmussen | Brunke | Sauer, a young German firm, shared their design of the Haus des Gastes (a guest house) for the small city of Wenningstedt-Braderup on the German island Sylt. The island is a popular tourist place and the project aims to bring the locals and the visitors together.
More about the project after the break.
After a grade school in Sweden, with a very limited budget, contacted Visiondivision to transform their schoolyard, the team decided to use the school’s existing budget for asphalt maintenance as the means to improve the yard. Limited budgets always pose a challenge for projects, yet the team saw this as the opportunity to experiment with different materials to stay within their monetary restraints. “With the help of the fast growing Swedish bamboo Salix, we managed to create a large visual impact on the boring asphalt yard that also was relatively inexpensive,” explained the architects.
More about the palace after the break.
For three weeks in October 2009, 20 teams of college and university students will compete in the US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon. The competition provides the teams with an opportunity to “design, build, and operate the most attractive, effective, and energy-efficient solar-powered house.” Organized in three stages, (building, moving to the solar village in the National Mall in Washington D.C., and the actual competition) the Solar Decathlon aims to raise awareness among the general public about renewable energy and energy efficiency, help solar energy technologies enter the marketplace faster, foster collaboration among students from different academic disciplines, and educate the student participants. “The Solar Decathlon brings attention to one of the biggest challenges we face-an ever-increasing need for energy. As an internationally recognized event, it offers powerful solutions-using energy more efficiently and using energy from renewable sources.”
Santa Clara University, known for their excellence in engineering/business got the third place at the 2007 competition, and for this year’s competition they teamed with CCA, dedicated to architecture, art and design, to create a 100 student team to participate in the Solar Decathlon. The team is the only undergraduate-led team participating in the competition (most are filled with Ph. D programs), combing “youth and process, set the standard in green living”. The young team of future architects, engineers, construction managers, graphic designers and interior designers have created a proposal, entitled Refract House, that is dedicated to promoting the idea of “Living Light: harnessing sunlight to power our energy needs, lightening our carbon footprint upon the earth, and enlightening today’s consumers and the next generation of concerned, responsible citizens about the possibilities of sustainable living.” “We want the project to have a lasting impact as both a case study for green design and as an exhibit of technology. We already know it’s going to have an impact on all of us,” explained Allison Kopf, an SCU Engineering Physics student.
More about the winning Refract House after the break.
We just received Zaha Hadid Architects’ latest project for the Manchester International Festival. ZHA has created a chamber music hall for solo performances of Johann Sebastian Bach’s chamber music masterpieces. The project’s form, a suspended ribbon of translucent lightweight synthetic fabric (150 g/m2) articulated by an internal steel structure, translates the intricate relationships of Bach’s harmonies into an architectural spatial condition. Festival Director Alex Poots exclaimed, “Zaha Hadid Architects consistently come up with challenging and innovative ideas. It has been wonderful to see the realisation of this project and experience such intimate performances from the leading concert musicians within it.”
Further description about ZHA’s Music Hall and more images after the break.
The New York Highline, a project by James Corner Field Operations with the collaboration of Diller Scofidio + Renfro has been open to the public for a few weeks (as we reported previously on AD) and as a New Yorker who has waited patiently for the project to finish, I was anxious to stroll along the latest addition in Manhattan. The visit was a completely new way to experience the city. Just the idea of observing Manhattan by walking above (and through) it, rather than being an actual part of it, made the Highline a project one must encounter to feel what the space can offer.
More about some impressions after a visit to the Highline and more pictures after the break.
Gerd Priebe, a German based architecture firm, has completed a new curved office building to expand Saegeling Medizintechnik’s medical equipment complex in Heidenau, Germany. The new building is “organically formed….and sets a striking architectural highlight directly adjacent to the existing company headquarters,” explained the architects.
More about the new office building after the break.
In addition to the Benetton competition providing participants with the possibility to redefine the influence of retail in an urban landscape, the competition also provided participants with the choice to design “Building A” or “Building B”. While we shared some of the winning proposals for Building A (Grzegorz Witold Woronowicz and Giuseppe Iodice), we now share Maarten Scheurwater and Oliver van den Hoven‘s proposal for Building B, which placed second in the competition.
More about the winning proposal after the break.
Nestled among the Forest Hill neighborhood in Toronto, Paul Raff Studio‘s latest sustainable residence is “a marriage of environmentally responsible building strategies and elegant architectural composition.” The 353m2 residence, entitled the Cascade House, is designed in an I-formation around an outdoor swimming pool and offers a high quality of aesthetics in addition to environmentally friendly strategies.
More about the home after the break.
C. F. Møller Architects, in collaboration with Kristin Jarmund Arkitekter, have won a major competition to design a new landmark for Oslo. Their project, entitled Crystal Clear, consists of three towers, which are composed of stacked, prismatic volumes that will provide a dynamic new addition to the city’s skyline.
More about the towers after the break.
It seems fitting that since the Guggenheim is currently featuring the works of its designer, Frank Lloyd Wright, we should feature some of the process work of the iconic museum. Well known for its white curving form, it is important to note that the current rendition of the museum is vastly different from Wright’s original ideas. The struggle between the architect and the client (in this case Solomon R. Guggenheim, a wealthy mining entrepreneur) to see eye-to-eye is not something new, however it is interesting to consider whether the renowned museum would still have its status if it were as Wright had originally envisioned: a polygonal structure, partly in blue or perhaps a red-marble structure with long-slim pottery red bricks.
More about the Guggenheim after the break.