Our friends from 100 Planos Arquitectura, a Portuguese firm, shared with us their latest project, Flower Power. Here’s the architect’s description:
The objective of this project was to create a structure model, multipliable, capable of creating ephemeral spaces or buildings. The need for a small pavilion at the Vila do Conde’s museum’s garden, where children and adults can have a rest and stop for some time during a visit to the museum, was the ideal starting point for exploring this idea of multiplication.
The basic module is a “flower” of 1.00 m diameter and 0.50 m high, with four petals, constructed of polycarbonate with plates of 5mm and pvc pipe ø 0,10 m. Assembling several modules with different heights we designed a waving horizontal surface, which suspended, creates a covered area.
Here and there the “flowers” go down to the ground and become a pillars, walls or partitions. We decided to call it “flower power”. It is a pavilion / building / structure, shading, under which you may rest, dance, read, sleep, or simply admire the sky cut by translucent flowers.
BAA is looking to appoint a team to produce a ‘comprehensive masterplan to examine the potential expansion of Heathrow Airport’ – including a third runway and a new sixth terminal.
Architects identify “sustainability” as the most important change in the future of their profession. Sustainable Design: Ecology, Architecture, and Planning is a practical, comprehensive guide to design and plan a built environment compatible with the region’s economic, social, and ecological patterns.
Our friends from FARO Architecten sent us their latest project, a new building school completed in Netherlands. The Koningin Beatrix- en Prinses Marijke school in The Hague was officially opened by a member of the cabinet minister Rouvoet.
In the heart of the Schilderswijk in The Hague, a new school has arisen at the site of the previous school building that had to be demolished. The new building houses two elementary schools, each with 16 classrooms, nursery schools and gymnasiums.
Architect’s description and more images after the break.
Our friend Donaldas Trainauskas sent us his latest project, Pašilaičiai Parish Church inthe city of Vilnius, Lithuania. Trainauskas worked with architect Darius Baliukevicius in the design of the church.
Modern Vilnius presents itself as the city of two contrasting parts standing for two different worlds: a famous historical part, the Old Town protected by UNESCO, with its exceptional aura of dozens of churches and various cultural sights, created through centuries, and the other – residential/sleeping districts, mainly built during the Soviet years. The latter was deprived of any sacred spaces thus formed a huge urban area of emptiness.
Full architect’s description and more images, after the break.
Starting today, every month we will feature a selection of the best pictures from our Flickr pool. You can also add yours! Just click here and learn how. Remember you can also follow us on Twitter, and throught our Facebook page!
This picture of the Audiotório do Ibirapuera, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, was taken by pedro kok. Check the other four after the break.
Our friend Rob Ley sent us info on their latest installation, Reef, which we’ll be checking out next week. Reef, an installation by Los Angeles Designers Rob Ley (Urbana) and Joshua G. Stein (Radical Craft) is currently on view at Storefront for Art and Architecture in New York City. This kinetic sculptural installation takes advantage of new Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) technology to create a responsive environment.
The editors at suckerPUNCH are sponsoring an open international design competition. Perfectly situated but notoriously maligned, the Gowanus Canal borders the vibrant Brooklyn neighborhoods of Red Hook, Park Slope, and Carroll Gardens. As a result of heavy industrial pollution, the canal took on an iridescent purple sheen gaining it the nickname “Lavender Lake.”
ASAE promotes encounters between different schools of architecture in Europe, America and other countries, taking into consideration the objectives of the School of Architecture in Lund: Architectural Design, Experiment and Construction . ASAE is meant to be a public event and the ambition is to also engage local and international architects, teachers, students, politicians etc. in an open discussion about architecture and design.
Dutch architects have a lot to show us from their projects. So to start this week’s Round Up, we bring you previously featured housing projects from Netherlands.
Several summer lectures and one exhibition will take place at SCI-Arc, starting July 15 till August 5. The lectures start tomorrow with Peter Cook, a noted English architect, writer, and educator who was a founding member of Archigram in the 1960′s. Peter Cook: Hard and Soft will take place at 7pm at W. M. Keck Lecture Hall.
International architectural company RMJM has designed, on behalf of developer Őzkar Construction Co., a new luxury hotel that will help “green” the Sogutozu district of Ankara, the capital city of Turkey.
Located on a 14,000 square-meter site, the luxurious 24-story J. W. Marriott Hotel devotes the first four floors to spacious ballrooms, meeting facilities, restaurants and shops in a sky-lit galleria, with guest rooms starting on the fifth floor. The plan also includes an underground parking garage.
The hotel, which will be completed on October 2010, will bring innovative sustainable design to Ankara and will include a unique design of vertical stone fins that will act as solar shading devices on the east and west facades. The glass curtain wall uses environmentally friendly materials such as high-performing, low-e coating and tinting that contributes to the reduced solar heat gain. Plentiful bamboo trees and vegetation will be included in the landscape to offer additional shading at the site.
Polish office Toya Design shared with us their latest project, which won the First Prize in the competition for Architectural Concept of Modernisation of Grand Hall complex at “Zamek” Culture Centre in Poznan, Poland. The project will be realized in the years 2009-2011 with the 70% European Union fund.
The concept is based on the idea of extending the first floor hallway in front of the Grand Hall to form the central ATRIUM, where all functions of the Castle concentrate, and where paths of its visitors meet.
Architect’s description and more images, after the break.
Eight students at the University of Technology in Eindhoven have built their own design of a little temple at full scale. These buildings were realized in a space that’s part of the office of Kovos Architects, with materials donated by different sponsors. The main source of inspiration during the design process was the abbey of Le Thoronet in the Provence, France.
Aspects like light, space, mass, rhythm and proportion find their most essential form in this great example of architectonic simplicity. After a visit to the abbey the students searched for an interpretation of these aspects within their own design of a little temple. With the full scale execution of the design, the spatial effect of the detail was most important.
The project is led by Jan Schevers. The participating students are Yuri Buteijn, Joan Gaudin, Faye Hermens, Dirk Reijnders, Dave Venmans, Raoul Vleugels, Johanna van Warners en Frank Wijnen. For more informations about the project and visits to the exhibition, check out the projects website: www.littletemple.nl
All photographs of the completed project by Ingrid Bussemakers. More images, after the break.
The works of Foster+Partners are recognized worldwide. In this Round Up, we show you an office in the UK and Amsterdam, an airport in Beijing, a pavillion for Shanghai 2010 and a superyacht.
The underside of the bridge merges with the piers in a single movement with joint lines in the concrete designed to accentuate the geometry of the form. The finish of the concrete provides high visibility against the dark water of the canal and at night the structure will be vibrantly lit from below giving the bridge a significant presence. Full press release and more images after the break.
With the current housing crisis, the sub-prime mortgage meltdown, increasing carbon emissions and rising energy costs, the future of suburbia looks bleak. It is obvious that a change in the American landscape is necessary, which is why Inhabitat has teamed up with Dwell Magazine to launch the REBURBIA design contest.
Chinese Studio Pei-Zhu has designed the Xixi Wetland Art Museum located in a rural nature preserved near Hangzhou, China. The concept stems from the interaction between building and nature. As leaves fall from trees they arrive naturally on the ground. The resulting form creates shelter against the earth.
This design creates the genuine qualities of scattered, fallen leaves and shelter through five buildings. Some leaves overlap and attach with other leaves. One leaf remains separate, yet still unites in visual language with the linked leaves. The four linked structures house functions for business, recreation, a hotel, restaurant, and reception. The single standing leaf is the art museum.
The buildings are covered by light colored, reflective zinc panels that have a brushed finish, resulting in a diffused and soft reflection of their interactions with people and nature. this blending influences a person as they experience the museum. All colors, light, and details merge into a continuous representation that is not recognizable as individual objects, but are distinguished as a uniform and natural image.
