Nabito Architects were given a public commission to design a park in Frosinone, Italy.
The five human senses are the main theme of the space in which materials and vegetation are related to them. The equipped green area and urban garden is due to be completed this month.
Seen at designboom. More images after the break.
Our friend Marcello Silvestre, from Iodice Architetti sent us their design por the Italian Pavillion for the Shanghai World Expo 2010. Silvestre, along with Francesco Iodice and Giuseppe Iodice from Iodice Architetti worked with Giampaolo Imbrighi, Teresa Crescenzi, Antonello De Bonis, and Cosimo Dominelli in the design of the pavillion. The project proposes a building which integrates a typical model of the Italian urban building, with the architectural structure of the Chinese construction game called Shanghai. More images and architect’s description after the break.
A narrative slideshow that depicts a day in the life of a Berkeley architecture student (played by Chris Torres). Photography and editing by Peter Hess. Music by Nine Inch Nails.
The Docks de Paris project by Paris based architecture studio Jakob + MacFarlane is nearing completion. The building was first designed in 2004 for a competition held by the city of Paris. Jakob + MacFarlane’s entry eventually won the competition and has been underway since 2007.
The project is actually a renovation of a concrete shipping depot originally built in 1907, which the architects chose to keep for the base of their new design. The architects are calling their design a ‘plug-over’ as the new structure is a new external skin that enveloped the existing site on the sides and on top. The river facing façade features a glass covered steel tube structure that is inspired by the flow of the river and its pedestrian promendades. The roof has also been developed using wooden decks and grassed areas. The front façade addition serves as the buildings circulation system allowing visitors to move between levels. Inside the new building will feature a variety of programming including galleries, retail shops, the french fashion institute, and cafes.
Seen at designboom. More images after the break.
The Macau Pavilion at Shanghai World Expo 2010 will take the shape of a jade rabbit lantern. Designed by Chinese firm Carlos Marreiros Architects the pavilion will be wrapped with a double-layer glass membrane and feature fluorescent screens on its outer walls. Balloons will serve as the head and tail of the ‘rabbit’, which can be moved up and down to attract visitors.
The building will be constructed with recyclable materials and consists of solar power panels and rain collection systems. The design was inspired by rabbit lanterns popular during the mid-autumn festival in south China in ancient times.
Seen at designboom. More images after the break.
Probably the most impressive thing for someone who visits for the first time cities like New York, Shanghai or Dubai is the ridiculous size of it’s buildings. So to finish this week of Round Up, we bring you previously featured skyscraper on ArchDaily.
The Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum will celebrate outstanding achievement in design this fall with its 10th annual National Design Awards program. Today, Cooper-Hewitt Director Paul Warwick Thompson announced the winners and finalists of the 2009 National Design Awards, which recognize excellence across a variety of disciplines.
Among several categories, some of the winners are:
Corporate Achievement: Walker Art Center Architecture Design: SHoP Architects Interior Design: Tsao & McKown Architects Landscape Design: Hood Design
Seen at Bustler. Images of the winners after the break.
French architect Dominique Perrault has been selected to design the new city center of Bulgaria’s capital Sofia. The city center will be built in the next ten years and will house various state institutions. The center will be located along Sofia’s main boulevard “Tsarigradsko Shosse”. The vision of Bulgarian prime minister Sergei Stanishev and his brother – architect Georgii Stanishev – is to gather ministries and state agencies in the new “Sofia city”, relocated from the current center of Sofia.
Perrault was selected among six practices, all of them world architectural design leaders including Zaha Hadid, Norman Foster, and Massimiliano Fuksas. Two Bulgarian firms also participated in the final stages of the contest.
Seen at Bustler. More images of Perrault, Foster and Hadid’s proposals after the break.
The fractional ownership super-yacht company YachtPlus launched its first yacht – The Ocean Emerald – in La Spezia, Italy on April 25 in the presence of Norman Foster.
This contemporary 41 metre yacht has been designed with a strong emphasis on space and light and has five suites for up to 12 guests, who will be looked after by a permanent, highly trained crew of seven. The internal planning of the yacht offers total flexibility to respond to the diverse requirements of the owners and their guests and keen attention has been paid to design and detail ranging from the internal (2,790sqft) and external (2,495sqft) areas to cutlery, crockery, fabrics and crew uniforms. All furnishings and fittings are provided by the Italian manufacturer Cassina and kitchen and galley equipment by Schiffini.
Ocean Emerald will be the first of four identical Foster + Partners designed super-yachts to be launched by the company over the next two years. The second yacht, Ocean Pearl will enter service in the autumn 2009 and the third, Ocean Sapphire in the early part of 2010. The fourth yacht, as yet unnamed, is scheduled to launch in the latter part of 2010.
More information here. More images, after the break.
Amsterdam City Council recently held ‘The Silo Competition’ which involved the adaptive and reuse design for two former sewage treatment silos in the city’s Zeeburg district.
For the competition NL Architects proposed silos dedicated to climbing, sports and culture. In their design the existing structures were extended to the maximum height to benefit from the views.
The cultural silo consists of two theaters with dressing rooms and rehearsal spaces, spaces for workshops, exhibition spaces, music studios and a space for hair design. A bridge connects the silos at the height of the original roof level and office spaces will be positioned on top. The top level will be dedicated to a restaurant with 360 views and a roof terrace.
Seen at designboom. More images after the break.
Norwegian architecture firm Snøhetta has won the Mies van der Rohe architecture award for the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet in Oslo (previously featured on AD), the Mies van der Rohe Foundation announced Wednesday in Barcelona.
Earlier this year, we featured the Taipei Performing Arts Center proposal of Morphosis, NL Architects, and Abalos+Sentkiewicz, in a competition that was finally won by OMA.
Today, we show you Francois Blanciak Architect’s proposal. As a cultural reference to a taiwanese aboriginal construction technique using slabstone heaps, the project similarly piles up 4 slabstones (3 containing theaters, 1containing administrative spaces) in a cairn-like structure. In order to emphasize the public nature of the building, it is elevated on top of a wide upper plaza, upon a plinth that liberates the movement of pedestrians on the ground level.
Seen at designboom. More images after the break.
Zaha Hadid has been awarded on several ocations, including the Pritzker Prize, becoming the first woman to win the prize. So to start this week of Round Up, we bring you previously featured projects of Zaha Hadid (and an interview).
The Goethe-Institut New York marks the opening of its downtown events space with Reinventing Goethe, an ongoing series of lectures and performances by emerging and internationally acclaimed artists, architects and designers.
Stockholm-based Petrén Merom Architects and Scheiwiller Svensson Architects Office have designed the SWAN, in Gävle, Sweden.
This 150 meter high building will include offices, hotels, conference and residential service.
More information here (in Swedish). More images after the break.
The Goethe-Institut New York presents What Is Green Architecture?, a series of conversations, lectures, and events exploring the cutting-edge developments in the field and their impact on contemporary life as well as implications for the future. The series continues with a talk by noted architect Prof. Manfred Hegger, followed by a discussion moderated by Matthias Hollwich.
Prince Charles is against the modern design with glass and steel used by architects in the Chelsea district, and wants them to use a more traditional design using stones and bricks. The Sunday Times also said that Prince Charles showed his concern to Qatar’s royal family, owner of the site.
Urban Age Public Debate Series presents “Architecture as Investment, New Forms of Social Equity”, with ELEMENTAL‘s Executive Director Alejandro Aravena.