Purcell has been announced as the winner of the St Mary Redcliffe Design Competition, organized by Malcolm Reading. The competition sought a design which successfully reconciled the preservation of the building in its historical form with the necessary expansion to accommodate growing programmatic requirements.
The two-stage competition drew initial submissions from 53 practices, both local and international. Of these, Eric Parry Architects, Carmody Groarke, Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, dRMM and Purcell were invited to submit concept designs, all of which can be viewed here. Purcell's winning design uses two main axes to "stitch" the church into its neighborhood and is described by Malcolm Reading as showing "the deepest understanding of the site and context and the opportunity at St Mary Redcliffe."
C.F. Møller Architects and C.F. Møller Landscape, in association with Slättö Förvaltning, have won the competition to design a new residential quarter in Örebro, Sweden. Their design, the Örnsro Trästad - Swedish for “Timber Town” - focuses on the organic integration of new urban development with nature, spotlighting sustainability in both construction and urban planning. The competition, run by the Örebro Municipality and the Swedish Association of Architects, sought a visionary design and an “extraordinary urban quarter” to act as a new social landmark within the city.
TheeAe has revealed their competition entry for a new civic center in Ryde, Australia. As its name indicates, ‘Trianglemnant’ builds upon the unique triangular site area, and consists of a series of overlapping trilateral forms that shape the building and surrounding public spaces.
Trianglemnant was put forward as part of the international design competition ‘Design our Ryde’, which invited architects to present proposals for a new civic center at the gateway to the municipality. Though the project was not one of the four shortlisted, its attempt to create a diverse public space is noteworthy.
Temple University’s new library designed by Snøhetta, in collaboration with Stantec, is now under construction after a groundbreaking ceremony in April. The 21,000 square meter (225,000 square foot) building is adjacent to what will become a future campus quadrangle that is currently occupied by other buildings slated for demolition. The library sits at the intersection of two major pedestrian pathways, Polett Walk and Liacouras Walk, attesting to the University’s hope that the facility will be a new social and academic heart for 37,800 students.
WATG’s Urban Architecture Studio has won First Prize in The Freeform Home Design Challenge, which challenged participants to “design the world’s first freeform 3D-printed residence.” The competition invited architects, designers, artists and engineers worldwide to investigate how 3D printing technologies can improve our built environment and lives today.
Gensler’s “Gateway Tower” is a 2000-foot (610 meter) conceptual proposal for the Chicago Spire site. The project is the winning entry for a company-wide internal competition to generate a new megatall structure for the 2.2 acre plot at 400 N. Lake Shore Drive. The mixed-use proposal throws out the residential luxury model that drove Santiago Calatrava’s design, with a concept inspired by tourism and public engagement. Gateway Tower’s volume is still largely devoted to residential functions, but now condos and apartments are coupled with a hotel and public attractions that connect to the riverwalk, lakefront, and city. The building would include four unique experiences including riverfront public access at DuSable Park, a Funicular ride of pods ascending the building’s structural “leg” over Lake Shore Drive, a Skylobby with hotel and retail amenities, and a Skydeck with a restaurant and sky-garden at the building’s pinnacle.
Architecture and planning firm Sabri Pasayigit Design Office has released its new master plan for the Municipality of Kayseri in the Sahabiye neighborhood of Kayseri, Turkey.
The project balances historic and modern architecture elements, with a focus on the historic castle of Kayseri as the city center point. Cultural and public buildings will be placed near this historic center, with taller buildings set farther out of the city.
Foster + Partners has designed a mammoth, mixed-use complex on the Brooklyn waterfront in Red Hook, with 600,000 square feet (55,700 square meters) of offices and 23,000 square feet (2,100 square meters) of retail space and restaurants. Located on a former industrial site, the buildings will provide flexible open floor plans of up to 100,000 square feet (9,300 square meters). The facility is intended to build on a dramatic growth in technology companies in Brooklyn, creating an office environment that is open and collaborative, reflecting a style that is de rigueur in the tech-sector.
The University of Manchester’s Mecanoo-designed engineering campus has received planning permission from the Manchester City Council, greenlighting the £350 million project. The Manchester Engineering Campus Development is part of the University’s campus masterplan, meant to bring together a multidisciplinary engineering and scientific community and to consolidate the University’s campus around Oxford Road. The project is one of the largest single construction projects ever undertaken by an institution of higher education in the United Kingdom. MEC Hall, the main building of Mecanoo’s development, is 195 meters long.
New plaza view (60 and 25-storey towers by PTW Architects, 35-storey by Collins and Turner). Image Courtesy of PTW Architects
Peddle Thorp and Walker Architects (PTW), in association with Collins and Turner and McGregor Coxall, has revealed their winning proposal in the competition to transform Parramatta’s former Cumberland Newspaper site. Selected by an independent design jury, the mixed-use scheme features three towers, each incorporating residential, commercial, retail and public spaces. The towers line the south and western edges of a new urban plaza, which opens up to a public reserve on the banks of the Parramatta River.
KAAN Architecten has won the commission to design the New Amsterdam Courthouse. The new building will replace the current judicial complex at the intersection of Zuidas and Parnassusweg, which is slated for demolition. The Courthouse of Amsterdam is the largest in the Netherlands and handles 150,000 cases a year with a staff of 200 judges and 800 professionals. KAAN Architecten describes the building's design as both "stately" and "distinguished," stating that the intention was to create a facility that understands justice as an open process, and thus incorporates ways for the public to engage with the Courthouse.
HarbourLoop is an iconic new pedestrian and cycling network for Hong Kong, proposed by design studio Lead 8. Transforming the perimeter of Victoria Harbour on its Hong Kong and Kowloon sides, HarbourLoop will add 23 kilometers of paths for walking, running, and biking. Lead 8 believes that despite being one of the most densely populated cities in the world, with 6,300 people per square kilometer, Hong Kong's waterfront is underutilized. HarbourLoop will add social value as it intersects with existing offices, residential and leisure districts, and will encourage new development adjacent to the city's waterfront, including restaurants, cafes, and community meeting places.
ALTASEA campus aerial view. Image Courtesy of Gensler
Gensler has revealed their design for the new AltaSea Campus at the Port of Los Angeles. The 35-acre project is dedicated to the scientific study of the ocean and will integrate historic buildings with new research centers and public areas. AltaSea’s existing partnerships make them a key connector within the community, and the new project will “expand scientific-based understanding of the ocean, incubate and sustain ocean-related business and pioneer new ocean-related education programs.” Read more after the break.
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), in collaboration with Entasis Arkitekter, has released new images of Karlatornet, a 230-meter tower project in Gothenburg, Sweden. Selected by jury in 2014, the tower is scheduled for completion in 2019, and will be Sweden’s tallest building. The project is part of Lindholmen, a new district being built adjacent to the city’s harbor. The full plan – ten blocks of office, retail, and residential space – is slated for completion in 2021, to coincide with Gothenburg’s 400th anniversary.
Exterior Rendered View. Image Courtesy of Preliminary Research Office
Preliminary Research Office has revealed their entry to a competition to design the new civic center for the city of Ryde, Australia. The project uses a series of boxes at different scales to inform the organization of both the building and the public spaces. Following a competition of 175 entries from 49 countries, the project did not make the shortlist. However, its approach addresses the fundamental needs of a civic center to be dynamic, flexible and human-scale.
CHROFI and McGregor Coxall have designed Acadia Remembrance Sanctuary as a “bushland cemetery for a secular society.” The architects are proposing a burial ground located in the idyllic setting of a conservation woodland area on the outskirts of Sydney. The project calls for natural graves without headstones, instead opting for GPS technology to find the resting sites of loved ones. The tactic shifts the emphasis of cemeteries from the manicured appearances of individual plots and headstones to the retention and protection of the bush ecology. The proposed cemetery is situated on 10.1 hectares (25 acres) of parkland with a 400 square meter (4,500 square foot) building located at its center.
Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R) has unveiled its design for the David M. Rubenstein Forum at the southeast corner of Woodlawn Avenue and 60th Street on the University of Chicago's campus. The 90,000 square foot (8,500 square meter) facility has been devised as a place of intellectual, institutional, and educational exchange, fulfilling a variety of campus needs for meeting spaces. A collection of block-like volumes, the building’s two-story base is anchored by a narrow 165-foot (50 meter) tower, with the exterior materials and structure reflecting the programmatic divisions within.
Courtesy of CEBRA (Architecture) & SLA (Landscape)
CEBRA, in collaboration with landscape architect SLA, has designed the Sustainable School for The Sustainable City in Dubai. In opposition to hot-climate educational environments that are often large, air-conditioned structures, CEBRA’s vision for The Sustainable City proposes a permeability between outdoor and indoor learning environments, utilizing both in equal measure.
David Chipperfield Architects has made further refinements to the design for the Nobel Center in Stockholm. First revealed in October 2013, the project received harsh criticism for being an incongruous presence in the city’s historic center, which lead to a reduction in size amidst other changes in September of last year. Building on the 2015 revision, a more finalized version of the design has now been revealed in new exterior and interior renderings.
Studio Gang has designed a new home for the Academy for Global Citizenship (AGC), a Chicago Public Charter School in the Garfield Ridge neighborhood. Established eight years ago with the operating philosophy that a more sustainable world begins at school, the proposed campus is an urban farm and educational institution wrapped into one.
Napur Architect has won the competition to design a new building for the Museum of Ethnography in Budapest. On a site bordering Ötvenhatosok Square and adjacent to City Park, the building is one part of the Liget Budapest Project, aimed at renewing the civic space of the area with renovations to existing structures, rejuvenation of green spaces, and institutional additions. Besides the Ethnography Museum, City Park will be home to the House of Hungarian Music designed by Sou Fujimoto and a New National Gallery designed by SANAA.
Penda has designed a landscape for Hyderabad, India, inspired by the country's stepwells and water mazes. When completed, the 8,000 square meter (85,000 square foot) Magic Breeze Landscape will serve 145 apartments in a development by Pooja Crafted Homes. Some of the landscape's signature features will be its bamboo coves, flower gardens, water displays, and built-in benches. The steps found throughout the landscape will double as planters for flowers, herbs, and grasses, that will serve as a communal garden for residents.
Studio Gang has released images of the firm’s Strategic Master Plan for the National Aquarium in Baltimore. The driving force of this initiative is to identify opportunities for sustained growth, improvements to the visitor experience, and to reinforce the organization’s commitment to conservation and education at all scales.
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.jpg?1464010004 "Courtesy of Napur Architect")
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.jpg?1464010198 "Courtesy of Napur Architect")
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.jpg?1463764390 "Conceptual rendering of proposed architectural interventions with the urban wetland at the center. The design of the urban wetland is based on the geometry of Chesapeake Bay tidal meanders.. Image © Studio Gang")
.jpg?1463764377 "Conceptual rendering. The proposed Pier 4 addition unites existing and new building volumes. Visitors arriving from Pier 3 walk toward a covered entrance with views of a theater, restaurant, and the Pier 4 exhibit.. Image © Studio Gang")
.jpg?1463764367 "Conceptual rendering. Attracting wildlife and increasing biodiversity, the urban wetland offers a new physical center for the National Aquarium campus.. Image © Studio Gang")
.jpg?1463764332 "Conceptual rendering. A hub-like space within the Chesapeake exhibit on Pier 4 provides a lounge space in which to relax and engage with the exhibit's local ecology. Exhibit developed in collaboration with Thinc Design.. Image © Studio Gang")
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