archstudio

"O" House

2009-04-04T12:09:00.000-07:00

O House by Philippe Stuebi Architekten

Upon seeing a house like this, one’s first impression might be the thought of it being some type of sculpture or monument. The O House by Philippe Stubbei however, is a home with a white concrete facade that has circular openings, giving this illusion. Within the structure of this Switzerland abode is an interior that reflects the outside. Mini holes are also evident on the ceilings and walls which hold this really streamlined home together. A mostly white interior, the spaces, rooms, and stairs are very linear and clean. There’s also a 25 meter pool that is situated half inside the house, and the other half outside the house, making it one of the most unique pool areas anyone has ever seen. And if that’s not enough, a car storage area inside the home also sports a gigantic atrium for natural lighting.

Mercabarna Flor, Barcelona

2009-04-03T23:58:00.000-07:00

studio Willy Muller Architects

Slussen in Stockholm by BIG and NOD

2008-11-18T01:26:00.000-08:00

all

56 Leonard Street by Herzog & de Meuron

2008-10-09T13:09:00.000-07:00

Work has started on the construction of 56 Leonard Street, a 56-storey residential tower in New York designed by architects Herzog & de Meuron.
The tower, the architects’ first, will be built on the corner of Leonard Street and Church Street in Tribeca.
A specially commissioned sculpture by Anish Kapoor will sit at the corner of the building at street level.
All images are Copyright Herzog & de Meuron, Basel, 2008,

more

Urban Beads by MVRDV

2008-10-09T13:07:00.001-07:00

Dutch architects MVRDV have unveiled designs for a new urban neighbourhood at Almere near Amsterdam, based on a string of beads.
The development, for the Olympiakwartier area of Almere, will feature nine urban blocks composed of a variety of different building types that the architects compare to beads on a string.

Chair Eye Exam

2008-10-09T08:00:00.001-07:00

Blue Ant Studio has created yet another adorable poster for designer chair lovers… can you imagine if you went to the optometrist and they made you tell them which chairs you saw up to the tiniest ones to test your eyes (and chair knowledge)? Or what if it was part of an entry exam to design school??? Anyhow, loving this poster, check out the larger image after the jump!

10 неща

2008-10-09T07:55:00.000-07:00

http://whata.org/blog/10-neshta-koito-da-podarish-na-edin-arhitekt-za-koleda

1. стенен часовник Frank Gehry

2. прибори за хранене Заха Хадид/

3.Philippe Starck Optical Mouse

GOLD MEDAL WINNER - 2004 INTERNATIONAL BRAND PACKAGE AWARDS
4. абонамент за списание MARK

http://www.mark-magazine.com/
5.

Szymon Szczesniak house / Moomoo

2008-10-02T22:45:00.001-07:00

This house features a dynamic skin, a curtain that covers the long side of the elevation. The intermediate space changes during the day due to the winds of the area.

Architects: Moomoo - Jakub Majewski, Lukasz Pastuszka
Location: Wilga, Poland
Collaborator: Tomasz Bierzanowski
Project year: 2008
Constructed Area: 130 sqm

House for a photographer, Szymon Szczesniak. A textile elevation of the house reacts for any tiny wind move, it creates an unusual space for resting, relaxing and finding inspiration.

basque health department headquarters by coll-barreu arquitectos

2008-10-02T22:26:00.000-07:00

while frank gehry’s guggenheim museum made the spanish town of bilbao an international destination,
a slew of new projects are continuing to add to its reputation. one of the most recent additions to the
cities landscape is the health department headquarters designed by coll-barreu arquitectos. the young
firm’s creation is most recognizable for its cubist façade of glass. the glass sheets are placed on
irregular angles reflection the city into the building. the façade is also part of the structure’s double
skin frame, which helps insulation. most of the building will be home to offices while the basement will
house a 150 seat auditorium.

http://www.coll-barreu-arquitectos.com

Walter Towers : The Power of the W

2008-10-02T22:23:00.000-07:00

Designed by Danish architects Bjarke Ingels Group’s, the Walter Towers look stunning even though I wouldn’t buy an apartment in such a building. Would the elevator be straight or a ride with it turns into a terrifying experience? Is such a building safe, most likely yes, but would you live in an upside down McDonald’s logo building? - via Dezeen

Barcode, by Vitruvius

2008-09-19T08:15:00.000-07:00

For the city of St. Petersburg the Russian office Vitruvius & Sons - I am not joking - designed a building called ‘Shtrikh Kod’: Barcode. As the iconography suggests the building houses… shops, shops and shops.

“The center is located in a soviet residential area on the bank of the Neva River. Placed in a vast nameless square by the Volodarsky Bridge, formed by gray housing blocks. Vitruvius and Sons liven up this space by introducing a splash of color”, it reads on Mimoa.

The color surely brightens up the city. The rigorous application of the barcode iconography surprisingly works quite well too. It goes so far as that there are actual windows behind the numbers at the sixth floor. You could actually look out from, like, the number five.

Its superficiality and banality could be interpreted as a critique of shopping. I would though rather regard it as a way to connect to context. The ‘plattenbau’ slabs standing in the asphalt landscape are so abstract an all over the place, that a literal and colorful element like this is like an oasis in the desert. It brings a refreshing contrast.

When you think about it, the iconography of the barcode happens to pop up quite often, and not only in architecture. The iconography seems to begin with the painting of a big barcode on a façade. Then there was AMO that designed a new flag for the European Union that transformed all national flags into a multicolored ‘barcode’. A more abstract version of the image is the Barcode House that MVRDV finished last year in Germany.

To take it a step further: from a technological point all buildings could be regarded as barcodes. Last year Wired published an article about how Google Maps is changing the way we look at the world. In the future it could become possible that Google recognizes the location of every building you take a photograph of. If you would then take a photograph with your mobile phone of the building you’re standing next to, Google Maps could provide you with information about (what is happening in) that building, or about program or events in the neighborhood, or a way out of that place. Pattern recognition will make our cities into one big barcode.

Top Towers Building

2008-09-18T03:03:00.000-07:00

Top Towers Building
Top Towers
Constructive simplicity and visual complexity

This project required the design of two very economic office towers, but with great visual impact as a response to its context, a point of great visibility within the city of São Paulo, Brazil.

It was also required an extreme maximization of private floor areas in relation to the total built area, as well as the best possible relation between common and private floor areas, configuring a typical and strict real state equation.

Technically, the buildings enjoy great constructive simplicity, with a precise and economic structural modulation.

The terraces that strongly characterize the towers are nothing beyond a simple game of displacements, and structurally they work as extensions of the great rectangular slab that supports each floor. The windows are also displaced in function of each unit’s terraces.

Conceptually this design references, albeit in a contemporary and renovated way, the playful modulated façades of so many of São Paulo’s buildings from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s that still stand in the city’s downtown.

Its impacting language of light and shadows is also related to today’s world contemporary production, one in which Architecture is again an expressive protagonist of the city’s built environment.

The general result of seeming complexity is actually born out of rigorously simple design, structural and modular principles.

Jorge Königsberger
Gianfranco Vannucchi

Technical data - Top Towers

Area of the terrain: 3.802,49 m²
Total built area: 25.929,97 m²
Total private area:
• Tower A: 7422,26 m²
• Tower B: 6993,27 m²
Number of floors:
• Tower A: 24 floors + 3 underground levels
• Tower B: 21 floors + 3 underground levels
Number of units:
• Tower A: 217 units
• Tower B: 206 units
Number of parking spaces: 332
Development of the project: 2005 - 2006
Building period: 2007 - 2008

70ºN

2008-09-02T01:57:00.000-07:00

This project is part of a masterplan that looks to develop a reclaimed area of the Tromsø strait. It’s amazing what is being done in Europe in terms of new dwellings. The construction of the rest of the masterplan is currently in progress.

Architects: 70ºN Arkitektur
Location: Tromsø, Norway
Client: Strandkanten AS
Lighting Design: Ljusarkitektur
Landscape: Aurora Landskap / 70°N arkitektur as
Engineers: Skanska ASA
Contractor: Skanska ASA
Project year: 2003-2009

Leaf chapel

2008-08-18T04:34:00.000-07:00

The Leaf chapel sits within the grounds of the Risonare hotel resort in Kobuchizawa, a refreshingly green setting with beautiful views to the southern Japanese Alps, Yatsugatuke peaks and Mt.Fuji.

Louis Vuitton flagship store by UNStudio

2008-08-18T01:49:00.001-07:00

Естествено Холандски архитекти и естествено проект в Япония!
UNStudio:

The design for the 10 storey (54m tall) flagship store in Japan aims to establish an architectural equivalent of the identity of Louis Vuitton in which classical and modern qualities are blended. The element that moves through all the scale levels
of the design is the leaf shape which is found in the floor plan, the section and the elevation. Leaf-shaped openings in the façade give the building
a strong identity with landmark potential. The building follows the structure of a (grand) house: with three levels, each spanning a varying number of split-level floors and each with its own atmosphere and purpose. Each floor is in principle divided into four leaves, which are set in a spiral pattern. Terrace zones, which offer a mix of functions in a garden setting, mark the different vertical sections of the house.

Contemporary Home

2008-08-17T13:23:00.001-07:00

If you are a fan of contemporary homes then these pictures may be a source of inspiration. This home is referred to as the "orange house" and offers some unique architectural aspects. The architects behind this design were Nuno Grande and Pedro Gadanho.

more...

Asemic Scapes

2008-08-17T09:30:00.001-07:00

Asemic Scapes - Rehabilitation Center Rainberg is concept for a medical rehabilitation centre in the Austrian Alps designed by architecture gradute Sarah Schneider.

more...

Mora River Aquarium

2008-08-17T06:02:00.000-07:00

The River Aquarium is located in Mora, a small municipality in the Northern Alentejo region. Given the need to shift regional development from the dependence of an increasingly weaker agriculture economy into the environmental tourism and leisure market, the municipality launched a design-and-build competition for an aquarium that could somehow embody the paradigms of biodiversity of the Iberian river.
Integrated in the Ecological Wild Park of Gameiro and bordering the Raia stream, the building stands amidst a secluded field of cork and olive trees removed from the more intense leisure and fishing activities of the river. The plot’s gently undulating topography forms a basin at the confluence of two small watercourses. Placing the aquarium at the edge of this quasi-natural retaining lake brought together the fundamental relation between its thematic contents and the presence of fresh water.

Given the blazing Alentejo sun and the need to create shade, the building was devised as a compact and monolithic volume with a pitched shelter of thin white pre-cast concrete porticos with single spans of 33 metres, evoking the profile of the canonical Alentejo whitewash barns known as “montes”. The shading and cross ventilation systems along with the water circuits foster the reduction of cooling energy, the sustainable increase of humidity and the wellbeing of animal and plant life.

more...

Dubious Dubai Museum

2008-07-11T01:53:00.000-07:00

Now that the city of Dubai seems to be building pretty much anything and everything you can think of, from the world’s tallest building, the highest tennis court, an indoor ski resort and even a fashion island for that bizarre castaway fantasy your gold digging spouse secretly has. I guess someone finally thought it was time for some culture. Someone’s Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has “decreed” (that means demanded and payed for) the start of “his strategic vision of making the UAE a hub for multicultural understanding. The museum will be a celebration of the region’s artists and art. It will also celebrate Khor Dubai’s importance as a cultural hub within a Dubai as a global city.” I find it interesting that they believe a building filled with only local artists will somehow put Dubai’s new museum on scale with more inclusive international museums like Hermitage, Getty, New York’s MET, Prado, British Museum and Louvre. UN Studio, based in The Netherlands, has been selected to design the Museum and will certainly be the most international aspect of this rather intriguing looking museum.

Architect: UNStudio

Zaha Hadid Wins Design Comp For Guggenheim Hermitage Museum

2008-07-04T22:05:00.000-07:00

Zaha Hadid’s silvery building resembling a sub-surface ferry or a space ship is the winning entry in the competition for the design of the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum in the ancient city of Vilnius, capital and the largest city of the Republic of Lithuania.

Although Vilnius is one of Europe's smallest capitals, it has a long, strong and culturally rich history, beautifully reflected in its well-preserved Old Town with cathedrals dating back to the 12th century. The Pritzker prize-winning architect Hadid’s futuristic building will be an arts centre and a museum, housing selected collections of both the New York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and the St. Petersburg- based State Hermitage Museum.
The jury selected Hadid’s (Zaha Hadid Architects) design over those of equally famous architects Daniel Libeskind (Studio Daniel Libeskind) and Massimiliano Fuksas (Studio Fuksas).

A feasibility study, commissioned by the recently established Jonas Mekas Visual Arts Center in Vilnius, is expected to be completed by mid-June 2008. Depending on its outcome, the museum could open as early as in 2011. By Tuija Seipell

Architectural Lace

2008-07-04T13:42:00.001-07:00

MILAN 2008: Antonio Citterio’s Architectural Lace

The installation was made of 160 hexagonal tiles, each measuring 150×130cm, fitted together over an ultralight structure. Citterio designed them to act more as a membrane than as a container: the holes are essential to keep those inside the building aware of the changing weather and lighting outside the building. The tiles’ tessellation creates the rhythmic geometric pattern that gave the installation found its name.

Kerakoll Design, one of the world’s biggest chemical suppliers for the building industry, helped Citterio realise his vision, supplying a specially developed eco-resin that creates a textured effect with a minimal application. The installation isn’t Kerakoll’s first foray into sustainability: the company offers a range of solvent and VOC-free adhesives and resins. We look forward to the sustainable structures they’ll help create next year.

http://www.antoniocitterioandpartners.it/
http://www.kerakoll.com/index.asp

James Law’s High Tech ‘Cybertecture Egg’ for Mumbai

2008-07-04T13:40:00.000-07:00

James Law’s High Tech ‘Cybertecture Egg’ for Mumbai

more

UK Eco-house

2008-07-04T13:35:00.000-07:00

UK Eco-house Sold for world record £7.2m

It’s not all doom and gloom for the UK property market: in the face of the country’s slowing or depreciating prices, Sarah Featherstone’s cutting-edge green home has sold for a record-breaking £7.2million, or $14.2million USD! The building, known as Orchid House, is one of the key homes on Lower Mill Estate, a project to turn a disused gravel pit into a beautiful 450-acre nature reserve.

Possibly to subsidize the £3,000 per square foot cost of the property, the building aims to generate more energy than it consumes, making use of geothermal heating. The house can be adapted to any occasion, be it a family holiday or a large reception, due to its flexible living spaces. Inhabitants and visitors to the property can be entertained by the glass-sided badger set installed in the garden.

The inspiration for the form comes from the flora and fauna on the estate, with living and dining areas appearing to fan out from the building’s core. The form is created using laminated veneer lumber – not great for the planet, as it consists of layers of wood held together with adhesives – but it does stay beautiful longer than conventional timber. This lumber is then clad with timber shingles with a camouflage pattern burnt into them. The main living spaces join the home’s pontoon to float over the lake.

The buyer chose to remain anonymous, but rumor has it they work in the entertainment industry – and may well be a household name, going by the celebrities such as Brad Pitt and Kylie Minogue who’ve expressed an interest so far. We may have to wait until 2011 to find out though – this is when the house will be completed and become home to the mystery buyer.

+ Sarah Featherstone
http://www.lowermillestate.com/

(ARCAM)

2008-07-04T13:04:00.000-07:00

The Architecture Centre Amsterdam
ARCAM works to promote architecture in Amsterdam.
In 2003, they built this new location.

Designed by architect René van Zuuk

Art House

2008-07-04T13:03:00.001-07:00

As you’ll no doubt have seen on the pages of the cool hunter over the past few weeks, we’ve been paying homage to wall-art from all over the world. From bars in Baghdad to clubs in Cairo, we’ve been trawling buildings looking for the finest illustrations the art-world has to offer. And for this next one, we had to scurry around the trendy backstreets of Jingumae in Tokyo to find it.

This small live in studio and salon has been decked in black paint with a beautifully elegant mural, depicted from the salon’s own brand to engulf its two exposed walls. The hand-painted pattern is reminiscent of an inverted Rorschach inkblot drawing. Yet the symmetrical display blends perfectly with the centre piece - a woman overwhelmed by the surrounding plumage. And while the windows are large and severe, they don’t distort the image. Instead, they perforate the design with different levels of intensity, revealing larger and smaller details of what lies beneath.

Inside, the space has been deliberately simplified, so as to not compete with the eye-catching exterior. Blackened wood surfaces sit quietly against the enlarged windows, decorated with cream-coloured blinds. While the theme of masculine and feminine remains true throughout. The angular planes of the structure repeat in the harsh lines of the furniture and the effeminate fresco is imitated by the soft lighting inside. A smart yet simple piece that respects the duality of the building – somewhere to live and work – while playfully intertwining the two. By Matt Hussey

Bølgen

2008-07-04T13:01:00.000-07:00

Spiraling Calatrava Chicago Tower to be World’s 2nd tallest

2008-07-04T12:40:00.000-07:00

Chicago’s city skyline is about to be graced by a stunning new super-structure that will rise above its shore like a helical seashell. Designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, the 2000 foot Chicago Spire will be the world’s second tallest building upon its completion in 2011. The halcyon monolith is beautiful example of biomimicry, taking cues from the spiraling structure of the nautilus. It’s an iconic spire with a timeless form that will take strong future-forward steps with a projected LEED gold rating.

The Chicage Spire has been called the world’s most significant residential building, featuring 150 floors and 1,194 residences. The slender structure rotates each floor an average of 2.44 degrees to total 360 degrees from top to bottom, guaranteeing that no two views are the same. Calatrava explains: “what distinguishes this building from any other tall building . . . is that this building is not done for a corporation, or a group of corporations, it is done for individual human beings”

“Inspired by nature, by the interaction of earth, water, and air,” the structure is replete with biomorphic elements. Its helical form incorporates the golden mean and the Fibonacci sequence to closely mirror the spiraling growth of the nautilus shell. Calatrava states “the principles I follow are based on repetition. This reminds you of nature because nature often works in patterns.”

The sparkling super-structure incorporates a variety of sustainable elements, including a fluid facade shrouded in high performance glass that has been designed to protect migratory birds. All landscaping is maintained via a rainwater recycling system, and a geothermal system draws river water to cool the building. The entire interior is outfitted with an Intelligent Building & Energy Management System, and it bests energy efficiency standards by 15 percent.

Lately we’ve seen Chicago bolstering its eminent architectural heritage with scores of stunning projects and sustainable initiatives; this latest project is sure to be a sustainable gem that will channel and exemplify the ardency of these efforts.

Five Franklin Place by UNStudio

2008-07-04T12:33:00.000-07:00

Construction has begun on a 20-story residential tower on 5 Franklin Place in New York designed by Dutch architect Ben van Berkel of UNStudio.

The exterior will be wrapped in black metal bands which will form balconies, terraces and sunshades. These bands will also frame views from inside the apartments and provide privacy for inhabitants.

The building will contain 55 apartments ranging in size from approximately 1,200 square feet to approximately 3,400 square feet. There will be three types of home: the loft residences on the lower floors, city residences above and three sky penthouses. Fixtures for kitchens and bathrooms have been designed by van Berkel and manufactured by B&B Italia.

The building is UNStudio’s first major project in America.

All renderings by Archpartners.

Here’s some information from UNStudio, followed by an interview between Raul Barreneche and Ben van Berkel:

–

In 1998, Dutch architect Ben van Berkel, co-founder of UNStudio, Amsterdam, captured the imaginations of design cognoscenti around the world with the Möbius House, a remarkable private residence in Het Gooi, the Netherlands. Nestled on a sylvan site northeast of Amsterdam, the Möbius House gave physical expression to the fluctuating domesticity of modern life in an endlessly looping form of concrete and glass, containing luminous interiors where interlocking private and public areas defied all previous convention. With the Möbius House, van Berkel illustrated his belief that things evolve and change – both architecture and family life are elastic – and that orthodoxies exist to be challenged, including the increasingly stale tropes of glass-sheathed, square box Modernism.
Featured in the landmark 1999 exhibition The Un-Private House at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Möbius House was soon followed by a spate of ever more daring museums, university buildings, corporate structures, residences and industrial design projects that established Ben van Berkel as one of the most significant and critically acclaimed architects of his generation – a designer who embodies what mid-century Italian architect Ernesto Rogers exalted as “designing from the spoon to the city,” connecting public and private worlds.
In conjunction with the 10th anniversary of the completion of the Möbius House, construction has begun in New York City on Ben van Berkel’s latest, most ambitious and beautiful re-interpretation of standard domestic architecture: Five Franklin Place, UNStudio’s first major American project, will be a 20-story residential tower on Franklin Place, an original 19th century cobbled passageway that runs parallel to Broadway and connects Franklin and White Streets in the Tribeca historic district of Downtown Manhattan. The building will be wrapped in an optically dazzling, constantly shifting pattern of horizontal black metal bands sewn onto its form the way decorative seams and pleats are sewn onto a luxurious couture garment. A direct homage to the applied metal façade decoration of Tribeca’s celebrated 19th century cast iron architecture, these gleaming reflective ribbons will grow thinner and thicker, wrapping the entire tower and moving softly around corners to give the whole structure an etched effect and curvilinear softness, while reflecting the evolving light of day, the clouds and the colours of the city in one of the most dramatic compositions attempted in modern Manhattan’s recent building boom.
Van Berkel’s highly decorative architectural garment is no mere graphic conceit: Thanks to strategic twisting and torquing, his facade bands will serve as essential functional elements of the tower as well, transforming into balconies for more than half of the building’s residences, terraces for the penthouses at the top, and sunshades that deflect heat and protect all of the structure’s interiors from excess sunlight. These iconic metal bands will serve to also frame panoramic views from inside the building’s residences and insure a level of intimacy and privacy at Five Franklin Place that would be impossible to achieve in a transparent glass facade building.
Equally important, the exterior geometries of Five Franklin Place will relate directly to the building’s interiors, which will balance high glamour and cutting edge technology with a distinct atmosphere of warmth. The horizontal and mutable qualities of van Berkel’s facade bands have been brought inside and translated into broad horizontal spatial arrangements; carefully placed curved walls that echo the soft corners of the ribbons outside and shift to allow for maximum flexibility in the use of rooms; balconies shaped to loop residents’ movements back indoors; and highly-engineered, custom features and fixtures for kitchens and bathrooms designed by van Berkel and fabricated by renowned design manufacturer B&B Italia, to echo the shapes formed by the elegant facade treatment. Every interior element has been conceived to maximize light and the exceptional views – bathrooms for example, will have circular sliding doors so that baths can become part of bedrooms and share the same views – and to introduce an alternative to the now standardized rectilinear interiors of contemporary condominium architecture in New York City.
Containing 55 residences in three distinct zones, Five Franklin Place will stand on the frontier of the Tribeca historic district, which is today considered one of the world’s most coveted addresses, in close proximity to such dynamic and desired neighborhoods as Soho, the West Village, the Financial District, Chinatown, and the bustling Lower East Side.
read more

Herzog and de Meuron’s Spectacular Portsmouth Stadium

2008-07-04T12:28:00.000-07:00

Some stunning pictures recently surfaced of Herzog and De Meuron’s latest oeuvre, a £600 million soccer stadium to be constructed in Portsmouth, England. In keeping with their Beijing Bird’s Nest, the venerable Swiss architects have created a striking 36,000 seat stadium that will include an exhibition center, housing, and a park. Envisioned as a shining waterfront beacon, the development will revitalize Horsea Island (a former landfill site) via an abundance of green spaces, a sustainable energy program, and a low-carbon emission scheme.
Sports venues raise an problematic environmental quandary, since the carbon emissions incurred by transportationt to and from stadiums can be staggering. We were impressed that Herzog and de Meuron’s development will employ a variety of sustainable approaches to offset these carbon costs.

The project will reclaim a great expanse of land from Horsea Island, introducing 1.5 acres of public space. Bus, park-and-ride, pedestrian and train services will be provided to help cut down on emissions, and entire island will incorporate a sustainable energy approach that will “take advantage of the different program elements to work together and ensure a low carbon emission scheme.”

A series of 750 waterfront residential units were designed by such that “the depth and height of the built unit is limited to ensure both interior and exterior spaces can always be naturally lit.” James Sellar has stated: “Our challenge is to deliver a solution that coordinates the needs for user comfort, sustainable access and cost effectiveness while keeping input of materials and energy to run the facility as low as possible.”

Land reclamation work is tentatively scheduled for 2008, with construction of the stadium to begin next year.

dezeen.com

Foster + Partners Build Green in Amsterdam

2008-07-04T12:26:00.001-07:00

Foster+Partners is making their mark in Amsterdam with their newly completed towers housing the headquarters for Ernst & Young. Standing 24 stories tall, the new tower has been dubbed the “gateway” to the Vivaldi Park area of a new Zuidas district development south of Amsterdam. While it is arguable that the new Ernst & Young headquarters is not nearly as highly designed of as some of our past Foster + Partners postings, there are at least two things that we can guarantee about this new design: the building is completed and it is exceeding targeted Dutch environmental standards.
The structure’s facade, which is made up of steel diagrid and a combination of opaque and translucent glazing on all sides, has the Ernst & Young headquarters operating more than 10 percent above current efficiency standards. The resulting interior spaces include an expansive three story entrance atrium and double height conference facilities that are constantly flooded by natural daylight.

The structure of the building allows for large open floor plans that can accommodate change over the building’s lifecycle without the obstruction of interior columns. Also included in the sustainable solution is a ground water storage system which retains up to 65 percent of the rainwater on site. The system features an ecological pond at the entry level of the building which serves as a nice accompaniment to the public spaces including a restaurant, terrace, auditorium and bar.

+ Foster+Partners

Future Architecture

2008-07-04T12:22:00.000-07:00

Future Architecture : Floating Ecopolis for Climate Refugees

According to the less alarming forecasts of the GIEC (Intergovernmental group on the evolution of the climate), the ocean level should rise from 20 to 90 cm during the 21st Century with a status quo by 50 cm (versus 10 cm in the 20th Century). As a solution to this alarming problem architect Vincent Callebaut came up with this ecotectural marvel that could serve as a luxurious future retreat for 50,000 inhabitants seeking refuge from rising waters due to global warming. He believes the world will be desperately seeking shelter from the devastations of climate change, and hopes the auto-sufficient amphibious city will serve as a luxurious solution. To bad that right now we are close to 7 billion people and this luxurious future retreat is just for 50,000 inhabitants ( just for rich people ).
Vincent Callebaut called this project “Lilypad“, but this ecotectural marvel is also called as “Floating Ecopolis for Climate Refugees”. The whole structure is covered in green walls and roofs, the top portion covered in grasses with the inner portion featuring a palm oasis, and the under portion serving as a bed for natural sea planktons and oceanic plants. Finally if you were already planning to reserve a place to this luxurious future retreat stay calm, because Vincent Callebaut hopes that “Floating Ecopolis for Climate Refugees” will make the transition from design to reality around the year 2100.

NO MAN’S LAND

2008-07-04T12:21:00.001-07:00

The project was shortlisted in the Architectural Association’s Environmental Tectonics 2007 competition for its innovative approach to a complex issue. Showing how architecture can be part of multi-disciplinary solutions, ‘No Man’s Land’ tackles the environmental, political and humanitarian problems related to the procurement of fresh water for the region.

As a network of built islands with three distinct designs, ‘No Man’s Land’ would create an artificial archipaelago that employs a variety of building technology. In order to become a source of fresh water, the islands will extract water molecules from the air to be desalinated. Salinity gradient solar ponds, water purification tanks, and water filtering processes will all be integrated into the designated “water islands” of the chain. The other two island designs will be for tourists and solar energy production, providing self sufficient power as well as creating revenue.

DYNAMIC ARCHITECTURE

2008-07-04T11:47:00.000-07:00

An international press conference for the Dynamic Tower, The World's First Building in Motion, will be held in New York on Tuesday, June 24 - 2008. Dynamic Architecture Group will present the Rotating Tower, called also Rotating Skyscraper, designed by the Architect Florentine David Fisher.

link