6/30/2011

Super-Stadium for the 2022 Winter Olympics by Alan Lu

Alan Lu revealed his proposal, Super-Stadium, for Olympic Complex for Harbin's bid for the 2022 Winter Olympic. 
Super-Stadium for the 2022 Winter Olympics Game © Alan Lu.
Originally appeared on eVolo

Programs, verticality and typological layers are the core elements to Alan Lu's design proposal.
Super-Stadium © Alan Lu. originally appeared on eVolo

Typological layers, or typological organizer, defines a robust architectural 'engine'. A project Typological Organizer Skyscraper by Swiss architects Thomas Favre-Bulle, Mathieu Hefti and Simon Potier, explored this typological organizer process. This project was proposed for the edition 2010 of the eVolo Skyscrapers Competition.
Typological Organizer Skyscraper © Thomas Favre-Bulle, Mathieu Hefti, Simon Potier.
Originally appeared on eVolo
Super-Studio © Alan Lu. Originally appeared on eVolo

According to Favre-Bulle, Hefti and Potier, complexity handling and real-time reactivity capability are added to this engine which, then, set up 'an automated process of spatialization driven by internal typological parameters and external environmental factors.'
Super-Studio © Alan Lu. Originally appeared on eVolo

This design process appears to allow much more flexibility to the building in terms of not only articulation the inner spaces but also the use of the building.
Super-Stadium © Alan Lu. Originally appeared on eVolo

This appears to be the same design process used for Alan Lu's Super-Stadium. The ground floor is programmed as a cultural landscape with libraries, museums convention halls, and screening rooms.
Super-Stadium © Alan Lu. Originally appeared on eVolo

The layers articulate the interior programs. Thus, one layer features the main sports including four large multiuse arenas, while another one, the upper layer, contains a public promenade that, Alan Lu says, connects through the landscape lines with retail store and cafes. 
Super-Stadium © Alan Lu. Originally appeared on eVolo

Users can watch the sporting events from other programs thanks to the connection of layers through shifts in section.
Super-Stadium © Alan Lu. Originally appeared on eVolo

The programs are treated as a vertical tower, as the architect says. 
Super-Stadium © Alan Lu. Originally appeared on eVolo

This design process results in a complex character of spaces formed by using this method of typological layers. It also allows for a reuse of the building for diverse programs once the sporting events are over.
Super-Stadium © Alan Lu. Originally appeared on eVolo

These layers, be they vertical or horizontal, allow natural light to be diffused inside the building, just like fissures.

Source: eVolo

6/29/2011

Stillspotting NYC, Guggenheim Museum, with Snøhetta and Arvo Pärt


Estorian composer Arvo Pärt and the Norway and U.S.-based architecture firm Snøhetta will create the second edition of Stillspotting nyc, a two-year multidisciplinary project organized by David van der Leer, Assistant Curator, Architecture and Urban Studies of the Guggenheim Museum, New York.
While the vitality and stimulation of the urban environment can be pleasant, those living in or visiting densely populated areas, such as New York, can have wildly different experiences. The ever-present cacophony of traffic, construction, and commerce; the struggle for mental and physical space; and the anxious need for constant communication in person or via technology are relentless assaults on the senses. One wonders how locals and visitors can escape, find respite, and make peace with their space in this 'city that never sleeps.'
Stillspotting nyc, a two-year multidisciplinary project that takes the museum's Architecture and Urban Studies programming out into the streets of the city's five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island. Every three to five months, "stillspots" are identified, created, or transformed by architects, artists, designers, composers, and philosophers into public tours, events, or installations. In conjunction to these site-specific commissions around the city, students from Columbia University and the School of Visual Arts are visualizing, reflecting, and responding to everyday issues of visual noise, anxiety, and stillness through interactive maps and videos. Together, these works weave an unexpected and cross-disciplinary web of tranquility throughout the city.

What? Stillspotting nyc
When? September 1-4 and 8-11
With who? Arvo Pärt and Snøhetta
Where? Guggenheim Museum, NYC, USA

For information: Here and Here.

One-day Conference: A sustainable Future for the Exumas: Environmental Management, Design, and Planning

A Sustainable Future for the Exumas: Environmental Management, Design, and Planning is a one-day conference hosted by the Ministry of The Environment of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas in conjunction with the Bahamas National Trust and the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

A group of national and international experts will address both current strategies and future possibilities for the Exumas. The intention for this introductory event is to prepare the ground for a possible multiyear research initiative that will consider the Exumas from environmental, social, economic, and design and planning perspectives.

The event will take place at the Sheraton Nassau Beach Resort. Within a full and diverse programme, the conference will feature presentations by the Rt. Hon. Hubert Alexander Ingraham, Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, and the Hon. Earl D. Deveaux, Minister of the Environment.

Participants are: Neil McKinney, Mohsen Mostafavi, The Rt. Hon. Hubert Alexander Ingraham, The Hon. Earl Deveaux, Robert Reiss, Elizabeth Thomas-Hope, Gareth Doherty, Padraic Kelly, Joyce Klein Rosenthal, etc.
Participation is free, but registration is required.
For more information (registration, program), contact Harvard GSD Events or visit Harvard GSD website.

When: July 8, 2011
Where: Sheraton Nassau Beach Resort, The Bahamas

6/28/2011

Masdar City, the World's first zero-waste, zero-carbon city, in pictures

The Guardian unveiled in April pictures of the World's first zero-carbon city, also known as Masdar City. This city, which master plan is designed by Foster + Partners, is being constructed near Abu Dhabi and is the object of a huge world's interest since it is announced that this green city will rely entirely on solar energy and other renewable energy sources.
Below are some of pictures available in The Guardian website:
Masdar City Master Plan © Foster and Partners. Originally appeared on The Guardian
> As the newspaper reports, the new city is being constructed by
the Abu Dhabi Future Energy company.

Masdar City — Teflon-coated Wind Tower. Photography © Ali Haider/EPA
Originally appeared on The Guardian
> This teflon-coated wind tower shows citizens how much
the energy the community is consuming
Masdar City, photography © Jumanah El Heloueh/Reuterd. Originally appeared on The Guardian
> This is a model of an upcoming conference centre suspended from the ceiling.
Masdar City — Headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
Photography © Tgpm United Arab Emirates/AP. Originally appeared on The Guardian
> This building is announced to be the first building in history to produce
more energy than it consumes, The Guardian reports.
Masdar City — Institute of Science and Technology
Photography © Nigel Young/Foster and Partners
Originally appeared on The Guardian
> The building is an offshoot of MIT. It houses 167 students and 43 academics.
Masdar City — Inside the wind tower. Photography © John Vidal/The Guardian.
Originally appeared on The Guardian
Masdar City. Photogrpahy © Ali Haider/EPA. Originally appeared on The Guardian
Masdar City — Masdar Institute of Science and Technology. Photography © Neil Young/Foster and Partners.
Originally appeared on The Guardian
Masdar City. Photography © John Vidal/The Guardian.
Originally appeared on The Guardian
> On the left, residential buildings, and on the right the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology


The first phase is now completed. As The Guardian reports, Masdar City is scheduled to be entirely completed by 2015 and will house 7,000 residents and 12,000 commuters from Abu Dhabi. According to Laura Stupin, an American engineer who lives in Masdar City, the buildings are beautiful. Let's wait and see. Anyway, Masdar City features magnetic cars — 'driverless cats', Teflon-coated Wind Tower, conference centre, Institute of Science and Technology, residential buildings, etc.

Source: The Guardian

Liantang-Heung Yuen Wai Passenger Terminal Building by EDIT! Architecture

Many blogs and web magazines (here and here among the most interesting reviews) reviewed EDIT! Architecture's Liantang-Heung Yuen Wai Passenger Terminal Building. Prague-based EDIT!Architecture proposed this design for the Liantang-Heung Yuen Wai Passenger Terminal Building Competition. Participants were asked to design a terminal building that will connect Hong Kong with Shenzhen City.
Liantang-Heung Yuen Wai Passenger Terminal Building © EDIT! Architecture

This is not necessary to go back over Edit! Architecture's design proposal. However, I decided to review this project but will focus on the facade, precisely the facade cladding.
Liantang-Heung Yuen Wai Passenger Terminal Building © EDIT! Architecture

At first glance, I daresay that one will consider this envelope a simple envelope. Yet, and this is the point, this facade cladding is particularly intriguing because of its simplicity.
Liantang-Heung Yuen Wai Passenger Terminal Building © EDIT! Architecture

The exterior cladding produces a ever-changing affect through a multi-colored trapezoidal patterning. Panels of the same size have the same color grade.
Liantang-Heung Yuen Wai Passenger Terminal Building © EDIT! Archiecture

These trapezoidal windows permit natural light to be diffused within the building. This patterning allows for areas of transparency and areas of opacity.
Liantang-Heung Yuen Wai Passenger Terminal Building © EDIT! Architecture

Its iconic affect aside, the facade cladding is conceived for the articulation of the interior programs.
Liantang-Heung Yuen Wai Passenger Terminal Building © EDIT! Architecture

Part of the facade is operated by a computer-controlled opening system allowing level of opening for air circulation within the building.
Liantang-Heung Yuen Wai Passenger Terminal Building © EDIT! Architecture

Unfortunately, as you should know, EDIT! Architecture's proposal was not included in the official competition apparently due to technical complication in submitting the entry package.
Liantang-Heung Yuen Wai Passenger Terminal Building © EDIT! Architecture
Liantang-Heung Yuen Wai Passenger Terminal Building © EDIT! Architecture

Source: EDIT! Architecture, eVolo, Inhabitat

6/27/2011

National School of Engineering of Bretagne-Sud by Nicolas Michelin Architects

The National School of Engineering of Bretagne-Sud (South of Bretagne), France, designed by French agency Nicolas Michelin Architects (namely Agence Nicolas Michelin & Associés), is currently under construction. This 6,000-square-meter building is implanted on a site of the Université de Bretagne Sud (University of South Bretagne), in the city of Lorient, France.
National School of Engineering of Bretagne-Sud, Lorient, France © Nicolas Michelin Architects

Characteristics of this building include a green terraced construction with, on both sides two glazed staircases, that will reveal internal circulations.
The school under construction, Lorient, France, © Nicolas Michelin Architects. Photography
originally appeared on the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Ingénieurs de Bretagne-Sud (ENSIBS)

Nicolas Michelin continues his research on sustainable buildings with the integration of numerous innovations such as this chimney ventilation system that will be used for his new project the French Ministry of Defense, Balard, France, also known as French Pentagon.
This system of ventilation will be mounted on top of the roof.
The school under construction. Originally appeared on ENSIBS

As for the facade cladding, this will consist of wood panels and metal sandwich panels. The green terraced construction to the South will allow for the optimal diffusion of daylight within the complex.
The school under construction. Originally appeared on ENSIBS

Other sustainable strategies include amorphous photovoltaic panels that are adapted to the local climate, as brises soleils (a sun-shading technique that prevent building for overheating in the summer), reinforced thermal isolation, as well as rainwater harvesting system.
The school under construction. Originally appeared on ENSIBS

The rainwater harvesting system, for instance, will contribute to watering green areas, a part of the sanitary needs, and the refreshing of the building in warm seasons.
The school under construction. Originally appeared on ENSIBS

The construction is scheduled to be completed by 2012-2013.

Source: Batiweb

6/24/2011

To-read list: Friday Brew

I am currently working on my first interview for this blog. So, I am gleaning here and there some articles, texts, books, posts for my first and forthcoming (if I consider the interview interesting). This week will end up with a series of articles that I decided, once again, to share. This opens with A text from The White House Blog and will end up with today (latest) suggestion a Q&A between MIT news and Dennis Frenchman. Let us start:

Monday 20 June
The White House announced that Cities must invest in innovation. This post reminds me what Ole Bouman tweeted the same day. I can change its tweet in "Cities' contribution to economy is essential'… depending on if/how you'll integrate its population… Bouman's original tweet — quoting Androulla Vassiliou, EU Commissioner for Culture talking at Mies Award Ceremony — was 'Architecture's contribution to economy is essential (…).


Thursday 21 June
Ecosistema Urbano continuing the publication of its very interesting newspaper, namely Ecosistema Urbano Newpaper. You'll find texts, video, etc. The newspaper does not limit to architecture but includes business, technology, travel, etc. —> My suggestion of the day (in terms of newspapers)

Carlo Ratti, of MIT SENSEable City Lab, was asked, in case you missed it, to write an op-ed on the notion of "Open Source Architecture." DomusWeb then Boing Boing (Boing Boing, in fact, reviewed the post) posted this entry. Ratti seeded a wikipedia page on this concept and asked Paola Antonelli, Bruce Sterling, John Maeda, Nicholas Negroponte, and others to chime in. The Domus version is: Here. The Boing Boing Review.

Climate Change: Last week, I posted some links on China and its ambition in terms of energy efficiency and climate change. Here is another link: China says it is committed to low-carbon economy.

Brilliant post by Thomas Stoney Bryans!!! "Marketability" this is what we should avoid like the plague if we are very truly concern with sustainability. No Sex Please we're Architects

… Apparently in response to (or partially in response to) another brilliant text, that of Florian Idenburg published in DomusWeb, that is: Abstainability.


Wednesday 22 June
Change Observer discusses with industrial ecologist Eva Gladek on the concept of Polydome: The High-Tech Permaculture Metabolic Engine Greenhouse. "Polydome, Eva Gladek says, is a concept for a new kind of polyculture greenhouse that achieves very high yields by strategically inerweaving crops and livestock. (…) We developed concept partly in response to the needs of some earlier projects." I tweeted the same day this quotation (of Gladek) that I would like to share "Cities could become producers rather than consumers" which means "increasing people's connectivity to the food chain, improving food security, helping close nutrient cycles, reducing food miles, etc."

Thursday 23 June
Architecture needs to interact! (I added the exclamation mark) said Princeton Molly Wright Steenson and Fred Scharmen for DomusWeb.

Claire Mookerjee writes a review of Living in the Endless City that I bought this week.
Alexis Madrigal participates in the DomusWeb Open Source Design series with this post: The Architecture of Facebook. If you want the paper version I warmly suggest to get Domus 948/June 2011 edition. (More of Alexis Madrigal can be found: here).

Friday 24 June
Inhabitat posted an interesting article on/titled Harvard Economist claiming urban farms do more harm than good to the environment. "In sum", Daniel Blaustein-Rejto writes, "[Edward Glaeser] argument is that 'Shipping food is just far less energy intensive than moving people'". Blaustein-Rejto concludes with this question "But isn't the real debate whether we een have to move city people out in order to move farms in?" hum…


The MIT news aks 3 Questions to Dennis Frenchman on Making Cities Sustainable. To the question: "You've also studied more efficient urban forms globally. What do the parts of cities that are more sutainable have in common?" Frenchman (Leventhal Professor of Urban design and Planning of MIT) answers "There have been a lot of impressive demonstration neighborhoods developed (…). They are all higher-density than their surroundings, they all involve good alternatives to the automobile, they are all mixed-use neighborhoods with businesses and schools and more. They are all attached to cities, not in the suburbs. But another characteristic is that they are all designed as communities that encourage people to embrace the energy ideal. They tend to have mixed-use urban streets and public squares and all the old-time things you expect in a livable neighborhood." (…)

6/23/2011

Jimmy Connors Tennis Center in the UAE

Let's start with a tennis ball.
Jimmy Connors Tennis Center — Concept diagram, UAE, © Foundation Architecture & Design


You open and separate it into two parts. You work on the disposition of these two parts to find the shape and the form you desire. When found, you obtain the enclosure of this tennis center and stadium , a giant metallic curved complex consisting into two buildings, a tennis stadium and a training academy.
Jimmy Connors Tennis Center © Foundation Architecture & Design

Its name? Jimmy Connors Tennis Center, after the former Tennis World no. 1.
Jimmy Connors Tennis Center © Foundation Architecture & Design

Where? In the United Arab Emirates.
Here is the Jimmy Connors Tennis Center for the UAE designed by Foundation Architecture & Design.
Jimmy Connors Tennis Center © Foundation Architecture & Design

Source: eVolo

6/21/2011

Call for Ideas — Project Space — The Other City — 2011



2011 the Project Spaces are continuing to follow the idea to find sustainable and social development strategies in on-site workshops, lectures and open discussions,  which can lead to new practices in new effective cross-border co-oporation in Europe.
The participants are invited to react to new challenges for urban space design and send their idea to one Project Space topic in form of one significant image and a short written description per e-mail.
A jury will select the three most interesting ideas for each Project Space. The winners will be supported with an adequate travel contribution, their workshop results will be published and they will get the opportunity to become Wonderland member for the upcoming two years for free.

Deadline of submission: 26 June 2011

React to new challenges for urban space design of Paris (FR), Clug (RO), and Kaiserslautern (DE)
In which whays can architects and urban planners influence a equitable and social city? Which practices can form answers for sustainable urban development? How can new cross-border co-operations look like?

Cluj (RO)
Vacancy
Create visions for the former industrial area of Cluj: 31 August - 3 September 2011

Paris — Saint-Denis (FR)
Social Coherence
Find new strategies to foster a better social coherence in the banlieue of Paris: 16 - 19 August 2011

Kaiserslautern (DE)
Post Shopping Shops
Develop innovative solutions for the deserted city center of Kaiserlautern: 25 - 27 September 2011

Information: Here.

6/20/2011

The MAK Center for Art & Architecture presenting The Light Pavilion

The Light Pavilion © Lebbeus Woods in collaboration with Christoph a. Kumpusch

The MAK Center for Art & Architecture presents Lebbeus Woods's and Christoph a. Kumpusch's most recent project, The Light Pavilion, designed for Steven Holl's building currently under construction in Chengdu, China. This singular opportunity to experience the work of the internationally respected experimentalist is offered at the Garage Top at the Mackey Apartments. The Light Pavilion will be on view Fridays and Saturdays from June 17 - August 6, 2011.

Detailed information: Here.

To-read list: a series of articles in case you missed them

Last week was fruitful in terms of articles. Here is a selection that I would like to suggest:

Sustainable cities: While North-eastern Japan is concerning with reconstruction — and it is not necessary to remind that March's earthquake left Fukushima City and its surroundings incapacitated, Japan will have its first sustainable city, Fujisawa, around 50kms west of Tokyo. This eco-friendly and smart city will be spearheaded by Panasonic and eight other companies. It is announced to be completed by March 2014. You will find a video of this 'eco-smart city'.

Sick city: Mimi Zeiger reviewing Pedro Reyes' Sanatorium for DomusWeb. An interesting article titled City Sickness. This Sanatorium "is a clinic for urban ills".

Energy Efficiency: China was pretty active last week. Here is one among many articles on China. China Takes a New Interest in Energy Efficiency… Or how to use energy efficiency as a contribution to economy…

Replicate Village: Chinese architects secretly decided to build ther Chinese version of UNESCO Town like the Austrian mountain town of Hallstatt in the southern province of Guangdong, China. Apparently this is not the first copycat town.

Biomimicry and Architecture: if you have a strong interest in biomimicry — like me, let me introduce you New-York based Bioworks Institute, an interdisciplinary endeavors that seek to rethink biological art and design.

Cal-Adapt: is the new site that crunches environmental data and allows you to see what the temperature increase will be in Californian towns through 2050. This project is spearheaded by Google in team with UC Berkeley. Both Google and Berkeley are working on a new climate change visualize and database. This may be an interesting architecture and urbanism's contribution to adapting to climate change.

A rising new city… without basic needs for its residents: is the case of Gurgaon. The city's ambition is to be a symbol of a rising "new" India but without basic public services…

Hope you will enjoy this reading suggestion…

Conference on Renovation of Samaritaine, INHA, Paris, France


The INHA organizes a 2-day colloque on the restoration of the Samaritaine of which Tokyo-based agency SANAA will be in charge. Key elements to this 2-day conference are strategies of preservation and improvement of existing building.

When: July 7-8, 2011
Who: Antonio Torecillas, Fernando Tabuenca & Jesus Leache, Stéphane Bigoni & Antoine Mortemard, Gonçalo Byrne, Christian Biecher, Jean-Philippe Creutz, Jean-Francois Cabestan, Simon Texier, Bernard Marrey, Meredith Clausen, Claude Massu, Jean-Baptiste Minnaert, Hubert Lempereur, Kazuyo Sejima & Ryue Nishizawa, Yumiko Yamada, Mark Wilson, Jean-François, ACMH and Jean-Jacques Brunie, etc.
Where: INHA, Auditorium Colbert, 2, rue Vivienne, Paris, 2nd arrondissement, France

More information (programmation and more): Here (in French).

Sunday Rondup

Spaceship: Apple revealed its campus, designed by Foster + Partners, still in Cupertino, a spaceship, a donut in form. It is announced that the campus will provide its own natural gas based energy generation plant with the electrical grid as backup.
Apple Campus, Cupertino, USA © Foster + Partners


Sustainable Cities: As I have already said it, Arup unveiled its Arup Report at C40 Cities Summit, available here.

Terraced roof: is the Hangzhou Gateway Tower that JDS will design. The agency was awarded the 1st prize for a complex and elegant block with large cut-out section on top and bottom to provide respectively a terraced green roof and a arcade-like circulation. 
Hangzhou Gateway Tower, China, © JDS Architects


New agency: Farshid Moussavi Architecture is just open, with ongoing projects. Looking forward to seeing the agency’s projects.

Bleu (‘Blue’): A beautiful rectangular museum for Lausanne designed by Barcelona-based architects Estudio Barozzi Veiga. The agency opts for a new building and the enhancement of the entire parcel as a center museum. This will permit the development of a new cultural quarter for the city. 
Bleu, Lausanne, Switzerland, © Estudio Barozzi Veiga


I like: the form of this cocoon-like Orthodox Church designed by Sofia Borges and Danika Voorhees. This form is the result of a series of pulls and pinches. As the architects said, spaces that once maintained rigid edge conditions begin to erode allowing for a more dynamic and engaged experience for the user as sight lines collapse and extend and programmatic hierarchy dissolves.
Cocoon-like Orhodox Cherch © Sofia Borges and Danika Voorhees

Triangle: is this collective housing, situated in Avenue de Meaux, Melun, in France. Le Triangle de Meaux, designed by Bathilde Millet Architects, is characterized by its shape — a simple rectangular volume with triangular roof — inspired by an adjacent single-detached house. Simple but elegant.

Le Triangle de Meaux, Melun, France © Bathilde Millet Architects




6/17/2011

Triangle de Meaux, Melun, France, by Bathilde Millet Architects

Le Triangle de Meaux, or Triangle of Meaux. A small and compact volume for this elegant collective housing on a triangular site situated in the city of Melun, near Paris, France. This building, designed by Paris-based Bathilde Millet Architects, is characterised by its triangular form, and its sloping roof, and its strong decline.
Le Triangle de Meaux, Melun, France © Bathilde Millet Architects

It is announced that the design of this 12 collective apartments conforms to the surrounded buildings, in particular an adjacent single-detached house that will be reflected in the volume. It will be built onto the strong decline.
It will be clad with a monolithic fiber cement siding allowing the incorporation of solar panels into the roof. This envelope creates a patterned façade.
Le Triangle de Meaux © Bathilde Millet Architects

The agency will profit from the optimal use of the strong decline of the triangular site to propose a double access that will make six of these apartments accessible.
The construction is due to be completed by February 2012.
Site © Bathilde Millet Architects



Who is he?
Bathilde Millet Architects is founded by Bathilde Millet in 2005. The agency is located in Paris, France. Apart from Bathilde Millet, the agency is composed of Melanie Quetscher, Sam de Spam and Sophie Ferrière.

Building Fact
Project: Triangle de Meaux (Triangle of Meaux)
Program: Collective housing — 12 apartments
Architects: Bathilde Millet Architects
Engineers: BET NOBLE Engineering (Fluides), BET OPTIMUM ENERGIE (HQE)
Location: Melun, France
Client: OPH77
Surface area: 1004 sqm SHON
Completion year: by February 2012

Source: Architopik

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