Masters students from the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Architecture, Building & Planning worked with the Gumala Aboriginal Corporation to build an early childhood learning center in the Pilbara region of Western Australia this past June. The students spent ten days in Wakathuni – a ‘homeland’ community with a cluster of 20 houses – working to construct an early childhood center to local needs. The buildings, built from four modified shipping containers, include two dramatic roof structures and be linked with extensive decking and landscaping.
PIQUE, a collaborative of design professionals shared with us a video of their proposal por the Henry Art Gallery facade. The goal of this project is to transform the Henry Art Gallery storefront from a busy corridor into an energetic, engaging extension of the Gallery that makes people aware of the act of observing, reacting and interacting.
Through changing perspectives, the Parallax Wall is a marker of movement, a magnifying glass looking on intimate reflection, and a mirror reflecting an active community. It is a tool to capture one’s divided attention and illustrate for them the contribution their presence has in making place. Just as a see-saw lies useless in a park unless TWO people engage it, the Parallax Wall connects people to people and thereby connects moment and event to memory.
A proposal for an Olympic complex for Harbin’s bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics, SuperStadium, designed by Alan Lu, seeks to integrate the multitude of Olympic arenas and villages into one continuous entity. Consequently, this design allows for a seamless transition between programs and events. More images and project description after the break.
This space houses the corporate headquarters for a young company that is developing new technology for concrete. The objective was to design a think tank that would encourage interaction and reflect the innovative green products that they are developing.
Providing the winning design for the Parc des Expositions (PEX) in the innovation zone of Toulouse, in southern France, OMA conceived PEX to be a new gateway to the city hosting exhibitions, conferences, and concerts. The 338,000 sqm project is designed to be a compact mini-city – an antidote to the sprawl of a standard exposition park, and a means to preserve the surrounding French countryside.
Surpassing three submissions by internationally-renowned competitors, the project, led by OMA’s director of French projects Clément Blanchet, will be completed by 2016. Blanchet commented: “This project is not only about architecture, but rather infrastructure. It’s a condenser for diversity, a machine that can promote an infinite amount of possibilities.”
Location: Toulouse, France
Designers: Rem Koolhaas and Clément Blanchet
Client: Société Publique Locale d’Améngement (SPLA)
Project Area: 338,000 sqm
Project Year: 2016
Renderings: Courtesy of OMA
Chicago-based firm Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture recently announced that it has won an international competition to design the Wuhan Greenland Center, which will likely be China’s third-tallest building, and the fourth tallest in the world, when completed in about five years at 606 meters (1,988 feet) high. Construction is scheduled to begin this summer in Wuhan near the meeting of the Yangtze and Han rivers.
More images and project description after the break.
The Neenan Company, an integrated architecture and construction firm based in Fort Collins, Colorado, partnered with the EMU Festival, an eco-conscious music festival held in Snowmass, Colorado, to re-invent the traditional music festival tent.
Neenan employees were invited to participate in a contest to create the world’s first sustainable festival tent. The goal of the contest was to create a portable structure that could be installed on a city street as easily as it could at the top of a mountain. Materials for the tent were required to be biodegradable, recyclable, or have a sustainable end-of-life plan, so none of the pieces would end up in a landfill. In addition, the design needed to be easy-to-assemble, so that the tent could be put together by a few people with minimal or no tools.
Designer: Ben Shepard, 3D Animator, The Neenan Company
Location: Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
Collaborators: Randell Johnson, AIA, Vice President Business Development, The Neenan Company; Timothy Wooster, Founder, EMU Festival
Project Year: 2011
Renderings: The Neenan Company
Photographs: Yann Ropars and The Neenan Company
Manhattanhenge, is the term used to describe a biannual occurrence in New York City when the sun aligns with the east-west streets of Manhattan’s main grid. Adopted in 1811 the famous street grid of Manhattan, the Commissioners’ Plan, was the original design plan for the streets in which the grid plan is offset at 29.0 degrees from true east-west. Twice a year photographers gather to witness this urban solar phenomenon, when the sun sets perfectly between the skyscraper corridors and illuminates the north-south facades of the streets. Tripods and pedestrians filled the crosswalks this past Wednesday to catch a glimpse of this moment.
Masterplan: Benoy Architects
Main Contractor: Bovis Lend Lease
Structural and Civil Engineer: Jacobs UK
M&E Engineers: AECOM
Quantity Surveyor: Gleeds
Landscape Contractor: English Landscapes
Lighting Consultant: Pinniger & Partners
Project year: 2011
Photographs: Darren Hartley Photography and Ben Page Photography
The site of the Mebius house is located ten minutes away from Kamakura. To the West it is surrounded by a mountain range. To the South and East are an Urbanization Control Area. This restricts all future building in those areas. Thus the promise of unspoiled surrounding greenery made for a highly appealing site.
Architects: Luís Santiago Baptista, Tiago Leite de Araújo
Location: Largo de Carnide, Lisbon, Portugal
Client: Eng. Helena Antunes
Structural Engineer: Eng. Pedro Gonçalves
Mechanical Engineers: PRPC Engenheiros, Eng. Pedro Romano, Eng. Paulo Cardoso
Electrical Engineer: Eng. António Trindade
Constructor: Tetrapod: Manuel Velhas, Miguel Pires, Arch. Ruben Martins
Project year: 2002 – 2009
Photographs: FG+SG – Fernando Guerra, Sergio Guerra