Located in Chengdu’s prosperous and rapidly expanding business district, the innovative office building design for Pinncale One by Make Architects will be an impressive addition to the growing urban landscape, known as the financial hub of Western China. Currently under construction, the new international Grade-A office tower forms part of the Chengdu Daci Temple Cultural and Commercial Complex, a mixed-use development by Sino-Ocean Land and Swire Properties. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Architects: Estudio Lavín S.L. Location: Adeje, Tenerife Island, Spain Design Team: Alejandro Lavín Della Ventura, Francisco Miguel Lavín Della Ventura Project Year: 2010 Photographs: Courtesy of Estudio Lavín S.L.
After a long struggle for independence, Kosovo became a new European country in 2008. Much of it’s urban landscape consists of Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian and Communist era architecture that has been mostly remained untouched by the war. As wealth returns and the economy slowly grows, a new building spur has ignited, covering the city with a sprawl of store fronts, apartments and office buildings.
The Kosovan Pavilion takes a step back to reflect on the current state of their urban landscape, asking important questions on how architecture will effect the future of Kosovan identity and, more importantly, the emotional state and behaviors of the individuals that inhabit its cities. With the exhibition, The Filigree Maker, visitors and participants world-wide are given the opportunity to help shape the future Kosovo by sharing their emotional response to images of existing architecture. Find out more and learn how you can participate, after the break.
de Architekten Cie. and Lada Hršak from Bureau LADA recently won the competition for the Public Service Hall in Georgia. Held by The Ministry of Justice of Georgia, the project supports the countrywide reform for renewal of public services. Their design proposes an elevated square being the roof of the building to connect the public space with the roof auditorium which becomes the new civic place for the city. More images and architects’ description after the break.
The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), together with the Foundation for Design and Architecture in Norway and Dokkhuset, recently launched their Fall 2012 Guest Lecture Series in architecture. The lectures take place at 7pm in Dokkhuset, Dokkparken 4, Trondheim, Norway and are free and open to the public. Many keynote speakers are featured including EM2M, Rintala, and Moussavi. For more information, please visit here.
The lighting for the Central Bus Terminal in Munich by pfarré lighting design aims at giving the appearance of a building floating on a cushion of cold white light. As a result, warm light is used in the upper floors and in the exterior space while a softly shimmering façade evokes a powerfully glowing orange. More images and their description after the break.
Taking place September 14-16, Open House Helsinki, which is free of cost, allows visitors into places which normally are not available to the public. Guided by designers and specialists, the weekend event includes guided walks in fascinating interior spaces, interesting parts of the city, and both old and new architectural points of interest. No tickets or enrollment is required. The participants are taken in the order of arrival or drawn out in a lottery. For more information, please visit here.
The Hungarian Pavilion for the 13th Venice Architecture Biennale presents a “forest” of white architectural models as a tribute to the common process and existence of this important subject within the profession. With an understanding that the model is where an architectural concept is first realized, the exhibition creates “sacred atmosphere” by placing 500, student fabricated models on top a pedestal.
Ever wonder how you could have the ability to replicate the historic ‘Italianate’ buildings without having to be artistically skilled? Well, all you need is a set of Paper Neighborhood Stamps. Twenty-one pieces make up the collection of wood and rubber branding objects that can be used after their simple depression against an ink pad. Steam Whistle Brand delivers this Cincinnati Society of Rubber Architects kit, comprising individual components of civic and residential structures—more specifically, ‘Italianate Trappings.’ Cornices, friezes, dentils, columns, round-headed and bracketed hood windows, decorative capitals, doors, arches and ornaments enable you to build your own classically inspired edifice in your notebook. Text courtesy of Amelia Roblin on trendhunter.com.
To celebrate the 150 year anniversary of the Utility and Amenities Company of the city of Zweibrücken, Germany, the company decided to donate a roundabout to the city which was to deal with the present and the future of Zweibrücken and the company itself. Located at the point dominated by advertising, commercial buildings and an enormous amount of tall lighting masts, Molter-Linnemann Architekten was asked to design the third, last roundabout, aka “the roundabout at the movies”. Just as at the time of the movies creation, when traffic began to dominate the environment, today again we are facing chances that will shape our world anew. To make this new condition visible, the architects wanted the design to be larger-than-life, similar to the portrayal of Tatis “modern world”. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Inspired by a reaction to the tsunami, the proposal for the Istanbul Disaster Prevention and Education Center is symbolically and practically rising above the streams. Designed by CRAB, the studio of Sir Peter Cook and Gavin Robotham, the building sits with its blades resting into the ground, ready to divide the streams of water if and when they come. Organized as a series of five clusters, it meanders along the site as a chain of events and somewhat in the manner of a chain of flowers. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Luis Carli and Rafael Passarelli developed an interdisciplinary work between wooden architecture and information design through their research on wood dimensional changes. Known by many, especially in the field of architecture, construction, and design, most of the challenges of utilizing wood involve an understanding of wood-moisture relationships and its influence in wood properties. With this in mind, their work intends to provide a more comprehensive form for visualizing how different climate conditions influence different wood species regarding their dimensional stability. This also aims to provide a design tool for most wood-workers (from architects to cabinet-makers) that could quickly estimate the behavior of some wood species in a specific location along the year and, then, implement necessary design modifications in order to accommodate dimensional changes. More images and their description after the break.
The Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAI) will host the exhibition Louis Kahn, The Power of Architecture from September 8 to January 6, 2012. Louis Kahn is known to be one of the most influential architects of the 20th century and has inspired generations with his masterful use of space, light and material.
Designers around the world are carving out opportunities for new kinds of engagement, new kinds of collaboration, new kinds of design outcomes, and new kinds of practice; overturning the inherited assumptions of the design professions. Seventeen conversations with practitioners from the fields of architecture, policy, activism, design, education, research, history, community engagement and more, each representing an emergent role for designers to occupy. Whether the “civic entrepreneur,” the “double agent,” or the “strategic designer,” this book offers a diverse spectrum of approaches to design, each offering a potential future for architectural practice.
The student led humanitarian initiative ‘Build Our Nation’ has begun a two-week workshop as part of the Biennale Sessions 13th International Architecture Exhibition. Through workshops and events students are collaborating to explore and experiment with ideas, discuss and connect internationally, and build an empathy and awareness for altruistic design issues. Sixty students from four Universities – Robert Gordon University (Scotland), Milano Politecnico (Italy), Universitat Roviravigili Reus (Spain) and ETSAB (Spain) – have made their way to Venice to take part in the 4th Stage of the project. Situated in the Arsenale, between the Italian pavilion and the Chinese Pavilion, the workshop will invite the public to walk through and interact with the students as they work towards the culmination of one and a half years collaboration. Focusing on the research areas of non-verbal communication, social characteristics of a participatory project and the technical aspects of a self-build project for women.
Architect: Dok Architecten: Liesbeth van der Pol, Jan Jaap Roeten, Sonja Müller, Ellen Wolse, Christina Patz, Mirthe Kooy, Ieke Koning Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands Programme: Museum, Library, Restaurant and Retail Facilities Client: Rijksgebouwendienst, Haarlem Construction Costs: €28.000.000 miljoen Dome Design and Construction: Ney & Partners, Brussels (BE): Laurent Ney, Eric Bodarwé, Kenny Verbeeck and others Project Year: 2011 Photographs: Arjen Schmitz photographer
In an article published by the New York Times, Philip Nobel laments the time taken to construct architecture. As architects, we have the passion to shape space and craft environments. For most, that translates into physically constructing such visions, but the path from drawing board (or computer screen) to realization is often times a long and arduous path.
In the past few years, such difficult financial times have challenged architects to fight for their buildings; namely, asking the designer to find ways to make the buildings work – whether with a changed material palette, smaller footprint, or shortened height. Yet, apart from finances, we’ve also reported dozens of projects which narrowly clear other obstacles, such as attaining community consent. And, of course, we have seen scores of great awarded competition proposals that do not incur the same luck, and slowly dwindle to non-existence.
One of our favorite parts of ArchDaily is our InProgress section, where we keep track of the progression of the original architectural vision through actuality. After the break, we share a few projects that haven’t had the most direct route through completion. Let us know in the comments below your thoughts on which project you’ve been waiting to see complete.
