New York City-based Diller Scofidio + Renfro has been chosen to design the gallery and visitor experience at the historic Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum – the only museum in the United States that is exclusively devoted to historic and contemporary design. The New York City landmark is currently under undergoing an extensive, $64 million transformation that will expand gallery space by sixty-percent. The new environment will be laced with interactive elements in which Local Projects will help integrate into the gallery space as they have been selected as participatory media designer.
The contemporary vision of the re:design aims to become a modern exemplar for museum design, while still preserving the historic Carnegie mansion. The renovation is led by Gluckman Mayner Architects and Beyer Blinder Belle. It will achieve LEED certification and is scheduled to be complete by 2014.
“It is because of their keen abilities to translate ideas and concepts into boundary-stretching design that Cooper-Hewitt selected DS+R and Local Projects as the ideal partners to help re-envision the design of its gallery, visitor and participatory digital experiences,” explained Bill Moggridge, director of the museum.
The Report, a consolidation of 15 years of research involving over 800 building projects and 500 organizations, gathered hard evidence to find out: what influences a cultural building’s success or failure? The question is a relevant one: between 1994 and 2008 there has been a building boom of performing arts centers, museums, and theaters in the U.S., costing cities billions of dollars. And unfortunately, supply has outrun demand.
The biggest problem the Report identifies is that cities and towns, many of which have recently experienced improved education/income and enthusiastically undertake these projects, often overestimate the actual need for these centers in their communities. Thus, when they run into financial difficulties (most do: over 80% of the projects surveyed ran over-budget, some up to 200%), the centers become economic drains rather than cultural boons.
In other words: Just because you build it, it doesn’t mean they will come.
So what does make for a successful Cultural Center? More after the break…
At the University of Minnesota’s College of Design several projects have been developed to advance more cost-effective, more environmentally aware buildings, infrastructure, and even communities. One very useful program they’ve developed falls under the Building Evaluation category. It’s called the CBSR Site and Building Design Carbon Calculator. What does it do? It measures the carbon footprint of any building or site. In other words, it measures greenhouse gas emissions from sites and from building development. Even better, it can be used by both professionals and the general public alike, for either existing or future structures. Indeed, after downloading the calculator, which is very well-researched and comprehensive, it is clear that this tool is self-explanatory and very easy-to-use.
The international team, lead by well-known Russian urbanist Andrey Chernikhov, and including McAdam Architects, Tower 151, Georgi Stanishev and Ginsburg Architects placed first in round two of the Moscow City Agglomeration Development Concept competition. The winning consortium sparked debate by suggesting Moscow officials should consider redeveloping the abundant brown field sites and other available infill spaces within the existing city boundaries before proposing new development. They highlighted vast areas occupied by goods railways and disused industrial sites from Soviet times as prime areas for regeneration and expansion, as well as a re-thinking of transport networks to alleviate pressure on existing systems.
Is it the perfect blend of sculpture and engineering, or it is a twisted form of nonsense? Opinions are quite varied on the subject of Anish Kapoor and Cecil Balmond’s observation tower, ArcelorMittal Orbit, which will serve as a permanent reminder of London’s hosting of the 2012 Olympic Games. The red steel structure will rise close to 400 feet – taller than New York’s Statue of Liberty and London’s Big Ben – to be Britain’s largest piece of public art. Criticized for undertaking such a massively expensive project during the country’s recession, London Mayor Boris Johnson has claimed that the Orbit will not only enhance visitors’ experiences at the Olympic Games but will also be “the right thing for the Stratford site” beyond the summer time, calling on its potential to become ”the perfect iconic cultural legacy”.
Katerva isn’t looking for ideas that will improve the world in small increments. We are looking for paradigm-busting ideas. Our Award winners don’t simply move the needle when it comes to efficiency, lifestyle or consumption; they change the game entirely. This is a celebration of radical innovation and an acceleration of much needed change.
In the proposal for the Klaksvik City Center, DL+A _ SIZE* perceives the need to interact and present the city to the world as an open culture. As a pioneer in the city growing master plan in the region, this design shows the way they expect to be seen in the future, and how they expect to be prepared to respond to the local community growing needs. The way we design the path for the urban grown and population development aspects has a tremendous relevance on how humans will organize themselves in the future. More images and architects’ description after the break.
KCAP’s urban design for the transformation of the Garonne waterfront in Bordeaux-Brazza was recently finalized and officially approved by Alain Juppé, Mayor of Bordeaux, and by Bordeaux’s City Council. The project site is a 67 ha area within Bastide Brazza Nord, a 120 ha former industrial area between the river Garonne and an abandoned railway area. The urban strategy will combine new urban mixed-use functions with re-used abandoned infrastructures and is based on an integrated environmental approach to ground pollution and flood risk. More images and architects’ description after the break.
The double landscape and architectural competition proposal for Yanqing Grape and Wine Park and Yanqing Greenhouse and Winery by LocalDesignStudio was organized ahead of the World Grape Conference to be held in 2014 in Yanqing County. The park was meant as a pilot project for the territory, only recently reconverted to cultivations of grapes, showing the latest technical achievements in the field of cultivation and production of wine and grape growing. Furthermore, the project was to represent the ambition of Yanqing County to become an important wine district internationally, not only oriented to business but related to a specific life-style. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Álvaro Siza Vieira’s birthday week just got even better, as he has been awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement of the 13th International Architecture Exhibition. The decision was made by the Board of la Biennale di Venezia, chaired by Paolo Baratta, under Director David Chipperfield’s proposal. Siza will be honored at the Giardini of la Biennale, during the opening and award ceremony on August 29th, 2012.
“It is difficult to think of a contemporary architect who has maintained such a consistent presence within the profession as Álvaro Siza. That this presence is maintained by an architect that lives and works at the extreme Atlantic margin of Europe only serves to emphasize his authority and his status.”
A triple height entrance lobby will welcome visitors to a world-class hotel, two restaurants, three sky gardens and a 248 unit residential tower, all with stunning views over Olympic Park. These are some of the key features offered in the newly unveiled plan for the 42-storey Manhattan Loft Gardens in London, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM). It is planned to be built near the Stratford International Station – the gateway to the 2012 London Olympics. Completion is scheduled for 2014.
The Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park in midtown New York, designed by Cook + Fox Architects, is the first commercial high-rise to achieve LEED Platinum certification. The design and high performance of this building is intended to set a new standard for commercial construction and for the office-work environment. By focusing on ways to emphasize daylight, fresh air and a connection to the outdoors, the architects redefine the parameters of the skyscraper as more than a glass box.
More on the strategies implemented in this project after the break.
The fifth anniversary of the Creative Spaces summer event highlights the creation of a pedestrian mall on St. Catherine, between St-Hubert and Papineau streets. Taking place until September 16, the event offers an opportunity for the instigator of the project, the Société de développement commercial du Village (SDCV), in collaboration with the Ville-Marie borough, to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the creation of Montreal’s Gay Village. The spaces will open up for the display of creative installations and art exhibitions. More information on the event after the break.
“Every second, 2.8 million emails are sent, 30,000 phrases are Googled, and 600 updates are tweeted. While being absorbed into this virtual world, most rarely consider the physical ramifications of this data. All over the world, data centers are becoming integral components of our twenty-first city infrastructure As cloud storage and global Internet usage increase, it’s time to talk about the physical space of data.” - CLOG (5)
What does it look like to give the virtual, physical form? As every CLOG edition, Data Space explores “from multiple viewpoints and through a variety of means, a single subject particularly relevant to architecture now” (5) and this subject, how to design “the infrastructure of invisible data” (103), could very well be the defining question of our age.
With the economic stability of Europe still uncertain, Dame Hadid has recently spoken out against ideas of austerity, warning the UK government that such a move would lead to poor quality projects for the country’s citizens. Hadid told Kath Viner of The Guardian, ”I think that austerity is used as a cliche because people don’t have ideas, they want to crib (old ones) to do bad stuff. Schools, housing, hospitals – I think the government should invest in good housing.” Hadid went on to explain, “”There needs to be investment. We need some sort of quality. All the privileged can travel, see different worlds, not everyone can. I think it is important for people to have an interesting local nearby. Buildings need to do another job, enlighten people, space enlightens the same way as music art and technology.”
Designed by Peter Ruge Architekten, the ‘Bambooline Berlin’ project, exhibited at Gallery DEN in Berline, explores the city’s urban development and proposes a new approach for the temporary, interim use of sustainable urban wasteland. This new, imaginary band complements the historically developed lines of the Berlin cityscape. More images and architects’ description after the break.
At the seventh edition of the International Architecture Festival from June 27-July 1, eme3‘s project brings back the action to the public space. They aim to recover the format of former editions and take back the interventions and organization of activities in different locations of the city center. These locations include some lots and spaces that were abandoned and fell into degradation. Their topic, ‘Bottom Up’, has a participation of around 50 participants coming from 17 countries. More images and architects’ description after the break.
The days of carrying around rolls of construction documents on site are in flux. The rapid change of both software and hardware has already dramatically changed the way architects, engineers, and general contractors communicate with each other. For those of you who do site visits on a regular basis, you are no doubt familiar with the relatively drawn out process the contractor has to take in order to get clarification on a detail or problem distillation – taking pictures of detail, scanning redlines, emailing to architect, etc. However, what if, and it is happening, you can bring out an iPad or similar device with all the drawings loaded ready to view in palm of your hand. Questions can simply be marked up right on the spot and instantly fired off for review or approval.
Architects: CMD Ingenieros Location: Kutaisi, Georgia Year of Construction: 2011-2012 Design Team: Alberto Domingo Cabo – PhD in Structural Engineering , Carlos Lázaro Fernández – PhD in Structural Engineering, Juliane Petri – Civil Engineer. Master’s Degree in Land Use Planning, Francisco Palacios Climent – Civil Engineer Client: Kutaisi City Hall Surface: 45,000 sqm Budget: 82,000,000 € Photographs: Courtesy of CMD Ingenieros
Nearly 40 years after Welfare Island was renamed to honor President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR), the Four Freedoms Park is nearly complete. The four-acre park, located on the southern tip of Roosevelt Island in New York City, honors the 32nd U.S. President and the four essential freedoms he believed in. The legendary architect Louis I. Kahn , FAIA (1901-1974) was commissioned to design the memorial in the early seventies and completed the design right before his unfortunate death in 1974. As New York City approached bankruptcy, the project was put on hold until March 29, 2010. Now, many are anxiously anticipating the park’s grand opening that will take place this Fall.
Continue after the break to learn about the story and design of Four Freedoms Park.
In an effort to make New York City’s built environment “more livable and hospitable” the Department of Design and Construction (DDC), Health and Mental Hygiene, Transportation (DOT), and City Planning have developed the Active Design Guidelines: Promoting Physical Activity and Health in Design to be referenced in conjunction with the DOT’s Street Design Manual and other guidelines produced by NYC. The guidelines are written for urban planners, designers and architects and are driven by the need to address health concerns such as obesity and diabetes through intelligent design. Our built environments give us cues as to how to inhabit them and have tremendous effects, sometimes subconscious, on our lifestyles. Do you walk, drive, or bike to work? Do you take the stairs or the elevator? We make these types of decisions, which are largely based on comfort, on a daily basis. But the guidelines established in this manual are intended to give designers the tools to encourage healthy lifestyle choices to address the social concerns of NYC. So, what can planners, architects and designers do to create an active and healthy city? Find out after the break.
