Archive for the ‘architecture’ Category
giant swings
Wehberg installs gigantic 20 meter tall swings for Autostadt GmbH every year. One brilliant example where size does matter, no matter whatever you say… puny swing person.
standardarchitecture’s niyang river visitor center
Taking its cue from traditional Tibetian architectural techniques and local materials along with the bight Tibetian colours, standardarchitecture manages to modernise the Tibetian vernacular without losing its soul.
hermès at the hotel lutetia
RDAI was tasked with the latest Hermès boutique in the previous swimming pool of the Hotel Lutetia in Paris. Their solution of beautiful handcrafted wooden ‘huts’ with a flowing stairway leading into the shop is beautiful, immensely crafted and perfectly befitting of Hermès. via Contemporist
usher hall
What a stunning way to light up a spiral staircase! speirs + major eschewed the usual and expected chandelier and instead went with a modern “lighting shaft” that uses fluorescent tubes to great effect. via designboom
centro abierto de actividades ciudadanas
Some new work by Spanish architects ParedesPino Architects exploring the interesting relationship of scale of public spaces.
Its location close to the railway station of the AVE high speed train in Cordoba city can take advantage of this gap as a unique opportunity, giving the character and scale necessary to assume as a new focus of interest not only confined to the neighborhood, but as a magnet in conjunction with the city.We opted for a solution that allows a wide variety of uses. It offers a covered area, protected from the weather, which will house a temporary market two days a week and other activities at other times.It therefore poses a solution based on prefabricated circular elements that vary in height and diameter and arranged in a flexible manner to allow a similar vision of an urban forest of shadows. The parasols also solve the artificial lighting in the same item and allow drainage of water inside.
the palettenpavillon
A great example of how the humblest material can often yield the most amazing results, Matthias Loebermann‘s structure is made up of piled up shipping wooden pallets, ground anchors and tie rods.
moss walls
Although currently just an installation by PUSHAK for the London Moss Your City exhibition, I am hoping to see this here at home where moss grows naturally anyway. Beautiful!
le galilée
The Le Galilée Green Office is a beautiful wooden clad structure that has a beautiful sweeping roof/entrance. by Studio Bellecour
the vanishing mosque
RUX just won an international design competition to build a mosque in the UAE. Their concept of having an open space with the inside of the structure being the outside is nothing new, but to apply it to a mosque in such a dramatic way, utilising forced perspective to dramatise the vanishing point in a god-like manner, and to focus your entire vision towards Mecca, and the gigantic compass pointing the way is just so modern and stunning. Churches have long had the brand name architects’ touch to bring it to the new millennia and it is such a refreshing change to see the same forces shaping mosques in the same way.
What if a mosque was not a building? What if it vanished into the fabric of a city? Seamless with the streets, connected directly to the pulse of daily life, and open to anyone and everyone at anytime, The Vanishing Mosquebecomes more visible, more iconic, and more integral to the spiritual and cultural workings of a community than any building with doors and walls ever could.
This design strategy was created as a “developer’s tool” for integrating spiritual space within new urban developments in the Middle East. Superimposing the function of a mosque within an urban plaza maximizes the value of public spaces, increases the value of adjacent properties, and fosters a powerful sense of community for residents.
While the image of The Vanishing Mosque is new and seemingly unfamiliar, its driving design principles are inspired by those that have ruled mosque-building for centuries.
the club hotel
A new boutique hotel, The Club, in the center of Singapore, designed by the ever hip Ministry of Design, with illustrations by Wynlyn Tan. Some how this one misses the mark for me, as far as Ministry of Design goes. Everything seems a little bit too contrived, and not pushed far enough. Thoughts? via Contemporist
Colin Seah, Design Director says, “Searching to ground the hotel in the context of Singapore as well as the historically rich conservation area of Club Street and Ann Siang Hill, we drew its inspiration from 2 sources.”
“The first is Singapore’s colonial past, which we have made modern tongue-in-cheek references to through art installation like features such as an larger-than-life statue of Raffles with his head in the clouds as well as through some key furniture pieces and artifacts.
The second inspiration was drawn from the area’s popularity as a remittance center for turn of the century Chinese immigrants where hard earned money and wistful letters were sent back to the homeland. We have taken the memories of these exchanges and created features that hint of this legacy in the rooms of The Club, where the modern day nomad and the nomad of yesterday cross paths for a moment.”
cadaval & solà-morales
I am loving the off-kilter roof and the idea of intersecting two spaces into one.
“A vernacular dry stone house in the Pyrenees and the aim to transform it into a comfortable and utilitarian second residence are at the origin of this project. Fathers and sons want separated homes but shared experiences.
The project elaborates on the physical connections between these two homes coexisting in a single rehabilitated envelope. The programmatic scheme and the interrelations of spaces of both houses are tided up to these vertical connections. What qualifies those spaces, however, is unique in each unit. The roof on the top unit is build up to be a sculptural yet neutral continuous element that resolves space, lighting, and views. A human scale continuous linear window faces amazing views over the valley, while an identical window located on the top of the roof, enables to view the summit of the mountain. In the lower unit, a wide and off-scale opening will focus light, views, and therefore activity on an interior-exterior space.
The project is sympathetic of vernacular architecture by respecting not only the envelope, but also its construction and operational logics and its esthetics. By preserving the envelope and doing a minimal yet contrasted intervention, the idea is to reinforce the historical values of vernacular architecture. Moreover, the project is design to be sustainable. New technologies and old vernacular knowledge are implemented to make the Pyrenees houses two sustainable houses in an extreme climate.”
evolver
Designed and built by the students at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, this intriguing twisting, turning structure is suppose to be “an architectural artefact intervening on the panorama surrounding Zermatt.” via the Science of Creativity
frank gehry for las vegas cleveland clinic
In typical Frank Gehry style, his latest outing for the Las vegas Cleveland Clinic delivered the now expected contours and impossible surfaces, wrapping a dramatic space within. Costing USD 100 million, this is no cheap building, but that is no cheap cladding either! via Hypebeast
telescoping book
Interesting idea from a long time ago, where a book telescopes to provide depth of field. via the Canadian Centre for Architecture
pantone hotel
Part of the Pantone Universe Campaign, Pantone has decided to start being hoteliers and got Michel Penneman and Oliver Hannaert to design “the hotel of colors… showcases the color of emotion with a distinctive hue on each colorous guest floor.” My one questions… is colorous a real word or just made up marketing speak?
house beo
Simple stunning angles and glass and spaces and photography! Makes me happy. by Office for Word and Image.
porta volta fondazione deltrinelli
An amazing building by the masters, Herzog & de Mueron. I love the starkness and the lightness and the subtle balance between a monolithic design and one that is suitable for its surroundings. via archdaily
arcelormittal orbit by anish kapoor
One of my all time favourite artists, Anish Kapoor, has been given the commission of any artist life, to design and see to fruition a 115 meters high sculture/viewing tower. 115 meters! You could watch over the Statue of Liberty from here! via Dezeen
takuya tsuchida: kre house
“I want a 9 car garage and be able to enjoy viewing one of them in the living room. Oh, and the living room needs a tall tree.”
Takuya Tsuchida did it.
seed pavilion
The UK Shanghai World Expo pavilion is simply stunning in its simplicity and complications. All mixed together in a architectural orgasm. I cannot wait for the world expo to start! More images at The Big Picture
rainbow church
Drawing inspiration from Matisse and his Chapelle du Rosaire, Tokujin Yoshioka is putting upa ‘Rainbow Church’ at MUSEUM in Seoul. I cannot wait to see the real life realisation of this beautiful refractory work, 8 meters high, painstakingly built with 500 crystal prisms!
fujitsubo the copper house
Copper is such a beautiful metal, especially when it rusts, so I am keeping my eyes on this Copper-clad house designed by Archivision Hirotani Studio.
vodafone’s portuguese head office
Brilliant “fragmented” architecture with a lawn to die for! Designed for Vodaphone, the world’s largest telecommunications company, by architects José António Barbosa and Pedro Guimarães of Barbosa Guimarães Arquitectos via CoolHunter
guggenheim’s art trap
As a commentary to Guggenheim’s massive numbers of tourists, architect Minsuk Cho has proposed Art Trap, in response to a call for entry to the Guggenheim Museum’s Contemplating the Void. Thoughtful idea and looks great too!
martin margiela’s suite
Now you can truly live the MMM lifestyle at Smith Haut-Lafitte château, hotel and spa. Read more at tmagazine
details of burj dubai
I am not sure of the fate of this building, considering the turmoil Dubai World is in, but we can all adore its glory in 2.3 gigapixels of 381 stitched images. via Archidose
shigenobu twilight
Beautiful results when NY artist Anicka Yi and architect Maggie Peng collide. Handmade beauty for sale at USD160 here.
urban taster 