© Ewout Huibers

• Architects: concrete
• Location: United States, Navy Pier Ct, Staten Island, NY 10304, USA
• Area: 30000.0 ft2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Ewout Huibers

• Team: Erikjan Vermeulen, Rob Wagemans, Cindy Wouters, Matthijs Hombergen, Jolijn Vonk, Jesse Nolte, Sofie Ruytenberg, Ana Bissau Pereira, Eva Stekelenburg, Melanie Knuewer Johanna Zyschki, Robert Schellekens, Kayla Lee

© Ewout Huibers

From the architect. Every day, 180,000 people around the world move to the city. And all those people need a place to live. But with rising demand comes rising rent, making it virtually impossible for young potentials and the middle class to find rental housing that is not only affordable, but also caters to the needs of the modern urban citizen. In a time characterised by flexibility, community and sustainability, the available rental- housing increasingly fails to meet modern-day demands.

© Ewout Huibers

And so in 2009, Concrete was approached by Ironstate to develop a better rental-housing product for New York’s densely populated areas. ‘Better’ in this context was defined as a product that more adequately meets the needs of the modern urban resident, offers higher value for the money and facilitates a more positive way of living. Concrete and Ironstate joined forces and before long, Urby was born. A unique residential concept that offers premium value at sub-premium rates and a truly connected living experience.

© Ewout Huibers

© Ewout Huibers

Urby is a holistic housing concept that offers residents much more than living quarters. That said, Concrete started out with focusing on the essence: the apartments. The design team created Small (studio), Medium (one-bedroom) and Large (two-bedroom) units. In order to test functionality, flow and setup, several mock-up apartments were built in a Jersey warehouse. In 2012, Concrete and Ironstate completed a 48-unit building in Jersey City and started renting the apartments out to gauge market response and collect user feedback. Three apartments have been kept on for testing purposes to this day, in order to constantly fine-tune layouts, finishes and fixtures. Meanwhile in 2011, Concrete started working on the Urby Staten Island project, applying the learnings from the test building to the first official Urby building.

© Ewout Huibers

© Ewout Huibers

The Urby Staten Island project consists of more than 900 rental apartments, 571 of which have been completed in phase 1. This fall, construction begins on the remaining 340 apartments. Next to Staten Island Urby will be present in other areas close to the city as well. End of the year the 69 story tower of Urby Jersey City with 763 apartments will open, while construction of Urby Harrison (450 apartments) is on it’s way and Urby Stamford will start construction in fall. Other sites in and around New York are currently under design investigation.

© Ewout Huibers

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The 250 hectare artificial island has already been formed in the Haikou Bay. Image © GAO Wenzhonglow

Hainan Airlines Group has announced an international competition between 10 top architecture firms to design the master plan and central buildings of the South Sea Pearl Eco-Island, an island located in Haikou Bay, on the island of Hainan, China. Featuring teams from China, Europe and the United States, the competition calls for the creation of an 250 hectare eco-tourism hub, which will contain housing, hotels, tourist attractions and a port with capacity for two large cruise ships.

Visit to the island with all the teams to start the competition. Image © Guallart Architects

Competition organizers China Building Center selected Vicente Guallart, former chief architect of Barcelona and director of Guallart Architects, to develop the strategic vision for the island, aiming to “achieve a new urban development based on ecological principles, the best available technologies and an excellent design, creating in this way a landmark for the new urbanism in China.”

Tourism as time urbanization. Image © Guallart Architects

Cruise route comparison between the Caribbean, Mediterranean and South Asia Sea. Image © Guallart Architects

Following a detailed selection process, submissions will be presented by the following 10 firms:

• Foster + Partners (UK)
• Morphosis Architects (US)
• Office of Architecture in Barcelona Carlos Ferrater Partnership (Spain)
• Diller Scofidio + Renfro (US)
• IROJE Architects & Planners (South Korea)
• UNStudio (The Netherlands)
• KuiperCompagnons (The Netherlands)
• The Jerde Partnership Inc. (US)
• CCDI (China)
• Boston International Design Group, LLC (China)

A winner will be selected in the last week of August by a jury comprised of leading architectural figures including Aaron Betsky (USA), Benedetta Tagliabue (IT), Donald Bates (Australia), Sergey Kuznetsov (Moscow Chief Architect), Peter Poulet (New South Wales State Architect, AU)), Horacio Werner (Cisco) y Margarita Jover.

Comparison between the island and different functions. Image © Guallart Architects

Construction on the island is expected to begin in 2017, with a tentative completion date of 2027. Additional studies are currently underway to determine the design potential of other islands in the Haikou Bay. Hainan, an island in the South China with a population of 9 million people, was declared as an independent province in 1988 to become a tourism-oriented state and has seen many tourist-driven developments since.

The island with its cruise harbor. Image © GAO Wenzhonglow

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© Gonzalo Viramonte

• Architects: GRUPOURBAN Arq.
• Location: Sendero del Bosque, Villa Allende, Córdoba, Argentina
• Architects In Charge: Diego Peña, Carolina Salvia, Alejandro Jurado
• Area: 510.0 sqm
• Photographs: Gonzalo Viramonte

• Ground: 1617.00 sqm

© Gonzalo Viramonte

“The Forest “, is situated minutes away from Córdoba Capital in the town of Calera. This house belongs to a family with a strong passion for art and design. 

© Gonzalo Viramonte

© Gonzalo Viramonte

The main idea was to design a wide, naturally bright home by taking advantage of Cordoba´s warm weather and natural environment. 

© Gonzalo Viramonte

© Gonzalo Viramonte

We designed a housing scheme that would take the least amount of trees, and integrate them into every room of the house. We also took full advantage of this idea by using the trees as a “shield” preserving the privacy by also closing the house off from the street and directing all activities towards the backyard. 

© Gonzalo Viramonte

Plan

© Gonzalo Viramonte

The project consists on a two story house with a separate covered patio. On the first floor to the right is the service area, kitchen, playroom, “family room” and a social room equipped with T.V dining area and a bar. To the left side of the house, there is the children’s bedroom, a library, reading room and a mediation area that visually connects with the pool and its surrounding trees, creating a warm and calm atmosphere. 

© Gonzalo Viramonte

Aligned with the main entrance we have the pool, partially covered, which serves as a connector between the house and the covered patio. 

© Gonzalo Viramonte

Section

© Gonzalo Viramonte

The covered patio itself houses a fully equipped kitchen and grilling area, spacious dining table, a lounge and fireplace. 

Lastly, the entire top floor is designed for the master bedroom, with a separate dressing room, master bathroom and sauna.

© Gonzalo Viramonte

We used mainly materials such as wood and stone to integrate the house as much as possible with its natural surroundings. The same concept is brought to the interior space by providing as much natural lighting as possible thanks to the large openings strategically placed throughout the house. 

© Gonzalo Viramonte

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© Terra

The BIG-designed Grove at Grand Bay is now complete, becoming an new architectural icon for South Miami. Residents will now put the finishing touches on the units before a grand opening and move-in next month. The two twisting 20-story towers have been completely sold out, and mark BIG’s first completed condominium building in the United States.

© Terra

“Coconut Grove is a special place with a well-defined soul, so it was important that Grove at Grand Bay respond to its community through a design that was respectful and distinctive,” explains Bjarke Ingels. “By creating twisting towers that rise side-by-side but never cross paths, we were able to optimize views, outdoor spaces and the flexibility of our floor plans while allowing the buildings to interact with one another.”

© Terra

Lobby finish

A photo posted by Bjarke ingels (@bjarkeingels) on Aug 1, 2016 at 11:47am PDT

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Developed by the Terra Group and rising 20 stories over the bay-front, Grove at Grand Bay contains 96 expansive residences, ranging in size from 1,300 square feet to a 10,000 square foot penthouse with a 5,000 square foot terrace and private pool. Each condo features panoramic views as the two towers twist up from ground and clear the surrounding buildings, readjusting their orientation to ensure each unit receives sightlines to the marina to Miami skyline.

© Terra

A photo posted by Terra (@terragroupmiami) on Aug 1, 2016 at 2:07pm PDT

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Property amenities include a rooftop pool on each tower, a 5-star spa and fitness center, a private dining room for residents and a pet spa. Units over 4,000 square feet are accompanied by a private 2-car garage; the South Tower penthouse with a 4-car garage. All units feature 12-foot high ceilings.

Landscape architecture on the project was done by Miami’s Raymond Jungles.

A photo posted by Raymond Jungles (@rjistudio) on Aug 3, 2016 at 10:27am PDT

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© Brad Feinknopf

• Architects: robert maschke ARCHITECTS inc.
• Location: United States, Cleveland, OH, USA
• Area: 4261.0 ft2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Brad Feinknopf

• Design Team: Robert Maschke, FAIA; Matt Lindsay, Associate AIA; Alex Mann, Associate AIA.
• Structural Engineer: Barber & Hoffman; Halim Saab, P.E., LEED AP; James Colella, P.E.

© Brad Feinknopf

From the architect. Arcadian Food & Drink celebrates the dining experience as theater, setting a dynamic stage within an existing building where guest are both audience and cast. This adaptive reuse restaurant, located in Cleveland, Ohio’s recently revitalized Gordon Square Arts District, resides among several theaters, galleries, and local shops, helping to further activate the existing street-scape. Offering premium quality beverages and entrees, the Arcadian Food & Drink provides diners with a unique architectural Experience.

© Brad Feinknopf

Portions of the existing facade have been preserved while others have been adapted to enhance three distinct forms. An existing yellow masonry structure housing the kitchen, a new red masonry structure framing elongated views into the dining space, and a new monolithic white wedge, veiled by a perforated metal screen, contrast and complement the existing street-scape. Pedestrians walking along Detroit Avenue view the chef’s stage as sustainable seafood and entrees are prepared through the large glass opening in the yellow masonry. Guests entering the vestibule are offered a brief glimpse of the bar as they pass through the white veil of triangles on the walls and floor, making their stage entrance.

© Brad Feinknopf

Floor Plan

© Brad Feinknopf

As the audience members join the cast on stage within the restaurant, the distinct spaces begin to unfold. Greeted by views into the active kitchen area, the role of the guest waivers between audience and cast member. At a multiplicity of levels, the architecture is conceived to enhance and express a dynamic sense of movement while the materials utilized have been deployed to offer solutions that enhance the dining experience. Boundaries between spaces are blurred as the contrasting forms intertwine, folding and creasing to envelop the guests. The two story bamboo wall acts as a backdrop to the bar, unfolding to form seating in the dining area. The white ceiling folds in response to the localized structural constraints of the existing building, creating an intimate dining experience. As the surface penetrates the two story space above the bar, it folds to become a drink rail at the upper level. Guests transiting to the upper level, move along the perforated metal screen dividing the bar and stair. At the upper level, the bamboo and white surfaces frame the windows looking through the corrugated perforated screen of the facade creating a dynamic surface that changes with orientation of the view. As guests enjoy their meals their view is reoriented towards the street-scape, the city becomes the stage and theater, and the guests become the audience.

Diagram

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via ArchSmarter

Last week, Architectural Record released their list of the top 300 Architecture Firms in the US, based on architectural revenue from 2015. But what can we learn from those numbers and the firms generating them? In this post for ArchSmarter, Michael Kilkelly dives deeper into the figures that have made these firms so successful, comparing numbers based on firm type, firm location and project location.

His conclusion?

“If I were starting a firm today and wanted to end up the top US firm by revenue in the near future, I would  start an EA firm based in California, preferably LA or Pasadena. I would make sure no more than a quarter of my revenue came from architectural projects. Of those architectural projects, 80% or more would need to be domestic projects.  At least, that’s what the number say.”

Check out the full piece featuring graphs and visualizations, here.

These are the Top 300 Architecture Firms in the US
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© Borzu Talaie

• Architects: rzlbd
• Location: Cliffcrest, Toronto, ON, Canada
• Area: 600.0 ft2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Borzu Talaie

• Project Coordinator & Interior Design: Julia Francisco
• Structure: Egbert Engineering
• Mechanical: McCallum Consulting
• Septic: Gunnell Engineering
• Construction Management: Caledon Building & Design

© Borzu Talaie

From the architect. The Opposite House, is a commissioned private residence located on the Scarborough Bluffs, closer to the east edge of the Greater Toronto Area. The clients, a professional couple who both work from home and enjoy an active home entertainment lifestyle, were looking for a modern dwelling that would offer everything they might need and more, including enough space to transition into, if their family grows at a later time.

© Borzu Talaie

The new build sits partly on an old bungalow’s footprint, close to a quiet back-street, with a 2.7 acre site sloping down to the shore of Lake Ontario. To the northern street side, the house presents a purposely low, dark-brick profile – just a single, unobtrusive 146-foot long storey [equal to the length of an Airbus A321, the most efficient single-aisle jetliner ever built]; its stretched fuselage – measuring 146 feet], allowing  for an unimpeded lake view from all points even in the north end of the property. To the southern lakefront, the home’s face opens into a 10-foot curtain wall, lozenged in white. The house’s interior is 6,400 sq-ft; though massive in size, it feels quite human in scale, the result of the space’s precise geometric parsing, something the architect refers to as “mathematical poetry.”

Diagram

Diagram

Both outside and in, the Opposite House is at once familiar yet different, spectacular yet comfortable, private as well as public – presenting a study in subtly rendered juxtapositions. Two concepts are at work here: Louis Kahn’s “servant and served” maxim, wherein private, back-of-the-house functions are placed on one side, balanced by public relaxation on the other; and the “phototropic” nature of plants, which remain rooted in the earth while their heads blossom towards the sun – interpreted here as a north side wrapped in dark-black, textured brick and a south side presented in bright glass and smooth white stucco.

© Borzu Talaie

Diagram

© Borzu Talaie

The main hall of the Opposite House forms a central nave that runs like a spine, east-west, along the home’s entire length, bracketed at either end by outsized windows. The foyer, with its 49-square-foot skylight, acts as a north-south transept, intersecting this main line, and descending via a stadium-stairway to the lower level. When the clients wish to entertain, guests can lounge on the agora seating and either admire the view from a dropped 20-foot double-height curtain wall or watch a show on the roll-down movie screen. The central nave and the north-south transept divide the building program into four main zones: 1- the garage, mudroom and storage, 2- a guest-room with an en-suite, 3- home offices/secondary bedrooms, bathroom facilities, and 4- the master bedroom, kitchen, dining, and living areas.

© Borzu Talaie

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via ArchSmarter

Last week, Architectural Record released their list of the top 300 Architecture Firms in the US, based on architectural revenue from 2015. But what can we learn from those numbers and the firms generating them? In this post for ArchSmarter, Michael Kilkelly dives deeper into the figures that have made these firms so successful, comparing numbers based on firm type, firm location and project location.

His conclusion?

“If I were starting a firm today and wanted to end up the top US firm by revenue in the near future, I would  start an EA firm based in California, preferably LA or Pasadena. I would make sure no more than a quarter of my revenue came from architectural projects. Of those architectural projects, 80% or more would need to be domestic projects.  At least, that’s what the number say.”

Check out the full piece featuring graphs and visualizations, here.

These are the Top 300 Architecture Firms in the US
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http://ift.tt/2b3zIYu