Zaha Hadid 1950-2016: next up in our exclusive video series, Richard Rogers reflects on the battle to select Zaha Hadid‘s design for the London Aquatics Centre, a building he describes as “a roaring success”. (more…)
Furniture, tableware and objects from the Philip Johnson-designed The Four Seasons restaurant in New York are to be auctioned off, marking the destruction of “one of the rarest phenomena in Modernism” according to US critics (+ slideshow). (more…)
A gabled cabin by architecture studio Atelier Bow-Wow and a faceted pod by artist Didier Faustino have been installed inside a Parisian gallery as part of an exhibition about imaginary worlds. (more…)
The Moinian Group announced that they had been collaborating with the late Zaha Hadid to develop a “visionary” new project for New York City. The project, at 220 Eleventh Avenue in West Chelsea, is a multi-residential apartment building with a cultural institution at street level.
This announcement comes after Zaha Hadid Architects pledged to complete all 36 projects that were in construction or design development at the time of her death, as her office continues her powerful legacy.
220 Eleventh Avenue will contain a mix of loft-like condominiums and penthouses, with a design that intertwines the vibrancy of the Chelsea art district with Zaha Hadid’s own experience of New York as a city of “powerful geometries and rhythms.” The design, which is yet to be unveiled, merges the urban scale with intricate detail. The project is slated to begin construction in 2017.
“We are deeply honored to develop one of Zaha’s final creations and cement her astonishing legacy forevermore here in Manhattan,” said Mitchell Moinian of The Moinian Group in a press release. “Preserving the artistic integrity of this project is paramount in order to engrain the spirit of Zaha herself into the streets of Manhattan.”
Check out the four projects that Zaha Hadid Architects will complete in 2016 here.
News via The Moinian Group.
House PIBO is a residential project completed by OYO. The home is located in Maldegem, Belgium. House PIBO by OYO: “This family house designed by OYO is the result of a close collaboration between client and architect. OYO was given carte blanche, which opened the possibility to focus on an ecological and compact building from the start. Unlike most single family houses in Belgium OYO started with the idea of..
From the architect. After the huge earthquakes in 2010/2011 in Christchurch, New Zealand, the devastated original home occupying this site was removed and the land was purchased by our clients.
Historically, the city of Christchurch has its roots in agriculture, so we designed an urban take on a typical English pitched-roof farmhouse. The house is comprised of four interconnected buildings, creating a series of courtyard spaces between each dwelling. Each of the four pavilions are connected by flat-roofed glass galleries, allowing large amounts of light in, and views to the courtyards out.
Materials needed to be lightweight so as not to cause safety risks in the event of more earthquakes. The buildings are clad in cedar and left in a natural state to weather and silver off. The cedar runs vertically in fixed applications, and horizontally on expressive features such as doors and ventilation panels. The vertical cedar cladding is continued internally through the gallery spaces to complete the external skin of the four pavilions, allowing them to feel as though they exist independently of each other.
Internally, the palette of materials was confined to natural cedar, oak joinery and oak and concrete floors, lending warmth and permanency to the spaces. The living room features a double-height gable ceiling, creating a sense of volume and light.
Rhyll is a residential project designed by Jarchitecture in 2015. It is located in Rhyll, Victoria, Australia. Rhyll by Jarchitecture: “The site is engrossed by nature and aspect, therefore the design competes by being bold, sharp and textural. This boldness and form is also an expression of the clients and their family expanding out of their current holiday house, a caravan. A solid black box expands out of the ground..
Earlier this month The Guardian reported that the King of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustav, has denounced David Chipperfield’s designs for Stockholm’s new Nobel Center (Nobelhuset) in the Dagens Nyheter (DN), a national Swedish newspaper, as both too volumetrically large and badly sited. The practice’s initial proposal, which was lauded by the awarding jury for its “lightness and openness,” is a glass and stone structure which attempts to “convey dignity” and embody the ideals of the Nobel Prize.
For the King, who personally presents the annual Nobel prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Medicine and Literature (the Peace prize is delivered in Oslo), “Nobel is a name that we want to protect, of course.” He continued by arguing that “we [also] want to preserve and increase its value. The purpose is laudable. [But] the fact that the building has become so big, and has landed a bit in the wrong place – it is a shame.” The Swedish Monarch has, among other notable public statements, previously called for a global ban on bathtubs ahead of UN Climate Talks in 2015 and, more recently, offered Swedes health advice related to steak and jelly-gums.
David Chipperfield Architects’ proposal received harsh opposition from heritage protestors in mid-2014, who declared in an online petition (which has gained just under 7,000 signatures to date) that they are against “star-architects constructing their angular spectacles of glass and steel right in the middle of the protected historic environment, as monuments to themselves, at our expense and the city’s.” The City Museum of Stockholm also spoke out to argue that the design is good, but not in its proposed location.
A Customs House located along the Blasieholmen, designed in 1876 by Axel Fredrik Nystrom, sits at the heart of this debate. The structure, which represents the last remaining wooden harbor warehouse in the city, will be demolished to make way for the proposed Nobelhuset. Although David Chipperfield Architects submitted revised plans for the building in late 2015, in which the size and scale of the building were significantly reduced with “a clearer division into a base, middle and top floor that relates to the surrounding structures on the Blasieholmen peninsula,” Queen Sylvia has gone so far to suggest in the Dagens Nyheter that a referendum would be welcomed to determine the outcome of the plans.
As reported by The Guardian, Chipperfield has spoken on Swedish radio to argue that “the size of the building is determined by what is necessary for a Nobel Center. It’s not exploiting the value of the land or something – it’s not a developer building, an office building or a hotel. I disagree with the criticism, but I respect that it is part of the dialogue.”
In response to a column in the Architects’ Journal, in which Paul Finch argued that “it is difficult […] to accept the argument that the building has to be its current size because of precise functional requirements [as] it has already been lowered once,” Chipperfield retorted: “I will indeed consider Paul Finch’s advice, although I must point out that an auditorium that must seat 1,200 people does have an objective result on the size of the building.”
Chipperfield continued: “It is our experience […] that the civility of such societies, based on a fundamental commitment to social democracy and dominated by a concern for the welfare and opinion of its citizens, tend to struggle with issues that open up conflicts and differences of opinions.” […] “It is a tribute to such societies that these things matter. Although it puts projects such as the Nobel Center […] in a precarious situation, and it inconveniences the process and our task, I retain a certain respect for this condition and the predicament that it puts the architect in.”
The building is being partly financed by the Wallenberg and the Persson families, the latter of whom own the H&M corporation.
You can see some of the practice’s latest vizualisations of the proposal, here.
News via Dagens Nyheter [SE], The Guardian, Architects’ Journal, The Local [SE]
It’s not too late to find a last-minute present for Father’s Day this Sunday. From a ballpoint pen that can make digital notes to a TV designed by the Bouroullec brothers, we’ve filled our gift guide with 10 of the best new products (+ slideshow). (more…)
The new Kindergarten and nursery is placed by the sea, on the tip of Islands Brygge in Copenhagen and the architecture is designed in accordance with the surrounding existing buildings, an area characterised by small boathouses and small dwellings. While still in the capital of Denmark, the children will have a daily life filled with fresh sea air and the sound of seagulls.
Nokken houses 124 children (3 nursery groups and 4 pre-school groups), has a good indoor climate and sustainable materials.
A jewelled box
Inside the kindergarten and nursery a multitude of colours, intricate patterns and different surfaces great the children. Decorated with colours, patterned wallpaper and tiles. This gives the impression of a large jewellery box, and creates a colourful interior as well as a fun playhouse for the children. While the floor plan is intricate and labyrinthic, the various colours make it easy to navigate around the building.
Playgrounds
The nursery has two playgrounds. The older children have a rugged playground facing the sea, with swings, slides and climbing frames. They have the fresh sea air and views to the water. They can follow the boats, kayaks and birds, habituating with live on the sea outside the nursery.
An inner playground for the smaller children, sheltered by the walls of building itself, it provides a perfect outdoor tranquil playground. This playground also works as an outdoor canteen and communal area for all the children on sunny days. Throughout the building there are view to this inner courtyard and playground.
