Aedas has been selected as the winner of a competition for a new mixed-use tourist and transportation hub in Sanya, China. To be located in front of the existing Sanya High-Speed Railway Station, the Sanya Integrated Commercial and Transportation Hub will feature a variety of public program elements serving visitors to the city.
Courtesy of Aedas
The design of the complex has been inspired by forms of the Chinese dragon and phoenix. On the ground level, a retail podium will be accessed through an interior shopping street/village. Other elements will include a hotel, serviced apartments, a wedding and event hall, a cinema, a children’s playground and a sky garden, all linked together via a continuous canopy system.
Courtesy of Aedas
Courtesy of Aedas
The complex will be linked to the nearby rail and train stations, as well as the bus terminal, making it easily accessible to the public, and will be integrated into the masterplan for the area, envisioned by Aedas in 2012.
Created to functionally accommodate the lifestyle of a couple, the design of the Villaggio House was conceived with well-defined conditions: to preserve the topography and the woods, to be used as an area of leisure, contemplation, privacy, and integration with nature, and to be easily accessible, keeping it to one level without any stairs.
Thus, the main house was located on an area of elevated terrain, out of the woods and distant from contact with the street, in a position of topographic declivity. The reception room was placed opposite the house with the woods in between. The woods, besides an area for leisure and contemplation, sets an element of privacy and coolness.
The solution found was the use of a metal structure. The house is a large platform above the land slope, like a tree house, with sustaining metal arms, overhanging a garden. This choice of structure opened the way for plasticity and lightness. Along with providing generous spans, the metal structure contrasts with other elements like concrete, wood and glass.
When the house is open, the feeling is that the indoor and outdoor environments interconnect, rendering the size of the rooms even larger, since the integration with nature is constant.
Floor Plan
The roofs are actual hanging gardens, shaped by beds of foliage, flowers and grass, that turn into an extension of the patio. The benefits of the roof garden are not restricted to the landscape aesthetic aspect, they influence the thermic and acoustic quality of the environment, and provide more delay time in the absorption of pluvial water on the land.
Noteworthy in this project is that the respect to the topography of the land and to the existing nature was integrated to technology for the comfort of the dwellers. The few walls in the design are made with light elements, composed by cement plates, OSB wood panels and drywall panels filled in with rockwool sheets. The house also received an automation system, which enables control of different electronic circuits even at a distance with a mobile phone application that activates lights, security cameras or the alarm system, as well as opens shades and canopies or operates the garden watering system, all integrated within one system.
The end of 2016 is nearly upon us, and with the start of 2017 comes speculation about who will be the next Pritzker Prize winner. Will the jury honor an influential member of the “old guard,” as they did in 2015 when they bestowed the award upon the late Frei Otto? Or will they recognize a young architect who is redefining the profession, as they did when they selected Alejandro Aravena earlier this year? Will they reward virtuoso spatial design, or will they once again acknowledge the role of social impact, as they did in recognizing Aravena and Shigeru Ban in 2014? Will the award go to an individual or to two or more architects working together, as it did in 2010 when SANAA scooped the prize?
We want to hear from our readers – not just about who probably will win the prize, but about who should win the prize, and why. Read on to cast your vote in our poll, and let us know in the comments whose name you’d like to hear announced in 2017.
Owensboro is the county seat of Daviess County in north-central Kentucky. Originally part of Shawnee territory, white settlers first arrived there in the 1700s. Over time the city played a role in the Civil War era, serving as an important river port, which continues to this day. The city’s environs gave birth to the Bluegrass sound in American music, starting in the 1930s and 40s, continuing on through today.
The site of the new convention center on the Ohio River bank was previously occupied by the Executive Inn which accommodated performances by many of the most popular singers at the time. To serve this wide range of activities, programs and events, as well as to provide an important economic development tool, the city undertook the development of a new convention center which includes over 40,000 sf of exhibition space, nearly 30,000 sf of meeting space and extensive public lobbies, as well as service and support facilities.
Organized on two levels with the halls at grade and the meeting and banquet facilities above, the complex acts as a beacon on the River, signaling the extraordinary ambitions of this community. The exhibition halls and meeting facilities are distinguished by views out to the River while the lobbies overlook the historic downtown.
Set in a newly developed riverside park, the facility will join a recently completed performing arts center and an expanded Bluegrass Museum honoring the city’s remarkable history of public amenities unusual in communities of this scale.
Floor Plan Level 01
Product Description.The vertically brushed finishes on anodized aluminum panels on the exterior refer to woodgrain on the tobacco barns. “It was a move we chose from a finish standpoint to keep the exterior tight, taught and smooth,” says Brad McWirther, Design Director at Trahan Architects. “We tried to create this smooth, vertical finish that would allow the building to feel like these vertical panels are very similar to the vertical woodgraining of the barns. When the sun hits them, there’s this vertical reflection, very similar to some of those woodgrains that you see on the tobacco barns.”
The 2017 Topaz Medallion, given each year by the AIA and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) to “an individual who has been intensely involved in architecture education for more than a decade and whose teaching has influenced a broad range of students,” has been awarded to Robert A.M. Stern, FAIA.
Stern is well known for his dual careers as founding partner of Robert A.M. Stern Architects and former Dean of Yale University’s School of Architecture, a position in which he served for over 20 years. In bestowing the award, the AIA noted Stern’s remarkable ability to demonstrate “that architecture can be powerful and inspiring by bringing time-honored forms and proportions to bear on a modern world.”
Recovery Park Urban Farming / Detroit Collaborative Design Center. Image Courtesy of Detroit Collaborative Design Center
The 2017 Whitney M. Young Jr. Award, honoring architects and organizations that champion a range of social issues, including affordable housing, minority inclusion and access for persons with disabilities, was awarded to Detroit Collaborative Design Center (DCDC) for their work in amplifying “the diminished voices of all citizens through a wide variety of design projects in its hometown and across the country.”
DCDC is housed within the School of Architecture at the University of Detroit Mercy, and has been modeled after a teaching hospital, pairing 1-4 student interns within 7 design professionals to envision innovation architectural solutions that empower communities. Projects have ranged from playgrounds, to community how-to guides, to urban gardens to social media campaigns.
The third award, the 2017 Edward C. Kemper Award for professional service, has been given to Ronald Skaggs, for his “uncanny ability to recruit, mentor, and involve others in projects and causes.”
Among other accomplishments, Skaggs served as the 76th President of AIA National in 2000, establishing the AIA’s first finance committee and strengthening ties with professional architects’ associations around the globe.
You can read more about this year’s recipients via the following links:
From the architect. OMICRON, a globally active company, is currently expanding its development center in Vorarlberg, Austria. This involves the erection of a new building that provides space for approximately 200 office workplaces and additional facilities. The concepts realized in the already existing OMICRON building are continued: adaptable office units are situated around three open courtyards. These so called ‘hotspots′ function as hubs that connect the different sections of the building. Their design aims at stimulating communication and creative thinking. Planning and realization of the hotspots took place in close collaboration with Martin Rauch and Anna Heringer (clay), Border Architects (light ceilings) and Eichinger Offices (wood). The green roof compensates for the loss of green space as a consequence of the construction of the new building.
OMICRON′s workplace culture emphasizes flat hierarchies as well as open and transparent communication. This is reflected in the architecture. The courtyards feature an open layout and are easily accessible for employees and visitors. Meeting rooms, storage spaces and other facilities are situated on the ground floor. The upper floors host office units. Their size can be easily adapted in order to accommodate the needs of the different teams. The contrast between structured tasks that demand high concentration, and creative thinking tasks that require an environment without artificial limits, is reflected in the architecture.
The high quality working places are equipped with cooling ceilings and most office units have direct access to the exterior. The lighting arrangements are designed to help foster the well-being of the employees. Special glass panes, which facilitate the flow of the natural light, are used. The artificial lighting emulates the daylight and changes over the course of the day.
The building is energetically optimized. Future extensions are possible by connecting the already existing building with the newly constructed one. This next step would create another 150 working places.
From the architect. According to the brief, the future residence had to be created based on a certain product – the basic production modules called SIP (Structural Insulated Panel).
The philosophy of these houses is based on absolute simplification of the definitions of housing and development. The perimeter of the houses determines the inner space, which is thus disencumbered of all attributes of a classical house. As to the exterior, both volumes separate three external living areas – public, semi-public and private. Thanks to the site composition and large glazing of strategic vistas, the neighboring landscape is always approachable.
The interior does not look confined even though the external width of the house is 3 meters; the inner space flows towards vistas. However, well-balanced proportions enable a unique spatial experience. The residents have mutual visual contact even between houses and the inner atrium becomes another room for them. The facade should appear as a fine transparent layer allowing the viewer to sense the mass of the house.
The severity and simplicity of these objects are inspired by contemporary Japanese architecture. The experimental character of the houses was the conceptual starting point. Yet the deliberate austerity of the achieved forms definitely brings new lifestyle qualities to an environment built in this way. Still, the slight contrast between the home and office proves that the system could be adaptable to a variety of individual solutions and, in this respect, fulfils the concept of a building typology.
This here is an architect. The architect is a strange sort of a creature. Typically nocturnal, it survives purely on an unhealthy work-life imbalance. After years of primary research, our experts have finally succeeded in dissecting The Architect…
Here is an anatomy.
Courtesy of Leewardists
Centuries of civilizations built on structures designed by architects and yet, their voice is lost among the countless stories of rulers and armies and sometimes wondrous monsters.
The Leewardists are rewriting the contemporary history of our civilization through the voice of this elusive being, The Architect.
The challenges associated with the provision of adequate and affordable housing around the world demand that architects respond with original solutions that challenge traditional building forms, typologies and methods of delivery.
In recognition of this demand, last month’s World Architecture Festival in Berlin chose housing as its thematic focus. The festival made headlines with Patrik Schumacher’s inflammatory keynote speech that called for cities to be turned over entirely to market forces, scrapping social housing and privatizing all public space. The controversy that followed belied the diversity of the discourse on housing at the Festival and the presentation of innovative architectural responses to housing challenges.
The WAF also presented a panel, curated and produced by PLANE–SITE, that brought together the architects of four inventive housing projects. These projects represent a diversity of approaches to similar housing challenges across radically different global contexts. From the redensification of European urban centers to the rapid urbanization of the tropical Asian megacity, these radical housing models challenged existing paradigms in order to advance resident well-being as their principle design concern. In contrast to Schumacher’s divisive speech, the panel illustrated projects that were deliberately designed to promote community life and social interaction between residents – and in some cases also with other citizens in spaces that blur the line between public and private.
Beyond design and construction, the panel presented real, innovative housing projects that are actually now inhabited, exposing the everyday life of the residents. Video portraits prepared in advance supported the architects’ presentations. Drawing from residents’ own voices, the format investigated how the inventive architectural proposals have actually played out in reality.
PLANE–SITE visited each of the projects and interviewed the residents, observing and documenting their lives at home in these experimental projects. Their first hand experiences, unscripted and in their own words, complemented each of the architects’ statements and validated their architectural prototypes.
One of Berlin’s most remarkable Baugruppe projects, R50 embodies the essence of participatory planning and collective decision-making. Guided by the architects, residents chose a unifying balcony that connects all the units on the exterior and creates a wrap-around walkway covering the building. Residents also share a rooftop garden and a double-story common space on the ground floor, which has a semi-public program.
Located right on the Spree River and open to the public, Spreefeld was developed as a cooperative by a community of people who wanted to live differently. A celebration of communal living, the complex includes “cluster apartments” that are shared by up to 21 people. These units defy conventions of public and private space by adding gradients between the most intimate spaces and the street. On the ground floor are also “option” rooms that were left somewhat unfinished and open-ended, with the intention that they will change over time based on what residents prefer.
One of the newest buildings to mark the growing Rotterdam skyline, Timmerhuis is an unusual residential project that integrates municipal offices with residences and retail. OMA restored an existing government building and added two mountain-like towers, with generous receding terraces where residents enjoy outdoor space. Despite its glossy finish and detailing, the building houses a diverse demographic, including young families and empty-nesters.
SkyVille is a progressive housing prototype designed by WOHA Architects for the Singaporean national Housing and Development Board (HDB). Sized to accommodate a burgeoning urban population, the building incorporates clever strategies to “domesticate” the large structure by creating smaller, human-scaled communities. Designed to be high-density and high-amenity, the 960 units are laid out in three tower blocks, naturally ventilated by generous interior airwells. Perhaps the most remarkable feature is the rooftop park on the 47th floor, which is accessible to the public for leisure and recreation.
Credits:
Article Text: Michael Maginness for PLANE–SITE Videos: Michael Waldrep for PLANE–SITE WAF Panel Curator & Moderator: Andrés Ramirez for PLANE–SITE
As Gothenburg, Sweden’s urban fabric begins to change, Utopia Arkitekter in collaboration with Gehl Architects and Snohetta have swooped in with a proposed urban plan for the development of Hovås II, located in the south of the city. Their firm’s proposal has won the jury’s acclaim, and they are now moving toward the project’s next phase.
Courtesy of Utopia Arkitekter
Courtesy of Utopia Arkitekter
In our proposal for Hovås, we have expanded on the qualities of Hovås I with its mixed buildings, services and various business facilities, as well as access to nature and recreational areas.
By integrating the second part of the plan with its adjacent first portion, Utopia’s design allows a seamless transition complete with a traffic solution. Showcasing specific qualities inherent to the site will also allow for a vibrant recreational system. (Placing green space in areas that surround the creek contribute to that notion.) Covering a total area of 79,580 square meters, the plan will include 900 residential units, a library, a cultural center, a cinema, swimming pool and almost 50,000 square meters of retail space.
Courtesy of Utopia Arkitekter
Utopia’s proposed traffic solutions aim to create a “more coherent neighborhood.” Reducing the width of the motorway zone and fluidly transitioning between Hovås I and II are just part of the team’s overall goal. Hovås borders both the sea and nature areas of its region, the city will develop into a small-scale “mixed-use” city.
Courtesy of Utopia Arkitekter
We have strived to create a traffic solution that, rather than splitting the community in two, will make the least possible impact on the life quality for the residents. The function of the motorway as a throughway and slip road feeder has been taken into account, while the underpass – Hovås Allé – has been regarded as an important connecting link and access to the urban development.
Courtesy of Utopia Arkitekter
While Hovås I centers on proximity to the sea, Hovås II looks toward the lake and nature reserve, with a small footpath that leads to the lake. Extruding the roundabout from the plan will also provide a cleaner composition within the city.
Courtesy of Utopia Arkitekter
There is a call for innovation and creative thinking on how the area can evolve further. Social and environmental sustainability over time is desired.
Sig Nordal 