Suzhou Intangible Cultural Heritage Museum is located at east part of the Suzhou Horticultural Exposition Park, in a reserved village near Taihu Lake of Wuzhong District, Suzhou. The site is surrounded by river on its three sides, and the design is inspired by its natural environment and the traditional culture of the city- Suzhou.
Our strategy is connecting different scattered functions by courtyards and outdoor corridors in order to generate the spatial experience of traditional building types. In consideration of local climates, it allows visitors to walk through those outdoor corridors between different courtyards when raining. The main spaces located in the courtyards are designed with identities, such as the dome theater covered by laminated bamboo louvers with green vegetation, the iconic cloud installation on the roof-top platform of the museum lobby, the observation tower that overlooks the surrounding view in distance and the restaurant at the water-front.
To meet the program requirements and reduce the negative impact on natural environment, the majority of the volume is covered by green roof. It amplifies the theme of blending the boundary between architecture and nature. The Suzhou Intangible cultural heritage museum offers people large amount of information and interactive experiences during their visit. Three atriums create natural ventilation and lighting, and direct visitors to the roof exhibition platform. It forms a public park with various types of vegetation where outdoor performances, dining events as well as educational and interactive experience can take place.
The new headquarters of Shoesme, a childrens shoe’s manufacturer in Tilburg, has been given two different faces. This conscious duality originated from its location in the city.
On one side, the building has a classical facade that radiates allure and status and blends seamlessly into the historic ribbon structure of the city. The gap in this typical street structure is filled with a building that always seems to have stood there. As if a missing link is put in the chain.
The other side of the building is recessed relative to the street, a playful modern shoebox is put on a black base and slid into a glass facade. This very pronounced statement hides itself to the unwary passerby.
Thus, it has become a building with two very different faces.
The design is a result of the collaboration between architect Joris Verhoeven and designer Teun Fleskens. The main entrance of the office is situated under the expanded-metal box at the Trouwlaan and immediately reveals what the company is about; design and manufacture contemporary childrens shoe’s. It tells the story of materiality, layering and plasticity. The building changes from closed to open depending on the facade and the time of day. When it gets dark for instance the shoebox changes in a diorama.
This week London’s Science Museum will open The Winton Gallery, a new space dedicated to the study and exploration of mathematics, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects. While this is the practice’s first permanent public museum exhibition, it also represents the first UK project to open since the death of its eponymous founder and director.
Inspired by the Handley Page aircraft, the design of the space was conceived through observing equations of airflow used in the aviation industry. The layout and lines of the gallery therefore represents the movement of air that would have flowed around this historic aircraft in flight – a metaphor which extends from the positioning of the showcases and benches to the three-dimensional curved surfaces of the central pod structure.
Positioned at the center of the gallery is the Handley Page ‘Gugnunc’ aeroplane, built in 1929 for a competition to construct an aircraft which could operate safely. According to the Science Museum, “ground-breaking aerodynamic research influenced the wing design of this experimental aeroplane, helping to shift public opinion about the safety of flying and to secure the future of the aviation industry.” It therefore encapsulates the gallery’s overarching theme, illustrating how mathematical practice has helped solve real-world problems and in this instance paved the way for the safe passenger flights that we rely on today.
Courtesy of Zaha Hadid Architects
When I was growing up in Iraq, math was an everyday part of life. We would play with math problems just as we would play with pens and paper to draw – math was like sketching.
Courtesy of Zaha Hadid Architects
According to the architects, “our design for the Gallery responds to the ambition of David Rooney and his team to present mathematics not as an academic concept, but as a practice that influences technology and enables the environment around us to be transformed. Mathematics and its tools have always played a central role in the evolution of the human understanding of nature and the constructed world: for example, Sir Isaac Newton’s methods to derive the laws of gravitation, Henri Poincaré’s extension of the Cartesian geometries to the planetary system and Lord Kelvin’s use of the mathematical technique of curve-fitting to predict the tides.”
The latest publication of the National Association of City Transportation Officials, NACTO, is the “Transit Street Design Guide” in which tips and proposals are presented on how to improve streets through urban design.
The ideas are centered on prioritizing sustainable mobility so that both the member cities of the organization and those that have access to this document can improve their practices in relation to public spaces, mobility, and transportation.
From these recommendations, the organization made a series of designs classified according to the style of stops that are defined as somewhere “to do more than just wait.”
We talk about three such designs for bus stops below.
Bus stops on sidewalks are probably the most common due to their low economic cost and how quickly they can be made.
In addition, the design is easy to replicate on both the smaller and larger streets where traffic is mixed and bus lanes and car lanes aren’t necessarily separated by barriers.
However, keeping cars or other private vehicles from traveling on bus routes is possible if the latter are painted with bright colors. Nevertheless, NACTO maintains that on very narrow sidewalks shelters for bus stops should be omitted.
In many cities around the world, it has become more common to see center lanes of large streets designated as bus lanes for public transport.
This design is classified by NACTO as something that gives identity to the service and offers some of the following functional advantages; greater safety to passengers, allows buses to pass more frequently by reducing the presence of other types of vehicles, and gives a more orderly visual appearance.
According to NACTO obtaining part of these advantages is possible if the size of the passenger waiting area is determined by the expected number of buses and the demand of the passengers.
Additionally, options include using visual methods to indicate safe waiting areas for passengers, making sure the height of the platforms allows both passengers with or without reduced mobility to board the buses without inconvenience, and equipping stops with certain elements that provide comfort and protection such as seats, railings and ceilings.
Streets referred to as terminals can be those close to intermodal stations or where a bus routed begins or ends. It is common for crowds of passengers to be present on the sidewalks and for buses not to travel with a fixed frequency.
For this reason, NACTO recommends putting signage in sidewalk waiting areas so that people know where each bus stops and what their routes are. These signs should also use braille to keep passengers with reduced vision equally informed.
They also advise against other activities taking place on the sidewalk so as not to get in the way of passengers getting on and off the buses or affect foot traffic.
If you want to learn more about this guide, we recommend that you visit the NACTO website.
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Between March of 2013 and December of 2014, Simon Henley of London-based practice Henley Halebrown wrote a regular column for ArchDaily titled “London Calling,” covering architectural topics of note in the UK’s capital. Now, Henley is returning to his column – but in the wake of 2016’s shock political developments, his column is re-branding. Thus, here he presents the first of his column “Beyond London” – a look at architectural topics around the UK. Here, Henley presents his opinion on those political developments, and the role architects should play as the UK embarks on a new period in its history.
Post-Brexit, British architects need to think hard about the profession’s London-centric position. There has been a policy of inclusion of non-London architects on panels, their work in magazines and on awards shortlists, but this is not enough. It was quite clear on June 24th when the London design community awoke to the realization that Britain will leave the European Union, that a “Remain”-minded bubble had formed within the capital. The same may be true of the other large cities around the country which voted largely in favour of “Remain.”
What was perhaps saddest was witnessing just how hostile or elitist individuals were prepared to be within this urbanist bubble. Mantras about inclusion and tolerance were out the window, particularly as Londoners declared their desire for an independent city state while undermining the intelligence and motives of “Leavers.” In design terms, too, those in favor of Brexit were written off by some acerbic critics as nostalgia merchants mad on theme parks.
Yet “Leavers” are a significant part of the population that anyone designing public buildings will encounter–whether as clients, through public consultation or as occupants of schools, hospitals and shopping centers (perhaps there are even a few quiet “Leavers” in avant-garde practices). So, there should be real social and cultural awareness of the concerns, values and perspectives of “Leavers” as expressed through their vote in the referendum.
If part of the reason for voting to leave Europe was a sense of loss of national identity and disenfranchisement, then instead of belittling people for this, we should think how to address such issues. Identity has a lot to do with social cohesion and not just nationalism per se. Are architects in a position, for example, to think creatively and constructively to improve a sense of cohesion or solidarity in schools? Can we find building solutions that assist with regenerating areas desperately in need of investment? Can we work with local authorities and businesses towards masterplans and feasibility studies helping to unlock existing potential and enhancing ways in which existing buildings are used, updated and extended? And how, we may ask, can design and architecture help to strengthen local identity and distinctiveness of place?
Transport infrastructure is key to many of today’s challenges including the housing crisis. There is a myth about high density in cities being the best way to live. However, many urban dwellers are too cramped and out-priced to really enjoy their homes and neighborhoods. Now of course London’s creative industries too are under threat as a result of the spiraling cost of real estate. The near–closure of nightclub Fabric, and closures of Curzon Mayfair Cinema and a number of street markets, together with artists recently being pushed out of Hackney Wick are indicative of this. As a result, new creative centers and ideas will emerge elsewhere. Architects should embrace this energy and help direct it in an intelligent way.
For example, if commuting were improved, more families would enjoy more spacious and more affordable accommodation, alongside the fruits of cultural migration from big cities. A home could be just a home and not an asset to sweat for at every opportunity. Decentralization enables more families to cast the net wider in terms of where they choose to live, and new enterprise and activity would no doubt follow. However, currently there is a lot of posturing about how modernity can only exist in urban centers. We need to overcome this with a fresh, credible vision for contemporary life outside the metropolises.
Despite the number of regeneration policies that exist to try and address such issues, many aspects of what makes a good place are poorly understood. The potential of intelligent retrofitting is often overlooked, perhaps because contractually there is less money in re-purposing. Councils are also not necessarily best placed to understand what makes their communities genuinely attractive or gives them the potential to be bolstered. Ideas seen to have worked elsewhere are unthinkingly replicated and generally there is too little original site-specific planning. It’s time architecture once again became more a part of how we conceive the future of our cities rather than how we might style our future.
Architects are well placed to do this. They are by nature generalists. They like complex issues and divergent thinking and yet their influence is on the wane. They need to play a more proactive role in fomenting new ideas, and challenging clients’ briefs and preconceptions. We need more architects in positions of influence, involved in politics, local councils and as clients. We need more architects to think profoundly beyond their own location. And we need to work hard to think how physical spaces can be catalysts for a better way of life and contentment for everyone be they in Blackpool, Birmingham, Boxford, Bute or Balamory.
The Rubell Family Collection/Contemporary Arts Foundation announces its move to a newly design space by Selldorf Architects, a 100,000 square foot museum in Miami’s Allapattah District that will open in December 2018.With 40 exhibition galleries, a research library, lecture hall, event space, sculpture garden, and restaurant, the Rubell Family will be able to expand their programming and showcase a large proportion of their collection.
Principal of Selldorf Architects, Annabelle Selldorf, stated, our collective goal in the design was to define a space in which proportion and circulation are paramount to the essence of viewing and experiencing art. We strived to create rooms where our collective memory allowed us to say that these are great rooms to view art.
Established in 1964 in New York City, the Rubell Family Collection (RFC) was founded by Donald and Mera Rubell. Their possessions are now one of the largest, privately owned contemporary art collections, which includes the likes of works by Basquiat, Koons, and Kusama. Using a 40,000 square foot repurposed Drug Enforcement Agency to currently exhibit their work in Miami, the owners are making a huge leap to a larger space.
Courtesy of Rubell Family Collection
Their current location has transformed the surrounding neighborhood into a culturally vibrant area — one which was previously factories and warehouses. Plans to move to a new district maintain the Rubell Family’s same intention. Mera Rubell poses that the museum will serve as a beacon for cultural, fashion, and culinary arts in the neighborhood.
Mera Rubell stated, it is time for us to reimagine our Foundation in a very exciting emerging neighborhood. We’ve purchased the new property, completed plans, and will begin construction shortly, with the goal of opening in time for Art Basel in Miami Beach 2018.
From Wednesday, November 30th through Sunday, December 4th, 2016, from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., a scale model of the new museum will be on display in the RFC.
i+R Group Corporate Headquarters was designed to unify the company under one roof, placing focus on work environment, construction methodology, and integration into the urban context.
Serving as an example of both the company philosophy (“We build the future”) and construction know-how of the 110-year-old family-owned construction firm, the headquarters strove to achieve innovative energy solutions, high building standards, and an attention to architectural detail and personal comfort. It was the first office complex in Vorarlberg to receive the internationally accredited LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, thus meeting the highest standards for green and sustainable building. Its modular design allows for the four stories of the building to be arranged in a variety of layouts to maximize its 3300 square meters of space for the approximately 130 staff members. The building is connected vertically by two atriums which serve as the cores of the building, and allow for daylight as well as egress.
The building′s climate is regulated using geothermal energy, with the heat pump′s power provided by a photovoltaic array which also meets seventy percent of the building′s energy needs. The southern side of the building is covered in a unique solar shade to avoid harsh summer sunlight, while still contributing to natural daylight throughout the building, reducing energy needs related to lighting by seventy percent. The construction methodology exemplifies the i+R Group′s building skill, using mostly renewable, regionally sourced material, recyclable resources (e.g. old fishing nets used as flooring), and products manufactured by the company – concrete (structural parts), wood (infill) and wooden windows.
Courtesy of Wikimedia user Rattlhed (Public Domain)
The opening of the Century 21 Exposition on April 21, 1962 transformed the image of Seattle and the American Northwest in the eyes of the world. The region, which had been known until that point more for its natural resources than as a cultural capital, established a new reputation as a center of emergent technologies and aerospace design. This new identity was embodied by the centerpiece of the exposition: the Space Needle, a slender assemblage of steel and reinforced concrete which became—and remains—Seattle’s most iconic landmark.[1]
Courtesy of Wikimedia user Cacophony (Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0)
Seattle was particularly fragile as the Space Age dawned. At the time, the city depended on two primary sources of employment: maritime trade and that of aircraft manufacture (the Boeing Corporation). Shipping between the western United States and other countries along the Pacific Rim frequently passed through Seattle, but the growing popularity of the jet airplane allowed for shipments to cross the ocean without ever passing through the region. Boeing, which had made its headquarters in the city in 1910, was also one of the largest employers the area, but the threat of economic downturns—and the layoffs that followed—drove both local business owners and city officials to begin brainstorming a way to entice other companies to settle in the city.[2]
Impetus for the 1962 World’s Fair, as it was colloquially known, did not come only from Seattle itself. The launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik in October of 1957 was an undeniable challenge to a United States in the midst of the Cold War, necessitating a timely and emphatic response. It was under this mandate that the federal government selected Seattle as the host for the country’s next World’s Fair; one which, it was hoped, would demonstrate American technological superiority – both on Earth and beyond.[3]
This sketched rendering of the Space Needle dates to April 1961 – one year before its opening. ImageCourtesy of Seattle Municipal Archives (Public Domain)
The idea for the Space Needle itself came not from the Soviet Union, but from Germany. When Seattle World’s Fair Commission chairman Eddie Carlson dined in a restaurant in Stuttgart’s Fernsehturm in 1959, he quickly decided that the Century 21 Exposition required a similar landmark attraction. He wasted no time in sketching out his vision of this tower on a number of postcards sent to other fair officials; while rather crudely detailed, the slender form of his concept drawing was clearly inspired by the Fernsehturm. In response, one of the officials suggested that Carlson enlist architect John Graham, Jr. to turn his sketch into a reality.[4]
The collaboration between Carlson and Graham resulted in substantial revisions to the initial concept. Early versions of the Space Needle resembled an enormous balloon, either tethered to the ground or sitting atop a column; it was Graham who turned the sphere into a saucer, a form perhaps more fitting in light of the tower’s Space Age inspiration. Approximately a dozen designers contributed to the project, each recruited into a team by Graham for the task. One member in particular, Victor Steinbrueck, was responsible for the tripod support shaft; its double-decked crown was concocted by member John Ridley. The final design was decided upon only a year and a half before the fair’s intended opening in 1962.[5,6]
A 1962 cutaway drawing of the Space Needle's tophouse. ImageCourtesy of Flickr user James Vaughan (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
The next six months were spent securing a lot upon which to build the tower. Although the Space Needle was to be the exposition’s greatest attraction, its construction was not financed by the city; the investors, therefore, had to purchase a lot within the fairgrounds. Eventually, a 14,400 square foot (1337.8 square meter) site was found, and construction could finally begin with only a year left before the beginning of the Exposition.[7]
With the deadline looming, construction proceeded rapidly. The first step was to dig a hole 30 feet (9 meters) deep and 120 feet (36.6 meters) across into which the building’s foundation could be poured. This concrete pour would be the largest attempted in the West to that date: over the course of an entire day, a total of 467 cement trucks worked to fill the gaping hole. The resulting foundation was so heavy that it weighed as much as the tower that sprouted from it. In spite of the Space Needle’s slightly top-heavy appearance, its center of gravity is only 5 feet (1.5 meters) above the ground.[8]
The Space Needle under construction before its opening in April 1962. ImageCourtesy of Seattle Municipal Archives (Public Domain)
From this massive foundation arose a slender tower whose skyward growth did not end until it had reached 605 feet (184.4 meters) tall. The structure comprises a steel tripod, with each of the three legs pinched just above the middle of their height and topped by a multi-level tophouse reminiscent of a flying saucer. This tophouse consists of five stacked layers: a revolving restaurant, a mezzanine level, an observation deck, a mechanical equipment level, and at the tower’s pinnacle, an elevator penthouse. The structure was also originally crowned by a 50 foot (15 meter) natural gas torch.[9] Suiting the futurist leanings of the fair, the Space Needle was also painted in the colors Astronaut White, Orbital Olive, Re-entry Red, and Galaxy Red.[10]
Despite the tight schedule under which it was organized, the Century 21 Exposition opened as scheduled on April 21, 1962. The fair was one of the most successful in history, exceeding projected attendance and even turning a profit; exit polls of attendees indicated a stunning 98.4% approval rating. The Space Needle itself, the tallest structure west of the Mississippi River at the time of its opening, was a smash hit with guests and almost immediately adopted as an icon of Seattle. It remains a popular tourist destination, with over a million visitors paying to access its observation deck every year.[11]
A view from the observation deck; at the time of its construction, the Space Needle was the tallest building in Seattle. ImageCourtesy of Flickr user Chris Yunker (CC BY-SA 2.0)
In the late 1990s, the Space Needle was declared a historic landmark by the Seattle City Council – the first structure to qualify in each of the six potential criteria for the title. Once built as a heady vision of a spacefaring future, it is ironically now recognized as a relic from decades past.[12] The city around the Space Needle has changed since 1962. It now enjoys the commercial diversity so intently sought by the fair’s organizers, apparently validating their efforts. The Space Needle now stands as a symbol of the bright 21st Century Seattle hoped for in 1962 – albeit not quite the way they envisioned it.[13]
References
[1] Chatelin, Raymond. The Seattle & Vancouver Book: A Complete Guide. Woodstock, VT.: Countryman Press, 2005. p89. [2] Cotter, Bill. Seattle’s 1962 World's Fair. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2015. p7. [3] Cotter, p7-8. [4] Crowley, Walt. “Space Needle (Seattle).” History Link. June 27, 1999. [access]. [5] “About the Needle.” Space Needle. Accessed November 5, 2016. [access]. [6] Crowley. [7] “Space Needle.” United States History. Accessed November 8, 2016. [access]. [8] “About the Needle.” [9] LeBlanc, Sydney. The Architecture Traveler: A Guide to 250 Key Twentieth-Century American Buildings. New York: W.W. Norton, 2000. p113. [10] “About the Needle.” [11] Cotter, p8-13. [12] Crowley. [13] Chatelin, p89.
The extraordinary urban development with the large free square in front of the Old Pinakothek made it possible to close this square with a generous, quiet building in the south, which takes up approximately the proportion of the Old Pinakothek, vis-à-vis in the north, where the new building lies. In accordance with the lateral emphasis of the Old Pinakothek with its space-limiting risalits and avenue, is the entrance to the University of Film and Television located in the east of the new building and in the west the entrance to the State Museum of Egyptian Art, which is buried like an archaeological excavation underneath the green forecourt.
The public is invited to use the numerous facilities and events like the library, movie screenings, lectures and festivals by the Foyer of the University- a large opening in the stone pedestal of the building. The public space continues inside the building, where it is surrounded by cinemas, seminar rooms, the cafeteria and a library. In contrast to the extroverted foyer, the studios are located in the protected concrete base to ensure a concentrated and protected work. In the glass upper floors, smaller offices and office-like uses are accommodated.
Section
“In the museum, my aim was to create a place for the precious exhibits, in which the atmosphere of ancient temple complexes, from which they are largely derived, is translated into a modern architectural language.” Peter Böhm
The large walls of the pedestal are executed in a light, slightly ocher-colored concrete, while the wall of the Egyptian Museum is kept in a darker, red granite-like shade – a coloring game which is found in the Old Pinakothek (with the addition of Döllgast) . The double skin of the glass body of the upper floors is a chirping, flickering band with the light play of rotatable glass discs and sun protection lamellae in varying positions. The entrance to the Egyptian Museum, which is marked by a large wall slab, is reached via a separate forecourt, which is designed as a flat inclined ramp. The museum is based in the underground and its rooms are grouped around atrium, which is cut into the lawn area and is also used for exhibition purposes.
Sig Nordal 