our Lady of Angels

The concept of this design by Xiaofeng Mei and Xiaotian Gao is based on the deconstruction and restructuring of Bionics as well as the supernatural spirit of re-designing a church.

The idea is based on two starting levels and extraction elements. One is the derivative and evolution of fish’s bone and texture. Specifically, from fish bones, fish gills, fish suko, and other various important parts, I can extract the geometric elements and then sort out the logic of formation of biological body, which would become the primitive of main structure and mode. Second is the religious beliefs of church and spiritual of space. The exploration of the spirit of building is the basic method and necessary mean to study how to combine the modern architecture and ultra-modern architecture together.

External prosperity of Architectural appearance, but in fact, requires careful logical constitute of inherent physical units to support. In this project, I mainly studied the formation and variation of single cells as well as a series of gradually combined into a system derived from logic. At all stages, a power expansion of the complexity has been formed from the body itself, the logic of variation and composition. Meanwhile, I also sought to control the hierarchy of overall complexity and coherence in order to achieve complicated and orderly aesthetic coexistence of interaction scenarios. This is the original intention of bionics or architectural aesthetics that are tending to nature because nature is the most complex biological interpretation of synthetic organisms.

At any one area, theory would be far beyond the practice, which is the prerequisite for everything to constantly update and evolve, also in the architecture field. The imagination of future architecture and utopian city continued to the present from the last century. Here, the architecture abandoned the totalitarian and inherit the anti-totalitarian utopian tendencies, focusing on the nature and the spirit of liberalism.
 

iconic Kaohsiung City

With a short list of ambitious designs by Akihisa Hirata, Studio Gang Architects, Yves Bachmann and this featured design by Mack Scogin Merill Elam Architects (MSMEA), its fair to say the Kaohsiung City Public Works Bureau did not have an easy choice to make when they decided on a final design for the Kaohsiung Maritime Culture and Popular Music Center. Although MADE IN’s design was ultimately chosen for the Center, many of these other entries are still worth their mention.
With possibly the most “out there” design for the Center, MSMEA sought to create a 24 hour, iconic attraction for Kaohsiung. The eclectic design for the larger component, the Pop Music Center, and the concept for the Center as a whole for that matter is “founded in the vibrancy of Kaohsiung City and its maritime culture, and in the energy and phenomenon of popular music”.

The two main components, the Pop Music center and the Marine Culture Exhibit Center are placed on either side of the Love River and joined by a bridge spanning the mouth of the river.

Of the positioning they said “The Kaohsiung Maritime Cultural and Popular Music Center is not shy. Like a giant vessel moored at the quay, the Center announces and guards the mouth of the Love River and is a gateway to Kaohsiung City and the nation”.

But the placement of the Center is not only to create a cultural landmark for the city, the placement also allows for the remaining 87% of the site to be reserved as open public park space. This would connect to existing surrounding parks and provide a pleasant waterfront for residents and visitors alike.

MSMEA also wanted to create a flexible space to accommodate the various types of performances and events that would be held at the Center. By separating various components, MSMEA created the possibility for audience capacities ranging from as little as 3,500 to as many as 17,000. Floating stages and barges allow for marine performances.

cities Of Pain

For the purpose of consciously evoking society’s reaction, an architectural object is inserted into the main recreational zone of New York – Central Park Jovile Porvaneckaite. Moreover, social and cultural phenomena inspired by the innovative form are discussed. The aim of the project is to analyse the process of form modelling and, consequently, perform a research of the form as power, based on an experimental project carried out by the author. The article aims at establishing the influence of the volume deficiency formed or shaped in the city’s planning system on the suggestibility of the building’s form.

In the project concerned, the term volume deficiency is used to describe the stress environment in the city structure, formed on the artistic, planning, volume, stylistic, value or historical base, and programming continuity of the above processes after integration of the newly proposed object into the environment mentioned.

The artistic value of the volume influenced by the stress environment and adapted into it provides the suggestibility characteristic of the object of mass attraction to the form. The form designed in such a space obtains all the features characteristic of an architectural sign, the city’s dominant. The form of the City of pain project is created as a connective bridge between a narrow city system and a large area of artificial recreational space. The building as a sign is formed as a corridor for social provocation and a laboratory for the modern society’s behaviour
 

into Latvian Museum of Art

Collection of artworks by Alexandra Belcova consists of more than 2500 items, including paintings, painted porcelain objects (dishes from Baltars workshop), ink drawings, pastels, watercolor paintings, sketches for book illustrations and dishes. Collection provides quite complete overview on art of Alexandra Belcova, her accomplishments in each of her domains and illustrates every period of her creative work. The largest group of her artworks is original graphic art - drawings and pastels.
The collection of the entire museum is based on approx. 4500 artworks by Roman Suta and Alexandra Belcova, as well as several thousands of memorial items and archive materials which belonged to artists' daughter Tatjana Suta and which were given to the Latvian National Museum of Art in 2006 according to her will.It is possible to get acquainted with the memorial collection of Roman Suta and Alexandra Belcova in the National Joint Catalog of Museums www.nmkk.lv
 

Vocabulary Vienna

Historically Vienna is known for its operas and concerts for music lovers. Designing a concert hall in this place is challenging and inspiring.

Ketham Santosh Kumar challenge was to deign a concert hall not only as a single architectural building but also as experiencing spaces through urban transition, At same time the design is unique from other music halls, in terms of architectural esthetics, vocabulary and tectonics. The site is located at center of Vienna adjacent to MAK museum in stadtpark. Music house composed of main concert hall is in centre of park and archive bridge connects to MAK museum and other two small theatres are: one in lower level of stadtpark and another on university. And in addition to, it also accommodates a music archive along the bridge and other ancillary facilities. The double core sphere shell, melting species acts as structural system and thermal insulation to music house.

It evolves as if painting and sculptures are melting and flowing out of existing MAK museum, Crafting and blending in surrounding landscape of stadtpark, and creating a new music house.
 

a Fame, a Fame of Sofia, to BE

Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, grew rapidly after the fall of the communist regime. It is the most enticing for business and living city in the country. Unemployment rate is less than 3%, comparing with 12% for the state. About 20 years ago, together with the building of the subway line, the boulevard T.Aleksandrov was laid out. The idea is to connect the center with less developed west areas. Boulevard in words, more correctly to say road, generally flanked by old, almost ruin-like housing fund. The building of new structures is impending, the dispute is how dense and high. Sofia used to have fame for green city. The parks and the gardens have been neglected. The asphalt has conquered the grass, almost no new trees have been planted.

The plot, 5800 m2, predetermined for hi-rise, is municipal property, situated close to the formal government square, between T.Aleksandrov and the pedestrian a hundred years old street Pirotska. Archeological remains, the ancient city wall, pass through. There is open public space, between the plot and the boulevard.

The main question is haw to insert the skyscraper into five story banal environment. One of the answers is to replace the building with “something else” without typical architectural tectonics and elements, something without scale. The similar things can bi compared, the disparate not.
The proposal is to cover the whole building with greenery, creeping on metal web. Ever changing natural double skin filters the air, produces oxygen, protects from heat, cold, noise. Deciduous plants will let the sun in, when is needed and stop it in summer time. In chilly weather, the creepers and the web could be sprayed with water and the frost would create air cushion, preventing from overcooling. A few “sky courtyards” are placed randomly. Every one planted with different trees – blooming and evergreen. Tropical conservatory will keep the green color all the seasons.

There are two ways to preserve the archeology. The first is to be museum exhibit, the second – to be part of the real life. The second is chosen. One can be in touch with the remains accidentally.
The third goal is to let the people to stroll freely in the spot. The open area (without passing through doors) is five sixths of the plot – sidewalk, sunken patios, roof garden smoothly connecting the vertical greenery with K.Boris street.

The scheme of the tall body is simple and straightforward. The central core, almost symmetrical, is very suitable for the earthquake conditions in Sofia. Around – office spaces for routine activities. The bottom floors are open for public, where the archeological remains are integrated. Below parking, accessible from the two existing ramps.

a Living Ocean, in Manifold Ways

Architectural studio SOMA has finished the design of the thematic pavilion for the 2012 Yeosu World Expo. The project was selected in late 2009 and is expected to begin construction during the next couple of months.

As a major and permanent facility the thematic pavilion embodies the expo’s theme ‘the living ocean and coast’ in manifold ways. The ocean is experienced in two ways, as an endless surface and in an immersed perspective as depth. The plain duality of the ocean motivates the building’s spatial and organisational concept. Continuous surfaces twist from vertical to horizontal orientation and define all significant interior spaces. The vertical cones induce the visitor to immerse into the thematic exhibition. They evolve into horizontal levels that cover the foyer and become a flexible stage for the best practice area. Continuous transitions between contrasting experiences also form the outer appearance of the pavilion. Towards the sea the conglomeration of solid vertical cones define a new meandering coast line, a soft edge that is in constant negotiation between water and land. Opposite side the pavilion develops out of the ground into an artificial roof landscape with gardens and scenic paths. The topographic lines of the roof turn into lamellas of the kinetic media facade that faces the expo’s entrance and the ‘digital gallery’.

The building will be erected in a former industrial harbour along a new promenade. Bridges will connect the pavilion to the expo site. after the expo and the aspired improvement of water quality the promenade will be transformed into an ‘urban beach’ offering leisure activities to the public. The main entrance is situated on ocean plaza, which is partly covered by the pavilion to achieve a shaded outdoor waiting area. The space boundaries of the open foyer are defined by the twisting surfaces of the cones.Tthe interstitial spaces between them frame the view onto the ocean and create niches for the visitors to take a pause from the exhibition.

an Occupy movement

Moved by the economic disparity in the United States brought to light by the 2011 Occupy Wall Street movement, the designers of the Occupy Skyscraper propose creating a building that can further empower protesters and accelerate the Occupy movement. The temporary Occupy skyscraper can be erected on any protest site to provide shelter and meeting spaces for dissenters. By providing a means for protesters to take their movement from a horizontal plane to a 3-D vertical reality, the Occupy skyscraper strengthens and bolsters the event as a whole, but amazingly, it does so only using hemp rope and canvas.

The skyscraper’s construction begins as soon as a protest takes place: Ropes are woven into a vertical web by attaching to and climbing nearby buildings. The webs are woven thicker and thicker until they form nets that can support weight. At this stage, the “building” can be used for climbing, hanging flags and supporting sleeping bags in the vertical spaces, and can be used for gatherings on the horizontal plane. Canvas is then attached to create solid paneling to segregate space uses within the building. The designers envision several designated areas: orientation spaces, and other spots for recreation, sleeping, workshops, conferences, rallies and large meetings.

As the movement gains in strength and more people join, the masses will continue to build out the skyscraper, adding space as needed. The height of the skyscraper reaches its peak, however, when the heights of the surrounding buildings that are supporting the ropes are met. As the protest dies down the building is deconstructed, and after its over, its remains can be removed completely, restoring the urban fabric to what it was before the event.

to Protect the Romans

The building designed by Atxu Amann, Andrés Cánovas, Nicolás Maruri is essentially a cover protecting the remains of a Roman assembly (thermal baths, forum and domus) in the archaeological site of Molinete Park in Cartagena, Spain.

This cover is certainly another piece in the urban area of Cartagena whose main architectural challenge is to reconcile very different architectures, from the roman times, passing through baroque to contemporary architectures, making them vibrate together in the neighborhood. It is a transition element, between very different city conditions, in size and structure, from the dense city centre to the slope park.

The primary goal of the project is to respect the existing remains, using a long-span structure, which requires the least amount of support for lifting the cover. The intervention unifies all the remains in a single space, allowing a continuous perception of the whole site. The cover also generates a new urban facade in the partition wall.
The project also pursues a sense of lightness and is conceived as an element that allows light. The inner layer is built with a modular system of corrugated multiwall translucent polycarbonate sheets. The outer layer, constructed with perforated steel plates, qualifies the incidence of light and gives a uniform exterior appearance.

Besides to the steel structure, the project proposes an elevated walkway parallel to the street. It is a very light structure hanging from the steel beams. Conceived as a glass box, with a faceted, partially visible geometry, it builds the street façade and allows a view of the ruins from three meters height. It is also accessible for disabled visitors. This high path permits an overall vision of the roman remains.

an Avatar Pallet

Avatar Architettura is a multi-disciplinary Italian office for architecture and industrial design founded in 2001 by Nicola Santini and Pier Paolo Taddei. The office research is oriented towards the identification of design strategies which privilege ecology, flexible systems, biodiversity and recycled materials in urban context. Their Recycled Pallet Pavilion is a temporary structure acting as a versatile art space. It can host different kinds of events and offers space for a wide diversity of production forms.

The pavilion is located in the garden of Villa Romana, the German Institute of Culture in Florence, Italy. The demountable structure of 100 square meters is made of precast diamond shaped wooden pallets and custom made joints. The assembly process takes four days. The wooden structure is wrapped by a continuous PVC membrane, opaque for the roof and transparent for the walls.