by Kengo Kuma

Placed second at the Taipei City Museum of Art Competition, the proposal designed by Kengo Kuma+Associates derives its iconicity from emphasizing two distinct design tendencies. The first relates to the idea of connectivity: the museum is a cultural and communication hub, providing a space for gatherings, exhibitions and workshops. An urbanistic attitude is noticeable in the configuration of the structure. The skin acts as a canopy- accessible and welcoming, it shelters a public space below. The pavilion-like programmatic distribution contributes to the overall impression of the museum being part of the cityscape. The main hall is connected to a nearby train station, cable car, riverbank trail, demystifying the museum culture, interpreting it as an integral part of the urban experience.

The Museum’s other striking feature is the double skin system. It has an important role in the sustainability of the building. It is designed as a steel mesh of the structural framework, capped with diverse elements including EFTE cushions, LEDs, ventilation louvers, solar panels and green roof. This highly breathable envelope extends all the way to the ground in places to create shaded spaces. And at night, the building is illuminated by energy-efficient LEDs, creating an impressive lighting effect.

 

Negative Pockets

In this project by Cheng Gong for a public library the  main idea is to emphasize the order and relationship between solids and voids. The final geometry derives from petals of flowers and small branches from trunks, the building  walls are two sides within the site and grow like a generation of branches in their early development phases.

Floors are inserted into the volume to divide spaces vertically while creating a domino structural system. Branches are detached out of a bounding solid which is restricted by the site so that the rest of the space in the solid box plays the role of an envelop. As a result, voids are large spaces with abundant light. In contrast, in spite of providing light to the other interior spaces, visitors are able to “touch” and “feel” the negative spaces in between the masses.

The corner strategy comes to a public space created by a smooth transition as a lobby function. The gaps in between the solids follow a strong alignment order to reinforce the envelop form. Transportation is organized in-between the slope volume as wells as voids. Interior spatial order follows with the growing of the “branches”. Ornamental details such as creases are applied to the surfaces’ edges to emphasize its geometry.

 

the New MomA

Located in Warsaw city centre, the new MoMa Museum would be a landmark cultural institution for the new millennium. Designed by Finish ALA Architecture, the building is a strong statement, capable of challenging the iconic status of the neighboring Palace of Culture, built in the Soviet-era.

The project uses reflectiveness and transparency to create contrasting effects, responding to the definition of exhibition spaces, as well as to the surrounding  urban fabric:

“The project has only two surfaces. The glass wall represents and enables the digital world of direct, location-independent communication. It works locally as a gigantic shop window and display board, utilizing visual communication methods from transparency to manual manipulation and digital projection. It reveals, protects and enhances the physical, “real” art behind it.

The sculptural curving wall is a solid and permanent feature born out of the current conditions and inspirations. It is real and mesmerizing, and will remain as a document of our time while the glass wall keeps evolving and the contents changing. It is clad in a chromium-like finish, thus literally reflecting the local surroundings in a unique way. The museum interior is delineated by these two surfaces. It is a combination of their different qualities. It has generic and unique aspects, light and dark moments and permanent and temporary features. The art can be totally isolated inside, or it can be totally exposed to the outside. The art can be inspired by the space and take on its unique qualities, or it can ignore the space and turn it into a new condition just for itself. The amount and quality of light can be modified by manipulating the glass wall. The large gallery spaces can be divided into smaller units, or the whole museum can act as one continuous space.”
 

a Palatine Modern Art

Glamorous painting gallery, housed in the last Medici residence, later to be also the residence of the Habsburg-Lorraine family and of the Royal family of Italy when Florence was capital of the country. The display does not follow –differently from the Uffizi- a chronological order, it still mirrows instead the original Baroque style, with paintings displayed according to similarity of the subjects, frames, size of the canvas or colours. Among artworks here, many by Raffaello, Tiziano, Andrea del Sarto, Rubens, Van Dyke and Caravaggio, purchased by the Medicis or donated to them. Most of them belonged to the collections of Cardinal Leopold and Prince Ferdinand. As in the Uffizi, the collection is fully international, with a high number of Dutch and Flemish paintings. From the Gallery of the Statues a balcony opens up on the courtyard and offers a splendid view onto the Boboli Gardens

http://www.florence-museum.com/palatina.htm

cities in Clouds, to keep Walking

There is the idea of floating in space: the impression of walking on air that is achieved by creating a network of balloons, suspended on spider webs. Technically, the project resembles Buckminster Fuller experiments on geodesic domes. There is also another layer to the exhibition: the idea of being able to physically experience the effects of somebody else’s movements in space. The concept evolves from an idea of coordinating behaviour and environment, without the didactics of the current environmentalist approach. The body is exposed to physical changes in the environment, directly caused by another human being. The installation explores what the author calls “a realizable utopia”.

The exhibition “Cloud Cities” is currently placed in the Hamburger Banhof in Berlin. Visitors are free to enter around 20 balloon models of various sizes-sort of a hanging settlement.  The transparent balloons are accessible through ladders. Seen from underneath, people seem to be walking on air.
Tomás Saraceno’s work, which is used as organic fencing once inhabited by plants and sometimes kept floating in space only by black cable networks, is referred by the artist as “biospheres” or “Flying Garden”. The terminology itself suggests that Saraceno draws his inspiration from natural sciences, biology in particular, as well as architecture, the discipline he initially studied.

Speaking to Desert

Singing dunes is a phenomenon found exclusively in desert environments. “The sounds are produced when grains drum against one another; exciting elastic waves on the dune surface of the sand bed acts like the membrane of a loudspeaker.”The sounds resemble the beating of a drum or the noise of a low-flying jet. They can be heard up to 10 km away.

The skyscraper was designed by Barbara Leonardi and Oliver Dibrova as part of Hani Rashid Studio. The main inspiration was found in a phenomenon of singing dunes. Hypothetically located in Dubai, the project is a hybrid space, with diverse surfaces representing different programmatic conditions. A spiraled structure continues the public space and contains four plugged in hotel-units, which can act independent from each other and are specialized on diverse topics (business hotel, recreation hotel, sports hotel and city hotel).

The final configuration of the building is set upon through an experiment: a plate or drum is forced to vibrate historically with a violin bow or with a speaker. A fine sand or powder is sprinkled on the surface and allowed to settle. It sets at those non-vibrating parts of the surface, namely the nodes of vibration. Using an equation for the zeros of standing wave on square plate, different sound-files are extracted and used as input. They’re translated into frequency and amplitude, eventually generating a 3d structure.

Anisotropia based on a Piano

Anisotropia is based on Klavierstück I, a composition for piano by Orproject director Christoph Klemmt. The piano piece uses a twelve tone row which is repeated and altered by the different voices, in order to create complex rhythmic patterns. Anisotropia becomes the physical manifestation of Klavierstück I, a frozen piece of music. The installation is based on a simple strip morphology instead of a twelve tone row, which creates the structure, openings and rhythm within itself, its repetition happening in space instead of time. Layers of the strips form the wall system, and the shifting and alteration of these patterns results in the formation of complex architectural rhythms which are used to control the light, view and shading properties of the structure. The system has also been used for our design proposal for Busan Opera House.

Shifting tones
Klavierstück I uses a twelve tone row which starts with the lowest key of the piano. After its first cycle the row gets repeated, though shifted up by a halftone. However rather than translating up every tone by a halftone, only the lowest tone of the row is translated up by one octave. Like this the row remains the same, but its range has been shifted. In the next repetition this shift continues, but the range now also gets reduced in its size: The lowest tone gets translated up by one octave again, and the second lowest tone gets dropped out, so that only the remaining eleven tones of the row are played. Instead of the twelve tones the range now only covers eleven tones, and also its length is reduced accordingly.

The range of the twelve tone row continues to be reduced and shifted upwards until only one tone is left in each repetition of the original row. Then the range grows again, and still moving upwards goes through further modulations: The different voices of the piece are starting to separate, the size of the different parallel ranges starts to diverge, they move around each other, until finally they grow together again, still moving up and their range fading out with the highest key of the piano.

Piano Piece No.1 is based on a simple row of the twelve tones, but by shifting and translating its range of influence, complex and continuously evolving rhythmic patterns are generated and turned into a floating field of sound.

Structure and light
The proposed façade system becomes the physical manifestation of Klavierstück I. It uses parallel bamboo lamella which are creating the rhythmic structure. The basic unit of two strips is creating form into two dimensions, and becomes a straight extrusion into the third dimension. Like this it gets multiplied into the first two dimensions, where it develops and gets modified in the same way in which the twelve tone row gets repeated and modified in time.

The extrusion in the third dimensions allows for a horizontal modification during the development of the wall, which is used in a linear direction similar to the continuous upwards movement of the piano piece. In the piano piece always only the upper few tones of each twelve tone row are audible and create the floating field of rhythmic transformations. Similarly in the installation, only the peaks of each strip become visible and create a floating field of structure, shadow and light.

Designed by: Xin Wang and Christoph Klemmt
Project Team: Shuai Yang, Duan Duan, Haobin Lee

biomimicry Concert Hall

This project is a design proposal conceived by Philip H. Wilck during his studies at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna under the guidance of Hernan Diaz Alonso. The project for a Concert Hall at the Stadtpark in Vienna rethinks the concept of a concert hall through the architectural emsemble of different geometrical and material configurations that offer the opportunity for a multilayered and complex music experience. The system includes central positioned classical, symmetric concert hall geometry, and two areas created as sound shells related to biological shell geometries (biomimicry) such as an ear or a muscle structure. Other elements provide spaces and areas for a fully energy self-sufficient building through host interaction and active materials.

Wilck rethinks the concert hall by intruding botanical gardens functioning as structure and evolving absolutistic symmetric building configurations that morph into free floating geometries. The project analyzes system hierarchies with an adequate circulation organization.

Key elements coming from Romanticism are also important for the proposal such as: untamed wilderness, the unfinished, and the validation of obscure perceptions. Committed to the futility to comprehend the world with the aid of rational systems, as well as from the inferiority of every perfect thought compared to the inherent laws of nature. A New Romanticism approaches new areas in design and architecture processes – emerging aestetic paradigms and systematic specifications.
 

Earth, Water, Sky

This project is a winning entry conceived by architects Chi Wai Chan, Xinyu Wan, and Geng Ke for a competition to design an arts and cultural square at Lake Sanyon in Daqing, China. The project examines the relationships between the elements of water, sky, and earth. A waterfront promenade that ensues the formal attributes and fluidity of the water, a 1,394 m long canopy with LED display that transpires the form of the clouds, and a ground condition of self-similar marine lifeform that establishes view corridors to the lake.

These three design elements serve as the organizing  apparatus for the design of the square.
The architecture of the individual buildings experiments with a contemporary aesthetics attainable  through digital design.  Tools such as Maya, Rhino and Grasshopper were utilized during the  design process. But considerations were also given to achieving a balance between buildability and creativity. The architecture and the aesthetic affects were shaped by the materials and construction methods available, and by considerations of the process and fabrication technologies available in translating a digital model into reality.

anchored by Iconic Venues

The ambition to provoke urban change can be understood as a desire to create an icon such as the Taiwan tower designed by STL Architects that highlights the unique character of Taichung city. The architects envisioned this reality as coherent blend through an architectural landscape anchored by iconic venues that will satisfy the needs of locals, the industries and future trends. The idea is to generate a flow network that communicates the Taichung gateway city project with the most important landmarks of the city.

The skin itself is a system: it is pixilated with glazed openings in the programmed and occupiable zones while permeable with openings in the central area. The degradation of the openings, varying between 20% and 60%, is done in order to achieve greater lightness in the central part of the tower, therefore using less material and saving.

The density and arrangement of beams in the structure provides higher levels of stiffness at the base, and a horizontal arrangement that does not obscure views at the top. The beams are minimized wherever possible to reduce dead load and create an overall visual lightness for the structure. While the body of the tower resists twisting and bending, the overall structure is held upright by the foundations. The foundations is created by the bottom of the ring, which is embedded several stories into the earth to resist lateral movement and stop the tower from falling.

The programmed and occupiable parts of the tower are fitted with a double skin. By contrast, the central zone is permeable; the openings are not glazed and the composition consists of only vertical structure and outer skin. By using only the necessary materials to ensure skin continuity, combined with systems for renewable energy, achieves a building that is lighter and more permeable.

The tower is designed to resist the dynamic force of the wind. Modal frequencies are those vibration frequencies where cyclical motion naturally occurs as a result of resonance between wind movement and the mass and shape of a building. A preliminary analysis of the tower shows that the modal frequencies of the ring result in the tower moving forward and back, side to side, and twisting. To resist these forces, the tower is thickened at the bottom to create stiffness, and provided with dampers to resist twisting. The low center of gravity allows the top of the ring to lean, carrying the observation platform out over the park.

by Zifan Liu, a Project

This project for a new Public LIbrary for the city of West Hollywood was designed by Zifan Liu at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc). Long concerned with the articulation of form by means of volume to mass, and way beyond a contemporary threshold of hyper articulation, the discipline seems to be at a critical juncture by having to choose between polar opposites: to continue the search for more complexity via the willful sculpting of soft surface, or to return to a fundamental purity by the articulation of simple platonic volumes.

Turning its attention towards both primitive and figure, this project’s intention is to generate new cumulative mass and interstitial networks based on a simple logic of aggregation and growth of self-similar primitives, their formal accretion will promote a diversely unified spatial atmosphere that defy the distinction between holistic and discrete, figure and figuration. With emerging and ever-shifting number of massing configurations, group outlines and individual silhouettes as possible outcome.

Consequently, the design aims to challenge classical conventions of typological composition not by completely disregarding type, but by evolving its DNA through mathematically based and intuition driven formal operations. This project is not interested in a dogmatic or pseudoscientific reliance on modular self-similar structures and their consequent formally stable mathematical expression, but in a rigorous and playful examination of these systems and their capacity to instigate the appearance of new, unseen or even rare forms of expressions that are themselves embedded with a deep underlying order.

The project is to instantiate and hybridizes these systems in the design of a new public library for the city of west Hollywood. Adjacent to the iconic Pacific Design Center designed by architect Cesar Pelli in 1975 at the peak of postmodernism, the project presents the opportunity to rethink the role of public architecture in Los Angeles and with its over implicit iconicity. The project includes a children’s library, teen center, career development center, special collections, community meeting room, multipurpose public meeting room, cafe, bookstore and TV station.

to be located in Iserlohn

Performance Center Alexanderhoehe is to be located in Iserlohn, in Germany. The authors, B+U architectural firm placed the building north of the existing Parktheater and oriented it towards the inner city in order to emphasize and redefine its relationship to Alexander Heights. By orienting the building in such manner, it became possible to create a single access point for visitors to both Parktheater and the new Multifunctional Hall. In order to achieve that and avoid blocking the views from the existing Theater, a “linkage space“ was created: a generous multilevel foyer space that that allows for the actual hall to float above the ground and opens up views from the old Parktheater to the city towards the Northeast.

This linkage space between the existing Parktheater and the new multifunctional hall continues underneath the new Hall onto the plaza level. This linkage space is a combined lobby and main entrance to both the old and the new theater. There is a centrally located drop off zone for all visitors of the new Theatercenter from which the guest can proceed directly into the main lobby where they can purchase their tickets. From this point they can proceed over the Grand staircase to the different performance areas. An elevator connects the lobby space with all levels for barrier free access.
 

Two Bridges Neighborhood

Xtra Moenia is a site specific installation designed and produced by SOFTlab for the San Gennaro North Gate. The piece was commissioned by  Council and produced by The They Co. The piece serves as the North Gate to the annual San Gennaro Festival. SOFTlab developed a form that created out of two distinct oculi as a reference to one of the simplest and most effective classical architecture devices. One oculus points up while the other hangs down defining a zone on the street for pedestrians. The two forms are created using a minimal surface blending the two oculi together in a way that blurs the distinction between the two. The final geometry was developed closely with the structural engineering firm Arup.

The piece is completely held in tension from cables attached to the surrounding buildings. The shape is completely site specific and can only find its true form when attached at these specific points and tensioned with the proper lengths. Each piece is unique requiring custom software tools to be developed to fabricate the installation.

The installation is made of 4224 laser cut panels. Each panel is a unique shape and printed with a custom color. The panels are connected using over 6,000 aluminum grommets. The shape is held in complete tension using a complex system of cables and tubes attached to the surrounding buildings.

Bandjoun: Dynamic Tradition, Creation, Life

The museum has more than one hundred major and significant objects of the cultural and artistic heritage of Bandjoun, one of the main centres of artistic creation and tradition in the Cameroonian Grassland. There are rare pieces, including some masterpieces of Africa art. They celebrate the pomp of the court of the kings of Bandjoun, the grandeur and the power of these monarchs and their retainers and the solidity of the institutions. They also materialise universal themes such as death, life, defeat, love, victory, power, prestige, occult forces etc. The superb royal thrones, the magnificent masks and beaded objects, the richly decorated architectonic elements, the fabrics with enigmatic patterns and various cultural objects which are at times the expression of the cycle of life, are often of great aesthetic and/or social and historical value.

The permanent exhibition is entitled «Bandjoun: dynamic tradition, creation and life» and is organised around six themes:

The land and the men   
Myths, legends and history
Kingdom and society
Secret societies and religions

Creation:
      containers
      architecture
      statues and furniture
      musical instruments

Bandjoun yesterday, today and tomorrow
Itinéraires de la memoire colective

ecological Thinking

The project of an environmental enhancer designed by Mirco Bianchini for the Nogara  highway in Veneto, Italy provides the unique chance to bring together ecological thinking, host interaction, and active materials. Its location (an open country planar area among cultivated fields) enucleates as critical variables the impact of pollutants and the phenomenon of dazzling. With respect to such criticalities, the project uses digital generative and parametric strategies to generate a performative structure in which densification and rarefaction of elements is a local morphological response to dazzle.

The structure itself acts as a scaffold for a photo catalytic PET based material that, mimicking the behavior of coccoluti (marine microorganisms) is able to reduce CO2 (and potentially other pollutants) to salts and nitrates that are then naturally deployed to the neighboring cultivated fields as fertilizers. The material has been tested for photo catalytic integration and is currently under development.
 

an Ocean Movement

A Spain and China-based architectural firm AQSO Arquitectos, in collaboration with Ydesign, has designed the proposal for the thematic pavilion of the 2012 Yeosu International Exposition. The project aims to capture the dynamic and translucent qualities of fluids, by translating them into the architectural details of the pavilion.

The pavilion will have different levels for each sections of the building: exhibition areas are 12m high, whereas adjoining spaces are 8m high. Ring corridors accessible from ramps and stairs are located at a mid-height of the main exhibition areas, located 6m above the floor, offering a 360 degree-view of the ocean on one side and a view of the main exhibition on the other.

With its layout of interconnected circles, the building represents molecular structure of water. Each component responds to a specific programmatic requirement with three main lines connecting the pavilion with the rest of the facilities on the mainland. The volumes are wrapped with a versatile skin system that reacts to tidal and wave motions of the ocean. It can move upwards as well as downwards, depending on the water level, creating a dynamic atmosphere of periodical movement.  The inner louvers of the façade are fixed onto the glass, whereas the outer louvers float on water, becoming a unique element which moves and changes with no energy consumption. The layering of the two osmotic systems gives an image of a breathing building.

a new School

The project proposal for the Campus International School for Downtown Cleveland illustrates the transformation of Cleveland State University’s master plan for converting the area into a dense mixed-use development and with recreation fields.The quotation ‘’an opportunity to re-evaluate the broader terrain in which children learn and give as great an emphasis on learning environments as others have given the educational philosophies’’ formed the basis for our proposal.

A key aim of the design is to produce a safe learning environment for the students. The flexible classroom design and “street” layout of the school encourages different age groups of children to meet and learn together, while the main circulation space between the classrooms, student dining, media center and recreational spaces is an additional learning hub. The proposed plan layout avoids hidden corners and blind spots, and careful thought has been given to landscaping to provide different types of outdoor play space including areas for learning, planting, quiet zones and games. Each classroom has direct access to the outdoor playgrounds and views to the surrounding buildings.
The basis of the design is centered around four clusters of education: learning, growing, recreation, and social interaction. We believe these to be the foundations of the new school vision, allowing for a complex program where students can interactwith each other and the city of Cleveland. Instead of opting for a linear and continuous distribution of these four clusters, the project design proposes a combined, more playful combination of spaces through the use of curves and organic shapes.

The vision for the Campus International School is to establish an open learning environment as such that the site will be a landscape for future and extended learning. By creating an environment that will promote and sustain continuous learning, it will make learning a part of everyday life.

Organic Scapes and Architecture (OS+A) is an architectural practice interested in the study of natural organic landscapes and how these can be reinterpreted and applied to the modern day needs for living, working and play. We are a dedicated practice that resulted from a long collaboration in different offices world-wide. Our design philosophy aims at the constant study and reevaluation of methods and ideas, looking at architecture as the ground for new discoveries and uncharted horizons.

a Set of Organic Volumes

Yuliyan Mikov, the Bulgarian artist, designed this dramatic proposal for the Museum of Architecture. A set of organic volumes interlock to create a versatile structure that shelters the public space below. It is a lofty building, supported by a network of pillars and a core of vertical communication.

The design is accompanied by a piece of reflexive writing, elaborating on the project’s  inspirational origins:

“During walk along Lipscani, ( a fable about the old merchants of the past centuries) my eyes are taken by huge piles of garbage where as if on a throne, stood empty plastic bottles. And then I saw the ghosts of the past, creeping out of their deformed mouths, rising slowly just like the ghost of the magic lamp. But they were many, the same number as the empty bottles, wearing clouds with their semitransparent bodies, as if embracing each other and rising towards the heavens. When the night attracts affection with her darkness, the ghosts shaking in the cold atmosphere gather closer to each other, lying in cluster and folding themselves, beginning to exchange ideas, furtively communicating in order to escape the fear of the normality, the habits, and the fear of becoming animals, casted in form, driven by reflexes…
The next night I followed the pouchy ghosts and noticed on that special place of the world’s creation ” trees, growing from the ruins, between the metal and the piles of garbage, dancing with their leaves like sirous creeping between the ghosts, entering their small navels.

The ghost’s domain does never dry out. Depending on the spot you are looking you can see them, sweet and huge, playing hide and seek, squeezing between each other’s white and oily skins.”
 

Freedom of Humanity

Symbolizing the unity of German people, in reference to The peaceful revolution of 1989 which began in Leipzig, this competition proposal illustrates the idea of freedom as an open, retractable field. The monument will encourage visitors to identify and commemorate the events and will convey meanings and images associated with a variety of historical and experiential impressions. Designed in collaboration between RNA Architektur and Archiglobe, the building establishes itself as a continuously transforming open form. There is no inside nor outside, but a field without a specific shape.

The monument consists of three main elements: the foundation vaults, the historical platform and a flowing field of false, distorted and illuminated aluminum bodies-abstract forms that symbolize the momentum of a crowd. The existing vault is opened in the former national monument and can be accessed via a staircase. An information center is situated near the entrance, educating visitors of the 1989 events and reunification of Germany.

High-gloss aluminium bodies are suspended on steel supports, positioned on the four main foundations of the ancient monument. A volume of 41x26x9 meters is formed, corresponding to the bisected Schlüterhof. The suspended steel elements can be attached to their longitudinal axis to rotate around the center and configured to always create new spatial situations, suggesting constant change.

From a distance, the memorial appears as a swinging, three-dimensional object with its appearance constantly being changes by shifts in light and weather. Symbolically, it accentuates the individual role in each collective action, discreetly reminding visitors of recent historical events.
 

we The last of Blood

“We Draculs have a right to be proud…
I am the last of my kind”
– Dracula, from Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Some say that Transylvania sits on one of Earth's strongest magnetic fields and its people have extra-sensory perception. Vampires are believed to hang around crossroads on St. George's Day, April 23, and the eve of St. Andrew, November 29. The area is also home to Bram Stoker's Dracula, and it's easy to get caught up in the tale while driving along winding roads through dense, dark, ancient forests and over mountain passes.

The newly published Vampires, Werewolves, Zombies: Compendium Monstrum allows readers to get
acquainted with the attractions of the Romanian
region of Transylvania from a 19th-century perspective.

It includes information on sights associated with Vlad
the "must-sees", and even highlights the wildlife of
the region. An antique fold-out map of Transylvania is included.

Tales of the supernatural had been circulating in Romanian folklore for centuries when Irish writer Bram Stoker picked up the thread and spun it into a golden tale of ghoulishness that has never been out of print since its first publication in 1897. To research his immortal tale, Stoker immersed himself in the history, lore and legends of Transylvania, which he called a “whirlpool for the imagination.”

Bram Stoker’s Dracula novel was published in Romanian for the first time in 1990.Count Dracula, a fictional character in the Dracula novel, was inspired by one of the best-known figures of Romanian history, Vlad Dracula, nicknamed Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler), who was the ruler of Walachia at various times from 1456-1462. Born in 1431 in Sighisoara, he resided all his adult life in Walachia, except for periods of imprisonment at Pest and Visegrad (in Hungary). For more information about Bram Stocker's Dracula Novel please visit
www.literature.org/authors/stoker-bram/dracula/

Tracking Dracula
Although he never traveled to Romania, Stoker crammed his book with descriptions of many real locations that can still be visited in present-day Romania. They include the most important historical places associated with Vlad Tepes, such as the 14th century town of Sighisoara where you can visit the house in which Vlad was born (now hosting a restaurant and a small museum of medieval weapons).

Other Dracula sites include: the Old Princely Court (Palatul Curtea Veche) in Bucharest, Snagov Monastery, where, according to legend, Vlad’s remains were buried; the ruins of the Poenari Fortress (considered to be the authentic Dracula's Castle); the village of Arefu where Dracula legends are still told, the city of Brasov where Vlad led raids against the Saxons merchants, and, of course, Bran Castle.

Some tours also cover the folkloric aspects of the fictional Dracula. For instance, visitors can eat the exact meal Jonathan Harker ate at The Golden Crown in Bistrita and sleep at Castle Dracula Hotel, built no so long ago on the Borgo Pass at the approximate site of the fictional Count’s castle.

a Natural Heritage

A Museum in Sabah has existed in some shape or form with some lapses in time since 1886. The first location was at Sandakan in a room in the Chartered Company's Secretariat where the present divisional administration is centered. By 1905 it had disappeared, part of the collection was returned to the donors while the rest was shipped to London.

In 1923 the museum was again revived in Sandakan but its again disappeared with the Japanese invasion; its collection was lost.

In 1947, George Cathcart Woolley, a Chartered Company Administrator bequeathed his collection of ethnographic and other material such as photographs, diaries and books and known and as the Woolley Collection. The Woolley Collection has formed the basic materials of the existing Museum. The new Museum was opened to the public on July 15, 1965. It was then housed on the second floor of a shophouse on Gaya Street and was run by a staff of eight.

From January 1, 1966 the Museum operated as a joint department with the Library until January 1, 1972 when both became separate department under the Ministry of Social Welfare.

Due to the rapid increase of the collection over the years the Museum moved to a much larger premises of 9500 square feet on the third floor in Nosmal Court situated opposite the General Post Office in Gaya Streeet. Ten years later (1979) the second floor of Nosmal Court was acquired by the Museum as storage area thus freeing space on the third floor for office and display and greatly increasing the storage area.

In 1971 a site along Penampang Road was selected as a permanent location for a new museum. The Complex will consist of a main block housing the central exhibition hall and six galleries, offices and meeting rooms; a Science and Development Centre Exhibition and Education with a specially designed theatre adjacent to house eventually an Omnimax Projection system and a Consevation Block containing the workshops and laboratories where the collection could be stored and conserved. The new Museum Complex was completed in 1984 and it was officially opened by His Excellency Sultan Ahmad Shah the King Malaysia on April 11, 1984.

In the sprawling grounds of the Sabah Museum is the Heritage Village with the concept of Man and His Environment comprising 12 life-sized traditional houses and The Islamic Civilization Museum located along Jalan Menteri.

Vision
The Sabah Museum's vision is to save Sabah cultural, historical and natural heritage.

Mission
The Sabah Museum's mission is to serve the public as an educator towards creating a well-informed, vibrant and culture-caring society.

Objective
The Sabah Museum's objective is to collect, preserve, conserve, document, exhibit and interpret material evidence and associated information on history, culture and natural history of Sabah.

Website: http://www.museum.sabah.gov.my/
 

the Power of Inspiration

This competition entry by artist Liu Chien-Sheng for the ” Changing the Face –Pushkinsky Cinema Hall Competition” is a tribute to Александр Сергеевич Пушкин / Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin – it is a poem conceived by architecture. The Pushkinsky Cinema Hall is located next to the Pushkin Square on the urban green line, and the statue of Pushkin stands in front of the cinema hall. The concept of this design is to write a poem as a tribute to Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin by architecture.

“The power of inspiration” – poem

1- Freedom: Against gravity by floating steam. Gravity is one of the great obstacles to artistic design of architectural structure, thus there has been deep desire to construct the architecture without giving sense of gravity. In order to present freedom of architecture, the mist floating in the air performs as a new type of materials for the façade.  The steam floats surround the cinema hall to represent a new type of façade and actually increase the temperature near the building. The rise of steam from horizon – a view of architectural façade extends to unban collage.

2- The warm sun on the snow: The architectural form is originated from an image of sun. Snow country has thirsts for basking in pleasant sunshine, just like the world of poetry need Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin to provide and expand its spirit. The façade starts a primitive geometry with a light materiality to reflect the surrounding. And then, the curves cut it and create the pattern of architectural form.
3- The inspiration of color – a symbol of warm temperature: The architectural façade changes the color with temperature. Generally, the façade color is red during the summer. When the temperature drops, the color turns to black. Moreover, spouting steam from the new façade to increase the temperature around the building and the color turn to scarlet. The color and steam give people warmth. The stainless with Performance Coating on the façade is able to echo the color when temperature becomes different.

a New Palazzo

OFL Architecture is an interdisciplinary practice established by Francesco Lipari in 2008, currently based in Rome. Aiming to combine Art, Sculpture, Biology and Cinema, they engage in various international competitions and tackle a wide range of architectural typologies. Receiving several prizes: the honorable mention at the Hong Kong Noise Barrier Competition with the Riccio project, as well as the first prize for the Silk Road Map International Competition, their work is considered provocative, as it ranges from referencing historical architecture to issues of future housing.

The competition proposal for the office building located in Bolzano is a result of collaboration between OFL Architecture and Rabatanalab. The concept is born from a sculpture idea generated by the desire to establish continuity with the past of the city of Bolzano. It is seen as a re-construction of memories, spirit of places and iconological transposition of the city’s historically relevant architectural symbols. From this ideological assumption, the innovative study carried out on the skin / facade of the new organism recalls one of the iconographic symbols of the city, the Duomo. In fact, the trend of the ribs of the great vault’s “a crociera”, projected on the three naves, have permitted the extrapolation of the particular generator module of the new skin. Optimized exploitation of natural light aims to achieve a visual comfort as well as a desirable level of energy conservation. The common areas will have devices to monitor and regulate energy consumption with time sensors and daylight sensors. On the roof there solar thermal and photovoltaic panels. These are connected to the technical facilities in the basement through a mechanism integrated within the modules of the skin.

ground Water

New York City’s Watershed is in crisis. Not only is there a larger demand for water due to the growth of the population, but due to further suburban development in upland areas, water catchment sites are not as hygienic as before. Within the Croton Watershed lies Carmel,  a suburban town in Putnam County with large basins for water catchment integrated into a developed suburban community. The distributed system currently in place for the dispersal of sewage, though, has a very high risk of contaminating the watershed.

Based on a topological study using sand and cavities to represent the density and area of groundwater contamination risk, a landscape was generated by Carla Lores and Michael Yarisnky. The areas that are highest upland have the highest ground water capacity and lowest contamination risk, and the areas downland have the lowest capacity and highest risk. This relationship is key to the remediation strategy, by creating a topography that channels effluent water to these specific sites. The exo-landscape is then populated with components that not only allow the material flow relationship but can also be modulated to allow for varying lighting conditions and the ability to contain soil and plants. This passive system is then activated by integrated pumps that draw sewage to biogas processing sites.

Using pastoral ideas native to the development of suburban landscaping, such as the sweeping vista, winding pathway, scenic overlook and grotto, we develop the landscape to be a desirable recreation site. Overlaid, layers of sewage, air, and water flow create a new material ecology within Carmel. Since the sites of highest contamination risk are protected, New York City’s Watershed is more protected than previously. Because the system is automated to deposit and process waste into the sites of highest capacity, the system as a whole has a larger capacity for sewage.

This project hopes to blur the boundary between what is considered clean and contaminated, synthetic and natural, and in doing so foster a modified suburban desire. This, through the intensification of existing conditions of a synthetic pastoral and the gizmo begins to challenge the boundaries that enabled the development of suburbia in the first place.

morFologies in Bucharest

Nympha Cultural Center in Bucharest is a concept proposal designed by Brasov-based upgrade.studio, an architectural practice oriented towards computational design and cutting-edge concepts. Their Urban BY-PASS project received a Special Mention at eVolo’s Scyscraper Competition in 2008.

The proposal is conceived as a programmatic addition to the studio’s Digital University project. It comprises Art galleries, Cultural Center, Performing Arts Center and the University library.The two morphologies seem to be deliberately conflicted, expressing opposite approaches.

The veins system is collecting rainwater and storing it into the ground. Using the heat pump principle for cooling and warming the water the building requires no air-conditioning. A wide spread network of thin tubes covers the outer shell and ensures an efficient heat exchange with the environment. 

a Complex Oscillation

This proposal by Emergent is based on creating a complex visual oscillation between two and three dimensional realms. Somewhere between the disciplines of sculpture and painting, the piece registers as a mass but also as a graphic. Loopy, spotted patterns flow over manifold surfaces, simultaneously dissolving the mass and re-establishing it. Transparent zones allow people to view deep inside the object, their gaze pulled into involutions in interior surfaces. They can see the inside of the mass-painting.

The human brain, recent neuroscience suggests, is not engaged in “seeing” space, but in actively “modeling” space1. Residing on multiple ontological levels, this project is an attempt to force the brain to hedge and guess in its “modeling” of physical reality.

The colorful pattern language, while fanciful at first glance, is not simply a visual phenomenon. It is the result of intersecting a map of structural stresses with a painterly sensibility. The loopy mass is analyzed as a composite shell structure, revealing areas of low and high stress. The resultant color-gradient map is manipulated to produce certain visual effects but also broken down into layers of variable thickness and material strength. Color and pattern therefore only partially index material forces; the piece exceeds simple material expression towards something which correlates nature and culture.

Finally, layers of super-thin technology are embedded into the structurally sedimented fiber composite shell. Thin film solar tape is tucked beneath the outermost layer of the shell, while organic LED  lighting film is embedded on the inside of the shell, in accent layers. The solar tape creates micro-patterning which breaks down large surfaces and generates energy to power the lighting system. At night, mysterious graphic and silhouette effects are produced, heightening the dimensional play of the piece.

Είμαστε οι Μέλισσες του Αόρατου

Η Σοφία του Ρ. Μ. Ρίλκε

Σε έντεκα χιλιάδες γράμματα εκτιμάται το σύνολο της αλληλογραφίας του γερμανόφωνου ποιητή Ράινερ Μαρία Ρίλκε (1875-1926), προϊόν της επικοινωνίας του με φιλικά και συγγενικά πρόσωπα, καλλιτέχνες και νέους ποιητές που του ζητούσαν συμβουλές, πρώην και νυν ερωμένες. Η διεκπεραίωση αυτής της αλληλογραφίας ήταν καθημερινή ασχολία του ποιητή για αρκετές ώρες και δεν αποτελούσε γι' αυτόν κοινωνική υποχρέωση αλλά έργο πνευματικό, σχεδόν εξίσου σημαντικό με το ποιητικό του, αφού οι επιστολές του είναι συμπυκνωμένα φιλοσοφικά δοκίμια που καλύπτουν ένα ευρύτατο θεματικό φάσμα - από την καθημερινή συνύπαρξη με τους άλλους μέχρι τον ίλιγγο του έρωτα και από την απώλεια και τις δοκιμασίες της ζωής έως την καλλιτεχνική έμπνευση.

Ο Urlich Baer, καθηγητής Γερμανικών και Συγκριτικής Λογοτεχνίας, ανθολόγησε μέσα από χιλιάδες σελίδες αμετάφραστων επιστολών τα καλύτερα αποσπάσματά τους και τα συγκέντρωσε σε ένα βιβλίο-κιβωτό, που προσφέρει στον αναγνώστη όχι μόνο την απόλαυση ανάγνωσης ενός καλογραμμένου κειμένου αλλά και μια πηγή σοφίας στην οποία μπορεί ν' ανατρέχει κάθε στιγμή της ζωής του. Γιατί ο Ρίλκε δεν υπήρξε μόνο ένας από τους σημαντικότερους ποιητές του εικοστού αιώνα, ήταν πρώτα και πάνω απ' όλα βαθιά ανθρώπινος - μ' εκείνο το είδος της ανθρώπινης κατανόησης και ζεστασιάς που συχνά λείπει από τους διανοούμενους. Με γλώσσα ρέουσα και ποιητική και ύφος οικείο και τρυφερό σαν χάδι, ο Ρίλκε στοχάζεται και καταθέτει τις σκέψεις του στο χαρτί καταρχάς και στις καρδιές όσων τις διαβάζουν, στη συνέχεια.

Τα κείμενα που αναφέρονται σε βιβλία όπως ''Η σοφία του Ρίλκε'', δεν χρειάζονται πολλά λόγια και βαθυστόχαστες αναλύσεις, τα τριαντάφυλλα δεν έχουν ανάγκη ούτε από κομπλιμέντα ούτε από διαφήμιση - υπάρχουν κι αυτό είναι αρκετό. Ένα μικρό απόσπασμα από το βιβλίο: ''το εξοχότερο επίτευγμα της δύναμης της ζωής είναι ότι ερμηνεύει το κακό ως καλό και ουσιαστικά το αντιστρέφει... τίποτα δεν διατηρείται δυσκολότερα από το κακό, γι' αυτό κανείς άνθρωπος δεν θα έπρεπε να σκέφτεται πως είναι κακός. Φτάνει να σαλέψει λιγάκι κι αμέσως παύει να είναι.''
 

a Frozen Music

Anisotropia, the design for the new Busan Opera House by Orproject is based on Klavierstück I, a composition for piano by Orproject director Christoph Klemmt. It is based on a twelve tone row which is repeated and altered by the different voices, in order to create complex rhythmic patterns.

Anisotropia becomes the physical manifestation of Klavierstück I, a frozen piece of music. The design for the Busan Opera House is based on a simple strip morphology instead of a twelve tone row, which creates the facade, structure and rhythm within itself, its repetition happening in space instead of time. Layers of the strips form the façade structure, and the shifting and alteration of these patterns results in the formation of complex architectural rhythms which are used to control the light, view and shading properties of the façade.

Klavierstück I uses a twelve tone row which starts with the lowest key of the piano. After its first cycle the row gets repeated, though shifted up by a halftone. However rather than translating up every tone by a halftone, only the lowest tone of the row is translated up by one octave. Like this the row remains the same, but its range has been shifted.

In the next repetition this shift continues, but the range now also gets reduced in its size: The lowest tone gets translated up by one octave again, and the second lowest tone gets dropped out, so that only the remaining eleven tones of the row are played. Instead of the twelve tones the range now only covers eleven tones, and also its length is reduced accordingly.

The range of the twelve tone row continues to be reduced and shifted upwards until only one tone is left in each repetition of the original row. Then the range grows again, and still moving upwards goes through further modulations: The different voices of the piece are starting to separate, the size of the different parallel ranges starts to diverge, they move around each other, until finally they grow together again, still moving up and their range fading out with the highest key of the piano.

Cellular Geometries

The project was designed by Xing Wang in cooperation with Offenbach Academy of Art and Design. The design team was organized by Prof. Dr. Markus Holzbach and was exhibited in Frankfurt in January 2011. It explores the structure and combinatorics of cellular geometries, completely relying on computational design.

The project’s aim was to build a pavilion inside Diamantenbörse in Frankfurt. It was based on mobius geometry with 3d voronoi pattern structure. It tried to integrate special light effects for the media show during the exhibition. The 3d vronoi pattern structure is manufactured as straight wood panels by 5 axis milling machine and assembled on site. In order to save time and material, most parts of the wood panels were cut under 3 axis cutting method, only the both ends parts of the panels with slope are cut through 5 axis setting.

The task was to generate the complex 3d structure in a parametric way, and also prepare the fully detailed CNC manufacture files for the CNC lab. The parametric solution for this system gave the possibility to adjust the structure many times on different design stages.

 

Ανθίβολα...Ανθίβολα

Σχέδια µε «πατρόν» δεξιοτεχνών αγιογράφων από την Ήπειρο άφησαν τα ίχνη τους στην Ελλάδα και τα Βαλκάνια, σε τοιχογραφίες και εικόνες σε ορθόδοξους ναούς. Ιχνη που ακολουθεί το βιβλίο «Ανθίβολα από τους Χιονιάδες».

Από το ορεινό χωριό των Χιονιάδων µε τους µόλις 400 κατοίκους, τον 18ο και τον 19ο αιώνα µια οµάδα ή «κολεκτίβα» δεξιοτεχνών του σχεδίου και της αγιογραφίας κίνησε για να διαδώσει την τέχνη της θρησκευτικής ζωγραφικής στον ελλαδικό χώρο και τα Βαλκάνια. Οι ζηλευτοί τεχνίτες, µε ανθίβολα (σχέδια «πατρόν» αγιογραφιών) στις αποσκευές τους, ταξίδευαν από τη Βορειοδυτική Ελλάδα, τη Θεσσαλία, το Άγιον Όρος έως την Αλβανία και τη Βουλγαρία, τοιχογραφούσαν εκκλησίες και φιλοτεχνούσαν φορητές εικόνες, διατηρώντας το ορθόδοξο χριστιανικό πνεύµα ζωντανό στην οθωµανική επικράτεια.

Είκοσι τέσσερα ανθίβολα και σχέδια µεγάλων διαστάσεων, τα οποία ανήκουν στην πολύτιµη Συλλογή Μακρή - Μαργαρίτη, µπήκαν στο µικροσκόπιο της αρχαιολόγου δρος Ανδροµάχης Κατσελάκη και της ιστορικού Βυζαντινής Τέχνης καιθεολόγου Μαρίας Νάνου, µε σκοπό να ανιχνεύσουν τις βυζαντινές ρίζες της ζωγραφικής τέχνης στον ελληνικό και βαλκανικό χώρο. Στις 414 σελίδες του βιβλίου «Ανθίβολα από τους Χιονιάδες», εξηγούν πώς τα εύθραυστα και σηµαντικά αυτά σχέδια συναντώνται σε τοιχογραφίες και φορητές εικόνες ναών στην Ελλάδα και τα Βαλκάνια.

Και µάλιστα πολλές φορές τα ίδια ακριβώς σχέδια, που «ξεπατικώνονταν» στους τοίχους ή στο ξύλο, συναντώνται σε διαφορετικούς ναούς – και διαφορετικές εποχές. Τα έργα που παρουσιάζονται στο βιβλίο προέρχονται από τοπικά καλλιτεχνικά εργαστήρια της Βορειοδυτικής Ελλάδας και της Νότιας Βαλκανικής και βρέθηκαν στο αρχείο του αγιογράφου Ανέστη Γιαννούλη από το Ασηµοχώρι Ιωαννίνων. Ο πατέρας του, Παύλος Γιαννούλης, µαθήτευσε σε χιονιαδίτες ζωγράφους και συγκεκριµένα στους αδελφούς Χριστόδουλο και Θωµά Μαρινά. Ο Ανέστης Γιαννούλης χαρακτήριζε τα σχέδια του εργαστηρίου των Μαρινάδων «πλούτο γνώσεων» και «επιγραφοσυνταγές».

Ο πρώτος γνωστός χιονιαδίτης ζωγράφος είναι ο Κώνστας– ο οποίος ταυτίζεται πιθανότατα µε τον Κώνστα Θεοδόση. Το πρώτο ενυπόγραφο έργο του είναι η εικόνα του Αγίου Γεωργίου στο τέµπλο του ναού της Κοιµήσεως της Θεοτόκου στη Βούραµπιανη, κοντά στους Χιονιάδες, και χρονολογείται το 1747.

Οι χιονιαδίτες ζωγράφοι ασκούσαν οικογενειακά την τέχνη τους και κληρονοµούσαν τα σχέδια των προγόνων τους, που λειτουργούσαν ως πατρόν, καθοδηγώντας το χέρι του καλλιτέχνη.Ο χιονιαδίτης ζωγράφος Ζήκος ήταν ο πρώτος που απεικόνισε τον νεοµάρτυρα Γεώργιο εξ Ιωαννίνων, δεκατρείς µέρες µετά τον θάνατό του το 1838.

art in a Railway

IDEA Studio is a research program for designers, pursiung innovative projects that push design technology to its limits. Its residents have access to latest technology and coaching from Autodesk’s experts who can help them apply the latest technology to accelerate their projects. Shajay Bhooshan, lead researcher at Zaha Hadid Architects, used Autodesk Maya and Autodesk Algor Simulation software to create operative pathways from physically-based simulation designs to structurally sound architectural models. Bhooshan created a plug-in for Maya to visualize stresses in real-time, enabling him to integrate structural feedback into the form-finding process with minimal disruption to the creative experience. To test out the workflow, Bhooshan and his colleague, John Klein, created a case study design of a train station. Using 3D printers in the Autodesk Gallery, Bhooshan and Klein printed the 18 components of the train station design, which fit together to create one fluid form.

The Bangalore Railway design explores operative pathways from physically based simulation design to structurally sound architectural models utilizing specific software and computational techniques. Inspired by analogue architectural design methods that were established in the 19th century by architects like Antonio Gaudi the design creates a digital method to unite playful architectural form-finding with qualitative structural analysis in the early stages of the design process.

 

a Modular, a Parametric

The design for a modular, deployable, and adaptable bridge using parametric strategies and digital fabrication methods was developed by studio BÄNG. The design was conceived using the following rules:  Four data points were established at the beginning, middle, and the end of the bridge. These 12 parametrized points give the opportunity to steer the crosssection of the bridge at three important areas. Based on these points the defi nition creates three frames one for each end of the bridge and one in the middle.

All frames get connected and the resulting four-point polylines triangulated to get the base of the load bearing framework for each side of the bridge. The triangles get offsetted according to the sun and then moved in direction of their normals. By lofting the two resulting curves a rigid and complex looking shape occurs.

The most important benefit of parametric design and digital fabrication is the optimization of the whole design process. Modularity, the optimization of the construction time as well as saving material were the main goals.

All angles in the construction are measured to give them to the electronic press brake. After getting the laser cutted and electronical press braked elements from the factory the only thing the construction workers have to do by hand is to close the 16 elements by screws. After closing the elements the modules are ready to be transported up to the site where the bridge shall be situated. Two workers are able to connect the parts with screws in less than 2 days.

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a Library upon Pilotis

A proposal by Budi Pradono Architects for the Stockholm Public Library is based on a suspended slab set upon two large transparent pilotis. The simple conceptual form provides multiple benefits, anticipating a complex program to accomplish the difficult task for a contemporary library as both public venue and research retreat.

The library’s two collection floors are elevated to provide a more welcoming street front with a large plaza forming at the base of the building. The transparent columns contain various public spaces to engage group activities such as studios, an auditorium, restaurant, news room and reading areas as well as a office. The open view shed protected by the large mass above provides an open and compelling space to socialize in, acting as a communications hub for the city.

The main two levels stretch out over the site and contain the main book collections. Reading areas punctuate the floor plates, dipping below and opening to the ceiling where daylight glazing is incorporated into the roof deck. The reading pod’s oval shape contrasts with the monolithic slab, creating an informal area for research and immersion. The various apertures between the two floors also are intended to stimulate knowledge exchange among the library’s varied collections.

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a Landscape for Rosario

The New York based EFGH Architectural Design Studio designed a recreational landscape for the industrial area of Rosario, Argentina. The Studio’s work focuses on responsive design concepts and building techniques that challenge the conventional notions of program, material and context. The Billboard Park illustrates the unconventional strategic approach in designing public spaces.

The landscape engages both the horizontal and the vertical, in order to provide optimal use of open public spaces as well as to create an interactive structure offering various views of the Paraná River. Part of a public/ private partnership and constrained to a triangular plot of land set away from the water’s edge, Billboard Park rises up to form a vertical landscape, with its green side facing the river and its asphalt side facing the highway and neighborhood beyond.  A lightweight, soil-free growth medium is used to generate a vertical garden across a concrete structural honeycomb. The open structural pattern organizes both the horizontal and vertical planes and provides a number of niches as well as a dynamic visual icon for Rosario.
The surrounding development is a public/private venture focused on revitalizing the Rosario waterfront, and is currently under construction.

 

history in Tian'an Men

The National Museum of China is located on the east side of Tian'an Men Square in Beijing. It is the largest comprehensive history museum in China. Through display of both material and non-material collections and exhibits, it narrates the history created by the ancestors of the Chinese people.

The National Museum is built on the twin foundations of the former China History Museum and the former China Revolutionary Museum in 2003. The new museum is currently undergoing expansion. It has extremely rich collections and the excellence of its exhibits and depth of its research are second to none.

The National Museum holds the country's most important historical objects. Through China's History Exhibition, these are shown to visitors from both inside and outside China, to display the long history and shining civilization of the Chinese people. At the same time, the museum undertakes education projects, archaeological excavations and scientific research.

The earliest items on display here are the teeth of Yuanmou Man from Yunnan Province, dating back some 1,700,000 years. The most recent are historical artifacts from Xinhai Revolution of 1911.

The Early Society Exhibition starts with ancient inhabitants (around 1,700,000 years ago to 10,000 years ago), then clan society (around 10,000 years ago to 5,000 years ago) and the dawn of civilization (around 5000 to 4000 years ago). In :he ancient inhabitants' section you can see China's earliest 'sapiens' called Yuanmou Man, the slightly later Lantian Man, Beijing Man, Jinniushan Man, and also Shandingdong Man. The last had already entered the homo sapiens period. These ancestors wrote the first page in the chapter of China's history. Stone tools that they created, the seeds they collected, bones of the animals that they hunted are all documented in the exhibition cases. The bone-made needle and the teeth and shells that the Shandingdong Man used for jewelry indicate that by his time, mankind had already begun to sew clothing and have an awareness of aesthetics.

From around 10,000 years ago, mankind began to polish stone tools, make ceramics, weave cloth, and engage in other handicrafts production. The distribution of clans also began to be more widespread. In the exhibit, rice kernels from some 5,000 years ago, bone implements of some 7,000 years ago, and the model of a matriarchal village unearthed in Shaanxi Province from some 6,000 years ago can be seen. From around 5,000 years ago, agricultural techniques were well advanced and besides being able to provide for his own basic needs, man was able to produce a certain surplus. This led to a system of private ownership and the development of classes. At this time, special handicraft industries appeared, also the rudiments of writing, cultural arts and religion. In the exhibits, one can see important ritual implements of the period made from stone and jade.

Ading with the shape of the big broad-mouthed receptacle of the Western Zhou dynasty unearthed in Mei County,Shaanxi Province A Four-sheep zun of the Shang dynasty.

The slave society was mankind's first class society in history. This period is divided in the exhibition into Xia, Shang, Western Zhou, and Spring and Autumn periods and one that covers all tribes from Xia to Spring and Autumn.

The Xia Dynasty was the first kingdom in Chinese history. Its center of ruling power was the northern part of what is today Henan and the southern part of Shanxi provinces. The Bronze jue excavated from Yanshi in Henan, and the ceramic cup and so on indicate that agriculture was a primary economic activity in the Xia period, while the manufacture of bronzes was already quite developed.

The Shang period was a glorious time of Chinese bronze development. Craftsmen were able to cast very complex shapes and to create highly refined and beautiful inscriptions and ornamentation. The heaviest bronze piece discovered to date is on exhibit here; called the'Simuwu Ding,' which weighs 832.84 kilograms. A four-ram 'zun and other representative Shang dynasty bronzes are on display. In addition to bronzes, the manufacture of ceramics, lacquer-making, weaving, jade carving and so on also achieved a certain level of accomplishment. The early?porcelain zun excavated at Zhengzhou in Henan is one of the earliest pieces of porcelain found in China to date. Another notable achievement of the Shang dynasty is the ancient script known as jiaguwen, or ancient writing on the shoulder?blade bones of oxen and the front plates of tortoises. This writing began the construction of the basic shapes that later developed into 'Han characters.

Chinese bronze-making technology flourished during the Western Zhou period, following the Shang. In terms of political organization, China followed a system of divided feudal authority, and a severe system of rites and also punishments was instituted. The ceremonies or rites were used to moderate relations within the ruling class, the system of punishments was used to control and oppress commoners and slaves. Items on display give evidence of these things.
 

the Capital HIM

[Ay]Architecture is an international design studio committed to cutting edge research and experimentation, across scales. It engages with multidisciplinary fields from fashion design, architecture to landscape urbanism, in both theoretical and professional praxis.

The Capital HIM project is inspired by Nicola Formichetti’s stylistic work through Lady Gaga’s and Rick Genest’s fashion personas. The emerging esthetics in fashion is translated into a spatial condition, retaining the main qualities; it is alienated, urban, volumetric and at times vulgarly carnal (no pun intended). The network of theoretical connections meshed with the space of the given site (Walker Street, NY) generating the three-dimensional spatial condition per se. This allowed a series of control points and lines that would parameter the starting point to the physical substance. An actual morphology is created by narrowing down the possibilities of physical connections. The organic appearance of the project and its arbitrariness reflect the whimsical nature of the fashion at hand, robust and sensual at the same time.

The designer’s pop-up store proposal starts to perform as a multi-tasking machine embedded with a myriad of performances. Its protuberances behave as clothes hanging devices while the tattoo skin-like surfaces operate as multi-layered apparel devices. The whole project transforms onto a catwalk scene or launching parties for Nicola’s clientele and friends.

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an ArtificiAL island

Designed by architect Aleksander Krasinski, the project is a floating habitable structure which would be able to endure future changes of global climate. The idea for the building could be interpreted as an answer to the problems closely related to globalization and the human impact on the environment, as well as continuity in the perdition of human rights in connection with the growing process to create a global bank and corporate influence on the shaping of international law.

It is an artificial island with adequate infrastructure, establishing itself as an independent state with its own government and economic policy. 1000 meters in height, as well as in diameter, the building has 48 floors with the maximum number of inhabitants of 52,096 persons.  It facilitates an internal sea port with ocean-going vessels dock, an airport passenger handling helicopters, a public garden, office spaces, administrative, governmental and academic centers, etc. The inner atrium of the building is surrounded by recreational and commercial services.
The planned locations for the Island include United Arab Emirates, Japan, Netherlands and the United States. on this urbanistic island it’s possible to create a whole new state with a powerful eco-system, own legislation and an advanced policy of economic structure.

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an Art of Tower

Designed by James Law Cybertecture, the Tower is to be located in the heart of Mumbai, facilitating a wide range of businesses, including the India movie industry. To accentuate the inspirational references, the building facades are installed with LED screens for film and graphic projections.

The concept of the building is derived from the movie industry, assuming a futuristic appearance and dominating the city skyline. The metallic folding wall design of the lobby is inspired by imaginative sci-fi movie setting. The red LED light fills the lobby with energy. This vigorous form floating above the office floors on the top is an auditorium and restaurant space dedicated to the celebrities. The flexibility of the space can cater for activities such as premieres and private party.

The west facing facade of auditorium is installed with large glazing which offers the guests a chance to look at the breathtaking view of Mumbai.

Integration is an important factor in movie production and creative industries. The facade design of Parinee Tower is an integration of four different facade zones which offer diverse spatial experiences from both inside and outside. A unique combination of glazing, LED, louver and sky garden zones create a unique and iconic building profile.

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Le Mannequin... as an Iconic

The competition challenge consisted in designing a 100 meters high tower-museum, containing exhibition areas of 20th century fashion history and becoming a landmark for Tokyo. For this purpose, the site was located at Omotesando Street, since this avenue gathers the world’s most important fashion houses, at their maximum magnificence. Cre8 Architecture’s proposal reacts to both the specific nature of the site, as well as the visual impact of the building.

Le Mannequin stands as a new landmark on this iconic promenade. The alabaster facade draped in a black concrete robe unveils itself to its audience – invites the visitor to cross a bottom lit cat-walk within a large entrance atrium space that respects the scale of the existing Omotesando Street buildings. The 20’s – 60’s exhibition spaces tumble over each other allowing glimpses into and from adjoining genres. The runway space articulates the building form between the 60’s and 70’s spaces and provides an exhilarating skyline to the street. The crimson spine – zipping the fabric of the building together allows visitors to meander between spaces whilst high speed 3D dynamic lifts whisk you up to the rooftop Japanese garden and sky bar.

A New Zealand Canvas

Gretchen Albrecht has exhibited in New Zealand and internationally for more than 35 years. Recent work has appeared in Valencia, Spain as part of the exhibition Ultramarte at the Casa Museo Benlliure, and throughout New Zealand in the group exhibition Diaspora: Pluralism and Singularity and the survey exhibition Returning, initiated by the Dunedin Public Art Gallery.

R o s a  -  R a d i a n c e ,   2009
140 x 250 cm,  acrylic and oil on canvas.
Since the 1970s, Albrecht's work has evolved from the poured acrylic 'stained canvases' for which she first gained widespread recognition, into a pair of signature 'shaped-canvas' formats: the hemisphere (half circle) & the oval. These are shapes that Albrecht associates with particular meanings & states of mind. In the shaped-canvas paintings she has been producing since the early 1980s, resonant combinations of colour and geometry create images with a clear poetic impulse, in which references to landscape, family and the cosmos act as emotional points of departure.

R o s e  G a r d e n  ( F a n t i n  L a t o u r ) ,    2008
94 x 183 cm,  acrylic and oil on canvas.

The past five years have seen Albrecht's artistic horizons broaden to encompass large-scale, stainless steel sculpture and have witnessed the inception of a new series of multi-panelled rectangular paintings featuring a rectangular 'threshold' motif. This motif has also been a key presence in recent oval works. In 2009, Albrecht began working on a new series of rectangular paintings, featuring oval-shaped vortices of colour and slender horizontal geometric figures . The first of these paintings were recently exhibited at Mark Hutchins Gallery, Wellington and Nadene Milne Gallery, Arrowtown.