Greenland’s New National Gallery by BIG

Copenhagen architects BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group, in collaboration with TNT Nuuk + Ramboll Nuuk + Arkitekti have won the competition to design Greenland‘s New National Gallery.

"The Danish functionalistic architecture in Nuuk is typically square boxes which ignore the unique nature of Greenland. We therefore propose a national gallery which is both physically and visually in harmony with the dramatic nature, just like life in Greenland is a symbiosis of the nature. We have created a simple, functional and symbolic shape, where the perfect circle is supplied by the local topography which creates a unique hybrid between the abstract shape and the specific location."

Bjarke Ingels, Founder and Partner, BIG
Greenland National Gallery
Nuuk, Greenland
Images: © BIG

more @ +MOOD 
Yes Is More: An Archicomic on Architectural Evolution
BIG: Bjarke Ingels Group Projects 2001-2010

CAU Central Library: Overlap, Kim in-cheurl+archium

Before


After

This building was refurbished from an old building by Kim in-cheurl+archium.

"Architecture is an identification of place, a creation of individualism that makes it unique to anything else in the world. The place thus creates a memory with time...The meaning of place is the result of an accumulation of memories."

Kim in-cheurl+archium

Kim in-cheurl+archium
CAU Central Library: Overlap
221 Heuk seok-dong, Dongjak-gu, Seoul, Korea

more @ +MOOD

Georgian Aquarium, Henning Larsen Architects

"The building will become a landmark and an organic reference to all elements of the sea… … It captures the special atmosphere by the sea and thus becomes a tribute to the power of the sea!"

Design Director and Partner at Henning Larsen Architects, Louis Becker

Henning Larsen Architects
Georgian Aquarium
Rustaveli Str., Batumi, The Republic of Georgia

via +MOOD

Urban Mediaspace, Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects

"The cantilevering roof plate is a dominant component of the architectural expression; during the day and especially in the evening, when the transparent façade allows the building to glow from the inside."

Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects
Urban Mediaspace
Europaplads, Århus, Denmark

more @ +MOOD

New Tamayo Museum, by BIG and Michel Rojkind

New Tamayo Museum overlooking Mexico City - BIG and Michel Rojkind win cultural competition in Mexico.

"Understanding that contemporary art spaces pretend to be more important than the art they contain, our proposal arises from the scheme of requirements previously studied by our clients, assuring maximum functionality in each area while focusing on the development of art projects. By enhancing the program and understanding the topography, a balance between form, function and visual impact for this important space was created. Once the functional part was improved, we could give attention to details that make the space not only a culture enclosure, but also a building that understands its surroundings to distinguish itself and transform from a simple form to a powerful symbol, controversial, but ideal to lodge this new space."

Michel Rojkind, Rojkind Arquitectos

"When you ask contemporary artists what kind of space they would prefer to exhibit their work in – they almost always describe old industrial warehouses or loft spaces. It is the kind of space where they have their studios, but most importantly the rough structures, with large spans and generous ceiling heights provides them with the maximum freedom of expression. On the other hand the museum director or the mayor might want an icon that to attract visitors."

Bjarke Ingels, BIG Partner-in-Charge

BIG and Rojkind Arquitectos
New Tamayo Museum
Mexico

Church in Foligno, by Massimiliano Fuksas

"The suspension of a volume within another. Seeing through concrete heaven, from outside, to inside, to outside."

Massimiliano Fuksas
Fuksas architects
Church in Foligno
Foligno, Italy

more @ +MOOD

UAE pavillion at shanghai expo 2010, Foster + Partner

“The cities of the UAE rise from the desert and the pavilion will similarly emerge to form a natural counterpoint to Shanghai’s urban landscape. Like a sand dune, it is oriented to the direction of the wind and is a powerful example of an organic and highly effective passive environmental design.”

Gerard Evenden
Foster + Partner Senior Partner
UAE pavillion at shanghai expo 2010

Embassy Of Finland In Tokyo, by Architects Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Ltd

"The most important is to create an image of Finland. The Embassy must represent Finland in the right way."

Rainer Mahlamäki

Architects Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Ltd
Embassy Of Finland In Tokyo
Tokyo

more @ +MOOD, AMNP, Bustler

Antwerp Port House, Zaha Hadid architects

"the concept is a free interpretation of a beam-shaped volume raised above the existing fire brigade building and supported on three sculptured concrete pillars housing the stairs and lifts. two of the pillars are situated on the covered inner courtyard of the firehouse, while the third is located beside an external support point and consists of a panoramic lift shaft...

I am absolutely delighted to be selected to build the headquarters for the APA. Antwerp is one of the world’s busiest shipping ports and the new port house design reflects the city’s worldwide significance in communication and transportation. The dichotomy between the reflective, faceted form of the new extension and the powerful structural mass of the existing fire station creates a bold and enigmatic statement for the city."


Antwerp Port House
Zaha Hadid architects
Antwerp, Belgium

Culloden Battlefield Visitor Centre, Gareth Hoskins Architects

An interesting project - Culloden Memorial Battlefield Centre, located in Inverness, Scotland, designed by Gareth Hoskins Architects, is a result of wining competition which was held by the National Trust for Scotland in 2004.

The exhibition works of Gareth Hoskins Architects is held by the light house till 2009 January. Click here for the further of the exhibition.

Gareth Hoskins Architects
Culloden Memorial Battlefield Centre
Inverness, Scotland

Italian Pavillion for Shanghai Expo 2010, BiCuadro Architects

Further to the previous post of 1st prize winner Denmark Pavillion for Shanghai Expo 2010 by BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group). This is the 3rd prize winner Italian Pavillion, designed by BiCuadro Architects.

The architectural design inspired all “true expression of Italian city: the historic city layered.” with a reinterpretation of a split casing in a series of plates “stratigraphy” that back to a time sequence, a metaphor for urban training Italian.

+ more photos

Competition, 3rd prize
Italian Pavillion for Expo Shanghai 2010
BiCuadro Architects
Shanghai, China
Images © BiCuadro Architects

The Peres Center for Peace, Massimiliano Fuksas Architetto

Project: The Peres Center for Peace
Architect: Massimiliano Fuksas Architetto
Client: Peres Centre For Peace (Israel) And Fimar Costruzionis.p.a. (Italy)
Program: Auditorium, Offcie, Library and Mediateca, Bar, Reception and Terrace
Area: 7,000 sqm
Location: Israel, Jaffa Tel Aviv
Photo Courtesy Massimiliano Fuksas Architetto

Massimiliano Fuksas Architetto is the designer of The Peres Center for Peace located in Israel, Jaffa Tel Aviv.

Tivoli Concert Hall, 3XN

In 2004, 3XN was awarded the prestigious task of performing the renovation and extensions of the Concert Hallin Tivoli, the famous old Copenhagen amusement park.


A new extension has been realized in a light, transparent and modern expression in keeping with the existing Tivoli pavilion architecture. Moreover, the added feature comprises improved staff facilities, a family restaurant, and a conference centre. The new building replaces the former “Winter Entrance”, which in turn has been demolished.


Tivoli Concert Hall
3XN
København, Denmark
images © Adam Mørk

White Forest KAIT kobo, Junya Ishigami

A white forest in a grey field, Junya Ishigami’s university project space in the foothills west of Tokyo is a building designed to almost disappear.

The structure presents another round in the architect’s ongoing contest with gravity. The forest comprises 305 slender steel 5m-high columns, irregularly orientated and distributed throughout the space, while the field from which they rise is a distorted square bed of concrete, 47m by 46m, slightly raised above the surrounding bitumen. A flat roof caps the space with linear roof lights, and a frameless glass perimeter seals it. The architecture ends there; its animation then takes over with furniture, pot plants and people.

Ishigami explains the evolution of the design as a painstaking investigation of the relationships between the columns – a task for which he developed custom-made software.

"I wanted to make a space with very ambiguous borderlines, which has a fluctuation between local spaces and the overall space, rather than a universal space like that of Mies" says Ishigami. "This allows a new flexibility to emerge, revealing reality rather than shaping it."

White Forest KAIT kobo

Junya Ishigami

Leonardo Glass Cube, by 3deluxe

3deluxe created this distinctive corporate architecture for the brand Leonardo. The integrative design concept combines architecture, interior design and landscape design into a complex aesthetic entity.

One of the design features is the multi-layerd composition of the building: The silhouette-like genetics overlay with the graphic design of the glass facade and elements on the inside.

3deluxe

Leonardo Glass Cube

Germany

Photo: © 3deluxe

New Seoul City Hall, Mass Studies

'Our proposal for the city hall is not an object-based architecture that is quick to eveal all of its virtues from several kilometers away, but a spatial experience that is fully integrated into the city to be re-discovered as a 'place.' The exterior forms an appropriate composition with the surroundings, with unique and inviting urban elements as a unified whole from all sides. If the existing city hall building could be generalized as a façade, or simply, a single face...then the new proposal could be understood as a continuing array of faces whose dynamic quality would draw the people in from all directions. Once they are inside, they will be submerged into the strong, central outdoor space of the madang, re-defining the space as a dynamic interaction of public functions. Through this madang, the city hall will become one, while the exterior is composed of multiple traits to embrace different types of people, and thus interact with each of their daily lives.' more...

Mass Studies

New Seoul City Hall

Korea

more info @ drawings, design boom

Photo: © Mass Studies

Chanel Contemporary Art Container, Zaha Hadid

Chanel Contemporary Art Container, a travelling art space designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, has opened in its first destination, Hong Kong. Then Tokyo > New York > London > Moscow > Paris.

“I think through our architecture, we can give people a glimpse of another world, and enthuse them, make them excited about ideas. Our architecture is intuitive, radical, international and dynamic. We are concerned with constructing buildings that evoke original experiences, a kind of strangeness and newness that is comparable to the experience of going to a new country. The Mobile Art Pavilion for Chanel follows these principles of inspiration ......

......The fascination of the Mobile Art Pavilion is the challenge of translating the intellectual and physical into the sensual – experimenting with completely unexpected and totally immersive environments for this global celebration of the iconic work of Chanel. I see the Pavilion as a kind of a total artwork that continually reinvents itself as it moves from Asia, to the USA and Europe,” states Zaha Hadid.

Zaha Hadid Architects
Chanel Contemporary Art Container
Hong Kong >Tokyo > New York > London > Moscow > Paris

more info @ Dezeen, zahahadidblog

Jewish Museum in Berlin, Daniel Libeskind

Althought this Jewish Museum is not a recent work by Daniel Libeskind, but I think it is still an interest video to be shared in my blog.

Bird's Nest in China, Herzog & De Meuron

Herzog + De Meuron, two Swiss architects who go to east to find a form in Beijing, China - the bird's nest is getting built, for Olympic 2008.

Living Blocks

Urban morphology, the special attention is given to how the physical form of a city changes over time and to how different cities compare to each other.

A Canadian city called Mississauga is trying to create a more vibrant and pedestrian-friendly downtown, but the large scale of block patterns identified the key problem, which to compare with other major cities in the world.

"Because great cities have short blocks and lively sidewalks, Mississauga wants a downtown grid that lures pedestrians – and Amacon's Parkside Village will help launch the vision", an article "Beyond Desity" which has been publiched in Newspaper Toronto Star.

and the diagrams above demostrate:

• MISSISSAUGA: “Long blocks and virtually empty sidewalks”
• BARCELONA: “La Ramblas is the main north-south promenade”
• COPENHAGEN: “City features a car-free zone called the Stroget”
• LONDON: “The Mayfair and Soho districts south of Oxford St”
• NEW YORK: “Midtown Manhattan south of Central Park”
• PARIS: “Streets were designed by Georges-Eugne Haussmann”
• ROME: “East of the Tiber River bend that points to the Vatican”
• SAN FRANCISCO: “Market St splits the central city into two grids”
• TORONTO: “Between Queen and College Sts east of Bathurst”

more info @ Spacing Toronto