The proposal for the ‘Vrbani Business Center’ by NFO in Zagreb, Croatia aims to solve its inner urbanism within itself and set the guidelines for the development of the surrounding area. They do so through a cube form set on the site while passages carve within the closed volume to emphasize directions from the environment and, at the same time, pull users closer to the internal context of the new structure.

The project site is located in a context of several powerful determinants, the busy road on the north, park and housing development on the southwest and the Adriatic Insurance Company building on the east.

Their design of the black containment volume is broken up and opened to the surroundings. Looked at from a vehicle at the Zagreb Avenue passages create different views on the compact volume allowing viewer a glimpse inside. Light leaks at night create an image that contributes to identity and dynamics of the avenue.

Canyons divide the volume creating the central lobby from which one can review the whole structure of the building. Stretching through all floors there is interconnected continuous circular network of bridges connecting all three volumes and all floors.

Above ground there are 10 floors, lobby on the first floor is surrounded by restaurants and shopping facilities pedestrian and access from three directions. Nine floors above are office spaces that can be organized in various combinations. Separate vertical communications allows independent functioning of each volume.

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A team led by AECOM and New York-based Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) is one of five shortlisted teams invited to participate in an international design competition to renovate and reactivate Chicago’s landmark Navy Pier. This is a once-in-a-century opportunity that will redefine the character and focus of Chicago’s waterfront. It is part of an ambitious effort to create a new Navy Pier for the 21st century, and in doing so, to redefine what the pier and the waterfront means to the city.

Unveiled to the public on January 31, 2012 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, the AECOM-BIG design vision aims to “re-colonize the people’s pier,” by maximizing opportunity through a holistic approach. The result is ‘Pier+’ — a vibrant urban destination that creates a new amenity shared by all while making a positive and progressive statement about Chicago to the world.

Navy Pier is prominently situated along Lake Michigan and the Great Lakes. The largest destination in Illinois and the world’s longest pier, and a centerpiece of Daniel Burnham’s forward-thinking grand plan, this has been a much-loved piece of Chicago history. In recent years, though, the pier’s popularity has waned, marked by congested experiences that are cut off from the rest of the city.

The AECOM-BIG design proposal seeks to strike a new chapter in this storied history. Our ambition is to create a new reality at Navy Pier that lives up to the poetics of its beautiful lakefront setting by giving a world-class place back to Chicago.

Key aspects of the design include:

• Gateway Park: A welcoming, well-connected arrival experience through focused interventions.
• Crystal Garden: Part sculptural indoor park, part futuristic urban farm – a sustainable food production hub for entertainment, education and culinary delight.
• Skyline Gardens: An extraordinary tapestry of the world’s finest roof gardens.
• Pier Park: A Grand Stair and Boardwalk (pictured) that give the city a truly world-class setting and the finest views in town, through integrated, holistic thinking.
• East End Park: An archipelago meeting both the water’s edge and horizon line.
• South Dock: A playful ribbon of connectivity, expanded program and shaded pathways.

East End Park: The East End Park will take visitors over the water, and into the water. The existing obstruction to the view is eliminated, revealing a breathtaking view of the lake, the water blending seamlessly into the sky. A lifted corner creates a space below at ground level, housing a café/restaurant.

Recalling the east end’s not-so-distant history when portions of it were closer to water for smaller boats and wading, we propose a stepped soft threshold that can accommodate fluctuation in water levels. This new public space will allow visitors to engage much more closely with the water; sculpturally, it will be the yin to the yang of the lifted corner to the south. This “North Dip” becomes a completely intimate and free experience allowing for relaxation in the sun on a man-made beach park. Stepped seating will allow for viewing a spectacular 500-foot-high water show (designed by WET) located off the end of the pier in the lake.

Pier Park Grand Stairs: At the heart of Pier+ is the Grand Stairs, combining a large stepped zone for seating, a flat zone of slides and medium-size steps straight to a rooftop with uninterrupted views. The massive scale of the buildings currently constructed on the pier restricts the views back to the city. Lifting the public realm over the existing pier provides a respite, a relief from the city that is not available anywhere else: it becomes a place that will make the pier a destination among day-to-day residents, rather than just the occasional tourist.

The Grand Stairs is thus a park with a city view, doubling as a “Spanish Steps” style place to rest, to look, to play and to relax – a new landmark that is as iconic as it is public.

The hill (doubling as the roof of the proposed Shakespeare Theater) accommodates a series of restaurants and dining terraces looking back to the city, from where you will be able to enjoy dramatic views of the sun setting behind the Chicago skyline.

Any proposed program within the Pier Park – from organized concerts to personal picnics – will be immediately unique. In the Chicago winter, for example, this can become a place to play. The smooth portion of the Grand Stair to the south will have a permanent set of slides as a groomed area in snowy months for a giant set of tubing slides. In warmer months, the slides will be transformed as a playful amenity for all ages to enjoy.

Life After Dark: As an integral part of the team, renowned lighting designers Speirs + Major have developed a comprehensive lighting design program that will make Navy Pier a stunning vision in the Chicago nightscape. Developing a theme of “Life After Dark,” the designers have created a night-time identity that combines the functional requirements of lighting delivered alongside leisure activities of the site.

Micro-wind turbines on the roof will produce renewable energy to power much of the lighting

Crystal Garden: The Crystal Garden will be an indoor public attraction that brings together sustainable food production, entertainment, education and culinary delight. An aquaponic nutrient/water cycle system will feed various naturally-growing fruits and vegetables, which will respond well to the microclimate, in dramatic sculptural pillars – an urban food jungle. Ground-level pedestrian circulation will enable easy visitor access; meanwhile a floating seed-like juice bar will serve products created from food grown on site. Completing the holistic system, food grown in the Crystal Garden will be used to supply the restaurants at Pier+.

Skyline Gardens: Between the Grand Stairs and East End Park will be an evolving tapestry of the world’s finest roof gardens. Arranged in an artful geometric pattern, these gardens will provide a visually interesting and rich landscape for visitors. In collaboration with the existing flower show, a phasing plan imagines the roof gardens growing through time to eventually encompass the entire rooftop of Navy Pier’s largest building.

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Completed by Spanish architect José Javier Gallardo of ///g.bang///, the new youth facility in Zaragoza, Spain connects to the existing Nuestra Señora del Carmen Neuropsychiatric Centre through an underground tunnel.

Roofs with the steepest pitches are located above shared common rooms, while shallow gables correspond to patient bedrooms and staff quarters are located beneath flat roofs.

The red powder-coated zinc sheets cover the entire exterior, interrupted only by frameless windows.

Here’s a longer description from architects:

Young Disabled Moduls and Workshop Pavilions
‘Módulo Para El Tratamiento De Jóvenes Con Discapacidades Conductuales’

ONE CONCEPT, ONE COLOR AND ONE MATERIAL

The assignment is motivated by the need to expand the Neuropsychiatric Center Our Lady of Carmen, in Zaragoza.

In the first phase there is a new support center for youth with behavioral problems, and currently sharing facilities with the geriatric section and, by the nature of their treatment and pathology, was necessary to become independent.

In a second phase will be built the “Module for Occupational Workshops.”

PROGRAM

It has 10 single bedrooms and 8 double rooms, with toilets. The common areas of the internal are two living rooms and dining room.

The program is completed with, reception room, two offices, laundry, office, control room toilets, storage and utility room.

GEOMETRY

The floor plan is rectangular, dimensions 15.5 x 65 m. The facade has no cantilevers , but reflects the emptying of the building volume in the direction north, creating a courtyard to capture sunlight and allow controlled the patients to stay there in the summer.

The roof, for the most part, sawtooth shape, with variable slopes – very steep at some points – reflects, from the outside, the degree of internal mental activity in relation to the type of rooms they occupy: the resting or sleeping area with a slope of 60%, common areas or with maximum activity have outstanding peak of 240%.

The treatment of the spaces occupied by the medical staff and caregivers has been dealt with flat roofs.

MATERIAL/COLOR

Façade and roof are covered with red zinc coated sheet. Historically, these centers, known as asylums were unrecognizable and hidden by society.

But Hospital, “hospitare” in Latin, means “to receive as a guest” and together with the values of the Congregation and its founder, “Hospitality between people who suffer mental impairment” and “integrating the patients into society as far as possible” where the main goals… The red color is a symbol that makes them visible… that robs us of prejudice… that emphasizes the social work… makes us more sexy! The material… the shape of this whole “scene” had to be modeled nobly!

Photography is by Jesús Granada.

Architect: José Javier Gallardo Ortega ///g.bang///
Client: Nuestra Señora del Carmen Neuropsychiatric Centre | Hermanas Hospitalarias del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús

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The Chicago office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) has won an international competition to design Greenland Group Suzhou Center, a 358-meter supertall landmark tower, in Wujiang, China. This is SOM Chicago’s sixth project with the Greenland Group.

Project Description from the Architects:

The atrium is a key design feature of the building. It maximizes daylight penetration, facilitates mixed mode ventilation in the lobbies and public spaces, and acts as a fresh air supply source for the tower. The building is oriented to harness both the stack effect and prevailing winds via the east and west façades of the atrium.

Major high performance energy saving strategies include a high performance façade, utilizing cooler outside air at higher levels for natural ventilation of the atrium, natural light harvesting using daylight responsive controls, lighting energy optimization using efficient fixtures and occupant controls, energy recovery systems, demand controlled ventilation, and an onsite energy center with combined heat and power plant to capitalize on the overall load diversity of the development.

Luke Leung, SOM Director of Sustainable and MEP Engineering, adds, “The design of the Greenland Group Suzhou Center utilizes an atrium as the ‘lung’ of the building to provide ventilation and will incorporate a series of high efficiency measures with the objective to achieve a 60% savings in energy consumption compared to a conventional US high rise and a 60% reduction in potable water use.”

SOM Managing Partner Jeffrey McCarthy states, “This exciting new commission embodies SOM’s interdisciplinary commitment to elegant high performance design. The Greenland Group Suzhou Center is designed not only for efficiency of construction and operation, but to make a strong skyline statement about Wujiang and its bright future.”

The Greenland Group Suzhou Center is SOM Chicago’s sixth project with the Greenland Group. The firm’s work began with Zifeng Tower, formerly Nanjing Greenland Financial Center, in Nanjing, China and was completed in 2009. Five additional supertall projects designed by Wimer for the Greenland Group are the 56-story Zhengzhou Greenland Plaza in Zhengzhou, China, the 59-story Jiangxi Nanchang Greenland Central Plaza, Parcel A in Nanchang, China, the 56-story Nanchang Zifeng Tower in Nanchang, China and the 55-story Greenland Dawangjing Supertall Project in Dawangjing, China.

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The following is a description from Kengo Kuma:

‘This is architecture that originates from the system of Cidori, an old Japanese toy. Cidori is an assembly of wood sticks with joints having unique shape, which can be extended merely by twisting the sticks, without any nails or metal fittings. The tradition of this toy has been passed on in Hida Takayama, a small town in a mountain, where many skilled craftsmen still exist.

Cidori has a wood 12 mm square as its element, which for this building was transformed into different sizes. Parts are 60mm×60mm×200cm or 60mm×60mm×400cm, and form a grid of 50cm square. This cubic grid also becomes the grid on its own for the showcase in the museum.

Jun Sato, structural engineer for the project, conducted a compressive and flexure test to check the strength of this system, and verified that even the device of a toy could be adapted to ‘big’ buildings. This architecture shows the possibility of creating a universe by combining small units like toys with your own hands. We worked on the project in the hope that the era of machine-made architectures would be over, and human beings would build them again by themselves.’

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Diller Scofidio + Renfro have won the Aberdeen City Garden Project design competition which seeks to transform the center of Aberdeen, Scotland. New York City-based DS+R collaborated with local Scottish architects, Keppie Design and landscape architects OLIN, on this project and emerged as winners from a head-to-head race with another finalist team led by Foster + Partners. The competition shortlist also included other international heavyweights Gustafson Porter, Mecanoo, Snøhetta & Hoskins, and West 8. (Find images at the end of the post)

The following is some further information from the competition brief:

Aberdeen City Garden project

The successful proposal, popularly known as the Granite Web, celebrates the three-dimensional aspects of Aberdeen, reinterpreting the topography of the Denburn Valley and the dramatic cascade of the existing Union Terrace Gardens while creating graceful new spaces and structures that contribute to a memorable and thrilling contemporary design.

It provides additional usable garden space, a landmark cultural and arts center, and promotes the City’s historic streets, revealing the arches, vaults and bridge on Union Street and retaining the balustrades and statues which are part of Aberdeen’s legacy.

The Jury’s decision represents a breakthrough for DS+R giving them their first major European design competition win. DS+R Partner, Charles Renfro said the practice was very excited about ‘jumping across the pond’, commenting:

‘The steep competition drove us that much harder to do more research, to understand the site more thoroughly, to dig deeper into our creative reserve and our technical expertise to find a daring, thoughtful and beautiful solution.’

‘While the City Garden is at the heart of Aberdeen, the heart has little pulse we feel that we can make that heart throb and bring life and energy into the center of town. By making the park greener, more accommodating to passive and active uses, more engaged at its edges, the gardens can become a magnet for this otherwise youthful and energetic city. We feel particularly well- suited to this challenge the project reflects an integration of landscape design, museum design and design for the performing arts, the primary focuses of our practice.’

The Jury weighed information from a technical panel, face-to-face discussions with the respective teams, public and stakeholder feedback; the two finalists’ schemes being those most popular in a public exhibition held in the city in the autumn. The winning design scored higher in all key areas of the brief including, creation of more new space, cost and viability in construction and on-going maintenance, environmental sustainability and energy efficiency.

Malcolm Reading, the competition organizer, commented:
‘This is such an exciting outcome and a great coup for the city. This ingenious and inspiring design for Aberdeen’s key public space gives the city a new social landscape but one rooted in its extraordinarily rich heritage and natural assets.

‘The runner-up concept, by Foster and Partners was outstanding, elegant and thoughtful, but did not, in the end, persuade the Jury that it could match the promise of connectivity, excitement and spatial diversity of the winning scheme.’

Sir Duncan Rice, former Principal of Aberdeen University and Chair of the Jury said:

‘The Diller Scofidio team had thought long and hard about Aberdeen’s special history and unique needs. Answer by answer, they overwhelmed the jury with their vision and their sensitivity to the whole downtown context. They are flexible and responsive, and the thrilling concept they have offered will continue to adapt and evolve as discussion proceeds. I’m proud that our city has been able to attract a team which combines distinction, creativity and urban experience.’

Charles Landry, author of The Creative City and a member of the Jury added:
‘This is a design that can act as the catalyst to regenerate the whole of Aberdeen’s city center with significant economic impacts for the entire city. Truly inspiring, it can put Aberdeen onto the global radar screen – very, very few designs can do this. In time it will be surely loved by locals and visitors alike. Without this type of transformational change, Aberdeen will struggle to meet the challenges it will inevitably face in the future.’

John Stewart, Chairman of the City Garden Project management board said:
‘We promised the public we would deliver an exceptional design and then produce a detailed economic assessment. This will be announced shortly so that the public know what the project could look like, how it will be funded and the economic benefits it will bring before making their decision in the referendum.’

The image gallery below shows the proposed projects of the five shortlisted teams led by Foster + Partners, Gustafson Porter, Mecanoo, Snøhetta & Hoskins, and West 8.

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The jury at the international St. Petersburg Pier Competition just announced ‘The Lens’ proposal as the winning entry. Designed by Los Angeles firm Michael Maltzan Architecture in collaboration with landscape architects Tom Leader Studio, the scheme proposes a network of looping walkways and sweeping bridges which will add a landmark to the waterfront of St. Petersburg, Florida. The jury, three architects and two elected officials, selected the concept unanimously.

The competition shortlist included designs by BIG and West 8.

The following is the project description from the architects:

The New St. Petersburg Pier

The St. Petersburg Pier is an extraordinary opportunity to create a new landmark that is representative of both the people and the City of St. Petersburg. As a team,we have come to know the City, its people, and its landscape. We recognize the challenge of continuing the legacy first begun by William Straub, as well as the importance of this key public space for all of St. Petersburg. Furthermore, the City and the Pier have a shared identity, one that has become inextricably intertwined over time. Given this close relationship, it is especially important that this new icon reflects and resonates with the City and its defining characteristic—its connection to the water.

The new Pier is not an icon unto itself. It is instead a lens that frames the City’s relationship to the water, changing how St. Petersburg views its present and its future. While the Pier will remain an important attraction for visitors, we believe that the Pier must be first for the people of St. Petersburg, an active, vital part of the City’s life and culture. Operating on multiple scales of renewal—individual, urban, economic, ecological—this new Pier serve as a new kind of fountain of youth for St. Petersburg and its citizens, a symbol of the renewed vitality of the City, a platform for continued growth, and a destination within the City, the region, and our nation.

The Lens: An Innovative View

Like a magnifying glass on the water, the new Pier acts both as a lens back to the City and a window into the underwater world beneath. Looping out over the water from the shore, the Lens provides views of the bay below and sky above, framing and highlighting the reciprocal relationship between the City and the Bay. Rising above the water, the crenellated form of the Lens canopy evokes waves or sails, a crown on the eastern horizon. Twin bridge paths that extend out and back from the uplands, eliminate the traditional unidirectional path typical for a pier and instead creates a circuit that allows for a wider variety of experiences as visitors walk to the Pier’s length, take in the waterfront vistas, and return back to the City.

From its beginnings as the Municipal Pier, the years of the “Million Dollar Pier,” and the decades that have followed, the Pier has always been a city forum; at its core, it is a place for residents to come together. It has also been the backdrop for important memories: fishing with a parent, a first date, a marriage proposal or returning with their own child. No longer simply a pathway to a terminus, the Pier will become a space for new experiences, one where new programs and activities create opportunities to build lasting memories for individuals, for families, and for the collective community. Recognizing the history and importance of the existing Pier, our proposal does not demolish it; instead it remakes the existing pier’s underwater structure into a framework for an extraordinary new aquatic landscape. The Lens, in essence, is a living room for the City, one where residents and visitors can make a direct, unmediated connection with the waterfront, with each other, and with the City of St. Petersburg.

The Civic Loop: A New Civic Green

Opposite the Lens that extends out over the water is a complementary loop that encircles the upland as it meets downtown. During our team’s visits over the past several months, it is apparent that the experience of the Pier today is isolated from the upland and downtown. This Civic Loop, with the great lawn of the Civic Green at its center, directly links the experience of the water with the life of the downtown St. Petersburg. Pedestrian and bicycle pathways extending across this landscape loop connecting a diverse range of recreational experiences both over land or over water, knitting the site into a singular whole. The new marina, beaches, and lagoons that extend across the upland, descend to the water’s edge, float over it, and arc above it, defining extraordinary experiences and environments for recreation and restoration. The new Pier also reshapes the upland’s southern edge by lifting the primary pedestrian promenade to create a continuous experience of the water that begins at Bayshore Drive. Linking City and Pier alike, the project is no longer two parts, upland and over water, but instead a united whole.

The Hub: Between Land and Water

At the threshold where water and land meet is the new Hub of activity with a flexible array of program areas including the new Amphitheater to the south and the extraordinary new Water Park and playground to the north. Easily accessed, serviced, and closer to the activity of downtown, this zone is integrated into the surrounding landscape through a series of pathways and open lawns, connecting the beach front, new cafes and retail spaces, transient boat slips, and a series of expansive plazas. Each area is woven into the next, combining spaces for families, for play, and for performance. This space is the retail and commercial attractor and economic driver for the project, a counterweight to the more experiential icon of the Lens.

Connecting St. Petersburg and Its Waterfront

One of the great opportunities of this competition is to provide the new living room, the central piazza or town square for the city. It only makes sense that in St. Petersburg, this would happen partly on land and in large part on water. The heritage and identity of the city rests in countless ways on its relationship to the Bay. Water is the icon; it is a vast amenity the city already owns: no one needs to invent it or pay for it. What we can invent is a host of both powerful and nuanced ways to experience the Bay, its particular light, atmosphere, horizon, its nautical sociability, its renewed underwater life, and an aquatic perspective on the city itself. These experiences can include everyone that calls St. Petersburg home, from children and young families to longestablished residents. This is a place for the entire city to gather on common ground—and water.

We recognize the new Pier will be the linchpin in a larger network of interconnected circulation pathways of pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists that extend across the entire downtown waterfront. Connecting Vinoy Park, Demen’s Landing, and Straub Park, the new Pier will be an integral part of downtown St. Petersburg. Once completed, the Pier will be a model for how other cities can rethink their waterfronts, especially their relationship to the natural environment when planning adaptable and sustainable energy and water strategies. A new waterfront promenade and sculpture walk links the existing cultural and commercial axis extending north and south along Beach Drive and Straub Park, creating more direct experiences of the water. To the west, Central Avenue and a remade 2nd Avenue North extending to Mirror Lake, links the Pier with the heart of downtown.

The Lens: Framing the City and Bay

The Lens is a new icon for the City of St. Petersburg, reframing the relationship between the City and the Bay. Visible from afar, it is a crown on the skyline and a marker within the daily life of St. Petersburg. Embracing the water at its center, it is a loupe focused on the water, an observation point for the sky overhead, the water below, and the city skyline beyond. This is a new space for collective experiences for individuals, families, and the residents of St. Pete to gather, to play, and to celebrate, whether for an afternoon walk, weekly farmer’s market, seasonal festival, or large annual event like July 4th.

As its canopy rises over the Bay, the Lens incorporates bicycle and walking paths arcing upwards before returning to the water’s edge. Its broad form shelters the main promenade from the hot sun and the rain, and creates a welcoming space for visitors as they arrive on foot, on bicycle, or via the Pier Tram. Elevators and stairs bring visitors up to a series of viewing decks with unprecedented views of the city skyline in the distance. An oculus inscribed at the far end of the loop opens and connects the world within the Lens and Tampa Bay beyond. At night, the surface of the canopy can become an extraordinary surface for video projection, for performance, and for art. Patterns of light, color or even clouds can track across its surface and will be visible from the Amphitheater and the surrounding city. The Lens will be an active extension of the city skyline on the water.

The canopy’s surface also plays an active role for sustainability. Built of pre-cast white concrete panels,the canopy incorporates an array of micro turbines embedded in its surface, their patterned form taking advantage of prevailing winds and the canopy’s airfoil form. Solar panels are arrayed across the northwest edge of the bowl; their position optimized in relationship to the sun’s path. The canopy also captures and routes rainwater into collection cisterns embedded in the pedestrian pathway below.

The Lens canopy floats effortlessly over the water, light in construction, yet able to resist hurricane-force winds and significant use over time. The design criteria for the project is a 75-year lifespan: as a result, the canopy is constructed of concrete, a lasting icon for the City. Given the sculptural form of the structure and the challenges of building overwater, the canopy’s form is developed into a regular, 30’ radial structural grid arrayed within the footprint of the shell. Below, the scale of the grid and its large-scale columns create a unique architectural space beneath the canopy; above, the grid is linked seamlessly into the upward-curving shape of the shell.

The structure consists of a series of precast concrete beams in a warped grid, following the funicular shape of the canopy, designed to be shallow but wide, taking advantage of the shell’s inherently structural form. Infill precast panels are then placed within this grid, cast in shallow trapezoidal shapes that repeat as they array around the Lens, meeting each other in a way that allows each to act as a component of a larger arch, with the innermost panels acting as the keystone. On top of this assembly is an architectural slab, mechanically attached to distribute loads across the entirety of the shell.

Precast concrete provides an ideal solution to the challenges of working overwater, with construction that can be erected from crane-equipped barges; individual components are small and light enough to be easily brought to site and quickly erected. These precast elements can then provide a working platform from which further work can be efficiently completed. Further, given its mass, the concrete structure is ideally suited to counteract both uplift and column bending that may occur during gale and hurricane force wind events.

Twin Bridges: A Circulation Circuit

Two bridges link the Lens to the upland: one skims along the water’s surface creating a direct dialogue with the surrounding Bay; the other raises high overhead taking in sweeping vistas of the Pier and City. These twin bridges create a promenade to and from the Lens which is no longer unidirectional, but is instead a circuit, providing a diversity of experience as visitors travel out and return. The lower bridge is a wider, wood-clad deck accommodating pedestrians, runners, bicyclists, the Pier Tram, and service and emergency vehicles. The upper bridge’s airy promenade is for pedestrians, and perhaps pelicans, with views in all directions, to the bridge below, and the water beneath.

The Reef: Life in the Water

At the focal point within the Lens are the remains of the old pier. Recognizing the significant role the current Pier has played in the City’s history, and the not insignificant cost to remove it, we have not demolished it. Instead the design leaves the caissons that support the current pier in place beneath the water’s surface and created an armature for an unprecedented underwater reef. The Reef will host a publicly visible and rich marine habitat that will support regeneration and growth, granting the aging pier structure a new life. At night underwater lights will reveal marine life and become a natural aquarium. As never before, the extraordinary natural elements that exist along the central downtown waterfront take center stage, are allowed to flourish, and in doing so, bring great joy to visitors of all ages. The waterfront is a constant source of environmental education and can sensitize the community more than ever to the fragile beauty of these underwater places and the critical importance of careful stewardship.

The Reef is constructed with varying levels of planted media for sea grass and extensive lightweight trays of oyster habitat suspended between the remaining underwater caissons. Oysters and sea grass create the “floor” of Tampa Bay’s food web structure – they create the conditions for mollusks, fish, turtles, manatees to thrive. Within the enclosure of the Lens, it is possible to create a wave-sheltered zone for an extensive new growth of these “floor” species, which clean the bay water which create water clarity and good conditions for dramatic species growth and diversity. The 2.5 acres of oyster habitat within the lens is sufficient to clean 20 million gallons of sea water per day. While we can’t clarify the entire bay, we can definitely create a clean and highly diverse native aquatic ecosystem inside the confines of the Lens.

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With offices in London, Paris and Milan, international practice Matteo Cainer Architects have produced ‘Taittogami’, a proposal for the Gösta Serlachius Museum Extension Competition for Gösta, Finland.

Incorporating Gösta Serlachius’s interest of wood and paper processing, the exterior is a series of unfolding roof planes resembling origami which frame the nearby lake and island. The interior features Kirigami principles of folded and cut shapes creating a series of complex architectural sequences.

Creating a harmonious and blurred connection with the landscape, fluid volumes will project from the existing house, introducing visitors through a progression of flexible spaces for exhibitions, conferences, educational facilities and public events. A lakeshore deck will create a transition between land and water for visitors which leads to a sauna within the body of water. The complex will mourish the mind and body, providing intellectual stimulation within a tranquil environment.

Keeping with nordic tradition, the building is formed with timber, integrating the outer walls with the structure into a single component to create illuminated and column-free spaces with unique qualities while still withstanding immense snow loads. Bitumen-coated weatherboarding clads the facades, angling and wrapping the inclined surfaces to emphasize their changes. Operable glazed fins will alter daylight levels inside during the different seasons.

Project Info:

Credits: Matteo Cainer Architects Ltd.
Location: Mänttä, Finland
Use: Museum extension
Client: Gösta Serlachius Fine Arts Foundation
Total floor area: 4,760 m2

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International design and research collaborative Y Design Office recently designed their proposal ‘Unit Fusion’ — a modular, plug-in high-rise residential typology for Hong Kong. As of yet, the 75-story tower project is still in its conceptual design phase.

The following is a description from the designers:

“Under rapid housing developments in the past years, Hong Kong has benefited much in terms of economy. However, important values such as value in sense of community and individual identity were lost. This thesis hereby critically reviews current and past housing projects in Hong Kong and stating the notion of verticality as the only solution.

The ambition is a new alternative high-rise residential typology, in which its inhabitants are given unique units and allocations in accordance to specific zoning strategy within a tower structure, thus creating a phenomenal living experience through bonding and acquiring needs by each and every single individual. It is a re-interpretation of the balance between genericity and specificity aiming at formulating an extraordinary democratic living concept.

empowerment of individuality

A catalog of 1,960 unique residential units that reflects the importance of individual identity is provided- at the same time, it enables the owners as individuals to choose their own unit types from XS to XL, custom-fit to their own features, namely kitchen, bathroom/powder, closet, balcony, entry/fa?ade in accordance to their specific needs. All unit types are formulated based on the primitive cubic size of 2.6m x 2.6m x 2.6m, ranging from 4 to 20 cubes that would define their unit types: XS, S, M, L, XL. Also each unit feature is highly modularized such that it enables open configuration and arrangement in the interior, accommodating each individual’s needs. Life cycle of each unit is approximately 30 years, and maintenance will be on a 5-year-basis to ensure high quality living condition.

empowerment of network

The overall architectural settings of the units generate an extremely complex, yet harmonic living network. The network adapts through time in terms of location, zoning and orientation. Every 5 years each unit will be re-located and contribute to the expansion of the network in order to achieve improved and stronger social bonding in-between units. The 30-year life-cycle of a unit fundamentally engages 6 different locations throughout the tower. There is also a plug in & out mechanical system for the re-allocation of the units within a 4-month period for the capacity of 1,940 units.

empowerment of participation

Diversity of public programs generates an energetic community. Each public program situates specific area of each floor [sky-garden], every five floors [sky-lobby] and each zone [four zone at 3rd, 20th, 40th, 60th and 75th floors] to provide public services for the users, as well as providing high dynamic pedestrian connections between floors. An intimate social fellowship and physical community are made possible by variety in activities.

unity

The overall parameter of the tower is highly articulated such that the tower itself would be greatly responsive to specific site conditions. Each condition, namely the surrounding environment such as the sun angle, wind direction and historical axis, defines the zoning, orientation and occupancy location of the tower. Within each unique residential unit, as well as the entire living network, the tower generates a phenomenal architectural experience.”

PROJECT INFO

Location: WKCD, Hong Kong
Building Type: tower / prefabricated unit
Building Height: 427.5m
Number of Dwellings: 1940
Date Built: concept design
Dwelling Types: XS, S, M, L, XL 18 types [27.4sqm to 133.38sqm; studio, 1,2,3 BR]
No. Floors: 75 floors
Floor to floor: 5.7m
Section Type: plug-in unit on slab corridor
Exterior Finish Materials: prefab. steel panel/glass panel
Construction Type: prefab. steel and precast reinforced concrete
Ancillary Services: urban park, entertainment/food&cafe, shopping, art & cultural, recreation, sky-garden/observation
Total GFA [90% unit plug-in]: 166,874sq

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Poland-based Hugon Kowalski, Adam Wiercinski, and Borys Wrzeszcz have designed ‘Sky Street’, a submission for the ac-ca international competition to produce a car park tower situated in the dense urban district of Hong Kong.

The proposal intends to create parking spaces which are an extension of the street. The typical city-street complete with traffic lanes, parking spaces, sidewalks and trams were taken and shaped the building form.

Comprised of two intertwined spirals which seamlessly merge at the top of the structure, the configuration supports collision-free circulation while defining the external appearance with visible contours from the upward outer ramp with a mirrored downward internal ramp. At the midway point, a connection across the center void allows cars to transition and continue driving in the same direction.

Positioned within the panorama of skyscrapers adjacent to victoria bay, the spherical profile of the 100 meter tower becomes a new symbol for the area. The egg profile is constructed with concrete and supported with a steel frame.

At night, illumination emanating from the curved facade is dictated by the volume of vehicles and trams entering the interior creating the effect of a glowing lantern. In two locations inside, suspended platforms provide multipurpose spaces.

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