Passive House by Franklin Azzi - France

Image (copyright Franklin Azzi Architecture),click 2 enlarge

Franklin azzi architecture designed 'passive house', through renovating a former hunting house in Normandy, France. the extension consists of wood, canvas covers a camouflage of the Cuban army. above is a wooden terrace overlooking the valley. slabs of the house to the left and right include a heated floor and external industrial sockets. in front of the house is a bunker made from concrete for an office.

Samoo Architecture PC Wins Taekwondo Park World Headquarters in Muju, Korea.

Image (copyright Samoo Architecture PC),click 2 enlarge

Samoo Architecture PC, with the project lead Samsung C & T Corporation and Samoo Architects & Engineers in Seoul, Korea, have been awarded first prize and the building/construction commission for the new Taekwondo Park World Headquarters in Muju, Korea.

Stockholm’s Slussen Project Finalists

The Slussen regeneration is part of Stockholm’s Vision 2030 initiative which encompasses the regeneration of several areas of the city as well as incorporating numerous social and economic advancements. After 70 years of wear and tear, it was decided in 2007 that the Slussen locks area be renovated and reconstructed creating new links with Stadsgården and Skeppsbron and driving activity to the area.
These are the five proposals in images by internationally acclaimed architects like Sir Norman Foster, Jean Nouvel, and BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group), as well as Swedish firms Nyréns Architects and Gert Wingårdh Architect.

Nyréns Architects:

Image (copyright Nyréns Architects)

Image (copyright Nyréns Architects)

Foster + Partners wins Stockholm Slussen masterplan competition

Lord Norman Foster has beaten off competition from Jean Nouvel and Mia Hägg, Carl Nyrén, Gert Wingårdhs and BIG’s Bjarke Ingels, to win the Slussen regeneration competition for Stockholm. Foster + Partners worked together with Berg Arkitektkontor, part of C.F. Møller Architects, to create the winning design for Slussen's waterfront which will become the new centre of activity in the district.

Image (copyright Foster + Partners),click 2 enlarge
The Slussen regeneration is part of Stockholm’s Vision 2030 initiative which encompasses the regeneration of several areas of the city as well as incorporating numerous social and economic advancements. After 70 years of wear and tear, it was decided in 2007 that the Slussen locks area be renovated and reconstructed creating new links with Stadsgården and Skeppsbron and driving activity to the area.

Image (copyright Foster + Partners),click 2 enlarge
''Foster + Partners and Berg Arkitektkontor, part of C.F. Møller Architects, have been appointed to design a masterplan for the heart of Stockholm, transforming the waterfront area of Slussen from an urban aberration to a popular destination. The proposal will bring new life to the area, linking the islands of Södermalm and Gamla Stan and stripping away the layers of history to reclaim a valuable city quarter.

Image (copyright Foster + Partners),click 2 enlarge
For so long separated by a maze of roads and acres of concrete, the two waterfronts will be linked by a new footbridge and the historic lock will be revealed once more to provide a symbol for the area’s regeneration. The masterplan re-establishes the waterfront to give Södermalm a new face. While contemporary in concept, the buildings that form the new city blocks continue the grain and scale of the adjacent urban quarter, retaining the long street views to the water and defining new public squares and extensive waterfront promenades. Their flexible nature allows for a rich mixture of uses, from culture and entertainment to shops and hotels, while the uninterrupted pedestrian quayside incorporates terraces, and promenades served directly by new cafés and restaurants.

Image (copyright Foster + Partners),click 2 enlarge
At the heart of the new Slussen is an elegant footbridge, which fuses straight and S-shaped decks to complete the missing link in the north-south pedestrian route across central Stockholm. The historic Katarinahissen will also be renovated and extended to serve the quayside level, with a new observation deck built at its top to offer spectacular views over the city’s archipelago.

Image (copyright Foster + Partners),click 2 enlarge
Reversing the dominance of the car, the scheme gives priority to pedestrians and cyclists. A new transport interchange is incorporated that allows easy pedestrian circulation between an upgraded metro station, bus station and the port quayside. A new lightweight, transparent structure with kiosks, a café and bicycle parking will also be created in front of the City Museum to provide street-level entrance to the naturally lit pedestrian mall and transport hub below.

Image (copyright Foster + Partners),click 2 enlarge
Spencer de Grey, Head of Design at Foster + Partners, said:
“I’m delighted that we have been appointed to design the masterplan for Slussen to revitalise this most important area for future generations to enjoy. This is a wonderful opportunity to reinforce the links between Stockholm’s central islands of Södermalm and Gamla Stan, to repair the fabric of the city and to create a lively new destination that can be enjoyed at all times of the day and night.” ''

Image (copyright Foster + Partners),click 2 enlarge
Source: Foster + Partners

Recommended Books:


Norman Foster: Works 3
By Norman Foster

Foster + Partners: Catalogue
By Norman Foster

The Floating House Boat - Confused Direction - Germany

Flo Florian and Sascha Akkermann of the German design firm Confused Direction, have completed the Silberfisch SchwimmHausBoot (floating house boat) in Oldenburg, Germany.

Image(copyright schwimmhausboot),click 2 enlarge
Image(copyright schwimmhausboot),click 2 enlarge
Image(copyright schwimmhausboot),click 2 enlarge
Image(copyright schwimmhausboot),click 2 enlarge
Image(copyright schwimmhausboot),click 2 enlarge
Image(copyright schwimmhausboot),click 2 enlarge
Image(copyright schwimmhausboot),click 2 enlarge
Image(copyright schwimmhausboot),click 2 enlarge
Image(copyright schwimmhausboot),click 2 enlarge
Image(copyright schwimmhausboot),click 2 enlarge
Source:www.schwimmhausboot.de/
Watch Video in Youtube

Libeskind wins Seoul competition to transform the center of the South Korean capital into an international business district

Image(copyright Studio Daniel Libeskind),click 2 enlarge

Studio Daniel Libeskind has been named winner of the master plan competition for the Yongsan International Business District of Seoul, South Korea. The new large-scale district features a cluster of residential, office and retail neighborhoods in an extensive urban park along the Han River.

Image(copyright Studio Daniel Libeskind),click 2 enlarge
The plan, called Archipelago 21 because each of the linked neighborhoods functions like “islands” within a sea of green park space, will contain a total of 34 million square feet of built area. The $20 billion development is slated to break ground in 2011. The development entity is Yongsan Development Co., Ltd, a South Korean conglomerate. The district will also contain new cultural institutions, educational facilities and rapid transportation systems.

Image(copyright Studio Daniel Libeskind),click 2 enlarge
“The idea is to create a 21st Century destination that is at once transformative, vibrant, sustainable and diverse,” Mr. Libeskind said. “I wanted to make each form, each place, each neighborhood as varied and distinctive as possible. The plan, and each building within it, should reflect the vertical and cultural complexity of the heart of Seoul.”

Image(copyright Studio Daniel Libeskind),click 2 enlarge
“We are proud to be selected for this major project from among so many distinguished firms,” Mr. Libeskind said. Finalists included Asymptome, Foster+Partners, Jerde Partnership and Skidmore Owings & Merrill. Studio Daniel Libeskind worked with ARUP and Martha Schwartz, Inc. on the winning entry.
Image(copyright Studio Daniel Libeskind),click 2 enlarge
Image(copyright Studio Daniel Libeskind),click 2 enlarge
Source:Studio Daniel Libeskind

Recommended Books:


Daniel Libeskind: The Space of Encounter
By Daniel Libeskind, Jeffrey Kipnis, Anthony Vidler

East Asia Modern: Shaping the Contemporary City

By Peter Rowe

Art Institute of Chicago Modern Wing by Renzo Piano

The Art Institute of Chicago is celebrating the May 16 opening of its new Modern Wing with a week of free admission. The 264,000-square-foot Renzo Piano-designed addition is the largest expansion in the museum's history. The Modern Wing increases the museum's size to more than a million square feet, making it the second largest art museum in the United States.

Image (copyright Charles G. Young),click 2 enlarge
The building is Consisting of two pavilions flanking the Kenneth and Anne Griffin Court, the central circulation area, the Modern Wing offers three floors of gallery space and amenities, including a museum shop, new ticketing and coat check facilities, a cafe and fine-dining restaurant, and an interior garden. The east pavilion houses the education center as well as photography and film, video, and new media galleries on the first floor, galleries for the museum's permanent collection of contemporary art on the second floor, and galleries for the permanent collection of modern European art on the third floor, under an innovative sun shade system that allows natural light into the galleries. All three floors of the east pavilion feature full-length striking views of Millennium Park and the city beyond, a vantage point not available from any other location in Chicago. The exterior of the building features new landscaping by Gustafson Guthrie Nichol Ltd. along Monroe Street and Columbus Avenue and in the new Brooks McCormick Court, home of the preserved Chicago Stock Exchange Arch designed by Louis Sullivan. Gustafson Guthrie Nichol also designed the Lurie Garden across the street from the Modern Wing in Millennium Park.

Image (copyright Charles G. Young),click 2 enlarge
Renzo Piano designed a canopy, or "flying carpet," of precisely modeled aluminum blades that allow northern light into the third floor galleries through skylights while shielding the galleries from the more intense southern light. The flying carpet hovers above the third floor skylights, echoing the flat plane of the lake to the east and allowing the Modern Wing to use an estimated 50% less energy for light and heat than the existing building.

Image (copyright Charles G. Young),click 2 enlarge
The top-floor galleries begin and end with works by Pablo Picasso, demonstrating the steady march toward increasing abstraction by such artists as Piet Mondrian and Constantin Brancusi. The added space also allows display of more of the museum's surrealist collection, some of which were kept in storage.
The second floor is devoted to European and American Art from 1950 to the present, including a room devoted to the color field paintings of Ellsworth Kelly. In the Gerhardt Richter room, location of the German painter's pieces play on Piano's theme of ambient lighting, with Richter's all-gray works facing away from windows and his color panels receiving outdoor light obliquely.

Image (copyright Andrew Campbel),click 2 enlarge
The wing's windows also will likely be a major draw since they frame Millennium Park and its Frank Gehry-designed music pavilion and the city's looming skyline. The wing's third floor connects to the park through a cantilevered bridge, which stretches across Monroe Street.
The first floor houses a grand entrance, new photography and temporary exhibition galleries, an educational center, offices, a high-end restaurant, and a new gift shop. Despite the amenities, some critics have pointed out that only 65,000 square feet of the Modern Wing has been devoted to new gallery space.

More Information: www.artic.edu/

Recommended Books:



Piano: Renzo Piano Building Workshop 1966-2008
By Philip Jodidio

Renzo Piano Building Workshop: Complete Works, Vol. 5
By Peter Buchanan

'' She Changes'' - Netted Wind Sculpture - Portugal

Image(copyright Janet Echelman),click 2 enlarge
Portugal is home to artist Janet Echelman's 'She Changes', a 160-foot-tall waterfront netted wind sculpture suspended above a 3-lane highway roundabout, which received the IFAI International Achievement Award and the Public Art Network's Year in Review Award. It is a monumental, red and white, membrane-like sculpture at the Praca Cidade San Salvador in the town of Matosinhos along the shoreline outside of Porto.

Image(copyright Janet Echelman),click 2 enlarge
Through her art, Janet Echelman reshapes urban airspace with monumental public sculptures that respond to environmental forces including wind, water, and sunlight. "I am a sculptor who shapes urban space. I prefer the immediacy and challenge of transforming sites that are either unnoticed infrastructure that have faded from public memory, or iconic landmarks that are so overexposed they become habitual background."

Watch Video: '' She Changes ''
See More Works by Janet Echelman:www.echelman.com
More Information:www.sculpture.org

Image(copyright Janet Echelman),click 2 enlarge
Image(copyright Janet Echelman),click 2 enlarge
Image(copyright Janet Echelman),click 2 enlarge
Image(copyright Janet Echelman),click 2 enlarge
Image(copyright Janet Echelman),click 2 enlarge
Image(copyright Janet Echelman),click 2 enlarge