February 18, 2009
The partnership of AIA Newark and Suburban and the Young Architects Forum invited international designers to find innovative, visionary and compelling proposals for container constructed multi-family mixed-use project. The idea was to reuse the thousand of unwanted shipping containers clogging ports -and the land around them- as the primary unit of an urban multi-family mixed use project. The competition was called Live The Box.
The selected site is adjacent to a major train station and walking distance to the downtown major cultural centers of Newark, New Jersey. Standard height shipping containers 8′-6″ exterior height, in either 20′-0″ or 40′-0″ nominal lengths were the units to be used as the main building block of the structure.
For our 5th installment of the AD Futures series, I have choosen Estudio Barozzi Veiga (EBV). The studio was formed in 2004 by Fabrizio Barozzi (Trento, Italy, 1976) and Alberto Veiga (Santiago, Spain, 1973). The preactice is based in Spain, but with project all over Europe (and a villa in China).
Why did I choose them? It wasn´t because of ORDOS 100, but actually for all the recent competitions they have won, on which you can see an excellence in design. Every one of this projects features a different approach in terms of design, showing a constant experimentation and search for innovation inside the practice.
March 05, 2009
Our friends from SHL architects just sent us their new project. They won an international competition to design “Urban Mediaspace”, the largest public library in Scandinavia. The € 228 million scheme, located in Aarhus, Denmark, will become a new visual and cultural focal point for the city whilst pioneering the next generation of library design.
SHL Architects’ innovative, 30.000 m2 scheme reassesses traditional concepts of library design. Instead of a building focused around books, “Urban Mediaspace” is a hub of social interaction, incorporating interior and exterior recreational spaces for studying, socialising, and relaxing. The building will also have the capacity to host multi-media and cultural events.
‘s proposed Okhta Center was the subject of heated debate as residents of St Peterburg’s wanted nothing to do with the tower which was regarded as a “symbol of political ego.” Yet, as Record shared, the tower is set to move ahead after receiving a construction permit from Glavgosekspertiza, the body in charge of issuing building permits. Towering 403 meters into the skyline, the building will become the highest in Europe and as we’ve seen with Nouvel’s proposal for 53rd Street, Pelli Clarke Pelli’s 15 Penn Plaza and Frank Gehry’s Beekman Tower, adding a big change to the skyline sparks big controversy. In St. Petersburg, approximately 3,000 people gathered to protest the project which is being developed by gas giant Gazprom and is backed by Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin. In addition to strong public opposition, BD reported that Russian authorities were reviewing RMJM’s design following a report from Unesco’s World Heritage Committee, which has repeatedly t
The proposal for the NUK II National Library, designed by
BARCODE Architects, presents a clever and pure univocal shape despite the great complexity of the given plot. By making the design compact and by moving volume from its base to the top, the building makes way and shows the characteristic ruins of Roman Emona on site, while at the same time this creates a public square along the important city junction. Prominently sited at a junction in the heart of perhaps the most important academic centre in Eastern Europe, the 20.000m2 project seeks to become a compelling architectural landmark. More images and architects’ description after the break.