The Oriental Arts Centre in Shanghai is an impressive cultural project designed by French Architect Paul Andreu.

Its architecture looks like a large sculpture, shaped as an orchid that is opening up towards the sky. This lobed structure allows the spatial articulation of the different venues and their complexities while giving the project an aspect of unity.

Zhangjiang Semiconductor Research Park, Phase II is an important component of the Zhangjiang High-tech Park.

Located in the heart of Shanghai, the park attracts top-notch technology and research companies and has established Shanghai as a world leader in technology. MulvannyG2 Architecture designed phase II as a complementary 118-acre addition to the existing park, creating one of the largest high-tech parks in the world.

Photos © Sheng Zhonghai

The project by BGP Arquitectura is located on a sloped site in the suburbs of the city of Guadalajara in Mexico, facing a fantastic view towards a beautiful green park as well as the city.

The house is built on two levels composed each of a rectangular volume and placed in perpendicular to each other.

The project by Neil M. Denari Architects, is a creative extension for an existing house in Los Angeles, California.

The client is a couple and their three daughters. The father directs film trailers, the mother is a graphic designer and illustrator, while the high school / middle school / elementary school aged daughters are all immersed in their own versions of their parents visual cultures. The family has asked that 1,000 sf to be added to the site in addition to the existing 1,000 sf house.

This project by Japanese Architect Katsuhiro Miyamoto is a great example of construction in a difficult site.

Located in the Japanese city of Takarazuka, the site is a narrow triangle of land surrounded by a densely built neighborhood. The irregular Urban zone was divided in rectangular parcels of land, the site is a secluded lot that is hard to use is left over Katsuhiro Miyamoto describes the site as “heta-ti” (hull land) – fragment of land that is left over. Surmounting the shape of the land, the restrictive regional building code, and a tight budget, the Architect produces a smart spatial organization, layered on two floors and two basements. Making the most of the site, the project is home of a three-generations family of six.

CLASSROOM OF THE FUTURE.

The new classroom at Mossbrook in South Yorkshire, England, is a science teaching space designed for learning about the natural environment through direct interaction with it.

The school teaches the National Curriculum. For children with learning difficulties this is done in a demonstrative and experiential way, but the approach is relevant to all children and the new classroom is a resource for pupils from schools throughout the Sheffield area.

A renovation and addition to a historic museum.

Located in Brunswick, Maine, the Bowdoin College Museum of Art is a historic building originally designed by Charles Follen McKim of McKim, Mead and White and dedicated in 1894. It is considered a Landmark in North American museum architecture. The project by Machado and Silvetti Architects  had to on enlarge the existing museum to accommodate the museum’s expanding needs. The project also needed to update the building systems. The architects had therefore to bring the museum into Twenty first Century requirements while keeping the integrity of the original nineteenth Century building.