A selection of projects that we featured in September 2009
Francis Parker School is San Diego's oldest and one of its largest independent day school. Back in In the fall of 2002, the school held a design competition for its Middle/Upper School campus aiming at the creation of a new Master Plan as well as the expansion of the existing facilities. Lake|Flato, won the competition with a design proposal that included "a unique blend of sensitive environmental planning, inspirational public spaces and progressive, open buildings".
The design of the second phase of the Darwin Centre project is characterized by a compelling and strong architectural concept in order to contain and represent vast entomological and botanical collections housed within the Natural History Museum. The solution to resolving the various Client requirements and to clearly symbolize the world class collection of specimens is the ‘Cocoon’, an architectural translation which forms the inner protective envelope.....
Designed to focus on environmental learning activities, the Visitor Activity Center is a remarkable building that hosts an open space designed for gathering, dining, meetings, lectures. A key building feature is the use of reused, recycled or recyclable materials. Materials were selected that were durable, had long life spans, required little maintenance and had a low impact on the environment. Another building feature is the shingle cladding of the north façade seen as one approaches the building....
Manitoba Hydro Place has officially opened today. This world class office tower is a model for the next generation of extreme climate responsive architecture. The tower has already gained attention with the prestigious “Best Tall Building in North America” award that is granted by the CTBUH (Council for Tall Buildings)
The Royal Conservatory of Music officially celebrates the completion of the new home for Canada’s premier music and arts educator on Sept. 25, 2009. The new TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning is the last jewel in the crown of Toronto’s Cultural Renaissance, a phenomenon that was catalysed in the slipstream of the Bilbao effect.
Boosting a green lifestyle of art & culture, Aedas’ project the Raisina Residency is intended as an oasis of self-sustained living in Gurgaon of India. The project also focuses on the incorporation of art into the landscape and architecture. Apart from major sculptures and murals acting as focal points in the landscape, an art gallery is incorporated into the clubhouse.
Ole Scheeren of OMA introduces a new residential typology to Singapore with The Interlace, a large-scale complex of interconnected apartment buildings stacked in an innovative hexagonal arrangement, developed by CapitaLand and Hotel Properties Limited. The Interlace is located on an elevated eight-hectare site, bounded by Alexandra Road and the Ayer Rajah Expressway, amidst the verdant Southern Ridges of Singapore. With about 170,000m2 of gross floor area, the development will provide 1,040 apartment units of varying sizes with extensive outdoor spaces and landscaping.
Cloud Tower is a pavilion for open-air concerts in the grounds of a castle near Vienna, Austria, designed by the next ENTERprise - architects. Located at Grafenegg Castle along with the copper-clad concert hall in our previous story, the auditorium occupies an existing depression in the landscape, accentuated by further excavations.
With a population of 10 million, Guangzhou is China’s third largest city and covers more than 3,720 square kilometers or nearly 1,450 square miles. The South Axis master plan includes the design of 14.78 square kilometers, incorporating waterfront and transit oriented development with a ferry terminal, central government districts, and a variety of urban land uses.
BIG, in collaboration with ARUP and Transsolar, was awarded first-prize in an international competition to design Shenzhen International Energy Mansion, the regional headquarters for the Shenzhen Energy Company. Located in the centre of Shenzhen, the 96,000 square meter project will be integrated with the surrounding environment and designed to withstand the tropical climate of the city. BIG’s winning proposal was selected by the jury experts from Shenzhen Municipal Planning Bureau chaired by Alejandro Zaera-Polo and client representatives.
The 135,000 square foot facility houses administrative offices, classrooms of varying sizes, an exhibition space, an architectural library, design studios, faculty offices, a model shop, mechanical rooms, a rooftop open-air amphitheater and a separate facility for the City College Architectural Center - an outreach group that provides advocacy and planning and design assistance to community organizations.
NBBJ’s proposed design for the new Dalian Shide football stadium in China represents a new direction in sports architecture by moving away from the creation of a building based on pure form. The organic architecture of the building challenges the typical stadium typology to become more than an impressive skin wrapped around an ordinary seating bowl.
Designed by Sturgess Architecture in conjunction with Manasc Isaac Architects (Edmonton), The Water Centre is the first phase of the urban redevelopment of the City of Calgary industrial yards into a civic operational and administrative centre. The 16,000 m2 building combines the Water Resources and Water Services departments consisting of 460 administrative staff and 360 operational staff.
Houses
With his attention to the fine details, and a contant effort to produce a enjoyable living spaces, Italian architect Duilio Damilano has produced this modern house called ‘Maison De La Lumière’ and located in Bologna, Italy.
The design of this 1200 sq. ft. residence for a Writer was a study in adaptability and re-use. The client was looking to simplify her life and downsize from an earlier house, also done by Bates Masi + Architects. The new house would be built just west of her existing house on the adjacent property. She voiced the desire for her new house to be functional, light, informal, simple and maintain a view of a large moss covered rock on the site.
The architects wanted to break free from the typical straight-angled housing enclosure. They wanted this holiday house to be more about fun, a break from the monotony daily routine. Rethinking the volumes in three dimensions, they stretched and distorted all the facets of the house, producing slopes and angles that create unique visual experience through spatial intersections, incidents and accidents. The result is a unique project where you would expect the unexpected.
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KPMB / Smith Carter / Transsolar - Manitoba Hydro Place
KPMB Architects - The Royal Conservatory’s TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning 
Aedas - Raisina Residency Masterplan in Gurgaon, India 
Intriguing Architecture - OMA's Interlace residential complex in Singapore 
The next ENTERprise architects - Cloud Tower near Vienna, Austria 
Design and Construction of Guangzhou’s Southern Axis, lead by Heller Manus Architects 
BIG to design a Sustainable Skyscraper in Shenzhen, China
Rafael Viñoly Architects Completes New City College Of New York Bernard And Anne Spitzer School Of Architecture
NBBJ's Innovative Proposal for Stadium in Dalian, China 
The Water Centre in Calgary by Sturgess Architecture 
Woodhead - Interpretive Centre in West Australia
DLFstudio - Jackson House in Culver City, California
3XN’s Bella Sky in Copenhagen, DK nears completion
