Building

Lab Architecture Studio unveil plans for the Culture Island in Dubai

This comprehensive ensemble of museums, galleries, amphitheatres, restaurants and retail outlets is part of Dubai’s new development, cultural village. The backdrop to the external amphitheatre is of new canals and the islands of culture village, with abras and small ferries circumnavigating the calmer waters. The building forms a striking cantilever over the main road, providing shade and cover for the outdoor gardens and the transportation points. The facades and surfaces of the building are formed out of a transformation of arabic geometry and give a visual and structural integration of this art within the architecture of the site. Its internal organization allows for a continuous flow of pedestrians from the souks to the island, with clear entry points into the museum and art gallery. This flowing sequence also gives access to the main amphitheatre, which can be closed (acoustically and environmentally) or open. This sweeping line of movement terminates at the end of the island, with commercial art galleries, restaurants and cafés supported by bookshops, crafts and retail tenancies.



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Banyan Tree Corniche Bay

Banyan Tree Corniche Bay. Foster+Partners
La Gaulette , Mauritius, 2006
The masterplan is for a discreet and environmentally intelligent architecture that blends harmoniously with the lush and extensive landscape. Green fingers of lush vegetation extend down towards the sea, with a series of contemporary buildings inserted amid tropical plantings to create an architecture that at once responds to the contours of the landscape and recedes into the green totality.Co-architects: d’Unienville & Associates Architects Ltd

Grand Prix for Frankfurt

Coop Himmelb(l)au's design for a vertical city in Frankfurt, Germany

The location for the new headquarters of the European Central Bank (ECB) in Frankfurt’s Ostend district has the potential of adding a new landmark to the Frankfurt skyline that will be visible at great distances. The starting point for the design of the towers was the urban perspectives of the city of Frankfurt. At a height of around 185 metres, the double tower, with its polygonal shape and east-west orientation, has a striking profile that is visible from all important reference points in Frankfurt’s city centre, as well as from the river Main. Thanks to its form and presence, the double tower will become a characteristic feature of the Frankfurt skyline. The atrium between the office towers becomes a “vertical city”. Through platforms we are creating spaces, plazas and pathways between the towers, just as they exist in a city. The connecting and transferring levels divide the atrium horizontally into three sections of different sizes, with heights ranging from around 45 to 60 metres. These connecting platforms, bridges, ramps and stairs form a network of links between the office towers. They create short paths between the individual office floors in each tower and thus enable larger, interconnected usable office spaces on one or more floors in both towers, thereby also promoting informal communication. This new typology supports a dynamic development of form and enables differentiated office spaces with different panoramic perspectives.

TVS Architecture

TVS' three million square foot addition to the Nation's Largest Convention unveiled

The TVS designed $882 million, three million square foot McCormick Place West expansion opened on Thursday August 2, 2007 eight months ahead of schedule and on budget. The publicly-financed West Building adds an additional 470,000 square feet of exhibit space to McCormick Place’s existing 2.2 million square feet. It also adds 250,000 square feet of meeting space, which includes 61 meeting rooms and a ballroom the size of a football field at 100,000 square feet, making it one of the largest ballrooms in the world. Lit at night, the north facade is a welcoming gesture to attendees. The west facade breaks down the scale of the building to better relate to the historic structures of Motor Row. Brick is used in addition to the architectural pre-cast concrete and glass to make the building more compatible with the historic buildings in the neighborhood. The west facade also features an exclamation point of sorts. A 90 foot lantern, with glass on three sides, cantilevers out from the face of the building and creates a canopy over the west entrance. A transportation center is also conveniently located in the heart of the building, allowing for the loading/unloading of up to 16 buses simultaneously.

Happy birthday Oscar

Brasilian architect Oscar Niemeyer turns 101 on 15th December 2008. Oscar Niemeyer was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on the 15th December 1907. Oscar Niemeyer graduated from the Escola Nacional de Belas Artes in Rio de Janeiro in 1934. The oldest living architect, Niemeyer is well known for his modernist concrete architecture and his involvement in the design of Brasilia, the new capital of Brazil. Niemeyer won the Pritzker Prize in 1988 and has continued his involvement in architecture passed his 100th birthday last year.

One of Niemeyer’s first works following graduation from university was the Ministry of Health and Education in Rio de Janeiro on which he collaborated with Le Corbusier until 1938. Further notable works include the Pampulha architectural complex including a casino, restaurant and the Temple of St. Francis of Assisi, in Belo Horizonte and the Caracas Museum in Venezuela.

First Visit to Medan

I was visiting a downtown shopping mall-

Sun Plaza, and amazed to see a bit of "Frank Gehry".

Grand Swiss-belhotel, Medan. This hotel is converted from the initial intended apartment block. The interior is well-done,and very trendy.The closest thing I can relate is the rooftop garden which links all the apartments together.