Founded in 2005 by ir. Jasper Suasso de Lima de Prado and ir. Jorrit Houwert, +31ARCHITECTS is a young and multidisciplinary office operating in the fields of architecture, interior design and urbanism.

Undertaking a variety of work of a variety of scales and values +31ARCHITECTS doesn't see it merely as their task to deepen and translate the space allocation program into a design but give the client an insight into the possible potentials which lie in the assignment. The dialogue between client and architect is essential with each type of assignment.


According to ir. Jasper Suasso de Lima de Prado, our architectural firm strives in her way of working to a fully accompany of the assignment from design to delivery. +31ARCHITECTS stands for a clear design where the form has been worked out into every detail. Our work shows a variety of assignments with key words as: openness, clarity, order, material use and details. Just like the relation between interior and exterior these terms are inextricable connected to each other.


Talking about their approach towards water-house projects ir. Jorrit Houwert said, living on the water becomes more popular in the Netherlands. It is not only becoming popular because people are attracted by the sphere but also because of the new approach of the government and urban planners to coop with the new submerged water problems.

Expatiating on the subject he said, as most part of the Netherlands lies beneath the sea level, so to protect the land against flooding, dikes and dunes have been built. Currently, new problems are rising due to the climate change; the big rivers that enter Holland bring more water each year and the rainfall is increasing. Because the sea level is higher at most places the water has no way to go other than flooding the land.


Further he said, one of the solutions for the flooded land is not to build dikes to protect it but regulate it and make big water basins out of it. At one hand you can create nice urban developments on the water and at the same time you create buffer for rainy times. The only restriction for the urban developments is that it has to float otherwise the basins can't have a buffer function.


Sharing their experience about the floating projects ir. Jasper Suasso said, generally there are two basic principles for making floating constructions. The first is the pontoon principle; you make a solid platform that is lighter than the water. The second principle is based on the ship; it is a hollow concrete box which is open on the top. Due to all the air which is in the open box it gets the ability to flow. Elaborating he said, the pontoon principle has the benefit that you can use it in shallow water, compared to the hollow concrete box, it has less stability and should be very light. The concrete box has the benefit that you can use the space within as a part of your building.


Both floating constructions are connected with a flexible connection to the quay, so the construction can rise with the water when the tide changes. When needed the floating system can be moved elsewhere at short notice without leaving any scar to the environment. Instead a new house can be placed in to the old situation which makes it the most sustainable and durable way to build. Adding he said, the floating houses built by +31architects are based on the hollow concrete box.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) India is building a new $200 million IT Park in Siruseri, Chennai. Designed by Uruguayan architectural firm Carlos Ott Architects in association with Carlos Ponce de León Architects, the project stands as an iconic development in the cyber corridor, distinct in the style, grandeur and aesthetics. Being truly an engineering and architectural marvel, the Techno Park is unique in the way it blends both business and lifestyle statements. It combines elements of traditional Indian architecture with modern design. An aerial view of the complex resembles six butterfly wings intertwined with a central spine.

The campus comprises a total of 12 buildings with varying height featuring five storeys in eight buildings and seven storeys in five buildings. All of these 12 buildings will be divided across the central spine that is 400m long and 42m high, with six on each side. Each block has two wings connected through bridges leading to the two central core structures which house the elevator lobby. The two wings and the cores structures are covered with expansive multiple three-dimensional umbrella structures. With water bodies, palm trees and, landscaping, this central spine is designed as an area for relaxation. At one end of the central spine, an executive and customer briefing block is featured, with a towering structure rising from within. At 130m, the tower will be the highest in southern India providing panoramic views of the zone.


Intelligently-designed, eco- friendly developed, this innovative design demonstrates environment-friendly processes, techniques and systems to meet the requisites for energy-efficient buildings, ISO 14001 certifications, zero waist disposals, carbon footprint offset, etc. The complex is notable for its microclimate performance based on an open atrium office buildings, providing a naturally-ventilated system. An ecological stream beneath a large overhanging canopy of 400m provides a natural cooling system. The Campus has already applied for Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) Certification for Platinum and Gold ratings from the US Green Building Council.


Here in this article, we are presenting a case study on the evolution of the structural system of this project, discussing in particular the analysis and design of the central spine which resembles a 'Giant Wasp.' The paper will also discuss the structural system suitably provided for the huge cantilevers at the ends representing the tail, huge cantilevers at the sides representing the legs and the pyramid shaped lattice girders representing the body of so called giant wasp. Also will discuss about the behavior of central spine structure due to wind here.

Effects of Wind on A3 Dimensional Steel Structure for the Central Corridor Roof

The techno park at Siruseri, Chennai has 6 engineering blocks, customer care center, General services block, Training and library block and other facilities (Figure 1).


The central corridor roof between the engineering blocks which is known as the central spine serves as the shelter for people movement. This also houses the landscape which consists of water body and other facilities. The architectural concept is such that 2 giant wasps each of 8 pairs of legs and long tails are facing each other. The formation of the entire structure is by means of 3 dimensional curves. In both the side elevations, it is symmetrical about vertical axis (Figure 2). In top plan, it is symmetrical about both vertical and horizontal axes as in Figure 2.

Project team

Architect: Carlos Ott Architects in association with Carlos Ponce de León Architects (Uruguay, South America); Resident architect: CRN architects (Chennai, India); Engineering Services: Potential Service Consultants (Bangalore, India); Review and Project Management Consultants: TCE Consulting Engineers (Bangalore, India)

Structural System

Main portals are formed by intersecting gothic arches (Figure 3). They are the main supporting elements of the central spine in the vertical direction. They are made of two outer pipes and one inner pipe as shown in Figure 3. These 3 pipes are connected by triangulated web members. They are further connected to the arch bracing members which are provided along the elevation. The outer and inner pipes form cantilever trusses called wings to support the purlins on them.



To reduce the span of purlins a truss system known as middle wings (Figure 4.) which are quite similar to the top part of main portals, are introduced in between the 2 portals. By this, the span of purlins is reduced to around 11 m which is reasonable. The middle wings are supported by the lattice and box girders running between the 2 main portals.



The lattice girder as shown in Figure 5 connects the main portals in the longitudinal direction. Between 2 consecutive main portals, at the centre it supports the middle wing. The lattice girder is connected at the bottom exactly at the centre to the arch bracing in each span. It is extended from the base of top wing to the bottom wing forming a curved pyramid. Tail is the continuation of lattice girder at both ends converging at a point. Space frame method is used to form this structure (Figure 6). It is an open structure without any roof covering, making it very obvious so that it looks like the tail of the "Giant Wasp." The cantilever is about 35 m from the last portal. It is tied back to the 2nd portal to control the deflection in the vertical direction and horizontal "X" bracings are provided at the bottom to control deflection due to wind.


The two legs of each portal consisting of five pipes (including the arch bracing) are connected to a base plate with required stiffeners. Base plate is further connected to the podium column capital by means of cast-in holding down bolts.

Analysis and Design Data

Dead loads and imposed loads have included the weight of all structural and architectural components on the basis of the unit weights as mentioned in the Table 1. Wind loads are based on the code provisions mentioned in IS 875 [1]. The wind speed is calculated using the parameters in Table 2.


Elongation due to differential temperature is of high importance in long steel buildings. It can be taken care of by either providing expansion joints at an appropriate spacing or designing structural members for the additional moments caused by the temperature. Expansion gap between two structures shall be sufficient to accommodate temperature and shrinkage for effects due to wind. Expansion joints are provided at 2 locations along the length, breaking the whole structure into 3 parts known as Central part (1. no.) and Tail part (2. no.). Central part will have 7 spans. The final configuration of the whole structure is shown in the Figure 7.



Structural steel confirming to IS: 2062 with minimum yield strength of 310 N/sq.mm is used for all structural members. For expansion joints approved Teflon sheet is provided.

Wind Pressure Computations

Figure 8 shows the configuration of the central spine (CS) structure. There are sixteen bays of geometrically similar configuration of diminishing size from centre to ends. Each bay is around 21 m long. At the middle, the width is 35 m and height is 55 m, at the ends the width is 12 m and 18 m height.


The bays are open in the bottom, for example up to a height of 24 m at the centre, above which CS supports six wings symmetrically by the framework, which also supports Louvers (water barrier made of overlapping plates) at the roots of the wings with a porosity of 20%. The Louvers extend below F&L.


The following cases have been considered to analyze the structure:

Case 1: Wind from empty position of A to B

Case 2: Wind from the direction of B to A, with A absent.


As shown in sketch 2 of Figure 8, the part of the wind below the point C will move on to B, gets diverted upwards and impacts to rear wing L. But wings K&L are partially shielded by F, G, H and their loads will be less than those values on G&H. Somewhat similar phenomenon occurs on the bottom of F, where the Louvers below F block the flow partially, creating a positive pressure. The Louvers between F&G and G&H also create positive pressure (or makes negative pressure, less so). The nearest configuration in the Indian wind code IS 875-1987 is Table 8 [1] for the wings F, G and H, J, K and L all with φ=1. By considering shielding effect and the pressure build ups, the overall pressure coefficients with directions for all the wings and the Louvers are as in Figure 9. The configurations of Table 13 [1] and Table 14 [1] can be used as guidance with θ=0⁰. These are used for the analysis of the entire structure. The local pressure coefficients listed in table 3 are used for designing the purlins.


Here, the bottom of wing L is above the building B and hence the flow will be similar to that as wing F with wind from A to B. Loads on K&J will be similar to those on G&H of the earlier case. However since F, G and H are fully shielded by L, K and J their loads will be half of the previous values including those on Louvers.

Structural Analysis and Design

The structural analysis is carried out by creating a 3 dimensional space frame model using the commercially available software STRAP VER.11.5 for the load combinations as per IS 800 standards. Line elements are used in the finite element model with rigid nodes. Triangular surfaces were created to idealize the curved surface and pressure loads were applied perpendicular to the surface in the required direction. This method has helped in reducing the time that would have been spent for member load computation and its application on each member. In total, including both central and tail part, the structural model contains about 10,400 nodes, 36,700 members and 61,600 degrees of freedom.

Design of structural steel members is done using elastic method as per IS: 800 [2] with relevant allowable stresses. Each member is designed for combined stresses due to axial force, shear force and moments. Sample output for the analysis and design are shown in Table 4.

Conclusion

It is observed that the load combinations involving the wind loads computed using the pressure coefficients shown in figure 9 govern the design of members of the central spine structure. Since the structure is very light, the earthquake forces do not have any influence on the design. For academic purpose, the load combinations including earthquake, wind loads on members, live and dead loads are studied. The deflected shapes of the main portals with some governing load combinations are shown in Figures 10 and 11.


The pipe sizes used for the main portals are 350 mm diameter with thicknesses varying from 22 mm to 16 mm. For the other elements almost all available pipe sizes are used considering the most economical sizes and durability. The joints are connected by full strength butt welds. The thickness of base plate worked out to be between 70 to 80 mm for various portals by suitably providing the stiffener plates. Overall structural steel consumption is around 3000 Tons with a roof sheeting area of around 25,000 square meters. The central spine structure under construction is shown in Figure 12. Completed structure is shown in Figures 13 and 14.

Acknowledgment

The authors would like to thank structural engineers Mr. B. N. Sridhara, Mr. Sajeev Thomas and Prof. G. N. V. Rao, Department of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore for their support and cooperation during the design stage. Authors are also thankful to the project team and clients Tata Consultancy Services Ltd for their cooperation in preparing this paper.

References

• IS: 875 (Part 1, 2 and 3) – 1987, Indian Standard- code of practice for design loads (other than Earthquake) for buildings and structures, Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi, 1989
• IS: 800 – 1984, Indian Standard- code of practice for steel design, Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi, 2002

Acknowledgement

The paper has been reproduced from the proceedings of SDSS 2010 (Stability and Ductility of Steel Structures 2010) with the kind permission from the organizers.

Much awaited world's first Ferrari Theme Park and the largest of its kind has recently opened its door for public. Designed by globally renowned architectural firm Benoy, the theme Park is truly an architectural marvel in the desert having 10,000 sq m glass funnel at the heart of its roof. Located at the centre of the landmark Yas Island mega-scheme in Abu Dhabi, the Ferrari World Abu Dhabi expresses the language, values and passion of the Ferrari brand itself and host a number of attractions, including rides for children of all ages. It is providing the complete Ferrari experience: over 20 state-of-the-art attractions, each designed to bring to life a different part of the Ferrari story, including the world's fastest rollercoaster, travelling at speed exceeding 200 km/h and emulating the thrilling sensation of being in a Ferrari F1 car, or the G-force experience taking passengers on an adrenaline-pumping ride up over 62 m, through the roof and back down again.

To reflect Ferrari's sinuous form, the design of building is directly inspired by the classic double curve side profile of the Ferrari GT chassis. The double curve was proportionately applied in elevation to set the structure's length and height. This proportion gave rise to the dynamic scale of the building at 700 metres from tip to tip of the tri-forms. The metal skin roof is highly insulated and the main façades utilize efficient glass to reduce the thermal loads and glare. The spectacular roof forms a feature of the building providing a fifth elevation and serves as the backdrop to a huge Ferrari logo that will welcome all passengers flying into Abu Dhabi International Airport.

Attractions

• Over 20 state-of-the-art rides and attractions
• The world’s fastest roller coaster emulating the feeling of being in an F1 car
• G-force experience taking passengers on an adrenaline-pumping ride up over 62m, through the roof and back down again
• State-of-the-art racing simulators using a similar system as those used by the Ferrari racing team
• Flume ride journey through the heart of a Ferrari 599 engine
• Driving and Racing school for junior drivers, with expert training
• Aerial voyage over Italy following a Ferrari

The Park is owned by Aldar Properties PJSC, Abu Dhabi's leading property development, management and Investment Company. Farah Leisure Parks Management L.L.C, a joint venture between Aldar Properties PJSC and ProFun Management Group Inc. (international leisure facilities management and operating company) is responsible for managing and operating Ferrari World Abu Dhabi. Ferrari's key principles of excellence and performance in the context of technological innovation will underpin every aspect of the project.

Building Architectural Elements

Ferrari World building architectural elements can be divided into the following components:

• Central shield area
• Tri-form arms
• Swept silver bull nose edge
• Soffit cladding
• Grand funnel glazed roof
• Primary entrance/ exits and coaster bridges.

Building's Structural Design

Due to the shape of the island and the position of Ferrari World, the building was conceived as a very simple 'ground hugging' form, peeling up from the landscape in flowing lines like a red sand dune. The visually distinctive form and shape, crowns the Abu Dhabi Formula 1 track and every flight in and out of Abu Dhabi International Airport will experience the true beauty of the sleek shape and form of this building; an architectural expression of the values of the Ferrari brand itself.

A three pointed star form with a main core enclosed element and three extensive 'triform' claws to cradle the outdoor attractions, the 3D nature of the building was derived from an analysis of the sinuous double curves of countless Ferrari body shells. At the very centre of the plan the huge roof dips and gathers itself into the ground like a huge crystal glazed and lit funnel, creating the perfect setting for one of the world's most exciting acceleration rides.

The building entrance to the north is linked directly to the shopping complex via the Ferrari Gateway Bridge, leading into the Welcome Pavilion; an area dotted with authentic cafés and stylish restaurants. Inside the Ferrari World building, a soaring space frame structure covers a huge undulating plaza deck, on which many themed rides and attractions - designed by Jack Rousse Associates, are located.


Driving along the western arterial road, approaching the building, the southern tri-form peels up and sweeps off into the distance revealing the true extent of the buildings 700 meter long elevation, shimmering in the sunshine from the west.

Roof

• Design inspired by the classic double curve side profile of the Ferrari GT body
• Made from metal and glass designed to reduce glare and heat
• 3D Roof area measures 236,000m²
• The Ferrari logo is 65m x 48.5m, the largest Ferrari logo ever created
• Highest point is 48m, with a total of 6,900 meters of roof guttering

Exterior

The primary inclined shield façade that wraps around the building is over a kilometer in length and leans outward by 12 degrees, pushed nine meters into the air at the base and forward, accentuating the approach to the building while helping to visually position the attractions inside onto a pedestal, giving the impression that the interior is somehow unobtainable, like the Ferrari Car itself. In the distance, the sunlight lights up the adjacent mangroves in a bath of light reflecting in the pixel solid and glazed facade, light dances and sparkles from within. As the sun sets the façade is lit by tracer lights from the exterior fins, these 'race' around the building's full 1km elevation, simulating the racing of cars into the night.

The roof form is based on a 120 degree tri-form arm arrangement that extends over 700meter in diameter, surrounding the 3 levels of 176,000 sqm of main accommodation within. The east and west tri-form arms house the world's fastest Formula 1 themed roller coaster as well as the world's first duelling roller coasters, and the southern tri-form arm acts as a flexible performance space capable of holding more than 15,000 people.

As one continues past the western tri-form housing the GT coasters, the synergy of the roof forms and the coasters becomes apparent, one seemingly blending into the other, cascading forms that express the emotion of Ferrari. Looking back towards the race track, the sunset in the west, the light glistening off the silvered edge of the roof, it's a unique and prestigious development that delivers new benchmarks for quality and innovation, a building that utilizes the vision and skills of Benoy's highly experienced design and delivery team.

On entering the building at the upper plaza level from the north one crosses the threshold between the outside world and the space within, one is struck by the sheer scale of the building. The roof extends up and over your head and disappears into the distance at 320 meters in diameter. If one continue through the space, extending out in front of a vast glazed crystal like funnel roof at 100 meters in diameter, pulling down to just 17 meters diameter at its base, creating an intensity of space inside and providing the perfect location for the thrilling G-Force shot ride within its centre.

The central funnel roof is supported on 12 primary columns which form a 12 point Arabic star pattern that is used to describe the primary geometry of the overall roof space and extends out to meet the primary raked shield façade. As you turn back to face the entrance, around you extending out in all directions are the themed rides and attractions that are unmistakeably Ferrari sat on a gross foot print area of over 86,000 sqm.

The Grand Funnel Roof

Being the central focus of the interior of the building it provides a critical architectural element and link to the outside world. The funnel roof is supported by the apex of the cross over arches of the primary structure beneath that form a ring of arches. To complete the concept the funnel roof has been fully glazed with a spider system that floats over the Mero space frame within. The upper perimeter of the funnel roof contains an upstand detail that houses the natural smoke extraction, providing a minimum of 150sqm of smoke extract.


The funnel roof incorporate external solar shading to ensure that heat gain is minimized. Sightlines from the lower level to the shot ride were a critical element for JRA and have been incorporated into the design. The funnel glass roof is a double-glazed curtain wall attached to the Mero space frame by use of special connectors. Insulated glass units and external solar shading has been used for the glass panels facing the exterior.

A total of 2,640 solar control glass panes (ipasol neutral 48/27) were inserted into the metal frame of the funnel on 30 levels with various pane dimensions. Additionally, this glazing was coated with a spiral pattern of ipachrome design with a varying degree of coverage – seen from underneath, the huge mosaic looks like a vortex. The coverage of the individual panes with ipachrome design varies from 40 to 85%. The closer the panes are to the upper end of the funnel the higher the degree of coverage – hence the shading effect of the glazing, measured as its solar factor, increases from bottom to top. With the funnel, the façade builders of JAP (Jungbluth Alu Partners, Belgium), took up a demanding logistical challenge: in order to ensure the accuracy of the spiral pattern, each of the panes had to be produced and glazed individually, piece by piece. The inclination angle of the funnel varies; therefore, the panes also differ in size on 30 levels: from 2220 x 2029 mm in the lower part via 2420 x 2029 mm in the middle up to 2618 x 2029 mm at the edge of the roof.

Inside the glass funnel, the 70 metre high "G-Force Tower" has been installed.

External Facade

Not only the roof of the leisure park, but also its façade is largely colored in Ferrari red. The vertical façade of the building is furnished with 6,000 square metres of solar control glass (ipasol neutral 48/27) and individual screen printing. Ferrari-red metal spandrels are interspersed in a mosaic-like fashion. This façade is inclined at an angle of ten degrees toward the interior. The level of outside light reflection is 15%. Since about 40% of the glass area is additionally screen-printed, the average daylight transmittance (tL) is 40%. The solar factor is reduced further by the screen printing (23% according to EN 410), which contributes to protecting the building from heating up. Ferrari World is a leisure park that sets new standards not only in terms of amusements but also in terms of architecture.

Facilities-Entrances and Bridges

Ferrari World Abu Dhabi makes provision for five main exit points leading directly to the outside: Main Entrance / Exit to the north, Two Coaster Bridges in the east & west, and Two link bridges/ fire exits within the east and west shield façades.


The entrance is clearly defined, well sign posted from all areas and well lit, through the Welcome Pavilion from the main retail centre. The gateway bridge creates an independent exclusive access for all guests to the theme park, and offers dramatic sweeping views of the mega roof structure to the east and west.

Entire circulation of the public is via the bridge, located halfway between Ferrari World Abu Dhabi and the Yas Retail Mall. Guest amenities on the Plaza and Mezzanine levels are accessed via walkways and ramps. There is one passenger lift at the undercroft level parking area that culminates at F08 box found at the plaza level. Other means of vertical circulation to the plaza level are staircases at Core 3, 4 and 7.

There are three fire escape and fire fighting lifts, which are E-4S, E-7P, and E-9S respectively. Means of escape from plaza level are the 3 main bridges outside and the stairs at the coaster bridges as well as stairs at cores 4,7,9 and 10. Three passenger lifts are provided at the plaza level, serving both the general public space and the boxed rides (Behind the Scenes, Café, Authentic Local Food, Ferrari Café, and Race Strategy) such as those in Core 4, 7, 9,10 and 18. Accommodation stairs S-7 is intended for guest use which accesses the Behind the Scenes boxed feature.

Ferrari World Abu Dhabi is serviced by the lower undercroft area. which is accessible only to designated employees and authorized personnel from the perimeter service road, used for deliveries, maintenance, warehouse, trash hauling and employee shuttle buses. The main maintenance and warehousing facilities for the Theme Park and overall building are located in the Undercroft. This area have loading docks for deliveries coming into the building including merchandise, food/beverage, supplies, maintenance parts and supplies, etc. All deliveries must be authorized and coordinated with security to allow access to the Undercroft Level. Employee shuttle drop-off and pick-up is also located within the undercroft area.

Watervilla De Omval is a tautly designed houseboat floats in the Amstel river of Amsterdam. Unlike most floating houses, this houseboat is very contemporary designed without losing the characteristic appearance of the typical houseboat. The client gets a lot of positive reactions and apprecition from others for the project, it even happens that people who pass by boat knock on the windows and ask if they can enter the boat.

Living on the water gets more popular in Holland. The clients/owners who used to visit the architectural firm +31ARCHITECTS always love the typical charms and characteristics of living on the water but don’t like the standard “caravan” appearance of the existing houseboats. As more people want to live on a contemporary houseboat that has been designed for their specific needs, the houseboat at De Omval is an obvious example of their wish.

Design

Client wanted a boat with an open floor plan where they could enjoy the views to the water and the outdoor space to a maximum. The distinguished curved line of the facade directly derives from this desire and the restriction that the boat couldn’t be more than three meters above the water.


The living area and open kitchen are located on the waterfront, from here one has a panoramic view at the Amstel and you can enter the floating terrace. Following on from the living area and kitchen the bedroom is located on a split level. The split level introduces an open route to the ground floor of the boat and at the same time, makes it possible to create a terrace on the south side without exceeding the maximum building height.


To accentuate the round lines of the facade it is carried out in with shiny aluminum. The white plastered walls and ceilings follow the curve of the facade creating a seamless transition from the exterior to the interior.

Designs for an awe-inspiring wing-shaped museum in Abu Dhabi called the Zayed National Museum have been recently unveiled by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. Designed by Foster and Partner architects and conceived as a monument and memorial to the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founding president of the UAE, the Museum will be the centerpiece of the Saadiyat Island Cultural District (Located 500 metres off the coast of Abu Dhabi, Saadiyat Island is the largest single mixed-use development in the Arabian Gulf) and will be dedicated to showcasing the history and culture of the country.

The aim of the projects has been to combine a highly efficient, contemporary form with elements of traditional Arabic design and hospitality to create a museum that is sustainable and architecturally striking.


The museum features five feather-like solar towers which rise from a man-made, landscaped mound. The galleries are placed at the bases of these thermal towers which heat up and act as thermal chimneys to draw cooling air currents naturally through the museum. Fresh air is captured at low level and drawn through buried ground-cooling pipes and then released into the museum’s lobby. The heat at the top of the towers works to draw the air up vertically through the galleries due to the thermal stack effect. Air vents open at the top of the wing-shaped towers taking advantage of the negative pressure on the lee of the wing profile to draw the hot air out.

Towers in the museum are lightweight steel structures, sculpted aerodynamically to work like the feathers of a bird’s wing. The analogies with falcons and flight are deliberate and relate directly to Sheikh Zayed’s love of falconry. This theme is further celebrated by a gallery devoted to the subject as part of a wider focus on conservation. These inner spaces open up to an outdoor arena for live displays with hunting birds.

Balancing the lightweight steel structures with a more monumental interior experience, the galleries are anchored by a dramatic top-lit central lobby, which is dug into the earth to exploit its thermal properties and brings together shops, cafes, an auditorium and informal venues for performances of poetry and dance. Throughout, the treatment of light and shade draws on a tradition of discreet, carefully positioned openings, which capture and direct the region’s intense sunlight to illuminate and animate these interior spaces. Objects are displayed within niches and on stone plinths that rise seamlessly from the floor.

The museum also contains a variety of performance spaces. A large auditorium, lined with Emirati textiles, provides an evocative setting for presentations and films. The lobby incorporates more informal venues for poetry readings, music and dance, where the audience can gather in a circle to enjoy the spectacle and atmosphere of traditional performances.

The interior concept for the restaurant draws on the opulence and hospitality of the Bedouin tent, with carefully selected furnishings. The majlis, or VIP spaces, open onto a central courtyard. This traditional space offers guests a unique perspective, as it is the only place in the museum where one can enjoy views of the wind towers.

"It has been a great privilege to work on the Zayed National Museum, to carry forward Sheikh Zayed’s vision and to communicate the dynamic character of a contemporary United Arab Emirates. We have sought to establish a building that will be an exemplar of sustainable design, resonating with Sheikh Zayed’s love of nature and his wider heritage," said Lord Foster.

Spire Edge office tower stands as an iconic landmark on a new IT park located in Manesar, Gurgaon. The tower is a 21 storey building accommodating offices, auditorium, gallery and other facilities.

Eco Infrastructure

The key design feature of the iconic tower is a continuous green eco-infrastructure at the north façade, ascending up the tower through green ramps from the basement, infusing it with an ecological and social terraces and garden and back down on the rear facade by a series of ramps around a meeting room.

The greenery is brought up to the roof garden by a series of vertical landscaping systems, ie. vegetated green walls, green planter ramps with a pedestrian walkway, and a series of sky terraces.

The south facade of the building also has a continuous green ramp that brings pedestrian and vegetation from the ground all the way up to a lush roof garden located at the top of the iconic tower and connects to the north façade green eco-infrastructure.

Water Infrastructure

The tower has been designed as a self-sufficient water reuse/recycling system within the building. Both of the green ramps act as a water filter/collecting device to channel rainwater collected from the roof garden to the water tank located at the basement of the building, hence being recycled and reused by the users of the building.

Rainwater Harvesting/Recycling: The building’s extensive landscaped areas are irrigated via a large-scale rainwater recycling system. Rainwater is collected from the perimeter landscaped ramps and roof garden. It is channeled and stored at the lowest basement level, beneath the Eco-cell, and reused as recycled water within the building.

Eco-cells

There are two eco-cells located at north and south side of the building where the spiral ramps meet the ground and continue to the basement levels. The Eco-cells allow vegetation, daylight and natural ventilation to extend into the car-park levels below. The lowest level of the Eco-cell contains the storage tank and pump room for the rainwater recycling system.

Sun-Shading Devices

The project’s climate-responsive façade design originated with the analysis of the local sun-path. Facade studies analyzing the solar-path determined the shape and depth of the sunshade louvers, which also double as light-shelves. The light shelves merge into single louvers at the north facade creating a slick look for the façade. In conjunction with the south spiral landscaped ramp, north green walls and ramps, and sky gardens, the sunshade louvers also assist in establishing comfortable micro-climates in habitable spaces along the building’s exterior.

Roof Gardens, Creative Meeting Spaces and Sky Courts

The south spiral landscaped ramp acts as a thermal buffer protecting the south façade from direct heat gain, and creates areas for relaxation and event spaces. These extensive gardens allow for interaction between the building’s occupants and nature, offering opportunities to experience the external environment housed within the tower and to enjoy views of the IT Park. As it reaches each corner of the building the spiral ramp leads the users into Creative Meeting Spaces and terraces for multiple usages. A series of sky courts at the north façade also create an outdoor environment for the office users’ for creative and social interaction.

Toilets and Elevator Lobbies

All toilets and elevator lobbies have natural ventilation opportunities.

Internal Life

The internal typical office spaces have large span floor beams to eliminate anything in-between columns. The floor configuration seeks to create a new form of internal life for its users, with occasional skyterraces linked to the eco-infrastructure, a rear ramp at the south face that has Creative Meeting Rooms.

The newly constructed building - Administrative and Academic complex of "Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Technological University, Lonere, Alibaug, India has been conferred with an international award for its unique architectual design by World Architecture community. The academic complex has been very carefully designed by Architects Mr. Ajay Kulkarni and Mr. B.W. Dhumaley and well executed by the contractors M/S Choudhury and Choudhury (India) Ltd., Mumbai.

The site has exciting and picturesque surroundings of Sahyadri hills and the great Raigad fort on its backdrop. This state-of-the-art building catering to the needs of Academic and Administrative complex serves as a catalyst for the process of learning and teaching .The design of the whole campus draws its inspiration from the timeless monument of Raigad fort. The grand plaza of the building reminds you of the great doorways, which our ancient architecture has offered us, and a very strong axis of the corridors almost instruct discipline which an institute desires to imbibe in her students. The building spread over a large footprint, has sprawling corridors, landscaped courts, abundant light with ventilation, with highly inspiring built environment and a monumental character.

Expressing their views on the project, Architects Mr. Ajay Kulkarni and Mr. B.W. Dhumaley, said, "We have carefully studied the requirements of the students and ensured that they get best of both the worlds, the bountiful nature and an inspiring built environment for the gaining and imparting knowledge. We are inspired by the traditional courtyards and resulted into such series of beautiful small and big courts, inducing a very healthy and fresh microclimate."

Being an institute, the circulation is highly legible but not monotonous. It is full of variety achieved through intelligent designs of almost 12 staircases, each one unique in its own way. This is deliberately done to establish a strong sense of communication with the students. The staircases encourage and provoke the students to meet and share their views. Time has proved that boys and girls are responding to these informal spaces deliberately designed in the way the Architects had anticipated.

Justifying to its design qualities and the execution on site the World Architecture Community has offered its citation from its honorary members of WA Awards 20+10+ X 6th cycles. From total 8000 entries across the world only 53 has been selected and out of these two projects were awarded from India. Among two buildings one is our University Building situated at Lonere, Raigad.


The building with very specialized specification and ambitious design was equally a challenge to execute, particularly in a rural setting, where everything needed to be established from scratch. Material was procured from various parts of the country and there was no compromise on any aspect of execution of this great design. This task was well executed by M/S Choudhary and Choudhary (India) limited, the contractors and builders firm from Mumbai. Mr Anand Gupta,the Managing Director, Choudhury & Choudhury states that the building has a very strong personality which everyone associated with the project are very proud to be associated with. We have been gathering continuous feedback about the good construction and the design of the building for past few years. The dream realized was possible only with the continued support from a very inspiring building committee and the university administration", he added.

Vice Chancellor, Dr. Mankar of the Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Technological University and University Engineer Mr Vilas Chavan have congratulated the Architects, Project Engineer and everyone associated with the project on this achievement.

Foster + Partner's first ever healthcare project develops a sense of community and well being with facilities more comparable to a luxury hotel than a traditional hospital.

Located in Bath, UK the hospital's three-storey building is set into the hills on the edge of protected green belt nine kilometres south east of Bath and its compact arrangement provides a 'corridor-less' environment, encouraging a sense of community and well-being.


There is a wealth of evidence to suggest that a well-designed hospital environment can reduce recovery times and contribute to better outcomes for patients, while providing a more attractive workplace for medical staff. Circle is a privately funded initiative which is building a chain of health campuses in the UK that will place patients at the centre of a new approach to healthcare. CircleBath is among the first of these new centres to be realised. The architectural ambition has been to re-cast the hospital building as a humane and civilised place for all those who use it. Everyone in the hospital - whether a surgeon, nurse or porter - is regarded as a 'partner' in the delivery of health care, with a common goal of promoting patient well-being.


The building provides operating theatres, bedrooms, consultation, treatment and recovery spaces, and offers both in-patient and out-patient accommodation. A compact design encourages a sense of community and well-being. The hospital is planned around a central light filled atrium, promoting a sense of orientation and intimacy that is commonly lacking in larger hospitals. Divisions between departments are minimised, easing the stress involved in consultation, treatment and recovery for patients and reducing walking distances for staff. The double-height atrium forms the focus for patients, staff and visitors, with private consultation rooms leading from it at ground level and in-patient bedrooms arranged around it above. The main reception point, cafë and nurses' station occupy the atrium where daylight, drawn through the circular sky lights, is softened by a translucent fabric ribbon tracing the shapes. The colour palette is a warm and friendly mix of ochre and rust, with natural wood acoustic panels above, interspersed with glass panels providing a visual connection to the atrium from the bedroom floor.


The building is dug into its hillside site, its profile kept low. Public entry is from the road on the north directly into the atrium on the ground level floor. The northern façade comprises dark panelling at the lower levels, while on the south, extensive glazing opens out to views over the surrounding rolling countryside. Appearing to float above this recessive skirting, the rectangular upper volume and roof, enclosing all twenty-eight bedrooms, is clad in a reflective lattice of aluminium shingles. Throughout the building, there is an emphasis on natural light and views. Balconies line the building's northern and southern edges, oriented to maximise views across the surrounding rolling countryside. Sympathetic landscaping further emphasises the therapeutic natural environment - an overall approach very different from more familiar hospital surroundings.

The completion of 61,000 m² of 8 House projects in Orestad allows people to bike all the way from the ground floor to the top, moving alongside townhouses with garden winding through an urban perimeter block. The design of this mixed-use development project fully incorporates the green element into its architecture and the project has been awarded as the 'best green roof in the Scandinavia by the Scandinavian green roof association.


The architectural firm BIG(designer of project) has been partly inspired by classic townhouses as well as the open, democratic nature of functionalistic architecture and designed a long, coherent house with immense differences in height, creating a strong inflow of light and a unique local community with small gardens and pathways that channel ones thoughts into mountains in Southern Europe and memories of a childhood home. The bow-shaped building creates two distinct spaces, separated by the centre of the bow which hosts the communal facilities of 500 m². At the very same spot, the building is penetrated by a 9 meter wide passage that connects the two surrounding city spaces: the park area to the west and the channel area to the east. Instead of dividing the different functions of the building - for both habitation and trades - into separate blocks, the various functions have been spread out horizontally.

The apartments are placed at the top while the commercial programme unfolds at the base of the building. As a result, the different horizontal layers have achieved a quality of their own: the apartments benefit from the view, sunlight and fresh air, while the office leases merge with life on the street. This is basically emphasized by the shape of 8 House which is literally ‘hoisted up’ in the North East corner and ‘squeezed down’ at the South West corner, allowing light and air to enter the court yard in the middle.


8 House is a three-dimensional neighborhood rather than an architectural object. An alley of 150 rowhouses stretches through the entire block and twists all the way from street level to the top and down again. Where social life, the spontaneous encounter and neighbor interaction traditionally is restricted to the ground level, the 8 House allows it to expand all the way to the top.


The 8 House uses size to its advantage by creating immense differences in height thereby creating a unique sense of community with small gardens and pathways that remind you of the intimacy of an Italian hill town. With spectacular views towards the Copenhagen Canal and Kalvebod Faelled's protected open spaces, 8 House provides residences to people in all of life's stages through its 476 housing units, including apartments of varied sizes, penthouses and townhouses as well as office spaces to the city's business and trade in one single building.

According to Bjarke Ingels, Founding Partner, BIG, "8 House is our second realized example of architectural alchemy - the idea that by mixing traditional ingredients, retail, row-houses and apartments in untraditional ways - you create added value if not gold. The mix allows the individual activities to find their way to the most ideal location within the common framework - the retail facing street, the offices towards northern light and the residences with sun and views to the open spaces. 8 House is a perimeter block that morphs into a knot, twisting and turning to maximize the life quality of its many inhabitants."


BIG has demonstrated a very clear and conscious use of the green roof, successfully integrating it into the visual identity of the building. These not only provide the environmental benefits that we all know come from green roofs, but also add to the visual drama and appeal of the sloping roofs and rooftop terrace in between.

"We have now completed three remarkable buildings in Orestad, the VM Houses, The Mountain and finally the 8 House - which is the sole result of a good and constructive collaboration with talented young architects who had a good understanding for the economical aspects," said Per Hopfner, CEO, Hopfner Partners.

Concept

The project, Eleftheria Square is situated in the political context of Nicosia, Europe's last divided capital and in the historical context of the adjacent Venetian Wall which is buffered by a recessed moat that presently consists of a mainly inaccessible garden and landscape areas. This massive Venetian fortification, which was designed to protect the city from invaders, de facto defines the extent of the ancient city and separates it from the modern city outside the walls. The "Green line" separates the capital of two communities and instead of being a place of integration and unification it sadly occupies the place of the last divided capital of Europe.


The significance of the intervention at Eleftheria Square lies in the fact that it can become a catalyst for the urban unification of the whole of Nicosia. An opportunity which, by means of an urban intervention, would offer an architecturally coherent and continuous solution that would reinstate the Venetian Monument as a main part of the identity of Capital City and the Moat as the New Landscape in which a central green ring can take place providing free and unobstructed movement around the whole of the fortified city.

Design

Zaha Hadid Architects took this challenge as an opportunity to design an urban plaza with deep history and full of contradictions. The architect's concept takes the form of an architectural intervention, which is only part of a much larger urban planning gesture that aspires to organize and synthesize the whole of the Venetian wall, the Moat and the Fringes of two parts of the city (inner and outer) into a unified whole. The moat becomes a Green Belt which as a 'necklace' surrounds and unifies the Venetian wall and can become Nicosia's Main Park, enhancing the quality of life by offering a range of recreational facilities such as spaces for rest during day time, walk and exercise during the cooler hours of the morning and evening. It can also be used for Art exhibitions and installations, Sculpture gardens and sports activities, all around the perimeter of the Venetian Walls. In order to these spaces to function properly, designer advocate the insertion of activators, facilities especially designed to promote the use of the Park at the Moat Level. At the same time, the Moat can be topographically inflated upwards making wide and accessible connections to the level of the surrounding streets.


As a consequence, Eleftheria square and the other bridging streets to the outer perimeter of the Venetian Wall become the gates to the inner city, which could have restricted access to cars and more pedestrianized streets. In order to achieve that a car traffic analysis is being proposes to calculate the required capacity for car parking and consolidation it in privately run car park facilities, which can be placed under the streets, such as the one proposed under Omirou Ave, and even partly under the garden surface of the Moat. The placement of car parks under the garden surface would allow the "topographical inflations" to be combined with connections to the street level and maximize the available parking spaces making the construction of these projects feasible. The Venetian wall would be restored and lit continuously to emphasize its presence during the night time. A pedestrian walk lined up with a continuous line of palm trees creates a walking path right next to the wall.

Kengo Kuma & associates made an attempt to connect architecture with sea by means of an 'engawa (veranda)' of water in their project Water Glass Guest House. Sited at Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, the guest house is designed with the theme of the transparency of glass and water. By locating the "glass box" on an overflowing plane of water, the water plane and the Pacific Ocean can be experienced as a continuous surface.


The design of this project was greatly influenced by "Hyuga" Villa which German architect Bruno Taut has designed by practicing the principle of Japanese Architecture in Japan.

Bruno Julius Florian Taut (4 May 1880 - 24 December 1938), was a prolific architect, urban planner and author active in the Weimar period. Taut is best known for his theoretical work, speculative writings and a handful of exhibition buildings. He stayed in Japan from 1933 to 1936. His best-known building is the prismatic dome of the Glass Pavilion at the Cologne Werkbund Exhibition (1914) and his sketches for "Alpine Architecture" (1917) are the work of an unabashed Utopian visionary, and he is variously classified as a Modernist and an Expressionist.

Sprawl over an area of 568.89m³ and locates on the site with a great ocean view, the guest house is a three storey reinforced concrete and steel frame building - where it has two tatami room (Japanese style guest room) on second level and two Western style guest rooms on third level.



Inspired by the philosophies of Taut, architect Kengo in his Water glass guest house project, connect both architecture and nature to each other through the medium of horizontal surfaces such as engawa and eaves, rather than glazed boundaries. According to architect Kengo, 'Architecture is a relationship with the nature rather than the form' and our work in project water glass is homage to Taut. Kengo taking ideas from Katsura Palace creates a design of building and once again made an attempt to satisfy the obsession with drowning architecture in the landscape. As per the design, a layer of water gently covers the edges of the building, as in Katsura's bamboo verandas, while a stainless steel louver casts the shadow of the roof onto the water. The water surface stretches further out to unite the surface with the Pacific Ocean, and a glass box floats on top of this mirror, breaking up and reflecting the rays of the sun inside and outside. The project becomes "a total environment in which everything dissolves, where there is no disarticulation of space, where boundaries disappear, finally drowned in the water, the ocean and the blue sky.

"I think my architecture is some kind of frame of nature. With it we can experience nature more deeply and more intimately." – Kengo Kuma

In the Western architectural tradition, a building is primarily framed by means of walls and windows. That interposes a frame between the subject and the object. The subject is inevitably cut off from the object. On the other hand, in traditional Japanese architecture, horizontal planes (i.e. the floor and the ceiling) are the dominant framing devices. This enables the subject and the object to coexist in a continuous space, without being cut off from each other by the frame. In such a case, the main concern of planning is the introduction of a sequence and speed into a continuous space. One cannot help but introduce into the building the parameter of time as well as the parameter of space. And in the Water Glass House, Kengo tried to frame space with only two horizontal planes - the floor of water and the ceiling louvers- and to generate between the planes a transparent and fluid time-space.

The design concept for Aedas's innovative competition winning design has been derived from an algorithmic composition, the Islamic principles of design, and has been supplemented by the application of a dynamic translucent 'Mashrabiya' which opens and closes in response to the movement of the sun, reducing solar gain on the building facade by up to 50%. The resulting composition seeks to create a building which is both culturally and environmentally responsive, reflecting the aspirations of the brief while also respecting the emergent Abu Dhabi 2030 Plan. The building is targeting a LEED Silver rating and expected to be completed by the beginning of 2012.



The new Abu Dhabi Investment Council headquarter towers designed by International architectural practice Aedas in collaboration with consultant Arup is located within the close proximity to Al Qurum beach in the eastern district of Abu Dhabi and prominently situated along the Eastern Ring Road. The twin office towers stand at over 145 metres and 29 floors, will each accommodate between 1,000 and 1,100 employees. A total ground floor area of over 32,000sq m. will accommodate commercial office, facilities for a full-service restaurant, café, a fully configured auditorium and a multi-use conference space. The buildings will act as landmarks to the gateway of the city.

Design Concept

The project's design concept is both culturally and environmentally appropriate and complies with the aspirations of the recently published 2030 Abu Dhabi Development Plan.

The building design concept is based upon a desire to create a composition which will respect the prestigious nature of the Investment Council while also reflecting the underlying cultural tradition in a modern idiom, and responding to the prevailing environmental conditions. In response to the client's brief, Aedas's design approach for the buildings were influenced by three key drivers; inspiration from nature, sustainable design and the principles of Islamic architecture, a key aspect of which is geometric composition.

Geometry

Geometric composition has been a defining characteristic of Islamic architecture for centuries, the circle and rotation reflecting the concept of unification and unity evident in nature; an important concept in Islam and in the emerging science of biomimicry. For this project, a geometric pattern has been conceived, in order to provide a framework upon which the towers stand on adjacent sites. The resulting geometrical framework, when applied to the towers results in a parametrically based, i.e mathematically rationalised form, allowing the design to be developed with precision and accuracy.

Towers form

The starting point for the design was two cylindrical towers, a circle producing the most efficient form in terms of wall to floor area together with the maximum volume with minimum surface area. The geometry generated an articulated plan form to provide orientation, creating a front and a rear elevation. The form of the tower was sculpted around the core, narrower at the base and at the top, but broader around the intermediate floors. The crown of the tower was cut at an angle in order to maximise solar gain for roof-mounted photovoltaic's and sky gardens were introduced in the most heavily exposed southerly elevation to reduce solar gain while providing an amenity space for users.

The towers provide circa 55,000sqm of flexible accommodation which can be arranged in open-plan or cellular configuration.

Structural System

A crystalline/honeycombed structure has been derived from the underlying geometry that provides highly efficient load paths and creates a structural solution which is at once stable, flexible and economical. The structural form also embodies a high degree of redundancy which would be very resilient if damaged. The Abu Dhabi Investment Council building superstructure is expressed on the external face of the building reflecting the underlying geometrical framework.

The Dynamic Mashrabiya

A key feature of the design is the application of a diaphanous screen that envelopes the most exposed aspect of the building in the form of a dynamic Mashrabiya. The Mashrabiya screen solution has responded to the United Arab Emirates' aspiration to become a leader in the field of alternative energy, as evidenced by the recent Masdar initiative. Preliminary estimates suggest that the screen will result in a 25% reduction in the cooling load, thereby substantially reducing the carbon footprint of the Abu Dhabi Investment Council building towers.


Each Mashrabiya comprises an umbrella-like unit which opens and closes throughout the day in response to the sun's movements. Each Mashrabiya comprises a series of PTFE fabric mesh panels that are driven by a linear actuator. As each tower comprises circa 1,000 Mashrabiya units, so it has been estimated that the 'Mashrabiya' will achieve a 50% reduction in solar gain, a significant reduction in electrical energy consumption together with a reduction in total site CO₂ emissions of over 1,750 tonnes per year.

Sky Gardens

In order to further reduce the potential for solar gain, the form has been sculpted to provide sky gardens in what would otherwise have become the most sensitive areas of the building. The sky gardens also provide visual relief for users of the building and an important amenity space for staff during the cooler months of the year.

Roof Form

The sculptural form of the tops of the towers has been driven by a desire to take advantage of the sloping southerly aspect to apply a skin of photovoltaic cells whilst simultaneously maximising the more sheltered northerly aspect providing open views towards the sea.

Basement Accommodation

There are two levels of basement, providing circa 37,500sqm of accommodation for parking, plant and back of house functions. The car-park will accommodate over 750 vehicles.

Ground Floor and Podium Accommodation

The two towers are tied together by means of a podium block comprising circa 14,000sqm of accommodation, which provides controlled access to both towers. The podium block also contains a number of shared facilities including, cafeteria, prayer rooms and a lecture theatre while discrete access for VIP's is provided at podium level. The ground floor and podium block comprise a lightweight shell roof that has been derived from the same geometric composition as the towers. The roof is supported by a series of 'tree-column's' and the mezzanine accommodation within the podium area has been hung from the structure above.

Elevators

Each tower has been provided with 5 passenger lifts plus 2 VIP lifts and 2 service elevators. In order to ensure effective security of the building, staff using the basement car park access the towers by means of escalators via the ground floor.

Sustainability Features

The building is targeting a LEED Silver rating and the following are among the measures to be adopted, in addition to the 'Dynamic Mashrabiya':

• Installation of solar panels at podium level to generate hot water
• Reduction in water usage
• Use of materials that are regionally sourced
• Use of materials with a high recycled content
• Use of wood from forests which are certified in accordance with the Forest Stewardship Council’s (FSC) Principles

Landscape

The design of the exterior landscaping reflects the geometrical composition of the building and comprises a variety of hard and soft treatments, together with a number of water features. The landscaping within the Sky Gardens comprises a more formal arrangement of boxed plants and seating areas. All landscaping will be irrigated using non-potable water and only water efficient species have been selected.

Construction Technology

In order to achieve a fast-track programme, an enabling works contract was awarded following completion of the detailed design. The enabling works contract included construction of the water retaining basement perimeter together with the piling and basement blinding.

The tower cores are being constructed using 'slip-form' technology which has allowed a continuous pouring sequence to be maintained. The superstructure of the towers comprises a steel structure with a sprayed fire-resistant coating. The tower floors comprise in-situ concrete slabs cast over 'Holorib' permanent shuttering spanning between radial steel beams.

Building Information Modelling [BIM] was implemented early in the project to ensure proper coordination of the principle interfaces. Key components, including the steel superstructure and the façade, have been simulated in BIM with fabrication cutting lists extracted directly from the digital 3D model and members manufactured and cut to size using CNC technology. Also the components including the steel superstructure and the façade have been installed using GPS surveying technology to manage the complex geometry and provide the levels of accuracy required.

The construction of the project is at an advanced stage and is expected to be completed by the beginning of 2012.

"Architecture must not be an object but merely a device to frame life and the environment. We at Kengo Kuma & Associates take great care in ensuring that our buildings achieve this and it is the best manifested in our meticulous attention to details."

Born in Kanagawa, Japan in 1954 Kengo Kuma has completed his master's degree at the University of Tokyo in 1979. From 1985 to 1986, he studied at Columbia University as Visiting Scholar and in 1990 he established Kengo Kuma & Associates in Aoyama, Tokyo. From 2001 to 2008 he taught at the Faculty of Science and Technology at Keio University and in 2009 he joined the University of Tokyo as a professor.

Kuma aims to 'recover the tradition of Japanese buildings' and to reinterpret it for the 21^st century. "Architecture in the 20^th Century was about creating contrast between the building and its context but in the 21^st Century, buildings should be perfectly blended in with its environment.

"I want to erase architecture and that's what I've always wanted to do and it's unlikely I'll never change my mind, said Kuma." Erasing architecture, making it transparent and preventing the appearance of any object, this is a recurrent problem-set in the already abundant and varied work of this Tokyo-based architect. In his work produced between 1986 and 1991, Kuma explored heterogeneous collage, brutal superposition, and stylistic interference. It is his intent to dissolve this architecture of chaos in the actual chaos of the fast changing Japanese city.

Expressing his opinion about the architecture he revealed, "architecture must not be an object, but merely a device for the framing of life and the environment. We at Kengo Kuma & Associates take great care in ensuring that our buildings achieve this and it is the best manifested in our meticulous attention to details.

Works and recognitions

Among Kuma's major works are the Kirosan Observatory (1995), Water/Glass (1995), for which he received the AIA Benedictus Award), Venice Biennale/Space Design of Japanese Pavilion (1995), Stage in Forest, Toyoma Center for Performance Arts (1997, for which he received the 1997 Architectural Institute of Japan Annual Award), Stone Museum (2000, for which he received International Stone Architecture Award 2001), Bato-machi Hiroshige Museum (2001, for which he received The Murano Prize). Recent works include Great Bamboo Wall (2002, Beijing, China), Nagasaki Prefectural Museum (2005, Nagasaki, Japan)' Suntory Museum of Art (2007, Tokyo, Japan), and Nezu Museum (2009, Tokyo, Japan). A number of large-scale projects are now going on in Europe and China, such as an arts centre in Besancon City, France, and the development of the Sanlitun District in Beijing, China.

Other than the above he had also received the International Spirit of Nature Wood Architecture Award in 2002 (Finland), International Architecture Awards for the Best New Global Design for "Chokkura Plaza and Shelter" in 2007, Energy Performance + Architecture Award in 2008 (France), Decoration Officier de L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2009, Mainichi Art Award for “Nezu Museum in 2010, and so on. Receiving numerous recognition and awards for his architectural design, Kuma is still designing architectural buildings with the inspiration of light and nature to achieve his goals.

Upcoming projects

Some of the upcoming projects of the firm include: Sanlitun SOHO Project / Beijing, Spiritual Center of Chengdu / Chengdu, Chengdu Library / Chengdu, Besancon City of Arts and Culture Architecture / Besancon, France, Complex of Government Buildings related to the area of the "Eiffel Hall" Western Railway Station of Budapest (Budapest, Hungary)*9 / Budapest, Hungary, FRAC Contemporary Art Center / Marseille, France, Granada Performing Arts Center / Granada, Spain, Commercial and environmental design proposal for the Central Post Office / Tokyo, Japan, Asakusa Culture and Tourist Center / Tokyo, Japan etc.

Innovation is linked to the development and maintenance of state-of-the-art technology facilities that enable the progression of highly skilled professionals, ensuring competitive advantage and the overall success of industries within national and international economies. Choosing the right strategy for the construction and marketing of these facilities can determine their success or failure, since several determining factors influence whether firms will decide to lease a property. The FIZ Frankfurt Biotechnology Innovation Center is a technology cluster built using a market oriented strategy that integrates a facility's marketability into the construction process.

Technology Clusters: Shared Infrastructure

Numerous large and medium sized firms are now convinced that, in the future, there will be more business associations and that the competition for suitable partners will become more intense. Due to higher capital costs and fewer resources, firms are increasingly turning to cooperation to maintain their ability to innovate.

Fuelled by innovation, a cluster is a dynamic location where networking, investment and technology transfer occur. More then ever before, firms are beginning to operate in specialized clusters, with shared infrastructure and the support of surrounding institutions such as universities. The infrastructure available to firms in these clusters provides office space, labs and conference rooms, and other facilities.

These specialized clusters enable worldwide business representation and co-operation, while ensuring the concentration of scientific know-how and expertise at specific locations around the world. This in turn makes it easier for companies to locate needed resources.

Clusters also serve as a means of creating competitive advantage to attract and maintain corporations and increase economic development and growth of their regions.

New Benchmark for the Development of Technology Infrastructure

In Germany, there are about 300 technology and startup centers. Amongst them are technology centers, startup oriented centers, and technology parks. These clusters specialize in various areas including chemicals, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. In addition to these traditional cluster models, a new concept has been developed. This involves a technology center, which provides infrastructure, management and consulting services, and supports the development of other specialized clusters facilities in Europe.

The FIZ Frankfurt Biotechnology Innovation Center provides infrastructure for companies in the Life Sciences industry. The architectural concept with its campus character underscores the visibility of the companies and purposefully promotes communication and focused work. The aim of this special facility is to create necessary conditions for small and medium-sized research companies, which are otherwise only achievable for large pharmaceutical companies. FIZ provides 15,000 square meters of laboratory and office space to realize this aim. The modular construction ensures a high degree of individual utilization concepts and flexible layouts. Laboratories can be converted to clean rooms or S3 labs very quickly.

Role and Importance of Shared Infrastructure

High technology industries such as pharmaceuticals and biotechnologies are intensive users of Research and Development (R&D) that leads to innovation resulting in gains in market share, the creation of new markets, and the efficient use of resources. A technology cluster in this regard is the fuel that drives innovation, since they consistently generate new ideas and transform them into commercially successful products.

Knowledge spillovers in technology clusters contribute to an increased rate of innovation leading to creation and growth of new businesses. Companies moving to new clusters contribute to and benefit from these spillovers. Firms also have, as a result, access to a pool of highly-skilled labor and specialized suppliers that agglomerate in such regions.

Because these clusters and their surrounding institutions are made up of individuals and organizations from both industry and academia, a more diversified approach to dealing with issues which affect an industry emerges. In research for instance, when companies within a cluster plan to develop new medicines and medical equipment, input and results from nearby research institutions are easily accessible.

Innovation dynamics of companies in clusters are further stimulated by the presence of local competition and peer pressure among companies, since the existence of other competing firms in the near vicinity prompts them to increase the efficiency of their operations. In addition, the exchange of processes involving suppliers, customers and providers of professional services leads to a reduction in research and development costs.

Case Study: Concept for the Planning and Construction of a Technology Cluster

The key requirement in the planning and set up of FIZ was a tailored technical concept in which the potential of the companies to be accommodated was identified. The infrastructural requirements were then analyzed in detail.

Moreover, highly specialized consulting knowledge was gathered with the implementation of the technical concept, which includes expertise in the analysis of potential and feasibility studies in research-intensive sectors, project development and the operation of special purpose facilities.

In the initial stages of planning, 220 companies were contacted. The data collection, the review of the local scientific activities, and the expert interviews with the economic and scientific advisory board of FIZ resulted, for example, in the selection of inflammatory diseases, diseases of the Central Nervous System and proteomics as areas of focus.

Architectural and Marketing Concept

A well throughout architectural concept and an effective marketing concept are both key to ensuring the success of a cluster facility. The size, building modules and rental agreements of a facility must all be adapted to the current market environment, since firms will decide whether or not to lease office space and labs based on one or more of these criteria.

From a town planning and architectural standpoint, the buildings at FIZ support three important factors in modern research activities: informal communication, concentrated work and a creative environment.

The division into several interconnected building modules makes flexible rental units possible and building-use adapted to the current market position. Built in two construction phases, FIZ has about 15,000 square meters of rental and usable floor space available.

Rental Concept

The combination of the regional location advantages, the architectural concept, and the internationally oriented research cluster are factors that have led to successful renting of the property in the defined research areas. However, the key to success is the flexible planning and building strategy which involves the signing of leasing contracts before construction of offices and labs begins.

Aimed at satisfying emerging market demand, the second construction phase of the technology cluster started after several companies had committed to using the facilities upon completion. To ensure the success of the expansion and return on investment, construction began only after 60% of lab and office space had been leased out. Furthermore, the tenancy contracts with mature firms are oriented towards the long-term, and were signed with solidly financed tenants.

Owing to this approach, FIZ reached maximum rental capacity only eight months after the opening of the second construction complex. The rents achieved are at market average, which shows that the market is prepared to reward the effectiveness of such a platform.

This rental structure also supports the future of young and established firms. Due to the sustainable success of the technology center and a persistent demand for flexible laboratory and office space, the cluster is consistently being expanded by private investors on neighboring plots.

Strategic Location

Deciding where to build a technology infrastructure facility will determine the number and kind of firms wanting to lease the property. Since the geographic location of a technology cluster contributes to its success, careful research must be done to determine the most adequate region and location to build in. Once a particular region has been selected, a location in close proximity to universities, research institutions, and other related enterprises should be pinpointed.

Located within a scientific hub, FIZ is not only in close proximity of key research institutes but is also surrounded by additional infrastructure services such as shopping centers, hotels, and daycare centers. Companies also benefit from the easy connections with international transport routes and the proximity to important suppliers, and financial markets.

Conclusion

More and more firms are beginning to see the importance of operation in shared infrastructure facilities. These specialized clusters become hubs of innovation and promote the competitive advantage of firms and boost regional economies.

In order to ensure the success of these commercial real estate facilities, careful planning and preparation is required before construction begins. A concept with a market oriented approach creates initial awareness on market conditions, provides better insight on the type of firms that will be renting or leasing the facility, and establishes contact with potential tenants. In this light, the marketing of the facility must begin before the construction phase in order to create awareness and demand.

Such a concept facilitates the construction of an infrastructure that directly meets the needs of companies, which will be residing in it, as well as ensures the inflow of funds once the facility is completed.

Designed by world-renowned architect, Frank Gehry and operated by the Cleveland Clinic, The Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health is located on a prominent "gateway" site of the 61 acre Symphony Park development in downtown Las Vegas at the corner of Grand Central Parkway and Bonneville Avenue. The building, which consists of the architects signature steel forms, is a leading research centre for degenerative brain diseases.

The $100 million complex comprises two wings connected by an open courtyard: a dedicated research center, located at the northern end of the building, and a ‘for-hire’ event space, dubbed the Life Activity Center, located at the southern end. Architecturally, the two spaces are dramatically different and yet together they form a cohesive whole.

Structural Design

The building’s design reflects the two sides of the brain. The free-form south side depicts creativity and imagination, while the stacked cubes on the north represent logic and reason. The four-storey clinic, which houses medical offices, patient rooms and research space, is rational. Clad in stucco and glass and resembling a series of stacked white blocks, it takes on a conventional, rectilinear geometry. While not in the immediate view of the project from the corner of the site, this is the actual front of the building serving as employee, patient and public entrance. The Activities Center contained within an expressive metal and glass form, is articulated as a curvilinear metal façade and roof with punched-window/skylight openings. Designed as an event space, it can be rented out for parties, weddings and special occasions with the proceeds going to fund the center’s research. The Activities Center is flanked by a simple blocks of the Kitchen and Museum of the Mind which are ancillary functions of the Activities Center.


The center is intended to provide facilities that bridge all aspects of patient care, research, and education, which include an outpatient clinic, a research clinic, neuro-imaging suites, a reference library, a small Museum of the Mind, a multi-purpose activities/banquet center for 450 people, a catering kitchen, as well as office space for the American Alzheimer’s Association, the Huntington’s Disease Association, the Keep Memory Alive Foundation, and the American Parkinson’s Disease Association.

Architect Gehry deftly manipulates space and materials to create stunning structures that captivate the imagination. His design of Keep Memory Alive’s headquarters at the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health has been nothing short of remarkable. The Gehry teams have created a masterpiece of architectural design, blending strong visual impact with superior efficiency in patient care. Ar. Gehry wanted to create a place in Las Vegas that will be memorable. He explains, "The mantra is Keep Memory Alive. I’m trying to make a building that people will want to visit, remember, talk about, and enjoy, and ultimately will want to partner with us at the Center to help cure some of the neurodegenerative diseases."

Seven stories Tamil Nadu’s new Legislative Assembly building in Chennai has become India’s largest government building to have been awarded the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold Certification from the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC). The building would use less water, consume less energy, preserve natural resources, generate less waste and provide healthier space to occupants, as compared to a conventional building. Design conceived by German architect GMP, the geometry of this new building reflects circles and isosceles triangle.

GMP designed and built Secretariat, is based on the culture and tradition of Tamil Nadu. The Secretariat structure is like a chakra with 36 isoceles triangles in its base which will be turned into offices for the Govt. officials including the Office of the Speaker. There is also a car parking lot that can accommodate over 500 cars, which is developed as a multi-storyed building, to the left of the complex. There are totally 4 dooms, where the offices of the officials, Assembly, Conventional Hall and the Legislative Assembly chamber are placed. The new complex cost `4.5 billion.

Design Concept

The circle is the most natural and obvious geometric shape for any conference and assembly building. Inspired by the Hindu philosophy of the chakra wheels, the floor-plan design for the new assembly building in Chennai, the capital of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, envisages a five-part figure, formed by circles of different sizes inscribed into 30 segments of a larger, imaginary, circle.

Urban Design

The large parliament building fills one segment of the underlying imaginary circular geometry, whose centre lies beyond the river Kuvam, which runs along the northern site border and flows into the Bay of Bengal quite close to it.

The building structure derived from the chakra vortex column is reserved for the actual parliament building, the seat of the legislative assembly. However, the first circle is a public urban plaza (Civic Forum) at the beginning of the enfilade of architectural structures and landscaped open areas (including administration building, auditorium and guest house) east of the legislative assembly. The Civic Forum circle determines the widths and longitudinal axis of these subordinate bracketing structures and thus forms the ‘hinge’ between the population and the government it elected

Parliament Building

Apart from the philosophical foundations of the project, the courtyard motif was an essential design factor, used in various forms: as a central plaza, a central access and distribution area and not least as an open water tank – a traditional element of Tamil Nadu architecture. The designers also used the courtyard motif in other sections of the complex, and filled them with different functions.


Four circular ‘holes’, or negative forms (courtyards), were cut into the building mass and filled with different contents. The first and largest negative form has been left open, whilst the three following ones accommodate special functional cylinders (assembly hall, library, conference rooms, etc.). The airspace between the large, curving peripheral building mass and the cylinders ensures natural lighting for the rooms even down to the ground floor. The cylinder buildings are connected to the peripheral structure by bridges arranged like the spokes of a wheel. The fifth, and smallest, cylinder to the northeast is shaded by a mighty old banyan tree, which stands on the longitudinal axis of the complex.

The Courtyards

1st Circle (Basis) – Civic Forum, Public Plaza

This public courtyard has the function of a threshold, or ‘anteroom’, to the main entrance of the building. A planted two-storey structure and a water tank (pool) form the atmospheric centre of the plaza. The surrounding structures contain a number of public functions such as ticket offices and visitor information points.

2nd Circle (Power) – Assembly Hall

As the seat of the legislative, the Assembly Hall forms the heart of the complex and rises from the second plan circle as a free-standing structure. The domed roof of the plenary chamber is visible from afar and symbolizes the superordinate significance of this hall.

3rd Circle (Communication) – Library, Conference Rooms, Roof Garden

The library represents the memory store of government legislative decisions and decrees. The building’s placement in the 3rd circle, directly next to the Assembly Hall, is indicative of its significant function. The two-storey conference hall on the 2nd upper floor and the 5th-level rooftop garden surrounded by generously dimensioned corridors and foyers form the communication forum for the ministerial suites around the library.

4th Circle (Knowledge) – Chief Minister’s Office

The 4th circle cut into the northern end of the building mass is defined by the Chief Minister’s suite. The rooftop garden of this structure is a resting place reserved for the Chief Minister.

5th Circle (Universal Consciousness)

Tree of Life, CM/VVIP Drive in India, the banyan tree is a symbol of longevity and constancy. The specimen that stood here has therefore been integrated into the design concept in a meaningful way – as a silent witness to the past, present and future in the last of the five successively smaller circles. The overall large geometric form of the parliament building generated additional, this time semi-circular ‘cut-outs’ (courtyards) at its periphery. These function as light wells for the offices in the upper-floor bracketing structures and include the ground-floor VIP front drives along the circular access road underneath the building base.

Modernity and Tradition

The design for the state parliament of Tamil Nadu convinces as an impressive, yet simple and modern large architectural form in a creative reinterpretation of traditional south-Indian architecture and ornamentation, which form integral parts of the overall design.

Kolams

These intricate geometric ornaments of colored rice flour represent prayers for happiness and wealth and are laid out on the thresholds of houses or flats. The design therefore includes a large-scale stone-mosaic kolam on the threshold of the new Civic Forum, abstract reinterpretations of kolams as reliefs of pale-colored stone on some prominent façade sections, and kolam-type geometric arrangements of garden plantings.

Roof Gardens

The two roof gardens, visible as central green outdoor spaces from the 5th and 6th floors quote traditional Tamil patio house architecture. Bridges connect them to the surrounding floors. Pergolas grown with climbers shade the roof gardens from the tropical sun and peripheral inclined glass roofs let natural light fall into the building.

Passages

Stepped overhangs above passages and stepped column heads are characteristic of Dravidian architecture. The design of the Assembly Hall proper has therefore been derived from these traditional elements: the upper storey’s jut out step-wise into the circular plenary chamber. This heightens the hall’s significance as the ‘heart’ of the government complex.

Wall Paintings / Interior Decoration

Southern Indian architecture fascinates because of its rich interior ornamentation with wall paintings or artistic wood carvings and stone moldings.

The Dome

The Assembly Hall’s skyline with its domed roof is a modern reinterpretation of the originally thatched archaic temples typical of southern India. This ‘classical’ symbol of sovereignty in the form of a contemporary filigree glass-and-steel engineering structure forms a bridge from the past into the future.

Outdoor Areas

The parliament building stands on a terraced green base and is thus raised from the ground level. From this green terrace, a grand stairway leads up to the Civic Forum plaza, linking the building to the urban surroundings. Most of the magnificent old trees on the site will be preserved and complemented with further plantings on the terrace base and along the front stairway.

The width of the administration building (which defines the east side of the Civic Forum) corresponds to the diameter of the round plaza in front of the parliament building. The radius of the office building’s concave façade starts from the centre of the Civic Forum and thus points to the functional connection between the two structures.

Administration building

In plan, the eight-storey administration building forms a two-sided comb structure with a main central ‘thoroughfare’. This is legible on the concave front façade as an expressive opening – a modern ’quote‘ of a Dravidian gateway. The open staircases and public spaces of the administration building are arranged along this central axis. The outdoor spaces between the office wings either form landscaped courtyards or entrance forecourts.

State Guest House and the Convention Hall

The design of the State Guest House and the Convention Hall repeats the motif of circle and cylinder. The guest rooms of the former are accommodated on two floors around a garden patio; its building ring is supported by a square ground-floor storey, which houses the lobby and front drive, the restaurant, conference and spa facilities and the respective adjoining outdoor areas, each arranged in one of the four sections of the square.

The auditorium of the Convention Hall seats 2,000 people and also forms a cylindrical volume placed in the middle of a rectangular structure defined by four corner towers. The foyer surrounds the auditorium on three sides, thus making it possible for people to enter the hall at every level, and to link the interior to the surroundings via large garden terraces.

The Construction Technology

During the construction, many challenges have been met and solved with the help of non conventional and modern methods. Foundation is laid using rotary piling. The methodology of post-tensioning has been used extensively for slabs and beams in place of the conventional method of reinforced cement concrete. The RCC walls around the structure carry 20,000 sq m of structural glazing and 10,000 sq m of blue granite cladding. This building has so far consumed more than 5300 cu m of river sand, 24,000 MT of cement, 14,000 MT of steel, 50,00,000 numbers of bricks, 48,000 sq m of granite slab, and 18,000 sq m of Marble slab. About 1.12 crore man hours were spent.


On the environmental aspect, this building is constructed to cause least disturbance to environment adopting the concepts of Green buildings. When compared to conventional buildings, this building reduced 20% energy consumption by using energy saving electrical appliances including light fixtures. Occupancy sensors can automatically switch off the Air condition and lights. The natural lighting is harvested on all sides through panel façade and through the big dome at the top. The adhesives, sealants, paints and coatings used in the building have less volatile organic compounds and are less harmful to humans. The thermal comfort to the occupants is as per international standards and the internal air quality is also pleasant since the whole area is declared as non smoking zone.

The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) has certified this as Gold rated Green Building and therefore the Tamil Nadu assembly building is getting the honour of the first Green assembly / parliament building in the world. This has also become the largest certified Green government building in India. However, the building was inaugurated on March 13, 2010 but it would be fully completed by the end of this year.

The design of the new Legislative Assembly Complex in Chennai has been developed in a creative contest with the traditional and spiritual architectural environment of southern India. The emblematic monumental appearance with its clear concept united the pretention for a sovereign architecture with the constructional and functional necessities of a modern administration and Parliament Complex.

Frank Gehry, a modern architectural icon and celebrity is best known for building curvaceous structures, often covered with reflective metal. Most of the time the architect has been surrounded with controversy due to its unexpected, playful and twisted designs that break conventions of building designs. The architect once said: “I approach each building as a sculptural object, a spatial container, a space with light and air, a response to context and appropriateness of feeling and spirit. To this container, this sculpture, the user brings his baggage, his program, and interacts with it to accommodate his needs. If he can’t do that, I’ve failed”— from the 1980 edition of “Contemporary Architects.”

Born in Toronto, Canada, Gehry moved with his family to Los Angeles in 1947. He received his Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Southern California in 1954, and studied City Planning at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. In subsequent years, Gehry has built an architectural career that has spanned five decades and produced public and private buildings in America, Europe and Asia. Hallmarks of Gehry’s work include a particular concern that people exist comfortably within the spaces that he creates, and an insistence that his buildings address the context and culture of their sites and the budgets of his clients.

Gehry Partners, LLP

Gehry Partners, LLP is a full service architectural firm with extensive international experience in the design and construction of academic, museum, theater, performance, commercial, and master planning projects. Founded in 1962 and located in Los Angeles, California, Gehry Partners currently has a staff of approximately 115 people.

Over the years, Gehry has moved away from a conventional commercial practice to an artistically directed atelier. His deconstructed architectural style began to emerge in the late 1970s when Gehry, directed by a personal vision of architecture, created collage-like compositions out of found materials. Instead of creating buildings, Gehry creates ad-hoc pieces of functional sculpture. His architecture has undergone a marked evolution from corrugated-metal vernacular of his early works to the distorted but pristine concrete of his later works. However, the works retain a deconstructed aesthetic that fits well with the increasingly disjointed culture to which they belong.

Every project undertaken by Gehry Partners is designed personally and directly by Frank Gehry, and supported by the vast resources of the firm and the extensive experience of the firm’s senior partners and staff. At any given time, the partnership has as many as 25 projects in various stages of development from design through construction, which vary in size from the large scale Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Museum in the United Arab Emirates to projects as small as the temporary pavilion for the Serpentine Gallery in London.  The work of Gehry Partners has been featured widely in national and international newspapers and magazines, and has been exhibited in major museums throughout the world.

Awards & Recognition

His work has earned several of the most significant awards in the architectural field. Some of them are mention here: He was inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects in 1974, and his buildings have received over 100 national and regional A.I.A. awards. In 1977, Mr. Gehry was named recipient of the Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 1989, he was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize, perhaps the premiere accolade of the field, honoring “significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture.” In 1992, received the Wolf Prize in Art (Architecture) from the Wolf Foundation. In the same year, he was named the recipient of the Praemium Imperiale Award by the Japan Art Association to “honor outstanding contributions to the development, popularization, and progress of the arts.” In 1994, he became the first recipient of the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Award for lifetime contribution to the arts. In 1998, he received the National Medal of Arts, and became the first recipient of the Friedrich Kiesler Prize. In 1999, he received the Lotos Medal of Merit from the Lotos Club, and also received the Gold Medal from the American Institute of Architects. In 2000, Mr. Gehry was conferred with Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects, and received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Americans for the Arts. In 2002, he was bestowed with Gold Medal for Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2003, inducted into the European Academy of Sciences and Arts and was designated as a Companion to the Order of Canada. In 2005, he received the Ordre National de Legion d’honneur Chevalier from the French Government. In 2006, he was a first year inductee into the California Hall of Fame and in 2008 received the Golden Lion Lifetime Achievement Award at the Venice Biennale. Mr. Gehry has received honorary doctoral degrees from Occidental College, Whittier College, the California College of Arts and Crafts, the Technical University of Nova Scotia, the Rhode Island School of Design, the California Institute of Arts, the Southern California Institute of Architecture, the Otis Art Institute at the Parsons School of Design, the University of Toronto, the University of Southern California, Yale University, Harvard University, and the University of Edinburgh. Mr. Gehry has held teaching positions at some of the world’s most prestigious institutions including Harvard University, University of Southern California, University of California Los Angeles, Sci-Arc, University of Toronto, Columbia University, the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, and at Yale University where he still teaches today.

Prestigious Projects

Gehry’s some of the best-known works include: the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain; the DZ Bank Building in Berlin; Nationale-Nederlanden Building in Prague; the Jay Pritzker Pavilion and BP Bridge in Millennium Park in Chicago, Illinois; Maggie’s Centre, a cancer patient center in Dundee, Scotland; Hotel Marques de Riscal in El Ciego, Spain; Lou Ruvo Brain Institute in Las Vegas, Nevada; Princeton University Peter B. Lewis Science Library in Princeton, New Jersey; Art Gallery of Ontario Renovation in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, California.

Some of his prestigious projects under construction include the Signature Theatre in New York City; the New World Symphony in Miami, Florida; the Beekman Residential Tower located in New York City; the Make it Right Foundation in New Orleans, Louisiana and the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum in Biloxi, Mississippi. Mr. Gehry is also completing design work on the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi; Foundation Louis Vuitton Museum in Paris, France; LUMA Foundation in Arles, France and the University of Technology, Sydney in Sydney, Australia.

The Practice

Founded in 1965 by Meinhard von Gerkan and Volkwin Marg, the architectural practice von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp) is one of the few practices with a generalist position, which takes responsibility of project from the design idea and its realization right through to the interior design. Since inception, the architectural firm has now grown to four additional partners, one partner for China and eleven associate partners and more than 500 employees in ten offices in Germany and abroad.

Volkwin Marg born in 1936 in Königsberg/East Prussia, and Meinhard von Gerkan born in 1935 in Riga/Latv. They both have completed their Diploma in Architecture from the University Carolo-Wilhelmina at Braunschweig in 1964 and since 1965 they are working together, completed many prestigious projects and also won numerous awards.

Their architectural interpretation is characterized by the Vitruvian ideals of solidity, longevity and beauty. Based on the understanding, architecture earns the quality of sustainability in the sense of permanence, when not only the climatic conditions and the corresponding use of materials are accounted for, but also when the house, as an envelope for the diversity of human existence, is designed in an obvious manner. Above and beyond these demands, they build in different cultural circles in accordance with certified guidelines and in consultation with the client.


In the past 45 years, gmp has planned, designed and constructed small scale homes, hotels, museums, theaters and concert halls, office buildings, commercial centers and hospitals as well as research, educational and sports facilities, buildings for transportation, trade and industry buildings and master plans. The firm became internationally known as a team of airport architects when, in 1975, it constructed the Berlin-Tegel building with its drive-in airplane terminal for “stacked parking”. This innovative design has been further developed to transform the departure and arrival halls at Stuttgart and Hamburg airports. It is internationally recognized not only for its projects like the New Trade Fair in Leipzig, the Rimini Exhibition Center or the Christ Pavilion for the EXPO 2000, but also for its designs.

Awards

gmp has succeeded in winning more than 450 prizes in national and international competitions, among them more than 250 first prizes and a large number of awards for exemplary architecture. More than 290 buildings have been constructed by gmp worldwide. Aside from Germany, gmp is currently involved in projects in China, India, Vietnam, Brazil, Italy, Romania, Poland, the Ukraine and Latvia, to name a few.

Prestigious Project

gmp prestigious projects include three world cup stadiums in south Africa-Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban, Cape Town Stadium at Green Point, and Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. Other than these, there are Shanghai-Pudong museum, Zhongguancun cultural centre, Beijing, Foshan Sports Park, Opera houses in Chongqing and Qingdao, Chinese national museum in Beijing, and so on.

Practise Damilanostudio Architects is named after its founder Duilio Damilano who moved from the Polytechnic of Turin to Milan, in order to attend a workshop by Daniel Libeskind, where he has developed the concept of architectural research directed towards the concreteness of space.

Architect Duilio Damilano has always been fond of architecture since childhood. The passion for volumes comes from his family of sculptors. His father and brother have, in fact, passed on to him an interest for the plastic and material aspect of every sculpture & architecture and he has been attracted by architecture. Architect designs path begin from the study of the light, its affects and properties which moulds the shapes. According to Duilio Damilano, "It is an instinctive vocation – a feeling that starts from deep inside and only at a later time is conveyed inside the channels of rationality. Certainly is something that's always been part of my approach to architecture and which goes into my entire project. I mean the kind of lighting that goes beyond the physical aspect of the luminous element to become an integral part of the architectural design. A project can't peter out with the daylight."

B-House
Location	Cuneo, Piemonte, Italy
Project type	Residential house
Status of the project	Completed
Team project	Diamilanostudio Architects
Architect	Duilio Damilano + Claudia Allinio
Structural Design of the project	Arch. Massimo Aimar
Photographer	Andrea Martiradonna
Surface area	1080 sqm
Surface building	355 sqm
Yea of Completion	2008

After graduating he began his professional career as an Associate and in 1990 he opened the Damilano Studio. Over the years his work has developed, through collaborations with artists and designers, into new architectural paths. Major areas of interest of Damilano Studio are the design of residential buildings, offices and commercial and receptive structures, both in Italy and abroad. Currently, he is working in collaboration with the architects Claudia Allinio, Alberto Pascale, Corrado Tesio and Jessica Pignatta.

Located in Cuneo, Italy, Damilano builds this Italian white house on the hillside to enjoy the landscape of the Piedmont. An open front characterizes B-HOUSE, a refuge without secret where inhabitants are offered views of the landscape from the mountains. The house extends horizontally with a row of premises that end up with the kitchen, real field glasses pointed to the village. In opposite directions, this house develops northwards with the body of the rooms more intimate and intimist and southward with the swimming pool, a wide sheet of water, reflections and light.

The living floor is a spotless space, corrupt by the materiality of a fossil stone wall and by blobs of color of some furniture. The first floor is reserved to landlords and hosts a wide room, the wardrobe box and the bathroom. The roofs are wide terraces, alternatives hanging by relaxation of the garden. In the night come out the depth of volumes and leaks highlighted by luminous cuts and clear/dark contrasts.

Sustainable Features

• Structure in brick-cement
• Installation of floor heating with accumulating and condensing boiler model ATAG (27000 Kg/cal)
• Exterior wall: double course (interior course portion 20 cm, air space 10 cm which is placed on board insulation made with 4 + 4 cm wool glass density 40 kg/m³, exterior course brick thickness 12 cm);
• Production of hot water with solar thermal vacuum tube "termomax"
• Low emissivity glass [k<2] glass 4+4mm, air space 15 mm, glass 4+4 mm
• Dehumidifying Plaster

Building Materials used:

Exterior floor: Indian grey stone
Interior floor in the living room white: Taxsos
Wall paneling in the living room: Forest Brown
Interior and exterior wood floor: teak

The CTBUH recognizes one outstanding tall building from each of four geographical regions: Americas, Asia and Australia, Europe, and Middle East and Africa annually. Recipients must possess seamless integration of architectural form, structure, and building systems, as well as exhibit sustainable design qualities working to preserve the quality of urban life and this year the honor goes to Steven Holl Architects' for their superb design of "Linked Hybrid Complex" in Beijing.

Commenting on the project during an award ceremony, CTBUH Awards Committee Chairman Mr. Gordon Gill stated, "This project is very rich in thought, both programmatically and architecturally. It presents an advances typology for dense urban living," whereas CTBUH Executive Director Antony Wood said, "This project 'Linked Hybrid' points the way forward for the intensified multi-use, multi-level connected cities of the future."

Project Description

The 220,000 square-meter Linked Hybrid complex in Beijing, aims to counter the current urban developments in China by creating a twenty-first century porous urban space, inviting and open to the public from every side. A filmic urban experience of space; around, over and through multifaceted spatial layers, as well as the many passages through the project, makes the Linked Hybrid an "open city within a city." The project promotes interactive relations and encourages encounters in the public spaces that vary from commercial, residential, and educational to recreational; a three-dimensional public urban space.

Location	Beijing, China
Architect	Steven Holl Architects
Client	Modern Group
Floor area (square)	2383797sf/221462sm
Floor area (square) above	1753775sf/162931sm
Floor area (square) below	629635sf/58495sm
Building area (square)	2368060sf/220000sm
Status	Completed
Structural Engineer	Guy Nordenson and Associates: Derek Chan, Erik Nelson, Guy Nordenson, Claire Argow
Associate Structural Engineer	Capital Engineering and China Academy of Building Research: Xiao Congzhen

The ground level offers a number of open passages for all people (residents and visitors) to walk through. These passages include "micro-urbanisms" of small scale shops which also activate the urban space surrounding the large central reflecting pond. On the intermediate level of the lower buildings, public roof gardens offer tranquil green spaces, and at the top of the eight residential towers private roof gardens are connected to the penthouses.


All public functions on the ground level - including a restaurant, hotel, Montessori school, kindergarten, and cinema - have connections with the green spaces surrounding and penetrating the project. Elevators displace like a "jump cut" to another series of passages on higher levels. From the 18th floor a multi-functional series of skybridges with a swimming pool, a fitness room, a café, a gallery, etc., connects the eight residential towers and the hotel tower, and offers views over the unfolding city. Programmatically, this loop aspires to be semi-lattice-like rather than simplistically linear. Hope the public sky-loop and the base-loop will constantly generate random relationships; functioning as social condensers in a special experience of city life to both residents and visitors.

Focused on the experience of passage of the body through space, the towers are organized to take movement, timing and sequence into consideration. The point of view changes with a slight ramp up, a slow right turn. The encircled towers express a collective aspiration; rather than towers as isolated objects or private islands in an increasingly privatized city, the hope is for new "Z" dimension urban sectors that aspire to individuation in urban living while shaping public space.

Geo-thermal wells [660 at 100 meters deep] provide Linked Hybrid with cooling in summer and heating in winter, and make Linked Hybrid one of the largest green residential projects. The large urban space in the center of the project is activated by a greywater recycling pond with water lilies and grasses in which the cinematheque and the hotel appear to float. During winters the pool freezes to become an ice-skating rink. The cinematheque is not only a gathering venue but also a visual focus to the area. The cinematheque architecture floats on its reflection in the shallow pond, and projections on its facades indicate films playing within. The first floor of the building, with views over the landscape, is left open to the community. The polychrome of Chinese Buddhist architecture inspires a chromatic dimension. The undersides of the bridges and cantilevered portions are colored membranes that glow with projected nightlight and the window jambs have been colored by chance operations based on the 'Book of Changes' with colors found in ancient temples.

Towers

The project is a housing development for 622 apartments and a small hotel in eight interconnected towers. The towers are about 30m by 30m in plan with concrete flat slabs spanning between core and cross concrete shear walls and a perimeter concrete moment frame. The frame is a grid of uniform dimension interspersed with diagonal members. These diagonals occur on an adhoc basis where required for building cantilevers, overhangs and overall stiffness. Taking into consideration the substantial seismic demands of Beijing and the stringent code requirement of torsion, GNA undertook a number of design challenges: the core and cross concrete shear walls were used around the elevator shafts to provide a gravity load path for the long span flat plates and also substantial stiffness and resistance to seismic activity. Each of the seven bridges is isolated from the towers to minimize transfer from the bridge to the building tower.

The weight of the large cantilevers at the upper levels was decreased by using steel and concrete composite framing to cut down the self-weight. Lastly, systematic bracing members were added around the perimeter of the towers to increase torsional rigidity.

Bridges

The goal of the bridge structural design was to maximize transparency and create floating hallways of light, traversing 30 to 40 meters between the heavy concrete towers. In order to span the great distance required and also to achieve the utmost transparency, the bridges utilize a pair of parallel steel trusses (the truss being the most efficient form to resist flexure). A Pratt truss configuration was chosen to use thin tension only diagonal members and, in order to make the truss more elegant, the angle of the diagonals is variel, achieving a truss form with members oriented in such a fashion that the sizes of the diagonals have equal stresses, hence equal sizes. The connections between vertical and horizontal truss members were made rigid to form a complete three-dimensional rigid Vierendeel frame. This provides additional stiffness and redundancy to the bridge structure and allows for the removal of the center panel diagonal members.

Bridge Isolators

The bridges are light and glass enclosed. In order to protect them from the effects of significant tower movement under an extreme seismic event, it was decided to isolate both sides of the bridges. The system selected was a "friction pendulum isolator" which is provided by Earthquake Protection Systems of California. The isolators are shaped with a radius to achieve a described period of vibration that will minimize the shear transfer by reducing the resonance. In an earthquake, the bridges will move up to 40cm relative to the buildings, sparing them, and the buildings, of the effects of lateral forces.

Born in 1947, in Bremerton, Steven Holl graduated from the University of Washington and pursued architecture studies in Rome in 1970. In 1976 he joined the Architectural Association in London and established his own office 'Steven Holl Architects' in New York City.

Considered one of America's most important architects, Steven Holl is recognized for his ability to blend space and light with great contextual sensitivity and to utilize the unique qualities of each project to create a concept-driven design. He specializes in seamlessly integrating new projects into contexts with particular cultural and historic importance.

Being a member of the American National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB), the American Institute of Architects, the American Association of Museums, the Honorary Whitney Circle, the Whitney Museum of American Art; and the International Honorary Committee, Vilpuri Library, of the Alvar Aalto Foundation, Mr. Holl is also a tenured faculty member at Columbia University where he has taught since 1981.

About SHA

Steven Holl Architects (SHA) is a 50 person innovative architecture and urban design office working globally as one office from two locations; New York City and Beijing. Steven Holl leads the office with partners Chris McVoy (New York) and Li Hu (Beijing). Steven Holl Architects is internationally-honored with architecture’s most prestigious awards, publications and exhibitions for excellence in design.

With each project Steven Holl Architects explores new ways to integrate an organizing idea with the programmatic and functional essence of a building. Rather than imposing a style upon different sites and climates, or pursued irrespective of program, the unique character of a program and a site becomes the starting point for an architectural idea. While anchoring each work in its specific site and circumstance, the firm endeavors to obtain a deeper beginning in the experience of time, space, light and materials. The phenomena of the space of a room, the sunlight entering through a window, and the color and reflection of materials on a wall and floor all have integral relationships. The materials of architecture communicate through resonance and dissonance, just as instruments in musical composition. Architectural transformations of natural materials, such as glass, stone or wood, produce thought and sense-provoking qualities in the experience of a place. Following this approach Steven Holl Architects is recognized for the ability to shape space and light with great contextual sensitivity and to utilize the unique qualities of each project to create a concept-driven design.

Awards

Steven Holl Architects has been recognized with architecture's most prestigious awards and prizes. Most recently, Steven Holl Architects' Linked Hybrid received the 2009 CTBUH Tall Buildings Award in Asia and Australia, and the AIA NY 2008 Honor Award. The Architectural firm was also awarded the AIA 2008 Institute Honor Award and a Leaf New Built Award 2007 for The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Kansas City). Among 2007 awards for the School of Art & Art History (University of Iowa, Iowa City) are the AIA 2007 Institute Honor Award, the AIA New York Chapter 2007 Merit Architecture Award, and a RIBA International Award. The New Residence at the Swiss Embassy (Washington, D.C) was awarded AIA New York Chapter 2007 Honor Architecture Award and the RIBA International Award and many more.

Notable works

Some of the prestigious projects of the firms include USGS satellite image of the Bellevue Art Museum, USGS satellite image of the Chapel of Saint Ignatius at Seattle University, Kiasma, Helsinki, 1993-1998 Expansion of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri, School of Art and Art History, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, Linked Hybrid Housing, Beijing, Kiasma, Museum of Contemporary Arts, Helsinki (1993-1998), Cranbrook Institute of Science, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, Planar House (Cottle Residence), Paradise Valley, Arizona, Turbulence House, New Mexico, Stretto House, Dallas, Texas (1989-82), Bellevue Arts Museum, Bellevue, Washington and so on.

The Everinghams have been in a spin since they moved into their dream home in the countryside north of Sydney three years ago. They can turn the house to follow the sun without having to leave the comfort of their armchairs. "When you wake up you do wonder where you'll be facing," said Luke Everingham, a sound-engineer who came up with an idea of a rotating house with his wife, Deb.

Everingham's house is situated approximately 40 kilometres from Wingham NSW, in the hinterland of the Manning Valley on the Nowendoc River, comprising pristine rapids and deep water with mountains rising directly above the river. Built largely of glass and steel and powered by an electric motor "not much bigger than a washing machine motor," the Everingham Rotating House is a brilliant testimonial to the ingenuity of its owner/builders. It encapsulates many aspects of ecologically sound building principles, such as optimizing on natural light and heat, while rotating 360⁰ to take advantage of sunshine and shade at different times of the day and year.

Concept of the project

The rotating house guarantees a different view every time you wake up. The concept for this project is the result of nearly a decade of intermittent research, planning and design, and ten months of construction over a two year period consuming all disposable time. The project was completed in March 2006.

As per the owner and designer of the house Mr. Everingham, "The idea was born when our neighbors were expounding the virtues of their new home and commented that if they could start again they would orientate the house 15 degrees more to the north. To this, Deb his wife said "Wouldn't it be handy to have a house that could move?"

Immediately Mr. Everingham started thinking the features which could lead the house to move. Certainly several points come in his mind as Weight? The average house would weigh approximately 20-30 tons or about 1 ton per square. Weight is not difficult - ancient mechanical and structural engineering, he commented. What about Shape? The conventional rectangular prism would not be suitable, he pointed. After experimenting with scale drawings to investigate octagonal and circular shapes, he was pleasantly surprised as a number of preliminary designs and layouts were created.

Elaborating on his points he said "At this stage we sat on it for many years on the assumption that the cost would be prohibitive. In mid 2002, we decided that our 87-year-old white ant-ravaged farm house was beyond renovation and hence we started looking for new house options. We were somewhat shocked at the cost and how mundane the end result would be compared to our "Everingham Rotating House" design.


In January 2003, research into the cost of the project commenced, and 6 weeks later we came up with an estimation that it would not cost any more to construct than a conventional house of a similar size and level of appointment.

The construction of the house would not have been possible without the assistance of the Coastline Credit Union in Taree. The standard banks did not have the appropriate computer pigeon holes to cater for our particular circumstances. The Credit Union was prepared to consider our application on its own merits. By December 2003 we had organized finance and construction certificates and building commenced!

Design concept

The entire design concept has been firmly based on the following principles:

• The cost must not exceed that of a conventional house of the same size and level of appointment;
• The layout and finish must be highly functional;
• The end result must require very little maintenance;
• The house must be white ant proof;
• The rotating aspect must allow the occupants to maximize exploitation of weather conditions, seasonal conditions and outstanding 360-degree views.

Features of the house

The Everingham rotating house is a 24-metre diameter octagon and this octagonal nature of the house allows for irregular-shaped rooms with a lot more space than most conventional houses. Windows and glass doors constitute a large part of the exterior walls, in order to take advantage of both the views and the warmth of the sun. The wraparound verandah is a 3 meters wide hardwood timber deck.

The entire structure, weighing approximately 50 tons, rotates up to 360-degrees if and when desired, within a 180 degree retainer wall and a 180 degree fixed deck and railing. The house can be set up to follow the sun or to avoid the sun. It can be moved to get out of the wind or to catch the breeze. The house is relatively cheap to build due to the simple design of the electrics and plumbing and the simple nature of the rotation device which controls the rotation by using a touch panel on the wall of the living room which can be pre-programmed or operated manually." Some other features of this house are listed below:

• The exterior walls: vertical corrugated COLORBOND®
• The interior walls: predominantly Gyprock
• The mechanics: 200-ton central bearing, 32 outrigger wheels and two 500-watt electric motors attached to reduction gearboxes and drive-wheels.
• Insulation: CSR Bradford 2.5 Anticon roof insulation, all internal and external walls use the R32 sound screen wall batts and 100ml thick ceiling batts throughout the ceiling.
• Geothermal piping 120 meters long and 2.5 meters deep supplies a constant 22oc to the house through the central core.
• Roofing: COLORBOND®

The house cost about $1900 a square meter to build and can complete a full rotation in about 30 minutes, according to Everinghams. The family is now in the business of exporting the Everingham Rotating House (ERH) around the world. Each ERH can be customized to meet the requirements of each unique application (i.e. Larger or smaller diameter, more or less bedrooms, utilization under house area for storage or garage etc, an internal garage, second story, second story verandah 360 degrees etc). These designs are directed at the domestic and commercial markets. In addition, there are many environmental options available. They have further researched to make this already environmentally friendly house... friendlier.

The new building and the existing tower are in a dialogue that clearly defines the opposite of the vertical element of the blue tower to the horizontal shape of the new sales and financial center (VFZ). The wide overhang of the head of VFZ symbolizes the industrial ambitious claim of modern innovative and efficient company.

The entrance with gently sloping surface guides staff and visitors into the building with the addition of LEDs to light the way. Glass and steel are predominant offering transparency and strength across the 23,160 sq m built up area. The entrance of the blue tower is also renewed which is facing the new building.

Entrance

The main entrance to the sales and finance office lies, impossible to overlook below a daring cantilever that exploits steel's structural possibilities at the north-eastern end of the building. Here entirely glazed entrance hall focuses the attention of visitors from the steel reception desk on the one side to the impressive landscape of cranes, waste heaps, and chimneys on the other.

From here a panorama lift takes you to the meeting rooms, accessible to a wider public, that are located in this part of the building. In terms of number, size and fittings these rooms respond to the needs of the location Linz as a whole and are augmented by a terrace on the top floor, surrounded by glass walls and open to the sky, which offers exceptional views. All the rooms on the ground floor, which is clearly shaped as a plinth and has a delicately profiled glass façade, are also reserved for "public" functions such as the company’s own travel agency, shops, library, documentation.

Structural Design

Transversally the building is divided in 3 zones: the lateral zones of the offices, a central zone serves for meetings, and Inner atriums.


The offices are on the four upper floors that are encased in a shimmering golden façade. They are laid out in a strictly linear, double-loaded fashion, but the curve of the building visually reduces the apparent length. The offices lie along a wide centre zone in which four glass roofed atria are incised. Beside each atrium there is a circulation and services core of exposed concrete, between them are the "living rooms" of the departments. The offices are separated from these communication areas by glass walls, satin-finished in places, which for the staff required some getting used to, as did the restrained color scheme of the interior: gentle shades of grey are complemented by the light brown of the wooden floors and by strong signal-like colors in the area of the tea kitchens. The relatively narrow subdivision of the façade into full-height opening steel panels and fixed glass elements, also full-height, allows different size offices to be made in accordance with the different requirements. Sliding shade elements of frameless expanded metal on the outside face of the facade and the textile glare protection on the inside ensure agreeable lighting conditions.

Dietmar Feichtinger Architectes display the steel construction – columns and open web beams, as well as the concrete of the ceiling slabs. The building services which run only above the corridors can be made out behind their expanded metal cladding. The discipline that this demanded in both design and execution adds a further level of quiet elegance to the overall impression, something that, unfortunately, one can often look for in vain in many a palatial office block.

In addition, the new centre provides a generous open public space covering a one storey parking deck. The spacious garden creates a designed outdoor area for employees and visitors of the company: a sequence of green fields, wooden decks, paved and planted areas structured by patios.

Materials used

The building is designed as a steel structure: Steel frames distanced by 10m50 carry a concrete slab. The columns are in the centre of the building, the side areas are carried by cantilever beams. This configuration offers a large flexibility for office division. The concrete slabs are kept visible. They provide the mass necessary for thermal comfort. An integrated steel truss allows the free cantilever in the front of the building.

The facade

The façade is largely transparent providing sufficient natural light for the 20m50 wide building. Opaque horizontally sliding openings allow natural ventilation. Shading is assured by motorized steel elements made of a golden coloured steel mesh.

The project is a unique and luxurious, thirty-seven story, 5-Star hotel; consisting of a single tower with a variety of hotel rooms (single, double, suites, etc.), a grand lobby, a ballroom with separate drop-off, all day dining, feature restaurants, meeting rooms, a pool with gym and spa, a bar / pub, main kitchen, administration offices, hotel back-of-the-house, and three basements of parking for guests, staff, and services.

Design

The design was inspired by the magnificence of a butterfly. The root idea for the lobby ceiling sculpture of The Desert Butterfly developed from observing forms and patterns of several butterfly wings, and cocoons. From that base, the ceiling sculpture steadily matured into its own iconic personality and took flight. A nature-based, intuitive and artistic sense steered the design, with broad strokes creating fluid form. An organic figure developed…the expression of a wing in flight was liberated. How wings glide through the wind and are touched by light had a natural influence on the structures' silhouette.

The lobby offers a transition between experiences, while also creating an independent and memorable occurrence unto itself. The signature element entices further exploration. Guests feel like they are in a place of significance, enticing them to feel tranquil and be imaginative.

The exterior design utilizes a multi-layered skin that includes a glazing system with ceramic frits to reduce and control light and heat penetration. A B. Louvre system provides a secondary shading device. In addition, a C. Ribs holding tertiary system of scales is employed to further filter undesirable environmental factors. Through this multi-layered skin system, the building can adjust and adapt to harsh environmental aspects of site and location. Optimal light levels can also be adjusted and allowed in as desired. The skin system also houses and supports nightly light shows that transform the structure through slow changes in illumination intensity and hues - bringing the casing to life and metamorphosizing before spectators' eyes.

Distinctive Features

Each of the restaurants provides distinctive offerings to the guests. The Italian dining facility is modern, with unexpected details that play off of the art and movement in the interior. The exposed, all-stainless steel chef kitchen magnifies the dynamic space by bringing the dining experience to a more interactive-level. The Steakhouse design is inspired by the Arabian moon-lit sky. Textures and movement reflected in the walls and throughout the ceiling pay homage to the fluid and graceful nighttime atmosphere and ethereal glow of the moon. The Asian restaurant brings the concept of Tokyo and Hong Kong's bright lights and billboard skyline into the space through the dynamic LED ceiling, creating a unique dining style all its' own. The 3 meal dining option offers a melting pot of cultures cradled into a timeless and simple design that captures the effortlessness and harmony envisioned by its clean lines and crisp textures.

The Mediterranean restaurant is designed in white on white with a splash of tan. Moved by the desert tan cliffs and white terrace homes on the Mediterranean coast, the design creates an open and airy nostalgia as it relates to the serene pool deck just outside. Lastly, the black on black nightclub is the cocoon - textured in a metal pattern of the butterfly. The design touches on the contrasting nature of enclosed space within a larger whole through the nesting of the VIP pods and entertainment spaces.

“Steelman Partners is crafting exemplary casino/resort designs for an ever-increasing global market, with well over 3,000 designed projects worldwide, including the most successful casino in the world, the Sands Macau.”

Born on September 23, 1955 in Atlantic City, New Jersey into an architectural family, Paul Steelman is an entertainment architect based in Las Vegas, Nevada and Macau, PRC. He is best known for designing the Sands Macao - the first “Las Vegas Style” casino in Asia. The facility was paid for with its profit in less than one year.

Paul attended Clemson University from 1973 to 1977. He was employed by Wasleski Steelman, the city of Atlantic City, and the Golden Nugget, Inc./MGM Mirage Companies. In 1987, he founded his own firm Paul Steelman Ltd. Architect. The name has now been changed to Steelman Partners, LLP.

Steelman Partners, an international architectural firm specializing in the multi-disciplinary facets of Entertainment architecture, interior design, lighting design, graphic design, 3D design, master planning, and theatre design. The company has satellite offices in, Atlantic City, Santa Monica, Monaco, Zhuhai, Macau, Ho Chi Minh, Dubai/Abu Dhabi, and also has plans to open offices in Amsterdam and New Delhi in 2010.

While working in the public sector on the Atlantic City Master Plan, Paul realized that entertainment architecture was going to be his field of practice and expertise. He began working with Steve Wynn as an architect for approximately ten years; involved with such projects as the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City and Las Vegas, as well as the Mirage.

Steelman Partners has positioned itself as the premier touchstone in the entertainment architecture industry. The firm is well–known within the gaming and hospitality industry with a client list that includes, MGM, Harrah’s, Wynn, Venetian, Lady Luck, Swiss Casinos, etc. Steelman Partners is an enclave of the industry’s most talented and acclaimed architects, designers, planners, and artists. The resulting work is world renowned, remarkable and memorable. Since its opening, the company has grown in size from $155,000 in revenue with 4 employees in 1987, to now $42,000,000 in revenue with approximately 200 employees to date.

Steelman Partners is crafting exemplary casino/resort designs for an ever-increasing global market, with well over 3000 designed projects worldwide, including the most successful casino in the world the Sands Macau; the first Las Vegas style casino in the people’s Republic of China. This project returned 100% of its investment to the owners within 10 months. Steelman Partners embraces all aspects of the design project from project viability, revenue projections, site location, thematic considerations, conceptual design, programming, and supporting the clients marketing efforts.

Notable projects

Some of the prestigious projects carried out by the firm are Sands Macao PRC, Harrah’s Rincon, San Diego, CA, Beau Rivage (Mississippi), Hard Rock Hotel and Casino (Biloxi), The Resort at Summerlin, Las Vegas, NV, Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas, etc.

Awards

• 2008 HOSPY Best Typical Room, Hard Rock Biloxi, Completed July 2007
• 2008 HOSPY Best Suite, Sands Macau, Completed May 2004
• 2008 HOSPY Best Casino Space, Casino at the Empire, Completed August 2007
• 2008 Facility Design Project of the Year, Harrah’s Waterfront Buffet, Completed March 2007
• Casino Design Award for Best Interior Design for a Casino/Resort 2008 Harrah’s Atlantic City
• 2007 HOSPY Best Retail Promenade, Harrah’s Atlantic City, Completed August 2007
• 2007 HOSPY Best Interiorscape, The Pool Harrah’s Atlantic City, Completed September 2007
• 2007 HOSPY Best Casual Restaurant Waterfront Buffet, Harrah’s Atlantic City, Completed March 2007
• 2007 AIA Nevada Design Award, Jade
• 2006 HOSPY Paul Steelman Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient
• 2006 HOSPY Award for Best Grand Hotel, Sands Macau Resort and Casino, Completed May 2004
• 2006 HOSPY Award for Best Spa, Sands Macau Resort and Casino, Completed May 2004
• Best Renov. for Santa Fe Station, Las Vegas, Southwest Contractor Mag. Best of ‘05 Awards, Comp. Mar 2005
• Excellence in Design & Construction Award for 2005 Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Biloxi, MS, Comp. July 2007
• 2005 HOSPY Award for the Best Restaurant, Ruby Room Sands Macau, China, May 2004
• Casino Design Award for Best Interior Design for a Casino/Resort Sands Macau, China 2005, Comp. May 2004
• Casino Design Award for Best Architectural Design for a Casino/Resort between $100-$250 Million, 2005
• Casino Design Award for Architectural Company of the Year for a Casino/Resort, 2005.

7 More London Riverside is the first office building in England to achieve the BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ accreditation. BREEAM (BRE Environmental Assessment method) is an environmental standard for buildings, which determines best practice in sustainable design and in the UK is used to describe a building’s environmental performance.

Located in the south on the bank of River Thames in London, a 10-storeys 7 More London Riverside, is the final and largest building within the More London masterplan. It covers a 13-acre site and houses a City Hall, a hotel, office buildings and extensive landscaped public space, including an open amphitheatre.) developed by More London Development providing a sustainable headquarters for PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Grontmij | Roger Preston & Partners was responsible for designing the base, engineering services and systems for the building.


Matthew Thurston, Director at Grontmij | Roger Preston & Partners, said “I am very pleased with the achievements at 7 More London Riverside and feel this recognition will influence developers and designers to highlight the importance of the building’s environmental credentials. This has been a fully collaborative effort between us, BDP, Foster + Partners and MACE with the full support of our client More London Development Ltd and PwC, their tenant. The fact that 7 More London has also been awarded an ‘A’ rating Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) which is the further testament to the sustainable credentials of this development.”

Sustainable credentials

Designed by the architectural firm Foster + Partners, the 60,884m² building incorporates a range of energy saving strategies. In addition to a high-performance façade designed to offer shade and insulation, the building features solar hot water panels, green roofs and fully automated building management and metering systems. The key design aspect that assisted in obtaining the ‘Outstanding’ rating was the implementation of a Bio-Diesel fired Combined Cooling Heating & Power (CCHP) Trigeneration plant that provides a low carbon source of cooling, heat and power and has resulted in 55% less CO2 emissions than that required under the 2006 Part L2 Building Regulations.

Structural Design and Façade

Visible from all sides, the building does not have an obvious ‘front’ or ‘back’, so particular consideration has been given to the façade in assuming a distinctive presence within the masterplan. The zig-zag facades screen the interiors but allow daylight to penetrate into the office floors. A sequence of external louvres animate the glazed facades, capturing and projecting light and colors inside and creating a sparkling effect on the building’s outer skin.

To further maximise daylight and views, the building’s symmetrical wings open towards the river to reveal the open circular drum at its core. Three curved bridges, at levels 2, 5 and 8, connect the two wings, while the southern elevation drops to 7 storeys to respect the height of the buildings along Tooley Street.

A triple height internal atrium functions as a central plaza for the building’s occupiers – a space where the potential for art and the arrangement of lifts and bridges mirrors the external life of More London.

Escalators ascend to a mezzanine level with client meeting rooms and entertaining facilities, while a bank of lifts transport staff directly from ground level to the office floors. Two skylights illuminate the space and provide a focus for the circular landscaped terrace above, which forms one of several roof gardens. As well as a green roof on the lower southern elevation, the building incorporates a rubble roof to simulate a habitat that attracted birds during wartime London, but has since been displaced by modern development.

Mike Jelliffe, partner responsible at Foster + Partners, commented: “We are delighted that 7 More London Riverside has achieved the BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ rating and I congratulate the full team involved in the project. This is an excellent result - it is testament to the outstanding quality of the design; our highly successful collaboration with Roger Preston & Partners, Arup, MACE, BDP and a wide range of consultants; and the vision and support of More London Development and PricewaterhouseCoopers.”

Swiss architects RAFAA design a green project ‘Solar City Tower’ for the 2016 summer games in Rio, which is seeking to be the first zero-carbon footprint games. The project under consideration should be located in the bay of the city of Rio de Janeiro on the Cotonduba Island, which is the obligatory approach for aircraft landing and will comprise a vertical structure which will seek to become a symbol for those arriving in Rio, creating an image potent enough to enable Rio to triumph in its bid to host the summer Olympics in 2016. The challenge, therefore, consists of designing an observation tower which will become a symbol welcoming all those who visit Rio de Janeiro, whether they arrive by air or sea.

Concept

The aim of this project is to ask how the classic concept of a landmark can be reconsidered. It is less about an expressive, iconic architectural form; rather, it is a return to content and actual, real challenges for the imminent post-oil-era. This project represents a message of a society facing the future; thus, it is the representation of an inner attitude. Standing in the tradition of “a building/city as a machine”, the project shall provide energy both to the city of Rio de Janeiro and its citizens while using natural resources.

After hosting the United Nation’s Earth Summit in 1992, Rio de Janeiro will once again be the starting point for a global green movement and for a sustainable development of urban structures. It will perhaps even become a symbol for the first zero carbon footprint Olympic Games.

Approach

The project consists of a solar power plant that by day produces energy for the city respectively the Olympic village. Excessive energy will be pumped as seawater into a tower. By night, the water can be released again; with the help of turbines, it generates electricity for the night. The electricity produced can be used for the lighting of the tower or for the city. On special occasions, this “machine building” turns into an impressive wonder of nature: an urban waterfall, a symbol for the forces of nature. At the same time, it will be the representation of a collective awareness of the city towards its great surrounding landscape. Via an urban plaza located 60 meters over sea level one can gain access to the building. Through the amphitheatre, one can reach the entrance situated on the ground floor.

Organization

Both entrance area and amphitheatre can serve as a place for social gatherings and events. The public spaces are also accessible from this point on. The cafeteria and the shop are situated beneath the waterfall and offer a breathtaking view. The public elevator takes the visitor to the observation decks and the urban balcony. The administration offices can be reached directly from the foyer. Its inner circulation is organized by an own entrance and the elevator. The semi-public spaces are located in the back area of the building; thus, they can be used separately. A retractable platform for bungee jumping is located on level +90.5. Long distance observation can be done from the observation deck on level +98.0. The urban balcony is situated at the top of the tower 105 meters above sea level. Here the visitor has a 360° view of the landscape and can experience the waterfall while walking over the glass skywalk.

The Kazakh National Library will be the place of storing, organizing, distributing and creating new knowledge of the Kazakh culture. Both archive and museum, the National Library will be a place for work and study, as well as education and tourism. A place for progress and a place for pleasure.

BIG design for Kazakhstan’s new national library was recently awarded the first prize in an open international design competition. The winning proposal was chosen by the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Mr. K. Masimov together with Astana’s akim I.Tasmagambetov and a council of architects. The design was hailed as being both modern and rational. Encompassing an estimated 33.000m2 of area the new building designed as a continuous circulation on a Möbius Strip, as the result of 2 interlocking structures: the perfect circle and the public spiral.

The new National Library named after the first President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, will be one of the cornerstones of Kazakh nation building, and a leading institution representing the Kazakh national identity. It will not only accumulate history but also project new features for the nation and its new capital. The new library will be an intellectual, multifunctional and cultural center with a primary goal of reflecting processes of establishment and development of sovereign Kazakhstan, its political history, popularization of life, and the Head of the State’s activities and role in the development of the country.

Design

The design of the National Library combines four universal archetypes across space and time into a new national symbol: the circle, the rotunda, the arch and the yurt are merged into the form of a Mobius strip. The clarity of the circle, the courtyard of the rotunda, the gateway of the arch and the soft silhouette of the yurt are combined to create a new national monument appearing local and universal, contemporary and timeless, unique and archetypal at the same time.

The National Library will be the place where the citizens of Astana, the people of Kazakhstan as well as international visitors can come to explore the country’s history and its diverse cultures. The Library will accommodate and communicate with all segments of the population: civil servants, politicians, researchers, students, museum historians and staff from other culture institutions, etc.

The Library is conceived as a symbiosis of urbanity and nature. Like Astana, which is located in the heart of Kazakh mainland, it will be integrated into the heart of a re-created Kazakh landscape. The park around the library is designed like a living library of trees, plants, minerals and rocks allowing visitors to experience a cross section of Kazakhstan’s natural landscape and personally experience the capital’s transition across the country from Almaty to Astana.


In the library, the archive is organized as a circular loop of knowledge, surrounded by light and air on both sides. On the periphery a 360 degree panorama of Astana - at the heart of the building a contemplative courtyard domed by the heavenly light blue of the celestial vault. The simplicity and perfection of the infinite circle allows for a crystal clear and intuitive orientation in the vast and growing collection that will populate the shelves of the National Library. The ideal addition to the perfect circle will be a series of public programs that simultaneously wraps the library on the outside as well as inside, above as well as below. Twisting the public program into a continuous spiraling path tracing the library on all sides, creates an architectural organization that combines the virtues of all 4 complimenting models. Like a Möbius strip, the public programs move seamlessly from the inside to the outside and from ground to the sky providing spectacular views of the surrounding landscape and growing city skyline.

Möbius Strip

The two interlocking structures: the perfect circle and the public spiral, create a building that transforms from a horizontal organization where library, museum and support functions are placed next to each other, to a vertical organization where they are stacked on top of each other through a diagonal organization combining vertical hierarchy, horizontal connectivity and diagonal view lines. By wrapping the transforming composition of spaces with a continuous skin a Möbius strip volume is created where the facades move from inside to outside and back again. Evoking associations to classic geometry as well as modern mathematics, classical forms such as the rotunda and the arch as well as the traditional yurt, the Möbius shape merges the local and the universal, the tradition and the future.

The program of the National Library of Kazakhstan is resolved through four intertwining systems:

1. An inner circular core containing the Presidential Library’s collections of books, magazines and media
The inner circular core containing the Presidential Library’s collections are divided into 42 parts corresponding to the number of letters in the Kazakh Cyrillic alphabet. The cylinder’s three main decks are, in principle, one integrated space with internal circulation allowing for continuous and intuitive access to all the stored media. Open for any organisation: alphabetical, chronological or decimal the circular library combines maximum flexibility with maximum accessibility.

On all sides, inside and outside, the circular archive intersects with the public programs, reading rooms, study rooms, auditoriums, museum and administration making the library the programmatic as well as spatial heart of the institution.
2. A continuous spiral loop of supporting and additional functions orbiting the circular core
The looping spiral is divided in two separate systems. A continuous trajectory of supporting and additional functions such as auditoriums, reading rooms, research facilities, administrative offices, meeting and small conference rooms, a VIP section and the presidential venue. The intertwining spiral allows double high ceiling auditoriums and conference facilities. The stepping structure of the looping spiral provides optimal conditions for sloping auditoriums and combines continuous clarity with spatial variation.

A public path is running off the looping spiral all the way from the bottom to the top of the building circumscribing the cylindrical core inside-out - transforming the void of the double façade system into a continuous atrium visually and spatially connecting all levels. The orbiting structure provides a public pathway with a prominent view of the city and the surrounding park. Visitors can take a tour of the orbiting pathway without physically entering the President’s collection or using the additional facilities. A free entrance to the pathway could turn the library atrium and foyer into an outstanding public interior space directly connected to the park area and embankment outside.
3. A protective skin wrapping the whole structure, creating a mediating space between inside and outside
The facade wrapping the entire structure is conceived as a double Möbius strip going from vertical to horizontal and back again. The complex skin is, in fact, a ruled surface structured in a very simple and repetitive way using straight sections and triangulated lattices. Photovoltaic tiles on the façade absorb energy from the sun while also providing passive shading. Additionally, air will naturally ventilate between the inner structure’s interior space and the atrium’s naturally regulated climatic comfort zone.
4. A concentric park of ecological systems representing the diversity of the Kazakh landscape and the capital’s transition from Almaty to Astana
The National Library of cultural artifacts is situated in a geographical and living biological library of Kazakhstan’s landscapes. A cross-section of the Kazakh terrain from south to north, connecting Almaty and Astana, forms the setting up of the building. Different vegetation and topographical elements ranging from the Altai Mountain region, Betpak-Dala Desert, and Balkhash Lake in the south, to the Sary-Arka steppes and coniferous forests in the north are distributed around the Library in a radial pattern. Circulation paths are strategically woven throughout to allow for pedestrian access from all edges of the site while also providing every visitor, whether arriving on foot or by car with complete exposure to the landscape’s diversity. The downscaled mountainous terrain is integrated into the base of the building creating a natural canyon allowing access underneath the cantilevering façade. A visitor taking a tour of the National Library will not only experience the Presidential collection and get a prominent panorama of the new Capital but will also acquire a sense of the range of the Kazakh landscape, flora and fauna.

Pattern as climate screen

By using state-of-the-art technology and simulation capacity, the thermal exposure on the building envelope is calculated. Due to the warping and twisting geometry, the thermal imprint on the façade is continually varying in intensity. The thermal map ranging from blue to red reveals which zones do and do not need shading. By translating the climatic information into a façade pattern of varying openness a form of ecological ornament created that regulates the solar impact according to thermal requirements. The result is a contemporary interpretation of the traditional patterns and fabrics from the yurt. Both sustainable and beautiful.

Structure

The spiral portion of the library is rectangular in section, made from transverse steel frames 15.5m in height and 14.5m in length. The frames are arranged radially around the spiral, and are linked by longitudinal beams at every corner. Where the cantilevered sections of spiral move past each other, they are linked by another braced frame to provide shear strength, creating a stiff radial slice.


Longitudinal beams span between the radial frames. The steel decking and concrete then form the composite floor slabs. Five concrete cores, spaced evenly around the spiral, provide lateral stability and reduce the length of the cantilevers. The three frames are tied together by a parallelogram-shaped frame. These radial frames are then linked together by diagonal beams to form the diagrid façade.

Façades

The façade shading design can be used to be a part of the artistic expression of the building envelope. Using knowledge of the annual sunpath the façade can be optimised to provide the maximum ambient light while protecting from direct solar radiation. The benefit of this means that the Library is kept in natural light, lighting energy is reduced, glare for occupants is minimised and solar loads are reduced.

Architecture is the art and science of continually refurbishing the surface of our planet so that it fits to the way we want to live. Architecture is not the goal – but a bridge to reach the goal. The goal is to maximize the potential for unfolding human life to the fullest. And in our own humble way that’s what we try to do - Bjarke Ingels

Founder of Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), the Danish architect Bjarke Ingels was born on October 2, 1974 in Copenhagen. Studied architecture at the Royal Academy in Copenhagen and the Technica Superior de Arquitectura in Barcelona, Bjarke Ingels received his diploma in 1998. As a third year student he set up his first practice and won his first competition. From 1998-2001 he worked for Office of Metropolitan Architecture and Rem Koolhaas in Rotterdam.

In 2001, Bjarke Ingels co-founded PLOT Architects together with Belgian OMA colleague Julien de Smedt. The company rapidly achieved success, receiving significant national and international attention for their inventive designs. Despite great success, PLOT was disbanded in January 2005 and Bjarke Ingels created Bjarke Ingels Group, BIG in the same year which he heads today.

With BIG, Bjarke Ingels has continued the ideology from PLOT and has several major projects under construction or development both in Denmark and abroad. In his practice, Bjarke Ingels often tries to achieve a balance between playful and practical approaches to architecture. According to him “Historically the field of architecture has been dominated by 2 opposing extremes. On one side an avant-garde full of crazy ideas. Originating from philosophy, mysticism or a fascination of the formal potential of computer visualizations they are often so detached from reality that they fail to become something other than eccentric curiosities. On the other side, there are well organized corporate consultants that build predictable and boring boxes of high standard. Architecture seems to be entrenched in two equally unfertile fronts: Either naively utopian or petrifying pragmatic.”

But we at BIG believe that there is a third way wedged in the no mans land between the diametrical opposites. Or in the small but very fertile overlap between the two. A pragmatic utopian architecture that takes on the creation of socially, economically and environmentally perfect places as a practical objective. In our projects, we test the effects of scale and the balance of programmatic mixtures on the social, economical and ecological outcome. Like a form of programmatic alchemy we create architecture by mixing conventional ingredients such as living, leisure, working, parking and shopping. Each building site is a test-bed for its own pragmatic utopian experiment. At BIG, we are devoted to investing in the overlap between radical and reality. Choosing between them you condemn yourself to frustrated martyrdom or apathic affirmation. By hitting the fertile overlap, we architects once again find the freedom to change the surface of our planet, to better fit the way we want to live. In all our actions, we try to move the focus from the little details to the BIG picture.”

Through a series of award-winning design projects and buildings, Bjarke Ingels has created an international reputation as a member of a new generation of architects that combine shrewd analysis, playful experimentation, social responsibility and humour. In 2004, he was awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale for the Stavanger Concert House, and the following year he received the Forum AID Award for the VM Houses, his latest completed project, The Mountain, has received numerous awards including the World Architecture Festival Housing Award, Forum Aid Award and the MIPIM Residential Development Award.

Alongside his architectural practice, Bjarke has been active as a Visiting Professor at Rice University’s School of Architecture and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. Bjarke is currently visiting professor at Harvard University where he is teaching a joint studio with the Business School and the Graduate School of Design. His “Yes is More” manifesto, is a comic book he created to express the importance of “thinking big,” treating problems as challenges and finding sources of genuine inspiration.

BIG

BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group) is a Copenhagen based group of 85 architects, designers, builders and thinkers operating within the fields of architecture, urbanism, research and development. The office is currently involved in a large number of projects throughout Scandinavia, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. BIG’s architecture emerges out of a careful analysis of how contemporary life constantly evolves and changes.


Not least due to the influence from multicultural exchange, global economical flows and communication technologies that all together require new ways of architectural and urban organization. The firm believes that in order to deal with today’s challenges, architecture can profitably move into a field that has been largely unexplored. A pragmatic utopian architecture that steers clear of the petrifying pragmatism of boring boxes and the naïve utopian ideas of digital formalism.

In their projects, they test the effects of size and the balance of programmatic mixtures on the triple bottom line of the social, economic and ecological outcome. Like a form of programmatic alchemy they create architecture by mixing conventional ingredients such as living, leisure, working, parking and shopping. By hitting the fertile overlap between pragmatic and utopia, the architects once again find the freedom to change the surface of their planet, to better fit contemporary life forms. In all their actions they try to move the focus from the small details to the BIG picture.

Selected Projects

Some of BIG most prestigious projects include Faroe Islands Education Centre, Thorshavn, Faroe Islands, World Village of Women Sports, Malmö, Sweden, Shenzhen International Energy Mansion, Shenzhen, China, Astana National Library, Astana, Kazakhstan, New Tallinn City Hall, Tallinn, Estonia, Kaufhauskanal, Hamburg, Germany, New Tamayo Museum, Mexico City, The Battery, Copenhagen, Vejle Harbour, DK and Scale Tower Copenhagen etc.

Project : Scala Tower
Collaborators : Adams Kara Taylor
Size : 45.000 M2
Height : 145 M
Location : Copenhagen, Dk

The building is conceived as a reinterpretation of the historic Copenhagen tower consisting of two elements: A base relating to the scale of the surrounding buildings, and a slender spire becoming a part of the skyline. The base houses shopping, conference centre and the new Main Library of Copenhagen. The tower is a luxury hotel. The tower and the base are morphed together in a spiral-shaped cascade of stairs leading to a public roof top plaza overlooking the City Hall square.

Project : Vejle Harbour
Program : Masterplan and Housing
Client : Kuben,
Collaborators : JDS, Cowi, NCC
Size : 100 Ha
Location : Vejle, DK

This master plan for Vejle’s harbor areas deals with the contradiction that the city wants to preserve the industrial harbor functions while bringing the urban life to the water. By consolidating the industry on the central pier, enveloped on all sides by parks and new developments, the two can exist in symbiotic harmony.

Awards

BIG has received several awards and recognition. Some of them are mentioned here : 2009 ULI Award for Excellence, MIPIM Award 2009 for best residential development World Architecture Festival Award 2008 for Best Residential Building, and Forum AID Award for Best Building in Scandinavia in 2008 (for Mountain Dwellings), 2007 Contract World Award for Best Interior (for Sjakket Headquarters), 2007 IOC Honorable Mention - Islands Brygge Harbor Bath, Mies van der Rohe Award 2007 – VM Houses, 2006 Forum AID Award, Best Building in Scandinavia (for VM Houses), 2005 Mies van der Rohe Award - Special Mention (for Maritime Youth House), 2004 ar+d award for the Maritime Youth House, Golden Lion 2004, Venice Biennale (for Stavanger Concert Hall), 2003 Henning Larsen Prize, 2002 Nykredits Architecture Prize, 2001 Henning Larsen Prize etc.

RAFAA is a studio for architecture and design in Zurich, Switzerland. Founded by Rafael Schmidt in 2007, the studio critically analyses the contemporary architectural discourse and combines the insights gained with creative inventions, new technologies and design by research. The collaboration with different artists such as photographers, composers or curators is a further key element.

Born on 04 March 1976 in Tichau, Rafael Schmidt studied architecture at the University of Applied Sciences Frankfurt and achieved a master's degree in architecture at the ETH Zurich, department of Computer Aided Architectural Design (CAAD) under the chair of Prof. Ludger Hovestadt. Since 2001, he has been working with different international architects such as Zaha Hadid Architects and Foster & Partners.

Currently, he is teaching at the professorship for architecture and urban design under the chair of Prof. Marc Angélil at the ETH Zurich and is editor in chief of the publication Cities of Change, Addis Ababa (2009, Birkhäuser Verlag).

Selected projects

Some of the prestigious projects of RAFAA are Danish Dermatological Development, Frankfurt, Solar City Tower, Rio de Janeiro, Residence, Langstrasse, Zurich, New Bike Share System, Copenhagen, Memorial, Atlantic City etc.