Architecture & Web Art

Archive for the ‘Architecture’ Category

The latest creation of the brilliant team Herzog & de Meuron recently opened VitraHaus. The following images are the work of the french photographer Julien Lanoo. Over the years the Vitra Campus has become an architecture museum, featuring works by the most renowned architects:  Frank Ghery, Zaha Hadid, Alvaro Siza, Tadao Ando, Jean Pruvé, Nicholas Grimshaw, Buckminster Fuller and SANAA (under construction)

The five-storey building – situated on the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein, Germany – has been constructed to showcase the furniture brand’s Home Collection.

Over the past few years Vitra has aquired a wide-ranging Home Collection. The quantity and variety of objects by many different designers led to the idea of building a showroom to present the items to the public.

There would also be additional space to be used as an exhibition venue for selected parts of the collection or even as an extension of the Vitra Museum itself. A shop, a cafe linked to the outside and conference rooms complete the program.

The Water Cube

MVRDV‘s latest design, called The Water Cube, is a pavilion for the World Expo 2012 in Yeosu, Korea. The theme of the Expo is “The Living Ocean and Coast”.

EXPO-WONDERS

There are few things that men can call fantastic, or wonder, but this is between those. The world expo events are actual wonders. In the literal meaning. They show man kinds fantasies. They allow for this great opportunity to express excitement and admiration. The past has given a series of true world wonders that express that rare combination of entertainment and education, of research and achievement, like the Eifel Tower in Paris, the Sphere at the NY expo, the Montreal Habitat building, Buckminsterfullers dome in Montreal. What to add to this history? Can the chosen theme lead to a new powerful object? Will it create a change in our way of living and thinking?

The Dutch architects team called Mecanoo recently completed a stone-clad theatre and congress centre in Llerida, Spain, and the building as an architectural object is far from regular or unnoticeable. It’s not the outrageous consoles, the placement in the city, nor the outer skin composed of  multi-color tiles, but it’s the feeling that you get when you’re close to the composition. It just feels right. It’s been a while since I said that about something.

Mecanoo La Llotja de Lleida

Project Info :

Design: 2004-2005
Execution: 2006-2010
Client: Centre de Negocis i de Convencions S.A., Lleida, Spain; competition Municipality of Lleida
Local architect: labb arquitectura, Barcelona
Contractor: Dragados, Barcelona
Structural engineer: ABT bv, Delft; BOMA, Barcelona
Advisor acoustics: Peutz b.v., Zoetermeer; Higini Arau, Barcelona
Electrical and Mecanical engineer: Deerns, Rijswijk; Einesa, Lleida
Technical architect: Ardevols S.L, Barcelona
Building cost consultant: Basalt Nieuwegein; Ardevols S.L. Barcelona
Fire safety consultant: Einesa, Lleida
Building costs incl. installations: € 35,000,000 (2006)

Dalian Preschool – China

China Dalian

Architects: Debbas Architecture
Location: Dalian, China
Client: YIDA Group
Project Year: 2010
Photographs: Debbas Architecture

Dalian Preschool

Ok, I admit it, this is definitely interesting, but I don’t know… a kindergarten? Does this shape get to you to think about a preschool? Although this unique project benefits from the collaborative expertise and design criteria from two early childcare professionals: the International Child Resource Institute (ICRI) based in the United States and Kinderland based in Singapore, the final result is somewhat disputable. “Combining the highest standards in the world with the complex local requirements of China, the program and resulting architecture offers children one of the most unique and comprehensive environments for learning and subsequently flourishing as individuals.”

Dalian Preschool street

Charred Cedar House © Noriyuki Yano

Architects: Tetsuya Nakazono / naf architect & design
Location: Hiroshima, Japan
Engineer: Kenji Nawa / NAWAKENJI-M
Site area: 172.55 sqm
Building area: 61.38 sqm
Total floor area: 114.50 sqm
Project Year: 2009
Photographs: Noriyuki Yano / Nacasa & Partners

Charred Cedar House Front © Noriyuki Yano / Nacasa & Partners

CONCEPT

The construction site is located in a district where many traditional sake breweries preserve good old Japanese street with plaster and charred cedar walls. In winter, during sake brewing season, a cloud of steam comes out from red brick chimneys of the breweries and the scent of sake wafts in the air. “Charred Cedar House” stands in such neighborhood.

Charred Cedar House inside © Noriyuki Yano / Nacasa & Partners

STRUCTURE