Some are sharp, some are boxy, some tubular. Some
will be built in pairs, groups of three or clusters. More than 230 new
towers are being built or planned for London, making Renzo Piano’s Shard
look like a modest proposal and St Paul’s almost quaint. Read More
The Barclays Center in Brooklyn is set to have a
green roof installed. The idea has been planned since before the arena
was even built. Developers believe the new addition will be one of the
largest and most impressive green roofs in the city. Read More
The benefits to health and wellbeing of having
plants and greenery around an office are well documented. This project
by Ingameoffice is more than just a few pot plants, though. Its TYJ
Office Building refurbishment uses a vertical planting system in which plants can be moved around. Read More
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has
revealed what its judges reckon to be the 10 best new American homes and
housing complexes, for the organization's 2014 Housing Awards. Though
not explicitly marketed as a list of green housing, almost all of the
winners feature some degree of sustainable technology or design. Read More
London's iconic Battersea Power Station has had
numerous proposed reincarnations over the years, including being turned
into a "green mountain" and livening up the design with a roller coaster.
Now, as part of its regeneration, architecture firms Gehry Partners and
Foster + Partners have announced their plans for it, which sees the
building becoming the focal point of a new town center. Read More
The winners of the 2014 eVolo skyscraper
competition were announced in March. Now in its ninth year, the contest
aims to recognize outstanding ideas for vertical living. This year's
entries included wooden structures, sky cities and buildings that grow.
Read More
The 2008 Beijing Olympics provided China with the ideal platform to showcase highly elaborate, world-class architectural designs. Now with Zaha Hadid’s
new City of Dreams project set to open in Macau in 2017, the country
can add another unique architectural structure to its resume. Read More
Work has begun on transforming an area in Sydney,
Australia into a new public space. The Goods Line is a disused rail
track that was used for transporting freight. Now, inspired by New
York's High Line project, the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority is
working with Aspect Studios and Chrofi to reinvigorate the space. Read More
Czech architecture firm Atelier SAD recently
unveiled an interesting modular prefab home that can either be installed
on the ground like a normal home, or float on the water like a
(non-motorized) houseboat. Dubbed Port X, the unusual dwelling comes in
several sizes, can be expanded upon to increase living space if needed,
and operates either on or off-grid. Read More
Exposed street escalators in Bochum, Germany,
have been given a new lease of life with clever shelter designs by
Despang Architekten. Described by the architects as "urban waterfalls,"
the seemingly simple shelters had to be tough enough to withstand the
impact of a large truck, while presenting an elegant glass entrance to
the underground metro. A series of metal supports covered in glass
sheets allow rainwater to cascade over the sides, producing the
waterfall effect. The ribbed steel structure also protects against
vandalism. Read More
Italian soccer team AS Roma needs new digs, and
architectural practice Woods Bagot has duly risen to the occasion,
producing impressive plans for a large stadium that draws inspiration
from the ancient Roman Colosseum. Read More
Port of Seville receives shipping container-based cruise ship terminal
April 2, 2014
In order to accommodate the growing number of
cruise ship passengers who regularly disembark at the Spanish Port of
Seville – the country's sole inland port – a new cruise ship terminal
has been built using shipping containers. While they aren't always the
best building material for every situation, in this case they appear to
have proved a good fit. Read More
A design by international architecture firm OMA
has been selected for the new Axel Springer media center in Berlin. The
design is aimed at encouraging collaborative working in a digital age.
It was chosen in the final round of a competition ahead of designs by
Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and Buro Ole Scheeren. Read More
When designing a small home for a family, it's
only possible to downsize so much. One might fairly guess that a house
with a total width of 3 meters (10 ft) would be pushing things too far,
but Imai House, by architectural firm Katsutoshi Sasaki and Associates,
offers a good argument to the contrary. The home is also an example of
how apparently too-small inner-city plots can be put to good use. Read More
Forget the "Shard," the "Walkie Talkie" and the
"Cheese Grater," the real revolution in UK buildings is in timber
construction, which saves on build time, carbon emissions and boasts
energy efficiency. One new apartment block in Chelsea is calculated to
use the same energy as a Smart car. Read More
Well, it could theoretically be heated
by a hairdryer, at least. While that attention-grabbing headline needn't
be taken too literally (it appears to refer to the equivalent energy
required for heating), in Park Passive House, NK Architects has produced
an energy-efficient and attractive modern family home. It also happens
to be Seattle's first certified Passive House, and so will hopefully
provide inspiration for more similarly efficient homes to be built in
its wake. Read More
Known for her futuristic, curvilinear
architectural forays, Zaha Hadid, the Iraqi Pritzker prize winning
architect, has never been one to shy away from making a statement. From
London’s Aquatics Centre to the Zaragoza Bridge Pavilion to the
Guangzhou Opera House, Zaha’s architectural style remains unique. Now
the Iraqi born designer can add Korea’s Dongdaemun Design Plaza to her
resume. Read More
Following the tsunami that hit Japan in March,
2011, designer Chris Robinson was inspired to create an escape pod to
ensure he and his family could survive if such a disaster were to occur
in his home city of Palo Alto, California. After some two years of
painstaking design and construction, his floating off-grid shelter,
dubbed Tsunamiball, is nearing completion. Read More
A new house on the Thames in London not only
accommodates a family of 10, but offers special flood-prevention
measures and a clever scheme for taking in natural light while
maintaining privacy. It’s called the Garden House, as it sits in a
sunken garden courtyard surrounded by open terrace and greenery. But its
real achievements are harder to guess. The sculptural volumes contain a
five-bedroom house; the glamorous-looking courtyard is actually a
high-sided watertight concrete container, and the blank upper walls
conceal light wells that cleverly let in sunlight without overlooking
the neighbors. Read More
If you’re interested in seeing the latest, most
advanced car designs while also taking in some modern art and learning
about sustainability, then you might want to stop in at the Autostadt in
Wolfsburg, Germany. The museum-showroom-education complex is now also
home to the "MobiVersum," by Jürgen Mayer H. The new interactive
sculptural installation by the Berlin-based architect is made up of a
cluster of abstract shapes that resembles an architectural playground,
but is meant to offer lessons in motion and sustainability. Read More
Perhaps due to the fact that the challenge of
designing viable tiny homes pushes architects to come up with creative
space-saving solutions, the tiny house movement is bursting with great ideas.
The latest such dwelling to come to our attention, dubbed ESCAPE, is a
37 sq m (400 sq ft) home that boasts a handsome design, lots of
customizable options (including operating completely off-grid), and
legal status as an RV. Read More
The TED Conference has a long history of artworks
and performances accompanying its talks and the conference taking place
this week in Vancouver is no different. It's featuring a huge net
sculpture floating above the city that's hung from a skyscraper and
incorporates an interactive light-show at night. Read More
French architectural firm Multipod Studio
recently unveiled a new sustainable house prototype that's lightweight,
recyclable, and promises to be an inexpensive purchase and extremely
efficient to run. The suitably-named Pop-Up House also boasts another
notable selling-point: all that's required to assemble it is four day's
patience and a standard electric screwdriver. Read More
In high-density areas like the Taiwanese capital
of Taipei, people have long looked to expand vertically to make use of
the limited land, resulting in a lack of vegetation, high humidity and
high energy usage. According to Unicode, a team of Taiwanese architects
and designers, 50 percent of the county's housing constructions are
either common multiple-story rowhouses or larger duplex apartment
buildings, many of which have illegal makeshift shelters on their
rooftops to provide extra living space. Unicode has developed a concept
house which would give these shelters a greenhouse-inspired makeover,
shifting reliance to renewable energy sources and improving Taipei's
sustainability in the process. Read More
Luxury treehouse manufacturer Blue Forest has
teamed up with noise abatement specialist Quiet Mark and UK retailer
John Lewis to produce the Quiet Treehouse. Constructed for this year's
Ideal Home Show, the cosy retreat packed with noise-reduction technology
and low-noise home appliances. Once the show is over, it will be
installed in the Chestnut Tree House Children’s Hospice, West Sussex.
Read More
Small capsule-like homes where management of
utilities, such as electricity and water, is left to the city could form
part of a sustainable future for Paris, according to a team of the
city's designers and architects. Live-Lib, a concept for a two-part
residential building, is designed to provide a degree of privacy while
feeding off communal, sustainable resources to drive down costs and
energy usage. Read More
As with every major city, New York creates a huge
amount of waste. Disposing of it requires a variety of environmentally
damaging processes, such as landfill and transportation. To try and
minimize the impact of waste disposal, Present Architecture has proposed
a series of composting islands along the city's waterfront. Read More
Landmarks don't come much more iconic than the
Eiffel Tower, but if you've ever visited it in person you may have found
the first floor mildly underwhelming. Architectural firm Moatti-Rivière
aims to change this, and add some sustainable technology to the mix,
during a redevelopment of the tower's first floor that's currently
underway. Read More
You can never be too careful, and if you have a
upwards of £200,000 (US$330,000) laying around, you could sleep a little
easier as the new owner of a nuclear bunker. Built by the British
government during the Cold War to ride out a Soviet attack, the
decommissioned Cultybraggan Camp bunker is being put on the block as
part of a plan to preserve and redevelop the former British Army camp.
Read More
Bringing together form and functionality in
harmony is the holy grail for design of any type. The newly opened
Emerson College Los Angeles (ELA) achieves just that. The building
needed to be sustainable and provide spaces for education, accommodation
and administration whilst at the same time fostering social activity
and creativity. Read More
If you've ever felt your daily routine was like
being stuck on a hamster wheel, then spare a thought for architectural
artists Ward Shelley and Alex Schweder. The pair actually did live in a "home" shaped like an oversized hamster wheel for some 10 days as part of their art exhibit, dubbed In Orbit. Read More
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The terror attacks in Norway on July 22, 2011
that resulted in 77 people being killed left the country with a sense of
abrupt loss. That feeling will be echoed in a memorial designed by
artist Jonas Dahlberg, which will see a slice of land removed from the
landscape at Sørbråten. Read More
The eastern span of the historic San Francisco to
Oakland Bay bridge is slated for demolition, following its recent
replacement by a newer bridge located nearby. However, one local
resident hopes to ensure that the old bridge lives on – in some form at
least – and plans to reuse some of the resulting scrap metal as building
material for a sustainable home in a project suitably dubbed the Bay
Bridge House. Read More
Around 60 percent of the homes in the Netherlands
are row house terraces, with around a quarter of those built in the
post-war period. While these constructions characterize much of the
Dutch urban landscape, they weren't exactly built with energy efficiency
as their first priority. A team of Delft University students has
developed a concept for a solar-powered skin designed to optimize energy
usage, while also preserving this classic Dutch architecture. Read More
Non-profit organization INCLUDED has produced a
new community center for Shanghai's migrant worker community. Dubbed
Community Cube, the two-storey 150 sq m (1,614 sq ft) structure was
completed in 2013 and comprises a number of used shipping containers as a
primary building material. Read More
Architect Vincent Callebaut has unveiled
ambitious plans to create an energy-producing community comprising 45
futuristic villas in the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming. Though
likely to remain on the drawing board for the foreseeable future, the
Flavours Orchard concept offers plenty of food for thought and some
interesting renders to pore over. Read More
Oregon boat builder Brian Schulz has turned his
carpentry skills towards creating the Japanese Forest House – a 200
square foot (18.5 sqm) home built from predominantly reclaimed wood and
salvaged materials. Read More
In a bid to ease the plight of the homeless
living in Hong Kong and other cities throughout southeast Asia,
architectural studio AFFECT-T recently designed the Bamboo Micro-House
prototype. The firm proposes that the tiny bamboo dwellings, which can
be placed nearby other units to form small communities within Hong
Kong's disused industrial buildings, would serve as temporary shelter
while the occupants secure more stable and permanent public housing.
Read More
The "ultra ruin" is a work of modern architecture
and unusual preservation built in and around an abandoned brick
farmhouse in the jungle of Taipei. From certain angles it appears as a
decayed structure overtaken by vegetation; from other perspectives it
resembles the high-design spaces of a boutique hotel. Read More
Is the Y:Cube a solution to London's housing crisis?
February 27, 2014
Rising house prices and changes to the UK's
housing benefits system have resulted in rent becoming too expensive for
many London residents, leading to an increasing number of people living
on the streets or in shared hostels. YMCA London South West and
architectural firm Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners have joined forces to
provide a potential solution to the burgeoning housing crisis. Dubbed
the Y:Cube, the tiny home is built using mostly renewable materials, and
offers residents independence and privacy that exceeds what can be
offered in a shared hostel. Read More
Orproject proposes huge sealed Bubble of clean air for Beijing
By Stu Robarts
February 26, 2014
According to a report by the Shanghai Academy of
Social Sciences, environmental conditions in China's capital are so bad
as to be "almost unfavorable for human living." Officials have recently
passed new laws and set aside billions of yuan to try and curb air
pollution in Beijing, which has been recording some of its worst smog
levels ever. Architecture firm Orproject has proposed the construction
of a sealed canopy filled with clean air. Bubbles would cover a park and
botanical garden, providing a healthy, temperature- and
humidity-controlled oasis. Read More
Architecture
Plans for London's proposed Garden Bridge are
beginning to flourish following the recent confirmation that the UK
government and Transport for London (TfL) will each commit £30 million
(US$50 million) of funding to the project. Conceived by Joanna Lumley,
designed by architect Thomas Heatherwick and to be planted by renowned
horticulturist Dan Pearson, the bridge will provide a green public space
and a link between the bohemian South Bank and lively Covent Garden.
Gizmag spoke to Dan Pearson about his vision for the project. Read More
British architectural firm Hewitt Studios LLP
recently completed work on the 400 sq m (4,305 sq ft) UK-based Limpley
Stoke Eco-House. Designed with a focus on sustainability and energy
efficiency, the futuristic home features more green technology than you
can shake a (sustainably-sourced) stick at, including rainwater
collection, passive ventilation, solar power, and an EV charging point.
Read More
California-based WET makes the waters dance at Sochi
February 21, 2014
At the center of the Sochi games Medals Plaza,
the "The Waters of the Olympic Park" fountain forms a backdrop for the
medals awards and is part of the opening and closing ceremonies. Created
by California design firm WET, the fountain features a basin that
measures 75.3 meters (247 feet) in diameter and holds about 700,000
gallons (2.65 million L) of water. For the centerpiece performance,
hundreds of air-powered jets launch vertical columns of water up to 70
meters (230 feet) high to form the five Olympic rings in vivid color –
but this is only part of the show. Read More
The new campus of the WU (Vienna University of
Economics and Business) is like a smorgasbord of 21st century
architecture, with signature buildings by Zaha Hadid, Hitoshi Abe and
Estudio Carme Pinós, among others. But the world-class campus has
equally high standards for energy efficiency and sustainability. Read More
Sri Lankan apartment block to be world's tallest vertical garden
By Stu Robarts
February 18, 2014
Clearpoint Residencies, based in Kotte just
outside Colombo, will be the first sustainable high-rise apartment
complex in the country, with solar panels for electricity generation, a
waste water recycling system and planted facades. Building began last
year and is expected to be complete by 2016, at which time it is claimed
that the building will be, "the tallest residential vertical garden in
the world, with planted terraces circling the entire structure." Read More
Artwork lets users climb around huge cube of ropes
By Stu Robarts
February 14, 2014
Cultured arachnid fans are in for a treat with a
new artwork from Vienna-based collective Numen. String is a 3D grid of
ropes suspended within a huge inflated cube. Users can enter the exhibit
and clamber their way around its intricate mesh in a blank and
disorientating environment. Read More
Shipping containers and silos house students at Mill Junction
February 13, 2014
South African property developer Citiq has
recently completed the renovation of unused grain silos in Newtown,
Johannesburg, into low-cost – and rather unique-looking – student
accommodation, which also features multi-colored shipping containers to the top and side. Read More
Cave homes, pit houses and other part or
fully-underground dwellings all offer benefits in energy efficiency when
compared to typical above-ground homes, thanks to natural insulating
properties that help to maintain a near-constant interior temperature.
Architectural firm Vasho made use of the same principle to keep RD House
cool by partially burying it within a steep Dominican Republic
hillside. Read More
The XXII Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, are said
to have cost around US$50 billion, which makes them the most expensive
Games to date. The bill includes many new buildings and the first ever
Winter Olympic Park, planned by stadium designers Populous, who also
created the Fisht stadium, venue for the opening and closing ceremonies.
But the lack of big-name architects is noticeable, as is the fact that
most of the venues are designed for re-use; some will even be dismantled
and moved elsewhere after the Games. Read More
Former Nazi bunker transformed into green energy power plant
February 11, 2014
Energy and utilities company Hamburg Energie has
joined forces with IBA Hamburg to transform a former Nazi anti-aircraft
flak bunker into a green energy power plant. The Hamburg-based "Energy
Bunker" has already begun producing energy for the local community, but
once running at full capacity will provide up to 3,000 homes with
heating, and another 1,000 homes with electricity. Read More
Towering organic sculpture to be exhibited in New York
By Stu Robarts
February 10, 2014
A tower made of organic bricks has won the Museum
of Modern Art and MoMA PS1 Young Architects Program 2014. Hy-Fi,
conceived by New York architecture firm The Living, is a circular
sculpture that will be built with bricks grown from corn stalks and
living root structures. It will be exhibited outside MoMA PS1 in Long
Island City. Read More
Architects re-imagine kiosk as fan-like folding structure
By Stu Robarts
February 10, 2014
The humble street kiosk tends to vary little from
its default box-like design. London-based architecture firm Make,
however, has re-imagined the kiosk based on the concept of origami. The
Make kiosk uses a fan-like folding structure that is both functional and
aesthetically exciting. Read More
Saunas are traditionally places to relax and few
things can be as relaxing as floating peacefully on the surface of a
lake. Architecture firm goCstudio is planning to launch a floating sauna
on Lake Washington, Seattle, later this year. According to goCstudio,
the sauna will be accessed by kayak and will provide, "an enticing
refuge from the city, a moment to escape, relax and reinvigorate." Read More
As with any major city, the pace of life in
London can be torrential and it's easy to get swept along, so it's
always good to find a place where you can take a quiet moment to pause
and reflect. Viewpoint is a new project due to open to the public on
Feb. 10, that aims to provide Londoners with a secluded sanctuary in the
peaceful surroundings of nature. Read More
It uses sliding partitions and storage walls,
extension modules and a puzzle of garden components. Danish architects
Henning Larsen's new Adaptable House is designed to accommodate the most
common lifestyle changes, from having children to settling into
retirement. The energy-efficient home can even be fairly separated in
case of divorce. Read More
Casa Flotanta "floats" above a Costa Rican hillside
February 5, 2014
Following the Gooden-Nahome family's decision to
purchase a plot on a steep slope in Playa Santa Teresa, Costa Rica, they
then tasked Benjamin Garcia Saxe Architecture with building a house
upon it. The result is the recently-completed Casa Flotanta: a home
which boasts an attractive design that both reduces the structure's
impact on the local environment, and lends the appearance of it
"floating" above the hillside. Read More
Glass houses aren't typically very practical to live in (take the Santambrogio
home for example), but the Vertical Glass House differs from most
similar structures thanks to a design that combines architectural
novelty with a degree of privacy. Though it sports see-through ceilings
and floors, a concrete facade ensures occupants are shielded from the
gaze of passers-by. Read More
UFO-inspired retreat graces Austrian mountain village
January 31, 2014
We're spoiled for choice when it comes to unusually-shaped European getaways lately, what with Portugal's Sustainable Tree Snake Houses, and Bordeaux's Le Tronc Creux.
Now the recently-completed Austria-based Ufogel retreat can be added to
the list, and it might be the strangest looking so far. Read More
Work has finished on what is now the largest
solar bridge in the world. Blackfriars Bridge, part of Blackfriars
Station in London, has been fitted with 4,400 photovoltaic panels, which
are expected to reduce the station's CO2 emissions by an estimated 511
tonnes (563 tons) per year. Work began in spring 2009
and the station was operationally complete in time for the 2012
Olympics, with the solar array installation complete in March 2013. The
full refurbishment of the station is now also complete. Read More
Studio Apxe house generates more energy than it consumes
By Stu Robarts
January 30, 2014
Architecture firm Studio Apxe has completed a new
house that generates more energy than it uses. As well as high energy
efficiency, the house in Kladnica, Bulgaria, features biomass heating
and solar panels on its roof to generate electricity. Read More
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