Antwerp Port House, Zaha Hadid architects

"the concept is a free interpretation of a beam-shaped volume raised above the existing fire brigade building and supported on three sculptured concrete pillars housing the stairs and lifts. two of the pillars are situated on the covered inner courtyard of the firehouse, while the third is located beside an external support point and consists of a panoramic lift shaft...

I am absolutely delighted to be selected to build the headquarters for the APA. Antwerp is one of the world’s busiest shipping ports and the new port house design reflects the city’s worldwide significance in communication and transportation. The dichotomy between the reflective, faceted form of the new extension and the powerful structural mass of the existing fire station creates a bold and enigmatic statement for the city."


Antwerp Port House
Zaha Hadid architects
Antwerp, Belgium

Library and Learning Centre in Vienna, Zaha Hadid

"The new library and learning center rises as a polygonal block from the center of the new university campus. The design takes the form of a cube with both inclined and straight edges. the straight lines of the building’s exterior, separate as they move inward, becoming curvilinear and fluid, generating a free-formed interior canyon that serves as the central public plaza. All the other facilities of the LLC are housed within a single volume that also divides, becoming two separate ribbons that wind around each other to enclose this glazed gathering space… I am delighted to be working in Vienna as I have a close affiliation with the city. As a centre of research, the Library and Learning Centre is forum for the exchange of ideas. It is very exciting for us to be part of the University’s expansion."

Zaha Hadid architects
The university of economics and business, Vienna

more @
+MOOD: Library and Learning Centre in Vienna, Won by Zaha Hadid
an-architecture: International Austria. Hadid builds Libary & Learning Center

CPH Arch, 3XN

"The towers and the bridge constitute one single, floating dynamic movement, characterized by the bold span across the harbor entrance in terms of both the plan design and the facade. Establishing a connection across the harbor radically improves public access and creates brand new opportunities for life and growth in the area."

3XN
CPH Arch
Photo: © 3XN

more info @
world architecture news - 3XN present their entry for Denmark capital’s LM Project
AMNP - CPH Arch by 3XN

Rødovre Skyscraper, MVRDV (co-architect ADEPT )

Dutch architects MVRDV and Danish co-architects ADEPT have won a competition to design the Rødovre Skyscraper in Copenhagen, Denmark.

"The constellation of the pixels allows flexibility in function; the building can be transformed by market forces... ...Flexibility for adaptation is one of the best sustainable characteristics of a building."

MVRDV (co-architect ADEPT )
Rødovre Skyscraper
Copenhagen, Denmark

Italian Pavillion for Shanghai Expo 2010, BiCuadro Architects

Further to the previous post of 1st prize winner Denmark Pavillion for Shanghai Expo 2010 by BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group). This is the 3rd prize winner Italian Pavillion, designed by BiCuadro Architects.

The architectural design inspired all “true expression of Italian city: the historic city layered.” with a reinterpretation of a split casing in a series of plates “stratigraphy” that back to a time sequence, a metaphor for urban training Italian.

+ more photos

Competition, 3rd prize
Italian Pavillion for Expo Shanghai 2010
BiCuadro Architects
Shanghai, China
Images © BiCuadro Architects

World Central Park, Governors Island

Governors Island lies half a mile off the southern tip of Manhattan. For more than 150 years, the island served as a military post and in 1966 became home to the U.S. Now, the island is to turn into a public park. 5 design proposals are choosen to be the best design for the park - The Island at the Center of the World.

"...the awesome view, the recreational respite, the quiet, and the romance of the island that we seek to amplify." Hargreaves Associates / Michael Maltzon Architecture Inc.

"an autonomous 'rogue' territory devoted to harbor life, exertion & immersive physical exposure to weather." Field Operations / WilkinsonEyre Architects

"This is not a landscape proposal. This is a development strategy." Romus Ella Architects (REX) / Michele Desvigne Paysagistes (MDP)

"Where else but in this cosmopolitan World City par excellence will contemporary green culture accelerate?" West 8 / Rogers Marvel Architects / Diller Scofidio + Renfro

".. not only inventing a landscape, but rather transforming a precious resource, an island in the city." WRT / Urban strategies, Inc.

more info: Slate, official park website

Kartal – Pendik Masterplan, Zaha Hadid Architects

Another dynamic masterplan by Zaha Hadid Architects, The project begins by tying together the basic infrastructural and urban context of the surrounding site.

From the diagrams, it expresses...

Soft grids: The integration of existing rigid urban grid with new Zaha Hadid's grid.

Urban rooms: a porous, interconnected network of open spaces that meanders throughout the city and create a smooth transition from the surrounding context to the new, higher density development on the site.

Growth: The dynamic grid forces to generates the possibility of growth. It balances between 'high and low'.

Zaha Hadid Architects

Kartal – Pendik Masterplan

Istanbul, Turkey

more info: arcspace

images © Zaha Hadid Architects

BUSAN CINEMA COMPLEX , Coop Himmelb(l)au

The proposal for the Busan Cinema Center and home of the Pusan International Film Festival suggests a new intersection between public space, cultural programs, technology and architecture to create lively and vibrant landmarks within the urban landscape as icons of contemporary culture.

The concept envisions an Urban Plaza of four overlapping zones including an Urban Valley, a Red Carpet zone, the Walk of Fame and the PIFF Canal Park.

Roof elements acting as a Virtual Sky connect the objects and zones into a continuous, multi-functional public urban space. Media, technology, entertainment and leisure are merged in an open-architecture of changeable and tailored event experiences. The result is a responsive and changing space of flows acting as an urban catalyst for cultural experimentation and transformation.

Coop Himmelb(l)au
The Busan Cinema Complex - An Urban Plaza
Korea

image © Coop Himmelb(l)au

La Philharmonie de Paris, Jean Nouvel

Architect Jean Nouvel has won a competition to design the new Philharmonie de Paris building at Parc de La Villette in the French capital, it due to open at 2012.



Jean Nouvel
La Philharmonie de Paris
Paris, French

Photo: © Jean Nouvel

Abu Dhabi Cultural District, Jean Nouvel

The micro-city requires a microclimate that would give the visitor a feeling of entering a different world. The building is covered with a large dome, a form common to all civilizations.

Nouvel's scheme for a "classical museum" features a huge, flattened dome over an open-air arrangement of smaller buildings. It's like a village, shaded with a space dome.

Jean Nouvel architects
Abu Dhabi Cultural District

image © tropolism

Taichung Metropolitan Opera House, Toyo Ito

Toyo Ito is the winner of the architecture competition for the Opera House to build in Taichung, Taiwan. Irregular geometries give the structure a continuous fluidity, it reflects the idea of theatrical arts.

“Architecture has to follow the diversity of society, and has to reflect that a simple square or cube can’t contain that diversity.”

Toyo Ito

Taichung Metropolitan Opera HouseTaichung City

Taiwan

Western Australia's new performing arts venue, Kerry Hill Architect

The CentreStage Virtual Design Exhibition showcases the entries received in the CentreStage international competition for the design of Western Australia's new performing arts venue. The competition received 50 entries, with the winner of Kerry Hill Architect.

stage 1


stage 2 (winning design)

“The architecture of the performance venue must respond to civic concerns – how the public experience the venue, how the venue responds to its urban context and how the associated public functions of the venue are arranged.”

Kerry Hill architect
Western Australia's new state-of-the-art performace venue
image © centreStage

see more detail about the competition here

Abu Dhabi Cultural District, Tadao Ando

The elegant architecture begins with a unique space carved out of a simple volume that is shaped by the force and fluidity of Abu Dhabi wind...With its reflective surface, the water court visually merges site and sea, reinforcing the maritime theme of the museum.

Tadao Ando Architect

Abu Dhabi Cultural District

image © archnewsnow

Abu Dhabi Cultural District , Zaha Hadid

"The central axis of Abu Dhabi cultural district is a pedestrian corridor that stretches from the Sheikh Zayed National Museum toward the sea. This central axis interacts with the seafront promenade to generate a branching geometry where islands are formed, isolated, and translated into distinct bodies within the structure to house the main spaces of the center. This diagram of the interacting paths becomes the primary organization system for the building, making the movement of the public through the structure an integral design feature."

Zaha Hadid Architects
Abu Dhabi Cultural District

Zaha Hadid : Museum Of Nuragic & Contemporary Art

Zaha Hadid's another new job, she has won the competition for Museum Of Nuragic & Contemporary Art.

image © opera