eVolo has announced the winners of the 2010 Skyscraper Competition.
The Jury selected 3 winners and 27 special mentions among 430 entries from 42 countries.
Globalization, sustainability, flexibility, adaptability, and the digital revolution, were some of the multi-layered elements taken into consideration.
Vertical Prison The first place was awarded to a project for a vertical prison designed by architecture students Chow Khoon Toong, Ong Tien Yee, and Beh Ssi Cze, from Malaysia. Their project examines the possibility of creating a prison-city in the sky, where the inmates would live in a “free” and productive community with agricultural fields and factories that would support the host city below.
Water Purification Skyscraper in Jakarta The recipients of the second place are Rezza Rahdian, Erwin Setiawan, Ayu Diah Shanti, and Leonardus Chrisnantyo, from Indonesia, whose project ‘Ciliwung Recovery Program’ aims to purify and repair the Ciliwung River habitat. The building is designed as an ingenious habitable machine that would collect garbage, purify water, and provide housing to thousands of people that live in the slums along the river.
Nested Skyscraper in Tokyo The third place was awarded to Ryohei Koike and Jarod Poenisch, from the United States, for their project ‘Nested Skyscraper’ that explores robotic construction techniques for a novel structure of carbon sleeves and fiber-laced concrete. The building is a system of multiple layers of composite louvers which thicken and rotate according to solar exposure, ventilation, and materials performance.
Among the special mentions there are skyscrapers used as bridges that link different territories, cities in the sky powered by renewable energies, instant deployable buildings for disaster zones, skyscrapers that purify and desalinate sea water, or high-rises that commemorate historic dates. Other proposals create new pedestrian layers for existing cities. Some use the latest building technologies and parametric design to configure environmentally conscious self-sufficient buildings, while others create city-like buildings where different programs are mixed in one structure.
Established in 2006, the annual Skyscraper Competition recognizes outstanding ideas that redefine skyscraper design through the use of new technologies, materials, programs, aesthetics, and spatial organization. The award seeks to discover young talents whose ideas will change the way we understand architecture and its relationship with the natural and built environments.
Arkitekturmuseet presents the first major retrospective exhibition on Swedish-American designer and architect Greta Magnusson Grossman. The exhibition includes architectural commissions in Sweden as well as Northern and Southern California and designs for the many companies she worked with including Barker Brothers, Ralph O. Smith and Glenn of California. The exhibition also includes exemplary pieces of furniture and lighting, prototypes and textiles, original drawings and photographs, film clips as well as a 1:1 reconstruction of an interior.
Greta Magnusson Grossman (1906-1999) maintained a prolific forty-year career on two continents, Europe and North America, with achievements in industrial design, interior design and architecture.
( Portrait c 1950)
In the late 1920s Grossman finished a one-year woodworking apprenticeship in her hometown of Helsingborg, Sweden and was awarded a scholarship to enroll at Konstfack (then known as Högre Konstindustriella Skolan), the renowned Stockholm arts institution. At Konstfack she excelled in her mastery of technical drawing and focused her original design work on furniture, textiles and ceramics. In 1933 Grossman received second place for furniture design from the Stockholm Craft Association , becoming the first woman to receive an award in that category. In 1934 the Swedish Society of Industrial Design awarded her a scholarship to travel throughout Europe and she filed reports of her observations on interior design and architecture for the “Women and Home” section of the Swedish paper Nya Dagligt Allehanda.
In 1933 Grossman and Konstfack classmate Erik Ullrich opened Studio, a store and workshop, at Sturegatan 12 in Stockholm. From Studio, Grossman took on numerous commissions designing unique furniture and interiors, garnered abundant press attention and accolades and exhibited frequently at Galerie Moderne, a cultural mecca in Stockholm at the time.
'Good Design' chairs, USA 1954
The unique approach to Swedish modernism that she brought with her when she moved from Stockholm in 1940 proved to be incredibly popular in the United States. She opened a much-publicized shop in Beverly Hills in 1940 selling her own designs billed on her business card as “Swedish modern furniture, rugs, lamps and other home furnishings.” She attracted celebrity clients such as Greta Garbo, Joan Fontaine and Gracie Allen and began making connections that would lead to a number of projects both from her own shop and from Barker Brothers’ Modern Shop launched in 1947, for whom she was designing exclusive pieces and taking interior design commissions.
'Cobra' table lamp, USA, 1948-49
In the late 1940s Grossman designed a groundbreaking and successful line of lamps for Barker Brothers, later produced by Ralph O. Smith.
'Grasshopper' floor lamp, USA, circa 1947
Over the next twenty years she produced work for companies like Glenn of California, Sherman Bertram, Martin/Brattrud and Modern Line. The work for Glenn of California is arguably her most sophisticated and best known. These pieces were characterized by the materials she used, such as rich, colorful textiles and woods like California walnut paired in surprising and elegant combination with black plastic laminate and wrought iron. The uniquely petite proportions and asymmetrical lines of her furniture also set her work apart.
Desk, USA, circa 1952 - Designed for Glenn of California
Grossman’s most enduring work in Los Angeles came in the form of her built architectural commissions. Between 1949 and 1959 Grossman designed at least fourteen homes in Los Angeles, one in San Francisco and one back in her native Sweden. Of these, at least ten are still standing. The homes were often perched on stilts at the top of a hill, overlooking a canyon, with magnificent views through curtain walls of glass. The homes featured extensive built-in shelving and the uniquely open and free flowing floor plan popular at the time. She worked several times with celebrated landscape architect Garrett Eckbo on the outdoor spaces. Grossman’s houses are designed to the diminutive scale of the Los Angeles based Case Study House program—most of them have a footprint of less than 1,500 square feet (ca 140 square meters).
Her architectural work, as well as her design work, was featured extensively in Arts & Architecture, the magazine edited by Case Study program founder John Entenza.
Throughout the 1940s and 1950s Grossman’s designs were included in numerous international exhibitions and exhibited at institutions such as The Nationalmuseum (Stockholm, Sweden), Röhsska Museet (Gothenburg, Sweden), Museum of Modern Art (New York, United States), Museum of Industry and Science (Chicago, United States) and the de Young Museum (San Francisco, United States). Articles about her work were published during her career in American, British, French, Italian, Dutch, German, Polish and Swedish magazines and newspapers. In 1952 the United States Department of State distributed an article about her in 75 different countries to present “a true picture…of the American way of life.” In the 1950s Grossman taught industrial design courses at the University of California, Los Angeles and at the Art Center School in Los Angeles. She retired from design and architecture in the late 1960s.
Exhibition: Greta Magnusson Grossman Arkitekturmuseet, Stockholm, Sweden From February 10 to May 16 2010
The METI school (Modern Education and Training Institute) building was built by experts and volunteers from Germany and Austria together with craftsmen, teachers, parents and students from Bangladesh from September to December 2005.
In order to create jobs and to build up a capacity for producing sustainable architecture it is essential to include local workers in the building process. Training through “learning by doing” should help the local craftsmen to improve the standards and condition of the rural housing in general.
Thick walls assure a comfortable climate on the ground floor of the building. Sunlight and ventilation can be regulated through the use of shutters. The vertical garden façade shades the openings in the walls and protects the natural earthen walls from erosion through rainfall and helps reduce the indoor temperature through evaporation...
To test the construction techniques, joints and bearing strength of the ceiling, a 3 m long test section was built as well as small part of the roof beam construction. These constructions were then tested and analysed in the laboratory to ascertain their structural capacity. The results of the tests led to modifications in the construction technique.
Architecture Studio 4of7 has developed a project for a pediatric clinic in East Africa. The intent was to create spatial solution which would be able to grow and adapt according to the changing need; or according to varied conditions at different locations. Notionally, if more and more modules were to be added, such configuration could grow infinitely but always confined the circular matrix, defined by three differently sized courtyards.
Responsive solutions in building industry are normally associated with high budgets. In contrast, this is a low-cost application of adaptable architecture. Proposed design is not site specific; it is configured to suite different surroundings and varied demands. For practical reasons, it is based on the use of a single component designed for infinite growth within a recursive geometric pattern.
Proposal for the phase one satellite clinic entails ten modules grouped around two circular courtyards, while phase two configuration will need twenty modules grouped around five circular courtyards.
The project was developed in collaboration with the Norwegian Design team, Norway Says and encompasses lighting and furniture elements from bollards to bicycle stands through to a bench. The formal concept is carried throughout the range and enables planners to create an esthetically coherent cityscape, something which also convinced the iF Award judging panel.
The judging criteria for the award included, amongst other things, the quality of the design, workmanship, choice of material, degree of innovation, environmental impact and functionality. ewo managed to convince the top-class judging panel composed of international experts with their product range 'Up'.
ewo is responsible for the development of the technology and Norway Says for the design of the product range.
The international expert judges for the iF Award judged 2,486 entries from 39 countries, 778 of which received the label for design excellence.
ICSID (International Council of Societies of Industrial Design) calls for design solutions in the face of the disaster in Haiti.
In a global appeal following the devastation in Haiti, Icsid has launched a call to designers from all disciplines to unite in an open dialogue with international relief organisations to assess potential design-effective rehabilitation projects. In support of the UN’s efforts to help the Haitian people overcome challenges in relation to the country’s reconstruction plans, designers, academics and design students, as well as experienced developmental workers are encouraged to join the discussion and become a fan of the 'Uniting Designers in Disaster' page on Facebook.
Designers have a strong desire to support the relief effort. This forum is intended to help identify tangible opportunities and empower the design community to contribute to the cause.
"As an international non-governmental organisation with over 50 years experience implementing projects of global appeal, Icsid is poised with the strategic understanding of the processes required by NGOs to develop and implement result-driven and effective initiatives," stated Icsid President Dr. Mark Breitenberg and Provost of California College of the Arts. "What we aim to do with the forum is engage designers to exchange information about initiatives and opportunities where they may contribute their design and problem solving skills. In addition, we are hoping that the dialogue between the design community, development workers and representatives from international agencies will subsequently facilitate relief efforts, such as those currently being prepared by the UN to help the people of Haiti meet long-term stabilisation and reconstruction objectives."
Among its key mission statements, Icsid strives to provide an international platform for the design community to be heard as a powerful voice. Although active participation and contributions will continue on the Facebook page, in an effort to take immediate action, all information posted via the forum will be actively reviewed in order to select opportunities for immediate international activities.
"This is a call to think in order to act," stated Breitenberg. "Our immediate goal is to gain a better understanding of the relief efforts needed in order to facilitate the development of design-led solutions that impact Haiti's quality of life."
For more information, please contact: Andrea Springer t: +1 514 448 4949 ext. 232 e: aspringer@icsid.org
Norway has perhaps the best conditions in the world for utilizing offshore wind power. Its coastline is the longest and windiest in Europe and largely unsaturated with turbines. The oil industry has given the country vast expertise in offshore foundations, as well as immense investment capital. It has half of Europe's hydropower to couple wind power.
The EU commission has committed to deriving 20% of its total energy consumption from renewable sources by 2020. Norway has the capacity to surpass this goal and become an exporter of the EU's newest tradable good, renewable energy.
Norway has already begun speculation on such venture, yet offshore wind farms are meeting strong resisitance, mainly due to misinformation and ungrounded skepticism. What Norway needs to propel wind power is a flagship wind farm to promote and celebrate its newest investment.
Possible typologies
Location: Off the coast of Stavanger, Norway - 31,500 sq. meters (hotel, museum) Project by Joao Vieira Costa, Leon Rost, Don Lawrence, Tudor Vlasceanu OnOffice is an international practice, based in Porto, Portugal.
Material ConneXion announced the launch of its first annual medium award for material of the year, naming UK-based company Concrete Canvas’s Concrete Cloth as the inaugural winner.
Concrete Cloth’s groundbreaking cement impregnated flexible fabric technology, which allows it to be quickly and easily molded and set into shapes, is a natural choice for 2009’s winner.
“With the simple addition of water, Concrete Cloth makes it possible
to create safe, durable, non-combustible structures for a wide range of
commercial, military and humanitarian uses,” says Dr. Andrew H. Dent,
Vice President, Library & Materials Research at Material ConneXion.
“This innovation is especially remarkable for enabling the construction
of rapidly deployable shelter and food storage structures in disaster
relief situations,” Dent adds.
Concrete Cloth has been chosen as winner for its groundbreaking cement impregnated flexible fabric technology that can be quickly and easily molded and set into shapes. This innovation is remarkable for enabling the quick construction of safe and insulated infrastructure for a wide range of humanitarian, commercial, and military uses, including the creation of rapidly deployable shelter and food storage structures in disaster relief situations.
The award recognizes materials juried into the company’s Materials Library within the past year that demonstrate outstanding technological innovation and the potential to make a significant contribution to the advancement of design, industry, society and economy.
Award-Winner and 11 Finalists to be showcased in an Exhibition at Material ConneXion, from January 11 to February 19, 2010
Imrey Culbert and Sanaa are the winning architects of the Louvre LENS, the new branch of the Paris Louvre, atop an abandoned mine field near the city of Lille in France.
Co-designed by New York-based Imrey Culbert, Tokyo-based Sanaa, and Paris-based Mosbach Paysagistes, the new branch of the Louvre will span 300,000 square feet of new construction, devoting over 75,000 square feet of galleries and visitable storage areas for hundreds of treasures from the Louvre’s collection.
The 153 acre site selected for the Louvre-LENS is slightly higher than its surrounding. As a result, the design strategy calls for a series of five pavilions – low one-story structures that will grace, enhance, and dissolve into the landscape rather than overpower it. All of the buildings, whether reflective or transparent, meander slightly along with the gentle curves of the site. To actually fuse nature with the structures, highly reflective polished and anodized aluminum façade clad the volumes, creating blurred reflections of the surroundings, changing with the scenery, the weather, and the position of the person viewing it.
“The design is said to be reminiscent of the Louvre in Paris with its
two outstretched wings,” says Imrey.“ We conceived this new Louvre to
be everything the Palais Louvre is not, and sought to create
transparency both literally and figuratively.”
A fascinating 3D animated film that illustrates architecture across a photographic point of view where main subjects are already-built spaces. Sometimes in an abstract way. Sometimes surreal. Directed by Alex Roman. Watch the video (12 min)
Danish studio 3XN has designed a street led lamp that uses solar energy with a
specially developed prism. Seven lamps have just been erected at Bella
Center in Copenhagen in conjunction with the upcoming UN Climate
Conference.
The advanced technology results in the street lamps generating more energy than they use. Therefore the lamp is an emblem of the Climate Conference ambitions of lowering global CO2 emissions.
The streetlamps are a result of the close co-operation between 3XN and the lighting firm, Scotia. The goal was to create a sculptural and CO2 neutral street lighting solution. The lamp post is square and integrates upright standing solar cells which are strategically positioned to capture the Nordic light.
"The background behind our design for the lamp stems from ideas of Japanese origami and the natural shapes that emerge from geometry. The luminaire contains folds which in addition to being very aesthetic, are very functional – even designed with respect to the wind. The luminaire works in conjunction with the mast to form a very sculptural expression – with a veiled reference to the lamp’s futuristic LED technology", says Kim Herforth Nielsen, Principal at 3XN.
The seven streetlamps are located in Parking Lot 5 at Bella Center’s main entrance and naturally will continue their role after the Climate Conference.
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