German firm Ingenhoven is currently working with landscape firm Gustafson Porter + Bowman on a tree-covered tower development in Singapore’s Marina Bay. The firm is looking for a project architect to join its studio in Düsseldorf.
Zaha Hadid Architects has completed a twisted tower that soars 170 metres above Milan, making it the third tallest building in the city.
The international architecture firm‘s recently completed Generali Tower is one of three skyscrapers being built at the CityLife development on the previous site of Milan’s trade fair grounds.
Nicknamed Lo Storto, or, The Twisted One, Zaha Hadid Architects’ (ZHA) 44-storey tall tower joins Arata Isozaki’s 202-metre high Allianz Tower, which completed in 2015.
Studio Libeskind‘s 175-metre tall PwC tower will complete the trio of skyscrapers when it completes in 2019.
A helical twist runs through the tower, with each rhomboid-shaped floor plate aligned to gently shift the tower around its vertical axis. The twist reduces as the levels ascend, so that no two stories are completely aligned.
This curvilinear form is intended to represent the centripetal forces of the three axises of the city converging at its base, creating a vortex.
Due to the twist, the topmost floors are orientated to have southeasterly views of the Santa Maria delle Grazie, a 15th century church and UNESCO World Heritage site.
Inclined white columns running up either side of the twist provide a visual link to the white podium below that extends to the rear of the tower and holds a retail and cinema complex.
A double-facade of louvres and glazing deflect the sun, providing environmental control for each floor. The building has been awarded LEED Platinum certification.
When occupied the tower will host 3,900 employees of the Generali Group, an Italian insurance company that is the third largest in the world. Its interiors are due to be completed this summer.
Together with Studio Libeskind and Arata Isozaki, ZHA won the competition to masterplan the regeneration of the abandoned trade fair grounds in 2004.
Each of the architects is responsible for one of the landmark towers that will be surrounded by new homes, parks and and shopping areas.
Due to complete in 2020, the 16 hectares of CitiLife development will host 1,000 new homes, office space for 11,000 workers, a 42-acre public park, piazzas and a kindergarten.
The new Tre Torri station on the Milanese metro system will connect Line 5 to the site.
ZHA, which was founded by the late Zaha Hadid and now led by Patrik Schumacher, has recently unveiled designs for a number of signature curvaceous buildings around the world.
Neri Oxman and her Mediated Matter Group at MIT have expanded their collection of 3D-printed death masks with designs that cultivate new life after death.
The third and final collection in the Vespers series of death masks sees the Mediated Matter Group explore the concept of rebirth, with a collection of five, almost colourless 3D-printed masks that function as “biological urns”.
Neri Oxman and her Mediated Matter Group have completed the third and final collection in the Vespers series of death masks
The urns are inhabited by living microorganisms that have been synthetically engineered by Oxman’s team to produce pigments and/or useful chemical substances for human augmentation, such as vitamins, antibodies or antimicrobial drugs.
The team said that the research is leading toward a future where wearable interfaces and building skins are customised not only to fit a particular shape, but also a specific material, chemical and even genetic make-up.
The collection includes five, almost colourless 3D-printed masks that function as “biological urns”
Oxman, an American-Israeli designer and professor, leads the Mediated Matter Group as part of the MIT Media Lab.
Based on ancient death masks that were traditionally made from wax or plaster, Oxman’s versions are formed using a Stratasys Objet500 Connex3 multi-material 3D printer, which constructs 3D forms by depositing polymer droplets in layers.
By using custom software, Oxman and his team at MIT are able to model high-resolution and complex shapes based on data. Each series comprises five masks that explore a different concept: past, present and future.
The urns are inhabited by living microorganisms
Combined, the 15 masks represent the transition from death to life, or from life to death.
In Series I, called Past, The Natural World, the mask’s 3D-printed structure encompasses colourful swirling patterns made using minerals that have been informed by the physical flow of air emitted from the martyrs’ last breath.
In Series II, named Present, The Digital World, the masks convey the notion of metamorphosis. The shapes and colours of the five masks in the first series informed the designs of this second set.
These microorganisms that have been synthetically engineered to produce pigments and/or useful chemical substances
“Using spatial mapping algorithms, the culturally coded surface colorations and truncated geometries in the first series are transformed into colored, internal strands within transparent, smoothly curved volumes in the second,” explained the team.
“For example, the distribution of colors across the ‘crown of thorns’ mask in the first series becomes internal nerve axons in its martyr’s mask in the second series.”
They could potenially produce vitamins, antibodies or antimicrobial drugs
For the newly-unveiled Series III, called: Future, The Biological World, Oxman explores the concept of rebirth. These almost colourless masks function as habitats for living microorganisms.
Once again, the masks feature patterns derived from the previous series, while the microorganisms that inhabit the mask reinterpret the colour palette of the first series.
The team said that the research is leading toward a future where wearable interfaces and building skins are customised
Using 3D printable bioactive materials, the Mediated Matter Group has been able to synthetically engineer the microorganisms to produce specific pigments and/or useful chemical substances for human augmentation, such as vitamins, antibodies or antimicrobial drugs.
“Devoid of cultural expressions and initially nearly colourless, these masks are paradoxically the most ‘alive’ of the three series,” said the MIT team. “They literally ‘re-engineer’ life by guiding living microorganisms through minuscule spatial features within the artefacts of the dead. Their microorganisms are distributed according to the spatial logic provided by the second series.”
The masks are produced by 3D printer manufacturer Stratasys
“The project points towards an imminent future where wearable interfaces and building skins are customised not only to fit a particular shape, but also a specific material, chemical and even genetic make-up, tailoring the wearable to both the body and the environment which it inhabits,” they continued.
“Imagine, for example, a wearable interface designed to guide ad-hoc antibiotic formation customised to fit the genetic makeup of its user; or, consider smart packaging or surface coatings devices that can detect contamination; finally, consider environmentally responsive architectural skins that can respond to, and adapt – in real time – to environmental cues.”
The team concluded: “Research at the core of this project offers a new design space for biological augmentation across a wide breadth of application domains, leveraging resolution and scale.”
The Medical Matter Group is made up of Christoph Bader, Rachel Soo Hoo Smith, Dominik Kolb, Sunanda Sharma, João Costa and James Weaver, as well as Neri Oxman.
The release of the group’s final collection of Vespers is in conjunction with Paola Antonelli’s &Design exhibition for the Tribeca Film Festival, which will see Antonelli and Sibling Rivalry partner/creative director Mikon van Gastel create a virtual reality experience rooted in universal themes including death, love, play and the idea of self.
The Mediated Matter Group: Neri Oxman, Christoph Bader, Rachel Soo Hoo Smith, Dominik Kolb, Sunanda Sharma, João Costa and James Weaver. Contributors: Jeremy Flower, Kelly Egorova, Ahmed Hosny, Wendy Salmon, Tzu Chieh Tang, Noah Jakimo,Naomi Kaempfer, Boris Belocon, Gal Begun, MIT Environmental Health and Safety, Media Lab Facilities, The Center for Bits and Atoms
In an empty room, all it takes is a single, upholstered object to greatly reduce reflected sound. That’s the idea behind the BuzziHat lighting series! Each pendant is clad in soft fabric, giving them excellent sound-absorbing quality in addition to the illumination they provide. In a wide array of color and fabric combinations as well as metal ring details in 4 finishes (black, white, beige-red and gold), you can create a style accent all your own and keep even minimalistic spaces echo-free!
“In our Nature” nous rappelle que nous ne sommes ni à part ni supérieurs mais bel bien en symbiose avec la Nature. Pour cette série photographique, l’Australienne Tamara Dean a investi le jardin botanique d’Adelaïde. L’artiste montre des corps humains dans leur plus simple appareil, avec une apparente fragilité, immergés dans un endroit où la Nature est florissante. Le rendu est beau et délicat. Il s’agit d’une illustration parfaite du message que l’artiste tente de faire passer – chaque acte destructeur envers la nature a un impact direct sur le bien être de l’humanité.
Available for pre-order now, the Selby’s Box of Wonders contains 12 cards and envelopes illustrated with all kinds of bits and pieces—from aliens to tombstones, ramen noodles and more. Along with the watercolor pictures on the cards, there are two……
Interior architect Arjaan de Feyter kept to a material palette of blackened steel, dark walnut and deep-green marble to create this pared-back office for a lawyer near Antwerp, Belgium.
The office is located within one of four new mixed-use blocks called The Cubes, which occupy the site of a recently redeveloped malt distillery.
This intervention called for the architect to create a new workspace for Dutch law firm Deknudt Nelis. The company – which also has offices . in Brussels and Courtrai – requested that their third office should evoke a sense of “authenticity and honesty”.
They also wanted the workspace to boast a similar aesthetic to de Feyter‘s own studio, which is located nearby.
“They were charmed by the decor of my office and so cooperation [on the brief] came quickly,” the architect told Dezeen.
“The atmosphere was extremely important – we were looking for materials that radiate warmth, confidence and unity but also decisiveness and professionalism,” he added. “We quickly came [up with the idea] of pure materials such as steel, stone, and wood.”
Purchased as an empty shell, the architect and his team first went about establishing closed-off rooms in the office where staff members could take private phone calls or hold meetings.
They decided to craft partition walls from panels of glass and blackened steel, contrasting the space’s whitewashed surfaces that have been treated with a lime and mineral coating.
Dark oak veneer has been used to create the kitchen cabinetry, while large slabs of deep green marble form a large island counter and splashback.
The stone has also been used to line the inner shelves of a full-height storage unit, and is complemented by murky green linen curtains.
The architects also stipulated walnut for the desks for company executives and the main meeting room table, above which is suspended a ridged gold lamp.
Investigative agency Forensic Architecture has been shortlisted for this year’s Turner Prize, the UK’s most important art award.
The research group, based at Goldsmiths University in London, has been recognised for its investigative exhibitions, which recreate events using spatial analysis to reveal human rights violations.
Forensic Architecture are using footage from numerous recordings to create a 3D video of the Grenfell Tower fire
Forensic Architecture was praised by the Turner Prize jury “for developing highly innovative methods for sourcing and visualising evidence relating to human rights abuses around the world, used in courts of law as well as exhibitions of art and architecture.”
The researchers are shortlisted for the £40,000 art prize alongside three other artists, Naeem Mohaiemen, Charlotte Prodger and Luke Willis Thompson, who are all tackling political or humanitarian issues, often using film.
The researchers created an interactive model of a Syrian prison to demonstrate conditions inside the detention centre
“Following a thoughtful and rigorous debate, this year’s jury has chosen an outstanding group of artists, all of whom are tackling the most pressing political and humanitarian issues of today,” said Alex Farquharson, chair of the award jury and director of Tate Britain.
“This shortlist highlights how important the moving image has become in exploring these debates. We are looking forward to what will be a dynamic and absorbing exhibition.”
This interesting bench concept by Ethan Stoltz has such a substantial 3D footprint that you’d never guess it’s actually capable of being flat packed! The design is composed of just nine elements including five leg beams, three support slats and a clear top. Without any screws or glue, all pieces can be assembled in seconds and fit together snugly to create one robust and sturdy unit. Despite its modern, utilitarian form, its classic material combination of wood and glass/acrylic make it a natural addition to any space, contemporary or traditional.
Le cabinet d’architecture suédois Bornstein Lyckefors Arkitekter a conçu une maison ultra moderne entièrement en bois. Située à l’est de Göteborg et proche du lac Stora Kåsjön, cette villa a été fabriquée en s’adaptant à l’environnement naturel. L’extérieur a été recouvert de planches de bois d’une couleur noire, tandis que l’intérieur arbore un bois massif et brut. Le plus ? Les fenêtres noires qui offrent des points de vue magnifiques sur la nature environnante.
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