Dezeen Wire: Spiegel online reports that Walter Gropius’ pioneering 1911 Fagus Factory at Alfeld in Lower Saxony, Germany, will be added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.
UNESCO is still deliberating whether to add works by Le Corbusier to the list. Via Spiegel online
Dezeen Wire: The Telegraph has confirmed that UK magazine Design Week is to close, as reported by Dezeen earlier today. New Media Age magazine will also close, although the websites of both titles will continue.
Dezeen understands that Design Week editor Lynda Relph-Knight and most of her editorial team have been made redundant. Read The Telegraph’s story | Read our earlier story
Dezeen Wire: UK design magazine Design Week is to close this week, Dezeen understands. It is thought that the title will continue as a web-only publication at www.designweek.co.uk.
Dezeen Wire: thirty UK branches of furniture chain Habitat are to go into administration as part of a deal involving the sale of the brand and the three London stores, the BBC reports.
Dezeen Wire: the Design Council in London is publishing a webcast and Twitter summary of Design for Growth, its 2011 Design Summit, taking place this morning and featuring designers including Jonathan Ive of Apple, Ian Callum of Jaguar and Tom Hulme of IDEO. Follow the summit here from 10.35am
Dezeen Wire: Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has been released on bail after two months in detention, which Xinhua news agency said was “because of his good attitude in confessing his crimes” – Guardian
Dezeen Wire: Bilbao, Cape Town and Dublin have been shortlisted for the title of World Design Capital in 2014.
The winning city will be announced in Taipei on 26 October 2011, following the selection committee’s visits to each city over the summer.
Last year’s World Design Capital was Seoul, South Korea, and Helsinki, Finland, will take the title in 2012.
Here are some more details from the organisers:
Following deliberations on 9 June 2011, the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (Icsid) has the pleasure to announce on behalf of the members of the World Design Capital® (WDC) Selection Committee that the cities of Bilbao (Spain), Cape Town (South Africa) and Dublin (Ireland) have been selected as the three shortlisted cities that will move on to the next round of evaluation in the bid to becoming the World Design Capital in 2014.
In 2014 selection of World Design Capital will be the fourth appointment by Icsid of this biennial designation to a city, in recognition of its accomplishments in using design as a catalyst for development and reinvention, as well as for improving its social, cultural and economic environments.
After a comprehensive review of all bids submitted, the cities of Bilbao, Cape Town and Dublin distinguished themselves not only by demonstrating their individual approaches towards design in their cities, but also managed to convey the impact of these on the various aspects of social, cultural and economic life, as well as provided three very unique visions for how design will continue to reinvent their urban landscape. Furthermore, these cities demonstrated that they possessed the expertise, infrastructure and financial capabilities to successfully develop and implement an inspiring yearlong programme of international design related events, promoting design, as well as their city, on an international stage; and finally, illustrated how their citizens have and will continue to benefit from their cityʼs achievements in design.
“It was a difficult decision, but the WDC Selection Committee has shortlisted three incredibly well thought-out and all-together remarkable bids that have created unique competitive advantages for their cities through design,” expressed Martin Darbyshire, WDC Organising Committee member and Icsid Executive Board Member. “These proposals have conveyed very workable and deliverable plans to use design as a means to reinvigorate their cityʼs social, cultural and economic development.”
“The Bilbao City Hall, the Provincial Government of Bizkaia and the Basque Government would like to express their great enthusiasm on being shortlisted to be the World Design Capital in 2014,” stated Iñaki Azkuna, Mayor of Bilbao. “Design innovation has become an essential tool to improve the competitiveness and quality of life in cities, and is necessary to enhance collaborative public-private environments with direct participation from the administrations, universities and different economic and professional agents. This is the direction Bilbao has followed to achieve its transformation over the past 25 years, and this designation will help continue the rejuvenation of our great city.”
“Cape Townʼs bid to be the World Design Capital of the year in 2014 shows how far we have come as a city. More importantly, it shows how far we want to take this city,” declared Patricia De Lille, Executive Mayor of Cape Town. “The creative industries make up an extremely important part of our local economy. The value of an event such as World Design Capital not only exposes our creative design talents to the world, but in turn develops our local industry into an asset for decades to come.”
Lord Mayor of Dublin Gerry Breen echoed the enthusiasm shown by the two accompanying shortlisted cities, stating, “Dublin is honoured to be one of three cities shortlisted for World Design Capital 2014. On behalf of Dublin City Council and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin County Councils, I welcome the opportunities the World Design Capital project will give us. The project will be beneficial in economic, environmental, social and political terms. These are difficult times and this bid will challenge us to adapt, recover and grow.”
The next step in the process leading up to the final selection of the 2014 WDC designation is the city visits that will be conducted in July 2011 by members of the WDC Organising Committee. These site inspections will enable further information to be gathered in an attempt to provide the WDC Selection Committee with a more thorough understanding of the proposed programmes by each of the shortlisted cities prior to the final selection in August 2011.
The official announcement of the 2014 World Design Capital designated city will be on 26 October during the 2011 International Design Alliance (IDA) Congress in Taipei, Taiwan (Chinese Taipei).
Dezeen Wire: Chicago firm Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture have won a competition to design the Wuhan Greenland Center in Hubei province, China, which is set to be the world’s fourth-tallest building.
Construction of the 606-metre tower is due to begin this year and is expected to take five years.
Here are some more details from the architects:
Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture is pleased to announce that it has won an international competition to design Wuhan Greenland Center, which at 606 meters (1,988 feet) will likely be China’s third-tallest building, and the fourth tallest in the world, when completed in about five years. Construction is scheduled to begin this summer in Wuhan near the meeting of the Yangtze and Han rivers.
A project of the Shanghai-based Greenland Group, the 119-level Wuhan Greenland Center will be comprised of about 300,000 square meters of floor area, including about 200,000 sm of offices, 50,000 sm of luxury apartments and condominiums, a 45,000 sm five-star hotel, and a 5,000 sm, 27-meter-tall private club with spectacular views at the tower’s penthouse level.
AS+GG is leading an interdisciplinary design team that also includes the structural engineering firm Thornton Tomasetti as well as PositivEnergy Practice, an energy services, engineering and consulting company. The other finalists in the design competition were the Chicago office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; HOK Architects; GMP Architects; and P&T Architects.
The project reunites the Greenland Group with Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill, who designed the Nanjing Greenland Financial Center, and Robert Forest, who managed the Nanjing design process, all while at SOM. Nanjing Greenland Financial Center’s Zifeng Tower, currently the world’s seventh-tallest building at 450 meters (1,476 feet), opened last fall.
“We’re thrilled to be working with the Greenland Group once again,” Adrian Smith said. “We had a very good experience on the Nanjing project, and we think Wuhan promises to be just as rewarding. As always, we’re extremely impressed with Greenland’s commitment to good design and quality construction. ”
“Wuhan is an exciting and important project for our firm as we continue to advance our ideas about performance-based supertall tower design,” added Gordon Gill. “We look forward to building on past experience on similar projects, with particular emphasis on the relation of architectural form and performance as they pertain to structural wind loads. It’s very rewarding to be working with the Greenland team. We enjoyed our time on Nanjing and look forward to creating a world-class project with them for Wuhan.”
Still under design, Wuhan Greenland Center features a uniquely streamlined form that combines three key shaping concepts—a tapered body, softly rounded corners and a domed top—to reduce wind resistance and vortex action that builds up around supertall towers. The building’s extremely efficient aerodynamic performance will allow it to minimize the amount of structural material (and its associated embodied carbon) needed for construction.
The tower’s three corners rise from its tripod-shaped base and taper upward, culminating in an arched tip above the dome at the top. The corners will be of smooth curved glass, contrasting markedly with the more textured curtain wall cladding the body of the tower. The curtain wall will enclose a composite concrete core with steel framing. Apertures in the curtain wall at regular intervals will assist in venting wind pressure against the tower; the apertures will also house window-washing systems and air intake and exhaust systems on mechanical floors.
“One of the distinctive features of this project is the innovative introduction of vents at the tips of the three legs of the tower at vertical quarter sections that will reduce wind pressure on the tower and reduce the vortices that can cause horizontal acceleration of movement,” Smith said. “This feature, along with the elegant tapering of the tower, is an essential element in this performative design concept.”
“It’s an honor to be working with Greenland Group again on such a significant project,” AS+GG partner Robert Forest added. “Wuhan Greenland Center continues our commitment to providing designs that enhance China’s ability to provide for an increasing population density while striving to reduce energy use and carbon emissions without compromising design quality, performance and cost.”
Other planned sustainable elements of the project include:
In addition, the AS+GG Interiors studio is developing the tower’s fluidly sculpted interior public spaces, many of which reflect the tower’s exterior silhouette. The conical silhouette is visibly echoed in the entrances to the primary elevator bank from the main lobby, as well as in the shapes of the elevator cabs and other public spaces. The lobbies and other amenity spaces within the tower also feature sweeping, fluid lines and a neutral blue-gray palette that recalls the reflective glass of the exterior wall. The transparency of the ground-floor lobby wall allows views from inside toward the entry canopy drop-off areas, establishing a seamless relationship between the interior and exterior.
Dezeen Wire: new plans by Dixon Jones, Squire & Partners and Kim Wilkie to redevelop the controversial Chelsea Barracks site in central London have been approved by Westminster Council – BBC
Developer Qatari Diar withdrew its earlier plan by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners in 2009, following criticism of the design from Prince Charles.
Dezeen Wire: designer Enrique Allen has founded The Designer Fund, an organisation in Silicon Valley that supports startup businesses founded by designers – Co.Design
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