Dezeen Music Project: designers Masashi Kawamura and Kota Iguchi made all the animations in this music video for Japanese band SOUR’s single Music Is Life using rotating compact discs.
Kawamura of creative agency PARTY and Iguchi of design studio Tymote used the CDs to create a kind of phenakistoscope, a nineteenth-century animation device consisting of a series of still images that appear to move when rotated.
“The idea came from the lyrics,” Kawamura told Dezeen. “The song is about life and the way it cycles like the rhythm of music. That made me think of using CDs as the surface to create animations on.”
Traditionally, a phenakistoscope would have to be viewed through small gaps to create the illusion of movement and prevent the images from blurring into each other. Kawamura and Iguchi managed to create the same effect by syncing the speed of the rotating discs with the frame rate of their video camera.
“The slits on a phenakistoscope simulate flashes of light and create a kind of strobe effect called persistence of vision,” Kawamura explained. “In our case, we used the frame rate of the camera to recreate this effect without the slits. We shot the film at 15 fps and filmed 17 frame animations to synchronise with the 105 BPM of the song.”
Kawamura and Iguchi created animations on 189 CDs to make the video. They raised the money for the project on crowd-funding website Kickstarter, and backers who pledged $70 or more will receive one of the discs used in the shoot, signed by the band.
The spiky modules used to build this curving pavilion in Stuttgart, Germany, are made from a bioplastic containing over 90 percent renewable materials (photography by Roland Halbe).
Students and professors from Stuttgart University’s ITKE (Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design) designed the freeform facade to demonstrate the structural properties of a new bioplastic developed specially for use in the construction industry.
“Thermoformable sheets of bioplastics will represent a resource-efficient alternative [to oil-based plastics, glass, or metal] in the future, as they combine the high malleability and recyclability of plastics with the environmental benefits of materials consisting primarily of renewable resources,” explained the project team.
The pyramidal modules are made by extruding bioplastic granules into sheets before thermoforming them to create the faceted shapes and trimming off the excess material.
The double-curved skin is formed by linking the pyramids together, with bracing rings and joists helping to create load-bearing walls.
CNC-milling was used to remove sections from some of the modules, creating apertures in the facade. The waste material from this process can be re-granulated and fed back into the production process, while the plastic sheets can be composted at the end of their life.
Here’s some more information about the project:
Mock-Up: The bioplastics facade mock-up was created within the framework of the Bioplastic Facade Research Project, a project supported by EFRE (Europäischer Fonds für Regionale Entwicklung / European Fund for Regional Development). It demonstrates one of the possible architectural and constructional applications of bioplastic materials developed during the course of the project. The blueprint is based on a triangular net composed by mesh elements of varying sizes.
Bioplastic Façade Research Project: The ITKE has many years of experience in teaching and research in the fields of computer based design, simulation, and production of cladding for buildings with complex geometries. Currently, materials made from oil-based plastics, glass, or metal are mainly used to encase these structures. Thermoformable sheets of bioplastics will represent a resource-efficient alternative in the future, as they combine the high malleability and recyclability of plastics with the environmental benefits of materials consisting primarily of renewable resources. The interdisciplinary group of material scientists, architects, product designers, manufacturing technicians, and environmental experts was able to develop a new thermoformable material for facade cladding made primarily from renewable resources (>90%).
Developed by project partner TECNARO within the framework of the research project ARBOBLEND®, a special type of bioplastic granules was employed, which can be extruded into sheets and further processed as required: the sheets can be drilled, printed, laminated, laser cut, CNC-milled, or thermoformed to achieve different surface qualities and structures and eventually produce various moulded components. The semi-finished products serve as cladding for flat or free-formed interior and exterior walls. The material can be recycled and meets the high durability and flammability standards for building materials. The goal of the project was to develop a maximally sustainable yet durable building material while keeping the oil-based components and additives to a minimum. The ecological audit was completed by project partner ISWA (Institute for Water Engineering, Water Quality, and Waste Management). Furthermore, the material’s resistance to microbial degradation was also determined.
Innovative Character of the Research Project: This research project marks the first occasion for the development of bioplastic sheets primarily based on renewable resources. The sheets can be freely formed, are designed for applications in the building industry and are specifically meant for building exteriors and cladding. At the beginning of the project such product was not available on the market. The conception of this material as flame-retardant sheet material also aims at applications for building interiors (spek DESIGN). With this new development, we can therefore soon offer a product that addresses two trends: – the increasing demand for resource-efficient and sustainable building materials – the increasing development of buildings featuring double-curved geometries and planar facade components with 3D effects (relief).
Belgian design studio Unfold has created a set of 3D-printed ceramic tools for diluting and diffusing the scents of French perfumer Barnabé Fillion (+ slideshow).
Using a ceramic 3D-printing technique the studio originally developed in 2009, Unfold produced a series of objects to dilute the perfume plus a diffuser that absorbs the liquid and dissipates the scent.
Photography by Marie Taillefer
“The whole setup is an olfactory installation that explores the extraordinary way in which ceramics absorb, store and release a perfume’s head, heart and base notes over a prolonged time,” Dries Verbruggen of Unfold told Dezeen.
Photography by Marie Taillefer
The printed tools include a carafe that holds distilled water, a smaller receptacle for alcohol and a high-necked flask, pipette and funnel used to dilute and mix the perfume.
Photography by Unfold
Diluted perfume is then poured into the central core of an unglazed diffuser and gradually spreads through the multiple compartments, which create a greater surface area to absorb the liquid.
Photography by Marie Taillefer
“The inspiration here was taken from fruit cut-throughs,” said Verbruggen. “When you cut through a lemon for example, you release its essence in the atmosphere but you also expose the intricate inner structure of the fruit.”
Photography by Marie Taillefer
Although the diffuser will naturally release the perfume’s scent over time, the designers created an apparatus that spreads it around, “to give it an extra punch and to add a conscious gesture.”
Photography by Unfold
Any of three different diffusers can be attached to an oak and aluminium contraption and are counterbalanced by a weight. Turning a handle causes the diffuser to rotate, releasing the scent as it spins.
Photography by Unfold
The items are printed from fine layers of ceramic that produce a stratified surface. “The technique is very suited for intricate and complex ceramic shapes like the diffusers,” Verbruggen explained. The vessels have a layer thickness of one millimetre that results in a rough surface, while the more precise diffusers are formed from 0.5 millimetre-thick layers.
Photography by Unfold
Unfold created the installation for the launch of Barnabé Fillion‘s perfume brand, which is called The Peddler and focuses on the experience of scent through temporary events and exhibitions. Their machine was one of several collaborations Fillion undertook with artists and designers, and he presented the results at Maison & Objet in September.
Architect Zaha Hadid‘s gallery space in London is to host a show of work by fashion designer Elke Walter, who creates many of the statement pieces worn by the architect.
Zaha Hadid wearing one-of-a-kind design by Elke Walter. Photograph by Tung Walsh
Elke Walter creates unconventional one-of-a-kind garments that are draped into extravagant shapes rather than cut and fitted, which have become a favourite of Zaha Hadid‘s.
Walter first met Hadid during Design Miami 2006, where her garments were on display at a charity event. “She just tried on, then about half a year later we were contacted by her PA and she asked if the pieces were still available,” Walter told Dezeen.
Zaha Hadid wearing one-of-a-kind design by Elke Walter. Photograph by Tung Walsh
Since then, Hadid has chosen Walter’s designs to wear for photoshoots and the opening events for her high-profile building projects including the Guangzhou Opera House.
“When I know it’s for a special event, I do something that nobody else would and she looks so great in it and I love that,” Walter said.
She revealed that she’s happy to find a customer who likes her designs. “Regular customers find my designs too crazy,” said Walter. “Maybe [Hadid] has some of the craziness that I have. I can’t explain why she likes them, maybe there’s a link between how we both think and design.”
Zaha Hadid wearing one-of-a-kind design by Elke Walter
Her garments are often voluminous and use a lot of material, creating flexibility and allowing them to fit any body type.
“You can move in it,” she said. “Even if it’s a big piece, you always feel comfortable, like it belongs to you. The pieces are adjustable to different people’s bodies and this comes from the way I cut it.”
Instead of using patterns and cutting sections of fabric to sew together, she drapes and folds the material over a mannequin and sometimes herself so form the shapes.
“I create the shape by cutting straight into the fabric, or holding it up like a sculpture but it takes a lot of time,” she explained. “I want to give it a shape from all sides so you could also put it on a hanger and use it as a decorative piece, thats my goal.”
One-of-a-kind design by Elke Walter
Walter primarily works with synthetic fabrics as they tend not to crease as much as natural materials.
“The advantage of these new fibres is that you can wash them, you can wear them, you can sit on them, you can sleep in them, they don’t change,” she told us. “I can’t stand it when somebody gets up from sitting in a silk dress and it’s all crinkled.”
Walter will be showing and selling her one-of-a-kind pieces along with a simple range of black clothing she calls Essentials at the Zaha Hadid Design Gallery in London’s Clerkenwell district from 21 to 23 November.
Door handles created by late Modernist architect Lina Bo Bardi for her home in São Paulo have gone into production 62 years after she designed them.
The horn-shaped lever handles are being manufactured by British design brand Izé, founded by Financial Times architecture correspondent Edwin Heathcote, who has licensed the design from the Lina Bo Bardi Foundation.
“They lent us a pair of the original handles from the house which we then copied and cast, then they gave us the rights to produce them,” Heathcote told Dezeen.
Bo Bardi created the handles for the 1951 Casa de Vidro (Glass House), which she designed for herself and her husband in the Morumbi neighbourhood of São Paulo. She always intended for the handles to go into production, Heathcote said.
The glass-walled Casa de Vidro, surrounded by jungle and raised up on stilts, has recently been hailed as an important Modernist landmark as part of a wider re-evaluation of the work of Bo Bardi, who was born in Italy in 1914 and died in Brazil in 1992.
Original door handle in Bo Bardi’s Casa de Vidro
“I think it’s a particularly humane type of Modernism,” said Heathcote, comparing the house to villas by Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe. “I think this building provides a paradigm of how Modern architecture does’t have to dictate how it’s used. It can be looser and more amenable to transformation.”
Casa de Vidro interior
Bo Bardi and her husband Pietro Maria Bardi moved from Italy to Brazil in 1946, where she completed a number of social housing and private projects. Her work, including her São Paulo Museum of Art, has only recently become more widely recognised; last year she was the subject of Lina Bo Bardi: Together, an exhibition at the British Council Gallery in London.
Lina Bo Bardi
Heathcote believes the delayed recognition of Bo Bardi’s work is partly due to Brazil’s geographical isolation and partly due to the fact that she is a woman.
“São Paulo is a long way from New York and Europe, where the prevailing trends have been coming from,” he said. “It’s only now that Brazil is getting richer and opening itself up at lot more. People are travelling there, the arts scene is happening, people in Europe and America are realising like good the architecture in Brazil was.”
Casa de Vidro exterior
“I think [it’s] probably also because she was a women, much like the Eileen Gray situation,” he added, referring to the Irish Modernist designer whose importance was overshadowed by her male contemporaries. “Eileen Gray has only really been picked up in the last twenty to thirty years and has only really been recognised in the last five or six years, and I think its the same with Lina Bo Bardi.”
Heathcote set up Izé in 2001 to produce door handles and other fittings for architecture projects. “It turned out that the door handle was, proportionate to its size, was the most influential piece of the building that I could think of that I could get into manufacture,” he said. Previous products include handles designed by Studio Toogood, Eric Parry
Photos of Casa de Vidro are by Edwin Heathcote. Here’s an edited transcript of the interview with Heathcote:
Daniel Howarth: How did you come to set up a company making door furniture?
Edwin Heathcote: My background is in architecture and I have always been interested in production and the design of the object. I gave up architecture but I was still interested in the design and being part of the building process, I tried to isolate the smallest but most important element that would lend itself to manufacture; I didn’t want to get involved in the whole building process.
It turned out that the door handle was proportionate to its size; it was the most influential piece of the building that I could think of, that I could get into manufacture. We started by reviving some of the designs from the twenties and thirties and then the fifties. We started commissioning people at the same time, and we’ve been plugging away at it for a dozen years.
Daniel Howarth: How did you get the rights to produce the Bo Bardi handle?
Edwin Heathcote: We worked with the Lina Bo Bardi Foundation, which is based in the house she designed for herself, the Casa de Vidro in São Paulo. Over the period of a about a year they lent us a pair of the original handles from the house which we then copied and cast, then they gave us the rights to produce the handles.
Daniel Howarth: Why is the house and the design so special?
Edwin Heathcote: I think it’s a particularly humane type of Modernism. I think that there’s been a type of Modernism that’s been made iconic, the kind of Corbusian villa has become the kind of symbol of the Modernist house. The Corbusian villa and Mies’ Farnsworth House offer these sort of twin poles, and they’re very keen to achieve a kind of perfection. I think that the Lina Bo Bardi house is looser, it has a kind of humanity to it that is slightly lacking in both of the other, both in Corb and in Mies.
It has a sort of, I hesitate to say, a Brazilian joie de vivre. But I think its something of that in it, this house in the jungle, the way it’s integrated into the landscape is very informal. Inside you have this feeling that you’re part of the landscape, the tree comes through the middle of the house and the courtyard. It somehow much more integrated in the surroundings. It’s a sort of alternative Modernism.
Daniel Howarth: What makes Bo Bardi stand out as an architect?
Edwin Heathcote: There’s one building in particular: SESC Pompéia [a former factory in São Paulo that Bo Bardi and her husband converted into a multi-purpose building between 1977 and 1982]. That building in particular has been up by contemporary commentators as an example of how you can achieve quite a fierce Modernism, using existing industrial buildings and an existing urban context, and create a real piece of city, create a functioning, organic piece of city, which is adaptable and which people can adopt as their own.
I think the tendency of Modernism has been to impose a building which is either then used or not used. Obviously some Modernist social housing is an example of the failures. But I think this building provides a paradigm of how Modern architecture does’t have to dictate how it’s used. I can be looser and more amenable to transformation.
Daniel Howarth: Why was she unrecognised for so long?
Edwin Heathcote: I think São Paulo is a long way from New York and Europe, where the prevailing trends have been coming from. There’s this kind of band of LA, New York, Europe, Japan, which have been the northern hemisphere grouping that has dominated architectural culture. I think it’s only now that Brazil is getting richer and opening itself up at lot more, people are travelling there, the arts scene is happening, people in Europe and America are realising like good the architecture in Brazil was, I think for a long time they just hadn’t really noticed. They were too concerned with their own issues.
I think [it’s] probably also because she was a women, much like the Eileen Gray situation. Eileen Gray has only really been picked up in the last twenty to thirty years and has only really been recognised in the last five or six years, and I think its the same with Lina Bo Bardi.
These underpants by British company Shreddies are designed to stop farts from smelling (+ slideshow).
The flatulence-filtering pants have a back panel made from cloth that incorporates carbon.
The odour vapours are trapped and neutralised by the carbon, which can be reactivated simply by washing it.
Called Zorflex, the material is normally used in chemical warfare suits and is capable of stopping smells 200 times stronger than the average fart.
Unfortunately it does nothing to muffle sound.
The products were invented in 2006 by Paul O’Leary and developed with a team of designers from the Contour Fashion lingerie design course at De Montfort University in Leicester.
Shreddies specialises in healthcare underwear for conditions like incontinence and the range of flatulence underwear was originally intended for people with conditions such as IBS, Crohn’s disease and food intolerances.
Recognising that there could be a much wider market, the company has now launched the products with retailers.
Here’s some more information from Shreddies:
Shreddies make amazing pants that filter out odours and have won awards for their innovative design and ability to change lives. In the last few months Shreddies have been taking the first steps into the world of retail and have now signed up 9 retailers including Fenwicks and Bentalls who have prominent department stores across the UK.
In conjunction with the retail launch Shreddies have recently done a photo-shoot to front the new campaign. The shoot last Tuesday saw models Tom and Beth from DNA modelling agency frolicking around the beautiful Cotes Mill in Loughborough. The concept behind the shoot was ‘live life in Shreddies’ and features many day-to-day lifestyle shots.
Although Shreddies get cheeky with the new campaign, to many people they still remain very much a healthcare product and have helped so many cope with conditions such as IBS, Crohn’s disease and food intolerances. But the bottom line is that Shreddies are for everyone, after all, it’s something we all do!
Van der Lubbe, who co-founded the event, remembers its much more humble beginnings when she was “happy with 5,000” visitors.
Strijp-S during Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven
She reveals the first Dutch Design Week was borne out of a frustration among local designers over the lack of a proper platform to present their work.
“Why do we always have to go to Milan to show our work, as if you are only something in design if you are there?” she asks. “In Holland there was nothing, so let’s see if we can actually pull something off here.”
Area 51 skatepark in a former industrial building in Strijp, Eindhoven
Van der Lubbe believes that the pro-active spirit of Eindhoven-based designers helped Dutch Design Week quickly get off the ground and grow into the event that it is today.
“There were all kinds of initiatives going on,” she says. “There’s a good urban culture here; people are actually doing stuff instead of talking, which is a big difference, and it grew up to be this huge event.”
The first area van der Lubbe takes us to is Strijp, a former Philips industrial complex that is now one of the central areas of Dutch Design Week.
“The Klokgebouw, one of the old industrial buildings, is the starting point of Dutch Design Week,” van der Lubbe says. “This week there are about 400 events of almost 2,000 designers.”
She then takes us to the graduation show at Design Academy Eindhoven, the school where most of Eindhoven’s designers, including van der Lubbe herself, received their education.
Design Academy Eindhoven graduate show
Van der Lubbe says that current graduates do not benefit from the same economic support that she enjoyed when she graduated.
“The government was very much aware of the importance of creative people,” she says. “There were a lot of funds and we did not have to earn our money from day one.”
“But when the [economic] crisis came in, that all changed. I think it is now the obligation of companies to create opportunities for creative people to grow. I think that is also the role of Dutch Design Week, to be between culture and the money.”
Wire frame of a chair by Nacho Carbonell
Next, van der Lubbe takes us to Sectie C, a new design district where young designers including Nacho Carbonell open their studios up to the public. We then head to Eat Drink Design at Kazerne, a gallery and restaurant housed in a former army barracks.
Sectie C during Dutch Design Week
“[Dutch Design Week] is really different from all the design weeks in the world because it comes out of the designers themselves,” says van der Lubbe. “They open up their doors, you’re welcome in their studios or in their workspaces. You actually can feel the vibe of innovation and of new developments.”
Eat Drink Design at Kazerne, Eindhoven
“Martijn Paulen, the new director of Dutch Design Week, said: ‘what is visible in Milan in two years, you can see that here now.'”
We drove around Eindhoven in our MINI Cooper S Paceman. The music in the movie is a track called Family Music by Eindhoven-based hip hop producer Y’Skid.
The design was based on a classic design from 1911 and manufactured using laser-sintered powdered metals. The firm says the gun “functions beautifully and has already handled 50 rounds of successful firing.”
It’s made from over 30 components printed in stainless steel and an alloy called Inconel 625, and has a selective laser sintered (SLS) carbon-fibre and nylon hand grip.
“We’re proving this is possible,” said Kent Firestone, vice president of additive manufacturing at Solid Concepts. “The technology is at a place now where we can manufacture a gun with 3D Metal Printing.”
Firestone said the point of the project was to prove to quality and suitability of 3D-printed parts for real-world applications, and even its superiority over traditional techniques: the printed parts are less porous than cast parts and could be made more made complex than machined parts.
“The whole concept of using a laser sintering process to 3D-print a metal gun revolves around proving the reliability, accuracy and usability of metal 3D printing as functional prototypes and end use products,” said Firestone. “It’s a common misconception that 3D Printing isn’t accurate or strong enough, and we’re working to change people’s perspective.”
The firm chose to build the 1911 45ACP firearm because the design is in the public domain and says it is licensed to produce firearms parts.
“We’re doing this legally,” said Firestone. “In fact, as far as we know, we’re the only 3D Printing Service Provider with a Federal Firearms License (FFL). Now, if a qualifying customer needs a unique gun part in five days, we can deliver.”
Here’s some more information from Solid Concepts:
Solid Concepts, a world leader in 3D Printing services, manufactures the world’s first 3D Printed Metal Gun.
Solid Concepts, one of the world leaders in 3D Printing services, has manufactured the world’s first 3D Printed Metal Gun using a laser sintering process and powdered metals. The gun, a 1911 classic design, functions beautifully and has already handled 50 rounds of successful firing. It is composed of 33 17-4 Stainless Steel and Inconel 625 components, and decked with a Selective Laser Sintered (SLS) carbon-fiber filled nylon hand grip. The successful production and functionality of the 1911 3D Printed metal gun proves the viability of 3D Printing for commercial applications.
The metal laser sintering process Solid Concepts used to manufacture the 30+ gun components is one of the most accurate additive manufacturing processes available, and more than accurate enough to build the interchangeable and interfacing parts within the 1911 series gun. The gun proves the tight tolerances laser sintering can meet. Plus, 3D Printed Metal has less porosity issues than an investment cast part and better complexities than a machined part. The 3D Printed gun barrel sees chamber pressures above 20,000 psi every time it is fired. Solid Concepts chose to build the 1911 because the design is public domain.
The 3D Printed metal gun proves that 3D Printing isn’t just making trinkets and Yoda heads. The gun manufactured by Solid Concepts debunks the idea that 3D Printing isn’t a viable solution or isn’t ready for mainstream manufacturing. With the right materials and a company that knows how to best program and maintain their machines, 3D printing is accurate, powerful and here to stay.
News: ten years after declaring he wanted to “kill the skyscraper”, architect Rem Koolhaas has accepted an award for the best tall building of the year and joked: “my campaign was completely unsuccessful”.
Koolhaas, founding partner of OMA, received the award for Best Tall Building Worldwide from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) in Chicago today for CCTV Headquarters in Beijing, China.
Completed in 2012, the looping CCTV building was a deliberate assault on the cliched form of most skyscrapers. OMA won a competition to design the building in 2002 and the following year it featured on the cover of Koolhaas’ book Content, which contained a chapter titled Kill the Skyscraper.
Cover of Content by Rem Koolhaas, 2003
“When I published my last book, Content, in 2003, one chapter was called ‘Kill the Skyscraper,’” said Koolhaas, in a presentation about the project to CTBUH.
“Basically it was an expression of disappointment at the way the skyscraper typology was used and applied. I didn’t think there was a lot of creative life left in skyscrapers. Therefore, I tried to launch a campaign against the skyscraper in its more uninspired form.”
He added: “The fact that I am standing on this stage now, in this position, meant that my declaration of war went completely unnoted, and that my campaign was completely unsuccessful.”
“Being here, it is quite moving – to be part of a community that is trying to make skyscrapers more interesting,” Koolhaas concluded. “I am deeply grateful, and thank all my partners.”
CTBUH said of the building: “The CCTV headquarters is an unusual take on the skyscraper typology. Instead of competing in the race for ultimate height and style through a traditional two-dimensional tower soaring skyward, CCTV’s loop poses a truly three-dimensional experience, culminating in a 75-meter cantilever.”
In Content, Koolhaas argued that skyscrapers as a genre had been reduced to a vacuous race for height. He wrote that “the skyscraper has become less interesting in inverse proportion to its success. It has not been refined, but corrupted.”
Here’s the press release from CTBUH:
CHICAGO, November 8— The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) has announced the winner of its Best Tall Building Worldwide: CCTV Headquarters, Beijing, China. As part of a nearly year-long juried selection process across more than 60 entries, the Awards Jury first selected a Best Tall Building in four regions: the Americas, Middle East and Africa, Europe and Asia & Australasia. Senior representatives of each of these four winners then gave a presentation at the CTBUH Awards Symposium Nov. 7 at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, with the Jury convening immediately afterwards. The winner was announced by Wiel Arets, Dean of the School of Architecture at IIT, at the Awards Dinner following the Symposium.
Rem Koolhaas, Founding Partner, Office for Metropolitan Architecture, delivered the winning presentation, entitled “A New Typology for the Skyscraper: CCTV Headquarters, Beijing.”
“When I published my last book, Content, in 2003, one chapter was called ‘Kill the Skyscraper,’” said Koolhaas, who received the award for CCTV. “Basically it was an expression of disappointment at the way the skyscraper typology was used and applied. I didn’t think there was a lot of creative life left in skyscrapers. Therefore, I tried to launch a campaign against the skyscraper in its more uninspired form.
“The fact that I am standing on this stage now, in this position, meant that my declaration of war went completely unnoted, and that my campaign was completely unsuccessful,” Koolhaas joked, concluding, “Being here, it is quite moving – to be part of a community that is trying to make skyscrapers more interesting. I am deeply grateful, and thank all my partners.”
“I thought [making the decision] would be pretty straightforward, and it was not at all,” said CTBUH Executive Director Antony Wood, a 2013 awards juror. “It went through four rounds of voting before we decided on the winner.”
The audience vote, taken separately, submitted via text message, and kept from their jury’s view until after their verdict had been announced, was the same.
About CCTV Headquarters:
The CCTV headquarters is an unusual take on the skyscraper typology. Instead of competing in the race for ultimate height and style through a traditional two-dimensional tower soaring skyward, CCTV’s loop poses a truly three-dimensional experience, culminating in a 75-meter cantilever.
Conflating expectations of what a skyscraper is, and can or should do, the CCTV Headquarters has now become embedded in the thought process of the making of tall buildings. It singlehandedly paved the way from the height-obsessed, set-back skyscraper of the past to the sculptural and spatial skyscraper of the present, at the scale of the urban skyline. Its stunning form, which appears both powerful and conflicted, as if pulled in several directions, symbolizes the multiple functions of the program and the dynamic positioning of its nation on the world stage. The unique architectural design contrasts significantly with historical building styles in Beijing, yet it could never be classified as a homogenizing force.
As a piece of structural engineering, CCTV is also an object lesson for those who wish to push the boundaries and sweep aside the received notions of skyscraper design. The building’s design violates conventions, while validating and rewarding intensive and focused collaboration and study.
One corner of this airport terminal in Kutaisi, Georgia, by Dutch firm UNStudio is coloured bright red to aid orientation (+ slideshow).
UNStudio designed the terminal with a large span to create uninterrupted views that aid navigation, and the red corner detail acting as “a crossing-point and point of recognition.”
“The design for the new airport embraces the traveller by embodying the circumstance of the site,” said architect Ben van Berkel. “Moments of both leaving and returning are celebrated by the large span, open spaces and high ceiling of the terminal structure – reflecting the ways in which such gestures were employed in the great railway stations of the past.”
Inside the terminal, a large structure covered in a web of wooden beams descends from the ceiling and creates a central hub around which passengers circulate.
At the centre of this structure is an exterior patio enclosed in glass that allows for continuous views across the terminal.
The building is wrapped in full-height glazing that creates a light-filled interior with views of the Caucasus Mountains.
UNStudio was also responsible for the design of other buildings on the site including a meteorological station and air traffic control tower, as well as masterplanning the surrounding landscaping.
The concrete core of the air traffic control tower is clad in a perforated skin that draws in air for ventilation and allows lighting behind it to illuminate the tower at night.
Photography is by Nakaniamasakhlisi.
Here’s some more information from UNStudio:
Ben van Berkel / UNStudio’s Kutaisi International Airport in Georgia completed
UNStudio’s recently completed Kutaisi International Airport serves domestic and international flights for use by tourists, national politicians and international diplomats. The airport is destined to become a central hub, with up to one million travellers targeted in 2014-2015. Current figures for the airport show 30 flights per week, with an increase to 40 expected in Spring 2014, by which time direct flights from Western Europe to Kutaisi will also be possible.
UNStudio’s design comprises the full airport development, including a revision of the runway, the master plan for the landscape and planned future development thereof, the terminal building, offices, a meteorological station and the air traffic control tower.
The architecture of the terminal refers to a gateway, in which a clear structural layout creates an all-encompassing and protective volume. Both the exterior corner detail – which functions as a crossing-point and point of recognition – and the so called ‘umbrella’ structure within the terminal building – which operates as a roundabout for passenger flows – operate as the two main architectural details around which all of the airport functions are organised.
The umbrella further guarantees views from the terminal plaza to the apron and to the Caucasus on the horizon and vice versa. The central point in the umbrella is an exterior patio which is used for departing passengers. The transparent space around this central area is designed to ensure that flows of passengers are smooth and that departure and arrival flows do not coincide.
Ben van Berkel: “The design for the new airport embraces the traveller by embodying the circumstance of the site. Moments of both leaving and returning are celebrated by the large span, open spaces and high ceiling of the terminal structure – reflecting the ways in which such gestures were employed in the great railway stations of the past.”
Organisational diagram
The design organises the logistical processes, provides optimal security and ensures that the traveller has sufficient space to circulate comfortably. Serving as a lobby to Georgia, the terminal will in addition operate as a café and art gallery, displaying works by young Georgian artists and thereby presenting a further identifier of contemporary Georgian culture.
The 55m high Air Traffic Control Tower and its supporting office/operational building is designed to complement the design of the terminal. The tower’s strong appearance makes it a beacon of the airport and surrounding area. The traffic control cabin on the top level forms the focal point of the tower, with a 360 degrees view on the surrounding landscape. A spacious and comfortable interior ensures a workspace for 4-8 operators with optimal concentration. The exterior of the tower is clad with a perforated skin on a concrete core to use wind for ventilation purposes. LED Light in-between the skin and the core enhance the beacon effect of the tower at dusk and dawn by changing colour whenever there is a fluctuation in wind speed.
The design for the new airport incorporates numerous sustainable elements. A large onsite underground source of natural water provides the basis for the reduction of energy consumption through concrete core activation and use for sprinkler basins. The floors of both the terminal and the traffic control tower will utilise this water for maintaining a regulated temperature in the two volumes. In the terminal building cantilevered roofs provide sun shading on south and southwest zones. A hybrid low pressure ventilation system is integrated into the terminal’s main structure and there is a grey water collection system in the floor underneath the terminal building. A future aim is to present Kutaisi airport as Georgia’s first airport to incorporate a strict segregation of waste and establish a recycling system which could be further implemented into new and existing projects in Georgia.
The project was designed and constructed in two years, under lead consultancy of UNStudio, with the airport already having begun operations by September 2012. Both design and construction saw the involvement of numerous local and international companies, with openness and knowledge sharing proving to be essential to fulfilling the tight schedule. The steel structure of the terminal – produced and shipped from Hungary – recently won a European Steel Prize award.
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