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News: the latest Maggie’s cancer care centre designed by Frank Gehry opened in Hong Kong yesterday, becoming the first of the charity’s units outside the UK.

Maggie’s Hong Kong is the second Maggie’s Centre by Frank Gehry, following the opening in 2003 of Maggie’s Dundee in Scotland.

The centre comprises a series of pavilions with rooms overlooking a pond and gardens partly inspired by the classical gardens of Suzhou near Shanghai.

Gehry said: “[The building is] respectful of Chinese architecture and motifs. I hope it’s not copying anything Chinese or architectural, but I hope it’s very respectful of them.

“I was going through the loss of a daughter while I was designing the centre. I think you sort of suck it up and hope to make something that is soothing and respectful and hopeful. There’s always hope, it’s not a dead end.”

Landscape architect Lily Jencks, who is the daughter of founders Maggie Keswick Jencks and Charles Jencks, designed the centre’s garden.

We’ve featured lots of Maggie’s Centres on Dezeen, including Steven Holl’s recently revealed designs for a centre in London and OMA’s Stirling Prize-nominated centre in Glasgow – see all Maggie’s Centres.

Gehry recently revealed a 22-storey tower designed for his hometown of Santa Monica, California – see all architecture by Frank Gehry.

Photographs are by Pako Ko.

Here’s more information from Maggie’s Centre:

Secretary for Food & Health, Dr Ko Wing Man will open Maggie’s Hong Kong on Thursday, March 7.

They will join Charles Jencks, Maggie’s co-founder, Laura Lee chief executive, Keith Kerr, chairman of Maggie’s Hong Kong Board of Directors and Eleanor Ling from the Keswick Foundation.

The official opening heralds a new era of cancer care and support for people with cancer across the region, bringing hope and solace to thousands.

The new purpose built Centre was designed by internationally renowned architect Frank Gehry, who also designed Maggie’s Dundee in Scotland. Maggie’s Hong Kong is the first Maggie’s Centre to be built outside of the United Kingdom.

Since December 2008 Maggie’s Hong Kong has been providing an interim service at its temporary building on the ground at Tuen Mun Hospital, offering free support for anyone living with cancer including friends, family and carers. Centre visitors can take part in relaxation sessions, nutrition classes, yoga and individual and family support sessions.

The Centre’s design is a series of pavilions arranged to encourage movement between the interior and the landscape. Rooms open out to the surrounding gardens or have private terraces overlooking the pond. There is a public living and dining area that serves as the focal point of the building, with views of both the ponds and gardens. The Centre could be thought of as a Chinese garden inspired by, though not beholden to, the Suzhou tradition.

Maggie’s chief executive Laura Lee said: “This is a very special occasion, not only are we able to provide more help and support for people who are living with cancer in the region but Maggie’s Hong Kong is our first international Centre.

“Maggie’s proven programme of support will act as an antidote to the isolation and despair of a cancer diagnosis. Frank Gehry’s design will help to facilitate this support, by making people feel safe, inspired and valued. Under one extraordinary roof, Maggie’s will help people to find their way out of the hopelessness of cancer.”

Architect Frank Gehry said: “Maggie was bright and sunny and open and fun and whimsical and smart as hell. She was a real creative spirit, she had a healthy curiosity and she tried things, and in a sense I emulated her.

“The building has feelings which I hope engender community activity, and that it’s comfortable for the patients to be there. It’s respectful of Chinese architecture and motifs. I hope it’s not copying anything Chinese or architectural, but I hope it’s very respectful of them.

“I was going through the loss of a daughter while I was designing the Centre. I think you sort of suck it up and hope to make something that is soothing and respectful and hopeful. There’s always hope, it’s not a dead end.”

Landscape architect Lily Jencks – daughter of founders Maggie Keswick Jencks and Charles Jencks – has designed the garden for Maggie’s Hong Kong.

Lily said: These intimate gardens represent the macrocosm of the universe within the microcosm of a landscape, bringing an awareness of man’s place in nature. This early integration of landscape form and building has created a complex relationship between the man-made forms and naturalistic garden setting.”

The new Centre will mean staff can provide more support and groups can run at the same time. Programme activities include support groups, nutrition classes, tai chi, yoga, managing symptoms and side effects, relaxation, art and music therapy.

Maggie’s Hong Kong is supported by the Keswick Foundation Ltd and Maggie’s Centres.

Maggie’s Hong Kong is Maggie’s first complete international centre. Plans are underway to create a Maggie’s in Barcelona, along with a further three international centres by 2017. Since the charity’s inception 16 years ago, Maggie’s has influenced and inspired a number of international cancer support organisations such as the Danish Cancer Society and the Swiss Cancer League, and it continues to support and collaborate with a significant number of cancer care groups from around the world including Japan, Australia, Qatar and Europe.

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opens in Hong Kong appeared first on Dezeen.

Découverte du studio Gogl & Partners Architects qui a imaginé le design incroyable de cet hôtel « Wiesergut » située en Autriche, dans la ville de Saalbach. Visuellement impressionnant, cet établissement luxueux se dévoile dans une belle série d’images d’intérieur et d’extérieur à découvrir dans la suite de l’article.

Dutch firm UNStudio has unveiled images of its first UK project: a 30-storey residential tower on London’s City Road.

Named Canaletto, the tower is designed with a curving facade of metal and glass that breaks the volume into a series of three-to-five-storey clusters. Each of these clusters are imagined as individual “neighbourhoods in the sky”, with balcony terraces that afford views of the City of London to the south and the basin waterways to the north.

“I often find it difficult that if you look at the history of residential towers, they’re so neutral and monolithic in their appearance,” UNStudio founder Ben van Berkel told Dezeen, “but that when you walk away from [this] tower you can point to your own apartment and you can say ‘well I’m living in the third cluster’. You can play with that identity.”

Van Berkel also compares the articulation of the facade to the expression of detailing in furniture design. “The elegance is found in a texturing of the facade, giving it more of an unusual scaling,” he said. “Maybe it’s related to my fascination for furniture design and the idea of how one can extend an interior to its facade.”

The building will provide 190 apartments, in addition to a health club, a swimming pool, a private cinema, a restaurant and a members’ club for residents. It is set to complete in 2015, when the first apartments will go on sale.

Architecture firms Foster + Partners and SOM are also working on proposals for residential towers in the area. The developers claim that this is a reaction to the growth of digital businesses in the area: “The emergence of Old Street as a centre for technology and creative industries is driving demand for residential properties with architectural excellence in the surrounding area,” said Aref Lahham, founding partner of development group Orion Capital Managers.

Amsterdam-based UNStudio are also working on a tower in Singapore with chunks missing from its facade and a pair of towers in Hangzhou, China. See more design by UNStudio.

Here’s a press release from UNstudio:

City Road Basin – a new centre of architectural excellence for London with Canaletto, designed by internationally renowned UNStudio

Internationally respected architects UNStudio are bringing their visionary interpretation of how buildings should interact with their environment to a part of London which is at the nexus of some of the capital’s most creative and exciting communities.

City Road Basin, on the northern periphery of the City, adjoins London’s trendiest and most creative districts; Hoxton, Clerkenwell and Shoreditch, as well as leafy residential Islington and the emerging high tech cluster around the Old Street area. Part of a major redevelopment of London’s Regent’s Canal, City Road Basin is becoming one of the most vibrant new London residential hotspots.

The jewel in the crown here is Canaletto, a new 30-storey tower by the celebrated Dutch architecture firm. Canaletto offers 190 apartments, ranging from studios to a large penthouse. The development’s superb views, restaurant, health club, swimming pool, private cinema and residents’ club on the 24th floor, with an expansive terrace, will make Canaletto a social hub at the centre of an exciting neighbourhood.

Canaletto’s innovative design defines a new aesthetic for residential high-rises in London and will make the building a landmark in its own right. The architects have created a multi-faceted façade giving a pleasing appearance from all aspects. The building is broken into multiple ‘neighbourhoods in the sky’, accentuated through organic shapes conveying a sense of scale and intimacy unprecedented for a building of this height. Careful detailing and fluid transitions between interior and exterior spaces further add to the exceptional quality of living Canaletto will offer.

Ben van Berkel, UN Studio’s co-founder and principal architect comments:

“The City Road Basin area is in a unique position, in close proximity to the City yet redefining itself as an up-and-coming residential borough. As such, our design for the Canaletto tower required a distinctly contextual response; one which acknowledges the need for an explicitly residential identity.”

“Near and distant townscape views are enhanced through scale, detail, and material variation which gives the building a soft, nuanced silhouette. The tower’s façade groups sets of three to five adjacent floors together to create a series of ‘neighbourhoods in the sky’. Contrasting materials are employed within each grouping, where the ‘outer’ metallic element is complemented by an ‘inner’ use of textured materials. Throughout the building, the cluster concept of the facade is designed to maximise levels of transparency and frame the views towards the sky.”

“The materiality of the facade is drawn from examples of detailing and the contrasting of materials expressed in product or furniture design. The modelling of the balconies within each grouped cluster lends variability to the facade and the living experience for the residents in the building.”

“Outdoor spaces play a large role in the enjoyment of living environments. Therefore the attention to creating unique, sheltered spaces of high quality was a driver in early design development.”

“The aspect of using a both textured and smooth materials contrasts with the typical high-rise glass and metal construction and lends this facade a contemporary residential ‘twist’.”

“The elevation also offers sustainability benefits. The surface modelling creates opportunities for shading, balancing good internal daylight and views with reduced heat gains. The articulation of the façade will additionally reduce wind down drafts and, in combination with canopy proposals at the base of the building, provide an improved pedestrian microclimate.”

“A landscaped garden on Wharf Road provides access to the residential lobby, whilst the ground floor garden provides an attractive entrance and a green oasis off the busy City Road.”

Aref Lahham, managing director and founding partner of Orion Capital Managers, who commissioned UNStudio to bring their design to the building, comments:

“The emergence of Old Street as a centre for technology and creative industries is driving demand for residential properties with architectural excellence in the surrounding area, and living waterside, alongside the canal, is an added benefit for many prospective buyers.”

“UNStudio’s exciting design for Canaletto highlights the arrival of City Road Basin as an increasingly prime residential area – convenient not only for the City but also Islington, Clerkenwell and Hoxton.”

Commenting on the London development market, Richard Pine-Coffin, Residential director at Jones Lang LaSalle comments:

“We are seeing increasingly strong demand for good quality product in zone 1 and 2 London locations. Purchasers want to make logical investment decisions ensuring they are placing their capital in a market where they will get the best returns for their money and London remains the number one destination for safe haven assets. Canaletto ticks all the boxes. This 30-storey tower designed by renowned architects UNStudio comprises 190 apartments and is located on the fringe of the City, next to some of London’s trendiest areas. Developed to the highest spec, offering number of features including a 24th floor residents sky bar, swimming pool, gymnasium and cinema room with top of the range amenities, Canaletto will offer exceptional living in the heart of London.”

First completions at Canaletto are scheduled for 2015 with prices starting from £390,000.

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Foster + Partners a imaginé pour le pavillon du Vieux Port de Marseille cette installation d’une grande simplicité et d’une grande efficacité avec des panneaux en miroirs. Cette structure de 46 mètres sur 22 présentée dans le cadre de ‘Marseille, Capitale Européenne de la Culture 2013′ est à découvrir dans la suite.

News: British firm Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios has unveiled plans to slot a glazed extension over the brutalist concrete architecture of Southbank Centre in London.

The new glass volumes form part of £120m facelift intended to bring the Southbank Centre, which was originally built for the Festival of Britain in 1951, up to the standard of the refurbished Royal Festival Hall, completed in 2007.

As the focal point of the proposals by Feilden Clegg Bradley – a firm that was part of the team behind the 2008 Stirling Prize-winning Accordia housing development in Cambridge – the atrium is designed to be used as a rehearsal and performance space for an orchestra of 150 and choir of up to 250.

The architects also intend to refurbish existing buildings and create additional arts spaces, including a building alongside Waterloo Bridge for educational activities.

From 7 March, the proposals will be shared in a public exhibition in the Royal Festival Hall and on the Southbank Centre’s website. A planning application will be submitted to Lambeth Council in late spring.

Last year architects Softroom built a temporary Mexican restaurant outside the Southbank Centre, while David Kohn Architects and artist Fiona Banner installed a boat on the roof of the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

See all architecture by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios »

Images are by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios.

Here’s the press release from the Southbank Centre:

Southbank Centre has today (6 March) unveiled its proposals to transform the Festival Wing – the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and Hayward Gallery complex – to create, together with the successful Royal Festival Hall refurbishment, a world-class cultural centre for the 21st century, providing more art for more people in better spaces.

The proposals, by architects Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, include the refurbishment and renewal of the existing 1960s buildings and the creation of major new arts spaces including a new glass pavilion, a new central foyer and a new liner building. The proposals will enable Southbank Centre to realise its vision to deliver a larger and more ambitious arts, educational and cultural programme across the site for all its visitors to enjoy.

The project will bring the performance spaces and galleries up to the standard of the transformed Royal Festival Hall, completed in 2007, and address current urgent problems including poor access, worn out services and the need to upgrade stages, galleries and back stage areas. In addition, Southbank Centre will build on its heritage from the Festival of Britain in 1951 and its successful festival programme to make the most of these buildings and transform this part of the site to create new cultural experiences for future generations.

The project includes the following:

Queen Elizabeth Hall – refurbishing the auditorium; expanding the width of the stage to create wing space with less impact on sightlines; upgrading artistic and technical facilities; refurbishing back of house; improving disability access; and providing access from the new Central Foyer.

Purcell Room – refurbishing the auditorium and back of house facilities including improved stage access; upgrading technical facilities; improving disability access and creating a new entrance with access from the new Central Foyer.

Hayward Gallery – refurbishing the galleries and improving access through the galleries, to enable a broader exhibition programme, including free shows, which will be open for more weeks during the year. The iconic pyramid roof will be replicated to improve lighting and be made watertight. Back of house improvements include a secure loading bay. Access from the new Central Foyer.

New Central Foyer – a glazed atrium will cover the space between the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room, and the Hayward Gallery, to create an artistic and social hub for this part of the site with new entrances to all three venues and BFI Southbank, and improve links to the National Theatre.

Glass Pavilion – a new world-class venue ‘floating’ on top of the Central Foyer. This flexible, flat floor space, with first-class acoustics, is designed to hold a full orchestra of 150 and choir of up to 250 plus small audience. The scale will attract the greatest orchestras and performers across the art forms to rehearse and perform in this new space. It will also be able to host national and international corporate events.

A new ‘liner’ building (along Waterloo Bridge) – bringing together educational, artistic and commercial uses, this large, flexible space will host a broad, year-round education programme for all age groups and abilities. The Saison Poetry Library will move from Level 5 in the Royal Festival Hall to join a literature and spoken word space in a new national literature centre, and two new restaurants will overlook the river.

New undercroft venues – under-used space from the undercrofts will be reclaimed for artistic and cultural uses; including a new venue for gigs, dance, cabaret, music and spoken word events and a space for young people. A

new Heritage and Archive Space – which will enable visitors and the local community to explore the site’s rich history in a welcoming and hands-on environment.

A new place for Children and Families – which will provide year-round activities such as storytelling and making things as well as exhibitions and a family restaurant. It will also be the new home for the childrens’ collection of the Poetry Library.

Green spaces and new places – creating external public spaces including a new square for public performance and two more roof gardens, with incredible views over London.

New connections – sweeping steps drawing people from the Royal Festival Hall and the new public square up to the Festival Wing, leading through the Central Foyer to Waterloo Bridge. Access to the site will be easier for pedestrians and wheelchair users via two new entrances from Waterloo Bridge. Servicing will be moved to create more space for public use and a more attractive route to the river.

A new riverside area for urban arts – which is visible to the public from Queen’s Walk, will be created with urban artists including skateboarders, BMX riders and graffiti artists.

Cafés and restaurants – will enhance the cultural experience; add to the range of choice along the South Bank; and provide much-needed capacity to meet increasing demand across the site as the South Bank becomes an ever more popular destination for Londoners and visitors to the capital.

From Thursday 7 March, the proposals will be shared in a public exhibition in the Royal Festival Hall and the exhibition will also be available online at Southbank Centre’s website. The physical and online exhibition forms a key part of the public consultation of this project ahead of a planning application being submitted to Lambeth Council in late Spring. The exhibition will be open daily from 10am to 11pm and it will be updated as the plans develop through consultation.

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on London’s Southbank Centre appeared first on Dezeen.