While the last entry saw me complaining about an example of shoddy Chinese manufacturing, now we’ll look at an example of Chinese manufacturing might. In this six-minute video currently making the blog rounds, we see an astonishing feat of design, engineering and execution: The 30-story T30 Hotel constructed in Hunan Province, taking just 15 days to erect.
Architects Foster + Partners have attached a 35-storey tower onto the side of two renovated 1920s buildings in Vancouver’s financial district.
Nestled alongside the restored Ceperley Rounsfell Building and the retained facade of the Royal Financial Building, Jameson House provides 23 floors of apartments above offices and shops on the floors below.
The glazed tower’s northeast elevation is articulated as four vertical tubes, which begin at the cornice height of neighbouring buildings.
Other projects we’ve featured in Canada include an interesting canoe store and a set of plywood skating shelters – see them all here.
Photography is by Nigel Young.
Here’s some more information from Foster + Partners:
Jameson House, Foster + Partners first mixed-use project in Canada
Jameson House is a new 35-storey mixed-use tower in the heart of Vancouver and includes the first residential development to be completed by the practice in North America – completed at the end of last year, already the building is now almost fully occupied. The project combines the restoration of heritage buildings with new construction: the lower level offices and shops knit with the existing streetscape to reinvigorate the downtown neighbourhood, while the apartments above face dramatic views of the bay and create a new landmark on the skyline.
Fusing old and new, the site connects the city’s financial centre with its emerging creative hub, and the scheme integrates two 1920s Beaux Arts structures: the entire internal double-height volume of the A-listed Ceperley Rounsfell Building has been returned to its original configuration and the facade of the B-listed Royal Financial Building has been retained.
The development comprises eleven storeys of offices and shops, topped by twenty-three storeys of apartments. The tower’s form articulates these different functions: the first two storeys continue the row of shop units at street level, while the uppermost office floor aligns with the cornice line of the adjacent building. Contrasting with the flush facade of the offices, the residential floors curve outwards in four wide bays, which are staggered to allow daylight to reach neighbouring buildings and oriented to provide uninterrupted views of the landscape.
The tower’s flexible plan supports a variety of apartment types, with interiors by Foster + Partners and living spaces in the deep curve of the window bays. At the top of the tower are two-storey penthouse apartments and landscaped roof terraces.
The design was developed in response to the local climate, seasonal sun paths, prevailing winds, humidity levels, air temperatures and precipitation rates specific to Vancouver.
Foster + Partners’ in-house engineering group – formerly PHA Consult – has been involved in the project from the outset, in a fully integrated approach to environmental engineering and architectural design.
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This has led to innovations such as chilled floors and a mechanised valet parking system, which reduces the number of parking levels and associated excavation, lighting and ventilation requirements.
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Lord Foster said:
“Vancouver has a spectacular location, surrounded by mountains and the sea. The design makes the most of the city’s fantastic natural setting, with balconies and deep bay windows looking out towards the landscape. Jameson House further develops a number of key themes that have been integral to our work for many years. The project combines restoration with new construction; it is high-density and mixed-use, offering a sustainable model for urban living; and it demonstrates innovation, both in its evolution of the high-rise building and its progressive environmental agenda.”
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Nigel Dancey, a senior partner at Foster + Partners, said:
“Jameson House was the result of a team effort: we worked closely with environmental engineers, as well as the city, from the outset. This collaborative approach led to innovations, both in the tower’s design and in our interrogation of the brief – we were able to significantly increase the density of the scheme to create a highly sustainable mixed-use development. And by combining these different functions within a compact footprint, we can further balance energy usage with the mixture of daytime and night-time activity.”
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Colin Bosa, CEO of Bosa Properties:
“Foster + Partners has created a unique building for Vancouver, which combines high-quality finishes and a strong design sense with a clear commitment to sustainability. We are most pleased with the architectural legacy that Jameson House offers to our city.”
Following their Eurovision Song Contest win last summer, Azerbaijan rushed to commission German firm GMP Architekten to design a new stadium that will be complete in time to host this year’s competition.
The sports stadium and concert hall for the capital city of Baku will seat 25,000 spectators and is being designed and constructed simultaneously in a period of just eight months.
The building’s exterior will be faceted to match the form of a crystal container. GMP Architekten are collaborating with contractors Alpine Bau Deutschland and Nüssli to deliver the project by March 2012.
You can see more stadiums designed by GMP Architekten here, including a trio of venues for Shenzhen that are remarkably similar.
The text below is a statement from the architects:
Sports Concert Complex, Baku, Azerbaijan
Design and implementation of Crystal Hall for the Eurovision Song Contest in Baku
In May 2012, the Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku at Crystal Hall.
Alpine Bau Deutschland GmbH, the general contractor for the project, was contracted on August 2nd, 2011 to design and implement a multipurpose event-venue that is meant to accommodate 25,000 spectators.
This challenging task was undertaken by combining the efforts of gmp · Architekten von Gerkan, Marg und Partner, Alpine Bau Deutschland AG, and Nüssli International AG.
The Eurovision Song Contest takes place every year, which means that this striking crystal-shaped building on the peninsula near the city centre, right in the Caspian Sea and in the direct vicinity of one of the world’s highest flagpoles, had to be designed and constructed within a period of just eight months. The building is not a concert hall in the classical sense but a multi-functional indoor arena, which is intended to be a longer-term facility. Normally, event venues of comparable size, such as a football stadium, will require 4 to 5 years for design and construction.
Instead of the usual reinforced concrete construction, the building has been designed as a pure steel structure which consists of three independent parts, i.e. the membrane façade, the modular stadium itself and the interior roof. In order to be able to put up a building of the size of a football stadium in just a few months, design and construction proceed in parallel. An important tool in this complex process is the detailed visualisation of the entire work schedule: it covers and displays each step in chronological order in weekly sequences. A prerequisite for the success of this novel working method is the extensive experience in design, management and construction scheduling provided by the consortium, as well as very good communication between the design team and the construction companies.
The characteristic crystalline shape of the building and its illuminated façade is the response to Azerbaijan’s special request for the creation of a widely visible and visually effective landmark as a bridge between Asia and Europe that will be noticed in an international context. Different dynamic lighting scenarios are currently being programmed for the 9,500 LED lights to highlight the membrane façade and create moods appropriate for the different stages of the events.
Sports Concert Complex, Baku, Azerbaijan
Direct commission following the bidding process in 2011
In Cooperation: with Alpine Bau Deutschland AG, Nüssli International AG
Design: Volkwin Marg and Hubert Nienhoff with Markus Pfisterer, 2011
Project Management: Markus Pfisterer, Silke Flaßnöcker
Staff: Martin Hakiel, Carsten Borucki, Monika Kwiatkowski, Ignacio Zarrabeitia, Helge Lezius, Gerard Slee, Lars Laubenthal, Fariborz Rahimi, Justin Allen, Sebastian Lundelius, Dirk Müller
Client: State Commitee on Property Issues, Baku, Azerbaijan
Structural engineering: SSF Ingenieure München; schlaich bergermann and partners, Stuttgart
Services / Sanitary / Heating / Ventilation: Basler & Hofmann Ingenieure, Zurich
Lighting design: Lichtvision, Berlin
Seats: 25,000
Design and construction period: July 2011 – March 2012
Length of hall: approx. 206 m
Width of hall: approx. 168 m
Height of hall: approx. 25 m
This 60 metre-long metal bridge is a route for heating and power pipes, rather than people.
Designed by London architects MJP, the stainless steel tunnel connects the combined heat and power plant (CHP) at the University of Birmingham’s main site with a campus across the railway tracks and canal.
Small perforations create a pattern of wavy lines on the bridge’s exterior, while the steel surface has a brushed finish that reduces glare for train drivers below.
The new CHP supply will decrease the University’s carbon footprint by approximately 1500 tonnes per year.
We’ve also featured another interesting University energy facility – click to read about an energy centre with diamond-shaped aluminium scales.
Photography is by Simon Kennedy.
Here’s a description from MJP:
Steam on at the University of Birmingham
The newly completed Steambridge is a key component of a forward-looking major programme to refurbish and extend the University of Birmingham’s combined heat and power (CHP) network. The site of the new bridge is at the West Gate of the University and marks the entrance to the Edgbaston Campus. MJP Architects have designed the curved 2k finished, laser cut, Grade 316 stainless cladding for a very long service life with zero cleaning and maintenance.
Liz Pride, MJP’s Director of Education and the University’s Development Plan Architect says,
“It’s in a very prominent location at the main West Gate entrance to the University’s campus and right opposite the entrance to University Station. It’s also quite a feature seen from the canal below. The elegant design of the cladding makes an inherently utilitarian feature interesting and attractive: it highlights the University’s real commitment to CHP and carbon reduction.”
Steam is Green
The University has an in-house combined heat and power (CHP) station, and a remote site at the Medical School on the opposite side of the Worcester & Birmingham Canal and the busy railway lines. The Steambridge links these two parts of the campus.
David Drew M&E Manager at the University of Birmingham says:
“The success of the bridge is that it reduces our carbon footprint by in excess of 1,500 tonnes of carbon per year and gives us a vastly improved security of supply”.
Kevin George CPW Building Services says:
It’s an impressive structure and the reaction that people have had has been amazing. People arriving at the University get off the train and they stop, look over and say ‘wow what’s that?’ – To get people to go ‘wow’ for a services project is a really great thing”.
The campus wide CHP network is a very sustainable method of providing for the future power needs of the University as local power generation, is significantly more efficient than the national grid and therefore reduces the University’s carbon dioxide outputs campus wide.
Glamour Brought to Infrastructure
The Steam Pipe Bridge is designed as an elegant, sinuous sculptural form, ‘flowing’ across the canal and railway lines. The curved silver cladding reflects the colours of the trees and water, whilst the rippling slots enliven its surface.
Birmingham and the West Midlands are UK centres of industry and the bridge uses aeronautical, transport and engineering imagery in its design, to reflect its location at the University of Birmingham and to illustrate its purpose. Reza Schuster Director MJP Architects says:
“It’s not just a pipe, it has the flattened ends and curved profile of the trains that run underneath it and the front of the bridge has the shape of an intake of an airliner turbofan nacelle. I like to think that the sinuous curves in the metallic surface describe the flow of steam from one side of the bridge to the other”.
Off-Site Construction
The 60 metre long superstructure was pre-clad off-site, transported by road in two spans, and installed with military precision during a five hour overnight line closure. The cladding panels were fabricated in Holland by Sorba Projects and their detail design was the result of a close and creative collaboration between MJP Architects, the University and the specialist subcontractor.
Client: University of Birmingham Estates Department
Project Team
Architect: MJP Architects
Project Manager: Couch Perry Wilkes
Contract Administrator: Robinson Low Francis
Structural Engineer: Couch Consulting Engineers
Services Engineer: Couch Perry Wilkes
Quantity Surveyor: Robinson Low Francis
CDM Coordinator: Robinson Low Francis
Contractor Team
Main Contractor: Volker FitzPatrick
Cladding Subcontractor: Sorba Projects
M&E Subcontractor: D&I Building Services
Japanese architect Tadashi Yoshimura created a living room lined with mud during the renovation of this 200-year-old family house in Nara.
The folded mud screen forms a wall and ceiling opposite the room’s glazed facade, which slides back to transform the space into a porch in warmer weather.
The house, named Wood Old House, comprises a cluster of separate blocks with small gardens and earthy pathways between.
Other rooms include a gallery, also lined with mud, as well as storage areas with wooden beam walls and translucent paper screens.
Another interesting project by Tadashi Yoshimura is a house with woven timber walls – see it here.
Photography is by Hitoshi Kawamoto.
Here’s some more text from the architect:
Project description
Wood Old House
This project is the renovation of a traditional wooden town house in Nara, Japan, built about 200 years ago, for a young couple and their children.
This old house consists of several small buildings, and there are several spot gardens, and passage gardens between buildings.
However, taking no thought of interaction between buildings and gardens, repairs have been carried out on numerous occasions, and the interior has also been redecorated with new materials. Except for the main structure and façade, the original model can no longer be seen.
‘Void space’ carved out the old house, taking out new materials. Void space means the new large space turned into a porch by opening all sliding window panels, and the new small earthen floor space, connected existing spot gardens and passage gardens, facilitated lighting and ventilation. Making the new space, we reuse materials from old house, to the extent possible.
By inserting this void space, it connects the new with the old, and a revival is achieved through a skilful fusion between buildings and gardens.
We reuse structural members and old mud wall from old house as structural reinforcements and heat storage materials. And new outside materials are planned to be able to reuse in the future, binding with wedge.
Architects: Tadashi Yoshimura Architects
Location: Gose-city, Nara, Japan
Structural Engineers: Kazuhiro Yamaguchi
General Contractor: Nakayama Komuten
Site area: 634 sq m
Building area: 139 sq m (renovation area)
Total floor area: 139 sq m (renovation area)
Structure: wood; 1story
Principal use: residence, gallery
Project Year: 2011
Materials
External wall: Japan cedar, plaster
Inner wall: Japan cedar, pine, old mud wall
Dezeen Screen: in this movie filmed at the FRAC Centre in Orléans, flying robots created by Swiss architects Gramazio & Kohler and Raffaello D’Andrea assemble a six metre-high tower from polystyrene bricks. Watch the movie »
Tokyo architects Naoi have completed a three-tiered woodland summerhouse at Japanese holiday spot Nasu Kogen.
Named Tiered Lodge, the split-level house contains a kitchen and dining room on its lower floor, a living room on the middle level and a mezzanine loft and bedroom above.
Large parts of the facade slide open to help cool the house during the warm summer months.
Residents enter the house across a decked balcony and seating area, which leads straight into the lower floor dining room.
Naoi also recently completed a square house with an off-centre courtyard – see it here.
Photography is by Hiroshi Ueda.
Here’s some more text from the architects:
Tiered Lodge
For this project, we were commissioned to build a second home for a husband-and-wife couple and their young son. The client requested a simple space that would allow him to take a step back from the daily demands of his busy schedule and help to rejuvenate his body and mind.
The site is located in Nasu Kogen, a well-known summer resort area in Japan that lies at an altitude of 1,000m. Dense groves of deciduous trees can be found nearby, making the area a popular retreat during the sweltering summer months. In the winter, however, temperatures drop below freezing point, and snowfall of up to 80cm has been recorded.
Elevation varies a total of 8m across the entire site running from east to west. Making use of this sloping gradient, we decided to design a residence that would create a sense of continuity with the forest around it.
The first step was to configure two volumes lying next to each other that corresponded to the contours of the terrain, and then to shift these volumes along both the horizontal and vertical axes. Through this process, we were able to create a level surface that could bridge the gap between the cross-section of the lodge and the forest outside it, while also prompting an awareness of changes in the topography of the site.
The space that emerged as a result of this elevation difference and shifts in the surface of the floor showcases subtle variations in the size of each volume, the windows, and the quality of the light in each interior. This structure enabled us to endow what is essentially a single-roomed space with remarkable depth and variation.
The dining and kitchen area, which opens directly onto the outdoor terrace and features an open stairwell, is situated in the southwest corner of the site, making it a fluid space with a distinctively bright, open quality.
The living room situated on the far eastern end of the site, on the other hand, is configured as a zone of peace and quiet where the family can gather around the fireplace.
The loft, located on a mezzanine that lies above the living room, is a suspended space lying in mid-air that offers the inhabitants a commanding, elevated view of the trees outside the lodge.
The sliding doors at the corner of the dining and living area, which can be stowed inside the wall, give the boundaries between the interior and exterior of the house an ambiguous character. For the façade, special efforts were made to preserve the integrity of the forested landscape by installing exterior walls covered in cedar boards and a continuous series of slit windows.
By paying close attention to the possibilities presented by a given site, and giving spatial form to its distinctive qualities, we hope to be able to continue creating buildings that showcase the beauty that belongs to the realm of architecture.
After surviving a very rough and tumble summer, starting around mid-October, things were began looking tough again for both the Abu Dhabi Guggenheim and the Louvre wing that was also set to go up in the Middle Eastern cultural hub, and it only got worse from there. First, there was a semi-innocuous delay on the Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim there, blamed originally on some government contract disputes. Then, as more news was released about a mass of unpaid bills and the entire United Arab Emirates quickly pulling their money out of any and all cultural projects to focus instead on Arab Spring-related matters, it was sounding like both projects might be entirely abandoned. So dire did it seem that the Guggenheim was quick to ramp back up their interest in building a new arm in Helsinki (though this could have been just convenient and beneficial timing). However, it now seems like perhaps both the Guggenheim and the Jean Nouvel-designed Louvre extensions have been placed back on track and all the worry may have been for naught. Yesterday, the Abu Dhabi Tourism Development and Investment Company announced that work will soon resume on the projects, as well as the surrounding Saadiyat Cultural District in which both will call home. The only thing changed will now be the opening dates, pushed back by a number of years. The Louvre, originally set to open sometime next year, is now slated for 2015. The Guggenheim, also originally set to open in the next year or two, has been pushed back to 2017. A long time to wait, for sure, but both institutions must be breathing a sigh of relief in knowing that, at least for now, the projects haven’t been abandoned.
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
What started as but a rumor back in 2008, and followed by the slow progression of hiring an architect and then hunting for donations, is finally all starting to come into factual fruition for London’s Design Museum. This week the organization unveiled a first look (pdf) at what will become their new home sometime in 2014. Build upon the former home of a government-funded research institute, the new space has been designed by John Pawson and is estimated to cost somewhere in the $100 million range to develop. The move is set to not only give them “three times more space” but also put the Design Museum closer to the city’s other cultural touchstones, like the V&A, the Royal College of Art and the Serpentine Gallery. In addition to this first batch of official details, the museum has also released this quick video tour of their soon-to-be new digs:
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
A Belgian film director resides in one of the four white boxy structures of this residence near Marrakech by Guilhem Eustache.
Alongside the main home, the Fobe House also comprises a pool house, a caretaker’s residence and a garage, which are dotted around the two-hectare site.
Two overlapping concrete walls screen the front of the house itself, while a concealed staircase between leads up to a terrace on the roof.
Patterned openings pierce these walls, as well as others around the house to create lattice-like shadows on the interior walls and floors.
The opposite side of the house opens out to the swimming pool and faces across to a stepped diving board and the pool house behind.
The project was completed in 2007.
We’ve only published a couple of projects from Morocco before – see projects there by Zaha Hadid and Foster + Partners by clicking here.\
Photography is by Jean-Marie Monthiers.
The text below is from Guilhem Eustache:
The land is located about ten kilometers south of Marrakech.
Flat, mostly drowned under a heat veil that hides horizon.
It is only from December to March that the snowy atlas appears.
In this 2.5 hectares area the buildings occupy only 240 sqm.
The volumes and their arrangements permit to avoid a floating effect in this empty space.
Before discovering the layout we first need to go along the clay walls, which remote the neighbours away while allowing the sight of whites geometries.
Once we cross through the metal gate, earth tinted, we are suddenly plunged into a strange world.
Three white steles frame and seek the longitudinal axis of the house in the center of the field.
On the right side, the Guard house, two mixed cubes, is close to a totem fireplace and faces the double garage all in length studded with small openings.
These simple elements articulate the vacuum around and focus the eye towards the house itself.
Paradoxically simple and complex: a foliation of longitudinals sails between which stages the project program; tall windows; sets of geometric cutouts; framing, especially from the living room across the pool and its bleachers toward the atlas.
Program: House
Location: Tassoultante, Marrakech / Morocco.
Address: village of Tassoultante / Amizmiz road – 9.2 km from Marrakech
Completion: 2007
Project area:
Private residence: 171,96 sqm
Guard house: 20,20 sqm
Garage: 35,08 sqm
Pool house: 13,12 sqm
Total: 240,36m² on 2,5 ha
Plantations: 23 olive tree, 10 palm, 450 eucalyptus, 200 mimosa, 20 fruit trees
Commisioner: private, Belgian film producer
Architect: Guilhem Eustache (Born in Nîmes / south of France)
Moroccan correspondent: Hicham Belhouari, architect / Marrakech / Morocco
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