Hasta La Ideas

News: Danish firm BIG has unveiled plans to install a wooden maze with a concave surface inside the National Building Museum in Washington DC.

BIG, led by architect Bjarke Ingels, will use Baltic birch plywood to build the 18-metre-squared maze in the west court of the National Building Museum‘s Great Hall.

The architect says the structure will borrow forms from mazes throughout history, from ancient Greek labyrinths to European hedge mazes and modern American corn mazes. Starting with a height of five and a half metres, it will gradually diminish towards its centre.

“The concept is simple: as you travel deeper into a maze, your path typically becomes more convoluted,” explained Ingels. “What if we invert this scenario and create a maze that brings clarity and visual understanding upon reaching the heart of the labyrinth?”

“From outside, the maze’s cube-like form hides the final reveal behind its 18-foot-tall walls,” said Ingels. “On the inside, the walls slowly descend towards the centre, which concludes with a grand reveal – a 360 degree understanding of your path in and how to get out.”

The “BIG Maze” will open on 4 July and will remain in place until 1 September. Visitors to the museum’s upper-floor balconies will be offered an aerial view.

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Washington’s National Building Museum appeared first on Dezeen.

Le designer Taïwanais Yenwen Tseng nous propose un horloge surprenante. Appelée Big Hands Clock, cette création et ce concept cherche à explorer la perception du temps, avec des aiguilles aux largeurs différentes. Un projet intéressant à découvrir en images dans la suite de l’article.

News: Danish architecture firm BIG has won a competition to design a new Museum of the Human Body in Montpellier, France.

The Cité du Corps Humain (Museum of the Human Body) by BIG will be part of a newly developed extension to the Parc Marianne area of the city.

The museum will focus on the human body from an artistic, scientific and societal point of view by hosting cultural activities, interactive exhibitions, performances and workshops.

The 7800-square-metre building will comprise eight curved interlocking spaces on one level.

Their roofs will slope up from the ground in alternate directions, creating accessible elevated areas of landscaping overlooking the park and surrounding city. Those that slope up from one side will be paved, while those coming from the other direction will be covered with turf.

“Like the mixture of two incompatible substances – oil and vinegar – the urban pavement and the park’s turf flow together in a mutual embrace forming terraced pockets overlooking the park and elevating islands of nature above the city,” said BIG founder Bjarke Ingels. “A series of seemingly singular pavilions weave together to form a unified institution – like individual fingers united together in a mutual grip.”

The main reception hall will be located in the middle of the structure and all the spaces will be connected with a corridor that nestles round the curved halls. There will be five additional entrances spread around the site.

The curvilinear outer walls will be screened with glass-fibre-reinforced concrete louvres. Their orientation will constantly change along the building’s length to maintain optimal shading despite the altering angle of the sun as the glass curves backwards and forwards.

Construction is scheduled to start in 2016 and due for completion in 2018.

Here’s the announcement from BIG:

BIG + A+Architecture + Egis + Base + L’Echo + Celsius Environnement + CCVH have been announced winner of the international design competition for the new Cité du Corps Humain (Museum of the Human Body) in Montpellier, France.

The Museum of the Human Body, which will be part of the newly developed area Parc Marianne, is rooted in the humanist and medical tradition of Montpellier and its world renowned medical school, which dates back to the tenth century. The new Museum will explore the human body from an artistic, scientific and societal approach through cultural activities, interactive exhibitions, performances and workshops.

The 7,800 m² (ca. 84,000 sqf) museum is conceived as a confluence of the park and the city – nature and architecture – bookending the Charpak Park along with the Montpellier city hall.

The building’s program consists of eight major spaces on one level, organically shaped and lifted to form an underlying continuous space.

Multiple interfaces between all functions create views to the park, access to daylight, and optimizing internal connections.

The museum’s roof functions as an ergonomic garden – a dynamic landscape of vegetal and mineral surfaces that allow the park’s visitors to explore and express their bodies in various ways – from contemplation to the performance – from relaxing to exercising – from the soothing to the challenging.

The façades of the Museum of the Human Body are transparent, maximizing the visual and physical connection to the surroundings.

On the sinuous façade that oscillates between facing North and South, East and West, the optimum louver orientation varies constantly, protecting sunlight, while also resembling the patterns of a human fingerprint – both unique and universal in nature.

The jury, headed by the City’s Mayor Ms Hélène Mandroux, chose BIG over 5 other shortlisted international teams and praised BIG’s design for combining innovative, environmental and functional qualities.

The new Museum will contribute to Montpellier’s rich scientific and cultural heritage, attracting tourists, families, as well as school classes, academics and art lovers. Construction is scheduled to start in 2016, and the building will open its doors to the public in 2018.

The Museum of the Human Body follows BIG’s experience in museum design as well as contributes to BIG’s growing activities in France.

BIG recently completed the Danish National Maritime Museum, in which crucial historic elements are integrated with an innovative concept of galleries. Other current cultural projects include the LEGO House in Billund, the recently announced Blaavand Bunker Museum in Western Denmark, and MECA Cultural Center in Bordeaux, along with EuropaCity, an 80 hectare masterplan on the outskirts of Paris.

Partners in Charge: Bjarke Ingels, Andreas Klok Pedersen
Project Leader: Gabrielle Nadeau
Project Manager:Jakob Sand
Team: Birk Daugaard, Chris Falla, Alexandra Lukianova, Oscar Abrahamsson, Katerina Joannides, Aleksander Wadas, Marie Lançon, Danae Charatsi, Alexander Ejsing.
Client: Ville de Montpellier

Collaborators:

A+ Architecture (Local Architect)
Egis Bâtiment Méditerranée (Structural + MEP engineers)
Base (Landscape Architect)
L’Echo (Financial Consultant)
Celsius Environnement (Sustainability Consultant)
Cabinet Conseil Vincent Hedon (Acoustic Consultant)

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of the Human Body in Montpellier appeared first on Dezeen.

Competition: Dezeen has teamed up with publishers Arvinius + Orfeus to give away five copies of a book about Danish studio BIG’s patterned park in Copenhagen.

BIG worked with landscape firm Topotek1 and artists Superflex to create the kilometre-long park wedged between residential areas in the north of the Danish capital, which was completed last year.

The designers scattered copies of miscellaneous street furniture from 60 different nations across a brightly coloured carpet of grass and rubber – read more about the project in our previous story.

This new book published by Arvinius + Orfeus offers a behind-the-scenes look into the design and construction of the space.

Images by photographers including Iwan Baan document the process and show the completed landscape project in the context of the neighbourhood.

To enter this competition email your name, age, gender, occupation, and delivery address and telephone number to competitions@dezeen.com with “Superkilen” in the subject line. We won’t pass your information on to anyone else; we just want to know a little about our readers. Read our privacy policy here.

You need to subscribe to our newsletter to have a chance of winning. Sign up here.

Competition closes 13 November 2013. Five winners will be selected at random and notified by email. Winners’ names will be published in a future edition of our Dezeen Mail newsletter and at the top of this page. Dezeen competitions are international and entries are accepted from readers in any country.

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books to be won appeared first on Dezeen.

News: architecture studios OMA and BIG are among the ten collaborative design teams selected for an initiative to revitalise parts of the USA devastated by Hurricane Sandy.

The Rebuild by Design competition was launched in June by US Housing and Urban Development (HUD) secretary Shaun Donovan and asked architects, landscape architects, engineers and urban designers to come up with proposals that would help revitalise communities affected by the hurricane that struck the east coast in October 2012.

Danish studio BIG and Dutch firm OMA were both named on the shortlist, alongside New York studio WXY Architecture, landscape architects West 8 and a design team from the University of Pennsylvania.

The ten teams will spend the next three months studying the region and building relationships with local stakeholders. Designs will be focused on four areas: coastal communities; high-density urban environments; ecological and waterbody networks; and the unknown and unexpected.

“The projects that come out of this competition will save lives and protect communities in this region and – as the Task Force will emphasise in the Rebuilding Strategy to be released in the coming weeks – serve as models as we prepare communities across the country for the impacts of a changing climate,” said Donovan, who also chairs the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force.

Implementation of the resulting designs will begin in March 2014, funded in part by community grants.

Top image of Hurricane Sandy devastation courtesy of Shutterstock.

Read on more for information and to see the full shortlist:

Ten design teams selected to proceed to stage two of Rebuild By Design competition

The Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force has announced the selection of ten Design Teams to proceed to Stage Two of REBUILD BY DESIGN, a multi-stage regional design competition that will develop innovative projects to protect and enhance Sandy-affected communities. U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan, who also chairs the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force, launched the competition on June 20, 2013 in partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation.

Over 140 potential teams from more than 15 countries submitted proposals, representing the top engineering, architecture, design, landscape architecture and planning firms as well as research institutes and universities worldwide. Thanks to the generous support of the Rockefeller Foundation and JPB Foundation, as well as the New Jersey Recovery Fund and the Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation, ten Design Teams will participate in an intense eight-month process broken into two distinct stages: analysis and design.

“The ten teams we selected stood out because of the talent they bring to the table, their pioneering ideas and their commitment to innovating with a purpose and competing not just to design but to build something,” said Secretary Donovan.

“The projects that come out of this competition will save lives and protect communities in this region and – as the Task Force will emphasise in the Rebuilding Strategy to be released in the coming weeks – serve as models as we prepare communities across the country for the impacts of a changing climate.”

“As cities around the world face increasing shocks and stresses, it is more critical than ever that we find ways to integrate resilient design into our urban future,” said Judith Rodin, President, The Rockefeller Foundation. “The Rebuild by Design competition is an innovative model, bringing together some of the greatest minds around the world to improve how our cities manage, cope with and bounce back stronger from disasters. I am confident that the ten extraordinary teams chosen will create innovative and replicable projects that will strengthen our cities and help them thrive in the face of climate change.”

“Hurricane Sandy brought to the fore difficult and challenging questions for the metropolitan area,” said Robert D. Yaro, President, Regional Plan Association. “The Rebuild by Design competition is an important and innovative process to bring design professionals and the affected communities together to deliver the best answers.”

David van der Leer, Executive Director of Van Alen Institute, said, “By bringing together local communities with world-class, interdisciplinary design teams, we aim to produce extraordinarily innovative projects that highlight next generation perspectives and trends that will catalyse regional approaches to resilience for the United States and beyond.”

Eric Klinenberg, Research Director for Rebuild by Design’s Research Stage and Director of NYU’s Institute for Public Knowledge, said, “Rebuild By Design is an unprecedented opportunity to think deeply about the great challenges for cities as the climate changes, and to act boldly, too. We look forward to learning from communities and working collaboratively with the Design Teams as we spend the next several months bringing positive action throughout the region.”

“MAS heralds the leadership of the Hurricane Sandy Task Force, and its philanthropy partners, in challenging the world’s best planners and designers to work with communities and develop innovative approaches ” said Vin Cipolla, President, Municipal Art Society of New York. “Our priority is to strengthen the capacity of local communities across the city and region to build their environmental, economic, social and cultural resilience. RBD brings tremendous resources and expertise into the city and region.”

The selection of the teams marks the beginning of the second of four phases of the design competition, which will ultimately result in resilience projects that will be built or implemented in communities in the Sandy-impacted region:

Stage Two: Analysis

Starting today, the Design Teams will begin a three-month research and analysis process, facilitated by New York University’s Institute for Public Knowledge (IPK). IPK, known for bridging the gap between serious scholarship and practical action, will present the outcome of Stage Two in a detailed report cataloguing the Design Teams’ research reports and synthesizing their findings into one resource kit for local communities throughout the region.

Stage Three: Design

Building off the comprehensive analysis of the region’s vulnerabilities and existing initiatives developed during Stage Two, each Design Team will then work on one site-specific design proposal. Design Teams will partner with a local or state government entity to identify specific sites and projects that will improve the resilience of communities. During this stage, the Regional Plan Association, Municipal Art Society of New York and Van Alen Institute will collaboratively facilitate this design process for the teams to develop implementable solutions for the opportunities they identified in Stage Two.

Stage Four: Implementation

The projects that come out of this innovative process will be evaluated by the Rebuild by Design jury – made up of world-renowned experts in hazard mitigation, resilience, public health, landscape architecture, urbanism, real estate, design, and other fields – to ensure that winning projects are implementable and have the maximum impact on the region’s resilience.

Background on Design Teams:

1. Interboro Partners with the New Jersey Institute of Technology Infrastructure Planning Program; TU Delft; Project Projects; RFA Investments; IMG Rebel; Center for Urban Pedagogy; David Rusk; Apex; Deltares; Bosch Slabbers; H+N+S; and Palmbout Urban Landscapes.
2. PennDesign/OLIN with PennPraxis, Buro Happold, HR&A Advisors, and E-Design Dynamics
3. WXY architecture + urban design / West 8 Urban Design & Landscape Architecture with ARCADIS Engineering and the Stevens Institute of Technology, Rutgers University; Maxine Griffith; Parsons the New School for Design; Duke University; BJH Advisors; and Mary Edna Fraser.
4. Office of Metropolitan Architecture with Royal Haskoning DHV; Balmori Associaties; R/GA; and HR&A Advisors.
5. HR&A Advisors with Cooper, Robertson, & Partners; Grimshaw; Langan Engineering; W Architecture; Hargreaves Associates; Alamo Architects; Urban Green Council; Ironstate Development; Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation; New City America.
6. SCAPE with Parsons Brinckerhoff; SeARC Ecological Consulting; Ocean and Coastal Consultants; The New York Harbor School; Phil Orton/Stevens Institute; Paul Greenberg; LOT-EK; and MTWTF.
7. MIT Center for Advanced Urbanism and the Dutch Delta Collective by ZUS; with De Urbanisten; Deltares; 75B; and Volker Infra Design.
8. Sasaki Associates with Rutgers University and ARUP.
9. Bjarke Ingels Group with One Architecture; Starr Whitehouse; James Lima Planning & Development; Green Shield Ecology; Buro Happold; AEA Consulting; and Project Projects.
10. Unabridged Architecture with Mississippi State University; Waggoner and Ball Architects; Gulf Coast Community Design; and the Center for Urban Pedagogy.

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Sandy-affected communities appeared first on Dezeen.