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News: Norman Foster has become the latest architect to design a Maggie’s Centre offering support to cancer sufferers and has unveiled plans for a timber-framed structure and flower garden in his home town of Manchester.

The Foster + Partners-designed centre will be located at The Christie hospital in south Manchester and, like the 17 existing Maggie’s Centres around the UK, it will offer a non-clinical environment where anyone affected by cancer can stop by for advice or support.

Norman Foster, who won a battle with bowel cancer over a decade ago, has designed a lightweight timber and glass pavilion intended to “engage the outdoors” by interacting with the surrounding garden.

“This project has a particular personal significance, as I was born in the city and have first-hand experience of the distress of a cancer diagnosis,” said the architect. “I believe in the power of architecture to lift the spirits and help in the process of therapy.”

Slender timber beams and a timber lattice will support the roof and help to partition spaces. A mezzanine floor will be naturally lit from a glass roof overhead, plus a greenhouse will be added to the south end of the building to create a warm gathering space.

Foster added: “Within the centre, there is a variety of spaces – visitors can gather around a big kitchen table, find a peaceful place to think or they can work with their hands in the greenhouse. Throughout, there is a focus on natural light and contact with the gardens. The timber frame, with its planted lattice helps to dissolve the architecture into the surrounding greenery.”

Interior spaces will feature wooden surfaces and tactile fabrics, while the surrounding garden designed by landscape architect Dan Pearson will offer clusters of flowers and calming water features.

Here’s the full announcement from Foster + Partners:

Maggie’s applies for planning permission for new Norman Foster designed centre at The Christie

Maggie’s, the charity which provides practical, emotional and social support for people with cancer, has applied for planning permission for a new Maggie’s Centre in the grounds of The Christie in Manchester. The centre is designed by world-renowned architects, Foster + Partners.

Working in partnership with The Christie – a global leader in cancer treatment and research – the new Maggie’s Centre will provide free practical, emotional and social support for anyone living with cancer as well as their family and friends. The centre will significantly enhance the cancer support already offered at The Christie to include Maggie’s evidence-based core programme of support delivered in an uplifting non-clinical environment, as well as a comprehensive service of complementary therapies. The new centre is due to open in 2016.

As one of the leading architects of his generation, Lord Norman Foster’s works include an international portfolio of famous buildings including 30 St Mary Axe – otherwise known as “The Gherkin”, Hong Kong International Airport and Hearst Tower in New York. The design of the new Maggie’s Centre at The Christie is particularly personal to him as he was both born in Manchester and has had first-hand experience of the distress of a cancer diagnosis.

Set in a peaceful garden, the existing green spaces inspired the centre’s design, which draws upon natural themes that engage the outdoors. Arranged over a single storey, the natural timber structure focuses around a wide, central spine with the roof rising in the centre to create a mezzanine level beautifully illuminated with natural light. Exposed lightweight beams and timber lattice support the roof while also defining different spaces. An integrated glass house extends from the south of the building, providing a space for people to gather and enjoy the therapeutic qualities of nature and the outdoors while the interior palette combines warm, natural wood and tactile fabrics.

To complement Lord Norman Foster’s design, the surrounding gardens are designed by landscape designer Dan Pearson, combining a rich mix of spaces, from the working glass house to bright clusters of flowers and tranquil water features. The colours and sensory experience of nature will become part of the centre through micro gardens and internal courtyards, which relate to the different spaces within the building.

To the south of the centre, a pool and moving water will provide a calm space for reflection set amidst the greenery. Deep canopies will shelter the centre’s open terraces from rain, allowing people to enjoy fresh air and the garden whatever the weather.

Maggie’s Centres are warm and welcoming places with qualified professionals on hand to offer a programme of support that has been shown to improve physical and emotional well-being. The support available at the new Maggie’s Centre at The Christie will include psychological support, benefits advice, nutrition workshops, relaxation and stress management, art therapy, tai chi and yoga.

There are already 17 Maggie’s Centres in the UK and all are designed by leading architects. Each architect offers a unique interpretation of the same brief, based on the needs of a person living with cancer, to create the calm environments so important to the people who visit and work in the centres.

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for home town of Manchester appeared first on Dezeen.

News: architects Rem Koolhaas and Foster + Partners will work alongside Hollywood power-couple Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin to create a new ocean-side cultural quarter at Miami Beach in Florida (+ slideshow).

Faena Miami Beach will include an arts centre by Rem Koolhaas/OMA, a beachside condominium tower by Foster + Partners, and a restoration of the landmark Saxony Hotel by husband-and-wife team Luhrmann and Martin.

The all-star cast has been assembled by Argentinian hotelier and property developer Alan Faena, who presented the plans during the Art Basel and Design Miami fairs in the city earlier this month.

“In Miami Beach we are creating a new epicenter for the city,” Faena said. “Acting as curators, we are commissioning a group of standout talents to create an urban installation without equal.”

Faena Miami Beach will stretch six blocks along Collins Avenue, between 32 Street and 37 Street, and extend from the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Creek waterway.

Koolhaas’ Faena Arts Center, due to open next year, consists of a cubic volume and a cylindrical volume, both featuring diagonally banded facades.

The development will also include two further projects by Koolhaas: the Faena Bazaar retail building and Artists-in-Residence Center and Faena Park, an automated car parking garage.

“We were invited to design three buildings – an arts center, retail bazaar and car park,” said Koolhaas. “These distinct functions are linked by a sequence of public domains including a plaza, courtyard and marina dock.”

“Culture is at the core of Faena’s vision, and has been the driving force for our collaboration in Miami Beach,” Koolhaas added. “By curating their neighborhood with programmatic diversity, Alan’s sphere of influence will likely extend beyond this development to the rest of Miami Beach.”

Foster + Partners’ 18-storey residential tower, Faena House, will feature distinctive wraparound, Argentinian-style “alero” covered terraces on each floor (“alero” is the Spanish term for a projecting eave).

“We were talking about the nature of indoor and outdoor living, remarking on how much one used the alero, the outdoor terrace,” said Brandon Haw, senior partner at Foster + Partners. “This really became very much the leitmotif of the project.”

The aleros will be up to 37 feet (3.3 metres) deep and the glazed walls of the apartments will feature sliding glass doors up to 12 feet 6 inches (3.8 metres) wide, allowing the terraces and interior spaces to be used seamlessly.

The building will also feature a lobby with water pools to help cool the ground floor.

Film director Luhrmann and production designer Martin, whose credits include The Great Gatsby and Moulin Rouge, will oversee the renovation of the Saxony Hotel. Built in 1947, this was once one of the most glamorous luxury hotels at Miami Beach. Luhrmann and Martin will oversee the design of the 168-suite hotel – including the interiors and the staff uniforms – as well as curating entertainment in the theatre, cinema and public spaces. The hotel is due to reopen in December 2014.

The project is the latest in a string of new developments by high-profile European architects in Miami, which is rapidly establishing itself as the most architecturally progressive city in the USA. New apartment towers by Zaha Hadid, Herzog & de Meuron and Bjarke Ingels Group have been announced this year, while OMA recently won a competition to rebuild the Miami Beach convention centre.

Faena Miami Beach is the first project outside Argentina by Faena, who previously turned a stretch of abandoned docklands at Puerto Madero in Buenos Aires into a thriving arts-led urban quarter, featuring the Faena Hotel designed by Philippe Starck and the Faena Aleph residential buildings by Foster + Partners.

Visualisations are by Hayes Davidson.

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Hollywood duo on Miami Beach appeared first on Dezeen.

News: architect Norman Foster has presented plans to add a row of stone pavilions to the Norton Museum of Art in Florida as part of a major overhaul that will double the building’s gallery space.

Unveiled yesterday during the opening of the Art Basel and Design Miami fairs, the Foster + Partners masterplan seeks to restore the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach to its original axial arrangement by relocating the entrance to the west side of the building.

Three double-height pavilions will be constructed along this facade to accommodate a new auditorium, events room and grand hall, and will be sheltered beneath an overhanging metal roof that tapers gently upwards to reduce its visual impact.

Based on the concept of a “museum in a garden”, the renovated building will be fronted by a pool of water, while a new museum shop and restaurant will open out to a sculpture lawn on the south side of the building.

“Our approach is a celebration of the local landscape and architecture,” said Foster. “The gardens will be planted with native trees and flowers and the masterplan strengthens the elegant formation of the original museum, redefining its relationship with the city with a welcoming new street frontage.”

New buildings will be built from white stone to match the art deco-inspired architecture of the original building, which was designed by architect Marion Sims Wyeth and first opened in the 1940s.

“The project combines old and new and continues our explorations into the museum in a garden setting, which began with the Sainsbury Centre and has more recently embraced the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston,” added Foster.

Public facilities will be able to function independently, creating opportunities for evening events outside of gallery opening times.

The architects have also developed a long-term masterplan for the site, which includes the possibility of adding two new gallery wings in the future.

Here’s a more detailed description from Foster + Partners:

Lord Foster presents plans for the transformation of the Norton Museum of Art

Three bold new pavilions, unified beneath a shimmering roof, herald the transformation of the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach – host to the most important art collection in Florida. The masterplan, unveiled by Norman Foster in Miami today, allows the museum to almost double its gallery space and lays the foundations for future growth to become Florida’s leading cultural institution.

The first stage of Foster + Partners’ masterplan will establish its key principles: the sympathetic setting of a ‘museum in a garden’, with the original axial arrangement re-established to unify the visitor experience, and the creation of new public facilities. The museum will become a focus for the community with event spaces separate from the Art Museum, strengthening its role as a cultural destination for Florida.

The Norton Museum was founded in 1941 by Ralph Hubbard Norton and his wife Elizabeth Calhoun Norton and was laid out by the architect Marion Sims Wyeth as an elegant series of Art Deco inspired single-storey pavilions around a central courtyard. Subsequent expansion has broken the symmetry of the original east-west axial arrangement, and the creation of an additional car park to the south of the museum has led to the relocation of the main entrance to the side of the building. The new masterplan restores the clarity of Wyeth’s plan by reinstating the main entrance on a new street frontage on South Dixie Highway to the west – visitors will once again be able to see through the entire building via a new, transparent grand hall and refurbished glass and iron courtyard doors.

The new entrance is signalled by three new double-height pavilions, unified with the re-worked existing wing by a shared palette of white stone. The pavilions house a state-of-the-art auditorium, event space and a ‘grand hall’ – the social hub of the museum. The design also includes a new museum shop and a new restaurant with al-fresco garden seating which, like the new pavilion spaces, can operate independently of the museum to activate the campus throughout the day and at night.

A metal roof canopy floats above the pavilions and projects to shade the entrance plaza. The structure is gently tapered to visually reduce its profile, while providing stability to withstand hurricane winds. The canopy’s gentle lustre is designed to cast diffuse patterns of light in an abstracted reflection of people and flowing water below. Linear pools create a tranquil setting for the entrance plaza, masking the sound of traffic, which is visually set apart by a hedge. A curved opening in the roof accommodates the branches of a mature ficus tree and a further light well above the lobby illuminates and defines the new entrance.

The overall proposals reinforce the concept of the museum within a garden. Taking advantage of the Florida climate, the landscaping of the gardens and central courtyard incorporates native trees and flowers to provide shaded walkways, and the former parking lot is transformed into a new sculpture lawn. The borders of the museum’s expanded grounds are defined and integrate a row of houses at the perimeter of the site as an artist’s residence and studio, guest house and research facilities. The new sculpture lawn will provide an open-air venue for ‘Art After Dark’, the Norton’s popular programme of film screenings and events, and is bordered by a glass circulation gallery, connecting the interior with the lush green setting.

The masterplan enables the development of the Norton to be implemented over time, beginning with the reconfiguration and extension of the existing museum to create the landmark Dixie Drive pavilions and the new public amenities within a lush garden setting. This will include two new galleries with state-of-the-art environmental systems, a sculpture gallery and a new education centre. S

Subsequently, it will be possible to build two new wings for galleries to the east as part of the long-term masterplan.

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Florida’s Norton Museum of Art appeared first on Dezeen.

Our latest Pinterest board features some of the best proposed and completed projects by Foster + Partners from the pages of Dezeen, including the world’s first space terminal, 3D-printed buildings on the moon and tech-giant Apple’s future headquarters. See our new Fosters + Partners Pinterest board »

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News: Frank Gehry and Norman Foster have been appointed to design a series of buildings as part of the £8 billion redevelopment of Battersea Power Station in London.

Los Angeles firm Gehry Partners will collaborate with London office Foster + Partners to carry out phase three of the Rafael Viñoly-designed masterplan, adding a shopping street to connect the old Victorian power station with a new London Underground station, and building residential neighbourhoods on either side.

The two firms will co-design the retail stretch, known as The High Street, which will encompass shops, restaurants, a library, a hotel and a leisure centre. Foster + Partners will add residential buildings to the east, while Gehry will work on the residential zone to the west – the architect’s first major project in the UK.

“Our goal is to help create a neighbourhood and a place for people to live that respects the iconic Battersea Power Station while connecting it into the broader fabric of the city,” said Gehry. “We hope to create a design that is uniquely London, that respects and celebrates the historical vernacular of the city.”

Speaking to the Financial Times, he described his ambition to add a sculptural form to the centre of his design. “The developers said the [potential] renters loved the view of the power station, so I said why don’t we put a more sculptural object, we call it a ‘flower’, in the middle, as a secondary sculpture for Battersea – it gives something for everybody,” he told the paper.

Grant Brooker, design director at Foster + Partners, added: “[The project] has a vision which will transform this area and create a vibrant new district for South London that we can all be proud of.”

The Giles Gilbert Scott-designed Battersea Power Station has been out of use since 1983 and has been subject to a number of unsuccessful proposals over the last 30 years, including a stadium for Chelsea Football Club, a public garden and a theme park.

The latest masterplan by New York architect Rafael Viñoly includes the construction of 3,400 new homes. London firm Wilkinson Eyre is working on the renovation of the power station, while Ian Simpson Architects and dRMM are carrying out phase one of the surrounding development.

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Power Station redevelopment appeared first on Dezeen.