January 6

hometta.com

Filed Under web | Leave a Comment

(Text by Nicola Bozzi)

In his Manifesto of Futurist Architecture, Antonio Sant’Elia despised all architecture that wasn’t built for the people inhabiting it. Decades later, the Archigram group was designing computer-inspired visions of modular living units, focusing on human scale living spaces and the use of technology to make the best of urban living. Designing and building your own home is still too hard to do on your own, but while we wait for a technology that will allow everybody – regardless or design or architectural education – to build their own place like Lego, we can still get somebody to help us in the process of choosing and building our shelters. Today, if you are looking for both relatively-customized design and tailored assistance, as well as a relatively simple interface, you can turn to the Hometta guys. Read more

January 5

Burj Dubai opening. The world’s tallest building

Filed Under architecture, events | Leave a Comment

Despite last month economical breakdown which clearly proved that United Arab Emirates property boom and petrodollars are not immune from financial slowdown, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum has succeded to make his last colossal jewel shine. The Burj Dubai skyscraper is now the world’s tallest building. Yesterday its opening ceremony displayed spectacular fireworks which put the whole city to a standstill and looking up for several hours. Thousands of people crowded the streets to admire the record-breaking building. With its 169 floors the Burj Tower stands out clearly against the sky for more than 800 meters. It has overcome the Taipei 101 Tower which held the record until now and is 300 meters shorter.

The glass and steel giant costed about a thousand million pounds and was designed by Chicago-based studio, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) with Adrian Smith FAIA, RIBA, consulting design Partner. The selected design was subject to an extensive peer review program to confirm the safety and effectiveness of the structural systems. Inside the Burj Tower There will be hotels, offices, residential flats (starting on the 108th floor!), shops, restaurants, gyms and much more (the highest disco ever, on floor 149, is scheduled).  Last but not least Armani makes his dèbut with its Stay with Armani hotel: 160 guest rooms and suites located on levels five through eight of Burj Dubai, with suites on floors 38 and 39.

Project Facts

Completion Year: 2010
Site Area: 1,121,707 ft2
Project Area: 5,000,000 ft2
Building Height: 828 m

DESIGN TEAM: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) with Adrian Smith FAIA, RIBA, consulting design Partner

DEVOLOPER: Emaar Properties

December 31

Interview to Nayyar Ali Dada & Associates

Filed Under architecture, ideas | 1 Comment

(Interview by Aresha Gul to Nayyar Ali Dada & Associates, all projects and images © Nayyar Ali Dada & Associates)

What are your contemporary projects? How do you think these will sustain Pakistan’s contemporary culture considering that Pakistani architecture is mainly inspired by history?

Contemporary Architecture, if designed with appropriate values, must and will survive in any environment, let alone Pakistan. Nayyar Ali Dada has proven this assumption and his body of works over the last three decades gives evidence that any country of the world can accept such an approach.
Almost all our projects should be considered contemporary because they follow a certain thought process. The idea is to not forget our roots, culture, history and arts but also not get caught up in replicating the well-established imagery or repeating it exactly as it used to be centuries ago. We have to be forward looking without forgetting the general context. An architectural expression should embody inspiration and creative ideas that have risen from various elements in a society and are deeply engrained in its cultural and artistic practices, given that Architecture is no less than an art form itself – a rather complicated one too, since it plays a significant role in our built environment.
Another element is that of ‘Humanism’, which clearly puts the user in the centre of all things. Whether you talk about function, scale, history, or imagery for that matter, the idea of humanism guides us to keep things in perspective and stay real as such values contribute towards global and environmental issues eventually.
Amog our contemporary projects: Alhamra Arts Centre, Lahore (AKAA Winner); Habib Bank Regional Headquarters, Lahore; ABN Amro Bank, Lahore; MCB Headquarters Lahore; EFU Insurance buiding, Lahore; Grindlays Bank, The Mall, Lahore; Punjab House, Islamabad; The Expo and Convention Centre, Lahore; Serena Hotel, Islamabad.

Habib Bank Regional Headquarters, Lahore Read more

December 30

MCB headquarters in Lahore by NAYYAR ALI DADA & ASSOCIATES

Filed Under architecture, ideas | Leave a Comment

(Text by architect Omar Hassan, text and images courtesy of NAYYAR ALI DADA & ASSOCIATES, special thanks to Aresha Gul who collected and revised all materials)

The MCB headquarter building in Lahore is a seminal work of architecture. The design of this building faithfully follows the simple design premise developed for the Project. The design concept deals with notions of implied imagery and iconography, transparency, the framing of views to and from the building, orientation with regard to the sun and aptly responding to the site’s context.

Implied Iconography and Urban Context

MCB is the third largest bank in Pakistan and, like other financial institutions in the world, needed a robust public image. NAD had experimented with notions of grandeur and monumentality in the design of the EFU building located down the street from the MCB building. However, the architectural interpretation of this theme has really blossomed in a subtle and sophisticated way, in the MCB building in Lahore. Read more

December 29

Nayyar Ali Dada, portrait of a Pakistani architect

Filed Under architecture, ideas | Leave a Comment

(Text by Aresha Gul, all images and drawings property and courtesy of NAYYAR ALI DADA & ASSOCIATES)

The Mall Road of Lahore is a very busy road and is quite close to the Walled City of Lahore (the old Mughal Lahore). All along the Mall, the beautiful tree-lane road, there is a sprinkling of historical buildings dating back to the British Empire. The Lawrence Garden, now called Jinnah Garden or Bagh-e-Jinnah; the Gymkhana Club, with a superb 18 hole Golf Course; the Aitchison College or Chief’s College, that spreads over 800 acres of gardens and exotic buildings built 20 years ago for just 8 students more than a hundred; The Governor House. All are beautiful buildings dating back to colonial times. You cannot but simply admire the line this nostalgic historical journey into the past.

I am always mesmerized by one particular building each time I drive down the Mall, and though this is not an historical building, its modernity blends with the old architecture all around it. It is the Habib Bank Headquarters in Lahore. At first glance, you wouldn’t really guess that the building belongs to the present. This attractive building was designed by none other than Nayyar Ali Dada, the pride of Pakistan.

Habib Bank Limited project, © NAYYAR ALI DADA & ASSOCIATES, Lahore

When I reviewed Mr. Dada’s other works, I came to the conclusion that Mr. Ali Dada is a sensitive artist who knows exactly how to set up his ideas and, at the same time, to respect the environment surrounding them, without sabotaging the actual essence of history. Read more

December 9

ARCHITETTURA “DI FACCIATA”
The underground car park by mag.MA architetture

Filed Under architecture | Leave a Comment

(Drawings courtesy of mag.MA architetture, photos by Alberto Piovano, texts by mag.MA architetture and by Ester Baia)

7

sketch

The 105-place car park, on two below-ground floors, is near a small historic town centre. The railway separates it from a few houses perched above the sea on a ribbon of coastline. At this point the railway line runs above the promenade and is characterized by high supporting walls, embankments and an underpass through which vehicles coming off the main road can get to the shore. Read more

November 26

The Ideal Theatre design competition. Honor Award to Iranian Aura team

Filed Under architecture, design | 1 Comment

(Text by Maedeh Ziaei Moayyed, all images courtesy of AURA team)

3

The Ideal Theater competition is created and managed by the United States Institute for Theatre Technology, that has held it for the last three years. The competition aims to involve theatre and architecture students in order to create professional theatre projects. The starting question behind the competition is, “What’s the ideal theatre for teaching and experiencing professional theatre”? As a competition rule this question is to be explored and answered by a “Team” composed of at least one theatre student, currently enrolled in a college or university theatre program, and one architecture student.
Each team member has a definite responsibility. Theatre students act as “Clients” while architecture students as “Designers”. “Clients” are responsible to teach “Designers” about the workings of aTheatre, to define the details and needs of the complex and provide at least one critique of the project design elaborated by “Designers.” It is desired that “Clients” remain active members of the design process. The design solution MUST be the result of a “Conversation” between “Clients” and “Designers”. History proves the most successful theatre design solutions have taken into account all aspects and needs of theatre production, such as artist presentation and audience interaction.
This year The Ideal Theatre Competition first award has been acknowledged to the team “Puerta DE TEATRO Group” of Escuela Tecnica Superior Arquitectura Alacala, Spain. The team members are: Javier Iglesias Sanchez (Architecture student) and Raquel Viana (Theatre student )

A honor award has been given to 2 teams from Iran and Poland.

The former, “AURA” team is:
Morteza Rahbar (Landscape Architect, Shahid Beheshti University), Omid Salighehrad (Technical High School), Ardavan Bidgoli (Architect,University of Tehran), Milad Khedmat Gozar (Architecture Associate, Islamic Azad University), Sadegh Panahi Azar (Architect, University of Tehran), Morteza Ghorbani Eftekhar (Electrical Associate, Islamic Azad University)
+
Amin Ali kordi (Art postgraduate, Tarbiat Modarres University) and Nazanin Valajam (Theatre post Graduate, Tarbiat Modarres University)

The Poland team, “Bluette” fromTechnical University of Lodz, is:
Karolina Grzegorzewska, Magdalena Kotwicka (Architecture students)
+
Krzysztof Lasek, Anita Naumiec (Theatre students)

Morteza Rahbar, leader of the Iranian team, has been recently interviewed by Iranian press to talk about his team and work. He said: ”We considered a site at Waterloo University, Canada. We started to design a theatre hall which could be suitable for any kind of performance or ceremony in universities, be creative in the structural building shape and efficient from the acoustics point of view. Since team members are all students, Clients didn’t expect such a professional design and the jury was interested in the architecture details and overall complex beauty. The Client request was to have a location not only for professional performing and rehearsals but also for other activities like operas, ballet, music concerts, fashion shows and professional theatre lessons.”
Read more

November 13

Espacio C Mixcoac by ROW Studio

Filed Under architecture, design | Leave a Comment

(Introduction by Ester Baia, all imagesand project description © ROW Studio)

_OGE3515

It might seem an elementary school or a recreational centre, but instead the colorful and irregular Espacio C by ROW Studio is a training place for adults, where design and the Coca Cola brand get together to create a flexible and versatile environment, fit for various uses and needs.
A luminous space, acoustically protected from the city, where you can get updated and have a drink while comfortably sitting on a sofa. And even write on the walls.
The high quality and varied environments are wi-fi-enabled and feature all you need in a comprehensive training facility, including classrooms, a mediatheque, a bar, a gift shop and a storage room.

_OGE3516

The colored bands marking the paths on the floor continue on the walls to turn into light slices and trapezoidal doors, through which interesting lookout perspectives on the interiors are created. They also highlight the dynamic relationship between serving and served spaces already expressed by color. Read more

November 3

Young Latin American Architects 1/3
A guest post by Ethel Baraona Pohl

Filed Under architecture, design | 1 Comment

(After the Beyond Media report and her article on architecture communication 2.0, here’s another guest post by architect and DPR-Barcelona co-founder Ethel Baraona Pohl. It is the first of a series of three guest posts on emerging Latin American architecture studios, so stay tuned for more.)

All of us have been witnessing a new-born boom in Latin America related to architecture. There are so many new young studios [young means under 40 approx] working intensely in projects to be realized, in competitions but also in utopics non-solicited ones that are just a perfect exercise to re-think what is architecture and which ones are the ways to be focused on. This is the first of a serie of three post about Latin American architecture studios.

Book 02-Caracas

Caracas, Venezuela, circa the late 1950s

Book 03-Caracas

Block 52 and ranchos in Sierra Maestra

Some of these architecture studios are working under the new concepts of architecture and some of their projects include data visualization, films, spatial practices and research. It’s common now that the web 2.0 and the social networks provide tools to develop projects for international teams.

Metrocable_san_agustin

Metrocable San Agustin by UTT, Caracas.

This is the case on Urban Think Tank aka UTT. They describe themselves as a multi-disciplinary design practice dedicated to high-level research and design on a variety of subjects, concerned with contemporary architecture, urbanism. The office consists of 10 permanent staff members working out of Caracas, Venezuela and was founded by Alfredo Brillembourg and, in 1998, Hubert Klumpner joined as principal. Working at Columbia University they have formed the SLUM Lab [Sustainable Living Urban Model Lab], focused in identifying and developing architectural technologies for the informal city. Read more

October 28

Yona Friedman @ Politecnico di Milano

Filed Under events, news | Leave a Comment

On the day before the opening on his first exhibition in an Italian private gallery (in Brescia, check it out here), Yona Friedman will be in Milan for a conference at Politecnico di Milano.

POLITECNICO DI MILANO - DIAP - MULTIPLICITY.LAB

PRESENT
YONA FRIEDMAN
MODERATOR
STEFANO BOERI
PARTICIPANTS
MARCO BELPOLITI
MAURIZIO BORTOLOTTI
FRIDAY, 30 OCTOBER 2009
H 17:30 – 19:00
SPAZIO MOSTRE
POLITECNICO DI MILANO
FACOLTA’ DI ARCHITETTURA E SOCIETA’
VIA AMPERE, 2
20133 MILANO
+39.02.23992678

multiplicity.lab@polimi.it

Next Page →

 

You need to log in to vote

The blog owner requires users to be logged in to be able to vote for this post.

Alternatively, if you do not have an account yet you can create one here.

Powered by Vote It Up