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Transforming Swimming Pool is a core studio project by Yongwon Kwon, done at GSAPP.  The project is primarily to hypothesis what a swimming pool is or can be, and if so what does this transformation mean to the urban city. The project is a prototype for this type of concept and the site chosen to implement this urban intervention is Harlem, New York. In specific the project dealt with the East-Harlem community and the low-renting locals who have limited access to these so called “public spaces”, and how students from Columbia can also participate, share, and interact with this common space.

The project is planned to function for both University students and Harlem residents. In order to compromise the different users, the building is to be optimized to the needs and desires of both parties. But, between these different occupants lies a gap in terms of racial and social status. Especially in relation to history, the public swimming pool has been a central issue relating segregation and discrimination; due to the fact that they are sharing water and using a space to undress.  Unfortunately society lacks progress, and this issue is still valid in today’s developed cities.

How can the architect meet such a broad-spectrum of needs for the diverse user(s) within a limiting program and space? Throughout the history of modern architecture, architects suggested a grid system, which helped maximize the program space and function. This project purposes Architectural Animal, which is conceptualized from an optimistic perspective toward the revolution of building technology.  Architectural Animal is a machine, which is transforms depending on needs of a range of divers users. If the traditional grid system has provided free of usage of a space, Architectural Animal one ups that by providing us free of capacity of space; maximizing space through transformers.

The project consists of two systems. One is a linear public swimming pool and the other is an individual private-pool machine. The private pool machine is attached alongside the main public swimming pool, which can move vertically from public to private conditions. The kinetics of the machine is activated through the request of the user. Furthermore, the circulation of the personal pool from entrance to a shower booth to a changing room is totally separated from the circulation of the main public swimming pool. Yet a link is created to enter in the public swimming pool from the personal pool module. Through this strategy, the user gets a right to choose their status in terms of private and social relationship.

The winners of the international tender for the Italian Pavilion at Expo 2015 are studio Nemesis & Partners Proger of Pescara and Rome with BMS Projects in Milan. The winning concept is rooted in the idea that the architecture should act as a system for generating relations – the way in which these relationships are organized and expressed gives the life to set of volumes that further build architectural landscape, evoking the image of an urban forest. The design of the pavilion comes together in one volume, very rigorous and unified, in order to meet the functional requirements.

The main theme of the whole Expo is “feeding the planet”. In the Italian Pavilion’s brief the key words – life, transparency, changeability, all focused on the visitor’s experiences into the space.

The volume of the pavilion is articulated in four main blocks, arranged around central void – the square. The dynamism of architectural massing is obtained through inclined surfaces of the interior of the square. Within the pavilion macro key functions required by the Preliminary Document are organized – exhibition area, auditorium, offices and Meeting. The four architectural volumes, as if they were trees, have the support massive point on the ground that simulates large “roots” of the exhibition on the ground floor.

In the words of the jury, the highest ranked project plays with special care and self-expressive formal comprehensive architectural imprint the theme – Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life, with pre-figuration introduced by the concept.

UNStudio designed Grand Musée de l’Afrique in Algiers, Algerie, for ARPC – Agence Nationale de Gestion des Realisations de Grands Projects de la Culture. The museum is designed as an amalgamation of history, geography, ecology, culture and presents itself as a sensitive, context-conscious modernizing impulse. The Grand Musée de l’Afrique of Alger is designed to bring Algeria and Africa a manifestation of its cultural and natural richness. Its architecture is a medium to generate a ‘trait d’union’ between African cultures, while blending into Algeria’s city fabric.

The museum highlights the diversity and multiplicity of the African continent due to the language of aggregation which was deployed in the design, acting as an organizational system. The varied nature of the collection led to a concept for a museum that reflects the idea of variety and diversification, where the program aggregates in a range of flexible scenarios by alternating exhibition and performance spaces. The logic of program distribution within the museum sets itself apart from the more classical notion of museum program distribution. By intertwining the narrative and the routing, diversifying the visitor experience into a mixed space with a loose start and a loose end, the Grand Musée de l’Afrique presents a unique museum experience.

The intensification of urban activities promotes the site as an urban destination, a social and cultural meeting point. Museum garden unveils several types of African ecologies, where a route of 2km crosses several landscape ecologies and the various gardens will allow for art work to be placed outside in a landscape scenario.

800m Tower for China by MAD Architects questions what the future skyscraper should be. Unlike the traditional skyscraper that embodies its greatness in height and monumental form, the 800m Tower declares its significance in the unique way in which it relates to the city around it. The institutional framework of the traditional skyscraper is limited – it is defined by a simple, linear structure and mediocre duplication in business districts across the globe. At a time when the height record for such buildings is almost instantly replaced, the building’s landmark status quickly wanes as taller versions rise around it. As such, it becomes increasingly necessary for a building to create and realize a higher level of complexity in its expression of modern city relationships.

The two towers are connected with a cable car at the top, allowing all people from the city to make the journey around it and through it, echoing the dynamism and movement of the city. The previous conception of form and style establish landmark appears outdated by contrast.

The 800m Tower will not act as an office machine. On contrary, it will become a living admixture. Space for commerce, service and entertainment are elevated to the same level as the office and hotel functions, forming a solid city element that makes the sister towers and its users part of the metropolitan life.

Exciting and dynamic, the 800m tower will house office spaces and a hotel, on a 310,840sqm area.

UNStudio has been chosen to remodel and renovate Hanwha’s headquarters building – the facade, the interior of the common spaces, lobbies, meeting levels, auditorium and executive areas, along with the redesign of the landscaping. Several important variables were required to be incorporated into the redesign, most essentially the surroundings, nature and the environment. Their concept for the project resulted in the design of a responsive facade which prioritizes and integrates groups of key parameters: program – exterior and interior, indoor climate and environmental considerations.

The existing façade contains horizontal bands of opaque paneling and single layers of dark glass. In the remodeling this is replaced by clear insulated glass and aluminum framing to accentuate views and daylight. The geometry of the framing is further defined by the sun and orientation factors to ensure user comfort inside and reduced energy consumption.

The basis for the facade expression is largely formed by the program. By varying the placement of the facade panels a variety of program-related openings are created. The North facade opens to enable day lighting within the building but becomes more opaque on the South façade, where the sun would otherwise have too much impact on the heat load of the building. Openings within the facade are further related to the views: opening up where views are possible but becoming more compact on the side adjacent to the nearby buildings. Direct solar impact on the building is reduced by shading which is provided by angling the glazing away from direct sunlight, while the upper portion of the South facade is angled to receive direct sunlight. The facade is animated by individual LED pixels, with dynamic lighting reflecting different parts of the building and highlighting areas of activity within.

The site of Huangdu Art Center by MAD Architects illuminates controversial issue in urban sprawl. Positioned in close proximity to the heart of old Beijing, and close to historically significant architecture such as the Forbidden City and opposite the National Art Museum of China, the site straddles this divide -small scale hutongs – remain at the sites western edge, yet the east is bounded by a modern axis of major city routes, commercial malls and hotels.

In MAD Architects they quote Lao She who states that the beauty of old Beijing exists in the empty space between architecture, where trees grow and birds live.  As such, the buildings themselves do not have to show any special shape in order to be unique.

Old Beijing is built of a tight network of closely woven districts of communal courtyard housing blocks. The basic typology of these districts is one-storey buildings which form distinct geometric patterns repeated at high density. This historic urban fabric is increasingly under threat and it is now forced to retreat for the larger, monumental modern architecture of contemporary Beijing.

MAD proposes to create a building established on many small hutong-scalar pieces that collectively achieve the overall volume. Huangdu is designed by layering different courtyard vertically, resulting in multifaceted, semi-solid volumes, which maintains the spatial relationships and hollow cores of the courtyards. Huangdu is an urban instrument signifying Beijing’s aspirations to be a forward looking city yet always respects its roots and its past. MAD’s proposal extends the city fabric from small to large, negotiating the two scales at work here on site, and provide a means to reconcile two worlds of Beijing today.

“The City Rises” is Urban Office Architecture proposal for Parramatta’s architectural competition. They proposed a set of “Siamese pair” of towers, which would represent diversity rising out of unity. The unique form performs better and more efficiently from the heat loss-gain point of view as less dispersion is generated. It also reacts better to structural and lateral forces. However its ultimate advantage is that of offering unique interior opportunities for the office requirements. In particular, as the building rises offices take advantage of the relationship with the vertical public spaces, allowing for an innovative and pleasant working environment.

From urban point of view, the building is envisioned as an extension of the public spaces. Its outermost layer is composed by a vertical circulation which allows pedestrian to climb to the building top via an enclosed glass circulation system – glass boxes. While rising, the visitor will stop at suspended publicly programmed “floating rooms” – black boxes. At a distance the building is seen as both one and two separate buildings, but most importantly as an asset to the public realm rather than a form isolated from the field.

Located on the northern exposure, the black and glass boxes become both an effective filter for the entire building, collecting, harvesting and re-circulating water, light, and energy. The sinuous building shape is ideal against winds and sun glare. The building skin is made of several layers of glass with an inner photosensitive film who is able to adjust to the amount of solar impact and become more or less transparent.

MAD’s Beijing Chaoyang Park Plaza breaks ground. It is a realization of the concept “Shanshui City” and the project pushes the boundary of the urbanization process by creating a dialogue between artificial scenery and natural landscapes. The Plaza development is located in the central business district of Beijing and due to its proximity to the park it will highly impact the skyline of this metropolis.

A pair of asymmetrical towers creates a dramatic skyline in front of the park. Ridges and valleys define the shape of the exterior glass facade, as if the natural forces of erosion wore down the tower into a few thin lines. Flowing down the facade, the lines emphasize the smoothness of the towers and its verticality. The internal ventilation and filtration system of the ridges draw a natural breeze indoors, which not only improves the interior space but also creates an energy efficient system.

Landscape elements are injected into the interiors of the towers to augment the feeling of nature within an urban framework. The two towers are connected by a tall courtyard lobby with a ceiling height of up to 17 meters. The site and sounds of flowing water make the entire lobby feel like a natural scene from a mountain valley. At the top of the towers, multi-level terraces shaped by the curving forms of the towers are public gardens where people can gaze out over the entire city and look down at the valley scene created by the lower buildings on the site.

Located to the South of the towers, four office buildings are shaped like river stones that have been eroded over a long period. Smooth, round, and each with its own features, they are delicately arranged to allow each other space while also forming an organic whole. Adjacent to the office buildings are two multi-level residential buildings in the Southwest area of the compound. These buildings continue the ‘mid-air courtyard concept, and provide all who live here with the freedom of wandering through a mountain forest.

The project was awarded the “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)”Gold certificate. By exploring the symbiotic relationship between modern urban architecture and natural environment, Chaoyang Park Plaza revives the harmonious co-existence between urban life and nature.

The architectural vision for the Mandarin Oriental high-rise by Urban Office Architecture explored the idea of a complete merging of architecture, city, the river and the surrounding urban landscape. The base concept of a morphing floor plan allows the building structure to enjoy a “dancing” form. The floor plates change at all levels, therefore accommodating variety of programmatic requirements as well as making a unique environment for each occupant.

The building responds to the surrounding both at larger – metropolitan and local scale. The three sided lower floor plates address both mixed-use program and the converging urban forces. A base plinth allows users to interact with the building while bridging between the structure height and the human scale, acting as urban catalyst. It allows citizens and tenants to meet, mingle and enjoy dining, shopping and various cultural events.

The complexities of the programmatic needs are met by highly functional, but ever morphing floor plates. The building features a two-sided and three-sided organization plan around the central core, both for the office and hotel levels. This enables tenant to organize their spaces with great flexibility while taking advantage of the most natural daylight. As the building rises vertically into a rectangular floor plate, the opportunity of full floor suites is emphasized together with maximum access to daylight on all sides.

The tower is designed so that maximum use of the floor plates is achieved. Going from three sided to a two sided to a single layout four public spaces organize distribution of program vertically, allowing for interaction and sharing of these areas by variety of users.

Foster and Partners’ headquarters tower for Citic Bank has a prominent location in Hangzhou, on a main axis through a new central business district being constructed next to the Qian Jiang River. The site is also adjacent to one of the city’s most recognizable landmarks – the distinctive golden sphere of the Intercontinental Hotel. The challenge for its design therefore, has been to create a new building that harmonizes with its surroundings, yet has its own integrity and presence and provides an iconic headquarters for the Bank. The design draws inspiration from the elements of traditional Chinese culture – using the symbol of wealth, dignity and stability.

The tower has a striking geometric form – the diagonally-braced façade is pulled inwards to form a symmetrical V-shape across the south-facing elevation. Wrapped in a bronze-colored diagrid lattice, the floor plates widen as the building rises, expanding to provide panoramic views of the river and the surrounding public plaza. The design maximizes the available area within a compact rectilinear footprint, while respecting views of neighboring structures. The tower will provide the highest quality office space – tailored to the current needs of the Bank, but with the flexibility to anticipate future working patterns and demands.

A-frame canopy stretches 72 meters across the ground, in order to create a dramatic entrance experience. This leads to the heart of a diamond-shaped central atrium, which rises up through the full height of the 20-storey tower and helps to encourage natural ventilation during the mid-seasons. Sky-gardens line the perimeter of the upper floors and a generous winter garden with a mezzanine level accommodates VIP club and meeting spaces at the top of the building. The tower is naturally ventilated for part of the year, grey water will be recycled and local materials utilized where possible to reduce embodied energy.

At a spectacular groundbreaking ceremony and party hosted by developer Ornate Spaces in Mumbai, the 3XN designed residential and mixed use project ‘Grove Towers’ was unveiled.

3XN’s design team was invited for the event which unveiled the 77.000 m2 project inspired by the Indian nature and Mumbai’s mangroves. Just as clusters of mangrove stalks seemingly braid together at the base, the two towers in this mixed use development converge at the lower retail floors, rising up to provide amenity spaces on the podium; and grow into the sky as a cluster of slender trees providing some of Mumbai’s most thoughtfully laid out residential accommodation. Each unit features views in at least two directions, many of which look out towards the mangroves to the North, and Indian Ocean to the West.

Kim Herforth Nielsen, Principal and Creative Director for 3XN, says: ‘With this design for Grove Towers, we wanted to create something special for Mumbaikars and Ornate Spaces. Each time I visit, I am overwhelmed at how much I see the strength of community in all aspects of Indian life. I want this to be a vertical community that brings people together, and becomes a setting for growth and life.’

In addition the project is an example of integrating GXN, 3XN’s Innovation Unit in the design process. Their involvement in the design for the façade significantly reduces direct solar gain, maximizes natural ventilation and aims for LEED Gold certification. With over 2500 m2 of vertical gardens, the building lowers CO2 in Mumbai’s humid and congested environment, cleaning the air around it.

SOFI is thesis project done by Danny Karas, at SCI-Arc – Southern California Institute of Architecture, dealing with issues of modern skyscrapers. In analysis of the modern tower there is traditionally an aesthetic agenda that localizes itself in a “shoes” or “hat” location. The tower typology has ignored the possibility of a center distortion. This distortion acts as an aesthetic element as well as an organizational-programmatic locator. By designing from the middle out there is a chance for the building to better blend with its context by keeping the processional elements in the center. Entrance and roof conditions mimic their tower surroundings and give a moments rest in the exuberance of design.

This proposal creates a center distortion and layers form through a simulation of gravity. The skin is designed to be perceived as more of a lacy volume hiding the inner-mass yet in the right light disappearing and letting the inner monster emerge. The inner void acts as a way of creating a Secretary oriented office program rather than a traditional first floor security, freeing up the center of the building to the public. The project looks to rationalize itself through components rather than a monolithic form. By focusing on the parts to whole relationship the project adapted to the concept of build-ability in its panel size and something as banal as the curvature limits of steel. These elements of design while “unsexy” add up to a rational that helps the brain rationalize the digital grotesque of SCI-Arc into something more place-able.

This project is a statement of the speed and quality that digital design can create and how this revolution of speed can give the architect a greater chance to impact that project outside of pure form making. Architect’s can now impact design into the later stages sooner and potentially prevent some value engineering and hopefully stop the slow erasure of architects in building.

Pinup 2014 invites students and young professionals to submit a collection of their studio, 3d printed or un-built work comprised of up to three digital images. By submitting your work, we invite you to share your voice with the collective intelligence of a community of visual thinkers. The competition is free to all entrants.

The proliferation of device culture, social networking, and cloud technology are changing the way we create, and connect on a daily basis. For design, this means that technology is not only transforming the process of production, but also the processes through which we share, critique, and organize ourselves around the work we do. The competition is first, and foremost an experiment in distributed intelligence. By leveraging the “wisdom of crowds” every entrant can see and understand how his or her work is experienced by others. It has been predicted that in 2020, there will be 50 billion mobile internet connections worldwide, the equivalent of seven devices per person. Thus, this competition is not simply about the existence of technology, but rather why and how we harness it as designers.

The Competition poses the following questions: What are the aspirations by which we evaluate design today? In an increasingly networked culture, what makes a project capable of cutting through the virtual noise, and starting a new conversation? How do evolving forms of media affect the way in which your message reaches its destination? What is your message?

The competition challenges you to confront the world with your work. By sending it out into the field you will test yourself and your projects. You are the designer, the curator and the critic.

Pinup 2014 was assembled by designers, professors and students as a means to publically promote the research, exploration and investigation currently happening in academia and amongst today’s emerging talent. The competition is supported by ArchDaily, Shapeways, the AIAS, IIDA, ADC, AIGA and is hosted by The Morpholio Project. The guest jury includes participants from FastCompany, ArchDaily, Design Milk, Interior Design Magazine, Core77 and Columbia GSAPP. We look forward to your participation and recognition.

More information here.

ATHENS – INNSBRUCK SUMMER 2014

X|A Summer Workshops : RECEIVING APPLICATIONS NOW : workshop@xatelier.com

For more information http://www.xatelier.com/workshop

Participation cost is 550 euros for each workshop

X|A ATHENS Workshop I: 30th of June -11th of July 2014 @ Benaki Museum in Athens, Greece

X|A ATHENS Workshop II: 14th of July – 25th of July 2014 @ Benaki Museum in Athens, Greece

X|A INNSBRUCK Workshop III: 28th of July – 7th of August 2014 @ University of Innsbruck, Austria

X|Atelier is organizing three international intensive workshops of Advanced Architectural Design. The X|A Summer Workshops 2014 are led by X|A principals Erick Carcamo (SCI-ARC& UPenn) and Nefeli Chatzimina (USC, NTUA), both Allumni Graduates of Columbia University in New York City.

X|A Athens Workshops I&II are organized under the auspices of the Hellenic Institute of Architecture and the Athens School of Fine Arts. Selected Participants will attend the computation design workshops, academic lectures, final reviews and exhibition at Benaki Museum of Athens from 30th of June -11th of July 2014 or from the 14th -25th of July 2014. Daily meetings will take place from 10am to 6pm at the Benaki Museum of Pireos 138 in Athens.

X|A Innsbruck Workshop III is hosted by the University of Innsbruck, Institute of Urban Design. Selected Participants will attend the computation design workshops, academic lectures, final reviews and exhibition at the University of Innsbruck, Institute of Urban Design from the 28th of July – 7th of August. Daily meetings will take place from 10am to 6pm at the University of Innsbruck.

As part of an ongoing academic research, X|A workshops introduce participants into contemporary discussions of formal exploration in Architecture and Art. Through technical attainment of design and digital production the X|A Workshops give the opportunity to students of Architecture and Art, Professional Architects, Designers and Artists to challenge new design territories. Our goal is to explore innovative, potential architectural expressions of the current discourse around Form through computational tools (Autodesk MAYA). We will focus on technique elaboration, material intelligence, formal logic efficiencies and precision assemblies as an ultimate condition of design. The workshop will develop and investigate the notion of proficient geometric variations at a level of complexity, so that questions towards geometrical effectiveness, accuracy and performance can begin to be understood in a contemporary setting. The workshop is a discourse based in the use of multi-layered techniques and production processes that allow for control over intelligent geometries, calibration of parts, and behavioral taxonomies, normalizing an innovative held of predictability.

X|Atelier was founded in 2007 by Erick Cárcamo and Nefeli Chatzimina ::X|A:: is an architectural practice based in the use of multi-layered experimental techniques and production processes networked in Europe, US and Latin America. Both hold a Master’s of Science in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University and have graduated from SCI_Arc and N.T.U.Athens respectively. Their teaching expertise extends to Sci-Arc, University of Southern California, Columbia University, Yale SOA, UPenn, Pratt Institute, University of Kentucky, Die Angewandte, N.T.U.Athens and LTH in Sweden. X|A’s work has been internationally published and exhibited at galleries in New York, Los Angeles, London, Lexington and Barcelona. Their working experience is held in offices of Bernard Tschumi Architects in New York, CoopHimmelb(l)au in Vienna, Asymptote NYC and Xefirotarch LA.

More information here.

Jungle Watts
4-13 August 2014
Mamori Lake, Amazon, Brazil.

The Architectural Association Visiting School Amazon is organizing a 10-day workshop in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest that will analise the impact of the recent arrival of electricity to the Mamori Lake community, 65 km. south of Manaus. Participants will speculate about future scenarios for the sustainable development of the area as well as propose architectural interventions that explore creatively the opportunities and risks of having electricity in the middle of the jungle.

The registration is now open and there are only 12 places available. The deadline for applications is 4 July 2014. The workshop is open to current architecture, engineering and design students, PhD candidates and young professionals and will take place in a simple but comfortable wooden lodge by the Mamori lake shore, in the middle of the Amazon rainforest.

The initial exploratory days of analysis and data collection will offer the participants the possibility to discover the Amazon ecosystem and interact with the local communities. Different layers of the Mamori lake reality will be analyzed and measured. The social, the mythological, the economical, the natural and the climatological will be overlaid with the electricity network to discover emerging patterns that could inform the design process. Through the use of quantifiable data collection, parametric modeling, computational analysis and simulation, students will propose architectural strategies that can shed some light on this critical conjuncture. The strategies of some plants, insects and animals will be studied to trace parallels between nature and architecture.

AA Visiting School Amazon is kindly sponsored by Luminaid.com and Bareconductive.com.

More information can be found on:

http://amazon.aaschool.ac.uk
http://www.aaschool.ac.uk/STUDY/VISITING/amazon
http://www.facebook.com/aavsamazon
http://www.vimeo.com/aavsamazon
http://aavsamazon.tumblr.com

The Bass and Flinders Gateway development project, designed by Spark, sits at the very threshold of Wollongong, one of New South Wales’ most beautiful cities. The 35,000 sqm scheme consists of a 300 unit residential development, supported by a modicum of commercial space. The Flinders Gateway development sits on the narrow coastal plain between the Illawarra Escarpment and the Ocean and draws its inspiration from the meeting of these two primeval elements. It is Spark Studio’s first project in Australia and it’s expected to begin construction in 2015.

The apartments are arranged as “coal measures” within linear stacked seams shrouded by a symbolic wave that in part shades the apartments’ terraced gardens. The vivid form of The Bass and Flinders Gateway development offers playful experience of livable and joyful residential neighborhood. Five separate volumes of this mixed-use complex are connected underground with two-level garage space. The public plaza, formed between the high-rise volumes, is cascaded, enabling sheltered common places for gathering and socializing.

SPARK Studio is an award-winning international design practice that aim at creating distinctive buildings for clients and great places for people. They focus on architecture’s potential to contribute positively to the experience of the city while addressing the pragmatic issues that govern each project. Spark works with the bold yet common sense vision of enlarging the spaces of the city into their buildings, and of unfolding our buildings into the city – creating opportunities for layered experiences and engaging places.

The winner is revealed – OMA won the final round of a public design competition for Axel Springer’s new media center in Berlin. The building aims to create new hub in the existing campus in central Berlin. As seen in Axel Springer, the winning design presented conceptually and aesthetically most radical model, while the fundamental innovation of working environments support the cultural transformation towards a digital publishing house.

The building will be located on one of the city’s most significant locations – the street previously separated East and West Berlin. The new office block is bisected by a diagonal atrium that opens up to the existing Springer buildings, an extension of the Springer campus. The essence of the proposal is a series of terraced floors that together form a ‘valley’. Each floor contains a covered part for formal work, which is then uncovered on the terraces to act as an informal stage and a place to broadcast ideas to other parts of the company. The ground floor is open to the city and contains studios, event and exhibition spaces, canteens and restaurants.

OMA’s  winning design team is led by partners-in-charge Rem Koolhaas and Ellen van Loon, and project leaders Katrin Betschinger, Alain Fouraux and Betty Ng. The project was developed in collaboration with Chris Carroll from Arup London, Duncan Phillips from RWDI for microclimate consultation, Eckhard Kahle of Kahle Acoustics, Christian Wernicke and Christoph Winter of SMV Bauprojektsteuerung & Emproc GmbH for cost consultation, and Peter Stanek for fire safety consultation.

Berlin’s architectural practice Barkow Leibinger has won an invited competition to design a new hotel tower and conference center as part of Berlin’s largest hotel complex, the Estrel. Complimenting the existing Estrel Hotel, the largest in Germany, a new hotel tower and conference center will establish a new gateway to the center of Berlin from the soon to be completed Schönefeld International Airport. The tower at 175 meters will be the tallest high-rise in Berlin to date. Located on the Sonnenalle at the intersection of the Ship Canal, S-Bahn and Autobahn the site is a threshold between the heterogeneous industrial – residential periphery and the historical neighborhoods of Neukölln. Free from the historical constraints of the center the project is an ensemble of elements revolving around the sloped silhouette of the tower with its roof terrace orienting to the city.

In response to the existing Estrel Hotel and resembling the children’s game “Tangram” the proposal is organized into a series of extruded triangulated volumes of different sizes and heights mediating the tower into the low-rise surrounding neighborhoods. This cascading family of forms, from high to low-scaled, radiates to form two strong orientations: to the street side and to the water side – Ship Canal.  Functions are distributed into the different sized volumes including the hotel, an office building, park house, glass-roofed hotel entrance atrium, and the low-flat conference center. This programmatic clarity allows easy phasing variations, which is important for such a large scale development. A ground floor promenade begins with the hotel drop-off which continues into the hotel atrium and on to an arcade fronting the conference center.

Facades compliment the idea of “similar but distinct” building volumes and are articulated to enhance the verticality of the individual parts of the ensemble in metal and glass.

Rodwood

Celebrating 40 years of enduring partnerships and commitment to bringing the best in contemporary design to the public, Luminaire is honored to host the internationally renowned architect and designer Piero Lissoni.

The co-founder of Lissoni Associati, as well as the creative director of Living Divani, Glas Italia and Porro, Mr. Lissoni has brought forth a mastery of proportion and insightful sensibility to all his designs.

Lissoni has established himself as one of most notable names is contemporary design for his clean, industrial aesthetics while collaborating with many of the world’s most notable design companies. His approach begins from a humanistic vision which, for him, is the only one that would make sense to a true designer no matter the medium. Lissoni approaches his work with a mastery of proportion and an acute sensitivity for the subtlety that distinguishes the common from the insightful; clear lines, subtle forms and an eye for special materials surround his designs with sophisticated simplicity.

Piero Lissoni, as main interpreter of Porro design, year after year studies new eye-catching compositions of the company’s three systems – Modern day system of containers and suspended tops, Storage system of wardrobes, open wardrobes and walk-in closets and System day system of bookcases and equipped walls – and revamps the codes of esthetics for the living area and sleeping area enriching the brand’s collection with new products. Among them, some of the company’s iconic pieces, such as the Reflection Mirror, Tiller and the brand-new table Ipe, are exhibited inside Luminaire showroom.

Porro stands out for its essential and immediately identifiable language, with minimal geometries and shapes, without forgetting its unique company philosophy: simplicity above all. All Porro products are the result of a subtraction and derive from a progressive simplification process. Even the systems, which are complex in themselves, are the result of a very simple aesthetic vision, based on consistency and simplification without forgetting the highest quality.

Inspired by the pure geometry of the square, Piero Lissoni’s Modern is a diverse and versatile storage system based on the movement of the square through space. By utilizing a module that repeats itself to generate objects different in materials, colors and functional purposes, Modern becomes an adaptable and modular system. These functional aspects are combined with Lissoni’s mastery of proportion and detail, ensuring that the resulting designs – no matter the combination of elements – remains consistent and harmonious in form. From wall units to free standing storage, Modern is appropriate for every habitat.

In the designing process of mirrors, furniture, accessories, shelves, bookcases, tables and low tables, Glas Italia avails itself of the collaboration of renowned designers who – experimenting in full freedom on the technologically advanced productive plants made available by the Company – can express their creative talent, pointing out the inexhaustible potentialities of such a pure, noble and refined material as glass. Lissoni designed truly magnificent mirrors with Murano glass frame, achieved through a complex and refined hand-made production process, making each piece unique and unrepeatable.

With an attentive eye to materials, form and proportion, Piero Lissoni’s designs represent a form of modernism. His Verglas Table for Glas Italia, constructed from boxed transparent tempered glass, builds upon his trademark aesthetics. Thanks to a complex gluing and manufacturing process, the table has a visual lightness which dissolves the boundary between sculpture and furniture. The result is a table of great strength and formal purity and at the same time characterized by the great volumetric presence.

Piero Lissoni approaches his work for Living Divani with modularity and subtlety. His mastery of proportion distinguishes the common from the insightful; clear lines, subtle forms and an eye for special materials surround his designs with sophisticated simplicity. The Extrawall sofa has a distinctive, regimented style featuring a square design and prominent corners. The seats, backs and arms of sofa are innovatively dimensioned and form the elements that can be freely mixed and matched to shape and outline the product. The island-like design of the Extrawall astonishes for the many combination and covering possibilities that make it hugely adaptable and versatile, able to show its endless faces with elegance and refinement.

Piero Lissoni and Luminaire have joined forces on a new collaboration, initially started many years ago. The exhibition “1:1 PIERO LISSONI” will introduce Lissoni architectural and design language to United States, bringing a section of the Milanese studio to Chicago.

1:1 Piero Lissoni Exhibition in Chicago at Luminaire Showroom

A special experience for the visitor, the exhibition space is furnished with wide tables that display the scale models of the most recent architectural projects: private houses, residential towers, hotels, resorts and yachts along with images of the whole production, technical drawings and sketches, graphics, invitations, packaging and catalogues.

Furthermore added to the exhibition are some samples of the Industrial design production, such as chairs for Porro, tables for Glas Italia, upholstery for Living Divani, watches for Alessi, fixtures for Boffi and many transparent cases with graphics and packaging.

On from 10th June to 10th July
Luminaire Showroom
301 West Superior
Chicago, IL 60654

Piero Lissoni’s Lecture at at the Museum of Contemporary Arts in Chicago

On Tuesday, June 10, 6-7pm
Museum of Contemporary Arts Theater
220 East Chicago Avenue
Chicago, IL 60611

Shuttle buses will be available after the lecture for transportation from the MCA to Luminaire
Reception at Luminaire Showroom following the lecture 7-9pm

Neve Imbottita

Rod Sofa

Tiller

Verglas