The Kaufhalle Bremen am Brill in Bremen, Germany, dating back to the early 60’s resists easy categorization. It is neither a historical monument nor a particularly outstanding work of architecture, as they state at Barkow Leibinger.  At the same time as an existing urban artifact there remains a compelling latency as it stands abandoned and in disuse. There was an ambition that materially, formally and syntactically begs consideration – what is the value of this building as found?

Rather than assimilating this architecture-artifact into a completely new order, new syntax, central approach to this project was to ask: could one tease out a third condition where critical renovation allows both orders to co-exist to achieve something both startling and unexpected. This projects looks at a context that could offer something generational in a very real and physical way. While this could be an urban setting, a site, or a landscape in this case, it is the existing building itself, which is suggestive.

Rather than subsuming it, the strategy is to react to it. In reacting there is the chance for doing something. Therefore in Barkow Leibinger they find themselves using tools that have to do with a particular action such as selecting, clearing, stacking onto, connecting and wrapping. This work becomes suddenly objective, free from intuition, free from infinite choices. It sets forth the possibility for a new order where both condition the historical and the speculative can merge allowing both legibility. In a performative sense all of these activities begin to have a status. They unify the building; they construct a new system for façade, providing new types and hierarchies of space.

Strategically resembling a merging of “pimp my ride” with the wrappings of Christo what eventually emerges is a condition that can be both, familiar and strange, homogeneous and heterogeneous, sublime and awkward.

“Blue Tape” by architecture graduates Evan Shieh and Ali Chen is the 1st-prize winner of the Dubai Architecture School Tower competition. In the single-phase ideas competition, participants had to design an architecture school tower whose environment would play a vital role in the students’ education, as well as make an iconic addition to Dubai’s skyline.

Blue Tape – school tower is a vertical re-imagining of the typical architecture school typology. Located adjacent to the American University of Dubai and publicly integrated with the Dubai metro system, the tower campus houses an international architecture program offering students opportunity to pursue a modern architectural education within an iconic landmark of the Dubai skyline.

At the core of Blue Tape is the concept of the Pin-Up Space – a place where students share their ideas, while collaborating with their peers and participating in academic critique of their designs with instructors and colleagues. The tower re-defines the Pin-Up space as the integral and vital tool of the architectural education and recognizes that in many examples of current schools it is often pushed to the margins of physical space.

Placed within the tower typology, the typically horizontal space becomes vertical, forming a visual, physical and conceptual epicenter for the tower. As one moves upward, the Pin-Up space forms the conceptual spine of larger public programs – classrooms, workshops, an auditorium, a library, event and gallery spaces, and finally culminates in an outdoor roof terrace. These public programs become conceptual extensions of the Pin-Up spine, expressed on the façade of the tower as formal voids, representing a symbolic and public expression of a continuous space of academia.

Between Earth and Sky Gate by Penda Design is the design for an entrance sculpture to the Shenzhen Southern University of Science and Technology. It is a metaphor of formal contrasts to design a campus landmark. There is a Chinese saying parents tell their children when they leave home for university, which means roughly translated: “ride on the wings of an eagle to your success”. Therefore the wing-shaped design for the sculpture is a formal translation of this saying.

The sculpture serves as an entrance gate and is a connection of two opposites: the fluid, lower part connects the gate to the gentle hills of the landscape in the background and carries a grid of lights, which can be seen as a connection to the cosmos – a contrast of the earth and the sky. Furthermore the landmark should symbolize a freedom of thinking on one hand and certain guidelines on the other hand, which stand for a system and order in science – a contrast of endless possibilities and technical limitations. With those opposites, the sculpture describes what a modern Technical University should stand for – a symbiosis of nature and technology.

Penda Design is a young office, established in 2012 and located in Vienna and Beijing. Their credo is to see architecture as a statement that always starts with questions about the content and the context, about identity, density and the community of a specific site. The office is formed by Chris Precht and Dayong Sun.

AT Design Office has developed sustainable concept for an ocean metropolis, as a healthy alternative to destroying the earth’s valuable countryside. The existing landmass on earth has been built up so extensively that the remaining free land is under extreme pressure and needs to be preserved as much as possible. Therefore news settlements should be planned in such a manner that important social and environmental conditions are improved and can provide for better future living. Environmentally adaptive measures, higher densities, mixed uses and efficient, smart designs and infrastructure strategies need to be considered.

The floating city has a perfect internal and external traffic system, linking it within but also with the outside world. A cruise dock serves giant ships; a yacht dock serves private vessels and civilian submarine traffic. Submarines and electric vehicles are the main means of transport on the island – keeping the island free form air pollution and congestion caused by automobiles. The main traffic flows and facilitated via the water canals above and below the water surface.

Vertical gardens are interconnected with the public greenery system above and below the water. The Floating City will provide world class facilities, as well as additional supplies of new areas, in order to satisfy the long-term demand for human habitable land. Environmental impacts will be managed via innovative strategies. The proposed development and the associated infrastructure will bring positive change to the community and its economy; therefore the design will meet long-term infrastructure and sustainable development need, while bringing new opportunities to various city activities.

Angkasa Raya is situated directly across from the well-known Petronas Twin Towers in the heart of Kuala Lumpur City Center. The new tower by Ole Scheeren presents a new typology in high-rise skyscraper design that overtly expresses the inhabitation of diverse urban activities in a tropical environment and captures the vibrancy of the city’s multifaceted culture.

Angkasa Raya is comprised of five distinct elements – three floating elevated tower blocks and two multi-level zones of open horizontal slabs – that are autonomous yet connected to one another in a uniquely stacked and shifting configuration of varied functional and urban typologies. Rather than competing with the Twin Towers in the form of another “twin” or blending into the surrounding context of singular towers on a podium, Angkasa Raya offers a new contemporary reading of the capital city and stands as an icon of the harmonious and dynamic balance of Malaysia’s cultural multiplicity and diversity.

The tower Angkasa Raya accommodates Premium Offices, a luxury Hotel, and high-end Service Residences. Each function occupies one of the three rectangular volumes which, through their mutual support and delicate balance, generate a unity that is both multiple and symbiotic. A series of open horizontal slabs, bring urban life into the building and unfold two interconnected spirals of vehicular and pedestrian circulation, mixing signature retail, restaurants, cafes, a food court, and prayer rooms with abundant outdoor greenery and urban street-scape. The plural trajectories weave through the open levels and offer multiple street-like experiences of interconnected urban activities, injecting public spaces into the heart of the building.

At the virtual intersection between the three tower blocks, 120 meters above the city, are four levels of tropical greenery and metropolitan activity – the Sky Levels. Catapulting the public energy of the Ground Levels skywards, a signature bar and restaurant with outdoor dining terraces, an infinity edge pool, as well as a multi-function banquet hall, business lounges and meeting rooms offer premium work and leisure space in a lush environment with spectacular elevated views of the dramatic skyline.

The team of HMC Architects and HOY Architects and Associates, led by HMC’s Raymond Pan, was among the five finalists selected for the Taiwan Tower International Design Competition. Their proposal was envisioned as beacon for the city of Taichung. The iconic 400-meter tall green tower is an evolving column of life that captures and reflects the strength and resilience of the people of Taiwan. Rising from its roots that are infused with its people, place, history, and stories, this column of life is the culmination of the serendipitous lifestyle and inclusive multicultural dynamism of Taiwan. The tower sustains a creative synergy between structure and its context through a physical, visual, and metaphysical morphology.

The aim was that visitors experience the tower as a vertical museum, displaying the history of Taichung as a continuous tapestry of life ascending to 400 meters in height. The form of the tower rotates to provide optimal views of historical landmarks as visitors move upward through the tower and ascend through time.

The tower acts as a carbon sequester that responds and is adaptive to its location and climate. The characteristic form allows wind to pass through the super-tall structure, decreasing structural loads and harvesting the energy via integrated turbines. Modular, energy producing fins shade the tower from the tropical sun, and can be moved, updated, or enhanced as green technology continues to evolve. As a result, the tower produces 185 percent of its own energy needs, exporting the surplus renewable energy to the surrounding city.

Tom Wiskombe’s proposal for the Kinmen Passenger Service Center is based on the idea that the buildings are not simply a piece of infrastructure, but also a cultural intervention. In order to achieve this, one has to consider the unique history of Kinmen. What is very important now is that Kinmen Island can be re-vitalized and rediscovered through new modes of communication. Its heritage parks, wildlife, historical villages and also its military heritage can be a draw for a new generation of visitors and immigrants. In this context, designing a Port Terminal for Kinmen is great responsibility – it sets the tone for the island both in terms of reflecting its complex identity and affiliations, but also in terms of presenting a vision of its future.

Wiskombe’s design is intended to both symbolize a new era of open communication with Mainland China, and reflect the unique local culture of Kinmen. The design’s strong silhouette is supposed to be visible from Xiamen, and is characterized by dynamic figures arising from the terminal roof. The building aims to be the golden gate of Kinmen Island. The silhouette of the development is rooted in specific traditions of Kinmenese architecture.

The tradition of complex interwoven materials and patterns in Kinmen architecture is included in the project of Passenger Service Center. The envelope is characterized by three interfering but complimentary patterns – free-form seams, maze-like projections, and cross-grain panels. The simultaneity of these patterns produce a heterogeneous overall effect, reminiscent of local Kinmenese brickwork, with its distinctive diagonal striping and unconventional juxtapositions of material scales and orientations as well.

Tom Wiskombe’s design for the Passenger Service Center received Second Place in Stage II of the competition.

The National September 11 Memorial Pavilion opened May 21^st. Snøhetta was commissioned to design the only building on the memorial plaza at the World Trade Center site. The program has changed several times, however it has remained a cultural facility dedicated to visitor comfort and orientation. The design for the building embodies a careful reaction to the horizontal character of the memorial plaza’s design, while also providing the area with a lively organic form that allows the visitor to imagine the site and city in a broader sense.

Snøhetta’s design approach has always been characterized by an exploration of context. The WTC Memorial site carries with it both the power of its history and a new hope for the future. It is a place that conveys the memories and dreams of people around the world who are affected by its presence without forgetting its intimate connection to the people of New York. With its low, horizontal form and its uplifting geometry the Pavilion acts as a bridge between two worlds – between the Memorial and the Museum, the above and below ground, the light and dark, between collective and individual experiences. Inclined, reflective and transparent surfaces encourage people to walk up close, touch and gaze into the building.

Within the atrium there will stand two structural columns rescued from the original towers. Although removed from their former location and function, they mark the site with their own original aesthetic gesture. The Pavilion’s jewel-like, striped façade was developed in collaboration with the Client to allow the building to have a strong resonance for the visitor as well as providing visual and architectural connection to the surrounding urban environment. The flat plane of the Memorial Plaza is pierced by the glass Atrium of the Pavilion, which allows visitors to enter the below-grade Museum and bring with them sunlight from above.

DEZACT is pleased to announce Extra Fabrica 2014, a design & build studio-based workshop in Taipei, Taiwan from 28th June 2014 to 09th July 2014.

ExtraFabrica2014, a workshop on digital design and fabrication procedures, is being conducted in June-July 2014 in association with Shih Chien University and Tamkang University in Taipei, Taiwan. The interdisciplinary workshop provides an opportunity to architects and designers to be a part of the 12 day studio and investigate interactive design and fabrication solutions for dynamic socio-cultural fabrics.

The studio will investigate digital design and fabrication procedures in relation to the condition and context of Asian cities , Taipei in particular. The aim of the design studio will be to introduce computational design through using generative, algorithmic, data simulation and parametric design based techniques. Design proposals to develop new systems of mass customised building systems will be investigated through both physical and computational methods. Participants will use multiple software platforms for modelling, simulation and fabrication, towards multiple, variable and recursive prototypes for a range of urban conditions, driven by scenarios of future incremental, adaptive growth and change. Scaled prototypes will be fabricated in the studio and selected designs will be constructed at 1:1 scale based on the building systems developed. Participants will get the opportunity to explore advanced fabrication techniques and gain the knowledge of the workflow from design to production.

Tutors for Extra Fabrica 2014:
Doreen Bernath | SpaceMedia Int. , AA London
Gary Freedman | SHaGa London, UN Studio, AAVS Tel Aviv
Ping Hsiang Chen | [IN]Morph Lab, KPF London, AA London
Akshay Goyal | AG+DR, Architron Group, AA London
Sushant Verma | rat[LAB], Zaha Hadid Architects, AA London

Symposium:
Theodore Spyropoulos | AA DRL Director, Minimaforms
Robert Stuart-Smith | Kokkugia, AA DRL
Gao Yan | dotA, The University of Hong Kong
Gary Freedman | SHaGa London, UN Studio, AAVS Tel Aviv

Collaborators:
Arthur Mamou-Mani | Mamou-Mani Ltd., Simply Rhino Ltd., Uni. Westminster
Angel Fernando Lara Moreira | AA Digital Prototyping Lab, DLAB, Make LAB
Clive Eveleigh | WWarc.Taipei, ZERo-studio, Shih Chien University
Yao Chung-Han | i/O Lab, Shih Chien University
Leo Wu | Zaha Hadid Architects, PLP Architecture, Populous

Acapulco Chair 60th Anniversary Limited Edition

The Acapulco Chair is one of the most iconic chairs of the 20th Century. This year The Common project is celebrating the chair’s 60th Anniversary with a very special Limited Edition. The 60th Anniversary Edition consists of a chrome-plated frame with a translucent shell. The choice of materials evokes refinement and sophistication and brings the classic design into the 21st Century. It has been transformed from a fun patio chair into luxury indoor and outdoor seating. Only 600 chairs were produced.

The Common Project produces the authentic classic born in 1953 in Acapulco, Mexico and highlights its rich history in the world of design. The chair is also available in the 4 classic colors: black, white, mustard, and turquoise.

The 60th Anniversary Acapulco Chair is available for a limited time at The Common Project.

Acapulco Chair 60th Anniversary Limited Edition

Acapulco Chair 60th Anniversary Limited Edition

La Tour Bioclimatique office tower by UNStudio was designed as an organizing element for the previously disconnected programmatic clusters within the Issy-Les-Moulineaux area of Paris. In order to find the most optimal placement on the site, a typological study was performed, resulting in a streamlined plan that gives an optimal basic plan.This basic plan of the building has been further optimized into a smart organization by utilizing software driven form-finding processes which take into account optimal floor area in relation to compact core design, optimal facade length and daylight penetration for the offices.

As they state at UNStudio, sustainability is an integral part of the design process as three interconnected entities – passive sustainability which focuses on non-technological parameters such as building efficiency, flexibility and materials; active sustainability which integrates fully the design of technological techniques to advance the operational efficiency and social sustainability which caters on the level of user comfort and the influence of the building on its surroundings on multiple scale levels. Next to building efficiency, flexibility is an equally important factor for ensuring future usability. The floor plan and vertical distribution are designed in such a way that many different tenant scenarios can be realized.

The facade functions as a skin for the building that contains all the key factors of a sustainable high-rise building. The concept of the natural ventilated double facade is limited to a height range of 1-4 floors to prevent the risk of overheating, allowing the system to perform to highest standards in all seasons. The building influences the comfort and well-being of individuals by incorporating working environments with different qualities, such as communal work spaces, concentration work spaces, lounges, meeting centers, team work centers. By connecting floors through the expanded double facades and by planting these spaces, vertical office gardens can be created to provide pleasant working environments.

SOM’s design for All Aboard Florida’s new multi-modal hub for Miami is finally revealed. In addition to the Miami hub, SOM is also planning and designing All Aboard Florida’s passenger stations in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. All Aboard Florida’s 235-mile network of rail lines will connect South Florida to Orlando by utilizing the current rail infrastructure for the Florida East Coast Corridor between Miami and the Space Coast and creating new tracks into Central Florida. The transformational infrastructure project will provide a vital new service for Florida residents, business people, and visitors and eliminate more than three million car trips from the region’s roadways each year.

All Aboard Florida integrates transportation infrastructure with mixed use development to serve as a catalyst for transformation and economic vitality in a city that is quickly becoming a model for urban living today. At SOM, they state that the project is a true celebration of the power and potential of transit-oriented development.

SOM’s three stations will be key portals within All Aboard Florida’s rail system. Envisioned not only as gateways to their respective cities, but also as iconic destinations, the terminals will be filled with spaces to shop, eat, and meet. In downtown Miami, SOM has responded to an extraordinarily challenging and dense site by elevating the railways 50 feet in the air. Retail spaces are vertically layered beneath the soaring tracks and ample use of glass will give the station a shimmering, lightweight quality. This innovative solution allows thru-streets to remain open to traffic and for valuable street front real estate to remain leasable. Moreover, this bold architectural gesture creates a landmark terminal, serving as a symbol of a 21st-century Miami.

The Scitech mixed-use redevelopment by UNStudio is located on a crossing point of traditional and modern developments in Beijing, China. The site is adjacent to the city’s east-west central axis leading to the Tiananmen Square. UNStudio’s massing strategy for the plot focuses on creating optimal links between the mixed-use programming of the redevelopment, whilst interweaving a dense low rise development with a high rise component. Simultaneously, through phasing the redevelopment, the existing retail mall is integrated into the design from the outset.

In the low rise portion of the new development, a series of connected courtyards organize the different programs around the user flows to form an urban carpet, providing outdoor and indoor spaces which combine programs through internal and external links. This five to seven storey high podium is designed as an undulating landscape that organizes the traffic flows on its perimeters, whilst providing interior green and sheltered spaces for pedestrian access. The towers emerge from the low rise base and provide singular usage for hotel and office premises. In the intersection with the low rise podium, functions are allocated accordingly to create maximum synergy between activities in the low rise zone and the towers. The public zones in the towers are highlighted by connected atria and voids.

The podium is primarily dedicated to retail function with five levels underground and eight levels above ground, including spa and conference facilities located within the upper floor and roof-scape. Three underground levels provide parking facilities, and the remaining two house a supermarket, food court and programmatically arranged drop offs to sustain the ground level for pedestrians. These levels have visual links and vertical circulation to the upper levels through a series of voids. The main circulation concept utilizes clustered atriums instead of one central atrium. This concept enables stretched diagonal visual and physical links as well as local aggregations of varied atmospheres.

Apertures by B+U. photo: Joshua White

Within the discipline of Architecture, the discussion of fields, networks, and smooth transitions has dominated the dialogue over the past 15 years. Rooted in philosophical models by Deleuze, systems theory, and parametricism, it has influenced many generations of architects. Parametricism promotes a relational ontology in which entities have no autonomous reality and are based on “continuous differentiation;” everything is connected, everything flows.

This position of an architecture rooted in dynamism and deterritoriali-zation is being opposed by a radically different approach, giving way to a contemporary design practice working with discrete figures that cannot be entirely understood through its pristine digital relations. This position is one that is obsessed with capturing qualities that would appear to be incongruous by incorporating analog features into a digital design process. The installation Apertures, designed for the SCI-Arc Gallery, is firmly positioned within this approach.

Apertures are the architectural catalysts for the installation design, being defined as objects within a larger building object that differ from its host in terms of morphology and performance. They are disruptive features to the overall building mass, but are able to interact with their environment, focusing on a symbiotic relationship between nature, building morphologies, and material expression.

Apertures have been an ongoing topic in our work, challenging the notion of an architectural opening as a static object by re-defining the DNA of a window, both in terms of its appearance and materiality, as well as its nature as an object in continuous flux, responding to its environment through movement or sound.

The 16-foot-tall, thin shell structure was designed to solely rely on its extremely thin surface (1/8”) as support, requiring no additional structural elements. Structure and surface are collapsed into a single component supported through its shape, creased surfaces and material strength only. Each one of the 172 panels is unique in terms of its shape. They are CNC milled from polyurethane foam, heat formed out of thermoplastic polymer resin, and then laminated together into a single object.

Unique to this project is the proposal of building as organism, challenging how architecture can interface with its users and its environment in a much more intuitive way. This entails both the use of technology to augment its performance and a design aesthetic that is incongruous and can incorporate analog features into a digital design process.

The project also offers a radically new design approach to sustainable design, emphasizing an Architecture in-between nature and technology that can operate as an interactive building organism where multiple discrete features operate simultaneously and independently. In this case sound is used to bridge the gap between the natural and the artificial, allowing the visitor to experience their own biorhythms.

Baumgartner+Uriu (B+U) Herwig Baumgartner and Scott Uriu, the founders of Baumgartner+Uriu (B+U), are an internationally recognized design duo operating at the forefront of contemporary design. Their design process can be described as driven by digital techniques and advanced computation that utilizes new technologies and material resources. B+U’s work consistently pushes the boundaries of architecture and urban design, experimenting with new spatial concepts, and intensifying existing urban landscapes in pursuit of a visionary aesthetic that encompasses all fields of design.

B+U recently exhibited at the FRAC Center in Orleans, France; the Centre Pompidou in Paris, France; the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles, California; and the 12th Architecture Biennale in Venice, Italy.

Two monographs have been published on Baumgartner and Uriu’s work. It has also been widely published and discussed in books, magazines and newspapers. The firm was recently awarded with the Maxine Frankel Award for design research, the AIA national award for emerging professionals and the Architizer A+Award for sustainability and the Graham Grant for advanced studies in Fine Arts.

Apertures by B+U. photo: Joshua White

Apertures by B+U. photo: Joshua White

Apertures by B+U. photo: Joshua White

Apertures by B+U. photo: Joshua White

Apertures by B+U. photo: Joshua White

Apertures by B+U. photo: Joshua White

Inspired by Ridley Scott’s 1982 “Blader Runer”, Patrick Soares and Indra Alam, students at the Florida International University in Miami, envisioned a future plagued by after affects of war and corruption, for their master thesis. The context is of climate change, global dimming, pollution and de-population. In order to establish an architectural strategy for this scenario they looked into Deleuze’s idea’s of Nomadology, Archigram’s the Plug-In City + the Walking City, along with Mat-Urbanism.

Their thesis is about testing post-apocalyptic urban strategies through interface. Interface of human and machine and architecture and machine, aiming to negotiate friction between mechanical components and organic landscape. The landscape and the mechanical have a symbiotic relationship through which one is reliant upon the other for the system to thrive. The user physically plugs into the structure, while the structure itself plugs into existing infrastructure. The site is the old Santa Fe freight yard in downtown Los Angeles.

Analysis derived from research on the circuitry and motherboard of a computer, and the components within it, was used to inform the architecture on the site. The “capacitors” on the motherboard were interpreted as the existing structure on the site. The HUBS will eventually fragmentarily detach and plug into the next station to serve a different purpose from site to site, essentially becoming nomadic themselves. The authors state that the most important aspect of this project that people should be aware of is that this future is dark and dystopic. The architecture responds to that by developing nomadic qualities. Meaning it unplugs itself from its HUB, moves by use of the railway, and expands the network.

In an era which could be defined by dominant need of representation of the power and by inevitable environmental awareness on the other side, LAVA’s concept for the Oromia Bank Tower in Oromia, Ethiopia brings the promising compromise – it creates an environmentally responsive icon, inspired by the local cultural identity and uses nature’s fluid geometry to be both efficient and beautiful. The façade design references waterfalls, the fine texture of local woven baskets, whilst the rich colors of opals highlight the significance of this national institution.

High-tech methodology of the tower combined with local construction and delivery techniques create a sophisticated tower borne out of a strong sense of place. Simply organized, the sky-scraper consists of an iconic main banking hall on the ground floor with 20 levels of office space above.

More with less has been achieved by the innovative integration of structure and environmental control systems. A façade of external fins controls solar gain and reflects light deep into the floor space, saving energy. The tower’s upper levels step back to give way to a spectacular rooftop cafe, complete with a solar harvesting open-air roof canopy. Optimized site boundaries, maximized plot coverage, adaptability for future proofing and efficient floor plate dimensions all combine to create a tower that is at once iconic, efficient and forecasts a strong future direction for the city.

Oromia Bank Tower project by Laboratory for Visionary Architecture is a competition proposal, done together with JDAW Battle McCarthy Architects.

Arup engineers pushed the boundaries of 3D printing – by using the latest techniques – additive manufacturing – the team has created a design method for critical structural steel elements for use in more complex projects. The work gives a whole new direction for the use of additive manufacturing in the field of construction and engineering. The research also shows that additive manufacturing has the potential to significantly reduce costs, cut waste and slash the carbon footprint of the construction sector, which is essential in an era of environmental awareness.

Salomé Galjaard, Team Leader at Arup, states that by using additive manufacturing it is possible to create lots of complex individually designed pieces far more efficiently. This has tremendous implications for reducing costs and cutting waste. Most importantly, this approach potentially enables a very sophisticated design, without the need to simplify the design in a later stage to lower costs.

They created a redesign of a steel node for a light weight structure using additive manufacturing. Arup has a lot of experience with these kinds of structures, for example the tensegrity structure of the Kurilpa Bridge in Australia. The complex geometry of these kinds of nodes is an ideal showcase of the possibilities of this new technique.

Arup funded the development work and collaborated with a number of partners to realize the designs, including WithinLab (an engineering design software and consulting company), CRDM/3D Systems (the Additive Manufacturing partner) and EOS, who worked on the early development of the technology.

The pavilion at Röhsska Museum of Design in Göteborg, by students Marcus Abrahamsson and Benoit Croo is entirely built out of precision cut stainless steel. With perforations that shift the light and with joints that are put together by hand, it serves as a focus point in the big courtyard while visitors can relax in its shade. The pavilion is parametrically designed in Grasshopper and Rhino to optimize loads, sun and shade, and material use.

The idea was to construct a pavilion that provided shading inside and outside. The pavilion therefore creates a network of spaces with the existing furniture that altogether manages to inhabit the large courtyard, like different small islands in an archipelago.

Inside the pavilion visitor can lie comfortably on the smooth surface where he finds himself in a space, the pavilion, within a space, the courtyard, that creates a small but secluded getaway from the hectic city life of central Gothenburg that is just outside the courtyard. The perforation in the ceiling spreads out an organic pattern resembling the one you would see from a tree in the forest.

Contrasting the sleek inside, the outside of the pavilion lets the visitor study in detail how the 133 pieces are joined together with 1535 joints. Three triangles form the base on which curves are added to make up a double curved surface using one constant radius. The surface is trimmed to compose an interesting shape. Perforations are added to the top parts to enhance the inner experience of the pavilion. The parts are cut using laser cutter technology, which gave them the exact curvature through compression.

BIG’s addition to the Maison des Fondateurs will be located among of the historical complex of workshops and factories in Le Brassus, Switzerland, in the heart of La Vallée de Joux. Its organization and architecture embodies the core values of Audemars Piguet. It had to be characterized by the independent spirit of the family owned company that has retained autonomy over the years, making it a game changing innovator in a field governed by rules and traditions.

This spiral proposal is rooted in the heritage of watch-making in La Vallée de Joux that goes back centuries and is nested in the nature and culture of the place and the people of the valley. And finally it had to incorporate the inner tension that characterizes Audemars Piguet and resonates throughout the brand, the craft and the designs as captured in the motto – to break the rules you must first master them. La Maison des Fondateurs is conceived as an oxymoron, striking but subtle, contemporary yet timeless. Functional and sculptural. Floating yet rooted. Local presence with a global resonance.

The spiral landmark is seamlessly integrated in the local landscape. The architecture aimed to be contemporary yet timeless in order to blend with the historical buildings and to create an intuitive sequence of spaces – old and new. A pavilion for the art and science of watch making is conceived as storyline for the visitors – every element governed by the functional requirements of the exhibition, appears as a striking sculpture conceived in a single gesture.

LAVA- Laboratory for Visionary Architecture designed Jeju Hills Hotel Resort for Korea – the island will house a luxurious hotel designed as another landform. JeJu is a mountainous volcanic landform located in the south east of South Korea. The island acts as a major holiday destination for South Koreans, as well as the Chinese and Japanese, as a result of its unique location between the three East Asian nations. The beautiful natural landscape and its seasonal variation attracts locals and holidaymakers alike. The island is home to the world heritage Hallasan volcano and lava tubes, a national icon and tourist destination.

The hotel is designed as a landform. ‘Valleys and canyons’, generated as a topological structure, form 2000 rooms around a terracing facade and internal courtyard rooms around interconnected open atrium spaces. These spaces connect to form a continuous green landscape throughout the interior of the hotel creating a natural atmosphere. This landscape continues to the canyon between the two sinuous residential zones, accentuating the connection with the beachfront forest over which they look. The whole development forms continuous landscape, within and out. The hotel also houses a cinema, restaurants, aquarium, waterfront promenade and marina seamlessly interact with a continuous shopping and retail experience. These activities seamlessly interact with the natural beauty of JeJu.

The development is 600,000 square meters in total, with the highest volumes reaching 77 meters. Organic in form, it represents the perfect continuation of the natural landscape of the island, minimizing visual impact.