World's First Flying Hotel!

Modeled on the Soviet Mil V-12, the largest helicopter ever built, this double deck Airbus A380 idea has seemingly set the bar high for luxury accommodation. The Russian Hotelicopter Company purchased one of these prototypes from the Mikhail Leontyevich Mil helicopter plant in Panki-Tomilino, Russia in 2004 and claim to have been working out the kinks in the design ever since.

This contraption boasts 18 luxury rooms, each soundproofed and furnished with a queen-sized bed, fine linens, a mini-bar, coffee machine, wireless Internet access, and all the trimmings one would expect to find in a flying hotel with room service offered half and hour before and after take off.

"The original Mil V-12 was an amazingly large helicopter which absolutely dwarfs any heavy lift Helicopter in use today. Each rotor had a diameter of nearly 115 ft (35m), mounted at the end of a large wing, making the distance from the tips of each rotor blade wider than the wingspan of a Boeing 747. The two Soviet built V-12s did fly and still hold the helicopter heavy lift world record of 44,205 kg (88,636 lb) at a height of 2,255m (7,398 feet) set on August 6th 1969 but were simply too big and difficult to maneuver to be practical so never reached production." - Gizmag, 3/30

Although the company, Hotelicopter has shown very imaginative and innovative images of this design as well as a flight tour, just from the above dimentions and weight, I have my doubts about just how practical these claims might be. For starters, the specified Maximum Takeoff Weight is given at 232,870 lb, the same as the original Mil V-12 helicopter even though three stories of rooms have been added and this really doesn't sound feasible. So although a flight tour has been released, starting June 26th, I think these plans are pretty spurious especially considering that yesterday was April fool's.







Images obtained from: www.likecool.com
Article details obtained from: www.gizmag.com

Chiofaro Seeks To Invigorate Boston Waterfront

Developer Don Chiofaro is proposing a three-tower structure on the site of the Harbor Garage, which he owns. It's a key location in Boston, between the New England Aquarium on one side and the center of the new Greenway on the other.

William Pedersen of Kohn Pedersen Fox in New York, is the chief designer and in the current version of his conceptual design, there are two occupied towers. One holds 200-300 hotel rooms, topped by maybe 120 condos. The other tower contains 850,000 square feet of office space while it is still unclear what the program of the third tower is to be. "It's pure architecture, pure sculpture," says Chiofaro. "I want to make the buildings feel like a gateway from the harbor to the Greenway," reinforcing the sentiment in the city that Chiofaro really just wants the third tower to ensure that he owns the tallest building in Boston.

Responsible for the lower floors of the entire complex are Boston based architects Elkus Manfredi. The lower floors will house a shopping arcade, another 70,000 square feet with underground parking for 1,200 to 1,400 cars, meaning that the Harbor Garage is to be demolished.

Although Chiofaro reiterated several times that this mixed use project will revitalize the now dead Greenway by means of the shops and hotel, the plans have been received with very little enthusiasm of which I too share. As it is, the "greenway" has little green about it and another highrise casting yet another shadow is going to jeopardize what green is left. Also, the wind tunnel effect created will make connecting corridors very uncomfortable.
I am usually always in support of new building plans and ideas to help the stagnated economy but in this case, it looks like Chiofaro just wants to create a building that will earn him back some or all of his money lost when he overpaid for the harbor garage.


Image obtained from: www.boston.com.

Zaha Creates "Diamond Grasshopper"

The competition for the new design for the fire station extension in Antwerp, Belgium to house the port authority headquarters was won by Zaha Hadid who described her conceptual design as a "crystalline volume suspended on concrete legs."

The estimated €30.5m design, which has a facade clad in glass and brushed aluminum panels was designed by Zaha to mimic a diamond in reference to the Belgian port's diamond industry. Hadid said: “The dichotomy between the reflective, faceted form of the new extension and the powerful structural mass of the existing fire station creates a bold and enigmatic statement for the city.”

The design has not been developed much past its conceptual phase, so I am eager to see what the details will contain especially how her structural system is to work. I do hope though that this time it is something feasible; Zaha's designs have not always come to fruition throughout her career. All in all, it is an interesting design though a little over the top for the Belgian port authority.


Image obtained from www.building.co.uk

Berkeley's New Art Museum

After a 1997 survey that found that the University of Berkeley Museum's existing concrete structure did not meet seismic standards, the project to create a new visual arts facility and retrofit the museum was developed. Toyo Ito's conceptual proposal, which when built will be his first United States project, was recently chosen by the university.

This new and ambitious plan seeks to enlarge the current building by nearly 40% with the new structure conceived as a simple three story box with each level divided into sixteen squares. The first floor will house two theatres, five exhibition galleries, a museum store and other visitor's facilities and attractions.

The curvilinear structure, located in an area where the UC Berkeley campus meets the city, at the northwest corner of Oxford and Center Streets seeks to give the city of Berkeley a landmark building. The new museum will also be close to the Bart Rail system, the Berkeley Repertory theater, the Jazz school and the Aurora Theater company.

The building design reflects Ito's ideas on creating grids that "erode" to generate more fluid forms on the exterior, making for more dynamic street level interaction. Also, the gallery walls will be designed to move between exhibition areas to allow for more exploration of the spaces which all offer different activities. The museum is set to open mid 2013.

Though still in its conceptual form, I think this project will be a very dynamic structure for the university, the city of Berkeley and the entire Bay Area. Frank Ghery should take a look at this and see how university buildings can be designed with "out of the box" thinking that does not translate to creating ridiculous ensembles of materials and shapes that neither relate to each other nor the site.


Images obtained from www.arcspace.com/architects/ito/bam

MVDRV Wins Concept Design Competition In Seoul

Last month, the Rotterdam based architects MVDRV with Arup as structural consultants won the concept design for the proposed city center of the new future town of Gwanggyo about 36 kilometers south from Seoul, Korea.

Though still in its conceptual phase, this acropolis of organic hill structures was designed to be a self-sufficient city of 77,000 inhabitants, 200,000 square meters for housing and retail respectively and 48,000 of office space. This concentration of different programs on the site was meant to reduce the dependency on cars and public transportation as everything residents might need are all located within this striking interactive community.

Each hill was designed as concentric circles growing vertically so as to ensure that every part of the program is provided with an outdoor terrace. Hollow central cores with the structures form atriums that serve as lobbies providing light, ventilation and create semi-public spaces for the retail portion of the program. Also, plantations around the terrace with a floor to floor circulation system store rainwater for irrigation.

The design is currently being reviewed for development feasibility at the Gyeonggi provincial authority's urban innovation corporation center. Development is set for 2011 with construction set to begin short after.

This design is very striking and forward thinking in its own way even though it reminds me of a "wookie" settlement from Star Wars, but still, I appreciate the thought process of trying not to create another mixed use tower and I think the incorporation of box hedges on the terraces will improve the overall climate and ventilation as well as reduce energy and water usage.

Images obtained from www.habitat.com