OMA Wins Design For Taipei Performing Arts Center

The scheme by OMA partners Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren includes a 1,500 seat theatre and two 800 seat theatres which plug into a central cube, clad in corrugated glass, that combines the stage accommodations of the three theatres in a single whole. Each theatre can be used independently or in combination with the other theatres. Connecting the different theatres offers new and experimental theatrical possibilities. A public trajectory inside the cube exposes parts of the backstage areas otherwise hidden in typical theatres. The cube is placed on a socle preserving the existing lively local food market.

OMA will collaborate with local architect Artech Inc. to build the 120,000 square foot theatre complex. The stage design is being developed with Ducks Sceno and the engineering is being provided by Arup. The centre is scheduled to be completed in 2013 with a budget of 3.8 billion Taiwan dollars (90 million Euro). The Taipei city council expects the centre to further facilitate the development of local performing groups and add to Taipei’s image as an international cultural hub.

The project is led by OMA partners Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren. The competition team included associate André Schmidt and architects Adam Frampton and Mariano Sagasta, amongst many others. Koolhaas’s and Scheeren’s previous collaborations include the CCTV Headquarters and TVCC Cultural Centre in Beijing, as well as Prada Epicentre Stores in New York and Los Angeles.”

Source: OMA

Image obtained from: architecturelab.net

Madrid Solar Convention Center

Very few people know that due to decent weather and heavy public investment, Spain has quietly become a giant in solar energy, which has led to Madrid's building investment to create an icon that will represent the far reaching achievements in solar technology.

This symbol, designed by Mansilla+Tunon is a new convention center whose facade will be made entirely of solar panels. Just under 330 feet tall, it is to have over six stories of convention spaces, totalling over 1 million square feet with its largest auditorium seating 5,000.

The building gets its concept from a "solar lens" (now dubbed the "Death Star" by some critics, who must be star wars buffs) and is to be located with the business district of the city and will be surrounded by new office towers. It has been called "an advertisement for the country's accomplishments in cutting edge solar technology", which may soon become Spain's signature export as countries like the US scramble to catch up with the green revolution."


Image obtained from: www.fastcompany.com

Design Team For Black History Museum Narrowed Down To Six Finalists

Yesterday, the 29Th of January, six award winning teams were chosen to compete for the design of the national Museum for African American History on the mall of the Washington Monument. The final conceptual design will be chosen based on the sensitivity shown in the treatment of the site, due to its historical reference, and a demonstration of their own understanding of the African American experience.

The museum's site, selected by the Smithsonian Board of Regents, is a five-acre parcel on the southwest corner of Constitution Avenue and 14Th Street NW that has never had a permanent building on it. It is 800 feet from the monument and will sit next to the National Museum of American History.

Selected from a pool of 22 firms who submitted their qualifications, the remaining 6 called to submit entries are: Foster and Partners/URS, a joint venture, with the Foster firm as architect and URS handling the engineering design. Other teams are: Devrouax & Purnell, Freelon Adjaye Bond, I.M. Pei and Moshe Safdie and Associates.

Each architectural team is receiving a $50,000 stipend from the Smithsonian. One of the hurdles is that the architects have to demonstrate they can complete the 300,000 to 350,000 square foot, $500 million project in three years. Construction is to start in 2012, and the museum is scheduled to open in 2015.

Upon commencement, this project is fixing to be the most closely monitored in the Country due to its proximity to the Monument and the controversy between democrats and republicans over the allotment of funds for developing the Mall and its surrounding area. The $200 million provision to refurbish the mall itself was removed on the 26Th by the House Rules Committee amidst a torrent of GOP criticism about wasteful or non-stimulative spending. So I wonder where the money for this museum will be coming from. The Smithsonian stated that half is to come from the Federal government but what about the other half and is the government's half in the stimulus package? If it is, I wonder that the bloodhounds of the RNC didn't sniff it out and call for it to be removed as well.


Image obtained from: washingtonpost.com

Beckham's Childhood Home Still Up For Sale?

A modest three bedroom property in Leytonstone, north east London has received a lot of interest from fat purse individuals and has brought much attention to an otherwise quiet neighborhood after it was verified that the LA Galaxy right midfielder spent his first two years in the house.

Colin Evans, a local businessman, stumbled upon the property while doing research on famous people from Leytonstone and surprised the owners with the news. After verifying from Evans that the England captain did indeed live there from when he was born at nearby Whipps Cross University Hospital on May 2 1975, before moving to Chingford in 1977, they quickly made him sole agent for the sale.

Similar houses in the area normally sell for around £250,000 but the Beckham name brand has not surprisingly, raised the property value. An advert for the house on the U.K real estate website gumtree.com, as of November of last year, listed the asking price at £850,000 and describes it as "a lovely town house" with wooden floors and french windows opening onto the garden. Not long after, Colin Evans received an offer from an anonymous Australian Beckham enthusiast for £1million. In the same month, a spokeman for David Beckham reported the the star himself was interested in purchasing the house and offered £1.5million for it.

This is the month of January and there doesn't seem to have been any sale yet (at least I haven't heard of any) of the Leytonstone property. How much more do Evans and the current owners want for the place. The Beckham offer is already three times the property value and in this economy, I'm not sure that there are going to be too many offers to beat that, unless of course its been sold already. If anyone knows about its sale please "talk me down" as Rachael would say.



Image obtained from www.telegraph.co.uk

Completion Of The Nakheel tower On Hold?

In October, I wrote a post about the 3,280 ft high tower in Dubai and how this project was set to be one of the tallest buildings in the world upon its previously projected topout in 2018. Now it seems that this date will have to be pushed back a year with a halt in construction as Dubai, the Middle East's business and entertainment capital feels the effects of the economic recession (Really?).

The decision to put this project on hold came as a leading credit rating company warned that falling real estate prices would probably hurt banks in Dubai and elsewhere in the United Arab Emirates. Representatives of the developer said in a statement that "further work" on the tower's foundations will resume in 12 months though they failed to state just how much work has been done so far. "This is part of our readjustment of our immediate business plans to better reflect the current market trends and match supply with demand," the company said.

The tower named after Nakheel, a state-owned builder has been competing with the Burg Dubai, which is still under construction and has reached 780 meters, or 2,559 feet, and now has more than 160 stories. The final height though is still being kept a secret till its completion but for now, it look like the Burg Dubai is going to win the race.

I must confess that I'm a bit surprised that Dubai of all places that seemed to defy cost, detrimental effects on their ecosystem or common sense has been affected by the economic downturn the rest of us regular folk feel. I guess this will put somewhat of a damper on the whole "mine is bigger than yours" race in the Middle east. Still, with a secret price tag, which probably means that the tower costs a mind boggling amount of money, it is little wonder that further funding might be tight even in Dubai.


Image obtained from: the International Herald tribune.

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

Herzog and de Meuron Set To Redefine New York Skyline

In the fall of 2008, construction began on the 57 storey residential tower to be located on 56 Leonard Street in the Tribeca area of New York, where it will rise above cobbled streets and historic 19th century neighboring buildings. The tower will house 145 residences which have been offset and staggered so that each have their own unique floor plans and outdoor terrace, allowing this concrete structure to break away from the traditional look of buildings of similar typology. This also ensures that all residents have an unobstructed view from downtown Manhattan to as far as the Atlantic Ocean from their terrace.

The tower, set to top out in the fall of 2010, has a footprint of 12,500 square feet and a gross floor area of 425,000 square feet. Units withing the tower will range from 1,430 square feet to 6,380 square feet, huge for New York and is to include two to five bedroom residences and 10 penthouses. Prices for the residences at 56 Leonard Street range from $3.5 million to $33 million.

Herzog and de Meuron have also designed the structure to interact with the public streetscape with an articulated base whose cantilevers generate a sense of movement and permeability. Here, the building’s defining corner will be the site of a major commissioned sculpture by internationally celebrated London-based artist Anish Kapoor.

This is a very bold statement by Herzog and de Meuron and I appreciate their effort to create something unique and not just another vertically extruded tower. I am however concerned about how this structure will be braced for wind loads. Concrete does not always allow for one to be very radical at such heights but all in all, I am impressed with Herzog and de Meuron design, as always.


Images obtained from www.dezeen.com
For more information, check: www.archdaily.com/6268/56-leonard-street-new-york-herzog-de-meuron

Boklok, The Ikea House

Even though this product is a few years old, I wanted to take some time to talk about it, especially after my last posting about the "Universal world house." IKEA, the Swedish company we all know so well for making affordable furniture of poor durability, put out their Boklok (which translates to "smart living") house in 2007.

Though the company claims that it went to great lengths to consider aesthetics in the house design, it looks horrid to me. In most of the examples I've seen online, they are all "blockish" with very little consideration for allowing adequate natural light to enter the spaces. Also, the claims that it is very affordable, which is supposed to be the main selling point, doesn't make the slightest sense to me as prices range from €150,000 to €222,000 for between 46 and 81 square meters (495-872 square feet). I don't really have a good sense of what housing and accommodation is like in the U.K and Europe in general as its been many years since I lived outside of the United States but that sounds like a lot of money for very little space. For that much money, one can buy a very comfortable house in anywhere in the south of the United States so to pay that much for a space that is just about the size of my apartment when I was in college seems absolutely ridiculous to me.

Another thing that I find odd is why anyone would trust IKEA to build a house for them when the very same IKEA is notorious for making furniture that never lasts. Although they say that in the case of the Boklok, their professionals will assemble it for you, unlike their furniture, it still does not make me feel any more comfortable with it. If IKEA can't make bookshelves with a decent life-span, why should anyone dare to live in anything they have a hand in? Certainly not for over €200,000! Thank you very much but I prefer my suburban track home to that thing.

The only good that I see this contraption, for that is what it is, being useful for is solely for temporary shelter. This and the universal house would have been very good to have back in the aftermath of Katrina. When faced with a disaster like that which displaces so many people from their homes, one of the biggest dilemmas is how to find quick accommodation for everyone. The Boklok and universal house would be quick to set up and relatively easy enough to manage. Outside of that, I think they are a waste of time and definitely money. I have not actually seen them anywhere though I came across some old blogs from 07 on which many residents in London where excited about them and wondering where they could be purchased. I hope they found other alternatives.



Image obtained from spigel online
For more information, check: www.spiegel.de/international

Recession Defying Plans For London Towers

The Swiss based practice of Herzog & de Meuron, responsible for the Beijing national stadium and the new Portsmouth Stadium on Horsea Island, is proposing three towers of 320, 640 and 800ft respectively, to be the tallest residential projects in the country. The towers located next to the Renzo Piano "Shard" is part of the redevelopment plan for the London Bridge station area.

The towers are to have 380 apartments, , along with a hotel, retail and cinema space. The tallest tower, which would be 65 storeys, would include 121 flats along with the hotel, the other tower will have a total of 115 flats contained within 51 storeys while the shortest, at 31 storeys, will boast 144 flats. The sheer scale of the project is already dividing opinion among the select few who have seen it which is is to be expected. The reservation felt by many in the U.K is that these buildings do not quite have a place next to more traditional British designed structures as they break with the consistency of "character and Scale." Some sentiment is that the proposals have not incorporated enough parkland into the design as this might help to lessen their perceived impact on the site especially on the street level from a pedestrian point of view.

It is not only surprising that these projects are being planned with what the economy is like in the U.K but also that there has been such fervor in responses about this project when the complete designs and cost estimates have not been unveiled yet and will not be till mid February. Still, it is commendable of Herzog & de Meuron to be planning such a large scale project in light of the economic crunch and I know that i am the first to always condemn a building design that clashes with its surroundings but these days, any project is a good project mainly because I don't think there is anymore room or money for frivolous designs. But I will withhold further comment till there are more details on the project in its entirety.

Image obtained from buildingdesignonline.com
For more information, check: www.bdonline.co.uk

New Las Vejas Affordable Housing

The Otto Merida Desert Villas in Las Vegas, an 8 acre affordable housing project has finally done what all "affordable" designs have failed to do; create a vibrant community without the stigma we tend to associate with low income housing- that it will be a focal point for all the unsavory characters in the area to congregate and threaten the safety of "regular" taxpayers.

The $15,000,000 mixed financed design, by Las Vegas-based Lucchesi Galati Architects comprises 27 two bedroom, 30 three bedroom and 3 four bedroom detached single family and duplex rental units all with drought tolerant landscaping, which won a 2008 merit award for water-conscious residential landscape design from the Southern Nevada Water Authority in Las Vegas). Also included in the neighborhood layout is a children's playground, water-spray play area, barbecue niches and a community center.

A strong sense of community is fostered in the neighborhood by having front porches oriented toward the street to form a community street scape, rear porches facing each other, shared courtyards, and landscaped walkways and patios connecting the units and encouraging interaction. Though many of the units are rental apartments, Lucchesi Galati designed each to break from the traditional look of apartments in the country and look more like single-family residential homes. John Haddad, the project manager says that this was done to give residents a feeling of ownership and a sense of pride. The project, which opened last year, also includes a number of sustainability strategies with passive solar orientation and use of Energy Star appliances within each unit.


For more information, check: www.aia.org/aiarchitect/thisweek09/0116/0116d_desert.cfm