Month: September 2018

There are so many complexities and contradictions in both life in general and architecture in particular. I am writing this intro to an interview I held in 2004 with Robert Venturi and his life-and-architecture partner Denise Scott Brown, while visiting Beijing’s Tsinghua University where I was invited to teach this fall. Was it simply a coincidence when, at the last moment before leaving my New York City apartment I would, by chance, grab a 2001 issue of Architecture magazine with Venturi on its cover and his contradictory quote, “I am not now and never have been a postmodernist.”

The spatial distribution of a restaurant or bar is essential to its success. Faced with this design challenge, several architects have experimented and proposed configurations that both enhance the use of space in different culinary experiences.

Arriving in Delft is an unforgettable experience. From the outset, Mecanoo’s idea was to design a station that makes it clear to visitors that they have arrived in Delft. The station, in combination with the new city hall, sits atop a new train tunnel built in place of the old concrete viaduct that divided the city in two since 1965. Coming up the escalators, the impressive ceiling with the historic map of Delft unfolds. When you look outside, you see the city and the old station as a contemporary version of Johannes Vermeer’s painting ‘View of Delft’.

KID’S FACTORY

YAC – Young Architects Competitions – and Urban Up l Unipol launch “Kid’s Factory”, an architectural competition to transform the former pottery of Laveno Mombello into the largest and most innovative campus for childhood in the world. A cash prize of € 20,000 will be awarded to winners selected by a well-renowned jury made of, among the others, Ben van Berkel (UNstudio), Keiichiro Sako (Sako Architects), Peter Wilson (Bolles+Wilson), Arne Emerson (Morphosis), Emmanuelle Moureaux, Mario Cucinella, Stefano Boeri.

Four summer houses are set in Montenegro mountains, just a few kilometers away from the Adriatic sea. The project explores the potentials of open habitable spaces in relation to the common notion that only enclosed areas are considered as spaces to live in, occupy or own. As an innovative response to strict building regulations (minimal enclosed area required), AKVS architects turn the building inside-out. Instead of having many closed rooms and one open terrace, they designed one enclosed space and several open and semi-open areas, in this way blurring the boundary between habitable space and its natural surroundings, and directly engaging the architecture with its environment.

The Institut des Sciences Moléculaires d’Orsay (ISMO) has recently moved into new premises designed by KAAN Architecten. The building is located on the Plateau de Saclay, 20 km south-west of Paris. Initiated in 2010, and born of the fusion of three research laboratories, this higher institute for molecular physics and physico-chemistry, under the supervision of Université Paris-Sud and CNRS, employees a staff of 170 collaborators. ISMO merges with the Centre de Physique Matière et Rayonnement, grouping physics laboratories, an educational building and a reception centre for international researchers.

MVRDV has completed construction on The Imprint, a new 2-building art-entertainment complex in close proximity to Seoul’s Incheon Airport. Featuring a nightclub in one building and indoor theme park in the other, the windowless structures feature three key design elements: imprints of the façade features of surrounding buildings, lifted entrances, and a golden entrance spot covering one corner of the nightclub building.

As a new type of collage of Law, iCourt Technology is a totally different from tradition. The original intention is to use technology to help and improve the overall standard of China’s lawyers and legal teams to fill the industry gaps. Since its inception, more than 60,000 legalists have joined icourt, including lawyers, judges, lawyers, and law school teachers. These people come together with the same ideas to learn skills, broaden horizons, communicate and support each other. They have become a veritable legal community in iCourt.

Openness of space / Necessary space and Surplus space
This is a house for a Christian couple and a newborn baby. The client had two wishes for the house: A common room where the family, Christian friends and neighbors can learn the Bible together and the client can practice the organ for Sunday services and outdoor space where both the family and visitors can enjoy natural light and wind while keeping enough privacy.