Articles by Eric Baldwin

Shanghai-based JYOM Architecture and GBL Architects have released new renderings of 601 Beach Crescent, the ‘Gateway Tower’ counterpart to Bjarke Ingels Group‘s Vancouver House project. As the Daily Hive reports, developer Pinnacle International recently submitted its formal rezoning application to develop the vacant site on the north end of the Granville Street Bridge in downtown Vancouver. Conceptually, the tower was designed to replicate the motions of the dancing female form.

Bjarke Ingels Group has been selected to design the Skypark Business Center South as part of Luxembourg‘s new Airport City plan. Located just outside of Luxembourg City, the project is the first development within the masterplan, and is expected to start construction during 2019. The new airport district aims to become an economic hub comprised of four floors of shops, restaurants, fitness activities, and offices. The news of Skypark Business Center South comes two years after the presentation of the airport district’s master plan.

British designer Paul Cocksedge’s ‘impossible’ living watercolor design was selected as a finalist for the UK National Pavilion during Expo 2020 in Dubai. Every color in the pavilion comes from the flag of a nation exhibiting at the event, expressing unity, partnership and possibility. The overlapping shades reflect the theme of the Expo – Connecting Minds, Creating The Future. At the heart of the building, a sculptural centerpiece envelops visitors in color and light, giving the sense of an ‘impossible’ structure.

Artist David Louf, aka Mr. June, has earned a reputation for creating striking urban art, most recently using three-dimensional murals that play off architectural elements. As Colossal reports, within the last year Mr. June’s geometric abstractions have become increasingly architectural as they aim to challenge viewer’s perceptions. Producing work since 1985, Mr. June recently completed a 130-foot diameter dome in North Carolina and a 3D mural for Urban Nation in Berlin.

Steven Chilton Architects has designed a forest of white columns and a latticed metallic roof around the Wuxi Show Theater in China. The screen of angled columns surrounding the circular building was inspired by the Sea of Bamboo, a national park with one of the biggest bamboo forests in the country. Opening in December 2019, the design will provide a permanent home for Belgian theatre director Franco Dragone’s show, the House of Dancing Water.

Japan’s Advanced Industrial Science and Technology Institute have created HRP-5P, a humanoid robot that can perform common construction tasks, including installing drywall. As TechCrunch reports, HRP-5P uses environmental measurement, object detection and motion planning to perform various tasks. The robot may help in Japan’s rapidly aging society where declining birth rates meets a lack of skilled construction workers.

OPEN Architecture in collaboration with Chinese electronics giant Xiaomi have unveiled the minimal housing prototype MARS Case at China House Vision 2018. Located outside the Bird’s Nest National Stadium in Beijing, the design is part of an annual cross-industry innovation and research platform known as House Vision, which uses the medium of the “house” to explore and question the direction of our living habits and urban environments in the future.

Turkish practice Melike Altinisik Architects have released new photos of Istanbul’s futuristic 369 meter-tall Çamlıca TV and Radio Tower. The new telecommunications tower will replace several outdated structures currently in use and support an estimated 125 broadcasting transmitters. Designed for the Ministry of Transportation and Communication, the project is currently under construction, and the new photos showcasing the tower’s ongoing progress. The project is set to become the tallest tower in Istanbul.

COOKFOX Architects and Oxford Properties have reimagined New York’s St. John’s Terminal as a workplace of the future. The 1.3 million square foot proposal aims to connect the Hudson Square neighborhood to the waterfront at the end of The High Line. Combining outdoor space and greenery with 100,000 square-foot floor plates, the project reinterprets the industrial past of the former freight terminal. The project was created to shape how businesses innovate and create between Lower Manhattan and the waterfront.

Architecture and design practices Penda and Smartvoll have created a giant watermill for Austria’s National Pavilion for EXPO 2020 in Dubai. ‘The Source of Everything’ was selected as a finalist in an international competition and marks the first collaboration between Penda Austria and Smartvoll. The project features a supersized mill that circulates water through the pavilion and brings an experience to the desert of Dubai that Austria is famous for: Refreshment.