Showing posts from category: architecture
I can’t wait to tour this building for its architecture and design, as well as, hanging out at the supper club and lounge.
Here’s some of what Sharon McHugh, US Correspondent for World Architecture News.com had to say:
The erection of the eye-popping glass slab structure occurs in the trendy Meatpacking district and rises from stilts 18 stories above the High Line, a disused elevated rail line that is today one of the city’s hippest parks. Designed by Todd Schliemann of the New York-based Polshek Partnership, the hotel opened in January. It houses 317 guest rooms, several restaurants and bars, and a gym.
The building is decidedly modern, if not instantly iconic, with a mix of styles peppering its interior. Its slab on stilts design recalls the pioneering works of le Corbusier and other notable international style buildings, like the locally based Lever House and United Nations. The interiors, designed by Hollywood set designer Shawn Hausmann and New York based Roman and Williams, “get more modern the higher you go up”, said Balazs in an interview with Vanity Fair magazine.
The hotel lobby, which sits under the High Line, is early 20th century design, while the guest rooms in the tower above are designed with mid-century works in mind. On the top floor is a double height glass enclosed space that houses a supper club and lounge. Its design pays homage to Warren Platner, a protégé of Saarinen’s, who designed the Windows of the World restaurant in the World Trade Center.
If your shopping for a hotel in the city, aside from its fetching design and proximity to all the Meatpacking District has to offer, the best reason to bed down at The Standard is the stunning, unobstructed views it offers of the city’s most cherished sites: the Empire State Building, the Hudson River, and in the distance, the Statue of Liberty
Every time I see this new genre of eco-friendly-green-buildings (like the EDITT Tower) I am inspired. These buildings are inviting to look at and like I did as a young boy exploring Navy vesels in New York Harbor with my dad, I want to explore every floor, view and perspective. Because these buildings have the potential to change the urban living experience for future generations, including rethinking the impact of sustainable design on our personal lives, I am showcasing them here.
Freshome Blog: What, you though only Dubai and China have the most stunning buildings in the world? Guess again, because EDITT Tower (“Ecological Design In The Tropics”) will be built in Singapore with the financial support of their National University and should be the most eco-friendly in the country. The most interesting thing is that this 26-storey building will use photovotaic panels and will be wrapped in organic local vegetation that will act as a living wall insulator. More to it, the skyscraper was designed to collect rain-water, both for plant irrigation and for its “needs”. If you want to congratulate someone, T.R.Hamzah & Yeang have had their hands on the project.
Article via Freshome Blog
architects, architecture, buildings, construction, Design, green buildings, Green Built Environment, modern buildings, new buildings
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EDITT Tower, Singapore, T.R.Hamzah & Yeang
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Arch Daily posted this project on their Blog today and it really impressed me. This piece elicits peace and tranquility and transformed me into a state of calm (something we can all benefit from these days). It may have something to do with the feeling I get when I am diving.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbxTafJ13lc]
Our friend Rob Ley sent us info on their latest installation, Reef, which we’ll be checking out next week. Reef, an installation by Los Angeles Designers Rob Ley (Urbana) and Joshua G. Stein (Radical Craft) is currently on view at Storefront for Art and Architecture in New York City. This kinetic sculptural installation takes advantage of new Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) technology to create a responsive environment.
For more information, go to Reef official website.
WAYLAND, MASSACHUSETTS— States from around the country are reporting that bids on stimulus-funded projects are coming in far lower than expected, according to 120 Days Later: How the Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 is Impacting the AEC Industry, a new report from ZweigWhite. This leaves a surplus of funds that states may use to fund projects which were initially deemed to be lower priority or less than “shovel ready.”
With new projects becoming available and only 14% of the $787 billion stimulus package spent so far, A/E and environmental firms still have a chance to go after work funded by this historic initiative.
“This money will be spent. Our analysis suggests that firms planning to pursue these new projects shouldn’t sit still, waiting for the government to release requests for proposals,” notes Elaine Howley, editor of the report.
“We’re advising our clients to invest in developing strategic partnerships now, in order to be ready the moment states decide to move forward with additional jobs. Tactics may include identifying public sector decision-makers and forming alliances with other professional services firms.”
“It’s very notable that the desire to win these jobs is so great that more jobs will be made available. The other side of that coin,” Howley cautions, “is that, when placing bids, firms must be mindful that there has been considerable downward pressure on pricing.”
ZweigWhite’s new report 120 Days Later: How the Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 is Impacting the AEC Industry details the spending that’s occurred in the months since the passage of the economic stimulus bill and explains what’s expected to happen next. The report also provides information on what projects are still available and provides practical advice for pursuing stimulus-funded work quickly.
This is a companion report to Guide to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which was published in April and explains how stimulus funds are being distributed and offers proven strategies for securing public work. Both reports are available for immediate download at www.zweigwhite.com/go/120days.
About ZweigWhite: ZweigWhite is the nation’s leading source of business management services for architecture, engineering, and environmental consulting firms. The ZweigWhite team consists of experts in strategic business planning, business valuation, ownership transition, human resources management, finance and administration, mergers and acquisitions, market research, marketing, project management and project delivery methods who collectively produce a comprehensive suite of products and services, including newsletters, industry reports, executive training, business conferences, and advisory services covering virtually every aspect of firm management. The firm is headquartered in Wayland, MA , with additional offices in, Chicago, IL and Washington, DC
I have to say this is really cool stuff – heady mix of architecture, industrial design, engineering and technology.
The world’s first floating nuclear power plant is currently under construction at a shipyard in St. Petersburg. It will be 144 m long and30 m wide and house two 35-MW reactors. It will supply power in remote areas. Upon completion in 2012, crews will tow the plant to the port of Vilyuchinsk on the Kamchatka peninsula, where it will supply power to a submarine base. Russia’s United Industrial Corp. (OPK) is building the FNPP at its Baltiiskii Zavod shipyard for owner Concern Energoatom, Ukraine’s state-owned nuclear utility. Russia has extensive experience with nuclear-propelled submarines and icebreakers, and the reactors on the FNPP will be similar to ones used by the icebreakers. The 21,500-ton vessel will cost $274 million.
Via ENR
Simcoe Wavedeck in Toronto by West 8
Frank Gehry has officially been replaced by dutch firm West 8 for the Miami Lincoln Park project. gehry and the city were at odds after he could not stick to budget. the project will still ahve to be approved by the city of Miami before it’s finalized.
The firm specializes in contemporary landscape architecture and has designed projects including Governor’s Island New York, Bridges Parque Lineal de Manzanares, Madrid and most recently the Simcoe Wavedeck in Toronto.
The 2.5 acre park will serve as an entrance to the Gehry designed New World Symphony scheduled to open in january 2011. it will also provide an outdoor venue for concerts and expansive green space.
Via designboon
In Seoul or San Francisco, they took down their expressways. In New York, they built the High Line on top of an abandoned elevated rail line. In Toronto, they don’t have the guts to tear down the Gardiner expressway, so architect Les Klein has come up with the typical compromise solution: Put a High Line on top of the expressway.
Klein states the obvious to Paige Magarrey in Azure:
“Once you tear it down, it’s gone.”
Well yes, that might be the point. But Klein says if we keep it we might have both a better highway and a park.
Accessed via stairs and ramps at all intersections, the Green Ribbon would also have elevators and concessions at the busier junctions. From melting snow to lighting, the whole project would be self-powered by wind turbines and photovoltaic systems lining the whole seven kilometers.
Klein knows all the green arguments.
The most green thing you can do is not sending something to a landfill,” he says, adding that the amount of energy required to dispose of all the rubble would be staggering.
Meanwhile, the Green Ribbon could decrease the heat island effect in Toronto, while adding green space and giving the people living around it a completely different kind of view. But most importantly, he says, a concept like this stops the city from making a decision that it’s not ready to make yet. “Once we take down the Gardiner, it’s gone for good.”
Klein then takes a huge leap and calls the Gardiner a heritage structure.
“It’s time to think about the Gardiner in a different way,” he says. The Green Ribbon is intended to get Torontonians reflecting on what the Gardiner once was – and what it could be in the future. “Cities are often judged by how they treat their heritage,” he says. “40 years ago, the Gardiner was a symbol of progress, a symbol of success, a symbol of power. You can’t just snap your fingers and say ‘that doesn’t matter.’”
Sometimes you can. Sometimes you just have to look past the solar panels, wind turbines, bicycle paths and even invocations of minimizing waste and point out that it is a highway full of cars that are being dumped into downtown, not a heritage structure. Greenwrapping it doesn’t change that.
Via Treehugger Blog
The Big Dig was a carbon footprint disaster, but it’s salvaged materials helped seed a few green sprouts.
If the walls of the Big Dig House could talk, they’d tell you that it’s comprised of 600,000 lbs of recycled materials that were rescued from the Big Dig highway project in Boston. Inhabitat last reported on the striking modern residence in 2006 when it was still in its planning stages, and it has since come a long way from being a pile of rubble and recycled materials. We may now behold what stands today — an elegant and modern private home in Lexington, MA with an exciting backstory.
At a final cost of $150 per square foot, most of the materials for the Big Dig house were free, minus the expenses to ship the materials to Lexington, MA. Set in an area of Lexington called Six Moon Hill, the finished Big Dig House has joined other modern homes that are well known to the area.
To save time and energy, Single Speed Design, engineers and designers of the Big Dig House, used most of the salvaged materials from the Big Dig in the condition in which they were found. Using the structural materials “as is” equipped the house to take on a much heavier load than standard building materials. As such, the house features an elaborate roof garden above the garage. Slabs of concrete reclaimed from the highway support three feet of soil, and the entire garden is designed to use recycled rainwater.
The house’s exterior is elegantly clad in cedar siding and glass, giving it a clean and modern finishing touch without disguising the exposed steel tubes and beams. They say that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. The Big Dig House is a perfect example of the treasure to be found in recycling and reuse.
Via Inhabitat
It was clear that Frank Gehry is self-aware from the introductory biographic notes that Pritzker read: “Frank Gehry has been the subject of a Simpsons episode…” was how it began. Gehry is often dismissed as the worst offender among “starchitects” seeking iconic memorials to their own talents, ala Howard Roark. And maybe it’s that his advanced age has offered him some more perspective (Gehry is 80), but this interview made it clear that his well-known style was mostly accidental. Here are my observations from watching the session:
1. He came from very humble beginnings.
Gehry was driving a truck at age 19 or 20, and taking some college classes as night. In one pottery class, he became friendly with the instructor, who invited Gehry to visit his home while it was under construction. Gehry was taken with the design and construction process he observed, so the professor recommended an architecture course, which the professor then paid for when Gehry couldn’t afford it.
2. Disney’s lawyers treated him pretty badly.
When Gehry was announced as being on the short list for the Disney Concert Hall, the family’s attorneys called a meeting with him too provide him with a list of things that he couldn’t do in the project. The meeting ended with the lead attorney declaring that he “would never let them put the Disney family name on something he designed.” (In the end, Gehry chose brass railings throughout the widely-acclaimed project because they had been on the attorney’s early list of forbidden things.)
3. He was mostly pre-occupied with the interior acoustic functions in designing Disney Concert Hall.
Full article via Parrot blog
Designed as a single-family residence combined with a dance studio, this three-story reinforced concrete building is private and open to the sky, and best of all it has plenty of parking, which comes at a premium in Japan.
Dancing Living House, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan, by Junichi Sampei, for A.L.X. (Architect Label Xain)
via: What we do is Secret
