UNSTUDIO COMPLETES THE HANJIE WANDA SQUARE

Location: Wuhan, China

Architects: UNStudio
Project Team: Ben van Berkel, Caroline Bos, Astrid Piber with Ger Gijzen and Mo Lai, Konstantinos Chrysos, Ariane Stracke, Veronica Baraldi and Thomas van Bekhoven, Elisabeth Brauner, Rodrigo Cañizares, Luis Etchegorry, Albert Gnodde, Ka Shin Liu, Chiara Marchionni, Cynthia Markhoff, Tomas Mokry, Iris Pastor, Machiel Wafelbakker, Shuang Zhang, Jinming Feng, Xinyue Guo, Cheng Gong
Model making: Patrick Noome, Todd Ebeltoft, Ali Ashgar
Funnel structure: Arup SHA
Facade: Arup SHA
Lighting facade: agLicht 
Local advisors and constructors: CSADI, Central South Architectural Design Institute
LDI façade: Beijing JinXinZhuoHong Facade Engineering Company Ltd.
LDI interior: Beijing Qing Shang Architectural Design Engineering Co. Ltd
LDI Lighting: BIAD Zheng Jian Wei lighting design studio
Landscape design: Ecoland
Building surface: Facade 29.920 sqm
Interior: 22.630 sqm
Year: 2013
Client: Wuhan Wanda East Lake Real State Co., Ltd
Photos: Edmon Leong

Hanjie Wanda Square is a luxury shopping plaza which will house international luxury brand stores, world-class boutiques, catering outlets and cinemas.

Unstudio’s approach considers the Hanjie Wanda Square as a contemporary classic, combining both contemporary and traditional design elements in one concept.


The concept of synergy of flows is key to all of the design components; the fluid articulation of the building envelope, the programming of the dynamic façade lighting and its content design and the interior pattern language which guides customers from the central atria to the upper levels and throughout the building via linking corridors

The interior concept is developed around the North and South atria, creating two different, yet integrated atmospheres. Variations in geometry, materials and details define these differing characters.

The North atrium is characterized by warm golden and bronze materials reflecting a cultural, traditional identity. In the South atrium Silver and grey nuances with reflective textures reflect the city identity and its urban rhythm.

Both atria are crowned by skylights with a funnel structure which connect the roof and the ground floor, in addition to integrating the panorama lifts.

The façade design focuses on achieving a dynamic effect reflecting the handcrafted combination of two materials: polished stainless steel and Alabaster.

These two materials are crafted into 10 differently shaped, but standardized spheres. Their specific positions in relation to each other recreate the effect of movement and reflection in water, or the sensuous folds of silk fabric.

S:

http://www.aasarchitecture.com/2013/11/UNStudio-Completes-the-Hanjie-Wanda-Square.html

KAZAKHSTAN’S ASTANA WORLD EXPO 2017

KAZAKHSTAN’S ASTANA WORLD EXPO 2017 COMPETITION ATTRACTS BIG INTERNATIONAL NAMES

• It’s one step closer to finding the best design for the International Specialized Exposition EXPO 2017 exhibition site in Astana, Kazakhstan—the country’s first world fair. For starters, some of the final designs include COOP HIMMELB(L)AU, UNStudio, Snøhetta, and Zaha Hadid Architects.
• The competition initially received more than 100 proposals from 20 countries from February to July. Then on Aug. 14 at the Korme exhibition center in Astana, around 50 proposals were presented to a council of eminent architects and experts in sustainable design, including renowned economist Jeremy Rifkin, president of the Foundation for Economic Trends, USA. The day before, the designs were presented to Kazakhstan president, Nursultan Nazarbayev. EXPO 2017 centralizes on the theme of “green economy”, which incorporates alternative energy sources and autonomous heat and water systems, as described by President Nazarbayev in a recent news post on the official EXPO 2017 website.
• Other architects who presented were Manfredi Nicolletti, Russian firm Studio 44, and Turkish firm Sembol—who all have built structures and successful design experience in Kazakhstan. Several Kazakhstan-native firms presented as well.

S:

http://www.architect-mind.com/home/other-cat/581-kazakhstan-s-astana-world-expo-2017-competition-attracts-big-international-names

SEOUL FLOATING ISLANDS BY H ARCHITECTURE

Location: Seoul, South Korea 
Architects: H Architecture + Haeahn Architecture 
Area: 24,000 sqm 
Year: 2011 

In pursuit of “Han River Renaissance”, the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s master plan to revitalize select old districts of the city, the government organized a national competition to design a series of man-made floating islands by a southern bank of Han River.

H’s winning submission of “Soul Flora” for the three inter-connected islands depicts the lifecycle of a flower – seed, bud, and blossom.

The “Seed” contains a natural environment with a grass beach, marina, club house and floating pods of flora that illuminate the night with the appearance of flickering candle lights.

The “Bud” is the Urban Entertainment Center offering IT cafes, 3D theaters, interactive games and exhibition space. The “Blossom” will offer visitors restaurants, performance and entertainment venues and cultural exhibit space.

The “Bud” and “Blossom” have overlapping curtain walls that blur the interior and exterior spaces and blend the Han River into the building’s interior. The roof of the club house in “Seed” contains arrays of photovoltaic cells to help provide power to the island

Civic plaza and promenade by day, and high-tech stage and backdrop by night, Soul Flora will be the first Han River Renaissance project to be built, achieving the city government’s vision successfully.

The 20,400 square meter complex will offer three cultural centers, featuring performances, water sports and aquatic events. The islands can accommodate 6,200 people and are set to make the Han River, which 59 million people visited last year, an even more popular tourist spot.

While artificial islands have been constructed before, most famously in Dubai, they have generally been formed by pouring sand on the seabed to create artificial land.

Seoul’s islands take a different approach and actually float on the surface of the river using an enormous buoy secured in place by 28 mooring chains, a design which ensures it can withstand changing river levels and bad weather.

The three story building which holds all facilities is covered with 54 square meters of solar panels, which produced 6 kilowatts of energy each day, providing the facilities below with electricity, and also illuminating the facades at night.

S:

http://www.aasarchitecture.com/2013/07/Seoul-Floating-Islands-H-Architecture.html

NATIONAL TENNIS CENTRE BY JACKSON ARCHITECTURE

Location: Melbourne, Australia

Architects: Jackson Architecture

Project Team: Daryl Jackson, Matt Drysdale, Stewart Lock, Peter Cole, Aaron Paris, Kon Iakovidis, Elaine Quek

Structural Engineers: Winward Structures

Budget: $130 million

Year: 2012

The National Tennis Centre at Melbourne Park comprises of a High Performance Tennis Centre consisting of 21 indoor and outdoor tennis courts, a public plaza, 1000 space public bus and carpark, alterations to the existing Hisense Arena and a series of new pedestrian links, including walkways, bridges and ramps, to seamlessly connect the new facilities to the existing sports and entertainment venues located in the greater Melbourne Olympic Parks precinct.

The High Performance Tennis Centre is designed to be an elite, world class training centre for tennis. As a building it is intended to be represented as a transparent pavilion in a parkland setting and is sited along the northern site boundary to minimise its bulk when viewed from Olympic Boulevard allowing AAMI Park & Hisense Arena to be the dominant buildings fronting Olympic Boulevard

The buildings form incorporates a gentle aerofoil which distinguishes the dynamic roof form with extreme cantilevered overhangs to the south, east & west. To the north, the roof profile wraps down to form the northern facade to enclose the two levels of ancillary spaces that provide a main entry and all other associated facilities to service the tennis court users.

Eight tennis courts are located within the indoor tennis hall, arranged side by side on a highly engineered suspended concrete slab directly above the 1000 space, two level carpark. Triangular steel trusses, which reflect the aerofoil form of the roof, are positioned between each of the courts visually defining each court bay.

Modulated glazing to three sides of the hall and the incorporation of south facing roof lights provides a highly transparent internal space with visual & physical connections to the adjoining outdoor areas.

This provides an even spread of natural daylight within the hall reducing the total reliance on artificial lighting. The hall is naturally ventilated with louvres integrated into the south facade and air exhaust shafts to the north of the hall delivers a natural flow of air across all courts.

The eastern precinct becomes a key public recreation component within Melbourne Park. The new public plaza is designed as a raised an outdoor room with a formal layout of new Phoenix palms to accompany those existing located further east in the precinct.

Sitting between the high performance tennis centre and Hisense Arena the plaza is central to providing unhindered pedestrian circulation in and around the greater precinct and its venues via a series of new bridges, ramps, stairs and walkways.

The eastern precinct is located within the group of Melbourne’s public parks and The National Tennis Centre has been designed to reduce the impact of the built form and public plaza by allowing for the maximum benefit of mature planting and greening around the entire precinct.

All courts facing Olympic Boulevard are surrounded with hedging beds in a more traditional manner to enhance site and precinct symmetry. Massing of mature trees provides shading and protection to public open spaces and assists in reducing the visual impact of the new buildings.

Source:

http://www.aasarchitecture.com/2013/07/National-Tennis-Centre-Jackson-Architecture.html

Babiy Yar Memorial | Kokkugia

In the Babiy Yar Memorial, a speculative project by Kokkugia there are two very interesting design strategies at work: the introverted monument, and poly-scalar, self-similar forms.

The monument, prescribed to bring recollection and contemplation, is often seemingly self-defeating in its implementation. Where thoughts of the past were hoped for, many times only feeling towards the object which is the monument arise. The outward focusing monument becomes a monument to itself, representing only in theory that for which it stands. The Babiy Yar Memorial is designed as an outwardly stark geometric form which contains within it a world of energy and violence exhibited to the outside only through the fissures it creates where it can no longer be contained.

This interior world is one of seeming randomness that becomes legible at the local scale. It is somewhat fractal in nature, being generated from non-linear systems that scale up or down, depending on vantage point. Cast from bronze, it exists with no ‘base state’, no least common denominator- everything is local, adapting to individual and constantly changing conditions. Like fractals, regions of apparent periodicity may emerge, but will always dissolve away, keeping the eye and mind moving and guessing.

S: http://www.arch2o.com/babiy-yar-memorial-kokkugia/#prettyPhoto

Porsche Pavilion by HENN Architects

Porsche Pavilion by HENN Architects

S:

http://architect-mind.com/widgetkit/dining-room/188-porsche-pavilion-by-henn-architects