The New Pompidou Center By Shigeru Ban

This competition winning design for the new Pompidou Center in Metz [abround 3 hours east of Paris] was designed by Shigeru Ban, Jean de Gastines, and Philip Gumuchdjian. Scheduled for opening sometime later this year to mark the 30th anniversary of the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, by Renzo Piano, Richard Rogers, Sue Rogers, Edmund Happold and Peter Rice, the new center will ‘house one of the world’s most extraordinary collections of modern and contemporary art’.

Our team- Shigeru Ban, Jean de de Gastines and Philip Gumuchdjian won an international competition in 2003 among other finalists of Foreign Office Architects (FOA), Herzog & de Meuron, Stephane Maupin and Pascal Cribier, NOX and Dominique Perrault.
The 12,000 m2 cultural complex includes 6,000 m2 of exhibition space all contained under the roof. Three rectangular, cantilevered boxes house parts of the Pompidou Centre’s permanent collection in a climate controlled environment. Each of the 87-meter-long and fifteen-meter-wide boxes will be directed toward a view of one of the city’s historic monuments such as the railway station and the cathedral [from SBA].

The center is a pavilion space set within a newly created park, made up of both permanent and temporary art collections. The museum appears to be draped in the woven lattice structure of the roof, which Ban describes as being inspired by a woven bamboo Chinese hat.

Protected by this ‘hat’ are 3 rectangular cantilevering steel tubes, each measuring 100m long and 15m wide, which will contain the galleries for the permanent collection - and be situated so as to align with views of local historic monuments, such as the nearby railway station and a cathedral [Saint-Etienne]. The entire exhibition space will be enclosed in movable glass shutter, allowing the center to opened up to the park / gardens which surround it.

passage, http://architecture.myninjaplease.com/?p=632

images & rendering, courtesy shigeru ban architects.

HOK reveals St Petersburg masterplan

HOK reveals St Petersburg masterplan
8 December, 2008.

HOK has revealed the first images of a 60ha masterplan for a Techno Park on the outskirts of St Petersburg in Russia.

The plan, which accommodates an existing technical university and public transport links, includes new office space, business starter units and a technology training centre, as well as residential units, hotel, retail and amenity space in a series of towers, up to 80m tall.

The state is funding a third of the cost of the scheme, which is due to start on site in 2010. HOK has described the plan as a “microcosm of the city.”

Passage : http://www.bdonline.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=781&storycode=3129440&c=1

Images : http://www.bdonline.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=781&storycode=3129440&c=1

Rotating Tower by Architect David Fisher

April 18, 2008 Dubai has well earned its reputation for architectural extravagance and excess. Not a cent has been spared as various developers vie to produce the biggest, the most stunning, the most luxurious and the most outrageous projects ever undertaken. And while this next project is right up there in terms of luxury, exclusivity and head-spinning architectural genius, it adds a fascinating extra dimension - the ability to generate ten times as much power as it will use.

Each floor of Dynamic Architecture's wind-powered rotating skyscraper is a single apartment with the ability to rotate independently, giving residents the ability to choose a new view at the touch of a button - quite a party trick. Wind_turbine between each floor will generate a vast surplus of electricity capable of powering the whole surrounding neighborhood. The method of construction is also fascinating; each floor will be pre-fabricated in segments in a quality-controlled factory before being lifted and secured into place on a concrete spine, bringing costs and construction times down significantly. Construction is set to begin soon in Dubai, with a second tower to follow in Moscow and numerous other sites around the world being considered. more>>>

passage from: http://www.gizmag.com/energy-positive-wind-powered-rotating-skyscraper-dubai/9192/

Images from: http://www.gizmag.com/energy-positive-wind-powered-rotating-skyscraper-dubai/9192/

Lilypad - A Floating Ecopolis Architecture

The climate is changing and not in the good way as the global warming will affect large areas on Earth. One of the repercussions is that the ocean level will increase very much because the ice caps of Antarctic and Greenland, and the glaciers in the mainland will melt. Also, you should know that under warm temperatures the water expands therefore the oceans will rise a lot.

Scientists made some research about how the global warming interacts with the increase of ocean levels and they got to the conclusion that with every 1°C the ocean level will rise with 1 meter and according to their estimations, Netherlands, Bangladesh and the atoll Majuro in Oceania (Marshall and Kiribati islands, and the Maldives islands) will be the most affected. The former with 6% of ground loss, the second with 17.5% and the latter with almost an unbelievable rate of 80%. Also, many other countries like Vietnam and Egypt will be devastated by floods and the crops will be ruined by the salt water.

According to a climatological study of the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), if we won’t take any measures there will be 250 million of climatic refugees and 9% of the GDP will be threatened. Although most of the governments of developing countries aren’t taking any measures, there are some interesting projects that could be a solution for the rising of the ocean levels.

One of these is the Lilypad which is a prototype of auto-sufficient amphibious city and it was designed by architect Vincent Callebaut. The Lilypad project is actually a floating ecopolis that will provide housing for a large crowd of climate refugees therefore will be the solution in case of worldwide ecological crisis.

Lilypad consists of a new biotechnological prototype and was designed for nomadism as it will travel on the water line of the oceans, all the way from the equator to the poles thanks to two marine streams: warm ascending of the Gulf Stream and the cold descending of the Labrador.

The Lilypad is an amphibian (half aquatic and half terrestrial) city which will house about 50,000 inhabitants and will enable life in the heart of the subaquatic depths. This ecopolis will be “covered by a stratum of planted housing in suspended gardens and crossed by a network of streets and alleyways with organic outline” that will “create a harmonious coexistence of the couple Human / Nature”.

Inspired by the lilypad of Amazonia Victoria Regia, this floating ecopolis will be made of polyester fibres and covered by a layer of titanium dioxide (TiO2). The Lilypad City will made use of all renewable energies - solar, thermal and photovoltaic energies, wind energy, hydraulic, tidal power station, osmotic energies, phytopurification, biomass will produce much more energy than it consumes and also, the floating structure will “reach” zero carbon emissions as all the carbon-dioxide and the waste will be recycled.

Lilypad is a visionary structure and it’s one of the major challenges of the 21st century. This self-sustainable floating ecopolis will prove to be very important as the Earth is warming and the ocean level is rising so much. Hopefully, Lilypad will become a living dream because there will be many ecological refugees that will need it.

Passage : www.madarchitect.org.super-structures/lilypad-a-floating-ecopolis-for-climate-refugees/

Images : www.madarchitect.org.super-structures/lilypad-a-floating-ecopolis-for-climate-refugees/