February 19, 2010 | Broadcast | News
China Pavilion completes ahead of Shanghai’s World Expo 2010
Construction of 2010 World Expo’s China Pavilion completed yesterday after two years’ work.
The pavilion, in the shape of an oriental crown, is designed as the literal crowning glory of the Shanghai Expo which begins in May. Coloured in Forbidden City Red, the structure represents the taste and spirit of Chinese culture. 200 videos by students will be shown on 15 screens within the pavilion throughout the 5 month Expo following an open submittal programme where over 1,000 entries were received.
2010 is the first year that China has hosted the World Expo, compared to 8 times each for France and Germany, and 5 for Japan.
February 19, 2010 | Broadcast | News
Nepal - Architect on a mission to save Kathmandu’s soul
Nepal’s ancient capital Kathmandu is famed around the world for its intricately carved medieval temples and ancient royal palaces. But as the once-sleepy city hurtles into the 21st century, the distinctive architecture that visitors once flocked to see is rapidly being replaced by the high-rise concrete structures favoured by modern residents. It is a trend the Nepalese architect Rabindra Puri bitterly opposes — and he is on a one-man mission to prevent the disappearance of what he calls the “soul” of Kathmandu and its surroundings.
Puri, a former sculptor, was struck by the city’s transformation when he returned from a two-year study trip in Europe in 1995. With support from local people, he hopes to restore and modernise around 700 buildings in Panauti. ”Panauti’s cultural heritage has been preserved intact and it is still possible to save it from being ruined (by modern construction),” said Puri.
“In many cities, people are paid to wear traditional dress and play traditional music. But in places like Panauti, it’s a way of life.”\
via AFP
February 19, 2010 | Articles | Magazine
Eastern promise?
“When it comes to interiors, Eastern design principles are more relevant than ever”
According to Denman, Shashi Caan- president of the International Federation of Interior Architects and Designers (IFI) - has called for a closer inspection of ‘Eastern’ design principles, citing that interior design has long been largely Euro-centric. While this might sound pleasing to some, further reading into Selina Denman’s article for ContructionWeekOnline.com had me doing a double take. From what initially appears as a call for a greater understanding of so-called ‘eastern’ principles, Caan’s - along with some other voices’ - effort here seems to be a hopeful construction of a faux-pas that can only help to confuse the innocent layman.
While it might be true that the recent focus on sustainability and “sustainable design” has led many - and not just ‘the West’ to consider the broader impacts of design, the IFI president’s particular focus on Japanese principles - Makoto, Heisei, Wa, Shizen, Kanji - to name a few, seems to resonate more like a cluster of marketing bells trying to usher in a new fad than a call for universality in design.
Caan’s call to Japanese principles in design looks increasingly thin when placed beside the work of practitioners of the modern movement in architecture; and even pre-modern architects like the American Frank Lloyd Wright, who had gathered inspiration from the so-called east, looking to examples like the Katsura Palace and Japanese modular systems, while gleaning lessons in the relationship between architecture’s interior and its exterior. Japan-ness in design has been around long enough for us to acknowledge that it is probably untrue that it is only now that these things are gaining in popularity; to put it in Marie-Noelle Swiderski’s words, “The growing popularity of Japanese food is mirrored by changing attitudes towards wellness, where eastern-inspired spas, treatments and attitudes are moving into the mainstream. Eastern music, fashion, artifacts and accessories have also travelled well, as have principles such as feng shui, which have been wholeheartedly embraced in the West.”
The realization of Swiderski’s blatant conflation of ‘Japanese’ with ‘Eastern’ comes as soon as we hear ‘feng shui’ and ‘Japanese’ in the same statement - and confirms the sweeping generalization that only a managing director can make with what one could call ignorance and superficiality. “Balance”, “fluidity”, “simplicity”, “precision” and “craft” are only some of the other name-dropped terms that are sounded out throughout the article, and it can only further serve to shock one how a journal like Construction Week can continue to publish such opinions.
To her credit, Caan’s clumsy call for eastern-adoption is softened by her emphasis on a cultural cross-pollination and some reference to colonial adoption of local influences - suggesting a careful courtship as opposed to a whole-sale cultural invasion. But Like Denman’s groundless rhetoric that asserts new paradigms of living and culture without supporting them, and the way in which restaurants like Nobu, Zuma, and Okku are taken as precedents for such a romance with Japan to blossom; one can only confirm suspicions as to the superficial nature in which some - and not all- interior design is self serving and self-referential, disconnected from context. And with its hands deep in the pockets of capitalism and hedonism (not to say that architecture doesn’t) , it can only serve to further hypnotize the customer and journalist.
If the growing divide between the architect’s sensitivity and the interior design’s heavy handedness is anything to go by, this article is a sure indication.
February 19, 2010 | Broadcast | News
Audacity’s shape - from Outer Space
Seen here is the Dubai coast, from the International Space Station. At left are the man-made Palm Jumeirah islands. At right is a development of 300 private man-made islands shaped like a global map. (Angelina Jolieand Brad Pitt were said, at one point, to be thinking about buying a faux Ethiopia.)
[Image Courtesy NASA via AP]
February 19, 2010 | Broadcast | News
China Prepares to Salvage CCTV Tower
BEIJING—The Chinese government is preparing to rebuild a skyscraper in the flashy new complex housing the national broadcaster, a year after the structure was gutted by a blaze sparked by fireworks. The boot-shaped high-rise has an exterior steel framework, much of which will be stripped away and rebuilt, and a concrete interior portion that can be salvaged. Preparatory work for the repairs has started on the building site, according to people involved in the reconstruction project.
The Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group still plans to operate a high-end hotel on the upper floors of the building, as it was scheduled to do when the fire struck. “Mandarin Oriental’s intention remains the same,” said spokeswoman Sally de Souza.
CCTV made a rare public apology shortly after the fire, but has repeatedly declined requests for further comment. Meanwhile, the hulking 159-meter structure has stood largely untouched. The better-known CCTV tower, a square-doughnut-shaped building that sits next to it, was unharmed by the fire but remains unoccupied.
via WSJ
One wonders how the architecture has managed to fend off infamous Chinese superstition.
[Image via Getty Images]
February 4, 2010 | Broadcast | News
Packed Streets Have a City of Walkers Looking Skyward for Answers
Mumbai Builds Miles of Elevated Walkways; ‘Yellow Caterpillar’ or ‘Huge Mistake’?
February 4, 2010 | Broadcast | News
Central Horizon
Before you start slamming the massive urban wall you see above, take note that this hits closer to home.
Central Horizon is a high-rise, high-density public housing redevelopment project initiated by the Singapore Government, through the Housing & Development Board (HDB), a Statutory Board under the Ministry of National Development. The 3.1ha site consists of five 40 storey tower blocks linked by 11 storey ‘podium’ blocks in curvilinear form. In addition to the 1158 dwelling units, there are commercial and communal facilities, a multi-storey car park (MSCP) with a landscaped roof garden and a sky garden on the roof of the residential blocks.
The predecessor to Central Horizon was a Singaporean landmark both in terms of physical design (i.e. the longest curved residential block in Singapore built in the 1960s as a quick fix for Singapore’s rapidly-growing population) and in its social and community ties. It was demolished in September 2003 to make way for newer ones to address new housing needs and optimise land use.
As one of Singapore’s first housing estates, it has developed a distinct character through the years. The vision for redevelopment thus sought to create a totally new level of quality in public housing, one that would increase in its value and appeal to a new generation of residents; deliver three times as many apartments on the existing land footprint and be sufficiently attractive to prospective new owners to the area; while employing sustainable systems and construction while preserving the heritage of the site. Kiasu? No. All inclusive, universal design? Maybe. But Central Horizon is one of the largest new objects in our skyline.
more on WorldArchitectureNews.com
Central Horizon was entered in the 2009 WAN.com Residential Awards.
February 4, 2010 | Broadcast | News
Unit One Design completes house ‘with no walls’
Malaysia’s Unit One Design Bhd. nominated for WorldArchitectureNews.com Residential Awards
Johor Bahru, Malaysia - A complex of five buildings, consisting of the main parental house and four individual villas where ‘most of the walls are views’ are linked by landscaped walkways. It is composed of three wings in total, each forming new gardens and courtyards created by walls or difference in levels. Sited towards the apex of the site, the house acts as a wall embracing most of the project where the villas and an orchard sit - the private domain.
more via WAN.com
February 1, 2010 | Broadcast | News
Gary Neville’s house
Make Architects has designed this ultra-sustainable home for England and Manchester United footballer Gary Neville.
The 8,000 sq ft property will be built in the Pennines, and – subject to approval – would become the first carbon neutral home in the north west, according to the practice. A wind turbine will provide power for the property itself and a neighbouring house, while covering much of the house in a green roof of meadow grasses and wildflowers will reduce energy usage. The property, which also features solar panels and a ground source heat pump, is on green belt land but it is understood that the team hopes that it will be allowed to go ahead because it falls into the category of being “truly outstanding and ground breaking”.
The scheme has already been selected as an exemplar project within the UK government’s ‘Planning Performance Agreements for Renewable and Low Carbon Energy Schemes’ programme. If planning permission be granted, preliminary construction work is expected to start later this year.
Maybe they’ve finally found a way to put those weekly wages to good use..
February 1, 2010 | Broadcast | News
Logorama
A world colonized by brands is the theme of a new film by French designers and filmmakers H5. Logorama is a slick 17-minute-long animated movie that appears to lampoon both the Hollywood blockbuster — violent, crude and adrenalized — and the world of branding, a world where logos festoon every surface and where it is customary to be exposed to brand activity at every turn.
via Adrian Shaughnessy at The Design Observer
[Image Credit: Still from "Logorama" by H5]
February 1, 2010 | Broadcast | News
Additional tourist villages planned for Borobudur
Borobudur to Woo Visitors With New Tourist Villages
Jakarta Globe, 20 January 2010
The government plans to develop more tourism villages around ninth-century Borobudur Temple in Yogyakarta to draw more visitors and encourage them to stay longer, an official said on Wednesday.
“In 2010 we will develop five more tourism villages in the vicinity of Borobudur Temple. We hope they will attract more tourists, as well as help the local people become involved in the tourism industry,” said Firmansyah Rahim, the director general of the destination development at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
Last year, the ministry developed five tourism villages in the Borobudur area, with each receiving financial aid ranging from Rp 100 million to Rp 150 million ($10,800 to $16,200) to renovate tourist facilities such as guesthouses as well as handicraft and culinary centers.
Tourism villages rely on proximity to an attraction, such as Borobudur Temple, to pull in revenue from visitors.
via SEAArch .com
[Image Courtesy Hildo Trazo]
January 29, 2010 | Broadcast | News
cutting, stacking, perforating, bending, layering, molding
just a couple of operations performed on a daily basis at Vincent de Rijk’s model making outfit in Rotterdam, which fabricates models and prototypes for architects and industrial designers ranging from (and especially) OMA to Richard Hutten. perfect inspiration for those days when you just can’t figure out how to make that model…
[image courtesy Vincent de Rijk]
January 24, 2010 | Broadcast | News
URA launches public consultation exercise for Concept Plan 2011
by JOANNE CHAN, FOR CHANNEL NEWS ASIA
The Singapore Government is seeking public feedback on how the country should use its land over the next 40 to 50 years.
A consultation exercise for Concept Plan 2011 was launched by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Saturday. Four issues will be considered during the planning process, including how to enhance the quality of life and build a sense of belonging. The other two issues deal with an ageing population and growing the nation in a sustainable way.
What does is mean to be Singaporean, and how can we provide for the needs of an ageing population are just some of the questions that will be discussed by two focus groups during the public consultation exercise.
Lee Tzu Yang, co-chair, Focus Group on Sustainability and Identity, said: “In terms of identity, it is not about hardware, it is about software. It is about how people want to live in the neighbourhood.
“Once we know how people want to live in the neighbourhood, I think that will suggest to URA the kind of hardware that needs to be put in.”
And in land scarce Singapore, planners need to balance different competing needs which can affect the quality of life.
Professor Tan Chorh Chuan, co-chair, Focus Group on Quality of Life and Ageing, said: “Quality of life means different things for different groups of people, and how do we bring all this together into something which will provide an optimal mix of facilities as well as amenities for a broad section of people.”
The Concept Plan is reviewed every 10 years to reflect changing trends.
Elaborating on these trends, National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said: “Competition from other cities, the need for us to accommodate the changing demographics in Singapore, ageing population, and of course, the need for us to grow in a more sustainable way.”
Previous Concept Plans have had a major impact on Singapore’s landscape. For example, when the first Concept Plan was established in 1971, plans were drawn up for major infrastructure projects such as Changi Airport, and the first MRT lines.
URA is also seeking online feedback from the public via its website. - CNA/ms
January 19, 2010 | Broadcast | Competitions
Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge HK Boundary Crossing Facilities International Design Ideas Competition
The new Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HKZMB) links up Hong Kong, Zhuhai and Macao in the Pearl River Delta, China. It provides opportunities for significant social and economic development in that region for coming decades.Being a check-point to entering into Hong Kong from the HKZMB, Hong Kong Boundary Crossing Facilities (HKBCF) will be constructed on a 130-hectares of reclamation site to accommodate the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine facilities of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. To reflect its importance and aim at constructing the HKBCF as a new landmark, an international design ideas competition was organized to draw new design ideas and to engage general public for the master layout plan of HKBCF and layout design of the Passenger Clearance Building. The winning designs in the Professional Group of the Competition will be taken as reference for the detailed design of the HKBCF.
For the Competition Document, entry form and details, please visit : http://www.hkbcf-design.hk
January 19, 2010 | Broadcast | Competitions
37th Annual IIDA Interior Design Competition
Submit: Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Together with Interior Design magazine, IIDA’s Annual Interior Design Competition honors outstanding design in all areas of practice: Corporate, Education/Institutional, Government, Healthcare, Hospitality, Residential and Retail/Showroom.
PURPOSE
To recognize and reward outstanding interior design, and to encourage new ideas and techniques in the design and furnishing of interior spaces.
WHO SHOULD ENTER
Any design professional practicing legally in their jurisdiction may submit entries. Truly international in scope, this competition is open to participants worldwide.
ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
Projects must have been completed after January 1, 2008.
JUDGING CRITERIA
Submissions will be judged for suitability of design to the project challenge, originality of the design solution, and the successful integration of interior finishes and furnishings. The winner is determined by a jury of design professionals. The jury reserves the right to not select a winner from the entries submitted for this competition.
AWARDS
All winners of the competition will be announced at IIDA’s NeoCon® celebration COOL. The winning projects may be published in the NeoCon issue of Interior Design magazine. In the event that a previously published entry is selected as a winner, Interior Design magazine reserves the right not to republish that project.
DEADLINES
Deadline to request entry kit: Wednesday, February 10th, 2010.
Deadline to submit completed entries: Wednesday, February 17th, 2010.
January 19, 2010 | Broadcast | Competitions
Restaurant & Bar Design Awards 2010
Totally independent, the Restaurant & Bar Design Awards, now in it’s second year, is the only concept of its kind dedicated exclusively to design.
Judged by a highly influential panel of top international journalists from the design, hospitality and lifestyle sectors, the judges will recognise and reward both ‘restaurants and bars’ and their ‘designers’ for design excellence. With free online entry and a wide variety of categories, applicants and their projects receive extensive exposure, raising their profile for the duration of the competition and beyond.
The Restaurant & Bar Design Awards have rapidly established a distinguished following, attracting submissions from such high profile designers as Zaha Hadid, Karim Rashid, Kengo Kuma and David Collins in its first year.
Culminating in a unique and innovative awards ceremony, the Restaurant & Bar Design Awards’ winners, including the best designed restaurant and the best designed bar, will be announced and presented with their awards at Westfield Stratford in June 2010.
January 19, 2010 | Broadcast | Competitions
iF material award Register/Submit: Saturday, January 30, 2010
The iF material award is a competition for innovative materials, products and processes. The competition, presented for the fifth time in 2010, is open to manufacturers, designers, developers, design engineers and architects. As in previous years, a renowned jury of international experts will decide over the entries that can be entered in the categories materials, product and processes, to award the best with the highly desired iF label.
The iF material award provides an excellent platform for important new developments from the world of materials through the public jury at the CeBIT exhibition “design driving innovation”, the exhibition of all awarded entries at the exhibition “material TRENDS” presented at the Hannover Industrial Fair, the well visited online exhibition on the iF Website, the printed documentation of the award as well as the accompanying communication work by iF and the advertising materials provided to the winners.
The iF material award 2010 will furthermore lay a special focus on ecology and sustainability through a newly created evaluation criteria, to emphasize the importance of this topic.
Registration deadline - Early bird: November 13, 2009
Registration deadline - Regular: January 15, 2010
Registration deadline - Last Chance: January 30, 2010
Submission deadline: yet to be announced
January 19, 2010 | Broadcast | Competitions
International Competition: Intercommunal Territories and Small Towns
Submit: Monday, February 15, 2010
Public services, shops and jobs are found in the centres of small towns of less than 20,000 habitants and large villages for reasons connected with the history of urban development and town planning.
Small towns and village communities, where there is a strong potential for the quality-of-life with nature and national heritage, are areas where town planning and rurality can combine, respecting ecological constraints. Sustainable development in these territories will provide an alternative to the urban concentrations in large built-up areas.
Please note : Territories and project sites located in large built-up areas can be introduced in a proposal…
The purpose of these developments is to improve the quality and the attractiveness of the living environment in interurban areas. For example “a town centre” connected by “eco-friendly transport” to a ‘public square’ and to a ‘park’ … served by an intercommunal transport network provides an answer to these concerns. Based on these existing situations, any improvements made to the quality of life will highlight:
- That conditions of access to the urban centres are specific to each territory (i,e, coastline, mountain, plain, large built-up areas) and take into account the location of centres for employment, services and public amenities
- The use of new means of transport aiming to reduce or replace the use of the individual car
- Easy and safe use of the urban centre and its environment by ‘everyone’.
Quality of life will be evaluated using the three criteria in the ‘Referential for the quality of life’ with priority given to the respecting references below :
- architectural quality: improvements to facilitate access to public buildings and areas
- quality of community life : possibility of easier access to the urban centre for everyone
- respect of the environment : savings in parking areas and energy could be made, depending on the means of transport used.
The 2009-2010 discussion topic for the “Robert Auzelle seminar” is common to the national prize for elected representatives and professionals and the international competition for academics from all disciplines. The French ’eco-friendly transport’ vocabulary sheet for urban art along with other vocabulary sheets is a referential teaching aid.
- Competition Brief in English (PDF)
via ArtUrbain.fr
