Yongsan Business District Master Plan, Seoul, South Korea

Libeskind wins Seoul competition
Studio Daniel Libeskind has won an international design competition to transform the center of the South Korean capital into an international business district. The $20 million project will create a new large-scale district on the Han River that is to include a cluster of residential, office and retail neighborhoods in an extensive urban park. It will also contain new cultural institutions, education facilities and rapid transportation systems.

The plan, called Archipelago 21 because each neighborhood functions like “islands within a sea of green park space", will contain 34 million sq ft of built area. "The idea is to create a 21st-century destination that is at once transformative, vibrant, sustainable and diverse," Libeskind said in a statement. "I wanted to make each form, each place, each neighborhood as varied and distinctive as possible. The plan, and each building within it, should reflect the vertical and cultural complexity of the heart of Seoul."

Studio Daniel Libeskind was on a short list of five firms competing for the project. The competitors included U.S.-based firms Asymptote Architecture, Jerde Partnership and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, along with UK based Foster & Partners.

The project is slated to break ground in 2011 and be completed by 2016.

Sharon McHugh
US Correspondent

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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Aerospace Museum, Jeju Island, South Korea

The country's first Aerospace Museum commences build
The tourist hotspot of Jeju Island off Korea's south border is adding the country's first Aerospace Museum to it's list of attractions. Jutting out of the green landscape like a spaceship has landed, the metallic cylindrical structure represents a move towards technological standing on the island, currently campaigning to become a 'Global Education City'.

Aiming for completion in 2013, US$50.8 million has been invested in the project by the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs.

Covering 329,000 sq m of ground, Aerospace museum is comprised of the Aerial History Hall, Air Force History Exhibition Hall, Space Gallery, 4D Cinema, 4D Planetariums, and Training Center. An ‘outdoor monorail’ will be installed and a visual simulation of an air lane will be provided in the sky to deliver the real sensation of flying to visitors. Observatories are also scheduled to be installed.

The Korean Air Force have agreed to provide 50 aircrafts for the site as well as historical resources. Free outdoor exhibitions will take place including five theme exhibitions, namely Air Combat, Flight Training, Search & Rescue Flight, Military Airbus, and ‘Invisible Force’.

Jeju Island is undergoing six major projects to become a 'Global city': Health Care Town, English Education City, Jeju Science Park, Resort-type Residential Complex, Myths and History Theme Park, and Seogwipo Tourism Port. With the exception of Health Care Town and English Education City, the four projects have already been initiated.

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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Office Complex, Centurion, South Africa

A3 Architects chosen for Centurion office design
A3 Architects (Pty) Ltd have been appointed to proceed with the new, state of the art office development, to form part of the new "Eco Park" mixed use development node in Centurion, Pretoria. The concept design is focused on a flexible tenant subdivisibility or alternatively a single "rationale".

The 30,000 sq m office development focuses on a vast 6 storey internal atrium space over a multiple basement structure. The central atrium offers alternatives and may be used for exhibition shows and displays whilst affording tenants and users the opportunity of an "all weather" gathering and public space.

The aesthetic is bright, modern and high tech, offering a fresh new take on the area.

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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Marni Miami, Miami, United States

New flagship boutique for Marni opens in Miami
This new flagship boutique designed by Sybarite captures the mood of Miami’s Design District. Circular forms repeat throughout, particularly in the treatment of the walls which are covered in a graduated pattern of circles in ‘haute relief’, slightly raised from the background, echoing the textured, Art Deco render of the local buildings.

Puncturing these walls are clusters of variably sized fibreglass boxes painted translucent white, specially made for the display of handbags and other accessories. Round tiered shoe displays in stainless steel are scattered around the space, along with round leather stools, modular seating and circular rugs, breaking up the expanse of polished concrete floor.

Appearing to float on minimal supports, a stainless steel rail undulates around the perimeter, inside of which stainless steel trees fan out. Clusters of mannequins hang from the ceiling, as if suspended in space. Elongated cylindrical fitting rooms are tucked discretely behind the display walls, concealing the stock and cash and wrap areas.

Simple glazing forms two of the exterior walls, making the façade appear wide open, capitalising on the bright, sunny climate and giving the space a feeling of airy lightness.

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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Burj Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

SOM designed interiors steam ahead within world's tallest building
As the long anticipated climax at the construction site of The Burj Dubai edges closer, the innards of the world’s tallest building are evolving at an even faster rate. International architecture consultancy, Skidmore Owings & Merrill (SOM), announce that the interiors too will soon complete.

SOM are responsible for the design of the tower’s exterior and all lobbies, public and common spaces. A confluence of architectural and interior design influences from around the world and the Arabic region is expressed within the design.

“Burj Dubai’s interiors are mindful of the building’s prominent international address and its true purpose as home to a number of residents,” said Nada Andric, lead architect for the project,“while being inspired by the fascinating local culture and the challenge of enhancing the value of a global landmark.

“This unique approach is reflected in all aspects from careful planning of all the public areas, the subliminal reference to free flowing Arabic script, colours and materials and the implementation with an aim to showcase global technology and human achievement.”

Andric’s design approach was not to take literal, stereotypical translations for the region’s cultural influences but to turn to scholarship to develop the vocabulary inspired by the region’s history, culture understanding of the heritage of the Arabic world and its interpretation into spatial elements, the right choices of materials and a concerted effort to blend the traditional motifs and patterns with modernity.

Upon completion, Burj Dubai will be the tallest building in the world in all four categories recognised by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), which compiles and ranks the world’s tallest buildings. The tower, encompassing 160 inhabitable floors for residential, commercial, hotel, and entertainment facilities as well as the world largest shopping mall, topped off in January at 818m with little fanfare, the event barely reaching the press. The completion of the centerpiece of the US$20 billion Downtown Burj Dubai development in September this year is expected to be a much grander celebration.

Niki May Young
News Editor

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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The Yas Hotel, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Asymptote's Formula 1 hotel nears completion ahead of Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Asymptote's design for the Yas Hotel in Abu Dhabi is so central to the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, that the track runs through it. The spectacular centrepiece to the Yas Marina development will provide a focal point for the brand new racetrack, which will hold it's debut race on 30 October. The $36billion development is set to be the most exquisite motorsport venue in the world.

An expansive glass grid shell provides the most distinctive feature of the 500-room, 85,000m2 complex. Covering 217 metres the sweeping, curvilinear forms are constructed of steel and 5,800 pivoting diamond-shaped glass panels. Within this veil-like structure are two hotel towers and a link bridge passing above the Formula 1 track that makes its way through the building complex.

Optical lighting and reflective effects against the backdrop of the sky, sea and desert landscape of Yas Island turn the hotel into an entertainment spectacle.

Asymptote's founders and partners Hani Rashid and Lise Anne Couture based their design around speed, movement and Islamic art and craft traditions. Rashid described the design as, “a perfect union and harmonious interplay between elegance and spectacle. The search here was inspired by what one could call the 'art' and poetics of motor racing, specifically Formula 1, coupled with the making of a place that celebrates Abu Dhabi as a cultural and technological tour de force.”

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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North Kent Police Station, Northfleet, United Kingdom

Thames Gateway Police Station leads the way in energy efficiency
The 11,500 m2, four-storey landmark building includes 40 cells, conference rooms, restaurants, separate public and custody entrances and a new crime scene investigation garage.

The scheme features a number of ‘green’ technologies, including an innovative geothermal heating and cooling solution, reducing the building’s carbon footprint by 32 tonnes and making great energy savings.

The building is heated and cooled using a ground source heat pump system. The system circulates water through pipes which have been embedded in the structural concrete piles. These are further supplemented by remote geothermal piles located in the car park that extend to a depth of approximately 100m. The geothermal system will achieve at least 30% in overall energy savings, equating to around £18,000 per year.

Solar shading is provided to the southerly façade by means of brise soliel. The biggest area of glazing faces north which provides consistent external light and temperature to the offices.

The flat roof is being used for collecting rainwater for use in flushing the office block toilets.

The key feature of the building is the 80 metre long central atrium known as the ‘Street’. The building also comprises a two-storey custody block and a four-storey, 80m X 15m glazed office block.

The consortium working on the project includes Justice Support Services North Kent Ltd, comprising Reliance Secure Task Management, Bank of Scotland Corporate and the Kier Project Investment Ltd.

This is McBains Cooper’s fifth police PFI project with Reliance including the award-winning Gloucestershire Police Headquarters building.

McBains Cooper invited Glenn Howells Architects to work with them from conception stages. Glenn Howells Architects was responsible for developing the building concept and external envelope whilst McBains Cooper, with their in-depth knowledge of police buildings, developed the internal arrangements and adjacencies of the many departments and custodial suite

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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Museo Tamayo ex-tension Atizapan, Mexico City, Mexico

Michel Rojkind and BIG win Museum competition in Mexico
Set upon a steep hillside in Atizapan on the outskirts of Mexico’s largest metropolis will soon sit the New Tamayo Museum which will serve as a nucleus of education and culture, locally, regionally, and internationally.

Named after the Oaxacan born artist Rufino Tamayo (1899-1991) the very strong and symbolic shape of the cross is a direct interpretation of the client’s preliminary program studies that defined the museum's optimal functionality.

The main concept of Museo Tamayo ex-tension Atizapan is an open box that unfolds, opens and invites the visitors inside. Package, restoration and storage will serve as additional cultural spaces for visitors to understand the stages that an art piece goes through in order to get to its specific destination.

This is a very direct, strong and symbolic project. Where the shape derives from the client’s preliminary studies that defined the optimal functionality and was then enhanced by taking advantage of the best views from above, making the best of the steep terrain and shading the more social program below, exterior and interior spaces overlap to provide the best environment possible for each function, and optimal climatic performance.

Museo Tamayo ex-tension Atizapan makes the best of the steep terrain allowing the galleries to shade the more social programs below, exterior and interior spaces overlap to provide the best environment possible for each function, and optimal climatic performance. The permeable brick shading façade eliminates or reduces the need for AC and combines good daylight with no sunshine and plenty of natural ventilation.

Although, it will be the museums symbolic provocation of its form and content that will attract its visitors, once there, they will discover that its design, though modest, is intelligently and sustainably planned.

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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Dragonfly, New York, United States

Dragonfly concept aims for ecological self-sufficiency in New York
The latest concept design from Vincent Callebaut Architects – the Dragonfly – has been designed with the intention of easing the ever-increasing need for ecological and environmental self-sufficiency in the urban cityscape. The proposed development, designed around the Southern bank of Roosevelt Island in New York, follows a vertical farm design which, it is hoped, would cultivate food, agriculture, farming and renewable energy in an urban setting.

The unique 128 floor, 700m concept design is spread over two oblong towers and suggests building a prototype of an urban farm in which a mixed programme of housing, offices, laboratories and farming spaces are vertically laid out over several floors and cultivated by its inhabitants. The architecture of the design proposes reinventing the vertical building, so associated with the New York skyline of the 19th and 20th centuries, both structurally and functionally as well as ecologically.

The functional organisation of the design is arranged around two 600m towers, symmetrically arranged around a huge climactic greenhouse that links them, and constructed of glass and steel. This greenhouse, which defines the shape of the design, supports the load of the building and is directly inspired by the structural exoskeleton of dragonfly wings. Two inhabited rings buttress around the ‘wings,’ and along the exterior of these are solar panels, which will provide up to half the buildings electricity, with the rest being supplied by three wind machines along the vertical axes of the building.

While most would argue that the unconventional design of Dragonfly would be more suited to Dubailand than New York, the conceptual design tackles the contemporary dilemma of food production and agriculture in a city sorely lacking in the horizontal space required to do so, as well as attempting to achieve this in an ecologically sound and renewable way by merging production and consumption in the heart of the city.

John Edwards
Reporter

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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World Trade Center, New York, United States

Towers dwarfed by Port Authority fears
Plans being considered by the Port Authority to remove one of the World Trade Center Towers and to reduce Lords Foster and Rogers’ towers to stumps have been released to the New York Daily News.

A source familiar with the plans revealed that in order to protect the development of the Freedom Tower (now named Tower One), the Port Authority plans to reduce office space from 10million to 5million sq ft and make retail developments of the Foster/Rogers stumps. The news comes following a report for the Authority last month by Cushman and Wakefield which stated that the towers would not be fully occupied until 2037.

The office of World Trade Center Properties, led by Larry Silverstein and awarded $5billion in rejuvenation compensation following the collapse of the WTC, are resolutely opposed to the changes: “The Silverstein team has not wavered on rebuilding the World Trade Center, and we never will,” said Janno Lieber, President. “We remain committed to the plan all the stakeholders agreed to in 2004, and reaffirmed in 2006 – a stirring Memorial, a rebuilt transportation network, and replacement of the shops and soaring office towers destroyed eight years ago.

“This space is essential so that Downtown can re-emerge as an economic and jobs powerhouse for New York City. The Port Authority agreed to that plan, and has received more than $2 billion out of the rebuilding fund based on their promise to cooperate in executing that exact vision. Now, with 10,000 construction workers standing ready to get to work, there is absolutely no reason for turning our backs on the promises.”

Foster's design for the 200 Greenwich Street tower was to rise to 390 metres while Rogers' 175 Greenwich Street would rise to 350 metres. But the source advised that these would be replaced by two retail buildings of just 4 or 5 floors.

"One of the most difficult aspects of a vision is not the creation of it, but sticking to it," said spokesperson for the Council for Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, Jan Klerks. "As visions embed a long term span, the urge to change the vision when circumstances change, such as the economic climate, can be great. However, unique areas deserve a unique long term vision in which ambitions ideally shouldn’t be compromised by current circumstances. The development of these locations might be better off with temporary blanks or long term ambitions in the vision that can be shaped when tides are better, instead of being developed in difficult circumstances with economized ambitions."

Mayor Bloomberg has called for a summit between involved parties next week. In the mean time the Port Authority has locked down communications with press on the matter while Foster + Partners and Roger Stirk Harbour + Partners are maintaining an uneasy silence.


Niki May Young
News Editor

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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Clyde Williams Building, Loughborough University, Loughborough, United Kingdom

Clyde Williams Building, a new Biosciences Teaching and Laboratory Facility, opens
The new facility, designed by David Morley Architects at Loughborough University is home to the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences. The facility comprises teaching laboratories and classrooms, a sprint corridor and analysis suites together with research laboratories.

The three storey, 5,500 sq m building is situated on the edge of campus with a street presence and bounding defining a sequence of external spaces that join Loughborough University with Loughborough College of Technology on the adjacent site. The building is orientated to optimise use of natural light and ventilation reducing energy consumption.

Ground floor accommodation is separated from the upper levels so that the tidal flow of students attending lectures does not disturb sensitive research activities at upper levels. The first and second floors are organised around a two storey central atrium. PHD students based in the atrium have ready access to the wide range of preparation, research and analysis facilities – and professors – on each side. The end walls of the atria are glazed and an ETFE roof above creates a vibrant working environment.

David Morley Architects has now completed four projects at Loughborough University, with a fifth due for completion in autumn 2009. This includes a post-graduate centre, the ECB National Cricket Centre, a 1,300 room student accommodation development and Sport Park (an office development to bring together a number of National Governing Bodies of Sport in an active landscape).

David Morley says of the project: ‘This building shows how a complex programme of research and teaching activities can be distilled into a simple building that also makes a positive contribution to the campus – I hope we have achieved our aim that the building should speak but not shout.’

The new facility will be opened by the Princess Royal on 12th May

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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House of Arts and Culture, Beirut, Lebanon

Alberto Catalano design chosen as winner for House of Arts and Cutlture
Ten months since the Lebanese Minister for Culture, Mr. Tarek Mitri, launched the international competition for the design of the House of Arts and Culture in Beirut at the UIA General Assembly in Turin, last year, a winning design has been chosen. Located in the Ghalghoul neighbourhood sorely affected by the conflicts, the new dynamic and interactive edifice, will offer a vast range of spaces devoted to creativity, exchange, debate, education and cultural diffusion for all publics and all generations.

An international jury met in Beirut examining 388 projects and the italian team led by Alberto Catalano was chosen as the first prize winner. The jury commented that they appreciated the sensitive approach of the Milanese team, the idea of designing the building as a public plaza, as a “non-building”, and its integration in the urban fabric thus achieving one of the important objectives of the programme: the engagement of the public realm.

The awards were given as follows:

1st prize: Alberto Catalano, team leader, with Giulia Lurcotta, Barbarangelo Licheri, Daniel Piludu, Celestino Sanna, Mariangela Murgia, Emanuela Forcolini, Souraya Frem (Milan, Italy)

2nd prize: Beatriz Ramo López de Angulo, team leader, with Simone de Lacobis, Iñigo Paniego de la Cuesta, Jean-Vianney Deleersnyder (Rotterdam, The Netherlands)

3rd prize: “Project Meganom” - Yuri Grigorian, Natalia Tatunashvili, Tatiana Kornienko, Yuri Kuznezov, Elena Uglovskaya, Irina Livieva, Artem Staborovskiy, Ruben Grigoryan (Moscow, Russia)

Mentions:
Dorell, Ghotmeh, Tane (Paris, France)

Spiridon Kakavas, Dimitris Giannis, Eleni Klonizaki (Athens, Greece)

Polymur Ltd - Chris Yoo (London, United Kingdom)

Format 21 - Gerd Röschke (Francfort, Germany)

Atelier 2/3/4 - Jean François Patte, Emilie Sopena, Sylvain Rety, Elie Marçais (Paris, France)

Bernd Upmeyer (Rotterdam, The Netherlands)

INCH - Roberto Otero Arbide (Mexico city & Madrid, Spain)

KAPUTT! - Rita Ferreira, Kirill de Lancastre Jedenov, Sérgio Antunes, Irene Bonacchi, Ana

Brütt, Sofia Reis Couto, Filipe Moreira (Lisbon, Portugal)

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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DTK, Amsterdam, Netherlands

New office addition for Amsterdam West expected to be completed in autumn
The DTK office building is constructed on top of a two-storey existing complex in Amsterdam West. The project called for a paradoxical addition; to create something new without making a visual disturbance on the context. The folding roofs of the buildings adjacent to either side of the complex motivated the idea of utilizing a metal clad building that resembles the surroundings.

DTK is placed on steel stands with a folding motion aiming towards the west, in order to capture the Dutch sunset. DTK’s silhouette fuses with its neighbouring buildings, creating an organic architectural flow while zinc roof cladding accentuates the building’s soft curved shape.

The DTK Building, already in construction, is expected to complete in Autumn 2009.

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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Dickinson School of Law, Lewis Katz Building, Pennsylvania, United States

Penn State's Law School building opens
Penn State’s Dickinson School of Law marked its 175th anniversary with the opening of its new 114,000 sq ft Lewis Katz Building.

The Dickinson School of Law, which merged with Penn State in 2000, operates as an ABA-accredited unified two-location law school from University Park and Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Asked to create a unified identity across these two locations, Richard Olcott of Polshek Partnership Architects has designed a building that responds to the law school’s desire to create an inspired and engaging center for legal education.

The focal point of the Lewis Katz Building is its glass-enclosed H. Laddie Montague Jr. Law Library with a volume capacity of 100,000 and seating for 294 students. The architecture draws from the idea that the law library is the theoretical and physical heart of the legal educational experience. As the center in which students spend much of their time, the library is conceived as a floating element, sheltered from the rest of the school’s program beneath. The ground plane flows unimpeded, linking interior and exterior space to foster the feeling of openness and accessibility emblematic of the school’s goals.

“The sinuous building form is a direct response to the presence of the surrounding mountains and geology of the valley,” says Olcott. “The curving library is clad in glass to create a constantly changing backdrop of reflected sunlight throughout the day and a beacon of light at night.”

Within, the library is conceived as a continuous looping circulation system, providing several different types of study environments. Each end of the sinuous form is directed at a specific landscape, one near and one far: the periodicals room faces the adjacent arboretum, and the reading room is focused on the more distant Mount Nittany across the valley. Beneath this floating aerial form is its counterpart, an earthbound series of volumes clad in local sandstone that contain the classrooms, auditorium and courtroom. These elements surround a broad commons area that opens to the landscape and follows its stepping contours, directly connecting the school’s interior programs to the surrounding campus.

The Lewis Katz Building was constructed to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification requirements, utilizing numerous sustainable initiatives and local and recycled materials throughout its design. From its continuous planted green roof to its reintroduction of pervious surfaces on what was a massive parking lot, the building helps reduce the amount of rainwater runoff generated by the site. To reduce its energy consumption, the building maximizes its use of natural day lighting in public spaces as its mechanical systems allow for operable windows and individual climate control in most of its individual offices.

Additional building features include the 250-seat Greg Sutliff Auditorium; a courtroom equipped with the latest in trial technology; four 75-person classrooms; several intimate seminar rooms; legal clinic and student organizations suites; and outdoor terraces and reading gardens. As Marie Reilly, associate dean for academic affairs and professor of law at Penn State’s Dickinson School of Law, so aptly states, “Nearly every inch of the Lewis Katz Building is designed to draw students and faculty together in a close community in which students develop the analytical, communication and interpersonal skills the legal profession requires.”

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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National Children's Museum, National Harbor, United States

Design unveiled for National Children’s Museum
The National Children’s Museum, which has been without a home for five years, has unveiled plans for a new building to be designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli architects. To be located in National Harbor, Maryland just outside the nation’s capital, the new building will be a physical manifestation of the museum’s mission to inspire children to care about and improve the world. As such, Pelli has incorporated many green features into the Museum’s design including a wind turbine tower, a wall of living plants, a green roof and sun louvers to admit and control natural light.

When completed, the 150,000 sq ft four-storey LEED-certified building will serve as a teaching tool for children, inspiring them to be good stewards of the environment. Other features of the building include a boat slip on the Potomac, which will accommodate science and boating activities and a gathering space in the nearby woodlands. The new museum is slated to open in 2013.

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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Topaz Towers, Brasov, Romania

New Residental Building in Brasov
Topaz towers located in the city Brasov, Romania, is comprised approximately 450 medium cost apartments within 4 buildings. The 12-storey buildings are arranged parallel to the two roads on the plot sides to create a quiet, light and secure inner garden between them, while on sides facing the roads there are two commercial arcades.

While the white envelops are making the general & public urban outlines the "cut out" strips on the facades reviles the inner surface of the private apartments and the double sided lobby.The apartments are bound to the outside through a simple relationship between a living room, dining room, terrace and the beautiful view of Tampa mountain.

The buildings contain sustainable design measures such as structural efficiency, insulation, infrastructure, and sustainable materials.

Plot area: 14,860 sm Built area: 49,000 sm

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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Alberta Ferretti Los Angeles, Los Angeles, United States

Sybarite design for exclusive Alberta Ferretti store opens in LA
Being home to the billion dollar entertainment industry, it's no surprise that deluxe would be the order of the day in LA. The new Sybarite design for Alberta Ferretti will not be out of place. With the new concept for Alberta Ferretti, Sybarite have developed a language of lightness and transparency, grounded by a sophisticated yet simple palette of materials to form the perfect backdrop to this collection. The key design features of the new flagship store in Los Angeles are the flexibility of the bespoke display system, the disciplined continuity of the palette and the skillful use of lighting to create an atmosphere that is as sensual, airy and ethereal as the clothes themselves.

Flexibility is achieved by a completely unique system of magnetic hangers and shelving which can be freely placed against lacquered steel panels. Composed of gloss lacquered fiberglass, these elegant full-bust hangers bring the clothes to life, showing them in their natural and volumetric form rather than limply two-dimensional. The freestanding elliptical rails are made from a new 'black' stainless steel, a technique developed especially for Alberta Ferretti. The 'V' profile of the rail disguises the hanger fixings and forms a crown under which the clothes appear to float freely. Scattered throughout the shop are Perspex screens inlaid with stainless steel to which more magnetic hangers can be affixed. Lacquered petals and mannequins appear to grow naturally out of the floor in elegant compositions, offering additional display flexibility.

The choice of materials is restrained and deliberate. Quality speaks for itself and finishes repeat throughout, creating a harmonious backdrop of simplicity and continuity against which the luxury of the clothes can stand out. The hard surfaces of Perspex, steel, concrete, plaster and fiberglass are all polished or lacquered, the reflective properties enhanced. The bespoke stainless steel rails in smoky black anchor the design, balancing the softly layered greys of the remaining colour palette. Clean and crisp, the polished plaster ceiling is unobtrusive, as the trench lighting seems to disappear into it. Inlaid with circles of stainless steel, what could have been an indistinct expanse of polished concrete floor is broken up and given texture, without sacrificing simplicity. The design and palette are echoed in the exterior treatment, with a black stainless steel ribbon enveloping the façade, giving presence to a building that was previously a simple white box. This ribbon also forms the boundary of the carpark which in turn is paved with the same circle-embedded concrete as the interior.

Lighting is used to optimum effect in this design. Bearing graceful stripes of mirrored steel, the Perspex screens are both transparent and reflective, casting interesting shadows, permitting the flow of light, and creating a mood at once surreal and understated, an effect enhanced by the reflectiveness of the surface finishes. Integral LED lights in the steel rails directs attention to the hanging garments, accentuating texture, and literally highlighting the beauty and sensuality of the Alberta Ferretti collection.

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Moscow, Russia

HOK releases concept images of Moscow’s Mandarin Oriental luxury hotel
In partnership with the luxury Mandarin Oriental Hotel chain, architect HOK is designing Russia’s most exclusive and luxurious hotel. Images unveiled for the first time today depict the five-star luxury development in the heart of Moscow.

The new 250-room ‘upside-down’ hotel summons customers to check-in at sky lobby level affording visitors incredible views over Red Square and the Kremlin. HOK’s new design combines the old and the new and is located on a compact, central site on Tverskaya Road - Moscow’s equivalent to London’s Oxford Street. The hotel is housed in a redeveloped historic building, originally constructed in the early 19th Century as a private manor house. The building will retain two of the historic facades along with listed rooms on the ground and first floors. The new nine level internal atrium features a contemporary approach on a Faberge Egg which rises from ground level and terminates as a specialty restaurant overlooking Red Square at level nine.

The Mandarin will incorporate 6,500 m2 of retail space dedicated to luxury brands with underground parking for 270 cars. The hotel will be home to two elegant ballrooms; a health spa and wellness centre; an indoor swimming pool; fitness centre and a variety of restaurants and bars.

Vance Thompson, HOK’s head of hospitality, says: “This project is a fantastic opportunity to work with a listed building in one of the world’s most prestigious retail addresses. This luxury brand offers HOK the opportunity to create a contemporary modern building with a multitude of uses. The success of the project is based upon affording all rooms a unique view, an unrivalled customer experience and creating synergy between the hotel facilities and luxury retail.”

Following completion of the concept design, HOK will shortly begin work on the project schematics and design and development stages. Construction is expected on site towards the end of 2009 and the hotel will be officially open to the public in 2011.

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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ABC Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Mexico City, Mexico

New hospital dedicated to women and children completes in Mexico City
The design approach for the new American British Cowdray Centro Integral de Atención a la Mujer y al Niño (Women’s and Children’s Hospital) responds to the immediate surroundings and changing environment while embracing functionality.

The specific site shape – semicircular on one end and rectilinear on the other – defined the basic geometries to follow. This enabled the concept to be developed around the curve, subdivided into three distinct architectural elements offering varied solutions to smooth out the physical connection with the existing building.

The side of the existing hospital that connects with the Women’s Center is characterised by a clear predominance of solids over openings. As the curved façade moves clockwise toward the north, the glass proportions increase – allowing natural indirect light into the interior spaces while at the same time framing views of the site

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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ION Orchard, Singapore, Singapore

Groundbreaking retail and residential project set to open in Singapore
Construction of the groundbreaking ION Orchard by Benoy is set to complete in Singapore, providing the city’s most expensive accommodation and a new visual icon for South East Asia. Providing Singapore’s first monocoque façade and canopy structure and one of the largest media walls in Asia, the design is a conquest in innovation in the East.

Over 400 shops and 175 ultra-luxe apartments, together with new public realms ensure the project is one of great significance to this central cosmopolitan district, situated at the junction of the Orchard Road, Orchard Boulevard and the Paterson Road-Scotts corridor.

At 218 m in height the Orchard Residences tower is set for completion in December while the retail centre and public realm will open in July when perhaps the most significant element of the design, the outer skin, will be complete. Inspired by the patterns and textures found in nature, Benoy has designed a fully three-dimensional free form curvilinear glass and metal façade to wrap around the retail component of the scheme. This large point-fixed glass structure includes the integrated media façade which has the potential to transform into one of the largest LED media walls in Asia. The design includes a large low resolution ‘seed façade’ and a smaller high resolution LED façade creating a new stage for public video screenings and advertisements. A double curved glass fully transparent Waterdrop has also been designed as an iconic MRT station entrance to the events space. The entire podium monocoque facade will be fitted with LEDs at each nodal point to illuminate the podium at night.

At the heart of the development sits a new 3,000 m2 public square. This new urban space will be a logical focal point for both large and small events – from festivals and shows to meetings and exhibitions. Other public areas include a 500 m2 art gallery and an observation deck.

Importantly, following the launch of Singapore’s sustainability blueprint in April, the project has received awards for its green credentials including BCA Green Mark Gold certificate from Singapore’s Building Construction Authority. ION Orchard was designed by Benoy with RSP Architects Planners & Engineers as the project architects.

Niki May Young
News Editor

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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Brigham and Women’s Hospital - Shapiro Cardiovascular Center, Boston, United States

New addition to Boston hospital provides world-class cardiovascular services
The 420,000 sf Cardiovascular Center enhances Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s stature as one of the world’s leading medical centers. Its strong connectivity to the existing hospital and campus is the culmination of thoughtful planning and responsive architectural articiulation, striking a balance between public spaces and more intimate areas. By consolidating cardiovasocular services into one world-class facility, the center enhances the patient experience, yielding operational efficiences and encouraging collaboration and communication among the specialists.

The Center provides operating suites for cardiac and vascular surgery, diagnostic and treatment facilities, variable acuity inpatient units, ambulatory care clinics and a range of public amenities including dining, conference and family centers. An elevated walkway connects the Center to the hospital’s main pedestrian spine, the “Pike,” and below-grade levels unite new and existing surgical services.

The Center’s exterior reflects its importrant role as the hospital’s Brooline Avenue gateway. Opportunities for natural lighting are maximised and lower levels are as visibly open to the public as possible. Along Vining Street, the building’s scale is reduced to resonate with the scale of the neighbouring housing. Additional construction at the hospital’s existing Armory Building portion refines the 75 Francis Street entry, improves wayfinding, and enhances the hospital’s overall image.

Demonstrating BWH’s commitment to the environment, the development of the building envelope, infrastructures systems, interior finishes and construction methods were all informed by sustainable design best practices.

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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Children's Medical Center Legacy, Plano, Texas, United States

ZGF completes children's hospital designed to adapt to future change
The new Children’s Medical Center Legacy was conceived of as both a complement to the main campus of Children’s Medical Center of Dallas, and as a community-based hospital capable of serving the system’s patients closer to their north Dallas homes.

Designed for future flexibility (including an additional five-level, two-wing bed tower), the facility currently features three above-ground floors, plus a lower garden level, with 72 single-patient rooms and four operating rooms (an additional eight operating rooms have been shelled). Initial construction also includes full-service diagnostics with CT and MRI, an urgent / emergency care center, a lobby café, full-service cafeteria, chapel, gift shop, family resource center, and various patient and family lounges.

The design was heavily influenced by the client’s mission of providing patient-and-family-centered care and using nature, colour and daylight for their impact on healing. Patient rooms are full of light and have a residential character to their furnishings, cabinetry, and material palette. Numerous family waiting areas are interspersed throughout the hospital, all of which are colourful and situated near windows for panoramic views to the outdoors. An abundance of green space surrounds the building, along with a white rock creed outside the cafeteria / dining room and a tranquil lake on the north end of the site.

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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2014 Asian Games Stadium, Incheon, South Korea

Populous wins Incheon stadium design for 2014 Asian Games
The global design practice, Populous, created by HOK Sport Venue Event, has won the architecture design competition for the USD $400M main stadium in Incheon, Korea, for the 2014 Asian games.

This is the first big win in Korea for Populous, which has designed Suncorp stadium in Brisbane, the Yankees new stadium in New York and is designing the main stadium in London for the 2012 Olympic Games.

The 70,000 seat multipurpose stadium will be designed to be reconfigured into a single sided grandstand of 30,000-seats, within a park, after the Asian games. It will be located between Incheon International Airport and Seoul, and will be the first landmark building people see when travelling to Seoul from the airport.

Populous will design the new stadium with the local firm Heerim Architects & Planners and will establish a team of at least 10 architects in Brisbane, the firm’s key Asian office, to work closely with Heerim in Incheon.

Populous senior principal Andrew James said: "Incheon Metropolitan City is a world class city, and this will be an innovative world class design, benchmarked against the best in the world.

"The key to the stadium’s success will be reducing it down and linking it into the surrounding parklands, to make it an open accessible building, for all its people. This way it can achieve a connection with the community that is vital to securing its long term sustainability and a true legacy for the people of Incheon." Andrew James also paid tribute to the Queensland Government and the Lord Mayor of Brisbane for their help in securing the project: "Both Trade Queensland, through the Korean office, and the Lord Mayor of Brisbane, assisted with meetings and letters of introduction at the highest level. Both Governments are export focused which is a great help to firms such as us working in competitive Asian markets."

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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Boston Medical Center - Moakley Building, Boston, United States

Boston Medical Center’s Moakley Building streamlines cancer care for city’s most vulnerable residents
Streamlining access to state-of-the-art services for some of Boston’s most vulnerable residents, this consolidated cancer care center creates a dignified patient experience that advances Boston Medical Center’s mission to provide “exceptional care without exception.” Designed to support interrelated clinical, research and teaching programs, the Moakley Building transforms the hospital campus and strengthens Boston Medical Center’s relationship with its surrounding historic neighborhood.

The siting and architecture of the building respect the open spaces that characterize the urban campus and neighborhood. To maximize connectivity and operating efficiencies, a common entry concourse links the Moakley Building to the entry lobbies of the hospital’s existing inpatient building and ambulatory care center.

The building’s glass-and-brick façade is at once distinctive and inviting. A four-story glass atrium provides views to the outdoors and fills the public circulation and waiting zones with soothing natural light. An open monumental stair at one end provides easy access and wayfinding. Exterior materials repeat inside the building to create elegant, warm and human-scaled spaces in the common areas and treatment rooms.

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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Kolling Building, Sydney, Australia

New Kolling Research Building opens
The new $92m Kolling Building, designed by HASSELL, is the first project to be completed in the redevelopment of the entire Royal North Shore Hospital Campus.

The building which currently houses 350 researchers, education and animal house activities will eventually accommodate 500 researchers. It is well connected to the new main hospital building, allowing easy flow from the acute care area to the research area for the many staff members engaged in active clinical research.

The new facility relocates medical research scientists, clinicians and educators from over twenty buildings spread across the campus into an integrated, shared facility. The Kolling Building, named in recognition of the hospital’s prestigious Kolling Institute of Medical Research, has its own architectural identity and discrete presence on site. Located at Royal North Shore Hospital (RNSH), the Institute was founded in 1931. It is one of the longest-established medical research institutes in Australia and is the main centre for biomedical research at Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, representing the discipline of Molecular Medicine within the University of Sydney.

The facility provides four floors of education space, seven floors of laboratories and a basement housing a large and a small animal house, including a small animal breeding facility. The small animal house and breeding facilities are certified to Physical Containment Level 2 (PC2) and incorporate a 70m² Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service certified quarantine zone.

The building is clad in a proprietary terracotta façade system, in three differing shades, which adds colour and texture to the full height of the eastern and western facades, of the building, dramatically ‘book ending’ the twelve storey structure. Terracotta was chosen specifically because it is reminiscent of the brickwork that the original hospital was built from

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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Harold Alfond Centre for Cancer Care, Maine, United States

New facility allows patients a choice for treatment
This new 55,000 square foot free-standing, outpatient, comprehensive cancer care center was designed to create a flexible patient-focused healing environment for a prominent hospital in Maine. It is one of the first healthcare projects in the United States to be candidate for LEED Silver Certification.

The overarching theme of the design for this project was "connection to nature." The facility is located on a pastoral site with rolling hills, wetlands, and a meandering stream. Responding to the beauty and unspoiled nature of the site, the team created a building that was nestled into the earth, not merely placed on top. From a functional perspective, the team needed to strike a balance between the conflicting priorities inherent in a cancer treatment facility; to provide a supportive, calming atmosphere while still providing the clinical requirements necessary to administer treatment.

Cancer patients need some privacy but often do not want to feel alone in the clinical setting. Design solutions, such as the use of translucent glass in the infusion areas, allowed patients to see that others were present yet still maintain a degree of privacy.

Perhaps the most critical components of the cancer center are the design features that allow patients to exert control over their experience. They can have private treatments with only their family present, or they can receive treatment in a more public area with the support of other patients. Patients can receive treatment indoors or out. They also have the ability to change their preference as their needs change.

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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Chung Nam Provincial Office and Park, Seoul, South Korea

Design for Chung Nam Provincial Office and Park decided
A major design competition initiated by the South Korean Government has been won by the mixed team of john reed architecture with Mooyoung Architects and Engineers and Field Operations. The $185million Chung Nam Provincial Office and Park will be situated approximately two hours drive south of Seoul and will be central to a newly planned city in the heart of the Korean ‘breadbasket’ rural area.

James Corner of Field Operations is designing the 325,000 sq m landscape where the Government office will sit. This winning design is a convergence of two conceptual landscaping principles, the first a desire to turn the site into a large park-like garden, the second, the concept of representing the seat of government as an abstracted mountain range, symbolic of Korea itself, (of which some 80% is composed of mountains and uplands). The landscape platforms provide great programmatic diversity as well as memorable spatial experiences. Each platform responds to different demands of sports, flower display and sun lawn, etc. while the spaces between the platforms provide a seamless connection to the numerous destinations. Covered by a variegated canopy trees, the pathways in-between create a range of shaded settings.

This 102,300 sq m administrative center, designed by john reed architecture celebrates Baekje Culture through a number of architectural and landscape design themes. As with numerous historical depictions of ancient Korean cities surrounded by overlapping rings of mountains, the campus itself resembles an extended mountain range. The buildings recede and advance across the site with a rhythmic pattern creating valleys of public space and gardens within. Green roofs will combine with Photovoltaic panels providing both pleasing aesthetics and sustainable satisfaction. The project is slated for completion in 2012.

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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St Helens Hospital, St Helens, United Kingdom

A modern hospital to set the standard for the NHS
Phil Hope, Minister for Care Services, hailed the new St Helens Hospital a “blueprint for the future” during an official visit in October 2008. Mr Hope went on to say, “It is an amazing site and a fantastic achievement. The detailing is unbelievable, for instance edges of walls are rounded so dirt cannot collect. It’s a great design”.

St Helens is a new state of the art, centralised diagnostic and treatment centre on Merseyside. Such modern facilities are the future for the NHS’s new integrated healthcare service. The architects have captured this forward looking, modern feel in their design solution for St Helens. The driving concept behind the design was the creation of a patient focussed building sitting in a healing landscape with art, nature and colour integrated into all aspects of the design.

We have followed the principle that “form follows function”. Our design delivered this first and foremost to enable the Trust to deliver its proposed models of care.

A key element of the design brief for the project was to create a building that would remove some of the anxiety of coming to hospital and provide an environment where people are relaxed and comfortable, and which optimises patients flows and staff efficiencies.

The light and calming central atrium design is itself truly impressive. Designed to reduce stress and worry for patients and family waiting for treatment, it has an easy to understand way-finding system which brings colour and vitality to the space, and enjoys views into beautifully landscaped courtyards. It is a people place populated by a coffee bar, retail outlet, staff & visitor food court, main reception and more innovatively, the main clinic waiting areas, linked to the existing intermediate care wards, providing an integrated healthcare campus of buildings, which is efficient and flexible. The changing levels of the site have also been optimised to provide different entrances into the Atrium which minimise travel distances for vulnerable patients.

Patient Valerie Gleave from Haydock said: “It doesn’t really look like you expect hospitals to be. It is very welcoming and friendly and you don’t feel nervous about coming here”.

The architects have worked at all times in a spirit of true partnership, integrating their team with that of the Trust to deliver a design that reflects the Trust’s clinical models of care and enable them to realise its clinical aspirations

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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Royal Women's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia

Design Inc + Woodhead complete Australia’s newest state of the art hospital focused on health services for women
The Royal Women’s Hospital is Australia’s newest state of the art hospital, focussed on the provision of medical services specifically for women. A Public Private Partnership, the project is efficient, contemporary, innovative and sustainable, and designed to allow maximum flexibility over the 25 year concession period.

The project's core aims include the creation of a patient-focused, ‘non clinical’ environment reflecting user preferences, and to provide a sensory, stress free experience while responding to cultural / ethnic demographics. The building is designed to make a positive contribution to the built form of this densely developed campus and CBD location, and to allow greater efficiency and "value outcome", creating an intelligent balance between commercial parameters and a sustainable WOL approach.

The building form complements the surrounding urban fabric, the two narrow wings demonstrate the importance of natural light, views, orientation and fresh air, the drivers of design. The relationship with surrounding buildings creates an unmistakable health precinct gateway to the CBD. 1,000 women representing the ethnic and cultural diversity of the patients were interviewed at the outset of the project, generating an evidenced-based, patient-focussed approach.

The innovative planning approach is logical and structured, providing safe, efficient patient care. The two wings are joined by the central location of the lobbies, lifts and stairs for easy way finding. Floor plates and structural grids allow for flexible departmental layouts and occupancy. Decentralised plant rooms create flexible reticulation to meet current and projected needs and the ability to reconfigure with minimal disruption.

A number of environmental innovations have been incorporated, including displacement air-conditioning to inpatient wards with 100% fresh air, intelligently shaded elevations with sun aspect and use of thermal mass inertia (arrow floor plates / natural ventilation / optimum natural light).

The hospital is designed to reduced stress through intuitive wayfinding, separation of visitor / staff circulation and separation of pedestrian/vehicular traffic. Recyclable / renewable-source materials are selected througout, as are systems for low energy and water consumption, and there has also been careful evaluation of WOL costs to balance with capital costs

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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St.Petersburg Forum, St.Petersburg, Russia

Design to bridge northern and southern ends of the Obvodny Canal
This project is intended to become the new public space in the city with commercial and residential functions. Developed as a master plan which aims to integrate the residential quarter on the north of the Obvodny Canal with the southern part of the district by transforming the former industrial area into a new city center.

The size and dispersed shape of the site guided the architects to design an element which will bring together various functions and buildings. The “Forum” concept is utilized to integrate the different zones of the project via a spinal system with the “Forum Area” as the heart of the project. The site is reserved for pedestrians excluding vehicular traffic. The Forum area designed as an open space functions as an intermediate space connecting commercial spaces for public use and residential spaces for private use.

The building typology of the project originates from the courtyard concept. The courtyard concept provides privacy for housing complexes; in addition a place of gathering for commercial spaces. St. Petersburg Forum is mainly composed of residential units accompanied with commercial functions which are divided into regions. The project includes hotel rooms and serviced residences as Riverwalk Hotel & Apartments; high-rise residence building as Forum Tower; offices and retail units as Forum Plaza; shopping center and offices as Obvodny Center and family residences as Courtyard Residences

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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Three mixed use projects, Seattle, United States

Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects unveil three projects
Architect Tom Kundig, who made his mark designing iconic houses in the Pacific Northwest, has unveiled concept designs for three mixed-use projects to be located in Seattle, Washington and Denver, Colorado.

In Seattle, Kundig is developing a design for the Candela Hotel and Residences at the corner of 2nd Avenue and Pike Streets. The project will incorporate an exclusive hotel and spa, private residences, and commercial uses and will aspire to achieve a LEED gold certification. Also in Seattle, Kundig is designing The 1900 First Avenue Hotel and Apartments which will house a 100-room boutique hotel, 70 apartments and 14,000 sq ft of retail space. To be located at First Street and Stewart in the downtown, the building is being designed to respond to the existing context and to be visually active, public and transparent. The building will be LEED Platinum and is expected to open in 2011.

In Denver, Kundig is designing The Bannock Street project, which is to include a 100-key boutique hotel, retail space and galleries, offices and condominiums. The project will be located across the street from Libeskind’s Denver Art Museum and the soon to be completed Clyfford Still Museum, designed by Allied Works Architecture.

Sharon McHugh
US Correspondent

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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The University of Oregon Athletic Medicine Center, Eugene, Oregon, United States

Design as a means of achieving highest standards of athlete care
The University of Oregon Athletic Medicine Center (AMC) offers an unusual blend of contemporary medical technology and imagery to both physically treat and psychologically invigorate Oregon’s student-athletes.

Reflecting the University of Oregon’s holistic approach to athlete care, the AMC incorporates tools that address the health of the entire athlete. While most sports therapy facilities focus on physical therapy and strength training only, Oregon’s athletic department can utilise this space to provide and receive dental and vision care, acupuncture, and nutritional and dietary oversight via the various treatment rooms. Also included are meeting rooms; a pharmacy; x-ray bay; treadmills and exercise bikes; three hydro-therapy tubs; a hot and cold tub and a Bod Pod® capsule to calculate body fat.

To inspire, the facility features a variety of design gestures that pay tribute to its athletic function and purpose. For example, a dynamic, internally illuminated white Corian bench in the Center’s seating area was conceived of as an unraveling roll of tape, while nearby white oak wall paneling is both branded with the names of important Oregon coaches and mounted so as to mimic a bandage wrapping a limb.

Adding further inspiration and contextual richness to the seating area, and providing a clear link to Oregon’s rich athletic history, are four sandblasted glass pictorial screens portraying a variety of athletes whose images were created using the names of former University of Oregon athletes, with the names of star players highlighted in Oregon yellow. Other branding gestures include 3,000 aluminum rods that form the University’s “O” logo on the glass wall above the nutrition bar, the custom “O” hardware on drawers, and the yellow and green Oregon logo colors present throughout the space.

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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Cedars-Sinai Medical Center - Saperstein Critical Care Tower, Los Angeles, United States

L.A. hospital looks to the future
The North Critical Care Tower at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a 250,000 s.f. replacement hospital, which consolidates all adult critical care services into one state-of-the-art facility and supports safe, efficient and technologically sophisticated patient care. The project includes 72 intensive care unit beds, a 48 bed direct observation unit, 30 acute care beds, and space for future expansion.

Patient care is enhanced by several innovative features. The tower was designed with patient rooms containing identical floor plans – not “mirror image” plans as in most hospitals. This was done to increase staff efficiency, with every piece of equipment and every control located in the same position in each room.

The building has several features designed to reduce wait time and multiple transfers of the hospital’s most fragile patients, such as high-speed elevators, motorised beds, onsite pharmacy and X-ray capabilities, and 30 universal monitored beds that allow for direct admission of very sick patients by their own doctors, bypassing the most common path of critical care admission, the emergency room.

A fully automated robotic transport system of 28 computer-directed cars delivers and removes laundry, medical supplies and other materials. The cars, each of which can carry 850 pounds, operate 24 hours a day, saving many hours of staff time. The cars can run at up to 2.5 miles per hour for 5 continuous hours after charging for only 40 minutes

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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Peterborough Regional Health Centre, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada

Health centre provides positive distractions from the hospital experience
The City of Peterborough is located in a geographic region north-east of Toronto know as the Kawathas. Characterised by rolling hills, rugged geography, lakes and marshland, communities within the Kawarthas grew up around “crossroads”. Peterborough is a rich urban community that has it’s roots in one such “crossroads”.

The concept for Peterborough Regional Health Centre is rooted in this idea of ‘crossroads’; the intersection of two paths. The east-west path establishes the main entrance and lobby space, and is given material presence through locally quarried stone. Upon entrance from the west, visitors are immediately visually reconnected to the panoramic view of the city and regional geography to the east. The north-south path provides the prime circulation spine on all six levels and is expressed in a warm charcoal grey concrete block. The program simply builds around these two ’crossroad’ elements leaving them always legible as the principle organizing device. The north-south spine passes through landscaped courtyards like “the bridges” of Peterborough, connecting the city across the Otonabee River.

The idea is about being connected to and reflective of the community as a means of generating a sense of wellness, familiarity and comfort. The visual connection to the rolling hills of the Kawarthas upon entry, the constant views to the community and landscape throughout the facility, The “Bridges of Peterborough” that provide light, view and orientation are all ideas about creating a sense of belonging, connection, familiarity and stress reduction.

Architecture for health is about lifting the spirit through connection, landscape, order, light and material. PRHC, since opening, has become a community meeting place. Many visitors are there to experience the views from the lobby, the cafeteria or the landscaped roof terrace and perhaps to have a coffee and social contact. Being truly connected to its community, PRHC provides positive distractions that reduce the stress related to the experience of healthcare.

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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Maggie's Centre - Fife, Kircaldy, United Kingdom

Zaha Hadid's striking design for cancer centre
The Maggie’s Centre Fife provides a resource and counselling centre for people with cancer. It is domestic in scale but unique in execution. The design is Zaha Hadid’s response to a brief set by Maggie’s, which challenged her to create a relaxed and aesthetically uplifting environment, where additional support outside of the more clinical hospital environment could be provided for those affected by cancer to build a life beyond cancer.

Externally the form of the Centre derives from a folding surface and a connecting ground slab. The folding surface articulates a directional emphasis of moving the visitor into a different space from the rest of the hospital grounds. By cladding the visible roof and two opposing walls with the same material and making the remaining elevations a mix of translucent and clear glass, the directional nature of this form is reinforced. Large overhangs of the roof are used to extend the building into the landscape on both sides. These overhangs protect the entrance doors on the north side whilst on the south side they provide solar shading to the glass elevation and partially cover the terrace.

Internally the arrangement of rooms is centered on an open plan kitchen with offi ces on the north elevation adjacent to the entrance. To offer privacy, the rooms to the east have a semi opaque façade. Visitors to Maggie’s Fife will have an unobstructed view through the centre to the south facing glass elevation to the hidden natural landscape of the hollow. The internal central space is kept as open and column free as possible. A ramp connects the main space to a lower platform containing the fl exi-hall. A system of shutters and sliding doors allows this space to be separated from the rest of the centre. The southern facing façade is floor-to-ceiling glazing with windows and doors allowing direct access to the terrace. The extension of the roof beyond the glazing and terrace gives a continuity between the inside / outside spaces. Triangular roof and wall skylights are scattered over the building to allow views, light and continuity of form into the space.

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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Joze Plecnik Stadium, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Architects gmp win international competition for Joze Plecnik stadium in Ljubljana, Slovenia
The international competition for the renovation of Joze Plecnik's Central Stadium in Slovenia has been won by architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners of Berlin.

The stadium, designed by the 19th century Slovene architect will be renovated in keeping with its status as a historic monument and converted into an up-to-date multi-functional facility.

Among modernization measures proposed are a new tier for a total of 12,000 spectators, 60 VIP boxes and a new roof. The historic "Glorieta" will be clear of the roof, so that the listed historic architecture of Joze Plecnik (who designed the Slovene National Library) will form the central feature of the stadium.

Additional indoor sport and entertainment functions plus over 2,000 parking places will be accommodated beneath the terraces and pitch. Adjoining buildings include a 72m (236 ft) high-rise hotel building and eight five-storey point-blocks for office use.

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain

Construction of Foster’s football mecca to commence later this year
Kicking off in Barcelona this week, the finals for the Champions League were in full force. A staggering 98,000 fans flood into the Football cathedral that is Camp Nou for each match, most unaware that the clock is ticking for the historic stadium as it stands. For commencing later this year is a Foster-designed transformation.

Inaugurated on 24 September 1957,Camp Nou has been the home of FC Barcelona ever since and host to numerous international matches. Already the largest stadium in Europe, Foster’s design will add a further 8,000 seats and create an exterior with panache in the home team’s colours.

At a projected cost of 250€ million, the evolution of Camp Nou will not only increase capacity, but will extend the middle aged stadium’s facilities to suit modern needs. Provisions for disabled people will be created throughout, TV broadcast and studio facilities will be added, and a new stadium Museum, public concourse, function rooms and hospitality facilities will transform the site from stadium to venue.

A new mosaic exterior composed of translucent panels will act as rain screen around the sides of the stadium allowing naturally ventilated concourse areas and will glow with integrated lighting at night creating a beacon of the football icon.


Niki May Young
News Editor

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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Hospital Regional De Alta Especialidad, Merida, Yucatan, Mexico

New health centre will provide services for over 1.3 million people
The target population of this Hospital is estimated at 1,350,000 people, and houses 1700 employees in 5 shifts. The medical program provided for includes diagnosis and treatment, outpatient (40 clinics), six units of specialised medicine, hospitalisation (250 beds), administration and general services.

The design raises a set of stony monlithic prisms in the middle of the subtropical forest around a cenote, in which a contemporary ceremonial center worships health and restores the balance between human beings and the environment. Based on a triangular patio architectural scheme, limited by sets of volumes which are targeted according to their roles and relationships, this orders and organises life at the hospital. Its vertex symbolise care, knowledge and death.

Domesticated nature is an omnipresent element, forming a pattern of slender corridors, using the shape and dimensions of the ground, to achieve a constant and intensive interaction with external gardens, allowing for generous views from all areas.

Whereas the inhabitants of the complex are more familiar with outdoor spaces and passive means of comfort, the architects resorted to a profuse native vegetation, in addition to preserving existing trees which promote shadows and naturally improved airflows. This allows person movement and waiting areas to enjoy friendly environments. The design is intended to reduce stress with a clear framework that allows users to read and understand the configuration of the healthcare space, providing a battery of services at the side of the aisles and leaving the other functions outward-controlled, as well as generating extensive terraces and waiting rooms to allow the accompaniment and emotional support of their families

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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Casa Pedralbes, Barcelona

Mountain dwelling with a difference
This house in the mountains, designed by the architect Joan Anguita, brings all the glamour of Los Angeles to Barcelona. Partially suspended above the terrain, it is a dream home for anyone wanting to live in the seclusion of nature with all the comforts of city living. Views and surroundings convert Casa Pedralbes into an impressive complex.

The four-storey structure blends into its environment by means of a transparent glass façade that provides spectacular views of the city and the Mediterranean Sea beyond.

The main body of the house comprises the ground floor and the first floor, which is reserved for social activities. The ground floor, designed for its car collecting enthusiast owner, displays the parking, while the first floor contains the kitchen, dining room, sitting room and library.

A freight elevator runs all the way up the house, from the display area to the top floor, which is devoted to the everyday living spaces. This transparent elevator makes it possible to move vehicles from one level to another or put them on show in different spaces.

The open-plan settings create a sensation of great space, only enhanced by the predominance of pale, neutral colours and the designer furniture carefully selected by the architect.

The house also boasts two swimming pools, each with a single lane: one outdoors, on the first floor, and another indoors in the basement, which contains the leisure area, complete with a cinema, bowling alley and gym. The roof terrace is a deck area designed for pleasure, with a jacuzzi, solarium and a large bar.

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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Memorial Hermann Katy Hospital, Houston, Texas, United States

New landmark hospital for Texas town
As one of the fastest growing suburban communities in Houston, Katy provided an ideal location for Memorial Hermann Healthcare System (MHHS) to build a new replacement hospital. The hospital and its distinctive architectural features serve as a landmark and leverage the high-visibility location at the crossroads of major Houston highways.

MHHS envisioned a patient-centric, latest-in-technology, healing environment as the core philosophy with which the building’s design was created. Contrasting from the busy hustle of the community, the interior design features make the experience of entering the hospital very quiet, relaxing and enjoyable. The hospital features a two-storey hotel-like atrium, a dining area overlooking an outdoor terrace and garden, warm colours and lighting, and rich wood and stone tile finishes. The curved bed tower, the gracious high ceilings in the public concourse and lobbies, the healing gardens, and way-finding graphics all imprint a memorable identity. Throughout the hospital, aesthetic aspects of healing were considered and many family-friendly elements were planned.

Katy’s $98-million seven-storey, 320,000 SF hospital has 127 private patient rooms. The initial phase included a healing garden, public concourse, surgery with 5 operating rooms, emergency department with 19 treatment rooms, an OB program with 7 LDR’s, 26 postpartum, 4 antepartum, 80 private medical / surgical beds and a 12-bed ICU.

The design of Katy’s hospital began as a prototype adapted to meet the specific demands of the location and market. Use of a prototype is uncommon for a not-for-profit healthcare system, but MHHS saw many benefits, including significant cost savings during design and construction, establishing best practices for lighting, flooring and finishes, and completing design and construction for both facilities in fewer than 30 months. MHHS has brought advanced medicine and practices to suburban areas of Houston, improving the lives of those communities. The Katy hospital was occupied in December 2006.

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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Munch Museum, Oslo, Norway

Munch Museum to join Opera House in Oslo's new cultural district
Spanish firm Herreros Arquitectos has won first prize in the invited international competition for a master plan of the Bjorvika neighborhood, Oslo, proposing the Munch Museum as the focus.

The future complex formed by the Munch Museum MM and the Stenersen Museum Collections is not only to safeguard and disseminate a basic heritage of the history and character of Norwegian culture. The complex is conceived as an institution which is open to the city and highly visible, that “which must be visited many times in a lifetime”, said the spokesperson for Herreros.

The project’s spaces include a Leisure Island; Beach Area; Museum Island; Munch Plaza; Library Plaza; Bispekaia Market Square and Housing Courtyards.

The Museum building is located at the end of the Pauselkia Peninsula, near the Oslo Opera House, avoiding the cones of perception and ensuring views over the fort from the surrounding mountains are kept. With this position Herreros aim to intensify the tension between the fjord and solid ground, and to avoid the arrogant gesture of placing it frontally.

The museum is built as a vertical concrete box of 16 m of free light hermetically sealed except when the program requires opening of spaces. It is built with four 40 cm thick screens which form a prism, the long sides of which require buttresses (60x30cm) every 6m which embrace lightly post-tensioned flagstones. The gap resulting from levelling up the buttresses in order to have exhibition rooms with continuous walls generates an installations chamber which is highly versatile and which runs along the building and ensures exhaustive control of the networks in each room.

The proposal as a whole is notably integrated with energy and environmental sensitivity issues. The mass use of water from the fjord as a temperature controlling element in the building is based on the elimination of air conditioning as far as possible, substituting it for an element which is easily treated, subject to work at low temperature and with a minimum waste of energy.

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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Step Up on Fifth, Santa Monica, United States

Design by Pugh + Scarpa provides eco-sustainable housing for homeless in CA
Bicoastal architects Pugh + Scarpa has just completed a new 46 unit permanent housing facility with rehabilitation and support services for the homeless and mentally disabled population in Santa Monica, California.

Bringing its users and the community closer together, the project also includes ground level commercial/retail space and subterranean parking. Privacy and comfort for residents is maintained by custom water jet anodized aluminum panels on the main façade. South-facing walls filter direct sunlight with asymmetrical horizontal openings that lend unexpected visual depth while creating a sense of security for the emotionally sensitive occupants. The panels create a dramatic screen that sparkles in the sun and glows at night, while also acting as sun protection and privacy screens, the striking yet light-hearted exterior provides a welcoming exterior.

Step Up on 5th distinguishes itself from most conventionally developed projects in that it incorporates energy efficient measures that exceed standard practice, optimize building performance, and ensure reduced energy use during all phases of construction and occupancy.

The planning and design of Step Up on 5th emerged from close consideration and employment of passive solar design strategies. These strategies include: locating and orienting the building to control solar cooling loads; shaping and orienting the building for exposure to prevailing winds; shaping the building to induce buoyancy for natural ventilation; designing windows to maximize day lighting; shading south facing windows and minimizing west-facing glazing; designing windows to maximize natural ventilation; shaping and planning the interior to enhance daylight and natural air flow distribution. These passive strategies alone make this building 50% more efficient than a conventionally designed structure. Step Up also incorporates numerous sustainable features that exceed state mandated Title 24 energy measures by more than 30%.

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com

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Arras Hospital, Arras, France

Groupe-6 complete restructuring and extension of the Arras Hospital
The Arras Hospital is a precursor of a new generation of hospitals promising high architectural, spatial and social values, combining modernity and humanity. The building is inserted in a dense urban environment. Stretching out into a landscaped park, it boards and faces the old fortifications allowing the patients spectacular views of the historic town.

The primary preoccupation was indeed to optimise the relationship between the staff and the patient, serving and enhancing notions of caring, efficiency, welcoming and dialogue. A new bedroom organisation with bathrooms on the external facade creates more space, more efficiency and time spent with the patients. Logistics are maximised through NTIC, introducing the concept and reality of a networked hospital.

Transparent bridges connect the three main buildings ventilated with punctual green patios and water pools. Lightness, openness and transparency are accentuated by a flat roof floating over the architectural mass. Public and mixed-use spaces are generously distributed, filled with natural light, allowing interaction and dialogue, and reinforcing the definition of the hospital as a living space.

The Arras Hospital pays particular attention to environmental quality through a system of natural renewable energy – the double skin façade creates a ventilating buffer space between the interior and the exterior. Closed in winter, opened in summer, the louvers allow natural heating and aeration according to the seasons.

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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Louisiana Cancer Research Center, New Orleans, United States

RMJM design dedicated research centre for cancer-ridden city
New Orleans, which is classed as the least healthy state in the US and which also has the highest rate of cancer deaths in the country, is to receive an RMJM design cancer research center, now under construction.

The Louisiana Cancer Research Centre aims to address residents’ acute need for quality healthcare and will also boost investment in medical research which could help reinvigorate New Orleans’ economy which has struggled since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Louisiana has a neglected medical infrastructure in the wake of the Hurricane and this is the first medical restoration initiative to get underway since the disaster.

Cancer survivors, state and local dignitaries today signed a massive concrete piling to mark the beginning of construction. Upon completion, the cancer centre will support laboratories for 72 principal researchers and their teams, as well as providing flexible research and office space.

The Centre will be operated by the Louisiana Cancer Research Consortium (LCRC), a collaboration of three local universities’ health sciences programmes, offering access to technologies, services and scientific consultation that enhance scientific interaction and productivity. The bricks-and-mortar cancer centre has been on the drawing board for most of the past decade with design of the 10-storey, 175,000 sq ft building completed shortly after Hurricane Katrina by RMJM.

“It has been a long time coming, but the project is definitely on course now,” said Steven Moye, President/CEO of the Consortium. “It is the first of many state-of-the-art medical facilities planned for the city and it will pioneer breakthrough advances in detection, treatment and prevention of cancer while fostering economic development in Downtown.”

The research centre is located in what is known as the Greater New Orleans Biosciences Development District. Construction of the building is expected to be complete in 2012.

“The design includes a raised sculptural volume designed as a symbol of hope,” said Stephen McDaniel, RMJM’s leader in designing healthcare and research facilities.

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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Queen's Centre for Oncology & Haematology, Castle Hill Hospital, Hull, United Kingdom

£70m invested in new cancer & blood disorder centre
In designing this new facility at Castle Hospital, HLM took a collaborative approach which has delivered a UK Centre of Excellence, matching client aspirations for a ‘healing environment’ and complementing beautiful surroundings. This is an innovative design & build project, characterised by careful planning and empathy with staff and patients, on an ecologically sensitive site. At £70m, the project represents one of the biggest investments regionally in a century, treating cancer and blood disorders in a 1.2 million person catchment area.

The new centre increases capacity and staff numbers, and imbues a sense of tranquillity and psychological wellbeing. 18 months' design development involved close collaboration with clinicians, patients and architectural advisers. Ongoing user group meetings with 19 departments clarified everything from room relationships to equipment locations.

The East Riding village theme, achieved through careful choice of materials, blends into neighbouring countryside. Glazed links provide natural sunlight and views. Nine courtyards feature intimate walled gardens; proven to have psychological and physical health benefits. Nearly all 800 rooms look out over courtyards, gardens or landscape. The 'walk in the woods' – a high-level glazed walkway – provides seamless access from the main hospital.

The project improved on NHS Estates’ energy targets by achieving 55 GJ/100m3/annum, where most acute facilities achieve only 65-69.9 GJ/100m³, through the use of topography, orientation and U-values 20% better than building regulations specification. Green roofs encourage wildlife, and HLM carried out extensive protection of the existing aquifer and provision of swale for attenuation of surface water drainage and local ecology support.

David Kitching, head of PFI development, said of the new facility; “We have a fantastic building which impacts on the wellbeing of patients. All at HLM … should be proud of their achievement. Thank you for the way your team interacted with Trust staff, patients and advisers throughout the design process which has resulted in the caring environment and design excellence we set out to achieve.”

Key Facts

source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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