DanCheong, Korean architecture feature

National Museum of Qatar by Jean Nouvel

French architect Jean Nouvel has unveiled his design for the new National Museum of Qatar.

The museum will comprise a series of interlocking discs of varying dimensions and curvatures, which will form walls, ceilings, floors and terraces.

Each disc will be made of a steel truss structure clad in glass-reinforced concrete and the voids between discs will be glazed.

This new structure will be built around an existing palace.

See all our stories about Jean Nouvel in our special category.

The information that follows is from the Qatar Museums Authority:

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Jesolo Magica by Zaha Hadid Architects

Zaha Hadid Architects have designed a retail and business centre for the resort of Jesolo near Venice in Italy.

Called Jesolo Magica, the project will include shops, bars, restaurants, offices, a hotel, a congress centre and health centre.

The building is due for completion in 2014.

See all our stories about Zaha Hadid in our special category.

The information that follows is from Zaha Hadid Architects:

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Cottages at Fallingwater by Patkau Architects

Patkau Architects of Vancouver have won a competition to design six houses in the nature reserve surrounding Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater house in Pennsylvania.

The six houses will be submerged in the landscape of Bear Run Nature Reserve and provide accommodation for visitors involved in the Fallingwater Institute’s educational programs.

Here’s some more information from the architects:

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Patkau Architects chosen as winner of design competition for on-site cottages at Fallingwater

A jury has chosen Patkau Architects of Vancouver, British Columbia, as the winner of its first-ever design competition for on-site cottages that will support residential educational programming at the Frank Lloyd Wright masterwork in Fayette County.

The second-place winner of the competition is Phoenix, Ariz.-based Wendell Burnette Architects, and Olson Kundig Architects of Seattle, Wash., has been chosen as the third-place winner.

Patkau Architects’ winning design for six small, efficient, sustainable cottages will serve as the basis of a final design, to be implemented following regulatory approval and fundraising.

“In its subtlety, it is provocative and it carries forward the discourse about where architecture can move,” the jury said of the winning design. “Its strength is not just in what is included, but in what is left out.”

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The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, which preserves and maintains Fallingwater, will build the cottages on the grounds of the 5,000-acre Bear Run Nature Reserve that surrounds Fallingwater, some distance from the house itself. The design competition is the first that Fallingwater has sponsored for construction of new buildings on-site.

Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health by Frank Gehry

Photographer Matthew Carbone has sent us his photos of Frank Gehry‘s latest project, the recently-completed Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas.

The research centre for degenerative brain diseases is divided into two separate buildings connected by a courtyard.

The first forms a jumble of swooping stainless-steel arcs and houses events spaces to rent.

The second contains clinics and research facilities dedicated to preserving memory, and consists of white stacked boxes.

All photographs are copyright Matthew Carbone.

Here’s some more information from the organisation behind the centre, Keep Memory Alive:

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“Located at the intersection of I-15 and I-95 in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada, the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health holds the distinction of being the first organization to open for business in Symphony Park, the city’s 61-acre arts and science redevelopment program.

Designed by Frank Gehry, the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health’s facility is the perfect venue for accomplishing the organization’s two main goals:

• Preserving memory: With both administrative offices and medical research and clinical operations, Keep Memory Alive and its medical partner, the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, provide a full-service approach towards preserving memory.
• Creating memories: Housed under an undulating stainless steel canopy, illuminated by natural light from 199 windows, our event space or Life Activity Center is available for rental—a truly unique space in which to host a wedding, bar mitzvah, business meeting, and create memories for your friends, family, and colleagues

While Gehry’s design incites varied reactions from observers, the one consistent response is a desire to come inside its walls and learn more. In this respect, the building is an unwavering marketing tool, driving awareness to the work conducted by those inside.”

Gehry deftly manipulates space and materials to create stunning structures that captivate the imagination. His design of Keep Memory Alive’s headquarters at the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health has been nothing short of remarkable. The Gehry teams have created a masterpiece of architectural design, blending strong visual impact with superior efficiency in patient care.

Gehry wanted to create a place in Las Vegas that will be memorable.

He explains, “The mantra is Keep Memory Alive. I’m trying to make a building that people will want to visit, remember, talk about, and enjoy, and ultimately will want to partner with us at the Center to help cure some of the neurodegenerative diseases.”

Gehry is putting a lot of his own heart into the building, and acknowledges a personal connection.

The wife and three brothers-in-law of Dr. Milton Wexler, Gehry’s longtime analyst and friend, were stricken with Huntington’s disease, a devastating neurological affliction that is now supported by Keep Memory Alive.

For roughly 35 years, the architect has served on the board of Wexler’s Hereditary Disease Foundation, established to study Huntington’s, which is why this project with Keep Memory Alive is so close to Gehry’s heart.

Gehry’s design of the Center will be the focal point of the new 61-acre Symphony Park arts and science development in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada, and will undoubtedly be a lasting signature for the master architect.

Land of Giants by Choi + Shine Architects

American firm Choi + Shine Architects designed these conceptual electricity pylons shaped like human figures to march across the Icelandic landscape.

Top: background image supplied by the Association of Icelandic Architects.Above: background image © Thomas Ormston used under the cc license

Each pylon would be assembled from modular parts, which could be adapted into various positions to given the impression the the statues are walking, climbing or crouching.

The 30-metre tall statues would be supported on concrete footings and are an alteration of the steel frame used by existing pylons.

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Called Land of Giants, the project was originally submitted for a 2008 competition held by Icelandic transmission company Landsnet and the Association of Icelandic Architects.See our earlier story on the competition.

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The design was one of four winners at the recent 2010 Boston Society of Architects Unbuilt Architecture Awards.

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All images are copyright Choi+Shine Architects unless other wise stated.

Here’s some more from the designers:

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LAND OF GIANTS

This design transforms mundane electrical pylons into statues on the Icelandic landscape.

Making only minor alterations to well established steel-framed tower design, we have created a series of towers that are powerful, solemn and variable. These iconic pylon-figures will become monuments in the landscape. Seeing the pylon- figures will become an unforgettable experience, elevating the towers to something more than merely a functional design of necessity.

The pylon-figures can be configured to respond to their environment with appropriate gestures. As the carried electrical lines ascend a hill, the pylon-figures change posture, imitating a climbing person. Over long spans, the pylon-figure stretches to gain increased height, crouches for increased strength or strains under the weight of the wires.

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In addition, the pylon-figures can also be arranged to create a sense of place through deliberate expression. Subtle alterations in the hands and head combined with repositioning of the main body parts in the x, y and z-axis, allow for a rich variety of expressions. The pylon-figures can be placed in pairs, walking in the same direction or opposite directions, glancing at each other as they pass by or kneeling respectively, head bowed at a town.

Despite the large number of possible forms, each pylon-figure is made from the same major assembled parts (torso, fore arm, upper leg, hand etc.) and uses a library of pre-assembled joints between these parts to create the pylon-figures’ appearance. This design allows for many variations in form and height while the pylon-figures’ cost is kept low through identical production, simple assembly and construction.

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The pylon-figures are designed to provide supports for the conductors, ground wires and other cables all within required clearances. These clearances are maintained in the various shown positions. The towers are largely self-supporting, sitting on concrete footings, perhaps with the addition of guy wires, depending on requirements of the loading wires.

Like the statues of Easter Island, it is envisioned that these one hundred and fifty foot tall, modern caryatids will take on a quiet authority, belonging to their landscape yet serving the people, silently transporting electricity across all terrain, day and night, sunshine or snow.

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Project Type: High-Voltage Pylon Competition
Location: Iceland
Type of Client: A public company (that owns and runs the electrical transmission system in Iceland).
New or Reno: New – Pylon design competition.
Special constraints & site description: The pylons were intended to be constructable, affordable and durable.
Design challenges & solutions: We sought to make an iconic, unforgettable pylon, that created an identity for Iceland and the power company.
Original/Adaptation: The design is original.
Unusual/innovative building components: Each structure is composed of a kit of parts, minimizing construction costs.
Sustainable design elements: The structure is predominantly recyclable
Material use: Steel, glass and concrete
Completion date: 2008
Others involved: None

Playhouse by Aboday

A spiralling concrete slide connects the kitchen and child’s bedroom of this family house near Jakarta designed by Indonesian architects Aboday and photographed by Happy Lim.

Play House is part of a gated cluster of 120 residences in Bumi Serpong Damai, Tangerang.

Apart from three enclosed bedrooms the interior is an open-plan space with whitewashed walls and exposed ten-metre concrete ceilings.

An open staircase sits between the library and living area on the ground floor and leads up to a gallery on the first.

The two-storey house has an exposed concrete exterior covered in part by climbing plants, and punctuated by slit windows and ceiling-height glazing.

The house has a large thermal mass due to its concrete construction, relying on natural ventilation and shading, heat-resistant finishes, and a forty-millimeter wall cavity to prevent overheating during the summer.

All photographs are by Happy Lim Photography.

Here’s some more from the architects:

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‘Play’ House, Bumi Serpong Damai,Tangerang

This 2 storey house is located in Bumi Serpong Damai, Tangerang. Part of a new gated housing cluster, the house is an amalgamation of an existing 120 type house with a new building in its adjacent 200 sqm empty plot.

Restricted by its corner setback, the building occupies only 150 sqm of the total 320 sqm land. The look is straight forward, mimicking the sloping roof of neighboring house.

The material is almost bare, with dominantly exposed concrete as its main pallete, punctuated by small glass incision and opening towards the main road.

Generally, it appears as an inward orientation building with plenty of vertical green walls providing a friendly gesture to otherwise staid looking house.

The house will be mostly occupied by a multi generation family of 3. However, the king of the house is a 5 year old boy who thinks that life is all about play, hence the design of the house.

There is a sculptural slider of concrete, tuck in the corner between 2 main building massing.

It is his choice of ‘transportation mode’ from his bedroom in 2nd floor to dining room in the 1st floor, instead of the normal open staircase located between the small library and living area.

This slider also his favorite place to play after his hectic tuition schedule, covered sometimes with pieces of plastic and clothes on both end to be his secret cave.

Except for the 3 enclosed bedrooms, the rest of the house is an open space dominated by white and grey palette of exposed concrete wall and ceiling.

Some flaws during the concrete pouring on the wall and ceiling left trace of ‘elements’ that become a natural ornamentation in the house.

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Concrete has been chosen as main building material, simply because of its dualism quality. It has a much needed strength as structural element; yet its flexibility creates an interesting tension which produces certain emotion in places it shapes.

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The decision of using a dominantly concrete wall and roof, however, poses quite a challenging situation in this tropical climate, as this material has been known for trapping heat easily.

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By having an extremely high ceiling (10 meter in height), applying a special coating of heat resistant membrane on the external roof surface and leaving external wall occupied by plenty of cripple plants (which soon will grow to the roof); it helps to reduce internal heat accumulation significantly.

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Here, natural ventilation and lighting play an important aspect of the house. All open spaces have no air conditioning system, and dependent entirely on the opening and incision between walls, windows and roof for fresh air ventilation generated by a series of ceiling fan suspended beneath the concrete roof using a metal rod mechanism.

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To generate an ever changing flow of air, there is some part of walls that has been built apart by 40 cm, allowing the creation of ‘rain’ window by operating horizontal glass louvre within this long gap.

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And rather than having a low manicured garden, house owner has opted to plant big trees instead, positioned strategically on the garden surface to provide a much needed shade areas during a certain period of the day (especially in the area where glass window has extended floor to ceiling).

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This few ‘low tech’ strategies have been providing simple solution to many common problems occur causes by the use of extensive concrete materials.

Architect : Aboday – Ary Indra, Rafael David, Johansen Yap, Wahid Annasir, Armeyn Ilyas
Structure Consultant : Prijasembada
M & E Consultant : Darwan
Landscape : Hagani Flora
Contractor : Sabar
Photography : Happy Lim