Springer's Blog – June 2010 Archive (40)

You Can't Sail a Ship on the CDSea

Designer Bruce Munro has created an installation titled DCSea in Long Knoll, Wiltshire in the United Kingdom formed by 600,000 used CDs. The vast numbers of CDs were generously donated by the public after Munro advertised his desire for their used and unwanted ones. The "sea" is also diagonally bisected by a sharply winding grassy path.…

Continue

Added by Springer on June 30, 2010 at 6:30pm — No Comments

Kulturcenter Mariehøj

WE Architecture and Sophus Søbye Architects, in collaboration with MASU Planning, Øllgaard Consulting Engineer, Spangenberg & Madsen Consulting Engineer, and… Continue

Added by Springer on June 29, 2010 at 1:30pm — No Comments

The Nanhe River Landscape Bridge

With Weidlinger Associates Inc., WXY Studio won the design competition for the Chengdu Xinjin Urban & Rural Development Investment Company Limited (URDI) in Xinjin County, China. The Nanhe River Landscape Bridge is a beautiful pair of red ribbons that are designed to… Continue

Added by Springer on June 29, 2010 at 1:00pm — No Comments

Lumenhaus Wins Solar Decathalon

The 10-day European Solar Decathlon in Madrid, Spain came to an end with Virginia Tech's Lumenhaus winning the top prize. The 800 square foot zero-energy home was inspired by the Farnsworth House by Mies Van Der Rohe. The modular design includes "plug-in" entryways and stairs that allow it to expand to a four… Continue

Added by Springer on June 28, 2010 at 1:30pm — No Comments

City Respiration Skyscraper

Designed by Czech architects Pavlína Doležalová and Jan Smékal, the spiky, spiraling skyscraper is covered with algae and is designed to clean polluted city air. The "City Respiration… Continue

Added by Springer on June 28, 2010 at 12:00pm — No Comments

Elbphilharmonie

Say that name three times fast. Of course, if you speak German, it's probably easy. :)

Elbphilharmonie is a new glass-clad concert house in Hamburg, Germany built atop Kaispeicher A, an historic redbrick warehouse built in 1963 by the late Hamburg architect Werner Kallmorgen.… Continue

Added by Springer on June 26, 2010 at 1:00pm — 1 Comment

The Pink Plastic Tree

In front of London's Italian Cultural Institute stands OR2, a large photovoltaic chandelier. Built for the London Architectural Festival by ORPROJECT, it is constructed of poygonal segments that react to ultra-violet light. In the shade, the segments are said to be translucent white, but when hit by… Continue

Added by Springer on June 26, 2010 at 1:00pm — No Comments

SO-IL's Pole Dance

New York firm Solid Objectives – Idenburg Liu present a new urban landscape outside the P.S.1 Contemporary Art Centre in New York. On view June 27th through September, Pole Dance is a 16×16 foot grid of 30 foot high poles connected by… Continue

Added by Springer on June 25, 2010 at 1:00pm — No Comments

Villa Nyberg

In collaboration with Emrahus, Kjellgren Kaminsky has produced Sweden's first series of passive houses, and the first of that series to be completed is Villa Nyberg. The house is extremely well insulated, utilizing the heat generated by its inhabitants… Continue

Added by Springer on June 25, 2010 at 12:00pm — No Comments

Mapungubwe Interpretation Centre

Designed by Peter Rich Architects in collaboration with John Ochsendorf from MIT and Michael Ramage, Univ. of Cambridge, the Mapungubwe Interpretation Centre is located at the confluence of the Limpopo and Shashe Rivers, on South Africa's… Continue

Added by Springer on June 24, 2010 at 5:30pm — No Comments

Sumika Pavilion

I'm a huge fan of taking a moment to find serenity in nature - even if I'm just in my own garden or under the shade of a single tree. And so I have a soft spot for architecture that invites a similar feeling, which is why I love the Sumika Pavilion by Toyo Ito.

Completed in 2007, the pavilion… Continue

Added by Springer on June 24, 2010 at 4:30pm — 2 Comments

Square With Four Circles

Sounds straightforward. But it is only if you are. If you aren't looking at this installation by Swiss artist Felice Varini head-on, it's broken from a concise gestalt into warped fragments.

Work on… Continue

Added by Springer on June 23, 2010 at 4:00pm — No Comments

"All Muscle Without Cloth"

That's how architect Jaques Herzog describes Miami Beach - and the new sculptural parking facility at 1111 Lincoln Road designed by his Swiss firm, Herzog & de Meuron, in collaboration with Miami-base architects… Continue

Added by Springer on June 23, 2010 at 3:30pm — 1 Comment

Solar Panel Meets Ceramic Roof Tile

Simple, yet smart. Area Industrie Ceramiche makes a roof tile called a Tegolasolare. It looks like a roof tile, it is installed like an ordinary roof tile, and it's made out of ceramic like a regular roof tile. However, unlike a regular roof tile, a solar power panel comprising four photovoltaic cells is installed on it. The… Continue

Added by Springer on June 22, 2010 at 9:00pm — No Comments

Calatrava's First U.S. Design Soars

So, I realize this building has been around awhile, but I just barely stumbled across it and I'm captivated by it. In 1994 the Milwaukee Art Museum commissioned Santiago Calatrava to design a 58,000 square foot addition. Completed in 2001, Calatrava's design includes the Quadracci pavilion, renovated galleries in the existing

MAM buildings… Continue

Added by Springer on June 22, 2010 at 8:30pm — No Comments

Active House in Denmark

Designed by Aart Architects, this Active House in Lystrup, Denmark is one of eight prototypes being built across Europe by the Danish window company Velfac. A test family is to occupy each of the homes for a year while the building's performance is monitored.

The Active House is… Continue

Added by Springer on June 21, 2010 at 1:30pm — No Comments

Solar Powered FabLab House

The European Solar Decathlon began this Friday, and the Institut D'Arquitectura Avancada de Catalunya showed off their prefabricated wood FabLab House. The house measures 75 square meters, can be built in just 15 days, and is designed for a family of four. It is topped with a… Continue

Added by Springer on June 21, 2010 at 1:00pm — No Comments

Sing it, Ringo!

In the town where I was born

lived a man who sailed to sea

And he told us of his life

in the land of submarines

Maybe we all can't actually live in a… Continue

Added by Springer on June 18, 2010 at 11:30am — No Comments

Mensa Schulzentrum Leonberg

Mensa Leonberg is a cafeteria shared by two neighboring schools in downtown Leonberg, Germany. Designed by SOMAA in collaboration with Guido Dongus, the building consists of three circular forms fused together into one undulating shape. The distinction between… Continue

Added by Springer on June 18, 2010 at 11:30am — No Comments

Anara! Anara! Anara! (It's only a model!)

By developer Tameer Holding and Atkins Design Studio, the Anara Tower in Dubai was supposed to have 125 stories, rising 1969 feet (600 meters) into the atmosphere. Designed with 325,000 feet of commercial space, a 250-room boutique hotel, and 300 residential apartments, the Anara also boasted four sky gardens, three swimming… Continue

Added by Springer on June 17, 2010 at 11:00am — No Comments