Monday, October 31, 2011

Piled Up 3

Source: Nelson Garrido archdaily.com
Axis Viana Hotel, Viana do Castelo, Portugal, 2008 designed by VHM
The overlapping stacked volumes generate a series of different perspectives, ranging from a full box in a frontal view, to a complex column when seen from the sides. The 2 lower levels have a concrete structure, with the rest of the boxes resolved in a steel structure sitting on top of it.  -- ArchDaily
Another article from Architectural Record.

Source: Tim Griffith archdaily.com
Manchester Civil Justice Centre, Manchester, UK, 2008 designed by Denton Corker Marshall
The working courts and offices are expressed as long rectilinear forms, articulated at each floor level, and projecting at each end of the building as a varied composition of solid and void. In side elevation, these elements collectively establish a dynamic and distinctive building profile; in end elevation, they form a powerful sculptural interplay of light and shade, depth and complexity. -- ArchDaily

 Source: Luis Gordoa archdaily.com
National Laboratory of Genomics Irapuato, Guanajuato, Mexico, 2010 designed by TEN Arquitectos
an inscribed line divides the program in half, with the laboratories on one side and the administrative and auditorium spaces on the other, and also delineates the public areas. This constructed fault line forms an intimate civic space that connects the different programs.  -- ArchDaily

Source: Jim Ernst archdaily.com
Shaken Office, Rosenburglaan 15, Groningen, the Netherlands, 2009 designed by Zerodegree Architecture
The concept of stacked up boxes obviously brought us diverse office space dimensions. ‘Subtle differences between the two buildings’ are the key to express user’s presence. Minimalistic floor plan is also the principle of the construction system. Façade panels are perforated steel panels which covers 50% of glass surfaces.  -- ArchDaily

Source: archdaily.com
Viewing Tower, Reusel, the Netherlands, 2009 designed by ateliereenarchitecten
A tower, 25 meters high, with sport facilities like climbing and abseiling is the main attraction. It consists of six cubes, hanging on a core of steel columns. Straight flight staircases raise in between and cross the cubes several times in different positions.  -- ArchDaily

Source: Jesko Malkolm Johnsson-Zahn
Border Checkpoint, Sarpi, Georgia, 2011 designed by J. Mayer H. Architects
the customs checkpoint is situated at the Georgian border to Turkey, at the shore of the Black Sea. With its cantilevering terraces, the tower is used as a viewing platform, with multiple levels overlooking the water and the steep part of the coastline.  -- ArchDaily

Source: Roman Mensing archdaily.com
One Man Sauna, Bochum, Germany designed by Modulorbeat
....the architects collective builds a One Man Sauna on an abandoned factory site in Bochum: a tower of 7,5 metres height made of stacked pre-cast concrete parts, which were originally used for building shafts, houses a one-man sauna. It is divided into super-imposed functional layers: a plunge pool below, the sauna on the medium level and a relaxation room with a view of the sky on top. Vertical ladders link the three floors.  -- ArchDaily

Source: Sabrina Scheja archdaily.com
New Weiach Kindergarten, Weiach, Switzerland, 2014 designed by L3P Architekten
The rooms are aligned along a central atrium in a flowing progression through diverse building components: entrée, cloakroom, kindergarten classroom, play area, material and group room. -- ArchDaily

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Art Installation

 Source: EVOL

Subterranean Rural City
German artist EVOL recently completed an interesting interactive installation just outside of Hamburg, Germany for the MS Dockville music and art festival. The ‘Rural City’ is comprised of thin trenches about 1.5 meters deep in an ‘X’ shape that were dug out over the course of 8 days. Earth is held back with retaining boards made of Eternit and spray painted to resemble the facades of skyscrapers. -- ArchDaily

An Apartment Under The Bridge
Berlin-based urban intervention collective Stiftung Freizeit has designed an illusionary ‘Wohnzimmer’ under a bridge in Berlin. Made with tape, this minimal but cosy ‘apartment’ combines the raw esthetics of grey concrete with the warm and intimate feeling of the typical German Wohnzimmer interior. -- The Pop-Up City

Source: Michal Seba archdaily.com
ACUO, Prague, Czech Republic, 2011 designed by Edit! architects
Acuo is an inter­ac­tive audio-visual instal­la­tion for pub­lic spaces. It is based on the con­cept by Michal Šeba, with the sup­port of munic­i­pal projects BU2R. With its shape and func­tions, Acuo resem­bles a cos­mic mod­ule which has landed in the city to observe the affairs around. Acuo sees and hears in a way dif­fer­ent from ours.  -- ArchDaily
Source: archdaily.com
‘Frozen Trees’ Installation, Lisbon, Portugal designed by Like Architects
Frozen Trees is a temporary installation for Christmas lighting in D. Pedro IV square in Lisbon. It builds an illuminated, frozen and fractal Christmas landscape that affects and alters the path of passers by as thirty cylinders – structured, self-sufficient streetlights – are placed throughout the square, drawing a new landscape and context and inviting the visitors to new spatial experiences.  -- ArchDaily

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Skin of Architecture: Punched Holes 5

Source: Chicago History Museum
Metropolitan Correctional Center, Chicago, Illinois, USA, 1975 designed by Harry Weese
The facade is irregularly perforated with slit windows (5 inches wide by 7 ½ feet long) marking inmates' cells, creating a perforated monolith. A homage evoking "La Tourette on its end," the lobby proudly displays Corbusian stairs and pilotis.  -- Design Observer

Source: Fernando Alda archdaily.com
Belén Street Studio, Granada, Spain, 2009 designed by Elisa Valero Ramos
a wall pierced with narrow, regular openings and a single opening on the upper part. Like a traditional Granada house, it is closed to the street, open to the sky and garden.  -- ArchDaily

Source: ArchDaily.net
Vallecas Social Housing, Madrid, Spain designed by Estudio Entresitio completed in 2009.  Via MIMAO.
The outer shell uses resources of non-differentiation and scale ambiguity. It is a skin of zinc scales set in horizontal bands that slide one over another with a slight offset, and in which voids are inserted with the intention of not making clear the floor levels. We propose a combinatorial system of recognizable types of housing windows which are placed at the best position from the inside of the rooms. On this support structure of unity and also of diversity, are added some projecting crates, that as free forms of distortion, introduce a slight vibration on the elevation.  -- ArchDaily
Read another post from ArchDaily

Source: Sergio Pirrone archdaily.com
San Alberto Hurtado’s Memorial, Santiago, Santiago Metropolitan Region, Chile, 2010 designed by Undurraga Devés Arquitectos
....one dense and translucent mass that appears as a wall on the outside with light inside. It was then that this wall of concrete and blocks of glass arose where the density and color of both materials fuses into one sole façade, whilst inside, the wall appears fragmented and perforated by the light. -- ArchDaily

Source: Guedes Cruz Arquitectos archdaily.com
The Lifting House, Cascais, Portugal designed by Guedes Cruz Arquitectos
The L-deployment was maintained and the house gained strength with a new surrounding: a large wall in “cratered” grey concrete slabs, which protects three sides without cutting it off from the world. -- ArchDaily

Source: Lv Hengzhong archdaily.com
CHEGS Campus Canteen, Baoding, Hebei, China, 2014 designed by KNOWSPACE
....consists of 2 layers: while an inner layer with a series of floor to ceiling glass windows provides climatic separation, the outer layer is a screen-like perforated stone facade with gradually varying degrees of opening, both servind as a shading and a opening device. -- ArchDaily

Friday, October 28, 2011

Skin of Architecture: Punched Holes 4

Source: archdaily.com
De Rokade,Groningen, The Netherlands, 2007 designed by rons en Gelauff Architecten
In 2003, Groningen municipal council launched a project “The Intense City” to keep the city compact by increasing the building density of districts around the Centre. The Rokade Residential Tower Block is situated on one of the first increased density locations, and marks the corner of the Corpus den Hoorn Laan and the Sportlaan, the avenue providing access to the Hoornse Meer district. The building is 21 floors high and seems very slim due to the cross-shaped ground plan. The four apartments are situated in L-form around the inside angles of the tower. In this way, the dwellings combine the beautiful view with an introverted quality. -- ArchDaily

Source: archdaily.com
Tram stop in Alicante, Alicante, Spain, 2007 designed by SUBARQUITECTURA
The frontal access to the platforms is reached in 32 possible ways trought a fractionated system of paths that get round the existing vegetation.( Watch a video) Over them, two hollow boxes, 36 meters long, 3 meters wide and 2.5 meters high, create a floating emptiness slightly above the travelers’ heads in a scale closer to the Tram than to the street furniture. There is no distinction between finish and structure, nor between walls and roof. It is an isotropic material in its conception and construction. Eight hundred circular drillings lighten as well as provide resistance against normal strains. Light and air pass throught its pores, softening the shade and providing a breeze in the summer months while at the same time offering less resistance against the wind. -- ArchDaily

Source: trespa.com
Residential building, Barletta, Italy, 2008 designed by Michele Sfregola

Source: archdaily.com
Lightmos, Bangkok, Thailand, 2008 designed by Architectkidd
The development of the exterior facade followed the interior modifications. The idea of creating an “accidental facade” was inspired by the resourcefulness of shophouse owners and the ways they adapted their buildings in a hot tropical climate. Owners would use low-cost and lightweight metal materials that are cut into panels to create ad-hoc facades. Despite these simple modifications, these shophouse facades can sometimes provide intriguing and surprising results. -- ArchDaily

Source: Park, Young-chae archdaily.com
Urban Hive, Seoul, South Korea, 2008 designed by ARCHIUM
The simplicity of monolith is a gesture to hold an atmosphere of floating city. The combination of round holes is not intended to express effectiveness of modeling but an attempt as a mechanical settlement of structural walls which is exposed to outside on double skin. -- ArchDaily

Source: John Gollings archdaily.com
Hue Apartments, Richmond, VIC, Australia, 2008 designed by Jackson Clements Burrows Architects
The eastern and western facades are sheer 4 story walls that bookend the building. They are articulated by a series of circular windows of varying diameters that break the mass of the wall plane down in an engaging and abstract manner. The façade becomes an enigmatic presence within the street. The dark stained cedar cladding serves to amplify the textural and experiential qualities of the building as well distinguish the development from others in the marketplace. -- ArchDaily

Source: Andrea Lhotakova archdaily.com
Research Library, Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic, 2008 designed by Projektil Architekti
The five-storey building represents a concrete construction with the final visual in the form of a monolithic concrete façade. The original shape of the building is the precast concrete letter “X”. -- ArchDaily

Source: Amparo Garrido archdaily.com
I.M.A.M., Móstoles, Madrid, Spain, 2009 designed by nodo17 Architects
Each courtyard generates two facade systems: the north facades, formed by large concrete walls washed with surface deactivant agent, and colored methacrylate bubbles; and the south facades, formed by large panes of different types of glass according to the sun’s position. Both structural facades are also supported by V-shaped pillars, which free the ground floor space. -- ArchDaily

Source: archdaily.com
Ribera del Duero Headquarters, Roa, Burgos, Spain, 2010 designed by Estudio Barozzi Veiga
The building becomes a transition element. Aware of the re-composition of the small scale context, and at the same time, establishing a dialogue with the horizon and the landscape monumentality, through the tower volume. A timeless monolith suspended over the plateau.  -- ArchDaily

Source: Pedro Pegenaute archdaily.com
Water Treatment Station of Benidorm, Benidorm, Alicante, Spain, 2010 designed by Otxotorena Arquitectos
....a panel enclosure surround tone metallic sheet, called to print the look of lightness volume, sophistication, elegance and modernity. It also works on the gaps and openings to the outside, or scenic spot, so if acting as lookouts on the entire system, with the eventual support of eaves and sun protection devices, sensitive to the orientations of facades. -- ArchDaily

The Orange Cube in Lyon, France by Jakob + MacFarlane also has two layers of skin-- The outer façade, or “veil,” is a screen of punched aluminum panels designed to shield the building from the sun. Read an article from ARCHITECT May 2011.

Read a post from ArchDaily

Source: Bruce Damonte archdaily.com
Dream Downtown Hotel, New York City, New York, USA, 2011 designed by Handel Architects
the sloped façade was clad in stainless steel tiles, which were placed in a running bond pattern like the original mosaic tiles of Ledner’s Union building. New porthole windows were added, one of the same dimension as the original and one half the size, loosening the rigid grid of the previous design, while creating a new façade of controlled chaos and verve.
The tiles reflect the sky, sun, and moon, and when the light hits the façade perfectly, the stainless steel disintegrates and the circular windows appear to float like bubbles. The orthogonal panels fold at the corners, continuing the slope and generating a contrasting effect to the window pattern of the north façade. -- ArchDaily

0-14 Tower in Dubai by Reiser + Umemoto has a white concrete exoskeleton 3 feet away from its glass-walled inner enclosure. Read an article from Architectural Record, August 2011.
Read a post from ArchDaily
Read about a book on this project from A Weekly Dose of Architecture

Source: Oscar Hernández archdaily.com
Dae Student Building, Avenida Eugenio Garza Sada, Barranquilla, Aguascalientes, Mexico, 2011 designed by Arkylab + Mauricio Ruiz
....a monoblock with an envelope of effervescent tone showing the cumulus of spirits through the passage of light. 960 circular perforations are transformed in the course of the day, giving a dynamic target to the architectural static object. -- ArchDaily

Source: Philippe Ruault archdaily.com
NiNo House, Gyé-sur-Seine, France, 2011 designed by Hérard & da Costa
Along the trail, the long concrete façade protects the house from disturbances and from the prevailing winds and rain coming from the west. To grant a certain delicacy to this wall we pierced it with small round windows placed in an apparently random manner. They animate the inside hallway. -- ArchDaily

Source: Park Young-chae archdaily.com
Incheon Children Science Museum, 108-1 Bangchuk-dong, Gyeyang-gu, Incheon, South Korea, 2011 designed by HAEAHN Architecture + Yooshin Architects & Engineers + Seongwoo Engineering & Architects
....design of irregularity and distinctive perforated elevation (Dream Icon), and diverse outdoor spaces (Eco Icon) where three-dimensional experience is possible for communicating with a city and harmonizing with the building had to be considered. -- ArchDaily

Source: Yongkwan Kim archdaily.com
Paul Smith Flagship Store, 16-9 Dosan-daero 45-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea, 2011 designed by Chanjoong Kim + THE_SYSTEM LAB
....curved Styrofoam blocks using an NV cutter as concrete moulds, Compared to manipulating plywood moulds by correction, this method was significantly more cost-efficient. The semi-gloss industrial paint finishes are expected to conceal commercial and structural devices and imbue freer and pleasant feelings to viewers-much like a typical design from Paul Smith. -- ArchDaily

Source: Lenikus GmbH / Anna Blau archdaily.com
Hotel Topazz, Vienna, Austria, 2012 designed by BWM Architekten und Partner
Its brown mosaic façade, which absorbs and reflects the natural light, ensures that this building – on one of Vienna’s smallest building sites – is a real eye-catcher. The design, created by BWM Architekten und Partner, is characterised by striking elliptical window openings that jut out slightly. This unconventional, distinctive treatment of the façade gives this round-cornered building a sense of weightlessness and elegance as well as an unusually physical presence within the fabric of Vienna’s historical architecture. -- Contemporist
Read a post from ArchDaily 

Source: Anja Schlamann archdaily.com
Forum:Terra Nova, Elsdorf, Germany, 2012 designed by Lüderwaldt Architects
Daylight enters through the boxed windows in the ceiling and illuminates the central, two-storey-high atrium with the café, the main hall of the foyer. Exhibition and lecture rooms are located on both sides of the atrium on the upper floor. They are linked by the “distant view passage”, which is perforated by telescope-like round windows and opens up into a view of the surface excavation landscape. With the asymmetrically arranged bull’s eyes within an elsewise closed cube shape the building seeks the balance between retentiveness and the inviting openness of an information centre. -- ArchDaily

 Source: moderndesign.org
Modern House, Lucerne, Switzerland designed by Philippe Stuebi
On both, the front and the lake side, this sculptural modern house shows very expressive and ornamental facades. Facing Mount Pilatus the white concrete elements are dotted with circular openings that allow glimpses into the two-leveled orangery with its exotic plants, as well as the lounge, the guest tract and the staircase accessed through one of the openings at the ground floor. The lake side with superb mountain views of the Rigi and the Bürgenstock shows off a protruding, glistering loggia made of round glass bricks.  -- Modern Design

Source: Lee Eunseok + K.O.M.A. archdaily.com
Vin Rouge Headquarter, Gwacheon-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea designed by Lee Eunseok + K.O.M.A.
The front wall has a round-shaped hole, making it look like a wine rack. The small cylinders attached to the upper part of the exterior wall remind viewers of corks. -- ArchDaily

Source: Carl Lang archdaily.com
House in Isla Fuerteventura, Fuerteventura, Spain, 2013 designed by Ilya Escario
The project is at the foot of a volcano on the north coast of the island of Fuerteventura, Spain  The plot offers spectacular 360 degree views which want to be maximized by the customer. -- ArchDaily

Source: Paul Kozlowski archdaily.com
Salle Festive Succieu, Succieu, France designed by Guillaume Girod Architecture
The western façade is made of one perforated concrete wall. This specific part aims to avoid the light getting into the building trough a thick filter. It is working as a Halloween pumpkin at night offering a smooth light to the surrounding. -- ArchDaily

Source: Tord-Rickard Söderström archdaily.com
Quality Hotel Friends, Råsta Strandväg, Solna, Sweden, 2013 designed by Karolina Keyzer + Wingårdhs
The house with thousand eyes creates an illusion; like waves from a point in middle of the northern facade. The image appears from a distance. It makes the stiff block soft, even wet. The impression is formed by windows in three different sizes: 1.4, 1.7 and 2 meters in diameter. The variations furnish the standardized rooms with a kind of individuality, especially in corners. -- ArchDaily

Source: Simón García archdaily.com
Social Facilities in Roses, Avinguda Barcelona, 17480 Roses, Girona, Spain, designed by Exe arquitectura
The ventilated facade is finished with perforated plates that form the same geometrical pattern as the original mosaic that covered the floor of the old house, donated to the City. With the placement of the plates that cover the two visible facades of the building, we emphasize the past of the site where the new building stands, and display the previous existence of the popular Anita tip Estanco. -- ArchDaily

Source: Jordi Comas archdaily.com
NH House, 08569 Cantonigròs, Barcelona, Spain, 2013 designed by Marc Rifà-Rovira
This is a project with an extremely low budget, for a family with three young children. With a very definite program: house in a single level of about 170m2, which is complemented with a large porch, a 100m2 study, and a garage. -- ArchDaily

Source: Tim Van de Velde archdaily.com
Incineration Line in Roskilde, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark, 2014 designed by Erick van Egeraat
The façade consists of two layers: the inner layer is the skin which provides the actual climatic barrier, allowing the second skin to be treated more freely – raw umber-coloured aluminium plates with an irregular pattern of laser cut circular holes. The aluminium plates are treated to give them the desired colour and patina at day time. At night, the programmable lighting, installed between the two facades, gives the building an additional metaphor. -- ArchDaily

Source: Peter Guenzel archdaily.com
Theatre de Stoep, Spijkenisse, The Netherlands, 2014 designed by UNStudio
Above the glazed lower levels of the facade, the upper portion comprises two layers of aluminium, Glimpses of the purple coloured back layer can be seen through circular perforations in the outer white panels, with LED lights fitted between the two facade layers to light the building in the evenings. -- ArchDaily

Source: Simon Chaput archdaily.com
El Blok, Vieques, Puerto Rico, 2014 designed by FUSTER + Architects
The exterior of the hotel is made of glass fiber reinforced concrete (GfRC) panels; whose design is derived from corals. These panels act as a continuous screen that filters natural light and fresh air into the balconies of the guest rooms. The patterns of natural light created by these panels and other building apertures act as perpetually changing ornamentation within the hotel. -- ArchDaily

Source: André J Fanthome archdaily.com
The Digit, New Delhi, Delhi, India, 2014 designed by Anagram Architects
....the most common idiom of  identity, the thumbprint. The shimmering, fluttering, red screen perforated with the company’s logo is an idiom for its “digital identity”. -- ArchDaily

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Lenticular

Source: wikipedia.org
Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Building, Hartford, Connecticut, USA, 1963 designed by Max Abramovitz
It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is the world's first two-sided building.
The 13-story tower has only two curved sides, in an unusual and striking shape variously termed an elliptic lenticular cylinder or lenticular hyperboloid. Its height is 212 feet (65 meters); it measures 225 feet on its long axis, and 87 feet wide at its maximum width. The ends point east and west, with sides facing north and south.  -- Wikipedia

Source: wikipedia.org
Plan, Source: sydneyarchitecture.com
Grosvenor Place, Sydney, Australia, 1988 designed by Harry Seidler
The form of the skysraper features two crescents with an elliptical central core. The positioning and orientation of Grosvenor Place's two quadrants was chosen to maximise views down George Street towards the Sydney Harbour, Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House.
Sunshades provide the primary energy saving measure and eliminate sky glare. The sunshades are angled depending on their orientation to the sun. Structurally the building consists of a concrete core with steel beams and prefabricated granite facades. Each beam had exactly the same dimensions which reduced building costs and construction time. -- Wikipedia
Read a description from architect's web site

Apartment, Baden, Germany, 1990 designed by Dolf Schnebli/Tobias Ammann Partners
The building site is narrowed by two adjacent buildings that reach deep into the courtyard.  The new building stands in the gap; concave shapes have been given to the side surfaces in order to make the gap look larger.  -- Floor Plan Atlas: Housing, Friederike Schneider Ed., Birkhauser Verlag(1994)  P. 41

Source: Annie Laskey/L.A. Conservancy
Gas Company Tower, Los Angeles, California, USA, 1991 designed by SOM
This 52-story headquarters for the Southern California Gas Company enlivens the skyline of downtown Los Angeles with its shimmering blue glass crown, a recognizable symbol of the company’s iconic blue flame. Located adjacent to important civic spaces, the tower’s base activates the street with shops, signage, and art. -- architect's web site
More info from L.A. Conservancy

Source: jpmm @ Flickr
Plan, Source: Foster + Partners
Business Promotion Centre, Duisburg, Germany, 1993 designed by Foster + Partners
The seven-storey building is lens-shaped on plan with a steel roof curving down over its three terraced upper floors.
The outer skin is multi-layered and so efficient that no heating is required, even in the coldest northern winter. Cooling systems, rather than occupying a huge floor or ceiling void, have been miniaturised and integrated within the fabric of the building. Instead of using chilled air, dramatic drops in temperature can be achieved by moving chilled water through pipes, distributed through a system similar to the fins on a car radiator.
The building generates and harvests its own energy. It burns natural gas and, by means of a cogenerator, makes its own electricity. The by-product of that process - heat that would normally be wasted - is put through an absorption cooling plant to produce chilled water. This is not only an ecologically responsible solution: the developer makes a significant annual profit from energy management. -- architect's web site

Source: Rafael Viñoly Architects

Tokyo International Forum, Tokyo, Japan, 1997 designed by Rafael Viñoly Architects
the Glass Hall, a large glass enclosure with a dramatic 750-foot-long truss that hovers above. At night, light reflects off the surface of the ribs and transforms the structure into a monolithic floating light source, illuminating the Glass Hall and profiling it in the skyline. -- architect's web site

Source: wikipedia.org
Source: The architect's handbook by Quentin Pickard, P. 10
Ruskin Library, University of Lancaster, Lancaster, UK, 1998 designed by MacCormac Jamieson Prichard
The simple, clean, white geometry of the outside contrasts with the warm materials and colors used within - deep red and black paints, waxed and polished Venetian plaster. The contrast is the more striking because the curved walls stop short and both front and back, allowing the warmth of the building to be felt from outside.  -- galinksy

Source: Foster + Partners
Valencia Congress Centre, Valencia, Spain, 1998 designed by Foster + Partners
The Congress Centre provides three auditoria, seating 250, 460 and 1,460 people respectively, with the smallest of these capable of being subdivided into two. In plan, the building forms a convex lens or eye, defined by two arcing facades of unequal length. The auditoria and the nine seminar rooms fan out from the tighter curve of the western edge, while the public areas - including the broad, linear foyer - run along the eastern facade.  -- architect's web site

Source: Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
Plan, Source: Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
Tour EDF at La Défense, Paris, France, 2001 designed by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
The distinctive form of Tour EDF has its origin in the conviction that the privilege of building on this key site carries with it the corollary obligation to enhance the quality of public space and public life. Hence the tower is shaped in such a way that it does not stand aloof from the "dalle" but rather makes an engaging gesture toward the Parvis de La Défense.  -- architect's web site

Source: german-architects
RWE Tower, Dortmund, Germany, 2003 designed by Gerber Architekten
The 22-storey high tower with its lenticular floor plan consolidates the urban structure between the main station and the city centre, which had been dissatisfying to date. The curved façade of the 100-meter-high office building is clad in dark polished granite and is subdivided by single windows. Two mono pitch roofs sloping inwards build the upper end. The higher and more inclined section has been developed as a glass roof.  --german-architects

Source: Murphy/Jahn archdaily.com
Plan, Source: arcprospect.org
Post Tower, Bonn, Germany, 2003 designed by Murphy/Jahn
The split, shifted oval is oriented to the Rhine, Siebengebierge and the city, facilitates views from the city, and minimizes negative wind effects through its aerodynamic shape. -- ArchDaily
Read a post from arcprospect.org 

Source: criticaldetroit.org
Diagram, Source: SOM
General Motors Renaissance Center - North Lobby, Detroit, Michigan, USA, 2004 designed by SOM
The 2005 inauguration of the SOM-designed Pavilion at the Jefferson Street entrance to GM’s new Renaissance Center Headquarters was an architectural welcome that symbolically and structurally realized the goal of reconnecting the Center with downtown Detroit. The Pavilion helped fulfill the hope of the true urban renaissance, as promised in the Center’s name.  -- architect's web site

Source: Te-Ming Chang
33 Arch Street, Boston Massachusetts, USA, 2004 designed by Elkus Manfredi Architects
The building is a unique wing shaped to maximize the use of its tight footprint. The building strikes a balance with its surroundings and neighboring buildings through the use of the granite stone facade used to add to continuity of the urban streetscape. Yet, it is distinct from its neighbors by the use extensive use of metal and glass in its exterior. -- Wikipedia

Source: pcf-p.com
Hyatt Center, Chicago, Illinois, USA, 2005 designed by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
we proposed a lozenge-shaped floor plan stretching the full length of the site from Wacker Drive to Franklin Street, so as to maximize the office floor area while optimizing views from the interior. Studies comparing this unusual shape with more conventional rectangular floor plans confirmed its superior merit and led to its acceptance as the conceptual basis for the building's design.  -- architect's web site

Source: Dubai Construction Update, skyscrapercity.com



Plan, Source: cdn.gomasterkey.com
Executive Heights, TECOM, Dubai, UAE, 2008 designed by The Engineering Consulting Group (ECG)
Executive Heights is a mixed-use project that, when complete by early 2008, will offer 360,000 sq ft of office space with state-of-the-art communications and networking technology. -- aboutDubai.org

Source: hdrinc.com
The National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL), Boston University Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, 2008 designed by HDR Inc.
The National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) is the flagship facility for a national network of secure biomedical research facilities.
NEIDL will support researchers developing diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics to combat emerging infectious diseases, both naturally occurring and deliberately introduced through bioterrorism. -- architect's web site

Source: construction.com
Source: SOM
Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California, USA, 2009 designed by SOM
The resulting sanctuary, 118-feet high on the exterior and seating 1,350 inside, brings together two geometrical forms, the cone for the glass carapace, and a sphere for the ribbed and louvered Douglas fir inner structure, both of which rise from an oval poured-in-place concrete base.  -- Architectural Record
Read a post from ArchDaily

Source: kpf.com
Infinity Tower, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 2012 designed by KPF
The dynamic massing of the building, nautical in nature, is reminiscent of a schooner running under full sail.  The 118m tall tower elegantly extends skyward from a Plaza Level reflecting pool and responds simultaneously to both its unique urban context and the City’s Zoning criteria. -- architect's web site
Read a post from ArchDaily 

Source: Nelson Garrido archdaily.com
Plan, Source: archdaily.com
Kipco Tower, Kuwait City, Kuwait, 2012 designed by SSH International
KIPCO Tower is the first of its kind in Kuwait, offering office space, luxurious apartments, and commercial outlets within a single tower. Developed by United Real Estate Company, KIPCO Tower is located in the city’s financial district, and is known as one of the most innovative and industrially distinguished structures in Kuwait. -- ArchDaily

Source: Paul Warchol archdaily.com

Plan, Source: archdaily.com
New Fordham Law School, New York City, New York, USA, 2014 designed by Pei Cobb Freed
The project consists of a 22-story building, clad in a curtain wall of architectural precast panels, metal, and glass, shaped with a series of undulating arcs to make an engaging gesture toward Lincoln Center while providing a distinctive identity for the Law School. -- ArchDaily