Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Triangular 5

Source: pcf-p.com
Laura Spelman Rockefeller Halls, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA, 1973 designed by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
Privacy and openness are combined and preserved by the triangular shapes and diagonal placement of each building. The structures are interwoven by pedestrian byways and highways, leading into each building, through arcades or short-circuiting to other parts of the campus. -- architect's web site

Source: wikipedia.org
590 Madison Avenue(formerly IBM Building), New York City, New York, USA, 1983 designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes
The building was designed as a unique wedged shape cutting South West corner of rectangular box. The volume can be seen differently from different angles, sometimes slender, sometimes gigantic. The entrance of the building is the most impressive part of the façade providing spectacle and openness to the street and welcoming visitors.  -- Wikipedia

Source: SOM
The New Beijing Poly Plaza, Beijing, China, 2007 designed by SOM
The unique design solution incorporates 24 stories of office space built around a 90-meter-tall atrium enclosed by the world’s largest cable-net-supported glass wall. The museum occupancy is contained in an eight-story hanging ‘lantern’ suspended in the building atrium from four parallel strand bridge cables.  -- architect's web site
The building’s simple, monolithic triangular form is based on an L-shaped office plan enclosed by an expansive, glass cable-net wall. The bars of office space align with the surrounding development while the large atrium looks outward to the intersection and the existing China Poly building beyond.  -- World Architecture News

Source: Wison Tungthunya archdaily.com
Plan, Source: archdaily.com
VNG Office, Bangkok, Thailand, 2012 designed by Openbox Company
Since the site was already very tight, the form was simply the shape of the site, stretched to maximum, build-able envelope according to regulation setback. This turn out to be an unexpected opportunity to exploit unique form and space that would be difficult to justify under normal circumstance. -- ArchDaily

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Cylindrical 10

Source: Te-Ming Chang

Swiss Re HQ, 30 St Mary Axe, London, UK, 2004 designed by Foster + Partners 
London’s first ecological tall building and an instantly recognisable addition to the city’s skyline.
Generated by a radial plan, its energy-conscious enclosure resolves walls and roof into a continuous triangulated skin, allowing column-free floor space, light and views. -- Architect's website
The shafts create a giant double glazing effect; air is sandwiched between two layers of glazing and insulates the office space inside.
The shafts pull warm air out of the building during the summer and warm the building in the winter using passive solar heating. The shafts also allow sunlight to pass through the building, making the work environment more pleasing, and keeping the lighting costs down.  -- Wikipedia
Source: worldarchiecturenews.com
Torre Agbar, Barcelona, Spain, 2005 designed by Jean Nouvel
The surface of the building evokes water: smooth and continuous, shimmering and transparent, its materials reveal themselves in nuanced shades of color and light. It is architecture of the earth without the heaviness of stone, like a distant echo of old Catalan formal obsessions carried by a mysterious wind off the Monserrat.
The ambiguities of material and light make the Agbar tower resonate against Barcelona's skyline day and night, like a distant mirage, marking the entry into the diagonal avenue from the Plaça de les Glorias. This singular object will become the new symbol of Barcelona the international city, and become one of its best ambassaadors. -- Jean Nouvel
Its design combines a number of different architectural concepts, resulting in a striking structure built with reinforced concrete, covered with a facade of glass, and over 4,500 window openings cut out of the structural concrete.  -- Wikipedia

Source: Nelson Garrido archdaily.com
Doha Office Tower, Doha, Qatar, 2010 designed by Ateliers Jean Nouvel
45 story cylindrical structure.  The building’s dia-grid gives much character to the project, as it not only provides structural support but also gives the volume a textured appearance from far away that turns into a more delicate patterning in closer range.  The facade is layered with metal brise-soleil based on a traditional Islamic pattern.  The fairly standard geometry module becomes a complex visual as it is rotated and flipped to provide maximum shading for the interior of the building.   In this way, the arrangement of the panels is both functional and supplies the aesthetic touch that will define the tower.  -- ArchDaily

Monday, December 26, 2011

Cylindrical 9

Source: Bernhard Leitner archdaily.com
Conceptual Sketch, Source: archdaily.com
Le Cylindre Sonore, Paris, France, 1987 designed by Bernhard Leitner
Le Cylindre Sonore is embedded in a bamboo garden, a valley-like, sunken landscape in the Parisian Parc de la Villette. A sound architecture commissioned and implemented as piece of public art, as intervention artistique, for the Section IV of the park. The upper end of the double cylinder is at the same level as the bordering allees. Coming from the park, one descends a long stairway into the sound space before actually entering the garden. On leaving it, one once again walks through the sound space before one ascends to the park situated on a higher level.  -- ArchDaily

Source: Iwan Baan archdaily.com

Plan, Source: archdaily.com

Lookout Point Espinazo del Diablo, Jalisco, Mexico, 2010 designed by HHF architects
La Ruta del Peregrino (Pilgrim’s Route) stretches out on a distance of 117 kilometers. Approximately two million people participate each year in this religious phenomenon coming from different states of México to walk through the mountain range of Jalisco, starting in the town of Ameca, ascending to el Cerro del Obispo at an altitude of 2000 meters above sea level, crossing the peak of Espinazo del Diablo to descend to it’s final destination in the town of Talpa de Allende to meet with the Virgin of Talpa as an act of devotion, faith and gratitude.
...the master plan consists of an ecological corridor with infrastructure and iconic architectural pieces that add to the religious ritual and also aim to appeal to a broader audience and allow the Route to have a flow of visitor beyond the religious. -- ArchDaily

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Curved Forms 3

Source: Anonymous Blogger
Luce Memorial Chapel, Taichung, Taiwan, 1963 designed by I.M. Pei
Set on an irregular hexagonal base, the chapel occupies a site of 12,000 square meters of the campus, providing 477 square meters of floor area, including a nave with 500 seats, a chancel and robing rooms. The four manipulated planes that make up the walls of the church stretch 19.2m high, establishing a central focal landmark on the campus.  -- ArchDaily

Source: Liao Yusheng archdaily.com
The Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption, San Francisco, California, USA, 1971 designed by Pietro Belluschi and Pier-Luigi Nervi
The hyperbolic paraboloid creates a graceful flow upwards until it reaches 190 feet where the four corners meet in a cross. The cathedral measures 255 square feet and is crowned with a 55 foot tall golden cross at its apex. -- ArchDaily

Source: Fran Parente
San Josemaría Escrivá Church, Lomas de Santa Fe Alvaro Obregón, Mexico City, México, 2008 designed by Javier Sordo Madaleno Bringas
The architects began developing the architectural concept with geometrical strokes and enrolling in the repetition of the 7 golden rectangle, two curves referring to the Christian fish symbol and raised these curves with straight lines to a diagonal in the rectangle forming the cross of light, facing north.  -- ArchDaily

Source: HS Arquitetos archdaily.com
The Santuary of Santa Paulina, Nova Trento, SC, Brazil designed by HS Arquitetos
Icon of religious building, the coverage ascending lines stimulates the search for spirituality and meditation, like a mantle, launched candidly about building houses the main nave, chapels and support area, and defines access to the sanctuary. -- ArchDaily

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Curved Forms 2

Source: wikipedia.org
Thomas J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York, 1961 designed by Eero Saarinen
is a large crescent-shaped structure consisting of three levels by 40 aisles. The lowest level is partially underground in some areas toward the shorter side of the crescent, which also leads to the employee parking lots. A large overhang protrudes from the front entryway of the building, and faces the visitor parking lot ... -- Wikipeida

Source: wikipedia.org
Toronto City Hall, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 1965 designed by Viljo Revell
Revell’s design consists of twin towers surrounding a white disk-like council chamber which is mounted on a raised platform, with entrances located below that are open to the public. There is also a ramp from the square that connects to the podium green roof and also leads to the council chamber. The two towers are of unequal height as the east tower is taller than the west. The City Hall is nicknamed “The Eye of the Government” because it resembles a large eye in a plan view. Revell died a year before the New City Hall was completed.  -- Wikipedia

Source: Choo Yut Shing
Pearl Bank Apartments, Singapore, 1976 designed by Tan Cheng Siong
Organizationally, the parti of the Pearl Bank Apartments is a ¾ cylindrical tower enveloping a west-facing interior courtyard on the lower level.  Not only did this orientation minimize solar heat gain from the afternoon sun, it also was vital to capturing the magnificent views afforded at the top of Pearl’s Hill.  -- ArchDaily

Source: seidler.net.au
Australian Embassy, Paris, France, 1977 designed by Harry Seidler & Associates
The design of the two opposing quadrant shaped buildings relate to the axes of the Champ de Mars. The resulting concave and convex building facades take maximum advantage of the magnificent views.  -- architect's web site
Source: Niels Marius Askim archdaily.com
Plan, Source: archdaily.com

Gurisentret Outdoor Stage and Visitor Centre, The Edøy Island, Smøla, Norway, 2008 designed by Askim/Lantto Architects
The centre is cut into a sandy hill, on the edge of an agricultural landscape which includes an eight hundred year old church. The new amphitheatre shields the stage from the quayside. To maintain possible movement in the landskape adjasent to centre, a roof terrace has been formed over the visitorcentre as an extention to the surronding farm landscape. The roofterrace creates a good viewing platform for surrounding landscape. -- ArchDaily

Source: Migdal Arquitectos

Plan, Source: Migdal Arquitectos
Plaza Residences, Mexico City, Mexico, 2008 designed by Migdal Arquitectos
In response to the Columbus traffic circle, the building, with its glass interior façade, is erected in the shape of a boomerang, creating a concave interior space that we give to the city by way of Reforma. This concave shape opens up and embraces the majestic traffic circle, integrating it into its concept. The boomerang shape draws out from a long linear element which constringes into the plot with the intention of presenting a considerable unfoldment of façade towards Reforma, making it possible to favor all the apartments with views towards the majestic avenue.  -- ArchDaily

 Source: Boris Cvjetanovic archdaily.com
Plan, Source: archdaily.com
Segrt Hlapic Kindergarten, Sesvete, Zagreb, Croatia, 2008 designed by Radionica Arhitekture
Projects and realisations of Radionica can often be reduced to elementary parts: basic geometric figures and their combinations. Complex rather than complicated relations between simple parts create layered, inner and outer, closed and open rationalised landscapes. -- ArchDaily

Source: archdaily.com

Plan, Source: archdaily.com
Club 218, Siófok, Hungary, 2008 designed by A4 studio
The planned building is stretching on the lake shore as a giant curve. This characteristic architectural gesture organizes the main bulk. As there are no secondary facades, all the apartments bear the same values and orientation. An important issue was to fit into the street view of Szent István promenade, lined with other hotels and apartments.  -- ArchDaily

Source: BitterBredt archdaily.com


Plan, Source: archdaily.com
The Ascent at Roebling’s Bridge, Covington, Kentucky, USA, 2008 designed by Daniel Libeskind
Reaching 300 feet at its pinnacle, the 310,000 sqf building includes 70 residential units, a swimming pool, garden facilities, large public event space, and a restaurant on the plaza level. Its curving crescent form and sloping roofline are designed to maximize views, resulting in unobstructed visibility of the Cincinnati skyline from every unit.  -- ArchDaily

Source: Tarvo Varres archdaily.com

Plan, Source: archdaily.com
Aluminium House, Rannamõisa near Tallinn, Estonia, 2008 designed by Arhitektid Muru & Pere
The concept was born out of the wrist movement when scribbling on paper. The area allowed for building was very long and narrow due to multiple restrictions. We began piling the rooms in one row at one end until we met the border; then we turned the room itself backwards and that is how the building obtained its current form.  -- ArchDaily

Source: David Frutos archdaily.com

Diagram, Source: archdaily.com
360 House, Galapagar, Madrid, Spain, 2010 designed by Subarquitectura
An extreme shape, the house is curved, generating the greatest quantity of linear meters towards the good views. It is shored up in the landscape and turns back on itself, completing the revolution. The degree of intimacy increases as the distance to the ends increases.  -- ArchDaily

Source: Noda Gankohsha archdaily.com
Hoki Museum, Midori-ku, City of Chiba, Japan, 2010 designed by Nikken Sekkei
Inside galleries, people can not only access each painting in traditional sequential move, but also take a random-access way because galleries are slightly curved and people can recognize positions of all the paintings at a glance. Galleries that extrude longitudinally along the site, measure up to 100 meters long. The visitors will face to the super-realistic paintings in a seamless gallery without any joints of finish and outstanding existence of lights. At the end of a gallery, they can enjoy natural light and scenery outside. After a short rest, they will move to the next gallery. -- ArchDaily

Source: Mushenko & Jackson archdaily.com
Plan, Source: archdaily.com

Cooroy Library, Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia, 2010 designed by Brewster Hjorth Architectsi
The building was designed a two curved opposed pavilions. The western pavilion is dug into the slope of the site, and is covered by an earth sheltered grass roof. To the east, the library opens to a sunken internal courtyard, edged by a large stonewall, providing much needed cooling in the summer from the stone mass and shading. -- ArchDaily

Source: Tim Crocker archdaily.com
Aloft London Excel, London, UK, 2011 designed by Jestico + Whiles
The plan of the building has a convex central spine containing bedrooms and the vertical circulation, flanked by two concave wings which house further bedrooms and corridors.These wings are clad in thousands of specially treated, highly reflective stainless‐steel shingles creating the extraordinary effect of constantly changing colour with the passing of the day.  -- ArchDaily

Source: ©2012 Eric James archdaily.com
NASA Sustainability Base, Moffett Field, California, USA, 2011 designed by William McDonough + Partners and AECOM
The most iconic feature of the building is its structure. Inspired by the wind tunnels of NASA Ames Campus and the images of NASA satellites, the exoskeleton approach gives the building increased structural performance during seismic events, provides a framework for daylighting and shading strategies, and creates a column-free interior space that facilitates workplace flexibility. -- ArchDaily

Source: Emma Cross archdaily.com
Plan, Source: archdaily.com
Punt Road Oval Redevelopment, Richmond, VIC, Australia, 2011 designed by Suters Architects
The long narrow strip of land around Punt Road Oval allowed the continuation of this motif, with the building contorting and squeezing between the oval’s boundary and AFL Way, as it progresses towards the MCG from Punt Road. -- ArchDaily

Source: Lira Arquitectos Asociados archdaily.com
Plan, Source: archdaily.com
Casa Retiro Kawelluco, Pucón, Pucón, Araucanía Region, Chile, 2011 designed by Lira Arquitectos Asociados
The situation at half height overlooking the valley, the amphitheater form due to the uneven terrain and the brief gives rise to a continuous horizontal two-storey building, which settles as a single volume on the hillside, in contrast with mountains and surrounding vegetation. -- ArchDaily

Source: Shu He archdaily.com
Plan, Source: archdaily.com
Weihai Pavilion, Weihai, Shandong, China, 2012 designed by Make Architects
The pavilion is only glazed on one elevation to provide 180 degree uninterrupted views, the rest of the structure is solid. The glazed facade allows floods of natural light into the main space while the over-sailing roof provides shade for the building during the hot summer months. These elements ensure a more energy efficient building. -- ArchDaily

Source: Miao Design Studio archdaily.com

Plan, Source: archdaily.com
Visitor Center in Lake Yangcheng Park, Kunming, Yunnan, China, 2013 designed by Miao Design Studio
....a curved “wall,” 99 meters long and 7.75 meters high, along the entire north side of the parking lot, Three doorways of varied sizes are punched out from this “wall,” freeing passages that direct towards the Park. Being accentuated by the surrounding “wall,” the views captured by the openings appear particularly enticing, -- ArchDaily

Source: Piuarch archdaily.com
White Wave, Milan, Italy, 2013 designed by Piuarch
As part of the Porta Nuova urban renewal project, the so called “White Wave” is a building for showrooms and offices, which has become the symbol of the new architectural dynamism of Milan. The simple and sinuous form of the building articulates and integrates the two volumes in a single element distinguished by a deep central fissure. -- ArchDaily

Source: Shahriyar Mazaheri archdaily.com
Plan, Source: archdaily.com
Dashte Noor’s Gym Building, Mazandaran, Iran, 2013 designed by Narges Nassiri-Toosi
....the concept was designing a building with a dynamic mass which is an integral and a part of the surrounding landscape. -- ArchDaily

Source: Gremsy archdaily.com
Plan, Source: archdaily.com
Farming Kindergarten, Biên Hòa, Dong Nai, Vietnam, 2013 designed by Vo Trong Nghia Architects
....the building is conceived as a continuous green roof, providing food and agriculture experience to children, as well as an extensive playground to the sky. The green roof is a triple-ring shape drawn with a single stroke, encircling three courtyards inside as safe playgrounds. Recently, an experimental vegetable garden was realized on its top. Five different vegetables are planted in 200m2 garden for agriculture education. -- ArchDaily

Source: Tom Blachford archdaily.com

Plan, Source: archdaily.com
Royal Automobile Club of Victoria, Great Ocean Road, Victoria, Australia, 2015 designed by Wood/Marsh
The design for the new building is based on a cluster of soft arcs that shift through native landscaping and sit comfortably within the coastal site. Rammed earth walls take up the colour of the sandy soil and appear as if they have grown out of the ground. These walls arc out beyond the building mass into the landscape and help delineate different zones within the building. The form gently follows the land contours as it curves gradually across the site, maximising views to the ocean. -- ArchDaily