foster + partners: designs zayed national museum in abu dhabi revealed

'zayed national museum in abu dhabi' by foster + partners
all images courtesy foster + partners


foster + partners' designs for the 'zayed national museum' in abu dhabi was revealed by
his highness sheikh mohammed bin rashid al maktoum, vice-president and prime minister
of the UAE and ruler of dubai and her majesty queen elizabeth II of the united kingdom.
conceived as a monumnet and memorial to the late sheikh zayed bin sultan al nahyan,
the founding president of the UAE, the museum will be the centrepiece of the saadiyat
island cultural district and will showcase the history, culture and more recently the social
and economic transformation of the emirates.





the design of the museum aims to combine a highly efficient, contemporary form
with elements of traditional arabic design and hospitality to create a museum that is
sustainable, welcoming and culturally of its place. featuring a landscaped garden
around its base, the museum's display spaces are housed within a man-made mound.
the interior conditions are regulated passively through five solar thermal towers,
which host the galleries. the towers heat up and act as thermal chimneys, drawing
cool air currents throughout the museum. fresh air is captures at the low level and
drawn through buried ground-cooling pipes and then released into the museum's lobby.
air vents open at the top of the wing-shaped towers taking advantage of the negative
pressure on the lee of the wing profile to draw the hot air out.





balancing the lightweight steel structures with a more monumental interior experience,
the galleries are anchored by a dramatic top-lit central lobby, which is dug into the earth
to exploit its thermal properties and brings together shops, cafes, and auditorium and
informal venues for performances. throughout, the treatment of light and shade draws
on a tradition of discreet, carefully positioned openings, which capture and direct
the region's intense sunlight to illuminate and animate these interior spaces.





lord foster said, 'it has been a great privilege to work on the zayed national museum,
to carry forward sheikh zayed's vision and to communicate the dynamic character
of a contemporary united arab emirates. we have sought to establish a building that
will be an exemplar of sustainable design, resonating with sheikh zayed's love of
nature and his wider heritage.'





project info:

client: tourism development + investment company
foster + partners team: norman foster, david nelson, gerard evenden,
toby blunt, marin castle, ross palmer, dara towhidi, karsten vollmer,
barrie cheng, ho ling cheung, sidonie immler, joern hermann, nadrew king,
gemma owen, jillian salter, marilu sicoli, daniel weiss, bram van der wal, simon wing
engineers: WSP/BDSP AKT
local architect: planar
landscape architects: atelier dreiseitl
lighting designers: claude engle
cost consultants: RLB
facade access: lerch bates
specification writers: schumann smith

man-made mound: 30.7m
wings: range from 73-124m
gross internal area: 58,698 m2
total built up area: 66,042 m2
total gallery space: 5,764 m2
museum & mound site area: 53,331 m2
public gardens, total area: 21,439 m2

Incredible Architecture with Unexpected Perspectives: Fyf Residence

Fyf Residence was designed by Patterns and comes with a highly original architecture. The amazing family house located in Rosario, Argentina has an interesting monolithic form and consists of a single level. Its twisted exterior contrasts the other buildings in its neighborhood and features plenty of intriguing elements. The folds and bends within the concrete create unusual openings which make for some uncommon windows offering “oblique views”. The shape of the house is stretched by an appealing looking pool which seems to stir down the overall dynamics of the architecture. The total surface of the house is 200 square feet and also includes a small greenhouse at the request of the clients, a landscape designer and an agricultural engineer. The interiors feature plenty of unexpected angles and effects. Through the clearings in the concrete, the house gets a large amount of natural lighting during the day which creates playful shades all around.- via designboom

Singapore University of Technology and Design / UNStudio + DP Architects 24

Nov 2010

By Karen Cilento — Filed under: Awarded Competitions ,Educational , DP Architects, Singapore, UNStudio

 

© UNStudio

This just in from UNStudio, Ben van Berkel, in collaboration with DP Architects, has been chosen to design the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD). Selected from a shortlist of five practices, UNStudio + DP Architects have created a proposal that reflects the university’s curriculum by “using the creative enterprise of the school to facilitate a cross-disciplinary interface; interaction is established between the professional world, the campus, and the community at large.”
More images and more about the proposal after the break.
The SUTD will be Singapore’s fourth and most prestigious university offering four key academic pillars: Architecture and Sustainable Design (ASD), Engineering Product Development (EPD), Engineering Systems and Design (ESD) and Information Systems Technology and Design (ISTD). The campus is organized around two main axes; the living and learning spines which overlap to create a central point, binding together all corners of the SUTD. These thoroughfares create a 24/7 campus of seamless connectivity, enhancing direct interaction through both proximity and transparency. In turn, an open forum of learning is established by bringing professionals, alumni, students, and faculty together to interact both on an academic and a social level.

© UNStudio

The proposal experiments with incorporating a non-linear connective relationship between the students, faculty as well as they spaces they interact with.

© UNStudio

van Berkel explaines, “The main aim of the design for the Singapore University of Technology and Design was to create a campus that celebrates both teaching and learning in an open and transparent way. The network of horizontal, vertical and diagonal vistas within the double quadrant organization of the campus enables professors, students and faculty members to see, meet and communicate with each other through a network of crossing points, presenting opportunities for continuous interaction and exchange.”

© UNStudio

Solar and natural ventilation studies © UNStudio

Circulation © UNStudio

Project Information:
Building surface: (phase I) 88,000 m2, (phase II) 125,000 m2, (total) 213, 000 m2
Building volume: (phase I) 422,400 m3, (phase II) 600,000 m3, (total) 1,022,400 m3
Building site: 76, 846 m2
Program: university campus
Status: competition
UNstudio team: Ben van Berkel, Caroline Bos, Astrid Piber with Christian Veddeler,
Jordan Trachtenberg and Ren Horng Yee, Adi Utama, Jeff Johnson, Melissa Lui
DPA team: Chan Sui Him, Teoh Hai Pin, Jeremy Tan, Seah Chee Huang, Wykeith Ng,
Liew Kok Fong, Wang Ying, Yeong Weng Fai, Jaye Tan

Structural consultant: ARUP Singapore PTE Ltd

The Park Hotel Hyderabad Combines High-Performance Design with Local Culture / SOM

By: admin | November - 19 - 2010

Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM), the New York-based architectural firm, has recently completed The Park Hotel Hyderabad, the flagship hotel for The Park Hotel Group. This 531,550-square-foot, 270-room hotel infuses a modern, sustainable design with the local craft traditions, and is influenced by the region’s reputation as a center for the design and production of gemstones and textiles.
Roger Duffy, SOM’s Partner in Charge of the project, says, “This building signals our commitment to creating a design that simultaneously felt at home among the exuberant vernacular architecture of Hyderabad, while simultaneously incorporating the latest sustainable strategies and technologies.”
The project is distinctive for its profound implementation of sustainable design strategies, with special attention paid to the building’s relationship to its site, daylighting and views. Solar studies influenced the site orientation and building massing, with program spaces concentrated in the north and south facades, and service circulation on the west to reduce heat gain. The hotel rooms are raised to allow more expansive views, situated on top of a podium comprised of retail spaces, art galleries, and banquet halls open to guests and visitors.
The building’s three sides wrap around an elevated central courtyard that can be accessed from the hotel lobby. This flexible outdoor area is protected from strong winds, and serves as an extension of the restaurants inside. It features a private dining court and a swimming pool, which can be seen from the adjacent areas and the nightclub below, with moving patterns formed by light passing through the pool’s water. The outdoor courtyard was designed to be a multifunctional space accessible from the lobby, restaurants, and bar that surround it. Elevated three stories above ground, this veranda provides views to Hussain Sagar Lake and the city.

The facade provides a range of transparency according to the needs of the spaces inside. Perforated and embossed metal screens over a high-performance glazing system give privacy to the hotel rooms while allowing diffused daylight to enter the interior spaces, and provides acoustic insulation from trains passing nearby. The opaque areas of the cladding shield the hotel’s service areas from public view. The shape of the facade’s openings, as well as the three-dimensional patterns on the screens themselves, were inspired by the forms of the metalwork of the crown jewels of the Nizam, the city’s historic ruling dynasty.
Priya Paul, Chairperson of Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels which owns The Park brand, describes The Park, Hyderabad as “a Modern Indian Palace, something refreshing and different that speaks to the aspirations of India today.”
Collaboration with manufacturers, fabricators, and researchers played a vital role in developing this low-energy prototype building, with data gathered in collaboration with the Stevens Institute of Technology’s Product Architecture Lab in Hoboken, New Jersey. As a result, the design team was able to reduce the building’s energy use by twenty percent. In addition, an on-site water treatment facility and sewage treatment plant process both gray water for reuse and waste water for release back into the city’s sewer system.
The project achieved the first LEED Gold certification for a hotel in India, and has been awarded Best New Hospitality Project of 2010 from Cityscape India. It also served as a case study for using a collaborative process to achieve an environmentally efficient design in Design Principles and Practices: An International Journal in 2009, and was the subject of a white paper written by the design team on the high-performance curtain wall system.

Bernal Heights Residence by SB Architects

SB Architects have designed this home in the Bernal Heights neighborhood of San Francisco.

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Bernal Heights Residence by SB Architects

This urban infill site in San Francisco presented a unique opportunity to create a new, free-standing home, while maintaining the site’s existing structure as a separate residential unit. The site originally housed a single structure – a one-story, one-bedroom home over a two-car garage, constructed in 1931 and totaling only 550 square feet of living space. Since the original structure was built at the rear of the 2,000-square-foot corner lot, and zoning allowed for two units on the site, a new home could be built at the front of the lot, capitalizing upon views and a more prominent street address.

The goal for this project was to seize the unique zoning opportunity to build a new home on this desirable, but never-developed, corner site in a dense San Francisco neighborhood.  The design concept was driven by the micro-features of the site and the desire to create a contemporary design expression that was rooted in Northern California architectural and sustainable ideals.  The basic envelope was shaped in large part by the neighborhood planning code, which dictated elements such as bay windows, notched side yards and inset entries to create movement and shadow along the streetscape. While the design is rooted in the local vernacular and code within this traditional San Francisco neighborhood, the interpretation is distinctly clean and modern.
The naturally sloping site inspired the idea of a focal stair core wrapped by private areas and topped by a dramatic skylight, bathing the interiors in natural light and forming a direct link between through the private spaces on the entry level  and the upper-level public spaces. The central stair core also creates a strong vertical wall on the exterior, resulting in a composition quite different than the typical horizontal layering of living spaces. The corner location and internal organization of space created an exterior expression that broke free of horizontal restraints to create a blend of horizontal and vertical lines, punctuated by a strong cantilevered roof.
Locating the main living spaces on the top floor afforded dramatic views of the San Francisco skyline and garnered abundant natural light, significantly decreasing electricity use.  Windows on all aspects of the building, unusual in this urban setting, provide an abundance of natural light in the interior spaces. Making use of extensive experience in hospitality design, the design team created a resort-based living experience within this 1,750-square-foot custom home, with open, flowing spaces, clean, high-end finishes and rich woods. A rainscreen system supports Ipe banding on the exterior façade, while walnut flooring and cabinets combine with cedar cladding on interior ceilings and exterior soffits to bring warmth to the interiors.
Designed with a careful eye toward sustainability, this home is Tier Two Energy Star certified, making it over 35% more efficient than California Title 24 requirements. A 95% efficient gas boiler supplies domestic hot water and hydronic heating, and a 2.5-kilowatt photovotaic system with net metering provides solar energy, while energy star appliances and water efficient plumbing fixtures throughout ensure an efficient use of resources.

The Lulu Kati Kati House by Kate Otten Architects

Kate Otten Architects have designed the Lulu Kati Kati house in Johannesburg, South Africa.

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The Lulu Kati Kati House by Kate Otten Architects

Welcome to ‘lulu kati kati’, Swahili for ‘pearl in the middle’ – a jewel of a house on a left –over sliver of land at the end of the high street, a site too steep to be a road, located in the middle of suburban Melville, Johannesburg.

To live here is to feel alive, connected to the elements, to nature; simultaneously part of a vibrant street life with music, food, arts, books, . .
The house is suspended between the urban high street and the Melville nature conservancy; suspended between the natural rock face and an 80 year Dombeya tree; suspended, quite literally, from 6 massive gum poles, 9,5m high, each weighing over half a ton.
Building and landscape are integrated and intertwined.  Lines are blurred between inside and outside, between natural and built; between view and viewed – the building as camouflage.  Views are framed, exposed, focussed, created, reflected.
The house is on three levels, each with its own character:
Middle
The house is entered at street level, at the middle level of the building, through a courtyard of tall, indigenous trees, alongside a pond and across a bridge.  The middle level is a continuous horizontal space suspended in the landscape of the tree.  Cooking, living and eating occur here, opening onto a large balcony organically worked into the branches of the tree.
Top
The top level houses the sleeping areas. Here the roof floats above high level windows lifting your focus towards the sky.  You experience the sun and the moon rise and set.  You experience dramatic, panoramic views of lightning and thunder storms.  Aeroplanes, birds and even bats fly past.
Bottom
The bottom level is cave-like, anchored to the rock and the earth.  The rock face is incorporated into the internal space.  This level has a bathroom, kitchenette and large playroom opening onto a patio, stone terraced garden, ponds and a bio-pool.
This is a green building – unofficially achieving a platinum rating.  The design incorporates natural lighting, ventilation, heating and cooling.  Solar energy is used to heat domestic water and for space heating in winter.  Re-claimed, re-cycled and on-site materials are used as well as local labour and skills.  The sun-screens are made from invader plants; insulation and privacy screens from re-cycled plastic cut into plant-like forms.  Rain water is collected, circulated and filtered through ponds and a reed bed to the bio-pool.
Bursts of colour in the building reflect the same in the surrounding landscape – the pink ‘wing-wongy’ bay window takes its cue from the pink Kapok tree and magenta Bougainvillea; the green and blue bath box from the blue Plumbago.
Views change with the changing nature and colour of the seasons and cycles of a day – the experience of these changes is heightened by the building.  Sunlight and shadow during the day, distant lights at night, veld fires in winter and brilliant green in summer.
To live here is to feel alive.