Phoenix International Media Center - Beijing, China

Phoenix International Media Center - Beijing, China - China to grasp every opportunity to modernize and establish itself internationally, with a touch of international architects to help do that, not unlike cities like New York or Dubai.

Located between the third and fourth ring roads on the east side of Beijing, the Phoenix International Media Center
is a steel torus of structure enclosed with 3,800 glass panels. - Images by Google

But Phoenix Media finally chose to use a local design company Beijing 'Institute of Architectural Design' to design a media center building his exhibit it. Built entirely by designers and engineers of China, sets the stage is made in China as well and developed towards meeting the high international standards.

To encourage movement across the site, the torus lifts up from the ground plane at the east and west ends, creating entrances to a public courtyard as well as a direct pathway from the street into the park beyond.  - Images by Google

As the 2012 Pritzker Prize was being awarded in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People to Chinese architect Wang Shu, the building that truly proves that Chinese architects are emerging on the international stage was already under construction nearby—and it wasn’t by Wang. The new Phoenix International Media Center, a ballooning torus formed by a twisting lattice of steel, rivals any structure designed by a Westerner in China over the last decade. Through the design for their new headquarters and broadcast center, China’s largest private broadcaster engaged its biggest rival—the government-owned CCTV, housed in the now-famed tower by Rotterdam, Netherlands–based OMA—on a playing field few thought possible: the architectural stage.

The torus is basically a shell enclosing two freestanding volumes: an office block to the south (at rear)  and studios to the north. A circulation system of bridges and ramps are supported by canted columns anchored

to the torus’s steel-and-concrete structure. - Images Source:Google

The building is shaped like a donut, with a frame made of metal bent glass as a 'wall' of two buildings in it. They include public and private space, there is also room broadcasters, production studios, a restaurant and café. Even back in the unfinished state of matter, modern design that has drawn a lot of appreciation from the people there because of its unique shape and benar2 born from the local Chinese architects and engineers.

Read also:

• The 10 Best Bridges In The World
• Wenchuan Earthquake Memorial Museum-China

It was inevitable that, sooner or later, Chinese architects would challenge the hegemony of foreign architects “colonizing” China’s cities with landmark projects. Wang may have won the Pritzker, but in recognizing an architect who prides himself on thinking and building locally, studiously avoiding what he considers imported architectural spectacle, the prize’s committee may have bet on the wrong horse. Representing a different, more internationally competitive point of view is the Phoenix’s designer, Shao Weiping, executive chief architect of the government-owned Beijing Institute of Architectural Design (BIAD). He was the local architect that collaborated with Norman Foster, Hon. FAIA, on Beijing Capital International Airport’s Terminal 3. But at the Phoenix, there was no Foster, only Shao, fresh with Terminal 3 expertise and a backup crew of architects largely trained abroad.

Image Source: Google

At the very least, Shao and his office have declared their independence with an ambitious design they skillfully executed. They and their colleagues will continue to challenge the bias for foreign architects. With the Phoenix, they have tasted their own success.

Project Credits 

Project  Phoenix International Media Center, Beijing 

Client  Phoenix Television 

Architect  Architect BIAD UFo (Beijing Institute of Architecture Design, Un-Forbidden office), Beijing—Shao Weiping (executive chief architect); Liu Yuguang, Chen Ying, Li Gan, Zhou Zewo, Wu Xi, Hao Yihan, Pan Hui, Xiao Lichun, Wang Yu (project team) 

Structural Engineer  Shu Weinong, Zhu Zhongyi, Zhou Sihong, Zhang Shizhong, Shen Zhenkai, Wang Yi, Bu Longgui 

Mechanical Engineer  Zhang Tiehui, Yang Yang, Qian Qiang, Liu Yun 

Electrical Engineer  Sun Chengqun, Jin Hong 

Plot Plan Design Engineer  Lv Juan 

Lighting Engineer  Zheng Jianwei 

Economist  Zhang Ling 

BIM Engineer  Chi Shengfeng 

Landscape Design  LAURstudio 

Interior Design  SAKO Architects 

Lighting Concept Consultant  Speirs + Major 

BIM Consultant  Beijing BIMTechnologie Co. 

Construction & EPC  Beijing Tianrun Construction Co. 

Steel Structure  Jiangsu Huning Steel Mechanism Co. 

Curtainwall Consultant  Shenzhen King Façade Decoration Engineering Co. 

SRC Curtainwall  Shanghai Winsun Building Products Co. 

Interior Decoration  Suzhou Gold Mantis Construction Decoration Co. 

Lighting  Haoersai Lighting Technology Group Co. 

Size  65,000 square meters (699,654 square feet) 

Cost  Withheld

The world's first Green Apartments,Lausanne, Swiss

The world's first Green Apartments,Lausanne, Swiss - Apartments located in Lausanne, Switzerland in this degrading-gadang will become the first vertical green building in the world. Designed by architect Stefano Boeri Italy, origin, building 117 m it has more than 100 cedar trees, bushes, and 18000 6000 plants. Apartments named La Tour des Cedres is scheduled to begin in 2017.

384 ft Tower, called "La Tour des Cedres," is expected to be built in the year 2017 in Lausanne, Switzerland. the facade will support almost 10,000 square feet of green plants, some chic apartment with covered deck wood and ceiling-to-floor window. The theory of the idealists is the vegetation will improve local air quality while you set the temperature and noise levels within the unit. Whether it will help or hinder the bird population is guessing the tree of love-bird anyone, but not so much hit a high-rise window right next to the trees.

This is the third time the "vertical forest" designed by Stefano Boeri Architetti, Italy company behind "Bosco Verticale, a pair of tree-building" enshrined that opened last year in Milan. With "La Tour des Cedres," Stefano Boeri seems to be making good on a dream injection plant into every corner of the city planning. He also talked about cleaning up polluted sites using trees and build "an agricultural greenbelt" around Milan to produce local food.

Should the world stand back and applaud on the new concept of the scraper? A few years ago, Eric Jaffe discusses the pros and cons of the project, citing the argument made by the journalist Tim De Chant. Here are some of the possible downsides:

The first post-De Chant it gives some practical reasons will not work to have a tree that grows on the upper floors of tall buildings. (None of this structure has been completed, according to De Chant, with Bosco Verticale closest to completion.) If the wind doesn't get them, De Chant fear extreme temperatures will. Beyond that, he wondered about the logistics of maintaining the small forests outside its natural habitat. Advocates of urban trees in him like the idea, a student of plant physiology in itself have a lot of doubts.

But suppose the designers Bosco Verticale (and another vertical forest) has contributed to this problem from the beginning. In the second post, De Chant wrote that he still found the idea a bit gimmicky-"how to make your building sustainable feel without having to be so." He calculated that if you take in an estimated $ 4,250,000 that it costs to enter the tree in the forest of vertical, you can restore at least 2,125 hectares forest horizontal. Instead, Bosco Verticale will host 2.5 hectares.

Cubic House ~ Rotterdam, Netherland

Cubic House ~ Rotterdam, Netherland - (Dutch: Kubuswoningen) are a set of innovative houses built in Rotterdam and Helmond in the Netherlands, designed by architect Piet Blom and based on the concept of "living as an urban roof": high density housing with sufficient space on the ground level. Blom tilted the cube of a conventional house 45 degrees, and rested it upon a hexagon-shaped pylon. His design represents a village within a city, where each house represents a tree, and all the houses together, a forest.

Image by Google

The original idea of cubic houses (cubic house or can also be called kubuswoningen) appeared on 1970s. Piet Blom is one of many developers this unique style house, has developed several cubic houses built in Helmond. The city of Rotterdam asking him to design housing on top of a bridge for pedestrians and he decided to use the idea of cubic houses.

Image by Google

The concept behind these houses is that he tried to make ' the forest ' by each cube represents an abstract tree, so the entire city into woodland, forest home of a cube. Cubic houses Rotterdam, located on Overblaak Street, beside the Blaak subway station. There are 38 small cubes and two so called ' super-cube ', and all are attached to each other.

Image by Google

Many people are curious when passing through the area this cubic houses. Finally one of the owners decided to open a "cube show", which are equipped gear as well as ordinary houses, and offers tours to visitors who are curious. The walls and Windows of the houses it has cubic 54.7 degrees slope. The total area is about 100 square meters, but about a quarter of the space cannot be used because the wall is under sloping ceilings.

Image by Google 

The houses in Rotterdam are located on Overblaak Street, right above the Blaak Subway Station. There are 38 small cubes and two so called 'super-cubes', all attached to each other.

As residents are disturbed so often by curious passers-by, one owner decided to open a "show cube", which is furnished as a normal house, and is making a living out of offering tours to visitors.

The living room of the "show cube" in Rotterdam.

Image by Google

The houses contain three floors:

• ground floor entrance
• first floor with living room and open kitchen
• second floor with two bedrooms and bathroom
• top floor which is sometimes used as a small garden

Image by Google

The walls and windows are angled at 54.7 degrees. The total area of the apartment is around 100 square meters, but around a quarter of the space is unusable because of the walls that are under the angled ceilings.

Image by Google

In 2006, a museum of chess pieces was opened under the houses

In 2009, the larger cubes were converted by Personal Architecture into a hostel run by Dutch hostel chain Stayokay.

Address   : Overblaak 70, 3011 MH Rotterdam, Netherlands
Opened    : 1977
Provinces : South Holland
Architect  : Piet Blom

Musashino Art University Library Tokyo - Japan

Musashino Art University Library Tokyo - Japan - The library is supported by a good orientation and lighting, shelving books in a large scale, and a comfortable reading spot. in the age of the internet, the Department already is very disturbing thoughts we will book a library able to adapt? but this is at least proven by newest building in tokyo by Japanese architecture Sou Fujimoto.

Musashino Art University Library is the largest work of Fujimoto so far. But making it famous all over the world, it simply led him to become one of the world's largest architecture prize with an offer to Design Serpentine Pavilion in London and earned praise from the krikus one Edwin Heathcote heat this season with calling it the best along the Serpentine Pavilion has ever seen.

Musashino Art came up with the idea of a simple and consistent: all of the walls of the library in and of itself consists of a large bookcase is made from light wood-on their facades by layers of glass-like set in aspic.

the legs of a high wall shelf and perforated with openings that offer shortcuts. This hole allows visitors looking in from the outside of the building directly. Half of 200,000 title placed in open access areas. reading room an area connected to each other by a small bridge. Ladder width there may also be used as an auditorium. Natural light filtered evenly from the top entering the library through the polycarbonate panels, creating a comfortable reading area.

Read also The World Most Amazing Library With Stunning Interior Design

Although the "antinomian movement of radial displacement and rotation" (Fujimoto), the Organization of the library clear but the spatial layers Musashino Art University Library came to light only when passing through it, it makes it like the onion skin-like, thus can reveal the wisdom of an old book that is well both on the shelves ' en passant '. In addition to the library should keep knowledge, he should also be able to help to link between part types of books.

The 10 Best Bridges In The World

The 10 Best Bridges In The World -  And there it is, the first bridge crossing, and no one even made a note of it. Ever since that unrecorded moment, we’ve pushed at the limits of engineering and design, and improved on the dead tree over the river pretty much every time. To the point where we can put a bridge almost anywhere. We’ve got bridges that span rivers, that traverse mountain ranges, bridges over oceans, that connect countries, soar above jungles, and in the case of the Bosphorous bridge, that stick one continent to another. Sometimes, they seem almost timeless, transcendent. One of them is older than Christ. Let’s face it, we couldn’t live without bridges. So we’ve gathered together the most amazing bridges in the world that we could find. Just for you.

1. GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE, SAN FRANCISCO

The Golden Gate Bridge

The iconic bridge synonymous with San Francisco is considered by some to be the most beautiful bridge in the world. The American Society of Civil Engineers has named it one of the Wonders of the Modern World (though honestly, they may be a bit biased). Built in 1937, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world until 1964, and no, we’re not done with the superlatives yet. It is the most photographed bridge. At the time it was built, San Francisco’s growth was below average. A bridge connection to the other bay communities would help to solve that. Many experts said it couldn’t be done, claiming that the Bay’s extreme winds and smothering fogs would prevent construction and operation. [Details]

2. AKASHI KAIKYO BRIDGE, JAPAN

Akashi Kaikyo Bridge

Before the bridge was built – it’s currently the longest suspension bridge in the world – you’d have had to board a ferry to get from Kobe to Iwaya. This worked out until 1955, when two ferries sank and 168 people were killed. That’s when the bridge was planned. Construction took twelve years, and it was completed in 1998. In 1995 when only the two towers were in place, the Great Hanshin earthquake moved them further apart, so the span had to be increased by three feet. [Details]

3. PONT DU GARD, FRANCE

Pond Du Gard

Because the citizens of Nimes were getting a bit parched and the whiff of body odor unbearable, even for 50 AD, the Romans tapped into an underground spring at Uzes some 31 miles away. The problem was you couldn’t very well walk 31 miles every time you wanted a drink. So they built an underwater aqueduct. This worked out until they reached the Gardon River, which is why the Pont du Gard aqueduct bridge was built. It’s remarkably precise engineering, with a difference in height of one inch from one end to the other. Some two thousand years later it’s still standing. The spring is also still there. [Details]

4. ROEBLING SUSPENSION BRIDGE, OHIO

Roebling Suspension Bridge

The Roebling Suspension links Ohio and Kentucky over the Ohio River, and was built by John Roebling, the architect of the Brooklyn Bridge. This was the first draft, his practice round, a free throw, the etch-a-sketch construction for the iconic build that lay ahead. [Details]

5. ROLLING BRIDGE, LONDON

Rolling Bridge

Designed as an experiment more than anything, the bridge is divided into eight linked sections and uses hydraulics built into the handrail to curl up and over until its ends meet, allowing boats to pass through below. To see it in action, visit London’s Grand Union Canal on a Friday at noon, when it rolls up like a Persian rug. [Details]

6. JUSCELINO KUBITSCHEK BRIDGE, BRAZIL

Juscelino Kubitschek Bridge

An asymmetrical bridge named after former Brazilian president Juscelino Kubitschek. The bridge is designed with three steel support arches leaping from side to side of the bridge, said to highlight Brasilia’s stunning sunsets. Couldn’t you just enjoy the sunsets without a bridge? [Details]

7. BROOKLYN BRIDGE, NEW YORK

Brooklyn Bridge

When it opened in 1883 the Brooklyn Bridge became the longest suspension bridge in the world, some 50 percent longer than any previously built. Six days after opening, a rumor that it was going to collapse caused panic and a stampede that resulted in the death of at least twelve people. They weren’t the first. Around thirty people died during the bridge’s thirteen-year construction, including its original architect, John Roebling. [Details]

8. MILLAU VIADUCT, FRANCE

Millau Viaduct

Built as a solution to holiday traffic between Paris and Spain, the Millau Viaduct spans the River Tarn valley and is ranked as one of the greatest feats of engineering, ever. Just don’t mention this to the American Society of Civil Engineers. They’re liable to lose their civility. It received an Outstanding Structure Award for its work, which is pretty much the Oscars of bridge building. It keeps the trophy on the mantelpiece overlooking the river. [Details]

9. GATESHEAD MILLENIUM BRIDGE, ENGLAND

Gateshead Millenium Bridge

This award-winning tilt-bridge that connects the cities of Gateshead and Newcastle over the River Tyne uses a system of hydraulic rams that pivot the walkway so that boats can pass through. The process takes less than five minutes, and looks like a giant eyelid slowly opening and closing. Just as impressive is that it was installed already built, with the help of the Asian Hercules II, Europe’s largest floating crane. [Details]

10. HANGZHOU BAY BRIDGE, CHINA

Hangzhou Bay Bridge

If you’re going to build a bridge, you may as well make it a challenge and put it in a place prone to earthquakes and typhoons, one that has some of the strongest tidal forces on the planet. And probably you’d also want to make it the longest ocean-crossing bridge in the world. That’s the Hangzhou Bay Bridge. So why did they do it? It cuts 75 miles off a trip between Jiaxing and Nibo, and three hours off travel time between Nibo and Shanghai. There’s a service center in the middle called Land Between The Sea and Sky where you can kick back and watch the tides, among other things. Like use the bathroom. [Details]

Fogo Natural Park Venue / OTO - Building of The Year 2015

On Fogo Island at an altitude of 1800 meters, amidst the crater of the volcano, lies a village of about 1200 inhabitants which live on the fringes of legality, occupying the State-owned land where agricultural activities are organized and carried out, as a means of subsistence, in one of Cape Verde’s poorest regions. 

The status of protected area of national interest, forced the zoning of farming, with obvious limitations to construction, and introduced rules against the free occupation of the town, generating collisions of interests with frequent clashes. 

The outlines for the project, therefore, rise from the need to consolidate the identity of this protected region, providing a basis for the conciliation of the population with the new park management. Spaces for cultural and recreational interplay were thought of a feasible solution, both for the people of Chã das Caldeiras, as well as for visitors.

The natural landscape, strikingly marked by the volcano and its crater, possesses a unique and rare beauty, aspiring to become a world heritage site. The idea was therefore to achieve a balanced solution, where architecture and landscape become accomplices, complementary to each other.

The mass of the building is constituted of a continuous skin, composed of local black masonry block - a mixture of cement and ashes from the volcano. Ashes are also used to cover the Roof and exterior areas, blending nature and construction in a natural symbiosis. During daytime, the long walls outline the building and blend with the road, suggesting the existence of spaces through an interplay of shadows. At night, bright light is avoided as a means to protect native birds.

To address the in-existence of any previous public utility infrastructure, the building was thought of as a self-sufficient unit.

Photovoltaic roof panels absorb sunlight which is then stored in batteries providing necessary power resources for the building. In order to save energy, all ventilation systems are passive. Facade integrated grid systems allows the control of internal temperatures, taking advantage of the building´s thermal inertia, which enables heat accumulation during daytime and natural ventilation during the night.

Water supply was also a challenge. Rain water is received and directed to the top of the building to a storage tank, from which it can be used both for irrigation and domestic water. Grey waters are recollected, recycled and pumped back into the system.  

The building is divided into two main areas: Cultural, composed of an auditorium, an open-air theatre, library, and terrace-caffè. Administrative, which comprises meeting rooms, offices, laboratory and technical areas.

PNF_Aquos

A succession of sloped terrain compose the out-of-door areas, extending from the roof top, to the main patios of the building, where representative plant species of the natural park, are planted, merging it with the surroundings.

Section

With the Headquarter fully operational, the Natural Park is increasingly valued, which contributes to enriching the social, cultural and economic sectors of the island, starting to integrate and enhance in a harmonious way the surrounding space.

PNF_Energia

The challenges of shortage of local resources became an opportunity and, therefore, the building was made by the people and for the people, using local materials and techniques.

PNF_Material

The head office is to be felt as nôs cása in the land of Djarfogo“.

• Architects

  OTO

• Location

  Fogo, Cape Verde

• Project Team

  André Castro Santos, Miguel Ribeiro de Carvalho, Nuno Teixeira Martins, Ricardo Barbosa Vicente

• Area

  3200.0 sqm

• Project Year

  2013

• Photographs

  Fernando Guerra | FG + SG

• Specialties

  Eng. Amado Alves | Eng. Maria João Rodrigues + Eng. João Parente | Prosirtec | Matriz Engenharia

• Contractor

  Armando Cunha

• Client

  Ministry of Agriculture

• Financier

  KFW | General coordination, GOPA

Source : www.archdaily.com

Futuristic Achitecture by Zaha Hadid

Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid, DBE is an architect of British-Iraqiborn.

• She was the first woman and the first Muslim awarded the Pritzker Architecture, winning it in 2004.
• She was awarded the Stirling in 2010 and 2011.
• Born: 31 October 1950, Baghdad, Iraq
• Died: March 31, 2016, Miami, Florida, United
• Book: Architecture of Zaha Hadid in photographs

Exterior view of a pavilion futuristic designed by Iraqi - British architect Zaha Hadid to exhibit Chanel,
Hong Kong 26 February 2008. (REUTERS / Victor Fraile)

Galaxy Soho Building, by the Iraqi - British architect Zaha Hadid
in Beijing 27 November 2012. (REUTERS / Jason Lee)

The ski jumping hill Building which was designed by Iraqi - British architect
Zaha Hadid Innsbruck , Austria March 31, 2016. (REUTERS / Dominic Ebenbichler)

A work of Iraqi - British architect Zaha Hadid at the Summer Exhibition
at the Royal Academy of Arts in central London , June 5, 2013. (REUTERS / Andrew Winning)

A number of visitors walking on the Bridge Pavilion during a preview of the Expo Zaragoza,
11 June 2008. (REUTERS / Luis Correas)

Image Source: Google

Iceberg Dwellings - Aarhus, Denmark

In the new Aarhus Docklands development area, this housing complex features a curious topography, with a series of "peaks" and "canyons" ensuring that all apartments are supplied with a generous amount of natural lighting and waterfront views.

JDS/Julien de Smedt Architects, CEBRA, Louis Paillard, SeARCH, Iceberg,
housing complex in Aarhus, Denmark, 2012. Photos by Mikkel Frost

JDS/Julien De Smedt Architects, Danish studio CEBRA, together with the Dutch firm SeARCH and French architect Louis Paillard are currently completing the Iceberg housing complex in the new Aarhus Docklands development area in Aarhus, Denmark. 

JDS/Julien de Smedt Architects, CEBRA, Louis Paillard, SeARCH, Iceberg,
housing complex in Aarhus, Denmark, 2012. Photos by Julien de Smedt

The Aarhus Harbour development stands as an opportunity for Denmark's second largest city to develop in a socially sustainable way by renovating its old, out-of-use container terminal, transforming it into a city quarter comprised of a multitude of cultural and social activities, a generous amount of workplaces, and a highly mixed and diverse array of housing types. 

JDS/Julien de Smedt Architects, CEBRA, Louis Paillard, SeARCH, Iceberg,
housing complex in Aarhus, Denmark, 2012. Photos by Julien de Smedt

The Iceberg Project proposes 200 apartments to be set aside as affordable rental housing, aimed at integrating a diverse social profile into the new neighborhood development. The housing complex negotiates its biggest challenge —the fact that the desired square meters are in conflict with the specified site height restrictions and the overall intentions of providing ocean views along with good daylight conditions — by remaining far below the maximum heights in some cases and emerging above the maximum height in some instances. 

JDS/Julien de Smedt Architects, CEBRA, Louis Paillard, SeARCH, Iceberg,
housing complex in Aarhus, Denmark, 2012. Photos by Mikkel Frost

This gives the complex its name and gives rise to a series of "peaks" and "canyons" which ensure that all apartments are supplied with a generous amount of natural lighting and waterfront views.

Architects: JDS/Julien de Smedt Architects, CEBRA, Louis Paillard, SeARCH

Tipology: residential complex, multifunction

Area: 21,600 square metres

Budget: 60,000,000 dkk

Client: Tækker Group, Brabrand Boligforening

Completion: underway

credit

Wenchuan Earthquake Memorial Museum-China

China’s wenchuan earthquake memorial museum conceived as an architectural landscape

in 2008 a huge earthquake in china’s sichuan province was responsible for the death of nearly 70,000 people, with over 18,000 missing. the disaster was the country’s deadliest earthquake for more than 30 years, and, in terms of casualties, is regarded as one of the worst ever recorded. the quake’s epicenter was wenchuan county, and it is here where the architecture faculty of tongji university was commissioned by the chinese government to build a museum as a memorial to those who lost their lives.

the scheme takes the form of a ruptured landscape
image by cai yongjie

Designed by cai yongjie, the ‘wenchuan earthquake memorial museum’ takes the form of a ruptured landscape. large subterranean buildings are topped with green roofs, ensuring that the complex adopts an unobtrusive presence. gaps in this man-made terrain provide access inside the museum, while simultaneously connecting the entirety of the site. dramatically angled walls are made from weathering steel, creating a series of enclosed external spaces that contain benches for contemplation and reflection.

large subterranean buildings are topped with green roofs
image by shao feng

The entrance to the museum is marked by a public square and a small tower. new trees have been planted, which, alongside the rest of the site, will continue to grow and evolve over time. the lush landscape establishes a strong dialogue with the built environment, with the rich hues of the reddish steel serving as a visual counterpoint to the verdant green topography. the museum opened to the public on the fifth anniversary of the earthquake in may, 2013. see more architectural projects in china on designboom.

gaps in the man-made terrain provide access inside the museum
image by shao feng

dramatically angled walls are made from weathering steel
image by cai yongjie

the entrance to the museum is marked by a public square and a small tower
image by cai yongjie

trees have been planted, which, alongside the rest of the site, will continue to evolve over time
image by shao feng

a series of enclosed spaces contain benches for contemplation and reflection
image by cai yongjie

article source: www.designboom.com