Christian de Portzamparc, Carnegie 57, New York City

Carnegie 57, is a new “ultraluxury” condo building, designed by French starchitect Christian de Portzamparc, on 57th Street across the street from Carnegie Hall, in New York.

The $1.3 billion skyscraper is actually the first major property development to come after the global financial crisis put hundreds of projects in the Big Apple on hold and upon its completion in 2013, will be the tallest residential building in the city, at 1,005 feet, eclipsing the Trump World Plaza.

There will be 136 apartments in the tower, above the 210-room Park Hyatt hotel which will sprawl over the first 20 floors. Gary Barnet, the project’s developer, seems confident that his tower will attract both design kudos and deep-pocketed buyers.

Josep Liinas, Atlantida cultural centre, Barcelona

Its been a while since we last posted a purely European project and we found this project to be the perfect opportunity to do just that.Atlantida is a cultural center, designed by the Catalan architect Josep Llinas, situated in Vic, just 60 km north of Barcelona.The 10.500 m2 of the Atlantida cultural center, feature an 800-seat theatre, a 400-seat auditorium, a music school, 100-seat performance space, a library and a restaurant.
According to the architect in relation to the location, the site is placed between the boundary of the consolidated town and the future expansion areas. The transition from one fabric to the other is articulated by a strip of natural land supported by the Meder River. In the northern edge, the consolidated town is composed by courtyards where the rear façades of row housing look over.
The imposing asymmetrical building which is destined to become a landmark for the city of Vic, opened its doors in April 2010.

Frank Gehry, Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, Las Vegas

Frank Gehry’s newest project, the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, in Las Vegas, is a leading research centre for degenerative brain diseases.

The sculptural building cost almost $100 million and consists of two wings connected by an open courtyard.

In the ordinary northern part of the building is a research center and hospital, in the creative south part – the life activity center.

In this project the architect manipulates space and materials to create stunning structures that captivate the imagination and although the two parts of the building differ from each other, they also act like two parts of the whole.

The Gehry teams have created a masterpiece of architectural design, blending strong visual impact with superior efficiency in patient care.

According to WAN, Gehry decided to design the building because he, like founder Larry Ruvo, has been affected by degenerative brain diseases. Ruvo’s father had Alzheimer’s and Gehry’s analyst’s wife had Huntington’s disease.

Therefore, this building is like a tribute to those they lost, and also a beacon of hope for finding treatments or cures for these unfortunate ailments.

Van Egeraat, Dynamo Stadium, Moscow

Dutch architect Erick van Egeraat has won a competition to redevelop the Dynamo Moscow Stadium and surrounding park in Moscow.

Called VTB Arena Park, the project comprises the redevelopment of the Dynamo Moscow stadium and its surrounding park Erick a contemporary multifunctional urban regenerator, that will play a key role in transforming its wider surroundings.

Erick van Egeraat’s 300,000-m2 multifunctional culture, health and sports centre will be developed on a 116,000-m2 site and will comprise a 45,000-seat Stadium Arena for Dynamo Moscow, a 10,000-seat Arena Hall, a Retail and Entertainment complex, restaurants, parking and other facilities.

VTB Arena allows the existing park to be completely preserved as a public, green area. Parking facilities will be included underground, and horeca and sports training facilities will be included above ground, with the park continuing over the roof of these functions.

Erick van Egeraat partnered with Russian architect Mikhail Posokhin for the project.

CEBRA Architects, Iceberg Project, Denmark

CEBRA Architects along with JDS, Louis Paillard and SeArch, have won the competition to build an innovative housing complex, inspired by icebergs – the ocean’s very own colossus, at the Aarhus docklands development in Denmark.The Iceberg project provides a huge opportunity to renovate Aarhus’s old and out-of-use container terminal.The area will develop into a living city quarter, which comprises of a multitude of cultural and social activities, with generous amount of workplaces, along with a highly mixed and diverse array of housing types.
The development will create 25,000 sqm of housing, with 200 apartments and is due for completion in 2010.
A third of the project’s 200 apartments will be set aside as affordable rental housing, aimed at integrating a diverse social profile into the new neighborhood development.
“With the Iceberg we get unique housing qualities as well as a city architectural expression of the highest quality”, says Kent Martinussen, adm. dir. of DAC (Danish Architecture Centre).

Magén Arquitectos, Environmental Unit Headquarters, Zaragoza

Located in Zaragoza, Spain and in built-up area of the city center, the Environmental Unit Headquarters, offers an impression that floats above the garden and panoramic view of a continuous projection on the floor and roof level. The project is based on two fundamental ideas. The first idea is in response to the special urban and landscape importance of the location; the second aims to express the intrinsic relationship between the environmental commitment of the project and its materiality and the building programme. The relationship with the adjacent urban spaces and the topographic features of the site become active conditions for the implementation of the building; it can clearly be seen in the project section that also expresses the extension of the public space of the entrance, via the roof and the configuration of the building as a platform-viewpoint onto the Ebro river. The roof is an essential element within the landscape design of the building as well as the main image of the building. It is configured as a viewpoint at different levels, which are joined together by gentle ramps and a terraced grandstand, designed as an outdoor amphitheatre for possible recreational uses.

Kjaer & Richter Architects, Navitas Park, Denmark

Kjaer & Richter Architects designed the Navitas Park, a 39,000 square meters project, which will host the Aarhus School of Engineering, Aarhus School of Marine and Technical Engineering and the INCUBA Science Park in Denmark.

From 2014 more than 2,000 students, lecturers and professionals will occupy Navitas Park, Denmark’s largest low-energy building, on the new waterfront in Aarhus.

The goal of Navitas Park is to create an outstanding center, to be the leaders for knowledge in an innovative environment for energy, environment and construction education, the location, at the heart of Aarhus, establishes it as a first class environment for learning, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Navitas Park has a very ambitious green profile, meaning that the building will use only a fraction of the energy normally consumed by a building of this type. It is an independent goal for the building to appear as an international beacon of energy conservation and use of energy technologies.

With its impressive location, the building also represents a unique opportunity to demonstrate and highlight the development potential of sustainable state of the art energy technologies, supported by the architecture.

Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects, Schwabinger Tor Hotel, Munich

The 40,000 m2 5-star hotel complex is situated in the newly developed Schwabinger Tor area, in Munich, Germany. The challenge was to bring the architectural characteristics of Munich into this new and modern part of the city.The design concept has its origin in three themes: the analysis of the historical city with its arches, vaults and arcades; a close relation to the masterplan with its boulevards, plazas and narrow streets; and a focus on human beings as well as the overall experience offered to the hotel guests.The arcade motif is well known in Munich and emphasizes the passage from a public plaza to the more private urban spaces creating a semi-public space where people can sit and observe the urban life. The design integrates this architectural feature into the ground floor level of the hotel.North and south of the building complex, two new urban plazas form natural entry points to the hotel. The entrances are accentuated in the building design by two impressive, specious golden vaults.The hotel rooms have been designed to become one-of-a-kind. By integrating large and luxurious bathrooms – as a kind of private spa-rooms – with daylight and visual connection to the outside greenery.The use of daylight is a general theme throughout the building complex. It offers the hotel guests a unique experience and sets a whole new standard for high-end hotels in general.

University of Technology, Denton Corker Marshall, Sydney

The Broadway Building, for the University of technology, is expressed as a singular sculptural object, and will become part of the university’s broader strategy to create a vibrant and connected education district.

Selected from over 60 entries in an international two-stage design competition, the design makes a clear statement as screens made of aluminum sheets are perforated with the “1s” and “0s” of the binary code and applied to the angled plates; so that the pattern created is a re-working of the binary sequence for ‘University of Technology Sydney Faculty of Engineering and information Technology’.

Concealed within are 12 floor levels above ground, with another four levels below, for research laboratories, lecture theatres, seminar rooms, teaching laboratories, academic and administration offices and car parking. Publicly accessible uses include a lecture complex, student union and retail outlets located to activate street edges.

A crevasse-like linear atrium penetrates the basic volume both vertically and horizontally, around which the teaching, learning and social spaces are distributed for function and flexibility. The crevasse provides natural light and pedestrian access through the building, and directly links the UTS education precinct to the local neighborhood.

An extensive range of environmentally sustainable design initiatives make a substantial contribution to achieving best practice standards in the Faculty accommodation. The design targets a minimum 5-star Green Star rating, and is expected to deliver an energy saving of 30- 45%, a potable water saving of 20-30% and a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions over benchmark tertiary educational buildings with similar functional spaces.

Casa Son Vida, TEC Architecture, Mallorca

Located 15 minutes outside Palma de Mallorca, in an exclusive community called Son Vida, Casa Son Vida is an 800 square meter, luxury villa, marking the arrival of a new architectural approach to the island.

The luxury residence redefines luxury architecture featuring a variety of round and square shapes, futuristic blobs combined with antiques, mixing traditional and modern styles, resulting in a sophisticated futuristic structure.

While Mallorca is undeniably gorgeous, we felt there was a gap in the market,” explains Cosmopolitan president Michael Rimbeck.

“Most real estate on the island is predictable or inevitably Mediterranean. We wanted to offer the increasing number of young, progressive, and adventurous buyers who are attracted to the island a more daring and evocative alternative.”

Casa Son Vida will capture the attention of the international design world with its sophistication and vitality, making Mallorca a new destination for those in search of design exploration and inspiration.

Taipei Pop Music Center by Reiser + Umemoto

Pop music, while a global phenomenon, is regional in its definition. The Taiwanese Pop music scene typifies the phenomenon; while it crosses borders and cultures and dialects, it nevertheless has produced styles and genres with distinct transnational form and appeal.

Though many aspects of pop culture exist in a hyper-technological or virtual realm, there is a need for a defined physical hub dedicated to the production and reception of pop.

The Taipei Pop Music Center features a gradient of mixed-use spaces, from the fully public realm to the interior of the auditorium, allows the visitor to partake of the event dynamic however they choose to visit this complex. Whether they plan a night of music or are browsing the myriad shops, markets, cafes, and restaurants, the complex will be a 24-hour attraction independent of the schedule of performances in the theaters.

The TPMC features a new elevated public ground, which bridges the two building sites presently divided by Xinsheng Rd. Corridor. The elevated public space is a pedestrian zone creating a coherent public space distinct yet connected to the life of the city, and effectively joining the three major zones of the complex, the Main Concert Hall, Outdoor Amphitheater, and the Hall of Fame.

The public space is in itself a focus for outdoor events, surrounded by cafes, restaurants and shops. Here, the spectacle of pop music can be celebrated and broadcast to the world.

From: http://www.reiser-umemoto.com/

MVDRV - Eco City Montecorvo

We religiously read each post from the EcoFriend, especially the ones from the Eco Architecture segment and this week the following post, really cough our attention. Enjoy!The Eco City Montecorvo is a masterplan for a sustainable city by MVDRV envisioned on the two small hills of Montecorvo and La Fonsalalda. The development uses the south facing hills to provide beautiful views of the city and also maximize the use of both passive and active solar energy. The development will provide optimal conditions for solar energy generation using photovoltaic cells. Apart from harnessing solar energy, the development will also incorporate windmills that stand on top of the hills to catch the wind. Combined, the solar and the wind energy generators will have the ability to provide all the energy the 3000 unit housing community needs.Only 10 percent of the site is to be occupied by buildings, which minimizes the impact on the landscape and simultaneously minimizes building costs. Due to the height differences, each apartment takes maximum advantage of the views.The roofs of the lower situated slabs have been made accessible and offer possibilities to create a magnificent public space overlooking the landscape of the La Rioja. By producing all the energy needed on the 56 hectare site from renewable sources, the new neighborhood achieves a CO2-neutral footprint.

Nouvel's, Louvre foundations laid, Abu Dhabi

Construction work has started on Jean Nouvel's Louvre museum in Abu Dhabi.The majestic domed building designed by French architect Jean Nouvel is due for completion in 2012. It will span around 26,000 sq ft on Abu Dhabi’s cultural hub, Saadiysat Island, and will cost an estimated €108m.Nouvel has been awarded the 2008 Pritzker Prize, the highest honor for architecture, for his creative experimentation and buildings that speak to their surroundings.
Approaching from the water, the shaded space shows its scattered light, which continues the sparkling light of the water onto the architecture.
“On a more abstract level, the museum is a ‘city’ with houses, streets and plaza’s that is ‘protected’ from the sun by a Buckminster Fuller kind of dome. The cupola becomes the ash that conserves a civilization.
“This development is indeed one-of-a-kind – from design aesthetics to constructions mechanisms – it is a piece of art in the making” said Lee Tabler, chief executive of developer Tourism Development and Investment Company.