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.