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).

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/

UNstudio - Dalian Shide Football Stadium, China

Dutch architects UNStudio have won a closed competition to design a 38,500sq m, 40,000-seat football stadium in China for the most successful club in the Chinese super league: Dalian Shide fc..
Inspired by the design of a classic Chinese football made by layering colored bamboo, the new stadium features a double-layered, lattice-like roof a TV broadcasting center, administration areas, two full-sized training fields,VIP lounge, and facilities for players.
“A key feature of the Dalian stadium is the proximity of the spectators to the pitch, thereby ensuring the best views from the tribunes and creating a true sense of engagement,” said UN Studio founder Ben van Berkel.“As in theatre design, specific views and focal points are required. In the Dalian stadium, we envisioned the playing field as the stage. A two-tier seating system and curved outlines optimise the corners of the tribunes and allow the spectators to be as close as possible to the playing field.” said van Berkel.

Taipei Performing Arts Center

The following text and images are courtesy Vienna-based Architects.Collaborative, for their Taipei Performing Arts Center competition entry in Taipei, Taiwan.The building possesses a unique appearance that derives from the urban context and the functional criteria merged into the design motif of a sound wave. The building's undulating roof is reminiscent of an endless sound wave that radiates from the Performing Arts Center into the city of Taipei like a sound instrument. In functional terms the three theaters are individual structures that are joined at their base like a corresponding vessel, sharing repair shop and storage and moving goods, staff as well as a single security point for the back of house. The design tries to achieve a marriage between theatrical and architectural concepts.

At the heart of the complex is the Common Lobby which is an elevated platform from which the three theaters are accessed. People can visit the venues or the restaurant or just to walk through this urban passage. This multifunctional space can be used as a gathering space, for events or as an open air theater. The human experience is that of openness and connectivity to the outside and an attraction and drawing in toward the building when experienced from outside. The positive and negative space of the complex creates dramatic and fluid inside-outside spaces interacting with the city and the center.To the south the restaurant consists of a bridge to creating stage-like entry from Jian Tan Road into the Common Lobby for the three theaters. From the TRTS´s Jiantan Station the theaters can be directly accessed by a underground pedestrian passage that also includes the ticket office and a theater shop and is connected to the Common Lobby, Underground Parking and the sidewalk along Wen Lin Road.Cars and motorcycles leave and enter the site at the north-west corner of the site. Service Trucks enter the building at a single security point at the north-west corner and leave at the north-east corner. The three theaters are accessed by a central covered loading courtyard that allows multiple 40-ft-containers to be loaded and unloaded simultaneously and has three entry points to the Theaters and one for the shared repair shops.

source: http://archidose.blogspot.com

20+10+X Architecture Awards 3rd Cycle

Deadline: 23 January 2009
All projects submitted OR UPDATED by their architects after 24 October 2008 will be evaluated for the 3rd Cycle.

The aim of the WA Community Awards is to highlight and publish remarkable projects that might otherwise remain unnoticed by the international public but have the potential to inspire exciting questions about contemporary architectural discourse.