The collapse of the Twin Towers served as a stark and stunning reminder to architects and engineers of the value of using a concrete to protect skyscrapers from the ravages of fire. Miles O’Brien reports on how the design of skyscrapers has changed since 9/11.
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May 11
Apr 27
This small twisted tower is one of the six artists’ studios that Saunders Architecture of Norway are constructing on Fogo Island off the coast of Canada. The floors of the building incrementally rotate, so that a terrace on the roof is turned away from the ground floor by 180 degrees. These twists also create a faceted recess at the entrance, which unlike the other exterior walls is lined with white-painted spruce. A large triangular skylight allows light to flood into the studio on the middle floor, while a mezzanine overlooks it from above. Architects wrote about this project:
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Apr 18
This video shows an interview with the Pritzker Prize-winning architect Frank Gehry. He is internationally well known and his buildings even his private residence, have become tourist attractions. His works are treated as being among the most important works of contemporary architecture. Vanity Fair Magazine labels him as “the most important architect of our age”. Much of Gehry’s work falls within the style of Deconstructivism, which is often referred to as post-structuralist in nature for its ability to go beyond current modalities of structural definition. Gehry is a Senior Fellow of the Design Futures Council and also a recipient of many architectural awards including Pritzker Prize, National Medal of Arts and AIA Gold Medal. Gehry’s best-known works include the titanium-covered Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain; MIT Stata Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles; Experience Music Project in Seattle; Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis and Dancing House in Prague. During this interview, Gehry comments on the importance of his new web-based design software. Gerhy hopes the software will streamline the design and permitting process for owners, developers, architects, engineers, general contractors, and fabricators.
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Apr 17
This video is an official presentation of Mississauga’s Absolute Towers. This residential condominium is a complex of the five tower Absolute City Centre located in the north-east corner of the crossroads of Hurontario Street and Burnhamthope Road, a gateway to the Mississauga, Ontario town center. The project was built by Fernbrook Homes and Cityzen Development Group. The first three towers (Absolute City Centre 1 & 2 and Absolute Vision) were built between 2006 to 2008, the last two towers (Absolute World 4 & 5) was completed in 2011. Standing at 50 and 56 storeys, these two skyscrapers are the tallest of any built in a North American suburban city. During this video, we have occasion to listen to the most important people who were involved in this project about its background, innovative method of selecting the architects and finally how the project was completed.
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Apr 16
KLab Architecture have designed the Urban Cubes building in Athens, Greece. Architect wrote about this building: “We defined our new apartment building as a paradox. It resembles that of an urban village, similar to the ones in Cyclades but rather, a vertical one, an urban antidote. Every apartment building is a small village within itself. It is a unique society where every inhabitant is so different from the other. In “urban cubes” each floor reflects this individuality as one floor differs from another but lies under the same society rules, all in all being signified by a white cantilevered cube hung by the retaining exposed concrete walls. Our party walls made by exposed concrete with few small openings are used metaphorically as the defensive walls of our village.”
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Apr 16
Danish architects BIG have unveiled proposals for a 150-metre-high skyscraper in downtown Vancouver. The architects are working alongside a team that includes developer Westbank, consultants Dialog, Cobalt, PFS, Buro Happold and Glotman Simpson, as well as local architect James Cheng. The 49-storey residential building will have a twisted form that is set back from the adjacent motorway flyover to prevent any windows or balconies from overlooking it. Nine floors at the base of the tower will accomodate offices, shops and restaurants, which will spill out onto a series of public plazas that stretch underneath the elevated highway.
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Apr 11
This video shows an interview with Will Alsop who is a British architect and designer with over 30 years of experience. He is the International Principal of global architectural firm RMJM, he also sits on the Thames Gateway Design Committee and the Kensington and Chelsea Architectural Advisory Board. He is responsible for several distinctive and controversial modernist buildings, most in the United Kingdom. Alsop’s buildings are usually distinguished by their use of bright color and unusual forms. Alsop stands in a dynamically critical position against architectural tradition. He received many architectural awards including Stirling Prize, RIBA Worldwide Award, Civic Trust Award and RIBA Regional Award. His most recognizable building among others are: Cardiff Bay Visitor Centre, Hamburg Ferry Terminal, Sharp Centre for Design in Toronto, and The Public in West Bromwich. During the interview, he talks about architectural tourism.
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Apr 10
This video shows an interview with Moshe Safdie who is a well known architect, urban planner, educator, theorist and author. Embracing a comprehensive and humane design philosophy, Safdie is committed to architecture that supports and enhances a project’s program; that is informed by the geographic, social, and cultural elements that define a place and responds to human needs and aspirations. He graduated from McGill University in 1961 with a degree in architecture. In 1964 he established his own firm to realize Habitat ’67, an adaptation of his thesis at McGill, which was the central feature of the World’s Fair and a groundbreaking design in the history of architecture. Safdie has worked with a wide range of clients, many of his firm’s buildings have become regional and national landmarks, including Exploration Place Science Center in Wichita, Salt Lake City Public Library; Peabody Essex Museum, Salem; Skirball Cultural Gallery of Canada and Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, Jerusalem. Safdie has been the recipient of numerous awards, honorary degrees, and civil honors, including the Companion of the Order of Canada and the Gold Medal of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. During the interview, Safdie talks with Singaporean architect Chan Soo Khian about designing cities, buildings and the way we live.
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