Modern Architecture

Grand Opera

     Zaha Hadid is a woman architect awarded by Pirtzker award. She signed a contract to design the Grand Opera in Morocco in the city of Rabat. The building should become an important monument not only of the city but of the entire country. It should be unique for its original, dynamic and innovative design and near-by infrastructure. Zaha Hadid is collaboration with Lemghari Essakl from a development agency MD Bougreg. They signed the cooperation on the 5Th of November 2010. With a surface of 27000 square meters, the Rabat`s Grand Theatre is designed to become a luxurious cultural crossroad. It could host 2050 visitors in the big hall and 520 in the small hall. The outside amphitheatre has a capacity of 7000 people. Planned expenses on this project are quite big, estimated 100 million pounds or 160 million euro. The big theater will be situated in a valley called Bouregreg. This area will be urbanized till 2014, new housings, store and restaurant buildings will be constructed. The location should become one of the most attractive ones in Morocco.

Fashion Center Labels Berlin 2

     HHF Architects have created a new fashion center Labels Berlin 2. At the beginning of the year 2007 they won the competition and in the spring this the fashion center opened its door. This complex houses a series of showrooms of well-known international brands. This exceptional concentration of top brands stores in one fashion center is complemented by public areas, concert hall, restaurants and lounge rooms. The concept of the building was inspired by another fashion center Label Berlin 1 situated just few meters away. The facade of this historical building comprises a series of arched windows. Architects took advantage of this element and it became the key element of the design. Thanks to that they proofed that even a modern building can be embedded in the existing build-up area. The project is unique not as much for its shape or details, but its one of a kind construction. The entire concrete skeleton is perforated by water piping that serves for heating and cooling. The energy consumption was decreased by unbelievable 40%.

Modern Indian Palace

       Adhra Pradesh has recently announced the finalization of a unique project with a long name LEED Gold Certified Hotel Park Hotel in Hydrabad, India. It is a unique complex, also called the Modern Indian palace. This new hotel has been designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merill studio (SOM). They combined ultra modern elements with traditional popular Indian architecture. Impressive facade is made from perforated metal that serves as window protection as well. Architects took into account local conditions: daylight, orientation, solar gains and climate. The aim was to maximize the amount of the natural sunlight and protect the building from reheating. The inner atrium is taken in by a hotel swimming pool. Around the pool guests can visit a number of restaurants, bars, stores in total privacy. All rooms are viewing the lakes and surrounding country. SOM have cooperated with Stevens Institute of Technology`s Product Architecture Lap in Honoken, New Jersey to find the best way to minimize the energy consumption which was cut down by 20%. Also the sewerage plant was constructed in cooperation with scientists. The hotel is first in India to be awarded Leed Gold certificate and marked as the best new project of the year 2010 in India.

Bergman – Werntoft House

     Johan Sundberg is a man that believes that each project has to have its own structural solidity and outstanding style. He is convinced that the aim of an architect is to reconnect the artistic effort with technological elements, economy and much more. Bergman-Werntoft house represents his architectural philosophy. It is located in the heart of the forest Ljungskogen in Vellige situated on south from Malmo, Sweden. Construction of the house is based on Danish atrium house typology from the 60s and 70s. The dominating element are outside brick walls and mostly glazed inner facades. Outer and interior walls of the house are formed by panels, doors and windows able to slide in and out the outside wall. Spaces and views are defined, dynamic internal life is formed. The overall appearance is complemented by different types of wood, used in various tones, constructions and shapes contrasting with white and neat interior. Johan Sundberg created one very harmonic residence.

Momentary city

Vector Architecs is an architecture studio based in Beijing, China that designed the project “Momentary city in Hefei, China. Hafei, as well as other Chinese cities, is coming through big changes. The existing urban build-up area was divided and replaced by giant blocks of anonymous structures and forms. Today`s appearance of the city is just a momentary look to the future city that should be build here that is why the project got the name “Momentary city”. Architects aimed to construct a city that brings to their citizens peace of mind. They filtered off noise and dust coming from the outside while preserving the real life moments as natural light and shade, look at water with waves, sound of the wind or flowers with their perfume.By situating these moments between the outside urban environment and indoor area, every guest can live these moments. The disposition of courtyards forms the foundation of a logic that informs the transitional spaces. Natural sunlight enters the interior directly or indirectly through a number of clerestories. Thanks to the changing light throughout the day and the seasons, the interior spaces take on always distinctive expressions.

Winner of the international conceptual competition – Taiwan Tower

DSBA upgrade.studio was awarded 1st prize in international conceptual competition for a new skyscraper design in Taiwan. They won because of their original concept of floating observation decks. Architects got inspired by the shape of the Taiwan island resembling to a leaf that is why they used this element in their extended concept. Skyscraper or tower is actually a technology tree with 8 spatial leaves looking like Zeppelin ships sliding up and down the centric tree, serving the guests as lifts. Tower has not only ground levels but the underground levels as well. It houses all needed functions: information center, museum, office spaces, conference rooms, restaurants or observation decks. Their design is unique because of the minimal parcel requirements and offers enough of green spaces. Besides that vertical communications are integrated and it takes advantage of natural ventilation. Offices are viewing at all four world directions what creates a generous interior space. The building is powered by electric energy produced by a series of axial turbines situated along the vertical center. The lighting of underground spaces and museum is created thanks to a fiber optic system. The heating system of the floating observation decks is powered by an electromagnetic field while the electricity is created by a new membrane technology. Challenging was the problem with the rain water that is collected by an underground tank where the water is purified, so it can be reused.

Triangulo House

In the midst of wild nature in Costa Rica an architecture group Ecostudio Architects has designed a unique housing. “Triangulo” means triangle in Spanish, the house is based on geometry of three points linked by three lines. Each of these three lines has its length, the longest two are delimiting the parcel. The projects is a group of volumes that are either filled or void, horizontal or vertical. These groups are surrounded by dominating solid element that fades away and merges with the wild. Some of the volumes are covered by dark wood. The limits between the exterior and interior are at some points unnoticeable. Architect`s aim to reconnect them was achieved by glazed walls, ledges and juts and covered terraces. The dining-room is taking advantage of an excellent idea to construct a double skylight that provides direct sunlight into the house. The strongest element of the interior is a staircase looking more like a sculpture than a functional vertical communication.

Kindergarten in El Porvenir

The building of the Social kindergarten in El Porvenir, in Bogota, the capital of Colombia was finished in 2009. The name of the architect who designed the building is Giancarlo Mazzanti. He created a very fresh design for children living in a very poor area situated within uptown of the Colombian capital. The new building is mostly white, the white color should represent hope. At the beginning, the initial idea was to transform into design the children game with blocks. The project is planned to be able to adapt to different situations, topographic as well as urban. The entire complex is protected by an exterior structure of two walls. Behind the first one are playgrounds with public areas, behind the other one a complex of kindergarten buildings. Buildings are more or less simple in order to be multifunctional. At the same time a cosy space for children of different age was created.

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