Modern Architecture

De Rotterdam “Vertical City” – Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA)

Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) has designed a mixed-used development – De Rotterdam ‘Vertical City’ located in Rotterdam, Netherlands, with approximately 155.000 m² floor area and 150 meters high, scheduled to be completed in 2011. Part of an effort to regenerate the Kop van Zuid area of Rotterdam, these three multifunctional towers will feature space for corporate offices, residential apartments, a hotel (congress, restaurants, retail) public program and parking – creating a bustling vertical city that is active 24 hours a day.

Estudio Explanada

This artist’s studio is located in a residential area in the west corner of Mexico City, on a 20 x 40 m (66 x 131 ft) site. The program includes an underground parking space, as well as a three story-building which is comprised of a triple-height space, offices on the third floor, and a service area on the roof. Two functions had to be served: as a studio space on one hand, and on the other, as a venue for private temporary exhibits. The project refines itself towards the center of the space. Both the east and west sides open up, thus allowing views of the trees and gardens on the site.

Centre Pompidou Metz by Shigeru Ban

 

Inspired by the technical properties of Chinese hats and bridges, the nearly complete Centre Pompidou-Metz will be a satellite branch of the Centre Pompidou modern art museum in Paris.Architects Shigeru Ban and Jean de Gastines designed the building to have a “superstructure” – a curved roof made of wooden hexagonal units supported by a central metallic spire and four conical pillars. The large surface area of this signature roof element covers a collection of interior spaces where three galleries unite.

The Ultimate Frank Lloyd Wright Weekend in Buffalo

    Buffalo, New York is home to a few Frank Lloyd Wright buildings, most notably his Darwin D. Martin House. This complex is now home to a recent Visitor’s Center by Toshiko Mori, a glass pavilion that “will serve as an orientation point for those arriving to the campus and will include flexible exhibition space, permanent galleries and visitor amenities.” To get architourists and other to upstate New York, the Buffalo Niagara Convention & Visitors Bureau is holding a contest, the Ultimate Frank Lloyd Wright Weekend in Buffalo.