New in Architecture & Engineering
ArchiCAD 12 for Windows, Mac BUDAPEST, Hungary, June 17, 2008 - Graphisoft announced today that ArchiCAD 12, the next version of its award-winning Virtual Building modeling solution, will ship on both Windows and Macintosh platforms in July. ArchiCAD’s annual release cycle continues to focus on providing enhancements to help users win more business, design more creatively and be more productive. continue reading…..
Chalú house by Adamo-Faiden Argentinian architects Adamo-Faiden have completed the renovation of a house in Buenos Aires that features an exterior clad in crushed glass bottles. continue reading…..
Business building in Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi builds monumental retail park in new business district Over 3 million sq ft of office space designed by American firm Goettsch Partners has been commissioned for Abu Dhabi’s Sowwah Island in the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi’s recently published urban framework plan, entitled Plan Abu Dhabi 2030, has designated Sowwah Square as the city’s new central business district.The new design features an iconic stock exchange building surrounded by four office towers overlooking the water. Two levels of retail and underground parking will also add to the monumental build. The stock exchange building will itself offer 233,000 sq ft of space. Glass-enclosed with a roof the size of a football field, the building will rise 90 ft above a 160-ft-diameter water feature on massive stone piers. The four granite piers house the stairs, mechanical risers and service elements for the exchange.The four office towers contribute 2,892,500 sq ft to the total mass, two of which are at 31 storeys and the other two at 37. The first full office floor of each building starts 110 feet above the ground level, providing a highly transparent, open lobby and elevating the views on all tenant floors. A landscaped plaza connects the four buildings and the exchange at grade.250,000 sq ft of upscale retail space and two partially submerged parking lots with room for 5,200 cars will complete the park.Active and passive solar shading, double skin facades, condensation collection and active lighting controls are all to be used allowing the project to surpass LEED requirements and focus on true sustainability.James Goettsch, president of GP, stated, “Sowwah Square will establish the major new business center in Abu Dhabi and serve as a hub for the Middle East. As the city continues its rapid development, the project will set an international standard of design and technical quality.”Construction commenced on the site of Sowwah Square in summer 2007, with the full development scheduled for completion in 2010.Niki May Young continue reading…..
Bahrain’s new construction materials giant
Bank plans $2billion building materials company for southern hemisphere building boom Khaleeji Commercial Bank, an Islamic private bank, has announced they are to invest $2billion in creating a buildings material company to help meet the increasing demand in the Gulf, Middle East and North Africa. While the northern hemisphere suffers from financial crises and building slow-down this symbolises a strengthening development growth in the south.The new company, called Binaa, will aim to produce more than 32 million cubic metres of ready-mix concrete, precast and cement blocks per year as well as trading in steel, glass and aluminium.Bank board member and chief executive officer Ebrahim H Ebrahim told local press: “Due to a variety of factors, there is a huge opening in the market at the moment for a building supply company that can serve both the institutional and retail segments.”Our intention is to build a first-class, regional brand that will effectively reposition the building materials industry in the region.”Khaleeji has also recently announced the investment of $163.5 million into a real estate investment company for India.Rising oil prices have meant that construction materials costs are also rising but with massive buildings growth and developments such as the Burj Dubai (pictured) bringing increasing investment this is seen as an opportunity for competition within the materials industry.Binaa has forged several strategic relationship with existing companies to ensure their success. Gulf Organisation for Industrial Consulting (GOIC) has been working with Binaa as a market adviser to develop the market assessment and entry strategy and China National Building Materials Company will serve as a strategic technical and trading partner in the venture.Niki May Young
continue reading…..
New home for Marie Curie Hospice Marie Curie replacement hospice built as the charity turns 60 Marie Curie Cancer Care are building a new Hospice in Glasgow, Scotland as they celebrate 60 years providing care for cancer sufferers. The building is to replace the tired existing hospice in the Springburn area of the city giving more private bedrooms with ensuites, piped oxygen supplies and access to outside areas helping promote quality of life for cancer sufferers and their families. Marie Curie currently have two hospices in Scotland with the existing Glasgow site having helped 30,000 sufferers and their families. The new JDDK designed building will offer 21 individual rooms and 3 rooms holding 3 beds each. The design follows a lengthy consultation process which began in 2004 in response to a range of issues with the existing building. continue reading…..
Hadid’s island paradise Star architects on board for private island resort Exclusive enclaves of modern and experimental luxury residences designed by star architects for the “well-heeled” are cropping up everywhere. New York has Sagaponac. The Cotswolds has the Lower Mill Estate. And now there is Dellis Cay. Dellis Cay is the vision Dr. Kinay, Chairman and CEO of the international real estate development group, the O Property Collection. Kinay purchased a 560 acre island that is part of Turks and Caicos archipelago and hired seven world renowned architects to create what is being billed as “the worlds rarest living experience in a limited collection of private residences and villas. continue reading….
Futuristic fun Classroom of the Future, a container of ideas by Gollifer Langston Architects wins a RIBA London Award Gollifer Langston Architects, winner of the RIBA Awards 2007, is an architectural studio for commercial, education, arts, media, residential and public design. The proposal for the Classroom of the Future was to create a prototype highly ICT resourced demountable “clip-on” classroom for use throughout Camden to optimise investment and availability to a wide group of school children. It is now a fully transportable space that provides music and film making facilities to secondary children in Camden. The classroom arrives onsite as an enclosed box. Computer control systems activate hydraulic legs that position the container onto the ground, and allow sections of the wall and roof to expand and open. The side wall of the container also opens out to enable an external audience to view films on a (small cinema sized) monitor from within the shell. Therefore the classroom is not only a learning environment; it is also a presentational facility. It will be able to adapt and change to suit future scenarios and robust in technology and form. An opportunity exists to facilitate the use of advanced and developing ICT in an innovative school based environment, different and complimentary to current provision and representing a window on the future. . continue reading…..
New look Fairwind Hotel
Shulman + Associates’ creative urban assemblage Through careful insertions in the urban fabric, Shulman + Associates revive an historic hotel as a contemporary boutique resort for the Kimpton flag. The Fairwind integrates the historic building with an adjacent property by inserting three new structures at the back. The renovation preserves the original building’s central patio, as an indoor-outdoor café with a garage door at the back that opens and closes according to the outside temperature. The narrow bar of the new structures allows guests to open their rooms to cross breezes. The insertion of the new structures creates interstices that S+A designed as private patios for individual rooms and room clusters, further encouraging Miami Beach-style indoor-outdoor living continue reading…..
Building continues at Kuwait’s newest landmark
Planning is confirmed for Business Town Towers following lengthy delays Construction at Kuwait Business Town Towers, designed by KEO International Consultants, is storming ahead following severe planning delays. The pair of towers is now set to become one of the most recognizable landmarks on the Kuwait Skyline by 2010, two years after it was initially scheduled for completion. Excavation works had begun in 2006 but work was halted in 2007. A spokesperson for KEO said the delay had been due to a ‘permitting issue as there were a few items that needed moving on the site’ but they are now very relieved that the build is continuing as expected. The contractors are currently conducting piling works at the site. continue reading…..
RIBA for RMJM
RMJM’s Lifestyle Academy in Newcastle, UK wins RIBA award The Lifestyle Academy, part of Newcastle College, is a centre for excellence where students of beauty, sport, tourism and hospitality can immerse themselves in their vocation thanks to state-of-the- art, real life working environments. Architects RMJM have designed four buildings for the college’s Rye Hill camps since 2003 and the first development, the Performance Academy, also received a RIBA award in 200 continue reading…..
Spanish design takes influence from dance
Spanish design takes influence from dance The beauty of creative arts is that they can converge in many ways, music and lyrics, costume and theatre and, as illustrated by Antonino Cardillo’s House of Convexities in Barcelona, architecture and dance continue reading…..
All eyes on the watchtower
New RTA Headquarters designed by Zwarts & Jansma Architects Zwarts & Jansma Architects won the competition for the design of the new headquarters of the Road & Transport Authority (RTA) in Dubai 2007. RTA HQ will be built in an artificial lake at Al Garhoud on Marrakech Road, adjacent to the new Ras Al Khor Bridge and neighbouring the new interchange of Rabat Road and Marrakech Road. continue reading…..
A model for mixed-use in Miami
Dramatic and vibrant addition to Miami’s skyline Striking in its formal imagery, KPF’s Espirito Santo Plaza provides a model for mixed-use, high-rise development with a variety of amenities. The tower is arranged with offices and retail at the lower level, residential above, and a hotel at the highest level. The building makes a strong urban statement to the street; its concave western façade embraces a new landscaped forecourt with a reflecting pool and forms a 30-storey arch which gives the development its distinctive character. continue reading…..
Music to Gehry’s ears
New World Symphony commission Frank Gehry for €multi-million Miami project The New World Symphony have commissioned renowned architect Frank Gehry to design its ground breaking new home. The €130million project will be part of the Gehry-designed City Center Redevelopment Project that will further enhance the district of Miami Beach. continue reading…..
OMA unveils mixed-use building for Rotterdam’s shopping district The Office of Metropolitan Architecture and Dutch development company, Multi Vastgoed, today unveiled a concept design for a mixed-use building to be situated in the Coolsingel, the heart of Rotterdam’s shopping district. The project will contain 120,000 sq m of program, including 30,000 sq m of retail space and 70,000 sq m of office, residential, culture and leisure space. The project will also reuse the historic ABN-AMBRO building, an impressive bank building that was the first to be erected in the city center after World War II. continue reading…..
Category: autocad-facile
