Asser Levy Park Amphitheater Project, New York, USA 2009- Grimshaw

Project Description

Coney Island, the former vacation mecca on the New York waterfront, is undergoing a massive revitalization effort. Asser Levy Park, with the addition of Grimshaw’s new amphitheater, will serve as the new gateway to the area and as a symbol of its new identity.

The amphitheater will be a seasonal venue that can attract performers at all levels, encourage concert promoters to bring bands and artists to Brooklyn, and create a destination that New Yorkers see as one of their best summer options for entertainment.

The program for the park and amphitheater includes a variety of performance types and sizes. Therefore the seating is designed with a maximum amount of flexibility to allow all types of uses and performances throughout the year. In the off-season, much of the performance area’s seating converts to park use, necessitating a design that is easily changeable depending on seasonal variations.

After thorough investigation of the Coney Island site, sustainable design practices are being used whenever possible. This includes suitable habitat restoration, the installation of green roofs, and environmentally conscious material choices. The protection and restoration of the large open spaces and existing park land help further support the cultural and ecological functions of the site.

Grimshaw has been in close contact with the community, conducting outreach initiatives like the Asser Levy Task Force, a group with representatives from the community and design team where the design and park amenities are discussed in the context of the immediate neighborhood and the broader Brooklyn borough.

Asser Levy Park Amphitheater Project - Building Information

Client:
New York City Department of Design and Construction
Brooklyn Borough President’s Office
New York City Department of Parks and Recreation

Site Size: 9 acres

Construction Budget: $46.7m

Projected Completion: 2011

Site Structures and Areas
Fixed seating: 5000 seats
Lawn seating: 3000 seats / 35,000 sqft
Roof canopy: 60,000 sqft
Stage and Back of House spaces: 40,000 sqft

Architect: Grimshaw (New York)
Project Partners: Mark Husser, Andrew Whalley

Project Manager: Paulo de Faria
Project Architect: Vasco Agnoli
Project Team: Barbara Kurdiovsky, Ceren Bingol, Greg Hildebrand, Ximena Norena

Structural Engineers: Schlaich Bergermann and Partner LP (New York)
Services Engineer: Buro Happold (New York)
Environmental & LEED: Buro Happold (New York)
Lighting: Arup Lighting
Acoustics: Arup Acoustics
Theater Consultant: Fisher Dachs Associates
Landscape Architect: Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architect
Civil & Traffic Engineer: Philip Habib Associates
Cost Consultant: Faithful & Gould
Food Services: Post & Grossbard
Wind Tunnel Testing: Wacker Ingenieure
Fire Safety: Arup
Security: Arup
Images of the Ampitheatre here

New Chu Hai College Campus in Hong Kong | OMA Wins

The Office for Metropolitan Architecture in collaboration with Leigh & Orange Architects has won the competition for the new campus for Chu Hai College of Higher Education in the New Territories in Hong Kong. The campus will give Chu Hai College, established in 1947, a new identity as well as a new site.

The project, with a gross floor area of 28,000 sqm (301,400 sqft), consists of education facilities for three faculties – arts, science and engineering, and business – containing 10 departments and two research centers. Chu Hai College has traditionally emphasized a multidisciplinary and wide-ranging education for its 4,000 students engaged in the four-year degree curriculum. Accordingly, OMA’s design generates abundant communal spaces that will facilitate encounters between students from different departments.

OMA conceived a building that consists of two parallel horizontal slabs connected by a ‘mat’ of social and educational facilities. The slabs, each eight stories high, contain flexible space for classrooms, studios, and offices. Their aerated structural facades provide a visual unity for the campus, and allow views into the inner workings of the buildings and out over Castle Peak Bay and its verdant surrounding hills. The slabs are oriented to maximize natural ventilation, reducing air conditioning demands by 15–30 per cent and contributing to an efficient, sustainable design.

Details here

The Self-Sufficient City | Results of 3rd Advanced Architecture Contest

Barcelona-based Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) just announced the winning entries of the 3rd Advanced Architecture Contest “THE SELF-SUFFICIENT CITY: Envisioning the habitat of the future”. The international competition, organized by the IAAC in collaboration with HP, invited architects to submit ideas which transform cities into more stimulating environments for the human life. The contest was open to architects, planners, designers and artists who aim to contribute to progress in making the world more habitable by developing a proposal capable of responding to emerging challenges in areas such as ecology, information technology, socialization and globalization, with a view to enhancing the connected self-sufficiency of our cities.

The jury presented a joint first prize to contestants “HURBS” designed by Sergio Castillo Tello and María Hernández Enríquez from Spain and “WATER FUEL” designed by Rychiee Espinosa and Seth Mcdowell from the United States.

Details here

DawnTown Architecture Competition Winners

Downtown Miami Ceremony Also Features World-Famous Landscape Architect
Winners of the 2009 DawnTown architecture competition were announced at an award ceremony in downtown Miami that also featured captivating remarks from world-famous landscape architect Adriaan Geuze. Winning designs:

1st Prize: Team "Office 24/7" from Melbourne, Australia: Rosalea Monacella, Craig Douglas, and Armando Suinaga
2nd Prize: Team "See You Sunday" from Bangkok, Thailand: Saran Chaiyasuta and Prachaya Vanagul
3rd Prize: Team "Double Katya" from St. Petersburg, Russia: Ekaterina Mikhaylova and Ekaterina Vasilieva
Honorable Mention: Team "Weston Williamson" from London, England: Chris Williamson
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South Tenerife Convention Center By AMP Arquitectos, S.L.

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Architect: AMP Arquitectos, S.L.
Location: Playa de las Américas, Adeje, Tenerife, Spain
Collaborator: Andreas Weihnacht (arquitect), Esther Ceballos (arquitect), Ana Salinas (arquitect), Rafael Hernández (master builder), Andrés Pedreño (master builder)
Project year: 2005
Strcutural Engineers: Victor Martínez, Juan José Gallardo
Services Engineers: Milián Associats S.A., Audioscan
Contractor: Congreso U.T.E.
Client: Canarias Congreso Bureau Tenerife Sur
Photographs: Hisao Suzuki & AMP arquitectos
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Sean Connery Filmhouse, Edinburgh | Richard Murphy

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Text from Richard Murphy Architects:

"Our first proposal for a new Filmhouse Centre for the International Film Festival and Scottish Screen Industries was presented to the public at the conclusion of the 2004 International Film Festival and received much publicity. Since then the design has been exhibited at the Venice Biennale, but at the same time we have had the opportunity to take on board many of the reactions to the radicalism of the first idea and our client has also had the opportunity to revisit the brief.

The result is an increase in accommodation but a seemingly smaller building! The design now uses much less of the Square than before having a circular plan (in a great historical tradition of circular buildings sitting in open spaces) but has gained a storey above ground and a basement auditorium. From top to bottom the accommodation consists of roof top restaurant and terrace; offices for festival, filmhouse and lettable space; 600 seat auditorium capable of reduction to 300 seats with breakout space/festival film industry space/private hire; four auditoria of 150, 150, 75 and 75 capacity; ground floor bar/cafe, shop and box office; and basement 300 seat auditorium, gallery, WCs etc.

Following on from our design of the cinema at Dundee Contemporary Arts, most of the auditoria have the facility to connect with the outside world before and after a film showing through a variety of hinged and sliding panels giving the exterior a constantly kinetic quality and anchoring the experience of seeing a film into that of being in Edinburgh. In addition, vertical movement is largely visible against the exterior and external cinema screens advertise trailers of films during both day and night.

The placing of the building eccentrically in Festival Square gives a framed view of the entrance of the Sheraton Hotel whilst denying only twenty four percent of the hotel's windows their current castle view. The bar/cafe at ground floor level opens directly onto the sunny side of the square and helps populate what is currently largely the realm of the skateboarder. Approximately on axis with Cambridge Street opposite, it deliberately sits as far forward as possible with a view to reinforcing the concept of a public space stretching from the Usher Hall (with which it has a powerful rhetoric) to the Sheraton. Tentative proposals by the city to traffic calm this section of Lothian Road would greatly enhance this concept."

Architects :Richard Murphy, David Stronge, David Morris, Tom Fuggle
Construction Cost :£17m
Client: Edinburgh Filmhouse and Edinburgh International Film Festival

Multi-Functional Cultural Centre and Art Gallery | The Public | West Bromwich, United Kingdom | Will Alsop

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Architect: Will Alsop
Project Type: Cultural Centers/Art Galleries
Design: 2004
Realization: 2008
Link: www.alsoparchitects.com

Project Description:
The structure, designed to accommodate many initiatives related to local and international art, was conceived as a real "box of wonders" whose role is to encourage creativity. Hence the idea of a multiplicity of spaces, shapes, curvilinear shapes and playful atmosphere.

The black leather of the parallelepiped (113m x 21m x 22m) is countered by the color red strawberry in a series of windows, whose shape evokes the strange softness of Giuggioli. Is the same color as the base of the structure, whose windows allow a view inside. Here the simplicity of the exterior gives way to the complexity of large objects with curvilinear geometry suspended from the ceiling, a series of elevators and a staircase that links the different spaces.

A structure composed of 13 pairs of hollow steel columns filled with concrete support the main floor located on the third level. Here elements of steel that develops a bump, offer support for the cover. The envelope was designed as a self-supporting structure, and thus independent of the primary: "Structurally - Will Alsop says - can be described as a light box which is a series of sculptural forms. These surround the plans that are supported by the main structure of columns in steel and cement. "

Estudio Lamela | Wroclaw Stadium

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The main idea of the competition entry is that the stadium, due to it’s size not only constitutes a part of the landscape, but it actually is a landscape as such. Therefore the design has been started from the scale of the landscape. The origins of the design may be found in the stripe pattern of farm lands around Wroc³aw.
The area of the investment has been divided into functionally differing stripes in such way that the stadium constitutes their culmination.
Other functions which, according to the investor, were to complete the area’s offer, were located in it’s close surrounding.
These are: retail centre, hotel, sports centre, multistory parking for 3600 cars and 180 coaches, accordant with FIFA / UEFA norms.
The covering of the stadium is designed as 3-dimensional structure of bars, spanned 350meters and 50 meters high. It is complemented by glazed cover hanged on steel ropes, which covers the shorter tribunes. The covering has been designed in order to smoothly integrate it with surrounding land.
The tribunes for spectators have been divided into lower ring – recessed in the land and upper ring – supported by concrete skeleton connected to the structural scheme of the parking.
All the tribunes offer about 44.000 seats including 537 VIP ones and 826 seats for the media and press. The necessary service functions, as cloak-rooms, VIP lounges, areas for press and TV have been located on respective levels under the western tribune.
The stadium complies with FIFA / UEFA norms for semi-final games.
Planned budget for the investment – approx. 500 million PLN (138 million Euro)

More Design Ideas For Stadiums

University of Northampton Masterplan | Alison Brooks Architects

Alison Brooks Architects, one of the leading talents in the UK, was awarded first prize for their master plan for the University of Northampton. The two stage master plan will play a vital role in enabling the university to meet both the need for short term accommodations and longer term plans for future growth. “The School of the Arts embraces new technologies in a dynamic cross-discipline mix that will drive our vision for a creative technologies campus. I believe the chosen proposal will provide a powerful statement which captures and projects our collective values and ambitions,” explained Paul Middleton.
As the design was just selected, the next phase of work includes furthering the development of the concepts as well as consulting with the students, local residents, and faculty that will be using the building, to ensure that the plans will take into account the views from a broad spectrum of groups. The design for the University of Northampton will also work toward becoming sustainable.
Images here

New 4th Army Jiangnan Headquarter Exhibition Hall | Atelier Zhanglei

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Situated in Liyang, the city 70km southeast of Nanjing, New 4th Army Jiangnan Headquarter Exhibition Hall was built to memory the history of New 4th Army leaded by Communist Party during last 30's. Fragmental granite is used here as façade cladding for the pure cubic volume which expresses very strong the monumental function of this project. The courtyard turns from internal volume to external façade, exposes itself in dramatic red section, presenting its revolutional feature of this project strongly supported by local government.

Structural & Material: Concrete, Brick, Stone
Floor Area: 4200 Square Meters
Design Period: 2006.03-2006.06

Texts and Images: Atelier Zhanglei

Ao-Di Next Gene 20 Villa | Graft Architects

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Project: Ao-Di Next Gene 20 Villa
Type: Single family house
Client: Ao-Di Grand Land Architecture International Project
Location: Ao-Di, Taiwan

Design Architect: Graft Architects
Principals: Gregor Hoheisel, Lars Krückeberg, Alejandra Lillo, Wolfram Putz, Thomas Willemeit
Project Manager: Ing-Tse Chen
Project Team: Francesco Cairoli, Ning Duo, Mei Li, Qingxia Qin, Jing Ruan, Eric Spencer, Dayong Sun, Fei Tang, Tina Troester, Lin Wang

Local Architect in Taiwan: Guu Architects:
Principal: Chueh-Chih Guu
Partner: Shih-Kang Chu

Structural Engineer: Hsin-Cheng Engineering Consultants Ltd
General Manager: Kian-Chou Huang

Mechanical Engineer: Han-Chueh Mechanical Engineers: Chi-Jong Chang

+ All images courtesy Graft Architects

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84 Auto Museum Teufen ,Switzerland | Isa Stürm Urs Wolf SA

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The Appenzell region and the Rennwelt are the topics of the architecture of the
Auto Museum: The Rennwelt formally and programmatically, the landscape context.
The symbiotic interplay opened multiple perceptions and use a high flexibility. The car museum is like a station at the racetrack Bypass road. As a small part of a large landscape, it takes the scale of the surrounding settlements on. The soil itself is its surface. It jut three wings with large windows in the meadow, forming the interface between Rennwelt and landscape. Organic shapes, light, motion control surfaces and space dynamics.
The exhibition is the situation created. She has several stations that are emerging outdoor and inside the exhibition areas are connected to the loop. Designed as a generous and flexible exhibition space for cars, is the main hall with its lateral extensions varied uses. The west wing has to bypass showcase effect.
Visitors park their cars on the Aussichtsdeck, coaches turn on the forecourt and wait in the Directions field. From the railing of the parking decks on the wings we have the vision over the Appenzell region.
Texts and images from:Isa Stürm Urs Wolf SA

Herzog & de Meuron | Schaulager | Basel Switzerland

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The architects Herzog & de Meuron designed an unusual space for Schaulager. Their task was to design a warehouse for the open storage of contemporary art that had optimal climatic conditions and was available by appointment. The building was also intended to be a site for conservation, research and dissemination. Rather than an anonymous warehouse, the spacious building was to be conceived so as to produce a specific and unique place.

At 7,250 square metres, art storage on the three upper stories occupies the bulk of the total area of 16,500 square metres. There are 3,650 square metres on the ground floor and in the basement available for exhibitions. The permanent installations by Robert Gober and Katharina Fritsch occupy 260 and 390 square metres, respectively. The administration occupies 800 square metres. The art handling department and the workshops occupy another 800 square metres. The 144-seat auditorium and the seminar room occupy 250 square metres. The remaining 3,100 square metres are for technical and other facilities.

Schaulager is the home for the works in the collection of the Emanuel Hoffmann Foundation that are not currently on exhibition. It is a new kind of space for art. It is neither museum nor a traditional warehouse. Schaulager is first and foremost a response to the old and new needs for the storage of works of the visual arts. It dispenses with box storage and transforms the foyers of the exhibition halls into autonomous facilities, independent of any museum, with specific qualities and functions. It is a pilot programme that allows works of art to lead their own lives behind the curtains, a life that does not simply consist of an endless wait for public presentation.

Photographs:Margherita Spiluttini

International Convention Center of the City of Madrid | Manuel Ocana

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Building Type: Convention Center
LOCATION: Paseo de la Castellana. Madrid
PROJECT: 2007
PROMOTER: Ayto de Madrid
ARCHITECTS: Manuel Ocaña, and Alfredo Payá Subarchitecture (Bañón Carlos Andrés Silanes, Fernando Valderrama)
CONSULTANTS: José Carrasco Hortal, structures
PARTNERS: Miguel María del Rey Colon, Laura Culiañez, Roberto Gonzalez, Javier Iniesta and Lucía Jiménez Martínez.
Built surface: 69,069 m2

A difficult site. A vast facility behind four colossal towers that rise along the first line of Madrid’s most important thoroughfare. A matter of content and figure of urban scale.

The convention center must have a presence able to interact with those four towers measuring 250 meters in height, ensuring that the whole complex show synergy. The links of dependence of the new convention center with the environment must be hyperstatic, links of kind and polite mutual dependence. The building proposed for the CICCM and the setting in which it is located shall be different expressions of a same common essence. Making reference to Einstein’s Universal Gravitation Law, the new CICCM will be a building that ‘takes hold of’ the space to tell it how it must distort itself; and that space shall in turn take hold of the building to tell it how it must move. The object accepts and thus works with an extreme geometry but is not ‘tied’ to it. It is a manifesto of communication between architecture and its context and between the context and architecture. The convention center and a group of towers that appropriate and pervade one another.

The right measure of courtesy leads to concealing most of the program in a camouflaged building, drawing attention to a silvery, bright star that explodes and blends into the surrounding landscape; a star that from point to point measures as much as the towers and whose cantilevered arms (some of over 100 meters) and compensated by a spiral, have a structure whose horizontal display is as powerful as that of the towers’ vertical one. The star – that will be taken up by the congress area – rests on the building-crater, a sort of partially buried elliptical hangar clad in red volcanic rock that lights up with radial glass clefts and that accommodates the areas for exhibitions and catering. Pedestrian access to the convention center is through the star and this metallic mountain, whereas vehicles access the precinct from above and inside.

Text and images from: Manuel Ocana

AMC Pacific Place Cinema By James Law Cybertecture

James Law Cybertecture International and Broadway Theatre Co Ltd. unveiled the first Cybertecture-cinema, AMC Cinema Pacific Place, on 9 December. James Law Cybertecture International is the architect and conceptual designer behind the newly renovated, state-of-the-art cinema complex situated at the L1 Floor of Pacific Place.


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