The Creative Media Centre for the City University of Hong Kong | Hong Kong | Studio Daniel Libeskind

The Creative Media Centre for the City University of Hong Kong provides facilities that enable the University to become the first in Asia to offer the highest level of education and training in the creative media fields. The building houses the School of Creative Media, the Department of Computer Science, the Department of English and the Department of Media and Communication. The distinctive crystalline design forms an extraordinary range of spaces rich in form, light, and material that, together, create an interactive environment for research and creativity..........more

Cite De L'Ocean Et Du Surf Wins Award In 2011 Annual Design Review | Biarritz | France | Steven Holl

The gardens of the Cité de l'Océan et du Surf aim at a fusion of landscape and architecture, and connect the museum to the ocean horizon. The public plaza is paved with a progressive variation of Portuguese cobblestone paving that allows for the growth of natural vegetation. With slightly cupped edges, the landscape, a mix of field and local vegetation, is a continuation of the museum facility and provides a site for festivals and daily events.

Two "glass rocks," which contain the restaurant and the surfer's kiosk, activate the central outdoor plaza and connect analogically to the two great boulders on the beach in the distance. The plaza's southwest corner is dedicated to the surfers' hangout with a skate pool and an open porch underneath that connects to the auditorium and exhibition spaces inside the museum. The exposed structure of white concrete of the building exterior has a soft shell-like texture and white Okalux insulating glass is like the "foam of the sea."......more

Restaurant Design | Albert’s Shed | Manchester | UK | Roger Stephenson Architects

The Client’s brief was to carefully integrate a quality contemporary building within the existing buildings of the Dukes 92 complex and the historic setting of the Castlefield Conservation Area. The scheme involved the construction of a new building: forming an extension to the existing facilities at Dukes 92. The new building incorporates a ground floor restaurant, and first floor function suite. A new basement accommodates toilet, back of house, cellar and storage area. The new building is defined by a series of interlocking brick walls that vary in height as a response to their particular setting. Three monopitch roof planes continue the theme of the existing adjacent roofs, and give a sense of drama to the new function space within.......more

Museum Design | Centre Pompidou-Metz | France | Shigeru Ban Architects

This annex for the Pompidou Center in Paris, is to be built in Metz as a complex including an art museum and theater. By locating a large roof in the park, and by opening the glass shutter façade around the perimeter, a continuous transition of the interior and exterior space is created. The roof is made from laminated wood in a hexagonal woven pattern composed in the form of a Chinese bamboo-woven hat. This large wooden roof is covered in a Teflon-coated fiberglass membrane and allows soft natural light to filter into the interior. 

The main galleries are a series of 90mx15m cantilevering rectilinear tubes that float above the ground, and their glass window ends point in the direction of the cathedral and other monuments of the city........more

Football Stadium and Multipurpose Sports Hall Stožice | Ljubljana | Slovenia | Sagar Vuga

The Sports Park Stožice is a hybrid project. Its implementation is the result of the public-private partnership between the City of Ljubljana and the Grep development company. The Sports Park Stožice integrates a football stadium and a multi-purpose sports hall with a big shopping centre, covered by the artificial landscape of the recreational park. As a result 182,000sqm Sports Park Stožice becomes one of the major focal points of Ljubljana's urban life, attracting people of dif ferent interests and generation both during the daytime and in the evenings.......more

Stage Design | Crystal Palace Concert Platform | London | Ian Ritchie

In March 1996, Ian Ritchie Architects won the competition for the design of a permanent concert platform in Crystal Palace Park, London.
Our concept for the concert platform was developed from an understanding and recognition of the primary importance of the Paxton landscape within which the concert platform would be located. We considered that the setting was rich and complex, and that a simple structure was more appropriate, not as a contrast, but as a minimal intervention. Nevertheless, its simplicity belies the complex performance required of it, and also avoids its appearance being seen as a conventional building......more

National Tourist Route Trollstigen | Romsdalen | Norway | Reiulf Ramstad Arkitekter

The project will enhance the experience of the Trollstigen plateau’s location and nature. Thoughtfulness regarding features and materials will underscore the site’s temper and character, and well-adapted, functional facilities will augment the visitor’s experience. The architecture is to be characterised by clear and precise transitions between planned zones and the natural landscape. Through the notion of water as a dynamic element –from snow, to running and then falling water- and rock as a static element, the project creates a series of prepositional relations that describe and magnify the unique spatiality of the site.........more

Medical Faculty University Of Groningen | Groningen | The Netherlands | RAU

The Orthopaedic Institute wanted to erect a major building here to house its institute’s rooms and a main lecture hall with space for 450 students and with a large foyer, connected to the institute’s existing rooms. The new building would therefore have a “jointing” function in urban and programmatic terms as well.Behind the glass revolving doors of the entrance area, facing the university plaza, an airy space organised into 3 storeys developed, whose side walls partially consisted of the external walls of the existing developments. From the foyer, a single staircase leads to the two upper storeys, which house all the institutional rooms for orthopaedics. Within its two double arms, the first floor encircles an inner courtyard with garden, laid out on the roof of the lecture hall..........more

ADO Stadium | The Hague | Netherlands | Zwarts En Jansma

The exterior of the building is closed in character, with large, inviting glass entrances. In contrast with the façade, the interior of the stadium is surprisingly open, with clear routing and specific seats for the various groups of sports fans. Business people watch the game from lounges and skyboxes in the main building; families are seated in the family stands. The fanatical supporters of ADO have their own section, as have the supporters of the visiting team, who enter through a separate guest entrance......more

Hudson Park Activity Buildings | New York | WXYStudio

Pier 25 opened November 2010 and Pier 26 opens in 2011. Four buildings were required to support the dozens of planned activities they are expected to hold. WXY’s group of hybrid buildings articulates the new uses of this segment of the Park: miniature golf and snack bar with the Dock Master’s office, utility and maintenance, a boathouse and restaurant with a floating deck, and a skateboarding facility combined with comfort station.......more

Utilities Building | Travis Street Utilities | Travis Street | Manchester | UK | Walker Simpson Practice

A utilities building located on a prominent but underused site next to Piccadilly train station. A corten steel skin creates a sculptural form along a busy pedestrian route leading to a new hotel and residential quarter in the city. Category winner at the Manchester Society of Architects Design Awards 2009 ........more

Central Waste Collection Building | Pamplona | ​​Navarra | Spain | Vaillo + Irigaray,

Bio-morphic Architecture
Central A collection of urban waste is a clean building: a building able to coexist with other uses of a city is not a building that has to hide, but most of them are factory buildings, industrial, "blind" and insensitive to the environment, ...
In this sense, wanted to give this central bio-mórrficos traits, which can accentuate your personality to coexistence: a building that looks and smells: it has nose eye.
His own inner workings - however-building requires guts loud: for it is necessary to create a building with different shells and layers of protection acúrstica: this would generate a building with scales. A coating recognizable and equipped with a scale capable of resembling by some kind of mimesis, conceptual quizárs to the peculiarities of place and the "culture" that must be generated: ecolórgica culture, a "green culture" .......more

Galeria Centercity Facade | Cheonan | Korea | UNStudio

The strategy for the building enclosure consists of creating an optical illusion. The facades feature two layers of customized aluminium extrusion profiles on top of a back layer of composite aluminium cladding. The vertical profiles of the top layer are straight; but those of the back layer are angled. This results in a wave-like appearance, which changes with the viewpoint of the spectator (Moiré effect)..................more

Harpa - Reykjavik Concert Hall and Conference Centre | Iceland | Henning Larsen Architects

The Concert Hall of 28,000 m2 is situated in a solitary spot with a clear view of the enormous sea and the mountains surrounding Reykjavik. The building features an arrival and foyer area in the front of the building, four halls in the middle and a backstage area with offices, administration, rehearsal hall and changing room in the back of the building. The three large halls are placed next to each other with public access on the south side and backstage access from the north. The fourth floor is a multifunctional hall with room for more intimate shows and banquets.......more

O2 Headquarters | Slough | United Kingdom | TP Bennet

The commission, won through a design competition, to design a new link building and heart for the O2 campus in Slough, drew on tp bennett’s strengths in architecture, interior design and planning. The project also included the fit-out of a newly-constructed office building and the refurbishment of an existing building. Though driven by the functional need to form a connection between these buildings, the link building has an identity of its own and provided an opportunity for O2 to reflect its brand values and to create an enjoyable and responsive workplace for 2,000 staff. The 63m long, three storey link block is deliberately sculptural in form and reflects the “bold, open, clear” brand......more

Residential Development | Wave in Vejle | Vejle | Denmark | Henning Larsen Architects

The new landmark of Vejle is a distinctive residential building of nine storeys with a magnificent location by the bay Skyttehusbugten and Vejle Fjord.
With its five characteristic wave crests, the Wave in Vejle stands out as a sculptural icon both respecting and challenging its location.
Architecturally, the building relates to its fantastic location by Vejle Fjord. In daytime, the building will be characterised by the soft movements of the waves reflected in the water surface of the fjord. At night, the characteristic profile of the Wave will appear as an undulating mountain landscape of light and colour.
The building comprises 100 attractive flats - many of which are in two levels. The layout of the flats ensures a splendid view from all balconies. Together with the public promenade in front of the building, the Wave creates a beautiful connection between the fjord, landscape and town and consolidates the different elements in a clear and recognisable signature. .......more

The Custom Checkpoint Building | Georgian Border | Geogia | J. MAYER H. architects

The customs checkpoint is situated at the Georgian border to Turkey, at the shore of the Black Sea. With its cantilevering terraces, the tower is used as a viewing platform, with multiple levels overlooking the water and the steep part of the coastline. In addition to the regular customs facilities, the structure also houses a cafeteria, staff rooms and a conference room. The building welcomes visitors to Georgia, representing the progressive upsurge of the country..........more

Taastrup Theatre Renovation and Extension | Taastrup | Denmark | COBE

The project for the extension and renovation of Taastrup Theatre seeks to improve the communication of the building with its environment – a social housing neighborhood. Formally we were commissioned to improve the energy consumption of the 1970s local community theatre in the Copenhagen neighborhood of Taastrup. Yet, we use this opportunity to improve the general appeal and functionality of the building by introducing a second (insolating) theatre curtain around the rough concrete structure. The new facade is conceived as a translucent curtain of acrylic prisms elegantly embracing the existing building, and creating a new open foyer and arrival area............more

Basque Health Department Headquarters | Bilboa | Spain | Coll Barreu Arquitectos

The new Basque Health Department headquarters is located at the last site that still remained unbuilt on the administrative and Business Center of Bilbao. Up to now, the institution was suffering the spread of its staff in several buildings, hardly recognizable by citizens, away from each other and uncomfortable for both users and technical services. The aim of the new building is bringing together staff in a recognizable place, in order to increase the efficiency of the service and identify easily the corporation. The project at the same time involves both economic and property profits.........more

Sports Pavilion | Rotterdam | MoederscheimMoonen

MoederscheimMoonen was given the task to design a building with a pavilion-like appearance. Located between the airport, new homes and the park , it has to be a striking design with lightness and transparency were the two important elements.
The design stems from a dichotomy in the brief. The changing facilities and storage rooms on the ground floor and the canteen, including board rooms on the floor. The canteen is  located on the floor around it which creates a beautiful view over the five sports fields.........more

Office Renovation | 55 Baker Street | London | Make Architects

This radical renovation of a 1950s office building transforms the site into an important new urban amenity. While providing an exceptional range of flexible and highly efficient office spaces, the scheme enhances activity and interest at street level by offering an enriched mix of uses and introducing a substantial new public space to the streetscape.Three glass infills or 'masks' span the voids between existing blocks to create a new facade for the building, with the central glazed section enclosing a seven-storey atrium which is open to the public. The ground floor of the building is entirely re-clad and devoted to retail units, cafes and restaurants serving residents, pedestrians and business employees. At the rear of the building, a new development of twenty-three houses along Rodmarton Street offers affordable, key worker and private accommodation.........more

Office Design | Estudios Terra 240 Office | Brazil | Arquitectos Associados

In a complex topography and a problematic geological situation, this building occupies the descending site with a two storey underground free plan office that allows the definition of a pilotis in the street level. In the upper volume, five duplex units allow flexible use – living and/or working space. The structure is mostly defined by the four V shaped pillars, a design strategy to reduce foundations. The superimposition of two different structure types – the concrete frame with flat slabs in the first three levels and the structural masonry of red brick in the two upper levels – defines the main formal attributes of the building concerning mass and void, openings and surfaces. The intentional absence of walls and fences reinforces the open character of the pilotis, as an attempt to redefine the relation of the building with the public realm.....more

Sports Centre | Hackney Marshes | London | Stanton Williams

Hackney Marshes is best known as the London home of amateur Sunday League football. Stanton Williams was commissioned in 2008 to provide a new ‘Community Hub’ at the South Marsh, comprising new changing rooms, a café, and an education facility. They are housed in a welcoming, inclusive structure that recognises the special qualities of this place and connects with its wider setting, including the adjacent Olympic Park.

The Centre is embedded within the landscape, avoiding the ‘tabula rasa’ approach of many sports venues. Plugging a gap in the trees that surround the pitches, its massing minimises its impact on the site. The overall impression is one of horizontality, with changing rooms arranged in linear fashion at ground level............more