Art Gallery Design | Firstsite Contemporary Art | Colchester | United Kingdom |

As the first effort in the revitalization of Colchester’s historic St. Botolph’s Quarter, firstsite:newsite anchors the long-term development plan of an under-utilized district. Rafael Viñoly Architects won the design competition for this new visual arts facility by expanding on the project brief, which would have destroyed the historic character of St. Anne’s Church. Once the construction site was moved eastward, the new museum was designed to create extra public space and parkland and to maintain and showcase local heritage sites, including early Roman ruins, while making a visually striking architectural statement.

To the north, a crescent-shaped building wraps around an eighteenth-century Victorian garden. The building roof, which slopes slightly upward in line with the site topography, culminates in a monumental portico that frames the lobby with full-height glazing. To the south, the outside arc of the crescent faces a small Victorian garden and an intact Roman wall that defines the site boundary. Modern in both form and cladding (the exterior consists of a distinctive gold-hued skin of copper-and-aluminum alloy panels), the building adopts the site’s axial geometry and the approximate height of the neighboring buildings. A concrete raft foundation allows the structure to rest on the ground and leave buried archaeological remains undisturbed, with no deep excavation required......more

Harbour Terminal Building Design | New Keelung Harbor Terminal Building | Keelung | Taiwan | SDA

Inspired by the geometric patterns of Taiwanese Hen Cages and the structural shells of luxury racing yachts, the building takes shape in a dynamic gradient form that transitions from exo-skin to exo-skeleton in response to programmatic content as well as performative requirements. Thus, what appears to be formal expression, is actually “informed form” which responds to the integration of weather, urban context, program, circulation, and sustainability through integrated design responses that inform the building orientation, spatial layout, façade design, and choice of material and structural system.

The building program is divided into three primary experience groups and cyclical sequences. These three groups share programmatic overlaps and transitions which allow exchange between groups.......more

Performing Arts Center Design | Monterey Park Performing Arts Center | California | H Architecture

Monterey Park Performing Arts Center, MPPAC, is a mixed-use arts complex in Monterey Park, California with programs including a 3,000-seat performance hall, 5-star hotel, live/work condos, offices, a revolving restaurant and 400+ underground parking spaces. H’s design redefines the relationship among the performance hall, supporting programs and outdoor landscaped plaza, while articulating the beauty, harmony, and poetic movements from the artistry of diverse performing arts.

An elevated landscaped plaza, free from vehicular disturbance, allows easy pedestrian circulation among the various buildings, which mark the periphery of the site with double-skin mesh membrane exteriors. The continuous curvilinearity in the building placement not only creates a monolithic presence of the complex, but also provides visitors and residents optimum views toward downtown Los Angeles and the surrounding regions.

Also connecting the program is a continuous sloped roof, representing the trajectory gestures of a music conductor, which culminates over the performance hall. An infinity wall between the performing stage and the landscaped plaza transforms the hall into an indoor and outdoor theater offering an innovative audience experience.

Located 8 miles from downtown Los Angeles, MPPAC aims to become a complex which will serve the local Asian community and the southern California area as the epicenter for international pop culture and arts.......more