Winner and Shortlist. The Arch, 3XN architects. In a modest town in southern Norway the horizon is peaked with little white wooden houses, one of which rises above the rest.
This is the latest project of inventive Danish practice 3XN who have introduced a modern addition to the sleepy township of Mandal. The Arch is an impressive new cultural centre encompassing a theatre, cinema, concert hall, library, gallery and café in its sleek white form, located on the edge of a charming beachfront. With forest foliage as one background and sailboats the other, the arced form of the new centre references the rolling waves and the soft hillocks whilst its solid nature points at the industrial prior usage of the site. Jan Ammundsen, Partner and Head of Design at 3XN, explains: “The Arch is a house of the people, so we designed a building that in an elegant and soft motion gathers the town’s cultural life, which the modern expression bears witness to a town in development.” Cross # Towers, Bjarke Ingels Group.
Situated at the south-east edge of the Yongsan master plan designed by Studio Libeskind for the Korean development group Dreamhub, Bjarke Ingels Group’s (BIG) Cross # Towers will contribute to the developing skyline of Seoul and become a recognisable marker of the new cultural and commercial centre of the city.
BIG was selected to submit a design proposal for Yongsan International Business District among 19 international offices, including SOM, Dominique Perrault, REX and MVRDV. The 21,000 sq m site is positioned next to the existing urban fabric in the future development zones of the Yongsan master plan. BIG’s design includes two elegant towers with a height of 214m and 204m. To meet the height requirements of the site, the exceeding building mass is transformed into an upper and lower horizontal bar, which bridge the two towers at 140m and 70 m height. Super Trees,WorldArchitectureNews, Wilkinson Eyre Architects. The structural lovechild of highly acclaimed architects Wilkinson Eyre, landscape architects Grant Associates and structural engineers Atelier 10, the Gardens by the Bay at Marina South is set to become one of Singapore's most popular tourist attractions.
Although the project is not yet complete, the Super Trees development is already an established part of the Singapore skyline. The eighteen trees, eleven of which are built of environmentally sustainable materials, are all located in the Gardens by the Bay at Marina South, which will be officially opened to the public in June of 2012. The Supertrees range from heights of 25 to 50 metres, the tallest of which will accommodate a treetop bistro. In their height, the trees aim to create a contrast between the relatively low-lying gardens which surround them. MJZ I Maciej Jakub Zawadzki,WorldArchitectureNews, MJZ, Warsaw, Public Buildings,Museums. Miami Pier Museum of Latin American Immigrants The building aspires to become a horizontal monument to all the immigrants who arrived on these shores in the past and a symbol emphasising the dynamic multicultural image of this city nowadays.
It is situated directly on the coastline of the South Beach in Miami FL, USA on the axis of one of the main streets in the city. Built to symbolize the turbulent trials of immigration and the furies of the sea that brought the immigrants to Florida, the building is symbolic and artful in its reflection of the struggles of Miami's immigrants. The exterior's twists symbolize the complicated emotions involved with leaving a motherland and coming to a land of opportunity. Simultaneously, the building's interior features twisting elevations, reminding visitors of the effort needed and hills that are climbed in the immigration process. With the high average temperatures throughout the whole year, another important issue is overheating. Warsaw Hybrid Centre. Narrabeen House,WorldArchitectureNews, Choi Ropiha Fighera, Sydney, Residential,Private housing.
Narrabeen is a suburb with housing plots and street layouts characteristic of the ‘garden-suburb' ideals espoused by early 20th century Australian town planning.
The Narrabeen House designed in 2009 sits in this historical context amongst the other two story family homes with each dutifully addressing a quiet, tree-lined street. It is a safe and familiar setting; no hint is given of the spectacular fresh water lagoon flowing to the ocean through each house's backyard.