NZX - Niuzexui

The development's cozy ambience will be enhanced by the centre's unique 80ft covered boulevard, which boasts an air cooling system that maintains a comfortable environment within, making shopping & dining a breeze - literally! The boulevard boasts a large variety of unique kiosk that will complement the surrounding shop houses. (to find out more..)
Just another newly-opened development in Ara Damansara, Petaling Jaya that is so much similar to Clark Quay at Singapore... The problem is it's causing traffic congestion every night at the area I stay!! Well, basically there's no sufficient public transportation nearby, so everyone has to drive, and sadly the road capacity is also not sufficient!! The cars are lining long 'queue' in the originally silent & peaceful residential area to get through a poorly built small tunnel, only then can they reach to Niuzexui!! Why the... It's better named 车水马龙， rather than 牛车水... shit..

passage from: http://niuzexui.com/
image from: http://www.iproperty.com.my/reviews/NZX2/coverpage.asp
complaint from: the poor resident - afterrabbit

posted by afterrabbit

Maritime Museum by Ando

About the concept of architect Tadao Ando: The concept is inspired by Abu Dhabi’s natural surrounding, landscape and maritime traditions. Its ship-like interior with floating decks will guide visitors through the exhibition space.
"The elegant architecture begins with a unique space carved out of a simple volume that is shaped by the force and fluidity of Abu Dhabi’s wind. (to find out more..)
The site is at Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi which will also feature works by 3 other starchitects - Zaha Hadid, Jean Nouvel & Frank Ghery.

passage & image(1) from: http://universes-in-universe.org/eng/islamic_world/articles/2007/saadiyat_cultural_district/projects/maritime_museum
image(2) from: http://phayung.blogspot.com/

posted by afterrabbit

Photosets of Grin Grin

Grin Grin Central Park in Fukuoka prefecture, Japan by Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects.

Photosets:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9160678@N06/sets/72157602029968635/detail/ &
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cyberia/sets/72157603659936168/detail/

image from: http://www.c-channel.com/c00088/index_en.html

posted by afterrabbit

De Beers - Ginza Headquarter

The completed De Beers' headquarter building in Ginza district, Tokyo, by Jun Mitsui & Associates Inc. Architects, is to open soon on 20th March 08. The distorted, dancing facade gives surrealism to the highrise, well suited to De Beers the jewellery company.
Just to mention, the building is located only few steps away from Ito's MIKIMOTO Ginza 2 (can be seen in the upper pic).

Images from: http://www.excite.co.jp/ism/concierge/rid_1173/ & http://kstyle.s57.xrea.com/2007/09/post_458.php

posted by afterrabbit

Oppenheim

(Element by Oppenheim)

Oppenheim Architecture+Design is a full service architecture, interior design and urban planning firm located in Miami, Florida. The firm founded by Chad Oppenheim specializes in creating powerful and pragmatic solutions to complex project challenges and has extensive experience in world class hospitality, residential and mixed-use design.
The Oppenheim design strategy is inherently simple - to uncover the obvious and best solution. Creating an experience that is dramatic and powerful yet simultaneously sensual and comfortable. The firm's approach begins by a deep understanding and analysis of the developer's program in relation to the projects typology, context, zoning parameters, and financial realities. (to find out more..)

passage & image from: http://www.oppenoffice.com/#

posted by afterrabbit

VIDEO: Chad Oppenheim on Sustainable Architecture

Check out our latest video interview of Miami architect Chad Oppenheim, designer of the stunning green COR Tower for Miami. In this video he discusses Miami as a booming real estate and construction economy, and his take on sustainability as a factor in that growth. And of course, details on his futuristic-looking Cor Tower, which we can’t wait to see completed.
Video by Scribemedia

text from: http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/01/16/video-chad-oppenheim-on-sustainable-architecture/

posted by afterrabbit

Seattle Public Library

"The stacks, arranged along a continuous spiral ramp contained within a four-story slab, reinforce a sense of a world organized with machine-like precision."Nicolai Ouroussoff Los Angeles Times. The building is divided into eight layers, each varying in size to fit its function. A structural steel and glass skin unifies the multifaceted form and defines the public spaces in-between. (to find out more...)
Another fascinating architecture by Rem Koolhaas; OMA has came up with a great solution for the circulation of the users and the books located in it, which is known as the 'Continuous Collection'. The space organization that has been divided into eight layers look marvellous from the front facade, as it takes shape of a stack of books, and it is being pulled apart; which is categorized as another deconstructivism icon.

text and images from: http://www.arcspace.com/architects/koolhaas/Seattle/index.htm

posted by s-uper-chii

More Pics on Polish Pavilion for Shanghai Expo 2010

Clearer pictures of the Polish Pavilion for Shanghai Expo 2010 from designboom, which I didn't get to include into another post last time. (More pictures from designboom..)
Also note that there're some intense yet interesting arguments & critics at the comment section, for your reading (& thinking) pleasure.

images from: http://www.designboom.com/weblog/read.php?CATEGORY_PK=&TOPIC_PK=2223

posted by afterrabbit

A Diamond In The Rough

The House kn by Kochi Architect's Studio manages to both isolate itself from and integrate itself into the surrounding neighborhood. The angled walls that at once create and expose the void enable the inhabitants to be protected from the neighbors when desired, and yet embraces the neighborhood (especially at night).This is quite a simple, yet elegant and successful solution for the dense areas of Japan. (to find out more..)

image & passage from:
http://atelier-ad.blogspot.com/2008/01/diamond-in-rough.html

posted by midori mizu

Perkins + Will Debunks Antilia Myths

Perkins + Will designed Antilia, a 24-story corporate meeting facility and private residence, now under construction in Mumbai (top). The tower features several garden levels and a trellis, which supports panels of hydroponically grown plans, that act like a green band weaving in and out of the building to demarcate different program elements (down).
(to find out more..)
(Perkins + Will won the commission for Antilia in 2004, besting Foster + Partners, SITE, Wilkinson & Eye, and Ken Yang.)

images & passage from:
http://archrecord.construction.com/news/daily/archives/071018perkinswill.asp

posted by midori mizu

Dancing trees, Singing birds

Dancing trees,Singing birds.

Principal use : housing

Structure : R.C.structure, partially steel structure

Site area : 770.22sqm

Total floor area : 684.86sqm

Building site : Tokyo

This project by Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP Co.,Ltd. was one of the subjects during our studio forum discussion today. It's quite interesting that how it dodges the trees & at the same time using them (ie. small branches to hang cloths, sceneries for our own).
Now I get a clearer & more valid reason for designing houses like this one. We build our buildings where the trees are, not to dodge them showing how conservative the projects are, but to USE them. Leaving the trees unharm doesn't mean we have nothing to do with them, of course we are to USE the best that the trees have to offer. So sometimes we don't avoid the trees, we purposely find them.


See how they hang their cloths~

text & images from: http://www.nakam.info/works/birdpark/index.html

posted by afterrabbit

New Ideas for the missing Gropius Masterhouses in Dessau

The Bauhaus Building and the Masters' Houses in Dessau, Architect Walter Gropius, have been listed as UNESCO World Heritage since 1996. The Renovation of the Bauhaus Building and the Masters' Houses in line with monument conservation practice underpins this status. The object of the competition is an urban design scheme to repair the Masters' Houses complex. Registration Deadline: Thursday, February 14, 2008
Submission Deadline: Thursday, February 14, 2008
(to find out more..)

passage from: http://bustler.net/index.php/description/new_ideas_for_the_missing_gropius_masterhouses_in_dessau/
image from: http://www.jostconsult.de/

posted by afterrabbit

2008 Melbourne International Design Festival

Melbourne International Design Festival will take place from 17-27 July, 2008.
"Next year's Melbourne International Design Festival will encompass exhibitions and events for designers, local design talent and much more." said Melbourne International Design Festival Director, Kathy Demos.
"The Festival continues to be an event created by designers for designers and the greater community."
Major international exhibition INDEX will make its Australian debut on its inaugural worldwide tour at the Melbourne International Design Festival in July 2008. (to find out more..)

passage & image from: http://www.dexigner.com/product/news-g13134.html

posted by afterrabbit

Ondine

Before being perceived as an element of furniture, this design tends to fascinate by its underlying complexity translated in a simple strong form.
"Ondine" strikes the viewer as being somewhat organic: alive, supple and inherently mysterious
The modular exterior furniture design "Ondine", laureate of the Parckdesign competition 2007 "Embrassons les arbres" organized by "Bruxelles Environnement" and "Pro-Materia", is the fruit of a close collaboration between designer Michael Bihain and Belgian architect Cédric Callewaert. (to find out more..)

passage from: http://www.dexigner.com/product/news-g13189.html
image from: http://www.yankodesign.com/index.php/2007/07/09/ondine-bench-a-flowy-one/

posted by afterrabbit

2008 AIA Honor Awards Recognize Excellence in Architecture, Interior, and Urban Design

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) announced the 2008 recipients of the AIA Institute Honor Awards, the profession’s highest recognition of works that exemplify excellence in architecture, interior architecture and urban design. Selected from over 800 total submissions, 28 recipients will be honored in May at the AIA 2008 National Convention and Design Exposition in Boston.(to find out more..)

passage from:
http://www.aia.org/release_010408_honoraward

posted by midori mizu

Useful+Agreeable

"the u+a pre-designed mini hi-rise is not only a tightly designed house that uses every square inch of space wisely, it also attempts to express this economy in its smooth exterior surface shape, a form of industrial design at an architectural scale." - neil denari
(to find out more..)

images & passage from:
http://archinect.com/news/article.php?id=69695_0_24_0_C

posted by midori mizu

Richard Rogers Complete Works (3 Volumn Set)

In a series of insightful essays, Kenneth Powell analyses 'Continuity and Expansion' within the Rogers office, discusses different topical subjects essential to the architecture - such as 'Low-Energy Buildings', 'Masterplanning and the City' - and concludes with a rigorous review of Rogers' work in more recent years. Releasing in February 2008, by Phaidon Press.
(to find out more..)

passage from: http://www.ribabookshops.com/site/viewtitle.asp?pid=8381
image from: http://www.excite.co.jp/ism/concierge/rid_1156/pid_1.html

posted by afterrabbit

MUJI Prefab Houses

Ryohin Keikaku Co.,Ltd. (株式会社良品計画, Kabushiki-gaisha Ryōhin Keikaku^?) (TYO: 7453), or MUJI (無印良品, Mujirushi Ryōhin^?) is a Japanese retail company which sells a wide variety of household goods. MUJI is distinguished by its design minimalism, emphasis on recycling, avoidance of waste in production and packaging, and no-logo policy. Products range from pens, notebooks, and clothing for men and women to food items and major kitchen appliances. Its primary business includes Café MUJI, Meal MUJI, MUJI Campsite, florist and home furnishing; the company has recently taken steps into housing construction.The name MUJI is derived from the first part of Mujirushi Ryōhin, translated as No Brand Quality Goods on MUJI's European website. (to find out more..)
MUJI prefab houses are modular shelters which are environmental friendly, flexible towards family sizes, comfortable & minimal. Two designs are available: Ki no Ie (木の家 - Wooden House)(bottom) & Mado no Ie (窓の家 - Window House)(top).

passage from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MUJI
images from: http://www.muji.net/ie/madonoie/ & http://www.muji.net/ie/se/

posted by afterrabbit

The World,Dubai

(to find out more..)

posted by midori mizu

Form Follows Feathers: Bird-Friendly Architecture

Studio Gang Architects included several bird-friendly elements in its design of the Ford Calumet Environmental Center in Chicago, a 28,000-square-foot environmental education center due to open in 2009 (top) To reduce the possibility of bird strikes on the building’s south elevation, a porch is enclosed with a basket-like mesh with four-inch openings (second image).(to find out more..)

image & passage from:
http://archrecord.construction.com/news/daily/archives/080110feathers.asp

posted by midori mizu