Frankfurt am Main is the fifth largest city in Germany, with more than 700,000 inhabitants. It is a high-rise city with about thirty towers reaching above a hundred meters in and around the centre. The population is growing, bringing an increase in housing demand in all market segments. Within walking distance of the Central Station, where the former station post office once stood, a multifunctional residential tower is being developed by Phoenix and Gross & Partner. The competition for this development has been won by Mecanoo.
BCV Architecture + Interiors was hired to design the brand-new 24,000-square-foot retail center at Mission Park in Santa Clara, California. The project will add a variety of retail and food & beverage offerings, providing a much-needed social hub that is walkable and amenity-rich.
The 46-acre office campus in the heart of the Silicon Valley exemplifies the evolution of retail and growing trend of suburban urbanization in the area— transitioning from a spread-out and disconnected region to an increasingly dense and community-oriented one. In fact, three office buildings were razed to accommodate the new retail center, an almost unheard-of phenomenon in a tech hot spot where the demand for office space is becoming insatiable.
The project is for a small publishing house, specialized in kids´ books with a scientific interest.
The project’s functional needs are simple, and the space requirements limited: a reception room, offices, a small reading area, a small kitchen, a meeting room, a depot and an accessible terrace make up the project’s program.
MVRDV has begun construction on Downtown One, a 140-metre tall mixed-use skyscraper in Tirana that will become Albania’s tallest building. The most striking element of the 37-storey tower is its relief of cantilevered houses and offices, which form a pixelated ‘map’ of Albania, each representing a town or city, turning this building into an icon in the heart of Tirana, Albania. Completion of the building, which was designed for developer Kastrati Construction, is expected in 2024.
Downtown One is envisioned as an expression celebrating the progress of Albania, located in central Tirana on the Bajram Curri Boulevard, to the south of the Lana River. On its principle façades, the 140-metre rectilinear tower features a series of cantilevered houses and offices, forming a relief pattern on the building’s surface. Every house or office represents a village or town, so that when viewed from a distance, these cantilevers form an abstracted map of Albania.
Timeless architecture is the philosophy of Mecanoo & MAYU’s design for the National Taiwanese Archive: a building that hosts the memory and the collective identity.
The National Archives building is composed of two volumes: one that extends horizontally, forming a large canopy, protecting the ground floor, establishing the relation interior-exterior; the other, a perfect cube, landed on top of the horizontal volume.
Following its clear shape, the building is also organized in two zones: the public and the restrict access areas. The public zone is located in the east part of the site, connected to Wenhuayi road, while the restrict access area is organized on the west part.
Koichi Takada Architects completes Arc, its latest mixed-use residential tower in Sydney’s CBD. The project won the City of Sydney Design Excellence Competition in 2013 and spans the width of a whole city block fronting both Clarence Street and Kent Street in the historic precinct of central Sydney. The building combines old and new, a handcrafted brick podium and an organic roof feature designed to add more character to the future of Sydney. The 26-storey tower is a true mix of accommodation, containing 135 apartments, 86 ‘Skye Suites’ boutique hotel rooms, 8 retail and F&B outlets. Included in the design is a retail precinct below an 8-storey high public through site link, reactivating the historic Skittle Lane.
CORE spearheaded a full historic building renovation and expansion for Arizona State University in Washington, DC. The 8-story, 32,000 SF building enables the university to consolidate its DC office, teaching, and event spaces.
The historic structure at 1800 Eye Street NW, which Arizona State University chose as its new home, was purportedly the first concrete and masonry residential building in DC. A major goal of the redevelopment was to maximize the building’s footprint, which posed several significant challenges. Large, bearing-masonry chimneys, that could not be removed without major structural work, took up valuable interior square footage, while a back courtyard further reduced the usable space on the small lot. The lower floors were at split-levels from the exterior sidewalk grade, impeding building accessibility. With approval by the Board of Zoning Adjustments to increase the FAR, the courtyard was in-filled for 100 percent lot use. By underpinning and excavating a new basement, the expanded design added roughly 3,600 SF of new space, allowing for necessary building utility and storage spaces. The ground floor was reconstructed to level with the sidewalk grade, while the remaining FAR square footage was used as a new story on the roof.
Stockwool completes detailed design and construction phase of new housing in the heart of Stratford Stratosphere, designed for Telford Homes, has transformed a brownfield site adjacent to Stratford station into two buildings boasting striking views.
With 342 new homes, the buildings comprise of an 11 storey brick-clad building, with retail and office accommodation at ground to second floor levels and 62 apartments above, and a 36 storey glazed building, with retail accommodation at ground floor level and 280 private apartments above plus a gym, a residents’ lounge at 35th floor level, and a stunning rooftop garden offering uninterrupted panoramic views across the Lea Valley, the Olympic site and further west towards the City of London.
MVRDV´s “KoolKiel” Will Redevelop a City Block Using a Progressive Approach to Participation and Flexibility
MVRDV has been selected as the designer of a 65,000-square-metre mixed-use complex that will redevelop a post-industrial site in Kiel, Germany. The proposal, which includes a hotel, offices, residences, commercial space, and an event space, makes use of a flexible design system, rather than a fixed and unchangeable plan, allowing the design to adapt easily to the needs and desires of the community as the design development progresses.
Studioninedots presents Black Swan, the result of our research into Overamstel’s gradual transition from an industrial area to a characteristic, mixed-use district in Amsterdam.
All over the Netherlands, mono-functional industrial sites are designated as potential densification areas. Their often generous layout allows for specific interventions to generate the aimed urban density. With Black Swan we propose a design as well as a strategy for welcoming, bit by bit, housing and facilities to a permanently active work area.
Black Swan’s medium-rise tower is home to both workspaces and apartments; its base functions to facilitate creative offices, restaurant, bar and culture. At street level, Black Swan interacts with the existing Building B of the adjoining Kauwgomballenfabriek socially and energetically. Here, the pioneering residents and users collectively take care of the spaces within and around Black Swan.
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