The Frankfurt Städel Museum is about to undergo the largest expansion ever in the course of its nearly two-hundred-year history – with regard to its architecture and its collection alike. In the autumn of 2009, in conjunction with numerous important additions to the museum’s holdings, work commenced on the construction of an annex for the presentation of contemporary art. Designed by the architectural firm schneider+schumacher of Frankfurt, this extension will open its doors for the first time on 25 and 26 February with two Open House days and a big public celebration.
The extension of the Städel Museum View from outside
The medieval character of the former inn from 1650 – presently a store –, as well as its original timber framing on the back side, has been fully restored. This very particular building technique, which continued to be used in Limburg for a long time, uses the recycled wood of torn-down buildings. Inscriptions, as well as old mortise and tenon connections testify of the re-use.
Dream Downtown Hotel is a 184,000 SF boutique hotel in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City. The 12-story building includes 316 guestrooms, two restaurants, rooftop and VIP lounges, outdoor pool and pool bar, a gym, event space, and ground floor retail.
16th street façade looking north (Image Courtesy Bruce Damonte)
This exciting renovation and extension of a turn-of-the-century terrace house in Sydney’s Potts Point focuses on a grand and gracefully spiralling stair that forms the pivotal junction of the old and new parts of the house. The staircase, spanning the width of the building, features delicate fan-like steel treads cantilevered from the central steel post and winding their way past six split levels, offset between the old and new sides of the house. The stair was conceived as the element that grafts the contemporary and new minimal structure to the refined, trimmed and formal older portion of the dwelling.
The expo pavilion is a complex problem of displaying the future of technology, culture, and life with today’s capabilities. To take a look forward and to examine not only what is on display but the aperture that holds that promise of a better city, better life. In the long tradition of Expo innovations, the Shadow Pavilion pushes today’s ideas of formation and structure to the next step; by looking at complex organizations and the integration of the two ideas.
Model Image Looking East
Architects: Jared Bledsoe & Simon Lee
Project: Shadow Pavilion Shanghai Expo 2010
Location: Shanghai, China
Project Team: Jared Bledsoe & Simon Lee
Project Date: 2008
Software used: Bentley’s Generative Components (GC), Rhino, & 3d max
Smart Design Studio have completed Mandolong House in Mosman following a sensitive and extensive refurbishment of a two storey Victorian family home originally built in 1885. The house recently featured on the front cover of Belle magazine’s May edition and as part of the article ‘Sheer Brilliance – Fabulous homes that really set the pace’.
This building in Maroubra, Australia accommodates four luxury apartments- one per floor plus a carpark/ services level that is built into the hill. Maroubra has incredible natural beauty with its rocky cliffs, white beaches and crystal blue waters but the urban fabric is unconsidered, uninteresting and largely in decay. Smart Design Studio capitalised on this unique setting by creating a building that focused on the wonderful view from within and, through strong form, has created a handsome building in profile to enhance the urban fabric of this area.
The key notion of the architectural strategy is the location’s natural features and the use of a limited material palette. The project is situated in an old “culturscape” and special attention is paid to integrate it into its surroundings. The design is based on simple geometrical prisms, lines and slabs composed into a complex lay-out of rooms and functions. Critical functions and lines of communication are emphasized and the building expresses a balance of functional efficiency and open perspectives.
Article source: Yiorgos Hadjichristou and Petros Constantinou
The plot is located in a new residential area of Aglantzia, in Nicosia. The building was constructed in order to accommodate the housing needs of the family of Mrs Ifigeneia Kaizer: a ground-floor residence, 2 apartments on the 1st floor- one for each child of the family, and a small private institute of Greek language and history on the lower level of the plot .
Tags: Cyprus, Nicosia Comments Off on Ifigenia Kaizer in Nicosia, Cyprus by Yiorgos Hadjichristou and Petros Constantinou (designed using Microstation)
REFURBISHMENT OF A LISTED HOUSE IN KAIMAKLI, NICOSIA, CYPRUS
The refurbishment and the extension of the traditional house in Kaimakli is based on the main strategies of the bio-climatic approach, and especially on conditions that were developed through tradition : all the spaces enjoy south orientation with various ways of shading (including movable vegetation panel) and assure generous cross air ventilation. The vegetation and the reinforcement of the breezes through it, endorse the creation of a micro climate and micro-cosmos of the house.