AUG
On the 20th August we featured the trailer for Zaha’s Biennale exhibition that looks at her influences and inspiration past and present – the basic theme of this year’s show that is directed by David Chipperfield.
Those were the CAD renderings, today we get the first glimpse of some of the actual objects in Zaha’s display. Read more
AUG
It is pleasing to see that one of the less well known practices, Magma Architecture, that designed one of the less well known buildings for the 2012 Olympics, has been shortlisted for the Emirates Glass Leaf Awards 2012 in the Best Sustainable Development category.
The three mobile buildings were designed for the 10, 25 and 50m Olympic shooting events. There is a lovely attention to detail and because they are demountable can be reused time and again at different venues. Read more
JUL
With bankers and banks in the firing line, it seems brave to enter New Court, which is a headquarters for a corporate bank, for the Stirling Prize. It is also one of many City of London head quarter buildings which tend to be corporate, lavish, expensive, occasionally well designed and invariably macho in the architectural sense. So what is the fuss about this HQ?
The first design point to note is that the new building reinstates the view between St Swithin’s and St Stephen Walbrook churches, the latter designed by Christopher Wren. London planning authorities are zealous about the views of the City’s old churches particularly St Paul’s Cathedral also by Wren. Read more
JUL
The RIBA has announced the 2012 Stirling Prize Shortlist. It is the most prestigious British Architecture prize and has helped to move architecture higher in the public’s consciousness in the same way that the Turner Prize did for contemporary British Art.
The shortlist has some interesting projects but there is a whiff of politics when the stadium is the only Olympic building to be featured. Architects of other Olympic projects will no doubt wait until the legacy stage has been completed before submitting their entries. Read more
JUL
Singapore wants to become a “city in a garden”. Wilkinson Eyre were called upon to define the centrepiece of this ambition with the Gardens by the Bay. The South Garden is the most impressive, architecturally speaking, with its two main cooled conservatories, amongst the largest ever built. The cool dry “Flower Dome” covers an area of around 1.28 hectares and climatically speaking resembles the Mediterranean regions. The “Cloud Forest” conservatory is cool and moist and has at its heart a planted mountain complete with 35m waterfall! It is higher than the Flower Dome and but covers a smaller area of around 0.73 hectares.
The purpose of the buildings is about exploring the effects of climate change on the world’s plant species. The purpose here is to explore the key questions of how the building stands, and how environmental control is maintained within the spaces. Read more
