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Friday, 19 August 2011
Desitecture Shortlisted For World Architecture Festival 2011
For the 2nd year in a row we have been shortlisted for WAF in Barcelona. This year we have been shortlisted for the Future Projects, Masterplanning category!
Sunday, 14 August 2011
Published in the Summer edition of de/design exchange magazine
We are currently featured in the summer edition of de/design exchange magazine for our Vertical City concept.
Domus - Project Hercules
200 ideas, designs and proposals received following Project Heracles, Domus's call for ideas for an imaginary infrastructure connecting Africa and Europe.
Bridge? Tunnel? Cablecar? Dam? Metropolis? Market? Power plant? Museum? Icon? Prison? Park? Airport? Send us a postcard with your ideas for a connection between Africa and Europe across the Strait of Gibraltar.
In response to recent events in North Africa, Domus is calling on architects, designers, artists, urbanists, theorists and readers to reexamine the relationship between two geographically adjacent yet politically and socially distant continents. Can infrastructure be used as a medium to articulate the complexity of the present spatial condition? Should Africa be definitively severed from—or newly reconnected to—Europe?
This was our response that recently featured on Wallpaper's Blog:
http://www.wallpaper.com/gallery/art/postcards-from-the-heracles-project-at-the-gopher-hole-london/17052573/48416
A Living Bridge
The Heracles project is not a bridge it is a living entity spanning the continents a borderless zone. Inspired by African woven material and termite construction but using current steel and lightweight concrete technology.
The application of form driven parametric mimics bone in the construction of the structure of the new terra. Heracles is a kente strip cloth inspired woven form, stiffened to create a three dimensional form supported on floating pontoons which pivot at the bridge form in response to tidal ebb and flow; rising and falling independently in support of the superstructure.
The central portion of Hercales is supported by the undersea mountain which sits midway between the continents, whilst naval traffic is regulated and used as a loading point for cargo and pleasure craft in the Mediterranean .
Over time the coral like structure will disappear under llichen and moss, seamlessly linked to the gardens and forest growing on the upper levels of the structure. We envisage a resort of hotels entertainment, businesses, fueling the interchange between the continents of Euarafrica. The sustainable nature of the endeavour is further enhanced by its ability to produce its own and surplus energy, through wave generated power which it then exports to either continent. Balancing on the tip of an underwater mountain range this new terra is at the fulcrum of a new miscegenation, and a long hoped for future.
The Postcards were on display at The Gopher Hole gallery in London.
Bridge? Tunnel? Cablecar? Dam? Metropolis? Market? Power plant? Museum? Icon? Prison? Park? Airport? Send us a postcard with your ideas for a connection between Africa and Europe across the Strait of Gibraltar.
In response to recent events in North Africa, Domus is calling on architects, designers, artists, urbanists, theorists and readers to reexamine the relationship between two geographically adjacent yet politically and socially distant continents. Can infrastructure be used as a medium to articulate the complexity of the present spatial condition? Should Africa be definitively severed from—or newly reconnected to—Europe?
This was our response that recently featured on Wallpaper's Blog:
http://www.wallpaper.com/gallery/art/postcards-from-the-heracles-project-at-the-gopher-hole-london/17052573/48416
A Living Bridge
The Heracles project is not a bridge it is a living entity spanning the continents a borderless zone. Inspired by African woven material and termite construction but using current steel and lightweight concrete technology.
The application of form driven parametric mimics bone in the construction of the structure of the new terra. Heracles is a kente strip cloth inspired woven form, stiffened to create a three dimensional form supported on floating pontoons which pivot at the bridge form in response to tidal ebb and flow; rising and falling independently in support of the superstructure.
The central portion of Hercales is supported by the undersea mountain which sits midway between the continents, whilst naval traffic is regulated and used as a loading point for cargo and pleasure craft in the Mediterranean .
Over time the coral like structure will disappear under llichen and moss, seamlessly linked to the gardens and forest growing on the upper levels of the structure. We envisage a resort of hotels entertainment, businesses, fueling the interchange between the continents of Euarafrica. The sustainable nature of the endeavour is further enhanced by its ability to produce its own and surplus energy, through wave generated power which it then exports to either continent. Balancing on the tip of an underwater mountain range this new terra is at the fulcrum of a new miscegenation, and a long hoped for future.
The Postcards were on display at The Gopher Hole gallery in London.
WAF 2011 Entries
We recently submitted our entries for this years World Architecture Festival. 2 Projects were entered; Linearpolis, a housing/masterplan concept for the Heliopolis Favela in Sao Paulo (Brazil) and the other Stadi_City; the notion of the stadium as a suburban icon, re invented as a continuous use resort, in constant use as a destination and port of call for ocean liners, a destination city that is formed by creating an artificial island and tidal marina.
Designed for the Qatar world cup and subsequent potential Olympics, the stadium resort has a life an community of its own and will continue to be a destination after hosting major sporting and entertainment events. The stadium resort could also be sited off the coast of a developing nation whose infrastructure would not normally be expected to support such a project , the boost to the local economy and the influx of a new tourist trade would open up a number of countries as contemporary destinations for international sporting events and activities. In respect of the Kente cloth concept it is proposed that the second site for the project would be off the coast of Accra.
Ethos
The notion of the stadium as a suburban icon is re invented as an in continuous use resort in constant use as a destination and port of call for ocean liners. The stadium is designed to make use of suitable offshore sites where land based stadia could not be supported. Its secondary use as a port and entertainment centre affords a sustainable proposition and the project itself could be sited in a multitude of sites which would otherwise not be able to economically support such a construct.
The stadium is a self contained mini city, with all the amenities which are necessary for constant inhabitation,including retail and restaurant offers, the visiting yachts and ocean liners regularly replenish it with visitors, the secure location being a welcome respite from European winters
Construction
The stadium resort comprises an Olympic sized stadium, with integrated hotels, apartments and event spaces. The construction is based on the weave of Kente cloth a traditional Ghanaian fabric woven of strips of tightly woven cloth , the most frequent pattern being a diamond shape .The strips are then sown together to form a continuous fabric sheet, if sewn together intermittently the fabric when stiffened forms a structure not unlike that of muscle tissue.
The project utilises much of the technology used in the Palms Dubai project, creating an artificial island and tidal marina. Coral frame. The resulting structural frame is redolent of coral , a permeable exoskeletal structure inspired by Brunel’s Taymar bridge.
Transport
The main connecting bridge house maglev shuttles, and service road, for visitors and spectators, its form resembles a tube at its centre but is in reality the same ribbon wall that stabilises the stadium and provides the terraced meandering park which on two sides of the stadium take you up to the aerial park. Permanent residents living in the apartments make use of electric cars to navigate the site.
Sustainability
Each tier of the two structural skins which create the bridges and envelope the stadium contains a roadway to the apartment level and meandering park which finally reaches the roof level of the stadium, the heavily shaded garden areas adjacent to the apartments provide the light to this inner world . At the roof level of the aerial park the landscape is divided by an elliptical photovoltaic sun farm and a continuous roof-light which illuminates the curving cathedral space below which lies between the stadium and its encircling apartments, hotels and retail offer. This space offers a controlled environment, for leisure and events, whilst the stadium itself , in line with many new stadia can be transformed into everything from race track to urban park, dependant on the activity programme envisaged.
Users and local benefit
The residents of the development will comprise high income individuals and those wanting an exclusive vacation with access to world class sport and entertainment.
The Stadium resort will provide employment and training at the highest level, in hospitality and event management to the local community. The new skills provided would further help to develop the local market, and it is expected that this in turn would lead to further economic development as the economy grew in response to the needs of its new
Desalination Plant, the development is supported by its own desalination plant which will produce a surplus for use on the mainland. The resulting procedure will assist in the creation of micro climatic production.
Designed for the Qatar world cup and subsequent potential Olympics, the stadium resort has a life an community of its own and will continue to be a destination after hosting major sporting and entertainment events. The stadium resort could also be sited off the coast of a developing nation whose infrastructure would not normally be expected to support such a project , the boost to the local economy and the influx of a new tourist trade would open up a number of countries as contemporary destinations for international sporting events and activities. In respect of the Kente cloth concept it is proposed that the second site for the project would be off the coast of Accra.
Ethos
The notion of the stadium as a suburban icon is re invented as an in continuous use resort in constant use as a destination and port of call for ocean liners. The stadium is designed to make use of suitable offshore sites where land based stadia could not be supported. Its secondary use as a port and entertainment centre affords a sustainable proposition and the project itself could be sited in a multitude of sites which would otherwise not be able to economically support such a construct.
The stadium is a self contained mini city, with all the amenities which are necessary for constant inhabitation,including retail and restaurant offers, the visiting yachts and ocean liners regularly replenish it with visitors, the secure location being a welcome respite from European winters
Construction
The stadium resort comprises an Olympic sized stadium, with integrated hotels, apartments and event spaces. The construction is based on the weave of Kente cloth a traditional Ghanaian fabric woven of strips of tightly woven cloth , the most frequent pattern being a diamond shape .The strips are then sown together to form a continuous fabric sheet, if sewn together intermittently the fabric when stiffened forms a structure not unlike that of muscle tissue.
The project utilises much of the technology used in the Palms Dubai project, creating an artificial island and tidal marina. Coral frame. The resulting structural frame is redolent of coral , a permeable exoskeletal structure inspired by Brunel’s Taymar bridge.
Transport
The main connecting bridge house maglev shuttles, and service road, for visitors and spectators, its form resembles a tube at its centre but is in reality the same ribbon wall that stabilises the stadium and provides the terraced meandering park which on two sides of the stadium take you up to the aerial park. Permanent residents living in the apartments make use of electric cars to navigate the site.
Sustainability
Each tier of the two structural skins which create the bridges and envelope the stadium contains a roadway to the apartment level and meandering park which finally reaches the roof level of the stadium, the heavily shaded garden areas adjacent to the apartments provide the light to this inner world . At the roof level of the aerial park the landscape is divided by an elliptical photovoltaic sun farm and a continuous roof-light which illuminates the curving cathedral space below which lies between the stadium and its encircling apartments, hotels and retail offer. This space offers a controlled environment, for leisure and events, whilst the stadium itself , in line with many new stadia can be transformed into everything from race track to urban park, dependant on the activity programme envisaged.
Users and local benefit
The residents of the development will comprise high income individuals and those wanting an exclusive vacation with access to world class sport and entertainment.
The Stadium resort will provide employment and training at the highest level, in hospitality and event management to the local community. The new skills provided would further help to develop the local market, and it is expected that this in turn would lead to further economic development as the economy grew in response to the needs of its new
Desalination Plant, the development is supported by its own desalination plant which will produce a surplus for use on the mainland. The resulting procedure will assist in the creation of micro climatic production.
Pulished in Mexico - ACTUALIDAD AD
We recently featured in a article in Actualidad AD (Architectural Digest) published in Mexico. It was an honor not only to feature in the magazine but to also be published in the same spread as Grimshaw Architects.
www.architecturaldigest.com.mx
www.architecturaldigest.com.mx
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