The contribution of design world to everything that we put in daily use doesn’t need any introduction. Day in and out I come across mind-boggling designs that ooze rich creativity enveloped with sometimes contemporary or futuristic technology.  So this makes it inevitable that design schools provide the necessary infrastructure to their students as those will be molding the future of gadgets and appliances. A Dutch Design Studio seems to have understood this before anybody else did and created AEQUO in Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Located in Vleuterweide Campus, the high tech design hub will cater to everything a student would need. Laced with elite wooden interiors, the benches integrate computers, magazines and other elements in a way that will leave spectators speechless. It believes in giving working space to each student, which is computer screens are installed at sufficient distance from each other. The subtle color combination with discreet use of red spells aesthetic and comforting ambience, which would further nurture design brains.

Design makes technology look beautiful and AEQUO seconds my thoughts. I wonder when all education institutions will be up for such structural makeovers.

Via: FreshHome

Imagine holidaying at a floating island, which is surrounded by lush green gardens and equipped with a spa. Just the very thought of this, brings out the hedonistic person in me. If I had, my way, I would have literally confined to such an island. The good news is that Anne Holtrop, a Dutch architect in collaboration with green technology firm Studio Noach and botanist Patrick Blanc have come up with a design for an artificial floating island with green gardens and a spa together.

The proposal for this project is currently on show at Architecture of Consequences – Dutch designs on the Future at the Netherlands Architecture Institute in Rotterdam. This interesting project will come with baths and treatment rooms inside, while its outside would be draped with hydroponic greenery. The architecture is so beautifully designed that it will take your sight by surprises. The walls and the ceilings are used for creating the artificial hills and valleys.

Visitors can take a good stroll walking from room to room and also can experience a sequence of baths, panoramic saunas, and just relax. The reflection of the water from the surrounding makes the floating island even more beautiful. You could perhaps say this with absolute certitude that it is by far the best architecture ever designed on the water. I hope the project comes up soon.

Via: Dezeen\AnneHoltrop\StudioNoach\VerticalGardenPatrickBlanc

They have incorporated it into their design as a step towards healthy future of patients, or children. The place, has been designed through a tie up between the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the Dan Pearlman Creative Agency. The center creates a fantastic narrative that guides patients on a journey to Elise Island, a safe place to play and rest hosted by Princess Elise.
The Evangelisches Konigin Elizabeth Krankenhaus is spread out in three colorful rooms. The three are – ‘Sandburg’ or sand castle, Palmehutte or palm hut, and Klipper meaning clipper ship. Flowing curves, colors such as green, blue, pink, those all-time children’s favourites, have been integral to the interiors.

Positive vibes have beent he key in creating the design for each room, with shape, color, materials, light, and fresh air in mind. Clearly, a lot of thought went into understand the needs of young patients. It is a sustainable design alongside having loads of creativity. The idea has also been to use creativity as a social resource.

Via: Dan Pearlman

Come June and the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia will leave the European Solar Decathlon literally dumbfounded with their three-legged ellipsoid called the FabLab House. The Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia is a latest-generation education and research center dedicated to the development of architecture that meets the global standards of the 21st century.

The researches involved in making this special house, which is beautifully crafted in wood and decked with solar panels claim that it is a zero-energy home. It not only looks beautiful but also amazing to a large extent. The house is made in a rib-like structure. It has a space underneath that is used for natural ventilation. The house encompasses unique architectures. It was initially destined for Madrid’s Solar Resource, but now the green house will vie against teams parading some site-specific climate and solar resources. The house has a photovoltaic skin, which is used for collecting rainwater.

There are also high-end smart systems that can monitor and control the temperature and the energy used in the house. Most interestingly, there is a garden, which can be used for growing food. This is the most amazing house I have ever come across. The architecture of the house is done so wonderfully that the whole about the house looks just appealing.

Via: GreenDiary\FabLabHouse\Iaac\SdEurope

Who says an office has to always look glamorous and sophisticated and be done up with modern day technologies and architecture as in the corporate offices? An office can still look cool without all these amenities but with just the ordinary basics. Such is the Mobile Office by The Practice of Everyday Design, which was constructed by using only the discarded materials within one block radius from the site.

Apparently, all the materials used for constructing the office were transported to the site with the bikes of the owners of the office and also with the help of a makeshift dolly. These creative and unconventional folks did not purchase nay items to construct the office except for the hardware used to hold it together. The mobile office has enough space for keeping the required furniture for this small office and also a few shelves.

Besides, it is also done up so careful and it leaves ample office space and also the flexibility to make large scale models and have enough space for a spontaneous dance party. Not that I want to work in this office but I somehow like the very idea of functioning an office in such a weird and yet a cool way. Praised be the creativity and unconventional thinking of the folks at The Practice of Everyday Design.

Via: LikeCool\EveryDayDesign

Camenzind Evolution can be more than just proud of their brand new headquarters that is located in the beautiful city of Zurich in Switzerland. The architectural masterpiece that they have been gifted with is a compact, yet spacious structure that exudes a unique aura with its startling design, flowing form and exquisite features. The freestanding structure dubbed as the Cocoon sports a normal and sober look on the outside, but one little peep into its heart and you will be captivated by the form and functionality. With its spiral massing and a light-flooded, upwardly widening atrium that forms the centerpiece, Cocoon does away with the conventional way of marking personal space using partitions.

Unlike any other office room in the world, you are sure not going to find any tiny cubicles set in a robotic fashion inside this unconventional marvel. By doing so Camenzind Evolution wishes to create a unique work experience where sharing information and communication become a lot simpler and interactive. The winding ramps, twisted contours and warm lighting together create a less stressful environment to work in, while those visiting the place sure are bound to be taken in by its charm.

If you wish to give yourself a home court advantage in the corporate battles then an office space like this sure will tilt the balance in your favor. Subtle, minimalistic yet unconventional, Cocoon sure weaves a web around you!

worldarchitecturenews

Since the day the world first lay its eyes on the Bird’s Nest and Water Cube in Beijing, people have been obsessed with creating the perfect stadium, to hold international sporting events. The trend is understandable though with television making these grand engineering and designing marvels appear as symbols of national pride, creativity and capability. The main stadium for the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon is a multi-purpose delight that promises to provide us with some spectacular aerial shots as the opening and closing ceremony take place inside its expansive interior. Designed to ensure that 70,000 are comfortably seated and an additional 30,000 can easily take a stroll around it to enjoy the view, the flowing form of the stadium is in tandem with traditional Korean culture.

The design of the stadium is based on an uneven configuration with corporate and management facilities on its permanent western side, while the Eastern side sports a temporary seating arrangement that will give way to beautiful landscape once the games come to an end. The dynamic design, the integrated green parks around the main stadium, ample space that does away with congestion and the linking system to surrounding parks makes this design both practical and attractive. Of course, there still some time, lots of time, for the games to begin…

Populous

This stretch is too shallow for boats. And too deep for a high tide expedition. It also has an exposed seabed during low tide. The shelter is a habitat for a variety of birds and seals, and more so, can allow you to stay on at the sea during high tide. What’s more, you can even use it as a golden chance to learn more about wildlife on the seabed when it gets flooded.

More than that, it offers shelter for seabed living beings to take shelter during high tide too. In a lot of ways, the SeaShelter is an interface between humans and the sea environment.

Needless to say, its unique features have drawn attention and turned heads at the Design It: Shelter Competition. The design has won the contest, for making seafaring a unique experience. The people’s prize in the same contest went to David Mare’s CBS-Cork Block Shelter.
Via: Inhabitat, Gugenheim

The floating space schematic design is done to be anchored to the coastline, almost like a living organism would do, rising and falling with the tides.

That oceans and humans are interdependent is the core theme of this, while the architectural form draws on the curves and fluidity of living beings in the ocean. So much a far cry from the angled rigidity we see in architecture around us!
Once the pavilion is done with the expo, it could be continued to host a range of events, in other coastal cities too. The design has been conceived by Antoine Damery.

Via: Inhabitat, PTA, Adesigner

In the beginning of July, a preliminary study was published which was prepared by the Herzog & Of Meuron office, and contracted by São Paulo State’s government. Just one hundred square meters will separate the building of the Júlio Prestes Station – projected by Christiano Stockler of Neves and in which ten years ago Dupré inserted the Sala Sao Paulo – from the cultural compound that, according to the government will put São Paulo definitively on the map of the great projects of international architecture.

According to São Paulo’s government, the summons of Herzog & Of Meuron, contracted for well-known specialization, among other reasons, happened after the English company TPC Theatre Projects Consultants, had defined the profile of the complex and detailed the program of each item. Their technicians studied and analyzed the city to visualize a theater of unique characteristics.

From that study, the state government selected architects’ international offices that could be interested in developing the project: English Norman Foster, the Argentinian rooted in the EUA Cesar Pelli, and the Dutchman Rem Koolhaas. “We wanted to provoke a scandal in the Brazilian architecture. In the good sense”, it provokes the secretary of Culture, João Sayad.

Even holders of Pritzker, Oscar Niemeyer and Mendes of Rocha were discarded, according to Sayad, for they already have other projects in the city. In the secretary’s evaluation, Foster’s architecture, Pelli and Koolhaas turns their projects easily recognizable in any part of the world, while the one of Herzog & Of Meuron it is always revealed innovative, not vulgar.

The intrinsic concept to the project of Herzog & Of Meuron was to mix and combine the maximum possible activities, transposing in the building, the dynamics of the metropolis. The group possesses four pavements (and medium height of 23 meters), from which it’s possible to do a lineal external reading nor to define a hierarchy among the facades.

A possible approach is the suspended square, composed by a game of sheets interlaced in the two senses, that integrates into the green areas that the architects propose.

This project is part of the renovation of São Paulo’s downtown, an area that until the 90s used to be dilapidated and is now becoming the most important cultural center in Brazil.

Via: Arcoweb.