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Aug 15 / 8:00am

Architecture: O-14 Tower, 2010

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Dubai is the glittering city on the Persian Gulf where the Burj Khalifa, currently the world's tallest structure, dominates the skyline. Comparatively, this 22 story office building seems quaint by comparison - save for the drastic exterior designed to create an alien presence amongst the surrounding sleek skyscrapers.

New York City-based firm Reiser + Umemoto created the abstract exterior via a poured-concrete exoskeleton gouged with holes of five varying sizes. Attached to a inner glass-walled enclosure that follows the exoskeleton's curvature, the building's interior is completely free of support columns. The more than 1,300 holes throughout the exoskeleton also allow for natural lighting and

The building's name is taken from the site number within Dubai's Business Bay district.

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Filed under  //  Architecture   Burj Khalifa   Business Bay   Dubai   New York City   O-14 Tower   Resier   Umemoto  
 
Aug 7 / 9:00am

Architecture: Guangzhou Opera House, 2010

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Iraq-born British architect Zaha Hadid designed this incredible, 1,800-seat $200 million structure in China's southern Guangdong province; Hadid's "double pebble" design was an entry in an international competition that included designs from Vienna's Coop Himmelb(l)au and Harvard Graduate School of Design professor Rem Koolhaas. It took nearly five years to construct, but already the Guangzhou Opera House has been celebrated as the greatest opera house in the world. Sorry, Sydney.

Hadid's design was inspired by "pebbles in a stream smoothed by erosion," meant to evoke erosion, geology and topography with fluid designs and dramatically-defined areas.

You should read more about the project's concept as well as see more incredible imaery at the Zaha Hadid Architects website.

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Filed under  //  Architecture   China   Coop Himmelb(l)au   Design    Guangdong   Guangzhou   Opera House   Rem Koolhaas   Zaha Hadid  
 
Aug 4 / 7:22pm

Architecture: The Varna Restaurant, 1971

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Psychedelic patterns and colors adorned every face of the Varna Restaurant, an eatery set within a palatial Danish hall built in 1909; the design, however, was clearly much more contemporaneous. Architect Verner Panton was responsible for the purple-drenched décor, offset by a central Red Hall clad in sharp, contrasting crimson. Panton was a well-known Danish design primarily known for his modern work with interiors and furniture. Unfortunately, Varna Palace's restaurant no longer looks as it did when Panton completed the project, victim of a 1971 rennovation as well as another more recent re-do.

Nonetheless, Panton's work is a drastic, arguably dated creation of a all-encompassing experience that combines sensory stimulation, a mood-crafting palette and the kind of modernity typically reserved for the lairs of 007's arch-nemeses. Obviously, then, you can see the appeal.

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Filed under  //  1971   Architecture   Art Design   Color   Color Design   Danish design   Denmark   Interior Design   Red Hall   Restaurant   Varna   Verner Panton   furniture design   futurism   modernism  
 
Aug 1 / 8:00am

Architecture: The Seville Metropol Parasol, 2011

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Completed in April, the Metropol Parasol of Seville, Spain, is the world's largest wooden structure, an ultra-modern creation designed by architect Jürgen Mayer H., whose inspiration came from the vaulted ceilings of Seville's cathedrals as well as a goal of creating a stark contrast to much of the surrounding medieval buildings of Seville.

The Parasol is made of cross-hatching timber planks atop a steel structure and grounded with concrete pillars and contains an archaelogical museum, a farmer's market, an elevated plaza, bars and restaurants, the majority of which are open-air. It provides expansive shade during Seville's hot summer days and an artificial sky at night.

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Filed under  //  Architecture   Design    Jurgen Mayer H   La Encarnaciรณn   Metropol Parasol   Seville   Seville Parasol  
 
Feb 24 / 8:45pm

Architecture: "Habitat 67", 1967

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The core of the 1967 World's Fair, held in Montreal, was Expo 67, which featured a vast, interlocking collection of 354 concrete modules comprising 158 resident units on the Saint Lawrence River waterfront called "Habitat 67." Designed by architect Moshe Safdie, Habitat 67 was originally a much more ambitious projec scheduled to include between 900 and 1,000 residential units of varying floorplans (anywhere from single to four bedroom) but ultimately proved cost-prohibitive. Safdie's design allowed for home gardens and privacy as well as a series of pedestrian streets throughout the complex which is stacked in a way that allows terraces and balconies for all. It is truly a remarkable accomplishment of design.

See and learn more about Habitat 67 at the official site.

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Filed under  //  Architecture   Canada   Expo 67   Habitat 67   Montreal   Moshe Safdie   Quebec