This traditional ‘office plus car park’ project offered an opportunity to radically reassess the surrounding urban district of Xujiahui, including a busy crossroads and the second largest metro station in the city. The design explored ways in which the project could become a generous catalyst for the wider environment: a building-led renewal of the infrastructure.
Located between the major highways of Istanbul, D-100 and TEM, in the proximity of Sabiha Gökçen Airport in Pendik, Istanbul, the project transforms an old industrial chemical factory land into a technology company campus for one of the most dynamic Turkish banks. Inspired by the natural topography around the site and the desire of creating a clear contrast to the surroundings’ unorganized urban fabric. The campus has introduced the most modern green solutions, for which it has received Leed Gold certificate.
In October 2019, Pritzker Prize-winning architect Shigeru Ban inaugurated one of the world’s largest wood building projects, the Swatch and Omega Campus in Biel, Switzerland. The opening of the Swatch and Omega Campus was a momentous occasion, marking the culmination of 8.5 years of design, engineering, and construction. At 46,778 sq m (503,514 sq ft), the project is Shigeru Ban Architects’ largest and most exuberant hybrid mass timber project to date, and one of the largest hybrid mass timber projects in the world. Heralding a new chapter in the history of the brand, this building defies current conventions, just like the watches that are created there. Beyond a celebratory ribbon cutting, this date marked a milestone in our global consciousness, answering the questions, “Why wood?” and “Why now?”
Paris architecture firm Jakob + MacFarlane has designed a retractable wood and glass exhibition hall for the Saint-Denis area of Paris. As a winning project in the C40 international “Reinventing Cities” competition, the project was made to reflect the historical industrial heritage of the surrounding context. Dubbed Odyssee Pleyel, the hall aims to showcase thought-leadership in carbon-neutral development and the global clean energy transition.
The offices of NP2F architectes and L’Effet urbain, have won the Reinventing Paris II request for innovative urban project proposals for the Centre de Repartition Laumiere site in Paris (19th arrondissement), a former electrical substation, with their proposal for an urban hotel dedicated to sports and sportspeople: Laumiere+.
The solutions developed by Japanese architects to ensure an optimal ratio between the space size and the amount of time that a person spends gave rise to capsule hotels. The fair assumption of minimum time that a businessman needs to stay a night in a hotel has resulted in a maximum reduction in personal space. Japanese experiments in this field bring the combination of minimum time with minimum space to the absolute to be the basis of a capsule hotel concept.
The National Museum of Qatar (NMoQ) opened to the public on 28 March 2019. On the eve of the official inauguration ceremony Emir of Qatar His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, under the patronage of which is the Museum, welcoming the world to an unparalleled immersive experience housed in a new architectural masterpiece by Jean Nouvel. The Museum’s winding, 1.5-kilometer gallery path is a journey through a series of unique, encompassing environments, each of which tells its part of the story of Qatar through a special combination of architectural space, music, poetry, oral histories, evocative aromas, archaeological and heritage objects, commissioned artworks, monumentally-scaled art films, and more.
The Amherst College New Science Center provides state-of-the-art facilities and a flexible space to support the college’s science programs and students through the next century while reducing energy usage by 76 percent compared with a typical research building. This year New Science Center became one of the winners of COTE Top Ten Awards, which is annually awarded by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and its Committee on the Environment.
Green Office® ENJOY is a special building in more ways than one. Built over a railway underpass, it is made largely of wood and produces more energy than it uses. Its 17,400 m2 of office space accommodates 1,250 people, providing both an architectural experience and a user-friendly working environment with the latest technical features. Green Office® ENJOY also occupies a special place within its local neighbourhood, where it marks the north-western entrance to a newly developed quarter and features its own exterior space, 15% of which is greened. Built to positive-energy standards, it delivers optimum quality in technical, architectural and human terms.
Visitors to Tilburg’s newly modernized station district will notice an exciting addition to the city: the new public library which was officially opened in January 2019. A former locomotive shed – the ‘LocHal’ – has undergone an intensive redesign to become the beating heart of the district. It has been transformed into a public meeting place with a distinct railway theme. Its rugged steel structure provides the perfect backdrop for all manner of events and exhibitions.