Tower B1 is a part of the Porta di Roma (it. – Gate of Rome) – shopping centre, designed by Valle Architetti. This large multi-functional centre is a part of the Urban Plan of the Bufalotta district, a settlement of 10,000 inhabitants with housing and services situated along the GRA (Grande Raccordo Anulare) ring road to the north of Rome, which was also designed by Valle Architetti.
Among the buildings that became this year’s award winners of the Royal Institute British Architects, we have selected those projects that have been specially marked for their design and specially great attention paid to green technologies. Now they are actively used in the operation of these buildings, making them friendly to the environment. Among those, which received the awards for environmental sustainability, primarily, are social facilities, which were built in small towns that still do not diminish their importance for the overall development of Sustainable Construction.
Three affordable housing developments are the recipients of the 2013 HUD Secretary’s Housing and Community Design Award, each recognized for excellence in residential housing design. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) selected Via Verde- The Green Way in New York City; Community Learning in Leominster, Massachusetts; and New Accessible Passive Solar Housing, Stoneham, Massachusetts as national affordable housing models. An article about one of these projects - Via Verde housing complex in New York City - was published in the Green Buildings Magazine, № 2, 2013. Here we bring to your attention another two projects implemented in the state of Massachusetts.
Stanton Williams’ Sainsbury Laboratory has won the 2012 RIBA Stirling Prize. Now in its 17th year, the RIBA Stirling Prize is the UK’s most prestigious architecture prize, awarded to the architects of the best new European building built or designed in the UK. This building is an exciting new typology, with spaces for research juxtaposed with those for education, the private and the public and the highly-technological nurture of nature with the simple enjoyment of an extended botanic garden.
The South Carolina Chapter of the American Planning Association (SCAPA) recently presented its 2010 planning awards, which recognized the University of South Carolina, City of Columbia, Guignard Associates and Sasaki Associates Inc. for the Innovista Master Plan for downtown Columbia and the Congaree River waterfront. The Darla Moore School of Business is located on the campus of the University of South Carolina in downtown Columbia, South Carolina.
Looking at the object, it seems that an enormous drop appears to wind its way out of the water where it has formed its softly gleaming transparencies and intriguing reflections. This is Drop35, the first floating multipurpose cultural center which unites the very latest ideas in art, design and slow food philosophy with the pleasure had in contemplating the beauties of nature from a totally new point of view: that of water. Architect Giancarlo Zema specializing in the design of floating facilities, provides a solution to create a space that enables a variety of activities and at the same time constantly attend to environmental issues. The Drop 35 project can become a symbol of high achievements of the Italian technologies and an important center of a cultural exchange between Italy and foreign countries.
The conceptual frame work for this project developed out of a clear interest in emphasizing an Architecture that can exist between nature and technology. An architecture that is inspired by patterns, movement and color appearing in nature, and that can evolve into an interactive and intelligent building organism. Just within this conception was solved a Housing Tower in Lima, Peru, called “Animated Apertures”. According to the architects, its design aesthetic is based more not on widely common digital designs that the firm wished to avoid. Animated apertures (diaphragms) – are similar to the structural elements of the lens, regulating quantity of light passing through it.
In Harbin, the capital and the largest city of the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, China, has recently completed the construction of the China Wood Sculpture Museum.
In August 2006, British architectural company Atkins won an international design competition for the five-star hotel and their vision is in the process of being transformed into reality by Chinese developer Shimao. A quarry is a rather unlikely destination for a luxury hotel. Perhaps, that’s what makes the concept of Songjiang Quarry Hotel so awe-inspiring. The aqueous theme embodied in it both visually and functionally, so it would be more accurate to call this object the Hotel- Waterfall. Atkins is providing architecture, structural and civil engineering services for this leisure resort in China, which includes extreme sports facilities, visiof tor centre and a fivestar luxury hotel with some levels of the hotel situated under water. Sustainability is integral to Atkins’ design of this unique resort, built into an abandoned, waterfilled quarry. Atkins’ design solution includes the use of green roofing and exploiting the site’s geothermal heat to generate electricity and heating. A naturally-lit internal atrium incorporates the existing rock face, with its waterfalls and green vegetation.
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and its Committee on the Environment (COTE) have selected the top ten examples of sustainable architecture and green design solutions that protect and enhance the environment. The projects will be honored at the AIA 2013 National Convention and Design Exposition in Denver.