Channel: MAG Landscape
Can a subway station make you want to be underground?
This Budapest subway station extension was planned during the 1980`s, but wasn`t implemented until the new millennium. New construction techniques allowed the architects to excavate of columns, beams, and escalators is illuminated by the sun through a glass ceiling, making this the subterranean space feel like a three-dimensional traffic intersection and transforming it into a valued public space.
(M4 Fovam ter and Szent Gellert ter stations. Budapest, Hungary)
Good architecture is worth the wait.
This Budapest subway station extension was planned during the 1980`s, but wasn`t implemented until the new millennium. New construction techniques allowed the architects to excavate of columns, beams, and escalators is illuminated by the sun through a glass ceiling, making this the subterranean space feel like a three-dimensional traffic intersection and transforming it into a valued public space.
(M4 Fovam ter and Szent Gellert ter stations. Budapest, Hungary)
Good architecture is worth the wait.
Can rubble tell a new story?
Rubble from natural disasters is reborn, fittingly, as a history museum in China. Architects used the debris accumulated through earthquakes to build the façade of this building, commissioned by the city of Ningbo. Built in this way, the architects vision becomes an icon of the past while advancing sustainable ideas of adapting existing materials to contemporary needs.
(Ningbo Museum. Ningbo, China)
Bricks don`t have an expiration date.
Rubble from natural disasters is reborn, fittingly, as a history museum in China. Architects used the debris accumulated through earthquakes to build the façade of this building, commissioned by the city of Ningbo. Built in this way, the architects vision becomes an icon of the past while advancing sustainable ideas of adapting existing materials to contemporary needs.
(Ningbo Museum. Ningbo, China)
Bricks don`t have an expiration date.
Can a bunker become a power plant?
In the landmark ruins of the World War Two-era Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg flak bunker, a drastic reimagining of the structure`s purpose has taken place. It`s now a green machine that converts heat to energy and almost wipes out its own carbon footprint. But its history hasn`t been forgotten – located in the middle of a residential area, the bunker is also publically accessible as a memorial with a café.
(Energy Bunker. Hamburg, Germany)
Architecture reminds us that our memories are powerful.
In the landmark ruins of the World War Two-era Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg flak bunker, a drastic reimagining of the structure`s purpose has taken place. It`s now a green machine that converts heat to energy and almost wipes out its own carbon footprint. But its history hasn`t been forgotten – located in the middle of a residential area, the bunker is also publically accessible as a memorial with a café.
(Energy Bunker. Hamburg, Germany)
Architecture reminds us that our memories are powerful.
How do you turn a grain silo into an art museum?
An ancient Elevator on the waterfront of Cape Town, consisting of forty-two concrete cylindrical towers-became a Museum. Because this structure did not have an open internal space with which to work, the architects carved it directly in eight Central towers (new technologies cutting in reinforced concrete allows to keep a smooth cut edges and enrich the space with new textures). The result was an oval atrium surrounded on all sides by concrete structures. In the underground tunnels of the Elevator arranged workshops in which artists work.
(Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa. Cape Town, South Africa)
The building that used to feed the body now feeds the mind.
An ancient Elevator on the waterfront of Cape Town, consisting of forty-two concrete cylindrical towers-became a Museum. Because this structure did not have an open internal space with which to work, the architects carved it directly in eight Central towers (new technologies cutting in reinforced concrete allows to keep a smooth cut edges and enrich the space with new textures). The result was an oval atrium surrounded on all sides by concrete structures. In the underground tunnels of the Elevator arranged workshops in which artists work.
(Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa. Cape Town, South Africa)
The building that used to feed the body now feeds the mind.
Can a brick become a healing force?
In 2011, Butaro Hospital opened a 150-bed medical facility that serves nearly 350,000 people in this region of Rwanda. The solution came in the form of these charming doctor`s homes, which give foreign staff a permanent residence just five minutes from the hospital. In building the homes, architects took a truly holistic view of the community`s needs and used the project as an opportunity to teach new skilled trades to the local community. On-site workshops taught local teams to make compressed stabilized earth blocks – bricks that are earthquake-safe and sustainable. These teams also learned to make the hospital`s custom furniture and light fixtures, as well as the earth-stabilizing landscaping techniques crucial to bringing agriculture to the region. With a total of nine hundred skilled laborers trained during the construction process, the effort brought better building practices, not to mention better medicine, to Rwanda for generations to come.
(Butaro Doctor`s Housing. Burato, Rwanda)
Buildings build futures.
In 2011, Butaro Hospital opened a 150-bed medical facility that serves nearly 350,000 people in this region of Rwanda. The solution came in the form of these charming doctor`s homes, which give foreign staff a permanent residence just five minutes from the hospital. In building the homes, architects took a truly holistic view of the community`s needs and used the project as an opportunity to teach new skilled trades to the local community. On-site workshops taught local teams to make compressed stabilized earth blocks – bricks that are earthquake-safe and sustainable. These teams also learned to make the hospital`s custom furniture and light fixtures, as well as the earth-stabilizing landscaping techniques crucial to bringing agriculture to the region. With a total of nine hundred skilled laborers trained during the construction process, the effort brought better building practices, not to mention better medicine, to Rwanda for generations to come.
(Butaro Doctor`s Housing. Burato, Rwanda)
Buildings build futures.
Can architecture pop-up?
Off-the-self acrylic tubes are assembled to create a rigid pavilion whose shape is inspired by a rough gemstone.
(Bulgari Art Pavilion. Manarat Al Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates)
Off-the-self acrylic tubes are assembled to create a rigid pavilion whose shape is inspired by a rough gemstone.
(Bulgari Art Pavilion. Manarat Al Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates)
Can architecture pop-up?
Designed with emerging chefs and food truck culture in mind, a lightweight, corrugated plastic shell can expand to accommodate dinners for two or fifty.
(PDU (Portable Dining Unit). San Francisco, California, United States)
Designed with emerging chefs and food truck culture in mind, a lightweight, corrugated plastic shell can expand to accommodate dinners for two or fifty.
(PDU (Portable Dining Unit). San Francisco, California, United States)
Can architecture pop-up?
A temporary floating wedding pavilion barely touches the ground, thanks to a balloon canopy filled with helium and draped in diaphanous fabric.
(Floatastic. New Haven, Connecticut, United States)
A temporary floating wedding pavilion barely touches the ground, thanks to a balloon canopy filled with helium and draped in diaphanous fabric.
(Floatastic. New Haven, Connecticut, United States)
Can architecture pop-up?
A temporary social hub on Governors Island at the Figment arts festival is made of 53,780 recycled bottles – the amount thrown away in New York City every hour.
(Head in the Clouds. Governors Island, New York, United States)
A temporary social hub on Governors Island at the Figment arts festival is made of 53,780 recycled bottles – the amount thrown away in New York City every hour.
(Head in the Clouds. Governors Island, New York, United States)
What if a cow built your house?
To create this experimental structure, cleverly named The Truffle, a group of architects dug a hole, packed it with hay, and then poured concrete around it. After the concrete dried, a calf named Paulina moved in, eating the hay for a year and hollowing out a small cave in the process – all that was left in the end was the scratches and imprints of how the place was made. It is a fantastically hideous little building that became the most sublime place to watch a Spanish sunset. It`s also a true melding of the most important tenets of future building: reliance on known techniques, forward-thinking environmentalism, whimsy, and brilliant simplicity. Moo.
(“The Truffle”, Ensamble Studio. Costa da Morte, Spain)
The future of architecture will surprise you.
To create this experimental structure, cleverly named The Truffle, a group of architects dug a hole, packed it with hay, and then poured concrete around it. After the concrete dried, a calf named Paulina moved in, eating the hay for a year and hollowing out a small cave in the process – all that was left in the end was the scratches and imprints of how the place was made. It is a fantastically hideous little building that became the most sublime place to watch a Spanish sunset. It`s also a true melding of the most important tenets of future building: reliance on known techniques, forward-thinking environmentalism, whimsy, and brilliant simplicity. Moo.
(“The Truffle”, Ensamble Studio. Costa da Morte, Spain)
The future of architecture will surprise you.
Fast forward
Can a skyscraper be built in a day?
Building a skyscraper used to take years. But a group in China is changing everything we know about construction, building a fifteen-story hotel in six days, then a thirty-story hotel in just over two weeks. The secret is prefabrication: Large sections of the building were assembled in a factory, eliminating waste and delays at the building site. According to the China Academy of Building Research, the tower is five times more earthquake-resistant than a similar one built with traditional methods.
(Т30 Hotel, Broad Group. Hunan Province, China)
Even if buildings can happen in the blink of an eye, they should still stand the test of time
Can a skyscraper be built in a day?
Building a skyscraper used to take years. But a group in China is changing everything we know about construction, building a fifteen-story hotel in six days, then a thirty-story hotel in just over two weeks. The secret is prefabrication: Large sections of the building were assembled in a factory, eliminating waste and delays at the building site. According to the China Academy of Building Research, the tower is five times more earthquake-resistant than a similar one built with traditional methods.
(Т30 Hotel, Broad Group. Hunan Province, China)
Even if buildings can happen in the blink of an eye, they should still stand the test of time
Fast forward
Can bacteria be your architect?
A 6,000-kilometer-long inhabitable wall in the Sahara Desert isn`t built – it is grown, with the help of a bacteria that turns sand into sandstone. This is the concept behind Dune, a naturally generated sand structure that relies on a biological reaction: The sandstone is grown with the help of Bacillus pasteurii, a bacterial microorganism found in marshes and wetlands. Once introduced, the bacteria might be able to create a structurally sound and livable structure in less than a week, opening new possibilities for rapidly deployable refugee housing in the desert.
Dune (Concept). Sahara Desert, North Africa. Project by Magnus Larsson
The desert is a living place
Can bacteria be your architect?
A 6,000-kilometer-long inhabitable wall in the Sahara Desert isn`t built – it is grown, with the help of a bacteria that turns sand into sandstone. This is the concept behind Dune, a naturally generated sand structure that relies on a biological reaction: The sandstone is grown with the help of Bacillus pasteurii, a bacterial microorganism found in marshes and wetlands. Once introduced, the bacteria might be able to create a structurally sound and livable structure in less than a week, opening new possibilities for rapidly deployable refugee housing in the desert.
Dune (Concept). Sahara Desert, North Africa. Project by Magnus Larsson
The desert is a living place
Fast forward
Can mushrooms replace stone?
These bricks are made of mushrooms. Mushrooms! The “bio-bricks” were grown inside of reflective trays made out of a mirrored film. These reflective containers were later used at the top of the tower to bounce daylight into the structure and the space around it. The tower`s shape is designed to be efficient, too, cooling itself by pushing hot air out at the top. In contrast to the energy-gobbling skyscrapers on New York City`s skyline, Hy-Fi offers a thought-provoking glimpse of the future. Hope you like mushrooms.
Hy-Fi: 2014 MoMA/PS1 Young Architects Program winner. Queens, New-York, United States
We can grow the future
Can mushrooms replace stone?
These bricks are made of mushrooms. Mushrooms! The “bio-bricks” were grown inside of reflective trays made out of a mirrored film. These reflective containers were later used at the top of the tower to bounce daylight into the structure and the space around it. The tower`s shape is designed to be efficient, too, cooling itself by pushing hot air out at the top. In contrast to the energy-gobbling skyscrapers on New York City`s skyline, Hy-Fi offers a thought-provoking glimpse of the future. Hope you like mushrooms.
Hy-Fi: 2014 MoMA/PS1 Young Architects Program winner. Queens, New-York, United States
We can grow the future
Fast forward
Can skyscrapers be made of wood?
The idea of a wooden skyscraper raises eyebrows – and a lot of questions: Can it stand up in an earthquake? What if it catches fire? But this design competition winner proposes a thirty-four-story wooden skyscraper that would have the safety attributes of steel or concrete, with less construction waste and better acoustics than traditional high rises. The idea is more than speculation; Sweden`s largest housing association plans to complete the tower by 2023.
HSB Stockholm competition winner (concept). Stockholm, Sweden
Berg | C.F. Møller Architects & DinnellJohansson
New ideas can grow on trees
Can skyscrapers be made of wood?
The idea of a wooden skyscraper raises eyebrows – and a lot of questions: Can it stand up in an earthquake? What if it catches fire? But this design competition winner proposes a thirty-four-story wooden skyscraper that would have the safety attributes of steel or concrete, with less construction waste and better acoustics than traditional high rises. The idea is more than speculation; Sweden`s largest housing association plans to complete the tower by 2023.
HSB Stockholm competition winner (concept). Stockholm, Sweden
Berg | C.F. Møller Architects & DinnellJohansson
New ideas can grow on trees
Fast forward
Can worms replace workers?
Silk doesn`t seem like the sturdiest building material, but a group at MIT turned to 6,500 live silkworms to build a structure that connects nature with technology in a whole new way. They programmed a robotic arm to create a framework across a metal scaffold that gave the silkworms a roadmap to follow. When the worms were let loose on the structure, they responded to light, heat, and geometry, producing patterns that were a reflection of their environment. The resulting dome could inspire researchers to design and make man-made fiber structures never before imagined.
Silk Pavilion. Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States.
MIT Media Lab Mediated Matter Group
Architecture can imitate the beautiful efficiency of nature
Can worms replace workers?
Silk doesn`t seem like the sturdiest building material, but a group at MIT turned to 6,500 live silkworms to build a structure that connects nature with technology in a whole new way. They programmed a robotic arm to create a framework across a metal scaffold that gave the silkworms a roadmap to follow. When the worms were let loose on the structure, they responded to light, heat, and geometry, producing patterns that were a reflection of their environment. The resulting dome could inspire researchers to design and make man-made fiber structures never before imagined.
Silk Pavilion. Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States.
MIT Media Lab Mediated Matter Group
Architecture can imitate the beautiful efficiency of nature
China, Jiangyin. Docklands Park
Jiangyin is on the Yangtze, the world’s busiest working river. The city is regenerating part of its industrial docklands into a high density live-work district. Stage one of this major project is the creation of a 4km public realm along the river edge.
This project rehabilitates, preserves, enhances and extends a raft of microhabitats. Complexity of the existing river edge is formally maintained, enhanced and secured with loose rock scaled for habitat. A new corridor of indigenous trees and lower story plants weaves through the project’s length. It connects the Ebizui mountain ecological node to the east with the canal eco corridor towards the west.
Jiangyin is on the Yangtze, the world’s busiest working river. The city is regenerating part of its industrial docklands into a high density live-work district. Stage one of this major project is the creation of a 4km public realm along the river edge.
This project rehabilitates, preserves, enhances and extends a raft of microhabitats. Complexity of the existing river edge is formally maintained, enhanced and secured with loose rock scaled for habitat. A new corridor of indigenous trees and lower story plants weaves through the project’s length. It connects the Ebizui mountain ecological node to the east with the canal eco corridor towards the west.
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