Modern Architectural Concepts: High-rise Buildings

Showing posts with label High-rise Buildings. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Glasgow goliath receives planning

Aedas design for Scottish city's tallest commercial building gets thumbs-up
International architectural practice, Aedas, has received planning consent for its masterplan, architectural and landscape design for Bothwell Plaza, in Bothwell Street Glasgow.
Conceived as a driving force of the continued regeneration of the area, the completed scheme will be the tallest commercial building in Glasgow. The 60,000 sq m, 18-storey development will comprise a mixed-use scheme including office, retail and leisure space and a five-star, 320-bed hotel. The design aims to fulfil the European Development Company’s aspirations for an architectural icon and gratify a rising demand for hotel accommodation in the run-up to the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Read more.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Dancing lady kisses Mumbai sky

Mumbai's tallest building design revealed

Set to be the tallest building in Mumbai standing 301 meters or 1000 ft tall, Shreepati Skies or the dancing lady shaped building promises to be unlike any other structure in the India’s or Asia’s Skyline. The master mind behind this structure is no stranger to tall buildings - renowned Architect Reza Kabul has to his credit the tallest completed building of India Shreepati Arcade listed in the Limca book of Records 2003.

In a novel move, the architect has incorporated the image of a dancing native lady with a water pot symbolised within the design.

The chief construction materials are reinforced cement concrete, glass, steel and aluminum, thus giving the building a smooth and sleek finish. Covering a plot area of approximately 2 acres, the design of Shreepati Skies gives the perception of a dancing lady mounted on a platform comprising of 7 parking floors housing 300 cars. The tower has an estimated 81 floors.

Among its many engineering achievements, this building also has a base to height ratio approaching one to ten, making it the most slender skyscraper. It has the longest constructed continual elevator lift by 1000 feet with 10 nos of Elevators at an approximate sped of 5 mts /sec.

Shreepati Skies promises its residents 126 state of the art apartments, each ndividually designed by Reza Kabul himself with apartment sizes ranging from 2 Bedroom, to 3 and 4beds, duplex and penthouses offering unique floor plans and breath taking view of the ocean, many with individual paddle pools. An additional private theatre, therapeutic spa, a state of the art gym, a swimming pool and a helipad on the top are also incorporated.

In order to meet with standard of Sustainability and an Environmental friendly design the design will include recycling of rain water and management of waste water storage and its recycling process amongst others. Construction of the tower shall take approximately 5 years.

Source: worldarchitecturenews

Thursday, February 26, 2009

American Dream of a Customized Home

Inspired by the permeability and spatial qualities of Modernist houses and the great American dream of a customized home, Herzog & de Meuron has replaced the usual extrusion of standardized skyscraper floor plates with a staggered progression of structural slabs turning slightly off axis by degrees as they ascend, creating constant variety among the apartment floor plans.

This structural arrangement of floor plates create an irregular flurry of cantilevered terraces up and down the building, making plays of light and shadow that give the tower a shimmering, animated appearance on the skyline.

The building contains five key zones ascending from street to sky: lobby, townhouse residences, amenities, tower residences, and penthouses. Appearing to rest upon Anish Kapoor’s sculpture, a massive, reflective stainless steel piece, the building base will have the appearance of a stack of cantilevering volumes with varying degrees of transparency and opacity.

The lobby zone contains a dramatic double - height lobby with an entrance on Leonard Street adjacent to a verdant exterior vertical garden to the west. Above the 18-foot-high lobby are several floors of townhouse residences, that relate very directly to the immediate scale and panorama of the neighborhood, and two full floors of amenities spaces custom-designed to the last detail by Herzog& de Meuron.

Photo © Herzog & de Meuron, Basel, 2008
Lounge

Photo © Herzog & de Meuron, Basel, 2008
Screening Room
These spaces include a 75-foot infinity edge pool, one of Manhattan’s largest, surrounded by a black terrazzo deck inlaid with spherical glass aggregate. An adjoining outdoor sundeck cantilevers 20 feet over the block to provide extraordinary Tribeca views and a sense of connection to the district.

The building’s residences are located above with balconies and terraces arranged in varied schemes that provide uninterrupted views of the city. The dramatic nine-story crown containing its apex penthouses, will appear on the Manhattan skyline as a chimerical geometric sculpture of stacked, glimmering glass volumes. Soaring window walls open onto panoramas of the city and sky.

“We approached the design process from the inside out, from the homes themselves. But we also considered the outside in terms of the Tribeca neighborhood. Here you have the small townhouses, the old manufacturing buildings, and the high-rise buildings, but also a lot of little corners and surprising things between. The different scales characterize the neighborhood and we wanted to establish a dialogue among them. For us, creating a building is a research process. We call it a journey.”
Herzog & de Meuron

The 57-story residential building is located at the intersection of Church Street and Leonard Street in the Tribeca Historic District of downtown Manhattan.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

DOROBANTI TOWER

Dorobanti Tower, Render © Zaha Hadid Architects
PROGRAM:
5 Star Hotel & Apartments
CLIENT:
Smartown Investments
SIZE/HEIGHT:
200m
CONCEPT:
IntroductionThe Dorobanti Tower was designed to establish an iconic presence in the heart of Bucharest. The new tower is a unique mix of a distinctive form, ingenious structure, and spatial qualities of sky-high living. The purity of its form - a chamfered diamond like structure - will be a timeless, elegant landmark in the centre of Bucharest. Zaha Hadid Architect’s design concept is a synthesis of architecture and engineering, which integrates a dis-tinct meandering structural mesh frame and naturally expresses the changing programme of hotel, amenities, and residential apartments.The site is located in the centre of Bucharest, to the west of Piaza Romana, and approximately 6km south of the international airport. The brief called for a 100,000 square metre mixed-use development at the junction of Calea Dorobanti and St. Mihail Eminescu. The project comprises 34,000 square metres of a 5-star hotel (including restaurants and a convention centre) and 35,000 square metres of luxury apartments. Additionally, the scheme offers lower level retail areas of 4,600 square metres and it delivers a generous allocation of public realm. This public area will be unlike anything else in Bucharest, representing a major attraction within the dense urban character of the City, offering an important new meeting space and urban plaza.
COMPUTER RENDERS:

Dorobanti Tower, Render © Zaha Hadid Architects

Dorobanti Tower, Render © Zaha Hadid Architects

Dorobanti Tower, Render © Zaha Hadid Architects

Dorobanti Tower, Render © Zaha Hadid Architects

Friday, December 26, 2008

Bicentenary Towers celebrate 200 years of Mexican independence

The 10th International Arquine competition to design two towers to celebrate Mexico’s bicentenary, has been won by Gregorio Vasquez and Manuel Wedeles with their designs for Tezozomoc and Xochimilco. The two mixed-use towers - intended to be completed for the bicentenary celebrations in 2010 – will be set in two strategic areas of Mexico City; the Azcapotzalco Technology Park and the Xochimilco Ecology Park. Each tower will be 83 stories, with around 100,000 metres of floor space, and will include offices, residential apartments, a hotel, and retail areas, separated from one another by a sky garden and connected with vertical voids.

The Serpiente Emplumada Tower (Tezozomoc) is shaped by two ellipses, which intercept each other at their core. These ellipses extrude and twist separately, one slightly and the other dramatically, generating moments where the two shapes intersect and complement one another. The outer shell of Tezozomoc creates an interior vertical void where air can circulate and be cleaned up by various layers of air filters. The Piramide del Sol Tower (Xochimilco) extends geometrically from a square at its base, and is shaped by four extruding squares twisted on their vertical axis, to a rectangular tower at the top, the axis of which marks the direction of the sun. As with Tezozomoc, these twisting volumes generate vertical voids that are used as air ducts where air can be filtered and cleaned, and recycled back into the atmosphere.

Vasquez and Wedeles Architects not only designed the towers to reflect the technological and ecological aims of the competition – with the buildings acting as air filters for their respective parks - but also to represent the history of Mexico itself, with Tezozomoc referencing the ancient Mayan civilisation and Xochimilco representing the Aztecs.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Penang Global City Center

Asymptote Architecture
Penang Global City Center
Penang, Malaysia

Sited on Penang Hill the Penang Global City Center (PGCC) is a key component of the 256 acre development site that was formally the Penang Turf Club.

The design is centered on the idea of creating a new and powerful image for the city of Penang and the new initiatives associated with the development of the Northern Corridor of Malaysia.

The complex includes two iconic, sixty-story towers housing luxury residential units and five-star hotels, the Penang Performing Arts Center (PenPAC), a high-end retail and entertainment complex, an observatory, a world-class convention center and a vast public arena in the form of a plinth that serves as an entrance to the PGCC and connects it to the city beyond.
The design of the iconic towers in particular draws inspiration from not only the lushness and drama of the surrounding mountains and seascapes, but also from the rich and diverse cultural heritage that makes up the Malaysian nation and Penang in particular.

The forms of the two towers are comprised of both horizontal and vertical elements. Sculpted horizontal components move across the plinth, rise up and transform into articulated vertical structures.

The vast, cascading plinth, which functions as a public plaza with multiple gathering spaces, are venues for the performing arts center, convention center and various facilities for residential, office and urban life.Set against the backdrop of the nature reserve of Penang Hill, the twisting, glass facades of the towers “perform” various surface effects - reflecting, refracting and distorting views of Penang, the surrounding landscape and the seascape beyond.

The design incorporates the latest in sustainable design and engineering technologies.

Construction start for Phase 1 is scheduled for late 2008.

Total Area: 1.000.000 square meters
Retail Complex: 400,000 square meters
Convention Center: 100,000 square meters
Performing Arts Center (PenPAC): 75,000 square meters
Condominiums: 70,000 square meters
Hotel and Service Apartments: 50,000 square meters
Offices: 25,000 square meters
Observatory: 1,500 square meters
Parking: 190,000 square meters

Developer: Abad Naluri, a subsidiary of Equine Capital
Architects: Asymptote Architecture
Master Plan: Atelier Seraji

Dubai Dancing Towers by Zaha Hadid

Here is a comprehensive set of images of the Dancing Towers development in Busine ss Bay, Dubai, designed by Zaha Hadid.

The project was launched last year and, when complete, will consist of three interlinking towers containing offices, apartments and a hotel.

Below is a statement from the architect:

–

Architectural Project Narrative

Designing an Icon

Zaha Hadid’s design for the Dancing Towers confirms the role of Business Bay Development at the very forefront of Dubai’s rapidly changing future. The three towers rise above the creek and project themselves as an icon for the surrounding developments and for the gulf region.

The tower’s striking design creates a new presence that punctures the skyline with a powerful recognizable

silhouette. The fluid character of the towers is generated through an intrinsically dynamic

composition of volumes.

The towers are inter-twinned to share programmatic eleme

nts and rotate to maximize the views from the site towards the creek and neighbouring

developments.

The design quality of the towers to act as a symbol and icon extends beyond their scale and location. These qualities a

re derived from the boldness of the architectural concept, from

the ‘choreographed’ movement that combines the three towers in one overall gesture and

‘weaves’ with a series of public spaces through the podium, the bridges and the landscape

beyond.

Context

There will, in the future, become a silhouette of towers, whose pinnacles will represent the

hearts of the new districts within the greater metropolitan area of Dubai.

On the ground, the Business Bay development site will

become stitched into the proposed extended road and infrastructure network of the

enlarged metropolitan area. The new pedestrian routes and roads passing under and

around the Towers development will extend across the creek, bringing people

directly from Sheikh Zayed Road via a grid of major and minor thoroughfares and

boulevards.

Connectivity and Public Space

The site is composed by 4

different parts: (A) central circular plot, (B) an elongated park plot, (C) the surface of t

he creek on axis of plot A and (D) a rectangular plot across the creek at the west margin.

Connectivity between these parts becomes therefore central to the project; in order to

produce an articulated design that encompasses both the scale and the different qualities of each of the parts,

transforming them into a coherent scheme.

The circular shape of the plot and attached vehicular

circulation layout creates a barrier of vehicular traffic around the site, generating an

island that detaches the plot from the waterfront promenade.

By incorporating the design of two new link bridges and a new ground the project effectively multiplies the potential and

connectivity of the site, linking the park at the East - via the

towers with the water’s edge at the West margin of the creek.

The site’s spectacular location at the waterfront engages the project in the continuous

promenade that links through the whole development. By converting the semi-circular

road into a tunnel next to the waterfront the proposal

releases the ground surface to the pedestrian, significantly enlarging the public space of

the promenade. The podium addresses the waterfront by

extending it’s landscape across and inducing pedestrian

movement into the promenade at ground level.

The enclosed bridges allow

for people to walk from one point to the other in a comfortable shaded

environment. During the summer the bridges would be fully air conditioned. During t

he winter they would be opened and operate with natural cross ventilation.

The bridge across the creek has a double deck that allows

for two different uses: one fast - crossing the creek aided by escalators and travelators, a

nd the other slow with the

possibility of having a restaurants and shops on it’s

wider section. We envisage plot D as a landing building attached to the bridge,

programmed with leisure or entertainment activities.

This ‘habitable’ bridge, with it’s prominent location at the centre of the creek’ - it’s own

programme and design - will undoubtedly establish itself as an icon in it’s own right: a

destination for Dubai, attracting local public and foreign tourists alike.

The bridge to the east, links the park (B) with the retail podium and the Offices’ tower. The

design of the park carefully knits the built environment with nature. The proposed soft

landscape and water features create a more intimate

atmosphere, with a terrace of restaurants and bars embedded at the end of the

bridge.

The creek waterside promenade and the park

promenade address the water elements in two different scales of intervention. The creek public promenade offers the pub

lic broad views and vistas. The park provides a more intimate scale surrounded by the trees.

The two interventions enrich the overall development by creating a diversity of spaces that allow

for multiple uses and different ambiances.

In the proposal a new ground is created with a raised landscape, additional levels that contain programme underneath. Under the great arch formed by the merging of the Residential and the Hotel towers, this canyon - like arch space extends linking the two sides of the site and breaking the perimeter circulation. Arrival at the Hotel drop-off is done under the arch and plaza - townscape, with reception and concierge services, lounge area, as well as bars and restaurants underneath.

This canyon - like space between the towers has a seamless character, connecting the landscape around the podium, with a proposed network of pedestrian paths weaving around the base of the three towers and the podium various entrances and drop-offs. In the interior, the canyon links the two cores of the Hotel with the podium.

Programme

Programming of public and private life is an active tool to inject life into the space, integrating new layers of activity and landscape, creating a network of synergetic uses that can develop a new urban ecology.

The programme was addressed as a whole with the three towers corresponding directly to the three main functions: offices, hotel and residential. Together, the towers generate a critical mass of sustainable programmatic relationships.

The towers share a common base / podium, designed as a materialized shadow of the towers and programmed with retail, restaurants and amenities that support the demand from the tower’s population. The podium also contains peripheral functions of the Hotel like the Banquet Hall complex and all the residential car parking.

Under the podium 4 levels of basement accommodate all the necessary heavy back of house / servicing programme, underground technical and plant rooms and car parking for the Retail and Hotel (1st basement) and for the Offices (remaining 3 basements).

The podium terraces / rooftops create outdoor spaces for leisure and recreation, featuring public swimming pools, spa, sports areas and esplanade restaurants. The textured landscape quality of these terraces creates a new ground that interconnects between the towers.

The three towers are conjoined two by two, the Offices and the Hotel at the base and the Hotel and the Residential at the top. Through these adjacencies, the towers are strategically organized in a symbiotic relation, sharing certain segments of the programme.

On the 7th level, the floor plates of the Hotel and the Office towers merge creating a link to the Hotel Business Centre (part of the Offices tower) with meeting rooms, office facilities and services for guests.

The Residential tower shares a core with the hotel, enabling all the back of house / servicing spine to be combined. At 38th level, where the floor plates merge, the apartment residents can share some of the collective programme of the Hotel, like the indoor swimming pool and other amenities.

At the top of the Hotel, 65th Level, the three towers share a panoramic restaurant with breathtaking views over the creek, Business Bay Development area, Burj Dubai downtown, and the Gulf beyond.

The advantage of conjoining the three towers in one organism, resides in the fact that the development can be lived in a full day cycle: anchored in it’s residential population, it reaches the peak of activity during office hours and it mutates through the diversity of the ever-changing population of the hotel.

The heterogeneous population mix creates a cosmopolitan urban environment, constantly energized and renovated through it’s own life.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Competition winner,Asymptote Architecture World Business Center (WBCB) Busan, South Koreah

The groundbreaking design by Asymptote Architecture was selected as the winning project in the international design competition in January, 2007.