The Magic Roundabout

The Magic Roundabout consists of five clockwise mini roundabouts in a ring.
There is also an outer clockwise roundabout and an inner anticlockwise roundabout,
perhaps one of the only places in UK where such a structure will be found.

As you approach the roundabout it becomes apparent that there are a number
of ways of getting to your destination:

You can take the first exit at the first mini roundabout and join the middle
lane towards the second mini roundabout, whereupon you take the second exit.
Repeat this until you are approaching the desired exit mini roundabout,
join the left hand lane and take the first exit. In effect you are orbiting the
outer clockwise roundabout.

Alternatively you can counter-revolve the inner roundabout by taking the
second exit at the first roundabout, and continue taking the first exit in
the left hand lane. To leave you need to get into the right hand lane and
take the second exit.

You can stay on the magic roundabout indefinitely with careful use of the
third exit - treating pairs of roundabouts and their conjoining traffic
islands as roundabouts in themselves.

Hearst Tower - Norman Foster

Foster and Partners 2006

The Hearst Tower is Foster's first building in New York. It is also New York's first 'green' building built to the Gold LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standard of the U.S. Green Buildings Council. But this is no obviously 'eco' building; the New York Times said it "may be the most muscular symbol of corporate self-confidence to rise in New York since the 1960s."

The new Hearst tower is built on top of the original Hearst headquarters building from 1928, in unapologetic, glaring contrast with its eclectic, Art-Deco-inspired original. The based building was originally reinforced to hold a tower above, but in fact the whole building behind the facade has been gutted to create the new tower, as is clear from the soaring atrium within.

The Hearst Tower is the first office tower in North America to use a diagonal grid ("diagrid") construction rather than vertical steel beams. This configuration reduces the total steel required by around 20%, contributing to the buidling's sustainability credentials. Other design features focus on low energy requirements and water conservation in use. About 85% of the original 6-story structure was re-used or recycled.

Milwaukee Art Museum - Quadracci Pavilion

Milwaukee Art Museum - Quadracci Pavilion

700 N. Art Museum Drive
Milwaukee
Wisconsin 53202
USA

Santiago Calatrava 2001

Seen as a complete folly by some local Milwaukee residents, this is one of the most captivating contemporary buildings I ever visited. With the Quadracci Pavilion, the boundaries between engineering, sculpture and architecture have simply disappeared. If any Calatrava building deserves the description of �poetry in motion�, the Quadracci Pavilion is certainly it.

The Quadracci Pavilion is Calatrava�s first building in the US. Its objective was not simply to increase space for the Milwaukee Art Museum, but to create a new image for the museum, and by extension for the city of Milwaukee.

The Quadracci Pavilion is technically an extension of Eero Saarinen�s War Memorial on the lakefront of Michigan Lake in Milwaukee. But rather than add to Saarinen�s building, Calatrava proposed to add to the lakefront. It forms a link between the city of Milwaukee and Michigan Lake and extends Wisconsin Avenue almost into the lake. The Quadracci Pavilion complements Saarinen�s heavy � and rather grim � building both in form and in material. Where Saarinen�s building is landlocked, introvert, heavy and built in grayish stone, Calatrava�s extension is light and open and reaches out to the lake. The low and transparent connecting hallway almost denies that a relationship between these two buildings exists.

Kinetic Aesthetic + Minimalist + Clean = Fascinating Architecture.

When it opened!!

When it closed!

Open again~

Now it closed!

Interior with the outer louvers closed~

Interior with louvers opened like the bird spreading wings. capturing dayligthing into the interior.

Penang Global City Centre

RM18b Penang Global City Centre to be completed in 15 years

BUTTERWORTH: The RM18bil Penang Global City Centre (PGCC) project will take 15 years to complete.

The PGCC project is by Abad Naluri Sdn Bhd, an associate company of Equine Capital Bhd.

Equine holds a 25% stake in Abad Naluri, which is developing PGCC on the 260-acre site where the Penang Turf Club is presently located.

The PGCC is one of the projects highlighted in the Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER) blueprint.

Equine executive chairman Datuk Patrick Lim said two award-winning architects, one each from New York and Paris, would design the PGCC project.

"Hani Rashid from Asymptote Architecture in New York will design the architecture, which includes two iconic towers, while Nasrine Seraji from Atelier Seraji in Paris will design the master plan," he told reporters after the launch of the NCER Penang portion blueprint by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Tuesday.

Lim said the PGCC master plan would be unveiled in September while the project would be launched in eight to 12 months.

The first phase would involve the development of a 26-acre park, and road infrastructure to smoothen the traffic flow for the project, he said.

"The park will be connected to the Botanical Garden. We will use the necessary technologies, such as thermal treatment, to develop PGCC into a carbon-free city," he said.

Lim said the PGCC project would have two five-star hotels, commercial and residential properties, and a state-of-the-art cultural centre.

Lim said there were many options to fund the project, including joint ventures and issuing capital bonds.

"We are also applying to obtain MSC-status to attract information and communications technology companies to set up regional offices at the park," he said.

On the Penang International Equestrian Centre in Batu Kawan, Lim said Abad Naluri would start work on the centre once construction work commenced on the second Penang bridge.

(http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/11/18/nation/19509047&sec=nation)

Frank Gehry, The real Artist

This post is specially for friends who are not in architecture/ construction field. remember him, Frank gehry..and talk to me when we yam cha or lim teh..his work is really interesting~~ so Check it out! gaga!!

"my name is frank gehry, and my building don't leak"-Frank O. Gehry

This is him...


This is Gehry's House...

This is the dancing house in praque. my favourite work of his. Breaking the norm of the site, breaking the proportion of neighbour, creating its owns datum lines.. makes the dancing house dances at the corner of the street.... more to go~~~

this is one of his hotel wichi i donno the name..but it frank had put his signature on it.


This seems bit out of his style, but the attitude of disconstructivism cannot hide.


I donno what the hell is this.. but the rythm of it makes me feel like to move with it. A.K.B.K sure will kinda like it very much!!


This funny fish is the sculpture he makes a joke to his client.. where the patrons of the multi billion dollars hotel will be facing the ass hole of the fish... Gaga...

i dono this building... but i know the architect of it when i first saw it... who done this?












This looks like the turning torso by calatrava.. but... no comment!!!

















Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain... do some research of this work.. this is Gehry's master piece. this is one of the once in my life (where i must go before i die)...






This is the Walt Disney Concert hall... try to find out the welcoming curve and tell me if u got it.. (only people with artistic value could see it.) if u watch chipmunks, for sure it looks very familiar to you!!

alright... is time to stop.. is a challenge to list all gehry's works, especially with comments and description. coz sometimes i don even konw what the building speaks. but is the language own by frank gehry..salute to him..

gaga. gotta put my signature on this too.. Gaga!!

Calatrava in Chicago, The Fordham Spire

Santiago again presents his Sculpture in Architecture in Chicago Lakefront, the Fordham Spire.

This Residential cum 150 rooms hotel Tower will be the tallest in US and i believe it will be a new icon in "skyscrapers jungle" , Chicago. When will we see a habitable sculpture appears in Kuching Skyline? gaga!!

Archipedia

This blog is born for the sharing of architecture images and crit~~.. Gaga.. so wait for my posting.!!