Friday, June 6, 2014

Epic Bridges

1. River Hull Footbridge

A bridge that swings you across the river

Location: Hull, UK

Passengers can “ride” this bridge to get across the river while it makes way for river traffic. The hub section even has a restaurant and a viewing platform that rotates with it. Photo via Archdaily

2. Aiola Island Bridge

The ultimate hangout bridge

Location: Gratz, Austria

Designed to link nature with the city, this trendy island-bridge contains a bar, a cafe, a sunbathing area, an open-air theater, and a children’s playground. It was originally intended to be relocated to another river or city, but the people loved it so much, it stayed. Photo via Architecture Linked

3. Yongle Bridge

The only bridge with a Ferris Wheel attached to it

Location: Tianjin, China

The Tianjin Eye, towering 354 feet high, makes a full circle in 30 minutes. That’s a fun way to kill time when stuck in traffic. Photo via Windoworld

4. Vancouver Land Bridge

A gorgeous bridge that pays tribute to Northwestern American culture and history

Location: Vancouver, WA, USA

The Vancouver Land Bridge is part of a 2.3-mile trail winds through the historical sites of Fort Vancouver and the Columbia River. The trail is marked by Native American artwork among blooming flowers and indigenous plants grown in the earth-covered pedestrian bridge. Photo via Lando-Landscape Architecture

5. Foryd Harbour Cycle & Pedestrian Bridge

A flappy bridge

Location: Ryll, North Wales

To make way for passing ships, other bridges swing, twist, or elevate. This one flaps.

6. Pont Jacques Chaban-Delmas

A bridge with an elevator function

Location: Boreaux, France

A futuristic four-poster bridge that lifts traffic up for ships to sail through. Bet the view up there’s fantastic. Photo via Projets-Architecte-Urbanisme

7. BP Pedestrian Bridge

A snaky bridge that blocks out traffic noise

Location: Chigaco, IL, USA

Designed by architect Frank Gehry, this stunning bridge was inspired by a certain scaly reptile that has haunted many of his works since the 1960′s. Photo via Designalmic

8. Gateshead Millennium Bridge

A winking, tilting bridge

Location: Gateshead, UK

The Gateshead Millenium is also called the ’Blinking Eye Bridge’ or the ‘Winking Eye Bridge’ because of its peculiar movement when it pivots itself to provide clearance above the river. Tourists love watching the works. Photo via BBC News

9. Falkirk Wheel

A revolving boat lift from the future

Location: Falkirk, Scotland

Basically it lifts boats up from the water and on to the road above. Jaws drop.

10. Banpo Bridge

Korea’s famous rainbow fountain bridge

Location: Seoul, South Korea

A bridge built to entertain. Its inbuilt fountain is programmed to play shows throughout the day. At daytime it plays with different shapes of sprays, while at night it sends jets of rainbow-colored water to the air while music plays in the background. Photo via Wikimedia Commons

11. Red Python Bridge

A bridge that will swallow you whole

Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands

Connecting Borneo Island and Sporenburg, this bridge is a popular destination for neighborhood youngsters to dive into the cool canal on hot summer days. Don’t let the snake-like form fool you. It’s perfectly safe. Photo via Jovarq

12. Henderson Waves

Singapore’s trendy hangout bridge

Location: Singapore

This is where all the cool kids in Singapore hang out. Its smooth, undulating wood panel hollows are the perfect place to take Instagrams. Photo via Yurtopic

13. Magdeburg Water Bridge

A bridge that connects rivers, not roads

Location: Magdeburg, Germany

The boss of all aqueducts, the Magdeburg Water Bridge is an engineering feat fusing two faraway rivers over another via an artificial river bridge thing that looks totally awesome. Photo via Home Desgn

14. Helix Bridge

A bridge that resembles the structure of the DNA

Location: Singapore

Want to find out what the DNA looks like a million times magnified? Here’s an idea (minus the sparkly multi-color LED effect, of course). Photo by Angus Martin

15. Hovenring

A floating bridge roundabout for cyclists

Location: Eindhoven, Netherlands

Cycling in Eindhoven is heaven, and this bridge is probably its most blissful spot. Suspended by steel cables from a balancing pylon, the Hovenring is practically floating on air while cyclists happily paddle around it. Photo via Reddit

16. Moses Bridge

A sunken bridge that lets you walk through, not over, water

Location: Fort De Roovere, Netherlands

Remember Moses parting the Red Sea to free the Israelites from the slavery of Egypt? That’s the idea. Would have been cooler (or creepier) if the side walls were made of glass though. Photo via Best-Koeln

17. The Root Bridges of Cherrapunji

Natural bridges made entirely of living tree roots

Location: Cherrapunji, India

Finally, a group of epic bridges that weren’t built, but grown. Tribesmen in Meghalaya use a natural guidance system to direct roots of a particular Indian rubber tree to create a bridge crossing the river. These bridges are said to be 500 years old. Photo by avikdasgupta via Panoramio

Bridges, Bridges, Bridges...

19 Architecturally Epic Bridges You'd Want To Cross Again And Again

1. River Hull Footbridge

A bridge that swings you across the river

Location: Hull, UK

2. Aiola Island Bridge

The ultimate hangout bridge

Location: Gratz, Austria

3. Yongle Bridge

The only bridge with a Ferris Wheel attached to it

Location: Tianjin, China

The Tianjin Eye, towering 354 feet high, makes a full circle in 30 minutes. That’s a fun way to kill time when stuck in traffic. Photo via Windoworld

4. Heatherwick’s Rolling Bridge

A bridge that rolls up on its own

Location: London, England

Created by designer/engineer Thomas Heatherwick, the rolling bridge can practically twist itself from a free-standing octagonal fixture into a smart-looking pedestrian bridge.

5. Vancouver Land Bridge

A gorgeous bridge that pays tribute to Northwestern American culture and history

Location: Vancouver, WA, USA

6. Foryd Harbour Cycle & Pedestrian Bridge

A flappy bridge

Location: Ryll, North Wales

To make way for passing ships, other bridges swing, twist, or elevate. This one flaps.

7. Pont Jacques Chaban-Delmas

A bridge with an elevator function

Location: Boreaux, France

A futuristic four-poster bridge that lifts traffic up for ships to sail through. Bet the view up there’s fantastic. Photo via Projets-Architecte-Urbanisme

8. BP Pedestrian Bridge

A snaky bridge that blocks out traffic noise

Location: Chigaco, IL, USA

Designed by architect Frank Gehry, this stunning bridge was inspired by a certain scaly reptile that has haunted many of his works since the 1960′s. Photo via Designalmic

9. Gateshead Millennium Bridge

A winking, tilting bridge

Location: Gateshead, UK

10. Falkirk Wheel

A revolving boat lift from the future

Location: Falkirk, Scotland

Basically it lifts boats up from the water and on to the road above. Jaws drop.

11. Banpo Bridge

Korea’s famous rainbow fountain bridge

Location: Seoul, South Korea

12. Red Python Bridge

A bridge that will swallow you whole

Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands

13. Henderson Waves

Singapore’s trendy hangout bridge

Location: Singapore

This is where all the cool kids in Singapore hang out. Its smooth, undulating wood panel hollows are the perfect place to take Instagrams. Photo via Yurtopic

14. Da Nang’s Fire-Breathing Dragon Bridge

Just a fire-breathing dragon bridge

Location: Da Nang, Vietnam

Nothing’s more badass than a fire-breathing, steel-hewn dragon bridge. It sprays water and lights up with rainbow LEDs too.

15. Magdeburg Water Bridge

A bridge that connects rivers, not roads

Location: Magdeburg, Germany

16. Helix Bridge

A bridge that resembles the structure of the DNA

Location: Singapore

Want to find out what the DNA looks like a million times magnified? Here’s an idea(minus the sparkly multi-color LED effect, of course). Photo by Angus Martin

17. Hovenring

A floating bridge roundabout for cyclists

Location: Eindhoven, Netherlands

18. Moses Bridge

A sunken bridge that lets you walk through, not over, water

Location: Fort De Roovere, Netherlands

19. The Root Bridges of Cherrapunji

Natural bridges made entirely of living tree roots

Location: Cherrapunji, India

Friday, May 30, 2014

A Garden in A Non Traditional Way

The Pop Up Beer Garden That Has Everyone Singing

Groundswell Design Group create a fully functional pop up beer garden.

A vacant lot filled with garbage and unwanted materials are an eyesore. However, if that lot is beautifully landscaped with a pallet of up-cycled materials, then that lot can become a beautiful destination. As featured on our“Top 10 Examples of Rapid Landscape Architecture” article, the Pop Up Beer Garden project by Groundswell is a gleaming example of success and simplicity at its best.

Just like in Philadelphia, where the beer garden annually pops up, many urban areas have unused and unloved spaces. This particular lot in PA was previously used for a trapeze art exhibition as well as a parking lot. However, in 2013, the lot fell into the hands of Groundswell design groupwhere they decided to create a pocket park that consisted of a pop-up beer garden. As quick as the name “pop-up” suggests, the beer garden literally was able to pop-up as a fully functioning gathering space within two weeks of installation! The charming thing was that the whole process was visible to the public.

The Design

The architecture on site is made up of up-cycled shipping containers used as a beer and food stand. Each of the servicing units had a green roof to moderate the temperatures, especially to keep cool during the summer times. The seating area is comprised of picnic tables that are located underneath large Honey Locusts. Vintage metal chairs and a sculptural terraced seating wall constructed from old shipping pallets and strings of market lights also added a unique character to this former parking lot. The open space shelters users from the hot sun and at night the place turns into a magical sequence of glowing night lights and twinkling stars under the evening dusk.

Social life

Adding to the site’s colourful past, the intimate place does not only host picnic style food services and a beer garden, it allows for a fun and playful arrays of art exhibitions, outdoor films (a rare amenity to come by these days), live music and grilling. It is no wonder that this little pocket park has drawn attention to not just the local community but also from distant visitors, keeping the park bustling with life.

In many cities, parks are a permanent space of recreation, a central node that is designed and maintained to withstand the tests of time. Yet the beautiful and successful thing about this park is its impermanence. Should the space be designated to become something else; this Pop-Up Beer Garden can be easily transported and installed in any location. It does not need to be identified by the genius loci of a place that became very important to our design field many years ago but uses its simple functionality and materiality- which is simply based on the idea of bringing friends, families and strangers together to eat, drink and enjoy each other’s company and creativity.

The design embraces creative thinking in crafting a new atmosphere with the old. Whether it is the actual redundant space itself turned into a gathering space or whether it is the old, unwanted materials being recycled to give a new function and life. If every redundant vacant lot could be embraced by this idea of impermanence, temporality and ‘pop-ups’ to create lively niches that support the local livelihood as well as celebrate the art of creativity in the making process, it could really change the perception of vacant areas as dark scary corners of a city, piling up with garbage.

These designs might just end up being more successful than they intended to be and could really become the life of the community, giving a great addition to a city, even if it is for a fleeting moment. The pop-up garden aims to pop-up some more, who knows when and where, nevertheless, it keeps the people excited and the anticipation just makes it that much special.

For more information see link below:

http://landarchs.com/pop-beer-garden-everyone-singing/

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Water Wheel

A new water wheel will remove tons of plastic bottles, cups and cigarettes butts from the Inner Harbor.

Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore Inc. is harnessing the power of light and water to help prevent trash from floating into the Inner Harbor.

The organization is installing a solar- and water-powered wheel to collect trash at the base of the Jones Falls, between Pier VI and Harbor East. The wheel, capable of removing 50,000 pounds of trash per day, will bring the Waterfront Partnership closer to its goal of making the harbor clean enough for recreational use by 2020.

"It's a big step forward toward a swimmable, fishable harbor. Trash in the harbor is considered a pollutant, and so it helps remove a major source of pollution." said Laurie Schwartz, president of the Waterfront Partnership. "Most importantly it will serve as a really important educational element."

The $800,000 wheel is being funded by two main donors - $500,000 from the Maryland Port Administration and $300,000 from Constellation Energy.

The wheel is set to debut this week.

It's no small installation. The 100,000-pound contraption is 50 feet long, 30 feet wide and the water wheel itself is 14 feet in diameter.

This is no the first time the harbor has utilized a water wheel to clean up trash from the water; the Waterfront Partnership tried one at the same spot in 2008 for about eight months. During that time, the wheel removed about 300,000 pounds of trash, including 190,000 plastic bottles, 160,000 foam cups and other products, 60,000 plastic bags and more than 1 million cigarette butts, Schwartz said.

She expects the new wheel to collect about the same volume of trash this time around, noting that street sweeping throughout the city could help reduce the amount of trash that ends up in the water. But the city isn't the major source of the harbor's trash problem.

"While some people think that it's the tourists that stand at the edge and throw cups into the water, it's really not." Schwartz said. Rather, the trash washes downstream from the Jones Falls watershed into the harbor.

The new installation will be more permanent than the previous wheel. The water wheel should have a life of about 15 years, Schwartz said.

Friday, May 16, 2014

Democratization of Construction: Who is Our Next Builders

Chinese Company Assembles 10 3D-Printed Concrete Houses in a Day for Less Than $5,000 Each

A Shanghai building company recently constructed a small community of partially 3D-printed houses in less than a day. Unlike DUS Architects' ongoing aims to completely 3D-print a canal house in Amsterdam however, the Chinese company WinSun Decoration Design Engineering Co. printed the basic components separately before assembling them on site. Although these concrete houses do not represent 3D printing in its purest form, their construction in such a short time span for just $4,800 each is no less impressive.

Read more: Chinese Company Assembles 10 3D-Printed Concrete Houses in a Day for Less Than $5,000 Each | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building

A massive 3D printer measuring 490 feet long, 33 feet wide, and 20 feet deep was used to 3D print each of the structural components from the giant concrete slabs to the inner cross bracing. To cut down on costs, WinSun fabricated the frame from layers of concrete partly made from recycled construction waste, industrial waste, and glass fibers. Each house is approximately 2,100 square feet.

WinSun also plans to open 100 recycling factories in the country to continue to transform waste into cost-effective “ink” for their 3D printers. By doing so, Winsun estimates that this kind of 3D printing could cut costs for construction companies in half. If these 3D-printed houses catch on, the company also hopes that the technology could provide affordable housing for the impoverished.