Xinjin Zhi Museum

Today's YEOW will be on Xinjin Zhi Museum by Kengo Kuma and Associates.



Excerpt from the architects:

This pavilion is located at the foot of Laojunshan mountain in Xinjin, to usher in the people to the holy place of Taoism, while the building itself shows the essence of Taoism through its space and exhibitions.

The tile used for façade is made of local material and worked on in a traditional method of this region, to pay tribute to Taoism that emphasizes on nature and balance. Tile is hung and floated in the air by wire to be released from its weight (and gain lightness). Clad in breathing façade of particles, the architecture is merged into its surrounding nature.

The façade for the south is divided into top and bottom and staggered in different angles. This idea is to respond to two different levels of the pond in front and the street at the back, and avoid direct confrontation with the massive building in the south.



For the east side, a large single tile screen is vertically twisted to correspond with the dynamism of the road in front. The façade for the north side is static and flat, which faces the pedestrians’ square. Thus the tile screen transforms itself from face to face, and wraps up the building like a single cloth.

Taking advantage of the varied levels in the architecture’s surroundings, the flow is planned to lead people from the front to the back, motion to stillness, like a stroll type of garden.




For more photos and texts, please visit:
http://www.dezeen.com/2012/03/23/xinjin-zhi-museum-by-kengo-kuma-and-associates/

Floating Olympic Lanes by Dowling Jones

from dezeen.com

London Mayor Boris Johnson has unveiled audacious emergency plans to avoid total gridlock in London during this Summers Olympic Games. Boris left Londoners amazed as he today unveiled a floating Olympic motorway that will stretch from Wandsworth 7 miles to Limehouse along the famous Thames. The scheme was hastily developed after traffic plans for the Olympic Games including the infamous Olympic Lanes were widely criticised. The floating lanes, controversially ear marked for use only by official Olympic cars will feature a major access junction at the world famous Tower bridge. The 118 year old structure will be adapted to allow access to the river road. The huge temporary structure costing £12 million will be hastily constructed and floated into place and assembled in time for the start of the games in July.
Gregg Stone of designers Dowling Jones & Stone, the London based consultants said ”the games is an extraordinary event and London presents unique transport challenges, taking to the river was the only way to keep things flowing”.

Boris will come under pressure from transport groups as he plans to limit access to Olympic fat cats only and the huge price tag connected with the project but he is keen to appease worried London voters in an Election year.

Dowling Jones and Stone are based in London and create visualisations of architectural concepts.

to read more click here

LIVE Between / HKS Architects

from archdaily.com

Live Between, a concept design by HKS Architects, is a newly launched hotel experience for guests who enjoy the extreme. Their design seeks out urban cities to set up short-term residency between existing buildings. As it moves from city to city, it is designed and installed specific to its temporary inhabitance. Taking on various forms from a spider’s web to a constellation, the hotel formation is ever changing and always evolving.

Imagine a hotel that brings the destination to you. Imagine an experience so hard to explain, you can only see it to believe it. Imagine sleeping hundreds of feet above the ground, between buildings people work and live in. Imagine making your reservation, today. Hotel destinations are targeted towards urban cities of unique character. From Tokyo to New York, Dubai to London, the versatile hotel seeks to bring an additional economic bonus to cities known for hospitality and grandeur. This chameleon adaptability allows this design to move and expand as quickly as human life itself.

As the first mobile hotel brand with a mission of revitalization, {LB} also focuses on erecting between buildings or in cities stricken with hardship. Under utilized, unoccupied and abandoned buildings set the stage for a monumental design opportunity. While the Live Between hotel is installed between these buildings, hotel amenities and services are temporarily installed in the floor plates of these environments to accommodate guest needs. {LB} takes negative, depleted space and breathes life into it, renewing interest in an area forgotten.

to see more click here

the New Solar Architecture

From archinect.com

FreeForm Solar Powered

My goal is the active skin, whose base element (Solar module) is a flexible material in the process conceptual architectural design and construction.
Convert solar array to a material with which to compose and build architecture.

Overall, from photovoltaic laminated glass, I have developed a number of details and construction systems, such as Ventilated Façade, Curtain Wall and Monolayer Structures
that host the facilities inherent in any PV system and the different architectures that build proposals, with particular interest in the design, effective input method of this technology in the urban scene.

I try to convey the idea that the generation of clean energy can be part of the beauty of its major consumer, THE CITY.

Specifically in the photovoltaic industry, until now largely developed by engineers must entry into the industry figure of the architect to develop their integration into the urban scene.

The complete project:
http://www.behance.net/gallery/THE-NEW-SOLAR-ARCHITECTURE/823641

Solar powered parking lot concept gets huge grant

from cleanenergyauthority.com

Scott and Julie Brusaw are ready to show the world that we could build solar-collecting, energy-producing, safe and smart roadways.

And by ready, they mean everything is in place. The Sagle, the Idaho couple’ s Solar Roadways enterprise, received a $750,000 Small Business Innovation Research grant from the federal highway administration last week to fund an ambitious second phase of their project that will result in a complete and functioning solar parking lot outside of Brusaw’s lab.

Solar Roadways had already made inroads with the highway administration when the concept gained serious traction at the GE ecomagination competition last year.

Now Solar Roadways is getting some attention, and it’s becoming easier to find needed resources, Scott Brusaw said.

The greatest roadblock to seeing the idea through to the end has been finding the right glass to cover roadway solar panels, Brusaw said. The glass has to be clear in order for the panels to work, but textured enough to give drivers traction.

to read more click here

The Perfect Airport

Architecture
Barajas, Madrid, Spain
Richard Rogers’s exuberant interiors for the new Terminal 4 at Madrid’s Barajas Airport. The terminal is structurally familiar, but it is executed with a refreshing warmth and flair. There is nothing revolutionary in the terminal’s effective use of wood or in its vibrant, Almodóvaresque color scheme, but in the context of an airport it feels decidedly new. Here, the intent is to ease the transition from the air 
to the actual place.

Nice, Eh!

Leave it to the Spanish, with their rich tradition of cutting-edge architecture, to build a terminal that conjures a cathedral-like vault drenched in natural light. Two-thirds of a mile long, terminal 4 at MAD won the Stirling Prize for architecture when it opened its doors in 2006. We like the way the color-coded beams that support the undulating bamboo ceiling help passengers get their bearings when they wander off to the newsstand or to grab a bocadillo (traditional baguette sandwich).

For more information please see link bleow.

The Perfect Airport -- National Geographic Traveler
http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/city-guides/perfect-airport/?source=newstravel_travel

Read more: http://www.dwell.com/articles/an-introduction-to-airport-design.html#ixzz1qbevOfVi

Wikado Playground is Built From Recycled Wind Turbine Blades in The Netherlands

From Inhabitat:

What do you do with retired wind turbine blades? Why, you turn them into a super fun playground of course! Wikado Playground in The Netherlands is a renovation of play area in desperate need of attention. 2012Architecten handled the design and renovation of the area for Kinderparadijs Meidoorn and made use of five discarded rotor blades to create a maze-like play area with slides, towers, nets and plenty of interactive elements

click here to read the rest.