Sunday, February 28, 2010

Ontario Pavilion

Of all pavilions my favorite was Ontario House, located at Concord Place. Designed by Hariri Pontarini Architects of Toronto, this $4.65 million (design and construction only) building was by far the most inspired and striking. Its signature was the open air enclosure created with 42 km of cut white and blue rope chosen to evoke Niagara Falls. To hear one of the designers speak about the design, check out this link here. Apparently, kids loved the ropes!

The inner enclosed portion of the pavilion was functional, although had great content otherwise - technology, food, music, etc.

Architectural Representation System



Zebra Imagining
,Architectural Representation System..

Auditorium by Oscar Niemeyer



Auditorium..Ravello,Italy ..
Oscar Niemeyer ..

here more information..

official page

flickr

architectural videos* google earth placemarksee it at google maps

Friday, February 26, 2010

Manitoba Pavilion

One pavilion I found myself liking a fair bit is the CentrePlace Manitoba located in downtown "live site".

It is a prefabricated structure by Cibinel Architects. Besides the obvious effort to make it look like a considered piece of architecture but being a little rough around the edges, it had both a strong overall concept and some fun detailing. Although it is built with budget materials, it makes a tonne of impact - and it does not do so at the expense of pavilion's exhibition content.

Certain elements are worth pointing out in case the pictures are not easy to read:
- solid wood benches in the front creating a much needed rest/waiting area that doubles as a ramp
- tall pivot door that seemed to make the pavilion quite open to the outside
- the rotating projections on the translucent wall worked wall with its curve
- translucent walls were a great choice - the lighting was great
- reclaimed wood and recyclable translucent panels

Another notable fact - it cost $2.3 million. While that seems like a fair bit, compare it to others - Saskatchewan's 4.1 million(a sphere and a tent), Aboriginal Pavilion's six million(a sphere and a building), Canada's $10.4 million (neither tent nor building - something in between). Of course, just a part of cost of each went towards the buildings that house the content. It is certainly interesting to see who chooses to let architecture play a role in the representation of their province/region/culture/etc. and how large a role that is.

And to continue the train of thought from the previous pavilion - this one embodies the typology of "pavilion" quite well. Simple, special, light, prefabricate/temporary, etc.

Some pictures:


The back room is has an exhibit on the new Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Here is the model:These are rendering and construction photos - all via Cibinel Architects website:


In the evening the pavilion comes fairly close to the rendering.

Overall, great job of a pavilion - kudos to letting architecture be part of your exhibit both outside and inside!

Hanasaki House



Hanasaki House,Yokohama..
by MoNo ..

MoNo

here more..

Hyperboloid



Hyperboloid..by I.M. Pei ..

animation by Crystal CG ..

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

King Abdullah II House of Culture & Art



King Abdullah II House of Culture & Art,Amman,Jordan..
designed by Zaha Hadid ..

here more information..
and here ..

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Thursday, February 18, 2010

EPFL Rolex Learning Center by SANAA



EPFL Rolex Learning Center,Switzerland..
designed by SANAA ..

here more information..

official site ..

architectural videos* google earth placemarksee it at google maps

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

2010 Aboriginal Pavilion

Fresh out of hibernation, I am posting a couple of pictures I took this weekend of the Aboriginal Pavilion in downtown Vancouver constructed especially for the Olympics next to the Queen Elisabeth Theatre.

It is a somewhat awkward two-for-one - a tent and a pavilion. But of the ones that I did see it is both the best tent and the best pavilion. Many in the latter category are actually also just tents - for pavilion benchmark, see below:


The pavilion is by HBBH, now Cohos Evamy HBBH.

For earlier post on this pavilion, see here.

BIArch Open Lectures:Yoshiharu Tsukamoto





BIArch Open Lectures,Yoshiharu Tsukamoto-Atelier Bow-Wow ..

BIArch

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Armani Fifth Avenue



Armani Fifth Avenue,New York..
designed by Studio Fuksas ..

here more information..
official page

architectural videos* google earth placemarksee it at google maps

Monday, February 8, 2010

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art,Bloch Building



Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art,Bloch Building..Kansas City,Missouri..
designed by Steven Holl Architects ..

official site
more information..
provious post..

flickr

architectural videos* google earth placemarksee it at google maps

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Friday, February 5, 2010

Great Dubai timelapse



Great Dubai timelapse by Philip Bloom ..

Filmed over 5 days and nights..
Shot on the Canon 7D, 2x5DmkII and Panasonic GF1 ..

4x4 House by Tadao Ando



4x4 House,Kobe, Hyogo, Japan..
by Tadao Ando ..

more information ..

flickr

architectural videos* google earth placemarksee it at google maps

Tuesday, February 2, 2010