Architecture and design

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Williamsburg’s Vivid Ring

(Issue of a magazine 4/2019, page 26)

The Brooklyn waterfront is continually evolving. What was once a soft shoreline of wetlands, marshes, shallows, beaches, and tidal flats, is now a series of elevated piers, bulkheads and physical barriers, compromising the relationship between water and city. Inspired by the opportunity to create a living waterfront, BIG’s River Street Waterfront Master Plan vision, in collaboration with Two Trees Management and James Corner Field Operations, seeks to enhance connectivity of the public waterfront, restore natural habitats, elevate the standard for urban waterfront resiliency, and transform the way New Yorkers interact with the East River.

The Sax of Rotterdam

(Issue of a magazine 4/2019, page 34)

MVRDV won the competition for The Sax, a 51-floor mixed-use tower which will be the latest addition to Rotterdam’s renowned Wilhelminapier development. The scale and character of the developments of Wilhelminapier over the last decade have contributed to a recognisable city silhouette with an ensemble of towers populating the Kop van Zuid skyline. The Sax will be the latest addition to Rotterdam’s skyline thus contributing to the city’s now recognizable ‘Manhattan on the Maas.’ 

M Stands for…

(Issue of a magazine 4/2019, page 40)

What is the starting point for creating a new building concept? Function and location, requirements to the area and formal lines of the technical assignment, or is the idea born as a result of something completely different? Can something elusive that don’t evoke direct associations touch the soul and turn lifeless concrete boxes into a truly unique object? The fruitful cooperation of two bureaus MVSA Meyer en Van Schooten Architecten and CU “RESERVE” answered these questions in the M-city project as the unique silhouette of the mega-building, the result of long creative pursuit and careful work of architects, turned everybody’s heads.

The Bank on the Silicon Island

(Issue of a magazine 4/2019, page 48)

One of the major architectural firms intensively working in Asia - Aedas is implementing an impressive project in Taiwan, the main purpose of which is the headquarters of a large local bank. The Taichung Commercial Bank Headquarters is located in the business center of Taichung and is a 200-meter tower, which includes both the head office of Taichung Commercial Bank and the rooms and associated amenities of a luxury business hotel. It is noteworthy that almost immediately after the presentation to the general public, the Aedas-designed Commercial Bank Headquarters project won the Tall Buildings category at MIPIM/The Architectural Review Future Project Awards 2018. 

The Terraces in Sao Paulo

(Issue of a magazine 4/2019, page 54)

In Brazil, Sao Paulo in full swing is construction of high-rise residential complex EZ Parque da Cidade. The design of the complex clearly shows a tribute to the heritage of the country’s architectural genius Oscar Niemeyer and the traditions of his “Baroque” poetic modernism - a bright recognizable style based on the expressiveness of forms and plastic freedom. The project was designed by renown Dutch architectural practice UNStudio specializing in architecture, urban development and “infrastructural” projects. The high-rise complex ordered by the leading Brazilian developer EZTEC is the third and so far, the largest project for the Ben Van Berkel’s practice in South America.

The Magnificent Age

(Issue of a magazine 4/2019, page 62)

The fast drawing 2020 was announced as the expected project completion date for many unique and intricate objects. The new tallest building in the world, the first wooden structure that has broken the 100-meter record, the construction of entire blocks consisting exclusively of megastructures – all these should soon appear and become new wonders of the world. On the threshold of a new decade, it is possible to look back and remind that many of the existing skyscrapers that serve as the backdrop of the modern world were once considered innovative and unrivaled in the world. Some of them still are. 

Architectural Imagery of Forms and Utility

(Issue of a magazine 4/2019, page 68)

Architectural imagery of forms in the Russian traditional architecture of towers and tower chambers may hypothetically contribute to increasing the useful volumes of rooms in the structural volumes of high-rise buildings (public, mixed-use) and high-rise complexes (grouped structural volumes of two or more buildings one of which is a high-rise building) 1. (For reference 1: Federal Law No. 190-FZ dated December 2004 “Town-Planning Code of the Russian Federation”, Sets of Rules: “High-Rise Buildings and Complexes. Rules of Design” SP 267.1325800.2016; “Utility Systems of High-Rise Buildings” SP 253.1325800.2016; “High-Rise Buildings and Complexes. Rules of Operation” SP 394.1325800.2018; Paragraph А.1.1, Appendix А (Normative) “Rules of Determining the Area of the Building and Its Rooms, Building Area, Number of Storeys and Structural Volume” SP 54.13330.2016 “Multi-Apartment Residential Buildings”.) It is axiomatic that usability is improved by increasing the useful volumes of rooms with unbuilt and replanned interiors having mobile transformable partition walls, floors, ceilings, and reorganized utility systems, along with optimized structural volumes of bearing and enclosing structures including integrated utility systems and vertical transportation cores [1, 2, 3, 4]. 

Tadawul Tower: Top-Liner of Financial District

(Issue of a magazine 3/2019, page 20)

In the 21st century, the international financial exchange building is supposed to be memorable, modern and technologically innovative.  The design of the Tadawul Tower, the building of the Saudi Stock Exchange was chosen for an elegant simplicity and impressive appearance, created by Nikken Sekkei architects. Fully meeting all the technical specifications and customer requirements, the recently completed headquarters of a large commercial organization significantly changed public views on the design standards for office buildings in the Middle East. Tadawul Tower represents an essential sample of integrating a multifunctional complex into existed environment of a large-scale business quarter.

Shipwrecked in Prague

(Issue of a magazine 3/2019, page 30)

This year the Czech capital hosted a festival of architecture Open House Praha 2019. This endeavour is aimed to strengthen the bond between the inhabitants of the city and the place where they live, and to teach them to understand what a huge impact architecture can have on their lives. A vivid illustration of this message was the unique Top Tower project of the local architectural studio Black n´ Arch. According to the architects, the building, which will become one of the most recognizable in the world and the tallest in the Czech capital is designed to draw people’s attention to global warming and its consequences. “Global warming - is a warning for the city,” prevising the creators of the project.

New Map of Tirana

(Issue of a magazine 3/2019, page 38)

Tirana - the capital of Albania, is known for a mixture of Ottoman, German and Soviet architecture. Just recently, from a visit to the Albanian capital with its gloomy, dilapidated houses, one could experience a shock, but everything has changed in a fantastically short time. Since 2000, the municipal government has launched the “Return to Identity” program, which includes upgrading the infrastructure and updating the rather dull post-Soviet appearance of Tirana. The residential districts were given a completely modern look, the wastelands between the houses underwent redevelopment, the illegal buildings were demolished, and in their place gardens and parks were planted. The city has undergone radical changes. Today, Tirana is a modern, dynamically developing city with high-rise buildings and manicured parks and public spaces.