The one of a kind building, The Spazio Shopping Centre in Zoetermeer, Netherlands, has become an iconic landmark and is known by many as “The UFO”. Designed by Frits van Dongen of the Netherlands, in November 2005. Rodamco Europe announces it opened its new shopping center ‘Spazio’ in Zoetermeer, the Netherlands on 29 Ocober by the Mayor of Zoetermeer, Mr. J. Waaijer, together with Mrs. K. Laglas, managing director of Rodamco Europe in the Netherlands. This new developent will complement the shopping center ‘Stadshart Zoetermeer’ adding around 15,000 m² GLA of new shopping space. The market value of ’Spazio’, including retail, parking and offices, is €57 mln.

The exterior of the club is wrapped with 14,000 sq. ft. of .047”-thick, curved and tapered, stucco-embossed aluminum Kalzip panels. Kalzip is manufactured by Corus Building Systems and is widely used in Europe. With the opening of a manufacturing facility in Indiana in 2006, it is now available in North America as well. Read more »

The project is a collection of 15 beach houses in a virgin bush. The site itself is just returning from the beach and stunning views of Port Hacking and Hastings Beach. What is unique about this development is that each house has been designed as if it were a stand-alone house designer luxury.

There is, however, some coastal cities that have maintained this “holiday feel” but are on door of Sydney. Bundeena, set in the virgin bush of the Royal National Park south of Sydney, is one such place. Because Bundeena is surrounded by national park and can not grow, it has maintained its intimate and charming as he still has some of the most beautiful views in New South Wales. Read more »

The concept of the design is based on a modular and a well balanced organization of the different elements: good views for all spectators, best acoustics and an optimized cost management already addressed during the concept phase of the design. The Zenith music hall provides ideal facilities for the guests and the artist performing. The interior and exterior of the structure are covered with translucent, orange fabric so the building appears solid in daylight but reveals its internal structure when illuminated at night.

The new Zenith Music Hall, with its playful form and character, is an important project for the exhibition area in Strasbourg. It will give new impulse to the future development of the city’s infrastructure. Read more »

The Old Stone Highway house is concieved as a modern interpretaion of the Long Island agricultural vernacular while also incorporating the use of environmentally low impact building technology. The House was designed by Architect John Berg as a “Single Family Residence with Environmentally Low Impact Building Technology”. We totally dig their uncompromising approach to housing that is luxurious, super green, and chock full of mid-century charm. Berg Design offers gorgeous sustainable solutions to residential projects.

Surprisingly, this sleek sustainable haven draws its inspiration from a Long Island barn built in the 1800’s. It’s an elegant marriage of glass, western cedar siding, and concrete block interspersed with large windows that bring the outside in, suffusing the interior spaces with a lovely use of natural light. Read more »

Downpour has the form of a suspended vessel with its outer rim constantly overflowing with water that apparently comes from nowhere but the bowl itself. William Pye says, ‘This is an image I wanted to realise for some time, as I felt it would make a beautiful fountain or water sculpture. The courtyard of the new British Embassy in Oman provided a wonderful setting for implementing this idea. My intention was to combine the drama of suspending a large sculptural object in space combined with various water effects - still and reflective on the surface, but more animated and lively where the water falls off the edge in fine, vertical rods. One source of inspiration for the hanging bowl came from the Sultan Hassan Mosque in Cairo where a multitude of lamps are suspended on chains hanging low within a huge vault. The great length of the chains was the simplest means by which to emphasise the loftiness of the space.’ Read more »

The wooden finishes ensure that the environment is warm and sound-absorbent. The outdoor garden, designed by Adrian Geuze of West 8 Landscape Architects, was intended to combine the density of an inner-city area with a suburban feel and program, its low-rise buildings punctuated by open spaces. The Whale Residential Complex’s characteristic profile is visible even at night thanks to illumination of the raised ends of the roof.

While the Whale Residential Complex’s plot is large, the size of a football pitch, the design of its interior and the landscaping of the central courtyard garden create a feeling of intimacy. The interior of the building consists of an alternating series of galleries attenuating all impressions of heaviness and providing access to the apartments on the same level and on the upper floor. Openings and galleries are also staggered to produce rhythmic variation in the building’s facades. The form created by the sloped lines strongly differentiates the residential units, with truly exceptional apartments on the lower and upper levels of the building. Read more »

1st prize in architectural competition, Memorial to victims of communism - Liberec, realization designed by Sporadical. The idea of the memorial reflects the cancerous character of communism that grew through the whole society during 40 years of duration. The main motif is mirroring. The burden of decision-making who is the victim and who is the tyrant is transferred to everybody who comes to the memorial. Everybody is forced to look into his own eyes. Through emphasis on personal responsibility the idea of memorial transcends to the present days and future. It strives to go beyond the border prevailing in memorial art where authors focus mainly on commemoration of events already finished and preserve them into an artistic form using descriptive, symbolical or metaphorical interpretation. This memorial was meant to redefine its typological category. It is not a pathetic political gesture; it aspires to become a lively crossover between public art and architecture of the park. Read more »

Moro House, Queretaro, Qro, Mexico. Two concrete boxes superimpose and slide, creating space for open-air life. The boxes separate the public spaces on the ground floor from the private spaces on the first floor. A series of boxes of different materials cross the concrete ones enclose more defined spaces - access and gallery in a wooden box; utilitarian spaces such as the kitchen, laundry room, employees’ and guest bathrooms lie within a black stone-slab box; dining and living room in a crystal box.

On the second floor a second crystal box enfolds the Jacuzzi and flies over the garden generating a larger shade-area in the terrace. Read more »

Situated in the City Park of the renaissance town of Kalmar, the new Kalmar Museum, designed by Tham & Videgard Hansson Arkitekter of Sweden, is built next to a restaurant pavilion dating from the 1930s by moderninst architect Sven-Ivar Lind.

The four storey black cube clad with large scale wooden panels punctuated with large glazed openings will house both the Kalmar collection of modern art and provide space for temporary exhibitions.

Domestic in scale this museum provides a variety of exhibition conditions. The two main spaces are the white box where one side can open up completely to bring in the exterior of the park, and the top floor gallery that is lit by shed head light shafts doubling its ceiling height. In addition, there is a public art library and open workshops. One of the main architectural features is an open stair that spirals the full height of the building. The four floors, each different from the others, are stacked on top of each other and create a vertical walk up into the greenery of the trees with a series of different spatial experiences while offering views of the environs including the Kalmar castle the lake and the city center. Read more »

Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, United States. Designed by HKS Sports & Entertainment Group, the stadium features a brick exterior reminiscent of the traditional Indiana field houses and collegiate football stadiums of the early 20th century. The stadium was designed to enhance its urban, downtown Indianapolis location. While showcasing tradition, the stadium delivers modern technology and fan amenities that create a big win for fans, visitors and the community.

An important design feature is the retractable roof. Most retractable roofs are designed with overlapping panels extending from the stadium’s end zones but Lucas Oil Stadium’s unique retractable pitched-roof design will open along the longest sides of the building and come together at the top of the building’s highest point at 296 feet above the playing field. John Hutchings, HKS principal-in-charge of the Lucas Oil Stadium said, “We challenged ourselves to be efficient, so the roof could open the other way and create a distinctive profile that enhances its surroundings.” Read more »