“Aqua Tower” Studio Gang Architects_Chicago

From Studio Gang Architects’web site:”At 82 stories and over 1.9 million sf, Aqua Tower is one of few high-rises in the world that creates a community on its façade. With a hotel, apartments, condominiums, parking, offices, and one of Chicago’s largest green roofs, this multi-use tower demonstrates both architectural and technical achievements. Its outdoor terraces—which differ in shape from floor to floor based on criteria such as views, solar shading and dwelling size/type—create a strong connection to the outdoors and the city, as well as form the tower’s distinctive undulating appearance.”

Alejandro Monge_Zaragoza

Paintings or pictures?

Porsche pavilion_henn architekten_wolfsburg, germany

The porsche pavilion at the autostadt in wolfsburg, germany is the first addition to the theme park since its 2000 opening.
Designed by german firm henn architekten, the curved lines and form are derived from the ‘dynamic flow of driving’, encompassing the universal image of the porsche brand. Following a similar construction to that of monocoque technology -
applied to the development of lightweight designs within the automotive and aerospace industries – the sculptural piece of architecture forms a spatial enclosure while acting as a load bearing structure at the same time. At its entrance, it cantilevers outwards at a length of 25m, hovering over the water surface of a built-in lagoon in which a circular walkway runs the perimeter of, allowing visitors to further explore the autostadt. The exterior is covered in 620 matte-finished stainless steel cladding with welded ribs which were prefabricated in a ship-yard in stralsund and assembled on site resulting in a seamless building skin,
positioned within the park in such a way that it mirrors the location of the wolkswagen pavilion. The surrounding landscape has been executed by WES to make sure the new pavilion seamlessly blends into the overall themes of the surrounding existing park. An elliptically curved ramp embraces the dynamic principle of the architecture, leading visitors into the interior concept developed by
hg merz architeckten museumsgestalter. The lower 400 m2 exhibition and staging areas house the original porsche – a 356 no. 1 built in 1948 – which is the starting point of the space, leading to a collection of 25 silver coloured vehicle models at a scale 1:3, presented within the main display area. On show are short films which express the four antagonistic terms which characterize porsche’s values and philosophy: tradition and innovation, performance and day-to-day-practicality, design and functionality, exclusiveness and social acceptance.

Zaha Hadid’s Burnham Pavilion, Chicago USA

From Hadid’s web site: “Zaha Hadid Architects’ pavilion design for Chicago’s Burnham Plan Centennial celebrates the city’s ongoing tradition of 

bold plans and big dreams. The project encourages reinvention and improvement 

on an urban scale and welcomes the future with innovative ideas and technologies 

whilst referencing the original organizational systems of Burnham’s plan. Our design 

continues Chicago’s renowned tradition of cutting edge architecture and engineering, at the scale of a temporary pavilion.

The design merges new formal concepts with the memory of bold historic rban planning. uperimpositions of spatial structures with hidden traces of Burnham’s organizational systems and architectural representations create unexpected results. By using methods of overlaying, complexity is built up and inscribed in the structure. The pavilion is composed of an intricate bent-aluminum structure, with each element shaped and welded in order to create its unique curvilinear form. Outer and inner fabric skins are wrapped tightly around the metal frame to create the fluid shape. The skins also serve as the screen for video installations to take place within the pavilion. Zaha Hadid Architects’ pavilion also works within the larger framework of the Centennial celebrations’ commitment to deliberate the future of cities. The presence of the new structure triggers the visitor’s intellectual curiosity whilst an intensification of public life around and within the pavilion supports the idea of public discourse.

The pavilion was designed and built to maximize the recycling and re-use of the 

materials after its role in Millennium Park. It can be re-installed for future use at another site.”