Sunday, January 11, 2009

Rundle Lantern by Fusion

The Rundle Lantern is a unique canvas that uses computer controlled LEDs to illuminate 748 square panels to deliver a platform for digital art.

Rundle Lantern
Design team: Fusion
Location: Rundle Street U-Park, the intersection of Rundle Street and Pulteney Street, Australia
When to visit: Anytime. The Rundle Lantern will be illuminated from dusk until midnight, year round. For special events in the City the hours will be extended.

The purpose of the Rundle Lantern is to invigorate and enliven the intersection of Pulteney Street and Rundle Mall. This is achieved through the delivery of an arresting and unusual architectural form in the daylight hours, which transforms into an illuminated cultural canvas from dusk until midnight. The project was initiated as a response to a recommendation within Adelaide City’s urban master plan to create a convergence point at the described intersection. The vision for the Rundle Lantern was to create an urban design solution that ‘Adds Beauty to People’s Lives’.

Fusion were one of six firms invited to pitch for the opportunity to invigorate the corner of Pulteney and Rundle Streets, creating a gateway to Rundle Mall. Fusion is the only non-architectural firm asked to submit concepts.

While other concepts submitted all required new building, landscaping or form. Fusion vision was to add beauty to people’s lives without affecting the environment, to work with current structures, and to put Adelaide on the global map.

Illumination of the Rundle Lantern is through 17,952 light emitting diodes (LED) configured as 5.984 of each colour – red, green and blue through 1496 units that contain 12 clusters of red, green and blue LED’s each.

The LED’s can create any configuration of 16 million colours that are reflected upwards onto 748 aluminium panels of 1.1 m X 1 m.

The total size of the Lantern is 1,066 square metres (nine levels high), transforming the fascia of the Upark carpark on Rundle Street into a light and colour extravaganza.

The Rundle Lantern can be programmed to display simple numbers, letters and geometric shapes as well as an infinite array of lights, colours and morphing designs, patterns and scheduled light shows.

Update: Rundle Lantern's project leader, Damien Mair has just sending me a video link on Rundle Lantern Launch, 7:30pm October 2008. It's worth watching to get a feel on Rundle Lantern experience.

Rundle Lantern Launch from Damien Mair on Vimeo.

via Fusion | Adelaide City Council
Photo credits: Andrei Martin Diamante | Fusion | Adelaide City Council

Yellow Treehouse by Pacific Environments Architects

We were inspired by the hanging ‘organic’ form of the butterfly’s chrysalis. This worked well in creating a memorable image during the day as well as a ‘lantern’ effect at night where the skin becomes transparent and the interior glows. It attaches itself to the tree and becomes part of the tree.

Yellow Treehouse Restaurant
Design Team: Pacific Environments Architects
Location: Rodney District, Auckland
When to visit: 9th January 2009 till 9th Feb 2009. The tree house site is only open
to guests dining in the restaurant, casual visitors are not permitted onto the site.

Yellow Treehouse is a project initiated by Yellow, a yellow pages directories in New Zealand as a form of marketing to promote the usefulness of yellow pages services. The idea was to source all products and services through Yellow Pages listings (the book, online and mobile), this including architect, builders and even the food & beverage suppliers.

Pacific Environments Architects was chosen to designed the treehouse. The whole project was completed within four months time. The enormous Redwood tree on which the treehouse is built which is over 40m high and 1.7m diameter at the base, on a site north of Auckland.

The concept is driven by the ‘enchanted’ site which is raised above an open meadow and meandering stream on the edge of the woods.

The tree-house concept is reminiscent of childhood dreams and playtime, fairy stories of enchantment and imagination . It’s inspired through many forms found in nature -the chrysalis/cocoon protecting the emerging butterfly/moth, perhaps an onion/garlic clove form hung out to dry. It is also seen as a lantern, a beacon at night that simply glows yet during the day it might be a semi camouflaged growth, or a tree fort that provides an outlook and that offers refuge.The plan form also has loose similarities to a sea shell with the open ends spiralling to the centre .

Access is via a 60m tree-top ‘accessible’ walkway –an adventure in itself.

The selected site and tree had to meet a myriad of functional requirements -18 seated people and waiting staff in relative comfort complete with a bar; gaining correct camera angles with associated light qualities for filming the adverts, web cam and stills, have unobstructed views into the valley and entrance to the site and structural soundness . The final selected tree is one of the larger trees on the site and sits above a steep part of the site which accentuates the tree's height. Kitchen/catering facilities and toilets are at ground level.

The Architectural component embodies a simple oval form wrapped ‘organically’ around the trunk and structurally tied at top and bottom, with a circular plan that is split apart on the axis with the rear floor portion raised. This allows the approach from the rear via a playful tree-top walkway experience, slipping inside the exposed face of the pod and being enchanted by the juxtaposition of being in an enclosed space that is also quite 'open' and permeable to the treetop views. There is also a ‘Juliet’ deck opposite the entrance that looks down the valley.

The scale and form of the tree-house creates a memorable statement without dominating it’s setting. While it’s natural ‘organic’ form sits comfortably, the rhythm of the various materials retains it’s strong architectural statement. The verticality of the fins mimics the verticality of the redwoods and enable the building to naturally ‘blend’ into it’s setting, as though it were a natural growth.

It sits almost 10m wide and over 12m high, with the split-level floor sitting 10m off the ground. Timber trusses form the main structure. The curved fins are glue-laminated pine, plantation poplar has been used for the slats and redwood milled from the site used in the walkway balustrading. Openings are formed for windows by leaving spaces between the slats/fins that keeps the overall form yet affords a variety of openness for the views and light and closes down toward the rear. To loosen the regularity of the elements, steel is wrapped arbitrarily around the pod. Tying this up at the top and base has a sense of greater connection with the tree.

It is designed to be weather resistant using acrylic sheeting fixed to the roof under the fins with vertical roll-down café-style blinds within. Lighting is an important architectural component enhancing and changing the mood, with discreet lighting within the walkway and up-lighting within the tree house.

via Yellow Tree House | Pacific Environments Architects

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Starchitects at Dellis Cay

Dellis Cay united the world’s leading architects and designers, together they will sculpt a magical luxury destination community, where unobtrusive structures complement the cay’s exquisite natural setting, and interiors effortlessly fuse nature and functionality.

Dellis Cay @ Turks & Caicos Islands
Design Team: Shigeru Ban, David Chipperfield, Carl Ettensperger, Zaha Hadid, Kengo Kuma,Piero Lissoni, Chad Oppenheim
Location: Dellis Cay, Turks & Caicos Islands
When to visit: Mandarin Oriental to be open in 2010. Follow by other phases.

Dellis Cay is a previously uninhabited 560-acre island in Turks and Caicos archipelago. It is currently under contract to the O Property Collection for the development of luxury properties.

Created by the Turkish businessman Cem Kinay, the development features the talents of seven internationally renowned architects - Shigeru Ban, David Chipperfield, Carl Ettensperger, Zaha Hadid, Kengo Kuma, Piero Lissoni, Chad Oppenheim - and the award-winning luxury hospitality services of Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group. Dellis Cay will provide the world's rarest living experience in a limited collection of private residences and villas.

Each of the architects is devoted to the development of one portion of the island. From Milan, renowned Italian architect Piero Lissoni has created the Mandarin Oriental Hotel & Residences, along with the nearby Beach House Residences and Beach & Ocean Villas. From Tokyo, Kengo Kuma was chosen to create the Spa at Mandarin Oriental and the Spa Lake Villas, while Shigeru Ban lends his expertise to the design of beach villas and over-the-water villas linked by a discreet deck. Singapore-based Carl Ettensperger will design a set of the Caribbean’s first over-the-water villas to follow the natural curves of the shoreline, while offering unobstructed views of the sea. London’s David Chipperfield will design and develop a natural peninsula on the north shore, where residents will indulge in magnificent views of the glistening water and protected lush mangroves. Also London-based, Zaha Hadid has overseen the Dellis Cay Master Plan and will create luxury residences, beachfront villas, a commercial building with restaurants and boutiques and a marina planned for the cay’s eastern flank. Each of the architects will contribute to developing the western end of the island, where buyers will have the opportunity to choose one of the astounding villa designs as their new home. Plans are for the Dellis Cay project to be completed in three phases over the next two to five years.

1. Piero Lissoni- Mandarin Oriental Hotel & Residences
2. Piero Lissoni- Beach House Residences
3. Piero Lissoni- Beach Villas
4. Piero Lissoni- Ocean Villas
5. Kengo Kuma- Spa+Spa Villas
6. Chan Oppenheim- Treetop Villas
7. Shigeru Ban- Beach Villas
8. Carl Ettensperger- Over Water Villas
9. David Chipperfield- Shore Villas
10. Zaha Hadid- Marina Villas
11. All architects- Villa Collection

via Dellis Cay

Sunday, January 4, 2009

The Airport Hotel

It is less an airport hotel than a superbly comfortable and stylish hotel in an extremely convenient location - a contemporary urban resort 'Where the world meets Singapore'.

Crowne Plaza Hotel Changi Airport
Design Team: WOHA Designs
Location: Changi Airport, Singapore
Cost: US$60 million
When to visit: Anytime or When you have an extra day to spend at the airport.
Awards: Development of the Year 2008- Hotel Investment Conference Asia Pacific (HICAP)

Designed by multi-award winning Singapore-based architectural firm WOHA Designs, the 320-room Crowne Plaza Changi Airport reflects a uniquely Singaporean environment - tropical, Asian, multicultural and comfortable yet also efficient, stylish, high-tech and global in outlook.

The hotel features open corridors, courtyards and extensive rainforest-style gardens, creating a balmy tropical ambience. The unique architectural style even allows natural light to flow into the guest bathrooms.

Natural light also filters into the public areas through water-covered skylights over the lobby, ballroom and function room areas.

Crowne Plaza Changi Airport is linked to Terminal 3 by covered walkways from both the first and second floors of the hotel.

Arriving guests can be at the hotel reception within minutes and in their rooms while many other passengers are still in the airport taxi queue. Access from Terminals 1 and 2 is also a breeze via the new automated People Mover System that links all three airport passenger terminals. Business travellers will appreciate the hotel's close proximity to Singapore Expo - the largest purpose-built exhibition and convention centre in Southeast Asia, Changi Business Park and world-class golf courses.

And, with Singapore's downtown shopping and entertainment district within a 20-minute drive and easy access to most parts of the island via the Changi Airport Mass Rapid Transit station, the hotel really is a convenient place to stay.

Dining facilities include Azur an all-day dining restaurant built around a show kitchen concept, a 100-seat Crowne Plaza Club Lounge overlooking the hotel swimming pool, a Lobby Lounge that opens to a private garden, Bar '75 - a sports bar offering a variety of experiences with three distinct zones, and Imperial Treasure, a Chinese restaurant.

Banquet and meeting spaces total 950 square metres, and offer a 250-seat ballroom and seven function rooms fully equipped with state-of-the-art audio visual equipment and the services of a dedicated Crowne Meetings Director.