Queen Alia International Airport by Foster + Partners

The concept for the Queen Alia International Airport articulates a sense of Arabic hospitality, combines function, technology and a distinct sense of place to provide a greatly expanded and enhanced gateway to the region.

Queen Alia International Airport
Design Team: Foster + Partners, Maisam - Dar Al-Omran JV
Location: Amman, Jordan
Status: Completion 2011
Cost: $600M

Queen Alia International Airport, named after Queen Alia, the third wife of King Hussein of Jordan who died in a helicopter crash in 1977 is Jordan's largest airport that is situated in Zizya area, 20 miles south of Amman. The airport has two passenger terminals and a cargo terminal that was built in 1983.

The new expansion of the airport is designed by Foster + Partners, to make Jordan a regional hub and once it is completed, it should be able to handle around nine million passengers a year, nearly three times as many as it does now.



Retaining the existing runway, the scheme comprises a new terminal building that will bring a sense of clarity to the airport, streamlining circulation and establishing coherent wayfinding. Formally, the building draws on the vernacular tradition of outdoor areas and open-air gardens. These courtyards contain water pools that reflect natural light into the building and provide a comfortable microclimate, as well as a subtle means of establishing orientation inside. Large covered interior spaces form a direct relationship to the external environment and accommodate generous greeting and hospitality areas that are central to the terminal’s cultural programme.

An environmentally sustainable system, the airport's canopy roof has been inspired by the organic form of natural palm trees, while its black external surface is reminiscent of Bedouin tents. Split beams at the column junctions and generous reveals allow daylight to flood deep into the building, creating a dynamic play of light while also offering shelter from direct sunlight. The roof canopy acts as a thermal store to heat and cool the building and also conserves water by collecting rainwater and night time condensation. In addition, banks of photovoltaic panels have the potential to supplement the electricity supply, so reducing the building’s energy consumption.

via Foster + Partners

Continue reading...

Bird Island Nest House by Grant Associates

Grant Associates’ Nest House was one of 6 winning designs for an international competition to create a sustainable dwelling set within an island tropical landscape. The idea is simple: to create energy efficient residential dwellings on Bird Island at Sentul West and promote contemporary architecture with a bent on sustainable technologies.

Bird Island Nest House
Design Team: Grant Associates
Location: Sentul West, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Status: Expected completion 2010

The Nest House takes its inspiration from the bird inhabitants of Bird Island, with living spaces wrapped within a functional and beautiful woven dome, suggestive of weaver bird and bower bird nests. Its outer skin is a rough weave of found materials, onto which are fixed photovoltaic and solar thermal panels. Its edges are clad in tropical planting, with epiphytes, ferns, orchids and climbers.

The internal facilities are a very simple sequence of beautiful boxes and ledges. This contrast between the natural rough envelope and the artificial smooth interior gives the house its distinct character.

The Nest House sits close to the ground and engages with the lake and surrounding landscape. Floating islands and edge planting of tropical marginal and aquatic species form an attractive outlook from the house and attract birds to inhabit the grounds and water around the structure.

Bird Island is a sustainability project of Malaysia's YTL Corporation in 'seeking zero'. A test bed for sustainable living and responsible development.




via Bird Island

Continue reading...

Worthing Pool by Wilkinson Eyre Architects

Award winning London based architect firm - Wilkinson Eyre has beaten 109 other teams to win RIBA international competition to design 'a new swimming complex for Worthing which would be a first class leisure facility for the town and be a landmark building demonstrating civic pride and status' to replace Worthing's ageing 1960's Aquarena.

Worthing Pool
Design Team: Wilkinson Eyre Architects
Location: Worthing, UK
Status: Initial concept only.
Cost: £17M

The new pool complex will feature an eight-lane 25-metre pool, a dive/learner pool, indoor pools with flumes and rapids, and outdoor “leisure waters” as well as a café, crèche and health and fitness centre.

Chris Wilkinson, director and founder of Wilkinson Eyre, said: “Worthing is a beautiful English seaside town with a spectacular waterfront and I am delighted to have the opportunity of designing a building on such an important site.



“It is a great opportunity to continue the tradition of British contemporary seaside architecture”.

The new pool will be built beside the ageing Aquarena which will be demolished once the new facility is complete.

The other shortlisted firms were Allford Hall Monaghan Morris; Thomas Heatherwick with local firm Saville Jones; Pringle Richards Sharratt, and Ian Simpson Architects.




via Wilkinson Eyre | BD online

Continue reading...

The Library by Tirawan Songsawat

Not many hotels can boast a blood red pool. It doesn’t sound attractive, but on an overcast day the red is warmly inviting, and the designer’s philosophy is refreshingly logical; nothing about this place is conventional, why stop with the pool?

The Library Koh Samui
Design Team: Tirawan Songsawat
Location: Koh Samui, Thailand
Status: Visit anytime

White minimalist lofts arranged along a the beach, with a bloody red swimming pool and a startlingly white media room; The Library breaks all the rules and turns upside down any notion you might have of a beach hotel on an idyllic Thai island.

The Library Building consists of three box-style units adjoining together where the middle box is an open-air serving as a mini-café. The other two boxes are the huge library for not only books but also other entertainment media.






Divided into 26 suite/studio cabins, the complex avoids the monolithic hotel-complex look, scattering discreet buildings in lush vegetation. Each cabin consists of a suite space on the ground floor and a studio upstairs, complete with ocean view. Accommodation concept is to divide space equally between outdoor and indoor in both horizontal and vertical way. This idea was stemmed from simple concept that when holiday, people prefer to spend more time out in the open rather than staying in an air-conditioned box. Consequently, each building unit will be built in a box style by emphasizing in increasing efficiency of space utilization vertically and horizontally.




Designed as an outpost of casual elegance, The Library interiors are finished in a distinctive minimalist style with strong color palates. Rooms are finished in a bold color scheme that emphasizes red and gray elements against pure white walls and floor space, echoed by the red swimming pool and white library complex. The purity pays off: the old-growth forest and lively beach are there to be enjoyed without distraction.





via The Library

Continue reading...