ION Architecture - NEWS

Singapore's third Apple store to date, located at the Marina Bay Sands , has caught the public's eyes and has already made its presence on Instagram.  The floating, spherical structure sits near the iconic Marina Bay Sands Hotel in Singapore, designed by Safdie Architects . Designed by long-time Apple collaborator  Foster + Partners , the orb-shaped, colorfully lit store has already received fanfare on social media outlets. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Majid Hussain™ | Singapore(@sgmajidhussain) on Aug 30, 2020 at 3:36am PDT View this post on Instagram A post shared by tony (@tonytitanium) on Aug 29, 2020 at 8:41am PDT View this post on Instagram A post shared by Yang シーヤン (@onepunchyang) on Aug 28, 2020 at 7:56am PDT View this post on Instagram A post shared by Rave (@rave.kpop) on Aug 28, 2020 at 4:51am PDT View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kelvin Heng | 王俊杰 (@kelv.li... Katherine Guimapang via Archinect - News https://bit.ly/2YLT...

A curving masonry block wall created by Mexican artist Héctor Zamora currently graces the rooftop terrace of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, which recently re-opened to the public after several months of COVID-19-related closures.  The installation is built from hundreds of extruded terracotta blocks "made of Mexican earth" that are stacked 11 feet high. The curving barrier is composed of blocks that have been turned on their side, exposing the complex patterning of the extrusion process used to create the units. This change in orientation allows for what would normally be seen as a solid mass to offer fragmented views through the barrier onto the surrounding landscape, be it the leafy trees in Central Park or the concrete, glass, and stone-wrapped towers that surround the museum.  A press release highlighting the installation tells us that the installation works to "create a response in viewers that communicates the impact of barriers: thwarti...

With the start of another decade comes the opportunity to highlight a new crop of historic architecture. Many who haven taken part over recent years in the sometimes insufferable debates over the merits of Brutalism, or in earlier conversations arguing for the legitimacy of midcentury modern architecture, will perhaps find a new conversation piece: Architecture from the 1970s. As the 1970s themselves turn 50 years old, the age that is typically allows for buildings to be considered "historic" from a legal and regulatory perspective, architecture from this era is due for a lengthy reconsideration.  Writing for Docomomo US , Flora Chou, a Senior Associate and Cultural Resources Planner for Page & Turnbull's Los Angeles office, explains that "like the previous decades, there will be places from the 1970s that are important and worthy of preservation. Our eyes and personal tastes will gradually adjust to see the beauty in what many now consider to be outdated, ug...

MVRDV and The Why Factory at TU Delft have announced the release of  Le Grand Puzzle, a book showcasing the result of intensive research of Marseille. The project was made from 2018 to the beginning of 2020 by an international team of architects and urbanists from MVRDV and The Why Factory in collaboration with Manifesta 13.  "Le Grand Puzzle shows the incredible urban possibilities and impossibilities of Marseille, through conversations, analyses, maps and ideas," said Winy Maas, co-founder of MVRDV and director of The Why Factory in a statement. "It forms an urban portrait of Marseille; a constructive mirror to Marseille."  The study was commissioned as the foundational base of the Manifesta 13 Marsielle art exhibition. "Marseille is a city of flux, transit and trade. It responds to a diversity of contradictory connotations. So it offers a rare prism we can use to investigate multiple questions that are crucial to Europe’s future and curren...

Work on the Grand, a long-anticipated mixed-use complex designed by architect Frank Gehry has reached the halfway mark as construction carries on unobtrusively through the pandemic. The towering collection of apartments, stores, restaurants, movie theaters and a luxury hotel is rising on a full city block across Grand Avenue from Gehry’s famed Walt Disney Concert Hall at a time when few are around to witness its creation. Roger Vincent of  The Los Angeles Times checks in on the construction progress for The Grand, a forthcoming $1 billion mixed-use development taking shape in Downtown Los Angeles across from the Walt Disney Concert Hall.  The project, designed by Gehry Partners , has been in the works for nearly two decades and is finally coming to fruition now, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Vincent reports that the construction site, which employs roughly 400 workers who are practicing social distancing, is among the largest in Southern California at the moment. Antoni...

Prince Plaza, designed by OMA has opened in Shenzhen, China. The 200-meter tall tower offers 60,000 square meters of office space and sits on a 40,000 square meter podium mall. Located at a prominent view corridor linking the Nanshan mountains and the Shenzhen Bay, this monolith capitalizes on its surrounding panorama to maintain a connectedness to the outside urban landscape. "Prince Plaza engages with Shekou’s dynamic context formed by its mountains and sea, industrial fabric from the early reform era, and recent skyscrapers," said OMA Managing PArtner David Gianotten in a statment. "Its three sky decks are important design features. They are public spaces for everyone to appreciate the area’s natural environment through the city’s main view corridor. They also break down the otherwise monolithic skyscraper to create an architecture respectable to buildings of distinctive scales in its surroundings." Formally, the tower is a conglomeration of four...

A group of contested supertall residential towers designed a collection of architecture firms, including  SHoP Architects ,  Handel , and  Perkins Eastman for sites in the Two Bridges neighborhood of Manhattan will be allowed to proceed as initially approved following a legal victory over challenges to the project by municipal authorities.  A recent ruling  from the New York State Supreme Court found that approvals for the project were "rationally based in the record and not contrary to law," despite claims from Manhattan Borough president Gale A. Brewer and the New York City Council to the contrary. The decision allows developers JDS Development Group, CIM Group, L+M Development Partners, and Starrett Corporation to proceed with the four towers, which will sprout adjacent to the recently completed 72-story One Manhattan Square complex designed by  Adamson Associates in an area largely devoid of tall skyscrapers.  The forthcoming towers...

Basée au Canada, à Toronto, Rosa est la créatrice du Rosie’s Sketchbook. Comme son nom l’indique, elle peint des paysages sous différentes formes comme des rectangles, ou des tranches de bois, par exemple, sur les pages de son célèbre carnet de croquis ou sur des papiers.  Parfois, sa peau remplace les supports habituels et devient sa toile. En utilisant l’aquarelle, le médium dont elle est « rapidement tombée amoureuse » comme elle l’explique, Rosa utilise et transmet les couleurs et les tons que l’on peut trouver dans la nature. Parfois, sur son compte Instagram, elle partage des vidéos time-lapse qui lui permettent de suivre son processus et de laisser celui qui les regarde pénétrer au cœur de sa création. Sans avoir besoin de voyager, il est possible, grâce à son art, de voir différents angles de la forêt ou de la montagne et de ressentir l’atmosphère ambiante grâce au travail effectué sur la texture et les différentes nuances. Sur son compte Etsy , Rosa propose d...

In transport architecture, projects are designed at a wide variety of scales, each with varying degrees of complexity in terms of planning, design development and construction. Then there are projects like Beijing Daxing International Airport , in which the complexity for all three is taken to a new level entirely. At this scale, the challenge of marrying program, form and detail is as vast as the project itself, and takes an experienced, highly competent firm to deliver it. It’s no surprise, then, that Zaha Hadid Architects was called upon in Beijing, and the result is characteristically striking: A starfish-shaped terminal, the world’s largest , provides efficient routes for thousands of travelers to and from every departure gate, as well as forming an instant icon when viewed from airplanes overhead. The savvy design and construction of Beijing Daxing International Airport has earned it the title of 2020 A+Awards Special Honoree , as well as winning both the Jury and Popular Cho...

Cendrillon, Buzz l’ É clair ou Les Indestructibles : voilà en quoi peuvent désormais se déguiser les enfants en situation de handicap chez Disney. Dans une volonté d’inclusivité, la marque américaine propose depuis peu une nouvelle collection de costumes à l’effigie de certains de ses héros, adaptée aux enfants handicapés. Les déguisements disposent d’une ouverture à l’arrière pour simplifier l’habillement et d’une seconde à l’avant pour laisser passer un éventuel tube. Les jambes sont également plus longues et plus larges dans le cas où l’enfant serait assis dans un fauteuil roulant. Et en parlant de fauteuil, la marque a également conçu des kits afin de transformer son fauteuil chaise en carrosse de Cendrillon ou en Indestructimobile.  Images : © Disney , Pauline, via Fubiz Media https://bit.ly/3hGD99t