52 steel pillars stand erected in London's Hyde park, one for every person killed during the terror attacks in London on this day four years ago. Completed in time for commemorations today, the plaque accompanying the Carmody Groarke created memorial reads simply, ‘In memory of those killed in the London bombings' and lists each person by name.
The pillars (or stelae) are arranged in four inter-linking clusters reflecting the four separate locations of the tragic incidents – Tavistock Square, Edgware Road, Kings Cross, and Aldgate. Each pillar is inscribed in a font specifically developed for the memorial, with the date, time and location of the bombings. 26 for Kings Cross at 08:50, 6 for Edgware Road at 08:50, 7 for Aldgate at 8:50 and 13 for Tavistock Square at 09:47.
Constructed from solid-cast, long-lasting stainless steel, each stele measures 3.5 metres high and will be unique, with individual characteristic finishes brought about by the casting process. Through the choice of materials and the memorial’s robust nature, it has been designed to stand for many generations.
The £1million design was developed with the families of the victims and Angel of the North Sculptor Antony Gormley. The Prince and Princess of Wales, as well as senior political figures, will be joining the families today at the unveiling. A spokesperson for the families said: “This Memorial is a fitting tribute, honouring the 52 lives lost on 7 July 2005, ensuring that the world will never forget them. It represents the enormity of our loss, both on a personal and public level. We hope this Memorial will speak to visitors, so they can understand the impact of these horrific events.”
The New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects’ Emerging New York Architects (ENYA) Committee announces its 2010 Biennial Ideas Competition.
ENYA has hosted, for the past four years, an international design competition for students and young professionals, challenging them to address an urban and architectural problem within New York City. This year we have chosen to focus on a unique disused infrastructure --the historic High Bridge. As a portion of The Old Croton Aqueduct that once carried drinking water into the city, the High Bridge currently connects recreational parks in the Bronx and Manhattan. The competition will challenge participants to transform the bridge and surround areas into a vibrant public space that includes an arts complex for emerging artistic communities.
Included in this exploration is the challenge to use the bridge and competition program to literally connect the Manhattan and Bronx neighborhoods on either side. The dramatic site is rich with programmatic and architectural diversity, which will generate a broad range of proposals.
The ENYA competition is a unique opportunity and we invite you to include this competition in your curriculum. The competition is formatted to coincide with the Fall 2009 academic semester, with a registration launch in September 2009 and submission deadline in January 2010. Cash prizes will be awarded to the top three winning entries. An exhibition of all the winning proposals will take place at the Center for Architecture, in Greenwich Village, New York, in the fall of 2010. The ENYA committee is also planning to incorporate the top three winning proposals into the exhibition design itself.
Further details will be announced with the launch of the competition in September 2009.
The attachment is an information package for your review, including some more information about the competition, site, and program. Please also visit our previous competition websites:
South Street Seaport: Re-envisioning the Urban Edge, 2008
SOM has landed the commission to take forward the $80 billion (£49 billion) masterplan for King Abdullah Economic City in Saudi Arabia – one of the biggest projects in the Middle East
The firm saw off three other anonymous practices to land the contract with developer Emaar, The Economic City.
It is a welcome win for SOM, which has suffered significantly in the current downturn. In 2008’s AJ100 list of Britain’s biggest practices, the firm was ranked at number 21, but it dropped to 100th place in this year’s list (AJ 28.05.09).
‘There is no doubt it is a real shot in the arm for the firm,’ said a source.
SOM will be responsible for ‘refining and finalising the existing concept masterplan’ for the 168km2 site, located in Rabigh, north of Jeddah.
The scheme is expected to include a healthcare district, numerous residential zones, an industrial park and a knowledge and media city. Several phase one projects already under construction, such as the sea port and a raft of housing developments, will not be affected.
An original outline masterplan was drawn up in 2006 by SOM and WATG, setting out the broad objectives of the project.
King Abdullah Economic City will be connected to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina via a new high-speed rail link, featuring stations designed by Foster + Partners.
The Prayer and Meditation Pavilion produced by Italy's Studio Tamassociati has been nominated for a numerous architectural awards.Its monolithic, elegant and effortless exteriorin comparison to the striking and vivid interior spaces has been clearly celebrated by not only architects and designer, but by the general public as well.
The project is located in Soba, Sudan.In the last two decades, this countryhas been exasperated by numerous inter-ethnic wars. The vast majority, 70% of the population, of Sudanese are Muslims. Theremainder are between Christians and other religious faiths (Crisis in Darfur of 05/05/2004).
In designing, the Prayer and Meditation Pavilion, the architects clearly understood and succesfullyarticulated a platonic place for meditation for all religious and ethnic groups present in Sudan. The key elements used to create the straightforward and simple design ironically are not all that easy.The use of local materials are for certain. However, the premediatated use of light and shadow,radiates a calm and soothing theraputical atmosphere.
On the exterior, the two off-white cubes are surrounded by a large pool of water, a moat, creating a spiritual element in which symbolizes a detachment from the outside world. This large pool of water allows for religious washings. However, the wash is perceived with out any religious connotations - component containing water. The architects made sure that all architecture symbols, icons and religious elements were obscured, so that no elements could be attributed to a sole religion.
The interiors of the pavilions are embodied by the appeal of two trees, creating sacrilegious, andnatural; yet sacred space, within an artificial man made atmosphere. The plan of the pavilions, two cubes, are tangent to each other on one face. A shift of half-a-width on one side allow for openings. The opening and slots peel away the outer walls , in which creates access points to each cube from opposite sides, and across the pool. Top of each pavilion are bamboo canopies in a steel frame, painted white to match the whitewashed walls. The bamboo, and the gaps between the frames, creates beautiful patterns of shadow on the walls and floors.
The project clearly demonstrates the meaning behind a purified faith. Within all religions there is a struggle within ones soul to clearly articulate piousness and modesty. While working on this project the architects delcared “ When we were having to think of a place where the muslim prayer take place, as is customary happen at any place of care, we had to compare with this difficult dilemma. Designing a space that could accommodate the complex spiritual houses in this country. The choice was to not be given any form of worship but to create a space capable of hosting the prayer and meditation for all faiths. We had, of course, to deal with the Muslim religion that is the faith professed by the majority of Sudan and with the religious practice (washing, separation of men women) but we have dropped these rules in a estranging not make the dominant ” .
It took just one-and-a-half days for eight workers to build the frame from 11› tons of steel. The walls were made from prefabricated panels, and the windows were of a type usually used in factories. The staircase was ordered from a marine supplies catalog. The cost? Just $1 per square foot.
That was back in 1949, and the bill didn’t include the labor of the owners, who’d designed the house, or their employees. Even so, $1 was remarkably cheap, especially when compared with the $11.50 it then cost to build a square foot — that’s roughly a tenth of a square meter — of a typical American home. It seems even cheaper if you consider that the end result was occupied by its owner-designers, Charles and Ray Eames, for nearly 40 years. The Eameses went on to become America’s most famous industrial designers, and their new home was to be one of the most influential — and beloved — houses of the 20th century.
A couple of years ago while I was walking in New York City, I received a call from my brother, who said to me: turn yourself around and come on HOME. Given that those are the lyrics of a Matchbox 20 song, the words resonated in my head and struck a chord as I stood in front of Penn Station in the heart of Manhattan.
As time passed, I came to understand the meaning of “Home”, when I finally saw the completion of my first architectural project that I had the opportunity to be involved in. Fatefully, this was not a project that I got to design. In fact, the firm that I was with, during this time, got short listed but lost to its counterpart.
Originally the school had planned that our class was to be the first graduating class of the new building. However, we all know that in architecture, projects are never delivered on schedule or within budget. I never got to “live” in the new building addition. Oddly enough, I was the undergraduate student body representative for the addition of the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, attending all design meetings, putting together a programming package and input on what the future generation would like to see. Ironically, I only witnessed the groundbreaking of the project and graduated a couple weeks later.
I got a chance to visit the place that I like to call HOME. One fall afternoon, my friend Bradley, flew in from California and we drove down to visit the new building together. During the two hour drive we exchanged lot s of ideas, discussed about architecture and the next generation. We built up our momentum for our first glance at the new Architectural Mecca at the University of Arizona. At first glance, the building left an everlasting impression on us and I am proud to call the new building HOME.
While driving along the busyeast / weststreet of Speedway which is the north boundary of the university, the resourceful glass façade allows for the general public to get a glimpse of what the architecture students have to display as well as illuminating the studios with northern lighting. The 37,000 sq ft modern, sustainable and site specific architecture is now home to laboratories and workshops.
The south façade serves as a research facility for the Landscape Architecture program. The garden is irrigated by a 11,000 gallon tank which is located on the roof. The entire 13,000 sq. ft. roof, harvests and collects all the rainwater and used to irrigate the garden. The singular Vine Wall - screen, ascend from the garden, shading and protecting the entire southern glass exposure.The screen mitigates the brutal southern sun that is common in Sonoran Desert.
Another sustainable aspect of the building is that all vertical circulation is open and placed on the exterior of the building, hence, taking advantage of the climate. This modern structure is yet another example of the “skin and bone” movement that is taking place in contemporary architecture. Exposing the steel, aluminum and concrete on the building allows the building to become a teaching tool for the architecture students as well as limiting the material consumption – practicing sustainable architecture. The Architects demonstrated and articulated the process of the building through the final product. Students are able to understand how a building comes together.
To get a complete virtual tour of the building, visit www.architecturefilms.com, where Bradley Wheeler uncovers the whole building, as well as interviewing the architects.
