Wirl was conceived by Zaha Hadid to reflect the intensity of a hyper-acceleratory force within an elastic tactile form. The sculpture is located in Hong Kong, China. Moments of graceful suspension are tensioned between muscular sweeps in multiple directions. As the curvature of the surface dynamically and seamlessly twists and turns, dynamic form and functional furnishings are seamlessly integrated. Swells provide areas for seating while stretches in the form furnish opportunities to recline. A generous upward sweep provides shade as well as integrating a series of evolving framed views of the surrounding environment and buildings. Differentially sized voids allow for a variety of experiential possibilities in regards to entering into and interacting with the sculpture for visitors of all sizes, all the while, surrounded by a cloud of swirling forces lifting off the ground. Rhythmic and asymmetrical, seamless and articulated – its curvaceous form is an intricately linked spatial and inhabitable improvisation suspended in time. Read the rest of this entry »
Wirl Sculpture in Hong Kong / Zaha Hadid
University of Vienna Library and Learning Centre / Zaha Hadid
Zaha Hadid Architects unveiled their design for the new Library & Learning Centre (LLC) for the University of Vienna, Austria which rises as a polygonal block from the centre of the new University Campus. The LLC’s design takes the form of a cube with both inclined and straight edges. The straight lines of the building’s exterior separate as they move inward, becoming curvilinear and fluid to generate a free-formed interior canyon that serves as the central public plaza of the centre. All the other facilities of the LLC are housed within a single volume that also divides, becoming two separate ribbons that wind around each other to enclose this glazed gathering space.
Images ©Zaha Hadid Architects
Grand Theatre Rabat, Morocco / Zaha Hadid Architects
Zaha Hadid and Lemghari Essakl, Managing Director of The Bouregreg Valley Development Agency signed an agreement for the architectural design of the Rabat Grand Theatre at a ceremony held in Rabat on November 5. During the event, Mr. Essakl also signed the project financing agreement with Mr. Salaheddine Mezouar, Moroccan Minister of Economy & Finance, Mr. Taieb Cherkaoui, Minister of the Interior, and Mr. Abdelouahed Kabbaj, Chairman of the Executive Board of the Hassan II Fund for Economic & Social Development.
With a dedicated land area of 47 000 sqm and a gross floor area of 27 000 sqm, the Rabat Grand Theatre is a cultural venue of the highest standards. It will include a 2,050-seat theatre, a smaller 520-seat theatre, creative studios and a fully-equipped outdoor amphitheatre with a capacity of up to 7,000 people. Read the rest of this entry »
New Contemporary Art Museum in Bahrain / Zaha Hadid
Zaha Hadid Architects designed a new museum of contemporary art for the Kingdom of Bahrain. The new complex will house exhibition spaces for permanent and temporary collections, multi-event auditorium, education facilities, studios for artists at residence, and retail areas. The project is estimated to be completed by 2012 and was funded by the Cultural and National Heritage Sector of Bahrain.
The enigmatic volume emerges from a narrow coastal land stripe at the Gulf of Bahrain. Describing a gentle curve while gradually rising from the ground a volume is formed that bends slightly and reaches over the water towards Manama. The building appears mystically floating above a coastal landscape. Public fields flow around the sculptural mass of the museum, underlining its presence with curvy-linear lines echoing the contours of the volume. The overall dynamism and fluidity of the elongated form support the emphasis on movement through and around the museum. Read the rest of this entry »
MAXXI Museum wins World Building of the Year at 2010 World Architecture Festival
A project for a centre for contemporary arts in Rome is now officially the best new building in the world. MAXXI, National Museum of XXI Century Arts, Italy, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, UK, has won global architecture’s most coveted accolade of ‘World Building of the Year’ at the prestigious World Architecture Festival Awards (WAF) 2010.
The presentation of the WAF Awards took place during a special ceremony, which marked the conclusion of the biggest global celebration of architecture – the World Architecture Festival, held at the Centre Convencions International Barcelona (CCIB) this week.
The winning design was selected from a shortlist of 15 projects from around the world by the WAF ‘Super Jury’. The ‘Super Jury’ consisted of Arata Isozaki, Barry Bergdoll, who is the Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Enrique Norten, founder of TEN Arquitectos, and Hanif Kara of engineer Adams Kara Taylor.
Speaking at WAF 2010 Paul Finch, WAF Programme Director, said: “The clarity required for architects to present their work in ten minutes often underlines the clarity of thought itself. There were a number of buildings that the judges admired, but the winning building had a certain inevitability to win the overall award. This is a building which is a volume, which takes its place in a very happy way, inside the volume of a city – an unwound Guggenheim, with ribbons of connectivity. It is a building which will still be talked about in the history of architecture in 50 years time.” Read the rest of this entry »
Hotel and Retail Centre in Jesolo Seaside Resort, Italy / Zaha Hadid
Zaha Hadid Architects unveiled a fascinating hotel and retail centre in Italy to be completed in 2014. Jesolo is one of Italy’s most established seaside resorts and the design of Jesolo Magica makes full advantage of its location near the Venice Lagoon. The project aims to be the catalyst for reinvention and regeneration – giving the of the town of Jesolo an excellent opportunity to further develop as a conference and holiday destination. The design creates a continuum of fluid space that instigates a renewed sense of possibility. The disparate elements of the Jesolo Magica complex fit together to form a coherent field of buildings, each one separate – but logically connected to the next in a continually changing ensemble. The volumes encompassing the retail centre ‘open-up’ around a central space, like the petals of a flower. The hotel building forms the final ‘petal’, framing the views over the adjacent lagoon. In addition to offices, retail spaces and restaurants, the Jesolo Magica project features a hotel with conference center, spa, nightclub and outdoor spaces for events. Read the rest of this entry »
Antwerp Port Authority Headquarters / Zaha Hadid
The new Antwerp Port Authority headquarters designed by Zaha Hadid Architects will house approximately 500 staff (currently working in separate buildings) in a single new location that comprises a former fire station and the new extension.
Staff and visitors arrive in the central atrium which also operates as an exhibition space, from where public counters, offices and meeting rooms in the existing building are directly accessible. The offices, meeting rooms, auditorium and panoramic restaurant in the new extension are accessible via panoramic lifts just off the central courtyard. In total the new Port House design is 12,800 m² (gross): 6,600 m² in the refurbished Fire Station, and 6,200 m² in the extension. The maximum dimensions of the new building extension are 114 m long, 24 m wide and 46 m high, providing an additional 4 floors. Read the rest of this entry »
Innovation Tower / Zaha Hadid Architects
The proposed vision of the new Innovation Tower presents a unique opportunity to re-examine and address a creative, multidisciplinary environment. Zaha Hadid concept collects the variety of programmes of the school. Having undergone a strict process of examination of the multiple relationships amongst their unique identities they have been arranged in accordance to their ‘collateral flexibilities’. Priority lies in the drawing in of the campus staff, students and public into a welcoming new space that acts as both the building’s entrance and organiser for the existing complex.
The first architectural gesture is to raise the landscape of the existing football field and tennis grounds, so as to place the main pedestrian entrance of the new school building on a level open to it’s immediate context at podium level. The free ground below becomes accessible from the established main campus route (Yuk Choi Road) to proposed workshops, parking and access to future development on ‘Phase 8’. The new Innovation Tower on podium level is established as an open public foyer that channels deep into the building through a column-free, open showcase forum. The long integrated path from Suen Chi Sun Memorial Square guides the visitor to the main entrance and from here, a generous and welcoming space openly leads its visitors access to supporting public facilities (shop, cafeteria, museum) through a generous open exhibition ‘showcase’ spanning over two levels between podium and ground level.
Sunrise Tower In Kuala Lumpur / Zaha Hadid
Zaha Hadid’s design for Sunrise Tower in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, engages with the city in multiple ways. By exploring potential synergies at different levels and anchoring itself to the existing urban fabric, it creates a platform of services that engage with neighbouring developments, sustaining critical mass and a sense of community. The scheme merges all programmes into one building, distancing itself from the traditional tower and podium typology. Through a detailed landscape strategy the design interweaves tower and ground, extending and connecting the different parts of the site, integrating the new pedestrian routes and internal road system, structuring the fabric of the new development.
The building is designed through a series of independent flows that map the tower and organize different routes for different programmes. Along these routes the lobby and shared facilities floors work as communication hubs, like intersections that enable flexible itineraries and changes between uses. Similarly to the skin, the circulation materializes as a multi dimensional spatial grid, inclusive of the program, treating interior and exterior in a seamless way, thus maximizing the clarity of the scheme and the perception of the different levels. The design of a clear navigation system for lobbies, atria and common areas, enables visual communication as well as access through the cores, ensuring fully accessible environment for all users. The building’s complex programme is distributed through 66 floors in total, 4 bellow ground and 62 above ground, with an absolute height of 280m. The ground lobby is the primary hub of the tower, defining 4 different dedicated lobbies for residential, hotel, offices and general public. Read the rest of this entry »
Beethoven Hall in Bonn / Zaha Hadid
A central priority in Zaha Hadid Architect’s urban design concept for a new Beethoven Festival Hall is linking the city of Bonn to the Rhine River promenade and leveraging that idea’s potential to enrich public life on the river’s edge.
Learning from the missed opportunities during the planning of the existing building in the 1950’s, Zaha Hadid Architect’ proposal not only incorporates a high degree of porosity in its site plan, but intensifies the connection by introducing a transparent “Rhine Foyer” into the building mass; a dramatic atrium that stretches from the City to the Rhine. With two main façades, the building presents itself in an open and inviting manner to the River and the City, allowing for deep visual links through its crystalline mass. The light Rhine Foyer will make audiences and performers feel comfortable and relaxed but simultaneously excited by the anticipation of a unique experience. Read the rest of this entry »