Archinect - News

Copenhagen’s Superkilen Urban Park by BIG + Topotek1 + Superflex

2013-01-16T14:00:00-05:00

Earlier this week, we published the winners of the 2013 AIA Institute Honor Awards with eight projects from around the world being recognized in the category "Regional and Urban Design." One of the lucky award winners is Superkilen, an urban park master plan in Copenhagen designed by BIG in collaboration with landscape architects Topotek1 and artists' group Superflex.

Visiondivision's Chop Stick celebrates the raw materials that make our built world

2012-12-04T14:24:00-05:00

The design is based on the universal notion that you need to sacrifice something in order to make something new. Every product is a compound of different pieces of nature, whether it is a cell phone, a car, a stone floor or a wood board; they have all been harvested in one way or another. Our project is about trying to harvest something as gently as possible so that the source of what we harvest is displayed in a pure, pedagogic and respectful way...

Chop Stick has hit the internets today! Chop Stick is a concession stand, playground, and sculpture-building for the Indianapolis Museum of Art's 100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park. I was very fortunate to be local architect-of-record for this innovative project by Swedish architecture duo Visiondivision.

↑ On opening day, Ulf and Anders of Visiondivision handed out ice cream. Courtesy IMA.

↑ The large swing is fun for children and grown-ups alike. Courtesy VIMA.

↑ The swings were made from chunks of wood cut out and "dropped" from the main trunk, visible here.

Visiondivision conceived of this project as a way to consider how we use natural resources in our architectural works. The project combined the vast knowledge of workers at both ends of the art and construction spectrum - engineers and architects, loggers and carpenters - to create a building that remains close to nature while being a functional structure for the 100 Acres Park. The ...

Seven Teams Shortlisted for New Art-Themed Park at West Kowloon Cultural District

2012-11-08T14:09:00-05:00

The West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA) announced today a shortlist of seven design teams that have been invited to submit technical proposals for the development of Hong Kong's first art-themed park, 14 hectares of landscaped public space for arts and culture at the West Kowloon Cultural District, by the waterfront in Kowloon.

The seven shortlisted design teams (in alphabetical order) are:

Cook Robotham Architectural Bureau and VOGT Landscape
Dennis Lau & Ng Chun Man with Grimshaw, West 8 and ACLA
Diller Scofidio + Renfro, with Olin and Urbanus
Grant Associates / Wilkinson Eyre / WSP
Gustafson Porter / Michel Desvigne Paysagiste / Foster + Partners
Hargreaves Associates with Ennead Architects
James Corner Field Operations

Transforming Freshkills Park from Landfill to Landscape

2012-10-17T12:50:00-04:00

Corner’s plan identifies five main areas in Freshkills, each with distinct offerings, designed and programmed to maximize specific site opportunities and constraints. Planned features include nature preserves, animal habitats, a seed plot, walking and bike paths, picnic areas, comfort stations, event staging areas, and every other amenity you could possibly ask for in a public park.

Downtown Los Angeles' new Grand Park inspires grand hopes

2012-07-25T12:38:00-04:00

This week, after a $56-million renovation, that 12-acre rectangle from the top of Bunker Hill to the base of City Hall will be christened as L.A.'s Grand Park, providing downtown with its first sizable amount of open space.

An early look at Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park

2012-05-18T20:17:00-04:00

Archinect Editorial Contributor Aaron Plewke recently visited the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park, which opens officially Fall 2012. Designed by Louis I. Kahn the park is on the southern tip of Roosevelt Island, New York City. Check out more photo's via his Flickr stream.

Yongsan Park Master Plan by West 8 & IROJE

2012-05-08T21:35:00-04:00

Rotterdam-based landscape architects West 8, together with local practice IROJE architects & partners, have recently won the international competition for the master plan of Yongsan Park, Korea. The park will be the first national park inside a South Korean city. More importantly, it will give ultra-dense Seoul some badly-needed green space and will be similar in size to New York’s Central Park.

James Corner Field Operations’ Winning Design for Navy Pier Redesign

2012-03-20T14:14:00-04:00

The team led by James Corner Field Operations has been selected as the winner in the international Navy Pier Redesign Competition. The Pierscape concept is part of the larger vision for Chicago's famous Navy Pier called The Centennial Vision, which seeks to make the "People’s Pier a truly iconic and world-class destination as it approaches its 100th anniversary in 2016."

The JCFO Team also included Terry Guen Design Associates, nArchitects, Leo Villareal, L’Observatoire International, Ed Marszewski, Fluidity, Patrick Blanc, John Greenlee & Associates, Chris Wangro, Billings Jackson, Buro Happold, Primera, HR&A Advisors, ETM Associates, Bruce Mau Design, and d’Escoto, Inc.

The winning proposal beat out stiff competition from the other four finalist teams, AECOM/Bjarke Ingels Group, Aedas Architects/Davis Brody Bond/Martha Schwartz Partners, !melk/HOK/Urban Lab, and Xavier Vendrell Studio/Grimshaw Architects.

LA Parking Lot becomes Urban Oasis

2012-02-13T16:09:00-05:00

What’s the best place to build a wetland? How about at the site of an old MTA bus lot in South Los Angeles? It took more than $26 million and nearly three years to complete the transformation from parking lot to urban wetland. Open to the public as of February 9, the new South Los Angeles Wetland Park that doesn’t only efficiently process storm water runoff–it also provides crucial community green space.

Sasaki Associates, with RDG and AES, Wins Water Works Parkitecture Competition

2012-01-31T13:50:00-05:00

Des Moines Water Works, working in partnership with Iowa State University Department of Landscape Architecture, recently announced that Sasaki Associates, with RDG Planning & Design and Applied Ecological Services (AES), is the winning team of the Water Works Parkitecture Competition.

LOLA, Deltavormgroep and Piet Oudolf to Design Star Maze Park Groot Vijversburg

2012-01-27T14:10:00-05:00

Dutch firms LOLA landscape architects, Deltavormgroep, and Piet Oudolf have won the commission for the extension of the historical park Groot Vijversburg in the north of The Netherlands with their submission “Star Maze”. The team has won the commission through a national tender, for which five teams were selected.

Diller Scofidio + Renfro Beat Out Strong Competition at Aberdeen City Garden Project

2012-01-18T15:17:00-05:00

Diller Scofidio + Renfro have won the Aberdeen City Garden Project design competition which seeks to transform the center of Aberdeen, Scotland. New York City-based DS+R collaborated with local Scottish architects, Keppie Design and landscape architects OLIN, on this project and emerged as winners from a head-to-head race with another finalist team led by Foster + Partners.

Check the Bustler article to also see the projects of the five shortlisted teams led by Foster + Partners, Gustafson Porter, Mecanoo, Snøhetta & Hoskins, and West 8.

HAO / Holm Architecture Office with VM Studio Wins Manhattan Skate Park Competition

2011-12-21T14:12:00-05:00

International design collective HAO / Holm Architecture Office, in collaboration with New York-based VM Studio, has received first place in a competition for the re-design of the Coleman Oval Skate Park in Manhattan. Nine New York design firms were invited to participate in the competition, which was sponsored by Architecture for Humanity and a Gamechangers grant from Nike [...].

High Line Inspires Plans for Park Under Delancey Street

2011-11-21T23:46:04-05:00

... the proposed park would be underground, in a dank former trolley terminal under Delancey Street that is controlled by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Though its promoters call it the “Delancey Underground,” another nickname has already been coined: the Low Line.

Park Rules Scrutinized

2011-10-16T04:00:22-04:00

[ed] How 'public' space is lost "Casting a wary eye on the four-week-old Occupy Wall Street encampment, a group representing some of the city's most influential landlords plans to ask the city to revamp the rules governing privately owned parks, including removing a requirement that they be open 24 hours a day."

Today is PARK(ing) Day 2011!

2011-09-16T15:07:07-04:00

Park(ing) Day is an international celebration of alternative street design, which started in 2005 when Rebar, a San Francisco art and design studio, converted a single metered parking space into a temporary public park in downtown San Francisco. Now it's a worldwide phenomenon, and today New Yorkers will transform more than 30 boring parking spots into temporary parks.

Last year, PARK(ing) Day transformed 850 metered parking spots into temporary parks in 183 cities in 30 countries on 6 continents.

Mexico City to Build the World's Largest Urban Park

2011-08-16T14:35:10-04:00

Leading Mexican architect and landscape urbanist Iñaki Echeverria just unveiled his newest project which when completed, will be the largest urban park in the world. Dubbed El Parque Ecologico Lago de Texcoco (Texcoco Lake Ecological Park), the wide, open development will encompass more than 35,000 acres of space – which is 41 times larger than New York’s Central Park.