Archinect - News

David Chipperfield Architects debut three-building La Confluence contribution in Lyon

2024-12-16T17:18:00-05:00

David Chipperfield Architects has just completed a three-building scheme for the larger La Confluence master plan in Lyon, France designed by Herzog & de Meuron.

View of the office building from one of the garden courtyards. Image: © Simon Menges

The program includes a small office building, housing block, and mixed-use tower. The firm tells us each is "shaped by their structure and defined by their simple rectilinear forms yet react to their specific location in different ways."

View of the social housing building from one of the garden courtyards. Image: © Simon Menges

All three mirror each other and the other buildings in the plan thanks to the choice of mineral-like materials to cover each of their facades. The three buildings combined offer a gross floor area equal to 30,000 square meters (appx. 323,000 square feet) and were designed especially to enhance their site's riverfront connection.

The mixed-use tower building. Image: © Simon Menges

Housing—or at least its possibility—b...

Populous' new Riyadh soccer stadium symbolizes a germinating seed emerging from the earth

2024-11-19T14:19:00-05:00

A new stadium design from Populous for what will become one of the world’s largest sporting venues, the future King Salman Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, has been unveiled ahead of the country’s turn as host of the 2034 FIFA World Cup.

Fans will have to wait until 2029 to see the full vision for the stadium and master plan realized. When it does come to fruition, the stadium design, which is to be located in one of the city’s northern precincts, will be approximately square feet and have a capacity for 92,000 people. An adjacent area with separate athletics facilities will join alongside it in the master plan, pollinating the spaces next to King Abdulaziz Park as though germinating seeds meant to represent the growth of sports within the country.

Image courtesy of Populous

Amenities inside the stadium include a Royal Box, hospitality skyboxes and lounges, 300 'VVIP' seats, and 2,200 VIP seats, plus an array of internal screens, indoor gardens, and a rooftop walking path that offers...

$2 billion Fourth & Central plan for LA's Arts District gets update

2024-10-17T17:05:00-04:00

The $2 billion plan for the mixed-use Fourth & Central development in downtown LA has been altered away from the project’s originally announced 10-building plan in the Arts District. Studio One Eleven is leading the plan, which has been updated as of October 17th.

The update includes more rental housing than its previous iteration. An Adjaye Associates-designed residential tower has also been resized from 44 stories to 30 stories in response to "community concerns," according to developer Continuum's late-August statement in the LA Times.

Image rendering courtesy Studio One Eleven and Adjaye Associates

Image courtesy Studio One Eleven

Foster + Partners debuts Gaafaru Island master plan for the Maldives

2024-10-17T15:55:00-04:00

Foster + Partners has unveiled a new resiliency-based master plan for the low-lying Gaafaru Island in the Maldives. The plan addresses the existential crisis posed to the island by climate change, providing "holistic" solutions along multiple fronts where there is a need for a better economic and environmental way forward.

Image courtesy Foster + Partners

According to the firm, the six core tenets of the plan are:

Adapting to rising sea levels and extreme conditions
Minimizing damaging dredging and land reclamation practices
Nurturing ecology
Enhancing prosperity for all
Unifying communities
Establishing net zero energy, water and waste

Image courtesy Foster + Partners

Partner Tony Miki said: "A significant part of this project has been about identifying and understanding the various challenges – and then working out how to tackle them in the most holistic way possible. Our masterplan seeks to embed resilience into the built fabric for the next one-hundred years, providing ecological prote...

Studio Egret West, Hawkins\Brown, Haworth Tompkins, and others behind $13.4 billion Earl's Court master plan in London

2024-09-27T17:13:00-04:00

A £10 billion ($13.4 billion USD) master plan for London’s Earl’s Court district has been submitted to planning officials in the Borough of Kensington and Chelsea before the commencement of construction on its first phase in 2026. The plan covers 7.5 million square feet and includes 4,000 new residential units plus a 4.5-acre park and 2.9 million-square-feet office component.

Joining Studio Egret West and Hawkins\Brown on the project are dRMM, Maccreanor Lavington, Sheppard Robson, Haworth Tompkins, Serie Architects and ACME, and SLA. Approvals are expected by the summer of 2025.

Image: courtesy The Earls Court Development Company

Hassell and IAAC deploy 3D printing method for greater gender equality in Tanzania

2024-08-29T12:35:00-04:00

A new 3D printed project in Tanzania from Hassell and the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) team of researchers in Barcelona will provide housing, professional skills training, and education for young women in the village of Kibaha.

Within the new Hope Village master plan, which is being undertaken with help from Australia’s Clarke Hopkins Clarke (CHC), a new Community Building structure will take shape using earth materials and locally sourced timber sections.

Its realization expands on research that first began in Spain and has since earned the Shaping A Circular Industrial Ecosystem Prize at the New European Bauhaus Awards in 2023. Construction will start in 2025. Mark Loughnan, the Principal and Head of Design at Hassell, states: “We’re using design to uplift the way people experience their daily lives. In this instance, we’re using it to hopefully help, heal and educate — and we’re also using it to innovate.”

...

Zaha Hadid Architects previews Discovery City master plan for southern Malaysia

2024-08-26T12:22:00-04:00

The first project from Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) in Malaysia will be a master-planned Discovery City located within the Ibrahim Technolopolis (or IBTEC), a new 7,290-acre smart city in the southern state of Johor. While design details of the firm’s 582-acre contribution won’t be put forth in full until 2025, its initial announcement includes particulars such as a centerpiece cultural center (valued at appx. $62 million) and plans for strategies for renewable energy and water infrastructure. The project's total value is equal to about $6.2 billion USD.

Image courtesy Zaha Hadid Architects

Foster + Partners signs agreement for King Salman International Airport

2024-08-23T10:59:00-04:00

Promising it will deliver a "truly innovative approach to airport design that reinvents the passenger experience at every level," Foster + Partners has signed a partnership agreement with Saudi Arabia for the next phase of the master plan for Riyadh’s King Salman International Airport after winning an international competition for its design in December 2022.

The airport, which is set to become one of the world's largest, bolsters the Saudi capital's position as a logistics hub with seven terminals and a capacity for 100 million annual travelers by the year 2030.

Within it, a 4.6-square-mile tract for residential and recreational facilities, retail outlets, and other airport operations/logistics will link back through a looping green corridor. The LEED Platinum plan will enhance connectivity to public transit and the city. Foster + Partners is also currently tendered to other aviation projects in Dubai, Cambodia, and the country's Aseer region.

...

Denver inches forward on downtown KSE-Ball Arena Redevelopment

2024-07-24T12:12:00-04:00

Things appear to be moving forward for Denver’s proposed KSE-Ball Arena Redevelopment following the approval of a rezoning application from Shears Adkins Rockmore Architects (SAR+). The plan connects 75 acres around the 25-year-old sports venue to the future River Mile Development and other constituent parts of downtown, replacing surface parking lots with a 12 million-square-foot mixed-use program and 10 acres of landscaped open space.

ZGF Architects is also involved in the project as a design partner. Wenk Associates is the landscape architect. The plan addresses Denver's need for housing near the downtown core with 6,000 new units, 18% of which are considered affordable.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by SAR+ Architects (@shears_adkins_rockmore)

The Ball Arena scheme is similar in scope to the proposed 55-acre The 1901 Project redevelopment of the neighborhood surrounding the United Center in Chicago from RIOS and Field Operations, which we detailed ...

Rafael Viñoly Architects reveals first Canadian project in Toronto

2024-05-03T11:59:00-04:00

Rafael Viñoly Architects' debut work in Canada has been announced as a two-million-square-foot mixed-use development in Midtown Toronto. The four-tower, 2,364-unit scheme previewed by the firm last week was designed by its late founder before his passing and will stand as his sole Canadian project at the culmination of an undetermined construction phase that begins next year.

Rendering courtesy Binyan and Madison Group

Two 58-story structures will connect with another pair equaling 61 stories via a six-story skybridge between 90-110 and 150-164 Eglinton Avenue in the popular commercial neighborhood. A public plaza area will engage the site further with its civic context with a new amphitheater, retail spaces, and a children’s play area.

Rendering courtesy Binyan and Madison Group

MPFP Landscape Architecture will complete the landscape design for the program. Turner Fleischer Architects is listed as a collaborator. Overall, this is the third new project announced by the firm since Viñ...

Gensler and SHAPE unveil next phase of Atlanta’s Centennial Yards development

2024-03-27T11:05:00-04:00

The next phase of Atlanta’s major Centennial Yards development has been unveiled. Designed by Gensler and SHAPE (Studio H Architecture Planning Environments), the sports-entertainment district will span 470,000 square feet, holding entertainment, retail, restaurant, and hotel functions on a 7.5-acre site.

The urban form of the district takes inspiration from Downtown Atlanta’s industrial past, designed to “reflect the site’s railroad history with clean lines and flat pedestrian pathways throughout.” In contrast to the area’s surrounding high-rise buildings, the district will comprise lower-tiered buildings with green terraces along various elevations.

Image credit: Gensler

“Our approach to revitalization is to catalyze and anchor the urban core by creating a pedestrian-oriented crossroads of East and West Atlanta,” said Gensler Atlanta Co-Managing Director Kevin Songer about the scheme. “Centennial Yards Entertainment District will engage locals and visitors alike by enhancing walkab...

Sasaki will design new comprehensive master plan for Taliesin West

2024-03-26T16:54:00-04:00

The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation has announced its selection of Sasaki Associates to create a new comprehensive master plan for Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Plans for a new campus will guide the development of any new projects on the 620-acre campus (a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site) in line with the Foundation’s Taliesin West Preservation Plan from 2015. Their aim is to re-establish the site as a cultural destination for "future generations."

The site, which Wright settled with his third wife Olgivanna in the 1930s, had included a school that almost shuttered due to financial difficulties before reversing its decision and relocating to two sites in Paradise Valley at the start of the pandemic.

Photo credit: Andrew Pielage

The firm says: "The comprehensive plan for Taliesin West represents a significant step in ensuring the long-term preservation and vitality of this architectural masterpiece. By engaging with the site’s history and ecology, Sasaki’s plan will guid...

Foster + Partners, Sasaki, and actor Idris Elba float plans for a 'smart city' island development in Sierra Leone

2024-03-19T13:34:00-04:00

Foster + Partners is working on a new smart city design with actor Idris Elba for a coastal island off the shores of Sierra Leone. The news was reported by the BBC on Sunday, when the plan was revealed for the first time after five years of planning.

Sasaki Associates will collaborate with the firm, Elba, and his business partners at the Sherbro Alliance Partners (or SAP). Their plan is to preserve nature areas on the 230-square-mile Sherbro Island (which has roughly ten times the land area as Manhattan) while enacting a new "eco-city" capable of supporting up to one million residents.

The outlet reports the project is to be financed through a public-private partnership and that the island will "be designated a special economic zone with a separate legal and economic system from the rest of Sierra Leone." Some online commentators have compared it to Disney World, the crypto-funded Akon City in Senegal, or the new planned community in Northern California that’s backed by a group of...

Zaha Hadid Architects unveils major waterfront master plan in Oman

2024-03-15T11:52:00-04:00

Zaha Hadid Architects has designed a waterfront master plan for downtown Muscat in Oman.

Under the plans, named the Al Khuwair development, the existing administrative and industrial areas will become an urban district with an expected population of 64,500.

Image credit: X UniverseCG, courtesy of MoHUP

The district will comprise five areas: a marina, a recreational waterfront with beaches and sports facilities, a canal walkway, a cultural quarter, and a Ministry campus. Residential areas will be incorporated throughout the master plan alongside arts, culture, and leisure facilities within mixed-use developments.

Image credit: X UniverseCG, courtesy of MoHUP

Building on Muscat’s history as a port city, the development will be anchored by the marina, which will include public green spaces along the waterfront and dining, retail, hotel, and residential developments. Elsewhere, buildings within the existing Ministry campus are expected to be retrofitted and reused through a program of re...

Disneyland’s $1.9 billion campus expansion moves toward approval

2024-03-14T11:54:00-04:00

The LA Times and other local outlets are reporting on the progress made by Disney towards eventually realizing an expansion of the existing plot of Disneyland, a move billed as generating multiple community benefits for the city of Anaheim.

The $1.9 billion DisneylandForward project does not call specifically for any new construction and will be executed within the resort's existing 500-acre campus. According to an assessment of the plan from the Disney Tourist Blog, “DisneylandForward is the company’s pitch to the public and City of Anaheim for more flexibility in the master plans from the 1990s in order to give the company greater autonomy over what to build and where.”

In line with founder Walt Disney's vision for a constant expansion of the resort, the plan presents the potential for both an "immersive new theme park" and a "new kind" of entertainment district possibly containing a hotel and cluster of retail, dining, and entertainment plots to be created in the east and west co...

Cooper Robertson unveils campus master plan for the University of Maryland

2024-01-10T13:54:00-05:00

Details of a new comprehensive master plan by Cooper Robertson for the University of Maryland’s flagship campus in College Park were revealed Tuesday by the firm following its initial announcement in March of last year.

By prioritizing strategies for “holistic growth,” the university says it will be able to meet its slate of strategic development goals that include increasing institutional resilience, achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2025, improving transit options and pedestrian access on campus, making facilities improvements, enhancing connectivity between the campus and D.C. metro region, and preparing for a more diverse future.

Rendering courtesy Cooper Robertson

“This plan builds on the University of Maryland’s role as an ambitious, forward-looking, and value-driven academic institution,” Cooper Robertson partner and UMD alum Mike Aziz said. “By embracing its legacy of distinction in a modern and strategic program, the university is setting a highly sustainable and lasti...

BIG's ‘Mindfulness City’ concept seeks to deliver new forms of prosperity to southern Bhutan

2023-12-20T20:00:00-05:00

Details of a new master plan from Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) for Bhutan’s future Gelephu Special Administration Region have been made public this week in the South Asian country.

‘Mindfulness City’ is a multifaceted economic hub designed by the firm’s Landscape and Urban Design Team to coincide with sustainability principles and the pioneering Gross National Happiness Index (GNH) concept that has been championed by King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and the Bhutanese government since 2008.

Rendering: Brick Visual

The 1,000-square-kilometer (386-square-mile) plan calls for the construction of a new international airport, hydroelectric dam, railway infrastructure, and university campus near the southern border with India. Ribbons of neighborhood-scale developments will run like tendrils influenced by the confluence of 35 different rivers and streams that pulse through the site, with densities increasing along the gradient from its northern rural highlands to mor...

Safdie Architects and PWP Landscape Architecture reveal design for mountainside Vermont village master plan

2023-11-30T12:13:00-05:00

Safdie Architects and PWP Landscape Architecture have unveiled their design for a master-planned residential development in Killington, Vermont. Developed by Great Gulf, the “mountain village community” will include the largest ski beach in the Eastern United States.

Image credit: Great Gulf

The 450-acre development is framed by the 4,241-foot Killington Peak, one of six mountain peaks to surround the village. The first phase of the community will see 32,000 square feet of commercial space accompanying 225 residences, comprising condominiums, townhomes, and single-family homes. The residential community will also feature ski-in/ski-out access.

Image credit: Great Gulf

“We aim to capture the spirit of, and character of, the Vermont village in a contemporary rendition of vital public spaces for all seasons,” Moshe Safdie is quoted on a website dedicated to the development.

Image credit: Great Gulf

Pre-construction is currently underway on the site, with sales for the first residences exp...

MVRDV and Orange Architects introduce master plan for new mixed-use district in Kyiv

2023-11-27T13:58:00-05:00

MVRDV and Orange Architects have announced a new master plan for a mixed-used district in Kyiv, Ukraine, that's meant to spark a revitalization of the capital’s downtown commercial area.

The design for the NUVO complex calls for a five-building mix of new structures united by a central shared infrastructure and connecting to a planned high-speed rail extension. The plan will increase pedestrianism in the area while tying its development to core principles of sustainable building and green design, the architects say. The project features a palette of local materials to “showcase” the architectural products of manufacturer (and the property's developer) Kovalska and expands on a pre-Russian-invasion master plan from APA Wojcehowski Architects.

Rendering: Wizard 3D Studio, image courtesy MVRDV and Orange Architects

MVRDV’s portion calls for a pair of new buildings to be designed around potential future adaptations. The larger, L-shaped 18-story tower uses flexible floor plans to offer ...

Harvard's new Enterprise Research Campus breaks ground in Boston

2023-11-14T18:59:00-05:00

A master plan project at Harvard University from Studio Gang, Henning Larsen, SCAPE, and Utile has begun construction in the Boston neighborhood of Allston.

The 36-acre Enterprise Research Campus (or ERC) will coalesce an area across the Charles River from the Ivy League campus into a new multi-use innovation district with designs from MVRDV, Moody Nolan, and Marlon Blackwell, in addition to the university's first above-ground mass timber structures from Studio Gang.

Once complete, its initial two phases will entail 14 acres of redeveloped land reserved for offices, labs, conference center, hotel, residential component, and open green space.

Image courtesy SCAPE

The effort was inaugurated in 2018 in the interest of creating a "gateway to a collaborative community," which is Boston's well-known consortium of knowledge industries.

Studio Gang founding principal and partner, Jeanne Gang, said her team’s plan has "provided a framework for a vibrant and inclusive public realm that bring...

OLIN, Agency Artifact envision $4.8 billion ‘Central Park for the San Fernando Valley’

2023-11-03T13:53:00-04:00

The City of Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering has announced plans for a new master plan of the San Fernando Valley’s Sepulveda Basin from OLIN, Agency Artifact, Geosyntec, and a team of collaborating consultants.

The $4.8 billion Sepulveda Basin Vision Plan will unfold over 25 years and covers an area spanning more than 2,000 acres between Van Nuys, Lake Balboa, Reseda, Sherman Oaks, and Encino that is currently considered ‘park-poor’ by urban planning standards, according to Urbanize LA’s report on the announcement Wednesday.

The area includes segments covered in the LA River revitalization plan. The project will rehabilitate existing wildlife areas while installing a total of 46 new projects, some of which are scheduled to be included as venues in the 2028 Olympics. A new civic plaza and pedestrian walk will also be created along Victory Boulevard. Olin says it will become the “‘Central Park’ for the San Fernando Valley.”

Image courtesy City of LA/OLIN

By acreage, the plan covers ...

Foster + Partners designs Hangzhou master plan along a central ‘leafy spine’

2023-11-01T17:22:00-04:00

Foster + Partners has unveiled its design for a new master-planned center for the Chinese city of Hangzhou. Organized around a central landscaped axis, the master plan is described by the firm as a “green and interconnected mixed-use quarter.”

Image credit: Foster + Partners

The central axis is intended as a “leafy spine” guiding visitors through the district, bookended at each end by green space. While the north end holds a public park, a wetland in the south is connected to a new cultural hub.

Image credit: Foster + Partners

The axis itself holds several cultural centers, including a public library, exhibition hall, and galleries. Massing gradually steps up towards the axis, creating a defined skyline while seeking to “respect the site’s natural surroundings” as well. The density also increases around public transport hubs to encourage public transit use.

Image credit: Foster + Partners

“The master plan is organized around a 2.5-kilometer central axis that runs the full length of th...

Foster + Partners, BIG attached to master plan rebuilding effort in Antakya, Turkey

2023-10-31T19:13:00-04:00

The master plan for a new rebuilding project in Turkey’s southeastern Hatay province has been revealed by Foster + Partners in association with the Türkiye Design Council (TDC) in response to the devastating 7.8 magnitude Turkey-Syria Earthquake which displaced thousands and destroyed a majority of structures in the region in early February.

The plan draws in BIG and twelve other local and international practices into a consortium that will together design a revitalization of the city of Antakya with sensitivity to preserving the “cultural heritage and identity” of the 2,300-year-old provincial capital known to antiquity as Antioch.

"Hatay has been destroyed by a major earthquake at least seven times in history — some experts suggest as many as 33. In February, 80% of the city was devastated, putting Hatay in a unique position. Its archaeological and religious mosaic features require special urban planning, which needs to be combined with the creation of self-sufficient, resilient s...

MVRDV designs residential master plan as new neighborhood for Brussels

2023-10-24T15:34:00-04:00

MVRDV has released details of their master plan for Tour & Taxis Lake Side in Brussels, Belgium. The master plan consists of 17 buildings designed by seven different architects including MVRDV, adding 800 residential units to the area.

Image credit: RZGraphics

The master plan is split into three sections. A mixed office and housing campus to the east contains large-scale buildings, including cross-laminated timber and lightweight hybrid structures. The middle section, meanwhile, sees 14 individual buildings clustered around a public garden. The ground floors of the buildings contain public amenities and shops, while all 14 buildings hold either green or energy-producing roofs. The third section of the master plan blends the dense neighborhood into the adjacent Tour & Taxis Park, with a more open space punctuated by a tower known as the Park Building.

Image credit: RZGraphics

The plan contains a range of housing types, including two buildings providing co-living apartments. The master ...

BIG designs stepped concave towers for ‘Europe’s largest regeneration project’ in Greece

2023-10-18T12:15:00-04:00

Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) has designed a major residential complex in Athens, Greece. Named Park Rise and commissioned for LAMDA Development, BIG’s scheme is part of The Ellinikon, described by LAMDA as “Europe’s largest urban regeneration project and a smart city being built from the ground up in Athens.”

Image credit: Bjarke Ingels Group / LAMDA

Park Rise will form the centerpiece of Little Athens, a new residential neighborhood located within the Ellinikon master plan. BIG’s concept will contain 88 residential units across five building cores: two rising to five floors, two rising to eight floors, and one rising to 12 floors.

Image credit: Bjarke Ingels Group / LAMDA

From the outside, the scheme is defined by a curved concave facade which, the architects say, “creatively reimagines the classic Greek column while adding a soft geometry to the aesthetic.” Off-white glass-reinforced concrete with exposed aggregates is integrated into the facade to “harken to the natural landscape.”

I...

Safdie Architects and PWP Landscape Architecture to deliver ‘luxury mountain village’ for Great Gulf in Killington, Vermont

2023-10-06T13:11:00-04:00

Safdie Architects has been tapped by developers Great Gulf to deliver a master-planned residential development in Killington, Vermont. While design proposals for the site are yet to be revealed, Great Gulf has said that sales of the first residences will launch next year, designed by a team led by Safdie and PWP Landscape Architecture.

According to the developers, the site will hold a “one-of-a-kind master-planned village and luxury four-season resort-style residential community.” The 450-acre development will include ski-in/ski-out access, restaurants, retail, and “the largest ski beach in the East.”

Project site in Killington, VT. Image credit: Williams New York

Phase One of the scheme will include over 32,000 square feet of commercial space and approximately 225 residences consisting of condominiums, townhouses, and single-family homesites. “We aim to capture the spirit of, and character of, the Vermont village in a contemporary rendition of vital public spaces for all seasons,” M...

RIOS unveils 100-year 'Hyper-Abundant City' concept at Seoul Biennale

2023-09-14T14:44:00-04:00

RIOS has released details of a new 100-year master plan included as part of its participation in the 4th Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism (SBAU), which takes place through the end of October in the South Korean capital.

The firm's concept for the 'Hyper-Abundant City' significantly alters the upscale Apgujeong district by incorporating the urban fabric of the adjacent Gangnam neighborhood while extending an existing connection to the Han River. Ecological plots revealing vertical villages that are inspired by Hanok architectural traditions are protected by shoreline islands which the architects say aid in managing stormwater runoffs and flood mitigation. Finally, the plots are connected to each other through an interlinking series of open spaces that permeate the site.

Rendering by Aesthetica Studio, image courtesy of RIOS

The river’s natural systems are relieved by the careful selection and placement of access points which minimize human activity while allowing land to...

Anti-democratic vistas: Plans for a new city in Northern Californian farmlands draw ire from concerned officials

2023-09-04T12:00:00-04:00

Over a five-year period, the company became the largest landowner in Solano County after purchasing more than 55,000 acres of undeveloped land. The company has paid more than $800 million since 2018, according to court records. [...] On the eastern end of Solano County, the city of Rio Vista is now surrounded by Flannery Associates land. Mayor Ronald Kott said that, like many Solano County officials, he had not been approached by anyone from the company to discuss plans for the land.

Similar to Marc Lore’s utopian vision for a new $400 billion Shenzhen-style city from scratch called Telosa, the secretive land grab-cum-startup city lies suspiciously close to Travis Air Force Base and is being marketed as a “new city with tens of thousands of new homes, a large solar energy farm, orchards with over a million new trees, and over ten thousand acres of new parks and open space.”

Democratic Representative Mike Thompson told reporters last week he was “very concerned about our national security” related to the plan's proximity to the base. Some residents have reported “fear” in their dealing with the company, including concerns about retaliation. The company, meanwhile, maintains its secrecy is deliberate and intended to prevent possible real estate speculation on the part of landowners, a group of whom they have sued for collusion.

SOM reveals plans for 100,000-person Sultan Haitham smart city in Oman

2023-08-23T14:53:00-04:00

A new plan for a proposed smart city in Oman has been released by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) in advance of the project’s anticipated construction start next year.

The 14.8 million-square-meter Sultan Haitham City is located west of the country’s capital, Muscat, and will accommodate 100,000 people with a total of 20,000 units of housing and climate-resilient naturalistic elements developed around twelve core aims of creating an experience that is "affordable, safe, compact, accessible, comfortable, robust, efficient, circular, healthy, smart, and lovable."

The project is part of the larger Vision 2040 initiative, which has, to date, seen the construction of the world’s largest 3D printed building made with real concrete. The development will begin with the construction of six neighborhoods around a 1.9-square-mile central core and later spread out along a 4.6-mile stretch until completion in 2045. SOM’s Managing Director Thomas Behr says it "provides a new model for sustainabl...

Snøhetta to redevelop site of the second-largest waterfall in the US

2023-08-16T11:27:00-04:00

Snøhetta has unveiled a master plan to revitalize Willamette Falls in Oregon City. The second largest waterfall in the United States by volume, the site has been obscured by infrastructure for over a century, with Snøhetta’s plan centered on making the area more publicly accessible.

Image credit: Snøhetta

The master plan includes a riverwalk that begins at the entrance of Oregon City’s historic downtown and culminates at the waterfall’s peak. Imagined as a sequence of "islands" crafted from basalt, steel, wood, and concrete, the riverwalk is designed to be an immersive experience where visitors can witness the power of the falls up close while also feeling the mist and appreciating the landscape's changing tones.

Image credit: Snøhetta

By encompassing the city’s historic downtown, the project hopes to revitalize Main Street, which once served as a major avenue but today dead-ends at the entrance to the waterfall site. Under Snøhetta’s plans, the street will become the gateway for the ...

Archinect - News

David Chipperfield Architects debut three-building La Confluence contribution in Lyon

Populous' new Riyadh soccer stadium symbolizes a germinating seed emerging from the earth

$2 billion Fourth & Central plan for LA's Arts District gets update

Foster + Partners debuts Gaafaru Island master plan for the Maldives

Studio Egret West, Hawkins\Brown, Haworth Tompkins, and others behind $13.4 billion Earl's Court master plan in London

Hassell and IAAC deploy 3D printing method for greater gender equality in Tanzania

Zaha Hadid Architects previews Discovery City master plan for southern Malaysia

Foster + Partners signs agreement for King Salman International Airport

Denver inches forward on downtown KSE-Ball Arena Redevelopment

Rafael Viñoly Architects reveals first Canadian project in Toronto

Gensler and SHAPE unveil next phase of Atlanta’s Centennial Yards development

Sasaki will design new comprehensive master plan for Taliesin West​

​Foster + Partners, Sasaki, and actor Idris Elba float plans for a 'smart city' island development in Sierra Leone

Zaha Hadid Architects unveils major waterfront master plan in Oman

Disneyland’s $1.9 billion campus expansion moves toward approval

Cooper Robertson unveils campus master plan for the University of Maryland

BIG's ‘Mindfulness City’ concept seeks to deliver new forms of prosperity to southern Bhutan

Safdie Architects and PWP Landscape Architecture reveal design for mountainside Vermont village master plan

MVRDV and Orange Architects introduce master plan for new mixed-use district in Kyiv

Harvard's new Enterprise Research Campus breaks ground in Boston

OLIN, Agency Artifact envision $4.8 billion ‘Central Park for the San Fernando Valley’

Foster + Partners designs Hangzhou master plan along a central ‘leafy spine’

Foster + Partners, BIG attached to master plan rebuilding effort in Antakya, Turkey

MVRDV designs residential master plan as new neighborhood for Brussels

BIG designs stepped concave towers for ‘Europe’s largest regeneration project’ in Greece

Safdie Architects and PWP Landscape Architecture to deliver ‘luxury mountain village’ for Great Gulf in Killington, Vermont

RIOS unveils 100-year 'Hyper-Abundant City' concept at Seoul Biennale

Anti-democratic vistas: Plans for a new city in Northern Californian farmlands draw ire from concerned officials

SOM reveals plans for 100,000-person Sultan Haitham smart city in Oman

Snøhetta to redevelop site of the second-largest waterfall in the US

Sasaki will design new comprehensive master plan for Taliesin West

Foster + Partners, Sasaki, and actor Idris Elba float plans for a 'smart city' island development in Sierra Leone