Archinect - News

Masonry arches define Zaha Hadid Architects’ design for Uzbek research center

2024-10-16T08:26:00-04:00

Zaha Hadid Architects has unveiled its design for a scientific research center in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Named the Alisher Navoi International Scientific Research Center, the project is defined by arching facades and interiors built from bricks produced in local kilns.

Image credit: Norviska

The center’s defining arches seek to echo the curvilinear geometries of traditional Uzbek architecture, as well as introduce passive heating and cooling principles. Courtyards have also been incorporated within the center to improve natural light and ventilation and create a variety of outdoor gathering spaces.

Image credit: Zaha Hadid Architects

“Informed by the wind towers of Central Asian and Middle Eastern vernacular architecture that maintain cooler interior temperatures, the geometries and composition of the center’s supporting arches have been designed as hollow structures with openings that capture the wind and channel cooling ventilation into the building,” Zaha Hadid Architects explains....

Moody Nolan reveals design for $342 million research complex at Morgan State University

2023-11-17T13:11:00-05:00

Moody Nolan has shared an update to its previously announced Science and Research Complex project at Morgan State University in Baltimore.

The new, 246,000-square-foot complex comes equipped with the industry’s latest technological features and will be designed to achieve R1 (very high research activity) Carnegie classification, aiming to bolster the school’s STEM education offerings and national position as a research university.

New renderings released by the firm showcase the direction of the project, whose programmatic elements include Collaborative Teaching and Research Spaces, Information Technology and Computer Labs, Tutoring and Learning Centers, a 3,000-square-foot Environmental and Botanical Rooftop Greenhouse, and space for Remote and Hybrid Technology Integration.

Image courtesy of Moody Nolan

The building will house MSU’s School of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences (SCMNS) and be constructed alongside pre-set minority business enterprise (MBE) goals of 47.75%...

HOK designs quantum research facility for Caltech with glass prism facade

2023-08-25T11:41:00-04:00

Caltech has held the groundbreaking ceremony for the HOK-designed Ginsburg Center for Quantum Precision Measurement in Pasadena, California. Upon its projected completion in 2025, the center is set to become “one of the world’s most advanced hubs for studying quantum science and technology.”

Image credit: HOK

The four-story building will house research offices, meeting rooms, and dedicated collaboration areas, with laboratories strategically located at the basement level to minimize disturbances from noise and vibrations. Externally, a transparent facade on the south and west sides is designed to “suggest a prism or the bending of spacetime, an allusion to research that will take place in the building.”

In an effort to foster community and collaboration, parts of the ground floor are recessed to provide room for greenery and open spaces for outdoor gatherings. The design further encourages interaction with glass panel doors and a breezeway linked to a neighboring seminar room, enabli...

Marvel proposes new Maritime, Business, Research, and Innovation Center for Puerto Rico

2023-04-25T18:13:00-04:00

Marvel Architects has unveiled their proposal for a new research facility in the rural Puerto Rican community of Ceiba.

The plan for the island’s Maritime, Business, Research, and Innovation Center (MBRIC) calls for the addition of a new landmark building at the site of a former U.S. Coast Guard-operated pier looking out over the Straight of Vieques.

Image courtesy Marvel

The oval building at the center of the proposal is elevated to avoid flooding and will encase an undisclosed research mission, highlighted by improved site access, research decks, and enhanced vegetation.

Marvel says: “In shape as well as in intent, the proposed designs draw inspiration from the reference to atolls as natural restorative responses to nature events of volcanic activity and erosion.”

Image courtesy Marvel

A series of restorative site improvements extends the surrounding mangrove further toward the shoreline in order to protect its status as a natural habitat and increase its ability to serve as a na...

A new research lab by CLOU highlights the growing demand for agricultural tourism in southern China

2021-08-19T11:52:00-04:00

Images have been unveiled for a new multi-functional Chinese agriculture and exhibition center that will transform the Nanfan High Tech District in the tropical Hainan Island city of Sanya into a scientific research hub.

CLOU Architects is behind the 4,000-square-meter (43,055-square-foot) Sanya Farm Lab that will capitalize on the local government’s investment into horticulture and food science with an integrated four-story showcase of innovation.

Image courtesy Shining Laboratory

Highlighted by a graticular glass and timber truss facade, the Lab fluidly incorporates a raised outdoor plaza into the building’s first two floors that is meant to “blur traditional boundaries between nature and city,” as it simultaneously “narrows the distance between technology and life,” according to the architect.

Image courtesy Shining Laboratory

The 31-inch-deep roof grid structure will help reduce the building’s sunlight absorption by 70%. The firm was very particular about developing a plan that w...

Ford Motor Co. to renovate Detroit's Michigan Central Station into “future mobility” research center

2019-07-18T16:48:00-04:00

This all makes what is happening now all the more remarkable. Last summer, Ford Motor Company announced it had bought the building, with plans to invest $740million to transform it into a world-leading research centre for ‘future mobility’. The very industry that signed the station’s death warrant in the first place is now set on resuscitating it as a beacon of sustainable transport.

Oliver Wainwright pens a piece on the upcoming renovation of the Michigan Central Station, which was a celebrated icon of Detroit when it first opened in 1913. After the station closed in 1988 and was abandoned, it became the epitome of the city's ruin porn.

After buying the building last summer, Ford Motor Company will transform the ground floor into a public market-style space, while offices in the upper floors and neighboring buildings will house their 1.2 million square-foot “future mobility” Headquarters and Research Campus, which Snøhetta is designing.

In the article, Ford's construction manager Richard Bardelli tells Wainwright that the renovation project aims to turn Detroit into “the mobility capital of the world”.

KAAN Architecten completes a new base for the Institut des Sciences Moléculaires d’Orsay in France

2018-09-12T15:16:00-04:00

The new Institut des Sciences Moléculaires d’Orsay (ISMO) was recently completed by Dutch firm KAAN Architecten. The institute moved into their new building as part of the Université Paris-Saclay's future campus in Orsay, France.

Institut des Sciences Moléculaires d’Orsay (ISMO) by KAAN Architecten, located in Orsay, FR. © Fernando-Guerra

Located about 12 miles outside of Paris in Plateau de Saclay, the science institute is a grouping of physics laboratories, an educational building, housing, offices, and a reception center for international researchers.

Institut des Sciences Moléculaires d’Orsay (ISMO) by KAAN Architecten, located in Orsay, FR. © Fernando-Guerra

Institut des Sciences Moléculaires d’Orsay (ISMO) by KAAN Architecten, located in Orsay, FR. © Sebastian-van-Damme

The firm's design is centered around an urban-meets-rural idea with a concrete rectangle amidst the for...

Closer look at Zaha Hadid Architects' new hexagonal KAPSARC campus in Riyadh

2017-10-25T16:10:00-04:00

Emerging from the desert landscape of Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, Zaha Hadid Architects' new King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Centre (KAPSARC) recently opened its doors for the first time during Saudi Design Week 2017. With the late Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher as the architectural design leads, the 70,000m² building will serve as the new research and office campus for KAPSARC, a non-profit institution whose work includes developing economic frameworks and policies that aim to reduce environmental impact and overall cost of energy supply in various regions worldwide.

ZHA shared more project details, along with some stunning photos by Hufton+Crow below.

Zaha Hadid Architects designed the crystalline KAPSARC building with a cellular, partially modular layout that integrates different departments with interconnecting public spaces. The campus comprises five buildings: the Energy Knowle...

Ostim Eco-Park competition entry by ONZ Architects

2013-12-30T20:49:00-05:00

ONZ Architects participated in a restricted competition - among eight other teams - to design the Ostim Eco-Park, a green technological and research hub for the industrial region of Ostim in Ankara, Turkey.

Although ONZ Architects' proposal did not come out as the competition winner, we're happy to present it in more detail below.

All images courtesy of ONZ Architects.

Click the thumbnails below for additional images.

Grimshaw completes the nature-inspired Ecorium, their first project in Asia

2013-11-25T20:14:00-05:00

Grimshaw Architects recently announced the completion of the Ecorium at the National Ecology Center in Seocheon, South Korea -- making this the firm's first project in Asia.

The newly built ecological educational and research center gives visitors a first-hand experience to learn about the Earth's ecosystems all in one place.

Below are more details on the project:

"The project, which was secured through a turnkey design and build competition hosted by Korea’s Ministry of the Environment, uses nature as an immersive teaching tool to showcase the world’s diverse ecosystems. Grimshaw’s New York studio was appointed by Samsung Construction and worked alongside Samoo Architects and Engineers.

The project concept is inspired by the form of an oxbow lake, an aquatic body created by the evolving erosion of a meandering river. The masterplan guides the visitor flow through a series of botanical gardens and into Ecorium."

"Visitors travel through five biomes, seeing, hearing...