Archinect - News

It's a 'Go' for ZGF's Space Shuttle Endeavour installation at the California Science Center

2024-01-31T12:12:00-05:00

ZGF Architects has completed the installation of the decommissioned Space Shuttle Endeavour and orbiter system as a part of their Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center expansion at the California Science Center museum in Los Angeles.

The unique project will culminate in a three-level level scheme that includes 150 different exhibitions, the largest of which, a 200-foot-tall central gallery space, is set to be used as a new permanent display for the 122-foot-long retired NASA orbiter.

Video courtesy California Science Center

Since July, the construction team at Exposition Park has been busy at work on the “Soft mate” phase of the “Go for Stack” installation process for the space shuttle apparatus. The same painstaking process that decades ago prepared the shuttle for its 25 launches into outer space was once again enacted at the site for the record first time in civilian history. Work to install the solid rocket boosters and external tank preceded the shuttle’s move into place before ...

California Science Center begins construction on Space Shuttle Endeavour exhibition facility, designed by ZGF

2023-07-10T12:23:00-04:00

The California Science Center has offered an update on the construction of the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center. When completed, the center will be home to the Space Shuttle Endeavour, which will be configured in a ‘ready-to-launch’ system complete with the orbiter Endeavour, solid rocket boosters, and external tank.

Image credit: California Science Center

As we reported in June 2022, the ZGF Architects-designed scheme will house 150 exhibits across three multi-level galleries, and will more than double the California Science Center’s educational exhibit area. The central gallery containing the Space Shuttle Endeavour will rise 20 stories to a maximum height of 200 feet.

Image credit: California Science Center

On July 20th, 2023, the center will commence ‘Go for Stack,’ a complex process of moving and lifting each of the space shuttle components into place. The six-month process will begin with the installation of the aft skirts, on top of which the solid rocket motors will be stack...

Heatherwick Studio unveils Shanghai exhibition hall with facade of ‘interwoven ribbons’

2023-06-08T12:05:00-04:00

Heatherwick Studio has revealed the design of a new public exhibition hall in Shanghai. Named the ‘Orbit’ and located along the city’s West Bund waterfront, the scheme has been designed to be “seemingly accessible from 360 degrees.”

Image credit: Heatherwick Studio

Outside, the center’s facade was designed to resemble a series of interwoven ribbons forming an undulating set of publicly accessible staircases, bridges, and terraces. The circulation elements allow visitors to navigate to the building’s rooftop garden, which contains multiple viewing platforms.

Image credit: Devisual

The ‘ribbon’ staircases also seek to echo the form of traditional Chinese moon bridges, translated to a contemporary form that makes the building “appear as if it is in constant motion.” Visitors ascending the structure can peer through glazed openings in the facade to glimpse the inner exhibition hall, while on the rooftop terrace, the ribbons unravel into an open-air canopy.

Image credit: Devisual

Inside, th...

SYN Architects reactivates rural Chinese village hall through an elegant vaulted extension

2023-05-03T10:58:00-04:00

Beijing-based SYN Architects has offered a look inside their recently-completed Tiangang Village ‘Living Room’ in Baoding, China. The project saw the renovation and expansion of an existing village committee building, as well as the reactivation of surrounding buildings and outdoor spaces.

Image credit: ArchiTranslator

The original committee building was comprised of five single-story arches and porches, as well as sloping roofs and brick walls, all of which were largely hidden from public view. Taking the arches as inspiration, the design team expanded the building through an extension of the arches, creating a series of trumpet-shaped volumes with a thin, curving concrete shell structure.

Image credit: ArchiTranslator

In addition to the enlargement of the original five arches, the team also created a similarly-scaled arched volume along the wall facing the street, creating a public space adjacent to the building, and providin...

ZGF designs new home for Space Shuttle Endeavour in Los Angeles

2022-06-03T12:04:00-04:00

ZGF Architects has unveiled details of its Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, which has just broken ground in Los Angeles. The 200,000-square-foot facility will house 150 exhibits across three multi-level galleries and will serve as the permanent home of Space Shuttle Endeavour, one of three remaining flown space shuttle orbiters.

Image by ZGF Architects LLP

The scheme, designed by ZGF with engineering by ARUP, is arranged around three thematic galleries, named Air, Space, and Shuttle. The Air Gallery will explore the four physical forces behind flight: lift, thrust, drag, and weight. Approximately 20 aircraft will be on display in the gallery, including a segment of a real Boeing 747. The Air Gallery will also feature a wind tunnel exhibit to allow visitors to better understand the forces under which planes fly.

Image by ZGF Architects LLP

The Space Gallery centers on the various machines and inventions created to understand and explore space, including telescopes, robots, and spac...

Sou Fujimoto reveals Shenzhen exhibition hall, designed as “gardens within a box”

2021-05-10T10:30:00-04:00

Sou Fujimoto Architects has unveiled their design for the Shenzhen Reform and Opening-Up Exhibition Hall. Designed in collaboration with Donghua Chen Studio, the exhibition hall is imagined as “gardens within a box” with a village-like indoor space cloaked underneath a multi-layered transparent façade.

Image: Sou Fujimoto Architects & Donghua Chen Studio

The 90,000-square-meter complex is intended as a “window” into Shenzhen, displaying and publicizing the city’s achievements over recent decades. The exhibition hall will serve many roles: a site welcoming guests to the city, an institution collecting research materials, a landmark to signify Shenzhen’s innovative and international brand, and a carrier for the showcasing of Shenzhen’s culture and people.

Image: Sou Fujimoto Architects & Donghua Chen Studio

“The natural elegance of the project emphasizes the harmonious relationship between the landscape and its surrounding context, which creates a humble appearance with a village-li...

The "tectonic bravery" of NBBJ's Nanjing Eco-Tech Exhibition Centre

2017-05-18T14:11:00-04:00

Symbolizing mountain ranges in architecture has the potential for a dramatic, iconic payoff, especially when the materials used to do so play an integral role in the interior experience of the building (think: the fabric peaks of the Denver International Airport, which allude to the Rocky Mountains and Native American settlements while providing ample natural light). NBBJ's Nanjing Eco-Tech Exhibition Centre manages not only to reference the Zhong and Stone Mountains with its eight-peaked, light cannon rooftop, but also represent the economic ascension of Nanjing itself.

Each peak drives light through the four principal floors of the structure, weaving instances of what the architects describe as "tectonic bravery" throughout. This bravery becomes the signature characteristic of the structure. While the Exhibition Centre lists a typical compliment of sustainable 21st century amenities (roof garden, integrated water retention and distribution, natural ventilation, responsive facades,...

Peek inside the new Dorte Mandrup-designed Wadden Sea Centre

2017-02-07T19:51:00-05:00

The newly redesigned Wadden Sea Centre is now in full operation at the Wadden Sea National Park, Denmark's largest national park and a UNESCO-appointed heritage site. Copenhagen-based Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter, who designed the Sailing Tower in Aarhus and won the Träpriset prize for the Råå Day Care Center, was put in charge of converting and expanding the Sea Centre in 2014.

The Sea Centre lets visitors learn about the unique backstory of the surrounding landscape, which is described as a resting place for some 15 million migratory birds. Costing approximately €7.2 million (53 million DKK), the redesigned building now has 2,800 square meters of exhibition space and large glass windows to allow ample sunlight and views of the landscape.

Dorte Mandrup envisioned the building's design as “a new sculptural interpretation” rooted in the region's tradition and history — and quite literally too, in that the architects wanted the building to appear as if it had emerged from the ground.

Based ...

SHL's Shanghai Cloud Pavilion is a stunning glass and steel extrusion of a cartoon cloud

2016-08-18T12:44:00-04:00

Intended as both a counterpoint to the heavy industrial cranes that line Shanghai's West Bund as well as an art/exhibition space, SHL's new Cloud Pavilion is the permanent version of the wildly successful 2013 Shanghai biennial installation, which was intended only to last for two months.

While the first iteration's ephemeral 20,000 white ropes have been replaced by steel rods and a glassed-in viewing area, the hope is that the initial free-floating feeling remains.

As Schmidt Hammer Lassen design partner Chris Hardie explains, "The new pavilion creates a singular space in the form of an extruded glass cloud. The cloud shape in plan directly relates to the cartoon like form associated with how a child would draw a cloud, and how clouds are often seen depicted in traditional Chinese prints. The cloud is considered a symbol of luck in ancient Chinese painting."

Here's a video showing the Pavilion and the context of its site:

OMA to design Shanghai’s Lujiazui Exhibiton Center

2014-12-15T15:10:00-05:00

OMA appears to be rolling up their sleeves before the holidays: last Friday, we published new details on their Norra Tornen twin towers in Stockholm, and now we're kicking the week off with a recent competition win in China, the Lujiazui Exhibiton Center at the banks of the mighty Huangpu River in Shanghai. Conceptualized as a "spatial armature," the exhibition center will rise on the grounds of the former Shanghai Shipyard and aims for completion by the end of 2015.

Head over to Bustler for more images and project details.

All images courtesy OMA

von Gerkan, Marg and Partners to Design Tianjin Exhibition Center

2013-03-19T15:15:00-04:00

German architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp) have won the first prize in the international design competition for the new exhibition center in Tianjin, China. gmp beat out tough competition from Fuksas, HHP, NBBJ/BIAD, and others.