Archinect - News

Inside Snøhetta and WERK’s ‘lantern’ maritime center in Esbjerg, Denmark

2023-01-12T11:00:00-05:00

Snøhetta and WERK Arkitekter have completed a new maritime center in Esbjerg, Denmark. The circular timber center, dubbed “The Lantern,” houses multiple watersport clubs, boat storage, training facilities, a large workshop, and social functions, and is described by its designers as “a new landmark lighting up the Danish west coast.”

Image credit: wichmann+bendtsen photography

Having won a competition for the scheme’s design in 2019, Snøhetta and WERK used the building to pay homage to the maritime tradition and significance of Esbjerg’s port by translating the geometry and craftsmanship of local boats. The rhythm and repetition of the building’s facade are inspired by wooden boat construction, with a rippling motif inspired by the effect of throwing a stone into water. In addition to reflecting the water’s energy, the changes in the angle of facade panels create varying shadows inspired by the shapes of kayaks.

Image credit: wichmann+bendtsen photography

The wooden rhythm continues on...

Snøhetta brings colorful fishing facility to an arctic archipelago in Norway

2018-11-12T15:06:00-05:00

Snøhetta has completed their colorful design of a fishing facility for the shipowner Holmøy Maritime. Located on a Norwegian archipelago, the 6,000 square meter address will allow the company to house all employees and facilities on the same site. With four distinctive buildings and a guest house for mid-shift breaks, the new Holmen Industrial Area is able to combine fish farming and processing functions with the company's corporate headquarters.

The client, Holmøy Maritime, is the country's third-largest trawler operator. In order to ensure the company's high standards of quality are met, Snøhetta carefully considered its daily activities, tracking the fish handling process in order to achieve the best environment possible for employees and for production. While the warm colors of the building help make for a playful facility, the functional materials such as aluminum façade cladding and concrete floors safeguard for durability.

Photography: S. Citrone.

Photography: Ketil Jacobsen....

BIG's ship/office building docks at the Philadelphia Navy Yard

2016-11-03T12:40:00-04:00

What features an interior periscope, exterior stacked precast concrete panels in a basket-weave shape that mimic the curvature of a ship's hull, and 26,000 square feet of freshly occupied office space? Bjarke Ingels Group's newly completed "Intrepid," a four-story, LEED Gold certified office building for the Philadelphia Navy Yard which just welcomed its first tangible tenant, the Penn Capital Management Company, Inc., on its top floor.

The Intrepid's site context is closely tied to its design concept. As BIG partner Kai-Uwe Bergmann explains: “In many cases, architects design big, boxy buildings that could be placed anywhere and don’t connect directly to the site. You would really be hard-pressed to place 1200 Intrepid anywhere else, due to how it connects with its surroundings. Our commission involved creating a speculative office building, for which no tenants were committed. The key challenge here was to create a reason for tenants to be here with the constraint of a stringent bu...

China plans to build an underwater "space station" in the South China Sea

2016-06-15T19:35:00-04:00

China is speeding up efforts to design and build a manned deep-sea platform to help it hunt for minerals in the South China Sea, one that may also serve a military purpose in the disputed waters. Such an oceanic “space station” would be located as much as 3,000 meters (9,800 feet) below the surface, according to a recent Science Ministry presentation viewed by Bloomberg.

For more news from the South China Sea, check out these links:

China plans to build a fleet of floating nuclear power plants

2016-04-25T15:15:00-04:00

All the radar systems, lighthouses, barracks, ports and airfields that China has set up on its newly built island chain in the South China Sea require tremendous amounts of electricity, which is hard to come by in a place hundreds of miles from the country’s power grid. Beijing may have come up with a solution: floating nuclear power plants. A state-owned company, China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, is planning to build a fleet of the vessels to provide electricity to remote locations [...]

Previously in the Archinect news:

Perforated "Sailing Tower" spotlights Denmark's commercial Aarhus harbor

2016-03-03T18:29:00-05:00

With bold geometric references to cargo sailing masts and portholes, the primary function of Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter's Sailing Tower is to reference the considerable maritime history of the Danish harbor, which was founded in the 8th century and remains an active commercial port today. The tower, which was inaugurated in August 2015, incorporates two official viewing platforms, the upper one of which offers a 360 degree view of Aarhus. Sited on the docks, the tower is categorized as an urban sculpture, not only for its direct relationship with the harbor, but its visual orientation toward the city.

The staircase offers perforated panoramic views as visitors climb up (although a lift has been installed for those unable to climb stairs), while the steel-plate construction also recalls the feeling of being at sea. At night, the mast-like geometry of the Tower's exterior is illuminated by LEDs.

New satellite images show progress in China's island-building project

2015-07-01T14:19:00-04:00

New satellite imagery of remote islands in the South China Sea shows several Chinese island-building projects are finished. In five of seven island projects, attention has turned to the next phase: building bases with potential military uses on the islands.

Taking a cue from the Gulf states, China has been engaged in a massive island-building project in the South China Sea. New images from the Washington Post show the staggering progress that is being made, with the first buildings cropping up. While relatively small, the South China Sea is one of the most important shipping channels in the world – and may also hold a massive reserve of oil and gas deposits. Control of the waterway has become a source of increasing geopolitical tension in the region and internationally, with the United States and other countries asking China to cease island-building operations. But according to the Chinese, the artificial islands are a legal expression of their sovereignty.

While artificial islands may seem incredibly modern – if not downright sci-fi – there's evidence that humans have been doing it for some time now. The massive Aztec city of Tenochtitlan largely consisted of artificial islands, or chinamitl, surrounding a smaller natural island in Lak...

Old Royal Naval College aims to restore 40,000 sq.ft of its Painted Hall, plan to be unveiled in NYC next month

2015-04-28T19:44:00-04:00

Arts patrons continue to support the restoration of the Painted Hall at the Christopher Wren-designed Old Royal Naval College at the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site in Greenwich, London. Over the next three years, the ORNC's three-stage conservation project would clean and restore the remaining 3,700 sq.m. (approx. 40,000 sq.ft) of the Painted Hall, sometimes dubbed "the Sistine Chapel of the U.K." The first phase restored 560 sq.m. of paintings in the Upper Hall back in 2013. The second phase focuses on the Lower Hall, the Vestibule, and the semi-underground King William Undercroft directly beneath the Painted Hall.

Housed inside King William Court, the Painted Hall was originally built as a dining hall for British naval veterans who lived at the Royal Hospital for Seamen. Once the hall was built, English painter James Thornhill began his 19-year endeavor of painting the interior from 1708 to 1727. As instructed, Thornhill's paintings largely pay tribute to the British Navy a...

Five firms advance in Taiwan’s Kinmen Passenger Service Terminal competition

2014-01-29T20:01:00-05:00

Five firms -- which include some notable names -- are still in the running for the Port of Kinmen Passenger Service Center International Competition‏‎. Hosted by Taiwan's Kinmen County Government, the winner will be master architect of a two-phase project that consists of a new multi-functional terminal facility and expansion for the Port of Kinmen.

The Stage II finalists are:

Josep Mias Gifre (Spain)
Lorcan O'Herlihy Architects / Lorcan O'Herlihy (USA)
Junya Ishigami + Associates (Japan)
Tom Wiscombe Architecture, Inc. / Thomas W. Wiscombe (USA)
Miralles Tagliabue EMBT SLP / Benedetta Tagliabue (Spain)

Following the Stage II submissions deadline and jury evaluations, the winning results are expected to be announced this April.

Oil Platforms for Urban Revitalization

2011-04-20T15:13:16-04:00

Architect Hopes to Revitalize Norwegian City with Oil Platform

Via @bldgblog (of course!)