Archinect - News

Neri&Hu designs Blue Bottle Zhang Yuan Cafe within revitalized 19th-century residence in Shanghai

2022-12-27T15:25:00-05:00

Shanghai-based firm Neri&Hu has completed a café within a historic, 19th-century public garden noted for its Shikumen typology residences. Named Zhang Yuan, the site has recently reopened after a complete rehabilitation of its historic buildings.

As part of the revamp, coffee roaster and retailer Blue Bottle Coffee Company commissioned Neri&Hu to create a retail space in one of the old residences. With this project, the firm aimed to channel the Shanghainese balance between urban activity and leisure.

Image: Zhu Runzi

In accordance with historic preservation guidelines, the existing brick walls, doors, and windows of the original architectural façades and atriums were preserved. The café rises in the midst of these elements. Along the exterior wall of the old building, an elongated, alley-like space connects the main street to the atriums. Here, benches and small tables are lined against the windows and walls.

Image: Zhu Runzi

Neri&Hu worked to make the new structure as light as pos...

'A roller coaster with both thrill and heart': Tokyo Disneyland's Space Mountain to undergo major renovation

2022-04-29T13:45:00-04:00

Tokyo Disney Resort has revealed that one of its most iconic rides, Space Mountain, will be closing for a major renovation. The overhaul will commence in 2024, and by 2027, the rebuilt cosmic attraction is promised to offer enhanced performance and immersive special effects. The reported cost of the revamp is expected to be approximately $436 million.

“I’m thrilled to introduce this attraction to guests,” said Walt Disney Imagineering Producer Kathleen Davis. “It’s not only a whole new ride experience, but the story also has so much emotion. Through the queue and then on the ride, we see our connection to our planet and gain a new perspective for how special it is in all the universe. It’s a roller coaster with both thrill and heart.”

In addition to Space Mountain, the park’s Tomorrowland will get an updated plaza, which “will represent a future where humans are in harmony with nature.” According to the Disney Parks blog, the space will offer guests areas to rest and relax, along w...

Mosul residents fear revamping of Tigris riverfront will erase their historical identity

2019-07-20T09:00:00-04:00

"People know Mosul's Old City by its riverfront - it has some of the city's most important historic features," Fethi added, referring to the city's old wall, the citadel, palaces and other heritage sites along the Tigris' west bank. "It [the council] should aim to preserve Mosul's heritage rather than turn [it] into another Dubai ... an absolute anathema to what should be done."

Two years after Iraqi forces regained full control of Mosul from ISIL, local authorities are pushing a proposal to transform historic neighborhoods along the west bank of the Tigris river into a modernized “new city”, with high rises, large supermarkets and restaurant chains. Al Jazeera spoke with Mosul residents, who believe the plan will erase their historical identity. With some 300,000 residents still displaced, the redevelopment plan doesn't include a budget for rebuilding homes or restoring heritage sites.

“While still a vision for now, local authorities have already begun talks with residents to convince them of the proposal, which, they say, is the only way to redevelop Mosul in the face of limited support from the central government in Baghdad,” Al Jazeera reports. The article states that “Locals and experts alleged that the redevelopment plan was also an effort to manipulate communities into leaving their neighbourhoods”.

V&A Museum addition includes $70M all-porcelain public courtyard

2017-06-30T17:33:00-04:00

The bold addition features the world's first all-porcelain public courtyard, paved with 11,000 handmade porcelain tiles in 15 different patterns. The tiles were manufactured by Koninklijke Tichelaar Makkum, the Netherlands' oldest registered company, established in 1572.

After six years of construction, the Exhibition Road Quarter, AL_A-designed courtyard space opened yesterday in London's Victoria and Albert Museum, adding 11,840 square feet of column-free flexible gallery space to the museum to help accommodate the V&A's headline exhibitions. Intended as a meeting point, public square and museum entrance, AL_A's extension is V&A’s largest architectural intervention in over 100 years.