Hilton Garden Inn

A Polish architect group Krysiak Jagiello Architekci created Gilton Garden Inn located in the centre of Katowice, the capital of the industrial south of Poland - Upper Silesia. The location and shape of the building are limited from the east by a river and from the north and east by a high tension network and local existing and planned infrastructure. A steel mesh used on the facade gives an illusion of a sloping roof and accentuate the dynamic of the shapes. With the height of 40 meters, this building dominates the neighbourhood, the other dominant building is in distance of 450 meters. The exterior was inspired by surrounding area. Exterior openings represent an idea of gaps in a brick that served as an inspiration for the designers. Size of the windows increases with each floor level and creates the vertical growth in the upper, residential part of the building, while in the bottom levels that houses some offices, the windows represents the horizontal growth and its size increases more in-depth.

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Zaha Hadid Architects / Rooya Group - Stone Towers

Zaha Hadid Architects in association with Rooya Group. This is video of Stone Towers project, an impresive real estate development in El Cairo, Giza, Egypt.

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MP09 Black Panther. GS Architects

Photographs are by Gerald Liebminger

Austrian firm GS Architects have completed this black cantilevered office building in Graz, Austria.




Called MP09 Black Panther, the building was designed as the headquarters for a company specialising in jewellery and spectacles, and includes a hotel, rentable office space, a shop and restaurant.




The building is clad in black tiles and juts out over its concrete base, housing an open-air terrace in the end of the cantilever.

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An architectonic punctuation at an exposed site of the city – a new and distinctive Entree to the city – a future oriented potential for development for the whole area.

Putting a company into the spotlight means transforming a philosophy into architecture. The’black panther’s does not only recount the story of the company but he emotionalises, he describes a vision and makes it physically and sculpturally ascertainable.



Without art, the human soul which sets us apart from other beings, would starve. art is the mental food for our soul. what makes art outstanding is its demand on sensibility.

required not only of the artists but, also of those, who interact with it. the heart of an architectural project is the content, the idea. art gives the project the body, thoughts that are free to reach unforeseen dimensions.

we accept the rules, norms and requirements for utility that are the framework of architecture. however, the ideas and their evolution are exciting adventures with each new project.

Where Design and shape evolve, ideas emerge and become manifest in mass. Elegant and smooth, the ‘black Panther’s composes eagerness and speed to the urban architecture. His watchful eyes attend the street – movement and silhouette merge in the dance of the forces and the night.

The office-building MP09, named after the owner of the firm, Michael Pachleitner, also called Black Panther, was intended as a landmark to the city-entrance of Graz.

In 2006 the Pachleitner Group, which specialises in the design and marketing of spectacles and jewellery and Wegraz, (Graz-based company for urban renewal and refurbishment), set up competitions for an office and hotel building, as well as a headquarters building with a wing to be rented out, a flagship store and restaurant. Both projects established 2006 at a 2-stage competition among 9 offices decided unanimously by the jury.

During the competition phase the client offices photographs of airplanes, ships and cars that expressed the feeling he wanted the building to convey.

We derived from them the guiding idea of a crouching black panther, poised ready to spring, which provided a metaphor that accurately describes both building parts and which committed them to a goal: to create an appearance that would be both powerful and elegant.

The detail planning for the project, and the scheduled completion date was started immediately afterwards.



Construction of the 32-million euro project began in summer 2007, it was completed in May 2010: a free-standing building in a setting defined in very diverse ways by the UPC arena, ice sports stadium, Murpark, housing blocks and single-family houses.

It is located directly on the Liebenau ring-road, which has a high volume of traffic and is a source of emissions, on an approximately triangular-shaped site that originally sloped to the southwest. The main part of this provocatively conspicuous office building contains the headquarters of a local company designing eyeglasses and jewellery and distributing them worldwide.

Its a hard shaped sculpture covered with a black glass facade erected over a concrete base develops from a compact tail to a more and more resolving head cantelevering towards the city. The different directions of the building structure are retrieved in the inside structure of the spaces.

From almost every position there are vistas through the whole building to the outdoor spaces. A special quality of the building evolves out of the individually designed technical solutions concerning the facade, partition walls, doors, staircases and many other components.

Accurate details and few colors in various surfaces and materials define the interior. Even the whole furniture was custom-made by the architects and is consequently congruent to the architecture.

The desired expression of concentrated tension and dynamism, amplified by long window strips, suits the company’s philosophy that enabled a small family business from the post-war years to develop into a company of global reach.





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The beginning is always a sketch. the sketch as three-dimensional model of thoughts is the beginning and the collection of thoughts and feelings. she tells us everything we are looking for and accompanies the project throughout like a red thread. The shape and the details are eternally changeable, but the content, the idea which is behind, is the unchangeable in architecture. that’s the way we understand it.
That’s why for us its important to have partners who develop these ideas together with us to realise them in this mind.

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UNStudio Tower by UNStudio

Dutch architects UNStudio have completed a 21-storey office tower in their hometown of Amsterdam with colourfully glazed recesses in the facade spanning multiple floors.



Above photo by Christian Richters
The tower’s voids allow light to penetrate deeper into the communal areas of the interior and are intended to make a greater connection between the interior spaces and the external facade.


Above photo by Christian Richters
Bands of faceted aluminium cladding of various widths circle the building, controlling light penetration and sun screening to each floor.

Above photo by Inga Powilleit
The tower is one of six towers that comprise the Mahler 4 urban complex, each tower taking the name of the firm responsible for its design.

Above photo by Inga Powilleit
Here are more details from UNStudio:

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UNStudio Tower, Amsterdam, Netherlands 2004 – 2009
The recently completed 21 storey UNStudio Tower forms part of the Mahler 4 urban complex, a cluster of six buildings located in the heart of the South Axis in Amsterdam. The South Axis connects Schiphol Airport to the major business areas of Amsterdam South.

The Mahler 4 urban complex houses 38.000 m2 of residential spaces, 162.000 m2 of office space and 30.000 m2 of street level retail, cafes, restaurants and a sports centre. The six towers in the Mahler 4 complex range in height from 85 to 100 meters, with each building carrying the name of its designing firm. The Mahler 4 complex has been nominated for the FGH Real Estate Prize 2010.

At a height of 82.5 meters, the UNStudio Tower contains 20 floors of office space and a ground floor with mezzanine. The Royal Bank of Scotland currently occupies 9 floors of the building and the South entrance with commercial space on the Gustav Mahlerlaan.

Above photo by Inga Powilleit
UNStudio Tower
The façade of the UNStudio Tower plays with the juxtaposition of a horizontal and vertical articulation, conceptually relating to the principles upon which the moiré effect is based.
The horizontal articulation is provided by white, aluminium bands which wrap the tower, whilst their varying size, depth and transparency ensure the correct balance of sun screening and light penetration to the interiors on all levels of the building.
Vertical accents are formed by voids, recessed into each face of the building and spanning differing numbers of floors. These voids serve to create an inside-outside relationship which extends the façade envelope and turns the surface of the tower into an active medium with a profound effect on the quality of the interior user space.

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Ben van Berkel: “In the design for the tower it was important for us to create a connection between the façade and the interior spaces; to see the building as whole, almost like a piece of furniture.”
Custom coloured glass panes are incorporated into the vertical voids, offering different identities and light qualities to the communal spaces which surround each void in the interior. These voids further facilitate daylight penetration deep into the extensive 40m x 40m floors.
Voids are often placed at the center of a building, but here they are placed at the perimeters. This has three major advantages:
The voids are easily transformed into (internal and external) balconies
The usable floor space is larger and can be planned more flexibly. The depth of the floors further ensures a high façade to gross floor ratio, whilst the building as whole has a 90% net to gross ratio.
The quality of the void spaces is affected by their location. Instead of public circulation space, these voids offer space for small meetings or personal reflection.

User experience

Whereas conventional office buildings with their strict separation of inside and outside can be experienced as somewhat confining by contemporary office workers, the transparency of the primarily glass façade, in combination with the vertical voids, offers the user a gradient experience of the inside-outside condition, as well as the perception of an open and light interior. The outdoor spaces which are incorporated into the recessed voids in the form of roofed balconies allow for transition from inside to outside during free time or breaks. In addition, a roof terrace with a sky view towards Amsterdam Old South can be accessed for larger outdoor gatherings.

Attaining sustainability

UNStudio sees sustainable design as an integral aspect of contemporary architecture. Sustainable solutions are not treated as add-ons, but related to each and every building element.
In the design for the UNStudio Tower integrated sustainable solutions include:
Materials: the reduction of replacement frequency through the use of high quality durable materials and equipment throughout the building, along with the incorporation of a lightweight frame (resulting is less construction material usage in the foundations).

Climate: the façade design incorporates sustainable considerations with respect to orientation, with lamellas of differing heights, widths and depths controlling both direct sunlight penetration and noise pollution to each face and level of the building.

Thermal glazing allows for sufficient daylight, whilst reducing direct sunlight.
Energy saving installations: an underground energy storage system reduces energy usage by 30 to 35.7%. Energy efficient fixtures with motion sensors further control lighting level differentiation and thermal comfort. Sanitary installations include water saving cisterns and grey water usage.
Incorporating flexibility

Flexibility with respect to future change of use with an ambition towards minimum alteration was paramount in the design of the UNStudio Tower. Extensive research was carried out in collaboration with the client in order to determine where maximum flexibility could be incorporated into the design from the outset. As a result, the floor plans of the UNStudio Tower incorporate the potential for future residential use with no structural alteration required.

The vertical voids recessed into the façade of the building also offer the potential to be transformed into individual balconies on each floor for residential use in the future. The façade design further incorporates a system whereby the glass panes can be replaced with minimum intervention should a change of use become desirable.

Ben van Berkel: “A grid system was introduced into the UNStudio Tower which creates flexibility with a view to potential change of use in the future. There are currently many empty office buildings in Europe which cannot so easily be transformed, but the UNStudio Tower is designed in such a way that it could also one day be turned into housing. This provides an essential sustainable flexibility to the building.”

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The Leadenhall Building. Rogers Stirk Harbour

 

Work has restarted on the Leadenhall Building in London by architects Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners.

Construction was halted in August 2008 due to financial difficulties experienced by developers British Land. However a new deal agreed with Oxford Properties means work on site has recommenced.

Located in London’s Square Mile, the base of the 47-storey glass tower will measure almost half an acre with the form tapering towards the top, resulting in different sized floor plans at each level.

The diagonal structural bracing will be visible through the building’s façade from the interior and exterior.

Glass lifts on the side of the building will go right up to the tip of the structure.

The building will comprise offices, retail spaces and restaurants, with the base of the tower forming a six storey public space.

Construction is due for completion in 2014.
More projects by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners on Dezeen »
More skyscrapers on Dezeen »
The following information is from the architects:

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CITY OF LONDON’S LATEST LANDMARK DEVELOPMENT UNDERWAY
Construction has recommenced on what is set to become one of the most iconic buildings in London’s Square Mile, British Land and Oxford Properties’ The Leadenhall Building.
Following an announcement in late December 2010 on the completion of a joint venture partnership between British Land and Oxford Properties for the 610,000 sq ft development, photos revealed today show the scheme’s contractors back on site and pressing ahead with piling works (the laying of structural support for the building).
Located at 122 Leadenhall, the tapering 47 storey, 736 ft (224m) tower was designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour and Partners and is due for practical completion in mid 2014. Combining flexible office space with retail and dining facilities, the development features a spectacularly landscaped, seven-storey open space at the base of the building, which covers nearly half an acre and is of a scale unprecedented in London.
The development’s tapering shape delivers floor plates of varying size, ranging from 21,000sq ft on the lower floors to 6,000sq ft at the top of the tower, all with spectacular views over the capital.
Great care has been taken to ensure the design of the building complements the surrounding architecture, particularly with regard to London’s viewing corridors. Seen from the west looking towards St Paul’s Cathedral, The Leadenhall Building will appear to ‘lean away’ from the historic monument.
Nigel Webb, Head of Developments at British Land, said: “Since completing the joint venture partnership with Oxford Properties late last year, we have moved quickly to return to site and forge ahead with the construction of this iconic new London building. The Leadenhall Building is already generating strong interest from a broad range of occupiers in the insurance, financial, professional and corporate business sectors and will complete at a time when we believe strong demand and supply constraints will coincide.”

Richard Pilkington, Development Director, Oxford Properties added: “Our plan was always to move quickly in the New Year and it’s great to see major construction activity on the site again, giving confidence to the occupier market that The Leadenhall Building will be delivered by mid 2014.”

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