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Future New Town of Gwanggyo With Plantations Around The Terraces

TheFuture — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 06:07:10 +0000

The new city center designed by Dutch architects MVRDV for Gwanggyo, a city coming up 35 kms from Seoul in South Korea seems to be something taken out of the sci fi movies. Expected to be completed by 2011, the city is sufficient enough to hold 77000 inhabitants and has a design envisioned with two centers which is a mix of housing, culture, office, retail, and leisure and education spaces. Various atriums are created in the towers catering to various categories, with box hedges being planted on the roofs and terraces which in turn improves ventilation and reduces usage of energy and water.

[Press Release]
MVRDV wins Gwanggyo City Centre Competition, near Seoul, South Korea

The Daewoo Consortium and the municipality of Gwanggyo announced the MVRDV concept design for a dense city centre winner of the developer’s competition for the future new town of Gwanggyo, located 35km south of the Korean capital Seoul. The plan consists of a series of overgrown hill shaped buildings with great programmatic diversity, aiming for high urban density and encouragement of further developments around this so-called ‘Power Centre’, one of the envisioned two centre’s of the future new town.

Since the beginning of the millennium local nodes with a high density concentration of mixed program are used in Korean town planning. These nodes consist of a mix of public, retail, culture, housing, offices and leisure generating life in new metropolitan areas and encouraging further developments around them: the Power Centre strategy. The Gwanggyo Power Centre will consist of 200,000m2 housing, 48,000m2 offices, 200,000m2 mix of culture, retail, leisure and education and 200,000m2 parking.

This diverse program has different needs for phasing, positioning and size. To facilitate this all elements are designed as rings. By pushing these rings outwards, every part of the program receives a terrace for outdoor life. Plantations around the terraces with a floor to floor circulation system store water and irrigate the plants. The roofs of these hills and the terraces are planted with box hedges creating a strong, recognizable, cohesive park. This vertical park will improve the climate and ventilation, reduce energy and water usage. As a result a series of overgrown green ‘hills’ appear in the landscape.

The site is surrounded by a beautiful lake and forested hills, the design aims to create a landscape on top of the new program that enlarges the green qualities and that links the surrounding parks by turning the site into a park.

The shifting of the floors causes as a counter effect hollow cores that form large atriums. They serve as lobbies for the housing and offices, plazas for the shopping center and halls for the museum and leisure functions. In each tower a number of voids connect to the atrium providing for light and ventilation and creating semi-public spaces. On the lower floors the atriums are connected through a series of public spaces on various levels linking the towers and serving the outdoor facilities of the culture, retail and leisure program. The Power Centre creates a dense urban program with a green regard.

The concept plan is currently at the Gyeonggi provincial authority’s Urban Innovation Corporation for further development and feasibility study, the entire new town will be a self sufficient city of 77,000 inhabitants. The estimated budget and timeframe are still in the process of being established, completion is envisioned for 2011. A consortium lead by Daewoo develops the project with local firm DA Group, which commissioned MVRDV to design the scheme. British firm Arup is involved as engineer.

Designer : MVRDV via IGreenSpot via WordArchitectureNews

Hotel, Conference and Exhibition Complex by Snøhetta

TheFuture — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 07:05:53 +0000

The new hotel, conference, and exhibition complex is coming up in the emirate of Ras Al-Khaimah, United Arab Emirates can be nominated for the designer masterpiece. Designed by Nowergian architects Snøhetta, this 150km construction is expected to begin later this year. Right in the middle of the complex is the proposed 200 m tower which is a setting for a 5 star hotel which will offer panoramic view of the emirates. The space shall be utilized for various purposes as it can be developed for conference center, hotel and other commercial activities. One thing is for sure that this will be one of the most advanced centers in Dubai.

Official words from Snøhetta :
Snøhetta has been commissioned by the Ras Al Khaimah investment Authority and RAKEEN to undertake the architectural design for the Gateway project in the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah. Situated in the desert 150 km to the east of Dubai this landmark project will mark the gateway to the emirate and form the entrance to the new planned capital city of Ras Al Khaimah.

The urban master plan for the city is currently being under taken by the Netherlands based architectural practice OMA. The Gateway project is situated at the entrance to the city and will form a landmark for the city entrance.

The architectural expression for our proposal is inspired by the surrounding desert and mountain landscape. This concept provides for an infinite variety of naturally shaded, intimate and protected spaces, around which the multiple uses associated with the development are woven. The undulating architectural landscape is resolved in a dramatic landmark tower marking the main gateway plaza. This 200 m high tower will be the setting for a 5 star plus hotel affording panoramic views across the emirate, to the gulf and mountains beyond.

The programme calls for a mixed-use development comprising a conference centre, exhibition centre, hotels and retail space. In total it is expected to be 270 000m2 of build area. In addition there will be substantial areas of associated garden and landscape. Externally the building will be clad in ceramic panels, this will be developed together with Ras Al Khaimah ceramics, one of the world leading producers of ceramic products.

Designer : Snøhetta via Dezeen

Zero, Eco Friendly Vehicle

TheFuture — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 12:03:04 +0000

To address the increasing verticality of urban centers and the zero impact mentality, Natalie Bonebrake started by raising the transport of the terrain thus removing its footprint. The vehicle hangs from a magnetic levitation track; this removes the need for the vehicle to have an on-board power source eliminating localized emissions, except for the electromagnetic radiation and dramatically lightening the vehicle. There is also an option for a drive train for tracking use.

Once in the pod, a destination is entered and the rail system powers the pod through the city along the appropriate route. This allows the users the comfort of taxi or subway but without all the waiting and expensive fairs.Alone the pod allows the users to travel effortlessly through the city, but once connected to the chassis it becomes even more dynamic! This system allows the user to enjoy the freedom of having a car without all the responsibilities of having a car!

Designer : Natalie Bonebrake