Today with lot of environmental developments happening world over like global warming, energy crisis, lifestyle changes, it’s become even more difficult to design houses meeting all these requirements. More and more architectural designs are using digital technologies with respect to modeling, simulation, evaluation and fabrication resulting in complex shaped buildings which incorporates the above challenges. One such project is coming up in Tel Aviv whose primary resources are sun, wind, and land and these are fairly distributed amongst these complex structures thus making an optimum utilization of all. It’s of course high quality housing complete with latest gadgets but run on the natural resources. Architect Yiftach Ben Meir, the designer, is a recent graduate from The Faculty Of Architecture and Town Planning at Technion, Israel Institute of Technology (IIT). His final project SeaO2 was conceived under the framework of Tecnion Computer Oriented Design Studio, T_Code with the instruction of dr. Yasha j. Grobman.
Text from Yiftach :
SeaO2 is an experimental ecological housing project. The project poses an alternative to current plans for Tel Aviv North West coastal district. SeaO2 demonstrates vast use of cutting edge computer software, some being used in the aerospace industry, in order to improve building performance and to ensure the existence of a sustainable urban environment with a minimal ecological footprint. The project final form is a consequence of a scientific approach that calculates numerous of elements: the sun orbit, wind conditions, maximum open scenic views, very high density and more, all in a free-form organic manner.
Advanced Computer Simulations ensure the project’s credibility. The project’s unique morphology enables: optimized solar reception for heating at winter time, self-shadowing and solar reception for electricity generation at summer time, natural lighting, optimized natural ventilation, open looks to the natural coastal environment, public green spaces, rain collection and more. Various passive mechanical systems complement the basic morphology, enable better performance and create an energy efficient, environmentally friendly housing project
Designer : Yiftach Ben Meir
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.
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The latest coffee maker design from the house of Saeco seems to be a winner, right from the word “go”. It is in continuation with the last revamping that was done for the entire line of coffee machines along with the design arm of the BMW group. It has been dubbed as Saeco Xsmall, and is the smallest of its model. Overall the product has design elements of its previous products i.e. Primea, Talea & Odea. The interface of the product is quite user friendly, with a centralized knob. Also the color combination that has been incorporated by the designers is quite contemporary and surely will find many takers.
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Architects of UNStudio have come up with their competition winning redevelopment and extremely fabulous structure of a former post office in Rotterdam. This building is approximately 44.000 m2 in surface. This is surely going to be a historical monument in the city of Rotterdam, The Netherlands. This monument will include a vertical entrance and a 100m high tower featuring a luxury hotel with several facilities such as conferences, offices, cafes, bars, restaurants, and retail facilities etc. The project will most probably end by the year 2012 and creates a sustainable development which integrates a ‘Green Shopping’ experience for people and also offers a new urban look for the city.
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The Public, West Bromwich, England is a new arts building designed by architect Will Alsop. As per the architect, the building is born out of the thought that for renewing a generation, architecture can act as a catalyst. It inspires new ideas from the creative users and in itself the building signifies the creators’ belief in art. It has five levels and the building caters to various creative heads to explore their creativity. It’s intended to be a center for people to take part in art projects, and also engaging in learning wide range of skills and subjects, with special emphasis being given to IT and digital arts.
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