by Eric BaldwinFusion Arena. Image Courtesy of Populous
Architecture practice Populous has announced plans for a $50 million esports and entertainment venue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dubbed Fusion Arena, the project will be the home of the Philadelphia Fusion esports franchise as the largest esports venue in the western hemisphere. Seating up to 3,500 guests, the project will host a variety of live entertainment programming and events. The arena was made to be the first of its kind for next-generation consumers.
Save this picture!
Fusion Arena. Image Courtesy of Populous
Populous is working with Comcast Spectacor and The Cordish Companies on the Fusion Arena. “Fusion Arena represents a watershed moment for the competitive gaming market,” said Populous Senior Principal Brian Mirakian. “We’re taking our 36 years of designing iconic experiences for traditional sports – settings like Yankee Stadium – and applying those same principles of design to the virtual world of gaming.” Designed to reference gaming hardware, the building features an angular 6,000-square-foot, 30-foot-tall entrance hall that will greet visitors.
Featuring industrial materials throughout, Fusion Arena’s design pays tribute to Philadelphia’s heritage as the “workshop of the world.” It will offer unique seating experiences such as balcony bars, club seats with USB ports, flexible loge boxes and exclusive suites. Additionally, nearly 10,000 square feet will be dedicated to a training facility, broadcast studio and team offices. “We are thrilled to bring this ambitious idea to life and celebrate the arrival of Fusion Arena with gaming enthusiasts throughout the region and beyond,” said Joe Marsh, Chief Business Officer of Spectacor Gaming and the Philadelphia Fusion. “This project places esports alongside all the major traditional sports that call South Philadelphia home.”
Construction on Fusion Arena is set to begin this summer.
LACMA Expansion. Image Courtesy of Atelier Peter Zumthor & Partners / The Boundary
Peter Zumthor has revealed more details of a paired-back design for the LACMA expansion in Los Angeles. The proposal for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art was part of a final environmental impact report submitted for the $650-million project. Undergoing a series of changes over previous years, the latest design will still branch over Wilshire Boulevard with amorphous, sand-colored concrete galleries. The new expansion plan reduces both the expansion’s size and footprint.
LACMA Expansion. Image Courtesy of Atelier Peter Zumthor & Partners / The Boundary
The revised LACMA project aims to speed up construction time. The square footage of the proposed building is reduced from 390,000 to less than 350,000 square feet, while the maximum height will lower from 85 feet to 60 feet. While the previous design would have been built over a 68-month period, the updated project could be constructed in as little as 51 months. The project will be known as the ‘David Geffen Galleries’ and will house LACMA’s permanent collection.
Save this picture!
LACMA Expansion. Image Courtesy of Atelier Peter Zumthor & Partners / The Boundary
Save this picture!
LACMA Expansion. Image Courtesy of Atelier Peter Zumthor & Partners / The Boundary
Currently, the LACMA building would include seven concrete and glass pavilions connected to a transparent main exhibition level above. The project also includes 2.5 acres of open space with outdoor landscaped plazas and space for public programming. Museum officials announced they have reached $560 million of the $650 million fundraising campaign target. The County of Los Angeles is expected to advance $125 million of the $560 million raised.
An updated groundbreaking date has not been announced, though the project is tentatively scheduled for completion in 2023.
In the city of Milan, architecture firm LAD identified a busy roundabout with the potential to host a new public square typology. Sovraparco, literally “over park,” is a design by the Italian firm to better utilize an existing area in the city, Piazzale Loreto, by infusing it with greenery and public space. The project intentionally does not impose on the surrounding buildings to revamp the area, but instead inserts itself into the central space and aims to rethink what belongs to the public sector.
Present day Piazzale Loreto is an important central hub and gateway to Milan, yet is surrounded by uninspiring facades and contains no usable public green space. LAD felt it their duty, once they recognized the opportunity, to take on the problem with an architectural solution. Though it is a project with no client or request for proposals, the firm uses Sovraparco to make a statement about the responsibility of designers to use their skills to improve the built environment when and where it is needed.
The proposal is a hanging garden above a public square (or circle, more accurately). The imposition of the circle restores the site’s original form as it was in 1865 when it had once already been a public plaza. By inhabiting what is currently a shapeless void, it restores focus to the public, pedestrian function of an area today dominated by vehicles. Below is a heavily trafficked underground junction which would be opened to an airy sunken plaza with the Sovraparco concept.
Above, in the garden, the reversed dome shape shields views of the traffic beyond while remaining open to the sky. Visitors are relatively shielded from the pollution and vehicle noise, semi-isolated in the middle of an urban area. The garden has two levels, connected by a system of ramps, with an oculus in the center that looks down into the plaza. LAD determined that with today’s dense urban fabric, introducing green space to the city would be most quickly and efficiently achieved via an addition to an existing space rather than wholesale substitution.
As a space to unify and reveal, the Wangari Maathai Center in the Saint-Blaise area of Paris was made to break free from constraints. Designed by Bruther, the center was created so inhabitants could appropriate the space. Now photographer Alexandra Timpau has captured the sports and cultural center through a series of new photographs. Through the images, Alexandra worked to show how the building adapted to the needs of the people living inside, through decoration, new temporary enclosures, and through the facade.
Founded in 2007 by Stéphanie Bru and Alexandre Theriot, Bruther works in the fields of architecture, research, education, urbanism and landscape. As the team states, the culture and sports center was part of an urban renewal plan and it took into account those conditions. Compact, the project becomes landmark in this dense neighborhood; it saves ground and is developed vertically, while respecting the required distances from the surrounding buildings. In the axis of rue Mouraud, the location allows the new center to benefit from excellent sun conditions and offers views from the street to the courtyard, as well as generous public space.
Transparent, the project becomes a link which establishes new perspectives and creates relationships between the different amenities of the neighborhood, by both its location and materiality. Then this network of amenities (nursery, school…) is linked by the large public space. Through the transparency and porosity of its urban hall, the center was made to invite, welcome and link populations and uses. Along its four faces, the project offers and stacks a range of materialities, more or less transparent, in relation with the different activities. It adapts the building envelope to the specific needs and functions, and it exposes the new uses to the inhabitants; during the night, it glows and lights its environment, supporting the renewal of the neighborhood.
Flexible, the new center was conceived as a sustainable architecture. Independent from the curtain wall, its concrete structure carries a series of free floors distributed by a core. In a compact volume, the project aggregates a large diversity of functions, spaces, uses, relations to the outside, materials…and displays them in a neighborhood where there is no diversity. It is a single volume, with slightly curved faces, expressing the superposition of distinct functions in elevation, with strips surrounding the building. Each part of the ensemble, each layer of the stratification, offers its own qualities and characteristics.
3XN has released details of its plans for T3 Bayside, the first office building in Toronto’s emerging Bayside community, and the tallest timber office building in North America. Located on the shores of Lake Ontario, the structure stands at 42 meters in height and serves as part of the 2,000-acre revitalization initiative to transform Toronto’s waterfront.
The scheme is designed to reflect and emphasize the emerging neighborhood in which it sits, intertwining principals of life, work, and play. A continuously-activated ground level is abundant with retail opportunities, bleeding into a central plaza, exhibition spaces, flexible office spaces, and coworking facilities.
T3 Bayside will join 3XN’s two residential buildings in the area and combines with an adjoining plaza to create a dynamic visual and pedestrian gateway to the entire neighborhood, connecting residents and visitors to the revitalized waterfront. Through a series of stepped roof terraces, the building strengthens and emphasizes the movement and heights of the masterplan at either end of the site. The terraces step down towards the plaza, serving as a new urban gateway and focal point to attract visitors and residents alike.
We are honored to contribute to the development of this new neighborhood in Toronto. 3XN believes in creating buildings that focus on people and contribute to the public realm, which is our aim in this project as well. WithT3 Bayside we created flexible office spaces that can meet the requirements of a diverse group of tenants both at the moment and in the foreseeable future.
-Kim Herforth Nielsen, Founder and Creative Director, 3XN
As the tallest timber office building in North America, the scheme’s use of timber reduces construction time and allows the building’s elements to be easily disassembled and reused for other purposes. The structure is to be built of Cross Laminated Timber, a strong and efficient material that reduces the scheme’s carbon footprint and creates unique interior aesthetics. The use of wood also allows the release of moisture to ensure a naturally-regulated and healthy indoor environment.
Canada, with its great forests, seems a natural place to build the tallest timber office building in North America and we are excited to be part of this development. The wooden structure will be a prominent part of the design and provide a warm tactile environment for the tenants that doesn’t compromise sustainability. The flexible layout will be able to meet the diverse needs of the users and bring people together.
-Jens Holm, Partner in charge of 3XN North America and Head of Design for the T3 project
by Eric BaldwinPeople Mover. Image Courtesy of LAX
Los Angeles International Airport has broken ground on its Automated People Mover, an elevated train designed to carry passengers and connect to LA’s light rail. Mayor Eric Garcetti joined city officials to celebrate the kick-off last week as LAX hopes the project will improve connections between terminals and cut down on auto traffic in and out of the airport. Linked to the new consolidated rent-a-car facility, the People Mover aims to provide congestion relief for one of the world’s busiest airports.
The People Mover groundbreaking ceremony was held last Thursday. Last year, City Council approved a $4.9 billion contract with LAX Integrated Express Solutions for the design and construction of the Automated People Mover. As the fourth busiest airport in the world, LAX is looking for ways to decrease auto dependency to and from the airport. LAWA officials anticipate the new system will be used by 85.1 million passengers per year, and it will travel between six stations; three inside the airport terminal loop and three outside the airport.
As LAWA has stated, the People Mover is expected to connect with the Metro Green and Crenshaw/LAX light rail lines, and the Consolidated Rent-A-Car Center that aims to bring together more than 20 car rental offices in one location. The facility will eliminate the need for rental car courtesy vehicles to enter the central terminal area and reduce the number of autos driving in and out of the airport by an estimated 3,200 each day. Electric-powered trains are expected to operate every two minutes, with each train carrying up to 200 people.
The People Mover has a targeted opening date of 2023.
Since 1996, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has hosted awards for exemplary buildings across the UK by RIBA Chartered Architects and RIBA International Fellows. This year, 83 projects have been shortlisted for the RIBA London Awards from a list of 200 entrants.
Each project will be visited by one of five London juries during the month of April. Winners will be announced at the award ceremony on May 20th at the RIBA headquarters at 66 Portland Place, London. News of the shortlist follows on from similar selections by RIBA South West, RIBA East, and RIBA North East.
Scroll down to see a complete list of the shortlisted architectural works, and find out more information on the official website here.
The Odunpazari Modern Museum (OMM) by Kengo Kuma and Associates will open in June 2019, situated in Eskişehir, a university town in the northwest of Turkey. The OMM will feature an internationally significant collection of modern and contemporary art, showcased within a scheme designed by the architect behind the recently-completed V&A Dundee.
The 4,500-square-meter scheme is defined by a distinctive stacked timber design, drawing inspiration from Odunpazari’s traditional Ottoman wooden cantilevered houses that are synonymous with the district, and pays homage to the town’s history as a thriving wood market. Along with several other city museums in the surrounding area, OMM will create a museum square and public meeting place in the town.
Split over three levels, the scheme entices visitors on a journey through a variety of exhibition spaces, with large spaces on the ground level echoing the rhythm and scale of the urban context, and smaller rooms on the upper floors housing smaller-scale works. At the center, a skylit atrium allows natural light to permeate the building.
At the heart of this project was a desire to create a link between people and art. We wanted the building to carry the history and memory of the town, to resonate both on a human scale and with the unique streetscape of Odunpazari, which passing through is a special experience in itself. We very much look forward to seeing the public enjoy and interact with the building.
-Yuki Ikeguchi (Partner) / Kengo Kuma (Founder), Kengo Kuma and Associates
Renderings courtesy of Related Companies and Oxford Properties Group
Kenneth A. Himmel, president of Related’s mixed-use division Related Urban, said in a statement, “Exceptional dining experiences are extremely important in curating not only the restaurant collection, but the new neighborhood we are creating, and we are thrilled with the caliber of chefs and restaurateurs that will be coming to Hudson Yards. These chefs and restaurateurs represent the most creative and visionary leaders both in this industry and around the world.” — 6sqft
Yesterday, developers Related Companies and Oxford Properties Group announced that celebrity chef José Andrés would bring a 35,000-square-foot food hall to Hudson Yards.
Fresh off the news, they’ve also released a slew of new renderings of the mega-development’s retail and restaurant spaces, which include a big new restaurant from David Chang and the massive Neiman Marcus store set to anchor the project.
Photo: Michael Young/New York YIMBY, image via Rafael Viñoly Architects on Instagram.
Above the Financial District, 125 Greenwich Street rises as a slender 88-story residential skyscraper. Designed by Rafael Vinoly and developed by Bizzi & Partners and Vector Group, the 912-foot tall glass and concrete structure has topped out. The 273 residential units are being marketed by Douglas Elliman, while the interiors are being designed by March & White. — New York YIMBY
.jpg?resize=600%2C9999&ssl=1 "The 83 Best New Buildings in London Shortlisted by the RIBA")
.jpg?1552661896)
_(1).jpg?resize=600%2C9999&ssl=1 "Kengo Kuma’s Stacked Timber Museum in Turkey Opens in June")
_(1).jpg?1553001016)
_(2).jpg?1553001038 "© Kengo Kuma and Associates")
_(4).jpg?1553001120 "© Kengo Kuma and Associates")
_(3).jpg?1553001082 "© Kengo Kuma and Associates")
_(6).jpg?1553001198 "© Kengo Kuma and Associates")
_(2).jpg?1553001038)
_(6).jpg?1553001198)
_(3).jpg?1553001082)
_(4).jpg?1553001120)
Archy Naija 