The O-14 Tower is located in the future business bay district – still surrounded by construction sites. It was designed by architects Reiser + Umemoto from New York City and its their very first completed project worldwide. Since opening at the beginning of 2010, the tower has received a lot of public attention and has been referred to as the most interesting building structure in Dubai since Burj Khalifa.

The tower’s concrete shell doesn’t only function as its main structure – in combination with the inner core -, but also creates a lace-like façade open to light, air, and views. The openings in the shell are modulated depending on structural requirements, views, sun exposure, and luminosity. As the inner glass elevation is set back by almost one meter, all interior spaces are naturally shaded. In addition, the space in-between the skins creates a chimney effect, cooling down the surface of the windows behind the perforated shell in the hot summer months of Dubai.

With its 21 storeys of absolutely column-free office spaces, the tower reaches a moderate height of 102 metres, but offers spectacular views from the roof terrace, which is open to all tenants.

Want to see the O-14 Tower? Visit it on a tour with ticket-dXb

Name: O-14 Tower
Architects: Reiser + Umemoto RUR
Year of Construction: 2010
Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Owner: www.h-h.ae

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The Lloyd Hotel is located in the heart of Amsterdam’s Eastern Docklands, a former harbour area transformed into a city district. Built in 1918 as an emigrants’ hostel, it re-opened as the first 1-5 star hotel worldwide in 2005. With a conversion designed by MVRDV, bathrooms by Bureau Lakenvelder, interiors by Atelier van Lieshout and lots of Dutch Design furniture, it has become one of the most interesting spaces in Amsterdam.

The building was designed by architect Evert Breman in an eclectic style with some expressionist elements. From 1921, it served as a hostel for emigrants waiting for their passage to America. There was nothing luxurious about it, but it offered several large dorms, a kosher kitchen and a delivery room. Emigrants were transported here by railway, the tracks ending in front of the neighbouring quarantine building. During World War II the Germans turned the building into a prison. After the war it remained a youth prison until 1989, when some artists moved in. In the late 1990s, when the surrounding docklands started to develop into a lively city district, a competition was held for a redevelopment of the building. The winning entry suggested to turn it into an art and design hotel.

Finally opened in 2005, the hotel features a restaurant under a 6-storey void. Several room boxes hang in the void, containing meeting rooms and library, accessible via a staircase in the void.

Want to see the Lloyd Hotel? Visit it on a tour of the Eastern Docklands with architour.

Name: Lloyd Hotel
Architect: MVRDV et al.
Year of Construction: 1918/2005
Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Photos: Michell Zappa (top) and Allard van der Hoek (bottom)

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The book Holiday Architecture - A Guide to Architectural Retreats presents small hotels, guesthouses and holiday homes which have developed their own typology due to their spectacular locations and individual architecture. The properties have strongly individual design concepts. Many were designed and planned by the owners themselves, which makes this collection a highly personal and individual description of buildings that could be created only with passion and great initiative.

The stories behind the development of the properties are often as unusual as the houses themselves and as the people driving their creation. All the examples show that the new combination of the words ‘architecture’ and ‘holiday’ not only makes sense linguistically, but is also the expression of a special characteristic.

The emphasis here is not just on luxury, but goes far beyond pure ‘design’. These examples illustrate a holistic design concept which takes account of the particular locations and surroundings. The presented houses invite us to get to know them and the book offers the necessary information for holiday planning.

The webpage www.urlaubsarchitektur.de has been gathering this collection of properties since 2007. A selection of the highclass and partly astonishing buildings is presented here for the first time in book format. Further editions of ‘A Guide to Architectural Retreats’ will follow.

The Book is bilingual (English/German), has 144 pages and  costs 19,90 €. It can be ordered all over Europe in any bookshop / mail-order (ISBN: 3940874248) or at the publisher’s online shop.

The 60.000 m2 mixed use building which includes 475 residences, retail spaces and offices allows people to bike from the street all the way to its top floor, ten stories high. It’s close to completion and is documented in new images by photographer Jens Lindhe on BIG’s website.

Ticket B, founding member of Guiding Architects, is now a member of Berlin’s senate comittee for better touristic access to the six Berlin Modernism Housing Estates, which are featured on the UNESCO world heritage list. These housing estates are exceptional not only because of their architectural importance, but also due to their good state of preservation.

Situation plan Hufeisensiedlung

The estates –  Gartenstadt Falkenberg (Tuschkastensiedlung), Schillerpark, Wohnstadt Carl Legien, Großsiedlung Britz (Hufeisensiedlung), Siemensstadt and Weiße Stadt – were built between 1913 and 1934. The architects of the modern movement responded to the lack of housing after World War I at the highest architectural level: modern, affordable flats with kitchens, bathrooms and balconies, in houses without backyards or side wings, which provided light, air and space for the inhabitants. The high quality of the architecture, its formal language, floor plans and urban design became a model for the entire 20th century.

Ticket B offers guided tours by bus and on foot, with apartment visits to all six projects, plus a seventh, which is not on the UNESCO-list, but still the most visited modernist settlement: Onkel Toms Hütte, designed by Bruno Taut, Hugo Häring and Otto Rudolf Salvisberg.

It is famous for its colourful façades, which were the cheapest and most successful method of providing the prefabricated houses with individuality. However, most of the houses are private property now and haven’t been renovated homogeneously, so the UNESCO-committe didn’t include this area.

In the neighbourhood of Onkel Tom there are also prominent villas of early modernism, such as Mies van der Rohe’s House Perls (1914-16) and House Werner (1927), which can also be visited with Ticket B.

Onkel Toms Hütte

Mies van der Rohe, Haus Perls

More information and text (in German) can be found at www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de

Posted by: TicketB

If you ever happen to be in the town of Heerhugowaard in the north of Holland, you should go to the bathroom. Of course not just to any bathroom, but to the one in recreation park Strand van Luna. That’s where Danish art collective Superflex and Amsterdam-based Nezu Aymo Architects have built their „Power Toilets“: a replica of the rest rooms in the UN Security Council in New York, based on some photos taken secretly by an employee. An inconspicuous box in a recreation area in a provincial Dutch town houses the exact same top-secret toilets which are frequented by Ban-Ki moon & Co: if that isn’t worth a detour, what is?

Published by: architour, Amsterdam

While the financial crisis still effects Moscow’s architectural development, some other Russian regions are recovering earlier. Perm, for example, some 2000 km east of Moscow.

Dutch architect Kees Christiaanse has developed an ambitious master plan for its possible transformation. At the same time, a competition for the Tchaikovsky theatre for Opera and Ballet extension was held. Participants were David Chipperfield Architects (UK), Avery Associates Architects (UK), Henning Larsen Architects (Denmark), Neutelings Riedijk Architects (Holland), PLP Architecture (UK) and Sergey Skuratov Architects (Russia). David Chipperfield Architects won the competition.

Posted by: MPlus, Moscow

The guiding architects in Vienna, Ticket-W present their „Architekturplan Wien“ (architecture map of Vienna), which might be called the „missing link“ between city map and architectural guidebook. The publication is meant as a companion for walks through the city, inspiring systematic exploration as well as spontaneous visits.

On 20 map sheets and 10 detailed maps, more than 1.000 objects are localised. The combination of maps and registers allows to plan sightseeing tours, identify specific objects by their address or to find buildings according to individual interests. The selection covers the period from 1900 to the present day, emphasizing the last 20 years with more than two thirds of the objects. The lists include not only architecture but also landscape architecture, urban interventions and site-specific works of art.

In addition to the lists, 100 objects are presented with a photo and a short text: a pleasant mélange of classics and brand-new buildings, insider tips and talk-of-the-town architecture, which entices discoveries as well as second visits. Vienna’s vital architecture community is a true discovery – go for it!

ARCHITEKTURPLAN WIEN
Architektur und Landschaftsarchitektur von 1900 bis heute
Mit Register nach Epochen | Funktionen | PlanerInnen
Hg.: Ticket-W, Architekturführungen in Wien
Falter Verlag
€ 19,90

Information and orders: www.architekturplan-wien.at
Posted by: Ticket-W

Posted by: Guiding Architects

The winner of the second round of the international competition for the new National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo was announced on April 12th. Among the 6 finalists - chosen from 237 entries of the first, open round - the jury gave the first prize to Kleihues + Schuwerk Gesellschaft von Architekten mbH (Napoli, Berlin), and their project “Forum Artis”. This central location in Oslo was for several years meant for the new main library, with a competition winning project by architects Spacegroup / OMA. However, the city and state swapped building sites, landing the library near the new opera, and the National Museum in this location at the former West railway station. The small, listed station buildings (with the Nobel Peace Prize Museum), as well as the adjacent City Hall and harbourfront, present complex problems of scale and relationships between structures of great historical and architectural value.

The winning project features an iconic luminous top floor, as well as public roof terraces and sculpture gardens with harbour views. The jury gives top score for museum-technical solutions, and praises the project’s low-key monumentality and harmonious relationship with nearby cultural monuments.

The entries «Urban Transition» by JAJA Architects ApS of Copenhagen, and «Trylleesken» by Henning Larsen Architects A/S, also Copenhagen, won the second and third prizes. The new museum is planned to open in 2016/17.

Copyright: DiizGroup and Statsbygg

Posted by: Guide-A, Oslo