Dazzling Designs: The 360 at Founders Plaza

Welcome to yet another installment of Dazzling Designs, a series where I show off unique and innovative architectural designs from around the world.  Tonight we will be looking at the Founders Tower in Oklahoma City, formerly known as The 360 at Founders Plaza.

    Standing at 275 feet (84 m.) with 17 floors, this luxury condominium tower used to be an office space in the 1960s.  It is apparently a "Googie-style" skyscraper, which is a style of architecture that I never even heard of until I saw Founders Tower.  The Googie style is actually a form of modern architecture popularized in the 1940s through the 60s when the United States was starting to get involved with spaceflight.  The condominium is one of Oklahoma City's most well-known landmarks and was renovated from 2007-2008.  It also includes a revolving restaurant--the second building in the nation to have one.

    This building was inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright's Price Tower, which is in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and the Space Needle in Seattle.  It definitely fits Wright's style!  Small balconies protrude out of the building all the way from the 3rd floor to the 14th.  Past the 14th floor, you'll see wider balconies.  On the 20th floor, you will see the restaurant, which apparently does not revolve anymore.

    My favorite part of this building is its exterior design.  After looking at more pictures of "Googie" architecture, I am starting to enjoy and understand it more.  This style definitely meshes with Frank Lloyd Wright and the way he designed his buildings.  The interior is just as beautiful as the exterior.  It has a great contemporary feel to it.  It looks like some Googie elements are also on the interior.  Take a look at those lights below.  They look pretty Googie to me!  There's also plenty of structure and decoration included inside the building.

"Imagine the luxury.. Imagine the convenience.. Imagine the extraordinary views... Imagine the urban lifestyle...  Imagine calling Founder’s Tower home."

                                                                                     - Founder's Tower Homepage

References:
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Founders_Tower_Oklahoma_City
>> http://www.rbaarch.com/portfolio.php
>> http://www.founderstower.com

Dazzling Designs :: Stoa of Attalos

Welcome back to the next installment of Dazzling Designs!

 

     The Stoa of Attalos in Athens, Greece is a remarkable structure.  Built in 138 B.C. by King Attalos II, this Mediterranean wonder served as a perfect place for the people to gather for events.  It provides protection from the elements while still letting light and fresh air in.  Forty-two shops reside inside the stoa which serves as an important landmark for trade and commerce in Athens.

     The front facade and columns are made out of beautiful marble taken from quarries nearby in the mountains and the walls on the inside are made of limestone.  The modern reconstruction rests almost exactly on the first foundation, and luckily the original front facade was intact showing the height of the old roof.  This helped the reconstruction process tremendously as they knew how high the roof was.

Before Reconstruction:

After Reconstruction:

 

      The stoa still serves as a gathering place for the people of Athens.  Greek architecture is one of my favorites.  They use marble, limestone, and sandstone to create very ornate and intricate structures.  I noticed many Greek structures have very flat and gradual roofs which I really like.  I will be incorporating this style into some future Minecraft projects which you'll be seeing very soon!

References-(all pictures and information):

>> http://www.agathe.gr/overview/the_stoa_of_attalos.html

Dazzling Designs | Frost Bank Tower

Since posting Today's ArchiPic #96 on my blog, I have wanted to do a post on my new favorite building: the Frost Bank Tower.

     The Frost Bank Tower in Austin, Texas, is one of the many centerpieces for the skyline of the city.  It was designed by HKS, inc. and Duda/Paine Architects, LLP and was the first skyscraper to be built after the September 11th attacks, which makes it very unique.  Finished in November of 2001, the tower has the highest logo in the city and comprises of 33 floors with a total height of 515 feet.  It is also Austin's third tallest building.

   

    The reason why I like it so much is because of the shape and color of its crown.  Since the company is named Frost Bank, it seems fitting to have a crown that resembles an icy shape.  (It looks that way to me anyways.)  Its crown is also beautifully lit at night.



    On Today's ArchiPic #96 I mention, "The main part of the building is made from a blue low-e glass skin. The low-e glass skin is thicker than normal glass, and it spreads across the tower in whole."  Another very interesting fact to note is that the Frost Bank Tower is one of only two buildings in the world that use the blue low-e glass skin.  Also, I said the building is very unique because of the glorious crown at the top.  240,000 square feet of glass was used to encompass the entire building, and 45,000 square feet of that glass was used on the crown.

   
    They also change the colors of the glass for special occasions.  The picture above is a great snapshot of the top quarter of the building as the sun sets in Austin.  The Frost Bank Tower is one of the most unique buildings I have seen.  Its glass skin, icy crown, and sharp shape make it a site to see if you are site-seeing!  (Haha)

Sources:

>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frost_Bank_Tower

References:
>> Today's ArchiPic #96

Dazzling Designs | Tokyo Sky Tree

The tallest communications tower in the world standing at 2,080 feet, which was recently built to withstand high magnitude earthquakes, is Tokyo's new prized possession.  The Tokyo Sky Tree is a wonder and was just completed on February 29 of this year.

    The project was led by Tobu Railway, and the tower is part of a larger-scale project that centers around a commercial district.  It is a communications tower, which its obvious purpose is to relay and transmit radio broadcasts and television signals.  Designed by Tadao Ando and sculptor Kiichi Sumikawa, the Sky Tree's foundation is not a normal rectangal.  It is perfectly triangular.



   
    As the tower goes up, it spirals on the inside, which helps it be more sturdy.  They currently finishing the interior spaces and plan to open it in May of this year.  It is twice the height of the Tokyo Tower that will be replaced by the Sky Tree. 



"Builder Obayashi, which recently announced plans for a space elevator to start services by 2050, declared the Sky Tree complete ahead of a ceremony Friday," said cnet.  (The video below is a timelapse of the construction)

Sources:
>> http://www.3news.co.nz/Tokyo-Sky-Tree-Worlds-tallest-freestanding-broadcast
>> http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57388126-1/japan-builds-tokyo-sky-tree-worlds-tallest-tower/

Dazzling Designs | Beijing's Box of Bubbles

Welcome to the next installment of my Dazzling Designs series. Tonight, I am here to show you Beijing's "Big Box of Bubbles" as continuingeducation.construction.com says it.

     It's a structure that was built to host the swimming and diving events at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. Inside this "big box of bubbles", you will find huge Olympic-size swimming pools. The designers didn't want to make just a regular building to host the events. They wanted to go out with a bang or a "pop" as I should say. They also wanted to capture the essence of water and wanted to make you feel as if you were inside a big bubble or under the sea. Min Wang, a man that is part of the China Construction Design International group said, "We wanted the building to dematerialize, to change moods, to react to changes in the environment around it."



     I can imagine that at different times of day the atmosphere and color of the inside change. Imagine being there while the sun sets, the inside will probably light up bright orange and will have a glow. It would be even cooler if they were able to capture the essence of an actual bubble. If it was possible to get prism-style lighting inside the bubble box, it would be electrifying.



     The group studied the geometry of soap bubbles to understand how to make the structure look like liquid. In other words, they wanted you to feel like you were really inside a huge bubble!

     "During the day, diffuse sunlight provides much of the lighting for the Water Cube's interior spaces, such as the competition pool. At night, the building becomes a glowing blue box with the help of LEDs."

    The building's roof alone is over 340,000 square feet.  In the pictures above, you can see how the frame was put together.  22,000 steel tubes were welded together to make the frame.  "To visitors, the gray-water-recycling and rainwater-harvesting systems will be invisible. For them, the bubbles (and the Olympic competitors) will steal the show, especially at night, when the Water Cube becomes a glowing blue box with the help of LEDs integrated into the pillow frames," says continuingeducation.construction.com.

    The Water Box is truly one of architecture's most intuitive and creative design.  Those bubbles look amazing.  I would probably get distracted from watching the show because of the structure itself.  I just hope it doesn't POP!

Read the full post at http://continuingeducation.construction.com/article.php?L=5&C=418

Sources:

>> All pictures and information from continuingeducation.construction.com

Dazzling Designs | Inverted Skyscraper

    It is an unusual question to think about.  Can a structure that never reaches a height above sea level be called a skyscraper?  Tonight's Dazzling Designs is all about something that I have never heard of: an inverted skyscraper. 

    

    A structure designed by Matthew Fromboluti seeks to prove itself worthy of being called a skyscraper while being 900 feet underground.  It's crazy to think that something could be called a skyscraper while being underground and not actually "scraping the sky."  A 300 acre wide crater left by a mine in Bisbee, Arizona, is the place where this inverted skyscraper will be built.  The structure will include work places, green spaces, recreational areas, and even farming.  (It almost reminds me of the Dragonfly structure from a previous Dazzling Designs post.)  Not just this, but it will have its own power source, water recycling system, and a solar chimney, which is used to control the artificial climate.  Also, skylights are inside the underground mega-structure to help control the climate.

    At the surface, there is a dome that covers the structure, and obviously, 99 percent of the entire building will be underground.  Overtime, the natural erosion and deposition cycle will cover the dome with sand, and the top of the structure will be, technically, invisible.  

    In conclusion, inverted skyscrapers are an interesting feat of architecture.  They are filled with complex designs, creative ingenuity, and artificial technology that make it possible to live in these underground structures.  Should an underground building be called a skyscraper?  No, it's probably smarter to call it a dirt-scraper! 

Sources:

>> http://www.evolo.us/architecture/skyscraper-or-sustainable-underground-society/ 

References: 

>> http://zachsartofarchitecture.blogspot.com/2011/03/dazzling-designs-dragonfly.html

Sneak Peak on the next installment of Dazzling Designs:

A skyscraper floating over a massive canyon is something you will never see...until now.  Be looking forward to next week's Dazzling Designs when we talk about the next amazing feat in architectural engineering: a skyscraper floating over the Grand Canyon!

   

Dazzling Designs | Waterfront Toronto

    Toronto, Canada, has been booming.  With newly constructed buildings and skyscrapers coming up every week, the city is experiencing, not just an economic boom, but a construction boom.  It's a rare sight to see in many North Amercian cities, where there isn't much construction, simply because of the world's economic crisis.  Toronto, with its current population of 2.5 million, has been gaining 80,000 to 100,000 people per year!  And it's real estate sector has been moving along quite nicely since the 1990s. 



    There is over 147 high-rise buildings being constructed right now in the city, and it's only getting bigger.  Suburbs also have been experiencing the boom, with towers popping up there, it's an interesting sight to see.  A larger project called the Waterfront Toronto Project, is currently being designed by Michael van Valkenburgh, Moshe Safdie, Pelli Clarke Pelli, and Saucier + Perrotte.  When the project is done, the architects plan that the waterfront will be able to have over 40,000 residents.  And don't forget that this group of people are going to make sure the Toronto Waterfront will make your draw drop.  (That's their job!) 



    Because of other cities having bad economic downfalls, residents of Toronto fear that the real estate bubble will go to far and bust.  There are also critics that don't like how fast the city is growing.   “We have a city that isn’t proactively planned, and hasn’t been for years now,” says Meg Graham.  He is the principal of the firm Superkül Architect and a professor at the University of Toronto’s architecture school.  But many people disagree.  The city is booming, and there are good plans in place to make sure this all goes well for Toronto's residents.  Downtown Toronto is also booming, and having more wealthy residents is helping it speed up.



    It's also hard to believe that about 50 percent of all the residents in Toronto, Canada, are foreign-born.  The city has very strong education systems and social services, so Toronto is unlikely to not be able to fund the waterfront project.  Siamak Hariri, a German born architect that studied at Yale said, “People have developed an appetite for apartment living. I think the city is anticipating a dramatic shift toward a more sophisticated, European environment.”



(Awesomeness to the Extreme!)

*All images and information are from archrecord.construction.com.
References:
>> http://archrecord.construction.com/news/2011/11/Toronto-on-the-Rise.asp
>> Slideshow here. (Also from archrecord.construction.com)

Dazzling Designs | St. Nicholas Orthodox Church

BEFORE

Photo: Marlon Blackwell (Architect)

AFTER

Photo: Timothy Hursley

    (Talk about inventive!) Welcome back to Dazzling Designs!  The St. Nicholas Eastern Orthodox Church is a great example of a very inventive architect.  This church used to be one, big metal box, but Architect Marlon Blackwell made a church out of it!  Overtime, this church has become a "3,600-square-foot local icon" for the residents of Springdale, Arkansas, with its boxy steeple and a metal shell.  If you look carefully, you will be able to see three very symbolic colors.  A red cross, a blue window on the left, and a yellow window on the right create the colors of the Trinity.


Photo: Timothy Hursley                                                                                                                               

    The architect heard that people needed a new church, but the congregation couldn't afford it.  They found an empty metal shed that was big enough for a church but had a lot of shaping up to do.  Jonathan Boelkins, the project manager, thought about tearing the shed down but apparently, "it had structure and it had a roof, and so we thought, well, we'll see what we can do with it."  Although Springdale usually prohibits metal panels as a new building material, he wanted a chance to raise questions about architecture as a spiritual offering.  They kept everything in the building's original structure, but his team wrapped it in metal panels.


Photo: Timothy Hursley

    The meeting space is separate from the sanctuary by a movable wall, but they used the steeple to mark the interior entrance to the sanctuary.  Although domes are an important part to Orthodox churches, Blackwell decided to keep the roof flat.  Instead, he traded beer bottles with a satellite dish to skim-coat it with plaster and embed it in the ceiling.  (Unconvential but practical!)  “We can still make architecture anywhere, at any scale,” says Blackwell. “That's been one of our missions: to say, hey, architecture can happen here.”


Photo: Timothy Hursley

     “A lot of people are turning churches into metal buildings,” he says. “We turned a metal building into a church.”

>> Read more at archrecord.construction.com

Dazzling Designs | Fabrikstrasse 15

Photo orginally from Thomas Mayer.

In Basel, Switzerland, a new workplace is coming together in the heart of the Novartis campus.  The 209,896 square foot building is a master plan by Frank Gehry.  The basis of this project is to create a workplace that is environmentally responsible.  The Fabrikstrasse 15 (I don't think I can pronounce it) is an amazing architectural structure in my opinion.  It has "crystalline transparency and intricate sustainable strategies." 

Archrecord.construction.com, "Anchored to a load-bearing reinforced-concrete skeleton that sits on a rigid 56-foot-deep basement box, the building's structural steel shell supports an active triple-glazed envelope that is tied to its natural ventilation and lighting systems through a centralized building facility-management system."

I love buildings that use glass and a spherical structure.  It makes it eye candy to some of us people that like architecture.  The Frabikstrasse 15 uses solar power mostly when the sun is out.  When it's not, they convert to electric lighting.  As the brilliant sunset starts the building becomes a beautiful orange glow inside the building.  (at least that's what I think would happen)  In the afternoon the sun is very bright, which makes the inside of the building shine.  Air conditioning, in conjuction with the lighting, is also brilliant.  In the morning, as the sun is rising, the air is cool and crisp.  And although I still can't truly pronounce it, the project is absolutely amazing!

Information and pictures were from archrecord.construction.com

Dazzling Designs | World Trade Center Tower 1

All information and pictures archrecord.construction.com

Photo originally from James Ewing.

At the northern end of Ground Zero, the new 104-story tower is rising into the skyline of a city full of perserverance after the 9/11 attacks.  Tower 1 of the new World Trade Center, will have 3.1 million square feet of office space with a vast underground transportation infrastructure.  Near the top, there will be a two-level observation deck with a restaurant. 

Archrecord.construction.com says, "But when the designers of the $3.19 billion project describe the building, they generally focus first on its potential as a symbol: “It will serve as the marker of the 9/11 memorial on the skyline,” says David Childs, consulting design partner to Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)."

The tower will be the most "undefinable" building in New York City.  (pretty much meaning unique)  Its scheme is simple and iconic, resembling the Washington Monument.  The building is not just square but rotated like a spire from its base, which makes it eye candy for us people that love architecture!  Also, the two reflective pools at Ground Zero reflect the light onto the buildings.  (hints the word: reflective)  This makes the future towers shine.  They are going to be absolutely beautiful! 

                                       More posts on the World Trade Center are coming soon.



 

Dazzling Designs | The 0-14 Tower

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, a place that has stunned the world with dozens of world records is coming out with a new, very unique structure called the 0-14 Tower. 



Photo originally from Reiser + Umemoto

      This building is short (only about 22 stories) compared to Skidmore Owings & Merrill's Burj Khalifa, currently the record breaking and tallest skyscraper in the world at 2,717 feet high.  But this building is very unique.  It is designed by a group of New York architects Reiser + Umemoto.  It's curvy, outer shell marked with tons of holes is what makes this building different from all others.  0-14 is named after it's site number at the Buisness Bay.  Also, the 0-14's structure, mostly made out of concrete, has 1,326 holes with five different sizes.





    Archrecord.com said, "The ghostly white exoskeleton stands 3 feet away from an inner glass-walled enclosure that follows its swerving contours: The two are linked by structural concrete tongues. With a central stair and elevator core, the interiors are column-free, allowing each floor to provide 6,000 square feet (net) of office space to its tenants."

   Earlier in the 0-14's design history, the architects designed the tower to be an amorphous shape with glazed apertures.  But there was a major problem.  They couldn't place gaskets around the glass and connect the shaft to the concrete floors.  This made the architects develop a better double-layer structure.

  
   The exoskeleton of the 0-14 is tough.  Its lateral resistance to wind allows elevator core and concrete shell to be lighter than normal.  All the holes in the structure had to be layered with a dense amount of re-bar to keep the tower sturdy.  By tying the re-bar at intersections with stirrups in the zones of high stress, the team created a grid with 40 percent openness.

  Inside the 0-14 Tower, guests are protected in a 400,000 square foot space from the dust storms and sweltering heat, while still being able to get a great look outside.  The tower could become a role-model for new desert buildings.  It becomes obvious that this was expensive to build, even with the integrated cooling design, which saves on cooling costs.  But the tower's up-front investment was higher than the conventional structure.  "Like many high-rise buildings erected in far-flung places," Archrecord.com states, "the willingness of clients, particularly before the economic free fall of 2008, has encouraged a liberty to experiment that could provide technical and sustainable lessons for the next building boom. Whenever that comes."


- All Information and Pictures from archrecord.construction.com

Dazzling Designs | Taliesin West

Taliesin West was Frank Lloyd Wright's winter home in Scottsdale, Arizona.  It also served as a school!  (School of Architecture that is)  It was built in 1937 and is now open to the public.  Taliesin East, Wright's summer home in Spring Green, Wisconsin, was the first Taliesin. 

Taliesin West is one of, in my opinion, Wright's most beautiful designs.  And about the design...Wright said, "Arizona needs its own architecture… Arizona’s long, low, sweeping lines, uptilting planes. Surface patterned after such abstraction in line and color as find “realism” in the patterns of the rattlesnake, the Gila monster, the chameleon, and the saguaro, cholla or staghorn – or is it the other way around—are inspiration enough.”  It's amazing how Wright adapts to his surroundings for his architectural creations.  He paid $3.50 an acre for project.  This is much like an oasis.  Later he added a dining room, the cabaret theater, and a music pavilion.  Well, if you're an architect I guess you can design anything you want.  (Just not when you don't have enough money to build it!)  This is exactly what Wright does: he spends when there is no more money to spend.  Wright was constantly living in debt. 

Did you know that the walls are made of local desert rocks?  That is pretty cool, and Wright had the skills to incorporate the land with his design.  The home contains his personal touch, and when he returned every winter, he grabbed a hammer and made changes or shouted orders to his apprentices.  And let me tell you, that is exactly how he was: always wanting perfection!

(All images and information courtesy of Wikipedia.)