Nikolaiplatz // Graz // Austria

The Nikolaiplatz project is from 2007 and is developed by the Austrian architects, Atelier Thomas Pucher. The project consists of the development of an office building on a town square space in the Austrian city of Graz, in which this very plot faces a river, thus making it an attractive spot. The exterior is made of metal sheetings, and the metal cubes that are seen on the outside, are used as archives (bookshelves) in the interior. On the roof, there is an open penthouse-like floor, which allows the employees to enjoy the view of the city and the river.

Courthouse // Varna // Bulgaria

This building was projected by Dizarch OOD (a Bulgarian architectural firm - no website found) and is expected to stand ready in the Black Sea city of Varna by the year 2013. It will be built on a 6400 m2 plot and the structural area will be about 41,800 m2 when completed. The price for this structure is expected to be around 130 mil. Bulgarian leva (= 66.4 mil. euro).

This new structure may look like a building from George Orwell's infamous novel Nineteen Eighty Four (1984), but when minding the surrounding structures (communist-age high rise concrete flats), it actually blends in pretty well. On the other hand, the authoritarian touch the building's architecture also clearly states what it's function is - a courthouse - not the most pleasant and welcoming structure to the common citizen (especially not for those who have had problems with the ways of the law). 

Nordhavn // Copenhagen // Denmark

Now this project isn't merely any architectural project. It is the planning of an entire city. This city planning competition was won by the Danish architects COBE and Sleth (two separate architectural firms) in association with the Danish engineering firm, Rambøll. You may recall my article on Hamburg's EcoCity in Germany, but this project is on a much, much larger scale. As a matter of fact, this is literally the planning of an entire city, and the most impressive about this project, is that despite its enormous scale (40 hectares!), Copenhagen's Nordhavn will be an extremely sustainable EcoCity (thanks to careful planning, the city is expected to be able to completely cover all of its electrical and heating consumption when complete!). As a matter of fact, this is the largest city development project ever witnessed in Scandinavian history! The construction of the city is expected to take about 40-50 years. 

Now if you look at the above map, the size of the artificial-island plot of Nordhavn (located in the northern area of the map - it's easy to spot) is about the same as the entire city center area of Copenhagen (located in the middle of the map and characterized by the artificial lakes and the clear fortress system). In other words, the plot of the Nordhavn city is nothing less than enormous!

 

So how do you cover all of the city's power demand? Well the city has been planned in such a way, that every possible green technology is applied wherever possible, to harvest as much energy as possible. Technologies such as wind generators, thermal plants, strongly isolated structures, saltwater cooling systems, etc. Furthermore, to underline the city's sustainability, all cars and other motorized personal vehicles are forbidden to enter the Nordhavn area, and the city area itself consists of bicycle lanes and one longer road, which is built for public transportation and for other vehicles which need necessary access to the eco-city area. 

Petting Farm // Almere // Holland

This sheep stable / petting farm building is designed by the Holland-based 70F Architecture architects. This building won the 2008 World Architecture Festival Award for World's Best Pleasure Building, and is currently nominated for a 2009 World Architecture Award. The petting farm was built solely on sponsored payments, and the building contains stables, a toilet and a small office space.

The exterior is as seen, made of open wooden shutters, which allow the building to constantly be ventilated, thus reducing interior smells that are so common in most stables nowadays. The shutters can be opened manually by need, or even adjusted to open automatically, in such a way that they adjust themselves according to the daytime and the strength of the sunlight exposure. The open facade system is not only sustainable, it is almost pioneering in the agricultural stable building universe.

 

Isbjerget // Århus // Denmark

Isbjerget (The Iceberg), is a 2008 project that consists of a group of residential structures, and will be built by a former industrial pier in the Danish city of Århus (the second largest city after the capital, Copenhagen). The architects behind this creation are CEBRA (I wrote a post on another of their older projects today also). 

The group of buildings will contain 155 apartments, that range from 66 m2 to 248 m2. The total space is around 25,000 m2. As you probably have noticed by now, the buildings are inspired from icebergs and form minor ice mountains. For further information on this certain project, check out its official website.

Microflat // London // England

This Microflat building is designed by a special architect group who specialize in such structures - The Microflat Company. The special thing about this building (and the company's other structures of such type), is that the micro apartments it contains are all pre-fabricated, thus making the building not only practical and good looking, but also pretty sustainable.

As the above picture shows, the apartments it contains are indeed in the micro range, but are designed in such a way, that despite their size, they are at least just as comfortable as standard studio apartments (this one is 2/3 the size of an average one-room apartment). Combining such pre-fab apartments to a larger flat structure, allows the building to have a really special exterior, as seen on the below picture and the first one.

Glitnir Bank HQ // Reykjavik // Iceland

The Glitnir Bank HQ project is one that dates back to the year 2006, but still, an utmost interesting project. It is designed by the Danish architectural firm, CEBRA. The building consists of 14,000 m2 space for the headquarters, 5950 m2 residential space and 66,000 m2 multi-use space (shops, offices, etc.). 

The building is characterized by a very interesting ice-cave-like structure. An exterior with wooden panels resembling a clear cube construction, and an interior that breaks the box into a cave-like system. The building itself is located by the coastline, which furthermore dramatizes the building's unique shape.

TAV Station // Florence // Italy

This is a project for a new High-Speed Rail station for the infamous city of Florence. As some of you know, Florence is a very well preserved historical city, with architecture that dates back to the earliest Renaissance, and designing a new, modern railway station in such a historical city has been a great challenge for the competition winning architects, Foster and Partners.

The platform level in this station is located 25 meters below ground level, and itl has a length of 454 meters and a width of 52 meters. In order to reduce energy consumption, the roofing is made of glass, which allows natural light during daytime, while also having a temperature regulation system, that allows the station to be naturally ventilated, and thus saving it from extra energy consumption. On this glass roof system, photovoltaic cells are furthermore installed to additionally contribute to the buildings sustainable regulations. 

 

Hamburg ECO City // Hamburg // Germany

The historic German Hamburg-Harburg harbour has announced this project. The project consists of a redevolopment of the old harbour, to a ultramodern sustainable city quarter. The plan is designed by Tec Architecture together with the international engineer company, ARUP. This project focuses mainly on sustainability and one could say, that this is perhaps the most sustainable development project at the moment (it scores excellently on all three of the new green building rating systems - LEED, BREEAM and DGBN).

Through the use of modern green technologies, environmentaly-friendly building materials and efficient facades, this project is expected to save the inhabitants of this new city quarter up to 30% on electric and heating consumption. Wind energy will aid the inhabitants to achieve this, by supplying the ECO City with 10% of its estimated electric energy consumption. 

Tec Principal Sebastian Knorr explains: “ECO CITY represents a synergistic approach to urban development. By working in close cooperation with all the stakeholders and taking into consideration the immediate environmental context of the project, we’ve created a different type of sustainable, creative-industrial complex. We hope that iconic ECO CITY project becomes a model for sustainable urban development.”

The Shard // London // England

The Shard - A new skyscraper project for the London skyline by the infamous Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Well actually, the project in itself isn't quite new - it was proposed a few years ago, but was put on hold at the time, but now, it looks like it finally will be completed and construction has already begun. The 306 m tall, 72 story skyscraper is expected to be ready by the year 2012, and it will at completion be the tallest building in Western Europe, beating its competitors The Canary Wharf Tower also in London and The Commerz Bank Tower in Frankfurt, Germany by only a few meters. 

The skyscraper will serve as a multi functional building, and will contain offices, luxury apartments, a luxurious hotel, cafés and restaurants and even two larger winter gardens. From the sustainable angle, the building is designed in such a way, that the building is naturally ventilated, and thus its use for air conditioning during the hot summer months is unnecessary. 

The skyscraper construction is made of a good old steel and curtain wall system, but at the very top of the building, the curtain wall system is detached, which creates a dramatic effect at the top point, as if the building disappears in the sky. This open top construction is also what allows the building to have natural ventilation.

Harbour House // Antwerp // Belgium

This somewhat different building is Zaha Hadid's winning proposal for a harbour administration building. This ship-shaped creation has a total height of no less than 46 m, with a total space of 12,700 m2, filled with 500 working spaces. The cost of this dazzling structure? 31.5 million euro. Now the reason why the old building bellow the newer ship-shaped one still remains, is because it was to be preserved, thus making a construction of a new structure on the site frighteningly challenging, but obviously Zaha Hadid took the challenge and completed it with style, creating a very eyecatching new structure, literary on top of the old. 

Oslo Central Station // Oslo // Norway

This futuristic and visionary railway station in Oslo is designed by the Norwegian-based SPACE GROUP. The goal of this project, is to create one of Europe's most High-Tech and modern railway stations. It is not the first project of its type (projects regarding modernizations of railway stations), but it is expected to be one of the first completed. Construction is expected to begin in 2013 and expected to end between the years 2018 and 2023. The construction costs are estimated to be around €361 million. 

The project's 80,000 m2 are to room station facilities, offices, a hotel tower, shops, conference rooms, restaurants and bistros and an open event space. The Oslo Central Station was once the heart of the Norwegian capital, but time has apparently altered its role in the city, which is why the SPACE GROUP architects are attempting to revive the city's station to once more be a social center. The architecture of the project has a sort of modernized Gothic church sort of character, making some areas of the station seem almost like the interior of a church (notice the above picture).

Auditorium Complex, Rheinisch-Westfaelische Technical High School // Aachen // Germany

The Danish architect firm, Schmidt Hammer Lassen won a German competition a couple of months ago, which consisted of designing a new auditorium for the Rheinisch Westfaelische Technical High School in Aachen, Germany. The auditorium complex confines a structure of a total of 13,500 m2. The building will be complete by the year 2012.

The unique element in this project, is the use of grass in the facade and the roof of the building - a rather sustainable solution, which contributes to helping mother nature heal from the wounds that we have caused her through the ages. Despite being ecologically friendly, the grass facade solution also appears very pleasant and elegant on the building's exterior - a pleasant appearing which is at times rather challenging to achieve when designing buildings with natural vegetation, such as the applied grass. Despite the grass facade, the building has a whole bag full of sustainable surprises, such as well-planned natural lighting, natural heating and cooling techniques and many, many more. This project is a great example of how contemporary sustainable architecture should function.

Kilden Performing Arts Center // Kristiansand // Norway

The Kilden Performing Arts Center in Kristiansand, Norway is designed by the Finnish architect group ALA. This project isn't rather new, as a matter of fact, it dates back to 2005, the year in which ALA architects won the competition for the building. The building is currently under construction and is estimated to stand ready at its site by the year 2010. The site is a tight renewed former industrial pier.

The building is to house a theater and a concert hall, which are both symbolically connected with the easy-to-spot massive curving wall that leans towards the water, while wrapping all its functions within it (the two halls).

Guggenheim Vilnius // Vilnius // Lithuania

This Zaha Hadid Guggenheim project is to be built in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. As by tradition, the Guggenheim museum features extraordinary and shockingly exciting architecture, and in this project, Zaha Hadid has clearly put her architectural touch on the building, with her abstract and vivid forms. The entire construction of the building is estimated to cost about $117 million, of which 10-15% will be provided by the Lithuanian government. 

This project is from 2008, and it's expected to stand complete in the Lithuanian capital by the year 2013. At completion, this building will stand as a national icon, representing the country's modern mentality and its very dynamic evolution, which was kick-started thanks to the country's EU membership back in 2004. It is no wonder that this Guggenheim will stand as a great monument to the Lithuanian people, since so far, most Guggenheim museums (even the ones that have remained only proposals) have given certain countries great popularity and attention.

    

Randers Kunstmuseum // Randers // Denmark

This ladies and gentlemen, is my first post on this blog, and certainly not the last. As the first project, I've decided to present you a Danish project by the Danish architects 3XN. This building is an art Museum, and is, as the name implies, situated in the Danish city of Randers, which is situated on the Jutland isle.

As you can see, the museum has a rather unique roof structure, which actually creates two almost separate museum buildings, which are connected by two wave-like roof structures. The facades are built with large curtain-wall systems, so that natural light flows freely in the structure and so the museum's visitors can enjoy as much as possible of the outside view from the interior. 

The surrounding landscape around the site consists of a pleasant natural environment, which the museum strives to integrate itself into. Its integration with its surroundings is achieved, as earlier mentioned, through the two large curtain-wall systems at both openings from the roof system.