Set to become the largest fountain ever been seen in the world is Dubai’s next master project. The project which is estimated to cost $218 million and is going to be 25% larger than the iconic fountains at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Dubai’s prominent developer, Emaar Properties will be responsible for the project. Like the Bellagio fountains, Emaar’s fountains will include an integral light and sound show. It is expected to become one of the city’s major tourist attractions, drawing more than 10 million visitors per year. A vibrant visual spectrum will be created by means of over head lights and color projectors. Some 1,000 different water expressions accompanied by selected music will delight spectators and enliven the senses.

At any given moment, 22,000 gallons of water will be shot into the air, using 6,600 lights and some 50 color projectors. The whole display will be as long as two whole football fields, a total length of 275 meters. The water will be shot 150 meters into the air.

The new venture was announced at a press conference in Dubai on June 9th. Mr. Mohamed Ali Alabbar, Chairman of Emaar Properties PJSC, said: “The fountain on Burj Dubai Lake is more than a visual spectacle that adds to the aesthetics of Downtown Burj Dubai. It is an engineering marvel and will further contribute to Dubai’s rich array of tourist attractions.”

He also added: “With a varied roster of attractions in Downtown Burj Dubai, Emaar is further strengthening the tourism portfolio of Dubai. Burj Dubai, the world’s tallest building, has an observation deck on level 124 offering visitors unparalleled views from the top. Other components of the new downtown that appeal to global tourists include one of the world’s largest aquariums, an Olympic-sized ice rink and the largest indoor gold souk in The Dubai Mall, and a range of lifestyle events to be held at Burj Dubai Boulevard.”

Mr. Alabbar further highlighted the historical significance of water fountains in the Arab world. He said they had been an integral part of the community and the new fountain located in Burj Dubai Lake will create a new dimension to Downtown Burj Dubai.

The Burj Dubai Lake is spread over 30 acres, and water filling using de-mineralised reverse osmosis treated water, is currently in progress.

The designers of Bellagio, California-based WET Design will be the fountains architect and designer. The design is being developed by a team of professionals from Turner Construction International (Project/Construction Manager) and other international specialists.

Expected to be operational by early 2009, the fountain will add to the varied leisure and entertainment attractions of Downtown Burj Dubai. Many describe this part of the city as the ‘new soul of the city.’ The flagship mega-project of Emaar Properties, Downtown Burj Dubai has a development value of AED 73 billion (US$20 billion) and is one of the most sought-after residential and commercial destinations in Dubai.

All images credit: Sandier Pastures

The ‘SkyFarm’ is a concept green building and brainchild of Toronto based scientist Gordon Graff; the 58-storey building would grow crops in Toronto’s downtown theatre district. The building would cover 2.7 million square feet of human-habitable floor space and cover a massive 8 million square feet of arable farm space that could provide enough food for 35,000 people every day.

Via:

• The Independent
• Tree Hugger

The Venetian Macau is right now one of the most impressive and jaw dropping buildings on earth. Owned by the Las Vegas Sands Corporation (NYSE: LVS) and belonging to one of the richest men in the world, Sheldon Adelson, the Venetian Macau was modeled after it’s little sister in Las Vegas.

Built on the infamous Cotai strip in Macau, the casino is the currently biggest in the world and a feat to human architecture. It is also the third largest building in the world right now.

Officially opened on 28.August 2008 the Venetian is part of an 8 part development that isn’t matched anywhere else on this planet. All owned by the same company.

In the future Chinese and overseas gamblers can spend their money not only in the massive Venetian, but also bed themselves in some top class hotels, all within walking distance.

• Site 1 = The Venetian Macao
• Site 2 = Four Seasons Macau
• Site 3 = Far East Consortium
• Site 4 = City of Dreams (see Melco-PBL below)
• Site 5 = Shangri-La and Traders
• Site 6 = Sheraton and St. Regis
• Site 7 = Hilton and Conrad
• Site 8 = Fairmont and Raffles

Construction building is going on at a fast pace and once this is all built it will be the largest strip of casinos ever, making the mighty Las Vegas blush with envy.

The Venetian Macau is so huge that you could fit 90 Boeing 747 jumbo jets into it. Visitors will find 3,000 suites, 1,200,000 square feet (111,000 m²) of convention space, 1,600,000 square feet (149,000 m²) of retail, 550,000 square feet (51,000 m²) of casino space – which is the largest in the world – with 3,400 slot machines and 800 gambling tables and a 15,000 seat arena for entertainment/sports events.

Hard to comprehend, unless you see it with your naked eye.

Built by Hsin Chong Engineering (Macau) Ltd and Mace International, a leading UK project management company the hotel offers so much entertainment that you could while away there for weeks and never get bored.

Just make sure you take enough money with you. The hotel’s very own Piaza Club caters to the high rollers of society and a suite costs along the lines of $200,000 USD a night. The thing is that those who gamble can stay there for free for the time of their visit. Everyone of their wish is fulfilled free of charge.

Piaza Club guests are supplied with their own butler, direct access to their suite, private gambling tables and its own reception and lobby.

Staying at the Venetian Macau will put a new spin on travel and hotel accommodation for anybody that ever sets foot into this amazing building.

Architectural Record have just featured their annual ‘Unbuilt Houses‘ series showcasing some very interesting concept designs of green & sustainable residential single-family dwellings.

Some of the projects are speculative, whilst others are set to be erect this year. Here is a showcase of all 8 projects.

Browse through the designs and tell us your favourite.

Cradle to Cradle (C2C) Home

Location: Roanoke, Virginia
Architects: Coates Design Architects
Schedule: Conceptual

The concrete and steel 1,600-square-foot L-shaped home designed by Matthew Coates and Tim Meldrum won the 2005 C2C Home competition. The teams vision is yet to take off the ground because they are awaiting the technology, and funding to construct this spinach powered structure.
Read more about C2C

Pasadena Eco House

Location: Pasadena, California
Architects: Studio RMA
Schedule: Spring 2008

This three-bedroom, 1,975 square feet single-level home would be built of structural concrete insulated panels (SCIP), a sustainable lightweight composite building material with the strength of heavily reinforced concrete. It would be weight an astounding 60 percent less than reinforced concrete and be still structurally sound. Pasadena is scheduled to be built in the historic San Rafael Hills area of Pasadena, California later this spring.
Read more about Pasadena

Make it Right

Location: New Orleans, Louisiana
Architects: Adjaye Associates
Schedule: 2008

The “Make it Right” project was set up to by actor Brad Pitt to help rebuild the Hurricane ravage Lower Ninth Ward, in New Orleans. Mr.Pitt commissioned 14 architects to design sustainable homes in a bid to build 150 sustainable and affordable homes for Lower Ninth Ward residents. The architecture firms involved include Adjaye Associates, Billes Architects, BNIM, Concordia, Constructs, Eskew Dumez Ripple, Graft, John Williams Architects, KieranTimberlake, Morphosis, MRVDV, Pugh + Scarpa, Shigeru Ban, and Trahan Architects.

All designs meet flood prevention standards and are all raised at least 5 feet above ground. The Morphosis design took further safety precautions by designing a floatable home.

Read more about “Make it Right”

Swell House

Location: Highland Park, New Jersey
Architects: Studio ST Architects and Z-A
Schedule: Not specified

Swell house is a renovation and 1,000 square feet expansion for a 900-square-foot home. The uniqueness of its design lies in its contrast of old and new; borrowing the old to cover the new, or placing new inside the old.

The old house has been converted into a giant room devoted to public uses, while the addition section resembling a mutated outgrowth is largely private. A semi-public family room links the two. Despite the double curvature of the new volume, it is made of simplified, orthogonal surfaces.

Read more about Swell House.

mkSolaire

Location: Chicago, Illinois
Architect: Michelle Kaufmann Designs
Schedule: May 2008

This 2,250 square feet, three-story prefab range of houses are to be clad in cedar and cement-board siding.

Each mkSolaire will be solar-ready with other renewable energy options: a geothermal system, a wind generator system, or hybrid systems. Other green elements include an open-cell foam insulation system, bamboo or reclaimed wood flooring, countertops containing recycled paper, recycled glass tile-walls for the master bathroom and powder room, on-demand water heaters, and water-saving plumbing fixtures.

The mkSolaire will be built and featured in the “Smart Home: Green + Wired” exhibition that opens in Chicago this May.
Read more about mkSolaire.

San Vicente Residence

Location: Santa Monica, California
Architects: Pugh + Scarpa
Schedule: Not specified

Commissioned by a couple that own a home-based recording business, San Vicente Residence is composed of two stacked, irregularly shaped parallelograms topped by an undulating roof that provides optimal acoustics inside. The upper volume boldly cantilevers out over the street and is separated from the lower volume by a band of clerestory windows, producing a floating effect. Four ribbons of perforated metal twist around the upper level; it appears they are pinched and squeezed as if they were made of fabric, not metal.

zeroHouse

Location: Mobile Prefab
Architect: Specht Harpman
Schedule: Not specified

Our favourite, the zeroHouse ticks all our boxes for design & sustainability. Designed by New York based Specht Harpman, it is built to be the ultimate green mobile prefab home that can fit into any landscape.

zeroHouse’s unique feature is that is employs a helical-anchor foundation system that touches the ground at only four points and requires no excavation, meaning minimal disturbance to the earth.

It is designed to incorporate numerous energy efficient features like:

• Energy efficient solar panels that store and produce electricity continuously for up to one week with no sunlight;
• Rain rainwater collection plane that gathers and diverts water into an elevated 2200-gallon cistern;
• Gravity-driven plumbing system that eliminate the need for power-consuming pumps;
• All its prefabricated components are insulated with closed-cell structural foam that achieve a thermal resistance rating of R-58.
• A compost unit that processes & converts organic waste into clean, dry fertilizer that is removed only twice a year;
• A high-efficiency heating and air-conditioning system in separately zoned sleeping and living areas.

Read more about zeroHouse

Sycamore House

Location: Los Angeles, California
Architects: Kovac Architects
Schedule: 2008

The design of this 3,400-square-foot home is based on simple geometry inspired by the site’s location in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood in Los Angeles. Standing on the house’s green roof, one can see the ocean two miles to the west.

The house primarily runs on photovoltaic power with a geothermal system providing supplementary cooling. It’s sedum-planted roof insulates the structure and reduces the heat island effect. Other green features include concrete with high fly ash content, FSC-certified woods, reclaimed teak and bamboo flooring, non-VOC paints, recycled glass tile in the bathrooms, formaldehyde-free plywood for the sheathing, Energy Star appliances, and dual-flush and low-flow fixtures.

The Sycamore House is currently under construction. Read more about Sycamore House

Amidst the current controversy surrounding the construction of the Waterfront Museum of Liverpool between it’s ingenious Danish Designers, Studio 3XN and Manchester-based architects, AEW we can’t help but step back and appreciate it’s original design in awe. This is because according to the Studio 3XN, several aspects of its original design, like it’s signature X-wing design have been “meddled” with by AEW.

I guess we wouldn’t really be able to tell till it’s completion by 2010.

Although this is old news for some of our industry savvy readers, we have still decided to reignite our design flare by showcasing all 6 very striking design proposals for the St. Petersburg headquarters of Gazprom, the Russian state owned oil and gas company -  back in 2006.

The wining design (pictured above) was submited by London based studio RMJM. This 300 metre (985 feet) building would controversially tower above the historic 18th century Smolny Cathedral on the Neva River which would be on the opposite side of the river.

Paris based architect,  Jean Nouvel’s design that failed to please the panel is pictured above.

The giant corkscrew design pictured above was submitted by Herzog & de Meuron.

This very well lit up design was submitted by Italian architect Massimiliano Fuksas.

This was Rem Kolhaas’s vision of Gazprom submitted on behalf of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture.

And the eccentric, Daniel Libeskind’s design.

Abu Dhabi scores it for us again - this time it’s the Empire Island Tower designed by Liverpool based design studio, Aedas. This striking piece of architecture is bound to add another spark to the Abu Dhabi’s central district skyline.

Here is what the designers’ have to say about their ingenious work

The building bends back away from the street across from a large commercial tower allowing for an enlarged view corridor between the central park of the community and the sea, one block away. The splayed vertical layers converge while rising up before bending forward together as the 230meter tower rises toward the sky and maximizing its views between the park and sea.

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New York is a city of contrasts like no other. There are virtually dozens of impressive buildings that capture our imagination and attention when we stroll past. Rick Bell, head of the Center of Architecture in the New York chapter of the American Institutes for Architects released this list of impressive and remarkable must see buildings in New York.

It is clear upon studying these buildings that there are reasons on why Bell deems them as must see structures in New York. There is clearly a sense of awe when we look at them and we would love to get your feedback in which would be your favourite out of the lot.

1. Conde Nast Building

This skyscraper stands proud in a total 866 feet. With state of the art energy conservation systems and air quality, Bell called the building environmentally correct. By Fox & Fowle Architects 1996-1999.

Address: 4 Times Square, Manhattan

2. Brooklyn Museum

Situated in New Yorks bustling arts scene stands this imposing 19th century museum. The Beaux Arts facade was beautifully modernized with a steel and glass circular frame bringing together old and new for all to see. By James Steward Polshek 2004.

Address: 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn

3. Prada, Soho New York

Prada is a well recognized fashion chain and their Soho store proudly displays a zebrawood wave as a centerpiece. This helps to display their merchandise in a particular interesting way. By Rem Koolhaas 2001.

Address: 575 Broadway, Manhattan

4. Rose Center for Earth and Space

Housed in a 87 feet diameter sphere is the Space Theater and the Hayden Planetarium. You are forgiven for thinking that you just arrived on the deck of the Enterprise. By James Steward Polshek 2000.

Address: At the American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West, 79th Street, Manhattan

5. Apple Store Soho

Many people walk right past this old 1920s stone and brick post office, thinking it to be some kind of museum when in fact it is a modern Apple store within. Distinguished by clean white space and an impressive glass staircase that leads to an upstairs glass bridge this will certainly surprise most visitors. By Ronnette Riley and Bohlin Cywinski Jackson 2002.

Address: 103 Prince Street, Manhattan

6. Grand Central Terminal

Featured in many movies, this train station’s Beaux Arts classical design is well known for its arches, cathedral windows, constellation ceiling and the huge clock that seems to attract people from all over the world. A popular meeting place for many, the building received a complete restoration in 1998. By Reed & Stern and Warren & Wetmore 1903-1913.

Address: 42nd Street and Park Avenue, Manhattan

7. Morgan Library Expansion

With massive glass walls, this building is said to be one of the designers masterpieces. It is a clear combination of bringing together the old in the form of Beaux Arts and the new with modern and clean glass. By Renzo Piano 2006.

Address: 33 E. 36th Street at Fifth Avenue, Manhattan

8. Chrysler Building

With its great Art Deco facade and the enormous gargoyles which are shaped like radiator caps, this building is one of our favorites. Hard to miss amongst the NY skyline at night it serves as a great beacon of orientation for lost visitors. By William Van Alen 1930.

Address: 405 Lexington Ave., at 42nd Street, Manhattan

9. Hearst Tower

Built on top of the original Hearst media empire, this tower is unique in the world as its 42 story diagonal and see through glass panels have no vertical support structure. The building looks very modern and sleek and acts as a great stimuli for the eye with the stark differences between old and new. By Sir Norman Foster 2004.

Address: 951-969 Eight Avenue near 56th Street, Mamhattan

10. Seagram Building

Projected as an elegant glass box, this building was said to have helped transform the skyline of NY. By Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe and Philip Johnson 1958.

This stunning piece of architecture is Nanyang Technological University’s School of Art campus located in a wooded valley in Singapore.

Designed by Singaporean architects CPG Consultants Pte Ltd, the award-winning 5-storey building is surrounded by a turfed green roof that blends with the grassy ground contour it emerges from, giving it a strong visual impact.

It’s design is not only about looks but function; the building’s turfed roofscape helps lower the temperature of the roof and surrounding areas. It also works quite well as a scenic green outdoor communal space that is accessible from sidesteps along the roof edge.

(via: designflute)

Stirling prizewinners, David Chipperfield architects have won yet another international competition, this time, the design of the 120,000sq m masterplan of the arts and technology quarter in Segovia, Spain.

His £118m high-density design was inspired by patterns of the old city of Segovia. The arts and technology quarters are to be located on a site 1km outside Segovia.

It would feature low buildings and narrow streets which Chipperfield believes will establish character and a strong sense of identity for the area.

The project is to support Segovia’s bid to be the European Capital of Culture in 2016.
Chipperfield’s first deliverable is the design for the first core buildings before the end of 2008.