Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s Olympic and Paralympic Museum
CategoriesArchitecture

Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s Olympic and Paralympic Museum

The 10th Annual A+Awards is still accepting entries! New this season, firms can gain recognition for their entire portfolio of work thanks to the addition of the new Best Firm categories celebrating practices of all sizes, geographies and specializations. Start your entry today.

Great architecture should reflect a common purpose. At the same time, buildings should engage people and create rich experiences. This is especially in public projects, where architecture should be open to enjoy and engage with. When designing the United States Olympic and Paralympic Museum in Colorado Springs, the design practice Diller Scofidio + Renfro wanted to make one of the most accessible and interactive museums in the world. Working with Architect of Record Anderson Mason Dale Architects, as well as manufacturers and building suppliers, they were able to bring their vision to life with an aluminum facade that recalls an Olympic athlete in perpetual motion.

Ten years in the making, the United States Olympic and Paralympic Museum (USOPM) opened in 2020 as the first building of its kind to pay tribute to Olympic and Paralympic movements. The 60,000 square foot design features galleries, a state-of-the-art theater, event space and café, and was inspired by the energy and grace of Team USA athletes and the organization’s inclusive values.

The building’s dynamic spiraling form allows visitors to descend the galleries in one continuous path. This main organization structure enables the museum to rank amongst the most accessible museums in the world, ensuring visitors with and without disabilities can smoothly share the same common experience.

From the earliest stages of design, the team consulted Team USA athletes, including Paralympic athletes and persons with disabilities, to ensure the most authentic and inclusive experience. Ramps guide visitors down a gentle-grade downhill circulation path that enables easier movement. These ramps have been widened to 6 feet to accommodate the side-by-side movement of two visitors including a wheelchair.

Beyond ensuring all code and ADA requirements were rigorously met, material details including glass guardrails in the atrium for low-height visibility, cane guards integrated into benches, smooth floors for easier wheel chair movement, and loose seating in the café optimize the shared experience.

Outside, a terraced hardscape plaza is at the heart of the museum complex, with the museum building to the south and the café to the north. In addition, the Park Union Bridge is a 250-foot curved steel structure that floats above an active railyard. Two interlocked loops, stretching from either side of the railyard, connect the museum and America the Beautiful Park.

The bridge is an exercise in fitness — both in terms of material and geometry. The hybrid steel structure system functions as an arch and a truss, preserving views from Downtown. Looking out towards Pikes Peak and the Rocky Mountains beyond, the museum was made with over 9,000 folded anodized diamond shaped aluminum panels, each unique in shape and size.

Diller Scofidio + Renfro worked with Lorin Industries on the aluminum panels, as well as MG McGrath and Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope on the curtain walls. Bringing the vision of the building’s exterior to life, the teams wanted to create a building structure and overall exterior visual effect that encapsulated the passion, dedication, and endurance of an Olympic athlete. To achieve this, a system of custom metal panels with integrated gutters wrap the double-curved geometry of the façade.

Lorin anodized aluminum panels were fabricated into an MG McGrath custom rainscreen panel system. MG McGrath Architectural Glass & Glazing provided and installed over 11,000 square feet of Oldcastle Resilience Cassette curtain wall framing with Viracon VE1-85 insulated glass and spandrel. In turn, these worked with the aluminum panels, which were used for their durability, low cost, malleability, environmental qualities, and uniform finish.

Lorin pioneered the coil anodizing process, which protects the aluminum while also improving its aesthetic properties and durability. The panels are 100% recyclable helping to meet the project’s LEED requirements. Lorin’s anodized stainless finish is created by an electro-chemical process that builds an anodic layer from the aluminum, molecularly bonding it to the surface. It protects aluminum from oxidation, scratching, and other hazards far better than natural oxidizing, and it requires minimal upkeep while resisting scratches and finger prints. Even with its light weight, coil anodized aluminum has an exterior surface hardness second only to diamond and is therefore unmatched in abrasion resistance and durability.

The facade became a three-dimensional crystalline structure that reflects and refracts light to transform the building into a living, moving structure. Over 35,885 square feet of these custom, diamond-shaped panels were fabricated and installed on the exterior facade, low sloping walls & roof, as well as the interior vestibule ceiling.

Each diamond-shaped panel is unique and shaped slightly different to accommodate the building’s complex geometry. The clear anodized finish on the 8,500 unique panels that was chosen for the museum exterior ensures the building skin retains its metallic quality. Such a finish provides directionality to the panel surface, further giving life to the design’s vision.

Putting Team USA athletes at the center of the museum experience, the design team created a museum that’s as functional and accessible as it is beautiful. The design rises with the primary structural systems consisting of a steel frame superstructure, drilled shaft caisson foundations, and cast-in-place concrete lateral cores. From this, the exterior shell further accentuates the dynamism of the building concept and purpose, with each metallic panel animated by the extraordinary light quality in Colorado Springs, producing gradients of color and shade that give the building another sense of motion. If great architecture reflects a common purpose and creates rich experiences, this is certainly the case in DS+R’s United States Olympic and Paralympic Museum.

Photography Courtesy Jason O’Rear & Nic Lehoux, Drawings Courtesy Diller Scofidio & Renfro.

The 10th Annual A+Awards is still accepting entries! New this season, firms can gain recognition for their entire portfolio of work thanks to the addition of the new Best Firm categories celebrating practices of all sizes, geographies and specializations. Start your entry today.

Reference

The Architecture of Escapism: 8 Dreamlike Renderings That Showcase Bold Utopian Environments
CategoriesArchitecture

The Architecture of Escapism: 8 Dreamlike Renderings That Showcase Bold Utopian Environments

Send Us a Rendering. Tell Us a Story. Win $2,500! Architizer’s 3rd Annual One Rendering Challenge is open for entries, with a Regular Entry Deadline of March 11th, 2022Submit a rendering.

Renderings are more than simple computer-generated images; they tell a story and help us envision how a space feels, is used and interacts within the surrounding environment. Architizer’s annual Rendering Competition the inspiring and striking architectural ideas made possible by architectural visualization. This rendering challenge provides designers with an opportunity to showcase their individual talents and distinctive imaginations.

At its best, ArchViz allows designers to explore the expansive potentiality of what architecture can be through surreal imageries that engage with the absurd, the paradoxical, and escapism. Each of the eight renderings offers a dreamlike vision. Whether it be an idyllic setting, a fascinating paradox, or a dream-like scene, each rendering highlights the fantastical possibilities of bold utopic environments and pushes the boundaries of what an architectural rendering can be — a chance to escape reality. 

Floating Vestiges by Timlok Li

Timlok Li’s rendering takes the viewer off-ground and into the sky. His rendering challenges the notion of architecture as permanent and site-specific, encouraging us to engage in the idea of impermanence. Floating Vestiges is hard to categorize as it flees from a defined architectural style. Instead, it embraces various styles and practices from different eras and periods. From American roadside architecture to imperial China, this floating structure is an amalgamation of historical periods and thus creates an inviting space for all walks of life.

The House of the Rising Sun by Bogdan Begmat

Bogdan Begmat’s paradoxical rendering is seemingly warm as it is brutalist. Made of poured concrete, this monolithic design boasts a warm brutalist aesthetic with a reflective façade. The rounded structure is at once muted through its monochrome appearance and, yet, defiant as it stands tall within the skyline. The building reflects onto the water surface below in what amounts to an almost subliminal effect. The juxtaposition of harsh and warm effects speaks to a surrealist aesthetic. Still, with the help of the surrounding peaceful landscape, a warm and inviting atmosphere is imagined.

Joint Structures by Nash Hurley, Jean-Pierre Monclin and Sonja Guth

A collaborative effort by three architects produces a rendering that responds to society’s ever-changing work culture. Remote work currently dominates over the traditional office space, and this change has required designers to pivot and evolve their practices. This rendered design concept imagines a healthy, functional, and environmentally-conscious workspace. It consists of a skyscraper made of a cluster of separate volumes, all of which are attached in a motif that creates a tree-like design. The workspaces within the structure offer ample daylight and access to fresh air, which encourages good work habits and good health. Moreover, the separated volumes are ideal for small workgroups while equally remaining connected to the others and thus creating a sense of communal belonging.

The Oasis by Nuno Salgueiro

Nuno Salgueiro’s rendering features a pyramid within the middle of a desert and reveals a surreal and oxymoronic design. It employs the traditional tomb structure — a space once used to commemorate the dead — but instead designs an environment for the living. The Oasis is a structure that provides shelter, rest, and a chance to appreciate the surrounding desert topography. The interior is a light spectacle, a space where visitors can appreciate the radiating sunlight that shines through a series of intricately-cut openings. The focal point is the grand staircase, which leads guests to the top of the pyramid and where they can contemplate the surrounding desert landscape.

ISAURA, A city that moves entirely upward by Maria Karim

Maria Karim’s city design takes inspiration from the works of Italian writer Italo Calvino. His imaginative writing and description of cities influenced Karim to design ISAURA, a city that is oriented upwards. Karim’s city design is built above a subterranean like — just as Calvino describes it to be. The lake provides residents with fresh drinking water and also houses many of the city’s gods. This unconventional city organization speaks to Calvino’s vivid imagination and excites our surreal senses.

The Crevasse by Yeong Joon Ko

Yeong Joon Ko’s light-filled gallery was intended for Hongik University in Seoul, South Korea. The space is cubic, boxy and exudes a tranquil morning atmosphere. A series of box-shape volumes were assembled in such a way that creates an arched path that leads visitors to a public space below. A sequence of crevasses and cut-outs connect the space with the outdoors and allows streams of sunshine to brighten the interior space. The rectangular shapes work together with the soft beams of lights to create a calm and warm gallery space.

Enter the Garden by Zana Bamarni

Zana Bamarni’s rendering invites the viewer to a light-filled haven. Enter the Garden is designed to be a tranquil space where for those in need to escape their chaotic and often frustrating work lives. The structure consists of a rounded archway that is deeply ornamented and stands with grandeur. Shining through the archway is a radiating, almost blinding light. What lies beyond the archway is unknown, but the fierce light and large scale create a sense of mystery and a deep urge to explore what may be lying ahead.

Solivagant No More by Joe Parayno

Joe Parayno rendering embodies the widely-felt fear of the pandemic, the intense fatigue of isolation and the desperate desire to travel. This design consists of a home hitched on a giant balloon, which allows the structure to fly freely in the sky. This illustrative rendering depicts a hiker who comes across the flying house and joins the owner of the home on a traveling adventure. Both individuals connected over their shared urgency to travel and see the world. The home is a surreal take on the human necessity for freedom and mobility.

Send Us a Rendering. Tell Us a Story. Win $2,500! Architizer’s 3rd Annual One Rendering Challenge is open for entries, with a Regular Entry Deadline of March 11th, 2022Submit a rendering.

Reference

Singapore Plaza Shops for Sale
CategoriesShops for Sale Singapore Plaza Zarkon Group

Singapore Plaza Shops for Sale

Singapore Plaza Mobile Shops for Sale on the 5th Floor. Own Your Commercial Shops Today!
• Shop Size: 10 x 10 SQFT (Rs. 55 Lakh)
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• Location: Near Saddar Metro Station, Bank Rd, Saddar, Rawalpindi

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London red bus campaign promotes Lahore for foreign investment
CategoriesInternational News News

London red bus campaign promotes Lahore for foreign investment

London red bus campaign promotes Lahore for foreign investment

LONDON – The city of Lahore has been projected globally in London as a private real estate company has launched its campaign in several parts of London to showcase the rich heritage of Lahore on 150 of London’s iconic red buses to promote ‘LAHORE – The Heart of Pakistan’.

On some of the busiest routes of London, 150 buses carrying the banners of LAHORE – The Heart of Pakistan’ will pass through London till the middle of November 2021.

Diyar Homes, the developers of the $30 Million luxury real estate development One Canal Road, Lahore, who recently announced their collaboration with leading Italian fashion house VERSACE Ceramics, are behind the launch of mega campaign on 150 of London’s iconic red buses to promote Lahore as the travel and investment destination.

The red London buses carrying ‘LAHORE – The Heart of Pakistan’ pass from outside UK Parliament, 10 Downing Street, Edgware Road, Oxford Circus, Trafalgar Square, Park Lane, Bond Street, South Kensington, East London, Embankment and Willesden Green.

Director of Diyar Homes UK Shaan Abbas speaking to the media at the launch of buses said that Lahore has undergone a $10 Billion urban transformation in recent years cementing its place as the cultural and economic heart of Pakistan.

“It’s the preferred investment destination of Pakistan and this is the message we wanted to give to the world from London, the global capital,” he said.

Shaan Abbas said that London’s iconic red double-decker buses are carrying brand Lahore on the roads of Central London, the hub of world tourists.

During four weeks, millions will see these buses depicting the diversity and beauty of Pakistan, he said.

He said the moving buses are creating an unparalleled lasting visual impact on millions of pedestrians and motorists alike, especially the tourists.

Shaan Abbas said the bus wrapping campaign aims to introduce foreign tourists to the beautiful land of Pakistan that still remains unexplored.

The post London red bus campaign promotes Lahore for foreign investment
appeared first on Daily Pakistan

Regularization of Irregular Housing Schemes Ordinance 2021
CategoriesNews Real Estate News

Regularization of Irregular Housing Schemes Ordinance 2021

Regularization of Irregular Housing Schemes Ordinance 2021

Regulatory Objectives

Punjab Governor Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar has enacted regulations governing private housing schemes titled “The Punjab Commission for Regularization of Irregular Housing Schemes Ordinance 2021” to build customer trust. It appears to be an active step in cracking down on illegal housing projects in Punjab Province. The Commission wants to investigate the violation. Through this regulation, the authorities have conveyed that illegal housing projects will no longer be tolerated in the province and take decisive legal action against all illegal housing societies.

What is meant by Irregular Housing Schemes?

Irregular housing scheme means a private housing scheme or a land sub-division or a built-up area that has been developed or a part of which is being developed or sold without the approval of the competent authority or in violation of the approved layout plan or the applicable laws or with the approval of the authority not competent to approve the housing scheme. Therefore, it is essential today to scrutinise and regulate to gain more trust from real estate investors & clients.

Establishment of an Active & Experienced Commission

The 2021 Planning Act constitutes a strong, experienced and knowledgeable committee. The composition of the committee is as follows.

• President: Former judge of the Supreme Court or High Court of Pakistan.
• Urban Planner with at least 20 years of experience.
• Civil Engineer with at least 20 years of experience and accreditation by a national or international professional association.
• Environmentalists with more than 20 years of experience.
• Legal expert with at least 20 years of experience in applicable law.
• Any other expert in the relevant profession in the public or private sector (co-opted by the Commission).

This mandated and experienced Commission will play a key role in regulating the irregular housing schemes in Punjab and speeding up the legalisation process.

The Commission will have the power to impose fines, recommend disciplinary action against officials and officials responsible for establishing irregular private housing schemes, regulate inappropriate land use, and recommend changes to applicable laws and regulations.

Role of Development Authorities & Local Government

The local government or development authority is responsible for providing secretarial support to the Commission and creating & submitting a database of irregular housing schemes. This support will make it easier for the Commission to identify its authority regarding housing projects.

Violation Fines against Irregular Housing Schemes

Violation fines against Irregular housing schemes will be in the following cases:

• Improper land use
• Lack of parks, open spaces or public buildings
• Missing graveyard
• Access road width is less than the required planning standard
• Internal road width is less than the specified standards

Summary

The government will not tolerate illegal housing scheme projects, and it’s being done to boost the real estate sector. The good news is that the government wants to regulate rather than ban illegal housing projects. It will undoubtedly increase customer trust. Both domestic and foreign investors are sure to show greater confidence in real estate following the completion of the irregular housing schemes ordinance 2021, enacted to establish commissions for housing projects in Punjab.

Punjab plans to set up Strategic Planning Unit to revise Rawalpindi’s Master Plan
CategoriesNews

Punjab plans to set up Strategic Planning Unit to revise Rawalpindi’s Master Plan

Punjab plans to set up Strategic Planning Unit to revise Rawalpindi’s Master Plan

RAWALPINDI: Realising the need to revise Rawalpindi’s master plan, the Punjab government is planning to set up the Strategic Planning Unit at the commissioner’s office.

Though, the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) had commenced work on revising the master plan, it failed to proceed with it due to lack of capacity.

Rawalpindi’s first master plan was outlined in 1968 when the city was made an interim federal capital. However, once the government offices were shifted to Islamabad, the plan was not enforced. Nearly 30 years later, another master plan was prepared by a board of officials for the period 1996 to 2016.

However, when the Capital Development Authority (CDA) started work on revising its master plan, the Punjab government also felt the need to do the same with the garrison city’s master plan as both cities were interlinked and their administrations had disputes over boundaries.

Urban sprawling turned villages into cities, causing environmental issues, commissioner says

A senior official of the Rawalpindi district administration told Dawn that green areas had shrunk due to mushroom growth of housing societies.

“Interestingly, Rawalpindi city lost its green areas in the last 20 years; there is no farm around the city as development projects were squeezing agricultural lands,” the official said.

He said under the law, a greenbelt had to be established around the city to make it pollution free but legal and illegal housing societies grabbed agricultural lands, adding that the RDA failed to keep an eye on the housing societies.

The official said the residential, commercial and industrial areas need to be streamlined as do the green areas.

According to the official, there are a number of planning agencies as far as the city’s growth and building control are concerned, including the RDA, cantonment boards, the Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation, the district administration and the housing and planning departments.

“These agencies have their own by-laws, work independently and without any centralised coordination or even direction,” he added.

On the other hand, Rawalpindi Commissioner Gulzar Hussain Shah said in line with the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan, protection of agricultural land and lush plots had been ensured under the Punjab Land Rules 2020.

He said work on Rawalpindi’s master plan would be carried out on priority basis for which a Strategic Planning Unit would be set up in the commissioner’s office.

This unit will review the implementation of federal and provincial laws in mega projects in Rawalpindi, he added.

Meanwhile, the commissioner also held a meeting to review work on the master plan and urban development under Punjab Land Rules 2020. The meeting was attended by all deputy commissioners of Rawalpindi Division and other officials concerned.

Commissioner Gulzar Hussain Shah said due to urban sprawling, “our villages have also turned into cities which is causing many environmental problems”, adding that long-term and short-term planning was being done under the government’s policy to stop this process.

He said the process of construction of houses on agricultural lands would be discouraged under the law and vertical constructions would be promoted in the city limits and for this, the traffic, sewerage and water supply systems in the city would be developed in a modern way.

He said regular analysis of population growth in Rawalpindi during the last eight years should be done which would be helpful for future urban development strategy.

The commissioner said the site development zones of Rawalpindi tehsil would be created and regular urban development planning would be done by demarcating urban boundaries.

He said close cooperation between Rawalpindi Metropolitan Corporation, Rawalpindi Development Authority, Local Government and Community Development and Rawalpindi and Chaklala cantonment boards was very much needed in the process of urban development of Rawalpindi.

If you enjoyed this story, check out PM Imran launches Cadastral Map of Islamabad to ‘Defeat Qabza Groups’

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The post Punjab plans to set up Strategic Planning Unit to revise Rawalpindi’s Master Plan appeared first on Dawn News

PM Imran launches Cadastral Map of Islamabad to ‘Defeat Qabza Groups’
CategoriesNews

PM Imran launches Cadastral Map of Islamabad to ‘Defeat Qabza Groups’

PM Imran launches Cadastral Map of Islamabad to ‘Defeat Qabza Groups’

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday launched the cadastral map of Islamabad to curb land record tampering, ensure monitoring of construction through imagery and provide information about land ownership.

According to the PTI, the cadastral mapping project was conceived under the vision of the prime minister to transform the old system into a modernised digital online system.

The Survey of Pakistan was assigned the task of cadastral mapping. In the first phase, digitisation of revenue records of three major cities — Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad — and state land data of the country will be done.

Cadastral Mapping Project Digitizing Land Records Transforming the old Patwar System into Modern Online System
Islamabad’s Cadastral Mapping Project. Digitizing Land Records to transform the old Patwar System into Modern Online System

Addressing the launching ceremony, the prime minister said the project would help people verify ownership of plots which was no less than a transformational initiative.

He said the cadastral mapping of three cities would be digitalised by November this year, while the rest of the country would be covered six months after it.

The premier added there were big land grabbing groups in the country making huge money through the illegal practice.

He underlined that around Rs400 billion worth of land in the capital was either illegally occupied or lay unutilised while almost 1,000 acres of forest land was encroached upon.

He emphasised that large scale encroachment on government lands needed to be freed.

The premier regretted the country’s system didn’t have the capacity to retrieve illegally occupied land from encroachers.

He stressed the need to establish the rule of law, saying such a move would help attract investment from abroad.

PM Imran said most of the country’s problems could be resolved if overseas Pakistanis, who he said was the “country’s biggest asset”, were utilised effectively.

He said around half of the complaints of Pakistanis based overseas pertained to land grabbing.

The prime minister said that the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) was also introducing a system that would help users get information about projects with just a click, terming technology as the only tool that could defeat land grabbers.

Talking about climate change and its impacts on the country, the prime minister said his government was taking measures for a clean and green Pakistan.

He also lamented the chopping of trees in Pakistan, saying the government was undertaking reforestation, adding that forest cover on Srinagar Highway had grown from 45 acres to 113 acres.

If you enjoyed this story, check out Punjab plans to set up Strategic Planning Unit to revise Rawalpindi’s Master Plan

More from NEWS & REAL ESTATE BUILDERS & DEVELOPERS:

Punjab plans to set up Strategic Planning Unit to revise Rawalpindi’s Master Plan

8 Beachside Homes That Are a Surfer’s Paradise

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E-Build Pakistan: Pakistan’s First Ever Online Buy & Sell Construction Industry Material & Services Portal

Prayer mat helps mosque-goers socially distance

The post PM Imran launches Cadastral Map of Islamabad to ‘Defeat Qabza Groups’ appeared first on Dawn News