ALPSPIX VIEWING PLATFORM BY DIETER WALLMANN

 

At the base of Alpspitze peak, visitors will find the AlpspiX Viewing Platform hovering 13 meters (42 feet) over an empty void in the shape of an 'X' with two protruding platforms.

 

The exceptional architecture opens unmatched views towards Zugspitze peak and the Höllental gorge and let visitors experience a spectacular alpine high.

The Summit Adventure Trail and the Pleasure Adventure Trail also promises excitement along with curious and interesting "peak experiences".

 

 

Weighing in at a mighty 30 tonnes each, the platforms have been constructed in a grid-like form so that snow can fall through them in the winter, permitting year-round tourism to the scenic hotspot.

At regular intervals along the trail visitors can find information points, educating them on the alpine flora, fauna and geology of the beautiful area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Location: Alpspitze, Germany

Architect: Dieter Wallmann 

Year: 2010

PRINCE ARTHUR’S LANDING BY BROOK MCILROY

The City of Thunder Bay is home to one of Canada’s most historically significant sites on the north shore of Lake Superior.

In March 2006, the City of Thunder Bay commissioned a team led by Brook McIlroy to undertake the design of a new mixed-use village that extends Prince Arthurs Landing to the edge of Lake Superior.

The redesign of the City’s historic port provides residents with a truly unique waterfront destination that embodies the spirit of this spectacular setting.

In 2009, the City was awarded the second largest contribution in Ontario under the Infrastructure Stimulus Fund program. Through a $22 million investment, the City successfully leveraged a comprehensive revitalization project with a construction value of $130 million.

In the space of two years, its downtown waterfront has been radically transformed into a hybrid between a mixed-use village and a highly animated waterfront park that reconnects the Lake Superior shoreline to its downtown.

The project demonstrates innovation in creating activities, forms and spaces that integrate local culture and reflect the uniquely indigenous opportunities of sustainable city building in Canada.

While Prince Arthurs Landing demonstrates the potential to transform former industrial property along Thunder Bay’s Waterfront – there are many other sites along the coastline with structures – grain elevators, railway sheds and other shipping related structures that are abandoned.

These lands have the potential to become destinations along a connected waterfront public space system. Once perceived as derelict and disregarded land plots, are now the foundation of a revitalized downtown waterfront, and also subject to a theoretical investigation on themes of urban intensification, transformation and re-inhabitation.    

The project is based on a philosophy of urban design which embodies the spirit, materiality and culture of northern Ontario and this magnificent waterfront setting overlooking “Nanabijou” / the Sleeping Giant – a landform on the horizon, which is one of Canada’s most powerful and iconic natural vistas.

Inspiration was drawn from thousands of years of aboriginal settlement history; the western threshold of the greatest and largest freshwater ‘sea’ in the world; the launch-pad of settlement of Western Canada; the junction between the western railways and ships of the Great Lakes; and, the place where western and northwestern Canadian troops bid farewell as they headed off to WWI and WWII.  

 






Location: Thunder Bay’s, Canada 
Architects: Brook McIlroy 
Intern Architect: Ryan Gorrie 
Consulting Architects: Leonard Alfred Wood Architects 
Aboriginal Community Consultation: Aboriginal Strategy Group 
Artist: Randy Thomas 
Photographs: David Whittaker 
Awards: International Downtown Association, 2012 Pinnacle Award 
Royal Architectural Institute of Canada National Urban Design Award, Medal, Urban Fragments Category for Gathering Circle, 2012

PLAYA VISTA PARK BY MICHAEL MALTZAN ARCHITECTS

"The 8-acre Playa Vista Park provides an infrastructure of recreation and performance spaces to support expansive experience of public space in our city.

Located at the eastern terminus of one of the largest infill urban developments in the United States, the Park creates a flexible campus that links and expands the surrounding context of the office park.

CONNECTING THE PARK AND ITS CONTEXT

Defined as a series of bands which extend across its length, the Park physically and programmatically links offices to the north and south. Each of these bridges spans series of ponds and figuratively connects the surrounding context with the long bosques of alders, elms, and pines.

These tree-lined rooms, defined through their spatial characteristics, form a range of experiences through which visitors can traverse, short-cut across a single bridge, or navigate at random.

BRIDGING A RANGE OF ACTIVITY

The Park is not a mimetic representation of nature, but is instead defined by activity, utility, and performance. Rather than creating a series of static scenes in relationship to a fixed linear narrative, the Park encourages a multiplicity of simultaneous itineraries, experiences, and encounters through its function and form.

Soccer fields and basketball courts to the west, and amphitheater lawn and woodlands for gathering and relaxation to the east, extend the program areas to the street edge.

ACCESS AND VISUAL CONNECTIONS

Along its central axis, a single path connects entry plazas at the Park’s east and west edges, uniting it in a single perspective. Echoing the historic Howard Hughes runway which once crossed the site, this trajectory is further defined by elongated stripes of color and light, visible not only within the Park but also to aircraft landing at the nearby Los Angeles International Airport.

Long allées of jacarandas crisscross the Park from east to west, blooming in the spring and early summer to create strong unifying bands of color. The Park is akin to a campus, its tightly integrated network of pathways and programs open and unscripted in access and use.

AN ICONIC BANDSHELL

Beyond the courts, a large amphitheater slopes to the north, shaping sight lines to a Bandshell at the Park’s  center. Rising above the park, the Bandshell’s circular iconography is defined by three rings that arc above the pedestrian paths, extending trajectories of movement from the adjacent landscape into its dynamic form.

The three steel hoops structure the shell’s envelope, a pleated membrane that floats above the landscape, its glowing form visible throughout the Park and beyond as day gives way to night.

The Bandshell incorporates a flexible lighting grid and an expansive stage which can support a wide range of performances, including theatrical productions, outdoor movies, and concert events." Description of the Architects.

 

Location: Playa Vista, California
Architect: Michael Maltzan Architects

Size: 8 acres
Year: 2010
Cost: $9.5 million

Awards: AIA California Council Merit Award, 2011

SKYWALK ON TIANMEN MOUNTAIN

Jutting out from a sheer cliff 1,430 meters high, the glass skywalk in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park offers sightseers terrifying thrills and clear view of the mountains below as they tread nervously across the 60 meter long bridge encircling the vertical cliffs of Tianmen Mountain in Hunan province.

The walkway, made of tempered glass about 2.5 in thick, spans 200 ft of a two-km loop encircling the vertical cliffs of Tianmen Mountain in China’s Hunan province, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Tianmen mountain, literally translated as Heavenly Gate Mountain is so called because of a huge natural cave that occurs halfway up to the summit. Looking down between their feet while on the see-through skywalk, visitors have a crystal-clear view of the rocky ravine beneath them.

The walkway joins the west cliff at the Yunmeng Fairy Summit, the summit of Tianmen Mountain and Zhang Jiajie. “Tourists can walk, run or even jump on the walkway as the fence and planks are all tempered glass,” said Tian Huilin, deputy general manager at the tourism office of the Tianmen Mountain Scenic Spot.

“The experience is unique. Tourists can have a bird’s-eye view of the rocky pinnacles rising from a cover of dense subtropical vegetation and sometimes veiled by clouds through glass.

” Walking on the glass section of the walkway can make your heart beat like a drum but it is an experience you wont forget. Environmentalists, however, have criticised the project, saying the overhang would tarnish the pristine mountain.

“The glass road is odd compared with the ancient plank roads, which appear to be made of stone or wood and are more harmonious with the landscape,” said Wang Yanyong.

He added that innovation should not go against the basic natural and cultural context. Do you dare to take up the glass skywalk challenge? I will be honest. I won’t dare. My head will go giddy and I may throw up as I have a fear of heights.

MITIGAZIONE AMBIENTALE BY CINO ZUCCHI ARCHITETTI

Inserita all’interno del Piano dei Trasporti del Luganese, la galleria Vedeggio-Cassarate rappresenta l’opera sotterranea più importante del progetto che interessa la ridefinizione della mobilità nella città di Lugano.

I suoi 2750 metri di lunghezza mettono in collegamento la valle del Vedeggio con la valle del Cassarate e, a livello urbano, riconnettono l’area dello stadio di Lugano con l’autostrada Milano-Zurigo con l’intento di migliorare l’accessibilità alla regione e alla mobilità urbana con una migliore ripartizione dei flussi di transito.

Dal punto di vista urbanistico la galleria rappresenta la nuova porta d’ingresso a nord della città di Lugano e, come tale, necessitava di un intervento di qualificazione con misure di compensazione paesaggistica.

Lo studio milanese Cino Zucchi Architetti, già vincitore di un concorso per il nuovo Piano Urbanistico di Lugano nel quartiere Cornaredo, è stato incaricato di eseguire la progettazione architettonica di questo percorso che si snoda per circa 230 metri, all'imbocco di un nuovo tunnel.

«Ci hanno chiesto di progettare un'opera temporanea che dovrà restare 6-7 anni – spiega Cino Zucchi –, il tempo necessario per allungare la galleria appena costruita. Un'architettura low cost realizzata con listelli di abete riciclato infilati in tubi di pvc. I listelli raggiungono un'altezza massima di 10 metri e sono stati disposti secondo un disegno parametrico molto sofisticato».

Una parete temporanea che maschera l'infrastruttura e si relaziona al paesaggio con una successione di listelli di legno, che simula la visione cinematica di chi corre in automobile, con un'istallazione che evolve nel tempo: alla base dei listelli di legno crescerà l'erba e con il variare della luce del sole cambierà l'effetto.

Un’onda aerodinamica che si ritrova anche in altri progetti similari in altri contesti in Europa, come nel caso del progetto dello studio ONL di Rotterdam lungo l’autostrada A2, a Leidche Rijn, una costruzione architettonica continua lunga 1,8 chilometri e di 10.000 mq di superficie.

Una barriera affusolata formata da telai di acciaio e panelli di vetro e lamiera, con le estremità ben segnalate, che incorpora un ampio spazio commerciale, destinato alla vendita di auto ben visibile dall’autostrada.

Barriere antiacustiche e opere di mitigazione paesaggistica che sono divenute parte del repertorio attuale degli architetti, in mancanza di meglio, che interessano anche studi internazionali come quello ticinese di Mario Botta che progetta una “selva di alberi metallici” a protezione dell’abitato di Chiasso.