One of our avid readers Esperança de Souza, has sent us this tip about the Globetrotter series of rings inspired by iconic architecture from around the world by jewellery brand Matina Amanita. They are quite cool, even if slightly ridiculous. We love a bit of eccentricity because straight is a tad boring! Our favourites are the Chrysler from Manhattan, Candy Castle from Russia and the Gaudi’s magic inspired by Barcelona architecture.

The quirky rings designed by Bangkok-based designer Matina Sukhahuta, who honed her skills at Central Saint Martins and Parsons, are available in Thailand, the UK, US, Australia, Japan, Switzerland and India, in the Middle East it’s currently only stocked in Saudi Arabia at the Life store.

We would love to see Burj Dubai or Burj Al Arab next. It might already be in the making for all you know.

Pritzker Prize-winning architect Zaha Hadid is one of the most favoured international architects in the tiny island nation of Singapore, where the prices of real estate have shot through the roof after almost a decade of stagnant prices. After winning the competition to design the masterplan for the high-profile One North project, Hadid has been asked to design another upscale residential project called Farrer Court at Farrer Road, which is conveniently located between Holland Village, Singapore’s bohemian and most popular suburb amongst expats and the shopping belt of Orchard Road. The project, that is faintly reminiscent of Hadid’s Dancing Towers in Dubai, has been designed by Hadid along with architect Patrik Schumacher.

Recently Rem Koolhaas also announced his project in Singapore at Scotts Road, off Orchard Road with Singapore-based Far East Organisation. Other well-known architects with projects in Singapore are Toyo Ito (Vivo City Mall), Michael Graves, Daniel Libeskind and Frank Gehry to name a few.

Here’s the official press release issued by Zaha Hadid’s office:

Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) have unveiled the design for seven 36-storey residential towers and twelve villas on a 838,488 square feet site at Farrer Road, Singapore. The Singapore $3 billion (approx £1.1 billion) development is by a CapitaLand-led consortium; other partners include Hotel Properties Limited, Morgan Stanley Real Estate Special Situations Fund III, L.P. and Wachovia Development Corporation. It will be the largest residential development in Singapore’s history.

“We have been working in Singapore for almost a decade and the Farrer Road development is a continuation of our detailed research into the urban fabric of the city. The seven tower development on one of Singapore’s most prominent sites represents further exploration into the tower typology and our studies into organizational systems and growth in the natural world. The towers are subdivided into petals according to the layout of each level to form a series of diverse and distinctive towers,” states Zaha Hadid.

Patricia Chia, CEO of CapitaLand Residential Singapore, said, “With a reputation for constant innovation,
CapitaLand seeks to work with architects who share our vision of building distinctive homes for global citizens. The new condominium to be built at Farrer Road is one such project. We are confident that Zaha Hadid’s signature style of flowing lines and sensuous architectural silhouettes will bring out the best in the site. The development will be a jewel in Singapore’s popular Holland-Bukit Timah residential precinct.”

The footprint of each tower is minimized offering an open and textured landscape with privacy in the gardens - unique to a development of this scale. The orientation and placement of the buildings generates a complex level of diversity across the development and optimizes the views of Bukit Timah Hill, Singapore Botanic Gardens, MacRitchie Reservoir and the Orchard Road city skyline.

Site Proposal
ZHA’s Proposal for the Farrer Court site is generated by the study of the existing alignments and the main axis surrounding the site, which are brought in and connected to generate a series of construction lines highly connected to the neighbourhood. The ground landscape level is visualised as a very green layer, which wants to emphasise the presence of florid vegetation in the Singapore’s climate. The site levels are re-organised into a series of terraced plateaus to maximise the area dedicated to communal site amenities. The orientation and placement of the buildings is optimised in relation to the local environment as well as to maximise views out towards the surrounding city and landscape.

Building Proposal
The program is organised into seven towers, which grow from sunken private gardens within the site landscape. The lower floors kink in to highlight the point where buildings meet the ground, enabling yet a greater open area and the creation of highly private gardens which are quite unique given the scale and density of the development. The towers are subdivided into petals according to the number of residential units per floor, with a common principle a series of diverse and unique towers can be generated. The petals are expressed in three dimensions thanks to vertical cuts which give definition to the building’s façades and, at the same time, allow for cross ventilation of most of the flats. The buildings culminate at the top with a series of fingers stepped at different heights, which blend the transition between the architectural fabric and the sky.  Through rotating the buildings across the site, and the careful use of balconies and façade panelling a combination of self similar towers produce an incredible amount of diversity across the development.

Here’s some of the confidential skinny on the upcoming Louvre Abu Dhabi museum on Saadiyat Island. The Art Newspaper claims that it has “seen the contract signed recently between the governments of Abu Dhabi and France for the creation of a Louvre Abu Dhabi.”

According to the contract a relatively small number of works will be lent, with a “reasonable number” coming from the Louvre’s collections. At the launch of the new museum in 2012, it will be 300 works; four years later, 250 works, seven years later, 200. After ten years, the loans will cease. All works loaned to the museum will be indemnified from seizure within the UAE.

Abu Dhabi is dishing out a cool $1.6bn (Dhs5.88 bn) over 30 years to the agence France-Muséum, that will administer this capital sum for the benefit of a consortium of participating French museums, which includes the Louvre with a share of 40 per cent. The income is to benefit “new scholarly projects” in these museums “without any reduction to their current financing”.

Over 3,000 square metres of display space will be ready to show “comparisons between works of various periods and geographical origin, with an emphasis on the dialogue between civilisations” and arranged thematically: landscape, funerary art, the portrait etc. A “smaller proportion of this space” will be devoted to contemporary art, “to resonate with older works and demonstrate the continuity between different periods and the way in which our view of older art is conditioned by contemporary perception”.

And get this– No similar operation may be set up using the name of the Louvre with any of the other emirates of the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iran or Iraq.

The agence France-Muséum will be the operative partner with Abu Dhabi and will supervise all aspects of the building of the museum and training of the museum’s curators. It will suggest an acquisitions policy and draw up an ethical charter, with all works having to demonstrate an unimpeachable provenance.

Abu Dhabi contracts to provide  $62m (Dhs227m) for the acquisition of the collection, but Sheikh Sultan Al Nahyan, chairman of the emirate’s tourism authority, under whose aegis the museum is being developed, has told The Art Newspaper that, “if we want, we can spend more than this.” The annual budget for exhibitions will be $20.2m (Dhs74.13m).

In addition to the $620m (Dhs2.27bn), the Louvre gets for the use of its name, it will receive $39m (Dhs143.13) to develop part of its Pavillon de Flore, a wing of the Paris museum which houses paintings, while the agence France-Muséum will be paid $256m (Dhs9.5bn) for its services over and above $1.56bn (Dhs5.73bn) for the whole project.

As told to The Art Newspaper

Architect Kyu Sung Woo has been named the winner of the 2008 Ho-Am Prize in the Arts. The Ho-Am Prize in the Arts recognises Koreans who have made outstanding contributions to the promotion of culture and the arts through their creative efforts and accomplishments. He is the first architect to receive this prestigious award, which is often considered to be the Korean equivalent to the Nobel Prize.

Kyu Sung Woo

Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art (Photo credit and copyright: Timothy Hursley- The Arkansas Office)

Kyu Sung Woo is the most prominent Korean American architect practicing in both Korea and the United States. His architecture and urban design work represent a style informed by nature. Eschewing ornamentation and exaggeration in favour of harmony, Woo combines the minimalist ideals of the West with the quiet spaces of the East. His utilisation of light, space, and movement combine to create a unique and Zen-like experience.

Above and below: Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art (Photo credit and copyright: Timothy Hursley- The Arkansas Office)

Kyu Sung Woo Architects, based in Cambridge, MA, boasts a wide range of completed projects in the United States including the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, the Graduate Student Housing at 10 Akron Street at Harvard University, the Heller School at Brandeis University and the Arts of Korea Gallery at the New York Metropolitan Museum.

Representative works in Korea include the new 1.4 million square foot Asian Culture Complex (Gwangju, Under Construction), Stone Cloud (Seoul, 1997), and the Whanki Museum (Seoul,1993).  Kyu Sung has also participated in a number of exhibitions including the 8th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale.

The Heller School at Brandeis University (Waltham, MA) (Photo Credit: Anton Grassl/Copyright Esto)

Above and below: Puzzle Loft in New York (Photo credit and copyright: Paul Warchol)

The Ho-Am Prize is an annual award bestowed upon five ethnic Koreans living at home or abroad in the categories of science, engineering, medicine, the arts and community service. The award was first established in 1990, in honour of Byung-Chul Lee, founder of Samsung Corporation, and his lifelong commitment to the promotion of public benefit programs. Past winners of the Ho-Am Prize in the Arts include educational pioneer Won-Yong Kim, video artist Nam-June Paik, painter Lee Ulfan, dancer Sue Jin Kang, the Bucheon Philharmonic, playwright Oh Tae-Sok and most recently in 2007, novelist Yi Chong-jun. Ho-Am Prize winners receive a gold medal, a laureate diploma, and 200 million Korean won (about $200,000 US Dollars).

There’s something exciting happening in the historic center of the Russian capital and the mastermind behind the event is German car marquee BMW. Shrouded in mystery, there is a giant exhibit standing 12 metres tall and weighing 40 tonnes behind the curtains. Stay tuned to find out what it is! Any guesses?

Images courtesy: Pleon PR agency

Just when you thought Zaha Hadid couldn’t be any busier, there comes another amazing project. Does the lady ever stop working? The Pritzker Prize winning architect has designed The Zaragoza Bridge Pavilion in Spain that is not just a bridge but also an engineering feat. The pavilion is organised around four main elements, or “pods”, that perform both as structural elements and as spatial enclosures, where each ‘pod’ corresponds to a specific exhibition space.

Expo Zaragoza originally envisaged the concept of an enclosed exhibition pavilion spanning the river. For this reason, the structure is largely visible and plays an important role in defining the Bridge Pavilion’s external envelope.

The Bridge Pavilion represents over 30 years of detailed research and examination by Zaha Hadid into bridge design. “We like projects which are structurally ambitious and I think the Bridge Pavilion illustrates the excellent symbiotic relationship we have with engineers,” says Hadid. “Our ambitions towards creating fluid, dynamic and therefore complex structures has been aided by technological innovations, and applying this knowledge to the Bridge Pavilion has been a very rewarding process.”

The hybrid nature of the Zaragoza Bridge Pavilion represented the perfect challenge for Zaha Hadid Architects. The design merges two traditionally distinct and separate building typologies: the “infrastructure” element (the bridge) and an “architectural” element (the pavilion). With the Bridge Pavilion design, Zaha Hadid Architects has challenged the conventional idea of a bridge being purely engineering.

“As the Bridge Pavilion is not one particular building typology, this really adds to the richness of the spaces inside,” explains Hadid. “We build the complexity of all our projects in relationship to the inherent complexity of the program, but then clarify the diagram as much as possible to be a logical configuration. This is evident in our design for the Bridge Pavilion. All the forces operate at the same time, so that the view of the exhibition is inherently related to nature of the visitors’ path through the Bridge Pavilion - but equally, the experience of the path shifts according to what the viewer is seeing at a given moment.”

Images courtesy: Zaha Hadid Architects/Photographer Luke Hayes.

The Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey or MARCO, one of the leading cultural institutions in Latin America, presents inTENtions, an exhibition that shows the development of the architectural projects of the  award-winning Mexican architect Enrique Norten and his firm TEN Arquitectos.

Architecture, being an endeavor of human creativity, has made a place for itself within contemporary art by its use of forms and materials in a search to satisfy the senses beyond a mere shelter. TEN Arquitectos, the firm founded by Norten in 1986, characterises itself by favouring modernity and at the same time making use of tradition, both in small-scale projects such as furniture designs to entire living, commercial and urban spaces.

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Along the way the firm has received numerous awards and recognitions that acknowledge its talent, such as those that will be on view in this exhibition.

PUBLIC OPENING: Friday, 4 July 2008, 8:30pm. Admission free.
GALLERIES: 6 to 11 / Second Floor  |   EXHIBITION DATES: July – October, 2008

Seattle-based architecture firm Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen have designed the Wabi Sabi house in Houston, Texas for developer Carol Isaak Barden+Company.

Wabi Sabi is a Japanese expression that implies the restrained expression of the humble and the simple. In Japan and China, Zen implies an emphasis on simplicity and sobriety, and Zen temples are sublimely refined and restrained. The monks have always been aware that a well-designed room or garden could have a positive effect on one’s well being.

Rick Sundberg, the lead architect on the project, his first in Texas, says, “Working on a spec house has its own challenges– creating a home that can accommodate a wide range of lifestyles and families; from active young families to empty-nesters.”

Set in a traditional residential neighborhood of Houston, close to Rice University and near the cultural center of the city, the three-bedroom, 3,750 square-foot wooden house, combines the beauty of natural materials and simple modern forms. Old-growth trees on the site were not only preserved, but Sundberg’s design takes advantage of their presence with strategically placed windows, and in one case, decking that flows around a pecan tree. The warmth of naturally aged cedar siding is echoed inside the home with the use of salvaged wood, bamboo and reclaimed teak. Skylights in the middle of the building, operable windows, and an expansive roof deck allow for natural light and ventilation –making a sustainable statement in the most air-conditioned city in the U.S.

However, this is not a one-off project. Carol Isaak Barden + Company plan to build a series of Wabi Sabi Houses in Houston.

Dubai has quite literally become the second home of high-end luxury labels. Armani, Versace, Missoni, Lacroix, Cavalli…the list is impressive. Now Italian powerhouse Gianfranco Ferré and Dubai-based design-savvy developer Galadari Investment Office (GIO) have joined hands to launch a series of projects world-wide, the first of which will obviously be in Dubai. To be built at a staggering cost of $ 1.2bn (Dhs 4.4billion), the mixed-use tower will be called Gianfranco Ferré Stresa.

GIO, who have already claimed a coup by bringing in Philippe Starck’s design-oriented property company YOO to the Middle East to develop the highly-anticipated G-tower at Dubailand, are at the forefront of developing properties in the region for a very discerning audience.

Ferré, who passed away last year, is often known as the architect of fashion and credited with bringing well-constructed white-shirts to women’s wear. He, in fact, graduated as an architect from the prestigious Politecnico di Milano, before starting his high-profile career in fashion.

DUBAI NEXT: Face of 21st Century Culture
Firestation, Vitra Campus, Weil am Rhein, June 5 – September 14, 2008

An exhibition by the Dubai Culture & Arts Authority in cooperation with the Vitra Design Museum and curated by Rem Koolhaas & Jack Persekian.

Everyone knows the architectural landmarks of Dubai, but this new global city’s true achievement and future promise soars well beyond it’s dynamic growth and spectacular buildings. Dubai is first and foremost about its people – a vibrant, multicultural and cosmopolitan community made up of over 200 different nationalities. These people are the driving forces behind the widely published new forms of design, culture, communication and lifestyle that shape Dubai today. Nowhere else in the world is the radical transformation of what people think of nationalities, heritage and culture more evident than in Dubai.

photo credit: Charlie Koolhaas

photo credit: Jalal Abuthina

photo credit: Jalal Abuthina

photo credit: Mohammed Kazem

This exhibition tells the story of Dubai from a cultural angle. It shows the making of 21st century culture, built upon the vision and heritage of the Emirati people and their fellow global citizens everywhere, as well as how these ideas take shape on architectural, urbanistic and cultural projects for the next decades.

Being shown parallel to the exhibition “Living under the Crescent Moon” the exhibition “Dubai Next” will complement the museum’s focus on Arab domestic and contemporary culture in 2008.

The exhibition may only be viewed as part of a guided tour! Special exhibition tours daily at 4 pm.

As part of the regular architectural tours daily at 11am, 1 and 3pm

images courtesy: Vitra Design Museum

Coming up next: Our interview with Dubai Culture and Arts Authority culture director Michael Schindhelm .