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The term “mile high” isn’t just for airplane action anymore- British firm Popularchitecture has proposed a mile-high eco tower for London that’s sure to be just as exciting. At a full mile tall and housing over 100,000 people, this concept tower really is just that: a cool, uber-green concept. With 500 floors would contain schools and hospitals to shops and pubs, and everything else under the sun. While it will likely never be realized, the design does push our thinking forward.
The mile-high tower also illustrates the ecological advantages of living tall, as building up instead of out holds more people in a smaller footprint. This in turn reduces ecological impacts and the time needed to transport them. Close-knit living is also a way to rebuild disconnected communities, and to make life safer through the ‘natural surveillance’ created by populating areas 24/7.Drawn up by Popularchitecture and intended for Tower Hamlets in East London, the giant skyscraper would be three times larger than anything ever built in the capital, creating 12 new ‘villages’ in the sky. However, despite the project’s ‘almost unbelievable proportions’, practice founder Tom Teatum does not feel the scheme is that crazy, insisting there are developers who are interested, ‘in particular because of minimal land value in relation to accommodation… occupying a scale far beyond anything that currently exists in London, the tower would allow the city’s population to expand without significant impact to the architectural fabric on the ground.’At the center of the structure would be a ‘vast internal void’ lit by circular openings every 20 storys. Each of these ‘holes’ would be used as either public squares or for specialist activities such as ice skating, botanic gardens or swimming pools. Nice idea and nice visuals but it looks like it’ll be firmly rooted in our imaginations for the time being.
on december 11, 2007 the polish government chose a winner in the design competition for the polish pavilion at the 2010 world expo in shanghai. the winning entry was design by architects wojciech kakowski, marcin mostafa and natalia paszkowska. their building is inspired by traditional polish folk art paper cut-outs reinterpreted in a contemporary fashion. the idea was generated when the team sought to create a 'cultural ideogram' that would signify the country of origin in an iconic way. the project focuses on exploring the importance of the personal experience between buildings and people. the ramp that is created by the folded exterior enables visitors to climb onto the roof of the building, making the entire building a function exhibition space.
Competition winnerOMANew HeadquartersCentral Chinese TelevisionCCTV Beijing, China CCTV's new 550,000 square meter headquarters, to be completed for the Beijing Olympics in 2008, will be among the first of 300 towers to be constructed in Beijing's new Central Business District.As part of an international architectural competition organized by the Beijing International Tendering Co., the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) was awarded the contract on December 20, 2002.
On the 10-hectare site in the new Central Business District in Beijing, the OMA proposal consolidates the program in an iconic configuration of two high-rise buildings.
The new CCTV headquarters, at a height of 230 meter and a floor area of about 400,000 square meters, combines administration with news, broadcasting, studios and program production - the entire process of TV making - in a sequence of interconnected activities. Although the building is 230 meter tall it is not a traditional tower, but a continuous loop of horizontal and vertical sections that establish an urban site rather than point to the sky. The irregular grid on the building's facades is an expression of the forces traveling throughout its structure.
The second building, the 115,000 m2 Television Cultural Center (TVCC) includes a hotel, a visitor's center, a large public theatre and exhibition spaces. It is visible from the main intersection of the Central Business District through the "window" of the CCTV headquarters.
A Media Park forms a landscape of public entertainment, outdoor filming areas and production studios as an extension of the central green axis of the CBD.
Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren will be partners-in-charge. The OMA design team will consist of Shohei Shigematsu, Adrianne Fisher, Hiromasa Shirai, Anu Leinonen, Charles Berman and many others. Qingyun Ma from Shanghai will be advisor to the project.
The CCTV Headquarters will be realized in collaboration with ECADI, the East China Architecture & Design Institute from Shanghai.
Cecil Balmond and his team of Ove Arup & Partners will be responsible for the structural and mechanical engineering.
OMA will collaborate with its media and research branch AMO.
The term “mile high” isn’t just for airplane action anymore- British firm Popularchitecture has proposed a mile-high eco tower for London that’s sure to be just as exciting. At a full mile tall and housing over 100,000 people, this concept tower really is just that: a cool, uber-green concept. With 500 floors would contain schools and hospitals to shops and pubs, and everything else under the sun. While it will likely never be realized, the design does push our thinking forward.
The mile-high tower also illustrates the ecological advantages of living tall, as building up instead of out holds more people in a smaller footprint. This in turn reduces ecological impacts and the time needed to transport them. Close-knit living is also a way to rebuild disconnected communities, and to make life safer through the ‘natural surveillance’ created by populating areas 24/7.
