LANDSCAPING AND URBAN PLANNING PROJECTS - Public spaces

CEBRA has designed the centres for Vjosa National Park – Europe's "first wild river national park" – which was established in 2023 to preserve 13,000 hectares of the Vjosa River region. The aim of the project is to create immersive spaces for knowledge sharing and ecotourism. "The main intention of our architectural idea is to illustrate how a wild river interacts with...

MVRDV is poised to reshape the urban fabric of Shanghai‘s West Bund through its ambitious Gate M West Bund Dream Center project. This transformative initiative seeks to revitalize a former cement factory, breathing new life into its industrial shell and creating a vibrant hub for leisure and cultural activities along the iconic Huangpu River. At the core of MVRDV’s desig...

Rafael Viñoly Architects has unveiled the design for a new international terminal at Amerigo Vespucci airport in Florence, with a surprising vineyard-topped green roof. This ambitious project promises to transform the airport into a modern and efficient transportation hub, while also celebrating the region’s rich cultural heritage and commitment to sustainability. It wil...

The historic city of Jiaxing is built against the elegant backdrop of the Grand Canal of China. The city’s architecture naturally responds to the strong presence of its twisting bodies of water, and is home to modern marvels, such as the Hangzhou Bay Bridge. Now, the design overhaul of Jiaxing Train Station can be added to the city’s architectural repertoire, while effic...

When one thinks about what constitutes public work, and what a typical public architectural commission might be, rarely does one envisage a playground. Playgrounds are (or have the potential to be) key pieces of urban infrastructure. They not only support child development through play but also serve as active public places for gathering, community and social interaction...

Designed by LA-based design studio PlayLab Inc and the now-dissolved studio Family, +Pool is a cross-shaped pool that will filter pollutants from the surrounding water without chemicals and provide publically accessible swimming for New Yorkers. Non-profit organiser Friends of +Pool announced recently that the project received $4 million from the City of New York and $1...

Danish architecture studio COBE announces the completion of The Opera Park in Copenhagen, Denmark. In a time of intense construction activity throughout the city, green recreational spaces have become increasingly scarce. Yet, in the heart of the dense and historic urban center, one of the inner harbor’s prime locations has not been developed but transformed into a lush,...

The mission of The Park transcends the mere construction of a building; it is an elegant fusion of architecture and nature. We asked: "How can we harmoniously blend the complex functions of a public service facility within an urban setting, creating a spacious, natural ambiance seamlessly integrated into the main traffic axis, making the structure nearly 'invisible'?" ...

The grand opening of Parramatta Aquatic Centre (PAC) in the Sydney suburbs is perfectly timed as Australia is gearing up for the summer ahead. Located at Mays Hill, the traditional lands of the Burramattagal, an inland group of the Dharug people, it is only apt that the new sports attraction was conceived to sit in harmony with the native landscape, a Unesco World Herit...

Known for their impish “grins,” feathery gills, hearty carnivorous diets, and remarkable regenerative powers that kick in when a limb (or two) is lost, Mexico City’s famed mole salamanders take their name from Xolotl, the Aztec god of fire and lightning who escaped death by transforming himself into a lizard-like creature and fleeing into the water. Today, Mexico City’s...

Located in the olive grove adjacent to the Apple Park Visitor Center, Mirage (2023) features over four hundred glass columns intertwined among the olive trees. The pillars, made of pure molten glass, are crafted with sand collected from deserts around the world. Mirage has been cast into individual glass cylinders, each measuring 1.80 meters in height, by expert glassblo...

The 10,500 square metre expansion follows major refurbishment works to the original centre in 2021. The new expanded centre accommodates a 410-seat function room, three 120-seat meeting rooms, exhibition space for 30 booths, a new entry, and a large, generously planted porte cochere. The expansion has been designed to enhance the original 1990s convention centre, also ...

The scope encompasses the designs for accessing the terrain and common spaces, including developing a plaza adjacent to the administrative building, access ramps, parking lots, technical areas, landscaping, visual identity, and signage. It's a project where basalt rock, concrete, and metal blend in composition with vegetation and the local landscape. Each element has bee...

The Renovation of Children's Paradise.To solve the problems of flat and monotonous cycling and running tracks, lack of connection between the hinterland and the riverside area, and limited service facilities, we have synchronously renovated the public space around the service station. The Fengyuan Station is the most unique service station. In the dense forest, we select...

We believe the Haikou Seaside Stop pavilion is a focal point providing an opportunity for its travelers to meander between the city and nature with places for social happenings. A nature valley form became the stage for a new type of experience and space. The sky mountain option provides a valley-like rooftop with a gradually sloped profile connecting from the city sid...

Rescued from the brink of demolition, the greenhouse was carefully dismantled and reassembled over a new substructure and floor using as many recycled materials as possible. Known as Væksthuset, which translates as "the greenhouse", it is now a plant-filled education and events space with a focus on farming and sustainability. Copenhagen-based Forma oversaw the renovat...

ESI Design, the east coast experience design studio within NBBJ, worked with Michael Peter Balzary, better known as Flea, on the renovation of Nickerson Gardens Playground in the Watts neighbourhood of Los Angeles. Best known as the bassist in the American rock band the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Flea drove the project by funding it and bringing together a team of community...

In a narrow alley in the Godsbanen area of Aarhus, New Ark can be found – an artistic experience that encourages reflection on the body, architecture, and the rapid changes of the climate. Art and Climate. New Ark is constructed near Aarhus School of Architecture and consists of a 50-meter-long artwork made of undulating concrete tiles and polished steel lifebuoys. It i...

The proposed site is at the meeting point of two very disparate components: an urban sports ground and a park, both linked by a footbridge. The two environments, the constructed and the natural, are physically separated by the Versoyen River. It is at the convergence of all these elements, bridge, river, plain, and park, that we chose to set up, since it is at the point...

An elegantly curved roof structure resting on filigree supports covers the floor-to-ceiling glazed interiors, creating a flowing transition between interior and exterior space. Finely shining, dark green glazed ceramic elements enclose the adjoining room zones. The flat silhouette of the slender roof edge slides under the overhanging branches of the trees. Circumferentia...

Since 2018, it has also been the home of Valldaura Labs, a satellite research campus of the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC). Each year, the campus hosts students from the Master of Advanced Ecological Buildings and Biocities (MAEBB) program, who collectively design and build a self-sufficient building prototype over the course of 11 months. Now p...

Following his death in 1952, a stretch of public riverfront built on fill at the foot of Beale Street, then known as Astor Park, was rechristened Tom Lee Park. For a Memphian of such heroic repute, having such a prominently sited civic space named in his honor was only fitting. Yet the 30-acre park itself—long, narrow, and chronically underutilized—never lived up to its ...

Located on the banks of the artificial Swaroop Sagar Lake in Udaipur, Udaan Park has been updated with the aim of enhancing its connection to the surrounding nature and water while making it more accessible and inclusive. To revitalise the space, Studio Saar adapted its landscape and added a maze, games area and extensive planting. A colourful canopy stretches over one ...

The site is located near the historic Surajkund Lake, commissioned in the 10th century by King Suraj Pal of the Tomar dynasty. Today the lake is no longer in use, but it is widely known for the Surajkund Craft Mela, which attracts more than a million visitors internationally during its three-week duration. North Eastern India (officially North Eastern Region (NER)) is b...

The design of the park, named Magma Flow, was inspired by the flowing lava of a volcano, with the colorful red, yellow, and orange pathways connecting the various spaces. An orange ramp leads from the ground and up and under one of the buildings. There are games that both adults and children can play, like tic-tac-toe and a seesaw. There’s a staircase that leads up to...

The existing state and the necessary economy of resources to be implemented in contemporary architecture have imposed a posture that aims to preserve the maximum of the superstructure. This reasoned thinking about construction has allowed 3 main founding principles to emerge: – A contemporary architecture that integrates the volumetric diversities of the existing buildi...

Rivera’s work, titled Man, Controller of the Universe, came immediately to mind for the architect Tatiana Bilbao when the hotelier Ernesto Coppel Kelly asked her to design an aquarium in the resort town of Mazatlán on Mexico’s northern Pacific coast. “What worries me about aquariums is how they reinforce the idea that man dominates nature,” Bilbao says. “The question bec...

Named Future Car Park, the building is located in the city's central business district and has a capacity of 500 cars. "Future Car Park invents a new way people commute to urban hubs, while creating an urban oasis that is a synthesis of the latest automated parking technologies, public space, event spaces and hanging gardens for the public," the studio said. The car pa...

As designers, many of what we consider our best ideas will never be built. Some succumb to budgets or changes in scope, others to design competition submissions – whatever the reason, such ideas are filed away on hard drives or dusty drawing racks. Then we move on, conscious that in our industry, it can feel like much of what we produce is destined for the bin. But what ...

The uniqueness of the place and the ethical and aesthetic responsibility for living in the place in parity with nature are realized by the authors as a strategic worldview based on natural processes that are sustainable in their development. The language of architecture of the viewing platform, addressed to the nature of the living, is a biomimetic aesthetic that has an ...

As the latest chapter in the decade-long evolution of Midtown West in New York City, including the redevelopment of Penn Station, the adaptive reuse of the Farley Building into Moynihan Train Hall with offices above, and the creation of Manhattan West and Hudson Yards, the neighborhood has emerged as a new mixed-use destination knit together by a series of civic spaces t...

Planning approval and listed building consent was recently granted by Southward Council for Carmody Groarke's plans, which will be the biggest redevelopment of the Dulwich Picture Gallery in over 20 years. The most significant addition will be a 160-square-metre pavilion, designed as a creative space for children to play, that will be built in the gallery grounds. It w...

Before the city was urbanized, the riverside was surrounded by bamboo forests. Inspired by this lost scene and memory of the city, the design of the ‘The Pavilion of Floating Lights’ includes tree columns to generate an interior space like a pathway between forests. Created as a place where visitors can experience natural and urban environments, the building has glass w...

To be located on a riverbank site formally known as Western Region Park Reserve, the centre will create an open space for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people that directly connects to the Yerta Bulti Country of the Port River. The centre is designed by Ashley Halliday Architects and Wax Design in collaboration with the City of Port Adelaide Enfield, Port Adelaide Enfie...

The space is the center of the residential area, with apartments clustered around it and being connected to Jungnangcheon. However, there was a one-lane road that split on both sides, and the dead-end space under the overpass was very dark because of the steep slope. The steep slope was trimmed in a cascading fashion and a sports facility for residents was created, but i...

Named the Arco del Tiempo (Arch of Time), the public artwork in the city's Second Ward will be covered in photovoltaic modules to generate nearly 400,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually and provide shade for locals. Described by Land Art Generator Initiative, which commissioned the project, as "the world's largest sundial", the structure will project the sun's ra...