Hey, Singapore Sports Hub, come back here with my breath! Why you gotta take it away like that?
Ok, I guess I coulda gone with "Breathtaking", but you get my point. This looks like it's gonna be pretty amazing.
Construction has begun on the Singapore Sports Hub - Singapore's National Stadium, that will actually be the only one in the world to host football, rugby, cricket, and "athletic events" in one venue. I'm assuming these athletic events will also include basketball (an All-Star Game has to happen here), a track for Usain Bolt to set more world records in, and a Capture The Flag field (a severely underrated athletic event, if you play in pitch black dark and wear camo and face paint like I did with the homies back in high school). Whatever the case, I'm quite impressed.
Construction will commence in 2014, which will double as my planning for a flight to Singapore. Not only is the structure and the moving roof itself gorgeous, but how about the stadium's site, in juxtaposition with the water and the skyscrapers behind it. Makes for some beautiful views as you can see. Be sure to check out ArchDaily for more on how it adapts to Singapore's climate, its structural and environmental efficency, and more. Salute to Arup on the design.
425 Park Ave. winning proposal from Foster + Partners
NYC readers, get a first glimpse at your newest skyscraper along Park Avenue. Today, the firm Foster + Partners was announced as the winner of a competition to revitalize 425 Park Ave., replacing the aging tower with a world-class one full of offices. Construction is anticipated to begin in 2015 with the tower's completition coming in 2017. Soooo begin your five-year plan today to get one of those offices!
More info via ArchDaily. Might I add that this is one sleek looking office building. *Tibs Fav.
The underwater disc features 21 private rooms, custom lighting systems, and large panes of glass to view the marine life on the other side of the window. The abovewater disc features your typical restaurant, spa, swimming pool, rooftop garden, and helipad. Safety wise, if danger arises, the coolest feature may be that the underwater disc will automatically surface. Plus, each disc is sized according to the local condition and has the ability to be relocated if “any changes in the environmental or economic conditions occur”, meaning the marine life will be safe as well.
All in all, this is quite the ambitious and eye-catching project to be constructed. I can only imagine the experience if and when this gets built and if and when I put down my life's savings for a one-night stay.
*tips hat* Drydocks World and Switzerland’s BIG InvestConsult, on behalf of partner Deep Ocean Technology (DOT). More info/pics via ArchDaily.
Hive Apartments, located in Melbourne, Australia by ITN Architects, fuses two of my favorite loves: architecture and hip hop. Besides the beautiful exterior seen in the slideshow above, this complex is attractive to me because of its function as well. It carries out a graffiti theme throughout the exterior and interior and the video below walks us through the building and how some of the graffiti pieces are load-bearing parts of the structure. So they had to be placed first to support the building under construction and upon completition. Pretty cool. Take a look at the photos and video and see for yourself.
Under contstruction now is the Primorsky Aquarium in Vladivostok, Russia - a massive space being built at the request of the President of the Russian Federation. The architects, OJSC Primorgrajdanproekt (it took me about .005 seconds to decide I was copying and pasting that), did a magnificent job on the exterior facades and with the site in general, as seen in the pictures above. Plus as a fun fact: the two biggest tanks will hold 7,000 tons. Whoa there. More pics/info via ArchDaily.
Shouts to my brother (the fam and I call him 'Meffrey') for passing this beautiful, contemporary example of architecture along to me over this Labor Day Weekend. What you see in the slideshow above is an added loft at the top of a church. The design utilizes the church's grandiose windows, with the interior design and furniture adding to the already inspiring energy that is undoubtededly experienced if up there in person. Love the concept and would definitely love lofting in a holy place like this.
Srirachana passed this along to me yesterday - a powerful structure with this cool caveat:
"Every surface inside the top floor of the Russian Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale is covered in QR codes, which visitors decode using tablet computers to explore ideas for a new Russian city dedicated to science." (via tumblr)
Whoop! Go technology. Would love to experience this place in person.
Frank Gehry is as polarizing an architect to me as Kobe Bryant is to die-hard basketball fans. To put it simply, I have a love/hate relationship with his designs. I love his abstract shapes and use of materials (my favorites: the hometown's Millennium Park and my 2nd hometown's Weisman Art Museum), but 'hate' the relative box he stays in with both (albeit 8 Spruce Street was that step forward for me). Hate is too harsh of a word really; Gehry's designs may not always spark my curiosity, but I appreciate the immense impact of his designs in architecture. And apparently, I'm not alone as 28-year-old Facebook CEO shares the same appreciation. He can better illustrate it with a check followed by multiple zeros that was most certainly given to Gehry to design the new addition to Facebook HQ in their Menlo Park, California dwelling.
The good folks at ArchDaily couldn't have put it better:
Gone from the building will be Gehry’s flashy ways of manipulating sheets of metal, and the resulting superfluous sense of affluence often emitted from these grand structures. Rather, Gehry’s work for Facebook will offer an ”equalizier”, a massive one story warehouse measuring 420,000 sqf, to house the company’s future 2,800 engineers with the underlying intention of fostering a comfortable environment to allow Facebook to keep getting better.
More info and pics can be found via AD and we can expect to see construction begin in the spring of 2013. What do you think of the design given what you can see in the slideshow above?
I'm excited to introduce a fresh Architecture section to the blog as, wait for it... fun fact... I actually have a Bachelor's in Architecture from the University of Minnesota (Go Gophers!). So architecture, and design in general, is still a strong inspiration to me, and many, to think creatively. Architecture is continually cited by many musicians (Kanye West comes to mind... remember his blog?) as an influence in their art; in a lot of subtle ways, architecture is an influence in the website you see before you, Gowhere Hip Hop. I'm excited to spotlight some new and existing projects across the world - some all-time and future*Tibs Favs. (so to speak, hah!) that catch my eye. Hope you enjoy.
For starters, I'm spotlighting a new, 6-bedroom house in Cape Town, South Africa titled 'Nettleton 198' - designed by one of my favorite firms SAOTA (I've blogged about them on my personal tumblr page a couple times). As you can browse in the slideshow above, there are some gorgeous views and the overall design adapts to the existing site so the user can experience the natural features from within the house. In general, I love the incorporation of water, open views, wide and large glass windows... Nettleton has it all. And most definitely, this gorgeous structure is on the short list of my 'Tibs' Future Places to Live In' text file, hah. More info and pics via ArchDaily.
