Apple Marina Bay Sands: Foster + Partner’s Singaporean celebration of light
The 30 m diameter structure design, the result of a close collaboration between Apple’s design teams and the integrated engineering and design team at Foster + Partners, complements the sister pavilions through its scale and materiality.
Structurally, the dome acts as a hybrid steel and glass shell, where the grid of steel sections support the weight of the glass and shading, and the curved structural glass panels restrain the steel elements laterally and stiffen the overall form against lateral loads. Integrated solar shading devices keep the interior cool. Each of the 114 panels of glass is carefully selected to meet glazing indices as prescribed by BCA Green Mark, Singapore’s own sustainability rating system.
The store can be entered through The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands via a beautifully curved stone entrance, flanked by Apple’s signature Avenue display on either side of a 45 m long and 7.6 m wide space. This leads directly to a set of dramatic escalators that take visitors on a “kaleidoscopic” journey to the heart of the spectacular domed space. This contrasting transition from the heart of the retail centre to the Apple dome offers the customer a dramatic and exhilarating experience. It culminates with spectacular views across the bay and towards the city.
Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture’s yacht inspired tower rises in Miami
Inspired by the iconic Riva yacht, Una Residence is a 47 storey tower defined by a sculptured façade of clear modern lines and ribbon-like curves.
The tower will be the Brickell neighbourhood’s first waterfront residential tower in over a decade. Developers OKO Group and Cain International have enlisted architects Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill (AS+GG) to design the project.
Slated for completion in early 2023, Una Residences will consist of 135 spacious condominiums spanning 47 floors boasting unobstructed views of the Atlantic Ocean, Biscayne Bay, and the Miami city skyline. Residences range from two-to-five bedrooms, measuring between 1,100 to 4,786 sq ft in size, with two ultra-exclusive penthouses available.
OKO Group and Cain International enlisted AS+GG to design both the building’s architecture as well as its interior. The team’s holistic perspective to design has allowed the architects to establish an aesthetic relationship between the tower’s materials, textures, and design elements to create continuity and maintain the philosophy of the building inside and out. The designers were tasked with using the language of architecture to embody the spirit of the city and evoke the natural beauty of Brickell’s urban, waterfront environment.
ZJA’s casino blending into Belgium’s dune-like landscape
The municipality of Middelkerke in Belgium will soon be enriched with an iconic casino. The new casino will not be housed in a dedicated building, but will be integrated in the landscape in a way that rewrites the historic relationship of the coastal town with the sea.
This is revealed in the ambitious preliminary design of the Nautilus consortium, who were selected by the council as winners of the Design & Build competition for the casino located at Epernay square.
The construction of the new casino building was conceived by the designers as an opportunity to also work on flood risk management (dike reinforcement), public space quality, making the seawall car-free and connecting the Epernay square to the sea. The uniqueness of this design is that the building typology of a casino - often a closed box, is turned inside out and integrated into a multifaceted project situated in a public dune landscape. It transforms the seawall into a unique destination for encounter, play, culture and entertainment along the Belgian Coast.
Waves of affection for Dubai’s heart-shaped beach entertainment project
Planned for Dubai's Jumeirah Beach, the entertainment destination features a water slide, climbing wall, two observation platforms, restaurants, a retail strip and an amphitheatre.
Shortlisted in a competition by Dubai Municipality, the Dubai Heart design by Nad Al Shiba consists of two main zones: an entertainment zone, which is the heart-shaped structure that projects upward out of the sea, and a retail and amphitheatre zone that edges the coastline. Both zones are connected together by a glass walkway.
Inside the entertainment area, visitors will be able to enjoy a section called the Cloud Trip, a three-level concept space inspired by the work of Tomas Saraceno. There are also indoor and outdoor walkways, restaurants, and the other promised entertainment and leisure activities, like the slide and climbing wall. According to the architects, the entertainment area breaks multiple world records including those for highest water slide, Nad Al Shiba's design measures at 150 m tall, longest glass passage in the sea, connecting the coast to heart, also measuring at 150 m, and highest artificial indoor climbing wall at 100 m. The winning concept of the competition hasn't been announced yet, and according to Nad Al Shiba Engineering Consultants, the municipality is still reviewing the project for a starting date.
Winning design team announced for Canada’s new art gallery
To celebrate the unveiling of the New Art Gallery of Nova Scotia design, the Donald R. Sobey Foundation, with The Sobey Foundation, announced a $10m gift.
The team of KPMB Architects with Omar Gandhi Architect, Jordan Bennett Studio, Elder Lorraine Whitman (NWAC), Public Work and Transsolar have been announced as winners of the international design competition.
The new gallery and arts district, located on the Salter Block of the Halifax Waterfront, will be a transformative destination and will inspire and celebrate creativity and imagination, but also challenge the status quo and reshape institutional values.
The landscape design expands and contracts, flexing seasonally from the human-scaled, intimate gathering spaces at the heart of Salter Block to a large gathering space at the scale of K’jipuktuk, the Great Harbour.
The design features a striking peaked hat shape at the entrance, an iconic shape which is a symbol of the strength, wisdom, love and power that women hold within Mi’kmaw communities.