A new public library designed by CZWG Architects has opened at the edge of London's Canada Water basin. Photo: © Tim Crocker Extra Large Image
London · 2011.1128
A new public library has opened at the edge of the Canada Water basin in the Southwark borough of London, England, United Kingdom. Piers Gough, a partner at CZWG Architects of London, designed the £14.1 million, 2,900-square-meter (31,000-square-foot) Canada Water Library, which extends over the water in an inverted pyramid shape. Located at the center of a new town plaza, the library is a key early building in a major regeneration project.
The building's shape addresses several challenges. The limited footprint is constrained by the London Underground rail station box to the north, under the plaza; clearance for a London Underground access hatch adjacent to the road; the strong pedestrian east-west desire line across the south side of the plaza; and the waterside walkway. The constraint to the east is to allow views of the basin from the plaza. In addition, the client sought to avoid dividing main library spaces across multiple levels, which could have reduced interaction among users and would have demanded higher staffing levels.
In response, the ground floor contains a cafe, while the upwardly expanding shape above it enables the main library space to be contained within a single, galleried, skylit double volume. The building is clad in aluminum sheets that are anodized in a light bronze with sequined perforations.
The library is currently achieving a very high "Very Good" BREEAM rating and striving for "Excellent." Sustainable features include a ground-source heat pump, graywater harvesting, and a green roof planted with sedum.
In Anandpur Sahib, India, the Khalsa Heritage Centre designed by Moshe Safdie has been dedicated. Photo: Courtesy Ram Rahman Extra Large Image
Anandpur Sahib · 2011.1125
The Khalsa Heritage Centre, a new museum of the Sikh people, has been dedicated in Anandpur Sahib, Punjab, India. Designed by Moshe Safdie, the museum celebrates 500 years of Sikh history and the 300th anniversary of the Khalsa, the scriptures written by the tenth and last Sikh guru, Gobind Singh, founder of the modern Sikh faith.
Clad in local sandstone, the buildings almost seems to rise from nearby sand cliffs, evoking the fortress cities of Rajasthan, Gwalior, and Punjab. The upwardly curving roofs of the museum's tower-like
galleries are covered in stainless steel, designed in counterpoint to the rich tradition of gold domes that crown sacred Sikh buildings, such as the Golden Temple in Amritsar. Arranged in groups of five, the galleries reference the "Five Virtues" of Sikh religion.
The museum campus is composed of two functionally integrated sets of buildings. The western complex, forming a gateway to Anandpur Sahib, houses exhibit galleries; a two-level library centered around a grand reading room overlooking water gardens; a facility for storing rare archival materials; and a 400-seat auditorium. A 540-foot (165-meter) bridge from the western complex crosses a seven-acre (2.8-hectare) network of reflecting pools, providing access to the eastern complex, which houses permanent exhibitions about Sikh history, religion, and culture.
Safdie Architects, based in Somerville, Massachusetts, worked with associate architect Ashok Dhawan of New Delhi, and exhibit designer Amardeep Behl of Design Habit in New Delhi.
The NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies has reopened the former Fairchild Building in New York City after a renovation designed by Mitchell/ Giurgola Architects. Photo: © Jeff Goldberg/ Esto Extra Large Image
New York · 2011.1122
New York University's School of Continuing and Professional Studies (NYU-SCPS) has officially reopened the former Fairchild Building in New York City following a renovation designed by Mitchell/ Giurgola Architects. The 117,000-square-foot (10,900-square-meter) building, which dates to 1948, was originally designed by Harrison & Abramovitz and previously housed Fairchild Publications. NYU acquired it in 1992 to house administrative offices.
The newly renovated building contains classrooms, wireless-access student lounges, private study rooms, computer labs, and conference space. The facility's open design features a dramatic dichroic glass facade that creates visual connections between the indoor instructional environment and the urban surroundings. An atrium-style lobby incorporates a grand elliptical staircase that ascends from the concourse level to the second floor.
Occupied since September, the building serves more than 5,000 NYU-SCPS undergraduate and graduate students and the school's nearly 30,000 noncredit students. Consolidating classrooms and administrative offices that had previously been housed across the campus, the facility brings together the School's Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports Management; the Paul McGhee Division; and the Liberal Studies and Allied Arts Division. NYU-SCPS also holds classes and has administrative offices at two other sites in New York City.
Architecture firms BIG and OFF are part of the team that won the design competition for a new research facility at the Université Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris, France. Image: © BIG Extra Large Image
Paris · 2011.1118
Architecture firm BIG, based in Copenhagen, Denmark, has revealed its team's competition-winning design for a new multidisciplinary science research center at the UniversitÈ Pierre et Marie Curie, one of the "Sorbonne Universities" in Paris, France. The competition team also includes OFF Architecture of Paris, engineering firm Buro Happold, consultant Michel Forgue, and environmental engineer Franck Boutte.
The 15,000-square-meter (160,000-square-foot) Paris PARC facility will be located in the visual axis of Notre Dame Cathedral, between Jean Nouvel's Institut du Monde Arabe and the open green park of the Jussieu Campus, the university's main campus. The dense built context includes university buildings from different historical periods.
The design team proposes a building geometry tailored to the specific conditions on each adjoining side, optimized for daylight, views and accessibility. In the competition entry, the three-dimensional envelope retracts from the neighboring facades, opens up toward the square of Institut du Monde Arabe and the park, and folds into a publicly accessible rooftop landscape. A canyonlike central space provides daylight and a visual connection among laboratories and offices.
In the atrium, a cascade of informal meeting spaces leads to the public rooftop terrace and faculty club. A public stair to the rooftop offers glimpses into the activities of the laboratories, which are divided by transparent walls throughout the building to create visual connections between workspaces. The upper levels have panoramic views of Notre Dame and the skyline of Paris. Notre Dame is also visible from ground level as a reflection in the building's proposed tilted facade.
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