Kinetic Wall: A Vertical Lake Building Facade

International design studio Urban Art Projects puts the soothing effects of water into an unlikely place; the side of Brisbane, Australia’s airport car park.

This project is being developed with artist Ned Kahn. It is called a “Kinetic Wall,” and it will essentially be an eight-story-tall public art installation. Seen from the outside, the installation will look like a vertical body of water, complete with gentle waves and natural movement. From the inside of the building, the movement of the facade will create beautiful patterns in sunlight on the interior surfaces.

The effect is created with 250,000 aluminum panels which are loosely suspended so as to move gently with the wind.

It also helps provide passive cooling and ventilation for the car park, cutting down on energy costs and keeping the building more comfortable all year long. The new parking garage, complete with the unique facade, will be completed in late 2011.

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Iceberg: Floating Cottage

Observing the structure of icebergs, Austrian architect Daniel Anderson has created a floating summer cottage design for Aland Hotels.

The minimalist exterior is an attempt to remain unintrusive to the wild surroundings. The 60m2 structure is partially submerged in the water with its roof top offering surfaces in which to lie and take in the scenery. Large windows seek to give a spacious feeling to the interior rooms and views of the surrounding panorama. The project is currently in the concept phase.

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The Safe House

Well, I've been bumping into this house on design websites for a while now without really looking into it. I just thought its another one of those minimally designed cool houses. Turns out its a bit more than that!

Located on the outskirts of Warsaw, Poland, 'The Safe House' by Katowice-based architectural
office KWK Promes is a two-storey residential house that aims to provide a feeling
of maximum security for the residents.

True to its name, the most distinguishable element of the design is the moveable exterior wall components that allow the house to be completely closed to its environment or open and connected to the rural landscape.

While the initial read of the design might seem confining, the house, when in its open state, offers immense transparency while establishing a strong relationship to the site.

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A Floating Pool In New York

+ Pool is an initiative by a group of architects and designers to build a floating pool in the rivers of New York City… and they need your help. The project was launched with the ambition to improve the use of the city’s natural resources by providing a clean and safe way for the public to swim in New York’s waters. This site is the culmination of Concept Design for + Pool and they are looking to build a team of interested organizations and professionals to continue the development of the project into a buildable proposal.

Their next step is to partner with local cultural, developmental and environmental groups to raise public and private interest, identify civic potential and approach the municipality, while working with engineers, planners and specialists to refine the social and ecological performance of + Pool.

To find out more, contact them at info@pluspool.org.

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Beirut Terraces by Herzog & de Meuron

Swiss architects Herzog and de Meuron have designed this apartment tower with overhanging floor plates and terraces for Beirut, Lebanon.

Created as part of a wider masterplan to regenerate this area of the city that includes a marina, the building will comprise five different modular floor slabs used in varying combinations to create a mixture of overhangs and terraces.

The building will have vegetation on the terraces to provide privacy and in the main entrance space to act as continuation of the neighbouring green boulevard.

The project is due for completion in 2013.

More information on the project website.

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Marina Bay Sands Hotel

The Marina Bay Sands is the world's most expensive hotel in Singapore, and with a world's largest outdoor pool at 55th storey.

 "The infinity pool on the roof is in the 'SkyPark' which spans the three towers of the hotel. The platform itself is longer than the Eiffel tower laid down and is one of the largest of its kind in the world.

Infinity pools give the effect that the water extends to the horizon. In reality, the water spills over the edge into a catchment below, and is then pumped back into the pool."

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Number House

Architecture by Matsunami Mitsutomo, a Studio from Japan.

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The Live-Work-Play House

The Beaver Street Reprise in San Francisco, California is a modern home consisting of four stories that all have their own distinct roles - park-live-work-play. Would you ever leave home?

By Craig Steely Architecture.

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Meta-Housing: Super-Sized Hotel Made of Stacked-Up Homes

This new hotel in the Netherlands has sparked a great deal of conversation by using the traditional form of regional homes and cottages in a surrealistic stack (some even seeming to sit sideways or upside-down) as part of a relatively huge city-central structure.

The Inntel Hotel, designed by Molenaar & Van Winden Architecten + WAM Architecten features 160 rooms and sits 11 stories high, towering over much of its surroundings and sticking out for miles around – for better or worse – from its urban landscape. From their overall forms down to the white and green facades, wood-carved decor and window treatments, the component ‘houses’ in the design were patterned after actual conventional structures in the area.

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Oktavilla

Designed by Elding Oscarson collective, the walls of this design agency are made up of thousands of magazines.

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