architecture – Quercus Architecture

11 December 2014

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Designed by Norway-based practice Snøhetta, in collaboration with local firm EHDD, the 10-story concrete structure will compliment SFMOMA’s original, Mario Botta-designed, red-brick museum.

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More free-to-the-public space, expanded education programs and an abundance of flexible performance-based gallery space.

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SFMOMA Expansion – Courtesy of MIR and Snøhetta

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News via SFMOMA

11 December 2014

Some Thoughts On Civilization with Mies van der Rohe

I will talk on civilization. But after a while I thought that was a very ambiguous title. It could mean a lot, it could mean the whole history of civilization.

Now what is civilization? I think it is a state of social culture marked by advances in all the world of men. It sounds like a description out of the dictionary. I know that. But to talk about civilization in the world would take a long, long time. I would not give talks on civilization in a semester. You can imagine that I cannot talk much here about that.

A chair is a very difficult object. A skyscraper is almost easier. That is why Chippendale is famous.Mies Van Der Rohe

My definition about civilization was not a full one. There is no question that the advance in science, and I have seen it at least for more than 50 years, and I have seen it advance rapidly and in the opposite I got the impression that these things become so strong in itself that they go on forever, and that the main problem would be to be able to guide these things a little.

And that is again the question of civilization. The question if we can educate ourselves enough and not to become able to regulate things because otherwise will go out of hand.

And it, it is you, you have to build up this civilization. You have to build up the world you want to live in. And nobody else can do it for you. I have one more thing to say: Don’t worry about success.

I always tell my students, “Success is just the by-product of good, simple and honest work.” And this simple and honest work, I think, is the essence of civilization.

Mies van der Rohe Speech, January 25, 1958 via MIES Society.

14 November 2014

Harbin Cultural Center

Influenced by both Chinese and Russian culture, Harbin is reputed as the music capital of the north. Different from other theater buildings that are normally located in the urban center, Harbin Grand Theater will not act as an isolated landmark for the city, but the natural continuation of the human spirit.

Surrounded by rivers, the Cultural Island embraces the wide riverbank as its background appearing as a glacier stretching and connecting to each other into a cohesive whole.

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Courtesy of MAD Architects

11 August 2014

Golden State Warriors Stadium

The Golden State Warriors recently announced that Snøhetta and AECOM have been selected as the architecture team to design the Warriors’ new sports and entertainment complex on the San Francisco waterfront.

Planned for a vibrant intersection between Downtown Calgary and the East Village, the new library aims to fulfill the city’s vision for a “technologically advanced public space for innovation, research and collaboration.”

The exterior’s fritted glass openings are strategically transparent in most public areas as an attempt to encourage pedestrians to enter.

The encapsulation of the existing Light Trail Train is currently underway, and the new Calgary Public Library is expected to be completed in 2018.

At its mid-section, the building lifts to form an arched, wood-clad entry that serves as a new public plaza and directly connects pedestrians through the site from the neighboring communities.