Head in the Clouds |New York, USA | by Studio Klimoski Chang Architects

FIGMENT, the Emerging New York Architect Committee (ENYA) of the American Institute of Architects New York Chapter (AIANY), and the Structural Engineers Association of New York (SEAoNY) are pleased to announce that Studio Klimoski Chang Architects’ Head in the Clouds has been assembled on Governors Island.

Designers Jason Klimoski, AIA, and Lesley Chang of Studio Klimoski Chang Architects kept sustainability in mind when designing Head in the Clouds. The structure’s armature is made from 1.5″ aluminum tubes that use less material and are easier to transport than more traditional materials such as wood.

All the materials are recyclable in an effort to limit the carbon footprint. Klimoski and Chang worked with schools and local organizations, including New York Road Runners and NYCRUNS, to collect the 53,780 milk jugs and water bottles needed to create Head in the Clouds.

The jugs were used to create 120 “pillows” that give the cloud its bumpy, organic shape. The bottles, accentuated with organic food coloring and water, create the interior’s blue hue.

Head in the Clouds offers visitors the chance to walk into the clouds, experiencing them from the inside out. 

Agora Hotel | Lausanne, Switzerland | Studio Hertrich & Adnet

The hotel was designed by Studio Hertrich & Adnet. The refurbised hotel is located in Lausanne, Switzerland. The decoration and style determines the luxury of the new mythical Agora Hotel.

The original hotel was build in the 1970’s by renowned Swiss hoteliers, the Fassbind family … George, the father, a determined and precursory man dared to create this hotel, but like many creations of that time.

This is a thread that runs through as one discovers the hotel from the basement to the attic, like a long walk in the mountains.

The basement hosts the spa / fitness area, evoking underground rivers, the ground floor hosts a very warm lobby / lounge area which resembles a village square, the corridors and the lift will elevate you to the heights to find “refuge” in the rooms.

Finally, at the top floor, you reach the “roof of the world” with the breakfast room that has a stunning view overlooking Lake Geneva.

Juggling between traditional materials, revised Swiss motifs, contemporary and unusual implementations, winks of acknowledgement and anecdotes ; the whole atmosphere of the public areas and of the guestrooms goes to create cocoons that are very “gemütlich” whereas the area at the top of the hotel facing the outside is much more bright, white and ethereal.

ABC Dbayeh Department Store | Beirut, Lebanon | by nARCHITECTS

The project was developed by New York based studio nARCHITECTS. The ABC Dbayeh Department Store is located in Beirut, Lebanon.

The Lebanese capital as being a blend of cultures with a touch of Parisian glamour, a dash of Berlin, and a bit of Miami; a recipe for a happening place that few can resist, which perhaps explains why this city has a vibrant gallery scene, lots of five star hotels and trendy eateries, and world class shopping. 

The latest of the latter is a new department store for ACB Dbayeh that is at once a luminous icon and street art.

Designed by the New York practice nARCHITECTS, the project doubles the store’s retail space, providing 450,000 sq ft of space in four aluminum and concrete volumes that are shifted horizontally and vertically in response to site and zoning constraints, resulting in a variety of exciting interior spaces.  

Each facade has a different character. The westernmost volume, which is first encountered by passersby driving along one of Beirut’s most traveled highways, has a silvery facade, an LED backlit laser cut aluminum screen that is a luminous icon at night and also reduces solar heat gain. 

A range of features in buildings have been designed to relate to the scale of the visitor, as, for example, the 217ft long structure-free glazed display along the Dbayeh Highway that provides a unique new space for dramatic art installations. On top of the building are rooftop restaurants where diners can enjoy a backstage view of a performance from behind a perforated screen or take in the views of the Mediterranean Sea. 

The goal of the project, says architect and Principal Eric Bunge was "to create a dramatic and yet cohesive ensemble, which visitors and passersby can experience differently depending on the time of day or night.  We aimed to create a moment of simplicity along the increasingly animated Dbayeh highway.  We wanted the building to stand out in a sea of noise with a moment of silence.”

Infinite rock | Sharjah , UAE | by Studio Thilo Frank

The Infinite Rock was designed by Studio Thilo Frank. The project compromises a disturbingly strong caesura in the absolute brightness of the Arabian urban fabric: a dark volume that absorbs all light, creating a visual current that draws in the visitor.

Only one person can enter the unascertainable form at a time, through a dark and cavernous void.

A door comes into view, on the other side of which lies a glowing space lined in mirrors, a single swing at its centre.

The inside of the irregular polyhedral rock reveals a perfectly Euclidean core that is hard to grasp as its boundaries vanish in infinite reflections, with the viewer as the focal point.

When the visitor begins to swing, disorientation is at full effect as walls, ceiling, and floor disappear in a centrifugal motion that seems to suck the body in and out of the infinite space.

Museum of Science | Trento, Italy | by Renzo Piano

The project was developed by Italian based studio Renzo Piano. The context The urban framework of the new Museum of Science, comes as part of the design concept of the intervention in the former-Michelin, which is located in Trento, Italy.

The conception planning of the entire project aims to recreate in this area, a real piece of the city, with its joints and its functional complexity. The project was therefore primary objective is to make urban places that over time have become peripheral to the consolidated city, and he did trying to revive the proportions, the relationship between solids and voids, the density as well as the "layering" of the functional near the historical center. 

The development compromises a total volume of the area of  97.600mq which is divided into 11 "blocks". The residential and commercial space functions of tertiary, as well as the activities of public interest, which together at the park, "embrace" physically the entire new neighborhood at the same time becoming a major urban magnets for the entire city. 

This embrace is also emphasized by the theme of water, in the form of channel crosses from south to north and then duplicate the entire area, as reflected in a mirror, the shapes of the Museum. 

The main roads connecting with the area, and that therefore also affect the accessibility of the new Museum, are the ways Sanseverino and Mount Baldo. And 'provided that the path is Sanseverino, by the Municipality of Trent, partly buried in such a way that the public park, provided by the project, may extend, in its central part, without interruption until the embankment of the Adige. 

Fundamental importance will have the two underpasses, already planned and approved by the City Council of Trent, in character and convey (albeit with possible restrictions) that pedestrian and cycle. The first from the north in line with the actual street Taramelli, the second axis via Perini.