FALL 2008
August - October 2008- Paris, London

British Museum, London, Fosters & Partners

Renzo Piano Workshop, Paris

Quai Branly Museum, Atelier Jean Nouvel

Foundation Cartier for Contemporary Art - Cesar Exhibit, Atelier Jean Nouvel

SUMMER 2008
June 26 2008- Beijing, China

Linked Hybrid- Steven Holl Architects
Steven Holl Architects has created a welcome contrast to mass-housing compounds with the new Linked Hybrid development. The 210,000-square-meter complex contains more than 700 apartments, plus commercial spaces, a hotel, a cinema, a kindergarten, and underground parking. Sitting on 6.18 hectares (that’s 15.27 acres) of land adjacent to the old city wall of Beijing, the eight towers which comprise Linked Hybrid will house one of the largest geothermal cooling and heating systems in the world. Water circulating from 100 meters below ground will be pumped through the buildings’ concrete floors, heating the complex in winter and cooling it in summer; there are no boilers to supply heat and no electrical air conditioners. Linked Hybrid effectively forms a city within the city. The 20th floor of all of the buildings connect to one another via an open architectural ring filled with enough cafes and services to support the daily life of over 2,500 inhabitants.

Just little over a month to the Olympic Games, mega-structures in Beijing prove to be astounding and inspiring with architectural firms such as OMA, Herzog de Meuron, Paul Andrew, Norman Foster and PTW Architects displaying their skills.

National Swimming Center
A semitransparent cube with ‘bubbles’ as the skin of the building, the Water Cube is located inside the Beijing Olympic Park. Covering a total floor space of 50,000 square meters, it has 17,000 seats and is one of the landmark buildings in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. After the Games it will be used a public recreational park.

National Stadium
The Birds Nest is jointly designed by Herzog and De Meuron Architekten AG, Switzerland, and China Architecture Design Institute. Controversy surrounds the design with its nest structure made of gray mining steel covered with a transparent membrane. The stadium is located in the Olympic Park, northeast of the city axis line, covering an area of 204,100 square meters and holds a capacity of 100‘000 spectators.

Beijing International Airport
The world’s largest and most advanced airport building, technologically and also in terms of passenger experience, operational efficiency and sustainability is symbol of uniquely Chinese sense of place and will be a true gateway to the nation. Its soaring aerodynamic roof and dragon-like form celebrates the thrill of flight and evokes traditional Chinese colours and symbols.