Called Premier Campus Office, the building will be located in the Kagithane district of Istanbul.

Julien De Smedt Architects has proposed a gently curving M-shaped plan topped with several levels of green terraces.

As well as offices, the building will offer shops and leisure activities on its ground floor.

"We've thought of a building where inside interacts with outside, where the plan is flexible to allow for anyone to find its desired space and place, whether it be a small one man show company or a large corporate office employing hundreds," the architects said.

The firm, which is based in Oslo, Copenhagen and Brussels, was selected from a shortlist that includes Dutch firm UNStudio and Italian architect Massimiliano Fuksas.

Construction on the building will begin in June.

The firm's previous work includes a Danish housing development modelled on a cluster of icebergs and Holmenkollen ski jump in Oslo, Norway – see all architecture and design by JDS Architects.

Other projects in Turkey we've featured lately include an apartment building covered in timber louvres and shutters and plans for a museum at the site of the ancient city of Troy.

Here's some more information from the architects:

The Premier Campus Office in Kagithane is a business district that focuses on the users working and living qualities and addresses its presence in Istanbul as a new form of contextual and urban approach: The building is formed by our desire to make it interact with its environment. It opens itself up to the neighbourhood and offers spaces to the users and the passers by such as plazas, intimate gardens and generous terraces.

The volume of the block is literally carved out to invite the surroundings in. The local hilly landscape, characteristic to Istanbul, is continued in the meandering of the volume both in plan, adapting to the site's edges, and in section, weaving into itself in a series of gentle curving slopes, echoing the nearby Bosphorus waves. The vibrant commercial life of the ground floor burst out onto the plazas and the landscape. Upstairs the offices open out onto the green terraces, populated with lush vegetation, tempering the hot Springs and Summers. The volume reads clearly while still opening itself generously to the city from the far. As one gets closer the interiors become more discreet, protected by louvers that help shade from the sun.

The project acts as a catalyst of business life for a new Istanbul, that promotes contemporary culture, architecture and lifestyle. We’ve thought of a building where inside interacts with outside, where the plan is flexible to allow for anyone to find its desired space and place, whether it be a small one man show company or a large corporate office employing hundreds. We believe life is plural and various entities should coexist and exchange their experiences. The Premier Campus Office is where such a rich diversity can find its place.

Project: Commercial
Size: 100,000 sq m
Location: Istanbul, Turkey
JDS partner in charge: Julien De Smedt
Client: Feryapi
Team: DB Architects, Tavusbay-STATIK, Geodinamik, Dinamik Proje, Pozitif Proje
Project leader: Kamile Malinauskaite
Type: Invited competition
Status: Ongoing

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office complex for Istanbul appeared first on Dezeen.

MVRDV's masterplan covers a 4.5 hectare site at the intersection of Shenhai Express Way and Shenbin Road. Straddling two sides of the junction, the new Central Business District will comprise a large southern plot and a smaller northern plot, which together will accommodate ten office towers and an underground shopping centre designed by architecture firm Aedas.

Sunken plazas are proposed for both sites, creating pedestrian zones that are sheltered from the busy roads. Wide stairs will be added to create informal seating areas, plus the larger of the two plazas will be surrounded by the windows of the new shopping centre.

Entrances to the shopping centre will also be added at ground level in the form of two giant glass cubes.

Nine of the office buildings will be located on the southern plot. Each will be between five and nine storeys in height and will feature rounded edges to create streamlined shapes.

The tenth office block is planned for the northern plot and is conceived as a cluster of four connected towers that the architects describe as "flower shaped". A series of cultural facilities will be housed in the lowest floors of this building.

MVRDV will use indigenous plants to give every building a green roof, while the flower building will feature a rooftop jogging track.

The Central Business District is set to complete in 2015.

Other recent masterplans by MVRDV include a square-shaped peninsula in the Dutch city of Almere and a district beside a motorway in the French town of Villeneuve d'Ascq. See more architecture by MVRDV.

Here are more details from the architects:

MVRDV start construction of business district at Shanghai Hongqiao Airport after winning competition

Sincere Property, MVRDV and Aedas have started construction on a Central Business District at Shanghai's mostly domestic airport Hongqiao. The 4.5ha site is located near Hongqiao Airport train station at the corner of Shenhai Express Way and Shenbin Road. The plan comprises ten office towers, an underground shopping centre, cultural program, parking and a sunken plaza which will bring a more intimate form of urban life into an area currently dominated by large boulevards and urban expressways. The project's completion is planned for 2015.

Just weeks after winning the competition, construction has already started on this urban masterplan for an office and retail centre near the fourth busiest airport in mainland China. The 4.5ha site is divided into a small northern plot of 8,409 m2 and a larger southern plot. The team won the competition with highly energy-efficient architecture combined with an intimate urban plan which allows for pedestrian-friendly spaces.

The 110,000m2 offices are divided into ten towers in total: nine office towers on the southern plot ranging from five to nine floors, facilitating rental to different sized companies. The towers are flexibly designed to contain one or more companies. On the northern plot, the tops of four towers will merge into one building, forming a flower shaped landmark of four floors, cantilevered high above the ground.

The 47,000m2 retail space will be located partly on the ground floor and partly along a sunken plaza sheltered from vehicle traffic. Two glass cubes mark the entrances to the shopping centre and are part of the neighbourhood's pedestrian route, which meanders through the site. The shopping centre is designed by Aedas. On both plots a spacious sunken plaza features wide stairs that can be used as seating, allowing cultural events to be hosted on the site.

Facade area has been minimized by introducing round cornered towers which, together with the continuous 50,5% transparency stone façade, leads to an efficient energy consumption. The façade presents a subtle shifted grid with a delicate bamboo forest reference. The self shading shape of the flower building has lead to a façade with smaller openings on the upper floors for efficient energy consumption. Hidden hatches next to the windows allow for natural ventilation.

The ground floor of the flower building is reserved for 1.790 m2 of cultural program. A 55.000m2 parking garage is located underneath the shopping centre.

The Hongqiao CBD will reach three stars, the highest ranking of the Chinese 'Green Building Label'. Sustainable building features that will be used include high performance insulation, optimised building forms, shaded spaces, natural ventilation, rainwater collection, permeable road surfaces, links to public transport and a reduction in the urban heat island effect. Nine office towers will feature green roofs growing local plant species and the flower building will offer a sky garden with a continuous jogging path.

MVRDV was selected from a competition with 3 competitors to design the business park. The shopping centre is designed by Aedas. Completion is planned for 2015.

In 2003 MVRDV realised the successful Unterföhring. Park Village office campus near Munich in which urban intimacy was introduced into a large, business park environment.

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Hongqiao Airport by MVRDV with Aedas appeared first on Dezeen.

News: Danish firm Henning Larsen Architects has designed a headquarters for software giant Microsoft as part of plans for a new university and business district north of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Commissioned by the council of Lyngby-Taarbæk, the project will see Henning Larsen Architects develop a 40,000-square-metre cluster of buildings containing student residences and shops alongside the Microsoft offices.

The software firm also plans to make its facilities available to the community. "The citizens can use our open cafe and technology area, students can use our allocated study area, and we will regularly host different events that will connect us even closer to the local area and Denmark," said Niels Soelberg, CEO for Microsoft Denmark.

Located in the area of Kanalvejsgrunden in Lyngby, the buildings will form part of the council's vision for the Lyngby-Taarbæk City of Knowledge and Urban Development 2020, an initiative to promote the district as a leading university town and centre of creative business.

"The project reflects an interesting urban development strategy. Knowledge-intensive businesses are connected to urban life and the local study community," said Lyngby-Tarbæk's mayor Søren P. Rasmussen. "The building will create a lot of new jobs and provide a welcoming, dynamic urban space where city centre and green areas meet."

The architects will collaborate on the project with financial firm Danica Pension, engineering consultants COWI and project managers Alectia.

Construction work is expected to begin later in 2013.

Henning Larsen Architects' recent projects include proposals for a public square and offices in Trondheim, Norway and a concert hall and conference centre in Reykjavik, Iceland – see all architecture by Henning Larsen Architects.

Last year Microsoft opened a Vienna office featuring themed meeting rooms, artificial grass and a huge slide – see all news about Microsoft.

Here's more information from Henning Larsen:

In the heart of Lyngby situated north of Copenhagen, Danica Pension in collaboration with Henning Larsen Architects, COWI and Alectia have developed the area of Kanalvejsgrunden with a new building that will comprise student residences, retail and Microsoft's new Danish headquarters. The project will create a new unique urban space accessible to everyone and will bring citizens, students and businesses closer together.

The municipal council of Lyngby-Taarbæk looks forward to seeing an open, innovative building rising in the city centre. The project marks an important step in the realisation of the municipality’s visions for Lyngby-Taarbæk City of Knowledge and Urban Development 2020 – a locally developed initiative aiming at making Lyngby one of the leading university cities and centres of knowledge and creativity in Northern Europe.

Mayor Søren P. Rasmussen says: "The project reflects an interesting urban development strategy. Knowledge-intensive businesses are connected to urban life and the local study community. In addition, the building will create a lot of new jobs and provide a welcoming, dynamic urban space where city centre and green areas meet."

Microsoft's new headquarters forms part of the organisation's overall vision to create the workplace of the future – where employees are supported in their different ways of thinking, working and collaborating through a flexible interior layout, based on state-of-the-art technologies. Henning Larsen Architects has had a close dialogue with Microsoft in the space planning process.

The municipality's ambition of positioning itself as a leading knowledge city has been a determining factor for Microsoft's decision to consolidate its activities and employees from their two companies in Denmark in Lyngby.

"Microsoft is already well-established in Denmark with our 900 employees and more than 3,700 partner companies, and we also look forward to becoming an active part of the knowledge and university centre of Lyngby-Taarbæk. The citizens can use our open café and technology area, students can use our allocated study area, and we will regularly host different events that will connect us even closer to the local area and Denmark," says Niels Soelberg, CEO for Microsoft Denmark.

The new building will be located on a 16,350 m2 plot in the centre of Lyngby, in the street of Kanalvej between Klampenborgvej and Toftebæksvej. The building will cover a total of 40,000 m2. The first sod is expected to be cut already later in 2013.

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headquarters outside Copenhagen appeared first on Dezeen.

The two-storey building is positioned within the ABC Center, where visitors come to see full-size mock-ups of prefabricated houses, and serves as an administrative centre and an enquiries point.

Designed as a collaboration between Odagi, of Odagi Planning & Associates, and Narushima, of Narushima Architecture Office, the ABC Center House features a mono-pitched roof covered in skylights and solar panels, as well as mixture of different cladding materials that include timber and stone.

"In contrast to most model homes, where the building products pretend to be the surface of real materials, the real materials are applied in a graphical way in this building, as if they look like the imitated materials," says Kakuro Odagi.

The architect also explains that, like the show homes, the building was designed without any reference to its industrial surroundings. "The architecture may be seen to be fitting into the daydream-like landscape at a glance, but it is free from the model-home park's merchantability," he adds.

The square-shaped skylights are dotted across the surface of the roof to bring natural light to both the outdoor terrace and a top-floor seminar room, which opens out to a narrow balcony.

Glass walls separate the terrace from a customer lounge and information desk on the ground floor, plus an office and storage area are located alongside.

We've featured a few buildings relating to property sales on Dezeen. Others include a pointy property showroom in China and a showroom with a rampart-like facade in Singapore.

See more architecture in Japan »

Photography is by Daici Ano.

Here's some more information from the architects:

ABC CENTER HOUSE
2012 Yokohama, Japan

ABC CENTER HOUSE is an administrative building in a model-home park located in the inhospitable area with factories and industrial plants in Yokohama city, Kanagawa prefecture. This two-storied building is used as an office where customers first come to get information and where various events and seminars related to homebuying take place.

In general, the model homes are remodeled almost every 5 years in an attempt to promote their own merchantability and are equipped with the latest technology and specifications. The relationship with the surrounding environment and other neighboring model homes are ignored, and as a result, self-contained houses based merely on commercial value are standing independently on the park. It is ironic that every design of the house, consisting of factitious and mass-produced materials that would appeal to the dream of the buyer, all look much the same and has no distinctive qualities at all. In response to this context, we intended to create a place where visitors can experience the openness of the space and its value. The architecture may be seen to be fitting into the daydream-like landscape at a glance, however, it is free from the model-home park's merchantability.

A large shed roof with randomly-placed top lights covers the three parts of the building: the lounge connected contiguously to the terrace, the seminar room that looks like it has its interior and exterior reversed, and the semi-outdoor terrace under the eaves. It makes a gentle unity of the three spaces while maintaining each spatial identity. The terrace also serves as an intermediate space between the outside park and interior.

In contrast to most model homes, where the building products pretend to be the surface of real materials, the real materials are applied in a graphical way in this building as if they look like the imitated materials. This finishing gives a coordinated impression, seen from a distance, with the surrounding model homes in appearance of materials, while its actual contrary state can be seen from close by. Every material, whether it is for interior or exterior, is treated equivalently and mapped across the boundary of the adjacent room. The crossover of surface elements generates a relationship between the inside and outside space of the architecture itself and the one between architecture and landscape. Thus the outward extending space can be felt wherever you are: expansive space is created within a small building.

Architect: Kakuro ODAGI (Odagi Planning & Associates) + Daisuke NARUSHIMA (Narushima architecture office)
Location: Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
Structural Design: Yosuke KINOSHITA
Structural System: Wooden
Storeys: 2 Storeys
Maximum Height: 8,950 mm
Building Area: 81.86 sqm
Total Floor Area: 93.44 sqm
Project Year: 2012

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and Daisuke Narushima appeared first on Dezeen.

Designed by Rem Koolhaas' OMA back in 2006, the much-debated structure comprises a 250-metre skyscraper with a vast podium hoisted up around its waist, forming a canopy for a public plaza at its feet.

The three-storey podium is suspended 36 metres above the ground to create the large trading rooms of the Stock Exchange, while a landscaped garden will be accessible on its roof.

A strict grid of square windows generates the facade of the 46-storey tower, while the surrounding podium displays a zigzagging sequence of structural trusses.

Scheduled to complete in May, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange is OMA's second-largest building in China after the CCTV Headquarters in Beijing, which completed last year. The firm is also currently working on a second Shenzhen skyscraper in the city's business district. See more architecture in Shenzhen or more projects in China.

Dezeen filmed a series of interviews with Rem Koolhaas, as well as OMA partners Reinier de Graaf and Iyad Alsaka at an exhibition about the firm's work in London. Watch the movies or see all our stories about OMA.

Photography is by Philippe Ruault.

Here's some extra information from OMA:

Shenzhen Stock Exchange

The essence of the stock market is speculation: it is based on capital, not material. The Shenzhen Stock Exchange is conceived as a physical materialization of the virtual stock market: it is a building with a floating base, representing the stock market – more than physically accommodating it. Typically, the base of a building anchors a structure and connects it emphatically to the ground. In the case of Shenzhen Stock Exchange, the base, as if lifted by the same speculative euphoria that drives the market, has crept up the tower to become a raised podium, defying an architectural convention that has survived millennia into modernity: a solid building standing on a solid base.

SZSE's raised podium is a three-storey cantilevered platform floating 36m above the ground, one of the largest office floor plates, with an area of 15,000 m2 per floor and an accessible landscaped roof. The raised podium contains all the Stock Exchange functions, including the listing hall and all stock exchange departments. The raised podium vastly increases SZSE's exposure in its elevated position. When glowing at night, it "broadcasts" the virtual activities of the city's financial market, while its cantilevers crop and frame views of Shenzhen. The raised podium also liberates the ground level and creates a generous public space for what could have been what is typically a secure, private building.

The raised podium and the tower are combined as one structure, with the tower and atrium columns providing vertical and lateral support for the cantilevering structure. The raised podium is framed by a robust three-dimensional array of full-depth steel transfer trusses.

The tower is flanked by two atria – voids that connect the ground directly with the public spaces inside the building. SZSE staff enter from the East and tenants from the West. SZSE executive offices are located just above the raised podium, leaving the uppermost floors leasable as rental offices and a dining club.
The generic square form of the tower obediently blends in with the surrounding homogenous towers, but the facade of SZSE is different. The building's facade wraps the robust exoskeletal grid structure supporting the building in patterned glass. The texture of the glass cladding reveals the construction technology behind while simultaneously rendering it mysterious and beautiful. The neutral colour and translucency of the facade change with weather conditions, creating a mysterious crystalline effect: sparkling during bright sunshine, mute on an overcast day, radiant at dusk, and glowing at night. The facade is a "deep facade", with recessed openings that passively reduce the amount of solar heat gain entering the building, improve natural day light, and reduce energy consumption. SZSE is designed to be one of the first 3-star green rated buildings in
China.

The 46-storey (254m) Shenzhen Stock Exchange is a Financial Center with civic meaning. Located in a new public square at the meeting point of the north-south axis between Mount Lianhua and Binhe Boulevard, and the east-west axis of Shennan Road, Shenzhen's main artery, it engages the city not as an isolated object, but as a building to be reacted to at multiple scales and levels. At times appearing massive and at others intimate and personal, SZSE constantly generates new relationships within the urban context, hopefully as an impetus to new forms of architecture and urbanism.

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by OMA nears completion appeared first on Dezeen.