Both Rem Koolhaas' firm and rivals BIG are presenting their proposals to the Miami Beach City Commission today.

OMA is working alongside property developers Tishman and UIA, architects TVSdesign and landscape architects MVVA and Raymond Jungles, who together form a team called South Beach ACE.

"The convention centre site is a total aberration in the urban fabric of the city," says Dan Tishman, chairman of Tishman, in the movie (above). "It just doesn't live up to the standards of Miami."

The team's vision includes building an 800-room hotel on top of the existing convention centre, which is the location for the annual Art Basel - Miami Beach and Design Miami trade fairs.

The convention centre would also be expanded and reorganised, rotating it 90 degrees and placing its main entrance to the south, where it would face a row of new and old buildings, including the renovated Jackie Gleason Theater.

To the north would be a network of shaded green spaces and a large grassy hill covering a loading area for trucks and a parking garage.

Other OMA projects we've reported on lately include the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, which is due to complete next month in the Chinese city, and a masterplan for a new urban development south of Bordeaux, France – see all architecture by OMA.

Rival shortlisted firm BIG has also unveiled plans for two twisted apartment blocks in Coconut Grove, Miami, while architect John Pawson recently designed 26 luxury apartments for Miami Beach – see all projects in Miami.

Here's some more information from South Beach ACE:

Sitting on 52 acres within the vibrant and unique community that is Miami Beach, an outdated convention centre acts as an urban blockade – inactive when conventions are not in town, disruptive to adjoining neighborhoods and inhibiting connections to Lincoln Road and surrounding communities. Our masterplan resolves each of these issues through a series of ingenious yet simple moves:

» We conceptually rotate the convention center, reorienting the site to allow for east-west neighbourhood connectivity and a southerly orientation for both convention centre and hotel guests

» We concentrate the density at the centre of the site and make the revamped convention centre and its meeting and ballroom space contiguous with the hotel – a feature that meeting planners love

» We reimagine the area's existing assets: the Jackie Gleason Theater, the Carl Fisher Clubhouse, City Hall, the 17th Street Garage and 17th Street itself are all maintained and transformed to better engage their surroundings while keeping the character of Miami Beach

» We fill the rest of the site with public amenities and programmed uses appropriate to activate the space 7 days a week, 365 days a year

In short, our plan upgrades the convention centre into a best-in-class facility and weaves the entire convention centre site into the fabric of Miami Beach. It will feel both new and like it was always there.

The post Miami Beach Convention Center
by OMA appeared first on Dezeen.

Bjarke Ingels' firm will present its proposal to the Miami Beach City Commission today, where it will go head-to-head with a rival design by Dutch firm OMA.

BIG produced its proposal in a team called Portman CMC, which includes property developers Portman Holdings and CMC Group, architects John Portman & Associates, West8 and Fentress Architects, and circus entertainers Cirque du Soleil, who would provide an event space on the site.

Miami Beach Convention Center is currently "a dead black hole of asphalt in the heart of one the most beautiful and lively cities in America," the team explain. "Our mission is to bring Miami Beach back to the Convention Center."

The proposal is centred around the creation of a public square, with paths, plazas, gardens and parks connecting the convention centre with the surrounding buildings.

The convention centre itself would be given a green roof, which would function as an event space and a location for annually commissioned artwork.

The Jackie Gleason Theater would be renovated and its street level lobbies, restaurants and cafe made publicly accessible, while a new museum for Latin American culture would be built alongside it. The proposal also includes a hotel and several blocks of apartments.

Both BIG and rival team OMA are also on the shortlist to design a centre for the Nobel Prize in Stockholm, Sweden, while earlier this year BIG unveiled plans for two twisted apartment blocks in Coconut Grove, Miami – see all architecture by BIG.

Other Miami projects we've featured lately include architect John Pawson's 26 luxury apartments for Miami Beach and a multi-storey car park by Herzog & de Meuron that hosts parties, yoga classes and weddings – see all projects in Miami.

Here's some more information from BIG:

BIG together with West 8, Fentress, JPA and developers Portman CMC proposes Miami Beach Square as the centerpiece of their 52 acre Convention Center.

Miami Beach is a unique city in so many ways. It is one of the youngest cities in America – and perhaps right now one of the most vibrant and dynamic. Its streetscape is characterised by a lively walkable urban fabric with a friendly human scaled environment under the cool shade of tropical trees and art deco canopies - except at the convention center. It is a dead black hole of asphalt in the heart of one the most beautiful and lively cities in America.

Our mission is to bring Miami Beach back to the Convention Center – and to imagine an architecture and an urban space unique to the climate and culture of Miami Beach.

We propose to roll out an urban fabric of paths and plazas, parks and gardens that forms an archipelago of urban oases throughout the site. At the heart of it we introduce a central square to become the pivoting point of the entire neighbourhood, becoming the front door to the convention centre and the convention hotel, a front lawn to the revitalised Jackie Gleason Theater, a town square for the city hall, an outdoor arena for the Latin American Cultural Museum, and the red carpet for the big botanical ball room.

"We have devised a strategy that combines urban planning and landscape design to create a neighborhood characterised by human scale, pedestrian connections, shaded spaces with public oriented programmes lining the streets and squares. A neighbourhood that, depending on the season, the weekday, or even the time of day can be perceived as a lively downtown neighbourhood or an inviting public park." Bjarke Ingels, creative director, BIG

The square creates a series of intuitive connections across the site – a diagonal that connects the Soundscape to the Botanical Gardens and Holocaust Memorial. A north-south connection joins the Collins Canal to Lincoln Road and naturally channels the flow of convention visitors to the liveliness of Lincoln Road. A green network of public spaces that stitches together all of the adjacent neighbourhoods – formerly separated by the convention centre – into a complete and coherent community for both visitors and residents. All public programmes old and new come together on the square. All great cities have a great square – this will be Miami Beach Square.

"Rather than scattering all the programme across the 52 acre site we have decided to concentrate it around the center piece of our public realm - Miami Beach Square bringing focus to the renovated Jackie Gleason Theater, the entrance of the convention center and for the first time ever creating a worthy civic presence to Miami Beach City Hall." Jamie Maslyn Larsen, West 8, Creator of Soundscape Park

By popular demand we have found a way to preserve and enhance the architecture and programming of the Jackie Gleason Theater. By making it all public at the street level – opening up lobbies, restaurants and cafes on all sides – we make the Gleason a lively centerpiece in this new neighborhood. Towards the Square we propose to extend the fly tower with a performing arts centre with various spaces for rehearsal and offering a visual connection to the public. Adjacent to the Jackie Gleason Theater sits the new Latin American Cultural Museum consisting of a base of public programmes opening up on the square. The building form creates a covered shaded event space on the square blurring the transition between inside and outside.

Today the Miami Beach City Hall is almost like a leftover wedged between random neighbours surrounded by traffic. Our proposal places it right in the middle of the town square with ample space for public expression and at the heart of communal life. The Miami Beach City Hall and Botanical Ballroom bookend the Square making it a natural extension of the civic activities of city hall. To the north the botanical ballroom opens up allowing for beautiful views of the botanical gardens and the memorial. The Ballroom has an entrance to the south and to the north allowing for seamless connectivity to the convention centre – under the shade and shelter of the canopies.

Rather than being the hermetic monoprogrammatic box that the Miami Beach Convention Center is today – a single programme at the size of an urban block - we propose to consider the Convention Center an actual urban block complete with different programmes, grown together to form a continuous architecture. A gradual transition from public to private, cultural to civic, conference to residential turns a stroll around the block into an experience of continuous variation. Along the entire west adjacent to the various gardens and the new square - the main entrances to the Convention Center and Conference Center occupy the ground. The hotel lobby spans the entire south elevation in continuation of the Convention Center lobby. The hotel façade as pulled back, forming a cascade of terraces for the south facing hotel rooms – decreasing the perceived height seen from the Gleason.

The roof of the Convention Center is framed by a green roof drawing the outline of the urban block – framing the hotel gardens and the roof parking interspersed with shade giving landscapes. As a reoccurring annual event we propose to sponsor an art foundation that will deliver a roof art piece to cover the remaining roof surface turning it into a giant ever-changing canvas seen from the air as well as the roof terrace of the hotel. An ever changing giant canvas that will annually challenge contemporary artists with an architectural scale canvas – seen from the roofs and penthouses of adjacent buildings, from aeroplanes and Google Earth.

"Realising that a challenge that seemed to be driven by two incompatible agendas was actually the opportunity to create a convention centre district that is not only for convention-goers but, more importantly, for residents." Jack Portman, Portman Holdings and JPA

The post Miami Beach Convention Center
by BIG appeared first on Dezeen.

News: work has started on a football stadium in Bordeaux, France, by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron.

First unveiled in 2011, when it was referred to as the Stade Bordeaux Atlantique, Herzog & de Meuron's Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux will provide seating for up to 42,000 spectators.

A rectangular white roof will cover the stadium, supported by a forest of slim white columns.

The structure is expected to be completed in 2015 ready to host matches during the Euro 2016 football championship.

Last week construction began on an outdoor bathing lake in Riehen, Switzerland, also by Herzog & de Meuron.

The architects previously completed the National Stadium in Beijing for the 2008 Olympic Games – see all architecture by Herzog & de Meuron or see all stadiums.

Earlier this year French designer Philippe Starck and car company Peugeot unveiled a prototype bicycle for a free cycle scheme in Bordeaux – see all projects in Bordeaux.

The post Construction begins on Bordeaux
stadium by Herzog & de Meuron appeared first on Dezeen.

News: Danish studio Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and American firm Ralph Appelbaum Associates (RAA) have been chosen to design a Lego visitor experience centre in Billund, Denmark.

Scheduled to open in 2016, the Lego House will tell the story of the famous Danish toy brand while offering educational and play activities for children and families.

BIG founder and partner Bjarke Ingels said: "It is one of our great dreams at BIG that we are now able to design a building for and with the Lego Group.

"I owe a huge personal debt to the Lego brick, and I can see in my nephews that its role in developing the child as a creative, thinking, imaginative human being becomes ever stronger in a world in which creativity and innovation are key elements in virtually all aspects of society."

Hans Peter Folmann, senior director of the Lego House project, said BIG and RAA won the competition because they had "the best understanding of the idea behind the Lego brick, Lego play and Lego value".

"At the same time they possess a wealth of experience in architecture and museum design," he added. RAA's work includes the London Transport Museum and the Museum of Jewish History and Tolerance Center in Moscow, while BIG has won competitions to design a cultural centre in Bordeaux and a national gallery in Greenland.

Construction of the Lego House in Billund – also the location of the Legoland theme park – is scheduled to start in 2014.

Back in 2007, BIG presented a Lego model of to propose a cluster of high-rise buildings in Copenhagen – see all architecture by BIG.

Other Lego projects we've featured include 676 miniature Lego towers made by MVRDV and a Lego greenhouse built in London's Covent Garden – see all news about Lego.

Here's the full press release from Lego:

International architects to design Lego experience centre in Denmark

Denmark’s Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and Ralph Appelbaum Associates (RAA) of America will team up with the Lego Group to design the physical home for “The Lego House” in Billund, Denmark.

The name has been decided for the Lego experience centre due to be built in Billund, Denmark. Scheduled to open in 2016, the facility will welcome approx. 250,000 annual visitors and will be called: The Lego House. Construction of The Lego House in the centre of Billund is expected to start in 2014.

”The Lego House will be a place where people can enjoy active fun but at the same time it will be an educational and inspirational experience – everything that Lego play offers. The experience centre will give us the opportunity to show how children learn through Lego play. We’ll be able to combine academic knowledge about the developmental aspects of play with the brick itself – enabling children and their parents to see and feel what Lego play offers. And woven into the situation we’ll be able to relate the story of our company in a dedicated way, reflecting our values,” says Lego owner Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen.

Two architectural practices have been chosen to design The Lego House: one is a Danish company, Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), the other an American, Ralph Appelbaum Associates (RAA).

“In our competitions for the project these two companies had the best understanding of the idea behind the Lego® brick, Lego play and Lego values. At the same time they possess a wealth of experience in architecture and museum design, and I’m looking forward to our companies’ teaming up to produce outstanding settings and exciting experiences for future visitors to The Lego House,” says Hans Peter Folmann, Senior Director, Lego Huset.

RAA is acclaimed for its work around the world on large-scale educational experiences, including US FIRST (home of Junior First Lego League), the London Transport Museum and the Museum of Jewish History and Tolerance Center in Moscow.

"We are thrilled to be part of creating the Lego house that will be devoted to the builders of tomorrow. Playing, learning and creating with Lego Group's international team of architects, thinkers and builders is a cherished commission for any designer," says Ralph Appelbaum.

Danish architect company BIG is among other projects known for the Danish Expo Pavilion 2010, the West57th Street courtscraper currently under construction in New York, and the soon to be opened Maritime Museum north of Copenhagen.

“It is one of our great dreams at BIG that we are now able to design a building for and with the Lego Group. I owe a huge personal debt to the Lego brick, and I can see in my nephews that its role in developing the child as a creative, thinking, imaginative human being becomes ever stronger in a world in which creativity and innovation are key elements in virtually all aspects of society,” says Bjarke Ingels, founder and partner, BIG.

The post BIG and RAA to design Lego
visitor centre in Denmark appeared first on Dezeen.

Designed by CEBRA for the ski travel agency Danski, Skidome Denmark would have six indoor and two outdoor slopes on its three centrally connected arches, which resemble a six-armed snowflake.

If constructed, each arch would stretch 700 metres across the river Gudenåen, with the highest arch rising 110 metres above the ground. The biggest ski dome in the world at present is in Dubai – but at 22,500 square metres, Ski Dubai would be easily eclipsed by the 70,000 square metre Skidome Denmark if it goes ahead.

Unlike most indoor ski slopes, which tend to be built with few or no windows, the Skidome would have a perforated facade to give skiers a view over the surrounding river and meadows.

The topography of the six slopes is based on the most popular pistes of the Alpe d’Huez ski resort in France, but the architects say the slopes could be altered over time to give skiers a different experience on each visit.

The Skidome is also intended to be a useful addition to the city's wider infrastructure. "We have placed and designed the ski dome over the river to connect the different neighborhoods in the town of Randers," said Danksi representative Simon Oscar Andersen. "Actually, we give a whole lot to the city – the world's biggest ski dome, and a whole new connection across the river, which solves a lot of infrastructural problems for the city."

The Skidome would also offer facilities for skateboarding and BMXing, as well as a landscaped park on the roof.

Earlier this year we reported on CEBRA's proposal for a science and technology centre full of curving green ramps inside a former mineral water bottling plant in Copenhagen.

Images are from CEBRA.

See all our stories about winter sports »
See all our stories from Denmark »

Here's some more information from the architects:

Danish architecture practice CEBRA has designed Skidome Denmark - a vision for the world’s biggest ski dome in the city of Randers for ski travelling agency Danski. The proposal offers over 3 km of indoor and outdoor slopes, freestyle park, hotel, restaurant and shops, covering a total area of 100.000 m2.

CEBRA’s ambitious proposal consists of three centrally connected arches, which resemble the basic shape of a six-armed snowflake. The arches each span 700 m across the river Gudenåen and the top arch’s highest point rises 110 m over ground, creating a distinctive landmark for the entire region, bringing a piece of the Alps to Denmark.

The basic idea of Skidome Denmark is to share and pass on the joy of skiing to the Danes by creating spectacular indoor facilities that bring skiers as close as possible to the experience of hurtling down a mountain side in the Alps. In order to meet this ambition, the architects have been inspired reversely, so to speak. Most ski domes around the world are designed from the inside with no or very few windows. However, an essential part of the skiing experience consists in being able to enjoy the surrounding scenery. The proposal’s high-rise composition of three arches combined with a filigree façade structure allows for spectacular views over Randers and the river-meadow area.

Skidome Denmark brings, quite literally, a piece of the Alps to Denmark: The slopes are developed in association with Alpe d’Huez ski resort in France, and the gradients are copied directly from the most popular pistes. The arches contain a total of six slopes with real snow and varying degrees of difficulty, so that skiers of all ages will be able to find challenges according to skills and experience. Every piste has its own chair lift and the three arches are conjoint by an elevator for transporting skiers between the different levels. In order to ensure variation in the landscape over time, it is possible to transform the pistes’ topography, providing visitors with a different experience each time they visit the ski dome.

Besides its primary function as a ski park, the vision for Skidome Denmark is designed to form an addition to Randers’ infrastructure, connecting the city across the natural barrier formed by the river Gudenåen. It is the aim of the concept that the dome can be used and enjoyed by everyone – any time of the day, any time of the year. Thus, the arches’ exterior roof surfaces are an integrated part of the design equal to the interior ski slopes. The top arch’s roof offers two black pistes, allowing outdoor skiing even during the summer. The middle arch is shaped like an urban playground with street sport facilities for skateboarding, BMX etc., while the bottom arch has a green landscape roof, which like a raised city park invites to a wide range of leisure activities.

Name: Skidome Denmark
Commission: Private
Client:  Danski
Type: Conceptual proposal
Location: Randers, DK
Area:  100,000 m2
Max. capacity: 3000 guests
Facilities: 6 indoor and 2 outdoor ski slopes (total length of 3020 m), 1 freestyle park
Hotel, restaurant, bar, shops
Public street sports park and green park

The post Skidome Denmark
by CEBRA appeared first on Dezeen.