Striking Concepts: The Architectural Projects Unveiled This Month

Designed to transform the western gateway of the city, One Beverley Hills is an expansive mixed-use project that combines a luxury hotel, two residential buildings, a casual dining and retail pavilion and a publicly accessible botanic garden. The subtly retrofuturistic curved form is designed to highlight the Southern Californian landscape, while planting, water features and winding paths provide a pleasant environment for visitors.

“In its beginnings, Beverly Hills was agricultural flat land – a green oasis that fed a growing urbanity,” said Norman Foster, founder and executive chairman of Foster + Partners, of the project. “A century later, we have seized on this inspiration to create an organic architecture that merges with landscape, a large part of which is publicly accessible, creating a shared resource for the city.”

Image courtesy of Alagem Capital Group

A reworking of MVRDV’s iconic Dutch Pavilion for Hannover’s 2000 World Expo, this project is designed to transform the structure into a co-working space, alongside student housing and parking. Designed to celebrate the original structure, it keeps the original stacked landscape concept, transforming the original structure into the core co-working space, while surrounding it with two new buildings that reflect the stacked form.

“It’s such an exciting opportunity for us to revisit this early project of ours that we first worked on over twenty years ago,” said Jacob van Rijs, founding partner of MVRDV. “The original design was certainly a unique design for a very specific purpose, but despite its outspoken design its core structure is highly reusable and more flexible than originally imagined.”

Image courtesy of Antonio Luca Coco, Pavlos Ventouris, MVRDV

A new $65m hotel designed to be set within a lavender farm, Voco features a horseshoe layout that surrounds a private courtyard while prioritising the dramatic views of the valley beyond. Designed to appeal to the Instagram generation of travelers, it includes 196 rooms alongside conference spaces, a restaurant and a spa. There is also a boutique distillery to infuse the lavender into gin.

“A site not without its challenges, Hachem has created a spectacular response that pushes the boundaries and questions convention,” said the architects. “For the interiors of this landmark hotel we adopted ‘hidden pleasures’ as the narrative, in recognition of its secluded location on the doorstep of an idyllic rural playground.”

Image courtesy of Hachem Architects

The winner of an international competition, this is set to become the largest and most innovative rehabilitation centre in China, using terraces and overlapping spaces that provide a wide variety of gardens to support rehabilitation. Entirely dedicated to people with disabilities aged between 16 and 60, the centre is fully integrated into the wider city.

“Our project opens up a new perspective on the architecture of large rehabilitation centres,” said Stefano Boeri.

“This is firstly because it perceives the concept of motor and/or cognitive disability not as an example of fragility suffered by a minority of people but as a condition that is common to us all, even if only during one phase of our life. Secondly, it offers an idea of total accessibility to spaces and rehabilitation services and thirdly because in recognizing the extraordinary therapeutic quality of greenery and nature, it offers an astonishing amount of accessible green and open spaces dedicated to all different styles of rehabilitation.”

Image courtesy of Stefano Boeri Architetti China

A twisting structure that will provide a new home for York University’s School of Continuing Studies, this 100,00 square foot building will serve as a key gateway site for the Keele campus. Making considerable use of natural materials and light, the school is designed to serve as a strong reminder of the university’s commitment to non-traditional students, and highlights the growing importance of continual learning.

“Our language programmes are the top programs in North America. Our professional programs are among the most innovative in Canada and among the top programs in North America,” said Tracey Taylor-O'Reilly, assistant vice-president, Continuing Studies.

“Our physical environment needs to be an extension of the quality of the education we're providing to our students. This building will allow us to bring innovation using the cutting-edge, twisted design to create a world-class education experience in North America.”

Image courtesy of Perkins and Will