A South-Korean student designer Dong sung, Jung has created ‘SIN-sa‘ Chair. Design of the ‘sin-sa’ chair is motivative UK gentleman. Be according to refined image for ‘gentleman’, and then made high-quality, funny. Besides, for the sake of object to productive, and application of ergonomic design, used to walnut.

+ Designer: Dong sung, Jung | www.jungdongsung.com

We have been using Flipboard for 2 years since the 1st generation of iPad. It is the great application that allow us to gather all the favored website via feed. The application recently expands to support Android phones especially for Samsung Galaxy SIII (available on Google play).

Today, when we updated the Flipboard app in our ipad and Android phone, except for having those new awesome features, we noticed that [+MOOD] are already featured on Flipboard under “Photos & Design” categories. It make us more convenience to add [+MOOD] to your Flipboard account, if  you are yet to have us on your Flipboard, let’s add us by simply click on ‘+’.

If you are new to this application,

+ For Android users, click here to download from Google play.
+ For iPhone / iPad users, click here that link to Apple’s store.

Have fun!

MB Real Estate is pleased to announce the completion of the new approximately $150 million, 446,000 square foot Headquarters for the Americas facility for Astellas Pharma US, Inc.in Northbrook, Illinois.

GlenStar Properties, LLC was the developer of the project and MB Real Estate was the overall project manager. Andrew Davidson executive vice president and managing director of Corporate Services, along with David Burkards and Kyle Robbins, vice presidentsof MB Real Estate's Corporate Services group, began working with Astellas in 2007 offering a variety of real estate solutions that would fit the company's goals and operations.

This was a significant project for Chicago's suburban marketplace, particularly as it was started in a down market… The resulting project is a completely unique, trophy property that captures Astellas' vision of 'changing tomorrow' for patients around the globe. A facility of this caliber required constant communication and coordination and is the result of a superior construction team.

Davidson

The decision to purchase land and proceed with a build-to-suit development enabled Astellas to procure additional acreage and expand the project's scope to include amenities such as a covered parking structure, fitness center, and high-tech conference center. Astellas was also able to assemble a design and delivery team of top tier architects, engineers and contractors to bring the project to fruition. Goettsch Partners served as Architect of Record for the base building, and worked closely with SmithGroupJJR, which provided a full range of interior architecture services, including furniture, fixtures, equipment and wayfinding systems. Mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems were managed by WMA Consulting Engineers, Ltd. and Power Construction Company,LLC delivered the project as General Contractor.

The new headquarters is designed to help realize Astellas' vision—providing a bold, forward-thinking complex that allows them to see out in all directions… This view helps provide perspective as employees work to improve the health and lives of people worldwide.

James Goettsch, president of Goettsch Partners

This project is the result of a collaborative team committed to designing a facility which supports Astellas' specific operational requirements yet is reflective of the company's brand and image… Not only will this building provide a new home to hundreds of employees, it also symbolizes Astellas’ commitment to positively impact the broader community. Our team kept this in mind with each design decision we made.

Angie Lee, FAIA, IIDA, LEED AP, vice president and leader of SmithGroupJJR's Workplace Practice

The new Astellas Headquarters for the Americas facility has applied for LEED Gold Certification. MB Real worked closely with the U.S. Green Building Council and the Environmental Protection Agency to ensure the proper implementation of sustainable building design and practices. Green features of the Astellas property include a geothermal heating and cooling system, an energy efficient lighting system, and a window curtain wall which introduces an abundance of natural light deep into the space.

The timing of this project was fortuitous, because Astellas was able to acquire the site at a discounted price and build a project at a cost that was 20 percent less than other notable projects of this caliber.

commented David Graff, senior vice president of Project Services, who worked closely with Astellas and the construction team.

The new Astellas Headquarters for the Americas project has been well-recognized throughout the real estate community,and has received numerous awards including Office Development of the Year 2011 from the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP), and Build-to-Suit of the Year 2011 from the Greater Chicago Food Depository's Annual Commercial Real Estate Awards.Most recently, the development was honored with the Merit Award for New Construction in the Suburbs by the Chicago Building Congress. MB Real Estate was also awarded Project Manager of the Year 2011 for its involvement in the Astellas project by the Greater Chicago Food Depository.

+ About Goettsch Partners

Goettsch Partners (GP) is an innovative architecture firm with a global perspective, emphasizing a singular design approach across offices in Chicago, Shanghai and Abu Dhabi. Focused on combining exceptional design, technical expertise and unmatched service, the firm creates measurable value and environmentally responsible solutions. Services include architecture, interiors, planning and building enclosure design. Diverse projects around the world share a consistent emphasis on bringing bold design clarity to complex challenges. Visit www.gpchicago.com for more information.

+ About MB Real Estate Services LLC

Founded in 1982, MB Real Estate is a full-service real estate organization that provides multifaceted expertise in Asset/Facilities Management; Leasing Services; Project/Construction Management; Tenant Representation; and Investment Services. Headquartered in Chicago, with a regional office in New York City, MB Real Estate provides these services to corporations, institutions, professional organizations, private investors, and non-profit agencies. For more information, please visit www.mbres.com.

+ All images courtesy Jim Summaria Photography

BUILDING a new headquarter for Luftfartstilsynet is a challenge in creating a place for an uprooted organization, transplanted from Oslo to Bodø, and in doing so, BUILDING a new office CULTURE.

The site, a compact waterfront property, is hidden from its street address by the recently completed NAV building. Exploiting the one story difference between key level and street level, we perforate the NAV building with a tunnel that becomes a programmed (reception) bridge, connecting to the freestanding Luftfartstilsynet. Urbanistically the building completes the urban fabric whilst providing Luftstilsynet with a stand-alone building – connected and free.

Our strategy, committed to CULTURE and diversity, extends the entry tunnel to a raised, open level in the building. The canteen is a shared space on level 2, together with special meeting spaces and a course center. This 'openness', the interface between the city and office, expands the otherwise singular program of canteen to a multiplicitous space for territorialization – reception, meeting, course, lunch, party, retreat space.

Triggered by the sight lines of the city, the building is surgically cut, like a diamond, capturing the dynamic light of the north in surprising ways. The resulting form is reminiscent of the evasive form of the Stealth military plane, and the sharpness of folded paper planes. The building morphs from a large, square footprint at the base to a pure, rational office slab – from public to private.

The cuts on level 2 and 4, terraces connecting to break-out spaces inside the building, are generous informal spaces for meeting, within the stunning landscape.

Luftfartstilsynet Headquarters represents a new definition for the SPEC office building: high design ambition and high environmental standard (LEEDS standard). The status quo for facades in standard office buildings represents a process driven by contractor driven reductionism and excruciating budgets. The ensuing simplification has reduced detailing and ornamentation to a bare minimum. Breaking an unwieldy formulaic approach, we implement 4 strategies for the facade. First, through a 5 step color gradation of the stone, from black to white, we are able to create a building that sits firmly planted on the key, and diminishes vertically. The perception of the building is constantly changing, at times even disappearing. Secondly, to accelerate the movement of the building, the stone sizes change from very large tiles at the base, to small at the top. Next, the treatment of the stone varies, from polished and smooth at the base (human contact), to flamed in the middle portion, and hammered at the apex. And lastly the fenestration, is positioned flush with the stone, compliments the sculptural form of the building and accentuating the flux as it relates to the dynamic physical environment.

+ Project facts

Title: Luftfartstilsynet
Client: Breeze Luft AS, Luftfartstilsynet
Location: Bodø, Norway
Site: Waterfront property, Bodø city center
Area: 6.000m2
Program: Headquarters building for the Norwegian Civil Aviation Authority
Status: First prize 2009, completion 2011
Design: Space Group | https://www.spacegroup.no
Competition team: Gary Bates, Gro Bonesmo, Adam Kurdahl, Fredrik Kjellman, Naofumi Namba, Tim Prins
Project Development team: Gary Bates, Gro Bonesmo, Adam Kurdahl, Anne Wodstrup, Naofumi Namba, Wenche Andreassen, Claudia Laarmann, Geir Vågen, Gesine Gummi, Jens Niehues
Photography: Jeroen Musch

(Nominated for the Norwegian Building Award (Statens Byggeskikkpris) 2012)

+ About Space Group

Space Group (est. 1999) is an architecture and design office based in Oslo, Norway. The office is directed by partners Gro Bonesmo (NO), Adam Kurdahl (DK), and Gary Bates (USA). With a team of architects from around the world (Portugal, Germany, Colombia, Japan, USA, Australia, Denmark, Finland and Norway).

Space Group is an actor in the dynamic critical system of SPACE. Our approach to Architecture and Urbanism is straightforward and effective; process oriented. An open system for change and feedback, research and development – social, architectural, and programmatic.

Space Group is a "network based" office – a broad international intelligence base and compact core that attacks both small and large projects with similar ambition – strategic and inventive, flexible and specific. Space Group represents a collective intelligence where the whole is greater than the sum of parts.

The partners in Space Group are involved in every aspect of each project. The office believes in an intense collaboration, working closely with clients to find unique solutions and strategies.

+ All images and drawings courtesy Space Group

The City of Dallas, Matthews Southwest and Omni Hotels & Resorts appointed a team of leading experts in sustainability and green buildings to create a luxury convention center hotel for Dallas, designed with innovative features and constructed in a process to meet the highest industry certification standards possible. The fine work of the entire team – from owner, developer, operator, design architect, architect of record to general contractor and all subcontractors – brought the stellar achievement for Omni Hotel Dallas to be the first and only LEED Gold Certified hotel in Texas, and the largest LEED Gold Certified NC (new construction) hotel in the United States.

Design and Lead Architect: 5G Studio Collaborative

Along with defining a welcoming warmth and exciting energy, the 5G design of the new Omni Dallas Hotel included a strategy for LEED Silver Certification from the start, with a foundation of core features that would support big goals of innovation – and the possibility of an even higher level of LEED certification. This was achieved by a careful balancing of the budget of the City-owned hotel and addressing of big group needs and the fine points of building systems and operation.

Thanks to a comprehensive strategic plan, that was in turn implemented by the entire team, the hotel has achieved LEED Gold certification under the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED for New Construction Rating System.

Following is a summary of the design plan elements that contributed to the achievement.

First, the Omni Dallas Hotel started from a strong position of sustainability. The location for the Omni Dallas Hotel is a highly sustainable one. It is located within half a mile of two light rail stations and was a brownfield previous to pre-construction remediation.

5G Studio Collaborative then integrated a number of sustainable design strategies into the architectural design of the hotel in order to contribute meaningfully in the areas of energy conservation, water conservation, responsible material use, and occupant comfort and well-being:

1. Previously used as an open-surface asphalt parking area and parking garage, the site has been transformed into a pedestrian-friendly environment.
2. The heat island effect of the site was significantly reduced by the construction of the hotel development, which includes a large area of open green space, site hardscape with high Solar Reflectance Index (SRI) values, and roofing materials with high SRI values.
3. The hotel parking garage includes preferred parking spaces for low-emitting and fuel-efficient vehicles, and bicycle racks are located near the main entrance.
4. An underground cistern captures recycled condensate water for use in irrigating the landscaped areas in lieu of using potable city water.
5. The northwest corner of the property features a rain garden, which minimizes stormwater run-off from the site.
6. The glazing at the podium, the lower four levels of the hotel, primarily faces north and east in order to avoid afternoon solar heat gain into the building's public spaces.
7. The upper 19 floors of the hotel comprise the tower, which has high performance glazing and was specified with a low solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC) of 0.18 in order to reduce the energy consumption which results from solar heat gain during the majority of the year in Texas.
8. The hotel's mechanical and lighting systems were designed to be highly efficient, and an energy management system reduces energy consumption in the guestrooms through key card switches that control the lighting and HVAC in the guest rooms when they are unoccupied.
9. All faucets have low-flow aerators, all toilets are low-flow fixtures and the guest rooms have low-flow showerheads. The hotel's low-flow fixtures were calculated to provide water savings of over 30% as compared to a baseline of standard plumbing fixtures.
10. Balfour/Russell/Pegasus implemented a construction waste management program during construction which managed the recycling and salvaging of over 75% of the construction and demolition debris.
11. Materials and products with high recycled and regional content were carefully specified to limit the use of virgin materials and for reduced embodied energy.
12. In order to contribute to a healthier indoor air quality, the plan also specified use of low-emitting materials.
13. A comprehensive indoor air quality management plan limited the exposure of construction workers to unhealthy contaminants during construction, and it reduced the presence of unhealthy contaminants post-occupancy.
14. Strategically-located glazing, which is composed of glass types that were specified for their high light to solar gain (LSG) ratios, allows building occupants to enjoy high levels of quality natural daylighting and outdoor views.

Architect of Record: BOKA Powell

BOKA Powell, Dallas-based architecture and design firm, served as Architect of Record for the Omni Dallas Hotel.

• BOKA Powell managed the core, shell and interiors by coordinating with the design and construction teams, from the hotel's initial conception in August 2008 until completion in the fall of 2011.
• BOKA Powell coordinated – and at times collaborated – with Design Architect 5G Studio Collaborative and Waldrop + Nichols on their designs, and from there, developed plans for the development and construction to ensure that the intent of the design was met every step of the way.
• Additionally, BOKA Powell oversaw construction of the hotel to ensure it was in compliance with the architects' drawings and the designers' vision.

BOKA Powell's Role on LEED Gold Certification: Specifically, BOKA Powell reviewed products selected for use in the construction of the hotel to ensure they would meet LEED's specific requirements as outlined by 5G Studio Collaborative.

For example, BOKA Powell made sure that the construction team used recyclable materials, energy efficient windows, the proper thickness of insulation, bike racks and other specifications to make the project as green as possible.

General Contractor: Balfour Beatty Construction

The joint venture of Balfour Beatty Construction, H.J. Russell & Company, and Pegasus Texas Construction, LP (Balfour/Russell/Pegasus) successfully collaborated with the designers and contractors in achieving all 39 points required to secure LEED Gold certification for the Omni Dallas Hotel. Construction activities were planned with an emphasis on reducing pollution and included a recycling program that successfully diverted 89% of the construction waste from the landfill. The project team also maximized the use of recycled and locally obtained materials. Approximately 50% of the wood-based project material was certified, reclaimed product. Roof materials with favorable solar reflective indexes and covered parking reduce heat island effects. Balfour Beatty Construction, as part of the joint venture Balfour/Russell/Pegasus, led the design build team and oversaw, the design, construction, and LEED process.

• LEED Accredited Professionals: Balfour Beatty employed 12 LEED Accredited Professionals on the project, ranging from the design-build staff to various engineers and consultants. Balfour Beatty hired the LEED certification consultant to ensure the project was built to meet the 39 credit requirements necessary to achieve LEED Gold, as set by the US Green Building Council.
• Recycling/Forest Management: Balfour Beatty mandated an aggressive recycling program for the removal of construction waste and in turn diverted over 89% of the projects construction waste from the landfill. The team also utilized recycled and regional materials as well as certified wood for 50 percent of the wood-based material used on the project to help encourage environmentally responsible forest management.
• Air Quality: The Balfour Beatty in-door air quality management plan helped to reduce IAQ problems resulting from construction. The team used low VOC products such as paints, adhesives, carpet systems, and composite woods.
• Construction Activity Pollution Prevention: The Balfour Beatty construction team reduced pollution from construction activities by controlling soil erosion, water way sedimentation and dust control.

+ Project facts

Omni Dallas Hotel
Dallas, TX, USA

Owner:  City of Dallas
Operator: Omni Hotels & Resorts
Developer/Development Management:  Matthews Southwest
Design-Builder: Balfour Beatty Construction
Design Architect & Interior Architect: 5G Studio Collaborative
Architect of Record: BOKA Powell

Consultants:

Landscape Architect: TBG
Interior Design: Waldrop+Nichols
Lighting: Lang Lighting
Sustainability Strategy: 5G Studio Collaborative
Civil Engineer: URS Corporation
Structural Engineer: Brockette Davis Drake
MEP: Blum Consulting Engineers
Food Service: Worrell Design Group
Acoustic/AV/Security: Shen Milsom Wilke
Information Technology: Applied Tech Group
Specification & Accessibility: Inspec, Doug Hartman
Waterproofing: Curtainwall Design Consulting
LEED Certification Service: BVM Engineering

+ All images and drawings courtesy 5G Studio Collaborative

The building occupies a strategic position, at the entry of Tirana (Albania), on the principal major route towards airport. A big terrace – garden, for the exclusive use of the residents, occupies the upper limit of the basement body while other two volumes composes the portal that defines the general conformation. The first penthouse houses a wellness centre provided with swimming pool and solarium. The area dedicated to the offices looks into Rrruga e Durresit, while the residential units occupy the internal part of the parcel. Under the commercial space, has been obtained an underground level that has a car park use.

+ Project facts

Typology: mixed use
Architect: Marpillero & Associati
Address: Rruga e Durresit
Covered area: 1983 mq
Floors: 9
Height: 32,00 m
Basement: 1
Urban form: perforated city block

Austria-based architectural firm x architekten designed the OASE located in Linz, Upper Austria.

Task:

The temporary centre of pastoral care in the diocese of Linz, located on the steel company voestalpine's site, was built decades ago and had to be pulled down due to its poor condition.

The new building is designed to create good framework conditions for spiritual, liturgical as well as sociable secular events for both active and retired personnel.

The initial project title “where man and work meet” emphasises in which direction the needs of the people working at the steel company point.

The plot of land lies between borders formed by the main traffic arteries Westbahn and Ebelsberger bypass and the voestalpine's large industrial estate. This creates an island which, together with the deposit of a four-metre thick layer of slag stone formed during the era of industrialisation, meets the characteristic features of a “no-man's-land”, which is in need of a new strong character.

Concept:

The study of duality between man and work, relating to the interaction between the pastoral care and the steel company, led to the concept of a complementary addition to the area through a new “built landscape”. Conventional church buildings, e.g. a basilica or tower, would not be able to achieve their independent meaning in this area as the voestalpine's site is mainly dominated by relatively high buildings (cylinder, spheres, cone, tower, etc.) with incomparably large dimensions.

In this case, it is not buildings but rather small existing woodlands which represent a “bastion of nature”. This serves as a conceptional starting point for the introduction of an “oasis for the people”, which is integrated into the green hillside, shielded from environmental exposure. The building is subsequently developed by cutting into and hollowing out the hillside.

Implementation:

The exterior:

The building's main artery is a slightly tilted tunnel. It cuts into the hillside and runs towards the building's entrances along the western side. The embankment, which results from this excavation, exposes the initially raised dark slag-stone, which is either loosely poured into the embankment or processed as pebble dash depending on the area under consideration.

The artery furthermore widens as it approaches the green space, and finally, gently leads up to the woods along a broad open sloping surface. The cultivation gradually increases in density starting from the lawn, via a diversity of plants, towards the coniferous forest.

The central lawn is connected to the social and event rooms, built into the hillside on the same lower level, through glass walls. It serves as a common forecourt. The cuts into the hillside form several edges which have the effect of a surrounding hillside. The cross, the edge of the wood and meadow as well as the wooden shed are situated up against the upper edge of the building. The outer surroundings including the parking spaces, access road and the industrial estate lie hidden behind the hills.

Different spots within the countryside can either be visited or explored by going for a walk via several different walkways and stairs. Climbing the exposed roof terrace on the eastern side of the hillside, which faces away from the artery on a mezzanine, one passes the steel car port as well as the garden associated with the apartment and youth area of the building.

The hill and the lowering of the building fulfil another three of the project's requirements:

1. Securing the intimacy and protection of the facility when the interior is opened optimally towards nature, creates a essential and significant identity.
2. The lowering and mounds/deposits considerably dampen the intense noise created mainly by the neighbouring rail traffic.
3. Costs are saved. The lowering of the building avoids having to build expensive foundations which are normally needed for such poor ground conditions and the mounds/deposits of the building reduce the area over which expensive facades are required.

The interior:

The “built landscape” with its mounds, lowering and hollowing also determines the shape of the interior. The polygonal ground plan is divided into the main areas and on all floors by the central part of the development which tapers towards the back. The development leads all visitors through the building, starting from the foyer, passing all the important entrances and the stairs to the upper floors, via stairs at the end of the development up to the exit into the opposite garden area on the eastern side. It divides the functional areas in the northern part of the building including offices, meeting room and workshops from the social and religious areas in the southern part including cloakroom, bar, event room and the chapel.

The “bell court”, which is cut into from above is an extension of the ravine, used as interspace and therefore designed in a neutral grey. The “bell court" fundamentally serves to lighten the rooms of the adjoining functional areas and radiates a quiet and contemplative mood due to the division of its walls and floor into squares as well as its bell being placed at ground-level.

In this case, the bell is placed on the courtyard's ground near the people whereas it is normally found right at the top of the church tower. The hollow space under the bell serves to distribute the sound within the body of the hill (like the bell in the mining shaft). Within eyeshot of the courtyard, along the ravine, the stairs lead up to the upper floor with its guest room, the apartment and the youth area both with their own access to the garden. The parish's meeting rooms can be found on the other side of the ravine and are accessible via a bridge.

The chapel, event room and bar are brought together as the main rooms of the social-sacred area under a shell which is divided into triangles to create a holistic room experience. This crystalline geometry creates an important meaning encompassing Saint Barbara as patron saint of both pastoral care and mining for the steel company's ore production.

The triangle's surfaces consist of boards made of spruce wood with different widths, varnished in white, whose dark spaces create effective acoustics within the room. Starting by the entrances and the bar via the event room up to the chapel and the surfaces of the big overhead light, the room's shell integrates all their functional fittings, e.g. the bar and kitchen area, several doors and/or technical installations, to create a homogeneous appearance.

The demands of different events can be fully met by either joining or separating the chapel, event room and bar area by using two sliding walls:

1. Separate rooms: small private liturgical events in the chapel, separated from the event room and bar.
2. Partly connected rooms: joining the event room and the chapel for bigger liturgical events or joining the event room and bar for bigger celebrations, retirement parties, weddings, etc.
3. One open room: The entire half of the building transforms into a large common party hall for about 250 people by joining all three areas together.

The open room as a whole inhabits the chapel as well as the opposite bar and thus establishes a unique programmatic openness to integrate religious and secular institutions into the community.

+ Project fact

OASE
Wahringerstraße 30, Linz, Upper Austria

Architect: x architekten
Client: Diocese Linz

Planning data:
Cast of Architects 2008
Start of planning: February 2008
Completion: Summer 2011
Collaborator: Michael Hager, Sandra Gnigler
Art in construction: Gerhard Brandl
(Altar, ambo, cross, eternal light, tabernacle, niche for the Holy Barbara, bell, Cross in the exterior and Writing in the “ravine")

Constructional data:
Premises: 4.843 m²
Built-up area: 840 m²
Construction: reinforced concrete construction

Pictures: David Schreyer, Rupert Asangers

+ All images and drawings courtesy OASE

Fireworks above the Amsterdam motorway

Love in the City introduces Aphrodite of Amsterdam, a piece of art by Leonard van Munster in the public space. The declaration of love on the rooftop of a building will be visible for the next few years.

Overlooking the city's A10 ring road, the 10m high LED-installation simulates fireworks combined with the flashing words "Ik hou van je" ("I love you") shown at intervals. Arup is responsible for all structural aspects of the art work.

The lit message is both grand and intimate: a personal message that resembles a metropolitan neon advertisement. The piece of art can be seen from a distance, especially by motorists on the A10 ring road.

Love in the City is an art project by Paradiso, aiming to stimulate love in the urban habitat. The project invites artists, scientists, writers and musicians to deploy their creativity to promote love. Love in the City is an experiment, where originality and contagion rule over controllability. Love can't be defined, but can be missed. Van Munster was commissioned by Love in the City ('Liefde in de stad') to create this installation.

The official opening of the installation will be held on 26 June. The project was made possible by AFK, Arup, PFT-profiles, Koninklijke Saan, Nedal Aluminium, the Don Leo organisation and Paradiso, in cooperation with Stadsdeel West, Stadgenoot, AM and Deurwaarder.

+ About Arup

Arup is the creative force at the heart of many of the world's most prominent projects in the built environment and across industry. From 90 offices in 35 countries worldwide our 10,000 planners, designers, engineers and consultants deliver innovative projects across the world.