Written by: Visualhouse, HETA Architects Photography: Visualhouse
HETA Architects, based in London, launched its social media channel showcasing Visualhouse London’s latest work. The project is a Mixed-Use District based in Seoul, South Korea. Visualhouse worked closely with HETA Architects to bring to life the unique project qualities through a series of imagery.
The Mixed-Use District, based in West Seoul, showcases a connected media campus, E-sports venue, sunken public space, retail podium park and elevated office + hotel lobbies. The design includes a digital avenue which centers traditional and experiential retail, F&B and cultural lifestyle center while connecting to a E-sports hub. The tower’s perforated facade is related to the E-sports lobby with a gradient of transparency.
A sense of well-being is provided through the retail podium rooftop park which connects both the office and hotel lobbies. The heart of the media campus includes a 1,000 seat E-sports arena with a 360-degree stage to connect the audience with the players.
The development promises to become a hub within West Seoul for commercial, residential and cultural uses.
Written by: Visualhouse, Courant Photography: Visualhouse
After two long years of rigorous construction, the SoNo collection in South Norwalk has officially opened. The Brookfield Properties project features 3 stories and 725,000 square feet of retail space, atrium's, a bowling alley and a top-level garden. With the fear of brick-and-mortar stores continue to close across the nation, the SoNo Collection team is confident in future success.
Coresight Research, a United States retail tracker stated that the number of brick-and-mortar store closures in 2019 has already exceeded the number of closures for 21018. However, the development of SoNo Collection was built specifically to attend to the demographics' wants and needs. “Because we’ve built a smaller shopping center at around 700,000 square feet, we’ve been able to be more selective and focused on what the customer here wants.”
Brookfield Properties, which owns 170 shopping centers nationally, specifically tailors each center toward the local market. After extensive research, the company found that the Norwalk area residents favor housewares over apparel, so you will see that reflected in the upcoming storefronts.
How is Sono Collection different than your typical mall? Aside from the eight-level parking garage and with the support of Bloomingdale’s and Nordstrom as the anchor tenants. This center will not contain a food court. In order to reiterate the way people are shopping, they have gotten rid of the food court and will instead feature many co-working spaces.
These spaces are designed to be used as a community office or meeting place. The main focus is to provide gathering spaces that can be used to hold an event, a meeting, or even a gala. In the meantime, to fill these large spaces you will find curated murals, trees, and interactive light installations.
To get excited for the holidays, come November the SoNo Collection will forgo the traditional mall Santa. Instead, Santa will walk through the shopping center and engage with the guests. The mall will also have a “whispering grove” where children can whisper holiday wishes into Christmas Trees to get sent to the North Pole.
It is safe to say that SoNo Collection is reinventing the wheel. The Visualhouse team was able to work closely on the entire rebrand of this project with the Brookfield team. Starting with logo brand refresh, working through website design and development, and finishing with creating stand out renderings, this is just the beginning of the work we have completed on this project. The people of South Norwalk are excited to explore this new development, just in time for the holiday season!
Written by: Visualhouse, Dezeen Photography: Pavel Bendov
Right now you are probably asking yourself, what exactly is an Archtober festival? An event full of architect-led tours, open offices and pumpkin carving competitions are just for starters. The annual event, organized by the Center for Architecture, offers various tours, design lectures, parties, film screenings and much more throughout the month of October. At this year’s event, there were talks held at Columbia University and led by Paola Antonelli, senior curator of architecture and design for the MOMA!
After 9 years of this event, the hosts began to come up with ways to make these architectural tours even more extravagant. Why see these spaces on foot when you can view them from a boat ride! That's right, these tours include boat rides with views that show sites such as ODA’S 10 Jay Street. This is a project that Visualhouse was able to create realistic marketing renderings for in the earlier stages of development.
This stream of tours includes some of New York’s more recent projects as well. Featuring works such as, Studio Gang’s Solar Carve Tower, Steven Holl Architects Hunters Point Library, Statue of Liberty Museum by Collaborative, and many more. For those interested in experiencing “a day in the life” of an architect, firms such as Deborah Berke Partners and Thomas Phifer and Partners, kindly opened their doors for workplace tours.
"We are excited for our growing network of partners, both institutional and professional, to be bolstered by the addition of NYC's library systems, allowing us to reach an even broader audience across the five boroughs," said Benjamin Prosky, executive director of AIA New York and the Center for Architecture.
Written by: Visualhouse, Deezen Photography: Dezeen
What better way to promote a message of “peace and conflict resolution” than by placing a literal smile between it all. The architecture firm Snøhetta has recently installed a smile shaped aluminum bench at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. This sculpture, named The Best Weapon, is utilized as a six and a half meter long seat. The name originated from a famous quote by Nelson Mandela “ The best weapon is to sit down and talk.”
"The Best Weapon delivers a message of peace and conflict resolution, both as a functional piece that encourages conversation and social intimacy, and as a resilient symbol that anchors the Nobel Peace Center's mission for discourse and peace," Snøhetta said.
The bench has been designed with a specific curved nature, that forces people to sit closer together and converse. The bench honors the past Nobel Peace Prize laureates and supports the efforts they made to promote dialogue in the midst of heavy conflict.
In a collaboration with Norwegian outdoor furniture producer, and aluminum specialist Hydro, this installation is claimed to be completely carbon neutral. By using an anodised aluminum, it will produce lower greenhouse gas emissions than the industry average. This material was also chosen due to its high resistance to corrosion and protective nature against scratches.
As of October 15th, the Best Weapon has been transferred to its permanent home at the Nobel Peace Center.
Written by: Visualhouse, Dezeen Photography: Dezeen
Spiral staircase. Open skylights. Massive public plaza. The Foster + Partners new and improved Apple store on Fifth Avenue will be turning people away. If you are unfamiliar, Apple Fifth Avenue is an underground store in Manhattan that nestles below a plaza in front of Edward Durell Stone’s General Motors office building. Back in 2006, the store was originally completed with an “iconic glass cube” as the entrance above ground.
Before being closed for renovation, the space was “one of the most photographed attractions in the city...” said British architecture firm Foster + Partners. With one look at the glass cube entrance, your mind wonders what lies beneath the surface. We are here to tell you.
The Foster + Partners team began with restoring the glass cube, but their main focus was on the floor plan below. They decided to “dig deeper and make the store higher.” Another crucial addition was the 80 skylights arranged in a grid along the ceilings that flood the store with natural light. This intricate ceiling is constructed to match the time of day and color temperature of the outside. Another treatment used to make the store feel in tune with nature, are the full sized trees planted inside the space.
Another new feature of the Fifth Avenue Apple store, is the redesigned spiral staircase. With a mirrored stainless steel drum that features 43 steps, instagram is begging you to take a photo here. The upper portion of the stairs is made up of mirrored walls and glass, which create optical illusions.
Written by: Visualhouse, Buzzbuzz Photography: Visualhouse
The Harrison is a brand new, condo and townhouse development in San Francisco. The 49 story luxury tower explores stunning panoramic views from every elevation, and supports a residential experience you have never seen before. With a total of 298, modern and sheek units available, this is the place to be.
The cities successful and celebrated designer, Ken Fulk, placed a soulful but personal touch throughout the entire building’s reality. The residents of The Harrison have the opportunity to access a slew of 5-star amenities. Including Uncle Harry’s - a private penthouse lounge, Grand Salon lobby, fitness center with swimming pool and hot tub, as well as personalized concierge services.
The Visualhouse team worked closely with the developers to brand and market this project. San Francisco is a unique and rare audience, so the targeted marketing had to be just right in order for The Harrison to succeed. Our creative team worked to develop an entire identity for The Harrison. The VGH team created a full scope re-design which included a website, logo design, digital and printed brochures, floor plans, neighborhood photography and much more.
Written by: Visualhouse, Curbed NY Photography: Visualhouse
Just like that, another tower reaches its maximum peak. Well respected developer, SL Green has announced that One Vanderbilt has now officially topped out. The massive office tower, standing tall at 1,401 feet, is still not the tallest tower in this city - that inscription still belongs to the infamous One World Trade Center. However One Vanderbilt is most definitely dubbed the largest tower, and continues to have a major impact on Midtown Manhattan.
One Vanderbilt, carefully designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox, is clearly visible from the far out areas of Brooklyn and Queens. A clear depiction of the Manhattan’s ever evolving skyline.
The design has vastly considered location, and spent time and effort to make sure that this tower doesn't feel vastly out of place. To achieve this goal, they set off the block-long stretch between 42nd and 43rd, to become a car-free plaza. This area will provide a transit hall that is open to the public, and can insure that even the highest tower does not obscure or hang about the landmark that is, Grand Central.
Visualhouse worked closely with SL green and Kohn Pedersen Fox on the initial marketing for this landmark NYC tower. When One Vanderbilt began to rise, it rose fast. The construction of the space ran months ahead of schedule and plans to open in about a year from now.
Written by: Visualhouse, Tech Office Spaces Photography: Visualhouse
Over the last 15 years or so, Williamsburg has had a major face lift. Between the considerable amount of construction of luxury condos, and the growing social scene, it’s hard not to want to be a part of it all. The long strip of destination worth hotels that was once a spot for local artists and creatives, is now completely revamped to lure in uptown city folks. Throughout the Williamsburg transformation, there was always a lack of office space. Development was mainly focused on residential experiences. But all of that is about to change according to Jeremiah Kane of Rubenstein Partners - the lead developers of 25 Kent Avenue.
25 Kent is the newest office building in the borough. “In a lot of ways, Williamsburg and Greenpoint were ‘live’ and ‘play’ neighborhoods and ‘work’ was missing.” With the grand unveiling of the 25 Kent space, they hope this 8 story space can be a solution to the problem.
At a first look, the 25 Kent building is a welcomed-space to the community. It looks like it is meant to be there, meaning that it is not just another shiny building. The revamped facade clearly pays tribute to the past and present manufacturing streetscape. With red brick, and blackened steel, it feels as if this office building has been a staple of Williamsburg since the beginning.
Visualhouse worked closely with the Rubenstein Partners team to develop a selection of renderings highlighting the exterior and interior spaces within 25 Kent.
Written by: Visualhouse, Miami Today News Photography: Visualhouse
Brickell City Centre has been positioned for another major growth opportunity. This will include the addition of 972 residences in two towers, retail, entertainment venues, parking as well as a ground-level plaza. The entire sweep of the area done by Swire Properties, has continued to transform and update the neighborhood south of Miami River.
In a combination of their efforts, Swire committed to dividing $1million equally among the five districts, to include more affordable housing and anti poverty efforts. In upcoming years, Swire plans to redevelop the adjacent sites as well.
The team plans to create pedestrian bridges that will connect the new residential towers directly to the already existing Brickell City Centre. In order to get a better picture of this big expansion, Visualhouse worked closely with Swire properties on the early marketing of the development. . The massive expansion will include commercial, retail, above ground parking, a public river walk and much more.
Written by: Visualhouse, 6SQFT Photography: Visualhouse
Jeanne Gang’s High Line adjacent tower topped out just a few short months ago. Since then, it has had it’s geometric glass installed. Unlike any other building in Manhattan, this 10-story office space takes on a unique glazing system. The lower levels of the building itself showcases a futuristic “solar carve” style that the building has since been known for.
The name “Solar Carve Tower” is derived from the buildings unique sculpted shape. These particular shapes are said to be “sculpted by the angles of the sun”. This curtain wall is made of diamond shaped panels that face downward, which is also supported by 4 triangular slabs around it. “The facade comes from “the geometric relationships between the allowable envelope and the sun’s path,” according to the firm. This feature should bring much more sunlight to the High Line without the dark shadows caste into the green spaces.
The Visualhouse team worked closely with Aurora Capital Associates to create some of the initial marketing collateral for the project. The 139,000 square foot mixed use building will feature commercial space, retail as well out a beautiful outdoor area.
