By far one of the WORST experiences of my life was at the LaGuardia airport this past summer. I like to think of airports as cities and if so, LGA suffers terribly from sprawl.

This massive  Queens airport (the 3rd busiest in NY)  is congested and falling apart around itself.  While signs advertised that improvements were being made, it was hard to tell which stage the construction was in since there were bulldozers, cranes and plastic sheeting everywhere. Similar to other airports, LGA also didn’t seemed to be designed well to accommodate traffic; you can expect long lines in a place like this, but added to the heavy construction and overwhelming smell, it was a miserable experience.

The design is very haphazard. The direction signs were hard to read, the natural flow of the building seems counter-intuitive and just plops you right onto the street from the terminal. We had a terrible time navigating this place and although it was only a small part of our trip, I will think twice before flying through LGA again.

“The Oklahoma History Center is an eighteen-acre, 215,000 square-foot learning center exploring Oklahoma’s unique history of geology, transportation, commerce, culture, aviation, heritage, and more. The Oklahoma History Center is a Smithsonian Affiliate and is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.”

https://www.okhistory.org/historycenter/

Despite the multiple purposes of the museum, I experienced this building after hours at my senior prom in 2016. I suppose I should return and actually visit the exhibits but haven driven past the center hundreds of times on my way home, I never gave the museum much thought, One of the most (in my opinion) notable features of the museum is the airplane suspended above the lobby area. Actually. on prom night, we danced under the place and I remember worrying that it would fall down from the bass of the speakers.

The outside of the building kind of reminds me of an inverted airplane too.

Cape 10 in Vienna, Austria is a mixed use, skeletal structure that compares drastically with its intended use.

“The architecture of Cape 10 is based on the vision of a socially- integrative house that provides shelter for different disadvantaged social groups in Vienna, Austria. By connecting them with each other and the public the shelter encourages communication between the socially diverse groups and makes a positive contribution to the development of the society of tomorrow.”

As a human relations major, and someone that just generally cares about the well-being of marginalized groups, I think the function of this building are really cool. There are homeless support programs, programs to aid young mothers and aimed at health care improvement-just awesome innovate groups will occupy the building to serve those in need. I think that is a part of smart design, where building serve the residents in multiple ways.

The project is supposed to be complete by 2021.

http://www.coop-himmelblau.at/architecture/projects/cape-10/

https://www.omv.com/en/blog/190314-cape-10-viennas-cape-of-good-hope

The Pearl of the Emirates, though not a typical building, is full of beautiful and symbolism. To be revealed at the World Expo 2020 in Dubai, the Pearl poetically  recalls “the past when the pearl of the oyster was the major source of wealth in the Emirates long before the discovery of oil and was essential to sustaining the indigenous population,” The design intends to combine the past, present and future on one single spot.

“The smaller Pearls in the landscape produce a natural cycle of water desalination for the daily sustainable supply of fresh water to the lagoons to ensure that water salinity is kept at acceptable levels for the wellbeing of the mangroves.” With details like this, you can tell that the Coop Himmelblau firm was very focused on environmentalism and sustainability

I think the coolest part of the exhibition pavilion is how the 7 individual petals (which are symbolic of  “the future with the seven exhibition spaces of the seven Emirates of the UAE”) open and close with the path of the sun. It seems as if the technology and the natural world are one entity and I think there is something beautiful about that kind of mindful design.

The BelView apartments, located in Vienna, Austria, is scheduled to be completed this year. This massive structure accommodates 249 units and is uniquely shaped. This might be for design purposes but with a 87% efficiency rate, probably also has to do with aerodynamics and energy usage.

It reminds me of the Flatiron Building (posted below) by how it splits the street and the onlooker’s view of the remaining landscape. Although the BelView is a boomerang shape, the structures favor each other.

http://www.coop-himmelblau.at/architecture/projects/belview-apartments/

The Science and Technology Museum Xingtai (STMX) will be located in Xingtai, China and stand 40 meters high at its completion. As one of the many buildings designed by the Coop Himmelblau firm. it is similar to other designs with a  hulking metal frame and glass accents.

“The flowing building represents the dynamic approach of the scientific development in China. The aim of the project is to emphasize Xingtai’s role as a scientific and technological hotspot in the province of Hebei. Building up on Xingtai’s history of astronomers, engineers and other scientists, the project reflects past, current and future approaches of cutting edge economic, ecologic and building technologies. The building will be designed with new structural concepts, hosting plus energy systems and will display the rich Chinese traditional culture, showcasing scientific and technological achievements the city, the province and China has offer.” (Archello, 2020)

This project began in 2019 , but I am not sure of the  completion date or  which stage of development it’s currently in.

http://www.coop-himmelblau.at/architecture/projects/science-and-technology-museum-xingtai/

https://archello.com/project/science-and-technology-museum-xingtai

This summer, when I visited New York, we stayed in the Sister City hotel in Bowery. I loved the aesthetic of this hotel, as it presented clean lines, a minimal design scheme,  beautiful oak wood accents and had the overall feel of upper-scale New York. It seemed to borrow from Japanese and Scandinavian stylistic influences from the natural woods and open floor plans. .

This four star, 200 room hotel was located perfectly from many significant areas such as “Little Italy”, “Chinatown” and the Brooklyn Bridge,  all of which we visited too.  I think that was apart of the venue’s appeal. “Designed by creative agency Atelier Ace—that’s the folk behind the game-changing Ace Hotel…Check-in via self-service kiosks that generate room keys; scan the day’s weather with a 24-hour rooftop sky camera; make requests via an intuitive digital interface; and enjoy a first-of-its-kind generative ‘Lobby Score’ by Julianna Barwick, using Microsoft’s AI technology to create an immersive soundtrack informed by the changing environment as seen by the sky camera. Mindful design, artful technology and seamless functionality combine to make every aspect of a stay at Sister City as seamless as can be. ” (Davidson, 2019).

We were not aware of these technological features when we arrived, other than the self-serve check in, but learning about them and then realizing that we did experience these things was neat.

“The Devon Energy Center (also known as the Devon Tower) is a 50-story corporate skyscraper in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and is tied with Park Tower in Chicago as the 62nd tallest building in the United States. Construction began October 6, 2009, and was completed in October 2012.^[4] The tower is located next to the historic Colcord Hotel, which Devon currently owns, on Sheridan Avenue between Hudson and Robinson Avenues.

https://oklahoman.com/article/4948952/architects-say-oklahoma-citys-devon-tower-is-made-for-millennial-generation

“Coop Himmelblau, also rendered Coop Himmelb(l)au, [is an] avant-garde architecture firm that rose to prominence in the 1980s and ’90s. The two central members were Wolf D. Prix (b. December 13, 1942, Vienna, Austria) and Helmut Swiczinsky (b. January 13, 1944, Poznań, Poland).” Founded in 1968, “the firm’s name—German for “Blue-Sky Cooperative”—was a wordplay describing their efforts to “make architecture light and fluctuating like clouds.”

(Zuckowsky, 2013). 

MOCAPE, is a museum of contemporary art & planning exhibition located in Shenzhen, China. “The building combines two independent institutions — the museum of contemporary art (MOCA) and the planning exhibition (PE) — as a cultural meeting point and a venue for architectural exhibitions. the development includes a shared lobby, multifunctional exhibition halls, auditorium, conference rooms and service areas, to be used by both institutions.”

I love art and how inventive spaces like this emphasize the creative nature of exhibit exploration. This building reminds me both of a large spider web due to the outer crosshatch design and also of an alien spaceship. If you have ever seen Superman, the ship that Clark arrives to Earth in looks very much like this building. It is also interesting how “from an environmental standpoint, pollution free systems and facilities use renewable energy sources through solar and geothermal energy (with a ground water cooling system). meanwhile, the roof of the museum filters daylight for exhibition rooms, reducing the need for artificial lighting. MOCAPE is scheduled to complete later in 2016.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Coop-Himmelblau

MOCAPE museum by coop himmelb(l)au nears completion in shenzhen

“Coop Himmelblau, also rendered Coop Himmelb(l)au, [is an] avant-garde architecture firm that rose to prominence in the 1980s and ’90s. The two central members were Wolf D. Prix (b. December 13, 1942, Vienna, Austria) and Helmut Swiczinsky (b. January 13, 1944, Poznań, Poland).” Founded in 1968, “the firm’s name—German for “Blue-Sky Cooperative”—was a wordplay describing their efforts to “make architecture light and fluctuating like clouds.”(Zuckowsky, 2013). 

I chose to blog about the new Martin Luther Church in Hainburg, Austria. The Coop Himmelblau firm seems to have a distinct design style and this innovative church does not stray from the mold. “Located on the site of a former church that hasn’t existed since the 17th century, the Martin Luther Church Hainburg makes a dramatic statement in the historic city center. The single-story church provides 289 sq m (3,200 sq ft) of worshipping space with a prayer room that can accommodate 50 people, plus a community hall, a small kitchen, offices, a sacristy and a church garden in the back.” I really like how “the three skylights are a deliberate coincidence correlating with the Holy Trinity and bringing light into the inner sanctuary in both a physical and spiritual way” (Meinhold, 2011). I like when buildings hold symbolic meaning that way. The church looks like it would function more like an event center or art museum rather than a church though. My favorite part of the building is the sweeping, metallic roof. It reminds me of a dancer’s skirt or maybe a swirling tornado. 

Coop Himmelb(l)au Completes Its Curvaceous Martin Luther Church in Hainburg

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Coop-Himmelblau