43. Six Buildings that Will Rock your World in 2017

    Kazakhstan World Expo (via AS+GG)

It's that time of year again. Yes, today we release our list of structures that we believe will rock your world in 2017. This year the list can be summarized in one four-letter word: A-S-I-A. And not just China - although that country will contribute the lone Megatall - but also Kazakhstan, Taiwan and Sri Lanka. Only one building outside this region has made it onto our list.

We readily admit that this is the shortest and least global list we've ever produced. With good reason. Dubai and other petro-economies are feeling the pinch of declining oil prices and are slowing down. London and New York, after a brief period of experimental design, have settled back into the comfy confines of banal boxes and tall matchsticks. Chicago is emerging from a long and hard recession and just beginning to build tall again. Beijing's harsh and humourless leadership has ordered an end to out-of-the-box design. And while some developers are building taller than ever, the process is taking longer than ever.

That's the background against which we present the best-of-the-best for 2017.

Rocketing to the Sky

Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill (AS+GG) may be two of the world's most accomplished, yet least acclaimed, architects. But that's the way it is when you spend much of your career toiling for a global megalith like Skidmore, Owings, Merrill (SOM). It's the corporate execs, not the architects, who get the lion's share of the credit.

Had Smith and Gill formed a partnership earlier in their careers (as they eventually did in 2006) they would be known worldwide as the STARchitects who designed the world's tallest building (Dubai's 162-storey Burj Khalifa) the world's future tallest building (the 167-storey Jeddah Tower) and a cornucopia of giants like Chicago's 92-storey Trump International Hotel + Tower, the 89-storey Nanjing Greenland Financial Center, and Shanghai's 88-storey Jin Mao Tower.

In the year ahead, AS+GG's reputation should soar as high as their tallest skyscrapers. The small firm will complete not one, not two, but three works of WOWchitecture. The largest of these will be the 127-storey Wuhan Greenland Center. By the end of 2017, the tower will be the third-largest in China and fourth-largest in the world:

 (Image via AS+GG)

The Centre incorporates four key design features: a tapering body that gives the building the look of a giant spaceship; softly rounded corners that reduce wind resistance; a domed top above which is an arched tip; and concave sides that create a unique aesthetic.

From Unknown to Unknown

If there's one thing that's even less well-known than Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill, it's that Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, will host a World Expo later this year. Coincidentally, the lead architects for the Expo are AS+GG How good was their design? Consider that they beat out more than 49 companies, including Zaha Hadid Architects, Snohetta, HOK and Coop Himmelb(l)au.

The centrepiece of the Expo will be a 25-storey sphere, the Kazakstan Pavillon:
 

 (Image via AS+GG)

The sphere will be clad in double-curved glass made in Italy. The building will go zero-energy one better - it will actually produce energy. By scooping out a gouge at the top of the sphere, the architects will enable Astana's brutal southwest winds to enter a channel on the interior skin of the sphere, and from there it will be steered to energy-generating turbines.

Mr. Foreman, Your New Grill is Ready

  (Image via AS+GG)

When I first saw the above image, I thought it had to be a new prototype for the George Foreman Grill. It had just the right amount of flatness on top and curves down the sides. But the more I looked at it, the more it reminded me of a flying saucer. In actuality, it was inspired by Kazakhstan's national symbol, the sleek golden eagle. In a way that's sad. There are lots of buildings that resemble flying saucers and birds (see post #6) but not many that look like a George Foreman Grill.

The building is the Astana Congress Center, another space-age contribution to the Expo by AS+GG. It will feature a 3,000-seat auditorium and secure VIP and VVIP areas to host world leaders who are expected to show up for the Expo. It will host significant events during the Expo and act as a hub for post-Expo legacy events.

You're Never Too Old to be Young

Moshe Safdie is now in his 50th year of being an architectural wunderkind. OK, so maybe 78 is a bit old for a wunderkind. But Safdie is still every bit as unique, provocative, and controversial as he was when he launched his Habitat onto the world scene at Expo '67 in Montreal.

This year, his arrow in the heart of the conservative architectural establishment is Altair, a two-tower, mixed-use development in Sri Lanka: 

 (Image via:Safdie Architects) 

One tower will rise 69-vertical storeys into the air. The other, looking as if it is tired and needing support, will lean at an angle onto the first. Sri Lanka has the kind of tropical climate where just about anything will grow just about anywhere. So, a dramatic stepping of the balconies will ensure that a network of gardens will open to the sky.

The Torsos Keep on Turning
 
Ever since Santiago Calatrava stunned the word in 2005 with his 52-storey Turning Torso in Malmo, Sweden, architects have been trying their best to refine and redefine the look. This year's contribution - and wildest interpretation yet - comes courtesy of Vincent Callebaut. The Belgian ecological architect designs futuristic projects which take into account the many aspects of sustainability.

 

 (Image via: Vincent Callebaut Architects)

The Agora Garden in Taipei, Taiwan will have two key distinguishing features. First, the 21-storey building will look like a strand of DNA, with its iconic double helix twisted around a central core. Secondly, the building's exterior will feature a cascade of suspended gardens that will cover the entire building and include 23,000 trees and shrubs. Residents will also be encouraged to grow their own fruits and vegetables. This urban forest will absorb 130 tons of carbon dioxide. It's a small drop in the bucket of global warming, but as Callebaut told CNN, "The tower presents a pioneer concept of sustainable residential eco-construction that aims at limiting the ecological footprint of its inhabitants." The design includes natural lighting and ventilation as well as rainwater recycling and rooftop solar panels.
 
Definitely NOT Made in China

One building on our list - the only one not in Asia - is being eagerly awaited by adults and children alike. It's the LEGO House experience centre in the company's hometown of Billund, Denmark. And why not? Who among us hasn't owned a LEGO set or reasonable facsimile at some point in our lives. The folks at LEGO obviously believe in their product. The building will look as if it has been constructed from 21 giant LEGO bricks:

(Image via BIG)

Designed by the red-hot Danish firm BIG, LEGO House will be 30 meters high, with public access from the outside to several rooftop gardens. Inside, visitors will experience exhibition areas, a cafe, and LEGO store. At the laying of the House's foundation brick, BIG founder Bjarke Ingels gave the children's toy his seal of approval. "For me the LEGO brick embodies the notion of systemic creativity - that the rigour and rationality of the LEGO brick allows children of all ages infinite possibilities to create their own worlds and to inhabit them through play." Perhaps Ingels was one of those kids, since many of his buildings have that distinct child-like imaginative quality.

42. When Searching for Treasure, Any Treasure will Do

Main Entryway to Pinang Peranakan Mansion

One of our favourite hobbies, besides appreciating great architecture, is walking urban streets photographing street art. (Please see our other blog, streetsmart319.blogspot.com) We often do this in tropical countries, where survival requires learning a few tricks of the trade. The alternative is putting unnecessary wear and tear on your feet while melting away beneath the baking heat and humidity of an unforgiving sun.

That's not to say Heather and I always practice what we preach. Like mad dogs and Englishmen we usually begin stalking our prey under the noonday sun. A morning start would, of course, be so much smarter, but we're just not morning people. Hey,we're barely afternoon people. So, the biggest challenge to our photography is keeping the sweat out of our eyes long enough to frame a good shot and press the shutter button. That, and grabbing enough shade and liquid to keep from keeling over from sunstroke or dehydration. 

While we may not play by all the rules, we've learned to compensate by sniffing out the quickest routes between ourselves and the street art. Every city offers its own shortcuts. In George Town, the capital city of Penang, Malaysia, we discovered that the key is to seek out four-way intersections. There, you gaze in every direction at the rows of Chinese shophouses -- the city's iconic form of architecture. If you don't spot a break in the houses (as in the renovated stretch below) there's no point in walking up the street. Your only reward will be rows of blisters.

A row of Chinese shophouses in George Town

You're more likely to find gaps in areas where older shophouses have been torn down -- or just given way to the forces of gravity -- making room for street-level parking lots. On either side of the lots, the remaining row house walls present artists with large, deep and inviting concrete canvases. Indeed, some of the best murals in George Town can be found adjacent to parking lots.

 Mural by 4Some Crew

Symbiotic by Addison Karl

One day - a typical George Town afternoon of 33C+ with blanketing humidity --  we were sauntering around an area of row houses when we spotted a break in the pattern and a large, open, setback. We knew that we were onto something. But little did we know what. Instead of finding a parking lot with great street art, we walked smack dab into the outer courtyard of the Pinang Peranakan Mansion, a Unesco World Heritage Site.

The Peranakans, also known as the Straits Chinese, emigrated from China and settled in the British Straits settlements of Penang, Melaka and Singapore -- collectively known as Malaya. They were largely traders and the Pinang mansion was built in the late 1800s as the home of successful magnate Kapitan Cina Chung Keng Kwee. It was, and is, an eclectic (but opulent) arrangement of Chinese carved wooden panels, English floor tiles, Scottish ironworks, mother-of-pearl furniture, gilded mirrors and Rose porcelain. It also houses over a thousand pieces of antiques and collectibles.

Walking through the Mansion's wooden front doors, we entered the ornate reception hall -- a two-story, open-air atrium. It was our lucky day as a festive event was in the offing and the room was festooned with flowers and Chinese-patterned umbrellas. It all made for a spectacularly colourful scene, whether viewed from below::

 above: 

or at eye level:

Two main family rooms ran off the Reception Hall. They were primarily used by women and were separated off by gilded doors with lavishly designed lattice work. The doors were called "spirit doors" since the lattice was meant to confuse malevolent forces and keep them from entering the main house.

One of the rooms is a dining hall, used primarily for hosting European guests:

The remainder of the first floor is divided into galleries showcasing the Mansion's treasures, including furniture:

 

Decorative ceramics:

Fabrics:

Beautiful glass lamps, collectibles, and period kitchen ware:

The doors to the annexes were beautiful displays in and of themselves:

And overall the house had such an elegant feel to it that even the washroom signs were classy:

Doubling back to the main Reception Hall, we climbed the Fleurs-de-Lys stairway:

to the Mansion's second-floor:

Being the family's private area, the second floor wasn't quite as glitzy as the first. But the bedrooms still contained some beautiful objects:

including display cases filled with finely crafted flowers and bowls of crystal and glass:

As well as an attractive woman who was still learning that if you aim your camera at a cabinet with a mirror in it, you're going to be in the picture!

After a few minutes of wandering about the second floor, we went back down to the Main Reception Hall. There we discovered the real reason why the Mansion was so fancied up that day. A local couple dressed in traditional garb was using the Mansion as a backdrop for their wedding photos.

It was a scene that had no doubt played out hundreds of times before. But today there was one difference. At least two of the photographers had started their day thinking that they were going to be shooting street art.