French architect Serge Salat has designed an infinite labyrinth of shapes and colours for a touring exhibition in China.

Visitors to Beyond the Infinity amble though a series of enclosed rooms, each lined with mirrors and illuminated by an assortment of brightly coloured lights.

Three-dimensional timber grids spread across the walls and ceilings of the spaces and are endlessly reflected in the mirrors.

Perforated panels of anodized aluminium wrap some timber frames to create a square honeycomb of boxes, which glow beneath ultraviolet lighting.

The exhibition began in Shanghai and will be exhibited in 10 different Chinese cities for 3 days at a time.

Another interior recently featured on Dezeen also uses mirrors to create the illusion of an infinite room – see the project here and see all our stories about mirrors here.

Here are some more details from Salat:

Serge Salat – “Beyond the Infinity”

French artist Serge Salat’s multi sensory installation “Beyond the Infinity” reveals new and astounding cosmic visions to the audience. The artwork will travel 10 cities of China, including Shanghai and Beijing, from September to November 2011. General Motors China sponsors the tour exhibition.

Inspiration

Since 1988, Serge Salat has built multi-sensory art spaces interweaving virtual reality and fractal art.
The installations are full-scale rooms, closed private cosmos in which the audience penetrates and participates to a mystical journey through its physical and emotional stimulations.

Serge Salat’s work blends Eastern Chinese philosophy and cosmic visions with advanced contemporary techniques. His inspiration has deep roots in Chinese Taoist philosophy, Western Renaissance, Neo Platonism and in the most advanced art thinking of the XXth century about the fourth dimension such as Duchamp, Malevich and Klee’s.

The installations bring in a single whole electronic art, music, sculpture and architecture. The manipulations of space and time go beyond traditional manipulations, with a skilful use of fourth dimensional cubic geometries. It confronts the audience with a media world in a moving pattern of change.

The Journey – Beyond the Infinity

The journey into the art space evolves in deep layers of dreams endlessly nested in each other, in which the visitor progresses into reflected layers.

The work layout uses spatial techniques of Suzhou gardens in order to create a mystical journey in an abstract version of the world of Chinese courtyards, interconnected by infinite galleries: still visions and vision in movement, borrowed sceneries, framing. But also and in particular, the collapse of a whole cosmos in an enclosed space is explored through manipulations of the space and time of the audience’s experience.

Constant transformation and mutation is one of the strong themes of the work: in this perspective the objects are two yin/yang faces of the same concept but shapes and colors are reversed.
The main pattern is the trigram of the Yi King that is framed in three dimensions and organizes the whole space.

Salat said: “Entering the work is also entering the world of the dream of the red mansion transposed to the 21st century”.

Beyond the Infinity constitutes an encounter between creativity and a world in the middle of its mutation. It mixes past and future and it creates a dialogue between real and virtual worlds.

This is probably a strong message of hope: the possibility in the contemporary world to create new beauty and dream through a fusion of classical culture and innovation.

The exhibition was launched in Jinan, China, by August 28, 2011 and it will travel 10 Chinese cities in three months:
Jinan (08/28) – Suzhou (09/09) – Shanghai (09/16) – Beijing (09/23) – Chengdu (10/01) – Dalian (10/14) – Xi’An (10/21) – Zhengzhou (10/28) – Shenzhen (11/04) – Hangzhou (TBC).

The artwork will be exhibited 3 days in each city.

This jumbled house in India features an elevated steel tunnel, bridged corridors and a rooftop swimming pool on stilts.

Designed by Indian studio Malik Architecture, House at Alibag is located on a hilltop facing the Mumbai skyline.

Faceted walls and ceilings line rooms throughout the house and are perforated by both rectangular and triangular windows.

At the centre of the three-storey building is an open courtyard, over-sailed by bridges connecting rooms on the first and second floors.

The angled tunnel that drives through the upper storeys of the house encloses a bedroom at each end, joined by another of these bridges.

The rooftop swimming pool shelters an external terrace at the rear of the house.

This is the second project by Malik Architecture on Dezeen in the last few days – see our earlier story here about a cantilevering office block next to a slum.

See also: more stories about projects in India.

Photography is by Bharath Ramamrutham.

Here are some more details from Malik Architecture:

House at Alibag

The Site:

The site for this home is a hill in Alibag, one which enjoys a stunning view, not only of the rolling contours surrounding it, but of the sea and the skyline of Mumbai in the distance. Conceptually, the design of the home is a departure from the “stepped terrace” typology that one would conventionally employ on a heavily contoured site.

Instead, we chose to deconstruct a cuboid that is tilted and suspended over the ground and seems to simultaneously ‘float’ and ‘flow’ down the hill.The contours of the hill have been used to organize the structure over 3 levels.

The ‘tube’ contains 2 large bedroom suites at different levels with a large interstitial void that is inhabited by floating connections.The creation of singular sensory experiences has been the primary organizing and sculpting vector.

Numerous geometric inflections and articulations are designed to engage the senses in unconventional ways. A walk through the house is meant to yield unique moments of being suspended in space, of intimate enclosure, of vertiginous assaults but most importantly, of being connected to nature. The structure follows the design philosophy with concrete planes making contact with the ground, while steel floats above it. The home seems to conduct a constant dialogue with the ground on which it rests; it is informed by the earth but chooses at certain junctures to thrust over a precipice, completely oblivious of it.

The hilltop location of this house makes its occupants privy to some spectacular views of the sea as well as of the surrounding terrain. It is the fact that every space is designed to partake of these views that renders the house unique. The transition form panoramic to framed portraits and the constant three dimensional articulation of the viewing platform is what generates an experience that transcends the pure visual and ventures into a multi-sensory realm. The only restriction was the self imposed one with regards to retaining the integrity of the hill and maximizing the sustainability of the development.

A second home on the same site as house no. 1 was commissioned only weeks after construction began on the first house.  We were now faced with the conundrum of creating a complementary foil to the distinctly extroverted structure that was perched on the apex of the hill. On the one hand we felt that the second home ought to partake of the   same    stunning    views    that    presented themselves to the first house, but any significant built up mass would not only compete with but   also   vitiate   the   geometric singularity of the first home.

The   solution presented self in the form of an existing degraded concrete structure that was intended to be a home for the land’s previous owner.  By locating the second home on this footprint and by making use of the already excavated area, we were able    to   submerge   the   house    beneath the ground.  The only trace of development, when viewed from the first home, was a crystalline    fragment emerging from the earth.  The home is self effacing, a more discrete and introverted alter-ego of its hilltop sibling.

Faceted Roof Design:

The main roof of the living room and verandah is a re-interpretation of the traditional clay tiled roof, but re-designed for better performance. It has been parametrically manipulated to dip and extend to provide weather protection for the main pool deck, the entrance verandah and the car porch. In addition it sweeps upwards to allow headroom for the stair leading to the upper level.High wind speeds and heavy rains necessitated re-analysis of the traditional pitched roof which while performing well in homogenous spatial conditions, failed to meet the multiple performance criteria we required.

Floating Infinity Pool with Verandah Below:

Part of the client’s brief was the desire to have the primary living space (living room) and verandah in close proximity to the swimming pool. We used the contours of the hill to design a stilted pool that satisfied the client’s requirements and also provided an auxiliary shaded verandah below it opened onto a large garden and which could be used in inclement weather.The knife edge was created to merge the pool foreground with the background of the Arabian Sea.

Tubular Steel Truss

The ‘Tube’ that rests on the two blocks is tilted at an angle that is almost identical to the natural slope of the ground and with a single gesture, a tangible link to the hill is created, whilst simultaneously generating a physically liberated space. The earth is forced into the centre of the home, whose vertical proportions complement the intrinsic horizontality of the geometry. Similar programs are linked by the volume and its skins provide weather protection to the bridge connections hovering within the courtyard.

The concept of the floating tube allowed for the elevated perch which was desired to give the occupant the best possible view of the surroundings without creating large obtrusive footprints on the ground.The house functions as a tool to interpret the landscape. At numerous junctures, the object dematerializes to create a sense of floating amongst the elements, and its unique strength is the varying experiential conditions it creates at different points in space and time.

Category: Residential
Location: Alibag, Maharashtra, India
Client: Private
Plot area: 7 acres
Built-up area: 11500 sq. ft.
Project cost: 5,00,00,000 (5 Cr.)
Commencement date: March 2007
Completion date: September 2009

Click above for larger image

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Dezzen

Winner

Name: Olivia Freeman
Company/School: Squint/Opera
State/Province: UK
Country: United Kingdom

Credits: Gateshead
Created by Squint Opera
Director: Nick Taylor
3D Lead: Ziatina Pancheva, James Shaw
2D lead: James Merry
Team: Dan Fells, Andy Spence, Vadim Charles, John Human, Fareen Farid

Notes: Squint developed a graphic style of rendering and animation to clearly communicate the key ideas behind their teams proposals in the bid to win a large commission to build and manage a swathe of new housing in Gateshead in the north of England. The competition commission was to take on the task of re-inventing the cities residential housing sector, to diversify and upgrade the regional market. The film was the cherry on the cake in their presentation to the local government.  In the words of the client: “To say that it ‘wowed’ Gateshead would be an understatement!!”. The team won the competition and secured on-going work for the next few decades.

Name: Tianyi Zhu
Company/School: Tianyizhucg
State/Province: Hunan
Country: China

Credits: Tianyi Zhu

Name: Olivia Freeman
Company/School: Squint/Opera
State/Province: UK
Country: United Kingdom

Credits: Stonehenge
Created by Squint Opera.
Director: Nick Taylor
3D lead: Nick Taylor
2D lead: Ollie Alsop
Team: Sam Norland, Sam Britton (sound/music), Dan Fells

Notes:Commissioned by English Heritage, this film describes proposals to vastly improve the setting of Stonehenge, and to rethink the way it is experienced by the tens of thousands of people who visit the site every month.Using a combination of carefully manipulated live footage and animated diagrams, the film gives an overview of the entire project, outlining the key problems, and visualising the way the new designs solve

them.

Name: Marcel Vrieswijk
Company/School: PlusOne
State/Province: Noord Holland / Amsterdam
Country: Netherlands

Credits: Design/Direction
Martijn Hogenkamp

Production
Marcel Vrieswijk

D.O.P.
Bob Joosten (indoor),
Martijn Hogenkamp (outdoor)

Actors
Latifa, Ger & Hennie, Ibrahim

3D Modeling/Animation/Tracking
Tim van der Wiel, Elias Widerdal

Rotoscoping
Geert Jansen, Marcel Vrieswijk,
Elias Widerdal

Keying
Geert Jansen

Compositing/Editing/Grading
Martijn Hogenkamp

Music
Bas “Inf” te Braak

Sounddesign/Foley
Matthias Kiewiet

Client
Doreen van ‘t Spijker,
Jose van der Loos, Ruud Huiberts

Notes:The city district Amsterdam Osdorp recently merged with Slotervaart and Geuzenveld-Slotermeer and was given the name Amsterdam Nieuw-West. This change also meant the end of 20 years of restructuring urbanized areas. To celebrate everything achieved, a book was published. ‘The Metamorphosis of Osdorp’ gives an overview of the architectural highlights. We were asked to create an intriguing video, featuring the buildings we find most characteristic.Restructuring urbanized areas isn’t all about aesthetics. That is why we chose to put emphasis on the architects and especially it’s inhabitants and the surrounding of the buildings. To achieve this, we decided to combine live action video with 2D- and 3D-animation. Herewith we were able to complement reality with our interpretation of the most important factors of restructuring urbanized areas.

Winner

Name: Jonathan Gales

[AC-CA] has shared the results of the London Olympic Games Information Pavilion International Competition. This idea’s competition was hosted to generate progressive contemporary design solutions and promote architecture experimentation, specuation and discussion. The site of the competition was Trafalgar Square in the heart of London. The ten winning entries were selected out of a total of 164 proposals that were submitted from all over the world.

Read on for a closer look at the selected entries after the break.

Courtesy of Jose Carlos Cruz, Ines Guedes, Miguel Santos, and Antonio Cruz

The winning entry, submitted by Jose Carlos Cruz, Ines Guedes, Miguel Santos and Antonio Cruz of Porto, Portugal was chosen for its elegence and relevance to the subject of the competition. Although it might seem quite literal, it is a project that lends great potential to the architecture below the ‘rings’: curving spaces with intriguing opportunities for natural light and views. The proposal shows great spatial awareness and an understanding of the significance of the space that the form of the architecture creates around it. The jury commended the proposal for its clear ideas of interlinking and harmonious relationships to the site and its use of recycled metal. The curvature of the forms creates no identifiable back or front for the pavilion, opening it up completely to the Trafalgar Square and inviting visitors to enter from all sides.

Courtesy of OH!SOM Architects

Second prize was awared to OH!SOM Architects from Marseille, France which included Stephanie Durniak, Marie Fade and Baptiste Franceschi. This design was chosen for its poetic and ambitious proposals that utilized contemporary digital technologies. The design captures the festive atmosphere of the games and gives the event an image of an iconic space, transforming it with the creation of a new free-floating roof-like bubble around the square. It captures the spirit of the games and projects the visual imagery of the games around the Trafalgar Square, readable by everyone.

Courtesy of Dowling Duncan & WN Design

The third prize was awarded to Matthew Clare and Rob Duncan of Dowling Duncan & WN Design from San Francisco, USA. The clear concept and strong idea of this design was positively accepted by the judges for its strong imagery and clever use of elements associated with the Olympic Games such as the running track. The push for an un-obstructive and transparent view to other structures around the square makes it particularly intriguing.

The honorable mentions of this competition are:

Courtesy of Vlado Hrivnak, Miroslav Gabriel Sedlak, Marta Bimova, Iveta Kollarikova of Kurtis and Partners

Vlado Hrivnak, Miroslav Gabriel Sedlak, Marta Bimova, Iveta Kollarikova of Kurtis and Partners
Country: Czech Republic // Team Type: Architect

Courtesy of Yashido Yoshida and Masafumi Yanada

Yashido Yoshida, Masafumi Yanada
Country: Japan // Team Type: Architect

Courtesy of Sang-Uk Park and Heeyun Bang

Sang-Uk Park, Heeyun Bang
Country: South Korea // Team Type: Student/Architect

Courtesy of Nuno Fontarra

Nuno Fontarra
Country: Netherlands // Team Type: Architect

Courtesy of Lee Dongsub, Park Jinyoung and Choi Heonyoung

Lee Dongsub, Park Jinyoung, Choi Heonyoung
Country: South Korea // Team Type: Student

Courtesy of Shahram Agaajani, Thierry Cruchten, Serge Schitgen and Matthieu Ristic

Shahram Agaajani, Thierry Cruchten, Serge Schitgen, Matthieu Ristic
Country: Luxembourg // Team Type: Architect

Courtesy of Sachin Bhoite, Chintan Raveshia and Ahmad Harun

archdaily

Two winners, one special prize, and eleven honorable mentions have been announced in the Venice CityVision Competition. The international ideas competition routinely challenges architects, engineers, designers, students and creative individuals to develop visionary urban proposals with the intention of stimulating and supporting the contemporary city, in this case Venice.

The jury included Bjarke Ingels (BIG, Copenhagen/New York), Neri Oxman (Material Ecology, New York), Elena Manferdini (Atelier Manferdini, Los Angeles), Maria Ludovica Tramontin (Università di Cagliari, Cagliari), Bostjan Vuga (Sadar Vuga, Ljubljana). A special prize, the Farm Prize, was added during the competition, and Andrea Bartoli selected the winner.

The first prize was awarded to the proposal by Alberto Bottero, Simona Della Rocca, Valeria Bruni. Excerpt from the concept description:

“Venice is stolen from the lagoon. A constant struggle of men stealing fragments of ground from the water. Venetian buildings were built by establishing a precise relationship with the water: they faced the canals showing their splendor and wealth. The same Canal Grande was one of the most majestic scenographies of the power of all ages. The canals were the city streets: rowing boats and gondolas were the main means of transport, so that the main facades of their buildings faced the water, while the backs hid the pedestrian city.

Not merely places of transit, a substantial part of daily life was carried out on the canals and here social interactions and commercial transactions took place.

Today the Canal Grande is a bustle of ferry boats, private boats and a mass of passengers and tourists. All around there are gondolas in gold plastic, neon signs, lobster pizzas and cameras galore.

The perception of the reality from water is accelerated and distorted. The meaning of travel on the water is reduced to the fastest way to move from one point to another of the city, saving tourists from going up and down all those bridges.

Then there are the gondolas.

As everybody knows, Venetian people no longer get on gondolas. Nowadays that’s tourist stuff, a moment of folklore, or something that’s done to create that traditional romantic image to stick on your refrigerator after returning from a trip.”

Click here to read the complete description.

Following are the three main prize winners.

See also the eleven special mentions in the image gallery below. Images via CityVision.

Bustler

by Architizer

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 96,000 times in 2010. If it were an exhibit at The Louvre Museum, it would take 4 days for that many people to see it.

In 2010, there were 67 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 144 posts. There were 13 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 12mb. That’s about a picture per month.

The busiest day of the year was November 17th with 699 views. The most popular post that day was Work Is Continuing At The Construction Site Of The University Of Seville Library By Zaha Hadid.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, taringa.net, 38059da8.linkbucks.com, en.wordpress.com, and deathbyarchitecture.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for kinetic architecture, michel rojkind, zaha hadid, arquitectura paisajista, and fractal architecture.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

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