Design, Science and Technology

International firm Penda Architecture and Design has designed a meadow with sunken pathways for China's International Garden Expo 2015.

As part of China's International Garden Expo, Beijing– and Vienna–based firm Penda Architecture and Design has designed a temporary meadow, named "Where the River Runs," sited for Wuhan, China. The installation, which contains sunken pathways and hidden meeting places, allows visitors to walk along a winding trail through the meadow, mimicking an imaginary river. With this installation, the architects hope to highlight that clean water is not an endless resource. 

The pathways lead towards a central, sheltered plaza below the landscaped surface. As visitors wind towards the plaza, they are invited to sprinkle seeds over the grass to encourage the growth of new plants and flowers...

Via Lauren Moss

BIG presents a vision for the future of Denmark's Givskud Zoo where animals and humans "co-exist", and all the architecture is hidden within the topography.

Named Zootopia, the proposal reimagines the 1960s zoo and safari park in central Jutland as a continuous landscape of forests, savannahs and rivers that centre around a sunken courtyard of visitors' facilities. 

"It is our dream – with Givskud – to create the best possible and freest possible environment for the animals' lives and relationships with each other and visitors," said BIG, the office led by architect Bjarke Ingels.

Via Lauren Moss

Wind-dyed House by acaa in Yokosuka Kanagawa, Japan

From the architect:

A residential building located halfway up a cliff, overlooking the ocean. Thick clumps of trees that grow along the slope of the land surrounding the house cast a series of organic silhouettes that make the slope seem to come alive. We decided that the appropriate form to build would be as low-lying as possible, while also allowing the architecture to become embedded in the surrounding landscape according to the contours of the terrain. This would allow us to minimize the impact of the building on its environment.

 

The design of the walls plays an important role in creating the overall sense of presence that a building projects. As such, we also tried to prevent the walls of this house from becoming surfaces that would obstruct or impede movement and sight. Glass and screens along the enclosed perimeter of the house gives the second floor of this residence a certain transparency. Slender, deep-set eaves cast deep shadows on the facade of the building, softening the impact of the building's physical presence in relation to its environment.

Via Lauren Moss

Benjamin and his team create and share one “Overview” – the site’s name for each image – every day, to highlight the impact we have had on the Earth. “We work with Digital Globe’s database of satellite imagery and then add an artistic orientation to bring out the mesmerising aesthetic that this perspective provides. Each Overview ultimately starts with a thought experiment. We consider the places where man has left his mark on the planet and then conduct the necessary research to identify locations (and the corresponding geo-coordinates) to convey that idea.”

What happens when landscape meets work of art? Art takes the scale of landscape and the results may be very exciting and unexpected. Discover the most extraordinary pieces of land art that challenge the imagination and engage a more creative and courageous approach when designing the next project.

Via Lauren Moss