The Blue Planet, broadcast from Copenhagen on 3XN
The Blue Planet Aquarium is Europe’s largest aquarium, with over 450 distinct species of fish and other marine life, along with 7 million liters of water, 53 different exhibits and displays, and a total volume of 7 million liters. The Blue Planet, on the other hand, is defined not so much by its magnitude as by its design. The structure is designed to evoke the churning and fluid quality of water by incorporating a number of curved wings into its exterior. The outside of the Blue Planet is covered with a shimmering fish-scale-like aluminum coating, giving it the appearance that it is a vortex when viewed from above. Contemporary structures are very unusual.
The Central Library of OMA, located in Seattle
The Seattle Central Library is without a doubt one of the most forward-thinking and original libraries that has ever been built. The multiple components of the library are separated into five platforms and four planes that are considered to be “in between.” Each of these planes serves a specific purpose, which results in an exceptionally user-friendly design that lends the building its distinctive faceted appearance.
The library was created and designed by OMA’s dream team, which includes architects such as Joshua Prince-Ramus, Rem Koolhaas, and Bjarke Ingels, who later started his own business, BIG. Rem Koolhaas was also involved in the design of the library. The facility was well accepted, as evidenced by a more than twofold increase in visitors to the library in its first year of operation. Additionally, other awards have been conferred to the Central Library, one of which being the AIA National Architecture Award from the year 2005.
The Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, designed by Frank Gehry
The Disney Concert Hall is simultaneously one of the most recognizable buildings in the world and one of the most contentious. This miniature version of the Guggenheim was conceived before its more famous cousin in Bilbao, but due to construction holdups, funding issues, and political interference, it didn’t open to the public until 2003. This is six years after the Guggenheim Bilbao was completed and 12 years after Frank Gehry first presented his design concepts.
The project even went so far as to be scrapped in 1994, but in the end, it resulted in a stunning piece of architecture that exemplifies Gehry’s post-structuralist aesthetic with its odd combination of geometric shapes and sweeping metallic surfaces.
The Heydar Aliyev Cultural Center in Baku, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects
The Heydar Aliyev Cultural Center, which is maybe the structure for which Zaha Hadid is most known, does not have a particularly memorable name; yet, its architecture has left an everlasting mark. The construction encompasses a total area of 619,000 square feet and is a fluid, free-flowing masterpiece that merges in an organic manner with the natural environment. The design was honored with a prize from the London Design Museum in 2014, so establishing the designer’s status as the “Queen of Curves.”
OMA was the architect behind the CCTV Headquarters building in Beijing
When it was opened in 2008, the CCTV Headquarters building, designed by Rem Koolhaas and considered one of the quirkiest and most ambitious buildings in recent years, was able to successfully change the concept of the skyscraper.
The television studios, offices, and transmission and production facilities for China Central Television (CCTV) are located in this building, which has the shape of a pant and is designed in a looped fashion. A cantilever that is 75 meters long connects the two towers, each of which has 44 stories. The CCTV Headquarters, the first large structure that OMA designed and built in China, is now a prominent feature of the skyline in Beijing.
Contemporary building design process. Contemporary architecture
The architecture of the twenty-first century is contemporary architecture. There isn’t a prevailing style. Modern architects employ a variety of styles in their work. There are many different types of modern architecture. Some have cantilevered parts that hang above the street, radically asymmetrical facades, and concrete structures covered in glass or aluminum screens. Skyscrapers twist or split into facets that resemble crystals. Facades are made to shimmer or change color as the day progresses. Contemporary architecture is international; significant new structures have been built in China, Latin America, and particularly in Arab states of the Persian Gulf. The Burj Khalifa in Dubai was the tallest building in the world in 2019, and the Shanghai Tower in China was the second-tallest. In contrast, the major monuments of modern architecture in the 20th century were primarily concentrated in the United States and western Europe.
Museums of the modern architecture
By Santiago Calatrava, the Quadracci Pavilion at the Milwaukee Art Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (2001); The Pavilion of the Quadracci FormulaHerzog & de Meuron’s Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota (2005); De Young Museum by Herzog & de Meuron in San Francisco (2005); TheZentrum Renzo Piano’s Paul KleeinBerne, Switzerland (2005); TheDaniel Libeskind’s The Denver Art Museum in Denver, Colorado (2006).
Performing arts centers. Contemporary architects
Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava’s Auditorio de Tenerife, Canary Islands (2003); Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles (2003); The Walt Disney Concert Hall’s interior was built by Frank Gehry and features an organ facade (2003); the inside ofHenning Larsen’s Copenhagen Opera House in Copenhagen, Denmark (2005); House of MusicBy Rem Koolhaas, Porto, Portugal (2005); Rem Koolhaas’ Casa da Musica interior (2005).
Contemporary architects create unusual contemporary structures. Nowadays, there are many types of architecture. Each type has different advantages and disadvantages. Religious architecture has its own defining characteristics. Contemporary art, for example, is diversified in terms of culture that is why it does not have some precise features. Interior design may differ from the space of patio doors because there aren’t any rules of creation of the contemporary buildings. But, still, if you have to differentiate new buildings from older buildings, it is pretty easy.
If to talk about contemporary buildings, nowadays not only does the view of the buildings matter but also its benefit, e.g.: solar panels are very helpful and useful.