This university was designed by Carme Pinos in 2013 and there are two buildings with one in the center and the other on the outer part of campus. Carme heavily emphasized volume as it was shown with the shapes of parallelogram on the buildings which helps the placement of offices and classrooms fit. To me the building looks out of place and a little bit intimidating if I had to walk class in that building.

The Torre Cube was designed by Carme Pinos in 2004 and it cover about 4,800 square miles. Carme wanted to create a tall building that had great ventilation in offices and that air conditioner would not had been necessary and she did this with the help of the natural light and cool weather of Guadalajara. Right in the middle of the building there is a huge open space and it acts as a window that allows free circulation of air.

This park was designed by Carme pinos in 2002 and it is one of the largest green areas in the middle of Palma. It is mainly suitable for children as there are areas that have soft flooring for toddlers to crawl there is a castle like structure that is for the bigger children to go down the slides. When looking at the picture of the park there was a lot of green present and I liked this because it gave a vibrant feel with the nature presence and looks like a place many people would go for a walk at.

This high school building is designed by Carme Pinos in 2001. When looking at the building I got some dull and bland vibes due to the white and gray coloring and it reminded of a prison for some reason. The interior of the building did not feel or look that special as well it looks so compact and complex that I feel like some students might get lost when arriving to their classes.

The Tuwaiq Palace is a meeting place for many events including government functions, cultural festivities that showcase different aspects of Saudi culture as well as various international cultures, and more. 12 meter high walls surround the interior; stemming from them are a few tents supported by the lightweight tensile structure seen in many of Otto’s other works. Inside, there are terraces and courtyards such as the “Heart Tent” shown below.

Tuwaiq Palace won the Aga Khan award for Architecture in 1998. The overall design of the palace is meant to be harmonious with the essence of an oasis that one gets when viewing the building. Inside and out, the palace respects as well as honors the local culture and traditions with its fortress walls and Bedouin tents.

The Japanese pavilion was a collaborative design between Shigeru Ban, Frei Otto, and Buro Happold for Expo 2000, the World Expo held in Hanover, Germany. One of the themes of the expo was the environment. Shigeru Ban was already renowned for his structures made from recycled paper material, so of course it made sense to implement this into the Japanese Expo. Cardboard tubes form the majority of the structure, with polyester strips tying them together and timber ladder elements throughout acting as braces. All of these components can easily be seen on the ceiling from the inside, giving it an almost unfinished look. However, again considering the fact that the Expo theme was the environment, we can look at this again and think about how all of the building materials were sustainably sourced, and how they can be easily recycled after the temporary expo site is taken down.

With Frei Otto as the lead architect, the Mannheim Multihalle is a multifunctional hall originally designed in 1975 as a temporary structure for a horticulture exhibition in Mannheim. The roof, which is a unique “timber lattice” structure, is the largest self supporting timber grid shell structure in the world (102,000 sq. ft. roof). In 1998, the building was named a historical cultural monument. Recently, Fast + Epp won a competition and are undertaking a design review and retrofit in order to restore the wearing timber grid shell to its original strength.

Frei Otto himself said in a 2005 interview that he believed the Multihalle to be his “boldest building”, “much bolder than the Olympic roof” (translated from German), referring to his most famous design, the roof for Olympiapark in 1972 which I discuss in another blog post.

Frei Otto contributed to the design of the roof for the 1972 Summer Olympics park in Munich, Germany. It is perhaps one of his most well-known works. The lightweight tensile structure is a feature commonly found in Otto’s work (this makes sense given that Otto founded the Institute for Lightweight Structures at the University of Stuttgart in 1964). Although it was put up for the 1972 Olympics, the structure remains to this day, serving as a venue for cultural, social, and even religious events.

When Germany was preparing for the 1972 Olympics, the design of Olympiapark was of great importance. Germany was focused on painting an optimistic picture of the future which positively embraced democracy and technology, among other things. By doing so, Germany was trying to move on from its dark past under the rule of Hitler, who was Germany’s leader during the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. Frei Otto viewed his natural, flowing, lightweight designs to be in stark contrast of the stadium design that was implemented by the strict, fascist regime of the past.

James Gallier designed the Greek Revival style church with Charles and James Dakin. It was built from 1836-1837 in Mobile, Alabama. This is a great example of architecture which was declared a national historic landmark in 1992. The façade is a distyle in antis, where the flanking walls extended to the front of the portico. The exterior entrance has modest Ionic pillars, but inside the sanctuary there are ornate Corinthian pillars. The side walls have large full size windows to allow light and the front and rear are solid walls. The balcony skirts the sanctuary with a large area on the back wall for an organ framed with more pillars. The original pews are still in the sanctuary which is remarkable. It’s dark black walnut accents the white well. The coffered ceiling adds depth to the room. I personally like this example of Gallier’s work since it has been preserved so well and continues to be used.