Populous ABS Fun Run 2010 Group
On the morning of the Sunday July 11th, 10 hours before Soccer City played host to the World Cup Final, another significant, if slightly less viewed sporting event was taking place. The annual ABS 6km fun run was underway with, a sea of 65 red shirts flowing down the narrow cobbled streets of Dicken’s London, past St Paul’s Cathedral, over the Millenium towards the Tate Modern finishing line. Continue reading »
© Brian Griffin - National Portrait Gallery/BT Road to 2012 Project
PAUL WESTBURY b.1969, TONY AIKENHEAD b.1953 and ROD SHEARD b.1951
By Brian Griffin
18 January 2010, Olympic Stadium, London
© Brian Griffin – National Portrait Gallery/BT Road to 2012 Project
Populous’ Brisbane office has been designing a new sports park in Datong, a coal mining city in the northern Shanxi Province, near Beijing.
The sports park, which includes a 30,000 seat stadium, an 8,000 seat arena, a 1,500 seat natatorium and a multi-use training hall, is part of an ambitious plan by the Datong Mayor to regenerate the historic old city and cretea a new city centre with development including a city hall, museum, convention centre as well as the sports buildings.
The Datong project will be the second major sports park in China designed by Populous (second to the Nanjing Sports Park, completed in 2005). The inspiration for the unique design in Datong has come from the surrounding Yungang Grottoes or Cloud Ridge Caves, a collection of shallow caves just out of Datong, which are symbolic of the rich cultural heritage of Datong, which has evolved over several thousand years. The visitor approach and entry to the stadium is like entering the nearby caves, with the sandstone bases clad in a series of irregular titanium shells.
Populous were represented at the launch of Yael Reisner’s and Fleur Watson’s new book titled “Architecture and beauty: a troubled relationship” followed by a forum discussion with speakers including Gaetano Pesce, Peter Cook, Hernan Diaz Alonso and Will Alsop, who are a few of the famous architects featuring in the book, in the quest of defining beauty in architecture. The debate, which was recently held at the Royal Academy of Arts, touched upon a number of interesting as much as diverse theories around the open-ended subject of beauty and its approach.
The architecture department of the university of Westminster is proudly presenting the work of its students in the current end of year 2010 show. Populous staff, including former UoW students, were present at the opening evening and witnessed the remarkable talent exhibited.
The work overall demonstrates a very high level of skill and creativity. Some students, with the guidance of their studio tutors, explored new forms, enabled by the use of the latest 3d-modelling and rendering software and advanced media tools to an impressive standard.
The social mingling with the various generations of the architectural scene over drinks -always a pleasure to see those familiar faces- and the after-show party hosted at the podium bar, also proved a big success. After all this effort put into the work, this celebration downtime was just as well endorsed as deserved!
For those who missed the opening event, you could still visit the exhibition, which will be open to the public until July 5th. If you are interested in discovering new talent, keeping up with the freshest of ideas and the latest in technology and innovation or would like to witness the prelude of work of those who will be shaping the future of architecture in their upcoming careers, a viewing is highly recommended.
For more details about opening hours and how to get there, please visit the university’s official website:http://www.westminster.ac.uk/schools/architecture
Big congratulations to all those involved in staging a plausible show again this year!
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