When the Dubai Government recently unveiled the grandly titled Museum of the Future, the building looked like it was missing something: A vast void pierces the center of the oval structure, designed by an unnamed architecture firm and set for construction in 2017.
The distinctive shape of the building forms the latest attempt by the United Arab Emirate’s most populous city to create an instant civic icon, following in the footsteps of Abu Dhabi’s string of new museums, currently under construction further along the coast of the Persian Gulf.
Via NY Daily News
It would be easy to dismiss such ostentatious orifices as being devoid of architectural substance… quite literally. But can there be more to such a proposal, other than a superficial desire to grab attention on the skyline with the aid of a novelty silhouette? Here are six more buildings with a hole in their heart — I’ll leave it up to you to fill these voids with your own opinions…
GSI Tower by Sanzpont Arquitectura
Proposed for Cancun, Mexico, GSI Tower is comprised of two jaunty vertical elements connected by twin habitable bridges, framing the landscape and the Caribbean Sea beyond. The huge central void allows light to enter the offices on all sides, and provides an elevated public square with a green atrium at its center.
Via Skyscraper City
VIa IB Times
OMA created the most iconic of all apertures when they dreamt up this structure — the Mobius strip of architecture — for the headquarters of China Central Television in Beijing. The design of the building was driven by the sequential processes of television production, creating a programmatic and formal loop with the aid of two leaning towers and a 75-meter cantilevered structure.
Shanghai World Financial Center by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates
A skyscraper surely afflicted with a case of “novelty silhouette syndrome,” the World Financial Center is a quality supertall structure nonetheless, and the distinctive void at its peak is home to the Skywalk, one of the world’s highest observation decks. The trapezoidal aperture was originally designed as a circle, but was changed after the clients complained that it resembled the rising sun on the Japanese flag.
OMA makes a second appearance in this list with their unrealized proposal for a science center in Germany, composed of ten modules that echo the containers populating Hamburg’s harbor. Like their design for the CCTV Headquarters, the loop is driven by program, with a series of flexible spaces allowing curators to change the theme and scale of exhibitions on a daily basis.
Via Wikipedia
BONUS: Guangzhou Circle | Joseph di Pascuale
A quintessential example of architecture as object, Guangzhou Circle was destined to be a landmark the moment it left the drawing board. Home to the Guangdong Plastic Exchange, the building is a very literal representation of the client’s primary aim of profit generation, with the urban ideogram taking the form of a Chinese bronze coin. Public opinion on the building in China has been mixed to say the least, but di Pascuale’s clients will not be too concerned, as long as the building brings them the financial prosperity it so patently symbolizes. More on the era of iconic architecture in China here.
Yours through the void,