New contemporary Nottingham University building opens

We’ve got another new  building at the Nottingham University Business School campus. Its called the GRACE building and is focused on Global Navigation Satellite Systems and application development. This one only cost $6m:

Nottingham University GRACE building

I really like the frontage of this modern building. From all the weird and wonderful modern University buildings I’ve blogged about this is my favourite.  Like the Tadao Ando’s Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth building much of the frontage is glass which allows natural light to enter  the inside. Here’s a link to the building design and the GRACE research centre.

Contemporary retail store architecture

I continue to be fascinated by Contemporary building architecture. Retail store architecture has really caught my eye. Against much initial skepticism in 2001 Apple has been successful with their retail stores. Today Apple has 251 across the global.

Apple has been innovating retail architecture with designs like the New York Fifth Ave store (above) by Ronnette Riley & Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, openned 2006. Other more traditional fashion retailers have now joined in with redesigning their store exterior’s:

Swatch, Tokyo store by Japanese
Shigeru Ban, opened 2007

Prada, Tokyo store by Herzog
& de Meuron, opened 2003

Like Steve Jobs, Japanese architects (Tadeo Ando /  Shigeru Ban) and developers are pushing the boundaries of convention by experimenting with new ideas.

Reaching for the sky: Philosophical University Tower Sculpture’s

Why the heck would I be interested in Sculptured towers…? Well, we’ve got one at the Nottingham University Jubilee Campus! The biggest in the UK, no less. It’s 60 Meters high and it’s got it’s own website. It was paid for by an anonymous benefactor. I heard it cost $1m (at 2008 exchange rates).

Nottingham University Aspire Tower Sculpture, built in 2008

‘Aspire’ symbolizes the ambition, knowledge, innovation of The University of Nottingham and optimism for the future. These seem to be many values we all hope for.

I’ve also found another University Tower Sculpture at Stony Brook University. It was part of a £25 million donation for a Center at the University from Charles Wang, founder of Computer Associates (CA).

Sculpture tower atop the Charles B. Wang Asian American Center at Stony Brook University, built in 2002

The tower represents a Cross-cultural understanding between East and West and is based upon a pagoda. There are some very generous people around who want to make a long lasting philosophical gesture to the world. The Universities are more than happy to help.

More contemporary building architecture

Dive into the world of modern architecture and you will find the well known designers Robert Venturi, Frank Gehry, Tadao Ando, Zaha Hadid and Daniel Libeskind. There is even a huge 824 page book on contemporary architecture. Click on the link above and you’ll find many more images of imaginative and striking buildings.

Of all the buildings I have found on my journey I like this one the most:

Tadao Ando’s Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth

Why this building? It’s the combination of simplicity, reflection and light. I’ve also discovered a emerging new trend in building design:

Patrick Blanc Vertical Garden aka ‘Green Wall’ in Paris, France

This is the end of my excursion into modern contemporary building architecture. Oooh, I hear you say. The last image I’ll leave you with is of the University of East London student accommodation buildings. Those poor students, they’ll never get their furniture to fit!!

All in the name of art 😉

My other building architecture related posts:

• Scary Gehry
• Nottingham & MIT University: The boldest academic buildings
• Moving into the state of art
• Update: Contemporary retail store architecture & Reaching for the sky: Philosophical University Tower Sculpture’s