A new business community in Qatar, Dutch naval architect claims he designed Australia's winning keel and the designer of the UN's original emblem dies, aged 102.
QATAR
KEO International Consultants has released its designs for Barwa's Financial District Project in Doha, a mixed use complex that is expected to create a new business community in the area. The project comprises an outer ring of six office towers ascending in a clockwise direction from 20 to 35 storeys and an inner ring of towers ascending in an anti-clockwise direction from 31 to 50 storeys. The facades of the project juxtapose the natural materials of terracotta and stone with the man-made glass and metal screens.
NETHERLANDS
The credibility of Australia's win in the 1983 America's Cup is in question after a Dutch naval architect claimed that his team designed the winged keel that was key to the team's success. Peter van Oossanen is arguing that it was his team of Dutch designers who invented the upside down keel, and that boat designer Ben Lexcen, who has been praised for its invention, only played a minor role. Oossanen planned to keep this information a secret, but became frustrated by letters and articles stating that he had no involvement in the keel's design. Yachting journalist and author, Rob Mundle, disagrees with Oossanen and says all evidence points to the Lexcen taking the credit and that this is not the first time that the naval architect has made these claims. "There's no grounds whatsoever for any investigation," Mundle told ABC Sport.
UNITED STATES
An architect who helped design the original United Nations emblem has died at his home in Maryland. Donal McLaughlin Jnr was 102 and died of esophageal cancer. Trained as an architect and interior designer, McLaughlin was part of the team that in 1945, was asked to design all graphics for the international conference that would set up the future UN. The original UN logo was a top-down view of the globe showing all continents except for Antarctica, cradled between two olive branches.
UNITED KINGDOM
A masterplan which aims to turn Addenbrookes Hospital, near Cambridge, into the largest hospital in the UK has been completed by Allies and Morrison and Devereux Architects. The $523 million scheme covers 70 ha, extending the Addenbrookes site, and accommodating a working population of 17,000.
NEW ZEALAND
An "architectural convoy" and a structure made from 2,500 condoms are featuring as part of The University of Auckland's contribution to Auckland Architecture Week 2009, running from 11 to 18 October. The week is an annual event that includes exhibitions, movies and discussions on architecture and the built environment. One hundred and twenty students from the University's School of Architecture and Planning will compete in Trans-form-ers, a competition based on the design of "mobile architectures".
