Buildings Inspired by Star Wars

As the release date of the new Star Wars episode VII movie comes closer and closer, even the true fans do not have to travel galaxies far far away to witness some beautiful pieces of architecture that have been inspired by the Star Wars saga.

The first destination where the Millenium Falcon takes us is the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku, where a company named Heerim Architects are designing a hotel that seems to be straight from the Star Wars world. The 150-meter high and 35-story Full Moon hotel that is shaped as the Death Star will be able to accommodate guests to 382 large rooms.

The next building imitating Star Wars is in South Korea where Moon Hoon Architects company has implemented the “Star Wars house” whose overall aesthetics and façade articulation references the Star Wars series.  According to an article on Designboom, the overall interior and exterior design of the house with inclined walls serves well the Korean trend of young families moving to detached homes. The surroundings of the house also offer an open play area for children and also responds to residents’ childhood dreams of becoming astronauts or Jedis.

8,700 feet above sea level in the Swiss Alps, there is a restaurant that looks like the buildings of the planet Hoth. The building is actually a prefabricated restaurant designed by a Swiss architecture firm Tilla Theus. The Neubau Gipfelrestaurant is modeled in accordance with the mountains shapes bringing a natural touch to the environment.

Construction projects take time and need to be fit according to their surroundings. In Shanghai Metal Corporation we have a long experience in executing major building projects. To learn more about our variety of services, please visit our website. Please also follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

 

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Tuomas P. // SMC Editor

Pictures and original articles: Tilla Theus, Inhabitat, Moon Hoon, Designboom, Heerim Architects, Inhabitat

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Living on the Edge of a Floating House

In today’s world people are taking construction business the dew dimensions. The ultimate extremes seem to be in space and underwater but another setting of prefab architecture is on the surface of water.

The world has many examples of beautiful floating architecture. A floating house has basically two features that are superior compared to their on-the-ground counterparts.

First, floating houses offer safety in areas suffering from floods. An article on BBC tells about an idea of floating houses saving people from UK’s floods. Besides residence, also school buildings have been converted into floatable forms. The concept of floating school buildings has already been applied in Nigeria.

Second, a floating building also operates as a transportation method. An example has been set in Finland, where sauna rafts have become a sort of a summer trend. Sauna rafts are basically rafts that are equipped with motor engines that move the raft in a moderate speed. Inhabitat has written more about the design of Finnish sauna rafts that also include a patio and hammocks. Formerly Shanghai Metal Corporation wrote an article about container saunas and container swimming pools, but this solution has both of them in one package.

For construction businesses the environment brings challenges as we’ve seen in case of floating architecture. In large major projects it’s the pioneers of the business who define the standards for quality. Shanghai Metal Corporation is one of them, not only because of the width of its business that encompasses prefab building, containers and steel building but also due its success in executing successful projects including some of the largest steel bridges in China.

For information about our construction projects, please visit our website. Please also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

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Tuomas P. // SMC Editor

Pictures and original articles: BBC, The Huffington Post, Inhabitat, Inhabitat, Inhabitat, Inhabitat, Inhabitat

The Cliff House Defines the New Extreme of Prefab Architecture

An Australian Company Modscape has come up with a design of a five story building clinging to the side of a cliff in southwest Victoria Australia. The Cliff House resembles the house of the Marvel comics character, the Ironman Tony Stark.

The real life Ironman house is equipped with a carport, a living room, kitchen, an open-air spa, BBQ room, three bedrooms with one having an en suit bathroom and a larger bathroom. The only entrance of the cliff house is at the top floor from where an elevator or stairs take the residents to every prefabricated level.

 At the lowest floor, the home opens up to another outdoor space, which seems to float above the water. Patio furniture, an outdoor kitchen and a jacuzzi tub extend the luxurious feeling of being above the ocean. The minimized amount of furniture emphasizes the connection to the ocean and the horizon.

The Cliff House’s design is inspired by how barnacles cling to the hull of a ship. Like barnacles, the house is anchored to a cliff by steel pins. The house works as a natural extension to the cliff bringing an absolute connection with the beautiful ocean.

Perhaps some people would hesitate about coastal erosion and how it affects the house’s steel fasteners. Fortunately, the former president of the Royal Institute of British Architects Maxwell Hutchinson has said in BBC’s interview that there is no reason why the design should not be structurally sound. Cantilever beams drilled into the rock could support the building just as crampons support a climber. Hutchinson also mentions that the building costs might become high because the people in the industry tend to dislike everything unusual.(source)

Shanghai Metal Corporation is also an experienced builder of prefabricated homes. We offer modular houses, hotels, villas and offices. Please visit our website for more information. Please also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. Try also our mobile application by scanning the QR code below.

Tuomas P. // SMC Editor

Pictures and original articles: Business Insider, BBC, Gizmag, Comicvine, Inhabitat