Man-Made Tornado in a Museum

The Mercedes-Benz museum in Stuttgart has a bit of an unusual attraction.

The building has the world's most powerful man-made tornado, and whilst this does attract visitors, this is not the reason for its existence.

Created from 144 jets spewing 28 tons of smoke in a 112-foot-high column, the idea of a tornado in a showroom containing over 150 luxury vehicles may seem like an odd one, but it is actually a clever fire-safety mechanism.

The building is made from a steel structure based on a double-helix, featuring a massive central atrium viewable from the floors that spiral around it. All rooms are open, all walls are curved and each of the 1800 triangular window panes on the exterior walls is unique. This however means that there are no fire zones within the building so by creating this tornado they are able to expel smoke emissions from within the building. It is said to take about 7 minutes for the jets that line the interior walls to get the smoke to whirl into a tornado and escape through vents in the roof.

Watch a video of the tornado in action below.

V&A membership campaign

In an effort to boost membership, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, has teamed up with Rose Design to produce a series of print ads.

Rose Design worked with photographer Nick Turpin and copywriter Jim Davies to create the posters, which aim to highlight the benefits of becoming a member.

The posters all feature black and white shots of visitors enjoying exhibits and objects from the V&A's vast trove of historical artifacts.

Museum takes shape

Take a look at this building designed by Korean architects UAD in Seoul and see if it reminds you of anything.

It was built to house the Simone Handbag Museum which includes handbags from all over the world including designer classics as well as historical items.

Se more about the museum here.

Oct Design Museum approaches completion in Shenzhen

This impressive piece of architecture is the Oct Design Museum in Shenzhen, China.

It was designed by Studio Pei-Zhu and their inspiration came from both the location, being close to the bay, and from the needs of the museum, a surreal space for design exhibitions.

The Oct Design Museum focuses mainly on fashion shows, product design, and conceptual automotive shows and the goal was to create a space that is surreal to the subject matter but also transcendental in surrounding and feeling.

See and find out more on the Contemporist website.

Image © fang zenning
Image courtesy studio pei zhu

World's largest paper plane takes to the skies

The 'Great Paper Airplane Project' was organised by the PIMA Air and Space Museum, Tucson, Arizona and involved the launch of the world's largest paper airplane.

This amazing feat of engineering measured 45 feet (13.7m) long with a wingspan of 24 feet (7.3m) and was named the 'Desert Eagle'. It was fabricated from Falcon Board, a form of corrugated cardboard, and weighed 800 pounds with a design based an award winning normal-sized paper airplane, created by a 12-year-old Arturo Valdenegro, which was entered in the museum's fly-off competition.

This design was then adapted by one of the designers of the B-2 Stealth Bomber, Art Thompson, and to launch this amazing plane the 'Desert Eagle' was towed into the air by a helicopter to a height of 2,700 feet and released.

It flew for a total of about ten seconds and reached speeds of up to 100mph (161 km/hr) before crash landing as a result of stress on its tail.

Have a look at the video below to see the flight.

The Ordos Museum lands in the Gobi desert

The Ordos Art and City Museum in Mongolia is an amorphous building that seems to have just landed on this incredible landscape.

It was designed by MAD Archtiects and is surrounded be the dunes of the Gobi desert with stairways and belvederes that grow out of the earth.

Located in the new city center of Ordos, the space itself is deeply rooted in the local culture. To view on ArchDaily  click here or watch this atmospheric video.

Dali Museum opens in Florida - Designed by HOK

The Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida opened this week. Designed by architects HOK the building replaces the original Dali Museum that was built in 1982. It utilises free-form geodesic geometry and triangulated glass organically flows around and attaches to the rigid unfinished concrete box.

According to Arch Daily this is the first use of this type of free-form geodesic geometry in the United States. As visitors enter the museum they are greeted by a coiled concrete form at the reception desk.

Read more on Arch Daily

© Moris Moreno

Foster + Partners unveils Zayed National Museum, Abu Dhabi

Foster + Partners has recently unveiled designs for the Zayed National Museum in Abu Dhabi. It is presented as a monument and memorial to the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founding president of the UAE. The aim is to architecturally create a contemporary form with elements of traditional Arabic design and hospitality that creates a museum that is sustainable, welcoming and culturally of its place. Read more on ArchDaily