 Marina Bay Sands, located on the Marina Bay waterfront, is a 40-acre mixed-use integrated resort. The complex is organized around principal axes that extend into the surrounding urban fabric. Both the north&ndash;south promenade and the grand arcade traverse the entire project and are crossed by two east&ndash;west spines (view corridors), which connect the planned Gardens by the Bay, the local metro station, Bayfront Avenue and the waterfront. Marina Bay Sands combines more than 120,000 square metres (nearly 1.3 million square feet) of world-class convention and exhibition facilities; three 56-storey hotel towers containing more than 2,600 rooms in total; a 1-hectare (2.5-acre) sky park capping the towers, which offers 360-degree views of the city and sea and outdoor amenities for the hotel including swimming pools, restaurants and gardens; the iconic Sands Museum on the promontory; two state-of-the-art theatres with 4,000 seats; a casino; a wide array of shopping and dining outlets; and an outdoor event plaza along the promenade that can accommodate up to 10,000 people. As part of the continuous necklace of activities surrounding Marina Bay, the complex forms a gateway to the city. Seen from ships anchored at sea, the two windows created by the towers and sky park frame the vistas towards downtown Singapore. Viewed from this vantage point, the project`s foreground &ndash; composed of the Sands Museum, the promenade and undulating roof structures &ndash; serves as a base from which the hotel towers rise, curving skyward. A series of layered gardens extends the tropical garden landscape from Gardens by the Bay towards the bayfront. Total Area: 9,096,000 square feet Total Cost: US $5.7 billion, including land cost 

Marina Bay Sands

The new building for the Telfair Museum of Art in Savannah is located on historic Telfair Square, diagonally across from the Telfair Academy, the oldest public art museum in the South, built in 1818–19 by architect William Jay. The site is in the heart of the Savannah Historic District, an area planned by James Oglethorpe in 1733 and defined by a grid of streets punctuated by a series of tree-shaded urban squares.

The building, a contemporary structure that harmonizes with Savannah’s urban fabric, respects the traditional grid of the historic district. The height and mass of the museum relate to the surrounding structures. The glazed façade on York Street engages tree-lined Telfair Square and is formed by two white architectural concrete ‘screens’ framing glass walls, which break up the 37-metre-wide (120-foot) frontage into bays of less than 18 meters (60 feet), as required by the Historic Savannah guidelines.

The foyer of the Jepson Center for the Arts faces the square and is enclosed by a curved stone wall, through which a grand stair rises to the two upper levels. The foyer and grand stair are roofed by a trellised glass-and-steel structure, which casts a rich pattern of shadows on the walls and floors. The second floor contains a 200-seat auditorium, offices, a library and educational galleries. The top floor is devoted to galleries for temporary exhibitions, Southern art, African-American art and photography. A rooftop sculpture terrace is accessed from the upper galleries and is visible from the surrounding streets. The building’s exterior and major interior walls are clad with light-colored Portuguese limestone, and the saddle-shaped roof is leaded copper.

Telfair Museum of Art, Jepson Center for the Arts

A 100’ long by 12’ tall curved, tilted wall made of perforated stainless steel with mist sprayers along the top edge. The billowing mist serves to dematerialize the edge of the artwork while providing a cooling environment for people walking along the path. The arc is fabricated out of perforated stainless steel that has been painted carbon black. The top edge of the arc is lined with hundreds of mist sprayers that release a curtain of tiny water drops that visually blur the edge of the sculpture. When hit by direct sunlight, the mist refracts into a series of intense rainbows. As the mist billows from the top of the artwork it streams and sways in response to the wind like the spray from the top of a large breaking wave on the ocean. The interaction of the mist and the perforated metal background creates some interesting visual illusions. People walking behind the wall instead appear to be walking in front of it but enshrouded in mist. The artwork and surrounding landscape design evolved through a collaboration with Moshe Safdie.

Skirball Museum

Rainbow Arbor

A 100' long by 12' tall curved, tilted wall made of perforated stainless steel with mist sprayers along the top edge. The billowing mist serves to dematerialize the edge of the artwork while providing a cooling environment for people walking along the path. 

The Salt Lake City Main Public Library occupies a city block across from city hall. The building consists of a five story, triangular-shaped structure housing the stacks and readers’ facilities, an adjacent rectangular administration wing and a glass-enclosed “urban room, ” all contained by a crescent-shaped wall. The wall descends toward the piazza, providing a sweeping external staircase that leads visitors from the piazza to a rooftop garden overlooking the surrounding Wasatch Mountains. The urban room opens into the piazza, which is lined within the wall with shops, restaurants, meeting rooms and an auditorium.
Within the crescent, reading galleries occupy the four levels above the retail areas and are connected by bridges to the main library block. The children’s library, on the lowest level, spills outdoors into an amphitheater and a children’s garden. Story rooms designed as part of the art program cluster around.
A south-facing, five-story double-glazed ‘lens’ opens the entire library towards the mountain view while providing shade or trapping the sun’s heat, as appropriate to each season.

Client: Salt Lake City Library
Associate Architects: VCBO Architects
Total Area: 225,000 sq.ft. (20,902 sq.m)
Cost: US $78 million
Status: Completed 2003

Salt Lake City Main Public Library 

 The rebuilding of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum includes a new visitors` center (Mevoah), a new history museum replacing the existing museum constructed in 1953, a Hall of Names, a synagogue, galleries for Holocaust art, an exhibitions pavilion and a learning and visual center. In addition, new underground parking and facilities for tour buses are located adjacent to a new entrance piazza. The overall program quadruples the permanent exhibition space. The mevoah is an arcaded concrete pavilion roofed by skylights and trellises, which cast everchanging shadow patterns. It is reminiscent of a Succah. The lower level accommodates a restaurant and other public services. The historic museum consists of a mostly underground prismatic structure 16.5 meters high and 183 meters long (54 x 600 feet) that cuts through the Yad Vashem hillside, penetrating from the south and protruding to the north. A network of skylit underground galleries lines both sides of the prism. The Hall of Names, located toward the end of the historic museum, is a conical structure extending upward 9 meters (30 feet) and housing the personal records of all known Holocaust victims. A reciprocal cone, penetrating deep into the Jerusalem bedrock below, echoes the upper chamber and commemorates those whose names will never be known. The 20-hectare (50-acre) site also includes the Children`s Holocaust Memorial and the Transport Memorial, designed by Moshe Safdie and completed in 1987 and 1995, respectively, as well as the Hall of Remembrance, administrative offices, an education and archival center and the Valley of the Communities. 

Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum

The rebuilding of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum includes a new visitors’ center (Mevoah), a new history museum replacing the existing museum constructed in 1953, a Hall of Names, a synagogue, galleries for Holocaust art, an exhibitions pavilion and a learning and visual center. In addition, new underground parking and facilities for tour buses are located adjacent to a new entrance piazza. The overall program quadruples the permanent exhibition space. The mevoah is an arcaded concrete pavilion roofed by skylights and trellises, which cast everchanging shadow patterns. It is reminiscent of a Succah. The lower level accommodates a restaurant and other public services. The historic museum consists of a mostly underground prismatic structure 16.5 meters high and 183 meters long (54 x 600 feet) that cuts through the Yad Vashem hillside, penetrating from the south and protruding to the north. A network of skylit underground galleries lines both sides of the prism. The Hall of Names, located toward the end of the historic museum, is a conical structure extending upward 9 meters (30 feet) and housing the personal records of all known Holocaust victims. A reciprocal cone, penetrating deep into the Jerusalem bedrock below, echoes the upper chamber and commemorates those whose names will never be known. The 20-hectare (50-acre) site also includes the Children’s Holocaust Memorial and the Transport Memorial, designed by Moshe Safdie and completed in 1987 and 1995, respectively, as well as the Hall of Remembrance, administrative offices, an education and archival center and the Valley of the Communities.

 Crystal Bridges is both a museum and a cultural center. The project is located in a ravine with a creek fed by Crystal Springs. Two suspended-cable-and-wood buildings span the ravine, creating two ponds. These structures serve as dams as well as bridges. The design aims to protect the natural beauty of the site while emphasizing a strong sense of place, and certain materials &ndash; wood, fieldstone and limestone aggregate &ndash; are drawn from the region. Building walls are architectural concrete with wood inlays, and the roofs are composed of a system of laminated wood beams. The liberal use of glass throughout the complex provides great transparency and enhances views of the site. The museum comprises a number of independent structures that form a series of pavilions over and alongside the ponds. The two bridge buildings are located at opposite ends of the north pond. Galleries are contained in the Gallery Bridge while reception, dining and hospitality facilities are housed in the Entry Bridge. The great hall, a multipurpose public space, is surrounded on three sides by the south pond. Additional structures are nestled into the sloping terrain on both sides of the ravine and contain galleries, function rooms, classrooms, a library, curatorial spaces and administrative offices. In contrast to the convex roof forms of the bridges, the concave roof forms of these structures visually retain the steep slopes. Total Area: 200,000 sq ft 

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

Crystal Bridges is both a museum and a cultural center. The project is located in a ravine with a creek fed by Crystal Springs. Two suspended-cable-and-wood buildings span the ravine, creating two ponds. These structures serve as dams as well as bridges.

The design aims to protect the natural beauty of the site while emphasizing a strong sense of place, and certain materials – wood, fieldstone and limestone aggregate – are drawn from the region. Building walls are architectural concrete with wood inlays, and the roofs are composed of a system of laminated wood beams. The liberal use of glass throughout the complex provides great transparency and enhances views of the site.

The museum comprises a number of independent structures that form a series of pavilions over and alongside the ponds. The two bridge buildings are located at opposite ends of the north pond. Galleries are contained in the Gallery Bridge while reception, dining and hospitality facilities are housed in the Entry Bridge. The great hall, a multipurpose public space, is surrounded on three sides by the south pond. Additional structures are nestled into the sloping terrain on both sides of the ravine and contain galleries, function rooms, classrooms, a library, curatorial spaces and administrative offices. In contrast to the convex roof forms of the bridges, the concave roof forms of these structures visually retain the steep slopes.

A large whirlpool forms inside a 70-foot diameter acrylic bowl and falls 2 stories to a pool below. The artwork, a collaboration with architect Moshe Safdie, functions as both a skylight and a rain collector. The rain water is recycled back to the whirlpool and also fills a canal that runs through the atrium. The pumps that direct water into the bowl are turned on and off a few times an hour so the whirlpool is always changing in shape and intensity. At peak flow rates there are 8000 gallons per minute falling through the atrium and 200 tons of water swirling around in the bowl. Extensive prototyping and engineering went into integrating the artwork into the structural and mechanical systems of the building.


Rain Oculus

                                            
                                            
                                            
                                                This video depicts the movement of water in his installation, "Rain Oculus". 
                                            
                                        

 Habitat was the major theme exhibition of the 1967 World Exposition in Montreal. It pioneered the design and implementation of three-dimensional prefabricated units of habitation. Three hundred sixty-five construction modules connect to create 158 residences. These range in size from 600-square-foot one-bedroom dwellings to 1,800-square-foot four-bedroom dwellings. In all, there are fifteen different housing types. Stepped back in their modular placement, each residence has its own roof garden. Play areas for young children are provided throughout the project. Three elevator cores direct vertical circulation throughout the complex. Elevators stop at every fourth floor to serve pedestrian streets. The streets are continuous through the project, and access to the dwellings is directly off them. The project incorporates both covered parking for all tenants and additional visitor parking. In Habitat `67 all the parts of the building, including the units, the pedestrian streets, and the elevator cores, participate as load-carrying members. The units are connected to each other by post-tensioning, high-tension rods, cables, and welding, all of which combine to form a continuous suspension system. Client: Canadian Corporation for the 1967 World Exhibition Associate Architects: David, Barott, Boulva General Contractor: Anglin Norcross Quebec, Ltd. Program: 365 prefabricated units, 158 dwellings Total Program Area: 238,000 sq.ft. (22,160 sq.m) Cost: $17 million Canadian 

Habitat 67

The objectives of this major expansion and re-organisation were to create an architecturally dramatic addition emblematic of the institution’s new identity as a centre of art and culture; to unify a disparate group of buildings and join them with newly doubled gallery space; and to present the museum to visitors as a coherent, welcoming whole. To that end, a curved, glazed arcade aligned over the existing Liberty Street forms the spine of the new wing and, with a courtyard, weaves together the old and new buildings. A series of two-level, house-like galleries, scaled to echo Salem’s historic residential fabric, is strung along the east side of the arcade; these structures are spaced to allow natural light into both the lower and upper floors. The distinct silhouette of each roofline indicates a unique interior space. The museum houses a large collection of the art from around the world. This is combined with a stellar collection of maritime objects. Additionally the campus features numerous parks, period gardens and over 20 historic properties. The Yin Yu Tang house, which is part of the main museum, is a 200 year old Chinese house that is the only example of Chinese domestic architecture on display in the United States. Armory Square occupies the former site of the Second Corps Cadet Armory building and is named in its honor. The Public Garden corridor occupies what was once the site of a parking lot and derelict building. Architectural Cost: US $54 million Size: 9,383.2 sq m (101,000 sq ft)

The Peabody Essex Museum, constructed in several phases over the past 200 years, is the oldest continuously operating museum in the United States.&nbsp;

Peabody Essex Museum

In this podcast, the architect Moshe Safdie discusses the Peabody Essex Museum's design. 

The facade of a cooling tower was covered with 10,000 hinged metal channels that fill with water and tip either left or right. When they tip they spill water into the center of the channel below which then tips either left or right. The result is a complex and unpredictable dance of water and metal where each element alters the behavior of the elements surrounding it. The artwork,  a collaboration with architect Moshe Safdie, also aids the functioning of the cooling tower by mixing water with air and cooling the water which gets recycled back into the system

Tipping Wall

                                            
                                            
                                            
                                                                                            
                                            
                                            
                                                The video shows the wall in motion.
                                            
                                        
                                            
                                        

Responding to the site’s steep and complex topography at the base of the Santa Monica
Mountains, the Skirball Cultural Center forms a series of building clusters tucked longitudinally
against the hills.  Indoor and outdoor spaces are integrated throughout the complex, creating a
series of gardens, an amphitheater and courtyards.
The Skirball Cultural Center features a museum of Jewish-American experience, galleries
for changing exhibitions, a conference and educational center, a 350-seat auditorium, and
Ahmanson Hall (a multipurpose auditorium). Underground parking accommodates 400 cars and
an additional garage, which is currently under construction, will accommodate 500 cars. 
The courtyards and gardens open to views of the hills beyond and further serve to integrate
the building with the natural beauty of the site.  The courtyards connect to a sculpture garden
located between the building and the hills, providing a contemplative transition zone between
the natural and built environment.
The building’s cast-in-place architectural concrete frame has stainless steel infill panels and
stainless steel vaulted roofs which reflect the dynamic and changing sky.  Exterior concrete walls
are clad with bands of pink-flamed granite.
Client: Skirball Cultural Center
Program: Gallery space (permanent and traveling), multi-purpose hall, 
  classrooms, auditorium, administration, research library,
  conference center, Discovery Center, gift shop, restaurant,
  amphitheater, courtyards and gardens, structured parking
Size: 170,000 sq ft 
Cost: withheld
Status: Phase  I: 1995
             Phase II: 2000
             Phase III: 2003
             Phase IV: 2013

Skirball Cultural Center

A design studio driven by a spirit of innovation and idealism, founded upon the guiding principles that architecture should be inherently timeless, connected to nature, and profoundly humane. ? Our design philosophy is rooted in Moshe Safdie&rsquo;s powerful metaphor: &ldquo;For Everyone a Garden&rdquo;, the beautifully simple notion that sees architecture as a generous act of connecting us to nature and creating meaningful spaces of community that serve as catalysts for vibrant public life. While globally active, the practice is intentional in its response to local context, maintaining a nimble and bespoke approach to delivering some of the world&rsquo;s most imaginative commissions across diverse scales, geographies, and typologies. ? Safdie Architects is an extended family of partners and colleagues, working collaboratively, with a shared spirit and an uncommon skill in transforming the firm&rsquo;s humanistic ideals into reality. 

Safdie Architects

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