Ha, good to know your iPhone is going under rigorous testing – rubber bands do the trick.

Each chamber is connected to racks of equipment that simulate actual cellular base stations, wi-fi networks, bluetooth devices and GPS satellites.

The walls are lined with a carbon-impregnated foam that eliminates any extraneous variables from within the room like signal bounce.

Official screen shots and video can be found here and here.

The design is sympathetic to the site and its history, while offering an outstanding new building for the Church and the community… The new building will support the work and outreach of St Barnabas over the coming decades… [and] will make a significant contribution to local communities and will enhance the streetscape of Broadway and Mountain Streets.
— Ian Powell, Senior Minister at St Barnabas Church

[Images from http://www.fjmt.com.au/projects/projects_stb.html]

The design, by fjmt, actually reminds me a lot of Tadao Ando’s Church of the Light (with it’s light cruciform made from four slabs of concrete) and Jorn Utzon’s Bagsvard Church (with its coloured concrete curves that disperse light). Either way, I’d definitely like to go and visit the church one day – both during the day and at night with the lights on!

The TETB will accommodate and showcase state-of-the-art and leading edge research in clean energy including photo-voltaics, carbon capture and storage.

The building is expected to be complete and ready for students in October 2011. See page 4 for further information. The anticipated construction value for the TETB is approximately $81.6 million.

http://www.facilities.unsw.edu.au/index.php/download_file/-/view/201/

FJMT has been appointed by the University as the architect for the TETB. Their appointment was the result of a design competition to which a short-list of architects was invited from a public invitation for expression of interest.

The design intention seeks a balance and resolution of the various aspects of the brief combining functionality and flexibility in the creation of best practice environments for teaching and learning, research and workplace, with the iconic aspiration of the University’s strategic vision and goals and the potential of the important gateway site.

Further more, the design is required to respond to the University’s Campus Masterplan and Development Control Plan principles in order that a cohesive solution is achieved that accommodates the immediate needs of the TETB, while also providing a strategic and flexible facility that responds to the University’s overall long-term needs and creates a memorable and distinctive address for the Kensington Campus.

The TETB consists of five floor levels totalling approximately 15,000 square metres including a lower ground and ground floors. It incorporates administrative spaces, teaching and learning spaces, engineering workshops, engineering display spaces, a café, and research areas including laboratories.

The roof of the building will incorporate photovoltaic cells for testing of research and development work as well having the potential to contribute to the energy input requirements of the facility.

A central atrium space with access stairs and pedestrian bridges connects the floor levels through the full height of the building to increase visual and physical interconnection and enhance the collaborative nature of the design.

A six star ESD Green Star Rating from the Australian Green Building Council of Australia is targeted for the building.

http://www.facilities.unsw.edu.au/index.php/download_file/-/view/201/

[Images from http://www.facilities.unsw.edu.au/major-projects/, accessed 1 April, 2010]

Although the Tate sculpture was temporary, Kapoor often creates his outdoor sculptures for permanent residence. Such is the case with his recent installation for “The Farm,” a 400ha (1,000 acre) private estate outdoor art gallery in Kaipara Bay, north of Auckland, New Zealand. Kapoor’s first outdoor sculpture in fabric, “The Farm” (the sculpture is named after its site), is designed to withstand the high winds that blow inland from the Tasman Sea off the northwest coast of New Zealand’s North Island. The sculpture is fabricated in a custom deep red PVC-coated polyester fabric by Ferrari Textiles supported by two identical matching red structural steel ellipses that weigh 42,750kg each. The fabric alone weighs 7,200kg.

The ellipses are orientated one horizontal, the other vertical. Thirty-two longitudinal mono-filament cables provide displacement and deflection resistance to the wind loads while assisting with the fabric transition from horizontal ellipse, to a perfect circle at midspan, through to the vertical ellipse at the other end. The sculpture, which passes through a carefully cut hillside, provides a kaleidoscopic view of the beautiful Kaipara Harbor at the vertical ellipse end and the hand contoured rolling valleys and hills of “The Farm” from the horizontal ellipse. Fabrication and installation of the art piece is by Structurflex Ltd., of Henderson, Auckland, New Zealand, overall engineering is by Structure Design Ltd., membrane engineering by Compusoft Engineering Ltd.

Fabric Architecture. Anish Kapoor sculpture blends fabric and steel in New Zealand. 2010. http://fabricarchitecturemag.com/articles/0110_sk_sculpture.html

[Images from http://fabricarchitecturemag.com/articles/0110_sk_sculpture.html]