Backstage Architecture(2012)

BACKSTAGE ARCHITECTURE

LUIGI PRESTINENZA PUGLISI CHIEF CURATOR © 2012 Backstage Architecture. All rights reserved. e-book version, last updated 10th of September, 2012 CHIEF CURATOR Luigi Prestinenza Puglisi Senior Curator Bernardina Borra Junior Curators Nicolò Lewanski, Rosella Longavita, Federica Russo English translations and editing: Paul David Blackmore Thanks to: Massimo Russo and Alessandro Ferullo, creators of web site www.backstage-architecture.org Francesco Trovato, Lettera22, Editorial Support Mauro Rallo, IT consultant

BERNARDINA BORRA SENIOR CURATOR NICOLO’ LEWANSKI ROSELLA LONGAVITA FEDERICA RUSSO JUNIOR CURATORS

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INDEX

Glamuzina Paterson Architects

www.gp-a.co.nz

150 Czech Republic

OV-A

www.ov-a.cz

20

Australia

KOKKUGIA ROLAND SNOOKS

www.kokkugia.com

154 Sweden

FoAM-NORDICA

www.scene-thinking.com

24

Russia

PlanAR

[email protected], [email protected]

160 Norway

Fantastic Norway

www.fantasticnorway.no

30

Indonesia

AKanoma Studio

[email protected], [email protected]

164 Austria

soma

www.soma-architecture.com

36

Japan

Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP Architects

[email protected]

168 Italy

CAFEArchitettura

www.cafearchitettura.it

42

South Korea

Ko Kiwoong + Lee Jooeun

www.office-kokiwoong.com

172 Germany

Birk und Heilmeyer Architekten

www.birkundheilmeyer.de

46

China

HHD_FUN, Wang Zhenfei + Luming Wang

www.hhdfun.com

178 Denmark

NORD Architects Copenhag en

www.nordarchitects.dk

50

Hong Kong

Alvin Yip

[email protected]

184 Switzerland

Dreier Frenzel Architecture

www.dreierfrenzel.com

56

Taiwan

CHAOTI CHEN + WORKSHOP LEVITAS

[email protected]

188 Nigeria

NLÉ, KUNLÉ ADEYEMI

www.nleworks.com

60

Vietnam

VO TRON GNGHIA ARCHITECTS

www.votrongnghia.com

192 The Netherlands

Anne Holtrop

www.anneholtrop.nl

64

India

SHROFFLEON

[email protected], [email protected]

196 Belgium

PT ARCHITECTEN

[email protected]

68

Bangladesh

SHAHNAWAZ BAPPY

[email protected]

202 Algeria

MAGDA BENDANI

[email protected]

72

Iran

Hamed Khosravi, Mahtab Akhavan

www.hamedkhosravi.com

206 France

Nicolas Reymond

www.nicolasreymond.com

78

Jordan

MATTHEW BARTON, EMAD SLEIBY

[email protected], [email protected]

210 United Kingdom

THE ASSEMBLE

www.assemblestudio.co.uk

82

Kuwait

AGI Architects

www.agi-architects.com

214 Spain

ARTURO FRANCO

www.arturofranco.es

86

Turkey

PAB Architects

www.pab.com.tr

220 Portugal

embaixada

www.embaixada.net

90

Israel

HQ Architects

www.hqa.co.il

226 Ireland

CLANCY MOORE ARCHITECTS

www.clancymoore.com

94

Lebanon

BERNARD KHOURY / DW5

www.bernardkhoury.com

232 Brazil

SIAA Arquitectos

www.siaa.arq.br

98

Romania

UNULAUNU

www.unulaunu.ro

238 Venezuela

LAB.PRO .FAB.

www.labprofab.com

104 Cyprus

NOA

[email protected]

242 Bolivia

G/CdR Architects

www.gallardocostadurelsarquitectos.com

108 South Africa

26’10 South Architects

www.2610south.co.za

246 USA

Form-ula

www.form-ula.com

114 Greece

PAAN ARCHITECTS

www.paan.gr

250 Dominican Republic PEREZ MORALES y ASOCIADOS

[email protected]

118 Bulgaria

GEORGI ZAYKOV

www.atikaholding.com

254 Cuba

Choy-León Estudio de Arquitectura

[email protected]

122 Serbia

Autori

www.autori.rs

258 Colombia

Paisajes Emergentes

[email protected]

128 Finland

AOA

www.aoa.fi

264 Peru

Héctor Loli Rizo Patrón + Ximena Alvarez de la Piedra

www.nomena-arquitectos.com

132 Poland

VROA / CH+ Architekci

www.vroa.pl, www.chplus.pl

268 Chile

BENJAMÍN MURÚA, RODRIGO VALENZUELA

[email protected]

138 Hungary

BORD ARCHITECTURAL STUDIO

www.bordstudio.hu/index.php

274 Nicaragua

Kelton Villavicencio Architects

[email protected]

142 Croatia

MMMM MAJA MILAT, MARIO MATIC

[email protected]

278 Mexico

PRODUCTORA

[email protected]

146 Slovenia

TASTE

www.taste.si

7

New Zealand

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LUIGI PRESTINENZA PUGLISI

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fewer certainties and increased doubts for order and rigour, though not necessarily frankness or economy. On behalf of the Associazione Italiana di Architettura e Critica I am pleased to present this second edition of Backstage Architecture, which brings together the best architects under the age of 35 working around the globe, enriched this year by a number of new entries, and involving a total of 57 nations. I would like to thank all of the architectural critics who selected the ‘under35’s’, and these latter for providing the requested documentation of their work. The research and this product are the result of the work of a group composed of Bernardina Borra (senior curator), Nicolò Lewanski, Federica Russo, Rosella Longavita (junior curators), with the invaluable assistance offered by Massimo Russo for the web design and programming and Paul David Blackmore for the English translations.

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As I write these words, the economic crisis afflicting Europe has not yet abated. And there are no signs on the horizon that things are about to improve any time soon, above all in those countries facing the most serious problems: Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy. This comports a stagnation in the building market and an absence of employment perspectives for young architects, forced to seek work abroad. However, they are no longer searching, as was once the case, in the architecturally saturated countries of France, The Netherlands or Great Britain, but on other continents where economic development, despite that fact that the crisis is global, is impetuous: Brazil, China, India and Australia. In parallel with the redefinition of the geographic scenarios in which architecture is being produced, we are also witness to a redefinition of theoretical research that, with respect to the past, is marked by fewer certainties and increased doubts. The 1990s were a decade of theorisations on design. These were the years of numerous books on architectural theory, and the best designers from this season sought to construct theorems, that is, projects that served to demonstrate their ideas. We need only consider the work of Rem Koolhaas and the protagonists of the first wave of the star system, such as Steven Holl, Daniel Libeskind, Bernard Tschumi and Zaha Hadid. However, there are also works that came later: for example the blobby and digital era that sought to demonstrate how the computer could be used to generate the new geometries of buildings and cities. Today we live in an era that is marked – somewhat

like financial markets – by greater uncertainties and volatility. We are afraid to realise overly iconic works and run the risk of the excesses that are inevitable in the presence of overly precise ideas. We return to the past with more nonchalance – there is no longer an idea that we must propose innovation at all costs – and we return to approaches that, until a few years ago, appeared to have gone out of style. There is also a greater desire for simplicity and an increased awareness of economics and ecology. In particular, it would appear possible to define three trends. The first is neo-organic. This has little to do with the super-organicism of Greg Lynn or Nox, that, to be clear, employed computer-generated manipulations to create buildings characterised by complex fractal geometries and which, in the end, caused buildings to resemble a medusa or a head of cauliflower. The new organics prefer instead the use of softer, less overtly allusive forms, constructed of natural materials such as wood and stone. Their work recalls the origins of this type of research: for example Alvar Aalto or Frank Lloyd Wright. However, they conserve their own freshness and modernity. The second trend is technological. However, it is extraneous to the excesses of high-tech: the virtuosities of Norman Foster or Santiago Calatrava. On the contrary, it appears to move towards the style of the Apple store, where technological innovation is suggested not by pipes and tie rods, but by lightness, transparency, simplicity and versatility. Where instead of a futuristic steel structure there is a preference for glass, with the aerodynamic desk substituted by a table in blonde wood, the computer cables hidden from view or even eliminated. In the end new devices are all wireless. The third trend is neo-modernist. Far from the heroic season of the Modern Movement, marked by a Calvinist work ethic that saw standardisation and the reduction of ornaments as the path towards a better future. Today modernism is viewed, instead, as one style among many others, perhaps the best for expressing a desire

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12

BERNARDINA BORRA THE DIFFERENT WAYS OF BEING HYPE

The profession is thus returning more and more to what Hannes Meyer would have called an “organiser” of the biological aspects of life, meaning Architecture produced and inspired by man for man, as much as it produces man itself; as a co-operation between man and his environment. This is very close to Karl Marx’s concept of the production of man and society: “just as society produces man as man, so is society produced by him” (The Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844). The architecture designed by most of the young architects presented in this book is fed by observing the multitude of individuals as much as individuals will be affected by it. The focus on the first phase of this mutual relationship is growing sharper and more contextual, seeking the non-arbitrary effects of architecture on individuals, but directly connected to them. There is still a long way to go before we can confirm whether this is mere intellectual speculation or truly the way young architects of the upcoming generation will leave their mark around the world. It remains to be seen – regardless of any fashionable label, and without incommoding any elevated cultural legacy – whether the hype of the 2010’s will assert itself as more locally rooted and ethically engaged, or as simply a new opportunistic professional survival instinct to adapt to new environments, or maybe both.

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other place reached by educational exchange and Internet communication, worldwide awareness is stealthily introducing an attentive care for local socio-cultural and economic situations. A comparison with the rest of the world translates into a concern in relation to architectural production and the subjectiveness of its users.. Young architects are beginning to consider design – and process – as part of a more pondered relationship between subject/ object, or, individual/collective-architecture, as part of a shared project for the city and its territory. Unfortunately, this is not always immediately retraceable and applicable due to the resilience of both culture and the market, and obviously because of the time required for its physical construction. Perhaps the course of this transformation will be more evident a few years hence. Being fair to and critical of given conditions is in a way a new kind of conscious/unconscious modest hype that reveals itself with a different professional approach in many of the countries examined in this book. Being hype in Western countries now means tackling the city through processes of mending and restructuring (Poland, Serbia, Spain), through analysis, and through an attempt to make up for the failings of the participatory dream of the 1970s (Belgium). In countries with a growing economy, like those of the roaring Asia, being hype means riding the wave with rather open criticism, knowing that not everything is as spotless and bright as assumed (Indonesia, South Korea). There are also examples of an emergence of concepts of reuse and social engagement (Taiwan). Similar observations could be made for South America, where the collective assumes a different dimension from Asia, yet not exactly the same as in the old West, and where cities are in a different state of affairs (Chile, Colombia, Nicaragua). For the few countries we could recruit from Africa – while extremely different from one another – it could be said that being hype takes the meaning of nurturing existing local culture on its own strength (Nigeria, Algeria, South Africa).

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Given the system this book relies on, the survey it presents banks on the critic’s choice. As its curators we cannot pretend that it offers a complete picture of what is happening around the world. Its global scope makes it relevant, while to the same degree - due to the scope itself - it must be acknowledged that its underlying system is highly interpretative and possibly even arguable. Perhaps it simply reflects the current condition of the world we live in: impossible to grasp in a single attempt. Admitting and having this in mind, nevertheless the critics’ choices unmistakably fell on those architectural offices that can be assumed to represent the most successful practices in each country, based on local appraisal. Therefore, a few provisional assumptions can be derived from reading between the lines. For instance, it is possible to observe that the world of architecture is simultaneously as close and as distant as it has perhaps ever been. However, before venturing into the definition of several trends that can be identified, it is first important to take note of an overall mind switch shared by the upcoming generation around the globe. Throughout the years the Eurocentric monopoly over debate has become multipolar, fluctuating as much as the past decades’ economic developments. Yet there is a discrepancy between the established conventional way of looking at, making, and discussing the contents of architecture. While there remains an overwhelming pride in seeking all that is fashionable in architecture, a reading of the texts submitted by the invited critics clearly reveals

how the aims being pursued by young architects are changing in each country according to local conditions. Being hype today is a subtle game of satisfying the rhetorical call of aesthetics on the one hand, and a struggle to respect a growing professional ethic on the other: the profession’s new schizophrenia. In general terms it could be said once again that the notion of form for the sake of Form is now “exhausted” (see Bob Somol and Rem Koolhaas). In specific terms it can be noticed that this is not entirely true, and that it could rather be considered as being in a phase of re-development. Seen from within the current generation, there appears to be a set of new parameters that offset purely formal research, with content assuming increasingly more importance, and becoming more objective and relative to specific contingencies. Architects will never relinquish the performative aspects of design, yet they are recovering its critical aspects in relation to its content. As mentioned in the first edition of this book, the aggressiveness and self-reference inherent to the “suspension of judgment” have reached their end. The precariousness and the hangover accompanying the period that spanned from the end of the Second World War until the conclusion of the twentieth century generated a common feeling that is shrouded in most of the projects featured in this book. This is not yet an outspoken condition, but rather one that is sneaking into the profession as a true condition of the everyday for many, and as a warning for others. The professional education and architectural climax that defined the current generation’s development is beginning to feel like a straight jacket for many; several are tweaking the boundaries (Hong Kong, Sweden) or trying to be sober and efficient (Jordan, Vietnam, Nicaragua), while others are finding ad hoc and even unexpected solutions (Brazil, South Africa, Croatia, Norway, Russia, Great Britain). In those countries suffering from a recession, as well as in those of the so-called BRICS, or in any

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New Zealand

Architects Glamuzina Paterson recognise the opportunity that this affords young practices to explore the relationship between realised domestic projects and New Zealand’s vast, picturesque landscapes. The Lake Hawea courtyard house exemplifies this. Grounded in rural land at the foot of a Central Otago mountain range, the 250sqm home is an enquiry into where a site begins and ends, how to define the edges of the project, and the way landscape may be inhabited. Firmly dug into the earth and composed as a simple square plan, its low form recollects modest buildings in the region that housed prospectors during the mid nineteenth-century gold rush. The textural façade of brick wraps the house and large central courtyard, providing shelter as well as framing views to lofty mountains and low plains. Living, dining and sleeping spaces occupy the northern and eastern edges of the plan, favouring the predominant direction of the sun, while niches and overhangs in the building envelope protect from the hot, dry summers and harsh winters. As award-winning compatriot Ted McCoy once commented: “The good thing about isolation [is that] one had to learn for oneself, by looking at surroundings.” Lake Hawea house reflects this.

Glamuzina Paterson Architects DATE OF COMPLETION :

Wanaka CONSTRUCTED AREA:

250M2

44°41’48.79”S 169°07’53.13”E

text by Rebecca Roke

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New Zealand, Aotearoa, offers circumstances of freedom for its architects. Remote and scenic, the country has a tradition of building, rather than architecture per se, first established by pioneering settlers and their need for shelter. In the years since, Aotearoa’s architectural vernacular has been constructed through various ideas – the ‘Elegant Shed’ that draws on simple farm building precedents; tramper’s huts hidden in native bush; the unpretentious family ‘bach’. Yet in practice, the act of making architecture here is equally a way of creating turangawaewae – ‘a place to stand’ – a place to form home, heritage, ownership and in the broadest sense, an environment to live in.

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Lake Hawea Courtyard house

2012 LOCATION :

0

8.0

Otago mountain range

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va s t l a n d s c a p e s

413.00

UP UP

UP

Seen from the mound

UP

Even from the walled interior views to the mountains are the highlights .00

411

Turangawaewae a place to stand

.00

409

PLAN .00

408

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The Exterior peers inside 0

0

4.0

40

40

0 3.0

39 9

400

0

2.0

40

401

0

5.0

40

.00

.00

.00

8.0

39

404.00

404.00 403.00

403.00

“The good thing about isolation [is that] one had to learn for oneself, by looking at surroundings.”

Seeking the way landscape may be inhabited

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Explore the relationship between domestic and exterior

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Looking into one’s self B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2 18

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Australia

s

KOKKUGIA ROLAND SNOOKS DATE OF COMPLETION :

--Babiy Yar, Kiev, Ukraine CONSTRUCTED AREA:

0 M2

50° 47’ 13.89” N 30° 44’ 88.89” E

text by Martyn Hook

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This speculative project reconsiders the monument as object, instead positing the formation of an immersive space of remembrance, a space that emerges from the landscape and is carved from within a sombre stone monolith – an inverted monument. Rather than the reductive, singular, top-down imposition of form, this project explores the emergence of a space, rich with intricate detail, reflecting the culmination of individual differences within a multitude. The memorial is designed through the use of complex non-linear systems in which coherent order and space emerge from interactions at a local scale.

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Inverted Memorial

LOCATION :

This project is part of Kokkugia’s on-going research into Behavioural Design Methodologies. These methodologies operate through MultiAgent algorithms to generate the point of interaction of simple architectural decisions at a local scale that gives rise to the emergence of a self-organised design intent. Within the landscape this methodology is applied with agents navigating a differentiated field of intensities, negotiating between their own swarm logic and a field of external influences. The project is concerned both with the emergence of figure from a field as well as the dissolution of the figure into abstraction. The space of remembrance within the inverted monument is cast from bronze and generated through the interaction of agent-based components. At a local level the component has no base state, but instead adapts to its conditions. Consequently while local moments of periodicity may occur, its constant shifting of state triggered by local relationships resists a definitive reading of the component. The component logic of this carved space is polyscalar: self-similar agents operate across scales to form a set of intensive affects. The intensity of this space is intended to evoke a visceral response, without being directly metaphorical or referential. In contrast to many of Kokkugia’s projects, which attempt to dissolve hierarchies and dichotomies in favour of the negotiation of a synthetic whole, this project consciously sets up a series of contradictions. A deliberate tension or conflict is sought between the smooth monolithic shell of the exterior and the intricate bronze memorial space, between the intensity of the memorial and the reflective calm of the exhibition spaces.

LANDSCAPE BASIS

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TUNING

EXTRAPOLATING

Varying intensities emerge within the landscape through the local interactions of the multi-agent generative algorithm

Emerge FROM the Landscape The intense bronze memorial space is carved from the museum mass, containing contemplative exhibition spaces

The memorial is designed through the use of complex non-linear systems in which coherent order and space emerge from interactions at a local scale

FROM A SOMBER STONE MONOLITH B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

The monument is inverted to generate an intensive memorial space rather than a monument as object

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Russia

:

PlanAR DATE OF COMPLETION :

2011.10 11a Botanicheskaya, Moscow CONSTRUCTED AREA:

14 Ha

55° 82’ 65.04”N 37° 59’ 69.96”E

text by Anastasia Albokrinova

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In Moscow and a majority of Russian cities, the field of cheap and social housing is still fulfilled by the production of concrete factories operating since the 1970s. This results in the spread of outdated standards in building technology, planning and design solutions, and the general quality of the urban environment. Examples include the still-present asphalted platforms for laundry or 12 parking spaces for 10-storey blocks of flats. Despite changes to the economic system, the spread of social groups in the city and significant changes in lifestyles, many of the basic elements of a contemporary city have yet to be introduced to Russian urban space.

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Marfino Public spaces

LOCATION :

In this light the story of urban “twins” would be quite illustrative. Marfino is a typical housing area near Stalin’s World Exhibition Centre complex. The apartments are used as social housing and possess all facilities typical of the 1980s and 90s. Marfino’s “twin” is located nearby and offers flats for sale. This affected developer’s desire to make make the microrayon attractive to potential buyers. Planar - a young Moscow-based architectural office, was invited to re-evaluate the urban space in this architectural environment. Planar’s involvement in the project brought essential changes to Marfino, beginning with an attractive and inventive navigation system (a set of African animals with specific colours), bicycle and jogging paths with clever intersections with vehicular circulation; from infrastructure for the disabled to original wood gazebos, awarded as the best wooden architecture in Russia. What truly changed the flow and typical lifestyle of microrayon Marfino inhabitants is the system of playgrounds. In comparison, the playgrounds in the social housing area are a compact, colourful, though uninventive block that is cloned throughout the area. On the contrary, diversity of the playgrounds of the “twin” area makes the inhabitants interact, walking around to choose which attraction is more desirable at the moment. In conclusion, it must be said that it is a fact that urban space in Russia isn’t improving with the rise of the price for an apartment. The only introductions made for luxury housing are restricted access and underground parking. In this light, Marfino’s human-centred and visually effective design make the project and its architects forerunners of the long-awaited changes in the post-USSR urban environment.

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PLAN

B right c olors and k itschy O B J E C T S exot i c an i m a l s ’ fi g u r e s

Unexpected objects make the dull background disappear

A typical prefab high-rise microrayon of Soviet Union style is boring to live in and hard to navigate

The most atypical landscape possible road markup

ho u s e nu m b e r s

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Figures of animals form an effective navigation system

The inhabitant had adopted them as “totem animals” for their courtyards

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Tweak it! B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2 28

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Indonesia

the old materials of the former house, leftover construction materials, as well as the client’s personal collection of unique objects, beer bottles, wine bottles, cigarette packages, and various ethnic handicrafts. Further design techniques are applied to the house. A sensitively-designed 10-centimeter deep façade which filters indirect sunlight after 10 a.m., split levels that make the house airy and spacious, the uncommon use of roof tiles as wall cladding and a reference to the ‘peranakan’, the traditional Chinese-Indonesian house: a courtyard garden with a red ‘dadap’ tree. The use of old materials bring a homey feeling to the spaces, an effect one usually has to wait for decades to achieve. Yusing’s idea of ‘the dream of cheap housing’ is a guerrilla approach to make exciting, modern, experimental architecture affordable to Indonesia’s middle-to-low income families. Within a year, the office’s productivity has reached 20 designs, of which 10 are built annually.

AKanoma Studio DATE OF COMPLETION :

West Jakarta CONSTRUCTED AREA:

500 M2

6° 10’ 14.52” S 106°46’38.80”W

text by Daliana Suryawinata

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The puzzle house is one of the many houses designed by Akanoma, a rising Indonesian architectural practice. It exemplifies the radical reuse of materials, 90% of which is from the site itself. This house is a renovation of an existing home from the 1980s. A one-story house has been renovated into three floors, with the first floor height being only 2 meters to function as warehouses and storage tanks for potable water, water wells, and rainwater. For a small house set within a 10 x 18 m plot in Jakarta, this water planning is noteworthy. It is designed like a puzzle: a series of fields and masses with a variety of materials, from

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Puzzle House

2011 LOCATION :

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Section

The new house is a collection of old materials of the former house, construction leftover materials, as well as the client’s personal collection unique objects, beer bottles, wine bottles, cigarette packs, and various ethnic handicrafts

Simplicity will bring peace of mind

The rooms in the home are set surrounding the courtyard, like a mirrored /c/ letter

The house becomes relatively cooler and offers changeable atmospheres according to the weather

The corridor is bordered by a gabion wall made of coral stones and some leftover wood from the construction

-0.10

+0.00

-0.35

PLAN

+0.75

Small house within a 10mx18m plot

+0.80 +1.30

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

+0.20 +0.1

+1.35 -1.50 +1.30

33

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Radical material reuse B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2 34

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Japan

j

Despite its ordinary rectangular plan, House C does not look sculpturally squared, or like a volume in tension. House C is relaxed, and it appears to be a “gradual” and “not exact” piece of architecture, reminding the viewer of the expression of beauty and imperfection of nature that is celebrated by the Zen Japanese aesthetic. By putting himself in active resonance with the site, Nakamura designed a house in which the luminous and connective central space calmly lets in the mountain and the ocean. House C does not lean towards the landscape, it instead receives it; it does not offer itself to the exterior, it instead waits for it to come in. The thick roof slab is made of anti-corrosive concrete and designed with horizontal forces driven into the ground to create a space with almost no columns. The soil is utilized as a protective layer and finishing to reduce the cost of the exterior coating. Instead of looking for an excessively precise design at any cost, Nakamura prefers to leave the final shape of the House C to the discretion of nature and its owners, allowing them to change the aspect of the house by planting trees and plants on the roof. In some ways, House C shows the courage of having an architect that let it go.

Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP Architects DATE OF COMPLETION :

2008.10 LOCATION :

Chiba, Tokyo Bay CONSTRUCTED AREA:

90 M2

35°35’50”N 140°06’43”W

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text by Salvator-John A. Liotta, Tomoko Kawai

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House C

Nakamura designed a weekend house in the Tokyo Bay. It is surrounded by the mounts of Bousou Peninsula and by the Pacific Ocean. The Japanese architect cut a strip of ground, lifted it up into the sky (not just metaphorically), and turned it into a walkable, vegetal roof for House C. Initially, Nakamura thought to sink the house into the earth to hide it within the landscape; however, in the end, he preferred to extract the soil from the site of House C and use it as a construction material. This conceptual gesture defines the project’s identity, and makes House C melt into its surroundings, existing in a sort of seamless continuity with the landscape.

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Touching soil brings certain emotions

a f a m i ly H i d e aw ay o v e r l o o k i n g t h e b ay

The site is located between ocean and mountains, it looks upon the horizon, the seashore, and the cliffs with beautiful layers of earth and fields full of wildflowers

Remind through details

PLAN

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

0

a large one-room home

5m

SEction In this region soil has been made into mounds, kneaded and fired it into pottery for many centuries

39

Local soil was used to cover the roof and, mixed with diatomite, cement and resin, to apply on the walls

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2 40

An extension of gardening

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2 41

42 B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

South Korea

Ko Kiwoong + Lee Jooeun DATE OF COMPLETION :

2010.10 Pangyo, Seoul CONSTRUCTED AREA:

242,21 M2

This single family house is situated in the detached housing complex in Pangyo, the new town on the outskirts of Seoul. According to the master plan based on the district unit plan, fence construction is strictly controlled as one’s domesticity must be entirely exposed to the exterior. Without even a minimum protection filter, young parents are facing the dilemma of wishing to provide safe surroundings for their children. The neighbouring houses show rather closed constructions with massive walls in dark concrete or stone panels, and the outdoor activity areas, placed in the centre of the house, are rather introversive and surrounded by walls. However, Jun’s house exposes people coming

37° 39’ 07.91” S 127° 09’ 63.06”W

43

text by Bae Yoonkyung

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

A window on the district

LOCATION :

in and going out through the main entrance, and there’s only a thin separation made of glass and shades between living room and exterior. Variously proportioned windows on the façade are expression of a will for an active observation towards the outside. (The northern façade shows this intention clearly by placing lots of small sized windows facing outward to their neighbours.) Generally, one who is inside the house would like to avoid ìother’s attention, but the role and relationship between observer and observed is reversed in Jun’s house. Spectators looking at Jun’s house from outside are rather observed by the inhabitant hiding himself behind the window. The windows of the main rooms on the first floor also support this notion with their slightly protruding shape. The steps and corridors circulate like a vessel, driving children up to the roof where they can enjoy the artificial landscape, as a change to the front yard. Dense perforations in the parapet provide the curious children a role as an observer. The seductive white surface offers strong proof of this changing relationship by pushing the formerly known limits of suburban housing to the extreme. Also, this is the first case in Korea to use the latest solid surface material* on the exterior, which is well coordinated with the spatial flows inside. For the moment, of the 2,000 housing units in this planned district, only 1/3 have been completed. It is evident that the uniqueness of Jun’s house exists as an important influence in the neighbourhood. Serving as a milestone within the area, created atop a tabula rasa, it is a pleasant anticipation of the future appearance after the completion of one large housing block. * This mineral material consists of approximately one third acrylic resin and 5% natural pigments. Its main constituent, at 70%, is the natural mineral aluminium hydroxide obtained from bauxite.

44 B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

The house to OBSERVE Densely perforated holes on parapet provide the curious children a role as an observer. Credit pictures: Photo by Kim, Yong-kwan

PLAN

This house is situated in the detached housing complex in Pangyo, the new town on the outskirts of Seoul

The variously proportioned windows are an expression of a will for active observation towards the outside

section

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

The interior spaces are separated by white colored surfaces that give more brightness to the rooms

o pening to the o utside

Contrary to the neighbouring houses that show rather closed constructions with massive walls in dark concrete or stone panels, this house is completely extroverted and open to the outside

45

Jun’s house exposes people coming in and going out through the main entrance

46 B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

China

DATE OF COMPLETION :

2010 LOCATION :

Rizhao CONSTRUCTED AREA:

2000 M2

35° 41’ 63.77” S 119° 52’ 68.88” W

text by Fu Ming Cheng

47

Instead of working with many professional consultants, HHD_FUN is trying to simplify the construction challenges using computer aided systems or, to be more specific, parametric commands or other related methods. Since 2009 the practice has extended its ambitions from small scale projects to much more challenging opportunities. HHD_FUN has recently completed a beach side visitor center development on the Shanhaitian beach park in Rizhao, east China. In the special context of the Chinese economy, one of the most successful strategies of the project is that of balancing relevantly unsophisticated

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

Rizhao Landscaping Project

HHD_FUN Zhenfei Wang+Luming Wang

construction skills with the high expectations of a complicated geometrical form. This development consists of 11 buildings spread along the 2 kilometers beach park. It includes an information center, retail shops, cinema, restaurants, beach shower and changing facilities, gym and a clubhouse for the nearby hotel. Each facility is unique and all together they provide a complete touristic experience to its visitors. Alongside the beach, the key feature of this park is its 50 year old black pine forest and the design challenges are to minimize the construction impact to the natural environment. As a result, the buildings were either positioned on the available area or being pushed towards the sea to preserve the forest. The form of the buildings was minimized in order to fit into their natural environment while at the same time to gain the best view. The park is spatially divided into 2 parts due to the 2 main access roads, therefore 2 building prototypes were developed in order to enhance the recognizability of each land portion. Parametric design technique has been adopted throughout all design process i.e. form finding, structure optimization, facade penalization and construction documentation. Each building is site specific, being varies in sizes and different orientations to accommodate different function requirements. Together a group of them generate a new configuration that has the emphasis on the varieties of the indoor and outdoor spaces. Based on academic work at the Berlage Institute, enhanced by knowledge gained through design work in China, HHD_FUN practice in parametric architecture has, and will continue to move the margins of imagination for emerging architects, especially for young architects in China and the rest of the world.

48 B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

the design challenges are to minimize the construction impact to the natural environment

This project consists of 11 buildings spread along the 2 kilometers beach park

The buildings generate a new configuration that has the emphasis on the varieties of the indoor and outdoor spaces

P lan

Parametric design technique has been adopted throughout all design process

49

The structure is designed to integrate into the existing landscape, embedding and extending the natural contours present on site

The service buildings such as showers and toilets present a more convex facade, creating a sheltered feeling

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

Reaching the Seaside

Each building is site specific, varies in size and orientation to accommodate different function requirements

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Hong Kong

Alvin Yip

May 2011 - ongoing LOCATION :

Wan Chai CONSTRUCTED AREA:

re-used existing place

22° 27’ 77.78” S 114° 18’ 05.56”W

text by Annette Chu

51

Visual Archive is a non-profit community art space with a lifetime of three years.  It is, simultaneously, a research project that investigates alternative development models in Wan Chai, a culturally diverse old neighbourhood in Hong Kong. With his strong interests in the social aspects in architecture and cities, Alvin has  invented a new position for himself - “independent curator”, and focuses on the process of formulating another possible city planning.  He has engaged in writing journals, participated in numerous decisionmaking boards, teaching and researching in order to create a platform where he could formulate and implement his alternative city model via

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

Visual Archive

DATE OF COMPLETION :

collaborations with various agencies - one in which its citizens are not forgotten, and are part of the active participants in art creation.  Dating back to the acclaimed Detour event in 2009, Alvin successfully transformed the deserted Police Married Quarters into a sand beach filled with creative exhibitions and activities which the public could enter and enjoy, free of charge, in the middle of the CBD. Visual Archive is less-defined at this moment.   Different from many gentrifications in our city where the main focus lies on efficient construction time and best economical return, Alvin persuaded and collaborated with a likeminded developer to spare a little space and time for this art space on the first floor of a service apartment block before redevelopment. On-going workshops, exhibitions and forums are organized with one consistent theme: embrace and engage with the local neighbourhood. The interior space has taken up a simplistic approach, using panels of zinc metal – the common material for old letter boxes- to cover all walls for changing exhibitions. Externally, foldable metal shop gates are adopted to echo the surroundings. Downstairs, a western bar adorned in local Chinese fashion, is introduced to create an informal gathering place. Can this stretch of time produce a better awareness of the locals, synergize any changes, and emerge something unexpected? Nonetheless, it is this insertion one should applaud to, as it demonstrates to our society what could be achieved by deviating from ‘the typical’, with its infinite intangible qualities and possibilities. The project Wan Chai Visual Archive is initiated as a collaborative research between PolyU School of Design and the Goldig group in Hong Kong.

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WVA is an intense dialogue of inside-outside, public-private, modern-tradition The visual archive project organizes debates and promotes culture in its community with very different kind of means and events

looking for roof creature alternative city model Steel “creature” collaborated with Frank Havermans and local metalsmiths. The installation provokes building boundary and definition of illegal structure

Co-Creative DIALOGUES between old and new B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

Adaptable room arrangement and Fan Lee’s magnet wall display system. The space has to function at different times a lounge, a community centre or an art workshop

53

Temporary photo studio, where families make their own pin-hole camera before shooting

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No profit community art space B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2 54

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Taiwan

volunteers from every corner of Taiwan. These participants have driven the whole design & realisation process to adapt various situations. A series of community-based events were initiated not just by the team, but also by the participants. Social Amoeba thus evolved and grew organically in time and with the community engaged. It is worth noting that the idea of “playing beyond the rules of the game” has also fulfilled an important role in their decision making: initially assigned to design the interior, the team eventually subverted the assignment, and took the outdoor space. The decision to deal with outdoor space enabled the team to connect the public to the locality, and to expose the organic bamboo structure that has hosted many public events. In a time of scarce resources, the team has managed to rebuild the connection between designers, planners and user communities in a marginalised neighbourhood. For unsolicited practises, Social Amoeba can be an interesting reference - how it negotiated with the authorities, how it evoked public participation, and how social values were generated by using minimal means.

CHAOTI CHEN + WORKSHOP LEVITAS DATE OF COMPLETION :

2011 LOCATION :

Hualien and Kaohsiung, Taipei CONSTRUCTED AREA:

0 M2

2 3° 0 1 ’ 0 8 . 7 1 ” N 120° 66’ 60.04” E

57

Text by Chang Fang Luo

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Social Amoeba

In the past decades, mainstream architectural practices in Taiwan (or elsewhere) have been focusing mainly on commercial projects; socially engaged practices were out of the public interest and often considered as alternative. Today, an emerging number of young practices are re-defining the role of architects by working together with communities and generating new social values - such as the chosen team and their project Social Amoeba. Social Amoeba is about a collaborative team work, a series of workshops and a participatory process. In order to call for participation, social Media (Facebook) was incorporated during the process, gathering

S PA C E C R E A T I N G

58

Light workshop at Hualien Youth Home

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

PLAYGROUND for strangers to connect

LIGHTING UP

Trash Art: an installation made with materials from Kaohsiung recycling plant

The Social Amoeba project in Treasure Hill Artist Village

PLAN 0

15m

Trash Art, an installation made with materials from Kaohsiung recycling plant

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S ection

59

Fish Lamp

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Vietnam

VO TRONG NGHIA ARCHITECTS DATE OF COMPLETION :

2011 Di An town, Binh Duong CONSTRUCTED AREA:

2029 M2

1 0° 5 4 ’ 4 6 . 2 4 ” N 106° 45’ 53.22” E

Text by Kelly Shannon

61

Vo Trong Nghia Architects, with offices in HCMC and Hanoi, represent a new generation of architects in Vietnam. Thirty-six year old Vo (a Vietnamese architect trained in Japan) began his career creating elaborate structures of bamboo for cafés and bars in the Mekong Delta and Hanoi. His first bamboo project was a spectacular Wind and Wind (wNw) Café in Binh Duong province which included a pavilion with a graceful dome shape, created by 48 bamboo frames 10 meters high, with a 15-meter span with a 1.5-meter diameter oculus. Traditional Vietnamese techniques woove the mud-soaked and smoked bamboo together and high fire-resistant water-coconut material covered it. The construction did not use any metal nails. His work also includes the transformation of a warehouse into the

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

Binh Duong School

LOCATION :

Vietnamese pavilion for the Shanghai Expo 2010, built, not surprisingly out of bamboo. Although the office has thus far only used their developments in bamboo construction for the hospitality sector, they are anxious to apply their ingenuity with bamboo construction methods to other building typologies, particularly with housing in post-disaster contexts—and the seasonal flood events that hit the Mekong Delta and central Vietnam with increasing devastating consequences. More recently, Vo Trong Nghia Architects has been developing what can be termed ‘green architecture’. In 2011, they completed in Binh Duong (a new city in a province of the same name, northeast of Ho Chi Minh City), a 800-student, 5300 square meter (private) junior and high school. The glaringly white sinuous plan building wraps onto itself to create two courtyards and optimally use the site. One courtyard collects the teachers rooms, gym, laboratories and library and the second the classrooms. The continuous volume that starts on ground level, and only uses one slope, is constructed of cast in-place concrete. On-site pre-cast concrete louvers, which serve as sun-shading devices, successfully create natural ventilation and playful light patterns. Airy communication spaces bridge the two sections with large balconies and staircases and overlook the courtyards, the classroom one which has a swimming pool and lush clusters of trees while the entrance court has less vegetation but a striking grid of concrete pavers separated by strips of grass. The entire building site has been elevated from the existing ground plane due to its low elevation and the building footprint itself has been raised on another platform of a few steps of red terracotta (the only color in the building). There is a clear articulation of the simple serpentine structure of the building and an almost whimsical arrangement of openings in the exterior screens facing the courtyard, thus animating the facades. In April 2012, the project was awaiting the budget to finish the green roof. Their newest work is not unlike the neo-modernism of Japan in the mid-1990s of architects such as Toyo Ito and early works Kazuyo Sejima. It also echoes the promise of tropical modernism that briefly appeared in Vietnam in the 1960s in a number of remarkable public buildings, most notably by the architect Ngo Viet Thu.

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62

d i s c ov e r i n g a n g l e s

The courtyard hosts outdoor facilities and gets animated during schooltime. The facade is covered by concrete louvers whose density is due to direction

BORDERLESS school and surroundings

Simple yet elegant facade

The winded building is climatic responsive for natural ventilation.

BAC K TO T R O P I CA L MODERNISM

0

20m

The sloping green roof is an important new feature in the area, and the building itself became a beacon

63

The serpentine plan forms two courtyards on each side

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

plan

The benches under the trees provide intimate gathering places

64 B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

India

The built becomes a platform shaded from the intense sun, where the living quarters merge at a deck under the tree. The tree is dense during the summer and sparse during the winter, allowing for the best blend of sunlight underneath. Maria and Kayzad of SHROFFLEóN bring with their design process respect and finesse. Practicing in a city like Mumbai, these are rare qualities. The unnatural, circumstantial pressures of the city can devour the souls of any young architectural practice. Yet they do so with ease, taking complex and most often complicated briefs to find something which should always have been but never before conceived. India finds itself at the end of a decade of prolific construction. Cities have grown exponentially over this period of time, towns have become cities and villages have grown into towns. Architecture has been seen at its most brutal. Architecture has become fetish.The Kashid farmhouse and its processes give us a little hope.

SHROFFLEON DATE OF COMPLETION :

--Kashid, Maharastra CONSTRUCTED AREA:

139 M2

1 8° 4 1 ’ 2 0 . 3 0 ” N 72° 91’ 18.82” E

Text by Gaurav Roychoudhury

65

A virgin site sloped towards a view. A tree, the contours of the land, the direction of sunlight and the seasons manifest a composition; a composition which balances these elements and nurtures them to their best sensuous memory. The only thing unnatural about the Kashid farmhouse is the floating still water, which reflects the sky. Maria and Kayzad have managed in the process of building a farmhouse to re-imagine it as the shaded ground under a tree, where tired travelers stop to rest for a while. It is here that they notice the beauty of the landscape they were traveling through. It is here that they gain the strength to continue their journey.

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House in Kashid

LOCATION :

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

66

F O L L O W I N G t h e S I TE

MUMBAI ARABIAN SEA

ALIBAG

KASHID

PHANSAD WILDLIFE SANCTUARY

A virgin site sloped towards a view. A tree, the contours of the land, the direction of sunlight and the seasons manifest a composition

A TREE, land and sun VOLUMES WITH A CENTRE

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

The tree is dense during the summer and sparse during the winter, allowing for the best blend of sunlight underneath

PLAN

67

The built becomes a platform shaded from the intense sun, where the living quarters merge at a deck under the tree

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

68

there came a point when he decided to end his architectural career and move on to a different field. With the success of the Jury project Bappy regained his lost hope. Gradually his confidence returned. He felt that he could continue on his chosen path, to give form to his inner vision. More projects followed, leading to a maturing of his personal architectural language.

Bangladesh

My selection of Bappy is primarily because of the architectural language he engages in. I appreciate his sensitivity to the built environment and his efforts at coming up with architecture responsive to our geographic region. Secondly, I feel architects holding on to their ideological ground in the face the vagaries of the construction industry need to be encouraged and brought to the forefront of the international arena, to give them an opportunity to share their work with the world at large. This is based upon his interpretation of historic, cultural and climatic dictates of the Bengal Delta.

SHAHNAWAZ BAPPY DATE OF COMPLETION :

Ruthna tea garden, Moulavibazar, Sylhet district CONSTRUCTED AREA:

280 M2

24° 22’ 20.18” N 92° 08’ 16.24” E

text by Rafiq Azam

69

I first met Bappy as a recipient of the Berger Excellence in Architecture Award in 2010. As a student in Architecture school, Bappy was full of promise. His work consistently produced appreciation from teachers and peers alike. Bappy was preparing for a future leading to quality architectural work. Things changed when Bappy graduated from Architecture school. The reality of the construction industry was a shock, and adjusting to it was harder than he anticipated. The everyday realities of building in a dense, urban environment with the typical client- architect relationships eroded his earlier idealism. The inevitable disappointment set in. Ultimately,

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

Ruthna Residence

2007.8 LOCATION :

PLAN

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70

The Jury river

The terrace, the pool and the river merge to from continuity with the landscape Use of local materials and construction techniques

Merge the HOUSE with Nature

G A r d e n t e r r ac e The pattern of the roof is reminiscent of local huts

71

T h e h o u s e i s a p r i v a t e B u n g a l o w i n t h e R u t h n a Te a G a r d e n

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

The entire building is at ground level

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Iran

Hamed Khosravi Mahtab Akhavan DATE OF COMPLETION :

Tehran CONSTRUCTED AREA:

293.300 M2

In Simulacra and Simulation Baudrillard writes: “To dissimulate is to feign not to have what one has. To simulate is to feign to have what one hasn’t.” But the matter is more complicated, since to simulate is not simply to feign: ”Someone who feigns an illness can simply go to bed and pretend he is ill. Someone who simulates an illness produces in himself some of the symptoms.“

35°44’49.75”N 51°22’25.38”W

text by Homayoun Askari Sirizi

73

Tehran today is the same two-hundred-year-old village that was accidentally chosen as the capital of the Qajar dynasty. Not having developed through a consistent historical process, Tehran, as a simulator, often produces the symptoms of a capital city. Consequently, through its intense short history of urbanisation, it has produced an Iranian urban ‘hyper-reality’. This ‘hyperreality’ as the representation of a capital city, is just able to produce the symptoms of an ill metropolis. However Pahlavi’s modernisation project accredited

“Tehran has lots of entangled gardens that make it a secure place for its inhabitants…”with this project, Hamed Khosravi re-reads one of the first visible layers of the palimpsest of the city. The ‘Pairi’ or ‘clay wall’ is symbolically projected next to an icon of the late modern metropolis: the Milad telecommunication tower, which now is being reincarnated in the postmodern corpus of a global city: a world trade centre, a 5-star luxury hotel and shopping mall. His architecture ironically illustrates this historical transition: Tehran the village has become the capital city and is being reincarnated once again into a corpus of a global village. In the functional complexity of the site, the inherited historical values are preserved in the natural topographic identity of the city; the massive construction symbolises a wall of an archaeological site while it gently touches the ground. The project celebrates a secured place shaped around intertwined gardens in the heart of the city, where environmental and symbolical issues are combined as the main concerns of the project. It appears as a reduced form in which beneath the modernist non-figurative form lays a metaphor of a historical process, the metaphor of an unfinished project: a Modernity, made in Iran.

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

Pairi the clay wall

--LOCATION :

this false layer. This political intention reduced the new form of the city into a modern mask while tradition is fully present underneath this shallow layer. As a result of constructing a nation-state through a political project, Tehran, in a historical transition, has become a modern metropolis, while there are neither signs of a modern state nor a nation – in the modern sociological definition – traceable in the body of the city. Today this metamorphosed village, by carrying all the disorders of an immature capital city, is rather a transnational Islamic megalopolis; another manifestation based on the eclectic mixture of Islam, tradition and contemporary values. It has elevated the fortress of a walled village as high as the fourth-ranked highest telecommunication tower in the world: a sign of Islamic state phallogocentrism.

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Rebuild paradise

Commercial Mall

PLAN Offices

“Paradise” is a secured place surrounded by walls. (Modelling: Ali Zeinalzadeh)

Two gardens shape the core and the building surrounds them as the walls

Hotel Accomodations

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

Pairi, the Persian origin of the word Paradise, means ‘clay wall’ or ‘the wall constructed out of earth’ 75

The ‘Pairi’ is symbolically projected next to an icon of the late modern metropolis

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2 76

Entangled gardens as secure place

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2 77

78 B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

Jordan

MATTHEW BARTON EMAD SLEIBY DATE OF COMPLETION :

Amman CONSTRUCTED AREA:

265 M2

31° 94’ 87.60” N 35° 87’ 70.13” E

text by Sandra Hiari

79

The Sleiby House is situated in one of Amman’s lush neighbourhoods, Abdoun. The majority of the residences surrounding it used to be dominantly one-floor villa prototypes. This is no longer the case as neighbourhood densification has resulted in the expansion of residences to four-storey buildings. In such a medium-density neighbourhood additions to any existing structure have to be surgical in order to weave gracefully into the existing residential fabric. The extension of the Sleiby house, an existing one-storey family residence, certainly speaks to this. Vertically expanding into a second floor, the 265 m2 addition was designed to accommodate the extended

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

Sleiby House

2012 LOCATION :

family of one of Amman’s leading fashion tailors. Various housing prototypes have sprouted up in the capital based on nuclear-family living arrangements. This house is quite distinct. On one level it acknowledges the formality of expression manifest in the façades of the existing structure beneath it. Instead of making a statement against it, it actually builds on the formal undertones. When speaking about their approach in this design, Sleiby and Barton refer to figuring a rational composition that builds on what the building may look like were it built to the maximum allowable height and given the existing architecture of the ground floor. They also refer to practices in Amman’s old housing stock in which deploying simple details such as concrete brise soleil can be an effective solution for sun protection. In the overall composition of the house, the architects refer to the formal vocabulary of classical architecture. The Sleiby house and its extension can be seen as layered like a modern-day Greek order containing a base, a column (the capital yet to be added, were the building to grow further). Despite the classical and contextual formality, for one to think that this building can be easily read is somewhat delusional. Unlike the ground floor it rests on, the extension is structurally supported by one wide column supporting a lightweight concrete roof. The windows maintain the width of their ground-floor counterparts, though repeated in a denser rhythm. Due to such repetition, the resulting interior is suited to the modernist openplan main living space. The devil certainly lies in the details of this building.

from

the

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

80

Extension viewed south east

PLAN 0

5m South facing loggia 0

5

Contextual FORMALITY

Open plan living room

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2 81

82 B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

Kuwait

æ

AGI Architects DATE OF COMPLETION :

Bnaider CONSTRUCTED AREA:

5000 M2

28°45’21.79”N 48°19’40.91”E

text by Ricardo Camacho

83

During the consolidation of Kuwait’s post-oil society, the definition of public/common space evolved in two ways: (1) when it was dictated by the need for accumulation, in order to foster an acceleration in development (“Kuwait Town Development”, from 1951) or to concentrate and mobilise the means for oil extraction (land reserve for oil extraction, from 1975), public property was expanded; (2) Although, after Saddam Hussein’s invasion (Gulf War,1991), the need for the exercise of territorial domain, beyond the city limits, became an argument to “occupy” – among other forms and types, the shoreline with the “chalet”, weekend houses, became a common pattern

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

Star House

2007-2009 LOCATION :

in the country’s coastline, from Al-Khiran in the south to Al-Maghasil in the north. The Star House by AGI architects, emerges within this context, predicting the unpredictable: the reclamation of an old land provides the opportunity for a new lifestyle. Therefore the house responds to the ambition of a new relation between the Kuwaiti contemporary Man and the nature of his territory. In Bnaider, they call them “chalet”, the weekend houses where the post-invasion generation “first played over the sand” (Paul Virilio,1975). Along the plot, the construction of different levels of domesticity, inverting conventional programmatic features, is the surface and texture. Meandering down to the sea, the star house goes far beyond the noble vernacular that stands at Sheikh Ahmad Al Jaber rest house in Failaka island.A strange awareness of the moment provides AGI with different ways of translating common and conventional domestic uses into hybrid forms alternative images to what some named as the “welfare aesthetic”. The needs of the programme, together with an extreme ability to operate in larger spaces outside the primitive domain of “the house”, provide those with experience and knowledge to enable a wide range of architectural characters and tasks. In Bnaider, the Kuwaiti/Spanish team produced a sort of “machinic proposition” where each builds on the other: resident-residence, plot-house, seadesert; as a “system of horizontal complementary re-territorialisations” (Deleuze Guattari, 1980).

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84

PLAN

The Main Entrance from the Desert

T h e p r i va t e s i d e Night view of pool and guest house

View from the roof of the Office looking into the bedrooms

The main facade overlooking the sea

View from the Boat Loading Dock

Main family living room

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

Be nestled

A t h r e e - w ay s t a i r

85

Ku wa i t ’ s coa s t l i n e

86 B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

Turkey

W

PAB Architects DATE OF COMPLETION :

(2011.10) Kirishane-Denizli CONSTRUCTED AREA:

(145000 M2)

37° 46’ 35.47”N 29° 05’ 11.00”E

text by Sevin Yildiz

87

The last 10 years in the Turkish architecture scene witnessed major changes in the practice. These changes were closely related to the infiltration of neoliberal urban policies in big cities, the increase in foreign direct investment, the export of largescale construction expertise to the neighbouring countries and the emergence of a new generation of architects who are well connected to the information and practice networks abroad specifically during their education years. This boom of capital, foreign interest and information was then followed by a period of political change especially in local urban politics, economic crisis around the world and a search to reconstruct

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

Tanyards Revitalization Project

LOCATION :

the role of the architect in the domain that is left behind by a large-scale architectural offices with 100+ employees who are working on all the major commissions in big cities. The young practitioners are now relearning what their positions entail; diversifying skills to move between different scales (from urban to product design, from publication to consulting), looking for opportunities outside of the major cities like Istanbul or Ankara, working in collaborative teams and trying to build their own breathing space away from the competition against the star architects. PAB Architects, which fits into the description of young practitioners above, is operating on various scales to understand the mechanisms that architects can encroach into for more influence in the decision making processes. Their work ranges from the design and production of a storage unit to an intervention into a small city’s fabric to strategize its economic revival. They are architects, urban researchers and also are involved in the publication of an architecture magazine, Betonart. The office works closely with material suppliers and manufacturers to understand the production process of unique problems embedded in each project. Their work deals with the issues of reuse, collaboration and limited resources not with grand gestures, big commissions and large budgets and in this way they are a good representation of the new generation of architects outside of the galaxy system. For the project presented in this book, which was an invited workshop where all the groups worked on various sites at different scales in Denizli, PAB worked in a collaborative model with local and foreign offices. The central question was what economic revitalization meant for a small city and how various constituents came together in an alternative understanding of renewal.

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DO U B L E FACA D E

The existing dense settlement pattern is studied to identify old and worn-out workshops which cannot be restored or new but out of sync buildings

AR CA D E S EXISTING

Boutique Hotel

NEW URBAN LIFE

L andmarks

The client of this project proposal was the Denizli Municipality, and the coordinators Arkitera Architecture Center, Kentsel Strateji Strategical Planning Office. Team: PAB Architects - Pinar Gokbayrak, Ali Eray, Burcin Yildirim + Samim Magriso, Zeynep Ceren Erdinc

NEW OPEN AIR F AC I L I T I E S

L O F T S PA C E S

work at neighbourhood scale

S ub S titutions

s ection

market

shop

fashion street

boutique hotel

arts street

multi-purpose hall

uni axis

open air

Arcades filling the gaps in the pattern create a lively and continuous street life

Intervention models at building scale

89

park

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RISING HIGH

90 B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

Israel

hand with the clients and all the professionals and consultants who take part in the process. The architects also present a fresh approach to current design topics such as building preservation and sustainability. “Preserving without being conservative” is the motto of projects such as an art school built on the abandoned old bus terminal in Tel Aviv, and a dance theatre built in one of Jaffa’s old harbour hangars. The office’s design process is a remarkable one. Each project is assigned to a design team that includes experienced architects working side by side with young designers and even students. Each member of the team plays an equal role in producing intelligent solutions that always take into consideration budget limits, local building codes and regulation, site limitations, etc.   Erez Ella established HQ Architects in Tel Aviv in 2008, after returning to Israel from New York, where he was a principle at REX Architects, and earlier an associate at O.M.A. Mr Ella has also established and is currently leading the sustainable studio at the Bezalel School of Architecture in Jerusalem.

HQ Architects DATE OF COMPLETION :

Old Jaffa Harbor, Tel Aviv CONSTRUCTED AREA:

6000 M2

32° 05’ 15.45”S 34° 74’ 83.22”W

text by GILAD SHIFF

91

HQ Architects is one of Israel’s young architecture offices, yet with a diverse design experience with complicated cultural and public buildings, research, urban planning, and housing projects. At the moment the office is designing two theatre buildings, a hotel and an arts school, among other projects. The office introduces a unique approach to both design and working methods. Rather than imposing solutions by the architect, HQ believes that the design process is a collaboration merely guided and lead by the architect. HQ’s designs are not objects created by the architect, but rather the result of working hand in

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Multifunctional Cultural House

ongoing LOCATION :

landscape

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92

The ability to host several EVENTS The design is a renovation of old warehouse into a multifunctional cultural house and dance theatre

A public roof terrace is overlooking the Mediterranean sea

PLAN

The project is born from a renovation of a old warehouse

The main core space is a hall for traditional theatre or conference event

t h e “ e v e n t ” a n d t h e “ s h o w ” L EVE L

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different useS

The show level allows for flexible theatre with unique dimensions and state of the art functionality 93

section

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Lebanon

BERNARD KHOURY / DW5 DATE OF COMPLETION :

Kferdebian CONSTRUCTED AREA:

1255M2

33° 98’ 39.93” N 35° 80’ 58.38” E

text by Jad Semaan

95

The invisibility of Plot #10283 reminds us that the presence of architecture is sometimes in its [dis]appearance. It is a project that is conceived on the mountains of Lebanon [Kferdebian] in an area where private villas are most dominant. Architects who usually build in that area are asked to create monuments more than dwellings, icons more than residences… however, dw5 refused to do so. Instead they created a non-creation. They decided to go back to what architecture is in its fundamentality: a shelter, a refuge, a place to protect beings from the environment. Yet the project itself protects the environment from human beings. After realizing what humans can

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

Plot 10283

--LOCATION :

do to survive -from the industrial revolution to the modern era- and the impact they have physically and metaphysically on the environment, it is inspirational to witness an invisible building; an invisible haven. To envision this project, the architects used the topography and relied on morphology studies. They almost rebuilt what was decayed through the years in a way that one enters the villa through what seems to be an impermeable formation of triangular structure, since the villa from the street level is quite obscure. Once you are inside, there is a long hallway, which leads to a gym and an interior swimming pool. Alongside the corridor wall there is a linear stair which leads to the lower level where the kitchen, a dining space and a living room are located. On that level two guestrooms are also located which are imposed from the private bedrooms above, resulting in a clear split, a street level [private and hidden] and a lower level [public and exposed]. On the other hand, just before the site drops dramatically into a rocky cliff an exterior swimming pool lays there so one can take pleasure in the outstanding panorama of the wild, untamed valley. Invisible architecture is not a new discourse for Bernard Khoury. One of his most renowned projects is actually an underground club, a camouflage; call it a tomb, or even a bunker. The BO18 is a public memorial, a negative monument, a cosmos to forget and dance on the memory of the civil war. Twenty-two years have passed and yet the civil war influences Bernard’s architecture consciously and subconsciously. Plot10283 is a private villa built on the philosophy of the collective memory.

ORGANIZING THE INTERIOR

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96

C OV E R I N G

Plan at street level

Site plan

P rotect

Replace EXISTING topography

The project itself protects the environment from human beings

An invisible building; an invisible haven B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

FOLLOWING

South

elevation

INTEGRATED 97

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Romania

UNULAUNU

tensions between the inside and the outside, the need to explore space as a physical and material experience or to submerge into a timeless but bodily presence, the relation between static and dynamic elements that concur for the same space – these are all qualities that share a vision based on a palpable and active presence around the architectural construction. Architecture is not only a shape, nor is it only a function. It is an active gesture that opens the materiality of constructions and seeks to mark out differences by appealing to basic space interactions. And yet the most surprising element is the architects’ constant and tireless intention, not only here but with other projects as well, to define space by starting from an architectural object that unveils its crisp geometry through its relation to all the inherent tensions, dynamics, and constructions. UNULAUNU creates a balance between geometry, materiality, and interaction. The architects’ approach is a clear way of inviting people to explore architecture beyond the given form or function, to touch or to sense in order to understand space and its constructions. And ultimately, to understand architecture as a way of defining the inner conditions that inspire us not only to build, but also to create.

DATE OF COMPLETION :

2011-2013 Novi Sad, Serbia CONSTRUCTED AREA:

137 M2

There is an inner consonance in all the projects signed by young architecture office UNULAUNU (one-to-one), one that is given by a close relation to the materiality of architecture. In a generation of young Romanian architects who often continue or re-interpret the Modernist architectural faults, UNULAUNU departs from a rather different approach, defining space not in its relation to transparencies, technologies, or the various mediums and needs, but in its relation to the material surroundings.

text by Sabin Bors

99

There are several marks of an unusual and even fresh approach to architecture: the constant

45°25’63.46”N 19°85’29.23”E

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House of Architecture

LOCATION :

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100

North elevation

S ection

The interior space never reveals itself totally. The internal slope gives an outside character to the space, adding a 3rd dimension to it.

South elevation

On the outside a monolith marks at once, the presence of something, of space

PLAN

0

10m

On the interior the same space is defined in the opposite way, it becomes something that never gives away its total presence

TThe round whole emphasizes the non-functionalistic character of the building, distorting in the same time the scale

The tension between outside and inside

101

The walls of the building are bent in order to stiffen the structure, due to its thickness of 15cm

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S t u dy m o d e l

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2 103

A strong nonfunctional character B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2 102

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Cyprus

NOA DATE OF COMPLETION :

2009.11-2010.01 Nicosia CONSTRUCTED AREA:

310 M2

35°10’N 33°22’E

text by Chryso Onisiforou

105

Not Only Architecture, a young Cypriot architectural office located in Nicosia, was recently founded by Spyros Th. Spyrou, Aggela Zisimopoulou, Charis Christodoulou and Martha Krassari. NOA has assembled an exceptionally varied portfolio of architectural media, in all its diverse forms, in a very short period of time. It includes a series of private and social housing projects, public interventions, interiors, exhibitions, competition entries and research related to urban design. Their works blend in with the context and explore the physical and sensory qualities of spaces and materials. Furthermore, their productive evolution adds to the creative and future development of

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Exhibition Through a Broken Mirror

LOCATION :

Cypriot Architecture. In addition, the richness of the Cypriot landscape which is often revealed through the alteration of light and shadow influences their choices, materials and compositions. This fundamental relationship consistently forms ideal conditions for various means of spatial production. Combined with various objects and locations these elements form the basic components that portray the uniqueness of the Cypriot context. The interventions of NOA, from thought to creation, take up a position towards these natural conditions together with the physical relationship of human beings with space and their surroundings. These characteristics are evident in various examples of their work, altering in scale and situation. For instance, in the exhibition ‘Through a Broken Mirror’– the Architecture of Zenon Sierepeklis, an atmosphere was shaped using movement, light and materiality as the main agents. The physical perception, recognised through an emotional sensibility, was designed and constructed in such a way that people could experience the attributes not only of the work displayed but of the event as a whole. NOA has begun a productive journey for the imminent architectural development of Cyprus. Besides, it is an apparent and rewarding attempt that could re-shape the transition between local and contemporary Cypriot architecture. In other words, the creation of a unique and beautiful architecture experienced through light, material, air and object. NOA partners Charis Christodoulou and Spyros Th. Spyrou were appointed through a competition procedure by the official responsible committee to curate the National Participation of Cyprus entitled REVISIT in the 13th International Architecture Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia.

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106

Puzzling the old

Fragments reflect the architect’s work The metal structures dialogue with the old Electricity Power House

PLAN Exploring fragments

Models as a treasure

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

T r a n s pa r e n t P a r c o u r

The hidden room

107

The visitor gets familiar with the architect’s work through different views and movements

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South Africa

26’10 South Architects

26’10 transcends this condition, and goes beyond the discomfort in their quest to portray and ultimately alter the urban landscape, comprehensible to the many. Their rigorous and pragmatic ways (not to say methodology) of reading and mapping the South African context become the basis for an approach where place, presence and people are the primary generators of space and form. Stubbornly, they go beyond the visible and refuse to play safe; they rather follow the desire to make something extraordinary out of the common. Their continued work translates this position, no matter what scale, media or programme. From their extensive and varied portfolio, we would like to span their ‘Informal City’ project to the ‘Cooking School’ under the aspect of ‘urban compounding’, which we consider a South African spatial characteristic that describes many layers of the extremely different contexts we live and work in. 26’10 succeeds to implement lessons learnt during their work in Diepsloot, an in/formal settlement, into the design of their own office/ home headquarter. With greatest respect for the work of 26’10, we hope that more voices like theirs can make themselves heard in the future and thus make South Africa a better place to be and live.

DATE OF COMPLETION :

2012.06 Brixton, Johannesburg CONSTRUCTED AREA:

321 M2

26° 11’ 33.05”S 27° 59’ 55.85”E

text by BLACKLINES

109

Nearly two decades after the first free elections in South Africa, the legacy of apartheid permeates and weaves its way through the everyday of the city, competing with short-sighted postapartheid efforts, global economic challenges and residents’ DIY. This potent compound is - at times - becoming an insurmountable obstacle which drives many city makers almost to the point of throwing their hands in the air in frustration and resorting to either producing nice and glossy renderings that ultimately sell, or the design of a perfect shelving system for uncounted A4 folders with the documentation of endless process driven projects with little visible outcome.

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informal city/ cooking school

LOCATION :

Research Project

Boardroom Patio library

lounge

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110

INFORMAL SETTLEMENT RECEPTION AREA, DIEPSLOOT Tenure type relocation stand size 80M2 average unit size (self built) 8-36M2 initial residential density stands/ha 125 initial gross residential density stands/ha 76 Initial gross habitable rooms/ha 76 Potential gross habitable rooms/ha 342

1ha densification informal settlement

A continuous process of physical change

the Brixton Studio-Home affords a distinctly Johannesburg living experience

STAIRS

Roof terrace c ourtyard B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2 111

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2 113

In dialogue with the surroundings B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2 112

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Greece

team with strong links to both Greece and Sweden, exploring ways to inhabit the environment. The existing stone retaining walls become habitable, the new plastered walls take the colour of the olive trees and the layout of each house adapts to the natural curves of the traditionally terraced landscape. Low-cost materials were preferred to respond to a low budget while carefully composing the interior spaces and finishes. Comfortable white rooms focus on large windows framing intensive views, a perfect setting for a vacationer.

y PAAN ARCHITECTS DATE OF COMPLETION :

2011 Kaliroi, Peloponnesus CONSTRUCTED AREA:

306 M2

3 7° 1 6 ’ 3 8 . 4 6 ” N 21° 52’ 11.64” E

text by Katita Chrysanthopoulou

115

Since the 1950’s Greece has been branded as an ideal tourist destination. Glossy posters of breathtaking landscapes drew large numbers of people each year, resulting in a climaxing need for houses that spread from the hotspots of the Aegean Islands across the entire Greek territory. Today the landscape has been shamelessly dotted with villas as a result of the dispersive development promoted by current legislation. The question is how to keep up with the demand for housing while preserving the quality of the landscape. Paan give their own answer by merging the three Olive houses with the site, an olive grove in southern Peloponnese. Concepts of living are reformed by a

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

OLIVe Three Vacation Houses

LOCATION :

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POSITIONING

The perfect SPOT

D AW N V I E W

Guesthouse interior view

Each house adapts to the natural curves of the traditionally terraced landscape

SEction

The question is how to keep up with the demand for housing while preserving the quality of the landscape

117

The existing stone retaining walls become habitable, the new plastered walls take the colour of the olive trees

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

PLAN

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Bulgaria

l

successes during his studies. After completing the course he returned to Bulgaria, precisely to Burgas, the country’s fourth largest city, where he opened an office together with the very important Bulgarian architect Petko Yovchev. The office was named Atika Desgin, and shared space with the architectural office Atika Holding. In recent years, the designer George Zaykov has met with much success in Bulgaria, designing interiors that have been published in such well known magazines as brava casa, casa, décor, etc. However, his most important works are his public projects such as hospitals in Burgas, an airport in Plovdiv, a theatre, international offices and his latest project, the ‘rehabilitation of the centre of Burgas’, together with Akita Holding. At present the project has passed through 3 of its 5 phases and the city centre appears totally changed and beautiful. His biography appears rich enough for someone of his age. The project here featured is - a big villa in Varna’s city parkwith view on the seaside. the house is unfolds on three floorshas a swimmingpool and a dependance for guests with spa and fitness. The building is made in natural materials and is lit by a Dali system in RGB.

GEORGI ZAYKOV DATE OF COMPLETION :

Varna CONSTRUCTED AREA:

1027 M2

43°10’33.31”N 27°57’11.90”E

text by Stela Andonova

119

George Zaykov is a young, powerful, ambitious and creative designer, with one foot in the world of design and the other in the world of architecture. I could go on forever with positive accolades. I would like to present this figure in as brief a manner as possible. He was born on 4 July 1976 in the small Bulgarian city of Yambol. He graduated from high school specialising in sport. After graduating in 1999 he already knew that his future lay in the field of design. He enrolled at the IED in Turin, with a specialisation in interior design, arriving at his first success while a student with the design of stand for FIAT. There were undoubtedly other

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Tailored House

2008.9 LOCATION :

120

Please at Ease

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

EDONISTIC life Clear and Bold Luxurious design interior

Different materials characterise the space

PLAN

Double Heigt

a p r i va t e c i n e m a a t t h e h a r t o f t h e h ou s e

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

Section

No detail is left to chance 121

But you can also turn around

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Serbia

complex of buildings with respect. The basic idea was to offer an interconnected cluster of facilities for culture, art and the exchange of knowledge and experience, accommodating participants and visitors, in particular young professionals from the region. House B is one of five buildings arranged around a courtyard that make up the ensemble. It is used for workshops and seminars. It occupies the site of a family home dating from 1878 which had to be demolished due to its dilapidated condition. The architects’ approach is direct and clear: a reinterpretation of heritage through the use of plain forms and contemporary materials. What they have designed is functional and refers to the memory of the place, like the special piece of furniture: a bench made from wooden beams that were a part of the roof construction of the demolished house, salvaged to continue living in a reinterpreted way. It is to be hoped that this contemporary makeover of a traditional ensemble will set a strong example for the revaluation of vernacular architecture and for giving talented young architects an opportunity to enrich the built environment.

AUTORI DATE OF COMPLETION :

Mokrin, Kikinda CONSTRUCTED AREA:

250 M2

4 5° 9 3 ’ 3 7 . 6 6 ” N 20° 42’ 21.51” E

Text by Vesna Vucinic

123

Mokrin is a small town in northeast Serbia, situated on the vast Pannonian Plain in the province of Vojvodina. It is a typical Vojvodina town characterised by a clear-cut linearity, applied to plot plans and the arrangement of houses on the plots. One of these larger housing estates is home to the new Terra Panonica cultural-tourist complex, designed by the young architects of Studio AUTORI.The architects faced a challenging task because of the manifold demands of the company, which is engaged in marketing authentic local produce and developing new trends in highend tourism. They were required to design offices and educational facilities and to treat the existing

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

House B

2011 LOCATION :

124

SECTIONS

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+4.74

PLANs

Wardrobe

+2.39

Multipurpose hall with the view to the pergola

+0.00

SPACE for creative work

Street façade

Courtyard façade / opened sliders

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

Stairs

Student apartment

125

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2 127

Greeting Neighbours B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2 126

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Finland

AOA DATE OF COMPLETION :

2012 LOCATION :

Helsinki CONSTRUCTED AREA:

28000 M2

60° 17’ 12.11” N 24° 94’ 72.01” E

text by Pirjo Sanaksenaho

129

AOA Architects is one of the most prominent young architecture offices in Finland. It was founded in 2006 by architects Vesa Oiva (b.1973) and Selina Anttinen (b.1977) after the winning project of an open competition for Poltinaho residential area in Hämeenlinna. The housing project was a completion of an old military area. In AOA’s entry the old military buildings were surrounded by circle housing blocks or chains of detached houses. It was a suitable solution for the greeny area. The first part of the block was built in 2010. The circle red-brick apartment building has got already good reputation. The real breaking through of the office is the

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

Helsinki City Campus Library

new university library for Helsinki University City Center Campus. There was an open competition for the library in 2008, and AOA won the first prize. The site is in the center of Helsinki, just a stone’s throw from the main railway station by Eliel Saarinen. The library is surrounded tightly by commercial and office buildings. As approaching the building you can see it already from quite far in the street corner of Kaisaniemi area. The facades are made of dark red bricks as the old buildings nearby, but the curve glass openings make the brick-elevation look fresh and trendy. The idea of the architecture is to offer visitors different kind of openings: to the cityscape and inside the building. The interior is divided into spaces by curve holes in the floor plan. The main space through the seven-decker building is an oval form lobby. The spectacular high space with white solid railings helps the visitor to orientate in the library. There are plenty of different kinds of cosy reading places for the students besides the huge windows and the curve floor openings. The library will be opened to the public in the autumn 2012. Helsinki will get a bright new pearl when it is ready.

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130

M U L T I P L E H E I G H T S PA C E S

View from Fabianinkatu street

Blur STANDARD floor division

Central void (under construction)

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WATCHING OUTSIDE

View from Kaisaniemenkatu street

PLAN 5th floor interior view

131

typical floor plan (5th floor)

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Poland

VROA / CH+ Architekci

historical context. This realisation brings new arguments to the discussion of preserving Polish architectural heritage, searching for a new identity after 1989. The entire complex – together with the monumental Centennial Hall – was built in 1913 as a part of the Fairgrounds in Wroclaw. The restaurant was burned at the end of WWII, and only the structure survived. The building was remodelled for the Exhibition of Retaken Grounds – a communist propaganda fair, when it became the office and magazine facility. As an early landmark of reinforced concrete architecture, it was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2006. The original project by Max Berg was an excellent example of a technical state-of-the-art. VROA/ CH+ decided not to follow the original technical solutions but instead proposed its contemporary equivalent. In this way it is the spirit of the project that is preserved and not its superficial form. Its dark presence next to the historical monument seems unapologetic yet respectful, edgy yet restrained, contemporary yet timeless. It’s subjects are memory and the space-time continuum, but the mind/heart dichotomy is the axis around which it revolves. The project by VROA/ CH+ resonates so deeply with what can fairly be described as a triumph of discreet elegance. It’s also a clear sign that young Polish architects deserve more attention and public commissions than they receive.

DATE OF COMPLETION :

2010 Wrocław CONSTRUCTED AREA:

4070 M2

51° 10’ 78.85” N 17° 03’ 85.38” E

Text by Sebastian Janusz

133

At a time when economic disparity seems to bisect every cultural and political paradigm, the most difficult ability one could possibly think of is a restraint. This winning project of the UNESCO authorised competition for the refurbishment and extension of an existing pavilion located directly beside the 1913 Centennial Hall by Max Berg proves to be an outstanding example of how young Polish architects are dealing with the current challenges of the profession. While most of the young office’s oeuvre is still dominated by small scale private commissions, the project by VROA Architekci and CH+ Architekci confronts enormous public programme and complex

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

Centennial Hall Pavillion

LOCATION :

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134

Auditor ium with cur tains drawn. Credit pictures: Kr zysztof Smy k

Multipurpose hall looking to the outside

Triumph of descreet elegance B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

PLAN

135

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2 136

unapologetic

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2 137

yet Respectful

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

138

sufficiently detailed while also misty enough to allow the idea to be appropriated. They need to be brilliant but not too much, as this can be offensive. They need to be able to control expenditures while offering rich, dynamic solutions while also being open to others; they must be provocative but not overly, hard and indulgent at the same time. There are not too many young Hungarian architectural practices behaving like BORD Studio.

Hungary

BORD ARCHITECTURAL STUDIO DATE OF COMPLETION :

Etyek, Alcsúti út CONSTRUCTED AREA:

102.71M2

47°26’42.27”N 18°44’41.10”E

text by Sándor Finta

139

What is really absent in the training of Hungarian architects and urban planners is learning how to work with restrictions. BORD Studio is one of the few examples of those aware that restrictions are invariably one of the aspects of the equation that must be resolved. Instead of taking an ideal approach to design, they first identify the restrictions that are part of the overall scenario and the rules they must abide by, because it is only within these rules that one finds the true degrees of freedom to develop a project. This is where the challenge lies. Young architects need to be convincing, able to express our elite culture to offer solutions that are attractive yet modest,

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

Korda MoviePark Visitor’s Centre

2011 LOCATION :

140 B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

PLAN

A glimpse behind the scenes of film industry

V - S h a p e d c u t away s

The single-storey building has an open floor plan with high ceilings to provide a striking contrast to the backlot sets

Monolith

The structure is essentially a vast marquee, framing and offering excellent views of the nearby studios.

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N e u t r a l a n d t r a n s pa r e n t

141

The exhibition hall and the visitor’s cafe were created to give visitors a full insight into filmmaking

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Croatia

Medieval to the Modern. The building at number 7 is a sort of makeshift work of so-called “active heritage conservation” from the 1970s, when a couple of smaller buildings occupying the site were renovated, extended and connected. The Cinematheque, a rather small projection hall for some 150 spectators, was originally opened in 1971 on its upper floors. After forty years of intensive use it was in desperate need of renovation, not simply because of wear and tear. Obviously, with their very first public commission, the young architects-couple faced an extremely complex task. A task they faced up to very well by logically continuing the series of adaptations that constitute Split’s fascinating urban culture, revealing forgotten layers and adding other new ones. A slight spatial distortion to fit the program, the introduction of daylight into darkness, shifting the interior colours to match the view once the windows were reopened. With this sequence of contextual decisions, a small but important cultural institution was successfully brought back to life, carefully reinvented in spatial and material terms, in other words, the terms of architecture.

MMMM MAJA MILAT, MARIO MATIC DATE OF COMPLETION :

2009 Split CONSTRUCTED AREA:

225 M2

43° 50’ 90.12” N 16° 44’ 05.85” E

text by Krunoslav Ivanisin

143

Even though it sounds appropriate for any cinema in any place, in this specific case the “Golden Gate” is a highly contextual name bound to the actual location. The address of the Golden Gate Cinematheque is also quite significant: “Diocletian’s Street 7”, right along the Cardo connecting the Peristyle with the Porta Aurea, the northern Golden Gate of the Roman Emperor Diocletian’s Palace. What was originally a prominent, vaulted axis of the Emperor’s retreat is now just a normal, narrow street in the historic centre of Split, at least at a first glance. To a slightly more attentive observer the manifold historic layers appear, from the Roman to the

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Art Cinema Renovation

LOCATION :

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144

The renovation reveals forgotten layers and adds other new ones: a slight spatial distortion to fit the program, the introduction of daylight into darkness, shifting the interior colours to match the view once the windows were reopened

BETWEEN NEW & OLD

Section

Cinema lower floor (parterre)

145

Women’s restroom ceramic tiling

Gallery panorama

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More than another BLACK box

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Slovenia

TASTE DATE OF COMPLETION :

Ptuj CONSTRUCTED AREA:

250 M2

46° 41’ 99.89” S 15° 86’ 99.81” W

text by Ernest Milcinovic

147

A classic ambition of every individual is to ensure a quality standard of living, often idealised in the form of a single family dwelling. However, the construction of such a building is no longer merely a realisation of one’s dreams, but it is also becoming an increasingly prominent issue of ensuring the ethics and wider social acceptability of interventions in space. In contemporary architecture the ethic relationship with the client – an individual – is transitioning towards an ethical responsibility towards society and nature. Modern technologies offer an instant answer, but they potentiate the idea of a “house – machine” on the one hand, while on the other hand they

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Return to Nature

2012 LOCATION :

give a false impression that it is possible to build anywhere simply by reducing the impact on the environment. The single family dwelling designed by Taste demonstrates an appropriate form of cohesion between a strong architectural idea and the paradigm of reducing the environmental burden. The house is located on the northern edge of the town of Ptuj, in an area of single-family residential buildings, defined primarily by its quiet rural character and the edge of a lowland forest. The edge as the focal point of the greatest spatial complexity has a significant effect on the formulation of the building volume, the vertical allocation of spaces, and the selection of materials. The house distances itself from the existing building stock with its clear abstract architectural diction, while it seeks contact with the natural context through its uniformly designed façade skin composed of horizontal wooden slats. The visual design is emphasised by window openings embedded into aluminium profiles, while the architectural mass is loosened by indentations and a vertical breakdown of the volume. The parents’ sleeping quarters are at ground floor together with the living area that gradually extends into the garden. The first floor is composed of a larger common living and play area surrounded by the children’s bedrooms, each with its own terrace with attractive open views of the nearby forest and the old city centre. The logical, compact and sincere design, together with the technological solutions, shows how sustainability issues can be integrated into a highquality architectural language. The key question of sustainability is: how much architecture do we actually need? Just a little. And it must be done with taste.

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148

f a C ade s kin

PLAN 0

5m

Horizontal wooden slats

The parents’ sleeping quarters and the living area are located on the ground floor

The terrace has attractive open views of the nearby forest and the old city centre

Find the BALANCE A larger common living and play area is surrounded by the children’s bedrooms

sections B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

The living area gradually extends into the garden through larger openings and terraces

f ac i n g a l o w l a n d f o r e s t The house is located on the northern edge of the town of Ptuj, in an area of single-family residential buildings

149

Technological solutions are combined with architectural language

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Czech Republic

OV-A

first common design of a house in the town of Svitavy. The house was actually designed two years before the establishment of their office. During the course of five years, since the studio was founded, the architects have designed an integral complex of houses, buildings and structures. The latest house that has recently been completed is located in Kraluv Dvur. The arrangement of the house is based on a square plan covered with a flat roof. The space is filled with three closed cells (or modules) containing the inhabitants’ private rooms. Between the cells is a free glazed living space in combination with the outer shell made from modular sliding panels. By sliding the panels to the side and back, the inhabitants can change the “mood” of the house. By day, when the panels are closed, the house is closed in on itself. By night, the house shines unobtrusively through the panels. The house makes quite a different expression if the panels are pushed aside and the inside of the house can be seen. Searching for an original creative way has always been difficult. Today, when practically everything (from emotions to original architectural ideas) can be found “on-line” on the Internet, it is even more difficult. It is easier not to be original, and more difficult to be original.

DATE OF COMPLETION :

2010 Kraluv Dvur CONSTRUCTED AREA:

225 M2

49° 94’ 64.01” N 14° 03’ 52.29” E

text by Alexandr Skalicky

151

The architects Opocenský and Valouch founded their studio in 2007. As the studio is small (consisting only of these two architects), the size of the designable buildings and structures is limited. On the other hand, they are able to devote a lot of energy to their designs. The architects prefer some austerity in their expression. The appearance of their buildings and houses is simple and straightforward without any “phrases”. The architects’ way of thinking and their creative ideas can be best seen in the charts that accompany their designs. Therefore, no extensive explanatory texts are required to interpret their creative intentions. They have won their spurs with their

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House Kraluv Dvur

LOCATION :

Southview

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152

Livingroom

PLAN

Unfenced GARDEN

Te r ra c e

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N o r t h-E a s t View

section 153

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Sweden

FoAM-Nordica DATE OF COMPLETION :

2012 LOCATION :

Norra Djurgårdsstaden, Stockholm CONSTRUCTED AREA:

---

59° 21’ 48.72” S 18° 05’ 26.66” W

text by Susanna Malzacher

155

A Polish/Italian architect now living in Sweden after a childhood in South Africa and studies in both the USA, UK and Sweden, has teamed up with a Swedish industrial designer to work on one of the crucial issues facing the world’s constantly expanding unsustainable cities: food security. They have set out on their Foodprints journey with the aim of exploring how the discipline of biomimicry can promote urban food resilience and biodiversity. The first step was to design a discussion toolkit, a biologically-centred ruler, to throw light on the complexity of food culture and on the significant impact this has on our environment

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Foodprints

and to demonstrate opportunities for urban food production. In the next phase of the project the team intends to stage a food performance, exploring a number of possible food-system scenarios figuring in the toolkit, together with invited guests currently involved in the Norra Djurgården (Stockholm) development plans. Each scenario combines an example from all eight themes: food logistics, cultural dimensions, ecosystem types, environmental challenges and benefits, urban food sources, farming methods and urban elements. The aim is to disseminate knowledge and inspire a change in urban policymaking with a view to integrating food-system resilience into the urban planning process. But fighting climate change and environmental degradation is not just about finding technical solutions. The issue of how to transform our way of life to make it sustainable, locally and globally, needs to be addressed from a large range of viewpoints simultaneously – social, political, economic, industrial, urban and environmental – if such radical changes in our modes of living are to be achieved. Foodprints is an unusual architecture project in that it is non-object-oriented, multidisciplinary and modelled on nature’s eco-systems, considering the city as a living organism where there is no waste, only closed loops. It has no lesser ambition than to work towards a paradigm shift.

INP UT

oo S f d

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156

coal oil nuclear

brain immune system

lungs

university, library, school legislation, police, court parks, gardens

urban food cultures

go o

tim

ds be enr er

organic waste (landfill/sea dumping)

water fuel

emissions (co2, no2, so2) OUTPUTS solid waste

gy

liquid wast LINEAR METABOLISM

urban_metabolism Two diverse flow patterns of resource inputs through a city: one is a linear system, whilst the other is a closed circular system source: Herbert Girardet

FARM BELT renewables solar economy

food energy

INPUTS

goods

OUTPUTS recycled organic & inorganic waste

water digestion system stomach, liver, kidneys

inorganic waste (landfill)

garbage dumps, sewage

timber fuel

food markets

reduced pollution & waste

CIRCULAR METABOLISM arteries, veins

roads, railways, waterways

nervous system

commuication networks

ecosystems function s uperorganism

Author and educator Herbert Girardet describes the city as a complex living body with a variety of interacting organs, similar to our human bodies. Source Herbert Girardet, Cities, People, Planet

FARMING+

SCENARIOS

Peak

Values

Communal

5 scenarios which holistically capture the future of possible food outcomes for Norra Djurgårdsstaden

Regeneration 157

Farming+ was a project instigated during Foodprints in order to trace the food strategy for future urban developments in Goa, India

Technology

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There is an inherent relationship between the city and how food arrives on our plates

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Urban Food B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2 158

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160

close to people and everyday life. The studio aims to first find interesting projects and problems to be solved, and then find the client. Not the other way around.

Norway

To create enthusiasm and participation in their processes Fantastic Norway uses local and national media. Their philosophy within communication is: “If you want to discuss the problem, start with the fantastic”. Through the years the office has written more than 60 essays in local newspapers, made cartoons and publication and recently hosted a television series on The Norwegian Broadcasting Channel (NRK). Fantastic Norway’s credo is that all projects are stitched together by the stories and lives of the people involved. Every client is different; every place is in some way peculiar. Fantastic Norway aims to embrace this fact and through dialogue transform it into architecture. Fantastic Norway is by far one of today’s most promising Norwegian architect-firms. They have already won several international architectural awards.

Fantastic Norway DATE OF COMPLETION :

between Rosenholm Campus and the Station CONSTRUCTED AREA:

330m long

59° 49’ 29.55” N 10° 47’ 25.01” E

text by TYIN Tegnestue Architects

161

­ antastic Norway was founded in 2004 by Håkon F Matre Aasarød and Erlend Blakstad Haffner. Their primary ambition was to create an open, inclusive and socially aware architectural practice and to re-establish the role of the architect as an active participant and a builder of society. The heart and soul of this practice is a red caravan that functions as a mobile platform for architectural discussions, debates and workshops. Fantastic Norway uses the caravan when they gather ideas, suggestions and local knowledge for the projects they work on and utilise the collected information in the design process. The caravan is a new platform for architecture, down to earth and

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Dialogue

2014 LOCATION :

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162

Along the 330 meter long bridge each of the four turrets brings practical and poetic qualities into the forest area below

The bell tower

The walk from the station to the office complex includes walking throught a tight, clean cut in a rocky hill, past an out door fire place, through an icy steel mesh, inside a bell tower and through a high rise bird dwelling

Start with the fantastic

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The project is an elevated promenade to improve the stretch between Rosenholm Campus and Rosenholm Station

163

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Austria

soma

Pavilion in Yeosu, South Korea. The building is composed by cylindrical structural bodies – the client wanted a part of the façade to be a media façade. But the architect wanted the architecture itself to play here, an analog media façade, so to speak. Together with Knipper Helbig, an engineering office in Stuttgart, they have developed a kinetic façade that does not work mechanically. According to bionic’s principle each slats on the facade opens like the gills of a fish and closes again, thus ensuring - according to the time of the day - more or less light in the building. While most of the other pavilions will be dismantled at the end of the Expo 2012, the building by soma will remain and serve as a symbol of the former industrial harbour. The approach of soma is similar in both Austrian and international projects: it is an intuitive approach, marked by the joy that drives them to explore something. The only difference is that in their home country - now at least - only smaller commissions are available. The trust in young offices in this country is usually too low. The design for the tower in Taiwan by the way - even though it will not be built – is also noteworthy. In this competition they won the second prize behind Sou Fujimoto. The design is a zero-carbon construction that combines high-tech and lowtech, and would be composed of individual fibers, whi ch diverge and then merge back to node.

DATE OF COMPLETION :

Yeosu, SouthKorea CONSTRUCTED AREA:

6918 M2

34° 44’ 53.80”S 127° 45’ 0.08”W

text by Anne Isopp

165

Whether it be the extension of the Building Academy in Salzburg, a temporary art pavilion, an observation tower in Taiwan or an Expo Pavilion in South Korea - beauty on itself does not exist for the four architects of soma. A building for them must demonstrate that form is confirmed by function. Soma architects are always looking for more value, for something new, they are extremely keen to experiment and also oriented on implementation. The fact that the buildings really function and that they keep the spirit of the design after being realized, is due to the great confidence they put in the beginning plan. A good example is the Expo

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One Ocean Pavilion

2012 LOCATION :

166

Multilayer spatial experience

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1 foyer 2 theme exhibition / preshow 3 theme exhibition / main show 4 theme exhibition / post show 5 cafe 6 vip area 7 mechanical 8 swimming platform 9 stairs and escalator to

best practice area

K i n e t i c m e d i a f aca d e 7

6

Moving lamellae in an open position 5

8

4

Conglomeration of solid vertical cones in constant negotiation between water and land

The main entrance on Ocean Plaza

3

9

1

2

a n e w m e a n d e r i n g c oa s t l i n e

“We experience the Ocean as an endless surface and in an immersed perspective as depth”

25m

2

0

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

9

+25.00 +21.50 +15.91

0

7

F2 +9.00

PLAN 25m

best practice area

2

7

2

3

8

4

5

6

9 H.W.L. +3.770 M.S.L. +1.808 L.W.L. ±0.000

0

The pavillion embodies the Expo’s theme and is constructed in a former industrial harbour

The facade covers a total length of about 140 m, and is between 3 m and 13 m high

25m

167

1 foyer 2 theme exhibition / preshow 3 theme exhibition / main show 4 theme exhibition / post show 5 cafe 6 vip area 7 mechanical 8 swimming platform 9 stairs and escalator to

F1 +0.00 EL +6.70

7

theme exhibition / preshow theme exhibition / main show theme exhibition / post show cafe vip area best practice area mechanical main cone viewing platform

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

section

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Italy

O CAFEArchitettura

in elevation, cladded with a perforated brown metal sheathing from which a white volume with panoramic view juts out. The building unravles a form that creates a piazza in the front opening the winery to the people, and echoes the surrounding hills. Thanks to this form it can accommodate inside different interconnected spaces for both production and offices, ending in the overhanging room where the tasting area is. The treatment of the exterior surfaces with perforated metal panels – the strongest identity feature- is inspired by the sparkling Prosecco bubbles. At the back, open to the wine production buildings, the Wine Center instead breaks away from the metal sheathing in a more common, everyday look, due to the pure whiteness of the plaster. Cafèarchitettura represents an exception, but also a confirmation of how difficult it is for young people to emerge in Italy. Also in this case looking at other works of theirs, one finds designs, installations, interiors and contests won but not realized. Despite an initial convincing test, they struggle to find an opportunity to challenge their skills again. In Italy the greatest difficulty for young people is the lack of real opportunities for putting their talents to the test. And the impossibility to determine whether their potential can be turned into reality leaves the offices suspended in a never-ending state of unexperienced youth.

DATE OF COMPLETION :

Valdobbiadene CONSTRUCTED AREA:

3390M2

45°54’05”N 11°59’42.86”E

text by Diego Barbarelli

169

The typical CV of Italians under 35 is full of unrealized projects, collaborations with famous offices and small renovation jobs. Only the last ones turn into real works and represent the real debut in construction, mostly thanks to demands coming from relatives and friends. There are plenty of competitions won, but rarely actually carried out. Only a special occasion can change this situation such as happened to Cafèarchitettura, the winners of the competition open to students and new graduates held by the Val D’Oca winery for its new showroom. They stood out for their non-linear building, with angles and projections both in plan and

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ProseccoWine Centre

2011 LOCATION :

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170

Interface production and consumption PLAN

0

5m Behind the panels T h e S h ow ro o m

S PA R K L I N G A T N I G H T

The tasting room is a panoramic outlook

171

Inviting entrance square

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

Jutting out

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Germany

f Birk und Heilmeyer Architekten

played an emblematic role, both as functional elements as well as symbols of prestige. Today, this typology has returned in vogue as an ideal model for experimenting with forms, materials and structural feats at the limits of static design. The interpretation offered by the team of Stephan Birk and Liza Heilmeyer represents a bridge between tradition and the future. Using an ancient material – wood – they have realised a work that is aligned with the most recent trends in German architecture: essential, minimalist, and sensitive to the landscape. Awarded numerous prizes and a special mention in the prestigious 2011 Mies van der Rohe Award, with the Jüberg tower Birk and Heilmeyer have confirmed their predilection for a ‘soft’ architecture that, discretely inserted within the environment, utilises its models and instruments in the search for an optimum equilibrium. As a technological lightweight ‘machine’, the tower pays homage to sustainability. Its daring morphology blends with the image of lightness, guaranteeing a minimal impact within the territory. Situated in the periphery of the city, at the edge of a forest, the structure is inserted within its context with the grace of a sapling that draws its expressive force and justification from its symbiosis with nature.

DATE OF COMPLETION :

2010.4 Hemer CONSTRUCTED AREA:

Height: 23.5 m Diameter Foot: 6.0 m

51°23’10.20”N 07°46’53.50”E

text by Monica Zerboni

173

The small German city of Hemer in Westphalia has recently come to international attention thanks to a project realised for the Regional Gardening Expo: the Jübergturm, a twenty-meter tall panoramic tower that scenographically enriches the urban skyline and valorises its qualities, assuming the unusual role of a sponsor. The project is the work of the Stuttgart-based office of Birk and Heilmeyer that, in only nine months of work, in collaboration with the work of the office of Knippers Helbig Advanced Engineering, has realised an agile vertical construction with a characteristic structure in wood slats. In the history of architecture towers have always

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

Jueberg Tower

LOCATION :

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174

Marking the transition between city and landscape The look-out tower stands out at the end of a long stair

The principle is based on the hyperboloid used for steel constructions by V. G. Suchov (1853 – 1939)

Jübergturm | Lageplan | Site | 1:500 | Birk und Heilmeyer Architekten BDA

The structure consists of 240 straight timber slats of Siberian larch (glued laminated) with a cross section of 8 x 8 cm

175

PLAN

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Entrance

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Reacting 360-degrees

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Denmark

The building I have selected is the Natural Science Center in Bjerringbro, Denmark, which was nominated for the Mies Van Der Rohe Award in 2010. The center is an educational laboratory for the natural sciences and the innovative design by NORD creates a setting well suited to inspire both students and teachers alike. Located on a hillside north of Bjerringbro the solitary standing building has been rightfully compared to a lighthouse. The monolithic cylinder, with a couple of thoughtfully placed cuts in its volume, is clad mainly in translucent u-glass profiles turning it into a beacon of light at dusk. The simple and iconographic exterior, with its smooth and homogeneously glazed façade, is contrasted by the raw aesthetics and the spatial diversity of the interior. Here you are met with unmasked mechanical installations, floors and walls of exposed concrete and a dynamic layout of vertically interconnected spaces. In the educational spirit of the project a “Natural Science Garden”, open to the public, is planned to grace the generous grounds of the center.

NORD Architects Copenhagen DATE OF COMPLETION :

Bjerringbro CONSTRUCTED AREA:

2.560 M2

NORD Architects was established in 2003 by founding partners Johannes Molander Pedersen and Morten Rask Gregersen. Working within the field of architecture, urban development & innovation processes the practice puts great emphasis on the design process itself. Incorporating user involvement and facilitating various workshops with parties relating to each project is characteristic of their approach. In their body of work one can discern a preference for larger scale urban strategies, meanwhile NORD has proven equally skilled in realizing smaller scale projects.

56° 36’ 57.18” S 09° 67’ 42.26” W

179

text by Kristján Eggertsson

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Natural Science Center

2009 LOCATION :

light tower

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180

solitary building

unmasked installations

PLAN

To make the building an open learning platform the architects have designed it with visible installations Located on a hillside north of Bjerringbro. The facade changes character when weather and light conditions change

The building is a monolithic cylinder generated in a series of geometrical transformations

The monolithic cylinder beacon of light at dusk

detail

Education and knowledge PRODUCTION B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

Sections

flexible areas

Dynamic layout of vertically interconnected spaces

181

Inside the building there are differentiated spatial experiences

The facade openings produce a different reading of the interior space

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Setting well suited to inspire students B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2 182

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Switzerland

by outreaching foundations that literally anchor the building onto the terrain. Grey wooden shutters close the three boxes as if they were cupboards. The authors of this building, Yves Dreier and Eik Frenzel, established their office in Lausanne in 2008 after having worked, among others, in Herzog & de Meuron. The pavilion they have built at Confignon can be considered as representative of the current Swiss young architectural scene: one could say that this building takes on the tradition of the “Swiss-box”. This theme has been associated to projects and buildings by the famous aforementioned architects, whose early work is often described as “minimal architecture”. In addition to the affinity of the pavilion in Confignon to the “Swiss-box”, one should also remark that Dreier Frenzel have adapted their boxes not only to the programme and to the terrain, but also to an economic situation with which young architects are often confronted: a return to the essence, to structure and construction, is imposed by the limited budget at disposal. If this pavilion exudes a “minimal” language, this is not due to a stylistic or formal search, but rather to an appropriated pragmatism.

Dreier Frenzel Architecture DATE OF COMPLETION :

2009 Confignon CONSTRUCTED AREA:

32M2

46° 10’ 27.12”N 06° 05’ 03.41”E

text by Cornelia Tapparelli

185

This pavilion, built in Confignon by the young Swiss architecture practice Dreier Frenzel, houses a storage space, a kitchen and a summer room. It is located on the sloping garden of a single-family house with views over the city of Geneva. Following the tripartite programme the architects conceived three modules of differing dimensions that resemble a sequence of boxes attached to each other. The whole construction is built in exposed reinforced concrete, which protects and divides the spaces while providing the structure of the building. Two walls and three pillar-walls emerge out of three slabs that touch the slope only on one of their edges. The generous cantilevers are enabled

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Storage Kitchen and summer room

LOCATION :

186 B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

PLAN

In sequence kitchen and summer room

Swiss-box

S e c t i o n a n d e l e va t i o n s Gently accomodated along the slope

A smal pavillion as garden extension of a family house

mid-summer retreat

When open the space totally merges into the garden

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Shutters’ detail

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Nigeria

NLÉ, KUNLÉ ADEYEMI DATE OF COMPLETION :

2012.12 Makoko, Lagos CONSTRUCTED AREA:

210 M2

6° 49’ 46.00” N 3° 38’ 37.80” E

text by Rachel Stella Jenkins

189

The fact that our world is urbanising at an unprecedented pace is well known. The fastest growing cities are located in developing regions. Lagos, Nigeria, is presently growing by 53 new citizens each hour (births and newly arrived migrants). The population is expected to reach 25 million by 2015, which would make it the third largest city in the world. In our age of Mega-Cities, current planning and architectural approaches are all too often dominated by western city-making approaches that barely fit today’s realities and demands. This added to the often lack of cultural understanding of on-going processes of urbanisation - how cities are changing and how citizens interact with cities – means questioning and rethinking institutionalised planning recipes is a

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

Makoko Floating School

LOCATION :

valid and vital obligation. NLÉ shapes architectural and infrastructural solutions in developing cities by bringing together international expertise through a multi-disciplinary and collaborative practice (quote NLÉ). In conjunction with the personal experience of Kunlé Adeyemi, a Nigerian born and educated architect. After practicing in Nigeria, Adeyemi worked at the Office of Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) in the Netherlands for 10 years. There he led the design and construction of significant public buildings and infrastructural projects around the world. Having founded NLÉ, Adeyemi leads a project on Makoko, an informal floating settlement which houses about 100,000 people who make up a large part of the informal workers who support the city and its growth, and is located in the very centre becoming a landmark. Providing over one third of Lagos’ fish supply and most of its timber, for nearly a century, Makoko has thrived on fishing and sawing industries. Having adapted its lifestyle to its environment it has become ‘a city on water’. There are no roads, no land and no modern infrastructure yet it is a highly dense and urbanised area. Although overall living conditions are very poor, people’s adaptation to their environment offers valuable insights for addressing the imminent challenges of rapid urbanisation and climate change’ – namely rising water levels - in coastal cities.The area is still susceptible to flooding due to rising water levels, as was the case in October 2011 when the city experienced heavy rainfall (quote NLÉ). NLÉ’s proposes to build a floating nursery and school for the community. The project will also provide a flexible multi-use space that can be used outside school hours by the entire community for a range of purposes.

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OVERVIEW

Makoko is an informal floating settlement which houses about 100,000 people who make up a large part of the informal workers who support the city and its growth, and is located in the very centre becoming a landmark. Credit picture: Ade Adekola

Design for a floating School for the water community of Makoko located in the city of Lagos, Nigeria

A floating community B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

Credit picture and renders: NLÉ

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NLÉ’s proposes to build a floating nursery and school for the community. The project will also provide a flexible multi-use space that can be used outside school hours by the entire community for a range of purposes

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The Netherlands

Anne Holtrop

artist completed a research project entitled Artificial Arcadia, in which he investigated unplanned territories in The Netherlands, used by the Dutch for recreational purposes. The people captured on film were driven less by the qualities of space, rather by the conditions imposed by the equipment employed (mountain bikes, motocross motorcycles, kite-surfers). The Trail House is born out of an analogous principle: in the natural and indeterminate space of SITE2F7, people had traced a series of paths over time according to their desires and their needs, which Holtrop ideally rendered threedimensional in his dwelling. The house, like the equipment used by the subjects of Princen’s images, is the interface through which it is possible to read the site. From the Trail House one has a view out and, beyond the hedges; it is possible to continue to observe the extension of the structure. In some points, sitting with your back to the wall, you can touch the opposite wall with your feet. This generates a number of minor rooms and hoops by the curvilinear form of the pavilion, where Holtrop placed furniture that functionally determine the spaces required by a home. They are ambiguous spaces, in which the canons of dwelling disappear: the perspective created by endless vanishing lines and symmetry are erased.

DATE OF COMPLETION :

2009 Almere, SITE2F7 CONSTRUCTED AREA:

Endless

52° 22’ 27.65” S 5° 13’ 31.30” W

text by Giampiero Sanguigni

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The site of the Trail House was once at the bottom of the sea. SITE2F7 is characterised by a uniform nature that conceals the artificial origins of the surrounding territory. The architect conceived of its form beginning with the patterns of a number of spontaneous paths present in the area, generated by the crossing of people. Holtrop’s works have a brief lifecycle. They colonise a space for only a few months and, similar to the work of Thomas Demand or Gordon Matta-Clark, all that remains is photographic documentation. It is thus no accident that the Trail House was photographed by Bas Princen. In 2004 the Dutch

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Trail House

LOCATION :

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Bend and split through the LANDSCAPE

a m b i g o u s s pa c e

The plan, as an objet trouvé of a landscape element, has defined characteristics without being formed by its architectural function

The house has a view totally open to the landscape and the distinction between inside and outside is lost

life

cycle

195

Holtop’s works colonise a space for a few month and all that remains is photographic documentation. Trail House was born in the natural and indeterminate space of SITE2F7. Credit pictures: Bas Princen

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Brief

Inside there are ambiguous spaces, in which the canons of dwelling disappear and the functional division of spaces is determined by the location of different furniture

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Belgium

PT ARCHITECTEN DATE OF COMPLETION :

Cadixstraat, Antwerp CONSTRUCTED AREA:

19.400 M2

51°13’58.56” N 04°24’33.27” E

text by Bernardina Borra

197

Architecture in Belgium since middle ages has mostly relied and thrived on private commission, witnessing qualitative production peaks during guilds’ time and the colonial economy of Leopold II in late ‘800 for instance. During such moments architecture production had a great impact on the form of the city as a collective project. Especially in the times of Leopold II urban visions were carried out in a complentatary way –though not frictionless- to the distributed private wealth, and shaped many of the most important Belgian cities. After WWII this unity was not recovered and citizens gradually fled the city sprawling in small constructions that consumed the territory

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Cadix Square

2015 LOCATION :

transforming it in a quite scattered semi-industrial, semi-rural densely inhabited landscape. This stealth invasion that turned especially the Dutch speaking side of the country into a witless urbanized mat, has been longly investigated and also criticized. The tendency now is to try counterbalancing it, recovering cities as the main gravity points of the territory, translated mostly in densification and transformation of the existing fabric. This is one of the main issues that in 1998 urged the Dutch speaking governement to re-established the institution of the Vlaamse Bouwmeester (Flemish Building Master) who cares for the improvement of the living quality in the built environment. One of the most relevant intruments enforced by the Vlaamse Bouwmeester is the Open Oproep (Open call): a list of public open competitions that since then fostered great chances for both young and established architecture practices to engage in several public tasks. The project for Cadix square is the winning proposal of an Open Oproep. The Cadix area in the former harbour of Antwerp, close to the historic centre, is under main redevelopment, it will maintain its maritime character and transform into a fully fledged living area hosting nearly 10 times the inhabitants it now has. The main selection reason for the winners has been the importance that PT architects gave in the design process to the wishes expressed by the inhabitants of the area, as well as the evolutive format of it that will adapt in time according also to the newcomers.

Landscape is the base, people its activators

wood

concrete

Flamish granite

concrete

vegetation

concrete

vegetation

concrete

vegetation

vegetation

concrete

concrete

vegetation

concrete

vegetation

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WATERFRONT

Opening the waterfront to the public is one of the main conditions to regenerate the maritime functions and exhalt it as one of the most distinguished features of the neighbourhood

winter

Cadix is a neighbourhood in progress in the old harbour district Eilandje in the north of Antwerp. Massive housing projects are planned and population will multiply in a few years. The park/square is designed to be evolutionary just like the neighbourhood itself. A tram line will cross the square and the former warehouse will be re-used as a covered public space

Around the square are planned new housing, a school, and services for elderly people. The area will cater a diverse social mix in terms of origin and age of the people using the open space in different modes and times of the day during the whole year

The project has already been discussed in several meetings with the inhabitants. the definitive design is adapting to the outcome of this open discussion and the square will be implemented before end 2015

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The landscape gradually turns from park into square in order to collect different potential open space use according to inhabitants wishes and seasonal changes

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SUMMER

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Algeria

r

DATE OF COMPLETION :

2007 LOCATION :

M’zab Valley, GhardaÏa CONSTRUCTED AREA:

12.000M2

32°28’27.93” N 03° 41’39.61” E

text by Samia Henni

203

Architecture could carry a more local significance, if it would consider the natural environment and social relations in which culture plays a central role. In Algeria, more than ever, an ethical and political awareness is needed among all actors to make “today” and “tomorrow” more desirable and appropriable. The drawings of the project have been a collaboration between Magda Bendani and GANFOOD Grafic design. Contentwise the design for the M’zab Valley in Algeria is the result of an accurate consideration of specific relationships between the social and spatial contexts of the Mozabites’ (inhabitants

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Masterplan for The M’zab Valley

MAGDA BENDANI

of the M’zab Valley). She has acknowledged the Mozabites’ social values and environmental factors and embedded them in the spatial organization. Located within the Algerian Sahara, the M’zab Valley was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its exemplary nature of traditional human settlements, faultlessly adapted to the local environment. The uniqueness of the M’zab Valley’s natural landscape, social habits, traditional architecture, and building techniques are significant tourism assets for the region. However, the M’zab Valley is witnessing a serious housing shortage and is considerably lacking structures and services for visitors. Seeking to address these shortages, the architect created the opportunity to combine function (housing and tourism facilities) with the Mozabites’ natural environment and socio-cultural needs. The result is a “troglodytic” architecture that hunts for durability. In her view, only the Mozabitian’s “sustainable” way of thinking and acting would ensure returns for local inhabitants and guarantee a suitable use of local resources without compromising future generations. She responds to the housing scarcity by juxtaposing compact habitats based on the Mozabitian lineage and habits. Following the slope of the rocky site, she combines introverted spaces that ensure privacy and female life, with common semiextroverted spaces for men’s activities. In addition, she proposes a subterranean hotel dug into the M’zab rock, an efficient spatial organization that ensures protection from the M’zab’s arid climate and is seamlessly integrated into its environment. The project exhibits the uniqueness of the M’zab Valley and forces the visitor to actively interact and learn from the traditions of the Mozabites.

m ’ z a b Va l l e y

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Working on the Mzab valley does not imply the imitation of Mozabites’ forms, but the understanding of its quintessence

A A’

D E S i g n P r i n c i p l es

BB’ PLAN

Create TROGLODITIC spaces

A A’ BB’ Cc’ A collection of “fragments”

Cc’

Part 1: Housing project “Little Ksar”

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Part 2: T h e H o t e l C av e

Typology

GRoundfloor

1 stf l o o r

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Master Plan

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France

Nicolas Reymond DATE OF COMPLETION :

2010 Chavannes-près-Renens, Switzerland CONSTRUCTED AREA:

150000 M2

46° 52’ 67.64” 06° 58’ 38.65”

S W

text by LA Architectures

207

In France, where urban planning is often detached from the question of architecture, Nicolas Reymond Architecture is part of a new generation of architects with a “global” approach. He masters diverse sized projects, from furniture to small apartments to houses and cities. The variety of scale of his practice is one of the reasons he was selected for this catalogue. Despite his youth, Nicolas Reymond began working for himself just after graduation, completing a number of successful projects – and winning the prestigious Europan competition 3 times. Nicolas Reymond has been already awarded two prices by the French government. The first one in 2010  as

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Archipelago

LOCATION :

young urbanist by Ministry of Sustainability, and the second one in 2012  as young architect in a selection by the the Ministry of Culture. His office is relatively small, it stands out as being perfectly adequate to his way of working. In a constant search for new things, his teaching and writing are deeply part of his practice. While urban is always at the top of his list, he questions the act of building in our contemporary environment. He claims before all else to be an architect. Strong and clear concepts, followed trough with careful attention to detail, characterises his work. Some of his recent work with Parisian apartments makes this obviously clear. Archipelago is a second prize-winning proposal to an open competition, done by Nicolas Reymond in collaboration with Julien Joly Architecture. In Switzerland, many competitions offer young architects a chance to measure themselves against established and renowned offices. Typically, this is the kind of large-scale project that architects are not frequently offered to work on. Located in a suburban context near Lausanne, the project tempts to compose a new city life with a programme of mixed uses: retail and dense residential/public space: prospecting for a new response of how to create shopping spaces for the coming century. Far from the big shopping malls one can imagine, this project attempts to find a new sensory experience, involving different layers. Credits portrait picture: Gaston Bergeret.

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The aim of the project is to articulate a new dense urban quarter with a peri-urban site, facing the Leman Lake, near Lausanne in Switzerland

A transversal promenade is excavated in the blocks, allowing to cross the entire district trough diagonal passages, connecting the different public spaces

New CITY life

The project, designed in different levels, experiments new ways of planning public space

m ix u se

209

The project is based on a repetitive block, that organizes a vertical stratification of the quarter on 3 layers : underground, parking and commercial stockage ; at ground level, a 7 meters-high public layer with shops, showrooms, passages and access to the apartments ; on the upper level, apartments and offices around surelevated gardens

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PLAN

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United Kingdom

a THE ASSEMBLE DATE OF COMPLETION :

Hackney Wick under the A12 CONSTRUCTED AREA:

Temporary

51° 54’ 91.20” N 00° 02’ 87.41” E

text by Tobias Goevert

211

Assemble are young, highly motivated and have already completed some great  projects, such as the self-initiated Cineroleum and Folly for a Flyover. They are a community interest company composed of a whole bunch of different disciplines. Their pilot project Cineroleum tested out the reuse of a derelict petrol station as a temporary cinema and was completely self initiated; and with the Folly they had the opportunity to explore social as well as architectural issues in the rapidly developing context of London’s Lower Lea Valley, working their way around complex stakeholder management.  The Folly is a temporary canal-side cinema under a London motorway flyover built by a

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Folly for a Flyover

2011 LOCATION :

team of volunteers over a month, using reclaimed and donated materials from the neighbourhood and the Ashelwell timber supply from Essex. The temporary installation is inspired by the red-brick buildings of Hackney Wick, featuring an imaginary piece of the area’s past. Peering from under a motorway flyover, it suggests an alternative history - where a stubborn landlord refused to move his house when the motorway was built. By day the folly hosted a café, workshops and events and boat trips exploring the surrounding waterways. After the project was dismantled the timber blocks became reusable again. Some of them will be rebuilt as play structures in Gainsborough school - the local primary. Following positive feedback, the flyover site will be undergoing permanent development, as part of muf architecture art’s series of public realm works in Hackney Wick. Assemble’s approach is to collaborate and  work across different disciplines with a range of specialists and local enthusiasts in a range of fields from design, cookery, film, theatre to plumbing.  This approach not only creates a fantastic moment celebrating the everyday, but also pushes pioneering uses into areas undergoing rapid change, often lacking creative spirit and in danger of becoming dominated by soulless housing developments. Design for London is the Mayor of London’s urbanism and architecture team. We get involved in public realm projects across the capital, instigating and supporting exciting work by a wide  palette  of practitioners. We value highly and aspire to improve the dialogue between London’s stakeholders, such as the boroughs, the sponsors, the designers and essentially its citizens.  We need all you creative spirits to get involved to bring even more layers of richness and make London’s hidden spaces blossom even more, learn from Assemble and get involved!

Film/performance FILM/PERFORMANCE

boats B O AT S

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The temporary building resignifies the lost space under the flyover tunring it into a succesful destination bar

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BAR

A building APPEARS

Section

213

P eering from undern eath h

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Everything was built over a month by a team of volounteers

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Spain

S

Arturo Franco was entrusted in 2009 with the low-budget recovery (500,000 Euros) of pavilion 8b, destined to house the centre’s administrative offices. The first problems encountered were of a structural nature: the deteriorated roof had to be integrally substituted and the load bearing walls reinforced to support new loads. The construction site thus gave rise to a simple and efficient strategy: the tiles removed from the existing roof were recycled and reutilised to create the new walls that, depending upon their role in the project, perform a functional, decorative or structural role. Overlapping and linked to one another by a layer of exposed mortar, the tiles form a vibrant ceramic skin that creates surprising formal relations with the existing pattern on the building’s walls. The porosity, which varies according to the quantity of mortar used, becomes a tool for filtering light and articulating the spaces based on differing levels of privacy. Arturo Franco’s work is of interest because it moves away from predetermined formal strategies, in the constant search for specific solutions, linked to the site, social process, building practices and the potentialities of materials.

ARTURO FRANCO DATE OF COMPLETION :

2009 LOCATION :

Antiguo Matadero Legazpi, Madrid CONSTRUCTED AREA:

1000 M2

40° 39’ 12.45” N -3° 69’ 65.40” E

215

text by Graziella Trovato

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Former Slaughterhouse Legazpi

Over the past 5 years the historical municipal abattoir, now the Matadero Madrid Cultural Centre, has become one of the most active centres of artistic and architectural experimentation in the Spanish capital. It is also the point of convergence of two large operations of urban rehabilitation: the extension and transformation of the PradoRecoletos cultural axis, currently underway, and the Madrid Río project, recently completed. The complex, constructed in 1910 in the neomedejar style, a language born in Spain between the 13th and 14th centuries from the encounter between Arab and Christian culture, is characterised by its ornamental red brick skin.

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C onstruction P rocess

E N T R A N C E S PA C E

1

2

4

3

RE USING

The tiles removed from the existing roof were recycled and reutilised to create the new walls that, depending upon their role in the project, perform a functional, decorative or structural role

PLAN

217

The complex, constructed in 1910 in the neo-medejar style, a language born in Spain between the 13th and 14th centuries from Arab and Christian culture, characterised by its ornamental red brick skin

SEction

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Removed to SOLVE

Entrance to the toilets

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The Potentiality of Materials

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Portugal

embaixada

the co-habitation between the exhibitionism of Christian culture, using the visibility of public space as a system of social representation, and the introspection of Islamic culture, that reduces the visibility of public spaces to a navigation system. This context becomes particularly relevant in the work of “Embaixada”, in the way it serves various design purposes and motivations, from the dialogue between attraction and the explorer, house and vernacular, enclosure and exhibitionism, continuity and rupture; to the argument for the construction of a new landscape – defining attraction criteria mediating dependencies between man and nature with the introduction of new spatial mechanisms, contradicting the idea of ecological disruption usually associated with construction and heralding a new continuity. This last condition is key to describe the “Casa Dos Cubos” environmental monitoring and interpretation centre in Tomar, revealing its uniqueness within the architectural panorama in Portugal, this project assumes a behavioural universe that clearly exceeds the scale of influence of the recognized Oporto School. From the inside “Casa Dos Cubos” is an attempt to establish an “anatomical structure of preexistence”, thus promoting an architectural image fundamental to the process of (re)-approximation between: man and nature, built and environment, memory and reality.

DATE OF COMPLETION :

Tomar, Portugal CONSTRUCTED AREA:

980 M2

39°60’36.77” S -8°41’28.29” W

text by Ricardo Camacho

221

The housing boom of the last two decades, together with mass tourism and favourable bank credit conditions, has affected ancestral ways of living, ignoring the relevance of relating contemporary lifestyles to the specificities of the city. Most of the units built to date are the result of real estate strategies that do not recognise the potential of a certain region to attract a new type of inhabitant, or take advantage of the rich historical inheritance to create new proposals to occupy the area. The idea of a new subjectivity coming after bankruptcy, when associated with the phenomenon of living standards, promotes a central discussion about the construction of Portuguese space:

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Casa Dos Cubos

2007 LOCATION :

PLAN

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Anatomy of the EXISTING The new architectural body runs throughout the available space

s pa t i a l m e c h a n i s m s

There’s a dialogue between attraction and exploration, enclosure and exhibitionism, continuity and rupture

the finite interior become a new series of places and programmatic situations

The new structure infills a new body using the old one as an outer shell

section B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

Pre-existing and new engage each other The design maintains the entire external perimeter construction while its interior is totally scooped out

223

The museum is a re-approximation between man and nature, built and environment, memory and reality

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Reconversion

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contemporary, are studied and assimilated. This ‘slow’ architecture is the antithesis of the frenetic, commercially driven work that dominated recent times.

Ireland

i CLANCY MOORE ARCHITECTS DATE OF COMPLETION :

2012 Allagour, County Dublin CONSTRUCTED AREA:

510 M2

53° 24’ 57.83” N 06° 37’ 67.24” E

text by Sarah Cremin

227

Clancy Moore Architects was founded by Andrew Clancy and Colm Moore in 2006, after receiving their first commission to design two houses in the Dublin Mountains. Since then, they have been frequent competition finalists and have won awards for their completed work. Andrew Clancy is the most recent recipient of the prestigious Kevin Kiernan Award, granted by the Arts Council of Ireland in partnership with the Office of Public Works, for his research into place-specific forms of construction. Clancy Moore’s architecture is serious, careful and calm and shows a predilection for handcrafted construction. Contemporary technologies are embraced without being overtly expressed. Architectural precedents, both historic and

Clancy Moore’s architecture embraces the future and the past in equal measure. The two houses in the quarry sit confidently in a dramatic and beautiful setting and, at the same time feel intimate and familiar, like home.

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Two Quarry Houses

LOCATION :

The site is a disused quarry at the edge of a forest above the city of Dublin, a designated scenic area. The architects gained permission by convincing the authorities that the new building would restore what was formerly an industrial landscape. The timber-framed, bridge-like forms extend across the quarry, resting on concrete cores, facing a shear wall to the rear and looking out over the city through a canopy of evergreen trees. The facade is clad with blackened timber and its grid of vertical fins brings order to the single storey volumes. Seen from a distance, the elongated forms read as abstract sculptures in the trees, scaled to sit in the landscape. Windows are discreetly slotted between fins, and barely register from a distance. The houses are cranked in plan to front and rear. The north-facing, front walls converge towards a shared porch, which sits on a stepped concrete stoop and the south-facing verandas seem to hug the carved out walls of the quarry. They run alongside the living areas, drawing in sunlight, creating an intermediate zone between inside and out as well as loosely connecting the two families. This architectural element, redolent of the great Georgian houses of the eighteenth century, is well suited to the damp and temperate Irish climate. The houses float: the landscape is pictured through frame-like window openings, which create columns of light on the floor of the living room, where the openings are outlined with oak. According to Andrew Clancy, the proportions of the rooms have been inspired by Dublin’s Georgian architecture.

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Caught between the two houses the shared entrance stairs ends in a low porch that frames a view back to the trees

DARK WOOD

A patio acts to link the living spaces of the eastern house

An INHABITED bridge SEction

CONVERGING VOLUMES The verandah overlooks a shared garden in the old quarry to the south, and offers a third order of space, taller again than the living spaces

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0

10m

229

PLAN

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Embracing the wood B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2 230

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to: be adapted to several different topographical contexts; create a new environment and change the relations of the surrounding urban spaces with the building; increase the feeling of “belonging”, by which the neighbours should be able to incorporate the school in their collective social activities; and finally increase the level of commitments of those children with the school and their educational future.

Brazil

SIAA Arquitectos DATE OF COMPLETION :

2005.10+ Campo Limpo, São Paulo CONSTRUCTED AREA:

The FDE initiative was a major public competition that was a fair opportunity for many young offices to build their first big commission. In a country where all major projects built by the young generation are mostly single-family houses, that opportunity meant a huge step forward in their career. Also important is the fact that since 2003 FDE was experimenting the comprehensive use of pre-fabricated elements in order to reduce costs, speed construction and gain endurance. However, this policy did not narrow the architectural variations, it has pushed hundreds of architects to rethink and adapt new pedagogical and social aspects in new experiences.

3470 M2

The Umuarama School in São Paulo is not an isolated experience. It is one of the milestones in a path shaped by the hope of young architects’ work. Shundi Iwamizu from SIAA arquitectos is one of the young architects who had the opportunity to build some schools for FDE initiative (Foundation for the Educational Development), an institution belonging to the government of São Paulo State. The Umuarama School is the first one of these and he developped it togheter with Alexandre Mirandez, Marcelo Pontes, and Ricardo Bellio.

text by Flavio Coddou

233

The main aim of the competitions was to develop certain prototypes for schools that should be able

23° 64’ 70.48”S 46° 77’ 03.12”W

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Umuarama School

LOCATION :

The main focus of the program was to create a positive impact in certain areas of the city with social, economical and infra-structural problems. All schools became - and this was part of the competition terms- the main point of attraction, creating a new gravitational point in neighbourhoods that were lacking points of reference and had very poor or inexistent urban planning.

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urban context Designed to a new brief that includes a sports hall in the school complex, this building is open to the local community on weekends. Credit pictures: Nelson Kon

PLAN 0

20m

Open the school to the neighbourhood Classrooms are at the lowest levels, whilst the sport facilities and common uses are at the highest levels

The school bridge makes possible new walks and connections between this neighborhood and the city as a whole

S ection

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Pre-fabrication of the structure guarantees the quality of construction on site, limits the budget of the building and reduces construction time by almost 50%

235

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A new social and pedagogical gravity point

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Venezuela

V LAB.PRO.FAB.

themselves as a firm, they prefer the term workshop, which combines architectural practice and theorization, urban design and industrial design; constantly downloading such dedication both into their professional practice as well as into the academic field. In the case of LOFT San Marino, the workshop presents in one single project, three fundamental edges of their professional practice: urban analysis of the surroundings to which they must adapt and affect; research and proposal of the residential typology; and innovation in building techniques. On an urban scale, the territory in which the project is settled was benefited, meaning it resulted into a positive catalytic effect of transformation of the preexisting residential way if living, giving a chance to re-activate new offers in this area of the city, now revalued for younger inhabitants. On a constructive level, LAB.PRO.FAB proposes an innovative structural system which allows the inhabitants to enjoy spatial qualities typical of isolated houses; all united within a single volume. By means of a series of structural efforts, the building shows generous heights and cantilevers, which lend the city balconies, patios and terraces; accomplishing on one single lot, nine stacked houses, capable of enjoying open spaces with the requested privacy for each one of the housing cells.

DATE OF COMPLETION :

Caracas CONSTRUCTED AREA:

1100M2

10° 29’ 48.42”N 66° 51’ 33.43”W

text by Fundacion Espacio

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The historical evolution of any country can be understood through its architectural legacy. Venezuela is a special case. During the midtwentieth century, the country set an example of progress and modernity amongst the cities of Latin America. Today, we can understand through our current practice how young professionals of the architectural guild are gathering innovative tools in order to face up to a contemporary panorama, complex and full of contingencies, which has now left behind modernism and is looking forward to broadening new paths. LAB.PRO.FAB is a clear example of what current architecture is aiming at. Instead of presenting

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San Marino’s Lofts

2010 LOCATION :

PLAN

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e d i t a b l e p o ly g o n s

nine housing cells The building is a hybrid between a metallic and a concrete structure, Modelling and digital dissection techniques managed to diminish the number of coupling points. Credit pictures: Ileana Pita, Eduardo Sauce, Javier Gutierrez The dwellings have the same benefits as a traditional single-family house brings, i.e. patios, gardens, balconies and terraces, to the horizontal property

sections The use of transformable components could expand or contract allowing the building to be a permeable entity.

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Each apartment is different

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Connecting interior and exterior

E ac h i t s o w n

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Bolivia

G/CdR Architects DATE OF COMPLETION :

Sucre, Bolivia CONSTRUCTED AREA:

3.110 M2

19° 1’ 14.14” S 65° 15’ 57.09”W

text by Stephanie Lama

243

Located in the historical capital of Bolivia, where most of the architectural forms follow mainly a conservative colonial and monumental line, the building for the University campus of the Andes became a new icon in the landscape of the city of Sucre, offering a new face to represent such an important public educational institution. The campus manifest itself in the landscape by mimicking and evoking the impetuous presence of the surrounding Frailes mountain chain. The project was conceived as an ensemble of freestanding white volumes, unified and interconnected by green areas and small squares on the exterior.

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Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar

2009 LOCATION :

On the inside, the spatial connections between the learning rooms are linked through informal meeting points that stimulate visual contact redefining the classic idea of “space for learning”. The learning rooms, library and auditorium are meant for a flexible use with extraordinary natural light condition and effortless spatial articulations. The design strength that G/CdR Architects - Luis Ignacio Gallardo De Aliaga and Andrés Costa du Rels - show in this specific project expresses their ability to reinterpret the local identity of a mixed society and combine it with a sensible understanding of the use of the space. They present with this work a local and yet modern new architectural attitude in Bolivia. A fascinating challenge, to create a building destined to serve education with a progressive point of view; means for a developing country like Bolivia the hopeful chance to reshape the way that its inhabitants think about education and increase young people’s interests about their future. In this sense the campus for the University of the Andes is seen as an innovative meeting point for knowledge and social encounter, playing a very important role in the complex multicultural Bolivian society. This project was chosen for the present publication because of its architectural and theoretical qualities, the potential of its spaces serving as a platform for social exchange. This young practice opens to the world a new chapter for the Bolivian modern architectural scene worth to be seen. Hopefully their architecture enabled as a tool for transformation will have the power to contribute to social cohesion and stimulate the new generations.

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PLAN

Library entrance (North facade) is six meter height wooden door Connection between the library tower from second patio and the terrace

The library opens its views to the surrounding Frailes mountain chain

The spatial connections between the learning rooms are linked through informal meeting points

The Campus introspective architecture evokes it´s contextual cultural heritage

Effortless spacial articulation

The project was thought as an ensemble of freestanding white volumes

West Facade

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a new icon in the l andscape

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USA

An ‘independent’ section: the section introduces the vertical penetrations of light, which open up the top floor. It appears that the path of light determines the layout of the spaces. On the other floors, the layout is a function of the specific programme of each level. Juxtaposing a fluid internal logic against a more regular urban one is a recurring theme in the United States since Simmons Hall (Steven Holl, Boston, 2002), which this project seems to reinterpret. An ‘active’ façade: even the curtain wall system expresses a widespread theme of research. In terms of design, the idea that the material of architecture is the result of the composition of multiple elements is now a distinctive trait of the latest generation of façades (cf. Cooper Union, Morphosis, New York, 2010). On the other hand, the technological complexity of the system refers to the increased performance requirements of buildings, what is more also in relation to issues of sustainability. Finally, I would add that the programme constitutes an optimum viaticum towards multiethnic integration, the social foundation and urban compromise atop which the city of New York is founded.

Form-ula DATE OF COMPLETION :

2011 New York CONSTRUCTED AREA:

(835 M2)

40°17’59.40” N 73°98’22.20” W

text by Stefano Ceccotto

247

I selected this project because I believe it well reflects some of the specific themes being investigated by contemporary American architecture, both in relation to programme and design. Urban cohesion and an active ground floor: the massing of the building completes the fabric and conserves the sense of repetition of the adjacent row houses, with the sole variation in height, a result of its special function. The building opens towards the park space in front, offering the sole evident co-penetration between interior and exterior precisely at the ground floor level in correspondence with the access to the park.

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Brooklyn Mosque: Penrose

LOCATION :

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Interaction with the public space

facade construction diagram

+

+ + + + ++ + + ++ + ++ + + + + + + + + + + ++ + + + + + + +++ ++ + ++ + + + + +++++ ++ + + + + + ++ + + + + + + + + + + ++ + ++ + ++ + + + + ++ ++ + ++ ++ ++ + + ++ + + + + + + + + + + + + +

t r a n s pa r e n c y

++

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

12

o p e n t owa r d s t h e p a r k

generative diagram

MAIN ENREANCE WASH AREA PRAY ROOM SECOND ENTRANCE OUTDOOR ACCESS KITCHEN, DINING WASH AREA WOMEN’S PRAY ROOM BATHROOMS LIBRARY APARTMENT CHILDREN’S ROOM

interaction with the facade and upper floor space, model

PARAMETRIC floorplans, bottom to top

11

1. 2. 1. 3. 2. 4. 3. 5. 4. 6. 5. 7. 6. 8. 7. 9. 8. 10. 9. 11. 10. 12. 11. 12.

10

12 12

communicative by FACADE

6

8 9 11 11

10 10

long section entrance facade view, model 7 73

2 8 8

1

6 6 9 9

4

0

5’

10’

20’

S PA C E S O F L i g h t

249

N

5

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7

MAIN ENREANCE WASH AREA MAIN ENREANCE PRAY WASHROOM AREA SECOND ENTRANCE PRAY ROOM OUTDOOR ACCESS SECOND ENTRANCE KITCHEN, OUTDOORDINING ACCESS WASH AREA KITCHEN, DINING WOMEN’S PRAY ROOM WASH AREA BATHROOMS WOMEN’S PRAY ROOM LIBRARY BATHROOMS APARTMENT LIBRARY CHILDREN’S APARTMENT ROOM CHILDREN’S ROOM

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Dominican Republic

The project would cater to visitors on their way into the park, taking them through the history of wind farm technologies with hands-on installations. Though perhaps more importantly, the site would be used as a hub, where international and local experts would be able to share ideas and develop workshops with the people of Juancho. The goal is to establish a knowledge base, with the help of local participation, which would in turn aid communities and farmers in gaining access to modern environmental strategies. The project would be a social, as well as economic and cultural catalyst to this impoverished region of the country. Providing a zero carbon footprint, the building utilises natural ventilation assisted by solaractivated cooling towers. The landscape design incorporates a reed-bed water filtration system for the treatment of greywater which would later be used for irrigation. All waste would be recycled. The ‘intensive’ green roof is designed as a carpet sweeping over the building, visually bonding it to the ground. At the highest point of the building, a viewing platform cantilevers from a central turret, offering unobstructed views of the wind-turbine array, setting the Baoruco Mountain range and the Jaragua park as a backdrop beyond it.

DATE OF COMPLETION :

--LOCATION :

Juancho, Pedernales

In a country where the word ‘sustainable’ is used as decoration to hollow rhetoric, this building, will not be implemented, but if it were it would help mark the steps of a country returning to a life of communion with nature.

CONSTRUCTED AREA:

1500M2

The Museum for Renewable Energy Technologies is a project located within the first ever Wind Farm of the Dominican Republic. The desire of the client was twofold: first, to create a building that could be the flagship of clean energy in the DR; and second, to establish a platform for discussion and education in the topics of sustainable strategies.

text by Adolfo Despradel

251

Located near the main gates of the Wind Farm grounds, the project sits strategically between two important sites: the small town of Juancho, with its population of approximately 5,500; and the large natural reserve of the Jaragua National Park.

17°51’36.40” N 71° 17’25.40” W

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Pedernales up Wind

PEREZ MORALES y ASOCIADOS

Main ENtrance

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L ooking T owards T h e Baoruco Mountain

PLAN 0

50m

The Museum for Renewable Energy Technologies sits between the small town of Juancho, and natural reserve of the Jaragua National Park

An international hub for LOCAL sustainability

International and local experts would share ideas and develop workshops with the people of Juancho

C l e a n E N e r gy i n T h e D o m o n i ca n R e p u b l i c

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Providing a zero carbon footprint, the building utilises natural ventilation assisted by solar-activated cooling towers

253

The project would cater to visitors on their way into the park, taking them through the history of wind farm technologies with hands-on installations

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Cuba

vanguard and tradition, the new and the old, the universal and the local, rupture and continuity, and symbolism and abstraction has been recurrent. Made possible by an open and integrative approach that facilitates the use of forms, materials and contents which the Studio assumes as appropriate for each specific situation, without surrendering in advance to a specific aesthetic or a preconceived line of thought. Herein lies the richness of its works: each one brings an element of surprise capable of enriching its physical and cultural environment, and the expectation before each new commission is always fulfilled with the confirmation of the success of the final work. The “Prado y Malecón” hotel project is located in what is now, probably, the most valuable urban lot in Havana. Such a site, in an area of great historical and environmental value, adjacent to the bay and surrounded by several emblematic buildings, has allowed the architects to create a new architectural counterpoint that enhances its neighbourhood and promises to become a new and necessary urban landmark and a symbol of the most advanced Cuban architecture.

Choy-León Estudio de Arquitectura

(2009) LOCATION :

Havana, Cuba CONSTRUCTED AREA:

31 731,00 M2

23° 14’ 36.34” S 82° 37’ 81.76” W

text by Eduardo Luis Rodríguez

255

The Choy-León Architectural Studio stands out in Cuba’s contemporary scene thanks to its designs for some of the most important buildings erected in the country during the past decade. Since its beginnings, its projects have become known for their conceptual and formal richness, and its work can be classified as avant-garde while being, at the same time, inclusive. This dual approach to the making architecture is expressed in a constant game of apparently contradictory ambivalences that in the final project are integrated through an appropriate balance between antagonistic pairs in a balanced tension. Thus, throughout its production, an enriching dialogue between

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Prado y Malecón Hotel

DATE OF COMPLETION :

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Climatic element

urban condition PLAN 0

20m

200 rooms in the perimeter

A spray of water is produced and the building works as a cooling tower

The building positions itself as a dialogue between vanguard and tradition, the new and the old, the universal and the local

Creation of a symbolic landmark

integration

The design of a large atrium and its roof has been conceived as an artistic element that takes as a reference the waves hitting the Malecon

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Integration and respect to the inherited patrimony

Taking advantage of the long and interrupted views

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An exceptional visual environment from and to the hotel

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Colombia

public use. The system of public pools of the Complejo acuatico Atanasio Girardot in Medellin is spatially organised by a novel three-dimensional play of levels – all of the services are located, as in Mies’ Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, at a lower level, almost concealed, and overlooking a system of triangular patios – that, associated with a powerful and evocative vision of the landscape and a system of public circulation on grade, generates a modern and inviting aquatic facility in a central and strategic part of the city.

Paisajes Emergentes DATE OF COMPLETION :

2010.2 Medellin CONSTRUCTED AREA:

16000M2

06°15’24” N 75°35’25” W

text by Luca Bullaro

259

Paisajes emergentes is made by Edgar Mazo, Sebatian Mejia, and Luis Callejas, three young and brilliant architects, intellectuals, artists and dreamers. The Atanasio Girardot Aquatic Complex they realised in Medellin, Colombia – winner of the Concurso internacional de escenarios deportivos para los IX Juegos Suramericanos – is one of the most interesting – and experimental – contemporary urban landscapes in recent years. I have never before seen a sports centre with such dynamic, democratic and aesthetic qualities, and which manages to perfectly fuse the aspects of sport and education with those of recreation and

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Aquatic Centre

LOCATION :

adults’ pool

warm up patio changing rooms entrance

olympic pool / underwater depot

toilets -3m

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children’s pool

warm up patio changing rooms entrance

secondary entrance

public terrace +5.5m primary circulation cafeteria warm up patio

PLAN

The project is articulated by a system of garden through which the four pools are connected

entrance/offices

synchronized swimming pool synchronized swimming tribune +5.5m

A flooded landscape planted with species typical of tropical wetlands provides separation of private and public spaces

Plunge, dive, swim and dance The centre is made for future competitions as well as new swimming teaching facility and public pools

Sunken Patios

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Water as welfare

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“education” as architects. Meeting with Enrique Ciriani, after having completed their studies, further enabled them to assimilate the necessary skills to complete the De la Piedra Chapel.

Peru

b Héctor Loli Rizo Patrón + Ximena Alvarez de la Piedra

With this commission of minimal dimensions, they have found the precise position within the territory to place the intervention, where it becomes not only the center of the countryside plot, but tames the mountains that surround it and concentrates their presence on the chapel, creating a spherical space. The architectural promenade required to reach the chapel introduces the notion of time, pulls us away from the everyday and submerges us in a heterotopic atmosphere. Devices such as the spiral, a multiplier of travel and time, and the set of canchas or strategically placed esplanades that show us the way, are just some of the elements in common with PreColumbian architecture. However, the architects have had the insight to take only the strategies used by our ancestors and not the forms. In this intervention, the spiral does not prevent spatial expansion, the symbolism does not hinder the abstraction, and historical references do not restrain modernity. The result shows a rare maturity that I hope to be the start of a successful and responsible “patient search” in Peruvian architecture.

DATE OF COMPLETION :

2009-2010 Bridge to Manchay, Cieneguilla, Lima CONSTRUCTED AREA:

85 M2

What has distinguished Peruvian architecture for the past 50 centuries is its sensitive relationship with territory and landscape, regardless of the size or symbolic importance of the intervention. Unfortunately, this innate Peruvian ability is disappearing quickly. The schools of architecture do not care to pass on this knowledge and sensitivity, instead focusing on urban planning as a functional tool and landscape as a matter of composition of green areas.

text by Jean Pierre Crousse

265

Héctor Loli and Ximena Álvarez are among the few young Peruvian architects who have acquired this sensibility (or have not lost it) despite their

12°14’31.27”S 76°83’14.07”W

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De la Piedra Chapel

LOCATION :

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The chapel is located at the margin of the Lurín river and beside the Lomas de Castilla hill. Credit pictures: Juan Solano

PLAN

0

50m

PASEO DE PURIFICATION

This continuous spiral creates an enclosure within the vastness of the plot the transition from the “profane” of everyday life

A profoundly “sacred” space where verticality is the means to approach the divine

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The patio provides the necessary pause for reflection

Reflection and surprise

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Chile

g BENJAMÍN MURÚA RODRIGO VALENZUELA

wide, the secondary walls, 40 meters long, would have generated an important visual impact within the urban context: these walls, almost without openings as per building regulations, on three stories as per the project brief, would have clashed with a more or less homogenous residential fabric with an average height of some three metres. An elongated form and blind walls would have also generated serious issues in relation to the illumination of the spaces at grade. For these reasons Murúa and Valenzuela proposed the large skylights on the top level, realised in steel and using forms that, in addition to resolving issues of natural lighting, could also characterise the massive building as a landmark in Taltal. The large concrete walls acquire the characteristic colours of the desert landscape. The surfaces were also finished with bas-reliefs of abstract allusions to the forms of traditional local architecture. The merit of this work by Murúa and Valenzuela is to be found not only in the indisputable quality of the design of the library, capable of converting the defect of a morphological anomaly into a tectoniclandscape virtue, but above all their capacity to convince us of the value of an innovative work of architecture that, furthermore, is well structured at a range of scales in relationship to the territorial palimpsest.

DATE OF COMPLETION :

Taltal, Antofamagosta CONSTRUCTED AREA:

463M2

25°23’60.00” S 70°28’60.00”W

text by Fulvio Rossetti

269

The Taltal Public Library is the work of Benjamin Murúa and Rodrigo Valenzuela, two young architects from Santiago. The project is situated in the small city of Taltal, home to 14,000 people and located along the Pacific Coast, in the midst of the desert regions of Northern Chile, some 300 kilometres from Antofagasta. The commission was awarded after a public competition held by the City Government in 2008. The architects’ first concern was that of the proportions generated by the narrow and elongated lot, positioned at the centre of a block in front of a public square. Though the building would face this space with a façade only 7 meters

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Public Library

2008.9 LOCATION :

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Free up the interior Space w a l l s a s f aca d e s

Large skylights illuminate the main hall

R oof T errace

PLAN 0

Spaces of varied height depend on the type of reading room

5m

40 meters long and 7 meters wide

Visible

Suited for everybody

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The new library´s site was a municipal plot, facing the central square

SEction

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The building is higher than the the city´s average

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A place to read

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Nicaragua

Kelton Villavicencio Architects DATE OF COMPLETION :

2010.10 LOCATION :

Montoya, Managua CONSTRUCTED AREA:

325M2

12°08’50.95” N 86°17’16.31” W

text by Jeronimo Mejia

275

An informal sector that almost exclusively directs the Nicaraguan construction industry makes a discussion on architectural tendencies in this country an intricate matter. Adverse factors for constructive innovation include a staggering economy, traditional clients along with a harsh tropical climate. Within this context, the practice of Kelton Villavicencio Architects was commissioned to build the first breast cancer clinic in Central America. The clients, namely the Ortiz Gurdian Foundation, a prominent Nicaraguan women’s association that want to combat the disease. Construction as well as maintenance costs were

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Breast Cancer Clinic

and continue to be collected in fundraising events, mostly in the USA. Most of its users are women of modest means from the countryside. For their comfort, the architects placed an interior garden in the patient oriented ground floor. Administration areas are located on the smaller upper floor. In a country were shade and air-conditioning are thought off as luxury items, using natural light and ventilation is a bold move. Furthermore, as to be close to a hospital in case of emergencies the project had to strife for a site in a residential area. Young Nicaraguan architects born in the midst of their 1970’s political and military struggles possess an intuitive and present drive. Thus, unlike their contemporary Western counterparts, they do not tend to operate behind the scenes. In this light, the breast cancer clinic is a highly representative example. It is namely the anecdote of a motivated architect and a fierce client, who together want to showcase a more developed image of Nicaragua.

Street side 276

To be close to a hospital in case of emergencies the project had to strife for a site in a residential area

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Waiting room

Be treated and feel like at home The form followed the circulation, ventilation and illumination of the site

PLAN

0

Therapy rest room

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Light well

5m 277

Groundfloor

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Mexico

PRODUCTORA

land just at the shore of the lake in Valle de Bravo, one of the quintessential Mexico City weekend retreat destinations. Productora, a young, up and kicking architect´s quartet, has taken advantage of the large slope of the site to accommodate the weekend house programme. The shifting of the volumes creates a house in which almost all the spaces have a direct view of the spectacular sights of the beautiful lake, either from the inside or the outside. As one enters the house the first volume holds the main, generous dormitory and the garage, along with a terrace formed by the main living space, the dining room, the kitchen, a porch-terrace, the guest´s room and a large underground home cinema. The upper volume holds 3 rooms and a terrace/roof garden, while the in-between spaces generated by the irregular placement of the volumes create a series of inner-space patios, which somehow offer more intimacy and privacy to the guest room and the back of the porch. Complementing the over exposition of the ever present sight of the lake. This design was done by PRODUCTORA (Carlos Bedoya, Victor Jaime, Wonne Ickx, Abel Perles) in collaboration with Felix Guillen, Diego Escamilla, Oscar Trejo, Iván Villegas, Diseño e Ingenierías EMET (Leonardo León) .

DATE OF COMPLETION :

2011 Valle de Bravo, State of Mexico CONSTRUCTED AREA:

450 M2

19° 10’ 56.38” S 100° 07 ’33.76”W

text by Edgar Gonzalez

279

Approaching it from the back street that leads to the main and garage door, the Casa Diaz looks just like any other house in the neighbourhood, a local stone wall holding the entrance doors, the discrete and almost anonymous character that the main façade exposes to the exterior with only a few small windows facing the street from the second floor, might seem a humble act of complying with the city’s urban regulations: sloped ceilings and the use of Spanish tile. But after entering the door, the singular stack of three zigzagging prisms is revealed slowly as one enters the space. The stacking prisms reconfigure a quite small, but strategically located piece of

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Three Zig Zag Living Spaces

LOCATION :

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Multiplying the VIEW PLANs

0

5m

Located in the shore of the lake in Valle de Bravo

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Almost all the spaces have direct view of the lake

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Three zig-zaging prisms accommodate a weekend house. Credit pictures: Rafael Gamo and Paul Czitrom

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Comply but do not obey

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ARCHITECTURAL CRITICS

Hong Kong

Jordan

Annette Pui Man Chu

Sandra Hiari

Russia New Zeland

Cyprus

India

Israel

Gaurav Roychoudhury

GILAD-Shiff

Chryso Onisiforou

AnASTASIA ALBOKRINOVA

Rebecca Roke

South Korea

Architect Founder of Eureka Design www.eurekadesign.hk

Architectural critic and urban planner, Tareeq www.tareeq.me

Baeryo Kyung

Taiwan

Editor |Architect at Foster Partners BArch (Hons) March [email protected]

Architects | Founders Gilad-shiff Private and public projects | Teaching and academic research

Ricardo Camacho www.gilad-shiff.com

Chang Fang Luo

Designer and curator at MONOstudio www.mono-studio.org [email protected]

South Africa Bangladesh

Lebanon

MD. RAFIQ AZAM

Indonesia DAliana SurYAwInata

Architect | Founder DESIGNETHER [email protected]

Kuwait

Architect and Environmental Designer, Msc www.conisiforou.wordpress.com

Blacklines

Jad Semaan

[email protected]

Australia Founder MultitudeAgency | CasaGranturismo Research Institute www.multitudeagency.com

MArtyn Hook

China FU MING CHENG

Professor of Architecture at RMIT University Melbourne | Director of Iredale Pedersen Hook architects www.iredalepedersenhook.com

Vietnam Kelly Shannon

Japan Salvator Liotta Tomoko Kawai

Principle Architect SHATOTTO Architecture for Green Living www.shatotto.com

Turkey Sevin Yildiz

Architect and urban planner at OMA [email protected]

blogspot.com

Greece

Iran Houmayoun Askari Sirizi

Urban design architecture, blacklinesonwhitepaper w w w. b l a c k l i n e s w o r k s .

Romania

Katita Chrysanthopoulou

Sabin Bors

Registered Architect and Urban Designer. M.Arch [email protected]

Professor at AHO (Oslo School of Architecture & Design) www.jola-lab.eu

Architect | Media artist, BA www.homayounsirizi.com

Architect and urban planner [email protected] Anti-Utopias curator | Art and architecture critic www.anti-utopias.com

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Salvator Liotta, Architect | Senior researcher at the University of Tokyo, PhD Tomoko Kawai, Artist [email protected] [email protected]

Architect | Lecturer at COAD NJIT/PhD Candidate at Urban Systems (Rutgers University & NJIT Joint Program) www.sevinyildiz.blogspot.com

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Architect | Founder SHAU | Chief Officer IAI-EU | Researcher at TU Delft www.shau.nl

M.arch. | Co-founder Architecture In Development | Space curator Nest Project w w w. a rc h i te c t u re i n d eve lopment.org www.nestproject.nl

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Bulgaria Stella Andonova

Norway

Nigeria

TYIN Tegnestue Arkitekter AS

Rachel StellA Jenkins

Slovenia B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

Poland

Germany

Algeria

Graziella Trovato

Samia Henni

Monica Zerboni

Ernest MilCinoviC

Spain

Sebastian Januz

Engineer | Furniture and interior designer www.andonovadesign.com

Serbia

Architects at TYIN tegnestue Arkitekter AS [email protected]

Architect and urban planner OMA www.sebastianjanusz.com

Vesna Vucinic

Architect deernest.milcinovic@gmail. com

Czech Republic Hungary

African Architecture Matters & genuinefake [email protected] Journalist [email protected]

Giampiero Sanguigni

Austria Anne Isopp

The Netherlands

Architect and researcher | Co-founder SMART Planning | International Open Network for the Global South www.samiahenni.com

PhD Architect and Urban Planner at Moya Trovato Arquitectos http://moyatrovatoarquitectos. blogspot.com.es

Portugal

Denmark

France

Kristján Eggertsson

Ricardo Camacho

LA Architectures

Alexandr Skalicky

Sandor Finta

Architect at Arhikulture and 360BEOGRAD www.arhikulture.net www.360beograd.org

Finland Pirjo Sanaksenaho

Croatia

Sweden

Architect | Founding partner of KRADS www.krads.info

Bernardina Borra

Co-founders LA Architectures www.la-architectures.com

Ireland

Italy

Switzerland

Diego Barbarelli

Cornelia Tapparelli Portilla Kawamura

Susanna Malzacher

Belgium

MultitudeAgency | Casa Granturismo Research Institute www.multitudeagency.com

Sarah Cremin

United Kingdom Tobias Goevert

Krunoslav Ivanisin Architect and urban designer co-founder DEMOarchitects | Delft PhD candidate www.demoarchitects.com

Architect at Sanaksenaho Architects | Lecturer at AaltoUniversity www.kolumbus.fi/sanaksenaho

Engineer [email protected]

Architect and researcher EPF Lausanne | M arch | MAS arch theory | EPFL PhD candidate [email protected]

Architect and Urbanist at Design for London | GLA Tobias.Goevert@designforlondon. gov.uk

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Architect at IVANIŠIN. KABASHI.ARHITEKTI www.ivanisin-kabashi.hr

Architect and graphic designer [email protected]

Director at CAST architecture| Design teacher at University College Dublin www.castarchitecture.ie

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Chief architect of Budapest | Architect at sporaarchitects | Head of Hungarian Contemporary Architecture Centre www.sporaarchitects.hu www.kek.org.hu

Architect at ASMM www.a-skalicky.cz

Professor of Architecture at RMIT University Melbourne | Director of Iredale Pedersen Hook architects [email protected]

Architect co-founder DEMOarchitects | architecture critic and writer | PhD [email protected]

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USA Brazil

Nicaragua

Stefano Ceccotto

Flavio Coddou

Jeronimo Mejia

Colombia

B ac k s tag e A r c h i t e c t u r e 2 0 1 2

Luca Bullaro

Architect [email protected] Architect at Fira Barcelona | Vitruvius editor www.vitruvius.es

Dominican Republic Adolfo Despradel

Architect | Urban Planner | Researcher [email protected] Architect | Phd | Teaching at Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Medellin [email protected]

Venezuela

Peru

Fundacion Espacio

Jean Pierre Crousse

Architect www.adolfodes.wordpress.com A common platform design in Venezuela www.espacio.net.ve

Cuba Eduardo Luis Rodríguez

www.barclaycrousse.com

Stephanie Lama

Chile Fulvio Rossetti

Architect and urban planner at Architectuurstudio HH www.spaceinmotion.org

Freelance architect | Architectural historian and curator | Editor in chief of the journal Arquitectura Cuba www.ivanisin-kabashi.hr

Edgar Gonzalez

Architect | Editor in chief of edgargonzalez.com a tangential weblog of architecture www.edgargonzalez.com

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Bolivia

co-founder and co-director of Barclay & Crousse | professor at Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú | Co-founder and co-director of Atelier Nord Sud, Paris, France

Mexico

Architect and Landscape Architect | PhD candidate 289

www.d-arq.cl

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