Nordic Centre Planica

Landscape Architecture: Studio AKKA
Architecture: A.BIRO
Graphic design for public spaces: Studio Botas
Consultancy:
Ski-jumps: Klemen KOBAL
Cross-country skiing: Uroš PONIKVAR
Constructions: Vojko KILAR, FA
Traffic: Špela SITAR, Tegainvest
Water-management: Rok FAZARINC
Light: ARCADIA LIGHTWEAR

Competition: 2009 / details
Location: Planica, Slovenija

site plan / during event:

winter:

summer:

This entry was written by admin, posted on November 30, 2009 at 11:08 pm, filed under Competitions, Parks and tagged Planica, Slovenia, Sport. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.

Castelo Branco

Design: Josep Lluís Mateo. Mateo Arquitectura.
Project: Maria Joao Pires Arts Centre and Largo da Devesa City Square / First Prize / Invited Competition.
Design / construction years: 2000-2007
Location: Castelo Branco, Portugal / Parque da Devesa
Area: 6ha

Urban Space

“As I see it, urban space can express one of the two sides of the following duality: it´s either the memory, the expression, of pre-existing nature (Carrer Balmes in Barcelona still contains and expresses the movement of water in the former stream: we have all been struck by the sight of raw earth in the holes dug by workmen in the streets) or it is the expression of pure artificiality, a film that converse a more or less sinister underworld where the greed of the contemporary city is directed towards the center of the heart. Here, the urban space has a twofold tension: the atmospheric exterior and the interior magmatic pressure that compresses it into a hard film. Like a tombstone. Naturalistic expression is earlier and more complex, and pure artificiality is abstract and difficult to design”.
Josep Lluís Mateo

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Topography

“When building, I have sometimes the feeling that the work of the architect evokes a strange symmetry with that of the archaeologist. We started by making holes in the ground: foundations and the laying of tubes. We then built structures and walls that looked broken down, unfinished, until, suddenly, something complete and polished appeared. Then we withdrew. Later, the constructions once again fell down and came apart, leaving just the foundations, fields of ruins of history that speak of the past. Castelo Branco never reached the stage of completion. A lack of founds and organization prevented it moving beyond the fragmentation of its construction. Furthermore, Castelo Branco offered something perverse but fascinating: The radical separation between work of extraordinary excellence (for example, the paving of Portuguese setts) and examples of spectacularly poor quality. No middle ground.

The project addressed the largest public space in the tow´s historic centre. From the outset, it was very important to define a topography: the large plaza sloping downwards to the centre to collect water and a difference in level where the shops are situated. Higher up came the most actively urban space. The edges are important, too: a green slope continues the street above on one side, and a semi-open pergola offers protection from the street with its heavy traffic on the other. The paving, the constant object of our attention is extraordinary. Some fun street furniture was added (movable seating…). It is much frequented, particularly at night in summer; when the place disappears as a tectonic presence and comes to life as a virtual space, I find it very attractive. It is a though the disappearance of the architecture as a shiny, polished, finished objects allows the town´s residents to appropriate it for themselves, collaborating enthusiastically in its destruction”

Josep Lluís Mateo.

This entry was written by admin, posted on November 25, 2009 at 6:54 pm, filed under Parks and tagged Portugal, Public space. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.

Roman Quarry Redesign

Design: AllesWirdGut Architektur ZT GmbH
Project: Redesign of the Roman Quarry disposed Opera Festivals
Location: St. Margarethen /Austria
Client: Fürst Esterházy Familienprivatstiftung
Competition: 2005
Start of construction: 12/2006
Completion: 05/2008
Gross floor area: 5.580m²
Outdoor spaces: 4.430m²
All photographs: Hertha Hurnaus

Concept

It is difficult to realize that this impressive scenery which is characterised by precise schnittkanten, exactly worked surfaces and well-advised subtraction of the ground is only a byproduct of mining resources a long time ago.

Further more it seems that the two Japanese guys from the Sculpture Symposium, who have created the “Japanese Channel” by hurting the compact rock in an nearly impossibly precise way, might have transformed the meadow from Burgenland, which is called the “Austrian Grand Canyon” in the same way.

That’s why it seems logical to take the “Japanese Channel” and its principals as a method and role model for a redesign , which is more likely seen as a continuation of this sculptor art work.

-Precisement: clear and simple language of shapes
-Reduction: reflexion to the essential
-Subtraction: adding via taking out

This entry was written by admin, posted on November 20, 2009 at 10:29 pm, filed under Parks, Post-Industrial and tagged Austria. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.