Caixa Forum - Herzog & De Meuron

It's more than likely that the Caixa Forum building in Madrid will get extensive coverage just about average. It's probably even better to say that the project already has had more than it's fair share of publication - even before it was actually finished. Really, there has been an almost constant stream of images and such. Mostly about the exterior of the complex. And honestly, it looks great. Whether it's the vertical garden (courtesy of the almighty Patric Blanc), or the perforated weathering copper (or is it steel after all, I'm not sure?). Or the way these new materializations relate to the old, existing structure. The interior, thus far, has been a bit less exposed - which is logical considering the fact that the building wasn't open yet. But since the cultural complex (consisting gallery spaces, auditorium and the lot) has been opened recently, a steady stream of photos has been seeing the light of day. For instance, these images that I found on flickr. They show the fantastic entrance zone, one of the spectacular staircases and the subtle way the light penetrates the perforated skin. This is defenitely a building that gets a high position on the "must see" list...

Zeche Zollverein - O.M.A.

The office of Rem Koolhaas, O.M.A., is well known for all kinds of landmarks and iconic buildings they designed, as well as their speculative sociograhics. And for simply being famous, of course. The thing is, I cannot be bothered too much with yet another sexy looking tower-striving-to-be-the-next-landmark-of-some-boring-town. I am more intrigued by the masterplan they did for Zeche Zollverein in the Ruhrgebiet area in Germany.

Zollverein was a coal plant, like the region has several. Until 1983 coal was being dug here, and in 1988 the coal refinery plant stopped functioning as well. A vast industrial area became defunct. Nobody quite knew what to do with the site, but the authorities were wise enough to buy it from the previous owners, and getting it listed as part of the UNESCO World Heritage list. But still, what to do with it? Just leave it as a park? Convert it to another function?

The masterplan O.M.A. came up with is as simple as it is strong. To conserve the atmosphere of the site, it was decided that new structures would only be allowed to be added to the perimeter of the site, making a walled city (which it pretty much was in the past, too). Over the years, this band of buildings will graduately develop further, making a harder edge. The functions of the new buildings will mainly be about art and culture. Like one of the first new buildings: the Zollverein School of Design, designed by SANAA.



So much for the new structure, what about the old? By locating all the new stuff in the perifery of the terrain, the old buildings can keep their position and impact on the visitors. And the reprogramming is rather simple: art, culture and tourism. The old buildings itself serve as a beautiful backdrop for all of these activities. And how to get around in that massive area? Again, simple and strong: the old railway tracks are serving as footpaths, linking all the main buildings. The centre-piece is the old coal-washery (which probably isn't the correct term), which is transformed by O.M.A. themselves into the Kohlenwäsche Museum and Visitors Centre. I have no doubt that the Zollverein-area will be one of the central places in 2010, when the entire Ruhrgebiet is the European Capital of Culture.

Pierre Vives - Zaha Hadid

This building in Montpellier (France) that Zaha Hadid designed, contains three institutions: sports, archives and library. The deisn is based on a tree-like structure, encompassing the typical qualities of the three parts: the solid archives are at the bottom, on this the more open libarry is placed, and on top are the sports, where the building is much lighter. The three parts share a whole bunch of functions in the heart of the building.

So the underlying scheme is actually quite simple, but the building looks anything but unspectacular: the projecting volums mark each of the individual entrances, and follow the tree-like basic scheme.

More information on this project can be found here.

Indemann - Maurer United Architects

Imagine that you walk around at the southern outskirt of the German town Inden. And all of a sudden, you see a gigantic robot, 45 meters high, raising its hand to greet you. At this moment you would probably think that you've gone mental, but this will be a reality soon. Maurer United Architects designed a landmark on the edge of a former mining area, symbolising its redevelopment into a working/living/recreational area. The building is dubbed "Indemann" and will house an info-center, and can be used as an outdoor educational facility.

Svalbard University Research Centre - Jarmund/Vigsnæs Architects

The Svalbard University Research Centre is on located in quite a harsh climate, somewhere on an island in the north of Norway. The artic weather conditions are rather demanding of a building, and with this project the architects respond in a rather specific way. For instance, the volume of the building hovers above the ground on pillars so as not to disturb the permafrost-sealed soil on which its foundations rest.
The polygonal shape is not only intriguing looking and fitting the landscape of its surroundings, but is actually streamlined according to wind loads and wind efficiency.

The programme of the building is also responding to the harsh climate: inside the fragmented volume is an inverted campus of various functions under one roof. Well, that makes sense, since the climate doesn't quite supply a nice atmosphere for cosy inside-outside relations. The interior is just as intriguing in form as the outside, with loads of spacial extremities and visual relations between the parts.


More images can be found on the website of Jarmund/Vigsnæs Architects.

Competition insanity - Stockholm Library

For the first stage of the open competition for an extension to the Stockholm public libary, 1.170 proposals were submitted and approved. Let's just count for a second: just imagine that the jury invested 5 minutes to discuss each plan. They would've needed 5.850 minutes in total. That's 97.5 hours. Assume that the jury would work an average of eight hours a day - it would take them exactly twelve days and one and a half hour to only review all the proposals.
This sounds pretty impossible, right? I try to imagine how they did that - but I am without a clue. Or is it safe to assume that somewhere within the vast masses of proposals lies one that is better than any of the six proposals for the second stage of the competition?

That being said: the six selected proposals are at the moment being worked on, since the second stage proposals should be submitted by september 14th. Personally, I am interested what comes out of the development of two of the proposals: "book hill" and "blanket". For "book hill" it's mainly the meandering townscape (between building and landscape) that fascinates me. However, I am quite curious if the roof will be activated in some form. For "blanket", the man-made ending in itself is a nice idea - but the terraced interior of the libary (which is sunken into the ground) is the most spectacular selling point. I cannot quite decide which of these two plans to favor: isn't there a way to combine them?

More information on this competition (including the six selected proposals, the jury's report and all the submitted plans) can be found on the site of the Swedish Association of Architects