Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
139
residential district to London
044
Zaha Hadid Architects
MAXXI, Rome, Italy
022 All the world’s a stage: countries Cover Roland Halbe
140
show off at the Shanghai Expo,
keen to catch China’s eye 086 Hugh Broughton Architects cracks
054 a cladding conundrum with its
029 Berlin’s Topography of Terror Tony Fretton Architects Antarctic research station on skis
pristinely presents its Nazi history De Prinsendam & Andreas Ensemble,
Amsterdam, the Netherlands
141
031 David Chipperfield curates the
architecture room of the Royal
Academy’s Summer Exhibition 062
Josep Llinàs
034 Summer fling: Carmody Groarke’s Atlàntida Performing Arts Centre, 092 Unpacking Johannesburg’s
pop-up restaurant in east London Vic, Osona, Spain architectural heritage; De Chirico’s
142
art reaches for the unseen; Nikolaus
037 Jean Nouvel’s newest addition Pevsner and the picturesque
to the New York cityscape is a 070
kaleidoscopic apartment block TEN Arquitectos
Chopo Museum, Mexico City, Mexico
143
038 Europe isn’t about Brussels and
bureaucrats – it’s about shared
ideals, institutions and architecture 074
Giancarlo Mazzanti 106 W
illiam Kentridge’s tiny model
041 Remembering Dennis Sharp, El Porvenir Kindergarten, theatre explores big themes:
architectural critic par excellence Bogotá, Colombia life, light, darkness and Mozart
highlighting
energy required to sustain such absurdly
artificial conditions, day in, day out.
Miami shouldn’t really be there at all.
the US to
spawned the city’s famous art deco
movement, which in its heat-repelling
pastel colours and shading devices
take a lead
embodied some local authenticity, but
now gas-guzzling towers rule the day.
It will take more than LEED
in shaping a
certification or a new modelling tool to
predict energy use in buildings (launched
at the convention) to change such
carbon-free
entrenched attitudes. But one positive
consequence of the BP oil spill in the
Gulf of Mexico, now menacing Florida’s
future
beaches, is a renewed awareness of the
fragility of the natural world and what
this is worth when set against our
current reliance on fossil fuels.
Fundamental change must come and
the US can and should show a lead.
Its architects are getting there, slowly.
Finally a quick parp on the AR
vuvuzela for Violetta Boxill and Cecilia
Lindgren, who won Designer of the Year
at this year’s PPA Awards. Their redesign
of the AR was singled out for its elegant,
modern approach, while re-establishing
a connection with the magazine’s
distinguished graphic heritage.
We salute you both.
Catherine Slessor, Editor
EDITORIAL
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The branding
of nations: using
buildings to bid
for Chinese cash
Adrian Hornsby
en.expo2010.cn
rolandgilbert
view of the telling is the effort and money
5.3km2 Expo Park expended by other participating
dennis
in Shanghai nations. In the teeth of a
christian richters (main image; bottom left; bottom right); inigo bujedo aguirre (this page, top right); hufton + crow (facing page, top left)
favour of the all-new yet
curiously elusive Chinese
consumer. Around 100 million
Chinese people are expected to
visit the Expo, and if you can
convince each of them to buy
just one British export...
The architectural rhetoric Above and left_
is unequivocal in confirming Denmark’s spiral-
shaped building,
this politico-economic
designed by
structure. Towering over the Bjarke Ingels
Expo Park is the China Pavilion, Group, has a
explicitly designed to resemble pond at its centre
an ancient Chinese crown. displaying the
This posits China’s imperial Little Mermaid –
the first time this
heft looking out over an
famous statue
emperor’s court of mendicant has left
supplicants, each desperate Copenhagen
to display their cloth.
Yet while the staging is old,
the modern age of global media
has given these acts of display a
distinctly modern twist. In 2010
nobody is really interested in
using a World Fair to peddle
their latest inventions. After
all, it is a peculiarly
dennis gilbert (main image; bottom right); nic lehoux (top & centre right); hufton + crow (facing page, top left); inigo bujedo aguirre (facing page, bottom left)
the same, with light flowing in
Pavilion is
through the filaments. In an era externally wrapped
in which Expo pavilions are not in silver membrane
supposed to house anything Right and below_
meaningful, but are instead The distinctive
Korean building
houses of themselves, the seed
appears multi-
cathedral pushes its content coloured by day,
into its exterior and sits hollow. revealing glowing
Like any brilliant piece of perforations
branding, it’s alluring, it’s at night
clever, and it’s all skin.
Above_ The
Chinese Pavilion
has a traditional
dougong roof,
featuring
wooden brackets
fixed layer upon
layer between the
top of a column
and a crossbeam
Left_ Thomas
Heatherwick’s
British Pavilion
is one of the
highlights of
the Expo
Topography
the name Topography of Terror from Aachen. At the opening
and the excavated remains of on 5 May, the 65th anniversary
prison cells put on show. of the war’s end, the architect
of Terror has
Visitors scrambled over rubble was unwilling to talk about her
and gazed at the glazed brick concept, saying that the building
walls, originally designed for spoke for itself. When asked
washed away
the 1901 School of Applied Arts. why everything was grey, the
Wooden stands open to the landscape architect’s answer
weather provided information was equally enlightening:
in presenting
plan for the memorial site. They enclave. At its centre sits the
were still deliberating as the low, square new building. Clad
Berlin Wall fell and when the in a double metal skin, it is a
Socialist newspaper, Der Angriff. It took just over 40 years participated and from a shortlist intentions, this architecture
Today’s Topography of Terror for the site to be presented of 23, the winners were Ursula projects an obsession with
site once housed the Gestapo as an open-air museum, during Wilms, of Heinle, Wischer und order, control and, ultimately,
headquarters, offices of Heinrich Berlin’s 750th anniversary Partner, Berlin, and landscape a lack of humanity.
Chipperfield
cleans up at the
Royal Academy
summer show
Will Hunter
www.royalacademy.org.uk
Over the last 242 years, the – mostly wall-based media, but
Royal Academy of Arts Summer with notable pieces of sculpture
Exhibition has become a and film – there is, as always,
unique landmark in the British a huge diversity in subject
calendar. In 1996, author John matter and quality. This year’s
Morgan observed that it used to curators, Royal Academicians
be the ‘unofficial opening of the (RAs) David Chipperfield and
summer season’ – a period when the painter Stephen Chambers,
upper-class families descended have notionally chosen the work
on London, essentially to launch on the theme of ‘raw’: although
their daughters onto the if even one visitor identified
marriage market. this word after a thorough
While to this day there’s look-round, you’d suspect
a lingering impression of they’d cheated.
poshness, one of the show’s The architecture gallery is
defining contradictions is that for the first time in the Lecture
its founding principle is entirely Room, a much larger, grander
egalitarian. Anyone may make volume than its previous home.
a submission to the selection This move is hugely beneficial
committee. The result is that the to the work. The extra
creations of unknown amateurs breathing space combined with
sit alongside world-famous Chipperfield’s rigorous eye
superstars; and to ascertain the has brought a legibility to the
authorship you have to grapple curation that has sometimes
with a dense little catalogue. been lacking in previous years.
As such a wonderfully Other architects with RA
peculiar gallery experience, a status – such as Will Alsop and
code of behaviour has emerged Peter Cook – have a guaranteed
specifically for the occasion. slot. Cook unveiled his idea
Writing an etiquette guide for for a multi-purpose high-rise.
elitist publisher Debrett’s, The elevation drawing merges
Morgan maintains ‘gossiping structure/skin with vegetation,
gaggles’ as a solecism but for the two languages shifting
once encourages ‘aspersions between each other so at
on the works’. After all, he adds, moments it almost appears
‘that is part of the fun.’ as a landscape plan. Produced
With over 1,200 exhibits to in ink and watercolour, it has a
cast a critical eye over this year gorgeous quality. Alsop has
a prow pointing out to the river apartments. The steel column-free views of river and
and the two main facades are supporting structure is a sky to the south and west.
On reading a context:
flashy star system and a search
for architectural substance.
Of course, you do not get a
grafton architects
February. Here are Irish Known as La Ville Rose on and north Africa. The CMAV Pyrenees – to design a centre for it is possible to construct a new
architects designing a building account of its prevalent red produces a unique journal culture and cuisine. The recent vision for an institution while
for a French institution with brick, Toulouse combines a called Poiësis, which combines selection of Grafton architects also responding to the collective
a European and international dense urban fabric with timeless critical and historical reflection in Toulouse fits into a larger memory of the city.
The death of Dennis Sharp on the Architectural Association in A Visual History of Twentieth- Through his architectural
6 May has robbed architecture London, and later studied at the Century Architecture (third firm Dennis Sharp Architects,
of one its most eminent and University of Liverpool under edition, 2002), a translation he was also involved in practice.
prolific authors, critics and Quentin Hughes. He did his of Hermann Muthesius’ He was particularly proud of
commentators. Sharp’s writing National Service in Dortmund, The English House (2007) and the conservation work carried
was impressive, not only for its which whetted his appetite a comprehensive survey of out on Robert Adam’s Chandos
scholarly approach, but also for for German expressionism and the work of 1930s modernists House in London, and the
the clear, erudite language with modernism, and went on to Connell, Ward and Lucas (2008), restoration of houses by
which he expressed his ideas. teach at Manchester University. written with Sally Rendel. His Connell, Ward and Lucas.
But he was also a practising He succeeded John Summerson love of cinema architecture My first encounter with
architect and his knowledge as head of architectural history resulted in The Picture Place Dennis took place in Malta in
of construction informed his at the AA in 1969. (1976) and he authored 1968 through our mutual friend
critical thinking and writing. With nearly 50 books to monographs on Manfredi Quentin Hughes. At the time
Born in 1933 into a family his name, Sharp’s bibliography Nicoletti, Kisho Kurokawa Hughes was running the
of building contractors, he included Modern Architecture and Santiago Calatrava. architecture school at the
began his architectural career at and Expressionism (1966), He also curated several University of Malta, and Dennis
exhibitions and made had been invited as a visiting
innumerable contributions to lecturer. Soon he became an
architectural journals. AAQ, invaluable mentor as well as
the Architectural Association a close friend. One my fondest
Quarterly, which he edited memories is of the time we
between 1967 and 1983, remains spent together as visiting tutors
an outstanding reference series, for the International Academy
with contributions from of Architecture at the splendid
luminaries of the period. Santo Kiriko Monastery in
As executive editor of World Plovdiv, Bulgaria in 1991. During
Architecture between 1990 this period I discovered his
and 1992 he introduced an passion for jazz and the old 78
international audience to the recordings of that genre’s great
work of architects such as exponents. Often we spent
Clorindo Testa, Giancarlo de hours discussing our musical
Carlo, Gustav Peichl, Reima tastes, mine being a penchant
Pietilä and others. for the operatic tenor voice on
He was a founder member recordings of the same era.
of CICA (the International I last saw Dennis in hospital
Committee of Architectural only two days before his demise,
Critics) and UK chair of a touching and difficult
Docomomo, the international occasion, yet also immensely
body dedicated to the rewarding. Even then, he was
documentation and still enthusiastically talking
conservation of modern- about future publications,
movement buildings. typical of his unstinting fervour.
pavilion gets a new lease of Giancarlo Mazzanti’s Now filled with art, Zaha
life through TEN Arquitectos’ inventive, low-cost Hadid Architects’ bravura
141
bold yet simple building- kindergarten in edge- Maxxi finally opens its
within-a-building condition Bogotá has a doors in Rome
much wider social mission
Page 062
ATLÀNTIDA performing
arts centre
LOCATION vic, osona, spain
ARCHITECT josep llinÀs
Right_ A centrifugal
vortex at the heart
of the museum
connects the various
gallery spaces
Below_ The vortex at
entrance level. The
dark ribbons of the
staircases float on
‘lightboxes’
perspective, the office’s greatest and Andreas 222; two chronological personality into the architecture.
works by size are a couple of points that also mark a learning What is striking about the
6
speculative housing projects in curve. For example, only through Amsterdam housing schemes is that
55 55
Amsterdam. Arriving on the market designing 208 did the practice – despite their numerous differences
within months of each other earlier discover the Netherlands’ ‘equality – they are so alike. Both masterplans
this year, de Prinsendam and Andreas rule’, which stipulates no resident were very restrictive, and of course
Ensemble are, however, separate should have to pass another the architectural abstraction is partly
schemes for different clients in apartment’s door to reach the escape a result of having numerous, as-yet
different districts. stairs. This helped David Owen, unknown inhabitants. But I also
fifth-floor plan De Prinsendam is a smart project architect on both buildings, wonder if there’s something, not
development a short ferry ride across to design 222’s ‘super core’, where exactly lacking from the design
0 10m LEVEL 5
the River Ij from Amsterdam Central the canny placement of doors process, but not quite present.
Station. The prime riverside spot is resolves the plan more efficiently. In Fretton’s 2G monograph he
occupied by an H-shaped block by Although a fraction of its size, says of de Prinsendem: ‘The facade
55 55 Álvaro Siza, and Fretton’s C-shaped de Prinsendam’s £9.45 million budget statement was easy. Stone is
6 6
addition, which contains 74 is close behind Andreas’ £10 million. indisputable when seen from the
apartments of 90-180m2, is on But Fretton hasn’t let this disparity river, travertine particularly and
the plot directly behind. impact upon his formal expression, discreetly so.’ This sounds so
The masterplan, by urban with both sharing a language of reasonable; but then you ask, can
designer Ton Schaap and Geurst strongly articulated blocks, stepped- any material be ‘indisputable’? And
& Schulze Architecten, attempts in upper levels and fenestration can you even see Fretton’s block from
second-floor plan
0 10m LEVEL 2 to balance the closed and the meted to a regulated rhythm. the river, let alone the stone, with
open. Fretton’s and Siza’s blocks It’s only up-close that, through Siza’s in the way?
2 2 2 2 are placed to suggest a courtyard, the materiality, the relative costs Fretton’s work is greatly
but set apart to allow movement become perceptible. deserving of admiration. But
3 3 3 3 through. This also permits glimpses Looking at the facades, de I wonder if his architectural
55 1 55
6 6 of the river from many of Fretton’s Prinsendam is treated to Altenberger convictions might sometimes benefit
dwellings. The best views, however, travertine whereas Andreas is brick. from little diversions, such as those
4 are from the four penthouses And yet, as status indicators, these offered by an engaged client, to
that have been gifted a 360º send slightly mixed signals: the deflect him ever so slightly off the
metropolitan omniscience. slices of stone form an unjointed inevitability of his course. His richest
Andreas Ensemble is in the very rainscreen, which could seem flimsy work to date comes across more as a
0 20m different context of Amsterdam West, next to the exceptional bricks from form of intimate dialogue than an
de Prinsendam: ground-floor plan GROUND FLOOR a post-war neighbourhood of social Petersen Tegl, the Danish firm which instructive monologue.
1. Lobby
2. Bicycle parking
3. Storage
4. Terrace
5. Lift
The Architectural Review / July 2010 / Buildings 057
6. Lift Lobby
140 DE PRINSENDAM & ANDREAS ENSEMBLE TONY FRETTON ARCHITECTS
Left_ Courtyard
elevation of
de Prinsendam.
Generous glass
block balconies
animate the creamy
travertine facades
Right_ The Andreas
Ensemble explores
a similar language
of stepped-up
profiles and regular
fenestration, but
with facades of
sober grey
Danish brick
058 The Architectural Review / July 2010 / Buildings The Architectural Review / January 2009 / Buildings 0059
140 DE PRINSENDAM & ANDREAS ENSEMBLE TONY FRETTON ARCHITECTS
de Prinsendam is treated
to Altenberger travertine,
whereas Andreas
ensemble is brick
fifth-floor plan
Architect
Tony Fretton Architects,
London, UK
Executive architect
De Prinsendam: Geurst
& Schulze Architecten
Andreas Ensemble:
INBO Architecten
Structural engineer
De Prinsendam:
Ingenieursbureau
first-floor plan
Zonneveld
Andreas Ensemble:
Grontmij van Ruitenburg
services engineer
De Prinsendam: Halmos
Adviseurs Installaties
Andreas Ensemble:
Royal Haskoning
In Gràcia, Llinàs’ library formed moves. The first is the most obvious,
a new street, La Riera de Vallcarca. where copper-aluminium cladding
Here too, the architect’s commitment combines with bright red paintwork
to linking new and old urban to frame the main entrance, which
morphologies is manifest through ultimately leads the audience down
his competition-winning strategy into the sunken foyers beyond. The
for the Atlàntida, which creates second incident is comparatively
an open route, providing free discreet, appealing more profoundly
access for all across the site to Llinàs’ sensibilities, where roof
during daylight hours. forms reach their maximum gradient
From the south, where the and proximity to passers-by. As
majority of visitors will arrive, a described by Martin, ‘this is a critical
path bifurcates around a restaurant point for Pepe, where the building
site plan that will eventually animate the is above, below and beside you’,
proposed but as yet incomplete mimicking a condition that exists in
park. Once past the restaurant – many densely planned historic cities.
passing through the first of two Here, deep at the centre of the
courtyards that offer a glimpse plan, the theatre’s zinc roof rises
down into the main foyer – the path steeply towards the fly-tower’s
turns sharply twice as it rises 6m golden crown, in resonance with
across the site. At the top it emerges Vic’s mountainous horizon. In the
onto Carrer del Bisbe Torras i Bages same instance you also experience
where the existing music school space that recalls the scale of Vic’s
building, Can Serratosa, will soon medieval townscape, as you turn
be converted to accommodate the corner to pass through a low
Atlàntida’s offices. cut notch set within the lower
En route, changes in direction of the two golden crowns. Finally,
isometric view from north-east coincide with key architectural before reaching the street at the
17 3 8
1 7
1 8
1 8
1 2 Left_ At the heart cuts under the
of the plan, the school’s upper floor
principal entrance Bottom left_
courtyard is an Emerging from under
intimate assembly the low-cut notch at
place for audiences. the top of the path, a
From here the path landing leads to the
leads to the top school’s entrance
of the site Below_A quadruple-
Below left_From this height void unites
courtyard, the path school with foyer
basement-floor plan 1 open path 8 music teaching 13 school top, a small landing leads back
2 restaurant rooms performance towards the music school’s main
3 entrance 9 dressing rooms hall (100 seat)
entrance, signalled by the use of
courtyard 10 lower foyer 14 school
4 tickets 11 external performance
basalt cladding and flanked by a
5 lobby courtyard/ hall (100 seat) dramatic quadruple-height patio
6 upper foyer performance 15 theatrical stage that plunges down to the building’s
7 school space 16 technical/ lowest level, well below grade. It is
entrance 12 auditorium backstage the depth of this building that is most
(secondary) (400 seat) 17 void
surprising of all, amplified here by
this tight north-facing void that
unifies the building’s complementary
but nonetheless independent user
12
groups, with a timber-lined courtyard
10
16 and tiered external performance
11 space accessible to all.
Both the theatre and auditorium
are already operational. Accessed
13
through generous conjoined
basement foyers, they were
inaugurated on 23 April, marking
10 St George’s Day (the saint is also
15 14 patron of Catalonia). The school
opens this autumn, providing
state-subsidised music lessons for
children and adults in a generous
suite of 50 classrooms that spiral
0 10m around the entrance patio on the two
uppermost floors. Ranging from
Nineteenth-century restrictions and the difficulty of the traceries of walls and windows.
architects spent much of their time excavating in a city where the water New construction avoids stepping
concealing triumphs of engineering table is close to the surface. TEN on the concrete pads that support
behind bombastic masonry; you developed an autonomous hybrid the cast-iron frame. The proximity
might think of the Paris Opera as the structure of concrete and steel that of old and new is especially
Eiffel Tower in drag. Mexico City reaches down two levels with 200- rewarding in the open-sided library,
boasts several circa-1900 wedding and 300-seat theatres opening onto where the roof trusses and folded-
cakes, but one of its most appealing a sunken lobby, and rises through wood ceiling hover protectively over
structures of that era is a cathedral of two levels of galleries linked by the tables and book stacks.
industry, prefabricated in Germany ramps to a library tucked beneath ‘Every curator asks for a big box,’
and a direct heir of the Crystal Palace. the 25m-high roof. The simple, bold says TEN principal Enrique Norten,
The soaring cast-iron frame and lacy concept triples the building’s usable ‘but that can be interpreted in many
turrets originally served as a pavilion space and takes users on a scenic tour different ways. At Chopo, we
exhibiting art and machines in of the pavilion, from floor to ceiling. discovered that less than 20 per cent
Düsseldorf. In 1903, a Mexican firm Though massive and muscular, of the exhibits were likely to require
imported and reassembled the the linear block seems to float in the extensive climate control. By
sections in the upscale residential void; an upper level is cantilevered enclosing only a few galleries,
neighbourhood of Santa Maria la through the short south side, like a we greatly reduced the cost of
Ribera. Used in turn as a machinery butterfly emerging from its chrysalis. mechanical equipment and energy
showroom, a museum of natural The projecting wing shelters the new consumption.’ The lack of barriers
history, and an all-purpose space for loading dock, but it gives little hint allows curators to blur the divide
concerts, events, and film shoots, the of the drama within. There, the 19th between circulation and display,
pavilion later became an adventurous and 21st centuries are linked in a demystifying the works they show. A
public arts centre administered by loose embrace; each flatters the other. cantilevered mezzanine holds a café
the National Autonomous University The pavilion was a daring display of that should become the social hub of
of Mexico. Misleadingly, it is called contemporary technology in its day: a museum with few walls and a
the Chopo Museum. rational, lightweight, portable and succession of spaces that welcome
In 2004, TEN Arquitectos won a resilient. It has been assembled twice every kind of performance.
competition to transform the interior and has survived a century of seismic
and enhance the historic structure; shocks with no need of a retrofit to
the practice’s masterly fusion of old meet current codes.
and new was inaugurated a month TEN matched this functionalist
ago. The challenge was to aesthetic with exposed steel beams
accommodate an ambitious and trusses, poured concrete,
programme of climate-controlled laminated glass, and industrial stairs
galleries, performance and service cascading from each deck. Elevator
spaces, without overwhelming the shafts are clad in ply to add warmth
shell. Other contestants proposed and tactility. Glass balustrades and
a detached building to the rear, but reflective white resin floors amplify
they were constrained by height the abundant natural light and mirror
4 entrance
centuries are linked in Arroyo, Jorge Pérez,
Natalia Lomelí, Victoria
5 loading dock
6 gallery space second floor
a loose embrace; each Grossi, Carlos Marín,
Marina Muñoz, Verónica
7 void above
theatre foyer
flatters the other
Chávez, Fausto Alvarado, 1 5 10
Jonathan Barraza,
8 library
Mateo Riestra, Ernesto
Orrante, Ricardo Orozco, 6
Christian Joffroy, Mariana
Narváez, Miguel Ríos
first floor
6 5
7
ground floor
2 3
1
The entire area around join up with the two other major Practices had seven weeks to Opposite, top left_
London’s Earls Court Exhibition Centre landowners, Transport for London and develop submissions (see page 84) Diagram by Farrells
showing an outline
is to be redeveloped by Capital & the London Borough of Hammersmith and Powell was enthusiastic about
of development
Counties Properties, with Farrells as & Fulham. Capital & Counties believes the response: ‘We were extremely principles and
masterplanner. The site is bounded the 28-hectare site could potentially impressed. They were all great and processes for the
by and connects with different accommodate as many as 8,000 really different, and one presentation Earls Court site
aspects of London’s urban and social dwellings, and three or so million at least was magical.’ Opposite, top right_
texture. High-value South Kensington square feet of commercial, cultural Terry Farrell is, among other Earls Court forms
part of the ‘Valley
is immediately to the east, gentrified and retail space. This is an immense things, adviser to the Mayor of
of the Giants’ along
Barons Court and West Kensington to project which over the next 10 to 15 London and author of Shaping Counters Creek,
the west. The north boundary is the years will create a major London London: The Patterns and Forms one of London’s
elevated section of Cromwell Road, residential district and, it is hoped, that Make the Metropolis (2009). lost rivers. This has
London’s primary artery in from the will absorb the high social, In this, he makes the point that historically attracted
west. To the south is a pair of open environmental and property values London is a series of villages that large-scale uses,
including Lot’s Road
tracts: Brompton Cemetery and an of adjacent South Kensington, gradually joined up during the 19th
Power Station,
exhibition visitors’ car park. effectively shifting the notional edge and 20th centuries: it has been Stamford Bridge
This is a backland, effectively of central London a whole district’s created without a ‘grand overarching, Football Stadium,
a hinterland of the exhibition building width to the west. superimposed design hand or Olympia, Westfield
on its triangular plot to the east. The The design is under the direction ordering geometry.’ Barcelona Shopping Centre, the
site behind this and to the north is of project development director planning guru David Mackay also BBC and a hospital
and prison complex
owned by Transport for London with Richard Powell – formerly advisor on points out that no grand masterplan
on Old Oak Common
its complex configuration of Tube the Treasury Taskforce and more in history has ever been completely Opposite_ Diagram
lines and overland rail line, and recently First Base. Six planning implemented. But because they showing west
attendant rail depots above and practices were invited to submit look positive, are capable of being London as a network
below ground. Beyond, on the west proposals: Benoy, Allies and Morrison, visualised and seem to offer of self-contained
side of the site are two housing Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF), comprehensive solutions, the village or town
centres, each with
estates mostly owned by the London Studio Egret West, Make and Farrells. temptations of finite masterplans
their own particular
Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham. The brief was to give an idea of are irresistible for both developers character. The
There are no through routes, little how issues such as routes through and architects. Farrells scheme fills
connection to the surrounding urban the site and connections with the Farrell doesn’t disagree with the gap and adds
fabric, no social focus and no surrounding area might be resolved, Mackay, but argues that masterplans to this rich urban
physical focus except, perhaps, for and provide some sense of the rarely fail totally. However, he says, matrix, providing a
flexible and highly
the 31-storey Empress State Building grouping and form of urban blocks, ‘I don’t think this masterplan is about
serviced place to
at the bottom of the site. as well as massing and height – the buildings. That’s starting at the support new forms
Several years ago Capital & but this was not to be worked up wrong end of the process. Issues of business and new
Counties decided to buy the site and as an architectural proposal. of height and density aren’t starting patterns of living
points. You have instead to talk option would be to create a new recently established a joint working Above_ Drawing
about things like the street and its double-sided north-south high street group to create a Supplementary by KPF showing
the area to be
width and what makes a good city. serving as an urban and cultural Planning Document. The working
redeveloped –
Towns and places are not the result magnet that would link a new group involves the three planning the Earls Court
of design. Design ends up with commercial development to the north authorities – the Greater London Exhibition Centre
products. Masterplanning ends up alongside the elevated Cromwell Authority, the London Borough of is the arrow-shaped
with processes. Masterplanning is Road, with Lillie Road on the south Hammersmith & Fulham, and the building, while
not big architecture.’ boundary. The new street layout is Royal Borough of Kensington and housing estates,
railway lines and
The shorthand for the proposal a loose grid with perimeter blocks Chelsea. It’s anticipated that a
transport depots
that won Farrell the post of surrounding green spaces which formal planning submission will be take up the rest
masterplanner is four villages and a echo, at a tighter scale, the layout made in the summer of 2011. Work of the site
high street. And it adopts a somewhat of adjacent Kensington. won’t start before the end of the Opposite, top left
Mackay-esque incremental approach. With a timeframe of up to 15 Olympic Games in 2012, because the The Farrells proposal
It starts at the edges and focuses years there is a need for the exhibition hall is to be the official features extensive
green spaces and a
on four new London villages at proposals to cope organically with volleyball venue.
loose city grid. Two
important corners of the site named changing developments in finance, The process between now and main north-south
after their locations: West Kensington planning constraints, social change next summer’s formal planning routes provide
and North End Villages to the west, and sustainable technology. Unlike submission is one of extensive much-needed
Warwick Green to the east and West masterplan-as-design, this is workshop-based consultation with connectivity and
Brompton to the south. Happily masterplan-as-process in which local authorities and communities movement through
the site
there are Tube stations (providing Farrells ‘acknowledge that [the] whose input will help decide on a final
Opposite, top right_
centres for three of the four villages) masterplan form will change over masterplan. ‘We will set out a series Model showing
ranged around the edge of the site, time... within a robust strategic of planning and organising Farrells’ proposal
so the transport infrastructure framework following a set of agreed principles,’ says Farrell. ‘The Capital Opposite_ Farrells’
already exists. That makes it possible and consistent principles.’ No doubt & Counties team have already had presentation
to phase development from the Farrells architects will design some early meetings with other highlighting the
locations of each
outside in, eliminating the massive, of the urban blocks and some of landowners, tenants, local societies,
of the four ‘villages’
long-term disruption occasioned by the buildings. But this is intended everybody involved – lots of and the routes
installing central services. to be an architecturally diverse conversations. This sort of project will crossing the area.
A big problem with the site is quarter of London, with many only succeed if you can find a way Mindful of the
connectivity and the absence of different architects designing where there is something for constrictions of
through roads. So internal traffic schemes over time. everybody. It may seem like an building in London
and the sheer scale
and pedestrian routes pick up on The site has been formally exercise in compromise. But it’s a
of the project, the
streets from outside the site to designated an Opportunity Area process one would recognise in scheme will evolve
enable passage across the site from in the Mayor’s London Plan and the politics or the development of, say, organically over a
east to west and north to south. One development collaborators have a new car. It’s extremely real.’ number of years
andy cheatle
Above_ The large that prefabricated
cladding panels can modules are placed
be installed rapidly within the structure
– a huge benefit in prior to cladding
view of the short Bottom_ Long
summer season section through
and high labour Halley VI. It is divided
costs for this into two parts,
extreme location separated by
Below_ Construction a bridge as a
sequence, showing fire precaution
pushak
backgrounds, passions and
Below_ The Enigma of the Arrival and the Afternoon by Giorgio de Chirico Below, from left_Wig Stand Mannequin with Pear-Shaped Money-Box, by Niklaus Stoecklin; The Nostalgia of the Infinite, by De Chirico
Exhibition /
De Chirico, Max
Ernst, Magritte,
Balthus:
A Look into
the Invisible
Until 18 July, Palazzo
Strozzi, Florence, Italy
www.palazzostrozzi.org
PALAZZO STROZZI
in its attempt to track their later the exhibition’s subtitle. Just Sachlichkeit (new objectivity) inscrutable scene. output is often disregarded,
influence on many other artists as pertinent, though, is De artists like Stoecklin, who paints The works are thoughtfully but these works are distinctly
– not just on household names Chirico’s attitude to all that such mundane objects as a shoe installed in the high-ceilinged unsettling. Just like those early
Below_ The cover for a 1951 issue of the AR, on which Nikolaus Pevsner was one of the editors
Dixi Carrillo
dixi carrillo
david lloyd
2 3
AECOM, Urban SOS and the which brings together economics, To achieve this requires a system 1_ Dragon Lake
intertwined nature of place environment, landscape, cultural of holistic thinking that looks Bridge Park,
Bengbu, China
and social concerns, with engineering beyond the traditional way of
2_ Loyola
Creating places that are good for and architecture. practising, building, designing Maramount
people, good for cities and good From high-rise buildings that and planning. University, Los
for the wider environment, AECOM’s describe city skylines, to In response to this belief, Angeles, USA
multidisciplinary teams produce educational, cultural, research AECOM has organised the Urban 3_ King’s Waterfront,
Liverpool, UK
clarity out of complexity, to improve and transportation facilities, AECOM SOS open ideas competition. In
quality of life. designers are shaping the world partnership with the World
Its world view and collaborative around us, through collaborative Architecture Festival, Urban SOS is a
approach unites creative excellence and multidisciplinary working. programme that seeks to foster and
with technical expertise for viable, As part of its philosophy to encourage the adoption of a cross-
long-term solutions that respond enhance the quality of life, AECOM’s disciplinary approach among the
to the layers and intertwined buildings are responsive to ecology emerging architectural generation.
nature of place. and reflective of local ambitions. In 2009, AECOM solicited creative
In a world of scarce resources, They fit into the bigger picture of responses to distressed urban
rapid urbanisation, water crises city life and minimise resource use. sites worldwide, irrespective of
and climate change, the built They are good buildings. locale. This year, the theme of
environment plays a more important Good buildings also need transformation is being explored in
role than ever, and is about much the support of good public realm, seven cities around the world. The
more than just buildings. AECOM good transit, sanitation and 2010 programme, together with last
encourages a new approach to energy systems. Taken together, year’s winners, are described in more
creating and sustaining places, these make up good cities. detail in the following pages.
1
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AECOM Urban sos
alex de dios
– we are giving students all over the Urban SOS: Distressed Cities, Creative
4
world the opportunity for real Responses solicited multidisciplinary
engagement with issues facing built, ideas to urban sites in disrepair.
natural and social environments. This Recognising that many urban issues
year, the theme is Transformations, are concerned with the informal
focusing on a group of globally, economy, the poor, the dispossessed
physically and culturally diverse and challenged communities, the brief
cities. Each is undergoing profound called for dramatic but viable solutions
changes representing both challenges to sites facing ecological degradation,
and opportunities for its future. social disintegration, economic
The competition seeks ideas for collapse, climate change, the impact
site redevelopment in the following of natural disaster or civil unrest.
seven cities: The sites proposed by the students
speak for themselves. Among them
• Phoenix, United States were a former rubbish and waste dump
• Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in Lahore, Pakistan; a string of nine
• Beijing, China separate derelict, vacant lots in the
• Port-au-Prince, Haiti Mitte and Kreuzberg neighbourhoods
• Istanbul, Turkey in Berlin; a crime-ridden, poverty-
• São Paulo, Brazil stricken group of apartment blocks
• Johannesburg, South Africa in Bloemfontein, South Africa; a town
on the Israeli-Gaza border besieged
tom smalara
david lloyd
lei zhang
Students must choose one city and by rocket fire; a polluted river bank
5 6 7
offer a creative and viable proposal in the heart of the Colombian capital
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AECOM Urban sos
Bogotá; a back bay slum in Mumbai; Winner recreation and productive agriculture,
an industrial wasteland on the fringes Sabrina Kleinenhammans (Germany), employing local materials and
of Seoul; a heavily trafficked Master of Science in Architecture modest construction.
neighbourhood in Tehran; a derelict Studies (SMArchS), Massachusetts As grand prize winner,
suburb in Iowa; a crowded informal Institute of Technology (MIT) Kleinenhammans received $15,000
settlement in Ghana; and an empty (£10,200). ‘Although I have travelled
waterfront in the Dutch port Submission title: In-between Green – and worked abroad a lot, I had never
of Rotterdam. A recreational network for Mumbai encountered such an environment,’
In all, 1,050 student teams Location: Mumbai, India she says of Mumbai, which she first
registered, representing 64 countries visited in 2008. ‘It seemed that my
and 240 universities and colleges. Sabrina Kleinenhammans’ proposal understanding of cities and space
396 teams completed full submissions. captivated the jury for its directness, was turned upside-down.’
It was a remarkable outpouring of humility and authenticity. At the In Mumbai, Kleinenhammans
communication about design ideas presentations, Peter Cook was was fascinated with how people
and the nature of urbanism in very especially animated in his delight with appropriated space in the most
different locales. Following three her work, noting that it stood out from astonishing ways. For example,
rounds of judging, involving AECOM’s the other submissions because of its 60 per cent of the city’s residents
Design + Planning studios from around deep and sensitive understanding walk because it is their only form
the world, five teams were invited to both of place and the people who lived of transport.
present their refined schemes before a there. ‘It felt genuine and full of life,’ However pavements are
master jury at the World Architecture Cook remarked. not pedestrian-friendly, occupied by
Festival in Barcelona. The jury included The proposal is based on a series the stalls of street vendors during the
architect, critic and academic Peter of recreational green corridors day, and the sleeping poor by night.
Cook, Beirut-based architect Nabil developed in unused stretches of Kleinenhammans saw children playing
Gholam, and Russian architect Vladimir land bordering rail and major road next to highways or highly polluted
Plotkin. From AECOM they were joined corridors. Typically these corridors shipyards. There was nowhere for the
by landscape architect and urban aggressively bisect poverty-stricken typical Mumbaikar to experience the
designer Jason Prior, architect/ neighbourhoods, but Kleinenhammans tranquillity and sociability of a park.
urban designer Bill Hanway and urban proposes quietly converting them It was this simple idea that inspired
designer Christopher Choa. into a network of simple parks for her winning proposal. 8
9
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AECOM Urban sos
Runner-up Runner-up
Sahar Moin (USA), Master of Miriam Fernández-Ruiz (Spain),
Landscape Architecture, University Bachelor of Architecture, Universidad
of Pennsylvania; and Stephanie Politécnica de Madrid; and Olivier
Ulrich (USA), Master of Landscape Woeffray (Switzerland), Bachelor
Architecture, University of of Arts, Political Science, Université
Pennsylvania de Lausanne
11 13
12
Man’s place in the cosmos and the
mysteries of creation are lyrically
explored in this installation by South
African artist and filmmaker William
Kentridge. Preparing the Flute (2005)
is now in the collection of Rome’s
new MAXXI (page 44). Kentridge’s
fascination with the theatre inspired
him to construct a model of an
Italian-style proscenium, which
frames a projection of animations
based on Mozart’s mystical opera
The Magic Flute. Kentridge describes
it ‘a metaphor for the transformation
from dark into light’, both through
the experience of Mozart’s
protagonists and the way in which
film captures light and brings
imaginary scenes to life. During the
Queen of the Night’s famous aria, the
miniature theatre becomes a camera
obscura, as fireworks and stars erupt
across the sky.
courtesy of maxxi museum