New gate, by Alvaro Siza and Juan Domingo Santos. Image © Alvaro Siza Vieira + Juan Domingo Santos; Rendering by LT Studios

The Regional Government of Andalucía (Spain) has decided not to move forward with plans to build “Puerta Nueva,” the project for the new gate of Alhambra. Designed by Álvaro Siza and Juan Domingo Santos, the proposal won an international competition held in 2010. According to the newspaper El País, the decision follows the latest Icomos report, which rejects its construction and suggests it would have a “negative impact on the exceptional universal value of this monument World Heritage.” 

The 1992 Pritzker Prize winner’s project sparked a long-running dispute between the Monument Patronage, the Mayor’s Office of Granada and cultural institutions of Andalusia for the high concentration of commercial services that would be included in the project. “How is it possible to argue that the project is not integrated and is invasive in the landscape when the jury noted that one of its main virtues was its integration in a place so sensitive and intervened since the twentieth century?” remarked Siza and Santos on the decision of Andalucía, according to El País.

© Alvaro Siza Vieira + Juan Domingo Santos; Rendering by LT Studios

Reacting to the decision, Siza and Santos asked, “How is it possible to argue that the project is not integrated and is invasive in the landscape when the jury noted that one of its main virtues was its integration in a place so sensitive and intervened since the twentieth century?” according to El País.

With a budget of 45 million euros, the 5,700 square meter project offered a transition zone between the arrival area and access for the 2.5 million yearly visitors to the Alhambra. Its program included a lobby, tourist attention areas, cultural information delivery, as well as shops, cafes, and restaurants. Planned submerged parking sought to eliminate the visual impact of visitors’ vehicles. 

The design proposed a series of enclosed spaces, shaded courtyards, and large sunny terraces. In 2014 the project was presented in Berlin at the exhibition “Visions of the Alhambra,” where curator António Choupina stated that “the building merges with the landscape, articulating manuscript documents that sketch the old farmland with the elevations of the garden terraces that are in the village Generalife.”

According to El País, the direction of the Alhambra will focus on “restoration of the whole and restoration of heritage in the Albaicín neighborhood.”

Álvaro Siza + Juan Domingo Santos Design “New Gate of Alhambra”
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News via: El País.

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© Rasmus Norlander

• Architects: Johansen Skovsted Arkitekter
• Location: Skjern Å, Ringkøbing-Skjern, Denmark
• Area: 570.0 m2
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Rasmus Norlander

• Collaborators: Søren Johansen, Sebastian Skovsted, Laura Boelskifte, Phoebe Cowen In collaboration with: Bertelsen & Scheving Arkitekter ApS
• Engineer: Ingeniørgruppen Vestjylland ApS
• Contractor: Hansen & Larsen A/S
• Client: Ringkøbing-Skjern Kommune
• Project Funded By: Realdania – Stedet Tæller, and LAG-Ringkøbing-Skjern

© Rasmus Norlander

From the architect. The project is a conversion of three pump stations originally constructed in the late 1960s in connection with the large land reclamation project where Skjern River was straightened out. A large number of environmental problems were associated with this alignment of the river, leading to the river being restored to its original run in 2002. In this way a vast and rich natural area reappeared with many visitors.

Site Plan

The original pump stations contained underground water chambers, large halls for the pumps, storage rooms and high voltage rooms. The original pumps in the pump hall were essentially taken out of operation and there has been established a new type of pumps located in the underground water chambers. In this way, the upper part of the building was no longer in use. A framework for the new life of the area has been provided with the rebuilding and extension of the over ground parts of the three pump stations, in the form of exhibition spaces, indoor and outdoor viewpoints to look out over the landscape, rooms for different kinds of events, and accessibility for disabled.

© Rasmus Norlander

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© Rasmus Norlander

Generally, the original pump stations are detailed alike but different in size and shape. In the same way the new additions to the three pump stations are both the same and different. The extensions and the new interior building elements are mainly simple wooden constructions and reiterate the dimensions and rhythm of the original pump stations’ concrete relief. This creates a direct link between the old structure and the new, while adding a new material and another texture that is pleasing to the touch. With this detail, the cladding and the main structure become one, reducing the complexity of the building, which is reflected in the budget as well as the final expression.

© Rasmus Norlander

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© Rasmus Norlander

Myhrwold and Rasmussen engineered the original pump stations to be unsentimental and raw in their materiality, and the vertical relief of the concrete façades reminds us of the surrounding ploughed furrows of the fields, and profiles of the soil that control the run of the river. In the conversion of the three pump stations the aim has been that the individual pump stations would still appear as a united whole, to challenge their massive and heavy character and enhance their figure in the landscape, and to add a human scale and materiality.

© Rasmus Norlander

The project exemplifies how the transformation of ”the negative heritage” can fill the purpose of mediating between a repressed past and contemporary life.

© Rasmus Norlander

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© Julien Lanoo

• Architects: AWP, HHF
• Location: Carrières-sous-Poissy, France
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Julien Lanoo

• Team Awp: ARMENGAUD ARMENGAUD CIANCHETTA with Miguel La Parra Knapman, Gemma Guinovart and Helena Frigola, Juan Garrido, Ruth Grande, David Perez
• Team Hhf: HERLACH HARTMANN FROMMENWILER with David Gregori y Ribes, Aleris Rogers, Philippe Guillod, Camille AØssaoui
• Renders: Saida Dalmau

© Julien Lanoo

From the architect. The series of buildings and pavilions are part of a new 113 hectare large public green space along the Seine river, in Carrière-Sous-Poissy, at the end station of the RER métro line A and close to Le Corbusier’s renowned Villa Savoye. The Park designed by Paris based landscape architects Agence TER will be an ecological showcase for local residents and a leisure destination for people living in and around Paris.

© Julien Lanoo

The site of the project is exceptional. Along one edge is the Seine river. The presence of barges, fishing huts and houseboats, which have inhabited the site until now, has been a powerful source of inspiration. Along the other edge is nondescript, suburban detached housing. The design springs from a process of hybridization between these two existing habitat models: the floating barge and the archetypical suburban house.

© Julien Lanoo

Site Plan

© Julien Lanoo

Among other public infrastructures like a visitor’s center, a restaurant (“guinguette”), and an observatory, the competition brief included the construction of a museum to exhibit a large collection of insects, both living and conserved. For this the museum brief asked for public areas like exhibition spaces, an event hall and the welcoming area as well as for a series of non publicly accessible areas like offices, storage and designated spaces for raising different kind of insects.

© Julien Lanoo

Floor Plan

© Julien Lanoo

With the exception of the observatory, which is a steel construction, the collection of pavilions and small “follies” is based on a modular wood system, repeating and combining different sized and angled timber frames. This approach allowed for interesting and unusual constructions, enabling a wide range of possible variations with a very limited number of elements. At the same time the relatively low priced construction method enabled the integration of local building know how and local companies.

© Julien Lanoo

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© Julien Lanoo

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© Creative Photo Room

• Architects: vardastudio
• Location: Yeroskipou, Cyprus
• Architect In Charge: Andreas Vardas
• Area: 190.0 m2
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Creative Photo Room

© Creative Photo Room

SITE
The project is located in a field in Geroskipou. To the north is the only neighbour, another residence, sitting higher than the project. To the east is a public road, with a row of mature conifer trees forming the boundary. The plot is generally level and exposed to the neighbour and views from the public roads to the south and west. Access to the site is from the road to the east.

© Creative Photo Room

CONCEPT
The concept was born of the combination of two materials often found near this location: concrete tube pipe sections and metal sheet. The materials are translated here to the residence’s two separate envelopes: a metal structure clad in metal and glass, and the two walls of stacked concrete pipe sections running along the north and south facades of the residence.

© Creative Photo Room

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© Creative Photo Room

The first envelope comprises the load-bearing structure of metal beams and columns sitting on a concrete slab foundation. The roof is formed of corrugated metal sheet, and the exterior walls are formed of aluminium-framed double glazing, fixed and moving. The glass envelope contains the interior of the house, providing unobstructed views to the outside. Clean, minimal, and technologically advanced, it creates a strong contrast with the second envelope.

© Creative Photo Room

The second envelope of concrete tubes is heavy, earthy, low-tech. It provides additional sheltering from the environment, specifically the sun and air, and filters views from and towards the house. The tube walls is where the privacy of the residence ends.

© Creative Photo Room

DESIGN AND LAYOUT
The layout of spaces is linear along the east-west axis. The open plan living area is to the east, providing a dining area, kitchen, and sitting area. Three bedrooms and a study are placed along a corridor-gallery that runs the length of the house. Huge glass doors slide open to the deck veranda that runs outside to the south. The veranda is dispersed with garden pockets, containing small trees and fragrant plants.To the North is a water corridor that abuts the house. The same large sliding doors open directly to it. The water corridor sets the ambience of the soundscape and influences the light, reflecting it to the interior.

© Creative Photo Room

Floor Plan

© Creative Photo Room

Product Description.The interior benefits from a high degree of thermal insulation thanks to the Envelop system. In the winter the south façade enjoys passive solar gains. An awning above the glass provide shade in the summer and prevent overheating, whilst the concrete tube walls shelter from strong winds.

The Envelop 3D system used here is an integrated system with modules for different functions: fixed external walls, sliding and fixed windows, entrance door, all are provided by the system. It is installed in a single continuous track, 76 metres long, without the need for extra framing.

© Creative Photo Room

The walls contain polystyrene and fiberglass thermal insulation and are sealed externally with white glass. The internal surface is a double layer of plasterboard.

The sliding doors are designed to lock in an open position, small enough to be secure, whilst allowing natural ventilation to all spaces.

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