Courtesy of La Biennale di Venezia

On May 28th, a selection of participants of the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale, including Rem Koolhaas and Norman Foster convened for the first of Alejandro Aravena‘s “Meetings on Architecture,” a series of talks that will take place throughout the Biennale. Under the theme of INFRASTRUCTURE, each invited speaker was given the chance to explain stories behind their participating projects in the Biennale, and the floor was also opened up for questions from the audience.

However, as Aravena explains about the talks, “we have organized them around themes, but architecture by nature always integrates more than one dimension. These Meetings will thus be a way to get from the authors themselves the richness and complexity of the built environment, and what it takes to get things done.” While highlighting unique projects, topics at the first Meeting converged around the focus on shaping the urbanization of emerging economies and the socio-political process and effect of realizing each project. The rest of the speaking panel was comprised by Joan Clos, Andrew Makin and Grupo EPM.

Here are highlights from the discussion:

• 7:20 – 18:00: Norman Foster begins the discussion with the Droneport project by Foster + Partners—a proposal towards approaching the challenges of infrastructural development in rapidly emerging economies, specifically in Africa.
• 18:00 – 30:30: Andrew Makin, a South African architect, discusses work on the economic and social transformation of Durban South Africa’s Warwick Triangle through an urban public project consisting of pedestrian bridges and stairs.
• 30:35 – 39:00: Grupo EPM talk about the urban transformation of Medellin, Colombia from one of the most violent and crime-ridden, to the most innovative city in the world through public projects such as UVA (Unidades de Vida Articulada).
• 39:00s – 49:30: Rem Koolhaas turns a critical eye on globalization and brings attention towards the architecture, form, and infrastructure of the “digitized country-sides” which support the processes of cities worldwide.
• 49:30- 1:06:00: Dr. Joan Clos, executive director of UN Habitat, recounts previous Habitat meetings and discuss the goals and challenges of the world’s urban agenda for the upcoming Habitat III meeting.
• 1:07:00 – 1:19:00: The floor is opened to questions and comments from the audience with arising topics on agency and inclusion, promethean spirit and revolution, and a question on whether city-dwellers were “lazy.”
• 1:19:00: Paolo Baratta closes by discussing the relationship of architecture and politics: that public space is the result of each individual acceding power to a central authority in order to act against our own individual will and towards the common good. Architecture alone cannot create public space. 

With a panel featuring Mexico Project, BeL Sozietät für Architektur, Assemble and Al Borde, the next Meeting on Architecture, entitled PERIPHERIES, will be held on June 11th at Teatro Alle Tese in Arsenale.

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• Architects: StudioPietropoli
• Location: Padua, Province of Padua, Italy
• Architect In Charge: StudioPietropoli
• Area: 1000.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2015

• Contractor: Impresa Salvalaio
• Structural Engineer: Studio PRO GE CO
• Construction Manager: Studio Chiucchini

From the architect. In a quiet residential neighbour in Padua, this house consists of two cubic volumes mounted on a concrete basement. The cubes above ground are made entirely of wood, covered with wood (grey/white and brick red) as well. The two houses have similar plants and are symmetric according to the horizontal and vertical axes. A unique flat vegetal roof covers both houses and is projected to the north and south in two large porches. A portico in between the cubes divides the two houses and is a sort of private alley. There is no parking at the garden level. Cars are parked in the basement with a car lift. Particular attention has been paid to the windows: the wooden frame is in fact only visible from the inside while outside is covered by a glass skin.

Underground Plan

The pictured house is composed by 4 levels:

– Basement: garages, a living-room (with a fireplace and a small kitchen on one side) which can turn into a playroom, laundry-room
– Ground floor: entrance, living, dining, studio, kitchen and a small bathroom
– First floor: master bedroom and 2 bedrooms, two bathrooms
– Third floor: a small guest-room opened on a slightly elevated terrace on the roof level.

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Courtesy of Sabri Pasayigit Design Office

Architecture and planning firm Sabri Pasayigit Design Office has released its new master plan for the Municipality of Kayseri in the Sahabiye neighborhood of Kayseri, Turkey.

The project balances historic and modern architecture elements, with a focus on the historic castle of Kayseri as the city center point. Cultural and public buildings will be placed near this historic center, with taller buildings set farther out of the city.

Courtesy of Sabri Pasayigit Design Office

In an effort to design public spaces as physical connections, a large-scale park will be added between the historic center of the city and an existing green area. At the crossing of these two parks will be two commercial towers, which are meant to represent the role of Kayseri in the Turkish economy, as well as Kayseri’s role as a commercial meeting point along the historic Silk Road.

Courtesy of Sabri Pasayigit Design Office

This added green space will become the longest public space in Kayseri, and is intended to emphasize the value of public space as a piece of urban infrastructure.

Courtesy of Sabri Pasayigit Design Office

Courtesy of Sabri Pasayigit Design Office

The project is one of the largest urban transformations in Turkey, and is hoped to illuminate the commercial profitability of urban planning, so as to bring new investors to underdeveloped parts of the city.

Courtesy of Sabri Pasayigit Design Office

Learn more about the project here.

• Architects: Sabri Pasayigit Design Office
• Location: Kayseri, Kayseri Province, Turkey
• Photographs: Courtesy of Sabri Pasayigit Design Office

News via Sabri Pasayigit Design Office. 

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© Sergio Grazia

• Architects: Jean Bocabeille Architecte
• Location: Paris, France
• Architect Project Manager : Solweig Doat
• Area: 11741.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Sergio Grazia , Frédéric Delangle , Marianne Waquier

• In Collaboration With : Atelier Du Pont (Nursing Home)
• Structure Engineering : Kephren
• Fluids Engineering : Alto Ingénierie
• Construction Economics : Mazet & Associés
• Sustainable Engineering : Plan02
• Acoustics: Acoustique Vivié et Associés
• Landscape Designer : Atelier Jours
• Light Designer (Religious Center) : Pinard Design
• Total Cost : 24 600 000 € (pre-tax)

Site Plan

© Sergio Grazia

From the architect. Formerly a railway enclave, the Clichy-Batignolles ecodistrict is reconquering this forgotten piece of Parisian ground. This major municipal project was envisioned as a response to the elevated need for housing while paving the way for a durable, mixed-use 21st century city. So much data that had to be compiled to come up with smart solutions for a multi-program block (nursing home, social housing, private housing, religious center, and retail businesses).

© Sergio Grazia

These programs, with their fruitful cohabitation, contribute to the city’s growth with their high quality and symbolic significance. The project provides a strong architectural response to the challenges of urban density and new environmental requirements by creating collective strategies for the entire block.

Diagram

This project is the result of a lengthy consideration of zoning rules for minimal distances between structures. Shoehorned into its larger setting as the final piece of a larger puzzle, it is tied to a sense of proximity in this neighborhood and a desire to create density. The horizontal and vertical paneling carves out an unusual volume, at once a glacier and a rocky outcrop. This form gives the residence a strong sense of identity while also refining and streamlining the rigorousness of the construction system used.

© Sergio Grazia

The two housing programs were designed as parts of a larger whole. The equal treatment in the choice of materials and colors creates a sense of cohesion between the social housing and the private housing.

Located in the eastern end of the parcel facing rue Cardinet, the social housing units form the prow of the block. This compact building is associated with the Ehpad senior housing realised by Atelier Du Pont, with which it shares a patio in the middle of the block towards the park, thereby forming a coherent whole.

© Frédéric Delangle

Facing the parc Nelson Mandela and representative of the landscape of the Batignolles, the private residence is an inhabited prism whose physiognomy changes during the day : it is urban on the city side and green on the park side. The 86 apartments have an unrestricted view of the park and the skyline of the Saussure block beyond. Facing northwest onto the park and southeast onto the interior of the parcel, they all have large terraces facing the park or the gardens. They are protected from direct sunlight by perforated, sliding shutters.

© Sergio Grazia

© Sergio Grazia

Consisting of a chapel and a meeting space, the Ozanam house lies at the base of the private residence and is characterized by its complex volumes and orange color. A cross planted in the ground signals the entrance at the intersection of rue René Blum and the impasse Chalabre. The double height chapel faces the garden in the center of the block and provides a generous sense of space, one that was dug out from the mass of surrounding housing units.

132 housing units + 1 religious center + 2 retails businesses, Clichy-Batignolles ecodistrict in Paris

© Marianne Waquier

© Frédéric Delangle

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