© Donal Murphy, Martello Media

• Architects: Kavanagh Tuite
• Location: 1 O’Connell Street Upper, Dublin Northside, Dublin, Ireland
• Architect Team: Brian, Kavanagh, Joy Kearns, Fergal Ryan, Ciaran Shields
• Area: 1550.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Donal Murphy, Martello Media

• Civil / Structure: Hendrick Ryan and Asssociates
• Engineering Services: Semple McKillop Ltd.
• Cost Consultant : Kane Crowe Kavanagh
• Fire Consultant: Jeremy Garner Associates
• Conservation: Lindsay Conservation Architects and Kavanagh Tuite
• Contractor : PJ Hegarty Ltd., Specialist Oldstone Conservation Ltd

© Donal Murphy, Martello Media

From the architect. The GPO, located on Dublin’s O’Connell Street, has iconic status in terms of Irish modern history. It served as the headquarters of Ireland’s 1916 uprising for independence. As the site of the struggle, the building is a reminder of the seminal conflict that changed the course of Ireland’s history. The site and the building represent both the colonial and republican aspects of Ireland’s history while continuing to serve its civic function as originally intended. Despite its historic, social and architectural importance the building held a very minimal level of public engagement.

Site Plan

A 1,550 sq.m interpretive exhibition centre, designed by Kavanagh Tuite Architects, has been sensitively spliced into the existing protected structure. Composed over two floors the new structure is a finely detailed, minimalist object constructed from raw material; exposed concrete, honed and hammered granite, black-oat parquet, and bronzed anodised aluminium.

© Donal Murphy, Martello Media

Accommodation for two distinct exhibition spaces, a ticket hall, café and shop has been provided. Visitors arrive to the interpretive centre via the north entrance lobby on O’Connell Street through the grand hall of the public post office. The entrance descends from the ticket office, past the exposed outer brick of the existing main hall and down the granite clad stair to the interactive exhibition displays. Emerging from this exhibition you rise up to a more tranquil gallery overlooking the internal courtyard. Here visitors can gather, in the surrounds of the GPO, allowing a new vista onto the building that was not experienced before.

© Donal Murphy, Martello Media

Elevation

A pivotal design decision was to raise the courtyard by one storey, towards street level. This seamlessly integrated the interactive exhibition underneath. The strategy provides a granite paved courtyard space, via the daylight gallery café.

© Donal Murphy, Martello Media

Detail and protracted sampling of contemporary materials have resulted in the use of bronzed anodised aluminium being used to clad the contemporary elements of the intervention. Tones of existing brick work and existing bronzed framed windows provided a baseline for new material additions.

© Donal Murphy, Martello Media

Completed on time for Ireland’s significant 1916 Centenary commemorations, the project has enabled the life and the history of the GPO to live and grow. This contemporary adaptation has reinforced the GPO’s role in history and strengthened its future in Irish culture and society. 

© Donal Murphy, Martello Media

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© Filippo Poli

• Architects: gpy arquitectos
• Location: Campus de Guajara, San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain
• Project Team: Juan Antonio González Pérez, Urbano Yanes Tuña, Constanze Sixt
• Area: 32260.0 sqm
• Photographs: Filippo Poli

• Collaborators: José Juan Aguilar Ramos, Attenya Campos de Armas, Carhel Chaves, Michel Correa Dos Ramos, Raquel Guanche García, María Elena Lacruz Alvira, Juan Luis Marichal Hernández, Vanessa Mayato Antón, José Luis Novo Gómez, Laura Pérez Rodríguez, Michela Pestoni, Alessandro Preda, Rubén Servando Carrillo, Gabriel Walti
• Technical Team: Luis Darias Martín (Asat), Héctor González Niebla (Asat), Juan Luis Marichal Hernández, José Ángel Yanes Tuña, Miriam Hernández Pérez
• Consultants: Fhecor Ingenieros Consultores, Gpi Ingenieros, Servicio de Ingeniería del Terreno (ULPGC), Poa Jardinería
• Client: Universidad de La Laguna
• Model: Katarzyna Billik, José Luis González Doña, Andrzej Gwizdala

© Filippo Poli

From the architect. The new Faculty of Fine Arts is located in a heterogeneous area, adjacent to the island highway and on the periphery of the University Campus.

© Filippo Poli

Our main challenge was to create a link between the new faculty building and its surroundings by working with the open public spaces and to increase the synergies between the academic complex and its urban context.

© Filippo Poli

Plan Level 3

© Filippo Poli

The new building presents itself as an extension of the Campus’s public space, while creating an autonomous interior landscape of its own. A skin of suspended concrete slats adopts a curved shape which develops on the different levels protecting and wrapping the open space of the building. 

© Filippo Poli

Campus circulation is collected and guided by a public plaza that extends through the building’s main entrance and is transformed into a spacious terrace overlooking the inner courtyard. From the main entrance, circulation is continuous, following half-open, undulating corridors.

© Filippo Poli

The teaching areas are distributed along a continuous band accompanying the open corridors and dispose of mobile dividing walls that allow for creating classrooms of different sizes or even opening up the whole floor, depending on the needs. Adding to this flexibility in use are multiple spaces like the patio-gardens and open ramps, the covered galleries and the entrance terrace, conceived as open exhibition and teaching areas and places for social exchange. 

© Filippo Poli

We like to see the new Faculty of Fine Arts as a building that offers ground-breaking, innovative spaces for experimental and creative education of future students of visual arts.

© Filippo Poli

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© Zhao Qiang

• Architects: gad Greentown Design
• Location: Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
• Area: 97000.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2014
• Photographs: Zhao Qiang, Yao Li

• Construction Unit: Hangzhou Zhijiang Creative Park Development Co., Ltd,
• Interior Design: inner buildings

© Zhao Qiang

Located in the northern slope of Phoenix Mountain, Zhuantang Town, Hangzhou City, Phoenix Creative Building covers an area of 4.1 hectares. It’s near the mountain and by the river. In its north, China Academy of Art radiates the circle of art and creation. In its south, there is Phoenix Creative Industry Park (through transformation of the old cement plant) which begins to take shape.

© Zhao Qiang

As creative industry differs from other types of cultural projects, its architecture should boast corresponding creative culture and connotations and echo each other with the industry, providing the industry with favorable environment and influence. Therefore, the project design tries to integrate creative ideas with design of commercial buildings.

Plan

Section

As the extension of Zhijiang Creative Park, Phoenix Creative Building integrates the functions of office, conferences, hotels, shopping and exhibition etc. In the design, block-type places share views with layers at different levels. Open blocks on the first floor of main office part and exhibition space on both sides make up the whole, combing the sunken plaza, platform lawns and space on the water etc. These attempts offer infinite possibilities to actions incurring here and make artistic experience a part of the space.     

© Zhao Qiang

For the south side of the original site is Phoenix Mountain with luxuriant plants, the project design attempts to take it as the primary entry point of the general form layout. The form space of Phoenix Building matches with the flowing curve of mountains and waters, and it expands along the continuous urban interface formed through roads in the west and north of the site. As a result, the Park is like embracing the green mountains, forming a landscape scroll painting which “is suitable for appreciation, living and sightseeing”.

© Zhao Qiang

The design of the whole Park is the half-enclosed type which is low in the south and high in the north. The northern entrance of the Park is designed as an open visual corridor so that the landscape of mountains can go through the Park and encounter the city. For the southern exhibition buildings, they are designed to be low and even with scattered slopes and plants. Therefore, people wandering in the Park can walk on them casually and appreciate the unexpected beautiful mountain scenery closely.

Diagram

Diagram

The colors are extracted from four seasons in Jiangnan. With diligent allocation, the facade glass curtain wall of Phoenix Building adopts various kinds of light and dark greyish-green color-glazed glass which corresponds with the colors of plants in the four seasons i.e. bright yellow of spring, dark green of summer, greyish-green of autumn and ocher of winter. The architectural form which integrates into the mountain shape and plants of Phoenix Mountain show the detail quality of architecture.   

© Zhao Qiang

Correlated with the general design concept, interior design of Phoenix Creative Building also keeps the simple, lively and refreshing style. The background of solid color blocks provide workers in creative industry with inspiring work environment.

© Zhao Qiang

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© Spaceshift Studio

• Architects: Site-Specific
• Location: 1 S Sathorn Rd, Khwaeng Thung Maha Mek, Khet Sathon, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon 10120, Thailand
• Architect In Charge: Chutayaves Sinthuphan
• Project Architect: Pasit Siritanaaree
• Area: 374.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Spaceshift Studio

• Project Team: Buttriya Ruamthamarak, Suthisak Suwannarach, Thitiwat Apichaikittiwut, Warunya Sukwaree, Kritsanapan Toncharoenrat
• Owner: Supamas Phahulo ,Akapol Sudasna
• Structure Engineer: Jirasuda Akrakunkiti
• Landscape Architect: Shma Soen
• Contractor: TDCL Co.,Ltd.
• Landscape Contractor: M.J.Gardens
• Budget : 15 Million THB

© Spaceshift Studio

From the architect. As the Asian arts market expands rapidly, the need for a commercial art gallery has become increasingly imminent. In the past, commercial art galleries in Bangkok were mostly situated in converted shophouses where the rent is affordable and the space is adaptable with limitations.

© Spaceshift Studio

© Spaceshift Studio

Bangkok CityCity Gallery is one of a few purposely built commercial art galleries in Bangkok. It is situated in the heart of a commercial area of Bangkok, in one of a few rare open spaces in this dense capital. Conceived as a blank canvas both inside and out, the gallery is designed to stand out of its contextual environment, at the same time maintaining the interaction with the passer-by by unveiling some of its content through a large opening at the pedestrian’s eyes level, inviting them to come in and explore its exhibition.

Diagram

The purpose of the design is to create a space of Nature and Simplicity. Natural light is allowed to come inside the main gallery from the top via the skylights, from the bottom via the linear openings at floor level and from the side via the surroundings around the entrance door. Depending on the artist’s intention, these openings can be opened and closed to let the light in to suit the needs of different exhibitions.

© Spaceshift Studio

© Spaceshift Studio

The idea was conceived from modern interpretations on traditional Thai architecture – a cluster of buildings are connected by a patio with a courtyard that is elevated above the ground. The gallery complex is divided into two sections. The main gallery is designed to house large-scale installations, while the small gallery serves as both a reception area and a teaser gallery for the exhibition inside the main gallery. Steps in the small gallery functions as a casual seating area. The outdoor patio connects the two galleries and also leads to the courtyard, which is designed for outdoor performances.

Diagram

The building also expresses the simplicity on the exterior to encourage the artists to engage the arts with the architecture.

© Spaceshift Studio

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