Courtesy of OMA, Photograph by Iwan Baan

OMA’s Pierre Lassonde Pavilion of the Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec (MNBAQ) will open to the public on June 24, 2016. Increasing the museum’s space by 90 percent, the 14,900 square-meter pavilion faces Québec City’s Grande Alléee and seeks to fuse the energy of street life with the idyllic landscapes of the adjacent Parc des Champs-de-Bataille.

Courtesy of OMA, Photograph by Iwan Baan

Discussing the project, MNBAQ’s Executive Director and Chief Curator, Line Ouellet proclaime, “The world heritage site of Québec City now has a new landmark. Lucid and ingenious, the Pierre Lassonde Pavilion simultaneously stands out on its site and weaves itself into its surroundings, bringing out the potential of the urban situation with a logic that is as impeccable as it is unexpected.”

Courtesy of OMA, Photograph by Iwan Baan

The new structure, a lopsided ziggurat, has three rectangular volumes that shrink as the building ascends and shift from center into more pronounced cantilevers. The building connects to the 83-year-old institution’s three existing pavilions (from 1867, 1933, and 1991) through a 130 meter underground passageway. The facilities of Pierre Lassonde Pavilion include: column-free galleries for permanent and temporary exhibitions, an auditorium, cafe, museum shop, and roof terraces for outdoor displays. The project was realized as a collaboration between OMA and Montréal’s Provencher_Roy architectes.

Courtesy of OMA, Photograph by Iwan Baan

“Our design stacked three gallery volumes in a cascade that continues the topography of the park.” says lead designer Shohei Shigematsu. “The activity of the city extends below, providing a new point of interface between the city and the park. Art becomes a catalyst that allows the visitor to experience all three core assets – park, city, and museum – at the same time.”

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via Locating London’s History

It’s no secret that architects are often fascinated by maps, and in the age of Google – where access to accurate maps of almost anywhere in the world has become universal – maps have become one of the most powerful ways to understand our cities. Interestingly, Google has in a way enabled a new way to interrogate maps from the past, as historic maps can be more easily overlaid with the Google interface to make comparisons to the present day. That’s just what the website Locating London’s Past has done, creating a tool to compare three maps: the current version of Google Maps, the first Ordnance Survey map from 1863-80, and John Rocque’s 1746 Survey of London, allowing web users to see the growth of the UK capital over the past 270 years.

A selection of results from a 1774 directory showing the locations of London’s addresses. Image via Locating London’s History

Besides the visceral fascination of finding out what used to happen at your home or favorite bar, historical maps can be an invaluable resource for studying urban history, and Locating London’s Past does not disappoint in this regard. The website’s database includes a wide variety of historical records, from census data to crime records to a record of plague deaths – and many of these events can be mapped to the historical fabric of the city. In the map above, for example, addresses taken from a 1774 directory reveal how the South Bank became occupied much more gradually than the City of London in the north, initially growing from what is now the A3 on the west and Tooley and Bermondsey Streets on the east.

Check out the website here and start investigating London’s built history for yourself.

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© Joana França

Architects: Architectus S/S

Location: Mucuripe, Fortaleza – CE, Brazil

Architectus Team: Alexandre Landim, Elton Timbó, Mariana Furlani and Ricardo Saboia

Project Area: 0.0 m2

Project Year: 2015

Photographs: Joana França

Architecture, Interiors, Landscaping, Environmental Comfort, Sustainability And Accessibility: Ricardo Saboia (manager), Tais Costa (coordinator), Amélia Aragão, Carolina Fonteles, Fabiano Silveira, Felipe Lopes, Gerson Amaral, Káthia Roman, Lara Lima, Macart’son Cartaxo, Pedro Câmara and Yuri Catunda

Electrical Installations, Lighting Design, Sound, Water, Sanitation, Structured Network, Cctv, Fire Safety, Detection And Alarm System, Lpg, Spda (Atmospheric Discharge Protection System): Transitar Engenharia

Concrete Structures And Foundations: Wetter LT Projetos Estruturais

Metal Structure: RCM Estruturas Metálicas LTDA

Air Conditioning: A+I Arquitetura Instalações Projetos e Consultoria S/S Ltda.

Topography: GTA Levantamentos

Soil Studies: Sonda Poços e Sondagem

Earthwork, Drainage, Paving: Eng. Francisco José Moura Cavalcante

Road System: Eng. Francisco José Moura Cavalcante

Budget, Tender Documents And Specifications: Engª Ingryd Capistrano Pinto

Concrete And Foundations: Consórcio Constremac Serveng e Civilsan (s)

© Joana França

From the architect. Architectus faced several challenges when designing a new maritime passenger terminal for Fortaleza: complying with the diverse rules of the sector; operating under a reduced timeline; attending to the needs of the building’s various users; designing a building with flexible use and a striking form; and working in an area of the city with great touristic and scenic potential. 

© Joana França

With the aim of providing infrastructure for the 2014 World Cup games that would be held in the city, the Fortaleza Maritime Passenger Terminal was designed from the beginning as a multipurpose space, taking into account both the needs of maritime tourism as well as creating spaces for events, exhibitions, parties and shows. The design also took into account the seasonality of its use as a cruise destination, with demand in the South Atlantic peaking from October to May.

General Plan. Ground Floor

The terminal’s dynamic volumes, in addition to addressing the client’s request for the formal expression of Fortaleza’s role as the first port for cruise ships coming from the northern hemisphere, are also the result of the relationship between object and observer, devised by the architects. The Mucuripe Cove, the main touristic zone of the city, has Mansa beach as its focal point, a sector that was underutilized due to being the customs area of the port, but that is now incorporated into the urban context. The city now has a view of the landscape where the terminal is located. The user becomes surrounded by three quadrants of the ocean, and can view the ocean to the east where the trade winds come from, the harbor to the west with the fishing boats and the Beira Mar skyline and the ocean where the cruise ships come from to the north. 

© Joana França

As a result of its privileged geographic location, the terminal develops longitudinally along the new multipurpose pier, which was built partially entering the port basin, creating two facades made of structural glazing with solar control glass and brise soleils on the east and west and a large cantilevered balcony on the north side. The southern portion was designed as an element enclosed by brise soleils that surround and define the curved design of the desk and houses the service sectors, while at the same time avoiding a view of the container yard, which is adjacent to the terminal. The shape of the facility resulted from the goal of creating a simple curve that was easy to understand and could be implemented quickly in order to meet the tight deadlines that were imposed on the project. 

© Joana França

Section AA

© Joana França

To achieve this, a prestressed concrete structure was designed for the ground floor where the maritime operation itself consists of a main hall divided into three sections by articulated dividers. Depending on the type of cruise, the time, the operation and the quantity of passengers, all or only a portion of the lobby can be used. In front of the dock sits the customs control, while the back part contains shops, cafes and toilets. The southern portion is the circulation area, where the customs stalls and the Federal Police and immigration sector are located. This connects with the luggage storage. 

© Joana França

On the top, in order to meet current demand, there are multipurpose areas (auditorium, cultural space, bars, restaurants) and the northern terrace. In the southern sector there are offices for various agencies and public entities, necessary for the control and oversee of the terminal and its operations. To address the large spans and the need for flexible use, the top was covered with a metal structure made up of flat trusses and a thermoplastic blanket. The structural system was developed in order to optimize the form within the curvature of the deck, with the pillars forming a symmetrical V, providing a concise and bold design. 

© Joana França

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© DAC / Jakob Galtt

Bjarke Ingels has been named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the magazine’s annual list of groundbreakers in five categories: Pioneers, Titans, Artists, Leaders, and Icons. Other giants of the same field endorse the authority of each selected figure and, in Ingels case, former boss Rem Koolhaas offers poignant words of praise. “Bjarke is the first major architect who disconnected the profession completely from angst,” says Koolhaas. “He threw out the ballast and soared. With that, he is completely in tune with the thinkers of Silicon Valley, who want to make the world a better place without the existential hand-wringing that previous generations felt was crucial to earn utopianist credibility.” You can review the full profile and TIME’s complete list of people here.

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