© Camila Cossio

• Architects: LANZA Atelier
• Location: Av Central, 55010 Ecatepec de Morelos, Méx., Mexico
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Camila Cossio

© Camila Cossio

When commissioned to design public equipment along the bicycle track at Av. Central in Ecatepec, Estado de México, we saw an opportunity to achieve common spaces at a very low cost in an area that urgently needs qualified public infrastructure. Thus, we proposed three modules of baths and 13 pairs of kiosks intended to create a democratic urban fabric.

© Camila Cossio

Floor Plan

© Camila Cossio

Toilets and kiosks were proposed as permeable pavilions with a microclimate favored by the presence of plants, a small oasis in the harsh climate of the bicycle track. Within the overall slab of each group of toilets, there are four double modules deployed in swastika. Each of these modules is a vacuum with a glass cover, so that when you enter them you are going outside. Three other openings, designed as small courtyards, are located over the beds of plants that cross the roof slab into the sun. Finally there is not a clear distinction between being inside and outside.

© Camila Cossio

Kiosks are planted intermittently along the bicycle track. Its walls are also located in swastika with benches and tables that are embedded in the walls of block, using the gaps left by it as formwork. At each kiosk there is a central patio traversed by a large palm tree. Both for the construction of toilets and kiosks, concrete blocks and steel sheet walls painted white, were used.

© Camila Cossio

The landscaping project incorporated one hundred new trees. Vines covered the fence that divides the avenue and the bicycle track, creating a green division between traffic and cyclists, joggers and pedestrians. Palm trees are generally located within the kiosk in the small central courtyard and jacaranda trees are planted in a more organic arrangement within the bays. Bamboos were used only in toilets modules to create a visual division between male and female toilets. Common sinks are located in the central space favoring the respectful coexistence of all users.

Axonometric

In both typologies was intended to explore the gradations of interior and exterior and the ability of an extremely simple initial program to welcome the richness and unpredictability of uses of life.

© Camila Cossio

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© Dreem Arkitekter & Tomorrow AB

Dreem Arkitekter have been announced as the co-winners of a competition to design a new urban plan for a three block area in the Stockholm neighborhood of Kista. The project will include a large mixed-use complex consisting of residential, commercial and active public spaces, and is anchored into the neighborhood through a cornerstone residential tower. Together with joint winner ÅWL, the offices will finalize the project this fall.

© Dreem Arkitekter & Tomorrow AB

According to the jury’s statement, “Dreem’s submission showed that they had developed a clear, international proposal that contributes to Kista’s vision of a diverse city – a strong concept with an urban design that reinforces the vision of the ‘future city’ we would like to create in Kista. It comprises three modernly designed residential neighborhoods with active ground floors, each with their own distinct identities, and dynamically creates residences that benefit from heights in an interesting way.”

© Dreem Arkitekter & Tomorrow AB

Dreem’s proposal contains space for 67,000 square meters (720,000 square feet) of residential and commercial buildings, including a 40-story tall apartment tower. The skyscraper is designed to reach a height of 120 meters (394 feet), which would match Wingardhs’ Victoria Tower as the tallest building in Stockholm, and second tallest in Sweden. With its sleek facade and floating appearance, it could become a new landmark for one of Europe’s biggest information and communications technology (ICT) districts.

© Dreem Arkitekter

“We are proud to have the confidence to continue developing Kista,” says Dreem founder and CEO Maya Iwdal. “We wanted to create blocks of an international nature – blocks ‘Micro’, ‘Meso’ and ‘Macro’ – to represent the different social organization levels and territorial scales, which together make our project unique.”

© Dreem Arkitekter

© Dreem Arkitekter

News via Dreem Arkitekter, additional info via Fastighets Världen.

• Architects: Dreem Arkitekter
• Location: Kista, Stockholm, Sweden
• Design Team: Maya Iwdal (Design Director), Manuel Lopes (Project Architect), Evan Rees (Architect), Fanny Winkler (Architect)
• Client: Klövern AB
• Area: 65000.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Dreem Arkitekter & Tomorrow AB, Dreem Arkitekter

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© Stephane Brugger

• Architects: Menkès Shooner Letourneaux Architectes
• Location: 1220 Rue Notre-Dame O, Montréal, QC H3C 1K5, Canada
• Area: 20642.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Stephane Brugger

© Stephane Brugger

After four years of work, the recent inauguration of the Maison des étudiants de l’École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS) unveiled a signature building which enhances an entire neighborhood in the Griffintown district.

Plan

Inspired by an icehouse that once stood on the site, the crystal-like volume is remarkably light, open and airy. The mixed-use program was unified into a singular sculpted volume, its offsets interacting in a refreshing way with the more sober and introverted campus buildings. The massing was carved out on its south and east sides to create space for a future park that extends inside the building’s public program, maximizing sunlight and offering the community an abundantly glazed atrium that showcases student life within.

© Stephane Brugger

Section

© Stephane Brugger

On the street side, it offers mediated views on the upper functions through an intriguing five-storey high image digitally imprinted onto the glass curtain wall. The image is an abstract representation of the energetic network of ideas on the campus evoking the innovative spirit and outreach to the world, which ÉTS intends to project.

© Stephane Brugger

Inside, the atrium is conceived as a landscape in continuity with the exterior park. An impressive cantilevered truss, recalling the railway bridges and industrial structures in the area, lifts its grand staircase above the outdoor space on its south side, offering glimpses of Montreal’s cityscape from the park.

© Stephane Brugger

A spiralling promenade weaves through the atrium under a warm, hovering topography made of birch wood slats. This inhabited circulation interconnects multiple zones used in everyday student life, each endowed with distinct light and acoustical qualities. Custom furniture such as integrated cushioned nooks, and carefully selected seating typologies punctuate the open space with a wide array of spatial experiences for relaxing, studying and socializing. The promenade visually and physically ties the campus together, starting with a tunnel link from the adjacent pavilion to the east to reach the student residences through a planned bridge to the west. It constitutes an indoor, year-round park offering an open and central congregating space for large events and exhibitions to both the ÉTS and Griffintown communities.

© Stephane Brugger

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© San Labs for Ennead Architects

The Xiamen City Municipal Planning authority has selected Ennead Architects as the winners of a six-week design competition for a new 40,000 square meter (430,550 square foot) Music Center in the Chinese city of Xiamen. The design draws inspiration from the island city’s dramatic topography and history to create a new public institution along the harbor. To provide the beachfront with a new public gathering place, the project’s feature element will be a grand stair likened by Ennead to Rome’s timeless Spanish Steps.

© San Labs for Ennead Architects

The project takes a reverent approach to the natural terrain, borrowing from the landscape’s natural striation to create the sloping plaza that connects the city to the shoreline. Large sweeping gestures draw from the site’s program and context, evoking a powerful wave, a musical crescendo or the slope of traditional Chinese rooflines. These curves create the form of the building, acting simultaneously as the façade, ground and civic stair and organizing the entire visitor experience.

© Ennead Architects

As the plaza descends to beach level, it carves into the programmed mass of the building, splitting the interior space into two wings: a western wing housing a 2,500 seat concert hall and a eastern wing containing a smaller recital hall. The concert hall is treated as an object within a box, as its wood-clad convex forms smoothly disperse the theater’s acoustics and give the hall a visual texture similar to weathered rocks or driftwood found along the shore. Additional spaces include facilities for Xiamen University’s the music program and a restaurant/cafe.

© San Labs for Ennead Architects

The project takes full advantage of its sloping site to provide underground parking and a direct connection to the city’s subway system. Building roofs become accessible extensions of the public plaza, and lead to the bridge connecting pedestrians back to the city and towards the island’s botanical garden.

© Ennead Architects

At the complex’s center is a traditionally styled garden and temple featuring lush plantings and views to the sea. Slightly to the east, a naturally wooded landscape acts as a sound buffer between the Music Center and the adjacent highway. The descent culminates at an outdoor concert venue on the beachfront and a circular dock projecting into the harbor.

© Ennead Architects

© Ennead Architects

• Architects: Ennead Architects
• Location: Xiamen, Fujian, China
• Design Partner: Thomas Wong
• Management Partner: Kevin McClurkan
• Project Designer: Margarita Calero
• Project Managers: Grace Chen, David Yu
• Design Team: Michael Chaveriat, Xiaoyun Mao, Miya Ruan, Lanxi Sun, Eric Tsui, Charles Wolf, Jiteng Yang
• Local Design Institute: CSADI
• Acoustics: Jaffe Holden Acoustics
• Theater: Auerbach Pollock Friedlander
• Area: 40000.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: San Labs for Ennead Architects, Ennead Architects

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Courtesy of OOPEAA

• Architects: OOPEAA
• Location: 60100 Seinäjoki, Finland
• Architect In Charge: Anssi Lassila
• Project Architect: Kazunori Yamaguchi
• Team : Juha Pakkala, Anne Kaivo-oja
• Area: 35.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Courtesy of OOPEAA

• Client: City of Seinäjoki
• Construction: Students of SEDU

Courtesy of OOPEAA

From the architect. The Periscope Tower is a giant wooden periscope structure that serves as an observation tower and engages the viewer in a dialogue with the landscape. With the help of a large mirror the Periscope Tower makes it possible for everyone to enjoy the views of the surrounding landscape. One can either climb up the stairs to enjoy the view over the lake and into the surrounding landscape from the viewing deck, or simply stay on the ground and get the view through the periscope mirror.

Diagram

Diagram

Made entirely of wood, the building is composed of an inner core of cross-laminated timber (CLT) and an external wooden frame that serves as a load bearing structure. The inner core made of CLT forms the frame for an extra large periscope with stairs circling around it. When taking the stairs up or down one can experience a rich range of different views framed by the various openings cut into the structure.

Courtesy of OOPEAA

The tower is composed of three prefabricated elements with the roof forming a fourth element. The facades and the stairs are made of larch. The details and the security netting are of steel. The idea was to create a simple wooden structure of high quality in a way that supports learning and reflects a commitment to empowering and strengthening the local community.

Section

The Periscope Tower is situated on the shore of a man-made lake that has been built on top of a hill in the vicinity of the center of the city of Seinäjoki. The man-made lake, Lake Kyrösjärvi, has been created in order to serve three main functions: to help keep the flooding in the plains of Ostrobothnia under control, to generate energy for the electric power plant serving the city of Seinäjoki, and to form an attractive site for a new residential area to be constructed on the shores of the lake. 120 000 square meters of new housing will be built there to provide homes for about 2000 people. The Periscope Tower is part of a larger landscape design project for reshaping the lakeshore, developed by OOPEAA for the Seinäjoki Housing Fair 2016. With the Periscope Tower, the aim is to activate the dam around the man-made lake and to turn it into a recreational area serving the residents of the new neighborhood to be constructed there as well as others living in Seinäjoki and the region at large. It will be connected to a broader network of recreational paths designed to be accessible to everyone.

Courtesy of OOPEAA

The Periscope Tower was commissioned by the City of Seinäjoki, realized in collaboration with SWECO Seinäjoki and constructed by the students of SEDU, a local vocational school for building and construction skills. It is part of the area developed for the annual Finnish Housing Fair to be held in Seinäjoki in 2016. The Periscope Tower will remain open to the public to enjoy also after the fair closes.

Courtesy of OOPEAA

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Today, thanks to our partnership with Sketchfab, we take you on a virtual tour of some of the most breathtaking historic fortresses across Europe. The design of castles and fortress complexes are particularly interesting because of their strategic siting and defense mechanisms. As strongholds of territorial claim, fortress complexes are meant to be self-sustaining in times of conflict and contain not only defense fortifications but a suite of supporting structures such as chapels, schools, and housing. This effectively turns fortress complexes into a village within a village. These richly detailed scans hosted on Sketchfab allow us to see in detail the urban planning strategies of different historic periods and places.

For a more immersive experience, all of these models can be viewed on a virtual reality headset such as Google Cardboard.

Portugal: Forte da Graça

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Portugal’s King Joseph ordered the Fortress of Our Lady of Grace to be constructed in 1763, and it’s considered to be a masterpiece of 18th century military architecture due to its multi-walled reinforcements. Located just a stone’s throw away from the Spanish border, the fortress occupies the highest hill in the region which may have been a contributing factor to its various military victories in the 1800s. The hill was once the site of the ancient Chapel of Our Lady of Grace which is the namesake for the fortress. The star-shaped structure has recently been appointed UNESCO World Heritage status.

Romania: Râșnov Fortress

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Located on a rocky hilltop of the Carpathian Mountains in Transylvania, the Râșnov Fortress sits 650 feet above an adjoining town. Dating as far back as the 12th century, the fortress was designed as a place of refuge for extended periods of time, containing nine towers, two bastions and a drawbridge. Having been used as a defensive fortress as late as the Revolution of 1848, the fortress was only ever forced to surrender once, in 1612.

Romania: Corvin Castle

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Castelul Corvilinor, as it is known in Romanian, is considered to be the most beautiful Gothic-style castle in Romania. The structure was originally built as a medieval keep on a former Roman Camp. It served as a fortress until the mid-14th century when it was transformed as the castle residence for Iancu of Hunedoara, Transylvania’s ruler at the time. The castle is well appointed with iconic Gothic elements such as high buttresses. It also contained rich inner courtyards and an impressive drawbridge. The infamous Vlad the Impaler is rumored to have been imprisoned in this castle. 

France: Château de Commarque

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The castle is part of a large complex in the Dordogne region of France. Beginning as a simple wooden tower in the 12th century, the site gradually grew into a vast complex over multiple phases of building. Strategically located at the intersection of two important thoroughfares, the Château was occupied during multiple wars in French history including the Hundred Years’ War. However, the complex came to be abandoned by the early 17th century. Thanks to its location in the Vezere valley, home of the world-famous Lascaux Caves, the Château coincidentally also sits above a cave containing a prehistoric painting.

Slovenia: Predjama Castle

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The most impressive aspect of this castle is its strategic sighting within a cave mouth, in its location in modern-day South Central Slovenia. Seemingly lodged into rock, the castle was reportedly difficult to access and easy to defend from attacking troops. The castle’s most famous resident is Erazam of Predjama, a knight and member of nobility who came into conflict with the powerful Habsburgs in the 15th century. The meandering tunnels and cavities of the cave proved useful to Erazam; one passage leads to a secret exit at the top of the cliff, which was used to bring supplies into the castle during a siege which lasted for a full year.

Belgium: Château de Reinhardstein

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The castle, which was built in 1354, is believed to have been built atop a much older preexisting Gallo-Celtic structure. The Burg Metternich, as it is alternatively known, has a long history of multiple contested changes of ownership between noble families in the region. However, the castle was in dismal state until its private owner began rehabilitation in the 1970s.

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© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

• Architects: Studio MK27 – Marcio Kogan + Samanta Cafardo
• Location: Guarujá, SP, Brazil
• Author: Marcio Kogan
• Co Author: Samanta Cafardo
• Project Team : Carlos Costa, Eline Ostyn, Laura Guedes, Mariana Ruzante, Mariana Simas, Oswaldo Pessano, Fernanda Neiva
• Area: 805.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2015
• Photographs: Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

• Interiors : Diana Radomysler
• Landscape Designer : Isabel Duprat
• Structure Engineer : Leão Associados, Eng. João Rubens Leão
• Mep: Grau Engenharia
• Contractor : Eng. Rogerio Biral

© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

The project is located on the paulista shore in the region of the Rain Forest and the land has a mountainous topography with dense vegetation. The introduction of this house to this landscape has the objective of optimizing the connection between architecture and nature, privileging the view looking out to the ocean and the incidence of sunlight in the internal spaces.  Furthermore, the positioning of the house on the site obeyed the previously-open area in the vegetation.   

© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

The main volume of the house is elevated from the ground and seems built into the topography.  The house, therefore, projects itself out from the mountain. The contact elements between the slope and the construction – as for example the wooden decks – were shaped to respect the existing land, thereby creating an organic interaction between nature and the architectural elements. In the part that it comes out of the mountain, the structure touches the ground with only two pillars.  

© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

The 3 floors of Jungle House create a clear programmatic division for the project: the ground floor houses a large covered wooden deck, connected to a small room for the children; on the first floor there are six bedrooms – five of them with small verandas with hammocks – and a tv room; the third and last floor is the social area of the house, including a swimming pool, a living room and the kitchen.    

© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

Plan

© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

Thus, the architecture defined an inverted vertical organization of the program when compared to what is usually done in single-family houses: while the pool and the social areas are on the roof, the bedrooms are located on the floor below. The deck is on the ground floor- protected by the projection of the house – is an ample and generous space that configures a shaded shelter for the children to play.  The utility rooms are also located on this story.          

© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

From the wooden deck on the ground floor starts the stairs to access the house volume that “interrupts” the concrete slab. Before entering the closed space, one passes an intermediary space, enveloped by concrete and which houses a luminous work by the artist Olafur Eliasson.  The interiors project sought to create a modern atmosphere, offering a cozy feeling necessary to remain in this tropical environment. 

© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

The landscape recomposes the native species.  When one is in the house, the relationship with the surrounding vegetation occurs not only through the view but also through the plants that surround the wooden decks.  On the ground floor, you can stroll in the midst of trees; on the first floor, light enters filtered through the tree-tops; and on the roof, there is the vegetation with the ocean in the background.  

© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

The architecture of the house privileged the use of exposed concrete and wood, as much in the interior spaces as well as the exterior.  The bedrooms have wooden sun-screens, small brises-soleil, mounted as folding doors that can be manipulated by the users according to the climactic needs.  

© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

In the Jungle House, the project began with a transversal cut which allowed for the positioning of the pool to be semi-built-in to the slab thereby not losing any area on the floor below.  Furthermore, the infinity pool as well as the raised border relative to the height of the deck makes it such that the view and the landscape serve as an extension of the pool waterline. To lessen the height of the top floor and thus get an external proportion more horizontal to this volume, the floor in the living room was lowered by 27 cm relative to the external wooden deck.   

© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

This last floor offers a spatial sensation which synthesizes the principles of the house: on one side, there is a deck which houses the hot tub and the sauna – where there is an intense relation between the architecture and the mountain and its vegetation; on the other side, a ground fireplace and the pool; in the center – between these two free spaces – is the living room open to both sides and with cross-ventilation.  This social space has a radical relation with nature, by means of both the view of the ocean as well as the proximity to the forest in the mountain.

© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

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Courtesy of The Australian Institute of Architects

The Australian Institute of Architects has announced the winners of its 2016 SA Architecture Awards, which honor projects undertaken by architects in South Australia that “[respond] to the challenges of today and needs of tomorrow.”

Winners have been sorted into 16 categories, such as Public Architecture, Commercial Architecture, and Sustainable Architecture.

The 2016 Winners of the SA Architecture Awards Are:

Public Architecture:

Jack McConnell Award – Stretton Centre / HASSELL

© Peter Bennetts

Commendation – Glenunga Hub / Greenway Architects

© David Sievers

Educational Architecture:

Dr John Mayfield Award – Flinders at Tonsley / HASSELL

© Sam Noonan

Commendation – Cardijn College Music Centre / Tridente Architects

© Simon Cecere

Residential Architecture – Houses (New):

The John S Chappel Award – West End Residence / Ashley Halliday Architects

© Ashley Halliday

Award – Tusmore Residence / Grieve Gillett Andersen


© Peter Barnes

Award – Grass Trees / Max Pritchard Gunner Architects


© Sam Noonan

Commendation – Friedrichstrasse House / Troppo Architects

© Ian Goss

Commendation – Waitpinga Retreat / Mountford Williamson Architecture

© Philip Handforth

Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations & Additions):

The John Schenk Award – Veil and Mortar / KHAB Architects

© Aaron Citti

Award – Fade to Grey / Grieve Gillett Andersen

© Sam Noonan

Commendation – LOCH / John Adam Architect

© John Adam

Commendation – Cawley Tree House / C4 Architects

© Peter Hoare

Residential Architecture – Multiple Housing:

Commendation – Gibson & 7th / Williams Burton Leopardi

© Christopher Morrison

Commercial Architecture:

Keith Neighbour Award – Base 64 / Williams Burton Leopardi


© Christopher Morrison

Award – South Australian Drill Core Reference Library / Thomson Rossi


© David Sievers

Commendation – Beresford Wines Cellar Door & Tasting Pavilion / Alexander Brown Architects

© Aly Brown

Heritage:

David Saunders Award – Base 64 / Williams Burton Leopardi


© Christopher Morrison

Award – Tonsley Main Assembly Building and Pods / Woods Bagot and Tridente Architects

© Sam Noonan

Commendation – Torrens Island Quarantine Station / Habitable Places


© Chris Woods

Commendation – Saint Francis Xavier Cathedral Pipe Organ Project / Grieve Gillett Andersen

© Philip Handforth

Interior Architecture:

Robert Dickson Award – Oggi / studio-gram


© David Sievers

Award – UniSA Student Lounge / Phillips/Pilkington Architects


© David Sievers

Award – Centre for Senior Learning, Pulteney Grammar School / Walter Brooke & Associates

© Sam Noonan

Commendation – Elders Head Office / JPE Design Studio

© David Sievers

Urban Design:

Commendation – Riverbank Bridge / Tonkin Zulaikha Greer, Taylor Cullity Lethlan and Aurecon

© John Gollings

Commendation – Tonsley / Oxigen


© Oxigen

Commendation – Henley Square Remade / T.C.L with Troppo Architects

© Philip Handforth

Small Project Architecture:

Marjorie Simpson Award – House on Mayfair / Grieve Gillett Anderson


© Sam Noonan

Award – 4 Structures at Henley Square / Troppo Architects and T.C.L

© Philip Handforth

Commendation – Waterfall Gully Shelter and Toilet Block / Flightpath Architects

© Corey Roberts

Sustainable Architecture:

Award – Tonsley Main Assembly Building and Pods / Woods Bagot and Tridente Architects

© Sam Noonan

Award – Tonsley / Oxigen

© Oxigen

Enduring Architecture:

Jack Cheesman Award – South Australian Forensic Science Centre / SA Public Buildings Department, Government of South Australia

© Kevin O'Sullivan

Colorbond® Award for Steel Architecture:

Award – South Australian Drill Core Reference Library / Thomson Rossi

© David Sievers

The City of Adelaide Prize:

Prize Winner – Pink Moon Saloon / Sans-Arc Studio


© David Sievers

Commendation – Zoos SA Nature’s Play Ground / Phillips/Pilkington Architects and WAX Design

© Dan Schultz

News via the Australian Institute of Architects.

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© Takuji Shimmura

For the last three centuries, museums -as an architectural typology- have transitioned from being an important node in the city to becoming an icon of identity for a whole culture. Museums have transformed into a civic landmark in a local and international scale.

This month we highlight the Estonian National Museum which not only proposes a strategy for meeting spaces and exhibition, but also stands as a cultural, historic and territorial recognition of the country. Placed as an extension of the ruins of an old aeronautical field used during the Soviet occupation, the museum contrasts it’s historic context with a new building that rises as the projection to a new reality and a national future.

Estonian National Museum / DGT Architects

Historic Location.

The proposal is located in a former aeronautical Soviet field with the purpose to recover this unoccupied space and expose it as part of the national memory. Considering the features that the territory offers, an extension of the field is proposed taking advantage of it’s scale, achieving a space that hosts several cultural activities and a new use for the territory that contrasts with the existing. All this with the purpose of projecting a new reality and desire of a great national future.

Courtesy of DGT Architects

© Arp Karm

These ideas are formally embodied as a large inclined roof ranging from 3 meters to 14 meters high. This structure connects the two main accesses that link symbolically the “new” with the “old” and at the same time leaving a free view to the interior so that the users can fully understand the length and scale of the building.

© Takuji Shimmura

© Takuji Shimmura

The choice of materials as enhancement of the climate and the national landscape.

The outer skin of the building was designed as translucent layers that maintain constant connection with the surrounding landscape. The glass facade protects from the rain, snow and extreme weather conditions. This is achieved with three layers of glass that regulate the temperature and allows the direct sunlight inside through the building’s south facade where the exhibition halls and the sheltered spaces are located. The curtain wall acts as a rain cover that conforms to the facade giving a sculptural feature to the traditional Estonian patterns and at the same time integrating the landscape environment as a constant in the territory and context.

© Takuji Shimmura

Courtesy of DGT Architects

© Takuji Shimmura

Courtesy of DGT Architects

The dimensions of the museum based on flexible use in the future.

The challenge for the architects was not only to contribute with a design for a new museum, but to give the community a space with all the attributes of a museum of the 21st Century, considering it not only as a storage and exhibition space but also a place for social interaction and cultural recognition, remembering that it was a lost space transformed into a series of public spaces.

Courtesy of DGT Architects

Courtesy of DGT Architects

Estonian National Museum / DGT Architects (Dorell.Ghotmeh.Tane)
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© Rune Johansen

• Architects: JAJA Architects
• Location: 7673 Harboøre, Denmark
• Area: 2000.0 sqm
• Project Year: 2016
• Photographs: Rune Johansen

• Engineering: Vision+
• Foundation: Lokale- og Anlægsfonden

© Rune Johansen

As small town communities often lack inviting and active public spaces, the Activity Landscape introduces a model for a low-cost sports hall that offer an outdoor and sheltered informal space that playfully encourage activity and recreation, all day and all year around.

© Rune Johansen

The first example of the Activity Landscape opened earlier this year and have become a popular focal point in Harboøre, DK. In contrary to traditional sports halls that are tailor-made for formal sports and mostly used during the winter, the Activity Landscape creates a seamless transition between the interior and exterior space, which opens up for a wider range of informal as well as formal usage. From in- and outdoor skating, soccer, flee-markets or concerts, the Activity Landscape offers a new type of public space where activity can extend beyond the sheltered space and out to the open.

© Rune Johansen

The design consists of two mail elements: The building and landscape.

Floor Plan

Cladded with translucent polycarbonate sheets on a basic structural frame, the building is essentially a large shelter that reduces glare while offering a natural ambient lighting indoors that accentuates the spatial relation to the outdoors.

© Rune Johansen

Hills of grass, asphalt and concrete undulate in, out and around creating a playful landscape that interacts with the building while encouraging a range of activities. The smooth asphalt and concrete hills, for instance, are perfect for skating and bicycling. The grass are better suited for climbing, running and tumbling down. Altogether, the hills and its surfaces creates an in- and outdoor spatial composition that encourage recreation and social interaction.

© Rune Johansen

Long Section

Model

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