Courtesy of HAEAHN Architecture and H Architecture
South-Korea-based Haeahn Architecture, in collaboration with New York’s H Architecture, has won the competition to design a new K-Pop Concert Hall in South Korea. Organized by the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation, the competition sought proposals for the renovation of the existing 1988 Olympic Gymnastics Arena, which is located within the Olympic Park in Seoul, Korea.
The arena not only holds historic significance with its role in the 1988 Olympics but is also “the premiere cultural performance venue of Korea,” with its location inside one of the largest man-made public parks in Korea.
Courtesy of HAEAHN Architecture and H Architecture
The design of the new K-Pop Concert Hall “was developed with the goal of establishing a new programmatic identity while preserving the historical and symbolic significance of the existing structure and façade as much as possible,” said the architects in a press release.
Courtesy of HAEAHN Architecture and H Architecture
The project will utilize the majority of the existing structure, but will expand the circular hall surrounding the edge of the building, to accommodate a wider range of retail and other event-related programs, as well as preparing it for any possible future expansions.
Courtesy of HAEAHN Architecture and H Architecture
Courtesy of HAEAHN Architecture and H Architecture
Much of the renovation will focus on the roof of the structure, which will be replaced by a “dynamic 3D truss system inspired by the form of a tornado, symbolizing the venue’s central role in the recent surge of global popularity of Korean pop culture” described the architects in a press release.
Courtesy of HAEAHN Architecture and H Architecture
Courtesy of HAEAHN Architecture and H Architecture
Courtesy of HAEAHN Architecture and H Architecture
As part of ArchDaily’s coverage of the 2016 Venice Biennale, we are presenting a series of articles written by the curators of the exhibitions and installations on show.
Commissioned by the Kuwaiti National Council of Culture Arts and Letters (NCCAL), Between East and West: A Gulf (BEWAG) began as series of questions – an exploration of points and territories that asks how the architect can imagine a scale beyond the national. The investigation of the hydrography of the Arabian/Persian Gulf and its islands reveals a realm forgotten between two coasts. Acting now as the liquid boundary between nations, the Gulf and its islands are the territories in which the identities of the coasts were initially formed. Prior to the discovery of oil, its waters were the source of livelihood for the region which was connected through trade, cultural exchange and commerce. The shallow body of water and the low sandbars that form its islands, create a shifting network of isolated and interconnected nodes. The Gulf island was inextricably linked to the movement of people and resources,yet of a scale and possible containment that allowed it to be planned and experimented upon throughout history. This meant that the island was the smallest plannable political and ecological space in the region.
As such, the Gulf is not a body of water, but a field site for the experimentation and creation of identity, culture, and ecology since antiquity. Its islands were utilized by their inhabitants, as well as those who viewed them from the coasts for the purposes of tourism, trade, hunting, and resource extraction. Shrines were built, wars were fought, and prisoners were exiled within their shores. Their scale and reliance on the hinterland of Arabia/Persia, or the distant coasts of India and East Africa, meant that these grounds were continually under the entrepreneurial gaze of the surrounding continents. The Gulf and its islands are part of one consistent landscape in which the edge condition and the notion of the limit are in flux. The result is a landscape defined by the ebb and flow of water and people, a conceivable realm whose utility was derived from the ability to imagine a purpose for islands.
As the states along the western coast of the Gulf developed in the twentieth century, the historical role of the body of water ceased to exist. Formerly a space of fluid movement and exchange, the Gulf became the dividing space between larger nationstates. The islands that dot this body of water are no longer part of a network, rather, they are isolated properties that serve only as divisive points of contestation, resolved by international arbitration. Yet the imaginary of the island did not end, and the logic of the island became so totalizing that it would go on to influence architectural and urban development within the region. The creation of artificial islands, free trade zones, isolated real estate ventures, or autonomous urban enclosures exhibit the ongoing fascination with the plannable. The island offers autonomy and totality but also a space of separation for reimagining the status quo. This trend continues today with the creation of the Palm and World islands in Dubai, the housing islands in Bahrain, and the new plan for Kuwait’s offshore territories, to name a few. The island in the Gulf has become the only space for imagining a scale beyond to the national, the only space for discourse or experimentation.
Tensions between regional countries have led to the investigation and the possibility that the Gulf islands hold an alternative to the current national framework. BEWAG takes these islands as possible points in a larger plan for the region. This year’s Kuwaiti participation at the 15th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia documents these islands and their histories, looking to understand the landscape that forms the Gulf, allowing the history of exchange and maritime fluidity to occur. It asks how the Gulf as a political and economic space can be re-planned through its islands, and reimagined as a space of exchange rather than division. The result is a master plan of islands – literally and conceptually.
An invitation was sent out and asked different architectural offices in the region to propose an instance within the larger framework of a masterplan. The notion of ‘masterplanning’ these islands, through variant architectural contributions, suggests that a territorial reimagining of a region can occur through the acupunctural structuring of points of contact and exchange. Such a concept runs precisely counter to the top-down planning approach of cities and countries in the Gulf, however such a subversion is necessary where a united effort is an unlikely proposition.
The exhibition showcases the islands of a “piecemeal masterplan”. This inhabitable map of a projective archipelago is not consistent, it is not holistic, it is not authored, nor is it a single vision. It leaves individuals and young offices from the region with two questions— what constitutes a masterplan and how can we plan for a new region?
The design submissions received range from the entrepreneurial to the ecological providing an insight into what is deemed an urgency that can be addressed by architectural agency. For a divided Gulf, a piecemeal masterplan of its islands offers the conscientious autonomy which is the only hope for political stability. By showcasing an alternate past and future for the region, the Kuwaiti Pavilion looks beyond the status quo of the national as unproductive framework for peace. The political issues associated with that framework are negotiated through an imaginary focused on exchange and connectivity rather than two coasts and the gulf between them.
Commissioner Zahra Ali Baba — National Council for Culture Arts and Letters / Kuwait(NCCAL)
Curators Hamed Bukhamseen, Ali Karimi
Art Director / Graphic Designer Fahad AlHunaif
Publication Coordinator / Editor Muneerah Alrabe
Project Designers & Research Architects Saphiya Abu Almaati, Shahab Albahar, Mai Albusairi, Nada Alqallaf, Rawan Alsaffar, Yousef Awaad Hussein
Financial Team Mohammed Al Ajmi, Mohammed Al Jameel
Administrative Team Abdullah Albeeshi (Head of team), Noora Al Musallam, Jaber Al Qallaf, Jassim Al Shamali
With exhibited design contributions from AGi Architects, Behemoth Press with Matteo Mannini Architects, Design Earth, ESAS Architects, Fortune Penniman with Studio Bound, PAD10, and X-Architects. With written contributions by Fahad Bishara, Ahmed Makia, Fatma Sahlawi & Rashid bin Shabib, Rand Abduljabbar & Maitha Mezroui, Nesrin Tabatabai & Babak Afrassiabi, Noor Boushehri, Abdulatif Al-Mishari.
+ To introduce new cultural and digital uses, proposed by the author of the project, that compensate the lack of cultural equipments within the area and that ensure a self sustained activity and maintenance of the building.
Methodology: Main landmarks in the research process for this building has been: 2002: Invited by Spanish Ministry of Public Works to a restricted competition to propose future use and architectural refurbishment of the Garcimuñoz Castle ruins. We analyzed the lack of public and cultural equipment in the area and the seasonal flows of visitors through national statistics.
2003-2005: Tight work with engineers to define a project that could be completely dismantled and reassembled elsewhere. Increase of the number of structural elements to reduce their weight. Research on the compatibility of micropiling with archeological remains. Research on bioclimatic techniques that could be implemented in the Castle. Research in this period was mainly base in design, calculation and analyze of existing buildings. In 2005 the execution project is presented and pre-approved.
2005-2008: Justification of legal requirements for public buildings. In 2006 the actual Technical Building Code became effective. During two years we had to proof to implied authorities how the design was accomplishing through alternative means all legal and safety conditions. Type of work was base in calculation (evacuation times, resistance of particular architectural elements).
2008-2010: Although contract with contractor is signed up at the end 2008 factual works in the site began on March 2010. In the meanwhile there was a tight work with the metal company FERROALUPAL producing first set of prototypes.
2010-2013: Site supervision works. Complexity of building and context demand mixed methodologies: building production, trial and error, manufacturing techniques, digital methods and plenty of prototyping.
Matteo Cainer Architects revealed their vision for the Suncheon Art Platform, a new arts, visitor and cultural center in South Korea. Invoking the historic symbol of the boundary city wall, the proposal “inverts this idea to protect the natural habitat from the ever expanding city.” The proposal was developed for the Suncheon Art Platform competition, won by Studio MADe, presenting a powerful alternate response to the competition’s brief.
The new cultural center is situated at the periphery of the Old City, among the traces of the old Suncheon Wall. Drawing upon the concept of the wall, the building rises up in one continuous sweeping motion, enclosing a garden and event space at its center. The circular volume rises at certain points to allow permeability between the center and its surroundings, presenting four “gates” for users to pass through.
Courtesy of Matteo Cainer
The center is programmed to host an array of cultural, educational and community events, both within the building envelope and the transformative garden. The building is comprised of a series of composite spaces, which have the flexibility to host everything from professional facilities to gallery spaces, social spaces and meeting points. The center will promote research, preservation and education, providing a place for visitors to actively engage and learn or alternatively, simply sit and disconnect.
Courtesy of Matteo Cainer
Dialogue between the building and the natural environment is encouraged through floor to ceiling glazing on both the external and internal facades. The green space enclosed within becomes an oasis, linking the space to the mountains and wetlands. The landscape is raised to provide a buffer to the urban condition which borders it, with the infill creating an internally facing amphitheater.
The design took sustainability into high consideration and delivers a passive internal environment. The partially exposed concrete envelope provides thermal mass, while the overall energy consumption is lowered by natural/displacement ventilation and efficient lighting systems. The building’s heat gain is regulated by digitally controlled external sunshades. The roof design is inspired by the traditional Korean Hanok, which facilitates rainwater collection and the reuse of grey water.
The hotel is situated in the new business park, Sola Park, by the airport, near the Sola beach and the sea. The business park is being built around airport related activity. Next to the hotel is a training center for helicopter pilots.
The hotel is a conference hotel, and the airport a hub in the regional web. The idea is that airborne conference guest have their meetings here by the airport and don’t have to travel into the city centre.
The buildings in the business park are gathered around a square, that gives a common spatial reference. The other buildings are 3 – 5 floors and the hotel is the campanile of the square with 10 floors.
The hotel is inspired by the generous landscape in the area; the low horizon and the huge skies. The communal functions are located in the dark ground floor; inspired by the rich soil. The rooms are located in the floors above, behind a light and bright facade; inspired by the tall sky and passing clouds.
Section
The two parts of the facade is elaborated in materials and detailing. The ground floor is made in dark wood, with a tactile surface that gives a bodily reference to the building’s interaction with the ground. Above this the facade is bright with a crystalline surface that reflects light and clouds in ever changing colour shades. This gives the large volume lightness and dissolves the silhouette towards the sky.
The hotel is based on the classic values for design. A low horizontal part creates an atrium and gives ‘garden view’ to the rooms around it. The tower gives ‘panoramic view’ to the rooms on the rising floors. In total there are 296 rooms.
The tall main floor gathers all the communal functions around the 1000m2 large atrium. From the entrance one is welcomed by a central, open reception. To the right is the living room, to the left the bar and the Kitchen &Table restaurant. The atrium is open in all 3 floors and let the mild northern light in through 3 large skylights. The conference part has a large auditorium for 1250 persons and several medium and smaller meeting rooms connected to the atrium.
The top floor has the most precious meeting facilities. Here is also a cafe and a cantilevered balcony. It is facing west and takes in the beautiful view to the beaches, the sea and the horizon.
The hotel is built up around several, different meeting places. The idea is to stimulate meetings, planned or informal; small or large exchanges of ideas and knowledge. It is made for spatial richness, that gives the places depth and quality as inspiration to the meetings.
Being the first commercial boxing gym in the region, The Burrow introduces a modern combination of boxing exercises to Kuwait. The gym is composed of a welcoming lobby, semi-private workout halls, a boxing arena and an elevated cross fit area. While designing the space, the key factor was in emphasizing a natural flow of movement and the element of surprise.
In order to reach the main workout area, members have to take a relatively narrow corridor, passing by the locker area and into the main workout hall. In contrast to the corridor, the spacious workout area embraces an elevated boxing ring in it’s center. The boxing ring is dramatically lit with nine pendant lights to highlight it’s importance in the facility. The workout area & classrooms were designed in a way to serve versatile activities. The mezzanine level creates an additional workout space, and a balcony with a clear view of the boxing ring.
The materials were inspired by the retro boxing gyms, which were usually direct without any extensive decorations. Therefore, the materials used were a combination of concrete blocks, subway tiles, steel, and hints of natural wood. To guarantee a crisp day atmosphere, that would usually differ from the evening ambiance, skylight openings were introduced on the northern walls to allow for diffused natural light. Curved glass corners were used in the corridors, thereby ensuring a welcoming clear route between the entrance, lockers, and main workout area.
From the architect. Celebrating coffee’s intangible pleasures, Alberto Caiola translates coffee’s aromatic vapors into a sculptural ceiling that is the centrepiece for this café in Shanghai. Gently sloping away from the counter, the striking installation becomes at once canopy and stage for baristas to perform their art.
Rich and dark in color, the ceiling’s ‘fumes’ evoke the depth of the drink itself, winding up and beyond the venue’s glass façade. Lending a sense of movement to the entire space, the installation creates a partially covered area for attractive outdoor seating in warmer weather.
Plan
An eye-catching wall installation comprises an explosion of iconic Moka coffee pots in various sizes. Their presence is intensified by a large mirror spanning the space, amplifying the objects to a kind of love letter to Italy’s signature brew.
To create the illusion of a larger space, furniture is finished with a reflective surface. The design approach sees fittings effectively blend in to their surroundings, all the while offering alternative vistas to guests both standing and seated.
Seating areas are partitioned to allow for a diversity of functions. When viewed from outside, a large window frame accommodates customers both inside and out. Meanwhile, an inside communal table is positioned in the middle of the space. Additional bar stool seating lines the right hand side of the café.
A stark combination of textures creates contrast, with sleek new elements positioned against stripped walls exposing the building’s shikumen bricks [a traditional, turn-of-the-century housing style, typical of Shanghai]. Painted white to best reflect natural light, they complement the space’s bi-folding window for a comfortable guest experience.
Steady levels of demand in commercial and retail sectors and a strong multi-family housing market has seen the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) rise to it’s highest point in nearly a year. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) reported the May ABI score was 53.1, up sharply from the mark of 50.6 in the previous month. This score reflects an increase in design services (any score above 50 indicates an increase in billings). The new projects inquiry index was 60.1, up from a reading of 56.9 the previous month.
“Demand levels are solid across the board for all project types at the moment. Of particular note, the recent surge in design activity for institutional projects could be a harbinger of a new round of growth in the broader construction industry in the months ahead,” said AIA Chief Economist, Kermit Baker, Hon. AIA, PhD.
As a leading economic indicator of construction activity, the ABI reflects the approximate nine to twelve month lead time between architecture billings and construction spending. Regional and sector categories are calculated as a 3-month moving average, whereas the index and inquiries are monthly numbers.
CITY, NEIGHBORHOOD AND CONDITIONS The construction of buildings by private promotion which has place in the center of Alicante transforms streets deforming traditional architecture and making her without dignity they had in the past. Example of this is the Calderon street, which had been formly developed with a structure of three-storey buildings and the General Plan condemned to allow the demolition of five-story buildings. When it was done, the street lost its character and for this reason a plane concordance with the environment had any sense. On the other hand, the adjacent public street is fast and very loud due to the intense commercial activity. The shape of the plots, with small façade and a lot of depth that could build, allowed ventilate of few external parts.
GENERAL PLAN AND FORMALIZATION The Vernacular Architecture of Alicante used glazed balconies to retain solar heat. During the summer, glazed balconies can remain open to provide air circulation.
The facade of the building keep heat in winter and can be fully open in summer protected from the sun by eaves and exterior curtains. Cross ventilation is obtained by a small semicircular patio.
Section
The building “La Serre” create a greenhouse as a transitional space between inside and outside. It works as a filter for the views of neighboring buildings, proposing a garden space between two glass planes as background perspective. Moreover, an acoustic insulation from the traffic is obtained.
HOUSE In total 5 houses are built. The day areas can be integrated or divided by sliding panels what makes the space flexible and easy to transform. Night areas are located on the back, protecting from aggressive outside noise.
CONSTRUCTION PROCESS AND MATERIALS. Construction materials: plasterboard, bleached wood, dolomite and oak, cover both humid areas and rooms, so the spatial perception is continuous.
The double parts system is solved by an interior carpentry anodized aluminum and a curtain of glass without carpentry. All the metal carpentry which is presented in construction was assembled before.
Courtesy of The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)
The Royal Institute of British Architects’ (RIBA)Future Trends Survey for May 2016 has reported modest changes from April results, with the private housing sector remaining the strongest driver of growth. While the public sector is yet to see improvement, practices showed an overall confidence for future workloads, with North England continuing to remain the most positive. The survey, established in 2009, uses a geographically representative sample of mixed-size practices “to monitor business and employment trends affecting the architects’ profession.”
The RIBA Future Trends Workload Index saw an increase of +1 from April to May, with a balance of +30, showing that practices remain confident about their workloads for the coming three months. North England, with a balance figure of +48 in May, has consistently reported the most positive predictions in recent months. Comparatively, London was more reserved, with a reported figure of +20. The definition for the balance figure is the difference between those expecting more work and those expecting less.
When broken down by practice size, large firms have reported the highest level of confidence, with a balance figure of +83. Following this, small sized firms (balance figure +29) and medium firms (balance figure +27) remain firmly in the positive spectrum.
This significantly outlying result from large firms is not translated to the Future Trends Staffing Index, where they reported a zero balance figure. Small firms reported a figure of +11, and medium firms +14.
Despite a slight drop from +33 to +29 in the sector index, private housing remains the dominant workload driver. The decrease was offset by a modest increase in the commercial sector, which rose to +15 from +11 in April. The lowest two performing sectors remain the public sector, which moved up from -1 in April to +1 in May, and community sector which saw a modest drop, down to -1 from +3.
Full results of the survey, including a graphical analysis, can be viewed here, and is updated each month.
Sig Nordal 