Pei Partnership Architects, in collaboration with Guangzhou HSArchitects, has been selected as the winner of an international design competition for the Nanhai Cultural Center in the Nanhai District of Foshan, China. The winning design seeks to create a “New Civic Plaza” connecting a variety of cultural program elements through a balance of structure and void.
Courtesy of Pei Partnership Architects
To be located on a 400 meter long, 150 meter wide lot facing the Qiandeng Lake Park, the 130,000 square meter (1,400,000 square foot) complex will contain a library, arts and science exhibition spaces, sports facilities, and performance halls, among other cultural amenities. Bound by heavily trafficked roads, subways and bus station transit hubs, the design challenge was to go beyond architectural building design into organizing of the greater urban fabric.
Courtesy of Pei Partnership Architects
Courtesy of Pei Partnership Architects
This is achieved by a creating a balance of structure and void within the cultural complex, a philosophy that is inherent to the Chinese concept of space and cultivation of culture
“The concept of space in the Chinese language describes that the open void is no less important than the physical being. Similarly, Chinese calligraphy emphasizes a balanced void and stroke, sometimes even a deliberate void that complements the stroke to enhance its existence,” explain the architects.
“The space which enables the people to gather and exchange ideas freely is the key element of the formation of culture. Most importantly, it shall be an open assembly space without predefined programs.”
Courtesy of Pei Partnership Architects
Courtesy of Pei Partnership Architects
“Based on the perception of cultural formation and the dialogue with the contextual urban fabric, we conclude that the central space of Nanhai Cultural Center should be a “void” that provides a welcoming gesture to the public at all times: a 24-7 opened yet sheltered “New Civic Plaza”. Thus, the most essential core area of the cultural center is dedicated to the open public and it shall be a sincere architectural response for the community.”
Courtesy of Pei Partnership Architects
Courtesy of Pei Partnership Architects
The “New Civic Plaza” will be pervasive throughout the complex, organized around a “decentralized” unit typology inspired by vernacular architecture that allows southeastern wind to pass through each unit and offers shaded areas to protect visitors from the blazing sun.
“Capturing the mountain, the river, and the cloud of Guangzhou Lingnan region along with the imprint of local traditional dwellings, we try to elevate the poetic grace in the project for Nanhai through implementation of the metaphysical instead of the physical form,” the architects explain.
Courtesy of Pei Partnership Architects
Courtesy of Pei Partnership Architects
“The historical heritage is carefully interpreted and preserved in the New Nanhai Cultural Center for generations to come.”
From the architect. Located at the rear of brazilian actor Eduardo Okamoto’s home, the building houses the theater producer’s office of SIM!Cultura as well as the owner’s studio.
The working space is inside a masonry white box which also contains a guest room / dressing room on the ground floor and an office on the upper floor.
This white masonry box is located inside a warehouse which has hinged doors at the front and rear constructed of aluminum overlaid with alveolar polycarbonate sheet.
In addition to serving as closures and providing both illumination and ventilation as needed, these doors also can be opened and closed as part of a theatrical performance.
In the actor’s own words expressing his appreciation to the architect:
“… And, most importantly, beyond its beauty I feel the space will save me years in theatrical research. The architecture, condensed as it is to its essential core opens new scenic perspectives and truly stirs my emotions. Many times I look at these studio shapes and lose myself in meditation and the simplicity of the architectural lines calm me. Soon I hope to persuade the architect to design sceneries for my stage plays.”
“Greeted with hostility and derided as a Modernist affront when it was first proposed as the main entrance to Paris’ Musée du Louvre, the project was born of President François Mitterrand’s quest to modernize the Louvre in the early 1980s,” commented the AIA. “Pei’s pyramid thrust the 800-year-old Palais complex into the modern era while simultaneously making the museum more accessible to larger crowds. To execute the project, Pei wove together an unprecedented amount of cultural sensitivity, political acumen, innovation, and preservation skill.”
This year’s jury for the award included: Mark Reddington, FAIA (Chair), LMN Architects; Gregory P. Baker, AIA, HNTB Architecture; David Cordaro, AIAS Representative; Leslie K. Elkins, FAIA, Leslie K. Elkins Architect; Timothy J. Johnson, AIA, NBBJ; William Q. Sabatini, FAIA, Dekker/Perich/Sabatini; Adrian D. Smith, FAIA, Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture; Beatrice Spolidoro, Assoc. AIA, Rothschild Doyno Collaborative and Marilyn Terranova, PhD, Interim Superintendent, Pocantico Hills CSD.
The new police station is located on the outskirts of the neighborhood in a zone reserved for council buildings. The proposal is placed in a pre-existing grove of magnificent beech trees that determine the main decisions for the project. The main building mass is concentrated at the north end of the site, in the unoccupied area, while the car park is organized around the grove. The remainder of the site forms a green cushion that separates the building from the road becoming a transition space for the visitors.
Site Plan
The building
The building is separated from the street by no more than a wooded garden. There are no railings to bar the public. The police should be seen to be accessible and friendly. A compact, horizontal, abstract and introverted volume is proposed due to the requirements of high-security, use and flexibility of the program. The public entrance is formed by raising the head at one of the ends of the building forming a large access porch. The staff entrance is placed at the opposite end of the main facade.
Once inside everything changes. A system of double height spaces and patios organize the private zones and flood the interior with light. The color white becomes the main player. Its texture changes to differentiate the different walls: textured concrete for the exterior, polished stone on the floor, white brick and wood for the walls, perfect white for the ceiling…
The lightness of the interior is also reflected in the organization of the building. The program is ordered around strict hierarchical and functional criteria.
A longitudinal spine-like scheme ordered around the patios orders the program in plan and establishes a clear transition between the public and the private.
From the architect. The architecture of the House 28 presents as an extension of the arid and lush landscape from the Cerrado Biome. A family that sought tranquility and connection with nature commissioned this urban refuge located 10 minutes away from the national congress of Brasilia.
The area of 7000 m2 enabled to spread 850m2 of construction on the ground. Gardens permeate the volumetry and generous windows of wood and glass connect the experience to the landscape.
Varieties of perspectives are revealed while walking through the house. The rooms have different heights that confirm a spatial hierarchy. Extensive walls, coated with polymer mortar, define fluid spaces and openings positioned in all directions integrate the living areas. The large windows frames are mostly positioned east west and the walls north south. This orientation allows a dramatic natural light effect during Sunshine / sunset and open views across the house.
Independent bedrooms facing east ensure privacy for family members. All three suites have a balcony and a metal trellis for climbing plants. The Windows there, when opened, serve as seats either for the bedroom and balcony.
The landscape colors continue in the house materials: the tile floor and walls coated fulget has the same color of the reddish earth of Brasilia. The window frames and the lining of Ipe wood, confirm the sense of belonging. The metal roof structure in corten steel also mimic among vegetation.
There are three Colored Carpets tiles with geometric designs where the use of traditional woven carpet would be impractical: entrance, kitchen and dining room.
Ground Floor
Next to the terrace under an old Jatoba tree, there is a rectangular pool coated with white regional marble. It is a conversation pool with a bench along its entire length and flanked by wooden deck.
The house has mixed structure: concrete pillars and cover in metallic structure. Rainwater collected by the coverage is directed to an underground reservoir serving the garden irrigation during dry period. Solar panels heat the water and the pool throughout the year and tilting windows allow cross ventilation and natural light in every room.
For the interior, a playful and relaxed spirit with pieces designed by the architect Samuel Lamas and masters of Brazilian and international design: Sergio Rodrigues, Jorge Zalszupin, Tenreiro, Jean Gillon, Geraldo de Barros, Lucio Costa, Lina Bo Bardi, Campana brothers, Vico Magistretti, Charles Eames, Antonio Bonet, Pollock and Achile Castiglioni among others.
The landscaping is an extension of the Woods with native trees and shrubs masses that flourish throughout the year to attract birds. In the central garden, a native tree Erythrina Mulungu, known as coral tree, will often bring to the Entrance hall, the view of a carpet of red flowers.
Danish architect Jan Gehl is a world renowned expert in all things related to urban design and public spaces. He obtained this expertise by publishing numerous books, and later, from his consulting firm Gehl Architects that he founded in Copenhagen, his hometown, to make cities for people. The firm celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2016.
During a recent visit to New York, Gehl gave a lecture at the Van Alen Institute, which takes a very similar approach to the importance of design in the quality of life of people. The architect discussed five tips that were published by Fast Co.Design and explained what he believes is the way to go about having livable, healthy, safe and sustainable cities.
The 5 points he mentioned are:
1. Stop Building ‘Architecture for Cheap Gasoline’
Climate change and public health are two factors that Jan Gehl says should be of utmost importance to planners, especially considering that “for 50 years, we made cities in such a way that people are almost forced to sit down all day in their cars, in their offices, or in their homes. This has led to serious situations health-wise.”
What causes that? According to Gehl, it is cars and the availability of cheap gasoline that created the suburban construction period, but when gas starts to become more expensive, it’s no longer a good idea.
This line of thinking is reflected in a recent study published in The Lancet which found that those living in city centers have a longer life expectancy than those living in the outside areas because they walk more often over the course of their lives when making their daily commutes.
The research was conducted on 6,822 people from 14 cities in ten countries with participants who were between 18 and 66 years old. The studied noted, among other things, each person’s ability to walk and their access to public transport and parks.
In 2009, the City of Copenhagen enacted “A Metropolis for People“, a plant inspired by a theory from Gehl Architects that allowed for the design of a vision and goals for urban life in the Danish capital in 2015.
Thanks to that, we’re able to see that six years ago public figures in Copenhagen set out to make it the most livable city in the world, ie. a sustainable city in which, through their public spaces, people are invited to have a unique and diverse life.
To move towards this goal, the plan was structured in three main components: walking more, spending more time in public spaces and getting out of “private cocoons” more. As Gehl explained during his stay in New York, this made the city more exciting, interesting and safer, as well as promoted social inclusion.
To explain this point, Gehl uses Venice and Brasilia as examples, stating that if you want to have an experience where the senses are active and therefore, more pleasing, you should visit the former. However, if you don’t want something like that, go to the Brazilian capital city.
These examples show how people living there have lost the opportunity to enjoy their surroundings through their senses, since as Gehl says “we have broken all the rules to make automobiles happy.”
In contrast, what cities should be doing is building around the body and senses of human beings to take advantage of our capabilities, so that people can enjoy their cities to their fullest potential.
4. Make Public Transportation More Equitable
Promoting equality in cities has become a mission in various parts of the world. We can achieve more equality if public transport becomes accessible, efficient, and a reasonable alternative to cars.
This way, people who live in the suburbs, because the land there is cheaper and more suited to their income, don’t need to spend so much of their budget on transportation, something that people who currently live in city centers don’t need to worry about.
According to Gehl, the car is not a smart way of getting around, especially in cities that have populations of 10 million or more, like in South America, Africa, and Asia.
In the latter region, Gehl uses Singapore as an example, by saying that it is a very small island, and as a result of the large number of cars there is almost no more free space on the streets, even when in a dense city it’s possible to get everywhere much faster either on foot or by bicycle.
He also argues that “it is no secret that the good days of the automobile are over.”
Observing the architectural landscape today it’s clear that the type of work which is currently ascendant, particularly among young practices, is very different to what came before the financial crisis of 2008. But what, exactly, does that architectural landscape look like? In an essay titled “Well into the 21st Century” in the latest issue of El Croquis, Alejandro Zaera-Polo outlined a 21st-century taxonomy of architecture, attempting to define and categorize the various new forms of practice that have grown in popularity in the years since—and as a political response to—the economic crisis.
The categories defined by Zaera-Polo encompass seven broad political positions: The “Activists,” who reject architecture’s dependence on market forces by operating largely outside the market, with a focus on community building projects, direct engagement with construction, and non-conventional funding strategies; then there are the “Populists,” whose work is calibrated to reconnect with the populace thanks to a media-friendly, diagrammatic approach to architectural form; next are the “New Historicists,” whose riposte to the “end of history” hailed by neoliberalism is an embrace of historically-informed design; the “Skeptics,” whose existential response to the collapse of the system is in part a return to postmodern critical discourse and in part an exploration of contingency and playfulness through an architecture of artificial materials and bright colors; the “Material Fundamentalists,” who returned to a tactile and virtuoso use of materials in response to the visual spectacle of pre-crash architecture; practitioners of “Austerity Chic,” a kind of architectural “normcore” (to borrow a term from fashion) which focuses primarily on the production process, and resulting performance, of architecture; and finally the “Techno-Critical,” a group of practices largely producing speculative architecture, whose work builds upon but also remains critical of the data-driven parametricism of their predecessors.
As a follow-up to that essay, Zaera-Polo and Guillermo Fernandez-Abascal set out to apply the newly-defined categories to the emerging practices of today with a nuanced “political compass” diagram. They invited practices to respond to their categorization in order to unveil the complex interdependencies and self-image of these political stances. For the first time, here ArchDaily publishes the results of that exercise.
During the last decade, there has been a growing interest within the architectural debate about the possibility of a political re-engagement of the discipline, a subject which had been remarkably absent from the disciplinary debate since the 1970s, but which seems to be back in the spotlight.
Based on the political categories outlined in the text “Well into the 21st Century,” published in El Croquis 187, and deeply inspired by the infamous diagram from Charles Jencks in Architecture 2000, we set out to make a synchronic map of contemporary emerging architectural practices.
We have selected 181 world-wide emerging practices, which we have located on a dial where the political categories were laid out, trying to set their adjacencies with some sense of continuity. Starting from the Techno-critical, we move clockwise to the Technocratic, then to the Cosmopolitical, then to the Austerity-chic, Activists and then to the Material Fundamentalists, Constitutionalists, Historicists, Revisionists, Skeptics and finally to the Populists.
We mapped the emerging architectural practices following their estimated political inclinations inside a circular field comprised in the dial. While there was an interesting adjacency between the different political categories, and we could place them nicely around the circular field, some of them had to be placed in less evident adjacencies.
The difficulties of locating the practices are evident: some of the practices were often bridging non-adjacent categories, so they were difficult to locate. Practices are not homogeneous and sometimes shift positions between projects and sometimes, between partners. We nevertheless tried to place every one of the emerging practices that we thought were significant on the map, to the best of our judgment, which is obviously limited. This is Version 0.1, so we will hopefully do later iterations where a different mapping technique could be used, further categories added or more precise information about the practices can be included.
Then we asked all practices for a self-assessment, so we could see the deviation between our estimated location and their desired one. We sent the practices a list of the political categories and the empty compass, deleting the names of the practices that we had located, so they could position themselves without being affected by the proximity of other practices, or by our own hypothesis about their location.
We asked them to position themselves on the map: the closer they locate to the outer border of the compass, the more orthodox they consider themselves in respect to the neighboring category; the closer they go to the center of the circle, the more hybridized they would consider themselves.
Assemble take an "Activist" stance in their work. This is reflected not only through the production method which focuses on communities and self-building, but also in the aesthetic, which uses traditional forms and soft, pastel colors. Image Courtesy of Assemble
Analysis of Data
101 practices entered into the self-assessment (56%).
50% of the practices placed themselves graphically. The other half seemed to be more comfortable with a verbal description of their position in respect to the categories.
15% matched almost exactly our hypothetic location.
20% located themselves close to our hypothetical location, mostly tending toward the center or toward neighboring categories.
20% placed themselves in a different location, with a general tendency toward a more central, hybridized location, many of them pointing towards the “Cosmopolitical” category.
10% set themselves in an opposite area.
5% said that they do not fit into any of the categories, and proposed alternative categories for their own practice. “Utopian” and “Pragmatic” are some of the requested political grounds which were not available.
5% wanted to be into two categories or in overlaps which were currently unavailable in the map.
<5% suggested different positions for each of the partners.
5% asked for a change of their political location after seeing our full compass hypothesis.
<5% distributed their projects over the map saying every project has a different political stance and there is no overarching political stance in their practice, as it is related to the specific situation of the project.
<5% were happy with any location we gave them.
<5% described their practice according how they approach each category.
<5% provided specific coordinates of their location or suggested that a more precise geometrical diagram could simplify their answer.
5% expressed interest but did not send any answer.
5% showed gratitude for including them but refused to participate because of being extremely busy or because they considered the experiment inadequate to capture the profession, irrelevant, or they thought the categories were subjective, imprecise and disputed.
There is a logical reluctance in the practices to accept our categorization. Given the current resurgence in politics in architecture, we expected emerging practices to have a more ideological stance to practice than the previous generation. Instead, we noticed a general refusal to take a clear stance. Perhaps our categories were not sufficiently varied. Some practices requested the category “Utopian” which was missing from the reference text, and the categories on offer. This was particularly true of those in the categories of the Activists and the Populists. We had excluded Utopianism simply because we do not believe any of the practices included can be considered truly utopian. We do believe there may be Utopian practices in architecture today but rarely within the selection of practicing architects which we have adopted for our analysis.
There were several requests for a “Pragmatic” label, as if Realpolitik was still alive and well within the emerging generation, despite the general claim for a more “engaged” architectural practice. We had deliberately avoided Pragmatism as a political option, as it was one of the most common claims of the previous generation of “neo-liberal” practices, and it appears to imply a lack of a strong ideological conviction as a driver of the practice. However, several practices appear to reclaim pragmatism as a political stance, even referring to authorities such as Latour, Marres, etc. Perhaps a difference should be made between ideological and tactical politics in further iterations of this experiment. Many of the practices tended to express a wish to move toward the center of the chart, to remain in a more ambiguous position, including those positions which claimed that every project develops its own political stance. Some of them even claimed that every partner has a different political stance, which is both probably true and interesting.
Other than the tendency toward the center, Activism and Cosmopolitical are some of the most coveted locations for emerging practices. Those located in the Populist area did not agree with their location and tended to complain of oversimplification of their position. This may very well be true, as populism is more of a style of delivery and we ourselves believe that, while it may be predominant in some practices, we can probably have populists among the Cosmopoliticals, the Activists or the Material Fundamentalists.
Those practices that we have located in the Material Fundamentalism or the Cosmopolitical tended not to respond to the experiment by a large margin. The same is true for the people we located within the Activist and Austerity proponents. That seems to be consistent with their political stance of prioritizing the actual building itself, the cosmos or the engagement with the community…
The Global compass was not as global as we had wanted: we did not manage to engage a sufficient number of Asian practices, despite their disproportionate weight in the global construction output by comparison with other regions in the world. The scarce engagement of Asian practices in the study may be an index of a general disbelief in architectural politics, or perhaps the reluctance to engage with a possibly too-Western political perspective.
80% of the contributors expressed a positive attitude towards the classification. Even some of the ones who refused to take part in the quest qualified the experiment as “nice,” “intriguing,” “amazing,” “maniac,” “genial,” “funny,” “great,” “very cool,” “super interesting,” or “fascinating,” and they appeared to like the fact that a magazine best known for monographs of established architects was willing to open this debate. To all those who engaged in the experiment, in whatever form, our deepest gratitude. We hope to continue the debate that was initiated here with all of them, to produce more sophisticated versions of this map.
Completed in 1932, Maison de Verre—or “House of Glass”—has become a prime example of modern architecture, despite the fact that not many people have actually seen the hidden treasure, located on Paris’ Left Bank.
Although his work is currently viewed in high regard, Chareau had a tumultuous career, with large variances between his successes and his failures.
Drawing from a Cultured Magazine spotlight article on the designer, we have compiled a list of facts about Chareau’s life and career that showcase the rollercoaster of his success.
Continue reading for the 10 things you didn’t know about Pierre Chareau.
1. Chareau failed his entrance exams at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
2. Because he failed these exams, Chareau took a job at a Paris-based British furniture manufacturer as an apprentice, and eventually became head designer.
9. After migrating to New York from Paris, Chareau designed the Motherwell House in 1946. Bad press for the project led to a decline in work for the designer, so he made money by giving cooking lessons to wealthy Americans and by selling art from his personal collection.
10. In the 1950s, Chareau sought out a show at MoMA, but was rejected by the museum’s director of architecture, Philip Johnson.
From the architect. Because of its position on the corner of the Sint-Jakobstraat and the Ezelstraat in the centre of Bruges, this historical building with a former wedding shop and related sewing workshop, did not have any significant garden or outdoor space, and therefore suffered from a lack of daylight.
The plot was stoned, giving place to a much larger and pleasant courtyard. A new glazed staircase was introduced to organise the circulation towards the different components of the program. The staircase was made up of prefabricated white concrete slabs, inserted in a white steel structure and finished with a glazed curtain wall.
The execution was well prepared because of the complexity of the site and the busy but small road. The steel structure was developped as a series of stacked prefabricated steel cages, which could be easily transported, lifted and assembled on site.
Section
The design aims for a high degree of durability, which is a chalenge in the historical UNESCO centre of Bruges. To preserve the original facade the insulation was placed on the inside, combined with the use of additional windows in line with the insulation.
A few simple operations provide an attractive shopping space.
Starting from the structural logics, a double heigt space is introduced in the shopat the front, providing attractive relations between the different shopping surfaces.
With nearly 25 million inhabitants the Chinese city of Shanghai is currently the most populous city in the world and, in addition, has a central library system that dates back to the mid 19th Century. A new city library, designed by Danish practice Schmidt Hammer Lassen and won following a two-stage international competition, will provide 110,000 square meters of space in the Pudong District and adjacent to Century Park – the largest green space in the city.
According to the practice, the project has been conceived as a “singular monolithic object floating above the tree canopy within the park.” The main volume of the library floats above two pavilions that will house a 1200-seat performance venue, exhibition and events space, and a dedicated children’s library that “will all open up towards a series of landscaped courtyards and gardens.”
In 1995, Shanghai Library merged with the Shanghai Institute of Scientific and Technological Information resulting in an advanced and comprehensive public library – the first in China that combines public library services with Scientific and Technological research functions.
“The library itself is organised around a grand central atrium in the form of three staggered reading rooms that open up and connect to various parts of the library and various contextual parts of the city from Century Park to the east, a new library park to the south and the city to the north and west.” It is “carved and twisted to reflect the surrounding park and sky, and continuously clad in a facade of clear, insulated and fritted glass.”
Sig Nordal 