YAKUZAJUN

Schaufelschlucht Bridge

With the second arch bridge on the spectacular alpine road to Ebnit, a sub-district of Dornbirn, the master plan for three infrastructure projects is one step closer to completion. The Schaufelschlucht Bridge by Marte.Marte Architects has been integrated into the tremendous natural surroundings just as naturally and impressively as the Schanerloch Bridge before it. Both were built following the same principle: a visible display of internal and external forces, cast in concrete. The twisting and tapering of the bridge on the valley side gives a clear idea of the structural capabilities of the arch shape, while its counterpart on the Ebnit side withstands the dynamic force of the water, which has carved a deep gorge in the rock face over the course of thousands of years. The dark, narrow tunnels, formed by the forces of nature, and the forbidding sheer rock walls along the road act as the backdrop for a dramatic spectacle no one passing by could hardly miss. The bridge’s concrete parapets escort motorists and give them a sense of safety as they cross the roaring, rain-swollen waters, and the solidity and equilibrium of the homogeneous structure make it seem invincible and built for eternity. Sustainability in its truest, while timeless, form. (Marina Hämmerle)

Antonio Sola Townhouses in Mexico City

In the words of the architects Ambrosi | Echtegaray:

The commission ask to design four living units on a site where a registered house with a historic facade was to be preserved. This condition inspired us to rethink life inside the old house and translate the schema into the new building. The project’s intention was to create interior spaces mimicking the original patios while maintaining privacy of these spaces from the other apartments.

These patios allowed each apartment to be naturally lit and ventilated. Garden beds where also incorporated at the limits between the interior and the patios in order to incorporate the landscape within the architecture. This process helped us understand how to treat a valued heritage with awareness and care and the result is an juxtaposition of memory and urban development.

New UDC Student Center

Washington, D.C.’s only public higher education institution, the University of the District of Columbia (UDC), is in the midst of a campus-wide renovation with the goal to create a more sustainable environment. By transforming the Student Center into a more modern facility, UDC hoped to also shift its image from being a “commuter campus” into a community that is still engaging for students outside of the classroom.

CannonDesign’s Arlington office in association with D.C.-based Marshall Moya Design designed the Student Center with a variety of materials, from glass to bronze metal. Located at Connecticut Avenue NW and Van Ness Street NW, the building now houses a 14,000-square-foot green roof. Other green features include a rain garden, photovoltaic panels, and toilets that flush with captured rain water.

Iglesia de Iesu

Dynamic Louvred Facade in Tehran

LP2 Architecture Studio designed this office building in Tehran where the north and south facade respond in vastly different ways to their orientation. This project shifts from a basic relationship between the building and the city to an interaction between the inside and outside in attempt to establish a better definition of the quality of the building and the city.

To prevent the sharp southern sun light during the working hours the vertical louvers are used in the southern facade. And these louvers create a comfortable light and shadow inside the building. And not only make the interior spaces more comfortable but also these louvers create an incorporated facade. Furthermore it conceals the unnecessary details of the building from the people who visit it from its main view, in the park that is in front of the project in Saadat Abad Boulevard. 

Sometimes the northern facade; close its eyes from the noised city and take care of the building behind a curtain of silence. And sometimes glance at the city behind its wooden eyeballs. The wooden surfaces of the northern facade could be described as the dialogue between the users and the city; these surfaces could change up to thousands of forms by the needs of the users and this makes it so impressible by inside and outside.

Malmö Snaphots

Downtown Malmö architecture snapshots by Kim Høltermand. Malmö is the third largest city in Sweden and the 6th largest in the Nordic countries. Malmö is also the most populous city in Scania and is the economical and cultural centre of South Sweden. Malmö was one of the earliest and most industrialized towns of Scandinavia, but it struggled with the adaptation to post-industrialism. Since the construction of the Øresund Bridge, Malmö has undergone a major transformation with architectural developments, and it has attracted new biotech and IT companies, and particularly students through Malmö University, founded in 1998. 

Unfinished: Design Strategies Generated by an Optimistic View of the Constructed Environment in Spain

A couple of days ago we posted our Standouts from the Venice Biennale. One of them is the exhibition called ¨Unfinished¨. Curated by architects Iñaqui Carnicero and Carlos Quintáns it consists of nearly 67 proposals and 7 photographic series presenting answers to the problems arising in Spain after the housing boom post crisis.

The exhibition gathers examples of architecture produced during the past few years, born out of renunciation and economy of means, designed to evolve and adapt to future necessities and trusting in the beauty conferred by the passage of time. These projects have understood the lessons of the recent past and consider architecture to be something unfinished, in a constant state of evolution and truly in the service of humanity. The current moment of uncertainty in our profession makes its consideration here especially relevant.

Here are five of the projects included in the exhibition (some of them have been previously featured on ARCHatlas), from the top:

Restoration of the old church of Corbera d’Ebre Ferran Vizoso, Núria Bordas, Jordi Garriga, David Garcia (images 01-02) previously featured here

Contemporary Art Space Sol89 (images 03-04)

Espai Barberi RCR Arquitectes (images 05-06)

Collage house in the old quarter of Girona Bosch.Capdeferro arquitectures (images 07-08)

Light house ARQUITECTURA-G (images 09-10) previously featured here

Tim Ber Bench | Dowel Jones

The New Face of the Bilbao City Hall

The new addition to the Bilbao City Hall in San Agustín designed by IMB Arquitectos is situated in front of the rear façade of the Neobaroque Palace that holds in the present Town Hall, built in 1892. The addition contains the technical offices of the Town Hall. The historic building will keep the representative image of the city and the Mayor.

The fragmentation of the whole in two volumes has the desire to integrate the building into the site by creating public spaces, help reduce scale and height of the structure and enhance the traditional pedestrian way. Inside the building the aim has been to create flexible areas in terms of use, which are able to house different types of offices.