Editorial

On the move

More so than previous enlargements of the EU, the recent increase to twenty-five countries in 2004 and then to twenty-seven in 2007, has really got Europe moving, with manifest economic consequences. The example most frequently cited in the media, from the International Herald Tribune to Der Spiegel, is Poland: economic growth of around six per cent, but meanwhile almost a million Poles have travelled west in the space of three years. Large numbers of Latvians and Lithuanians have also ended up in hospitable EU countries like Ireland, the UK and Sweden. Among the occupational groups heading westwards, the construction industry is generously represented, with large contingents of construction workers, engineers, architects and the proverbial plumbers of whom there is such a shortage in the UK (30,000 according to some estimates) that every Polish plumber worth his salt is guaranteed a princely income. Paradoxically, a substantial number of workers are turning their backs on the place where there is work in search of better remuneration and sometimes also better career prospects. For in the meantime West European (and American) property developers and investors are heading in the opposite direction, further and further eastwards, in order to build shopping malls, business parks and housing.

In Poland, as in many places in Europe, the construction industry is a crucial factor in its economic development. But the current brain and skills drain is leading to increasingly serious problems in the labour market, which companies on the spot try to solve by recruiting workers from countries like White Russia and the Ukraine. An indication some would say that the EU’s eastern border is not yet in sight.

The European football championships that will be held in Poland and the Ukraine in 2012, are further confirmation of the eastward drift of Europe’s psychological centre. As well as being a major sporting event with an unmistakable symbolic significance for Central Europe, Euro 2012 is first and foremost a huge construction project. There will be heavy investment, not just in stadiums and hotels, but more especially in infrastructure – in stations, airports, railway lines and motorways, with the new West-East superhighway as the principal artery. Experts believe that the cost of Euro 2012 will far outstrip the direct economic benefit, but see the investment in infrastructure as a lasting effect. There is also speculation as to the long-term impact on tourism. It is something that Russia’s resort of Sochi, where the Winter Olympics are due to be held in 2014, is also hoping to profit from. The Russians will invest billions in four power plants, 700 kilometres of fibre-optic network, the road system, airports, hotels and sporting venues. Whether these events will deliver architecturally interesting projects is still too early to tell, but they are unmistakable evidence of a new European dynamism.

Inhalt

On the spot
News and observations

• MVRDV's colossal Parkrand apartment building in Geuzenveld, Amsterdam (NL)
• De Architekten Cie. win the competition for the extension of the seat of the Romanian government in Bucharest (RO)
• Update: Sardinia (IT)
• Reality check: Nama's tea pavilion in Putten (NL)
• Matteo Thun builds hotels all over the world. In the Swiss Alps alone, three luxury hotels designed by Thun are under construction
• and more...

Start
New projects
• L'Escaut and Weinand have designed an „ice cube“ skating rink in Liège (BE)
• BCQ make a brave urban gesture with their design for administrative offices in El Raval, Barcelona (ES)
• In Szczecin, Katowice and Cracow (PL) foreign practices are shaping the landscape
• The competition-winning design for the Vojvodina Museum of Contemporary Art in Novi Sad (CS) by Robert Claiborne, Ivan Markov and Lia Ruccolo preserves industrial structures
• In Kazan (RU) Erick van Egeraat has designed a library as a fully fledged piece of city

Interview
Marusa Zorec
Marusa Zorec is a busy woman, running her own practice, teaching at Ljubljana University and researching Slovenian architecture from the 1960s and ’70s. A10’s Maja Vardjan interviews her about her work and her position in Slovenia’s contemporary architecture: „My position? I have never tried to achieve one and I don’t think I have one“

Ready
New buildings
• Looking at Onix’s five black „barn“ villas in Zuidhorn (NL), Giampiero Sanguini detects an evolution in their architectural language
• Subarquitectura’s tram stops in Alicante (ES) are a worthy city landmark
• Jasarevic Architekten’s contemporary mosque contributes to the gradual integration of different beliefs into the village of Penzberg (DE)
• ArhitektuuriAgentuur’s villa in Merivalja, Tallinn (EE)
• Will Sadar Vuga’s Gradaska apartment building in Ljubljana (SI) manage to overcome its isolated status?
• Goran Rako’s covering of a Roman Forum in Vid (HR) brings archaeology alive
• In Hardenberg (NL) Marlies Rohmer designed a futuristic-looking school with a classic structure
• Pott Architects’ Haus L in Berlin (DE) is no „style facade“, but an example of undogmatic Modernism
• Manuel Ocaña believes his elderly people’s residential complex in Ciutadella, Menorca (ES) „may become a place we might all want to live in or visit“
• Goczolowie and Ovo Grabczewski combined opacity with transparency in their design for an exhibition pavilion in Krasiejow (PL)

Section
Light & the city
The new relationship between light, architecture and the urban environment goes beyond decoration, advertising and purely functional lighting. New urban lighting is all about the identity of the place, its specific use and sustainability

Materia
The fact that a material is environmentally friendly is in itself no overriding reason for using it. The best materials perform well. If they are also ecologically sound that is an added bonus. A survey of natural and synthetic materials that fulfil both of these requirements

Eurovision
Focusing on European countries, cities and regions
• Quality and word-of-mouth recommendations are crucial to the success of five young Irish practices. A mini-survey by A10's correspondent Emmet Scanlon
• 23 reasons why Oslo (NO) deserves to be more than a stopover on the way to Norway's natural attractions
• Home: Bence Turányi's flexible apartment, Budapest (HU)

Out of obscurity
Buildings from the margins of modern history
A reconsideration of Andrija Mutnjakovic's National Library in Pristina in Kosovo, completed in 1982. Werner Bossmann claims that in post-war Kosovo, where Albanian Kosovars call the shots, the building would have little competition in any race to become the new icon of the nation-in-the-making

Tram stop, Alicante, Spain

Subarquitectura’s perforated floating boxes are a worthy city landmark.

Alicante is a city of 400,000 inhabitants on Spain’s southeast Mediterranean coast. Over the past few years a new tram infrastructure has been built in the city, using the old rails of the local train. The line connects all the towns along the coast, ending in Denia in the north, from where ships depart for Ibiza. The Alicante stop is the central point of a new tram line linking the city centre to the beachside residential areas of San Juan.

The project was the result of a competition organized by the regional train company, FGV, for a new kind of tram stop that would be innovative and eye-catching and serve to give tram travel a fresher image. The competition was won by Subarquitectura, a local architecture studio set up by three young architects: Andrés Silanes, Fernando Valderrama and Carlos Bañón, The studio is currently working on a variety of projects including a housing scheme in Valencia (in collaboration with Jose Maria Torres Nadal) and a sports zone in Alicante.

The competition for the tram stop included the design of the surrounding plaza thus giving Subarquitectura an opportunity to turn a traffic node into a public space. Their design consists of a fractal access system, deformed on either side to accommodate the existing trees, which gives travellers 32 different ways of approaching the platform.

On the platform, two open boxes (36 m long, 3 m wide, 2.5 m high) appear to float above the travellers’ heads. The stop is scaled to match the size of the tram, creating an intermediate scale between buildings and urban elements.

The entire tram stop is made of steel; this is an isotropic material in both conception and construction. The steel allows the boxes to float on only two supports, creating a unique and magical sequence for approaching travellers.

The boxes are perforated by 800 holes in five different diameters, ranging from 10 to 50 centimetres. The holes reduce the weight of the boxes and are irregularly distributed to take account of critical points in the structure. Light and air pass through the boxes, modulating the shadow and generating a gentle breeze that makes waiting for the tram more comfortable during the hot summer months. The boxes are precisely calculated to cast a permanent shadow.

At night the boxes are transformed into two giant lamps as the light from internal luminaires shines forth through the hundreds of holes. This light is regulated throughout the the day, according to the intensity of the natural light. Day or night, the result more than meets the competition brief’s request for a genuine urban landmark. Tram travellers recognize the stop long before they have reached it; its silhouette is unmistakable. As for the plaza, it is dotted with benches placed close to the vegetation and the paths, creating an urban public space in which movement is accompanied by the possibility of relaxation.

A10, Sa., 2007.09.22

22. September 2007 Gonzalo Herrero Delicado


verknüpfte Bauwerke
Strassenbahnhaltestelle »Sergio Cardell«

Islamic centre, Penzberg, Germany

Jasarevic Architekten’s contemporary mosque contributes to the gradual integration of different beliefs into the village of Penzberg.

South of Munich, where the Alps rise beyond Lake Starnberg, one is in deepest Bavaria, a region known for its conservative Catholicism. Here of all places, a small Muslim community has built itself a forum with prayer room in a contemporary architectural style – a courageous undertaking based on a desire for integration. The aim is to overtax neither the local residents nor the members of the community in their willingness to tolerate and engage with one another. Admittedly, the building is not right next to the church in the centre of the village, but it is within walking distance on the well-groomed periphery, a residential area on one side of the street, a DIY store on the other. With its distinctive but in no way provocative or confrontational appearance, the building and its delicate tower fit into the surroundings, where the traditional village structure has already been disrupted by deviating roof lines and ornamentation ranging from rusticity to post-war monotony.

Jasarevic Architekten from Augsburg arranged the prayer room, the communal and administrative rooms and an apartment under a single roof on an L-shaped ground plan. But the facades, which are clad in pale stone, give a clear indication of the different functions of the rooms behind – especially the slightly recessed, full-height decorative blue glass window on the east side. The entrance features two concrete slabs that swing out of the wall like open gates, inviting visitors into the house in German and Arabic script; the actual door, made of stainless steel, is open to all. Inside, one is greeted by a clas­sical, open-plan staircase that is flooded with daylight. To the right, the view opens up into the prayer room. Shoes must be removed, but anyone may enter – women are not even required to wear a headscarf. From the side, daylight enters between curved concrete slabs, at the front the light is filtered through the blue glass. The atmosphere in this space is unusually friendly. The way the light falls draws attention to the ceiling and wall panels, where ornaments applied to the exposed concrete can be read as expressions of divine infinitude. The abstract star motifs contain the 99 Names of God – such as „The Most Merciful“ and „The Utterly Just“ – in calligraphy. This design was developed jointly by the artists Lutzenberger Lutzenberger from Bad Wörishofen and Mohammed Mandi from Abu Dhabi. The forum’s other rooms can be compared with a parish community centre: they offer German lessons, discussion and prayer meetings, the usual things.

The architect is familiar with the religion, culture, customs and mentality of Islam, and such knowledge is essential in the development of a modern religious architecture. Here in Penzberg, contemporary architecture is contributing with wise restraint to the gradual integration of different beliefs into village structures. Where places of worship cautiously distance themselves from traditional, dogmatic structures and offer comparatively free spatial interpretations of the spiritual, they genuinely promote mutual understanding between believers. What succeeded in the design of modern churches can, as here in Penzberg, be equally fascinating in contemporary Islamic architecture.

A10, Sa., 2007.09.22

22. September 2007 Ursula Baus


verknüpfte Bauwerke
Islamic Center

Museum, Vid

Goran Rako’s covering of a Roman Forum brings archaeology alive.

The ancient forum of the Roman city of Narona was buried for more than a thousand years. Barbarians came down the valley, destroying temples and decapitating statues. Then the river that descends from the high mountains piled up the sand and buried the ruins. On the site of the civic centre of the once sizeable ancient city, village houses were built, fields were sown and olive groves planted.
The memory of that city, first mentioned in documents dating from the 4th century BC and believed to have covered an area of 25 hectares at its peak, was passed down in folk tales about insane emperors and in history textbooks for primary school.

The first archaeological excavations of the site were initiated by Viennese archaeologists at the beginning of the last century, but it was not until the end of the Second World War that archaeologists from the Archaeological Museum of Split started to excavate the forum. In the early 1990s, a team from the museum, led by archaeologist Emilio Marin, discovered the remains of the Temple of Augustus, including sixteen headless Roman statues.

In 2001 the Croatian Ministry of Culture and the City of Metkovic´ launched an open architectural competition for an on-site archaeological museum, above the ruins of the temple. The winner was coincidentally the architect proposing the smallest structure, Goran Rako. His project reactivates the archaeological site, not only by validating the historical testimony of a great culture, but also by responding sensitively to the complexities of the current situation.
Rako’s architecture integrates the regional „architecture without architects“ that has been built for over a thousand years, and the archaeological remains, which lay buried during those same thousand years, into a complex suburban landscape of private homes and apartment buildings and public infrastructure.

The „mimicry grammar“, as Goran Rako has described his museum design was not easy in such a sensitive situation. Construction machinery and archaeological brushes worked interchangeably. To make the situation even more complicated, a mosaic was discovered on a neighbouring site of ongoing archaeological research. The mosaic extended into the museum site, so the neighbouring plot had to be purchased, a house demolished and the museum structure altered to curve around the mosaic. Another challenge was to fit all the required auxiliary spaces of the museum onto no more than a sixth of the surface area that was free of archaeological findings. There was also a groundwater issue owing to the porosity of the limestone bedrock and the proximity of the River Norin.

Construction finally started in 2004 and the restored statues – some of them complete with rediscovered heads – were put back where they logically belong: on the place where they had been excavated. On 18 May this year, the museum was officially opened by the Prime Minister.

The museum’s interior is determined by the scale of the excavated Roman artefacts and statues while its exterior is determined by the scale of the temple and the forum, the scale of the surrounding ordinary houses and by the green masses of olive groves and vineyards climbing up from the square to the church on the hill. But above all, the building is determined by the scale of everyday life; its roof, a system of publicly accessible flat surfaces and ramps, connects two levels of public space.

Another intelligent invention by the architect is the museum’s austere materiality. The construction uses a combination of reinforced concrete and exposed steel; the facades are faced with narrow plastic panels positioned so as to allow a diffuse light to penetrate the interior. The horizontal surfaces and ramps are paved with irregularly shaped stone slabs laid in cement mortar which is a common feature of contemporary Dalmatian construction. A harmonious encounter between old and new has been accomplished here at every level – exhibits, museum building and the surroundings.

Goran Rako is said to have claimed that the greatest collective achievement of the Croats – apart from the construction of Dubrovnik – was the transformation of the Roman Emperor Diocletian’s Palace into the City of Split. Now, in the run-down village of Vid, on the outskirts of Metkovic´, he has succeeded in turning the wheel of history backwards, by creating a geometry that has turned the ancient temple of Narona into a living museum and in so doing bringing archaeology alive.

A10, Sa., 2007.09.22

22. September 2007 Krunoslav Ivanisin


verknüpfte Bauwerke
Narona Archaeological Museum

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