Editorial

Cure or disease?

Up to what point is architecture a cure and when does it become a disease? This is a question that I, coming from a country that fairly bristles with „architecture“, have been pondering for some time now. But it is a question that is relevant not only to the Dutch context of over-design, but also, given the high density of architects and architecture on this continent, to the European one.

It is clearly a matter of architectural quality when a building or complex makes a meaningful contribution to the surroundings in which it finds itself, and not just at the aesthetic level, but also, for example, from a spatial or organizational point of view. If, in addition, a building or complex has a public function, it may also have a not inconsiderable social and civic significance. (Architecture’s capacity to improve what is already there is for many architects the fundamental tenet of their professional existence.)

Where there is nothing, the addition of a little bit of architecture can often have an enormous impact. Where there is already a lot of architecture, however, the law of diminishing returns irrevocably kicks in. Every subsequent new, high-quality structure, every subsequent intervention and new addition, makes progressively smaller contributions to the improvement of the built environment, notwithstanding the intrinsic architectural qualities of the individual projects concerned. In such locations, which have already been treated to a high dose of architecture, it is impossible to escape this phenomenon simply by doing one’s very best to come up with even better architecture, noble though that endeavour may be.

The day may well dawn when „more“ and „better“ no longer go hand in hand, and an environment ceases to benefit from architecture that aspires to be outstanding. A medicine that is administered too frequently and in too high a dosage is not only in danger of losing its efficacy, it may even turn into its opposite and become a poison. However attractive outstanding architecture is by definition, in the doses in which it is administered to some environments today it can only provoke resistance, boredom, even aversion, in me at least.
An architect cannot but make architecture, otherwise he or she should look for another profession. Yet, however unnatural it may seem, we are gradually reaching a point where a growing number of cities, villages and environments in Europe might be better off with architects who do not react automatically to every commission by wanting to add something „special“ to the built environment. (Hans Ibelings)

Inhalt

On the spot
News and observations
• Patrick Gmür and Jakob Steib's „sexy“ social housing in Zurich (CH)
• Architects and citizens in Sarajevo (BA) campaign for a new city square
• Artist Pipilotti Rist and architect Carlos Martinez lay out a blood-red urban carpet in the city of St. Gallen (CH)
• The project for a National Cathedral in Bucharest (RO) reveals an unfortunate continuity with the totalitarian interventions of the 1980s
• The debates surrounding the results of several invited competitions in Istanbul (TR) reveal the dynamics of the Turkish architectural community
• Update: Amsterdam's Eastern harbour area (NL)
• The new scheme for Ljubljana's Central Station area is of national importance, but is Slovenia's capital ready for a „project of the century“?
• and more...

Start
New projects
• With the design of a library in Kiev (UA), Zotov & Co strike the right balance between urbanism and nature
• 3XN's holiday resort in Çandarli (TR) comprises 900 villas and a hotel, spread over the slopes of a site overlooking the Aegean Sea.
• László Bérces of Mérték Studio has won an ambitious competition for the VUEK-Ház cultural centre in Budapest (HU)
• A beach promenade in Esbjerg (DK) will be Spektrum's first realized project
• Mueller Kneer Associates' design for a new church in east London (UK) is not merely a communal building but quite literally a communal work
• A governmenal office building in Hasselt (BE) by architects J. Mayer H., a2o and Lens-ass has ambitions to become the architectural icon of the Belgian provincial city
• Ingarden & Ewy Architects go for contrast with their winning design for the Malopolska Garden of the Arts in Cracow (PL)

Interview
Craftsmen
Emmett Scanlon sits down with Dublin-based architects Marcus Donaghy and Wil Dimond, two architects who seem genuinely more preoccupied with watching the world, than whether the world is watching them back

Ready
New buildings
• Two school extensions in Gentofte (DK) by CEBRA and Søren Robert Lund have turned old school buildings into „schoolscapes“
• In designing a private house in Epalinges (CH), nb.arch hovered on the borderline between simplicity and austerity
• A69 architects have made a strong statement in nondescript surroundings with their design of a private house in Frantiskovy Lazne (CZ)
• Gernot Hertl has created a generous allotment garden house in Steyr (AT) for his uncle Alfred
• Sporting transparency: Emmanuel Saadi's gymnasium in Paris (FR) is open to all
• Radu Teaca's private house in the suburbs of Bucharest (RO)
• Hotel Sotelia in Podcetrtek (SI) by Enota hovers between building and landscape
• Skater/architect Stefan Hauser has designed and built an undulating skatepark in the harbour of Malmö (SE)
• The human scale of Josep Llinàs irregularly faceted Jaume Fuster Library in Barcelona (ES) seems out of step with its urban context
• Poetry by numbers: Gianni Botsford's design for a private home in London (UK)
• Two non-identical twin high-rises by ARCHES bring change to Klaipeda (LT)
• The first major building by feld72 is located in Kaltern/Caldaro (IT), a town which offers an unusually high density of good architecture
• In their design of a church in Rome (IT), Sartogo architects fracture the traditional vision of the divine

Eurovision
Focusing on European countries, cities and regions
• The Centre for Central European Architecture (CCEA) and Wonderland are two organizations that are mindful of the new conditions confronting (young) architects in today's Europe. Two reports by insiders of both organizations
• On the occasion of the tenth issue of A10, many of A10's correspondents have contributed to a Europe-wide collection of projects that in some way or other mark a New Beginning
• Home: Olavi Koponen's spiralling seashell house in Espoo (FI)

Instant history
Buildings that already get their share of media attention
Sophie Roulet reports on Jean Nouvel’s latest building in Paris (FR), the Musée des Arts Premiers, which houses a collection of 300,000 objects from Africa, Asia, the Americas and Oceania. The main building, a footbridge on pilotis with 10,000 m² exhibition space, and the enormous green facade next to the 1.8 ha garden, make this museum a spectacle and a curiosity in itself

School extensions, Gentofte

Two new school extensions by Århus-based CEBRA and collaborator Søren Robert Lund, have turned old school buildings into „schoolscapes“.

Like most other public buildings, school architecture has always been a more or less direct translation of specific ideas of discipline – or at least a spatial matrix for certain desirable ways of behaving. With their two new school extensions in one of the wealthy suburbs north of Copenhagen, CEBRA architects have taken this relationship between architecture and pedagogical principles to quite another level.

The projects were developed in an unusually close collaboration between architect, client and users. One of the architects’ tactics was to detonate a series of what they call „design bombs“, architectural solutions that fulfil all the ideas and visions of all the stakeholders involved in the design pro-cess. The always undesirable result of fulfilling all wishes has the salutary effect of showing the client that he/she needs to have a clearer idea about the core values.

At Ordrup School, the new extension (roughly 5800 m²) forms the fourth side of a square, making a loop out of what were previously three separate buildings. Its plan maximizes connections between all parts of the old school; a system of short cuts allows for new and flexible ways of organizing the school day. The programme consists of a café, a media library, a music room, teaching spaces and two auditoriums. The larger of the two auditoriums, like the one in OMA’s Kunsthal in Rotterdam, is at once a place of passage and a place of gathering, as are all communal spaces.

At nearby Bakkegaard School, the new school building (approx. 8000 m²) creates a new centre in a former campus situation. It stands on what was the old school yard, making room for an indoor sports arena that is also the school’s new social space. In add-ition, the architects decided to recreate the old school yard on the new roof. In both cases, the new extensions have created „schoolscapes“ out of school buildings by allowing for new connections and by opening up new interior spaces where students can gather more freely in a more flexible learning environment.

CEBRA are certainly not afraid of colour. The vivid reds and greens of their school buildings are not just aesthetic choices but also a way of telling the story of the building. The facade at Ordrup tells a story of short cuts and connections between the different levels of the old school buildings. This is achieved by stretching the connective character of the building. The window panels on the second level are black – in contrast to the otherwise strong yellow – so they appear as cut-outs between the connective lines of the building. At Bakkegaard, the green facade is a clear articulation of the landscape theme that defines the interior of the building and its relation to its surroundings.

The client for both schools is the Gentofte Municipality, which over the last few years has been rethinking and renewing its school system. Under the slogan SKUB – which translates as PUSH – local schools have been provided with the funds to develop new and innovative learning environments. CEBRA turned out to be just the right office for the task. As one of the most promising young offices in Denmark, they have made a name for themselves precisely because of their ability to work with a very high degree of user involvement and – of course – because of the refreshing design solutions this generates.

A10, Di., 2006.07.18

18. Juli 2006 Rasmus Rune Nielsen


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Ordrup and Bakkegaard School Extensions

Hotel Sotelia, Podcetrtek

Enota’s Sotelia hotel hovers between building and landscape, between a commercial and an architectural dream.

Travellers arriving late at night in Podcˇetrtek – a small town famous for its thermal baths – are welcomed by two glowing, yet indefinable architectural objects. The first one appears to be some kind of a framework surrounding a vibrant play of light. The second is more subdued: warm yellow light beckons the traveller into a voluptuous space. It seems to be a hotel lobby, but it’s difficult to be sure as by night the entire world is reduced to a glazed entrance, a colourful lobby area, a carpeted corridor. By day the picture is very different, however.

The architecture of the Olimia thermal baths – an addition to the Termalia thermal baths, completed in 2004 – acts as a boundary fence, while that of the recently built hotel is tucked discreetly into the surrounding landscape. Both buildings were designed by the young Enota architectural practice, a recent recipient of Slovenia’s most prestigious architectural award, the Plecˇnik Prize.

Slovenia offers great potential for spa and thermal bath architecture. Unfortunately, Hotel Sotelia represents one of the few good examples. Before the war, the country’s spas boasted some imposing hotels, but the post-war socialist period brought first numbing uniformity and later, in response to a growing demand for more attractive facilities, glitz and kitsch. During the socialist era, no one expected a modern hotel to be anything more than a prosaic box with floor upon floor of rooms on top of a base containing general facilities and services.

Located between two existing hotels, Sotelia clearly distances itself from the built environment and connects, instead, with its natural surroundings. The architects’ primary concern was to avoid an immense building mass, like the one suggested in the client’s brief, which would have blocked the last remaining view of the forest. They broke that volume up into small units arranged in landscape-hugging tiers. As a result, the four-storey, 145-room building appears much lower and smaller than this description would suggest.

The specific shape of the hotel was dictated by the folds in the land scape. The unique structure offers passers-by some magnificent spatial experiences: from the front, the building is perceived as a two-dimensional set composed of parallel planes placed one behind the other; a walk around the hotel reveals entirely different views of the timber facade, from a plane of vertical wooden slats to a rhythmic arrangement of balconies and wooden terraces.
While the exterior is relatively serene, the interior is more dynamic and expressive. In an industry as competitive and as fickle as the hotel industry, and where atmosphere is the be-all and end-all, the architects went with the standard formula for success: a combination of individuality and diversity. While the hotel offers a number of different spatial sequences, its connection with nature remains the most important and consistent feature. Each room has a private balcony with carefully directed views over green roofs which offer the impression of close proximity to the ground, even from the fourth floor.

The internal programme can be read in the use of materials: wooden panelling and soft carpeting for private spaces, screen-printed glass and grey terrazzo floors for public areas. Although the interior does not trumpet „architect-designed“, many elements, like the bamboo-encased columns, were in fact devised by the architects. And it is these columns – tree trunks by day and pillars of light by night – that attract the traveller. Like the rest of the hotel, they sensitively – and successfully – occupy the thin line between economic pragmatism and artistic fantasy.

A10, Di., 2006.07.18

18. Juli 2006 Maja Vardjan


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Hotel Sotelia

Skatepark, Malmö

Skater/architect Stefan Hauser has designed and built an undulating harbourscape.

Some harbours expand; others shrink as they disappear from the focus of the global economy. Malmö’s Västra Hamnen harbour has been in steady decline since the 1970s. However, in the ten last years the reclaimed tundra – a very exotic feature in the Swedish landscape – has been transformed into a post-industrial landscape. The last and biggest of the landfill operations of the 1980s, intended as a parking lot for an automotive industry that failed to appear, has been reprogrammed and repopulated with a university, offices for hi-tech businesses and a new eco-themed residential district dominated by Santiago Calatrava’s phallic one-liner (Turning Torso, A10 #2). This new-found drive has been fairly successful in reshaping the city’s self-image as a modern city that has left its previous run-down, working-class aura behind it. Where the harbour front used to be, is the abandoned slipway no. 7, a combination of scaffolding and an enormous, concrete wedge of a building. The previous owner and Malmö’s pride and joy – the Kockums shipbuilding company – used to weld together oil tankers on the slipway. Too expensive and complicated to demolish and still regarded with affection, it was retained and relabelled an industrial park. Tema Arkitekter has drawn up a masterplan for the area, called Stapelbäddsparken, in which the slipway has been transformed into an activity park: climbing walls, a dash of art, areas for pétanque, concerts, et cetera, all to be completed in 2007.

The most interesting addition to this born-again area, and the only thing completed to date, is a skatepark situated just north of the slipway in the middle of the vast harbour plain. In May this year, the 2000 m² concrete landscape was officially inaugurated with a World Cup Skateboarding fixture and enthusiastically received. The designer is Oregon-based Stefan Hauser who works under the name Placed To Ride. He is not an architect by trade, but has a background of art and sculpture and – of course – skating. Hauser has gained a solid international reputation as a designer and builder of skateparks, first through the Dreampark collective, also based in skatepark-dense Oregon, and for the last few years through his own firm. What really distinguishes him from your average architect is his hands-on approach. When construction work is about to begin, Hauser relocates to the project for the duration, together with a crew of loyal friends from around the world. The skaters-cum-builders construct the whole thing themselves.

The result is impressive – a landscape of bumps, slopes and steel-rimmed edges, and the compulsory bowl: a kidney shaped pool. The immaculate concrete surfaces with smooth organic slopes look almost abstract in their improbable form. In fact, it looks much more abstract in reality than as a rendering. The slick finish would probably be unobtainable without such a completely dedicated workforce.

Skateboarding has managed to keep its freshly radical image over the years. Yet the cultural history of skating reveals a fascinating combination of avant-garde youth street culture and meticulous traditionalism when it comes to shape and form. Skating as we know it today was born in the same era and in some ways in the same context as the collapse of Malmö’s shipbuilding industry. It all began with the introduction of the soft polyurethane wheels in the early 1970s which enabled a new style of skating. Poolriding – now very common – developed during the Californian drought of the mid 1970s when some teenagers in the Santa Monica area broke into people’s backyards to skate in their empty kidney-shaped swimming pools. The Z-Boys – named after Zephyr, the local surf/skate shop – reinvented the previously inoffensive preppy sport as a skate-punk lifestyle (see Stacey Peralta’s documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys, 2001.) Around the same time Kockums was confidently announcing that they were the largest shipyard in the world; only a few years later they were out of business. In the meantime many of the Z-Boys had become leaders in the expanding international skateboard industry. As cities around the world rebrand themselves, it is interesting to note how universal and timeless skating’s street credibility seems to be.

A10, Di., 2006.07.18

18. Juli 2006 Claes Sörsted


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Skatepark, Malmö

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