Editorial
After one year
Like the parents of a new-born baby, we began by counting the life of our new magazine in days and weeks, and then in months. With the passing of the first birthday, we have reached the one-year mark with A10 and now are able to breathe a little easier and start counting in years. The magazine is still in its infancy, but the first steps have been taken. The fact that A10 is a year old is an indication that it has managed to secure a place for itself on the overcrowded shelves of European newsstands. That the magazine is reaching a growing number of readers is confirmation that it meets a need. Happily, it turns out that we are not the only ones who want to know what is happening on the architectural front in Europe. It is becoming increasingly clear, moreover, that this desire is not confined to Europe.
After rebuilding and moving house, the birth of a child ranks as one of the biggest stress factors in a relationship. We have come through that demanding first year without quarrelling, simply getting on with the task of making A10. So on that score, too, we can breathe a sigh of relief.
After a year we can also state that our extended family is doing well, too. Our correspondents have settled into their task and are committed contributors to A10. They generously share with us, and you the reader, their knowledge of and opinions about what is happening in their city, region or country. Some do this with journalistic objectivity, others convey a certain degree of personal involvement in what they write. In some cases that involvement is first-hand, as a number of our correspondents are practising architects and have written about their own projects; in other cases the contributions reveal an enthusiastic partiality that usually results in championing something or someone, but which can also take the form of trenchant criticism or lively debunking, such as displayed in this issue by our Swedish correspondent Claes Sšrstedt in his review of what he sees as the unspectacular nature of contemporary architecture in his country.
To date we have had one or more reports from just about every European country, with the exception of Iceland, Malta and Moldavia (leaving aside mini-states like San Marino and Andorra). It would appear that the premise on which A10 was founded has been borne out in this first year: that interesting architectural developments are occurring all over Europe, especially in those places where you would least expect it. Or rather, especially in those places about whose architecture little is known. This is particularly true of Central and Eastern Europe, which are more amply represented than ever before in this issue. It is equally true of countries and regions which may be on the periphery of this continent in geographical terms but which are very much in the thick of things where architecture is concerned, as evidenced in this issue by projects in Ireland and the Turkish part of Cyprus. Now for confirmation that the same is true of Iceland, Malta and Moldavia. (Hans Ibelings & Arjan Groot)
Inhalt
On the spot
News and observations:
• Richard Rogers’ Court of Justice in Antwerp (BE) is nearing completion
• Business Centre Usce, a modern office building in New Belgrade (CS), is a silent witness to how ideologies can both create and destroy
• Brühl (DE), hometown of artist Max Ernst (1891-1973), honours its most famous son with a museum designed by Cologne architects Van den Valentyn in collaboration with Mohammad Oreyzi
• The Swiss Heimatschutz has been fighting for the preservation of characteristic cultural and architectural features since the end of the 19th century. On its centennial, it is attracting attention with progressive new ideas
• Update: Viennese „visionairies“. Five practices based in Vienna (AT) that are less interested in good design than in exciting concepts
and more...
Start
New projects:
• Münchhausen’s pub in Dunte (LV), a design by Armands Bisenieks architects, is an upside-down building the baron himself could be proud of
• Past, present and future play an equal role in Manuel Herz’s deconstructivist design for a Jewish community centre in Smolensk (RU)
• Lahdelma & Mahlamäki managed to beat an impressive list of big names in their competition winning design for the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Warsaw (PL)
• Andrés Jaque is transforming a 1940s holiday home in Coruxo (ES). The new structures will be covered with a foam rubber material, similar to the stuffing of sofas and teddy bears
• Elastik, a network of architects operating from Ljubljana and Amsterdam, have designed a building organized around a helix device to create a new urban meeting point in Tirana (AL)
• Having won the European section of the Holcim Awards – which were recently presented in Genova (IT) – Luigi Centola and Maria Giovanna Riitano, Christoph Ingenhoven and Jürgen Mayer H. are now competing for the one million dollar jackpot
• By the end of the decade, the Slovak National Gallery in Bratislava (SK) will have been reconstructed and extended to a design by Bratislava-based architects BKPS Kusy-Panak
• Connecting one bank to another is only one aspect of Hakes Associates’ bridge designs, as shows their Mobius Bridge in Bristol (GB)
• Fabrizio Rossi Prodi’s winning design for the provincial headquarters of Arezzo (IT), a building in the tradition of Aldo Rossi
Interview
NL Architects: naturally optimistic:
In the 1990s, Amsterdam-based NL Architects gained a reputation for brilliant ideas, but until recently they did not get too many opportunities to test that brilliance in built form. Paradoxically, just when the Dutch economy fell into recession, this all started to change. Nowadays, NL Architects are building more than ever before, with several projects under construction in the Netherlands and one in Korea. NL’s Kamiel Klaasse and Pieter Bannenberg talk about their latest work.
Ready
New buildings:
• In the Comeragh Mountains (IE), Bates Maher architects created four hermitages, spaces where visitors can reflect on both the outer landscape and the inner mind
• What began as a limited commission to renovate the facades of a 1970s office tower in Pécs (HU), ended in the realization of two new court rooms designed by architect Jószef Koller
• In the polder landscape of Overijssel (NL) lies a floating house designed by B+O, a practice responsible for several remarkable homes in the northern Netherlands
• Two apartment buildings in Ljubljana and Izola (SI) by Ofis and Bevk Perovic show the new face of Slovenian social housing
• Architect Josef Hohensinn did not find it all that far-fetched to take home comfort into consideration in his design for a justice and detention centre in Leoben (AT)
• Polaris’s logo-like pavilion in Belval (LU) is as functional as it is visually effective
• Adrian Berger and Lukas Huggenberger have transformed the Albisriederhaus in Zurich (CH), a 1930s building, without resorting to the usual juxtaposition of old and new
• In a shared church centre in Munich-Riem (DE) for Catholic and Protestant believers, Florian Nagler privileges the urban context over the churches’ aim of self-representation
• Petr Hajek, Tomas Hradecny and Jan Sepka’s design for a villa in Beroun (CZ) is as simple as it is playful
• In Budapest (HU), Zoboki, Demeter & Associates put the Ludwig Museum, National Philharmonic Hall and Festival Theatre under one roof, while giving each institute a distinct identity
• TeCe Architects teamed up with Zeynep Atas to design a complex of university campus buildings that withstands the harsh climate of Cyprus
Eurovision
Focusing on European countries, cities and regions:
Claes Sörstedt writes about Swedish post-Wallpaper emptiness and explains why you shouldn’t bother to go to Sweden for modern architecture – yet.
A10’s Danish correspondents take you on a guided tour of the best architecture in Copenhagen. Like any true Copenhagener, you’ll need a bike to get around.
Instant history
Buildings that already get their share of media attention:
Is the housing of La Pirotterie in the French town of Rezé just another effort to create high-style architecture for a low price? Sophie Roulet reflects on the 30 prototypes, masterplanned by Périphériques and designed by Marin+Trottin, Jumeau+Paillard, Jacques Moussafir, Stalker, Actar and l’Australien.
