Editorial

Three years ago, our magazine devoted an issue to the theme of „de-typologisation“, focussing on the boom in buildings which are no longer amenable to classification in functional or typological groups but may at the most be interpreted as mixtures between different categories. These concepts that seemed new, even brazen, a few years previously have meanwhile been admitted to the fashionable professional category of „hybrid“. Less spectacular, but no less momentous than the hybridisation of buildings is that of exterior spaces, its counterpart in terms of town planning. In fact, the borderline between the archetypes of „town square“ and ”park" is becoming increasingly blurred and confusing to the observer used to thinking in conventional connotations. That makes it a relevant and worthwhile subject for discussion. In recent years, wherever abandoned industrial sites have become the scene of young urban neighbourhoods, new parks and squares have contributed to their identity. In a description of the nascent urban districts in Zurich-Nord, Christoph Wieser draws attention to the special conditions of the suburban situation - the need to create an identity in a faceless environment, lack of anchorage in an urban web, and lack of public character. In Barcelona too, it seems that it was precisely the peripheral location that inspired the designs of the new public spaces. The rampant growth of the city whose centre with its new „plazas duras“ was so fashionable in the 1980s gave rise to a profusion of new questions and answers, as Markus Jakob reports in his survey of the city. But does the peripheral location really have such an influence? Udo Weilacher and Christophe Girot place the primary emphasis on the social influence of our „best option society“, not in the derogatory sense of a society that cannot make up its mind which of all possible advantageous alternatives are more desirable, but in the positive light of establishing a mature way of encountering the openness of the formulated offers. According to Girot, the „park-squares“ described may even be regarded as the visible expression of a far more comprehensive „hybridisation“ of town and country, even of artefact and nature. How its audible expression could sound is described by Barbara Barthelmes of the example of sound installations in public places. And Ulrich Maximilian Schumann puts the innovative character of the developments into the context of historical models. Is too much attention being paid to the periphery and too little to the centre? Christoph Schläppi reports on a neglected site in the historical city centre of Aarau, and on a little covered market that has helped to breathe new life into this location.
The editors

Thema

Ulrich Maximilian Schumann
Stufen der Öffentlichkeit | Eine kurze Genealogie hybrider Stadträume

Udo Weilacher
Park ist Platz und Platz ist Park

Christoph Wieser
Von Parks und Plätzen im Zentrum Zürich Nord

Markus Jacob
In der Umlaufbahn von Barcelona

Christoph Schläppi
Raum für die Öffentlichkeit | Markthalle Aarau

Barbara Barthelmes
Architektur, Raum und Klang

Christophe Girot
Zukünftige Landschaft

Forum

Kolumne: Beat Wyss
Wettbewerb: Fachhochschule Bahnhof Nord, St. Gallen
Wettbewerb: UNO-Lounge New York
Bauten:Vogt Landschaftsarchitekten, burkhalter sumi architekten:
Stockalpergarten und Pavillon, Brig
Bauten: Buol & Zünd, Badehaus mit Swimmingpool, Kesswil
Nachruf: Hans Reinhard, 1915-2003
Projekt: Kawamatas urbanes Sanatorium
Bücher: Europäischer Kirchenbau 1950-2000
bauen + rechten
Architekturausstellungen | Veranstaltungen
Neuerscheinungen | Hinweise | Firmennachrichten
Vorschau | Impressum

werk-material

burkhalter sumi architekten: Holzpavillon im Park des Stockalperpalastes, Brig
Buol & Zünd Architekten: Badehaus mit Swimmingpool, Kesswil