Zeitschrift
A10
new European architecture #13
A new European geography
There is no shortage of reasons why Europe is (still) not united, geographically, socially, politically or economically. The continent’s borders are changeable, and its history has unfolded and developed differently in each geographical area, each country, even within some countries in each region. In spite of this, there are identifiable areas in which a European unity, transcending the EU, is emerging amidst all this diversity and contrast. One such area is architecture. Without dismissing all the local, regional and national differences in culture, conventions and traditions, and without ignoring the significant asymmetry in coverage between East and West, there is a remarkable consistency within European architecture, since the leading developments are no longer concentrated within one geographically limited area, but are instead emerging throughout the continent.
Over the last few years, for instance, Irish architecture has made a big splash, architects in Estonia have been talked about, a new generation has come to the fore in Portugal, Austria has been enjoying a renaissance and countries like Slovenia and Croatia have been making remarkable progress. The fact that no one specific country, region or city is currently the focus of architectural developments or media attention (which usually go hand in hand) can be interpreted as an underscoring of a new condition in the age of globalization, in which the classical spatial distinction between centre and periphery no longer matters very much. Architects no longer need to concentrate in or near capitals. Even when they live and work outside the traditional cultural centres, today’s architects are part of a subculture within the cosmopolitan elite of Europe, and it is precisely this that connects the most talked-about and most promising elements of this profession across national borders.
In an age of globalization in which everyone has instant access to the same information, location has become much less relevant than connections, and in present-day Europe the conditions for making connections in architecture are more favourable than they have ever been. Modern technology and all the options for mobility mean that no one has to live in a metropolis in order to maintain a cosmopolitan, metropolitan lifestyle. This affects not only the cosmopolites who are part of European architectural culture, but ultimately perhaps, the built environment as well. If a village can possess the qualities of the big city, and conversely the city can acquire a village atmosphere – if, in other words, the contrast between city and countryside, between metropolis and village is steadily losing its relevance, a new European geography might emerge. (Hans Ibelings)
On the Spot
News and observations
• Copied, moulded, pierced & stuck on: the spectacular hotel Fouquet's Barrière in Paris (FR) by Edouard François
• Arup's Cecil Balmond and engineer Antonio Adao de Fonseca have crossed the Montego River in Coimbra (PT) with an extremely flat-arched bridge
• Update: a new generation of Icelandic architects
• Reality check: Charles Holland of FAT reflects on the practice's Islington Square housing scheme in Manchester (UK)
• Pharmaceuticals giant Novartis is building an architecturally superior forbidden city in the heart of Basel (CH)
• Paris's 37th bridge over the River Seine by Feichtinger Architects
• and more...
Start
New projects
• The extension of the Flemish-Dutch house in Brussels (BE) by RAUW architects is a modern made-to-measure suit with just a dash of symbolism
• The design of Amra Sarancic, Edi Kaljic and Aleksandar Cigan for the addition of new programmes will bring new life to Sarajevo's Skenderija centre (BA)
• Barak architects' Cheese House in Nitra (SK)
• LPR Architects used a contextual approach for the design of Helsinki's new concert hall (FI)
• MEMAR•DUT©H architects' mosque in Rotterdam (NL)
Interview
Dorin Stefan
Bucharest-based Dorin Stefan, one of Romania's most popular architects, talks to A10's Stefan Ghenciulescu about his alternatives for easy traditionalism and comfortable neo-modernism: „I do believe that we need to revive modernism in Romanian architecture“
Ready
New buildings
• In Slubice (PL), BeL architects managed to escape the typical industrial architecture with a lustrous cylinder
• Kauffmann Theilig & Partner’s youth and children’s centre in Stuttgart (DE) promises to become home to a lively scene
• Pantelis Nicolacopoulos thinks this house in Athens (GR) could operate just as well as a public building
• Rudy Riciotti has built a temple for dancing in Aix-en-Provence (FR)
• PCA’s design for a centre for contemporary art in Kiev (UA) signals the emergence of the new creative pole in Eastern Europe
• Francesco Scardaccione has designed a school that livens up a grey area in Tirana (AL)
• In Amsterdam (NL), Meyer en Van Schooten Architecten have inserted an optimistic apartment block into one of the Netherlands’s most famous post-war housing estates
• Is the Tietgen building by Lundgaard & Tranberg a sign that the curve is the new edge in Copenhagen? (DK)
• Penezic & Rogina made use of the wide range of materials and colours in their design of a kindergarten and nursery in Zagreb (HR)
• Andrés Jaque's Tupperware House in Madrid (ES) offers an architectural and financial solution to several concerns about the residential development model in post-euro Spain
• A „light-footed elephant“: Staufer & Hasler's municipal and media building in Chur (CH)
• Project Meganom built a surprisingly modest luxury shopping village in Moscow (RU)
Section
Sculptural skins
Half a century ago, it was difficult to imagine a building without sculptures, reliefs or sculptural details and vice versa. Since then, the two disciplines have taken their own direction. Although left without sculptural ornaments, many buildings still show a strong relation to the other three-dimensional artistic discipline, but now presenting themselves as sculptures, especially by means of their facades. Whether merely decorative, the result of a striving towards a „Gesamtkunstwerk“ or precise, computer-aided calculations, sculptural skins are once again omni-present these days.
Matter
Materia's view on the latest materials
Architect Els Zijlstra is director of Materia and the creator of www.materialexplorer.com, a search engine for exploring new materials. Materia has a 500 m² Inspiration Centre in Enter (NL) and curates travelling exhibitions and building trade fairs, both of which offer visitors the opportunity to see, touch and feel various recently launched materials. Starting with this issue of A10, Els Zijlstra will bring us up to speed on the latest materials. This first article is devoted to interactivity.
Eurovision
Focusing on European countries, cities and regions
• Matthijs Bouw of Dutch practice One Architecture travelled to Tbilisi, Georgia, with four other young Dutch architects. He shares his experiences of this adventurous journey
• Budapest's new beauties: Emiel Lamers has selected 25 contemporary contributions to the Hungarian capital’s fabric
• Home/office: Marià Castelló’s house and studio in Formentera (ES)
• Profile: Czech office A69 has a fondness for hybrid concepts, creating unlikely yet convincing combinations
Out of obscurity
Buildings from the margins of modern history
Werner Bossmann and Christian Welzbacher describe the tragic fate of Nikola Dobrovic’s Generalstab in Belgrade. This modernist masterpiece from 1961 housed the administrative headquarters of the Yugoslav army, and was partly destroyed during NATO bombings in 1999
There is no shortage of reasons why Europe is (still) not united, geographically, socially, politically or economically. The continent’s borders are changeable, and its history has unfolded and developed differently in each geographical area, each country, even within some countries in each region. In spite of this, there are identifiable areas in which a European unity, transcending the EU, is emerging amidst all this diversity and contrast. One such area is architecture. Without dismissing all the local, regional and national differences in culture, conventions and traditions, and without ignoring the significant asymmetry in coverage between East and West, there is a remarkable consistency within European architecture, since the leading developments are no longer concentrated within one geographically limited area, but are instead emerging throughout the continent.
Over the last few years, for instance, Irish architecture has made a big splash, architects in Estonia have been talked about, a new generation has come to the fore in Portugal, Austria has been enjoying a renaissance and countries like Slovenia and Croatia have been making remarkable progress. The fact that no one specific country, region or city is currently the focus of architectural developments or media attention (which usually go hand in hand) can be interpreted as an underscoring of a new condition in the age of globalization, in which the classical spatial distinction between centre and periphery no longer matters very much. Architects no longer need to concentrate in or near capitals. Even when they live and work outside the traditional cultural centres, today’s architects are part of a subculture within the cosmopolitan elite of Europe, and it is precisely this that connects the most talked-about and most promising elements of this profession across national borders.
In an age of globalization in which everyone has instant access to the same information, location has become much less relevant than connections, and in present-day Europe the conditions for making connections in architecture are more favourable than they have ever been. Modern technology and all the options for mobility mean that no one has to live in a metropolis in order to maintain a cosmopolitan, metropolitan lifestyle. This affects not only the cosmopolites who are part of European architectural culture, but ultimately perhaps, the built environment as well. If a village can possess the qualities of the big city, and conversely the city can acquire a village atmosphere – if, in other words, the contrast between city and countryside, between metropolis and village is steadily losing its relevance, a new European geography might emerge. (Hans Ibelings)
On the Spot
News and observations
• Copied, moulded, pierced & stuck on: the spectacular hotel Fouquet's Barrière in Paris (FR) by Edouard François
• Arup's Cecil Balmond and engineer Antonio Adao de Fonseca have crossed the Montego River in Coimbra (PT) with an extremely flat-arched bridge
• Update: a new generation of Icelandic architects
• Reality check: Charles Holland of FAT reflects on the practice's Islington Square housing scheme in Manchester (UK)
• Pharmaceuticals giant Novartis is building an architecturally superior forbidden city in the heart of Basel (CH)
• Paris's 37th bridge over the River Seine by Feichtinger Architects
• and more...
Start
New projects
• The extension of the Flemish-Dutch house in Brussels (BE) by RAUW architects is a modern made-to-measure suit with just a dash of symbolism
• The design of Amra Sarancic, Edi Kaljic and Aleksandar Cigan for the addition of new programmes will bring new life to Sarajevo's Skenderija centre (BA)
• Barak architects' Cheese House in Nitra (SK)
• LPR Architects used a contextual approach for the design of Helsinki's new concert hall (FI)
• MEMAR•DUT©H architects' mosque in Rotterdam (NL)
Interview
Dorin Stefan
Bucharest-based Dorin Stefan, one of Romania's most popular architects, talks to A10's Stefan Ghenciulescu about his alternatives for easy traditionalism and comfortable neo-modernism: „I do believe that we need to revive modernism in Romanian architecture“
Ready
New buildings
• In Slubice (PL), BeL architects managed to escape the typical industrial architecture with a lustrous cylinder
• Kauffmann Theilig & Partner’s youth and children’s centre in Stuttgart (DE) promises to become home to a lively scene
• Pantelis Nicolacopoulos thinks this house in Athens (GR) could operate just as well as a public building
• Rudy Riciotti has built a temple for dancing in Aix-en-Provence (FR)
• PCA’s design for a centre for contemporary art in Kiev (UA) signals the emergence of the new creative pole in Eastern Europe
• Francesco Scardaccione has designed a school that livens up a grey area in Tirana (AL)
• In Amsterdam (NL), Meyer en Van Schooten Architecten have inserted an optimistic apartment block into one of the Netherlands’s most famous post-war housing estates
• Is the Tietgen building by Lundgaard & Tranberg a sign that the curve is the new edge in Copenhagen? (DK)
• Penezic & Rogina made use of the wide range of materials and colours in their design of a kindergarten and nursery in Zagreb (HR)
• Andrés Jaque's Tupperware House in Madrid (ES) offers an architectural and financial solution to several concerns about the residential development model in post-euro Spain
• A „light-footed elephant“: Staufer & Hasler's municipal and media building in Chur (CH)
• Project Meganom built a surprisingly modest luxury shopping village in Moscow (RU)
Section
Sculptural skins
Half a century ago, it was difficult to imagine a building without sculptures, reliefs or sculptural details and vice versa. Since then, the two disciplines have taken their own direction. Although left without sculptural ornaments, many buildings still show a strong relation to the other three-dimensional artistic discipline, but now presenting themselves as sculptures, especially by means of their facades. Whether merely decorative, the result of a striving towards a „Gesamtkunstwerk“ or precise, computer-aided calculations, sculptural skins are once again omni-present these days.
Matter
Materia's view on the latest materials
Architect Els Zijlstra is director of Materia and the creator of www.materialexplorer.com, a search engine for exploring new materials. Materia has a 500 m² Inspiration Centre in Enter (NL) and curates travelling exhibitions and building trade fairs, both of which offer visitors the opportunity to see, touch and feel various recently launched materials. Starting with this issue of A10, Els Zijlstra will bring us up to speed on the latest materials. This first article is devoted to interactivity.
Eurovision
Focusing on European countries, cities and regions
• Matthijs Bouw of Dutch practice One Architecture travelled to Tbilisi, Georgia, with four other young Dutch architects. He shares his experiences of this adventurous journey
• Budapest's new beauties: Emiel Lamers has selected 25 contemporary contributions to the Hungarian capital’s fabric
• Home/office: Marià Castelló’s house and studio in Formentera (ES)
• Profile: Czech office A69 has a fondness for hybrid concepts, creating unlikely yet convincing combinations
Out of obscurity
Buildings from the margins of modern history
Werner Bossmann and Christian Welzbacher describe the tragic fate of Nikola Dobrovic’s Generalstab in Belgrade. This modernist masterpiece from 1961 housed the administrative headquarters of the Yugoslav army, and was partly destroyed during NATO bombings in 1999
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