from Dezeen

” Slovenian architects Ofis Arhitekti have completed the facade of a shopping mall in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Due to budget constraints, the architects were commissioned to decorate three walls of the building using only enough material to cover one wall.
Their solution, called Dot Envelope, uses bronze-painted steel panels on parts of the facade, with discs cut from the panels arranged over the rest of the concrete surface. Plants will be grown over chains linking the disks.
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The shopping centre is situated in a listed industrial area that includes an old butchery and water tower.
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Photography by Tomaz Gregoric.
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Popularity: 3% [?]

from WAN

” Derelict quarter given £200 million makeover

Tiger Developments in conjunction with Richard Murphy Architects have begun work on a £200 million plan to build two new hotels, a continental-style boulevard including retail and office space at a derelict site in Edinburgh city centre. Richard Murphy, CDA and Sutherland Hussey have drawn up designs for the project, to be known as ‘The Haymarket.” With construction beginning on site before the year is out, completion is hoped for 2012.

The most significant component of the entire enterprise is the construction of a monument-like 192 bed, five star hotel, The 17 storey, leaf-shaped building has been designed to stand near Haymarket Station, orientated to create a gateway of blade-like sharpness in the form of a tower, with an attached lower rise building and shared atrium running between it.

The hotel will take its place as Edinburgh’s third railway hotel alongside the established landmarks of the Balmoral and the Caledonian hotels. As with these hotels, this new fabrication will, deliberately, be markedly higher than its surroundings and will contribute to the evolving skyline of the city, but without blocking any significant views of either the Castle or nearby St Mary’s Cathedral.

Richard Murphy said, “The five-star hotel will re-define Haymarket in the same way The Balmoral transformed the Waverley Valley and the Caledonian Hotel enhanced the West End of Edinburgh.”

Most of the social functions of the hotel are placed at the top of the building, acting as a beacon at night and functioning as a gateway building marking entry into the World Heritage Site when approaching from the west.

This enhancement is expected to breathe new life into an area that is in much need of rejuvenation, enabling it to play a major role in the future economic and social life of the city.” David G Schiavone- Reporter
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Project Description released by Richard Murphy Architects


Historic View of Haymarket
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This is the largest project the practice has ever contemplated and our role has been three-fold: to master-plan the entire site, to design the exterior of three office buildings working alongside CDA Architects, and to be completely responsible for the design of a new 192 bed five star hotel. A second three star hotel, designed by our colleagues, Sutherland Hussey Architects, is also part of our master-plan. Tiger Developments approached the practice when the site was for sale and we were delighted when their bid was successful in the summer of 2006.
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Aerial Photo of Site
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Unusually, the site has never been developed, having been converted from pasture into goods yards in the mid 19th century. The tracks were removed in the 1960s and the site is currently a car park, although it has been subject to at least two planning consents since then, the most recent by EDI, proposed a mostly office and retail development and received consent in 2006.

We have adopted a radically different approach from the EDI scheme. We have expanded the concept of what constitutes the Haymarket to make substantial amounts of new public space which coincide with the location of the railway tunnels and therefore avoiding the requirement to construct above them. In the centre of the site is placed a major triangular office building and this defines the edge of the new Haymarket space. Along the Morrison Link is a second office building and forming the final side of a triangular public space to the rear is the third. The sensitive boundary with the existing “Colony” housing at Dalry is where the three star hotel is located, the rear of which has been deliberately modelled to respond to both the intimate spaces of the Colony streets and also to give courtyards onto which gable end windows look.
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View East from Haymarket
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The most notable feature of the entire project is the construction of a stand alone monument-like five star hotel, which given its proximity to the increasingly busy Haymarket station, will take its place as Edinburgh’s third railway hotel alongside the familiar landmarks of the Balmoral and the Caledonian hotels. Like these hotels, this new building will also deliberately be substantially higher than its surroundings and will contribute to the evolving skyline of the city, but without blocking any significant views of either the Castle or the nearby St Mary’s Cathedral. Most of the social functions of the hotel are placed at the top of the building, acting as a beacon at night with the location functioning as a gateway building marking the entry into the World Heritage Site when approaching from the west.
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Night View East from Haymarket
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The public open space designed by our colleagues at Gross Max, landscape architects, is predominately pedestrian, but with a one-way vehicle traffic for access and service vehicles only. A 450 space underground carpark replaces the existing parking.

The Planning application for these proposals were approved by Edinburgh City Council at the end of June 2008.”

Architects: Richard Murphy, Matt Bremner and Core Team
Construction Cost: £100m
Client: Tiger Developments Ltd
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View West along Boulevard
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Night View From Grosvenor Street
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Popularity: 4% [?]

from dialog

” David Chipperfield has been announced as the winner of the international competition to design an extension to the Kunsthaus (art museum) of Zurich, Switzerland. 214 architecture offices from 22 countries were taking part in this competition. As usually in Zurich only the architect has been announced yet, images and more information is yet to be published at a press conference in December. According to the press briefing, a large majority of the jury voted for Chipperfield’s project, which is supposed a “classic Chipperfield”.

update
Further information, along with images and plans have been scheduled to be published in December, but according to the Kunsthaus Zurich some unauthorised images were published which only show an early design stage.
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kunsthaus_1.1242465, originally uploaded by scisar.
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The NZZ describes it as an “unfussy and straightforward art-palazzo without ’starchitect’-allures, an almost Protestant sobriety, austerity and modesty suiting a Zwinglian Zurich” (sort of similar to the Calvinistic Geneva, for the uninitiated).
However the first of the two images shows indeed a very subtle addition that creates somewhat of an ensemble with the existing Kunsthaus building, with similar materialization and color, yet maintaining a certain autonomy. It clearly shows the architects sensibility by the treatment of the situation. Rethinking the Heldplatz as a “Platz” rather than a mere agglomeration transit ways and an infrastructural node, would allow it to become a counterpart to the Bellevue, further towards the Opera house, and a central location for the Hochschul- and Museumsquarter - although this hasn’t been part of the competition I do think the city will have to give it some serious thought.

kunsthaus 2_1.1242558-1, originally uploaded by scisar.
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Contrary to perhaps future projects in Basel or existing ones in Lucerne, pushing larger and important buildings in Zurich has become increasingly difficult in the last twenty years, resulting in a number of projects but most of which ultimately disappear. Like the congress center at the lake by Rafael Moneo which didn’t survice a public vote on the project. This results in a complete lack of so-called ‘icons’, e.g. the KKL in Lucerne by Jean Nouvel and similar projects elswhere in Switzerland (of course except perhaps some “older” ones representing a newly found conscious of the city when the federal state was established some 150 years ago; but those buildings, for instance the ETH by Gottfired Semper, had a different relevance and reception at the time)
I guess it is too early to judge solely on two images, but besides that the NZZ got all excited about the Chipperfield’s understatement, I am rather hopeful that perhaps this austere appearance will be a good choice for Zurich, at least one that will be accepted by the public.
The building will cost an estimated 150Mio sFr. and should be finished by 2015.”
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Source: dialog
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Popularity: 4% [?]

from Bustler

The winning projects of the second Holcim Awards competition for Sustainable Construction in Latin America were announced at a ceremony in Mexico City. Total prize money of USD 270,000 was presented to twelve projects from across the region that deliver innovative solutions to social housing, energy efficiency, and the revitalization of communities and water resources.

The Swiss-based Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction conducts the competition in parallel across five regions of the world. Almost 5,000 projects from 90 countries entered the competition which aims to promote sustainable responses from the building and construction industry to technological, environmental, socioeconomic and cultural issues.

Gold Award to an urban integration project in Colombia
An urban planning project for a commune in Medellín, Colombia developed by Empresa de Desarrollo Urbano received the top prize of USD 100,000 and the Holcim Awards Gold 2008 trophy for delivering a ground-breaking and comprehensive approach to address slum formation in cities. The overall scope of the project led by Gustavo Adolfo Restrepo includes the refurbishment and extension of the road network and public utilities, construction of numerous health, education, and sports facilities and implementation of social development programs.

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Head of Jury and Dean of Architecture at the Universidad Iberoamericana (UIA) in Mexico City, José Luis Cortés, commented that the pre-existing MetroCable connecting the informal settlement with the formal city was the catalyst for the approach. “This project complements the effort of available social investment by developing along the MetroCable a range of programs for the regeneration of the area through self-responsibility, community participation and inter-institutional coordination. It is, in short, exemplary in its contribution to reaching the Millennium Development Goals,” he said.
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Energy-efficient media library in Brazil wins Silver Award
The Holcim Awards Silver 2008 was presented to the PUC Rio Mediatheque in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil created by Angelo Bucci of SPBR architects. The building is an attractive landmark that achieves a substantial reduction in energy consumption despite the climate control required for book and media preservation through passive design elements including appropriate orientation, heat insulation, shaded windows, natural ventilation and natural lighting.

Silver: Low-energy university mediatheque, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Illustrating the positioning of the Mediatheque on the PUC-Rio campus.
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Bronze Award for solar water heating and rainwater tower in Brazil
The design by Maria Andrea Triana, Roberto Lamberts and Marcio Antonio Andrade of LabEEE-UFSC, Florianópolis, Brazil, for a solar water heating and rainwater tower was applauded for developing an innovative and economical solution to the widespread lack of public infrastructure in poor urban areas. The “sustainable tower” provides rainwater harvesting, potable water storage and solar water heating in an integrated unit that can be installed within new or existing dwellings, and thus delivers a substantial improvement in the daily living conditions of residents.

Bronze: Solar water heating and rainwater tower, Florianópolis, Brazil: The sustainable tower combines the use of solar energy, rainwater collection and potable water storage.
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Bronze: Solar water heating and rainwater tower, Florianópolis, Brazil: Components of the tower.
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Acknowledgement prizes for projects in Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico
Six submissions received equal Acknowledgement prizes for their leading-edge approaches to sustainable construction. An energy-efficient medical and social center in São Paulo and a multi-modal transport hub upgrade in Rio de Janeiro were both prize-winners from Brazil. Two projects to revitalize water systems from Mexico: an ecological river remediation park in Morelia and a sanitation and river remediation project in Tuxtla Gutiérrez were also recognized. A post-earthquake reconstruction at San Lorenzo of Tarapacá, Chile, and a mountain trail for land preservation and urban demarcation in Bogotá, Colombia completed the series of Acknowledgement prize winners.

Acknowledgement: Ecological river remediation park, Morelia, Mexico
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Acknowledgement: Energy-efficient medical and social center, São Paulo, Brazil
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Acknowledgement: Mountain trail for land preservation and urban demarcation, Bogotá, Colombia
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Acknowledgement: Multi-modal transport hub upgrade, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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Acknowledgement: Post-earthquake reconstruction, San Lorenzo of Tarapacá, Chile
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Acknowledgement: Sanitation and river remediation, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Mexico
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“Next Generation” prizes for project visions
For the first time, the Holcim Awards competition included a category for the visions of young architects and designers. First prize was presented to architect Alberto Ferandez Gonzalez who was applauded for his coastal fog-harvesting tower concept for Huasco, Chile, which proposes to extract water for agriculture from the “Camanchaca” coastal fog. The Eutropia integrated approach to low cost housing in urban areas by Mexican architects Ricardo Julian Vásquez Ochoa and Emilio José García Bidegorry was awarded the 2nd prize and a project to utilize urban voids in Campinas, Brazil for agricultural production by architect Thiago Cintra Pilegi was recipient of the 3rd prize in the “Next Generation” category.

“Next Generation” 1st prize: Coastal fog-harvesting tower, Huasco, Chile: The tower is 200m high, catching each water particle in the air that comes from the coast to the valley of Huasco River.

“Next Generation” 1st prize: Coastal fog-harvesting tower, Huasco, Chile: Geometric optimization of the water capture.

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“Next Generation” 2nd prize: Eutropia low-cost and space-efficient social housing, Mexico City, Mexico
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“Next Generation” 3rd prize: Agriculture facility for inner-city voids, Campinas, Brazil
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Independent jury of international experts in architecture and sustainability
Competition submissions for projects in region Latin America were evaluated by an independent jury hosted by UIA: José Luis Cortés (Head of Jury, Mexico), Marc Angélil (USA), Daniel Bermúdez, (Colombia), Fernando Diez (Argentina), Vanderley M. John (Brazil), Yolanda Kakabadse (Ecuador), Hans-Rudolf Schalcher (Switzerland), Bruno Stagno (Costa Rica) and Sara Topelson (Mexico) used the “target issues” for sustainable construction developed by the Holcim Foundation to evaluate submissions. The “target issues” address the triple bottom line of economic, environmental, and social factors together with architectural quality and the potential to apply the innovation in other locations.

International series of five ceremonies
The prizes for region Latin America were conferred at the awards ceremony held at the Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso in Mexico City, attended by more than 360 representatives of government, business, architecture and related disciplines from 14 countries. Internationally-renowned Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta, and Holcim CEO and Chairman of the Board of the Holcim Foundation Markus Akermann welcomed guests. Secretary of the Economy of the Republic of Mexico, Gerardo Ruiz Mateos, delivered a keynote address that emphasized the broad potential for sustainable construction to generate tangible change in both social and environmental issues.

The Mexico City event was the third of five ceremonies. The results for Europe and North America have also been announced, and the results for Africa Middle East and Asia Pacific will be celebrated in the forthcoming weeks. Gold, silver and bronze prize winners from each region automatically qualify for the global Holcim Awards competition. The projects will be further evaluated by a global jury and the winners proclaimed in Switzerland in May 2009.

The Holcim Awards is an international competition of the Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction. The competition seeks innovative, future-oriented and tangible sustainable construction projects; offers prize money of USD 2 million per three-year competition cycle, and is run in cooperation with renowned partner universities: Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico; Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil; Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich), Switzerland; Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA; Tongji University, China; and the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.

The Holcim Foundation is supported by Holcim Ltd and its Group companies in more than 70 countries, but is independent of its commercial interests. Holcim is one of the world’s leading producers of cement and aggregates, and was recently named “Leader of the Industry” in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for the fourth year in succession.

Images: Holcim Foundation

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Popularity: 8% [?]

from Bustler
Internationally Acclaimed Architect and Chair of the UCLA Department of Architecture and Urban Design, Hitoshi Abe, wins the SIA-Getz Architecture Prize for Emergent Architecture in Asia
Hitoshi Abe, Chair of the UCLA Department of Architecture and Urban Design, has been awarded the second SIA-Getz Architecture Prize for Emergent Architecture in Asia. The SIA-Getz Architecture Prize seeks to bring recognition to Asian architects, who through their vision and commitment have made a significant contribution in shaping the changing landscape of Asia. The prize is awarded bi-annually in Singapore.

The SIA-Getz Architecture Prize aims to promote increased public involvement and appreciation of Asian architecture, to encourage future generations of Asian architects, and to honor a living architect’s remarkable career that is in progress. Over time, their hope is that this Prize will make a significant impact on innovative practices in architecture in Asia, and preserve its diverse cultural and ethnic identities. The Prize was established in 2006 and is comprised of a cash prize of US $30,000 and a medallion.

The Singapore Institute of Architects in partnership with Getz Bros Ltd. directed the award process. The award was presented to Hitoshi Abe at a ceremony in Singapore on Friday, October 24. Mr. Tai Lee Siang, SIA President and Mr. Ray Simkins, President Getz Bros & Co Inc. presided over the presentation. The Guest-of-Honor was Mr. Robert Tomlin, Chairman DesignSingapore Council.
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The jury panel for the SIA-GETZ Architecture Prize, comprised of Will Alsop, Edmund Cheng, Philip Cox, Dr. Balkrishna V Doshi, Tai Lee Siang, and Alfred H. K. Wong, distinguished individuals and architects, published a statement regarding Hitoshi Abe: “With just about 20 years since graduation, Hitoshi Abe’s contribution and achievements…have been significant. It is Abe’s approach, his sensitivity to the environment and community, that he is selected as the laureate for the 2nd SIA-Getz Architecture Prize.”

Atelier Hitoshi Abe: FRP Ftown Building, Tokyo, Japan, 2007
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Known for architecture that is spatially complex and structurally innovative, Hitoshi Abe has received numerous awards in Japan and internationally, including the 2007 World Architecture Award for M/Kanno Museum, the 2005 Good Design Award for Sasaki Office Factory for Prosthetics, the 2003 Architectural Institute of Japan Award for Reihoku Community Hall, and the 2001 Building Contractors Society Award for Miyagi Stadium.

Principal of his own firm, Dr. Abe worked with Coop Himmelb(l)au in Los Angeles from 1988 –1992 before founding Atelier Hitoshi Abe in 1993 in Sendai, Japan. He recently opened a second office in Los Angeles, to work on a series of projects outside of Japan. Some of his key projects include the Aoba-tei restaurant, the Sasaki Office Factory for Prosthetics, F-town, which is an eat-and-drink building filled with bars and restaurants in Sendai, the Miyagi Stadium in Rifu, SSM/Kanno Museum in Shiogama, and the 9-tsubo House “Tall” in Kanagawa. A monograph “Hitoshi Abe Flicker” (TOTO) accompanied an exhibition of his work at the Gallery MA in Tokyo in 2005. He is the subject of Phaidon Press’s new monograph “Hitoshi Abe” to be released in winter 2009.

Atelier Hitoshi Abe: Shiki Community Hall, Kumamoto, Japan, 2002
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Dr. Abe has a decade-long distinguished career as a leader in education, which began at the Tohoku Institute of Technology (Sendai, Japan) where he taught from 1994 to 2007. He was the Friedman Professor at the University of California, Berkeley. At Tohoku University, Dr. Abe served as professor in charge of the Architecture and Urban Design Laboratory and director of the Architectural Design Education Committee, where he established an international network of architectural training. Dr. Abe earned his Masters of Architecture from SCI-ARC in Los Angeles in 1988 and his Ph.D. from Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan in 1993. In 2007, he was appointed professor and chair of the UCLA Department of Architecture and Urban Design.”
Images: Atelier Hitoshi Abe
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Popularity: 6% [?]

from Dezeen

Warsaw-based architects Are have designed a new terminal building for Lublin International Airport in Poland. The airport extension and renovation was designed in collaboration with Sener Ingenieria y Sistemas in Poland and Spain, and Polconsult.

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Popularity: 4% [?]

From Architectural Record

Photo © Bitter Bredt/courtesy Neue Brunnen AG

The Westside Shopping and Leisure Centre, a 1.5-million-square-foot facility in Bern, Switzerland, was designed by Studio Daniel Libeskind. The mall opened on October 8. “Architects for a long time thought malls were below their dignity,” Libeskind says. “But if you bring nature and culture into the building, you can make it a radically different place.”
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” After a decade of creating jutting projections for museums, Daniel Libeskind has attempted to redefine the look of another institution: the shopping mall.

Called the Westside Shopping and Leisure Centre, the low-slung 1.5-million-square-foot facility in Bern, Switzerland, is the first project of its type for the New York-based architect. It opened on October 8.
Like many of its mid-20th-century suburban American counterparts, Westside features known international retailers strung along enclosed corridors, with 70 stores across three levels, as well as a compact 10-restaurant food court (McDonald’s and Starbucks included). Also on the property, which lies on the city’s western edge, is an attached 144-room hotel and 11-screen cinema, both designed by Libeskind.

Photo © Bitter Bredt/courtesy Neue Brunnen AG

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Moreover, the $440 million complex offers an 18-pool water park called Bernaqua Adventure Pool and Spa. At 575 feet, one of its three outdoor slides is Switzerland’s tallest, according to developer and grocery chain Migros Aare, which is an arm of Migros, the country’s largest employer.

Instead of locating the mall far from residential neighborhoods, Migros is attempting to create a residential enclave around it. Already standing on the property is a two-building, 95-unit senior complex, designed by Libeskind. Eventually, it will be joined by 800 new apartments on surrounding land, according to Franzisca Ellenberger, a Westside spokeswoman.
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Details of the mall’s physical appearance, too, seem a departure from tradition. The interior features Libeskind’s trademark sharp angles and diagonal lines. Windows, many of them triangular, funnel ample natural light into hallways that otherwise might have been bathed in fluorescent light; they also provide views of cow-dotted green pastures. Also unexpected, perhaps, is the dark-brown robinia wood cladding on the exterior.

Instead of being adrift at the end of a vast parking lot, like so many contemporary shopping centers, Westside sits on top of A1, a busy highway. Though there are 1,275 parking spaces, the mall also has a commuter train stop, which can be reached from downtown Bern in eight minutes.

Photo © Bitter Bredt/courtesy Neue Brunnen AG

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The pools at Westside will typically stay open until 10 p.m., movies could get out as late as 2:30 a.m., and concerts are planned for a permanent stage inside the mall. In these ways, Westside could become a round-the-clock social center, which might further help redefine its larger function, Libeskind says. “Architects for a long time thought malls were below their dignity,” Libeskind says. “But if you bring nature and culture into the building, you can make it a radically different place.”

Source: Architectural Record

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Popularity: 5% [?]

from Wallpaper

Stillness by Gilbert Booth, Kent

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As the economy comes down around our ears, general wisdom decrees that purse strings should be tightened wherever possible. If you haven’t managed to bag your dream home already though, help is at hand courtesy of The Modern House’s new lettings agency, which means you can ride out the economic storm in style, albeit in a temporary abode.
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The Modern House is a UK-based estate agency that specialises in 20th and 21st century homes ‘of distinction’, started by former architecture journalists Albert Hill and Matt Gibberd (himself the grandson of Modernist architect Frederick Gibberd). The two spotted a hole in the market for people who wanted to buy and sell houses and flats designed by big name architects. From Breuer to Goldfinger, Foster to Rogers, the duo sought to combine their expertise and contacts to provide a service that catered for the design savvy.
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The Dairy House by Charlotte Skene-Catling, Somerset
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The Vetro Building, Clere Street, London
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And now they’ve added a lettings service too, offering up a series of significant buildings for temporary residence in both urban and rural areas. Riding high as one of our favourites at the moment is the beautiful art deco building Stillness in Kent, designed by Gilbert Booth in 1934. The five-bedroom property, named in honour of the lack of noise in its surrounds, would make a very nice bolthole away from the clamour of London.
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Kingsley Place by John Winter and Robert Dye Associates, Highgate
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Kingsley Place by John Winter and Robert Dye Associates, Highgate
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Popularity: 3% [?]

The Victorian Age
For the past few days I’ve been vacationing in Victoria, BC. It’s not my first trip here, but it might as well be. The last time I was a toddler. [...] Read
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Popularity: 2% [?]

Architecture Film, The baby falling down the Odessa Steps.
The scene is well-known: the sequence of the baby falling down the Odessa Steps in Sergei Eisenstein’s movie The Battleship Potyomkin (1925) is one of the most influential films in movie history (many films pay homage to the scene like Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables). [...] Read
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Popularity: 2% [?]