The Architectural Review articles from December 2003

The Architectural Review archives from December 2003

Mutant bagpipe invades Graz: the recent inauguration of Peter Cook's remarkable new Kunsthaus in Graz crowns the city's year as European Cultural Capital.(View)
December 1, 2003... COOK AND FOURNIER LAND IN GRAZ AS FRIENDLY ALIENS CELEBRATING THE EUROPEAN CULTURAL CAPITAL; AR'S 2004 CONFERENCE RELATES OLD AND NEW IN GREAT EUROPEAN TRADITION; BIRMINGHAM BITES BACK; IS WOOD NOT SO GOOD?; VIEW FROM PITTSBURGH--THE...

Ar+d @ RIBA.(View)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Winning and all commended projects in this year's ar+d Awards for Emerging Architecture are now on show in the Florence Hall at the Royal Institute of British Architects in London. Made possible by the support of the distinguished Danish design...

Intervening in the European city.(View)
December 1, 2003... The AR continues its annual international conferences on the theme of the European city with one on intervention: how to make new buildings among old ones; how to fit new uses into existing buildings. A star studded cast of speakers will...

Sutherland Lyall dispenses Yuletide cheer from his bulging cybersack.(Browser)
December 1, 2003... Virtually open There's not a lot of point in suggesting sites which are difficult to understand but there is this very tricky site at www.mudam.lu which is possibly and perversely interesting. It is run by the Musee d'Art Moderne Grand-Duc...

Diary.
December 1, 2003... AR'S CHOICE OF CURRENT INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS For an expanded and constantly updated list, go to our website: www.arplus.com/exhibitions AUSTRIA HOW TO BUILD? THE MODERNIST BOOK Until 2 February 2004 ...

All hot air?(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2003... SIR: I was amused by your attempt to justify the new electricity producing windmills (AR November, p32). Certainly, Samyn's design seems more elegant and honed than other ones. In some ways, windmills are the equivalent of the marvellous aque-...

Bore for Birmingham?(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2003... SIR: I was amazed to read your Outrage at the Birmingham Selfridges 'Blue Blob' by Future Systems. Your words follow almost identically my own to Sir Albert Bore while it was still a project in the air. It is a socially and urbanistically...

Metropolitan smugness.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2003... SIR: I've never come across such an appalling case of metropolitan smugness as your October 'Outrage'. You choose to lay the blame for your dislike of the admittedly rather strange and unsympathetic Selfridges building not at the door of the...

Wood not so good?(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2003... SIR: I liked your notion of making a bit of a supplement about wood (AR November p87) but I am worried about your easy definition of wood as being a universally a good thing. Clearly it does lock up carbon dioxide as long as it is not burned or...

Addendum.
December 1, 2003... Photographs of the Office Tower, Vancouver (AR September, pp58-66) were taken by Nic Lehoux.

View from Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh is now striving energetically to reinvent itself as a model for the post-industrial city of the twenty-first century.
December 1, 2003... The moment visitors to Pittsburgh exit the Liberty Tunnel and access the high-level Liberty Bridge, they enjoy an instant iconic panorama of Downtown and the confluence of Pittsburgh's three defining rivers. Displayed below, between the massive...

Emerging Architecture.(Cover Story)
December 1, 2003... This year's ar+d awards show a host of new talent (and one or two names that we have celebrated before). The jury's emphasis this time was on materiality, tectonics, thoughtfully explored in all inhabited continents. ********** This...

Stretching a point: if there is a case for blobs in certain places, this bus station makes it, with a landmark made in a radical way, with a dramatic approach to modern materials and techniques.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Well, it must be faced: the jury gave an award to a blob, notwithstanding the AR's deep distaste for the blob movement. It is a bus station built on an island in the forecourt of Hoofddorp's Spaarne Hospital and it acts as junction point for...

Green gazebo: a little look-out tower shows mastery of timber technology.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Helsinki Zoo is on Korkeasaari, one of the forested islands that stud the massive and wonderfully picturesque Helsinki harbour. It houses a remarkable collection of animals--most kept, as one might expect in such a civilized country, in large...

Shedding light: a new community centre between two small squares in Tenerife ingeniously interprets the strong light and adds to the public realm.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Los Silos is a little town on the north-western slope of the island of Tenerife, and if you landed there after a blindfolded journey, you might think you were in a provincial Spanish settlement, rather than on an island in the Atlantic some...

Ice and fire: a powerful and transient exploration of the powers of the elements in the winter of the North.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The jury was entranced by the simplicity and power of Pierre Thibault's Winter Gardens, a land art (or rather ice art) piece on a frozen lake in the wastelands of the Canadian winter. Flat and almost featureless, the smooth lake was dusted by a...

Chetty chetty bang bang: step aside Caractacus Potts, Laurie Chetwood's home is a fun palace in the country, near London and not a million miles from Hushaby Mountain.
December 1, 2003... Michael Sorkin had to be almost forcibly restrained from serially voting for the Chetwood house (not allowed, one jury member, one vote). But we were all very impressed by its inventive light heartedness, both in spatial and material terms....

Moated range: making the most of its magnificent site, this house changes radically with the seasons.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Sambuichi's Air House, like his very different building for Miwa pottery dynasty (p72), is an essay in environmental propriety. All jury members were very surprised to find that they were by the same architect; but each is appropriate for its...

Mountain white: radical weekend house in Japanese forest doubles as performance place and gallery.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Makoto Yamaguchi's country villa was puzzling to some members of the jury. At first it seems so simple. Then you begin to think. How does it work? How, even, do you get into it? [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...

Ascetic necropolis: an extension to a Ligurian cemetery makes a dignified necropolis which responds tenderly to its hillside site.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The cemetery extension at Armea di Sanremo in Liguria near Monaco is intended to retain the graveyard close to the centre of town to obviate the need to build a new one far out beyond the suburbs. Carefully terraced into the natural slope above...

Ocean view: a coastal house that responds to climate and site with vigorous spatial moves.
December 1, 2003... The Peruvian desert is a weird place. A long strip of dusty grey edges the Andean country against the Pacific. Here, it never rains (well, there was supposed to be a shower about 35 years ago); it never gets very hot (about 30 deg C in summer),...

Medieval Phoenix: a series of modern interventions in the ruins of a German medieval castle give it a new lease of life.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Vlotho is a small north-west German town on the Weser, not far from Bielefeld. Its castle, associated with the semi-mythical medieval knight Greifenklau (gripping talon), has long been in ruins, with its massive curtain wall well preserved and...

Hide and seek: a house near the Great Wall of China calls into question conventional domesticity.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... EDGE Design was asked to participate in a scheme in which 12 young Asian architects built houses in the countryside near Beijing overlooking the Great Wall. Gary Chang came up with a large space that contains many hidden surprises. His aim was...

Rural blend: drawing on local materials and craftsmanship, this little distillery in rural Venezuela evokes a strong sense of place.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Pecaya is a small town in the impoverished semi-desert region of Venezuela. Traditionally, much of its economy has centred on production of a local spirit drink, the 53 per cent proof Cocuy Pecayero which is made from the Agave Cocuy, an...

Crystal pavilions: two luminous pavilions make a fine addition to a traditional European square.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The two little pavilions in Bologna's historic main piazza have recently been discussed in these pages (AR October pp38-39), so they do not need to be described at length here. They form the entrance to subterranean exhibition galleries that...

Pots and spans: a very simple little building with much to teach about sustainability.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The Japanese concrete construction industry has become a serious threat to the ecological equilibrium of the planet. Forests have been razed (particularly in Queensland) to provide once-used shuttering for elegant poured concrete buildings....

Meeting Place: a gesture of reconciliation and remembrance marks a historically tormented border.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The Meeting Place is on the German/Czech border where the Oberpfalzer Wald and the Cesky Les Forest meet in the gentle range of hills separating the two countries. The little building is intended to be both a reminder and a gesture of...

Life cycle: in the following pages, we look at some of the work that was highly regarded by the jury, but about which it could not achieve consensus. We start with this moving crematorium in India.
December 1, 2003... Surat is a city on the river Tapi in Gujarat, near Ahmedabad, the capital of Indian modern architecture, where both Kahn and Corbusier built and distinguished contemporary architects like Doshi carry on the tradition. Surat was partly...

Green courts: an adaptation of a traditional continental European type suggests new forms of urbanity.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Wimbergergasse is in the seventh district of Vienna, an area in which offices and flats are mixed up in proper European urban fashion. The new building by Delugan_Meissl reinterprets the tenement type for our age. Offices are arranged at the...

Ecological lessons: the many ecological innovations in this Norwegian school should inspire radical new thinking about the type.
December 1, 2003... Kvernhuset secondary school is in the forest edge of Fredrikstad on the coast of south-east Norway. It is intended to involve its community in ecological study, and as few as possible of the surrounding trees were demolished during its...

A new Baroque? With the very simplest and cheapest of means, and the construction work of the congregation, Jae Cha has made a numinous space for a very poor society in Costa Rica.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Jae Cha has already been celebrated twice in the ar+d awards for making buildings commissioned by Christian communities in the tropics that can be built with cheap materials by their own congregations (ARs December 2000 and December 2001). She...

External envelope: Rob Gregory gets under the skin of recent cladding innovations.(Product Review)
December 1, 2003... See the new ar.products section on www.arplus.com 501 CRICURSA Prada's new crystal-like shop in Tokyo, by Herzog & de Meuron, features curved and laminated cladding units by Spanish glazing fabricator Cricursa. Convex, flat and concave...

John Sydney.(Specifier's Information)
December 1, 2003... John Sydney's Elite range of contemporary bathroom fittings have recently been installed in the development of 12 luxury apartments at The Old Chapel in the centre of Birmingham. The Elite basins, bath mixers and thermostatic dual control...

SSQ.(Specifier's Information)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Natural slate from SSQ is proving to be extremely popular with designers and specifiers in the south-west of the UK. Quarried in Argentina, SSQ Riverstone is one of the few natural slates available that matches Cornwall's distinctive grey/green...

Urbis Lighting Ltd.(Specifier's Information)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The Hestia luminaire won the 2002 Lighting Design Award for Innovation. Fitted with Urbis' revolutionary 1659 micro reflector, the size of the lantern has been greatly reduced to create an elegant combination with the column and bracket design....

Armstrong.(Specifier's Information)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Armstrong have integrated the new Vector edge into the Ultima range to combine outstanding aesthetics with high performance. The crisp, clean detailing of the new Vector edge reduces the visible width of the grid to only 6mm, resulting in a...

Brava.(Specifier's Information)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Innovative office furniture company. Brava, has unveiled a new London showroom to meet growing demand for its leading edge workspaces products. Displaying the unique bespoke system, System I, the showroom will offer a stylish environment for...

E-Motive Display.(Specifier's Information)
December 1, 2003... Lift display specialist E-Motive has supplied 55 of its full colour LCD displays to the new Conference Palace in Abu Dhabi. The colour LCD displays show lift position, direction, date and time, floor directories and commercial logos. E-Motive's...

Geze.(Specifier's Information)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... GEZE GmbH, one of Europe's leading manufacturers of door and window control technology, has announced the opening of GEZE Middle East, located in Dubai, UAE. The move sees the GEZE team established in prestigious new offices with warehouse and...

Philips Lighting.(Specifier's Information)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Philips Lighting's LightMaster 100 control system has been installed in British Telecommunications offices near Watford. With 44 individual lighting areas, the system offers a variety of functions, including a monitoring option which allows BT...

King Rudolph; Paul Rudolph: the late work.(Reviews)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 1, 2003... PAUL RUDOLPH: THE LATE WORK By Roberto de Alba. London: Princeton Architectural Press. 2003. [pounds sterling]30 For an America bracketed by the International Style and then the faux historicity of Postmodernism, Paul Rudolph...

American space; The organizational complex: architecture, media, and corporate space.(Reviews)(Book Review)(Brief Review)
December 1, 2003... THE ORGANIZATIONAL COMPLEX: ARCHITECTURE, MEDIA, AND CORPORATE SPACE By Reinhold Martin, London: MIT Press. 2003. [pounds sterling]26.50 In his book on the work of Eero Saarinen for General Motors, IBM and Bell Labs and the office...

Passionate humanist: modern architecture and other essays.(Reviews)(Book Review)
December 1, 2003... MODERN ARCHITECTURE AND OTHER ESSAYS By Vincent Scully, selected and with introductions by Neil Levine. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 2003. [pounds sterling]29.95 Placing modernity in relation to tradition calls for a...

The earnest antipodes; New Conversations with an old landscape: landscape architecture in contemporary Australia.(Reviews)(Book Review)
December 1, 2003... NEW CONVERSATIONS WITH AN OLD LANDSCAPE: LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE IN CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIA By Catherine Bull, Melbourne: The Images Publishing Company. 2002. [pounds sterling]35 Never mind the publisher's sexed up title, this is...

Working model: factory.(Reviews)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 1, 2003... FACTORY By Gillian Darley. London: Reaktion Books. 2003. [pounds sterling]14.95 Modest in scale but very handsomely illustrated, this must be the very best survey we have of factory buildings. It explores them first as images,...

A traditional South African agricultural technique has been domesticated to generate moving and constantly changing spaces.(Delight)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The most delightful parts of Seth Stein's house at Plettenberg Bay on the balmy coast of the Western Cape in South Africa are its 'latte' clad walls. These are made of untreated eucalyptus poles bound to a frame with finely worked copper wire,...

There is a place.(Republic of Fritz Hansen)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... There is a place called The Republic of Fritz Hansen. It is a republic that transcends all boundaries, nationalities, religions and professions--and it is delineated by a common attitude towards quality and furniture design. Our identity...

Design philosophy.(Republic of Fritz Hansen)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... It is Fritz Hansen's design philosophy that our products must serve a purpose, meet the users' needs and be functional. We believe in simplicity and minimalism--and that form and function should form a synthesis and incorporate innovative and...

Ice.(Chairs)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Ice is innovation from the future designed by Danish Kasper Salto. Ice incorporates the virtues of classic chairs of the past using the materials of today and is suitable for both indoor and outdoor use. The frame is aluminium and the back and...

Runner.(Chairs)(Brief Article)(Product/Service Evaluation)
December 1, 2003... Runner is the exclusive multi-functional stackable chair series by Kasper Salto. With delicately grooved and laminated seat and backrest, Runner is a breath of fresh air in the cafeteria, the conference or meeting room--and is ideal as a guest...

The Ant.(Chairs)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Despite its minimalist form and svelte shape, the Ant by Arne Jacobsen is an extremely comfortable chair. The lamination process coupled with the qualities inherent in the wood make it flexible enough to adjust to the body's contours and...

Series 7.(Chairs)(Fritz Hansen collection )(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Series 7 by Arne Jacobsen represents the chair in the Fritz Hansen collection with the widest range of applications. It is lightweight and stackable and is available with or without armrests. Choose from an extensive palette of colours, fabric...

Vico.(Chairs)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Designed by Italian Vico Magistretti, Vico is a luxurious series of conference chairs and is available in a cherry or maple wood veneer. Ideally suited to conference areas, the stackable chair is composed of four pieces of sliced, moulded and...

VicoDuo.(Chairs)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... VicoDuo by Vico Magistretti is an informal range of chairs in beech, maple, or cherry wood veneers. The stackable armchair is moulded from one piece of wood. It is also available in six different lazur colours, and the legs are satin chromed or...

Oxford.(Chairs)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Reborn! The Oxford chair has been reshaped according to the curves and dimensions of Arne Jacobsen's original design. The result is a slimmer and even more beautiful and comfortable chair that is available with high or low back, with or without...

PK9.(Chairs)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The PK9--by some called "the Tulip chair" due to its unique shape--is a side chair designed by Poul Kjaerholm. The base is satin-brushed stainless steel with a moulded polyester shell reinforced by fibreglass and covered with leather. ...

Piet Hein/Bruno Mathsson/Arne Jacobsen.(Tables)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The Piet Hein/Bruno Mathsson/Arne Jacobsen collection comes in many variations of material, shapes and sizes, making it ideal for cafeterias, seminars, conferences or in the home. The table tops are available in beech with bevelled edges also...

Plano.(Tables)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The new series of tables by Pelikan Design features an ultra-thin, almost "floating" table top--square, rectangular or circular in many sizes. The tops are beech or maple veneers, white laminate or glass with a white lacquered glass underside...

PK61, PK71.(Tables)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Poul Kjaerholm's PK61 coffee table from 1955 comes with the top in slate, light flint-rolled marble or glass. The base is stainless steel in typical Kjaerholm design: square, aesthetic and minimal. The PK71 are three nesting tables designed...

PK54.(Tables)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The PK54 is a solid and functional table created by Poul Kjaerholm. The PK54 has a flint-rolled "blanc clair" marble top, which comes with optional solid maple wood extensions and a base in stainless steel. [GRAPHIC OMITTED]

The Egg.(Lounge)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... In 1958, Arne Jacobsen designed the Egg for the Royal Hotel in Copenhagen. This organically shaped chair has since become synonymous with Danish furniture design throughout the world. Because of the unique shape, the Egg guarantees a bit of...

The Swan.(Lounge)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The Swan was designed together with the Egg in 1958 for the Royal Hotel in Copenhagen. The Swan is ideal for lounge and waiting areas as well as the home. The cold-cured foam on the shell is covered in durable fabric or leather. The Swan rests...

The Swan sofa.(Lounge)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The Swan sofa also designed in 1958 is upholstered with cold-cured foam and covered with fabric or leather and perfect for lounge and waiting areas. The sofa rests on a shaker base in satin-finished aluminium. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Series 3300.(Lounge)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The Series 3300 by Arne Jacobsen consists of a chair and a two and three-seater sofa. The cushions, which are crafted from cold-cured foam, rest on a wooden frame with a base of chrome steel tubes. The upholstery is available in fabric or...

Oxford lounge.(Lounge)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The reshaped Oxford chair will make waiting in the lounge or reception area a both comfortable and aesthetic experience. The slimmer and attractive chair now even more closely matches the curves and dimensions of Arne Jacobsen's original...

Decision.(Lounge)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Designed by Danish Pelikan Design, Decision is a series of multi-combination units, individual chair and sofa units. It is available with a choice of narrow or wide backrest making this series perfectly suited for conference rooms, lounges and...

PK33, PK91.(Lounge)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The PK33 three-legged stool, created by Poul Kjaerholm, with a detachable leather cushion has matt-chromed steel legs. The PK91 folding stool has a leather or canvas seat and base in stainless steel. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...

PK80.(Lounge)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... In an ongoing attempt to unite the sublime with the absolutely necessary, Poul Kjaerholm designed the PK80 bench. PK80 is upholstered in leather and supported by a stainless steel frame. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]...

PK31.(Lounge)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The PK31 chair and sofa series combines elegant luxury with comfort. The series is designed by Poul Kjaerholm; it is upholstered in leather and supported by a matt-chromed steel frame. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...

PK20, PK24.(Lounge)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... With the easy curves, the PK24 wicker hammock chair is perhaps one of Poul Kjaerholm's most recognisable chairs. The frame is stainless steel, and the headrest cushion is always in leather. The PK20 is a laidback and elegant easy chair in...

PK22.(Lounge)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The discrete and elegant PK22 easy chair in wicker or leather stands as an icon for Poul Kjaerholm's work. The frame is stainless steel. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Oxford.(Office)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The reshaped Oxford chair is also ideal as an impressive and functional office chair. With the new and elegant castors, adjustable height and improved tilt mechanism Oxford will add an air of efficient sophistication to the office. The chair,...

Flow.(Office)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Flow is an advanced office chair series created by Burkhardt Vogtherr, a designer whose work is characterised by ergonomics, user-friendliness and simplicity. Backrest and seat are active and provide optimal back support thanks to a patented...

Spin.(Office)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Spin, created by Burkhard Vogtherr, is a comprehensive series of office and guest chairs. The Spin swivel chair offers various features such as adjustable height of seat and backrest, automatic tilt function and individual weight adjustment....

Independence.(Office)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Independence, designed by Burkhard Vogtherr, is a visitor cantilever chair. It is stackable and has armpads. The base of the Independence chair is either blackgrey, satin polished or mirror chromed steel. The upholstery is either fabric or...

Kevi.(Office)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Kevi, by Jorgen Rasmussen, is a comprehensive series of classic office chairs with an aesthetic appeal that incorporates all the flexibility you expect from Fritz Hansen. The series includes a wide array of choices that range from the Kevi 2002...

Viper.(Screen Walls)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Viper, designed by Hans Sandgren Jakobsen, is an oval-tube 3 metre long screen that can be extended endlessly. The height is 160 cm. It is available in a choice of either surface treated cardboard paper or aluminium. The aluminium version is...

Wing.(Screen Walls)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The Wing screen, designed by Pelikan Design, consists of two curved sheets made of natural anodised aluminium, maple or beech veneers. The units rest on double-castors and are linked together either in pairs or rows with linking devices. Wing,...

Labyrint.(Screen Walls)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Labyrint, designed by Pelikan Design, is a wooden-framed screen wall that comes in two widths, both 165 cm high. The screen wall is available with oblique wooden slats in beech or maple. It comes as a curved or straight unit and rests on...

Series 9.(Accessories)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Series 9, designed by Sidse Werner, comprises an umbrella stand and a coat and hat stand in chromed steel. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Colours and materials.(Accessories)
December 1, 2003... PLANO TOPS--WOOD/LAMINATE/GLASS: [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] TABLE SERIES--WOOD/LAMINATE: [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...

Addresses.(Accessories)(Brief Article)(Directory)
December 1, 2003... HEAD OFFICE Fritz Hansen A/S Allerodvej 8 3450 Allerod Denmark Tel: +45 48 17 23 00 Fax: +45 48 17 19 48 WWW.FRITZHANSEN.COM REPRESENTATIVES: AUSTRIA Tel: +43 6215 204455 e-mail:...