The Architectural Review articles from May 2008

The Architectural Review archives from May 2008

Scale, security and the humane.(view)
May 1, 2008... THE FIRST NEW LOW-COST HOUSING PROTOTYPES FOR THE CAPE FLATS ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF CAPE TOWN; JEAN NOUVEL WINS THE PRITZKER PRIZE; PETER ZUMTHOR WINS FIRST PRIZE AT THE BRICK AWARDS; MORE THAN TRAINSPOTTING: PETER COOK ON HIS TRAVELS. At a...

An ambitious pionering scheme for architect-designed low-cost housing in the Cape Flats is now under way.(HOPE IN HELL)
May 1, 2008... The sun on Cape Flats in late February is fierce, but it's not always like this: in winter, a chill wind barrels off the Atlantic and the rain scythes in horizontally. This is no place to live in a shack made of scavenged timber and tin. yet...

One of the oldest building materials is celebrated in the recent Brick Award.(BRICK BY BRICK)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Peter Zumthor's Diocesan Museum of St Kolumba in Cologne (AR November 2007) has won first prize in the Brick Award, organised and sponsored by Austrian firm Wienerberger, the world's leading brick, tile and paver manufacturer. Though brick is...

NOUVEL WINS PRITZKER.(Jean Nouvel's Pritzker Prize Laureate)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Joining an impressive list, Jean Nouvel is this year's Pritzker Prize Laureate. Since 1979, the jury have chosen a broad range of winners, beginning with Philip Johnson, the so-called Godfather of American Architecture. Recently the jury have...

Architecture is about STUFF and OBSERVATION. Then you can design.
May 1, 2008... There is of course an ever-increasing plethora of guidebooks available to the traveller: pretty quickly the blandness of Wikipedia or that unsatisfied feeling that you get. from websites has to be replaced by something that you can pore over....

Future imperfect: Architects must use their talents wisely if the more extreme visions of a dystopian future are to be forestalled.(Cover story)
May 1, 2008... If the AR was a fashion magazine, it would probably be Vogue; the classic, authoritative, elegant, journal of record, unswayed by the attention seeking vagaries of more arriviste organs. And, in the same way that fashion magazines publish...

Toyo Ito.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Toyo Ito extends his interest in spatial complexity in this project for the Taichung Metropolitan Opera House. Based on a few geometric rules, the project exhibits more of his recent interest in fluid and continuous spaces, as seen in projects...

Studio Granda.(Culture)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Apart from being an imaginative response to a tricky brief, Studio Granda's remodelling of a corner iste in downtown Reykjavik into a gallery and apartments is emblematic of how the city could renew itself. The programme Pitted history against...

Zaha Hadid.(Cultural)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Scotland is proving surprisingly fertile territory for Zaha Hadid. After the Kirkcaldy Maggie's Centre (AR December 2006) comes a Transport Museum in Glasgow, won in competition last year, which will replace the city's existing museum and...

Alberto Campo Baeza.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Inaugurated in 2001, the NMAC Foundation is located in the grounds of the Dehesa Montenmedio near Cadiz. In this bucolic setting, artists from around the world are involved in site-specific projects in all media. To date more than 40 artists,...

Antoine Predock.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Due to be completed in 2012, the Canadian Museum of Human Rights is a powerful expression of the essential commonality of humankind. Carved into the earth and dissolving into the sky on the Winnipeg horizon, ephemeral wings embrace a mythic...

Gigon/Guyer.(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... From sprinkling copper dust in in-situ concrete, to overlaying steel sheets of differing perforate densities (AR June 2004),Gigon/Guyer have produced a number of innovative facade designs. In the past these have been quiet poetic works, but on...

3XN.(3XNielsen A/S)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Since 1961, the Norwegian city of Molde has hosted an annual international jazz festival that now attracts large audiences every July. This project, won in competition by 3XN, provides a 5800sqm theatre and jazz house to both support this event...

Big Group.(Culture)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Dry docks hold incredible appeal, producing (when entered) unique spatial and acoustic effects. In 2005 the dry dock where Isambard Kingdom Brunel's SS Great Britain was built was spectacularly adapted to become an environmentally conditioned...

Thomas Heatherwick.(Culture)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... An important part of any cultural enterprise is the provision of space for artists in which to work/play /rehearse or experiment. Though there is a lively tradition of this happening in an ad hoc manner (the urban loft being the most obvious...

EMBT.(Community)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... On the roof the world, in the Nepalese capital of kathmandu, Barcelona based EMBT are takling a project as physocally and culturally removed from their European comfort zone as it's possible to be.The Vicky sherpa Foundation Primary School is...

Mecanoo.(Community)
May 1, 2008... Spin's rapid urbanisation has created a rash of nondescript suburban peripheries characterised by anonymous housing interspersed with faturelless erspersed with featureless pubilc space. On the edge of Cordoba, in just such peripheral...

Niall McLaughlin.(Community)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Niall McLaughlin is well known to the AR; he was first published 10 years ago with his design for a photographer's studio in Northamptonshire (AR September 1998). Since then his work has continued to show the same degree of inventiveness. This...

Heikkinen-Komonen.(Community)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Around 70 miles due north of Helsinki, Haemeenlinna is Finland's oldest inland town. Founded in the seventeenth century, it is famous as Sibelius' birthplace, but also boasts the more prosaic distinction of having the oldest provincial archives...

Sean Godsell.(Community)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... More known for his distinctive houses, it is with great anticipation that we await larger scale work from Australian architect Sean Godesell The Design Hub for the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) is one such project; a building...

Herzog & de meuron.(Community)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The Hong Kong Jockey Club is one the oldest institutions in Hong Kong, founded in 1884. It is also one of the largest charity donors in the world, giving an average of over HK$1 billion annually over the past 10 years to charities and community...

Edward Ng.(Community)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... While the world's attention focuses on a few square miles of Beijing, it is reassuring to know that some people have their eyes on less glamorous projects. Having led a team to help a remote community with the Bridge too Far project (an AR...

Barclay & Crousse.(Community)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... This addition to Lima's School of Visual Arts extends a 1930s neo-colonial building with a bold new addition that sits squarely on top of the existing block. Architects Barclay & Crousse saw the project as a chance to explore contrasts between...

Rural Studio.(Community)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... With its programme of community works by student architects now in its 14th year, Rural Studio are still a force for good in the American Deep South. Their latest project is for a youth club in the small town of Akron where high school drop out...

Anna Heringer.(Housing)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... In partnership with Eike Roswag, Anna Heringer won the 2006 AR Award for Emerging Architecture for the Handmade School in Bangladesh (AR December 2006). Living and working there over time has given her an insight into how vernacular materials...

Wright & Wright.(Housing)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Too long stuck in the doldrums, volume housing is the Cinderella of architecture, planning and politics. The only way to drive it forward is to suggest and build good new prototypes which show that the involvement of a thoughtful architect and...

Jarmund/Vigsnaes.(Housing)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... The town of Alesund lies on Norway's dramatic north-west coast where mountains and fjords meet the sea. Moloveien is an old industrial road which was originally filled with fish-related activities. Now these are long gone but the area is only...

Bolles+Wilson.(Housing)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Situated on a gateway site on the western fringe of central London, Bolles+Wilson are proposing this residential tower on land held between an existing supermarket and the railway lines. With an E-shape plan, the southernmost arm forms the...

David Adjaye.(Housing)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... David Adjaye is proving to be a popular British export ti the United States. Last month, we saw his Art Museum in Denver, Colorado (AR April 2008), which showed a significant scale jump from his more widely know domestic work. With a number of...

Daly Genik.(Housing)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Daly Genik are no strangers to difficult sites. Previously we previewed their CNCA High School, located between two busy roads in LA (AR November 2002). Here they are proposing to build between two railway lines, providing residential...

Shigeru Ban.(Housing)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... In response to a call by the Mayor of Dijon, this large housing scheme signals an ambitious redevelopment plan. Some 140 units, in two distinct configurations, respond specifically to a duality that exists across the site. To the south the...

Pugh & Scarpa.(Housing)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... This prototype for a low-cost house forms part of the Make It Right initiative to develop environmentally sustainable dwellings to replace flood ravaged housing in New Orleans. Actor Brad Pitt, famous for hanging out with Frank Gehry, has put...

Hopkins Architects.(Leisure)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Hopkins Architects' first sports building won international acclaim as the Mound Stand at Lord's provided the first example of the practice's now familiar context-tech, mixing techniques (ancient and modern) with inventive finesse (AR September...

Carmody Groarke.(Leisure)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Winner of Building Design magazine's Young Architect of the Year Award (YAYA) in 2007, emerging practice Carmody Groarke was formed by Kevin Carmody and Andrew Groarke in 2006.With success in two prominent architectural competitions, their...

Edward Cullinan.(Leisure)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... This is Ted Cullinan's year, with the 76 year old architect having recently received the RIBA's 2008 Royal Gold Medal (AR March 2008, pp32-33). Some would say it was long overdue. Fittingly, with this recent accolade being personally approved...

Marco Castelletti.(Leisure)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Castelletti came to AR's attention in the 2004 Awards for Emerging Architecture. That year his public realm project for Cesano Maderno in Italy was highly commended. He was also commended for a bathing facility on lake Segrino in Como, that the...

Burd Haward.(Leisure)(Casa Movil)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... New to the AR, London-based Burd Haward Architects have produced a number of innovative commercial proposals. Their Green Room, an elegant advancement of the garden shed, was featured in The Architects' Journal's small projects exhibition. This...

Jun aoki.(Leisure)(OPJ hotel)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Inspired by the porous bedrock of the local area, Ryukyu limestone, OPJ is a resort hotel that has 15 guest suites. On the coast of the Okinawa Prefecture, the circular holes that characterise the local geology have been translated into a...

Klein Dytham.(Leisure)(Kira Kira and Kona Kona apartment hotels)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Klein Dytham's latest commissions take them to Hokkaido, the northernmost island of the Japanese archipelago. Here, though the winters can be harsh, the payback is a vigorous winter sports scene. Known for its world-class powder snow, the town...

Edouard Francois.(Leisure)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Club Med has rebranded itself in recent years, moving literally and metaphorically from its simple but innovative '60s formula: European sun, sea, sand and je ne sais quoi for grown-ups escaping from children or oldies (then defined as anyone...

Mario Cucinella.(Green)
May 1, 2008... Mario Cucinella's forays into sustainable architecture continue with a competition-winning scheme for a major government building in Rome: the 60 000sqm HQ of ltaly's Central Statistics Office on a government campus on the edge of the city. ...

Tabanlioglu Architects.(Green)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... This 21-storey residential block joins an earlier project for urban loft spaces in Istanbul by Tabanlioglu Architects.The site lies in the heart of the city and embraces the concept of loft living for upwardly mobile professionals, with a green...

Roswag & Jankowski.(Green)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... This modest cubic earthen pavilion by the German architects Roswag & Jankowski Architekten draws on and reinterprets the basic form of oasis buildings, offering a series of comfortable interiors for eating, drinking and lounging. Arranged over...

German del sol.(Green)(Honda's multi-functional building )(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Situated on the outskirts of Santiago, this project for Honda is a multi-functional building that combines offices, showroom, warehouse, training court, and parking lot. Set within a landscape that uses plane trees to reflect the character of...

Behnisch Architekten.(Green)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Won by Behnisch Architekten in competition in 2006, proposals were made in response to Unilever's plans to move to a prominent waterfront location in Hamburg's Hafen City. Situated between the new Elbphilharmonie and the shipping terminal, the...

Sauerbruch hutton.(Green)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Mid rise with high targets, this will be one of the first office buildings to be run on less than 100 kWh/a.sqm primary energy. The 15-storey extension to the KfW banking group headquarters in Frankfurt will complete an ensemble of buildings...

Gert Wingardh.(Green)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... LakeTakern is described as the foremost bird lake in Northern Europe, situated west of Ostergotland at the foot of Omberg, in Sweden. Renowned for its rich bird life, and special flora, over 270 bird species are found here in abundance each...

Carme pinos.(Place)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... This ambitious project stitches together and regenerates the urban fabric around the placae de la Gardunya, a square just off the Ramblas in Barcelona's historic and densely textured Raval district. The square lies behind La Boqueria, the...

Will Bruder.(Place)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... On the western edge of Glendale, itself a western suburb of Phoenix, the city plans to develop a new central business district. Will Bruder's proposals involve bringing height, mixed-use and urban style densities to the low-rise,...

Williams & Tsien.(Place)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Up periscope! Williams and Tsien's University of Chicago Center for the Creative and Performing Arts provides a range of accommodation in contemporary version of the podium, pavilion and tower configuration, Entered on a raised ground level,...

West 8.(Place)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Working with three local architects, the Dutch landscape team West 8 recently won an architectural competition for the ambitious [Euro]6 billion transformation of the Rio Manzanares valley. Effectively turning what is described as a 'backside'...

Rogers, Stirk & Harbour.(Place)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] On a complicated hexagonal site one block from Capitol Hill in Washington DC, RSHP's brief called for additional space for the existing tenants of the Shreve, Lamb and Harmon designed 1930s and 1940s office...

Odile Decq.(Place)(Tangier port in Morocco)(Brief article)
May 1, 2008... Poised on the Moroccan coast at the entrance of the Straits of Gibraltar,Tangier is a gateway to the Mediterranean, mediating between Europe and Africa. Since the middle of last year, with the completion of Tanger-Med, it now also boasts one of...

Lighten up.(products)
May 1, 2008... Tripping the light fantastic at Light+Building in Frankfurt, Cathrine Slessor reports on the latest illuminating developments.

Asian Odyssey: Beyond Bawa: modern masterworks of monsoon Asia.(Book review)
May 1, 2008... By David Robson. London:Thames & Hudson. 2007. [pounds sterling]39.95 This book, a sequel to David Robson's 2004 publication Geoffrey Bawa: The Complete Works, is in three parts. The first retraces some of the ground covered in the earlier...

Tea for three: The Contemporary Tea House: Japan's top architects redefine a tradition.(Book review)
May 1, 2008... By Arata lsozaki, Tadao Ando & Terunobu Fujimori. Tokyo: Kodansha. 2007.[pounds sterling]22 There can be few building forms more laden with cultural significance than the Japanese Tea House. Indeed, the authors of this publication assert...

Rituals of the Dong: Allegorical Architecture.('Allegorical Architecture: Living Myth and Architectonics in Southern')(Book review)
May 1, 2008... By Xing Ruan. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. 2006. [pounds sterling]45 The Dong people are a minority group living in mountainous areas of the Guizhou, Hunam and Guangxi provinces of southern China, known architecturally for their...

Inigo Jones And The Classical Tradition.(Book review)
May 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] By Christy Anderson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2006. [pounds sterling]50 Compared with Christopher Wren, Inigo Jones has been ill-served by historians and, until 2007, the standards were John...

Prolific Poelzic: Marvel at the energy and output of Hans Poelzig, Prussian architect extraordinaire,in a major retrospective at the Deutsches Architekturmuseum.(Hans Poelzig)(Biography)
May 1, 2008... In one of the most definitive exhibitions to date, the Deutsches Architekturmuseum has assembled the many strands of Hans Poelzig's career, from architecture, painting and sculpture, to the design of household items, theatre and film sets....

Sutherland Lyall breaks off from his maypoling to swing around the web.(browser)
May 1, 2008... A touch of madness Warner, Ruffo, Nunes, Shiles are the four bosses of WRNSSTUDIO at www.wrnsstudio.com or, as you probably prefer, at plain wrnsstudio. You can drop the prefix and suffix when they are www.and .com. You have to open and...

Jorn Utzon's 90th birthday is the subject of an elegant Festchrift, with Sydney to the fore.(delight)
May 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Had the AR been doing a Preview issue in 1956, it might have included this sketch by a relatively unknown Danish architect for a new opera house in Sydney.The merest scrawl of pencil on paper, it shows a roofscape of...