Leegkerk Church by AWG Architecten

Belgian studio AWG Architecten added pivoting golden cabinets and a golden platform to adapt an old church into a cultural centre in the Dutch village of Leegkerk (+slideshow).

Leegkerk Church by AWG Architecten

Leegkerk Church dates back to the thirteenth century, but the local community felt that in the present day it would better serve the village as an centre for education, exhibitions and conferences.

Leegkerk Church by AWG Architecten

AWG Architecten chose to leave the existing interior mostly unchanged, but added a series of interventions to allow flexible use of the church’s two large rooms.

Leegkerk Church by AWG Architecten

The first addition is a freestanding golden cube, a two-storey metal-clad structure in the centre of the church’s nave that can function as a pulpit, a stage or a viewing platform. Toilets and a kitchen are relocated inside it, while a staircase ascends through its middle to reach the upper level.

Leegkerk Church by AWG Architecten

Architects Jan Verrelst and Maarten Verdonschot told Dezeen: “The golden colour of the material, a copper-aluminium alloy, grew into the project as a result of the search for a material versatile enough to refer to ecclesiastical architecture.”

Leegkerk Church by AWG Architecten

The architects also installed glass doors on either side of the cube to enclose a new meeting area tucked behind.

Leegkerk Church by AWG Architecten

The pivoting golden cabinets were added between the nave and altar, where they double-up as room dividers.

Leegkerk Church by AWG Architecten

Other recent church renovations on Dezeen include the conversion of a fourteenth century chapel with skeletons in its basement and a Romanesque church with a new marble podium. See more renovations on Dezeen.

Leegkerk Church by AWG Architecten

Photography is by Harold Koopmans.

Here’s some more information from AWG Architecten:


Leegkerk Church, The Netherlands: Interior Renovation Completed

Renovation work on the interior of Leegkerk church has been completed. awg architecten has designed a new education and exhibition space, a conference room and polyvalent areas in, on and around a freestanding golden cube inside the monumental church.

Leegkerk Church by AWG Architecten

The historic Leegkerk church, a national monument, dates from the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries. It was originally conceived as a place for contemplation, assembly and refuge on high ground. Leegkerk church is inextricably linked to the locale and to the people of the province of Groningen.

Leegkerk Church by AWG Architecten

The foundations “Stichting Oude Groninger Kerken” and “Bijzondere Locaties Groningen” realised that Leegkerk church merited a new function as a centre for appreciation of the environment and their (cultural) history. The foundations saw that the church needed to be integrated into their (super)regional recreational/educational networks. Furthermore it was essential that the church retain its original, “traditional” multifunctional spaces for social, cultural and spiritual activities. The range of facilities and their quality – both technical and ’emotive’ – necessitated preeminent treatment. The architecture firm awg architecten, from Antwerp, designed a new interior to achieve these ends and to add a new layer to the church’s long and significant history.

Leegkerk Church by AWG Architecten

The aim of the plan was to come up with a design for multiple functionality. Certain (prosaic) additions that are necessary for the church’s infrastructure are now housed in a free-standing volume that was constructed to be as compact as possible: a golden cube, a treasure chest as it were, a shrine.

Leegkerk Church by AWG Architecten

New (revolving) golden cabinets between the nave and the choir function as rotating room dividers. Ample space for modern pursuits is reconfirmed thanks to these additions. Setting the cube at the centre of the church, detached from any walls, defines functional zones and maximises spatial experience. Placing the education and exhibition space on top of this volume, accessible by an almost monumental staircase, accentuates its broad range of possible functions. From this “balcony/stage” it is possible not only to oversee the church interior but also to overlook the landscape of Groningen from an entirely new perspective.

Leegkerk Church by AWG Architecten
Ground floor plan – click for larger image
Leegkerk Church by AWG Architecten
First floor plan – click for larger image
Leegkerk Church by AWG Architecten
Long section – click for larger image
Leegkerk Church by AWG Architecten
Cross section – click for larger image

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Buda Art Centre by 51N4E

A five-sided pavilion made from pale sandy brickwork leads inside this former textile factory in Kortrijk that Belgian studio 51N4E has converted into an arts centre.

Buda Art Centre by 51N4E

The Buda Art Centre accommodates studio and exhibition spaces for artists in residence across all three floors of the old Budafabriek, the last remaining structure of the Desmet-Dejaeghere textile factory on Buda Island.

Buda Art Centre by 51N4E

The architects were keen to retain traces of the building’s history, so they left much of the interior unchanged and concentrated on inserting just two new pentagonal spaces.

Buda Art Centre by 51N4E

The first pentagon is the pale-brick entrance pavilion, which contrasts with the dark red tones of the existing factory buildings. The structure twists away from the neighbouring facades and points out towards the road, but it has no roof, encouraging anyone inside to look straight up to the sky.

Buda Art Centre by 51N4E

“The shape [of the pavilion] creates a friction between the existing buildings and the new intervention,” 51N4E‘s Paul Steinbrück told Dezeen. “Even though it gets very close to the surrounding buildings, it doesn’t touch them at any point. It is not an open space and not a building.”

Buda Art Centre by 51N4E

Above: photograph is by Paul Steinbrueck

For the second pentagon, the architects hollowed out a space at the centre of the factory to create a triple-height atrium connecting all three floors. A new staircase winds around the walls, while clerestory glazing and a large skylight brings natural light through to the studios and galleries. “The vertical space creates a visual understanding of the building,” added Steinbrück.

Buda Art Centre by 51N4E

Stairs also lead up to the roof the building, where an expansive roof terrace offers a view of the River Leie and the city skyline beyond.

Buda Art Centre by 51N4E

“The Buda Art Centre is a new type of cultural space,” conclude the architects. “Making reference to its past, it remains a workshop of production. The warm palette of colours and the series of rather informal spaces invite people to appropriate and discover the building for their own production, exhibition and casual interaction.”

Buda Art Centre by 51N4E

Above: photograph is by Paul Steinbrueck

Also this week, Czech studio Atelier Hoffman revealed images of a riverside coal mill converted into a studio and exhibition space. Other artists’ studios we’ve featured include a pointy gallery and studio in Japan and a series of cabin-like studios on a picturesque Canadian island. See more artists’ studios on Dezeen.

Buda Art Centre by 51N4E

Photography is by Filip Dujardin, apart from where otherwise stated.

Buda Art Centre by 51N4E

Here’s some more information from 51N4E:


Buda Art Centre
51N4E

The last remaining textile factory on Buda Island – an area destined to become the cultural heart of the city – has been transformed into studios and exhibition spaces for artists in residence. This large volume, situated in the middle of a city block, has been adapted through two main interventions.

Buda Art Centre by 51N4E

Above: photograph is by Paul Steinbrueck

The first hollows out a large void in the centre of the building, bringing daylight deep into the vast floor plan. This pentagonal void houses a public staircase that gives access to a diverse range of spaces on four levels: a laboratory for manufacturing, multifunctional spaces of varying sizes and lighting conditions, music venues and a roof terrace. The biggest part of the structure is reused. Besides saving resources, the reuse allows for a large cultural building within a limited budget.

Buda Art Centre by 51N4E

The second intervention adds an open pavilion as an entrance hall from the street. Built from the yellow brick discovered in the original interior, this pavilion becomes the new facade of the complex: the tip of the iceberg. The pavilion itself functions as an antechamber, giving a foretaste of events inside.

Buda Art Centre by 51N4E

The Buda Art Centre is a new type of cultural space. Making reference to its past, it remains a workshop of production. The materials and details make it an approachable space for all kinds of activities and users. The warm palette of colours and the series of rather informal spaces invite people to appropriate and discover the building for their own production, exhibition, and casual interaction.

Buda Art Centre by 51N4E

While the majority of the building is hidden from its surrounding context, the roof terrace provides a sudden confrontation with the city of Kortrijk. The building is a tool to look, not an object to look at. It avoids becoming an image but instead creates an environment.

Buda Art Centre by 51N4E

Project name: Buda Art Centre
Name of building in use: Budafabriek
Location: Kortrijk, Belgium

Buda Art Centre by 51N4E

Programme: exhibition & event facilities, artists’ studios
Built surface: 4.240 m²
Budget: € 2.000.000

Buda Art Centre by 51N4E

Design period: 2005 (competition) – 2007
Construction period: 2010 – 2012

Buda Art Centre by 51N4E

Above: section – click for larger image

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Contemporary Art Centre Córdoba by Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos

Rooms and surfaces are generated from a complex web of hexagons at this contemporary arts centre in Córdoba, Spain, by Madrid office Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos (photography is by Roland Halbe).

Contemporary Art Centre Córdoba by Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos

Inspired by the patterns of traditional Islamic architecture, Nieto Sobejano planned the building as a non-linear sequence of connecting rooms that open out to one another in a variety of configurations.

“We have always been admirers of the hidden geometric laws through which those artists, artisans and master builders of a remote Islamic past were capable of creating a multiple and isotropic space within the mosque,” explain the architects. “We conceived the project as starting with a system, a law generated by a repeating geometric pattern, originating in a hexagonal shape.”

Contemporary Art Centre Córdoba by Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos

The six-sided rooms create a meandering trail through the building and each room can be used as either an exhibition area or as a space for art production. Every wall and surface is concrete, intended to evoke the atmosphere of a factory or warehouse.

“Walls and slabs of concrete and continuous concrete floors establish a spatial area capable of being transformed individually using different forms of intervention,” the architects add.

Contemporary Art Centre Córdoba by Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos

Hexagonal funnels stretch down from the roof to channel natural light into concentrated spaces. Meanwhile, tiny perforations bring narrow beams of light through the facade.

From the exterior, these perforations make up another pattern of hexagons that face out towards the adjacent Guadalquivir River. At night, LED lights illuminate these shapes to present a glowing pattern across the water.

Contemporary Art Centre Córdoba by Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos

As well as exhibition space, the building also contains artists’ workshops, laboratories and an auditorium for theatrical performances, films screenings and lectures.

Contemporary Art Centre Córdoba by Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos

The Contemporary Art Centre Córdoba was completed earlier this year, but while it was still under construction a Spanish graphics studio filmed a theatrical dance performance inside. Watch the movie below, or see a larger version in our earlier story.

Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos has become a specialist in museum and gallery design in recent years. Others to complete include the subterranean Interactive Museum of the History of Lugo and the perforated aluminium extension to the San Telmo Museum. See more architecture by Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos.

Contemporary Art Centre Córdoba by Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos

Above: location plan – click for larger image

See more photography by Roland Halbe on Dezeen, or on the photographer’s website.

Contemporary Art Centre Córdoba by Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos

Above: ground floor plan – click for larger image

Here’s a project description from Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos:


Architecture nourishes itself constantly from images hidden in our memory, ideas which become sharp and clear and unexpectedly mark the beginning of a project. Perhaps this is why the echo of the Hispano-Islamic culture which is still latent in Cordoba has subconsciously signified more than a footnote in our proposal. In the face of the homogeneity which our global civilisation imposes in all aspects of life, the Centre of Contemporary Art aspires to interpret a different western culture, going beyond the cliché of this expression used so frequently.

Contemporary Art Centre Córdoba by Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos

Above: section one – click for larger image

Distrusting the supposed efficacy and flexibility of a neutral and universal container commonly used nowadays, let us image a building closely linked to a place and to a far memory, where every space is shaped individually, to a time which can transform itself and expand in sequences with different dimensions, uses and spatial qualities.

Contemporary Art Centre Córdoba by Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos

Above: section two – click for larger image

We have always been admirers of the hidden geometric laws through which those artists, artisans and master builders of a remote Islamic past were capable of creating a multiple and isotropic space within the Mosque, a building facetted with vaults and muqarna windows, permutations of ornamental motifs with lattice windows, paving and ataurique decorations, or the rules and narrative rhythms implicit in the poems and tales of Islamic tradition.

Contemporary Art Centre Córdoba by Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos

Above: section three – click for larger image

Like those literary structures which include a story within another story, within yet another… – a story without an end – we conceived the project as starting with a system, a law generated by a repeating geometric pattern, originating in a hexagonal shape, which in turn contains three different types of rooms, with 150 m², 90 m², and 60 m². Like a combinatorial game, the permutations of these three areas generate sequences of different spaces which possibly can come to create a single exhibition area.

Contemporary Art Centre Córdoba by Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos

Above: section four – click for larger image

The artists’ workshops on the ground floor and the laboratories on the upper floor are located adjacent to the exhibition halls, to the point where there is no strict difference between them: artistic works can be exhibited in the workshops while the exhibition halls can also be used as areas for artistic production. The assembly room – the black box – is designed as a stage area suitable for theatrical productions, conferences, film screenings, or even for audiovisual exhibitions.

Contemporary Art Centre Córdoba by Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos

Above: section five – click for larger image

The Centre of Contemporary Art is not a centralised organism: its centre moves from one area to another, it is everywhere. It is designed as a sequence of rooms linked to a public walkway, where the different functions of the building come together. Conceived as a crossroads and meeting place, it is a communal area for exhibitions and exchange of ideas, to view an installation, see exhibitions, visit the café, use the mediateque, wait for the start of a show in the black box, or perhaps gaze at the Guadalquivir river.

Contemporary Art Centre Córdoba by Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos

Above: section six – click for larger image

The materials will contribute to suggest the character of an art factory which pervades the project. In the interior, walls and slabs of concrete and continuous concrete floors establish a spatial area capable of being transformed individually using different forms of intervention. A network of electrical, digital, audio and lighting infrastructure creates the possibility of multiple views and connections everywhere.

Contemporary Art Centre Córdoba by Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos

Above: section seven – click for larger image

Outside, the building aspires to express itself through one material: GRC prefabricated panels that at the same time clad opaque and perforated façades, or make up the flat and sloping roofs of the halls. The industrialised concept of the system as well as the conditions of impermeability, insulation and lightness of the material, contribute to guarantee the precision and rationality of its execution but also plays a part in the combinatory concept which governs the whole project.

Contemporary Art Centre Córdoba by Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos

Above: east elevation – click for larger image

The facade onto the river, a true mask that protagonizes the exterior facade of the building, is conceived as a screen perforated by several polygonal openings with LED-type monochromatic maps behind them. With an appropriate computer program, video signals will generate images and texts that will be reflected on the river’s surface and enable installations specifically conceived for the place. During the day, natural light will filter through the perforations and penetrate the interior covered walkway.

Contemporary Art Centre Córdoba by Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos

Above: south elevation – click for larger image

In the Centre for Contemporary Art, artists, visitors, experts, researchers and the public, will meet as in a contemporary zouk, without an obvious spatial hierarchy. It will be a centre for creative artistic processes which will link closely the architectural space with the public: an open laboratory where architecture attempts to provoke new modes of expression.

Contemporary Art Centre Córdoba by Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos

Above: west elevation – click for larger image

Some of the most recent artistic proposals linked to the most recent technologies appear to move away from materiality and submerge themselves in a virtuality disconnected from a concrete place, but perhaps through it, disagreeing with this interpretation – which has become a commonplace – we are convinced that the building itself, the Guadalquivir river, the present and the past of Cordoba, will not simply be a casual circumstance but – as it has been for us as well – will be the start of a dialogue, agreement, or perhaps rejection. For are these not also emotions which underlie the search for all artistic expression?

Contemporary Art Centre Córdoba by Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos

Above: north elevation – click for larger image

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Małopolska Garden of Arts by Ingarden & Ewý

Polish studio Ingarden & Ewý has slotted a theatre and library around the nineteenth century structure of a former horse-riding arena in Kraków (+ slideshow).

Małopolska Garden of Arts by Ingarden & Ewy

Bringing together two existing organisations, the Małopolska Garden of Arts (MGA) contains both the Małopolska Voivodeship Library and the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre that had been already been using the old building as a venue for workshops.

Małopolska Garden of Arts by Ingarden & Ewy

Architects Krzysztof Ingarden and Jacek Ewý extended the building to create a T-shaped plan, surrounded by a glass curtain wall with a cloak of chunky clay louvres.

Małopolska Garden of Arts by Ingarden & Ewy

This stripy cladding was designed with an uneven profile to mirror the shapes of surrounding buildings. Ingarden describes this as a game between “mimesis and the abstraction”, meaning that the building both refers to its context and is distinctly different from it.

Małopolska Garden of Arts by Ingarden & Ewy

The library occupies the western wing of the T-shaped plan, while the theatre stretches north to south, beside a large indoor garden filled with benches, planting beds and a maple tree.

Małopolska Garden of Arts by Ingarden & Ewy

Partially sheltered beneath a skeletal roof, this space is open to the public and was designed to “transport the gateway to the stage out onto the street” and hence entice visitors into the theatre, cinema, events room and cafe.

Małopolska Garden of Arts by Ingarden & Ewy

The library has its own entrance and contains three floors of reading rooms and study areas that face out onto a pedestrian passageway along the side of the building.

Małopolska Garden of Arts by Ingarden & Ewy

Ingarden & Ewý won a competion to design the Małopolska Garden of Arts back in 2005 and it finally opened to the public last month.

Małopolska Garden of Arts by Ingarden & Ewy

It was also recently awarded the Janusz Bogdanowski Award for making the greatest contribution to architecture in Kraków in 2012.

Małopolska Garden of Arts by Ingarden & Ewy

See more projects in Poland, including the world’s narrowest house and a sports centre with rooftop tennis courts.

Małopolska Garden of Arts by Ingarden & Ewy

Photography is by Krzysztof Ingarden.

Małopolska Garden of Arts by Ingarden & Ewy

Here’s more information from Ingarden & Ewy


The building of the Małopolska Garden of Arts (MGA) has been constructed according to a competition-winning (Union of Polish Architects, SARP 2005) design by Ingarden & Ewy Architects. The initiative of establishing a new cultural institution in Kraków was proposed a year earlier by Krzysztof Orzechowski, Director of the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre and Janusz Sepioł, at the time the Marshal of the Małopolska Region. It is no coincidence that the building was raised in the vicinity of ul. Karmelicka – a street popular with students and locals alike – opposite the building of the public library, with the aim of ensuring its smooth inclusion into the “bloodstream” of the city.

Małopolska Garden of Arts by Ingarden & Ewy

The building of MGA introduced new spatial order to the old backyards and ruined buildings in Rajska and Szujskiego streets in Krakow. The starting point was a multifunctional hall, which was entered into the outline of the old, 19th-century horse-riding arena, used in the last years of its history as workshops and storage space for the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Kraków.

Małopolska Garden of Arts by Ingarden & Ewy

The Małopolska Garden of Arts is a cross between two institutions: the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre and the Malopolska Voivodeship Library. The wing on Szujskiego Street holds a modern art and media library, with multimedia books and music, while the section standing on ul. Rajska has been developed by the theatre, and is equipped with a multifunctional events hall. The new hall – operating, as a studio theatre, conference room, concert hall, and venue for banquets and exhibitions – holds retractable stages for 300 people. State-of-the-art stage technology is present overhead: fixed on hoists and cranes to the steel ceiling girders. This allows dramas and concerts to be performed, and exhibitions, film screenings, symposiums, conferences, art auctions, fashion shows, and many more events to be held. Altogether, the space of about 4300 sq.m houses a theatre together with a cosy cinema with 98 seats, a café, and premises for the organisation of educational, art-related activities.

Małopolska Garden of Arts by Ingarden & Ewy

Honing the form, the architects focused on interaction with the future recipients, which is why the entire spatial form of the symbolic, openwork roofing raised over the garden from the side of Rajska Street – though not functioning as an actual roof – is there to transport the gateway to the stage out onto the street. In this way, the building delicately nudges passers-by with the skilful manipulation of the form, already at first glance giving the onlooker the impression of going beyond the borders of a garden, where culture is grown in evenly planted rows. Further proof of the sophisticated play with the space is the garden itself. Imitating flower beds, the equal bands with low greens are a metaphor of a garden: as much as the architects could afford here. A notable fact is that historically “ulica Rajska” – literally “Paradise Street” – led to the Garden of Paradise, which was later replaced by the developments of the Tobacco Works.

Małopolska Garden of Arts by Ingarden & Ewy

Architect Krzysztof Ingarden (collaborating with Jacek Ewý), claims that the form of the building is a contextual game between “mimesis and the abstraction”. In practice, this means that the building is by no means a simulacrum of the context, but rather draws inspiration from the code of contextual forms by making references to the geometry of the roofs and tissue of the neighbouring structures applied for the abstract geometrical compositions of the façades. The building fits the scale of its environment perfectly by maintaining the lines of the roof and divisions of the façades in line with the composition and linear solutions of the neighbouring buildings.

Małopolska Garden of Arts by Ingarden & Ewy

The final impact is the result of the designers’ sensitivity to signals coming from the environment. For example, the opening in the perforated roof of the garden was formed, especially for the maple tree that grows there. In recognition of its exquisite sense of spatial composition and creative form in historical context, the building was awarded with the Professor Janusz Bogdanowski Prize, for the best architectural achievement in Krakow in the year 2012.

Małopolska Garden of Arts by Ingarden & Ewy

In this place, the cultural life of the Kraków’s young artistic set will blossom under a shared roof. Modern ballet, contemporary theatre forms, audio and video arts, concerts, and all and any other artistic pursuits will find their home here.

Małopolska Garden of Arts by Ingarden & Ewy

Above: computer rendering

Malopolska Garden of Arts by Ingarden and Ewy

Above: basement plan

Malopolska Garden of Arts by Ingarden and Ewy

Above: ground floor plan

Malopolska Garden of Arts by Ingarden and Ewy

Above: first floor plan

Malopolska Garden of Arts by Ingarden and Ewy

Above: section A-A – click above for larger image

Malopolska Garden of Arts by Ingarden and Ewy

Above: section B-B – click above for larger image

Malopolska Garden of Arts by Ingarden and Ewy

Above: section C-C – click above for larger image

Malopolska Garden of Arts by Ingarden and Ewy

Above: section D-D – click above for larger image

Malopolska Garden of Arts by Ingarden and Ewy

Above: section E-E – click above for larger image

Malopolska Garden of Arts by Ingarden and Ewy

Above: west elevation – click above for larger image

Malopolska Garden of Arts by Ingarden and Ewy

Above: south elevation – click above for larger image

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The Academy of the Jewish Museum Berlin by Daniel Libeskind

Daniel Libeskind has completed an education centre at the Jewish Museum Berlin, twelve years after the American architect completed his widely acclaimed extension (+ slideshow).

The Academy of the Jewish Museum Berlin by Daniel Libeskind

Located across the street within the structure of Berlin’s old flower market, the Academy of the Jewish Museum Berlin provides a new home to the museum’s library and archive, which has doubled in size over the last decade to accommodate both printed and digital records.

The Academy of the Jewish Museum Berlin by Daniel Libeskind

At the entrance, Libeskind has designed a roughly-hewn timber box that bursts through the exterior wall, with angular skylights and a sliced opening to invite visitors inside. Two additional timber boxes are located within the building and house the library and auditorium.

The Academy of the Jewish Museum Berlin by Daniel Libeskind

The 2300-square-metre centre will be used as a venue for educational workshops, lectures and conferences, and will also offer a meeting place for the 7000 guided tours run by the museum each year.

The Academy of the Jewish Museum Berlin by Daniel Libeskind

The Jewish Museum Berlin is one of the largest museums of Jewish history in Europe and opened to the public in 2001, following the construction of Libeskind’s extension to the original 1930s building.

The Academy of the Jewish Museum Berlin by Daniel Libeskind

“My ongoing collaboration with the Jewish Museum Berlin is a source of tremendous professional and personal pride,” said Daniel Libeskind. “Each project offers a fresh chance to illuminate Jewish history and culture, to understand the tragedies and the triumphs, and to celebrate the resilience, creativity and erudition that have been Jews’ enduring legacy.”

This year Libeskind was also selected to design a peace centre on the site of a former prison in Northern Ireland and completed a family of curved towers in Singapore.

See more stories about Daniel Libeskind »

Photography is by Bitter Bredt.

Here’s some more information from Studio Daniel Libeskind:


The Academy of the Jewish Museum Berlin Will Be Forum for Research, Discussion and Education

Roughly a dozen years after Daniel Libeskind’s extension to the Jewish Museum Berlin opened to great acclaim in 2001, the museum has unveiled its latest collaboration with the architect, the Academy of the Jewish Museum Berlin.

The 25,000-square-foot, one-storey Academy stands on the site of Berlin’s one-time flower market, whose shell undergirds the new structure. Located across from the museum proper, the Academy brings together its library, archives and education center and offers additional office, storage and support space for the museum.

Since the museum’s reopening in 2001, its public and educational programs have more than doubled. In addition to 7,000 guided tours each year, the museum offers more than 400 educational programs ranging from workshops for children to training courses for museum professionals. The new facility will house these programs as well as symposia, conferences, lectures and seminars.

The museum’s library and archives have also moved to the Academy. The archives, which contain both printed and audio-visual materials, have also doubled in size over the last decade while the library’s holdings have tripled.

In-Between Spaces

Daniel Libeskind’s design for the Academy of the Jewish Museum Berlin links the building to the museum’s other structures and open spaces, both thematically and structurally.

One of the first things visitors see upon entering the piazza leading to the building are the words of the great medieval Jewish scholar and philosopher Moses Maimonides. His famous adjuration, “Hear the truth, whoever speaks it,” is splashed across the left side of the façade, a reminder that those who delve into history must be prepared to accept what they find regardless of the source. The five languages in which the charge is given – English, German, Hebrew, Arabic and the original Judeo-Arabic of medieval Spain – reinforce that message while also suggesting the universal nature of truth.

On the right, a large downward-sloping cube bursts through the façade. Its unusual contours echo the jagged shape of the museum’s 2001 extension, designed by Mr. Libeskind and visible across the street. That shape is also a variation on a theme found in the museum’s Garden of Exileand Glass Courtyard, also designed by Mr. Libeskind and opened 2007 and 2005, respectively.

Two large skylights, visible from the piazza, rest atop the cube. Shaped like the Hebrew letters Alef and Bet (A and B), they are another reminder of the importance of learning and knowledge to the human experience and of their centrality to Jewish life.

After passing through a large gash in the cube that serves as the Academy’s entryway, visitors are decanted into transitional space comprising two more huge cubes. Thrust forward at odd angles, the cubes, which house the library and the auditorium, form a jagged triumvirate with the rear end of entrance cube.

The movement and interaction suggested by the cubes’ shape and placement and by the seemingly rough-hewn timber (actually radiate pine timber) used to fabricate them suggests the sort of crates used to transport precious objects, including books. They also suggest Noah’s Ark, which preserved the most precious thing of all – living beings, in all their splendid variety – during the most important voyage in biblical history.

“In-Between Spaces,” Mr. Libeskind’s name for his design, describes the transitional area among the three cubes. It also alludes to the different perspectives offered by that unique vantage point. Standing on that spot, looking into the hall and out on to museum’s other structures and spaces, visitors are ideally placed to reflect on the museum’s larger purpose and their own experience of it.

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Dadong Art Centre by MAYU Architects

MAYU Architects designed eleven huge funnels to protect visitors from extreme weather conditions in the outdoor spaces of this cultural centre in Taiwan (+ slideshow).

Dadong Art Centre by MAYU Architects

Located in Kaohsiung, the Dadong Art Centre sits between the park and the historic Fengshan city and comprises four buildings – a theatre, an exhibition centre, a library and an education centre.

Dadong Art Centre by MAYU Architects

The shelter folds around the edges of the theatre and exhibition centre to create public spaces that can also be used for dance, Tai-Chi and other games, which the architects say occur frequently on the city streets.

Dadong Art Centre by MAYU Architects

“The roof shape prevents against extreme climatic conditions such as typhoons, periodically strong rain and high summer temperature,” they explain.

Dadong Art Centre by MAYU Architects

During heavy rain, some of the downward pointing funnels channel water down into concealed springs, letting it drain away naturally.

Dadong Art Centre by MAYU Architects

When the temperature is high, hot air is drawn up though the funnels, keeping the spaces naturally ventilated.

Dadong Art Centre by MAYU Architects

Glass diamonds create criss-crossing patterns across the concrete exterior walls.

Dadong Art Centre by MAYU Architects

The theatre is the largest of the four buildings and contains a timber-clad auditorium and a rehearsal hall.

Dadong Art Centre by MAYU Architects

“In order to achieve optimal acoustics in both music and theater use, the ceiling of the auditorium is adjustable,” say the architects.

Dadong Art Centre by MAYU Architects

We’ve also featured a school in Vietnam designed around the weather and a Japanese house with a protective shield for typhoons.

Dadong Art Centre by MAYU Architects

See more projects in Taiwan »

Dadong Art Centre by MAYU Architects

Here’s some project details from the architects:


Architect: MAYU architects (Malone Chang & Yu-lin Chen) + de Architekten Cie
Client: Kaohsiung City Government
Location: Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Dadong Art Centre by MAYU Architects

Project Team: MAYU: Malone Chang & Yu-lin Chen (Architects), Kwantak AUYEUNG, Yachih KUO, Fenlan CHEN, Mavis LIU, Yayun WANG, J. Hsiu, J. Yang, W. Lo, Y. Mai, C. Chen, Y. Lee, H. Shen, I. Shr, Y. Huang, R. Huang, B. Guo, S. Wang (Project team), Wei Cheng LI, Yonghao CHEN, Chih-Hung WANG, Wanzhen CHEN, Qi Yang HUANG, Binghong MA (Construction supervision)
CIE: Branimir Medić & Pero Puljiz (Architects), V. Ulrich, T. Cheng, L. Cvetko, H. Gladys, C. Eickelberg, M. A. Rival (Project team)

Dadong Art Centre by MAYU Architects

Program: 800-seat multi-purpose theater, 150-seat rehearsal hall, 4,000 m2 art education centre, 1,900 m2 administation office, 4,800 m2 exhibition hall, 1,600 m2 outdoor activity space, 3,600 m2 library

Dadong Art Centre by MAYU Architects

Structural Engineer: Arup Amsterdam + Tien-Hun Engineering Consultant Inc.
Acoustics Consultant: Peutz & Associates + Gade & Mortensen Akustikk + Prof. Wei-Hwa Chiang NTUST
Environment Technology Consultant: Hander Engineering & Construction Inc. + I. S. Lin & Associates

Dadong Art Centre by MAYU Architects

Competition: 01/2007
Construction Start: 09/2008
Completion: 03/2012
Building Surface: 36,470 sq m

Dadong Art Centre by MAYU Architects

Ground floor plan – click above for larger image

Dadong Art Centre by MAYU Architects

First floor plan – click above for larger image

Dadong Art Centre by MAYU Architects

Second floor plan – click above for larger image

Dadong Art Centre by MAYU Architects

Third floor plan – click above for larger image

Dadong Art Centre by MAYU Architects

Basement floor – click above for larger image

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by MAYU Architects
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Plassen Cultural Centre by 3XN

Stone bleachers climb onto the roof of this cultural centre in Molde, Norway, by Danish architects 3XN, creating open-air seating for visitors to the jazz festival hosted there each year (+ slideshow).

Plassen Cultural Centre by 3XN

Located in the heart of the small town, the Plassen Cultural Centre will become a hub for the July event, which is one of the oldest jazz festivals in Europe and attracts around 100,000 tourists.

Plassen Cultural Centre by 3XN

The external staircase adjoins the northern wall of the building, linking the neighbouring market square with a roof terrace that accommodates a sunbathing lounge, an exhibition area and a sculpture garden.

Plassen Cultural Centre by 3XN

The entrance to the three-storey building is positioned at the foot of the stairs, and leads into a concert hall through a triple-height atrium.

Plassen Cultural Centre by 3XN

“There must be room for celebration in this building, both inside, on top of it and around it,” said 3XN’s Jan Ammundsen.”It must be able to withstand being invaded by happy people throughout the year, year after year.”

Plassen Cultural Centre by 3XN

A jazz museum is also included inside the building, alongside a library, a small gallery and a series of rehearsal studios.

Plassen Cultural Centre by 3XN

The architects used granite for all the exterior surfaces, which they claim “gives the building a bright monochrome expression” that contrasts with the “warm red light” that shines out through the windows.

Plassen Cultural Centre by 3XN

Other projects completed by 3XN in the last year include another culture centre with glass hills outlined on its facade and an experimental food laboratory.

Plassen Cultural Centre by 3XN

See more stories about 3XN »

Plassen Cultural Centre by 3XN

See more buildings in Norway »

Plassen Cultural Centre by 3XN

Photography is by Adam Mork.

Plassen Cultural Centre by 3XN

Here’s a project description from 3XN:


Cultural Center ‘Plassen’
Molde, Norway

‘Plassen’ (meaning the square or the space in Norwegian) is formed like a giant paper cutting. The building literally grabs the city square, Gørvellplassen. It cuts and folds the surface, resulting in a building where the inside and the outside, the surface and the roof, merges into one. This compact and well-functioning structure with its highly usable and easy accessible areas maintains the public space of Gørvellplassen, and even enhances the flexibility of the square.

Plassen Cultural Centre by 3XN

The flowing transition between the stages, the gallery, and the café creates the illusion that the inner and outer spaces are one. Emphasizing this principle, the windows of the building can be described as wide horizontal openings allowing plenty the daylight, and providing a splendid view from within as well as from the outside. The relatively low-rise building consists of just three floors that make room for the local theatre, ‘Teatret Vårt’, ‘The Bjørnson Festival’ and Molde’s International Jazz festival which attracts famous jazz musicians and a wide audience when it takes place every summer in July.

Plassen Cultural Centre by 3XN

Contemporary and innovative, but at the same time simple and blunt, the design of the building resists any excesses. Hence, it is in accordance with the surrounding sober and regularly shaped buildings. Use of the same local stone on both walls and floors, creates a calm atmosphere. The exterior is dominated by the broad staircase. This created a lot of space for people to rest in nice weather. The staircase provides the jazz festival with a big open-air stage that may become a new focal point for the town.

Plassen Cultural Centre by 3XN

The heart of the building is the main concert hall, solved in “box in box” room, to ensure optimal acoustics. Therefore, the concert hall is rectangular and stripped of fancy shapes. Finally, ‘Plassen’ contains a library and an arts centre with a gallery facing the upper square. The library is situated in the eastern wing with a strong exposure to the square.

Plassen Cultural Centre by 3XN

Architect: 3XN
Project type: Cultural Center
Functions: Theatre, concert hall, café, gallery, library
Client: Molde Kulturbyg AB

Plassen Cultural Centre by 3XN

Construction: 2009 – 2012
Official Opening: 14th of July, 2012
Size: 5,800 m2
Cost: 187 mio. norwegian kroner / / 25 mio euros
Engineer: Norconsult AS

Plassen Cultural Centre by 3XN

Site plan – click above for larger image

Plassen Cultural Centre by 3XN

Ground floor plan – click above for larger image

Plassen Cultural Centre by 3XN

First floor plan – click above for larger image

Plassen Cultural Centre by 3XN

Second floor plan – click above for larger image

Plassen Cultural Centre by 3XN

Long section – click above for larger image

Plassen Cultural Centre by 3XN

Cross section – click above for larger image

Plassen Cultural Centre by 3XN

North elevation – click above for larger image

Plassen Cultural Centre by 3XN

East elevation – click above for larger image

Plassen Cultural Centre by 3XN

South elevation – click above for larger image

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by 3XN
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Centro de Recepción de Visitantes, Atapuerca by a3gm + Mata y asociados

A perforated metal box encases the concrete visitor centre for the Atapuerca archaeological site in northern Spain by architects a3gm and Mata y asociados (+ slideshow).

The Atapuerca UNESCO World Heritage site in Burgos, northern Spain, is home to the fossilised remains of Europe’s earliest humans.

The concrete visitor centre is inserted inside a larger enclosure of perforated metal squares.

The patterns in the metal box are designed to “resemble the piles of straw bales and the dark clumps of trees in the area,” the architects told Dezeen.

Inside the visitor centre are classrooms, lecture halls, an information area and a cafeteria, as well as administrative areas.

Outside the building is a pond of oxygen-producing plants which processes water from the centre and nearby archaeological park.

A canopy of vines will eventually grow on a metal grid to cover the car park.

Earlier this year we posted a special feature about recently completed public buildings in Spain, including museums, town halls and markets – see it here.

See all our stories about Spain »
See all our stories about cultural buildings »

Photographs are by Mata y asociados.

Here’s some more information from the architects:


Centro de Recepción de Visitantes, Atepuerca, Burgos
Visitors Centre, Atapeurca, Burgos
Architects: a3gm + Mata y asociados
Location: Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain

Concept: Jesús Alba Elías, Laura García Juárez, Jesús García Vivar, Smara Gonçalves Diez, Carlos Miranda Barroso
Project and Construction: Salvador Mata Pérez
Collaborators: Myriam Vizacaíno Bassi, Javier Encinas Hernández, Alberto López del Río, David Muñoz de la Calle, Luis Antonio Pahíno Rodríguez, architects; Tomás R. Dientes, quantity surveyor

Engineers: GHESA, A2V Ingenieros
Environmental Engineering: HYDRAInvestor: Junta de Castilla y León. Consejería de Cultura y Turismo. Dirección General de Patrimonio Cultural

Centro de Recepción de Visitantes by a3gm + Mata y asociados

Project Area: 1.625 m2 sqm
Project Year: 2006, 2009
Construction Year: 2009–2010

Contractors: SACYR S.A.U., NUCLEO S.A.
Budget: EUR 3,500,000

The purpose of the project is the definition of the Visitors Centre of Atapuerca paleoanthropological site and the rearrangement of the environment with service and relationship areas with the existing archaeological park.

The proposal starts off from a double reading of the building: from its presence in the landscape and its inner functions.

In between proposed a relationship of a certain lack of boundaries in the band between the inner chamber and the outer shell is a space that expands on the main access and allowing expansion of the cafeteria and an extension of the exhibition area.

The image of the building initially refers to the volumes present in the surrounding landscape: natural elements ordained by human intervention, such as straw piles or clumps of trees.

Behind this reading of the envelope that filters and qualifies both the perception of the building inside and outside the image from the inside of the rooms, the direct sunlight, wind, appears logical scale and performance of a building exchange visitors and cultural flows.

The interior facades are conceived as a volume cut in plan to allow expansion in the interstitial space, and in section to introduce daylight and express to the outside the performance of the parts.

The Centre also seeks metaphorical proximity to the site, that effectively contributes to the production of a new architectural organism, by recreating a part of the building that belongs to the earth (stereotomic) and one that is detached from it (tectonic), a mask protection as light as possible wrapping the whole.

In this sense, the building is designed as a big concrete box – petrous nature – pierced by large skylights, and an outer perforated net that wraps and covers acting as a second skin.

Centro de Recepción de Visitantes by a3gm + Mata y asociados

Site plan

The interstitial space generated between the net and the concrete box recalls the archaeological site workspace. At the building entrance this space is conceived as a rest area, and the one of the opposite corner as a multipurpose outside area.

Centro de Recepción de Visitantes by a3gm + Mata y asociados

Plan – click above for larger image

The indoor exhibition space chooses a route between major structural concrete screens in addition to the presence of the lecture halls. At the entrance there is a space for information and sales of publications, a cafeteria and administrative and service areas.

Centro de Recepción de Visitantes by a3gm + Mata y asociados

Ground floor plan – click above for larger image

The classrooms are designed as modular elements with multiple possibilities of use and relationship between the polyvalent area and the exhibition area, from a small room for about 25 people to a conference hall for 100 people.

Centro de Recepción de Visitantes by a3gm + Mata y asociados

Upper floor plan – click above for larger image

The lightweight exterior enclosure has a discontinuous character, it is punctured or disappears in singular points as the entrance plaza and the gazebo.

Centro de Recepción de Visitantes by a3gm + Mata y asociados

Roof plan – click above for larger image

It generates a variable section in the access area with very strong relationships between the open space of the square and the space of the terrace-gazebo, in contrast to the austerity of the outer box.

Centro de Recepción de Visitantes by a3gm + Mata y asociados

Section – click above for larger image

To solve the necessarily large car parking area, the idea of nature is recreated again through metal elements, metaphors of trees, on which in the future vines will grow to shape the final camouflage of parked vehicles.

Centro de Recepción de Visitantes by a3gm + Mata y asociados

Section – click above for larger image

A light canopy and a wooden grid between the car park and the building will form an exterior square for outdoor activities.

Centro de Recepción de Visitantes by a3gm + Mata y asociados

North elevation – click above for larger image

Outside a pond of macrophytes solves the sanitation of both the Visitor Center and the next Archaeological Park.

East elevation – click above for larger image

The bed of the pond is a biotechnology system that mimics the process of self-purification that spontaneously occur in natural wetlands, based on the use of plants and other aquatic lower organisms.

Centro de Recepción de Visitantes by a3gm + Mata y asociados

South elevation – click above for larger image

This system is in perfect harmony with the new policies and sustainable development needs, providing high purifying efficiency with low operating and maintenance costs. The visit to the projected pond finally has become part of the Visitors Center’s educational route.

Centro de Recepción de Visitantes by a3gm + Mata y asociados

West elevation – click above for larger image

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by a3gm + Mata y asociados
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Clapham Library by Studio Egret West

This library by London architects Studio Egret West looks like a row of books (+ slideshow).

Clapham Library by Studio Egret West

Clapham Library occupies the lower floors of a 12-storey building, sitting underneath a number of private apartments.

Clapham Library by Studio Egret West

The exterior of the building is clad in white bricks infused with a mineral aggregate which gives the facade a sparkling effect.

Clapham Library by Studio Egret West

Inside the library, bookshelves follow the curve of a wide spiral ramp which leads up from the cafe and children’s library on the basement level to the reading room on the upper level.

Clapham Library by Studio Egret West

A spiral staircase also corkscrews straight to the upper level for quicker access.

Clapham Library by Studio Egret West

On the basement level, the children’s area doubles as a space for readings and musical performances with room for up to 100 seats.

Clapham Library by Studio Egret West

A study bench inside the long ramp provides additional seating for events, while the ramp itself can also be used as a viewing platform.

Clapham Library by Studio Egret West

Acoustic buffers hang down from the ceiling at angles to limit noise in the library.

Clapham Library by Studio Egret West

The library completes the £80m Clapham One regeneration scheme, which also includes a leisure centre, a doctor’s surgery and housing.

Clapham Library by Studio Egret West

We recently featured another project by Studio Egret West – a shoal of titanium fish outside a shopping centre in east London.

Clapham Library by Studio Egret West

See all our stories about libraries »

Clapham Library by Studio Egret West

Photography is by Gareth Gardner.

Here’s some more information from Studio Egret West:


Cathedral Group and Studio Egret West collaborate on new London library

The new Library Building in Clapham has opened its doors to complete the £80m Clapham One mixed-use regeneration scheme, which has transformed leisure services across two sites in Clapham Town Centre. The Clapham One development has been delivered by PPP (Public Private Partnership) specialists Cathedral Group, working in partnership with United House and Lambeth Council.

In addition to the new library, the scheme also provides a highly sustainable leisure centre, a new GP surgery and some of the most high quality residential accommodation in the borough including affordable housing, in partnership with Notting Hill Housing Group.

Clapham Library by Studio Egret West

The £6.5m, 19,000 sq ft public library, which has been designed by the architects Studio Egret West, is located in the heart of Clapham on the High Street on the site of a former office block, Mary Seacole House. In addition to holding more than 20,000 books, it provides a stunning new performance space for local community groups, as well as modern meeting room facilities. It is housed in a 12-storey, mixed-use building, with the community uses focused on the ground floor and the Clapham High Street frontage, and the high quality residential apartments above.

Behind the Library is the Primary Care Centre which includes two separate facilities, the Clapham Family Practice and a Primary Care Trust Resource Centre. There is also a basement car park that provides plant area and the required parking for the Primary Care Centre and the Library, along with car parking for the residential homes above.

Clapham Library by Studio Egret West

Click above for larger image

Library design

The Library has been designed as a distinctive public building with a well-defined identity that sits underneath a discreet, private building of desirable homes above. The Library embodies an audacious spiral design of seamlessly connected spaces. The openness and flexibility of the central space allows it to be transformed into a performance area, where the open spiral ramp offers visitors a great view of any performance.

The spiral represents a path of seamless learning, which connects the multifunctional building in a way that has not been seen before. On entering, it is immediately apparent where all the various elements of the building are located with the ramp spiralling up towards the reading room and down towards the childrenʼs library.

Clapham Library by Studio Egret West

Click above for larger image

The bookshelves follow the spiral of the ramp and face towards the open side of the ramp. This means that wherever you are standing, and especially from the entrance you will be able to see the main focus of the Library, the books. The books are arranged on standard shelving units that sit on level plinths which are part of the Library ramp. The books follow the ramp into the basement area where the childrenʼs Library is located.

Angular acoustic buffers hang down from the ceiling to prevent too much noise. At the bottom of the ramp, in the centre of the space and overlooked by the whole building, is the performance space which doubles as a reading area for the childrenʼs Library in the daytime.

Clapham Library by Studio Egret West

Click above for larger image

The stage is overlooked by the ramp as it spirals down from the reading room. As well as having a possible 100 seats at ground floor, there is also a study bench that follows the inside edge of the spiral, which can be used as additional audience seating. This configuration enhances the flexibility of the performance space. It can be used as a traditional theatre with rows of seating in the ʻstallsʼ and the ʻcircleʼ along the ramp even provides an ʻupper circleʼ.

Alternatively, the space can be used for smaller scale readings with seating around tables next to the stage area. As the performance space is at the centre of the building below the void, it lends itself to orchestral or musical performances. With musicians located in the reading area and the audience viewing from the ramp above the whole space will fill with music.

The Cafe is located on the ground floor. It has a prime high street position in the new Library without interfering with any of the community facilities in the building. It acts as a magnet from both the street and the Health Centre.

Clapham Library by Studio Egret West

The exterior of the building is designed to be elegant and unobtrusive. Although the form of the building is unique, the colouring has been kept purposefully low key. Cladding reinforces the form of the building, but also gives it a texture that will become more interesting the closer it is viewed.

The material employed is a white split-clad brick infused with quarts (sparkling Mica aggregate) for adding glistening qualities. The blocks are formed by breaking a single cast element into two sections, the broken (or split) face is unique to every block and has a three dimensional finish. From afar the masonry finish will have a uniform look, leaving the form of the building to shine through. When viewed from close-by the finish will be non-uniform with shadows and bright spots providing texture to the building.

Rising above the library and around the corner of the High Street into St Luke’s Avenue is the residential component in the form of three white, sculptured volumes. The soft curvaceous, three-fingered composition breaks up the massing of the building, gently stepping down to meet the Georgian house scale of the neighbouring residential streets. A cantilevered element at the first floor level is supported by a large, render-clad sculpted column, nicknamed ‘the stiletto’.

Developers: Cathedral Group and United House
Partners: London Borough of Lambeth
RSL partners: Notting Hill Housing Trust
Architect: (Mary Seacole House site) Studio Egret West
Contractor: (Mary Seacole House) United House
Contractor’s Architect: DLA Architecture and Studio Egret West (Library fit out)
Architect: (Leisure Centre site) LA Architects
Contractor: (Leisure Centre site) Morgan Ashurst

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Studio Egret West
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Nebuta House by Molo

Red steel ribbons are parted like curtains to welcome visitors into this museum in northern Japan by Canadian studio Molo (+ slideshow).

Nebuta House

Named Nebuta House, the building was designed to house the huge paper lanterns that parade the city streets of Aomori for five days each summer during the festival of Nebuta Matsuri.

Nebuta House

With the appearance of mythical warriors, the Nebuta lanterns are used to tell stories about heroes and demons during the festival, before five are chosen for a year-long exhibition in the museum’s central hall.

Nebuta House

The lanterns glow brightly in the dark hall and their reflection in the glossy floor is intended to represent the final day of the festival when some are floated on the sea.

Nebuta House

Inspired by the paper lanterns, the architects copied the movements of strips of paper caught in the breeze to generate the twists of each ribbon on the museum’s exterior.

Nebuta House

These twists create openings that let in light and lead into a sheltered passageway between the ribbons and the glazed inner facade.

Nebuta House

During the festival the lanterns enter and leave through a huge sliding door at the back of the building, while more sliding doors connect the hall with a theatre above.

Nebuta House

With both sets of doors open, visitors can see down from the theatre towards the Aomori Harbour and Hakkōda mountains.

Nebuta House

We previously featured a Molo project to create paper partitions for emergency shelters.

Nebuta House

See all our stories about Japan »

Nebuta House

Photography is by Iwan Baan, except where otherwise indicated.

Here’s some more information from the architects:


Nebuta House (ねぶたの家 ワ・ラッセ) is a museum and centre dedicated to all aspects of the Nebuta festival and its creative culture in the Northern Japanese city of Aomori. In 2002, Stephanie Forsythe and Todd MacAllen won an international architecture competition for their design of a housing and community project in Aomori, Japan. The competition was judged by Tadao Ando and Jean Nouvel, and sponsored by the City of Aomori.

Nebuta House

Over the project’s course, the program evolved from housing and community facilities into a unique cultural building inspired by the craftsmanship and spirit of Aomori’s Nebuta Festival. In 2007, Forsythe + MacAllen (molo design) invited ddt/Arch and Frank la Rivière Architects Inc, together with the structural team of Kanebako Structural Engineers and the services engineers of PT Morimura & Associates Ltd. to work in collaboration with molo to develop the construction documents and oversee construction of the Aomori Nebuta House Museum.

Nebuta House

Nebuta Matsuri, one of the three most famous and largest festivals in all of Japan, it is a form of storytelling during which heroes, demons and creatures from history and myth come to life as large-scale (9 x 7 x 5.5m) paper lanterns (Nebuta) illuminated from within. The Nebuta House is a dwelling for these mythical beings to reside.

Nebuta House

Each year the five best Nebuta, selected for their creative artistry and craftsmanship, will take the place of the five Nebuta selected from the previous year. Functionally the institution is meant to share the tradition, archive the history and nurture the future of this unique cultural art form. Located in front of Aomori train station, where the city meets the sea, the building opened January 5th, 2011.

Nebuta House

The building is enclosed by ribbons of twisted steel, enamel-coated deep vibrant red and individually shaped to create variation: openings for light, areas of opacity, views, or opportunities for pedestrian circulation. For each steel ribbon, the bottom was set to a unique and specific angle, with thought to how sunlight would permeate the ribbons as it moved throughout the day, while the top part of each ribbon remains parallel to the building.

Nebuta House

In between these fixed points, some of the ribbons follow a natural curve while others were selected to have further bending and shaping to create larger openings and an abstract expression of wind. The steelworkers executed great skill and judgment interpreting the images from the 1:50 scale model that had been made from ribbons of paper, into ribbons of steel (9mm thick x 300mm wide x 12 meters high).

Nebuta House

In this way each ribbon was individually crafted during prefabrication, then manually adjusted on-site during installation. No part of the finished screen is the result of computer-aided fabrication; like all things handmade, human intervention enlivens function and expression.

Nebuta House

The ribbon screen façade creates a sheltered outdoor perimeter space called the “engawa”, a spatial concept originating in traditional Japanese houses. In this case, a dwelling for giant paper heroes, demons and creatures, the engawa acts as a threshold betweenthe contemporary world of the city and the world of history and myth.

Nebuta House

Shadows cast on the walls and floor through the exterior ribbons have the effect of creating a new material. Shadow and light become another screen – the convergence of material, light, shadow and reflection changing with the sun and weather. Homogeneous, grey, box-like buildings constitute much of the surrounding cityscape.

Nebuta House

Commonplace objects like power lines and vending machines are dispersed throughout the uniformity. Here, the building appears as a vibrant curtain at the street’s end – activating the streetscape, transforming everyday experience into theatre. Bicycles and traffic passing by, city workers breaking to eat or children playing in the snow take on a quality of performance and play.

Nebuta House

Inside, a shadowy dwelling for the Nebuta is shaped by the layers of screens and volumes of ancillary rooms. The volumetric juxtaposition accommodates many possible uses and perspectives. The interior is black, like a black box theatre. The abstraction of materiality, detail and colouring of the building allow visitors an intimate focus on the story being told. Luminous Nebuta appear suspended in the darkness of the hall, their vibrant colours reflected in the rippled, water-like floor. This is a subtle analogy to the last day of the festival when some of the Nebuta are set out to float on the sea.

Nebuta House

Opening a set of giant sliding doors will connect the large volume of the Nebuta Hall with an upper level theatre and multi-purpose spaces below (for music, activities and exhibits) Providing a dynamic visual connection to the Nebuta during musical and theatrical performances, encouraging creative juxtapositions and flexible use.

Nebuta House

Click above for larger image

During major events, the towering Nebuta exit and enter the building through another giant sliding door. When sitting in the theater with both sets of sliding doors open, one can see the vibrant Nebuta below, and beyond, Aomori Harbour and the Hakkōda mountains. Despite the challenges of designing an important cultural building while respecting a conservative budget, the evolution of the building’s type and program stands as symbolic foreshadowing of the many creative possibilities for use.

Nebuta House

Click above for larger image

Already, programming has demonstrated a broad range of uses: workshops, conferences and new cultural events are taking place. Perhaps the building can help to usher the time-honoured tradition of Nebuta into a contemporary era, offering a place to share ideas and bring creative minds together, even artists of different cultures and disciplines. The building elevates Nebuta in the public life of the city, celebrating the stories and impressive craft of the ephemeral paper floats and the people who make them.

Nebuta House

Click above for larger image

Dimensions
The Nebuta House site occupies 13,012 m2 on the waterfront of Aomori Harbour. The total building area is 4,340 m2 with a gross floor area of 6,708 m2 which includes the engawa (covered outdoor walkway enclosed by steel ribbon screen), utility basement, two levels to accommodate the program of exhibit hall, theatre, multi-purpose / music rooms, restaurant and gift shop. At the highest point the building stands at 15.4 m, the first level is 4.5 m floor-to-floor, the second level is 5.9 m; both entrance and exhibit halls are double-height at 8.5 m.

Click above for larger image

Materials
820 steel ribbons, 12 m tall, encircle the glass-and-steel structure. The prefabricated ribbons are enamel-coated deep red (inspired by the traditional local lacquer ware) and have been installed using a four-point connection system, manually adjusted on-site.

Nebuta House

The building sits on 177 piles that go 27 m deep through fill to reach solid ground. In consideration of the soft sea side soil, the lightness of the steel structure was important and adopted early into the design process.

Nebuta House

The exposed round steel columns are as slender as possible – this also helps give the structure a feeling of physical lightness. The floor to ceiling window mullions are black, galvanized solid steel and fasten to the steel structure of slender columns to contribute structural support to the steel ribbon screen of the façade (horizontal wind load). Segments of the exterior wall are made up of prefabricated lightweight concrete panels.

Nebuta House

The interior is partitioned by a series of black, galvanized steel screens and panels, physically enclosing the space while maintaining visual connection beyond at certain angles. The galvanized steel used in the interior is treated with a patination process that blackens the metal while retaining the crystalline pattern of zinc galvanization.

Nebuta House

Architectural Design and Site Supervision:
molo (Todd MacAllen + Stephanie Forsythe)
d&dt Arch (Yasuo Nakata)
Frank la Rivière Architects Inc (Frank la Rivière)

Structural Engineering: Kanebako Structural Engineers
MEP: PT Morimura & Associates, Ltd
Construction: Kajima – Fujimoto – Kurahashi Construction JV

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by Molo
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