Hasta La Ideas

Perforated walls and sliding timber doors feature in this stable in Uruguay by architect Nicolas Pinto da Mota (+ slideshow).

Nicolas Pinto da Mota designed the stable for the owner of a horse farm in Soriano, western Uruguay.

Wooden beams are left exposed on the underside of a gently sloping steel roof, which shelters eight concrete horse pens and a central corridor.

A veterinary area and a storage room for saddles are located at one end of the building, along with extra storage space.

Narrow timber doors are set at intervals along the concrete brick walls of the building, giving each horse a direct exit to the paddocks outside.

“Measurements, sizes, provisions and heights are a consequence of the needs thoroughbred horses have to circulate and move,” architect Nicolas Pinto da Mota said.

At night, light shines through the brickwork perforations, which gradually increase in size across the facade.

We’ve also featured more horse-related architecture – a stick-covered dome in the Czech Republic that looks like a birds nest and houses a riding arena. See more animal architecture and design »

Another project in Uruguay is an airport with a curved roof in Montevideo.

Photography is by Eduardo Moras.

Here’s a short description from the architects:

Caballeriza la Solana – La Salona Stable

This project consists in extending a set of buildings in which there is a horse farm. The farm already had some sheds and other precarious constructions based in the typical scheme of nave with gable roof.

These constructions prefigured the first approximation to the scale and typology of the new building. Neutrality and a certain lack of leadership give the building the chance to dialogue and establish a wise relation with the context.

Also there is an exploration in the technique, which gives a step forward based on the traditional brick constructions.

The choice of the materials and the axial disposal of the program where chosen to provide the horses a stable way of life. The program contemplates two different areas: an area of boxes and another of veterinary and saddles room.

Measurements, sizes, provisions and heights are a consequence of the needs thoroughbred horses have to circulate and move. This where taken into account to determine the height and the structure measurements of the building.

Author: Arq. Nicolás Pinto da Mota Associate: Arq. Victoria Maria, Falcón Location
Location: Soriano, Uruguay
Project team: Arq. Matías Cosenza, Tadeo Itzcovich, Agustín Aguirre
Surface: 240 square metres

Customer: Alvaro E. Loewenthal
Structure: Enginee. Fernando Saludas
Construction team: Della Mea Camblong S.A.
Project year: 2011
Construction years: 2012-2013

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Nicolas Pinto da Mota appeared first on Dezeen.

Danish office BIG has designed a triangular viewing platform for Brooklyn Bridge Park that angles up from the ground like a huge fin (+ slideshow).

The wooden platform will be constructed as part of BIG’s overhaul of Pier 6 – the southernmost end of the park that is located beside the famous suspension bridge between Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Raised off the pier by over five metres, the structure will feature a stepped surface that leads visitors up to two corner viewpoints. From here they will be able to look out towards the bridge, the Statue of Liberty and New York City beyond.

A series of thin steel columns will hold the platform in place, creating a sheltered space underneath that will be furnished with tables and chairs, but could also function as a small events area.

A flower field and several trees will be planted at the other end of the platform to welcome visitors into the park.

BIG, led by architect Bjarke Ingels, also recently worked on a park in Copenhagen that featured miscellaneous street furniture from 60 different nations. See more architecture by BIG »

Other landscape architecture featured on Dezeen includes Louis Kahn’s Four Freedoms Park in New York and a series of undulating bridges and promenades in Copenhagen. See more landscape architecture »

Here’s a project description from BIG:

Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 6 Viewing Platform

The Pier 6 viewing platform is a triangular structure at the northwest corner of Pier 6 in Brooklyn Bridge Park. Sloping upwards 17.5 feet (5.3m) in height from the foot of the large gathering lawn, the platform provides magnificent views of the surrounding harbour, the Statue of Liberty, the Manhattan skyline, and the Brooklyn Bridge.

In conjunction with the adjacent greenery, Pier 6 will be dominated by a flower field and treed areas giving the area seasonal displays of colour. The surface of terraced stairs, softly illuminated, will allow for large and small events and is fully ADA accessible. The pavilion, a cross-laminated timber structure supported by thin steel columns, is brightly lit with up-lights and provides shade, shelter and space for indoor activities.

Movable site furniture underneath the platform will accommodate a variety of programs, from food carts and picnicking to community events and small performances.

Program: Public Space
Status: In Progress
Size in m2: 560
Project type: Competition
Client: Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy
Collaborators: Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Knippers Helbig, Tilotson Design Associates, AltieriSeborWieber,Pantocraft, Formactiv
Location: Brooklyn, NY

Partner in charge: Bjarke Ingels, Thomas Christoffersen
Project Leader: Iannis Kandyliaris
Project Manager: Martin Voelkle
Team: Ho Kyung Lee, David Spittler, Dennis Harvey, Isshin Morimoto

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by BIG appeared first on Dezeen.

The setting for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio will be a lagoon-side peninsula with 15 sports venues dotted along a network of snaking pathways, as detailed in this new set of visuals by masterplanners AECOM (+ slideshow).

Located on a flat triangular site in the city’s Barra da Tijuca district, the main Olympic park will centre itself around a trio of existing stadiums leftover from the 2007 Pan-American Games, which were constructed over a Formula One racetrack from the 1970s.

AECOM plans to transform the peninsula into a tropical landscape that reflects the mountains and valleys of the Brazilian coastline, including gently sloping hills and curving pathways. Venues will be lined up on either side of a black-and-white striped central axis, winding like a river from the site entrance to the waterfront.

Seven new stadiums will be constructed on the site. London studio AndArchitects is collaborating with Rio office Lopes, Santos & Ferreira Gomes on the handball arena, which will be dismantled after the games and used to build four new schools.

UK firm 3DReid is teaming up with Rio studio BLAC Architects to renovate the existing Velodrome, while the Maria Lenk Aquatic Centre will be reused for swimming and diving events, and the HSBC Stadium will host gymnastics.

A waterfront lawn will allow up to 12,000 spectators to watch the action on big screens and an AECOM-designed broadcast centre will accommodate around 20,000 international journalists.

AECOM won the bid to masterplan the site in 2011 as part of a team that includes London-based Wilkinson Eyre Architects and Rio studio DG Architecture.

“This is such a high profile and complex project for AECOM, which brings many exciting opportunities and challenges,” commented the firm’s Jason Prior. “We are drawing on our experience from being masterplanners of the London Olympics to take the design of the Rio venues and park even further, which will hopefully be reflected in the end result in 2016.”

Alongside Barra da Tijuca, events for the games will also take place at Copacabana, Maracanã and Deodoro, where the National Shooting Centre is already in place.

Follow our coverage of Rio 2016 »
See more architecture in Brazil »

Here’s some more information from AECOM:

A carnival of sport

In 2011, AECOM won Brazil’fs first international architecture competition to design the masterplan for Rio’s 2016 Olympic Park, making it the first company to design the parks for two consecutive Olympic and Paralympic Games Parks – London in 2012 and Rio in 2016.

In Rio, AECOM has taken on an even larger role than it had on the 2012 Games, with responsibility for the preliminary design of the seven sporting venues as well as the detailed design of the International Broadcast Centre. This is in addition to the architectural, masterplanning, landscaping, engineering, cost consultancy, project management, sustainability and transportation strategy design services that it also provided in London.

Set in one of the most beautiful areas on Earth, AECOM’s masterplan takes its inspiration from the dramatic natural setting of Rio. Located on a former Formula 1 race track in Barra da Tijuca, the main Olympic park sits on a triangular space with water on either side. During Games time, at the southern peninsula of the site there will be an entertainment area for around 12,000 people to watch the events on big screens.

The park’s design draws from the Atlantica Forrest that surrounds Rio de Janeiro. This context provides the conceptual inspiration and influences the architecture and landscape design as will the Brazilian culture and strong design heritage. The masterplan sets out to respect and reinforce the balance between native ecology, the city and its people while delivering the platform for sporting excellence.

Every Olympics needs to reflect the character and ambitions of the host city and this is where the differences between the two parks are most pronounced. While London was about demonstrating how a short global event can lead to the long term regeneration of one of the most neglected and deprived areas of the city, Rio is about celebrating Brazil’s emergence as a world power as well as making sure there is a strong legacy plan in place.

Throughout the development of the Rio masterplan, you can see how AECOM has been applying the lessons learnt from working on London 2012. This includes working with the wide range of stakeholders and local communities, and the utilisation of its knowledge of the requirements for running such a huge event, from crowd management and traffic strategies, to meeting the needs of athletes, visitors and the extended Olympic management and support system.

The vision for the future is not just to create a global stage for the Olympic and Paralympic Games of 2016, but also, in the longer term, to create a new legacy district with new homes, jobs and places for leisure activities with a new central park and a thriving beautiful waterfront. It is also set to become a global centre of sporting excellence, with a Legacy Olympic Training Centre utilising the Games’ permanent sporting venues.

After the Games, the site will evolve into a compact urban environment built around a network of streets and open spaces, which encourages a diverse mix of living, working and recreational uses. AECOM has taken reference from the grid, linearity, axis and contrasting organic forms which permeates Rio’s unique urban environment to propose a responsive flexible framework that resonates with and echoes the specific local characteristics of Barra and Rio. The masterplan provides an opportunity to enhance environmental quality and bring Costa’s original concept into the 21st century as an example of new urbanism for a new era.

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News: Danish architecture studio ADEPT has won a competition to masterplan a 17 square-kilometre district in the Chinese city of Hengyang with designs that involve a sequence of looping zones.

The Green Loops City encompasses a site straddling the Xiangjiang river in the Laiyan New Town and Binjian districts of the city, which is part of Hunan Province. ADEPT plans to divide the site into a number of blob-like zones with themes such as sport or culture, intended to match up with the features of each area.

Historical buildings such as pagodas and a library will be retained and celebrated, while existing farmlands, rivers and wetlands are to be integrated into the urban fabric rather than eradicated.

“Much of Hengyang’s cultural and natural resources are still very much intact when compared to other Chinese cities facing rapid urban development,” said ADEPT partner Aidi Su. “This is an incredible opportunity for us to make a difference in Chinese cities.”

The architects developed a series of principles to ensure a coherent design strategy. These include designing sustainable transportation; creating a denser urban network; maintaining cultural heritage; developing new and existing communities; implementing a denser urban life; preserving and enhancing the natural landscape; creating new ecological system using existing water networks; and connecting to surrounding neighbourhoods.

Combined, the loops will offer a logical network of spaces that are straightforward to navigate by car, bicycle or on foot.

“When walking around and experiencing this area you meet the fantastic inherent values and qualities that already exist here,” said architect Martin Lauresen. “I believe that we – by our approach preserving both cultural and historical structures and already built residential communities – can create a new part of Hengyang that bases the future on the history, integrating modern lifestyle with cultural traditions.”

ADEPT is a Copenhagen-based studio. Other projects they’ve worked on include a library in Sweden and a leisure complex in Denmark.

Other city masterplans proposed for China include a car-free “satellite city” to be built from scratch near Chengdu and a business centre in the Longgang district of Shenzhen. See more architecture in China »

Here’s more text from ADEPT:

ADEPT wins 17km2 planning competition in China with the proposal ‘Green Loops City’

The municipality of Hengyang, Hunan Province, China, chose ADEPT as winners of the planning competition of the 17km2 site of Laiyan New Town and Binjian District in Hengyang. The proposal ‘Green Loops City’ links the new urban areas through attractive and diverse landscape loops. The competition was invited and included large planning offices: Hassel Architects (Australia), Aube Architects (France), Guangzhou Urban Planning Design Institute (China), and Guangzhou South Kecheng (China).

The translated quote from the Hengyang municipality: “The concept ‘Green Loops City’ is developed by the Danish architectural firm ADEPT and provided the best and most suitable planning proposal for Hengyang by capturing its unique cultural heritage using a sustainable planning method. Jury experts from the most prestigious universities and organisations in China voted in favour of the ADEPT proposal. The mayor of the city stressed the importance of the future for this area, and emphasised the need to create a new city able to offer commercial, culture, tourism and leisure.”

Hengyang is a city of many cultural artifacts with pagodas, a library, and an academy making up an impressive list of historical buildings in the Laiyan New Town and Binjian District of Hengyang. Set within the background of these buildings is the beautiful nature of Hengyang with farmlands, mountains, wetlands, and rivers that have been all preserved until now. As Hengyang goes through rapid urban development and requires the need for new sub-cities to expand beyond the old town area, can we consider a sustainable urban development for the city that can preserve its natural and cultural qualities? Is it possible to preserve nature while at the same time expand the city?

Using a sustainable approach to planning cities, we have set up 8 principles to guide the design of the city. Designing sustainable transportation, creating a denser urban network, maintaining cultural heritage, developing new and existing communities, implementing a denser urban life, preserving and enhancing the natural landscape, creating new ecological system using existing water networks, and connecting to surrounding neighbourhoods. The urban principles are about creating a living strategy for development that could create a better future for Hengyang and the inhabitants of the city.

Combining the strategies of the 8 principles into a bigger concept, ‘Green Loops City’ attempts to link Hengyang’s unique characteristics, the landscape, the water, history, and culture, by creating important public spaces that are linked together. The green loops allow visitors to tour the special places in Hengyang while creating a more diverse city for locals to live.

Each individual loop focus on a particular theme relating to the advantages of each area, for example a Culture, a Sports and a Sub-Cbd loop. The Culture loop attempts to connect the most important cultural buildings, pagoda, library, along with new bar street, restaurant street, to make a better connection, and bring more activity to the area. The Sports loop takes advantage of the natural river conditions in the area to create more enjoyable natural area to do sports, while also forming an important axis with the pagoda building. The Sub-Cbd loop creates a new way of working in the city, combining water canals, restaurants, shopping all in a convenient location with the new BRT route.

While each of the loops work individually, together the loops can form a larger green network – ‘Green Loops City’ – that can connect all the different parts of the city allowing visitors and locals to use. Connected together, pedestrians, and bicyclist can easily traverse through the city to visit each area.

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for Chinese city district appeared first on Dezeen.

Croatian firm NFO has revitalised the main square in the seaside city of Crikvenica by adding steps, terraces and textured paving to delineate the different zones (+ slideshow).

NFO won a public competition to transform the town square, which is linked to a promenade and provides inhabitants with an open public space looking out across the Adriatic Sea.

The architects kept their interventions to a minimum to maintain the views and enable the space to perform various functions.

Trees lining the promenade as it approaches the open plaza continue around its edges, providing shaded terraces for the eateries located along the perimeter.

An existing slope at the back of the site has been converted into a series of steps and terraces that create seating and separate the square from the streets that lead into the city.

A road running between the square and the marina has been paved in cobbles to create a haptic surface that encourages drivers to reduce their speed, while even bumpier cobbles warn pedestrians that they are nearing the road.

“The road is disconnected from the pedestrian zone with tactile barriers in tessellation for safety and to inform about the road without creating a visual barrier towards the sea,” the architects explain.

The redevelopment of Crikvenica’s public spaces is set to continue with the future renovation of a park and another square elsewhere in the city.

Thomas Heatherwick recently revealed his design for a pedestrian bridge covered with a garden to span the River Thames, while Danish architecture firm BIG used street furniture from around the world and a colourful rubber carpet to transform a public park in Copenhagen, Denmark.

See more landscape and urbanism projects »

Photography is by Ivan Dorotić.

The architects sent us this project description:

Stjepan Radić Square

The public competition for regulation of the center of Crikvenica was announced in 2011 and the first phase of the project is now completed. After the works on shore line expansion 20 m towards the sea finished in 2012 first phase project, Stijepan Radić Square was completed in 2013.

With finalization of the main city square Crikvenica finally got the first representative public space. Next phases involve regulation of the rest of the city center including the Park of the fallen for homeland and the construction of City pavilion along with another square.

Concept of the square derives from The promenade and its main element, the tree line, one of the main traditions of city Crikvenica, that used to stop at the Stjepan Radić Square. The goal was to patch that crack and, as a result, to reintegrate south-east part of Crikvenica as a cohesive part of the city. That way Crikvenica becomes a central point of the long stretch of seaside promenades between small costal towns Dramalj and Selce and its public contents along the shoreline.

A tree line as a main element of the promenade forms a backbone which collects different public contents creating various ambients along the promenade. Stjepan Radić Square becomes a center towards which all the seaside movement gravitates and, as such, demands a large open space.

The promenade is pulled inside with its public contents (terraces) and along with the tree line it forms the main square with the only clear sea view in Crikvenica. Strong interventions were avoided so that the various usage possibilities on the main square would be possible.

The existing ground height difference is used to differentiate terraces from the open space of the square forming a staircase / sitting area on the contact zone of the square and terraces. Shaded terraces for catering contents became an audience space towards the sea and the square. Over-hangs were put among the tree tops for the protection from the sun and rain without damaging the main (clear) ambient of the square.

The road as a negative factor with its mild and frequent denivelations “stone waves” in contrast with the square becomes an attraction for the cars and for the pedestrians, enabling comfortable and slow movement of all participants in traffic. The road is disconnected from the pedestrian zone with tactile barriers in tessellation for safety and to inform about the road without creating a visual barrier towards the sea.

Project: Crikvenica Center – Stjepan Radić Square
Programe: Public space
Design year: 2011
Realized: 2013
Location: Crikvenica, Croatia
Surface: 11 974 m2
Client: Municipality of Crikvenica (public architectural competiton 2011)
Architect: NFO
Design team: Kata Marunica, Nenad Ravnić, Dijana Pavić, Tatjana Liktar, Tamara Marić

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by NFO appeared first on Dezeen.