Hasta La Ideas

Eight intersecting arches give a towering symmetry to this copper-coated mausoleum erected in the English countryside for a revered Iranian philosopher (photography by Edmund Sumner).

Designed by emerging London studio Borheh, the structure was built as a memorial to Javad Nurbakhsh – a master within the branch of Islam known as Sufism, which is thought by some to be a philosophy of existence that pre-dates religion.

The structure is located within a dense thicket of woodland in Oxfordshire, on a site chosen by Nurbakhsh, who spent the latter years of his life in England.

Raised off the forest floor on a tiered plinth, it comprises a ring of copper-coated steel triangles. These are expected to change colour as they gradually oxidise, allowing the tower to show its age.

“The mausoleum’s blend of striking design and organic materials presents a refreshingly modern take on mysticism without detracting from its timeless spiritual ideals,” said the architect in a statement.

The arched forms chosen reference some of the characteristic motifs of Persian architecture, creating a tower intended to demonstrate “geometrical perfection and simplicity”.

“The mausoleum combines traditional Persian architecture with contemporary materials local to Iran, resulting in a construction that reflects the Iranian heritage of Dr Nurbakhsh, while remaining in keeping with the English landscape,” said the architect.

The structure was built as a series of modules using local artisanal techniques in Iran. These were then shipped across to the UK and erected onsite.

Photography is by Edmund Sumner.

Here’s a project description from Borheh:

Contemporary Sufi memorial brings Iranian mysticism to the heart of the English countryside

A mausoleum dedicated to the memory of a prominent Iranian Sufi master, Dr Javad Nurbakhsh (10th December 1926 – 10th October 2008), has recently completed construction. The mausoleum’s blend of striking design and organic materials presents a refreshingly modern take on mysticism without detracting from its timeless spiritual ideals.

London based multidisciplinary creative studio, Borheh, have unveiled the completed mausoleum which adds a unique spiritual presence to the Oxfordshire countryside. Located near Banbury, England, the mausoleum stands on a beautiful natural location chosen by Dr Nurbakhsh himself during his lifetime. It is nestled amongst a dense wooded grove, named “the Forest”, which was planted by Dr Nurbakhsh in the 1990s.

The mausoleum combines traditional Persian architecture with contemporary materials local to Iran, resulting in a construction that reflects the Iranian heritage of Dr Nurbakhsh, while remaining in keeping with the English landscape. The structure is created from copper-coated steel which will naturally change colour over time as it is exposed to the elements, allowing it to evolve and adapt organically within the forest.

Using traditional Persian architectural motifs, the mausoleum evokes the principles of Sufi mysticism with a unified display of geometrical perfection and simplicity. Eight overlapping triangular arches converge together in a form known as karbandy, maintaining a balance of strength and elegance across every point. The geometrical perfection of the form is manifested through its interaction with the sun, as the natural path of sunlight creates a unique pattern of shadows through the passing of the day.

For minimum impact to the natural landscape, Borheh utilised an innovative approach to construction by following a modular method. Each part of the mausoleum was constructed separately in Iran, using local artisanal techniques. It was then transported to the UK and reassembled on site. While this was by no means an easy endeavour, the process ensured both the protection of the natural woodland that would be home to the mausoleum and remained faithful to the mausoleum’s cultural heritage.

The project represents a combination of traditional artistic principles and cutting edge technologies – the ideal monument to the life and work of a modern mystic.

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honours an Iranian philosopher appeared first on Dezeen.

Israeli studio SO Architecture added this auditorium and gallery to a hilltop war memorial in Nesher, Israel, and tilted it upwards so that it faces towards the sky (+ slideshow).

SO Architecture designed the concrete auditorium building as an extension to the existing structure, which commemorates Israeli soldiers that died in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War but previously was only used once a year on the country’s national memorial day.

The new building provides a community hall for events, film screenings and other activities, as well as an exhibition gallery charting the history of the site, which served as a guarding post during the war.

The exhibition space, called the Remembrance Gallery, is filled with photographs of fallen soldiers. These cover boxes installed along the walls, where victims’ families can store items that preserve the memories of their loved ones.

In the auditorium, rows of ascending timber bleachers provide seating, while a large window fills the space with light and offers a view out over nearby Haifa Bay.

Dark grey paint covers the exterior of the extension, uniting it with the existing memorial. A concrete plaque adorns the side of the old tower, and a golden Star of David is positioned at the top.

“The concrete relief was made in the 1950s by the artist Michael Kare as part of the transformation of the building from guarding post to a memorial,” added the architects.

Stepped landscaping and a viewing platform have been added to the south of the site, joining an existing limestone square and a children’s playground.

SO Architecture also designed the Yehiam Memorial Hall at Kibbutz Yehiam – another building that commemorates the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.

Photography is by Shai Epstein.

Here’s a project description from SO Architecture:

Nesher Memorial

Nesher Memorial was built on a basis of an historic preservation building that was used in the past as a guarding position. In ’48 war the position’s used as protection to the residents of Giv’at Nesher. The building is located in the heart of a quiet neighbourhood, on a hilltop, surrounded by a large square and a children’s playground.

Prior to the construction works, the building was neglected and was used in favour of the public only once a year – in the National Memorial Day, then it was open for a tour and impression of memorial pictures, as a part of the public ceremony for the memory of the fallen.

Nesher municipality asked SO Architecture office to expand the square surrounding the building so it will enable multiplayer events, and to redesign the building and add functions to it, so that it can serve the public throughout the year as a gathering space.

The main architectural idea was to add to the existing building an auditorium structure that could be used for different kinds of public activities such as lectures, film screenings, activities of youth groups, etc., along with preservation of the historical memory.

The auditorium

The auditorium reveals its insides geometry to the park and the city surrounding, by its inclined façade. This geometrical act has an additional meaning in creating a symbolic geometry that communicates with the memorial concept, and the function of the building as a monument.

A large window is located at the edge of the auditorium, facing north and thus brings a soft light into the auditorium and enables a breathtaking view at the landscape of Haifa bay. In a poetic allegory to reality, the window function as a bright ending to the inner space, and thus symbolises the balance between the bereavement pain and the light and hope in the living world.

The memory space

A box for each fallen, with its picture on it, is hanged on the wall of the memory area inside the building. Inside it, there is a room for storage of memorial personal belongings that the family and the municipality can put. In the space itself there is a place for seating and communion with the memory books and the memory of the fallen.

The centre of the memory space is lighted by long and narrow windows that were the shooting slits in the original guarding position, and by upper skylight windows from the original historic building. The memory space was designed in a modular manner, so that if necessary, it will be possible to add additional boxes without any difficulty.

Finishing materials

The original building contours regarding to the addition, are marked and highlighted through aluminium bars that were sediment in mortar and emphasise the contours of the old building regarding to the new addition.
The materials that we used in the building are simple.

The floor in the memory space is a concrete floor. The ceiling along the whole building is covered with oak planks, so that it creates a warm atmosphere. The auditorium area was also covered with wood, and sponge padded seats. An access to disabled was also arranged.

The square

The gatherings’ square on the front of the building, was designed on the basis of the existing square. The works in it included suitability and accessibility to the disabled, creating grandstand steps in the edges to enable a more comfortable viewing, and an addition of another viewing site at the southern end of the square. The finishing material of the square is a visible concrete that delimits the steps, and grey concrete blocks.

Architects: SO Architecture www.soarch.co.il
Planning team: Shachar Lulav , Oded Rosenkier , Alejandro Feinerman , Tomer Nahshon, Samer Hakim.
Site Area: 1100 Sqm
Building Area: 118 Sqm
Year: 2013

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by SO Architecture appeared first on Dezeen.

News: a Utah congressman has launched an attempt to scrap architect Frank Gehry’s proposed Washington D.C. memorial honouring President Dwight D. Eisenhower, citing the project’s cost and controversial design.

Last week Rob Bishop introduced legislation seeking to reject the current design by Gehry – whose best-known buildings include the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles – and invite new proposals for the memorial while eliminating $100 million of future funding.

The Canadian-born architect’s planned memorial, which is projected to cost $142 million, includes statues of the president surrounded by large woven steel “tapestries” depicting images of his childhood home in Kansas – but members of the Eisenhower family have criticised the design as too extravagant.

The congressman’s efforts to scrap the design drew strong opposition from the American Institute of Architects, which said last week that lawmakers should not attempt to censor architectural work.

“Representative Bishop’s legislation allows Congress to exercise governmental authority in a wholly arbitrary manner that negates the stated selection process,” said Robert Ivy, the institute’s chief. “It is nothing more than an effort to intimidate the innovative thinking for which our profession is recognized at home and around the globe.”

Before submitting the planning application in 2011, Gehry had insisted he would take onboard concerns voiced by the public and Eisenhower’s grandchildren about the concept and scale of the project.

Gehry recently completed a Maggie’s Centre in Hong Kong, the first of the cancer charity’s units outside of the UK. Earlier in the year he revealed proposals for a rippled 22-storey tower in his hometown of Santa Monica, California, and he’s also working on the new headquarters for internet giant Facebook.

See all architecture by Gehry or see more architecture in Washington D.C.

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Eisenhower memorial appeared first on Dezeen.

Sunken cruise ship the Costa Concordia would be transformed into a watery memorial garden in this competition-winning conceptual design by London architecture graduates Alexander Laing and Francesco Matteo Belfiore.

The cruise liner fatally struck a rock off the coast of Giglio Island, Italy, on 13 January, causing the deaths of 30 passengers and becoming the largest passenger ship in history to capsize. A year on, the ship is still in place awaiting a £250 million salvage operation.

The competition, organised by research platform ICSplat, asked architects and designers to come up with alternative proposals for the site, as part of a strategy to reassess how new landscapes can be developed amongst the remains of a traumatic event.

Architectural Association graduates Laing and Belfiore were awarded first place with their proposals, which suggest removing the 35 percent of the boat that rises above the water and adding plants inside the remaining compartments of the former rooms. “The fragment immersed becomes the container of new activities and crossings of the ship among paths, tanks of water and surfaces planted,” explain the designers.

Two floating pathways would lead out across the water to create a route for visitors from the coast of the island to the surface of the memorial.

Second place was given to Italian studio Vulmaro Zoffi with designs to generate an artificial reef as a habitat for marine species, while third prize was shared between Francesco Tonnarelli and Andrea Cippitelli of Italy and Architectural Association graduate Wynn Chandra.

The proposals come just over a year after two memorial fountains opened on the site of the former World Trade Centre. Watch a movie about the plans for the 9/11 site here.

See all our stories about memorials »

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and Francesco Matteo Belfiore appeared first on Dezeen.

Architect Peter Zumthor designed this memorial on an island in Norway to commemorate suspected witches who were burned at the stake there in the seventeenth century (photographs by Andrew Meredith).

The Steilneset Memorial in Vardø comprises two structures, one conceived entirely by Zumthor and a second housing an installation by the late Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010).

The first structure comprises a pine scaffolding framework, inside which is a suspended fabric cocoon containing a long oak-floored corridor.

Inside this corridor, light bulbs hang behind 91 windows to represent each of the men and women that were put to death during the witch trials.

A plaque accompanies each lamp to record the individual stories of every victim.

The installation by Bourgeois, entitled The Damned, The Possessed and The Beloved, occupies the smoked-glass-clad second structure.

A circle of mirrors within surround and reflect a flaming steel chair inside a hollow concrete cone.

This year Zumthor also completed the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London and designed a holiday home for Devon, England, that will complete next year.

See all our stories about Peter Zumthor here.

You can also read about more projects from Norway by clicking here.

Photography is provided c/o Icon Magazine.