Hasta La Ideas

Movie: project director Paul Baker discusses Wilkinson Eyre‘s award-winning cooled conservatories at Gardens by the Bay in Singapore in this exclusive video produced by Dezeen. 

Gardens by the Bay is a large waterside park next to the Marina Reservoir in central Singapore. It features two huge glass houses designed by London architects Wilkinson Eyre, which won World Building of the Year at World Architecture Festival in 2012.

“The project was to develop two cooled conservatories to accommodate a really extraordinary collection of plants that would never be able to grow in Singapore without an artificial environment,” Baker explains.

One of the glass domes features a dry Mediterranean climate, while the other recreates the cold, moist environment of a cloud forest. Baker says that while they had to meet very strict requirements for the atmosphere inside the domes, there was very little brief for how they should look.

“The trick we explored was to get a really simple structure, a grid shell, as light as possible and stiffened by a series of ribs that stabilised the grid,” he explains. “That allowed us to have this totally clean internal view and externally it generated quite a strong form to both of the biomes.”

He continues: “One was pulled up to allow for a mountain to sit inside, the other was stretched out to allow for a flower field. The flower field being in the Mediterranean, the mountain being in the cloud forrest.”

A wooden canopy runs between the two freestanding domes. Baker explains that the design team wanted this to contrast with the steel and glass of the conservatories.

“The canopy is all about wood: it’s got a lot of colour in it; it’s got a lot of play in it,” he says. “It’s also deliberately quite dark so that the drama of entering the conservatories is amplified by the darker compressive space outside.”

Baker explains that the conservatories were designed to provide very different experiences.

“There is no set path,” he says of the flower dome. “It is your own adventure. It is all about you making your own route and understanding and exploring the building.”

In contrast, the cloud forest, which includes a 35-metre-high indoor waterfall, is “an entirely prescriptive route,” he says.

“As you enter, again you’re coming from a more compressed, darker environment and then you’re completely assaulted by the cold, the wet of the waterfall. You explore the base of the mountain and then take a lift to the top. That then allows you to do the descent in a really creative way.”

He continues: “We have a series of walkways that take you right out into the cloud forest with a whole range of different plants. At all the levels you get a different horticultural experience.”

Baker says that he takes the greatest satisfaction from seeing people enjoying the conservatories.

“This building has got a pretty strong educational remit,” he says. “It’s got nice messages [about protecting the environment], but it’s also an awful lot about fun.”

“The more travelled you are, the more complacent you get about those sorts of experiences. But being from Singapore, being very much in an urban society, I think the real drama of a strong – although artificial – environment is quite exciting.”

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Gardens by the Bay are “about having fun” appeared first on Dezeen.

Movie: in our second exclusive interview from this year’s World Architecture Festival, Scott Adams of Taylor Cullity Lethlean discusses the design of The Australian Garden, which won the award for best landscape project.

The Australian Garden by landscape studio Taylor Cullity Lethlean and plant expert Paul Thompson is a 25-hectare area of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Cranbourne, Australia, dedicated to the country’s indigenous plant life.

“This was the first botanical garden in Australia, if not the world, that is for Australian natives only,” Adams says.

“There has been a strong bush garden movement [in Australia], which started off in the 1970s and 1980s. But this takes it to another level. It’s not just about using native plants, but really celebrating the qualities and properties of them.”

The structure of the garden is based around the flow of water, Adams goes on to explain.

“Australia is an island surrounded by water with desert in the inside,” he says. “We wanted to tell the journey about the water moving from the desert to the coast, so the botanical garden is set up to form a narrative for the Australian landscape.”

There is limited signage at the garden, a decision Adams says was designed to increase visitors’ sense of discovery.

“We wanted the visitor to take home their own experience, rather than to have signage to tell them what they should be feeling or what they should be seeing,” he says.

“You go there and you make your own journey, and your own discoveries, and take home your own findings.”

World Architecture Festival 2013 took place at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore from 2-4 October. Next year’s World Architecture Festival will take place at the same venue from 1-3 October 2014. Award entries are open from February to June 2014.

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for Australian native plants” appeared first on Dezeen.

News: Thomas Heatherwick has released images of a proposal for a garden to span the River Thames on a new pedestrian bridge (+ slideshow).

The design was developed by Heatherwick Studio after Transport for London awarded it a tender to develop ideas for improving pedestrian links across the river.

Images show two fluted piers supporting a walkway planted with trees, grasses and flowers, offering views of the surrounding city.

“With its rich heritage of allotments, gardens, heathland, parks and squares, London is one of the greenest cities in the world,” says Thomas Heatherwick. “In this context we are excited to have been selected by TFL to explore the opportunity of a pedestrian river crossing. The idea is simple; to connect north and south London with a garden.”

The structure is proposed for a site between the existing Blackfriars and Waterloo bridges, and will cost £60 million, which Heatherwick will be required to raise from private investors.

Isabel Dedring, London’s deputy mayor for transport told the Evening Standard that “The mayor has been keen to find an iconic piece of green infrastructure that can symbolise London as a high quality of life place to live,” adding “but if private sector funding isn’t forthcoming then the project isn’t going to be able to go ahead.”

This would be the first new bridge built on the river since the Millennium Bridge by Foster + Partners, which originally opened in 2000 but was closed due to safety concerns and reopened in 2002.

Heatherwick Studio says it has been working on the idea with actor and campaigner Joanna Lumley, who adds: “It’s quite strange to talk of something that doesn’t exist yet, but the Garden Bridge is already vivid in the plans and the imagination. This garden will be sensational in every way: a place with no noise or traffic where the only sounds will be birdsong and bees buzzing and the wind in the trees, and below the steady rush of water.”

“It will be the slowest way to cross the river, as people will dawdle and lean on parapets and stare at the great cityscapes all around; but it will also be a safe and swift way for the weary commuter to make his way back over the Thames,” says Lumley.

“There will be grasses, trees, wild flowers, and plants, unique to London’s natural riverside habitat. And there will be blossom in the spring and even a Christmas tree in mid-winter. I believe it will bring to Londoners and visitors alike peace and beauty and magic.”

Thomas Heatherwick designed the cauldron for the London 2012 Olympics and told us that its lighting was conceived as a religious ceremony.

Heatherwick’s design for a new bus took to the streets of London last year, and he has also recently designed a distillery and visitor centre for gin brand Bombay Sapphire – see all design by Thomas Heatherwick.

Yesterday the winners were announced in a competition to develop a new green space linking sites on London’s Southbank, which aims to rival the popular High Line park in New York – see all stories about parks and gardens.

We’ve also recently reported on a series of bridges in the Netherlands that were copied from the fictions structures depicted on banknotes – see all stories about bridge design.

Visualisations are by Heatherwick Studio.

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bridge designed for River Thames appeared first on Dezeen.

News: Italian architects Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas have won a competition to transform the central railway area of Bari, a city in southern Italy, with a proposal to build a three-kilometre-long elevated park over the track.

The winning design, a collaboration between Fuksas and architect Jordi Henrich I Monràs, stretches over an area of 78 hectares and is centred around a large park that will pass over the railway and offer promenade views over the city and the sea.

The project will also provide Bari with a new cultural centre spread across the former Rossani barracks. Existing buildings will be restored and turned into a public library, an exhibition space, municipal offices and workshops for artists, actors and academics.

A new elliptical building with a wood facade will house a 1000-capacity auditorium adaptable to concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and exhibitions, while underground parking will be provided on the northern edge of the park near the railway station.

In the south-west corner of the park, alongside Bari’s existing Auditorium Nino Rota, the architects propose to enlarge the city’s music conservatory with a new auditorium and teaching rooms as well as an area for outdoor concerts.

Last month the Fuksas duo won a competition for the Moscow Polytechnic Museum and Educational Centre with a design consisting of four copper-clad elements, while in January they completed a new building for the National Archives of France – see all architecture by Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas.

In 2011, a two-and-a-half mile-long elevated park called The High Line opened on abandoned railway along 22 blocks of downtown Manhattan, while last year Danish architects BIG completed a project to place a 750-metre-long carpet of grass and rubber through Copenhagen – see all parks and gardens.

Here’s some more information from the architects:

International competition for the “Baricentrale railway area”, Italy, won by Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas + Jordi Henrich I Monràs

Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas along with Jordi Henrich I Monràs have won the international competition for the design of the railway area “Baricentrale”.

The international competition launched by the Municipality of Bari, aimed to promote the transformation of the city, using the reorganisation of the railway area which has long acted as a rift that cuts through the city, as the starting point for its transformation. The site of the project stretches over an area of 78 hectares which is divided into 7 segments.

The decision of the jury in choosing the winning design team came about on the basis of the following main reasons: the ability to fully respond with consistency and quality to the primal need of the city, that of reconnecting the two “sides” of the railway area which have been split apart for so long; the integration of buildings situated on the two sides, through the realisation of a large elevated park; the introduction of an increase of the current building density, balanced and well distributed between the different compartments; the proposal having a high level of environmental sustainability as its main characteristic.

The project signed by Studio Fuksas desires to solve the issue of the fracture of the city of Bari in a radical way through the design of a large city park with promenade views of the city and the sea, which acts as the connective tissue of the entire project. Without burying the rail track, the project aims at the rebirth of a strongly degraded area and pass through a large elevated park, 3 km long with an east-west bike path. A big lung which will double the amount of green for inhabitants, from the current 2.7 m to 5.1 m ab / ab.

The sub-sector of the barrack Rossani, composed of 5 buildings has been assigned an important role. It will become the cultural centre of the city of Bari with spaces for social gatherings in a green area. Existing buildings will be restored without altering the architectural shape. Their function will be related to culture and arts. The building positioned at the center of the park (1400 square meters) will host the municipal offices. The building D will host workshops for artists and fellows of the Academy of Fine Arts in Bari; the building E (2930 sqm) will become the city’s public library with specialized sections devoted to the visual arts, theater, music and architecture, the building F (2,184 sqm) is transformed into a huge exhibition space for temporary exhibitions and will support the educational activities of the Academy of Fine Arts. The building H (2890 square meters) will host residencies for artists, actors, contract professors, scholars and students of the academy linked to European programs of cultural exchange. The ground floor will also house a café open to the public and immersed in the park. It will include the construction of an underground parking with 800 seats, located in the northern edge of the Park Rossani near the new Central Station.

At the centre of the regular structure of the barrack will arise the auditorium / performance centre with a capacity of about 1,000 seats. The architectural shape of the elliptical performance center generates a volume from soft geometries that deliberately contrasts with the rigidity of existing buildings. A multi-purpose building that can accommodate a variety of events and activities such as concerts, theater, conferences, exhibitions and film screenings. Common areas, the cafeteria and the foyer are fully glazed in order to create a relationship of continuity between inside and outside. The wood will be the outer skin of the structure of the facade of the building in order to be in harmony with the park and vegetation.

The city of music will be built at the south-west of the park. The function is already defined by the presence of the Auditorium Nino Rota. The existing structure also plays a supporting role at the Conservatory Niccolo Piccinni. The project proposes to shape a genuine city of music providing for the enlargement of about 2000 square meters of the conservatory with a new building that will house a 400-seat auditorium and music school. Furthermore it is also planned to build an area for outdoor concerts with 400 seats. The park of music because of the new structure planned by the master plan is easily accessible from the city centre.

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central railway area of Bari, Italy appeared first on Dezeen.

Danish architecture firm BIG has scattered miscellaneous street furniture from 60 different nations across a brightly coloured carpet of grass and rubber at this park in Copenhagen (+ slideshow).

The architects worked alongside landscape architects Topotek1 and artists Superflex on the design of the Superkilen park, which stretches 750 metres through the Nørrebro neighbourhood in the north of the city.

Neon signs from Russia and Qatar, picnic benches from Armenia and ping-pong tables from Spain are just some of the different objects in the park, which are meant to represent the nationalities of every local resident.

“Rather than plastering the urban area with Danish designs we decided to gather the local intelligence and global experience to create a display of global urban best practice comprising the best that each of the 60 different cultures and countries have to offer when it comes to urban furniture,” said BIG project leader Nanna Gyldholm Møller.

The park is split into three colour-coded zones and different objects can be found in each one.

A patchwork of pink rubber blankets the ground and covers the sides of buildings in the first zone, and the designers have planted maple trees with matching red leaves.

The local market is held here, beside benches from Brazil, cast iron litter bins from the UK and a Thai boxing ring. There’s also a children’s playground, containing a slide from Chernobyl, a climbing frame from India and a set of swings from Iraq.

Above: photograph is by Torben Eskerod

The second zone is conceived as an “urban living room” where locals play board games beneath the shelter of Japanese cherry trees and Liberian cedar trees.

Painted white lines run north to south across the ground but curve around the outside of the street furniture, which includes Belgian benches, Brazilian bar chairs, a Norwegian bike rack and a Moroccan fountain.

Above: photograph is by Torben Eskerod

Grass plains and hills comprise the third zone, which contains areas for sports, sunbathing and picnics.

A Texan pavilion provides a venue for line-dancing, while a sports arena accommodates football and basketball.

“Rather than perpetuating a perception of Denmark as a mono-ethnic people, the park portrays a true sample of the cultural diversity of contemporary Copenhagen,” said Topotek1′s Martin-Rein Cano.

See the initial designs for Superkilen in our earlier story.

Other landscape architecture on Dezeen includes an undulating public square in Mexico and a plaza in Austria.

Photography is by Iwan Bann, apart from where otherwise stated.

Above: photograph is by Torben Eskerod

Here’s a detailed project description from BIG:

Superkilen Masterplan

Superkilen is a half a mile long urban space wedging through one of the most ethnically diverse and socially challenged neighborhoods in Denmark. It has one overarching idea that it is conceived as a giant exhibition of urban best practice – a sort of collection of global found objects that come from 60 different nationalities of the people inhabiting the area surrounding it. Ranging from exercise gear from muscle beach LA to sewage drains from Israel, palm trees from China and neon signs from Qatar and Russia. Each object is accompanied by a small stainless plate inlaid in the ground describing the object, what it is and where it is from – in Danish and in the language(s) of its origin. A sort of surrealist collection of global urban diversity that in fact reflects the true nature of the local neighborhood – rather than perpetuating a petrified image of homogenous Denmark.

Superkilen is the result of the creative collaboration between BIG, Topotek1 and SUPERFLEX, which constitutes a rare fusion of architecture, landscape architecture and art – from early concept to construction stage.

Above: photograph is by Torben Eskerod

A World Exhibition at Nørrebro

Superkilen is a park that supports diversity. It is a world exhibition of furniture and everyday objects from all over the world, including benches, lampposts, trash cans and plants – requisites that every contemporary park should include and that the future visitors of the park have helped to select. Superkilen reattributes motifs from garden history. In the garden, the translocation of an ideal, the reproduction of another place, such as a far off landscape, is a common theme through time. As the Chinese reference the mountain ranges with the miniature rocks, the Japanese the ocean with their rippled gravel, or how the Greek ruins are showcased as replicas in the English gardens. Superkilen is a contemporary, urban version of a universal garden.

Above: photograph is by Torben Eskerod

Three Zones, Three Colors – One Neighborhood

The conceptual starting point is a division of Superkilen into three zones and colors – green, black and red. The different surfaces and colors are integrated to form new, dynamic surroundings for the everyday objects.

The desire for more nature is met through a significant increase of vegetation and plants throughout the whole neighborhood arranged as small islands of diverse tree sorts, blossom periods, colors – and origin matching the one of surrounding everyday objects.

Traffic Connections

To create better and more transparent infrastructure throughout the neighborhood, the current bike paths will be reorganized, new connections linking to the surrounding neighborhoods are created, with emphasis on the connection to Mimersgade, where citizens have expressed desire for a bus passage. This transition concerns the whole traffic in the area at outer Norrebro and is a part of a greater infrastructure plan. Alternatives to the bus passage include signals, an extended middle lane or speed bumps.

Market/Culture/Sport – The Red Square

As an extension of the sports and cultural activities at the Norrebrohall, the Red Square is conceived as an urban extension of the internal life of the hall. A range of recreational offers and the large central square allows the local residents to meet each other through physical activity and games.

The colored surface is integrated both in terms of colors and material with the Nørrebrohall and its new main entrance, where the surface merges inside and outside in the new foyer.

Facades are incorporated visually in the project by following the color of the surface conceptually folding upwards and hereby creating a three-dimensional experience. By the large facade towards Norrebrogade is an elevated open space, which almost like a tribune enables the visitors to enjoy the afternoon sun with a view.

In addition to the cultural and sports facilities, the Red Square creates the setting for an urban marketplace which attracts visitors every weekend from Copenhagen and the suburbs.

Superkilen’s central marketplace is located in the area of the existing hockey field. A large area on the square is covered by a multifunctional rubber surface to enable ballgames, markets, parades, and skating rinks in winter etc. The mobile tribunes of Norrebrohallen can be moved there for open-air movie/sports presentations. The square towards East allows outdoor service from the café inside by the future main entrance. Towards North, the visitors will enjoy basketball courts, parking spaces and an outdoor fitness area.

» The red square is defined by a street in each end and building and fences along the sides. The edge is moving in and out – and we have tied the area together by connecting the surrounding given lines and edges in the big red pattern. A big red carped stretched out between all sides of the square.
» Fitness area, Thai boxing, playground (slide from Chernobyl, Iraqi swings, Indian climbing playground), Sound system from Jamaica, a stencil of Salvador Allende, plenty of benches (from Brazil, classic UK cast Iron litter bins, Iran and Switzerland), bike stands and a parking area.
» Only red trees except the existing ones.
» Basket ball next to parking.

Urban Living Room – The Black Square

Mimers Plads is the heart of the Superkilen Masterplan. This is where the locals meet around the Moroccan fountain, the Turkish bench, under the Japanese cherry-trees as the extension of the area’s patio. In weekdays, permanent tables, benches and grill facilities serve as an urban living room for backgammon, chess players etc.

The bike traffic is moved to the East side of the Square by partly solving the problem of height differences towards Midgaardsgade and enable a bike ramp between Hotherplads and the intersecting bike path connection. Towards North is a hill facing south with a view to the square and its activity.

» The square can be spotted by the big, dentist neon sign from Doha, Qatar.
» Brazilian bar chairs under the Chinese palm trees, Japanese octopus playground next to the long row of Bulgarian picnic tables and Argentinean BBQ’s, Belgian benches around the cherry trees, UV (black light) light highlighting all white from the American shower lamp, Norwegian bike rack with a bike pump, Liberian cedar trees.
» To protect from the street ending at the north east corner of the square and to meet the wishes from the neighbors, we have folded up a corner of the square creating a covered space.
» Unlike the pattern on the red square, the white lines on Mimers Plads are all moving in straight lines from north to south, curving around the different furniture to avoid touching it. Here the pattern is highlighting the furniture instead of just being a caped under it.

Sport/Play – The Green Park

Bauman once said that “sport is one of the few institutions in society, where people can still agree on the rules”. No matter where you’re from, what you believe in and which language you speak, you can always play football together. This is why a number of sports facilities are moved to the Green Park, including the existing hockey field with an integrated basketball court as it will create a natural gathering spot for local young people from Mjolnerpark and the adjacent school.

The activities of the Green Park with its soft hills and surfaces appeals to children, young people and families. A green landscape and a playground where families with children can meet for picnics, sunbathing and breaks in the grass, but also hockey tournaments, badminton games and workout between the hills.

» The neighbors asked for more green so we ended up making the green park completely green – not only keeping and exaggerating the curvy landscape, but also painting all bike- and pedestrian paths green.
» From Tagensvej at the very north, the park is welcoming with a big rotating neon sign from USA, a big Italian chandelier and a black Osborne Bull from Costa del Sol (a wish from a Danish couple living in the area!).
» Armenian picnic tables next to Mjølnerparken with South African BBQ’s, a volcano shapes sports arena for basket ball and football, a line dance pavilion from Texas, muscle beach from LA with a high swing from Kabul, Spanish ping pong tables and a pavilion for the kids to hang out in.

The green park is turning into Mimers Plads on the top of the hill to the south. From the top of the hill you can almost overlook the entire Superkilen.

Site plan – click above for larger image

Facts

Client: Copenhagen Municipality, Realdania
Location: Nørrebro, Copenhagen / from Norrebrogade to Tagensvej
Function: Public space
Site area: 30.000 m2 / 322917 sq.ft / 750 m long public space
Completion: Spring 2012
Authorship: BIG, Topotek1, Superflex
Collaboration: Lemming Eriksson, Help PR & Communication
Budget: Ca. 58,5 MIO DDK / 7.7 MIO EUR / 11 MIO USD

Project credits

ARCHITECTURE: BIG
Partner in Charge: Bjarke Ingels
Project Leader: Nanna Gyldholm Møller, Mikkel Marcker Stubgaard
Team: Ondrej Tichy, Jonas Lehmann, Rune Hansen, Jan Borgstrøm, Lacin Karaoz, Jonas Barre, Nicklas Antoni Rasch, Gabrielle Nadeau, Jennifer Dahm Petersen, Richard Howis, Fan Zhang, Andreas Castberg, Armen Menendian, Jens Majdal Kaarsholm, Jan Magasanik

LANDSCAPE: TOPOTEK1
Partners in charge: Martin Rein-Cano, Lorenz Dexler
Project Leader: Ole Hartmann + Anna Lundquist
Team: Toni Offenberger, Katia Steckemetz , Cristian Bohne, Karoline Liedtke

ART CONSULTANCY: SUPERFLEX
Partner-in-Charge: Superflex
Project Leader: Superflex
Team: Jakob Fenger, Rasmus Nielsen, Bjørnstjerne Christiansen

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and Superflex appeared first on Dezeen.