Alboraya-Palmaret metro station by Rstudio

Alboraya-Palmaret metro station by Rstudio

Spanish architects Rstudio have designed a combined metro station and park in Alboraya near Valencia.

Alboraya-Palmaret metro station by Rstudio

The new stepped park offers views into the semi-submerged station through large strip windows.

Alboraya-Palmaret metro station by Rstudio

Escalators bring passengers down from a single-storey entrance hall to the underground platforms, where trains depart for the city centre.

Alboraya-Palmaret metro station by Rstudio

Seven grass-covered terraces descend from the street towards the station entrance.

Alboraya-Palmaret metro station by Rstudio

Walls and windows in and around the station are decorated with red, blue and yellow stripes to aid passenger navigation.

Alboraya-Palmaret metro station by Rstudio

The old above-ground station located next to the site has been converted into a cafe while a pedestrian pathway replaces the old tracks.

Alboraya-Palmaret metro station by Rstudio

This project is the second train station to be featured on Dezeen this year, following a metro station in Naples filled with sculptures and graphic artworks – see all our stories about railway stations here.

Alboraya-Palmaret metro station by Rstudio

Photography is by David Frutos.

Alboraya-Palmaret metro station by Rstudio

Here’s some more information from the architects:


Palmaret train station
Alboraya

The new train station of Alboraya-Palmaret is built together with a big park, which stands out the new platform in a natural manner.

Alboraya-Palmaret metro station by Rstudio

The park has an approximated surface of 6.000 square meters. It has seven platforms in different levels, and leads us from the street to the hall of the new station.

Alboraya-Palmaret metro station by Rstudio

We can find in it rest areas, as well as children’s playground under the shadow of a large number of tress of different species.

Alboraya-Palmaret metro station by Rstudio

Through the projected intervention over the old Palmaret station, we can highlight that most of the old platforms have been removed. In this way we can connect the new park with the Horchata Avenue.

Alboraya-Palmaret metro station by Rstudio

Considering the indoors of the new station, two important areas have emerged. The first one, a big Hall with views to the park, leads us in a natural way to the second area, the platform, that due to its double high gives the station a great atmosphere.

Alboraya-Palmaret metro station by Rstudio

Click above for larger image

The building materials employed in the entire renovation gives the station as well as the park a modern image and constitutes the reference for the whole Alboraya district.

Alboraya-Palmaret metro station by Rstudio

Click above for larger image

Year: 2010
Development company: G.T.P. Ente Gestor de Infraestructuras
Builder: Ute Metro 3 Alboraya. Ezentis. Aldesa Ortiz e Hijos
Collaboration: Eg Ineco (manager engineering)
Alfonso Peris (landscape)
David Frutos (photography)

Alboraya-Palmaret metro station by Rstudio

Click above for larger image


See also:

.

Naples Metro Station
by Karim Rashid
Subway Station by Amanda
Levete and Anish Kapoor
Tram Stop in Alicante
by Subarquitectura

House in Pedrogão by Phyd Arquitectura

House in Pedrogão by Phyd Arquitectura

This dreamy holiday bunker designed by Portuguese studio Phyd Arquitectura is sunk into the landscape, overlooking the hills near Torres Novas.

House in Pedrogão by Phyd Arquitectura

The monolithic House in Pedrogão is made from concrete and has a glazed facade that provides residents with a panoramic view of the surroundings.

House in Pedrogão by Phyd Arquitectura

The house sits upon the rear of a timber-covered plinth, which has a swimming pool at the opposite end.

House in Pedrogão by Phyd Arquitectura

Behind the front living area are enclosed rooms that include a kitchen, two bathrooms, a bedroom and a study.

House in Pedrogão by Phyd Arquitectura

The house was completed in 2008.

House in Pedrogão by Phyd Arquitectura

This is the second Portuguese project published on Dezeen this month, following a completely white house with an asymmetrical roofsee all our stories about projects in Portugal here.

House in Pedrogão by Phyd Arquitectura

Photography is by Montse Zamorano.

The following information is from Phyd Arquitectura:


Time Suspension – and the creating act

I take Saramago once again: “My relation with time is, above all, very specific….when trying to express it graphically; I understand time as a large screen, a huge screen, where every single event is projected, including the oldest and the most recent. On that screen, everything is side by side in a kind of chaos as if time was compressed and flattened on that surface; as if events, facts and people were shown and assembled chaotically instead of being diachronically assembled, and we were meant to find a meaning.”

House in Pedrogão by Phyd Arquitectura

That idea of time, Flat Time, described in Saramago’s words, could be the ultimate dream we aspire to. That idea of architecture as a tool for capturing places, topographies, landscapes, customs and people. That project fulfils the mission of retaining, composing, organizing customs and qualities of the place. A Flat Time, cleared up by topography, arranged by function and disposed by space qualification.

A profound architectural image of space disposition and organization, this possibility of imagining a Flat Time where inhabiting is made possible, where our work and labour is naturally defined by various space elements.

House in Pedrogão by Phyd Arquitectura

A Flat Time that enables us to;

Live below the soil and above the air.
Live in substance and in landscape.

As if there was a character particular to things and to Architecture, where the logic of construction of the Imaginary is rooted in the logical nature of making, disposing, assembling, organizing, in such a way we can say there is a Nature of Things.
As if Architecture has always built a truth and its opposite. In a relation between lightness and weight, that antithesis, that gravitational illusion has always nurtured the dreams of architects throughout the history of Architecture. It has been limited by skill and dream. The Architecture we make should pursue the building of lightness, with the weight characteristic to substance, which is imposed by the skill of its own time.

House in Pedrogão by Phyd Arquitectura

Click above for larger image

Addition

The project harbors only one level inserted on the terrain, th rough the construction of a level platform. This strategy of construction benefits from the terrain dangling, allowing by a very simple manner the perfect harmony with the surrounding nature, emerging with its volume from the pending of the landscape, assuming it’s quotas as their own.

The access is provided by the superior level of the terrain, emancipating the exterior areas, and the favorable areas to unburden views creating a unique relationship with the surrounding. The level platform mentioned above enabled the project for the housing areas and swimming pool on its superior end, and the technical areas on its inferior end.

House in Pedrogão by Phyd Arquitectura

Click above for larger image

Gross area = 285.76 m2
Floor area = 108 m2
Area of land = 17920 m2

The project constituted by two areas of housing, the area most “embedded” in the field, and the pool area of support and preparation of food directed to the southwest, taking advantage of the views. These two areas are separated by an area of health installations. As facilities outside areas, are located between the pool and its area of support.

Laterally to the swimming pool, at a lower level is a technical area.

Stating, the project is consisted by 9 (nine) different areas; 1 living room, 1 room, 2 toilets, 1 area of preparation of food, 1 area of support and meals, 1 area of support to the pool, 1 swimming pool, 1 technical area.

House in Pedrogão by Phyd Arquitectura

Click above for larger image

Energy efficiency

The measures further to improve the energy performance of buildings have taken into account outdoor climatic and local conditions as well as indoor climate environment and cost-effectiveness.

The energy performance of the house has been calculated on the basis of a methodology, at a regional level, according to the European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive 2009/91/CE.

It has been given most importance to thermal insulations, heating and air-conditioning installations and the use of renewable energy sources culminating on the design of the house. Meeting the energy performance requirements tailored to the local climate, exploring its full potential.

House in Pedrogão by Phyd Arquitectura

Click above for larger image

Project category: Concrete
Name of the project: House in Pedrogão
Name of the architect: Paulo Henrique Sousa Durão
Year of construction: 2008
Site location: Pedrogão: Torres Novas, Portugal

Glass Loggia House by Allen Jack+Cottier, Vladimir Sitta and Belinda Koopman

Glass Loggia House by Allen Jack+Cottier, Vladimir Sitta and Belinda Koopman

An oversailing glass roof and steel mesh curtain protect a two-storey extension and terrace at a historic Sydney house.

Glass Loggia House by Allen Jack+Cottier, Vladimir Sitta and Belinda Koopman

The double-height curtain provides shade and privacy but can be drawn back to open the house to the remodelled garden.

Glass Loggia House by Allen Jack+Cottier, Vladimir Sitta and Belinda Koopman

Australian architects Allen Jack+Cottier converted the High Victorian house in collaboration with designer Belinda Koopman, while the garden was redesigned by Vladimir Sitta.

Glass Loggia House by Allen Jack+Cottier, Vladimir Sitta and Belinda Koopman

The house formerly contained a private zoo, according to the architects.

Glass Loggia House by Allen Jack+Cottier, Vladimir Sitta and Belinda Koopman

Glass Loggia House was recently awarded two Houses magazine awards.

Glass Loggia House by Allen Jack+Cottier, Vladimir Sitta and Belinda Koopman

While this house uses a mesh curtain for cooling and privacy, we recently published a house that achieves the same using mist – see our earlier story here.

Glass Loggia House by Allen Jack+Cottier, Vladimir Sitta and Belinda Koopman

See also our previous story about a sports centre designed by Allen Jack+Cottier.

Glass Loggia House by Allen Jack+Cottier, Vladimir Sitta and Belinda Koopman

Photography is by Nic Bailey of Allen Jack+Cottier.

Glass Loggia House by Allen Jack+Cottier, Vladimir Sitta and Belinda Koopman

Here’s some more information from the architects:


Glass Loggia House wins two prestigious HOUSES Magazine awards for design excellence
18th July 2011

Allen Jack+Cottier, Belinda Koopman and Vladimir Sitta of Terragram, have been honoured among Australia’s best house, garden and apartment designers at the inaugural HOUSES magazine awards in Melbourne on Friday evening, for their work on Glass Loggia House in Glebe, NSW.

Glass Loggia House by Allen Jack+Cottier, Vladimir Sitta and Belinda Koopman

Their transformation of the dark rear living spaces and run down garden of a grand two storey High Victorian style residence in Sydney’s inner west won the Outside category, and also a High Commendation for House Alteration and Addition under 200 m2.

Glass Loggia House by Allen Jack+Cottier, Vladimir Sitta and Belinda Koopman

The judges noted “The approach of both the landscape architect and architect respects the remnants of the past, adding another layer to history. Through a suite of new spaces the house and garden is now more engaged with the people who live there… The walls, rooms, corridors, platforms, and curtains create a palpable ambiguity about what is inside and outside, old and new.”

Glass Loggia House by Allen Jack+Cottier, Vladimir Sitta and Belinda Koopman

The house was originally a private zoo, so when work started in 2003 Vladimir Sitta retained and reused building fabric remnants to construct a “Garden of Ghosts” with a polished concrete pool ‘fenced’ by a fish skeleton vitrine and plant filled moat.

Glass Loggia House by Allen Jack+Cottier, Vladimir Sitta and Belinda Koopman

Jim Koopman, Director – Architecture, Allen Jack+Cottier, said “ We conceived a double volume glass loggia sheltered on the west by an existing cypress stand to create a useable outdoor area in a way that responds to the grand scale of the existing building ,and was appropriate to the conservation area.

Glass Loggia House by Allen Jack+Cottier, Vladimir Sitta and Belinda Koopman

Click above for larger image

“The loggia and new rooms are designed to exploit the ambiguities between what is inside and what is outside with a dramatic external steel mesh curtain shading the whole north- west facade, which operates to transform the loggia and garden spaces for different family functions.”

Glass Loggia House by Allen Jack+Cottier, Vladimir Sitta and Belinda Koopman

Click above for larger image


See also:

.

Brooks Avenue House
by Bricault Design
Park Avenue South
by Studioctopi
Elm & Willow House
by Architects EAT

House 20 by Jolson

House 20 by Jolson

Australian architects Jolson have completed a house in Melbourne where cantilevering concrete slabs appear to balance on top of a bronze garden wall.

House 20 by Jolson

Residents enter the middle floor of the three-storey House 20 beneath this cantilever.

House 20 by Jolson

A basement floor is set into the sloping landscape below and contains an indoor swimming pool, gym, steam room and games room.

House 20 by Jolson

A small pond is also located on this floor, at the base of a light well that is driven through the full height of the house.

House 20 by Jolson

Living and dining areas are located on the ground floor, while bedrooms and studies can be found on the top storey.

House 20 by Jolson

Alarming cantilevers have featured on a number of buildings on Dezeen lately – see all the stories about cantilevers here.

House 20 by Jolson

See more stories about Australian projects on Dezeen »

House 20 by Jolson

Photography is by Peter Bennetts.

House 20 by Jolson

Here are some more details from the architects:


House 20

A series of concrete buttresses extrude from the sloping natural ground line reinforcing the north-south orientation. These rhythmic elements form a continuous datum upon which the first floor rests; concrete blades in an east-west orientation, which cantilever and stagger beyond the precipice of the bronze wall below. This craning assemblage hovers over an organic knoll of delicately curling asparagus fern, and shelters the entry below.

House 20 by Jolson

The house is a sculptural object. The brutal exterior surfaces of the forms jostling concrete blades penetrate the interior, diffusing the interior/exterior threshold and creating a series of individual rooms. The interior unfolds as it is engaged with, rooms fold into each other and are defined by layers not walls.

House 20 by Jolson

The interior is dissected by a 3 story void; an empty vertical room within a room. The upper and lower floors are veiled by a knitted stainless steel mesh which allows textured shadow to dance within the interior.

House 20 by Jolson

The kitchen & scullery are designed as a piece of furniture to divide the continuous living spaces.

House 20 by Jolson

The basement experience embraces dark tones, rich textures, and celebrates ambient natural light. There is a strong dialogue between surfaces and object; polished monolithic black stone, raw mild steel, black leather, knitted mesh, and ‘slick’ body of black water that embodies the indoor pool.

House 20 by Jolson

The first floor is the clients retreat with Master bedroom, dressing room and ensuite. The Study hovers above the landscape knoll and engages with the streets’ plane trees. The contrasting light and dark furniture pallet articulate ‘her’ study from ‘his’ amongst the blade walls.

House 20 by Jolson

The building faces north and draws in sunlight across its breadth. Along the terrace horizontal awnings extend toward the landscape to maximize shade as required. The void acts as a thermal chimney, drawing fresh air through and expelling above. At its base the pond has a cooling effect. The steel mesh veil reduces direct sunlight entry.

House 20 by Jolson

The design affronts the general fascination with mock architectural styles, or adorned boxes with inward looking spaces and a total lack of relationship with site and environment. It engages with the notion of grandness without drawing on imitation, decoration, porticos or columns. Anti-decorative, anti-column.

House 20 by Jolson

Location: Inner City Melbourne, Australia
Date of Construction Completion: 21/09/2010
Gross Floor Area: 1250m²

House 20 by Jolson

Practise Team: Stephen Jolson, Mat Wright, Abe McCarthy, Andrew Prodromou, Chloe Pockran, Sue Carr, Jaclyn Lee
Construction Team: Len Bogatin and Associates

Consultant team:
Arup Melbourne (Structural/Civil Engineer)
Medlands (Electrical/Mechanical/Hydraulic Engineer)
SBE (Environmental Consultant)
WT Partnership (Cost Consultant)
BSGM (Building Surveyor)
Aloha (Pool)
Urban Intelligence (Home Automation)
Julian Ronchi (Landscape)

House 20 by Jolson

Primary Materials used:
Structure: Concrete
Facade Undercroft Wall: Bronze Panels
Glazing: Frameless & Anodized Aluminium
Flooring: Timber & Bluestone
Internal Walls: Concrete, Plaster, Polished Plaster, Bluestone

House 20 by Jolson

Products used:
Lightwell Mesh: Locker Group
Timber Floorings: Eco-Timber
Lift: Kone
Air Conditioning: Daikin Ducted
Appliances: Miele, Subzero, Qasair
Door Hardware: Bellevue
Gas Fire: Realflame
Concealed Speakers: Stealth Acoustics
Home Automation: Urban Intelligence – employing CBUS
Garage Door: Ross Doors
Cabinetry Manufacture: Splinters Joinery
Bronze Panelling: Bronzeworks
Trenches & Grate: Aco & Stormtech


See also:

.

Balmain House by Carter
Williamson Architects
Port Fairy House 2 by
Farnan Findlay Architects
Ross Street by Robert
Mills Architects

Mobile Police Station by Gesamtkonzept

Mobile Police Station by Gesamtkonzept Architekten

Police guarding the Turkish Consulate in Hanover have upgraded their VW bus for a tiny mobile office.

Mobile Police Station by Gesamtkonzept Architekten

The Mobile Police Station was designed by German architects Gesamtkonzept and is parked on the roadside.

Mobile Police Station by Gesamtkonzept Architekten

The mobile container is clad in laminated panels finished to look like wood and features floor-to-ceiling windows.

Mobile Police Station by Gesamtkonzept Architekten

Other mobile projects featured on Dezeen recently include a caravan-cum-disco and a diamond-shaped cabin on legs.

Mobile Police Station by Gesamtkonzept Architekten

See also a story from the archive about miniature booths for sleeping in.

Mobile Police Station by Gesamtkonzept Architekten

Photography is by Nils Günther.

More information is provided by the architects:


Young German architects office Gesamtkonzept has recently completed a mobile police station in Hanover, Germany.

Mobile Police Station by Gesamtkonzept Architekten

The police station is placed in Hanover, in the Nordstadt district, across from the Turkish consulate. It replaces an old aged – police Volkswagen bus, which permanently has to protect the consulate.

Mobile Police Station by Gesamtkonzept Architekten

Because this police car is placed at an exposed location and did not look particularly attractive in the cityscape, Mr. Wilhelmsen had the idea of designing a new, modern solution for a mobile station. His claim here was both to create a high quality and mobile architecture, as well as to establish an open and transparent working place for the police officers, that also can be produced quickly and inexpensively.

Mobile Police Station by Gesamtkonzept Architekten

The draft includes a curtained, insulated and ventilated facade, with floor to ceiling windows. The colour of the outer facade is selected to be close to the red-brown tone of the opposite Christ Church.

Mobile Police Station by Gesamtkonzept Architekten

So we decided, to use the steel frame of a conventional container for the supporting structure, that is used on many temporary buildings, such as mobile construction site offices. Good insulation and ventilation of the facade provide a good indoor climate without any air conditioning. In addition, transparency and openness of the station ensure a modern image of police in public.

Mobile Police Station by Gesamtkonzept Architekten

With these ideas and a first feasibility study we approached the heads of the local police commissioner’s office. Other than initially expected, the officials enthusiastically accepted the design, because they too were of the opinion that there was need for action concerning the old aged police bus.

Mobile Police Station by Gesamtkonzept Architekten

Quickly they managed to overcome the bureaucratic, which often bar the way to project realization. Because all the responsible bodies indicated their approval we soon were able to carry on with the planning in close cooperation with the police to a ready for implementation state. The production of the container was done by a company that produces mobile container solutions for different sectors and industries nationwide, in cooperation with several regional companies. So one year after the initial idea, the mobile police station in Hanover was finished.

Mobile Police Station by Gesamtkonzept Architekten

The police station not only provides a significant improvement in the quality of working, compared to the old VW bus, but now also offers a modern appearance, which fits in well with the urban and architectural situation in the vicinity of Christ Church.

Facility: Mobile police station in Hanover, Nordstadt
Client: Nordstadt Police Department
User: Police officers
Architect: Gesamtkonzept Architekten, Hanover
Material: Steel-frame construction, insulation of walls and roof, curtained rear-ventilated facade, panels made of high pressure laminate(HPL)
Planning and construction period: 07.2010 – 07.2011
Effective area: 8 sqm


See also:

.

Feral House Nichoir
by Matali Crasset
Nomad by
1/100
Vostok Cabin by Atelier
Van Lieshout

Seeking Submissions for Rural Interventions Book

rsz_avanto.jpg

Award-winning Boston architecture firm Moskow Linn, editors of the must-have book “Small Scale: Creative Solutions for Better City Living,” are seeking submissions for their latest project, “Rural Interventions.” In their own words, a rural intervention is an “innovative, small scale insertion that seeks to make the natural world more accessible and facilitates interacting with the environment.” The final book will feature 50 of these interventions, both “realized and theoretical.”

Submit a project description and low-res images to KM [at] MoskowLinn.com or download the prospectus here.

rsz_1rural_intervention1.jpg

rsz_rural_intervention2.jpg

(more…)


The Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre by Daniel Libeskind

The Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre by Daniel Libeskind

American architect Daniel Libeskind has completed a media centre for the City University of Hong Kong.

The Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre by Daniel Libeskind

The Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre houses laboratories, theatres, and classrooms for the school’s departments of computer engineering and media technology.

The Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre by Daniel Libeskind

Like much of Libeskind’s body of work, the centre’s faceted volume shoots upward into a sharp point.

The Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre by Daniel Libeskind

Glazed segments wrap around the building’s exterior while intersecting bands of lighting slice through the ceilings of the interior.

The Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre by Daniel Libeskind

The media centre is slated to open in October.

The Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre by Daniel Libeskind

Daniel Libeskind is best known for his Jewish Museum in Berlin as well as masterplanning the World Trade Center site, currently under construction in New York. See all our posts about Libeskind here.

See more stories about Hong Kong buildings here.

Photography is by Gollings Photography.

Here’s some more information provided by the architect:


THE RUN RUN SHAW CREATIVE MEDIA CENTRE

The Run Run Shaw Creative Media Centre for the City University of Hong Kong will provide facilities that will enable the University to become the first in Asia to offer the highest level of education and training in the creative media fields. The Centre will house the Centre for Media Technology and the Department of Computer Engineering and Information Technology.

Address: City University of Hong Kong, Cornwall Street, Kowloon Tong

Technical Details
» Steel-reinforced concrete
» 263,000 square feet

Creative Team:
Design: Studio Daniel Libeskind
Joint Venture Partner: Leigh & Orange Ltd. (Hong Kong)
Structural Engineer: ARUP (London and Hong Kong)
Mechanical/Electrical/Plumbing Engineer: ARUP
Geotechnical/Civil Engineer: ARUP
Civil Engineering, Specialists, Environmental, IT & Communications, Audio Visual, Acoustics, Fire, Building Innovation, Traffic Engineering: ARUP (Hong Kong)
Contractor: China Resources Construction
Landscape Architect: ADI Limited (Hong Kong)

Facilities:
» Two sound stages (2,200 sq ft and 5,400 sq ft)
» Two THX screening rooms, one with dubbing facilities
» Three additional screening rooms
» Virtual reality immersive research lab
» Box-in-box sound recording studio
» Television studio
» Computer labs and classrooms for production and research
» Multipurpose theater
» Flexible event and exhibition spaces
» Three lecture rooms
» Wood /metal shop
» Electrical shop
» Restaurant
» Café
» Landscaped garden


See also:

.

Made-to-order villa
by Daniel Libeskind
Jewish Museum Extension
by Daniel Libeskind
Royal Ontario Museum
by Daniel Libeskind

Stade Bordeaux Atlantique by Herzog & de Meuron

Stade Bordeaux Atlantique by Herzog & de Meuron

Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron have designed a stadium for Bordeaux that will host football matches for Euro 2016.

Stade Bordeaux Atlantique by Herzog & de Meuron

A “forest” of slender white columns will support the rectangular white roof of the Stade Bordeaux Atlantique, which will shelter up to 43,000 spectators.

Stade Bordeaux Atlantique by Herzog & de Meuron

Natural light will filter into the stadium through glazed louvres in the roof.

Stade Bordeaux Atlantique by Herzog & de Meuron

The base of the arena will house VIP lounges, players-spaces and media rooms, surrounded by food stalls amongst the columns.

Stade Bordeaux Atlantique by Herzog & de Meuron

A public square in front of the building will form part of the proposed landscape improvements by French landscape architect Michel Desvigne.

Stade Bordeaux Atlantique by Herzog & de Meuron

The stadium will be completed by 2015 and will also host rugby matches.

Herzog and de Meuron previously completed the National Stadium, Beijing for the 2008 Olympic Games – click here to see all our stories about Herzog & de Meuron.

Dezeen also recently featured three stadiums for the World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai – see all our stories about design for sports here.

Images are copyright Herzog & de Meuron.

Here is some more information from Herzog & de Meuron and Michel Desvigne:


Stade Bordeaux Atlantique, Bordeaux, France
2010 – planned completion 2015

Vision of a stadium

Our project for the new Bordeaux stadium is an expression of fundamentally new architecture. The pure shape of the volume, by contrast to its light and open structure, creates an at once monumental and graceful architectural piece elegantly suited to the grand landscape of Bordeaux.

Stadium architecture combines three constitutive elements: the bowl containing the game and its spectators, the concourse as the transitional element between the playing field and the outside surroundings and, finally, the overall appearance. Our approach is to reinterpret these three elements in light of the site-specific characteristics: the resulting architecture is thus one-of-a-kind, reflecting the intrinsic features of the site.

We aim to present an architectural object in which highest functional quality is combined with a unique identity. We are confident that allying these two criteria, functionality and strong identity, endows our project with an emotional dimension that the public can feel, and that is inextricably bound to the stadium’s traditional role of staging sports.

The bowl

Seating a maximum of some 43,000 persons, the bowl embraces the game area, its geometry affording optimal visibility for all, together with the maximum flexibility of capacity and usage.

The bowl consists in two superposed tiers divided into four sectors and protected from the elements by the roof. Consisting of a multitude of concentric strips, the ceiling’s homogeneous appearance guides the gaze to the playing field, while allowing sunlight to seep through thanks to the strips’ angle of slant. This open ceiling structure does not show through on the inside of the stadium, to avoid distracting the spectators’ attention.

Raising the bowl above ground level is a compact base integrating all the programmatic functions into a uniform and symmetrical volume. This plinth includes the VIP loges and salons evenly distributed east and west as well as media areas adjacent to the spaces dedicated to players.

The simplicity and pure lines of the architecture characterizing the bowl and its base guarantee a smooth flow of spectators and easy orientation.

The overall appearance

The bowl resting on its base is covered by an elegant roof which has an unusual rectangular shape. The choice of this pure and almost abstract form is the clearest and most efficient response to the site’s natural conditions, and to the main flow of spectators east-west.

This white rectangle seems projected earthwards thanks to the multiplicity of slender columns that shower down. A ribbon of food stalls and restrooms undulates through this forest of columns, brought alive by the movement of the crowd.

At once dense and light, this structure creates an evanescent rectangular volume from which emerges the sculpted and organic outline of the bowl.
In its specificity, this architectural concept confers a strong and unparalleled identity to the new Bordeaux stadium. Well anchored to its site, this elegant and diaphanous volume looks out onto the grand landscape its transparency revealing all the energy and activities which will fill this new symbol of the city of Bordeaux’s dynamism.

Herzog & de Meuron, 2011

Landscaping

The stadium’s implantation is linked to a particular situation, serving as a juncture between a high-quality natural setting to be reinforced to the north and, to the south, a structured urban periphery area in need of new development. Hence, any plans for the upcoming stadium must represent a basic step towards introducing the Secteur Nord Rocade tree belt, a project already foreseen by the city of Bordeaux’s landscape development plan.

Our proposal aspires to draw up a preliminary rendition of these future development plans. It reinterprets the tree belt’s exceptional features comprising rows of trees lining the main access ways. It defines an overall structure and organizes the various land plots in a grid.

The stadium’s surrounding areas (parvis, parking area, green corridor) belong to this language: organic tree lines serve as screens in a setting where, following the north-south orientation, they offer a variety of views while preserving a clear frontal view of the stadium’s facade. Surrounding the stadium, an entirely pedestrian public area is accessible from all sides.

The ground of the square around the stadium consists of three elements: grass-jointed concrete paving, natural lawn dotted with groups of trees forming open spaces and, facilitating stadium entry and exit, hot-rolled asphalt on surfaces around the stadium and defining the bus parking area to the east. The parking area to the north holds onto its for the most part mineral ground already anticipating the tree belt with its densely planted trees interspersed by plant beds.

These mixed area types set the stadium within a defined landscape, closely correlating the stadium site with its surrounding woodland setting.

MDP Michel Desvigne Paysagiste, 2011
Translation, Margie Mounier


See also:

.

National Stadium, Beijing
by Herzog & de Meuron
London Olympic Stadium
by Populous
VTB Arena Park by
Erick van Egeraat

Stirling Prize Shortlist Released, ‘Austerity’ Awaits Its Moment

Around this time of year, we start getting a bit exhausted by the annual architecture prizes. It’s only July, but we’ve already been through the Pritzker, the van der Rohe, who gets the Serpentine, and of course, the shortlist for the Architect Barbie Dream House Design Competition. We’re sure we missed some in that list and that there are more to come, but getting to Stirling Prize always seems like it’s the end of the season. So here we now are with the shortlist for the Royal Institute of British Architects‘ top honor. For the first time ever, all the nominees have been at least nominated for the prize in previous years, and, as to be expected anymore: former winners are on there again as well. Those two are David Chipperfield for his Folkwang Museum, and Zaha Hadid, returning again after winning the award last year, this time nominated for her Evelyn Grace Academy. However, neither starchitect seems to be the favorite, as it appears that Hopkins Architects’ velodrome for the 2012 Olympics is the betting person’s picks. However, as the Guardian puts it, the real story in the Stirling shortlist is that two of the finalists aren’t new construction at all, but rather rehabbed buildings that “save money and energy” and signal a “new austerity in architecture.” We will know for sure if this new austerity is really swept in or not on October 1st, when the winner is announced.

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Sandal Magna Community Primary School by Sarah Wigglesworth Architects

Sandal Magna Community Primary School by Sarah Wigglesworth Architects

Sarah Wigglesworth Architects designed this school in Wakefield, England, using red bricks and industrial building shapes that reflect the surrounding vernacular.

Sandal Magna Community Primary School by Sarah Wigglesworth Architects

The Sandal Magna Community Primary School was constructed using timber and bricks, while the landscaping utilises reclaimed bricks from the demolished Victorian school that the building replaces.

Sandal Magna Community Primary School by Sarah Wigglesworth Architects

The bell from the old school building now hangs in a new bell tower in the centre of the site.

Sandal Magna Community Primary School by Sarah Wigglesworth Architects

Classroom blocks and the school hall have asymmetrical roof profiles that accommodate ventilation stacks.

Sandal Magna Community Primary School by Sarah Wigglesworth Architects

Allotments behind the classrooms allow children to grow plants and vegetables.

Sandal Magna Community Primary School by Sarah Wigglesworth Architects

The library is contained behind a screen of timber louvres.

Sandal Magna Community Primary School by Sarah Wigglesworth Architects

The school provides education for children up to the age of 11 and a community room for adult education.

Sandal Magna Community Primary School by Sarah Wigglesworth Architects

The school is close to the Hepworth Wakefield Gallery that was completed earlier this year by David Chipperfield – see our earlier story.

Sandal Magna Community Primary School by Sarah Wigglesworth Architects

Photography is by Mark Hadden.

Sandal Magna Community Primary School by Sarah Wigglesworth Architects

See more stories about schools on Dezeen »

Sandal Magna Community Primary School by Sarah Wigglesworth Architects

Here’s some more information provided by the architects:


Sandal Magna Community Primary School in Wakefield opened in October 2010 and recently won a RIBA Award. The new school is one of the most carbon efficient schools in the UK.

Sandal Magna Community Primary School by Sarah Wigglesworth Architects

Sarah Wigglesworth Architects were appointed by Wakefield Council to design a replacement for the Victorian Sandal Magna Primary School, which had come to the end of its life.

Sandal Magna Community Primary School by Sarah Wigglesworth Architects

The new building accommodates 210 pupils aged between 5-11 years alongside nursery provision for 26 children. The school also contains a community room for use by parents for adult education and other activities, and has been designed to permit expansion in the future to a 315 place school.

Sandal Magna Community Primary School by Sarah Wigglesworth Architects

The brief called for high quality sustainable design addressing: functionality, sustainability, buildability, efficiency, aesthetics and durability.  After several site visits and meetings with Wakefield Council, the school, staff, parents, the local community and other stakeholders, Sarah Wigglesworth Architects established the following key issues which would inform the design of the new school:

    » importance of new identity for the school with a positive street presence
    » maintain a sense of history and memory (a new bell tower for the old bell)
    » provide a welcoming building for students, parents and teachers
    » site security and robustness of materials
    » scale and relationship of new building to the site
    » flexibility of spaces within the new building
    » provision of a variety of play spaces
    » importance of a community space
    » importance of energy efficiency and sustainability

 

Sandal Magna Community Primary School by Sarah Wigglesworth Architects

The school’s design takes its cue from its vernacular surroundings, and is laid out as three parallel single storey wings that reference the surrounding pattern of terraced houses and back streets. The red brick of those terraces is also used extensively throughout the school. Along the teaching block, sturdy ventilation stacks echo the rooflines of neighbouring houses while, at the centre of the site, the school is crowned by a striking new bell tower evoking the tall chimneys of Wakefield’s industrial heritage.

Sandal Magna Community Primary School by Sarah Wigglesworth Architects

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The overall design, however, is highly contemporary. A range of cladding materials such as raw timber, weatherboarding and corrugated rainscreens is used to denote different uses within the school, and adds further interest to the sharp, angular geometries of the building.

Sandal Magna Community Primary School by Sarah Wigglesworth Architects

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Inside the school, services and building elements such as ventilation, soundproofing, sprinklers and a rainwater harvesting system are all proudly visible. This is quite deliberate: part of the brief was to make the building a demonstrative tool to form part of the curriculum for learning about buildings and sustainability.

Sandal Magna Community Primary School by Sarah Wigglesworth Architects

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Funding was secured from the former DCSF Standards Fund for a range of low carbon measures at the school. The sustainability features of the school include:

    » completely natural ventilation
    » a ground source heat pump to provide heating, hot water and cooling
    » 100 sq m of photovoltaic solar panels to power the ground source heat pump
    » a masonry structure providing thermal mass throughout the classrooms
    » reuse of reclaimed bricks from the old school in retaining walls and garden features
    » a set of allotments for pupils within the school grounds

Sandal Magna Community Primary School by Sarah Wigglesworth Architects

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A key aim of the design was to produce a safe learning environment for the pupils. The flexible classroom design and “street” layout of the school encourages different numbers and age groups of children to meet and learn together, while the main circulation space between the classrooms, ICT and library spaces is an additional learning hub. The layout avoids hidden corners and blind spots, and careful thought has been given to landscaping to provide different types of outdoor play space including areas for learning, planting, quiet zones and games. Each classroom has direct access to the outdoor playgrounds and views to the surrounding landscape.

Sandal Magna Community Primary School by Sarah Wigglesworth Architects

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Sarah Wigglesworth said:

“I am so proud of Sandal Magna Community Primary School. As our first completed school it’s a milestone for our practice. In our work we strive to produce thoughtful, low-energy buildings that are simple to use, cherished by their occupants and economical to run and maintain. I hope we have achieved that at Sandal Magna and demonstrated that we can apply our architectural principles on a larger scale.”


See also:

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Alte Schule Winterbach
by Archifaktur
College Levi-Strauss by
Tank Architectes
Sra Pou Vocational School
by Rudanko + Kankkunen