Hasta La Ideas

News: a proposal by Rem Koolhaas’ firm OMA for a bridge that could accommodate different types of traffic as well as pedestrians and events has been selected by local authorities in Bordeaux, France, as one of two final competing designs.

The proposed design aims to “rethink the civic function and symbolism of a twenty-first century bridge” by creating a platform traversing the river Garonne that could be used by cars, trams, buses, bicycles and pedestrians.

A wide boulevard with a gentle gradient would make the bridge easy to walk across and allow it to be used to host events.

OMA project leader Clement Blanchet said the studio wanted to “provide the simplest expression – the least technical, least lyrical, an almost primitive structural solution. This simplicity allowed us to create a generous platform for pedestrians and public programs, as well as flexibility in accommodating the future needs of various types of traffic.”

Either OMA or French firm Dietmar Feichtinger will be awarded the project in December this year, with completion scheduled for 2018.

Yesterday, Thomas Heatherwick unveiled a design for a pedestrian bridge housing a garden to span the River Thames in London.

OMA is up against Danish firm BIG in a competition to redevelop the site of a convention centre in Miami.

In a movie filmed in Milan as part of our Dezeen and MINI World Tour, journalist Justin McGuirk described OMA’s Tools for Life collection of furniture as a nostalgic statement about the decline of industry in the city.

See all stories about OMA »
See all stories about bridges »

Images copyright OMA unless otherwise stated.

Here’s some more information from OMA:

OMA leads the final round for Pont Jean-Jacques Bosc international competition in Bordeaux

OMA’s design for a new bridge across the river Garonne in Bordeaux has been selected as one of two final competing projects by the city authorities. OMA’s stripped-down design for the Pont Jean-Jacques Bosc attempts to rethink the civic function and symbolism of a 21st century bridge.

Clement Blanchet, leading the project for OMA with Rem Koolhaas said: “The bridge itself is not the ‘event’ in the city, but a platform that can accommodate all the events of the city. We wanted to provide the simplest expression – the least technical, least lyrical, an almost primitive structural solution. This simplicity allowed us to create a generous platform for pedestrians and public programs, as well as flexibility in accommodating the future needs of various types of traffic.”

Vincent Feltesse, president of Urban Community of Bordeaux made the decision with the deliberation of a jury of 40 people, announcing that the municipality wanted something “bold.”

Beyond traditional fascinations with style and technical performance, OMA tried to design a 21st century bridge that exploits state-of-the-art techniques in order to create a contemporary boulevard. A platform 44 metres wide and 545 metres long is stretched beyond the water on either side, creating a seamless connection with the land. The bridge slopes gently, allowing an easy promenade while still giving necessary clearance for boats underneath. Each type of traffic – cars, RBD (tram/bus), bicycles – has its own lane, and is designed to meet changing vehicular needs. By far the largest strip is devoted to pedestrians.

The bridge is designed to cohere with the adjacent St. John Belcier urban redevelopment project. It also attempts to unify the different conditions of the two banks of the Garonne: from the Right Bank, strictly aligned on a poplar-lined meadow, to the urban landscape of the Left Bank, it aims solve the dual challenge of aura and performance in an environment steeped in history.

A final decision between designs by OMA and Dietmar Feichtinger will be made in December this year, with the bridge scheduled for completion in 2018.

The project is developed in collaboration with engineers WSP, the landscape architect Michel Desvigne, as well as the consultant EGIS and light design agency Lumières Studio.

The post OMA proposes bridge with pedestrian
boulevard for Bordeaux appeared first on Dezeen.

News: work has started on a football stadium in Bordeaux, France, by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron.

First unveiled in 2011, when it was referred to as the Stade Bordeaux Atlantique, Herzog & de Meuron’s Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux will provide seating for up to 42,000 spectators.

A rectangular white roof will cover the stadium, supported by a forest of slim white columns.

The structure is expected to be completed in 2015 ready to host matches during the Euro 2016 football championship.

Last week construction began on an outdoor bathing lake in Riehen, Switzerland, also by Herzog & de Meuron.

The architects previously completed the National Stadium in Beijing for the 2008 Olympic Games – see all architecture by Herzog & de Meuron or see all stadiums.

Earlier this year French designer Philippe Starck and car company Peugeot unveiled a prototype bicycle for a free cycle scheme in Bordeaux – see all projects in Bordeaux.

The post Construction begins on Bordeaux
stadium by Herzog & de Meuron appeared first on Dezeen.

Afin d’illustrer et d’introduire ses différentes séries de photographies prises durant ses voyages, le designer Gokhun Guneyhan compose des typographies de toute beauté qu’il appose sur chacun de ses clichés. Retrouvez une sélection de ces montages dans plusieurs villes en Europe dans la suite de l’article.

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

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.

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

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

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

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:

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

Paris studio LAN Architecture have designed apartment blocks for Bordeaux where each residence will have an adaptable loggia. (more…)