Hasta La Ideas

Paris firm Moussafir Architectes have blanketed the roof of this concert hall in Tours, France, with a synthetic material that looks more like a quilt.

Named Le Temps Machine, which translates as The Time Machine, the venue contains two auditoriums that burst up through its roof, one displaying a glowing digital clock.

The glazed facade and entrance are sheltered beneath a canopy of projecting eaves.

The walls of the remaining elevations are exposed concrete, as are those in the corridors of the building.

Above: photograph is by Benoît Faure

We’ve featured quite a few concert halls on Dezeen. You can see them all here.

Photography is by Jérôme Ricolleau, apart from where otherwise stated.

Here’s some extra information from Moussafir Architectes:

‘Le Temps Machine’, Concert Venue, Joue-Les-Tours, France

The former Joué-lès-Tours youth centre was a blocky, opaque, inward-looking building that failed to interact with the surrounding public space and no longer met current standards and requirements. The architectural design for the new music facility responds to a three-fold objective: to open the building up to its surroundings, to improve the way the opaque block integrates with existing buildings, and emphasise the festive dimension of the facility by making a unique architectural statement.

Above: photograph is by Luc Boegly

We chose to situate the new building where the old one stood, and to reinterpret some of the latter’s salient features (such as its prow-shaped auditorium) while offering the space a radically new image by opening it up to its context.

With its generously glazed street-side entrance, the building’s exterior features deep projecting eaves and a strongly cantilevered auditorium providing both an impression of lightness and a sense of hospitality vis-a-vis the public space and dwellings nearby.

To improve its contextual integration, we have divided the structure into two parts functioning in different registers: a determinedly horizontal 2m50 tall concrete and glass base housing a fluid, open interior space, and a roof with the three main components of the design brief (the two performance areas and the resource centre) bursting through it like opaque excrescences.

This duality is emphasised by the use of contrasting materials: hard on the outside (raw concrete, glass, stainless steel) and soft on the inside (membrane stretched over exterior insulation materials).

With its complex volumetrics and textured outer surface, the new building stands out like a beacon in the urban landscape.

The contradictory image we were aiming at is one of a unique yet familiar object that is challenging and yet invites appropriation: a sculptural design that refers to nothing that already exists, but which users can easily engage with, both in functional and symbolic terms.

Client: TOUR(S) PLUS (Tours City Council)
Address: 49, rue des Martyrs, 37300 JOUE-LES-TOURS

Above: photograph is by Benoît Faure

Brief: Concert facility to replace the existing youth centre, including a concert space for a standing audience of 650, a 150-seat cabaret-style space, a resources centre, and 3 rehearsal studios with service areas.

Materials: Colourwashed raw concrete, solvent- and plastics-free FPO roofing membrane by Sika Sarnafil, glazed stainless steel, Fibracoustic panels of wood fibre and rockwool, door/windowframes aluminium (exterior), steel and wood (interior).

Budget: 5,300,000 €. ex tax.

NSA: 1,753 sq m.

Architects: Jacques Moussafir avec Nicolas Hugoo, Alexis Duquennoy, Narumi Kang, Sofie Reynaert, Jérôme Hervé and Virginie Prié

Partner engineers: A&T (stage designers), Ayda (acoustic designers), Batiserf (structural engineers), LBE (mechanical engineers), Bureau Michel Forgue (quantity surveyor).

Contractors: DV Construction (general contractor), AMG Féchoz (stage machinery), Bideau (stage electrics), VTI (wooden stage flooring), Edmond Petit (stage fabrics).

In the second announcement from Rem Koolhaas’ office today, OMA have unveiled their designs to convert a 5400 square metre 1960s pavilion in Stalinist-era Gorky Park in Moscow into a new venue for the Garage Centre for Contemporary Culture. 

Above: Garage Gorky Park – overview

The renovation of the famous prefabricated-concrete Vremena Goda restaurant, which has been derelict for over 20 years, will preserve some of the original Soviet elements and will create exhibition galleries on two levels, a creative centre for children, a shop, café, auditorium and offices.

Above: hinged panels raised

Translucent polycarbonate will clad the exterior, while inside the galleries hinged panels will fold down from the ceilings to create white walls when necessary.

Above: hinged panels lowered creating an instant white cube 

One of the floors will also be removable, allowing the lobby to be converted into a double height space that can accomodate larger artworks and sculptures.

Above: education platform

Completion is scheduled for next year.

Above: south gallery view

OMA have also announced that they won the first round of a competition to oversee an expansion of the Russian capital. See all of our stories about OMA here.

Here is some more information from OMA:

Rem Koolhaas’ OMA to design new home for Garage in Moscow

Today, Garage Center for Contemporary Culture unveiled concepts for a new building in Gorky Park, designed by Rem Koolhaas’ OMA.

Garage Gorky Park – due to be completed in 2013 – will be a renovation of the famous 1960s Vremena Goda (Seasons of the Year) restaurant, a prefabricated concrete structure that has been derelict for more than two decades.

Above and top:  entrance to the pavilion    

OMA’s design for the 5,400 square meter building includes exhibition galleries on two levels, creative center for children, shop, café, auditorium and offices.

The design preserves original soviet-era elements – including a large mosaic, and decorative tiles and brick – while incorporating a range of innovative architectural and curatorial devices. OMA is collaborating on the project with the young Russian practice Form Bureau.

Above: outdoor events

Dasha Zhukova said, “Our move to Gorky Park marks an exciting new phase in Garage’s development. I am delighted that we have one of the world’s leading architects, Rem Koolhaas’ OMA, working on the project, and I am sure their plans will attract a new generation of visitors to Garage.”

Above: ‘conventional’ gallery

Rem Koolhaas commented, “We are very happy to work on turning the almost-ruin of Vermena Goda into the new house for Garage. We were able, with our client and her team, to explore the qualities of generosity, dimension, openness, and transparency of the Soviet wreckage and find new uses and interpretations for them.”

Above: exhibition concept

Garage, founded by Dasha Zhukova in 2008, is a major non-profit arts project based in Moscow, dedicated to exploring and developing contemporary culture. At the beginning of this year, Garage moved from its original home in the Bakhmetevsky Bus Garage to Gorky Park in Moscow.

Above: hinged panels

Garage aims to bring important international modern and contemporary art to Moscow, to raise the profile of Russian contemporary culture internationally and encourage a new generation of Russian artists. It also organizes and supports a wide range of cultural projects internationally.

Above: before – Vremena Goda Pavilion March 2012

The Stalin-era Gorky Park was planned in the 1920s by renowned soviet Constructivist architect Konstantin Melnikov, who also designed Garage’s previous home, the Bakhmetevsky Bus Garage. Opened in 1928, Gorky Park extends 300 acres along the Moskva River in the heart of Moscow.

Above: Garage Gorky Park location

The park is undergoing a major renovation and regeneration project, of which Garage Gorky Park is a major part.

Above: Garage moves

Co-founded by Rem Koolhaas in 1975, OMA is a leading international office practicing architecture, urbanism and cultural analysis.

Above: before – Vremena Goda Pavilion March 2012

Dedicated for over thirty years to the design and realization of buildings and masterplans, OMA is led by seven partners – Rem Koolhaas, Ellen van Loon, Reinier de Graaf, Shohei Shigematsu, Iyad Alsaka, David Gianotten and Managing Partner Victor van der Chijs – and sustains an international practice with offices in Rotterdam, New York, Beijing, Hong Kong and soon Doha.

 Above: before – Vremena Goda Pavilion and Hexagon in 1970

The work of Rem Koolhaas and OMA has won several international awards, including the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2000 and the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 2010 Venice Biennale.

New York architect Steven Holl has unveiled designs for a new institute for contemporary art at the Virginia Commonwealth University campus in Richmond.

The facility will accomodate exhibition and performance spaces for art, theatre, music and dance, including a 240-seat auditorium, classrooms and a series of outdoor plazas.

A double height forum will form the centre of the building, from which two gallery wings with separate entrances will surround and frame an outdoor sculpture garden and cafe.

Pre-weathered zinc will be used to clad the building, while large walls of translucent glazing will allow light to filter inside.

The building is scheduled to open in 2015.

Construction is also underway on a new sports centre by the architect for Columbia University, which you can see here.

Here’s some more information from Steven Holl Architects:

Virginia Commonwealth University Unveils Design for New Multidisciplinary Arts Institution Designed by Steven Holl Architects

Institute for Contemporary Art Will Serve as a Catalyst for Exhibitions, Programs, Research and Collaboration, Working With VCUarts Top Public University Graduate Arts & Design Program in the U.S.

Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) today unveiled the design for a new Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA) designed by Steven Holl and Chris McVoy. Part exhibition and performance space, part lab and incubator, the 38,000-square-foot building will feature a series of flexible programming spaces for the presentation of visual art, theater, music, dance and film by nationally and internationally recognized artists. The facility also encompasses a 240-plus seat performance space, outdoor plazas, a sculpture garden, classrooms, a café and administrative offices. Scheduled to open in 2015, this non- collecting institution is designed to facilitate the way artists are working today by accommodating the increasing lack of barriers among different media and practices, mirroring the cross-disciplinary approach at VCU’s School of the Arts (VCUarts). VCUarts has long been the top public university graduate arts and design program in the country, according to U.S. News & World Report. The ICA will complement and enhance the offerings of VCU while also serving as a new destination for contemporary arts and culture in the region.

Steven Holl Architects’ design for the ICA will be presented in an exhibition opening April 26 at New York’s Meulensteen gallery. “Forking Time” includes more than 30 study models and concept drawings that depict the design’s evolution.

“The ICA will be a transformational resource for arts education, experimentation and for the enhancement of VCU and Richmond as a capital city committed to the arts,” said Virginia Commonwealth University President Michael Rao. “The ICA brings a vital new dimension to us as a national research university, providing highly motivated students with opportunities to engage the arts in their learning experiences and to work across a range of disciplines. Steven Holl Architects’ design captures our global vision and commitment to human excellence. We look forward to the dynamic collaborations that the ICA will spark at VCU, within the region and around the world.”

Sited at the corner of Belvidere and Broad Streets directly off of Interstate 95, and one of Richmond’s busiest intersections, the ICA will form a gateway to the University and the city. The ICA will feature dual entrances— one facing Richmond and the other fronting VCU’s campus. At the heart of the building will be an inviting, double-height “forum,” a flexible space for both spontaneous encounters and planned events that connects to the ground-floor performance space and also opens to the sculpture garden and cafe. The galleries radiate out from the forum in forked arms, shaping the space of the garden. Large pivot doors open to the garden in order to create a seamless interplay between interior and exterior spaces. The open circulation serves to remove the formal protocols associated with entering traditional arts facilities. The three levels of galleries are linked through the open forum, allowing artists to create works that extend across, and visitors to circulate through, the spaces via a variety of paths. The ICA’s exterior walls of pre-weathered satin-finish zinc will complement its urban setting. Additional clear and translucent glass walls will create transparency, bringing natural light into the building during the day and radiating light at night, signaling the activities taking place within.

“We have designed the building to be a flexible, forward-looking instrument that can illuminate the transformative possibilities of contemporary art,” said architect Steven Holl. “Like many contemporary artists working today, the ICA’s design does not draw distinctions between the visual and performing arts. The fluidity of the design allows for experimentation, and will encourage new ways to display and present art that will capitalize on the ingenuity and creativity apparent throughout the VCU campus.”

“The ICA will be a catalyst for new kinds of artistic explorations and discourse for the VCU community while contributing to the national and international conversation in the arts. It will allow us to mount large-scale exhibitions, installations and commissions in all media,” said Joseph H. Seipel, dean of VCU’s School of the Arts. “We envision that the ICA will become a new destination and the building will serve as a beacon for contemporary art and ideas.”

In advancement of VCU’s commitment to science, technology, and environmental responsibility, the ICA’s design incorporates many environmentally-friendly elements, making use of natural resources whenever possible. This includes the use of geothermal wells to provide heating and cooling energy for the building, green roofs to absorb storm water and maximize insulation, and glass walls designed to exhaust heat in the summer and harness it in the winter. The project is designed to meet LEED platinum certification standards. BCWH is the architect of record in Richmond.

The ICA will serve as a cornerstone of Richmond’s already vibrant arts community, joining the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Science Museum of Virginia, the Virginia Opera, Barksdale Theatre, Richmond Ballet and the Richmond Symphony. VCUarts is one of the nation’s leading arts schools, with distinguished alumni and noted artists on faculty across its more than 16 areas of study at campuses in Richmond and Qatar. VCU is also home to the Anderson Gallery, which for 35 years has organized and presented exhibitions, programs and publications that explore a broad range of currents in contemporary art and design.

A capital campaign is underway for the $32 million project, with $14 million raised to date, including two lead gifts of $5M apiece from Kathie and Steve Markel and Pam and Bill Royall, who together chair the ICA’s Campaign Committee. A director search is in process.

Overlapping walls of curving concrete encase this funeral chapel in Graz by Austrian architects Hofrichter-Ritter.

The three walls never meet, but are connected to one another by panels of glazing that denote entrances at the front and back.

The chapel of rest is at the centre of the building and can seat up to 100 guests at a time, although the glazed facade can also be opened up to accomodate larger parties.

The middle concrete wall curls around the end of this hall to screen views out the cemetery beyond.

Ancillary rooms are wrapped around the eastern side of the building.

We’ve featured a few concrete church buildings in recent months, including one lined with crushed volcanic rocks. See all our stories about buildings for worship here.

Photography is by Karl-Heinz Putz.

Here’s a project description from Hofrichter-Ritter Architekten:

“Father, into your hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46)

The chapel of rest for the Steinfeld cemetery is designed in the form of two curving formwork elements made of reinforced concrete and appearing as two carefully receptive hands. It is the centrepiece of the redesigned Cemetery Centre which was begun by the municipal parish of Graz under episcopal vicar Dr Heinrich Schnuderl, continued by Christian Leibnitz, the new municipal parish provost, and finally built to a design by Hofrichter-Ritter Architects in 2011.

From the perspective of urban development the building site had become a peripheral location due to the construction of the new, exclusively pedestrian tunnel underneath the railway line. Upgrading the site and, as a result, the Steinfeld cemetery was a matter of importance for Graz’s urban planners. Consequently, the cemetery has regained its significance as a public space and park.

A new concept for taking final leave of deceased loved ones has been developed in dignified and pleasant surroundings:
1. The chapel of rest serves as a chapel of rest and place of final blessing in one.
2. After the farewell ceremony the deceased is accompanied in a funeral procession through a separate entrance out of the building to the burial ground.
3. Due to increased demand on the part of the bereaved members of the family, technical multimedia facilities enable the farewell ceremony to be arranged in a highly individual way, if so required.

Depending on the particular choice of seating arrangement, the chapel of rest can accommodate up to about 100 people. In special cases larger funerals can also be held by opening up the northern glass wall and by using the spacious dimensions of the open forecourt. Cultural events may also take place at this site. Vital ancillary and service rooms have been positioned in the eastern part of the hall to facilitate smooth operations at the cemetery. These rooms are encompassed by a wall which runs along the length of the road and also acts as a necessary noise barrier to the Südbahn railway line. To the south, the wall goes on to define a green area with a columbarium grove and wall and with urn graves. Amenities such as a florist, stonemason, phone box and a public toilet are also situated right at the forecourt.

The chapel of rest:

The area for the farewell ceremony is regarded as the key space: the central location, size and above all the height of the room makes it the heart of the service centre. This space is used in three phases. These can be staged differently, depending on how the room has been arranged, especially with regard to the openings and lighting effects. The sequence is as follows: laying out – farewell – accompaniment of the deceased to the burial ground. An approx. 150 m² chapel of rest, surrounded by two shell-like walls (see ground plan) with a ceiling height of about 4.80-5.0 m, forms the main structural element of the building. An overlap between the two shells hides the view of the exit to the columbarium grove and cemetery grounds.

Ancillary rooms:

The ancillary rooms used for running all of the cemetery’s operations and arranging funerals are joined to one side of the chapel of rest. They consist of the rooms required for the funeral (lounge, preparation, work room, store room and frigidarium), for the priest and for the cemetery’s administrative staff. These rooms cover a total area of about 120 m². The outer wall of the ancillary rooms described above is formed by the “new cemetery wall”.

Cemetery wall:

The intention is to build a new cemetery wall flanking the ancillary rooms and the new columbarium grove. Much of it will form the outer wall of the ancillary rooms. Made of white concrete, this wall features different slants: where it performs a space-enclosing function, the wall slants towards the building; where it has the sole function of a “boundary wall” it slants away from the site (cf. photo of model). A second, relatively small structure has also been included in the overall design; it accommodates two small business premises and a public toilet.

Time sequence:

Start of planning: May/June 2010
Completion period: November 2010 – November 2011

Layout review:

Chapel of rest: approx. 150 m²
Ancillary rooms: approx. 120 m²
Sheltered area at the front: approx. 40 m²
Length of the new cemetery wall: approx. 75 m² (height varies from approx. 2.00 to 3.50 m)
Columbarium grove / park-like area: approx. 550 m²
Paved forecourt: approx. 500 m²

These reconstituted-stone sails belong to the second museum we’ve featured this month dedicated to ill-fated liner the RMS Titanic, following one shaped like four hulls.

Designed by British architects Wilkinson Eyre, the museum occupies a former magistrates court in Southampton, England, which is where the ship famously set sail from 100 years ago this month.

A strip of glazing connects the existing building to the new north wing, which accommodates special exhibitions and has its own separate entrance.

The main entrance leads into the heart of the old courthouse. Here a red oxide wall references the anti-foul paint used on the Titanic and a skylight frames the view from a first-floor bridge to a clock tower that is roughly the same height as the ship’s original funnel.

Courtrooms are refurbished as exhibition halls, while elsewhere former prison cells are converted into toilet facilities.

Read about the other Titanic-themed museum in our earlier story, or see more projects by Wilkinson Eyre Architects here.

Photography is by Luke Hayes.

Here’s some more information from Wilkinson Eyre Architects:

The SeaCity Museum, Southampton, set to open on the 100th anniversary of the Titanic’s departure from the city

Wilkinson Eyre Architects has unveiled images of Southampton City Council’s new SeaCity Museum that is to open on April 10th 2012, exactly a century after the RMS Titanic set sail from Southampton. The design for the £15m museum, which has refurbished and extended one of city’s most important civic buildings, will tell the largely untold and fascinating story of the crew on board the Titanic and the impact the sinking of the world’s most famous ship had on families in Southampton. The Museum will also feature other exhibitions about the city’s maritime past and present, telling the stories of people who have arrived and departed in the port over the past 2,000 years.

The project’s architectural brief was to reinvigorate the existing Grade II* listed Magistrates’ Court building, which includes courtrooms and cell block, to create 2000 sq m of exhibition and learning space. Plans also included the addition of a pavilion, which signals the presence of a new important cultural attraction within the city, and has taken the form of a bold architectural addition connected to the north façade of the existing building.

Designing the visitor experience

The Magistrates’ Court building forms part of a complex, collectively known as the Civic Centre, which was designed by E. Berry Webber and represents one of the most important 1930s buildings of its type in the south of England. On entering the building, visitors move into the foyer that provides orientation and connectivity between the two principal levels of the building and opens to the dramatic newly-refurbished Grand Hall.

Click above for larger image

The main entrance space provides access to the ground floor, where the ticketing, shop and cafe are located. This is adjoined by a triple height light well that has been formed by enclosing a former prisoners’ exercise yard. A continuous red oxide wall, which recalls the antifoul paint of the Titanic, links the entrance space, light well and pavilion’s lobby, and has been designed to help visitors navigate the different spaces.

Click above for larger image

A bridge spans across the northern end of the light well, acting as a ‘gangway’ for visitors within the Titanic exhibition. Above the bridge, a roof light frames views of the clock tower;  as the height from the light well to the tower is approximately the same height as the Titanic’s funnel, this design feature gives the impression of the scale of the ship.

Click above for larger image

The design for the SeaCity Museum remains sensitive to the existing characteristics of the building and uses the qualities of these restored spaces to enhance the visitor experience. Significant adaptations of the Grade II* listed building, which have been done in close consultation with English Heritage, include the transformation of the court rooms into exhibition spaces, plus the restoration of the original prison cells into toilet facilities and also the refurbishment of the original steel frame of the building.

Click above for larger image

The pavilion

A simple material palette of glass and reconstituted stone has been used to make sensitive, contemporary additions to the existing building, including glazed roof extensions and a new single storey pavilion connected to the northern façade of the existing building. The pavilion is linked to the Magistrates’ Court building via a glazed link, designed to act as an independent entrance into the extension if required.

The pavilion’s geometric design negotiates an irregular site where the ground rises two metres from south to north. As a result, the structure – which takes the form of three interlocking bays rising in parallel with the ground – corresponds to the surrounding buildings whilst making a bold architectural statement.  The façades are formed of reconstituted stone precast panels and translucent, backlit reinforced glass panels, allowing for natural light to reach the interior spaces. The use of stone aggregate also ensures that the exterior of the pavilion is consistent with the architectural style of the Magistrates’ Court building.

Click above for larger image

Anna Woodeson, Associate at Wilkinson Eyre Architects, said: “We are delighted with the finished museum, which brings a new lease of life to a very important building in Southampton, whilst also announcing the arrival of a new cultural attraction with the addition of the pavilion. These new spaces will play a key role in helping Southampton tell its fascinating maritime story.”

Wilkinson Eyre Architects also designed the landscaping that surrounds the museum, creating green areas and a new grey granite pedestrian path that connects the SeaCity Museum toSouthampton’s City Centre.