Our featured architect this week is Steven Holl, whose recent buildings in China include the completed Sliced Porosity Block cluster of towers in Chengdu and designs for a pair of museums in a new city quarter of Tianjin. See all our stories about architecture by Steven Holl »
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Steven Holl appeared first on Dezeen.
One building is the inverse of another at this pair of museums that architect Steven Holl has designed for a new city quarter of Tianjin, China.
The Ecology and Planning Museums will be located within Tianjin Eco-City, a new city quarter under construction on China’s east coast that is set to accommodate at least 350,000 inhabitants.
Steven Holl Architects conceived the Planning Museum as a large cuboidal building with a series of blob-shaped voids piercing its volume, while the neighbouring Ecology Museum will have a non-linear form that copies the shape of these openings.
The architects compare the buildings to the Chinese concept of yin and yang, which symbolises the natural balance of the universe. “The Planning Museum is a ‘subtractive’ space, while the Ecology Museum is an ‘additive’ complement,” they explain.
Visitors to the Ecology Museum will spiral through floors of exhibitions dedicated to the evolution of the galaxy, the biology of the earth and the development of the human race. These will include a large balcony of living exhibits that can be rotated with the changing seasons.
The Planning Museum next door will contain exhibitions related to technology and development, from transport and infrastructure to architecture and industry.
A public plaza will be positioned between the two museums and a high-speed tram will connect the site with the Eco-City’s main business district.
New York-based Steven Holl Architects recently completed the Sliced Porosity Block office complex in Beijing. Other projects in China by the firm include the Linked Hybrid complex of eight connected towers in Beijing and a “horizontal skyscraper” in Shenzhen.
See more architecture by Steven Holl »
See architecture in China »
Here’s some more information from the architects:
Tianjin Ecocity Ecology and Planning Museums Tianjin, China
On reclaimed salt pan and polluted tide flats at Bohai Bay, China (just over a two hour drive from Beijing), a new city for 350,000 inhabitants is being built from scratch. Founded as a collaboration of the governments of Singapore and China, this new Eco-City aims to demonstrate state of the art sustainable aspects. One third of the city is already constructed, and substantial completion is projected for 2020.
The Ecology and Planning Museums are the first two buildings of the cultural district of Eco-City Tianjin. The Planning Museum is a “subtractive” space, while the Ecology Museum is an “additive” complement, a reversal of the space carved out from the Planning Museum. Like the Chinese “Bau Gua” or “Yin Yang,” these forms are in reverse relations.
Both museums will be 20,000 m2 with a service zone connecting them below grade, bringing the total construction to 60,000 m2. A high speed tram running between these two museums connects to the central business district of Eco-City.
The Ecology Museum experience begins with an orientation projection space next to a restaurant and retail opening to the ground level. From there, visitors take the elevator to the highest exhibition floor. Visitors proceed through the three ecologies in a descending procession of ramps: Earth to Cosmos, Earth to Man, Earth to Earth.
Above: site section – click above for larger image
Exhibits for Earth to Cosmos speak to the vast complexities of intergalactic ecology, from the beginnings of the universe and its governing forces, to the formation of planet Earth and its place in the galaxy. Visitors learn that ecology is a subject much larger and deeply rooted than is currently inscribed in the modern discourse.
Above: Ecology Museum front elevation
Descending to lower levels in the museum, the visitors arrive at Earth to Human. Exhibits take a turn to explore ancient and current schools of thoughts regarding Spirit and Matter, while revisiting Earth’s creation myths from various cultures. Exhibits also narrate Man’s origins and imprint on earth over the ages, concluding with the “Manmade Ecology” exhibit where current schools of ecology are shown.
Above: Ecology Museum side elevation
At the last section of the 3-Ecologies exhibits, the Earth to Earth section covers the extensive history of planet Earth from its formation in the Hedean Eon through Pangea, formation of the continents and the Ice Ages. The understanding of the origins of our eco systems provides a background to learn about our modern times and the ecological challenges we face as changes in earth atmosphere, global warming, melting of the polar cap and sea level raising.
Above: Ecology Museum rear elevation
At the ground floor, the Earth to Earth Exhibition turns clockwise, moving down towards the Ocean Ecology Exhibition located under the reflecting pond of the plaza. Exhibits on the ocean’s various eco systems are naturally lit with shimmering light from the skylights at the bottom of the pond.
Above: Ecology Museum side elevation

Four outdoor green roof terraces open out from Level 2 (Earth to Earth) with living exhibits changing with the seasons.
Above: Planning Museum front elevation
The Planning Museum, entered directly from the shared public plaza defined by the two buildings, opens to an introduction area and a temporary exhibition area. A large Urban Model Exhibition (all of the Eco-City) is followed by a theory and practice zone. Digital projections will facilitate the potential to update and increase information. Transportation and industry exhibits follow on Level 2 with escalators loading to an interactive section and 3D Cinema on Level 3. On Level 3, there is a restaurant with views out to the sea. Escalators lead to Level 5 with Green Architecture, landscape and water resources exhibitions. This skylit large open top level has access to the green roofscape.
Above: Planning Museum side elevation
The nearby Bohai Sea site has an ancient history as part of the Great Ridges of Chenier, which developed over thousands of years. The huge mounds of shells, a magnificent testimony to the power of nature, inspire the sliced edges of the mounds defining the public space around the new Ecology and Planning Museums.
Above: Planning Museum rear elevation
A slice through the mounds, like a slice through time, exposes these shell specimens embedded in concrete. People can also walk to the tops of the mounds for great views of the cultural buildings with the Eco-Forum and government center across the river in the distant view.
Above: Planning Museum side elevation
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by Steven Holl Architects appeared first on Dezeen.
New York firm Steven Holl Architects has completed the Sliced Porosity Block, a cluster of five towers around a public plaza in Chengdu, China (+ slideshow + photographs by Hufton + Crow).
The buildings, designed by Steven Holl in 2007, were conceived as an alternative to the “towers and podium” approach commonly adopted for large mixed-use developments. Instead, the five towers were imagined as an integrated complex, with a central public space that wraps up over a shopping centre.
Holl explained: “In our time of iconic object buildings, the Sliced Porosity Block offers an alternative – realising three million square feet of mixed uses with the public space coming first.”
Light passes between the buildings through “sliced” openings and recesses, plus three large voids provide entrance pavilions that lead inside the complex.
These pavilions include the Light Pavilion, a four-storey construction of steel rods and glass platforms that is the first built project by architect Lebbeus Woods, who passed away this Autumn.
“Lebbeus’s pavilion, constructed of huge beams of light, is a place one enters at several levels,” said Holl. “One’s experience there, especially at night, seems to dissolve the view of the city beyond. Up is down in a feeling of suspension of gravity via light and reflection.”
Staircases lead up to the central plaza, which comprises three terraces with seating areas, trees and large pools of water. These pools also function as skylights for the shopping centre below.
Explaining the importance of this space, Holl said: “The public plaza is [the building’s] gift to the city. Having seen the people eagerly using this space is a real joy.”
White concrete frameworks are expressed on the exterior of the towers and reveal diagonal braces that protect the structure during earthquakes.
Each building is heated and cooled geothermally, plus the large ponds are cooling devices that harvest and recycle rainwater.
This isn’t the first project by Steven Holl Architects in China. The firm previously completed the Linked Hybrid complex of eight connected towers in Beijing and a “horizontal skyscraper” in Shenzhen. See more stories about Steven Holl.
These images by photographers Hufton + Crow show the impact of the building on its surrounding context, just like the shots they took of Zaha Hadid’s Galaxy Soho in Beijing. See more photography by Hufton + Crow on Dezeen.
Here’s some more information from Steven Holl Architects:
Sliced Porosity Block
Chengdu, China
In the center of Chengdu, China, at the intersection of the first Ring Road and Ren Ming Nam Road, the Sliced Porosity Block forms large public plazas with a hybrid of different functions. Creating a metropolitan public space instead of object-icon skyscrapers, this three million square foot project takes its shape from its distribution of natural light.
The required minimum sunlight exposures to the surrounding urban fabric prescribe precise geometric angles that slice the exoskeletal concrete frame of the structure. The building structure is white concrete organized in six foot high openings with earthquake diagonals as required while the “sliced” sections are glass.
The large public space framed in the center of the block is formed into three valleys inspired by a poem of the city’s greatest poet, Du Fu (713-770), who wrote, ‘From the northeast storm-tossed to the southwest, time has left stranded in Three Valleys.’ The three plaza levels feature water gardens based on concepts of time—the Fountain of the Chinese Calendar Year, Fountain of Twelve Months, and Fountain of Thirty Days. These three ponds function as skylights to the six-story shopping precinct below.
Establishing human scale in this metropolitan rectangle is achieved through the concept of “micro urbanism,” with double-fronted shops open to the street as well as the shopping center. Three large openings are sculpted into the mass of the towers as the sites of the pavilion of history, designed by Steven Holl Architects, the Light Pavilion by Lebbeus Woods, and the Local Art Pavilion.
The Sliced Porosity Block is heated and cooled with 468 geothermal wells and the large ponds in the plaza harvest recycled rainwater, while the natural grasses and lily pads create a natural cooling effect. High-performance glazing, energy-efficient equipment and the use of regional materials are among the other methods employed to reach the LEED Gold rating.
Program: five towers with offices, serviced apartments, retail, a hotel, cafes, and restaurants, and large urban public plaza
Client: CapitaLand Development
Building area (square): 3,336,812 sf
Above: concept sketch
Above: plan concept sketch
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by Steven Holl Architects appeared first on Dezeen.
Movie: we take a walk through the Steven Holl-designed Daeyang Gallery and House in South Korea in this second movie by architectural filmmakers Spirit of Space.
Spaces include a gallery and recital room beneath a pool of water and two copper-clad pavilions that rise above the surface.
Steven Holl gives a guided tour of the building in the first of the two movies, or for more images see our earlier story.
Another movie we’ve published features a pavilion at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo – watch it here.
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by Steven Holl Architects appeared first on Dezeen.
Movie: architect Steven Holl gives a tour of the gallery beneath a pool of water he designed at the Daeyang Gallery and House in South Korea in the first of two movies by architectural filmmakers Spirit of Space.
Holl explains how he was inspired by the patterns of a musical score and how daylight floods into the underground rooms to create “a perfect light”.
See more images of the building in our earlier story, and see more projects by Steven Holl here.
Another movie we’ve published by Spirit of Space features a pavilion at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo – watch it here.
The post Movie: Steven Holl on Daeyang
Gallery and House appeared first on Dezeen.
Here are the first images of the Maggie’s Centre for cancer care that New York architect Steven Holl is designing for St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London.
Maggie’s Barts will replace a former office block and the initial drawings show it as a cylindrical building with a bamboo interior and coloured glass windows.
Maggie’s was founded fifteen years ago to provide support to anyone affected by cancer and they now have centres all around the UK – see all the ones we’ve featured here, including Maggie’s Gartnavel by OMA and Maggie’s South West Wales by Kisho Kurokawa and Garbers & James, which both picked up an RIBA award last week.
See more stories about Steven Holl »
Here’s the full press release:
Steven Holl Architects reveal first designs for Maggie’s Barts
Maggie’s is delighted to announce that Steven Holl Architects has agreed to design the Maggie’s Centre at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London.
Steven Holl Architects is internationally-honoured with the most prestigious awards in architecture as well as publications and exhibitions for excellence in design.
The practice’s most famous works include the Kiasma Contemporary Art Museum in Helsinki and the 2007 Bloch Building addition to the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City.
Steven Holl is also the winner of the 2012 American Institute of Architects Gold Medal.
Maggie’s Barts will replace an existing 1960s block that was once used as offices which is located at the periphery of the square.
Steven Holl said: “It is a great honor to design a Maggie’s Centre and a very special challenge to be given such an important central site in London. The hospital has been at the forefront of medical understanding for centuries. We are inspired by the deep history of the area, and particularly the nearby St. Bartholomew the Great church which has been in continuous use with marvelous music since 1143. Our proposal is like a vessel within a vessel within a vessel. In the spirit of music, architecture can be a vessel of transcendence.”
Laura Lee, chief executive of Maggie’s said: “We are very excited that Steven Holl is working with us to design a Maggie’s Centre. It is also a huge privilege to be able to build a Centre at St Bartholomew’s Hospital and we look forward to opening our doors and helping Londoners who are affected by cancer.”
Director of Barts Cancer Centre, Professor Nick Lemoine, said: “We treat an average of 3,100 new cancer patients every year so thousands will benefit from services offered at the new Maggie’s Centre.
“In addition to the physical effects of cancer treatment, patients and carers often require extra emotional support so I look forward to working with Maggie’s on this special partnership.”
St Bartholomew’s Hospital which serves a population of 1.5m in North East London is the oldest hospital in the country and has always been at the forefront of medical knowledge and understanding. It was the first hospital to train female doctors and the first to trial high voltage radiotherapy for people with cancer.
Today, it is home to one of the most advanced cancer centres in Europe with world-leading specialists and state-of-the-art technology.
Slideshow: New York architect Steven Holl has concealed a underground gallery beneath a pool of water in Seoul, the city in South Korea that we’ve been focusing on following a string of proposals for skyscrapers.
Named Daeyang Gallery and House, the copper-clad building has two pavilions that rise up above the water to provide an entrance and an event space for the private gallery, while a third is the home of the owner.
The architects claim that the building’s proportions follow the patterns of a musical score by Hungarian-Canadian composer Istvan Anhalt, which they say can be best observed in the arrangement of 55 skylights on the roofs of the three blocks.
More skylights are scattered across the base of the pool, so daylight must pass through the water before entering the gallery.
Above: photograph is by Inho Lee
See all our recent stories about projects in South Korea here and see more architecture by Steven Holl here.
Above: photograph is by Inho Lee
Photography is by Iwan Baan, apart from where otherwise stated.
Here’s some more information from Steven Holl Architects:
Daeyang Gallery and House Seoul, Korea
2008 – 2012
The private gallery and house is sited in the hills of the Kangbuk section of Seoul, Korea.
The project was designed as an experiment parallel to a research studio on “the architectonics of music.”
The basic geometry of the building is inspired by a 1967 sketch for a music score by the composer Istvan Anhalt, “Symphony of Modules,” which was discovered in a book by John Cage titled “Notations.”
Above: photograph is by Inho Lee
Three pavilions; one for entry, one residence, and one event space, appear to push upward from a continuous gallery level below. A sheet of water establishes the plane of reference from above and below.
Above: photograph is by Inho Lee
The idea of space as silent until activated by light is realized in the cutting of 55 skylight strips in the roofs of the three pavilions.
Above: photograph is by Inho Lee
In each of the pavilions, 5 strips of clear glass allow the sunlight to turn and bend around the inner spaces, animating them according to the time of day and season. Proportions are organized around the series 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55.
Views from within the pavilions are framed by the reflecting pool, which is bracketed by gardens that run perpendicular to the skylight strips.
In the base of the reflecting pool, strips of glass lenses bring dappled light to the white plaster walls and white granite floor of the gallery below.
A visitor arrives through a bamboo formed garden wall at the entry court, after opening the front door and ascending a low stair.
He or she can turn to see the central pond at eye level and take in the whole of the three pavilions, floating on their own reflections.
The interiors of the pavilions are red and charcoal stained wood with the skylights cutting through the wood ceiling. Exteriors are a rain screen of custom patinated copper which ages naturally within the landscape.
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.
Construction has started on a new sports centre by architect Steven Holl for Columbia University in New York.
Staircases will climb the blue aluminium exterior of the five-storey Campbell Sports Centre, leading to balconies and terraces at each level.
The building will provide offices, classrooms and an auditorium to accompany the existing outdoor Baker Athletics Complex just beyond.
The sports centre is scheduled to open in the autumn of 2012, in time for the new term.
Some completed projects by Steven Holl include a wave-shaped museum of the sea and a horizontal skyscraper – see all the projects here.
Here’s some more text from Steven Holl Architects:
Steven Holl Architects’ Campbell Sports Center at Columbia University Starts Construction
New York, NY—The Campbell Sports Center at Columbia University celebrated its groundbreaking on October 15th. Designed by Steven Holl Architects, the Campbell Sports Center will form an inviting new gateway to the Baker Athletics Complex, the primary athletics facility for the University’s outdoor sports program.
Click above for larger image
Located on the corner of West 218th street and Broadway, the Sports Center aims at serving the mind, the body and the mind/body. The design concept “points on the ground, lines in space”—like field play diagrams used for football, soccer, baseball—develops from point foundations on the sloping site. Just as points and lines in diagrams yield the physical push and pull on the field, the building’s elevations push and pull in space. External stairs, which serve as “lines in space,” and terraces extend the field play onto and into the building and give views from the upper levels over the Baker Athletics Complex and Manhattan with the Empire State and Chrysler Buildings in the distance. At night the building is up-lit with glowing light on its Columbia-blue aluminum soffits.
Steven Holl states, “We are honored to collaborate with Dianne Murphy and Columbia Facilities in creating this new state of the art athletics facility. Its inviting architecture indicates the invigorating presence and future of intercollegiate Athletics at Columbia University.”
The Campbell Sports Center, a five-story, 48,000 square foot facility, will house strength and conditioning spaces, offices for varsity sports, an auditorium, a hospitality suite and student-athlete study rooms. The project, led by Steven Holl and senior partner Chris McVoy, is scheduled to open in fall 2012.
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| Knut Hamsun Centre by Steven Holl | Linked Hybrid by Steven Holl Architects | Sliced Porosity Block by Steven Holl Architects |
Steven Holl Architects have collaborated with Brazilian architect Solange Fabião on this wave-shaped museum of the sea in Biarritz, France, which opened this week.
The Cité de l’Océan et du Surf has a cobbled plaza over the concave roof, which gently descends to meet the sloping ground.
The galleries of the museum are contained within this curving concrete block, while two acid-etched glass boxes at one end accomodate restaurants and a surfer’s kiosk.
The museum houses exhibitions about scientific issues associated with the sea and tides.
More stories about Steven Holl Architects »
Above photograph is by Steven Holl Architects
Photography is by Iwan Baan apart from where otherwise stated.
Here are some more details from the architects:
Cité de l’Océan et du Surf opens in Biarritz, France
The Cité de l’Océan et du Surf, located in Biarritz, France will open to the public on June 26, 2011.
Above photograph is by Steven Holl Architects
The museum, a design by Steven Holl Architects in collaboration with Brazilian artist and architect Solange Fabião, aims to raise awareness of oceanic issues and scientific aspects of surf and sea.
Above photograph is by Steven Holl Architects
Derived from the spatial concept “under the sky” / “under the sea”, the museum’s concave exterior creates a central gathering plaza, open to the sky and sea, with the horizon in the distance.
Above photograph is by Steven Holl Architects
On the interior, the inverse convex curve becomes the ceiling of the main exhibition space, evoking the sense of being “under the sea.”
Click above for larger image
The building’s spatial qualities are first experiences in the entrance space, where ramps pass along the dynamic curved surface on which filmed exhibitions are projected, animating the space with changing images and light.
Click above for larger image
Two “glass rocks,” which contain the restaurant and the surfer’s kiosk, activate the central outdoor plaza and connect analogically to the two great boulders on the beach in the distance.
Click above for larger image
The plaza’s southwest corner is dedicated to the surfers’ hangout with a skate pool and an open porch underneath that connects to the auditorium and exhibition spaces inside the museum. This covered area provides a sheltered space for outdoor interaction, meetings and events.
Click above for larger image
The gardens of the Cité de l’Océan et du Surf aim at a fusion of landscape and architecture, and connect the museum to the ocean horizon.
Click above for larger image
The precise integration of concept and topography gives the building its unique profile.
Click above for larger image
The public plaza is paved with a progressive variation of Portuguese cobblestone paving that allow for the growth of grass and natural vegetation.
Click above for larger image
The building lifts up toward the ocean towards the west and the concave form of the plaza is extended through the landscape.
Click above for larger image
With slightly cupped edges, the landscape, a mix of field and local vegetation, is a continuation of the museum facility and provides a site for festivals and daily events.
Click above for larger image
The exterior of the building is a textured white concrete made of aggregates from the south of France.
Click above for larger image
Materials of the plaza are a progressive variation of Portuguese cobblestones paving with grass and natural vegetation.
Click above for larger image
A combination of insulated glass units with clear and acid-etched layers animates the visual dynamics enhancing interior comfort.
Click above for larger image
The interior of the main space is white plaster and a wooden floor provides under-floor wiring flexibilities.
Click above for larger image
Credits:
Client: SNC Biarritz Ocean
Architect: Steven Holl Architects:
Solange Fabião, Steven Holl (design architect)
Rodolfo Dias (project architect)
Chris McVoy (project advisor)
Filipe Taboada (assistant project architect)
Francesco Bartolozzi, Christopher Brokaw, Cosimo Caggiula,
Florence Guiraud, Richard Liu, Johanna Muszbek, Ernest Ng,
Alessandro Orsini, Nelson Wilmotte, Ebbie Wisecarver, Lan Wu,
Christina Yessios (project team)
Rüssli Architekten
Justin Rüssli, Mimi Kueh, Stephan Bieri, Björn Zepnik (project
team DD/CD)
Associate architects: Agence d’Architecture X.Leibar JM Seigneurin
Structural consultant: Betec & Vinci Construction Marseille
Acoustical consultant: AVEL Acoustique
HVAC consultant: Elithis
General contractor: Faura Silva, GTM Sud-Ouest Batiment
Exhibition engineer: Cesma
Exhibition contractor: Geroari
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| Knut Hamsun Centre by Steven Holl | Vanke Center Shenzhen by Steven Holl Architects | Linked Hybrid by Steven Holl Architects |
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