Design 27

Architects:  J. Mayer H. Architects Location:  Sarpi,  Georgia Client:  Ministry of Finance of Georgia Project Team:  Juergen Mayer H., Jesko Malkolm Johnsson-Zahn, Christoph Emenlauer Project Year:  2011 Photographs:  Ucha Tsotseria, Jesko Malkolm Johnsson-Zahn, Beka Pkhakadze November 2011 marks the completion of Sarpi Border Checkpoint. Designed by  J. MAYER H. architects  the customs checkpoint is situated at the Georgian border to Turkey, at the shore of the Black Sea. With its cantilevering terraces, the tower is used as a viewing platform, with multiple levels overlooking the water and the steep part of the coastline. In addition to the regular customs facilities, the structure also houses a cafeteria, staff rooms and a conference room. The building welcomes visitors to Georgia, representing the progressive upsurge of the country.

Architects:  LAAC Architekten  +  Stiefel Kramer Architecture Location:  Innsbruck,  Austria Project Year:  2010 Project Area:  9000 sqm Photographs:  Günter Richard Wett . Eduard-Wallnöfer-Platz was the largest but neglected public square in the centre of the city of Innsbruck in Tyrol,  Austria . The site nevertheless kept a symbolic significance with the four memorials positioned there. A subterranean garage was built in 1985. Before the transformation took place, the square’s atmosphere and spatial appearance was dominated by the facade of the Tyrolean provincial governmental building from the period of National Socialism, and by a large scale memorial that looks like a fascist monument – which in fact and in spite of its visual appearance is a freedom monument that shall commemorate the resistance against, and the liberation from National Socialism. The intervention aims to compensate for existing misconceptions and to reinforce the...

Kaohsiung Port Station Urban Design Competition Winning Proposal by de Architekten Cie. De Architekten Cie. , Jason Lee and Patrick Koschuch, has won the open international Kaohsiung  Port Station Urban Design competition in  Kaohsiung ,  Taiwan . The competition was initiated by the city government of  Kaohsiung  to transform the derelict site of the old railyards and port station from a barrier between two important areas of the city (the Hamasen and Yancheng districts), into a connective piece of the urban fabric. The stated ambitions by the client for the 15.42 hectare site are to highlight the cultural heritage of the site’s former function while introducing new programmes and building volume to accommodate city expansion. These twin objectives are to be achieved in a phaseable and highly sustainable manner. Since a large portion of the site and existing railway buildings are designated as historical monuments, the central challenge of the brief was to str...

Creative director Byung Ju Lee of  Planning Korea   announced a new paradigm in bridge called ‘Paik Nam June Media Bridge’ in Seoul, Korea. Connecting Dangi-li Power Plant (which has a plan to be redeveloped into public cultural space) in the north and The National Assembly Building in the south, this bridge shows the first example of ‘a city expanded to the river’. As a futuristic and aesthetic sculptor over the Han River, Paik Nam June Media Bridge shows how to use spaces over the bridge efficiently and eco-friendly. Inspired by the water strider, the overall shape is organic with sleek, streamlined outline. With the total length of 1080m, this mega structure bridge is covered with solar panel to generate energy by itself. This bridge is not only for cars but for people those who walk and ride bicycle. People can enjoy public museum and library with IT complex mall for the foremost IT technology. In addition, water taxi, yachts and cruise ships can dock at the bottom of t...

Through iteratively distributing programmatic layers  from the surrounding city fabric into the site and systematically mixing volumes of different social characteristics, the geometry of the project adopted the shape of foam clusters. The quality of formal variety as a consequence of the heterogeneity of the overall system is implied by the design methodology of functional aesthetics. The project focuses on a spatial partitioning strategy of voronoi regions featuring a gradient-driven diversity with highly functional orthogonal structures as well as distorted and geometrically complex volumes. Pointclouds, generated from early studies of programmatic foam structures, are therefore manipulated locally depending on programmatic attributes. The starting point of this project designed by  Patrick Bedarf   evolved during the research of the ongoing conflict between different social groups and their interest ...

KCAP Architects & Planners  present their vision today for NEO  Brussels , the redevelopment of the Heysel plateau, , to the political arena, the press and the public. The team, KCAP working together with advisors  Arup  and  Fakton , won the international design competition in September 2010. The area is one of the most strategic locations in the  Brussels  Metropole Region. The design for NEO  Brussels  aims to strengthen the significance of the Heysel, and to qualify it within a framework for sustainable development. More images and complete press release after the break. A masterplan for the Heysel is being developed for the first time since the 1958 World’s Fair. “This requires a strong vision that integrates  Brussels ,  Belgium  and Europe in one place,” says Kees Christiaanse, partner of KCAP and ‘Urbaniste en chef’ for NEO. The site, approximately 68 acres in size, will develop into a mixed urban program, includin...

Barnabas Laris  and  Adam Vesztergom , in collaboration with Borbala Gyure, Csenge Csontos, Nora Kohalmy and Mark Antal, recently won the first prize in the Main Square of Ujpalota competition for their project, ‘Urban Meadow.’ The forum or main square of Újpalota, which is the second largest micro district of  Budapest , is situated exactly in the center of this residential area, at the junction of the main roads. Most inhabitants of this housing estate cross this square day after day. This town square, however, does not have a view which is framed by public buildings. Therefore, a new community building can achieve a remarkable public function as well as a space-forming effect, simultaneously placed moderately as its volume is more solid than the ones of the commercial buildings. More images and their description after the break. There are some characteristics defined by the settlement: the centrality and the important gate-away traffic are given. The composition of th...