mind-data

Azure - Inner Space "Yellow Apt"

2012-01-12T10:08:00.000-08:00

A10#42 - Cultural Centre, Coimbra

2011-12-01T05:39:00.000-08:00

Cultural Centre, Coimbra

João Mendes Ribeiro rewrites history with this architectural transformation

The Casa do Arco has undergone a number of extensions and renovations since its original construction in the 16th century. Perhaps the most important occurred in the 19th century when the north wing and gardens were added, producing its specific appearance today. The part of the city where the Casa is located is characterized by a dense urban fabric and narrow streets connecting the University area and the Mondego River.

The house was conceived as a sort of bridge over one of these streets, which in turn led to the construction of an actual arch and the house’s name, Casa do Arco (House of the Arch).

The aim of João Mendes Ribeiro’s redesign was to transform the Casa into a public building that could host a variety of new activities without losing its important heritage value or symbolism. Thus, the building’s name was changed to Casa da Escrita (House of Writing), in memory of the huge collection of books that once lined its walls and of the important figures from the Portuguese arts, such as Fernando Namora and Eduardo Lourenço, who attended bohemian gatherings and literary debates here.

The main functional and formal requirement was flexibility, which in this instance meant the provision of spatial and material conditions capable of facilitating a wide range of uses and interpretations over time. As such, the project was based on the maintenance of the organic complexity of the internal organization of space, where private areas and routes intersect with public ones. This overlap was seen as an opportunity in terms of the desired flexibility of use. However, the new Casa da Escrita also required a complementary system of vertical access, technical areas and services in line with contemporary functional requirements and building regulations.

On the ground floor of the south wing (the original 16th-century house) are three new interconnected areas, comprising a kitchen, stairs, lifts and toilets. These facilities occupy a compact and independent block, within the walls of the original house, built entirely of pale wood.

Next to the main entrance, in the opposite wing, is a bookshop that can be easily altered owing to its movable shelving. On the first floor of this wing, the space is currently laid out as a library, auditorium and a large dining room, which open directly onto the outside patio and garden.

On the first floor of the south wing there are temporary residential suites for artists, consisting of a bedroom with bathroom and workroom. The workroom could be converted into an additional bedroom, if required. The floor above is more homogeneous and includes a number of study rooms and the active archive of the Casa’s own collection. In terms of its proportions and internal distribution, the main hall of the original house situated on this floor remains unchanged; however, ceilings and walls have been painted white, which gives the space a brighter and lighter feel. The wooden floor has also been completely restored. The attic of the north wing has been transformed into a large single space to house the above-mentioned archive and also contains three alcoves for individual reading and study.

The only exception to the clean and minimalist character of João Mendes Ribeiro’s project is the detailed and thoughtful design of all the wooden shelving, stairs, banisters and furniture in general. And although this balance allows for a continuous sense of space, it lacks the richness and intensity of the historical rooms, which were stuffed with books and comfortable armchairs. Obviously, this light feel of ‘empty’ rooms provides the desired flexibility of use; at the same time, it somewhat betrays the history of the Casa.

The considerable municipal investment in the urban and architectural restoration of such an historically important place is laudable, responding, as it does, to a wish and a need of a city frozen in time and yearning for a vital culture.

(pics: do mal o menos)

Frame#83 - Souto Moura Exhibition, Porto

2011-11-12T07:48:00.000-08:00

AC#69 - entrevista Kim Nielsen, Liverpool

2011-10-14T16:56:00.000-07:00

Oris#70 - Pragmatic Abstraction, Portalegre

2011-09-25T10:00:00.000-07:00

The architectural ideas behind Carrilho da Graça's major projects and buildings are not new or brightly innovative, but instead they are becoming clearer and strongly effective. For many years now, this influential Portuguese architect has been suggesting that architecture “must stage the minimum in the most intense way” and therefore buildings “should be simple and warm”. One could argue that there are many ways to achieve a positive proposal from this simplicity/intensity dilemma, but to architect Carrilho da Graça there are two preferred guidelines: an undeniable pragmatic approach to the program –in an attempt to simplify it - and an idea of purity and abstraction based on human proportions - in order to achieve that so-appealing intensity.

In Santo Antonio's Church & S.Bartolomeu Social Centre project in Portalegre – a small city located northeast Lisbon - this duality is specially enhanced because of the specific character of the program. Churches are per se very intense in their evangelical action but part of this abstract feeling is, as we know, also given by the physical space itself. It's not just about what we believe in, but also about creating the physical conditions to allow a profound manifestation of those beliefs to occur.

Looking from outside, the church seems to be a white monolithic box. In fact, just passing by we cannot say that we are in the presence of a church. Eight-meters high white walls define its perimeter and create an effective distance between the inside mental world and the outside city streets. When we pass the entrance portico we get surprised to see that we are in a large courtyard. We already entered the church but we're still outside, uncovered and unprotected. Instead of having a single door separating public (outside) from private (inside) space, this church builds an entire block, creating a semi-public place in the centre of it. This patio becomes the main gate for the assembly room ahead and for all further spaces around. One can look inside the assembly room through a surprisingly large window located on the opposite side of the entrance or can access the upper floor of the community centre trough two ramps located on both laterals.

The main room was designed like the stage of the entire site. When one is in the patio (audience) this is the place where our eyes tend to turn at every moment. When one is inside the room (stage) the tendency is to look out through both existing large windows: one looking towards the main patio and entrance; the other to a space at the end of the room, behind the pulpit. This second outside space reveals the pre-existing site and the original materials and shapes. The rocky settlement becomes an extra privileged view and gives a special aura to this main room.

Special attention should also be given to the design of furniture - benches, tables and pulpit - all made of light wood. Their made-to-measure design are an evident reflex of the building's pure forms and shapes.

A clear and unpretentious program organization confirms the idea of a strongly anchored pragmatism. The notion of artistic abstraction is based here on the use of linear and simple gestures on the scale of the human being. These features are also fundamental in his other recent works - the Lisbon Music School or the wining proposal for the Lisbon Cruise Terminal competition, for instance. This very consistent approach - clients know what to expect - is perhaps the main justification for him to be one of the Portuguese architects with more public commissions nowadays.

A10#41 - Reflected coastline, Cascais

2011-09-25T09:49:00.000-07:00

Cascais is a seaside town some 30 kilometres south of Lisbon. Its main avenue, and the first for those arriving from the north, is Avenida Marginal, which runs along the waterfront. The Estoril-Sol Residence, from an architectural and planning point of view one of the most interesting large-scale building complexes in Portugal in recent years, has been built at this point of entry to the town.

Two major objectives were set for the project: on one hand, reconciling the division between the sea/lower level and the park/higher level by expanding the existing park at the top of the slope;and on the other, creating a luxury residential building that would make the most of the excellent location.

The complex is based on the idea of three regular square plan buildings, but as the complex rises, it assumes greater freedom in terms of volume, pushing out towards the most distinctive topographical directions: the park at the rear and the coastline in front.

The building’s image is designed to make a strong, self-referential statement and to create a powerful relationship with the surrounding area and the Atlantic sea. Given its privileged location, Gonçalo Byrne architects decided to create a reticulated structure with generously glazed areas. The big, floor-to-ceiling windows are not just another programmatic requirement but are, in fact, the key design element of the project. They open fully, permitting magnificent views of the sea and creating an intense spatial experience in the interior of the apartments.

Glass is here the material masterpiece. While providing safety and protection – even the balustrades are in glass – it also accomplishes to perfection its major ambition: total transparency.

Gonçalo Byrne architect, Estoril Sol Residence, 2004-2010

A10#41 - Glass billboard, Braga

2011-09-25T09:37:00.000-07:00

The Liberdade Street Fashion building is a concept for a city shopping ‘arcade’, whose main goal is the re-activation of Braga’s historic centre. Besides commercial spaces, this urban and architectural rehabilitation includes office spaces, housing and parking. The original buidling, which once housed the Portuguese post office company (Correios Telégrafos e Telefones, CTT) has been transformed in an inspiring project whose strategy will undoubtedly be copied.

Architect Gonçalo Byrne and the client/developer Regojo Group, both wanted to keep the historical image of the building while also catering to the commercial and visibility needs of the shops. As such, all stores have direct and independent access from the two adjacent streets, while the offices and dwellings are located on the upper floors and open mainly towards the inner courtyard.

Byrne designed a second glass facade that creates attractive publicity opportunities for the reatil tenants. This takes up the entire front of the non-residential part of the plot and although the old stone facade speaks a tottally diferent language, the materials complement one another aesthetically.

The use of glass contributes fundamentally to the project. Its transparency allows visual contact between inside and outside spaces and generates a third usable layer - the glass itself - permiting shops to promote their brands and products. The Liberdade Street Fashion strikes an imaginative balance between historicism and radical renewal that is a perfect match with commercial ambitions, architectural desires and market values.

Liberdade Street Fashion, 2010

Architect: Gonçalo Byrne

Client: Regojo Group

Address: Av. da Liberdade & Dr. Gonçalo Sampaio Street, Braga

Info: www.byrnearq.com; www.regojo.pt

Oris#69 - Elderly Home, Alcácer do Sal

2011-07-25T13:58:00.000-07:00

An emotional scale display

Alcácer do Sal is a small historic city located near the Sado river delta, just a few kilometers east from Tróia peninsula and the city of Setúbal (40/50km) and a few more from Lisbon (90kms). It was for many years an obligatory stop point for those traveling north/south Portugal (the main national road passes here), especially during the summer season when northerners go south looking for the marvellous Alentejo west coast or the crowded Algarve beaches and nightclubs. It is in many ways one of the main gateways to Alentejo region (both countryside and coastal zones) and this is a quite interesting symbolic aspect that links Aires Mateus's architectural approach to this particular latitude and its system of varied scales.

Alentejo landscapes are recognizably flat and arid. In some places it can be described as a vastness of nothing, almost like a desert without sand but with the same summer heat. Cities are dots in the map, linked by good national roads and some (often empty) motorways. These cities tend to be small and organized. Once in a while some particular construction can be found in the middle of nowhere, isolated from the rest of the world. These constructions also have a particular recognizable look: low-rise volumes and roofs, soft and calm colors, low-cost traditional materials, mainly whitewash. This poetic landscape and type of construction are often inspirational points of departure for some Aires Mateus projects. The Home for Elderly People project in Alcácer do Sal was no exception, even considering the fact that it is located inside the city limits rather than outside its boundaries. The idea of a white clean building, anchored to the site and with clear limits and shapes is not a new bright idea. It's instead an evolution of a deeply-rooted concept based on the Alentejo romantic scenery and lyrical circumstances that Aires Mateus architects have been masterly working on since the beginning of their careers.

The settlement for the project was not quite obvious, mainly because the scale of the program did not allow a quick and easy integration – volumetrically speaking - with the surrounding buildings. In fact, the linguistic search is more concerned with those mental/historical roots than with the particular physical surroundings. But even so, the project takes real advantage of the location's topography to create a long and snake-like building that meanders over the entire site and scenario. The very specific kind of program - described by the architects as being ”somewhere in between a hotel and a hospital” - required a careful interconnection between social and private spaces. These links were necessary to create a “very specific kind of community, a sort of a micro-society with its own rules”.

The interpretation of this dichotomy – private vs social – led to establishment of two different scales of intervention. On one side there is an exhausting work on each independent unit, as if each room had (and it will have...) a different client/owner/user. On the other side there is an architectural desire to express the social character of the program by unifying those units into a single and recognizable body. This duality created a very expressive and appealing building. The games on the facade are a reflection of it, and the movement created by the openings (patios and balconies) and closures (rooms and facilities) promotes a very effective emotional order. The rigorous study of the geometry on both scales allowed the establishment of flexible mental boundaries. The well-defined physical limits contrast here with an apparent mental freedom given by the punctured form and shape.

The area around the building was designed in direct relation with the building itself. Some of the landscaped gardens reaches up to the roof in some areas – giving access to the roof - while others are distanced from it in order to reinforce the emotional scale.

Aires Mateus capability to work and control different scales in the same project permits the creation of surprising and emotional spaces. This continuous search for the good and emotional scale of space encounters a metaphorical parallel in Alentejo's infinite landscapes and its organized towns and villages but has already reached a wide global audience. In some international projects like the Grand Egyptian Museum (honorable mention), the Grand Canal Square Hotel in Dublin (built) and the recent competition to the entrance of Alhambra, Granada, they had the opportunity to show their obsession in controlling scale and geometry in order to enhance spatial qualities and emotional positive reactions.

As such, no difficulty to predict that - if some major international commission comes to Aires Mateus studio in the next decade - they will surely be the next portuguese Pritzker Prize winners, just after Alvaro Siza's (1992) and Souto de Moura's (2011) very recent successes...

A10#40 - Researching the Unknown

2011-07-19T08:06:00.000-07:00

António Sommer Champalimaud (1918-2004) was a rich portuguese industrialist and entrepreneur with a very lively, scientific spirit. At his bequest, a foundation bearing his name was created after his death, to support individual researchers and research teams working at the cutting edge of biomedical science. The Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown is the headquarters of this Foundation and the place where the majority of the work takes place. With a specific focus on neuroscience and translational cancer research and clinical practice, the Foundation's primary objective is to make advances in the field of international vision research. As it is a private organization, the choice of research initiatives and funding programs is unrestrained by national borders – in effect, any government, clinic and/or institution can be supported.

The Centre is located on a 60,000m2 site in an privileged location of the Lisbon waterfront, near the Belém area. This particular spot, where the river Tagus meets the Atlantic Ocean, is of great historical significance as it was from here that the Portuguese explorers set sail in the 15^th and 16^th centuries on their voyages to discover the “unknown” world. The presence of the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown leverages this historical heritage by creating an inspirational metaphor between the discoveries of yesterday with the epic adventure of scientific research.

The design of the centre tries to express this link with the river, creating a generous public area around the two proposed buildings. The free, open-air atmosphere of the public gardens and pathways and river-facing amphitheater continues inside in internal patios and gardens. The main building is the nearest to the road and houses the diagnostic and treatment units in the lower levels and the basic research laboratories on the upper levels. The other building is closer to the river and hosts an auditorium, exhibition area and a restaurant named after Charles Darwin. On the upper level are the offices which are connected to the main building by a glass pedestrian bridge.

Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, Lisbon (2007 to 2011)

architect Charles Correa

(pics: José Campos - more: here and here)

A10#40 - Homeless shelter, Pamplona

2011-07-18T15:33:00.000-07:00

Public architecture is supposed to serve a general audience, boasting the rather ambitious aim of improving general living conditions in society. The best architecture has always been, and always will be, that which not only serves its main purpose (sheltering, protecting, organising) but also contributes to the well-being (even if only psychological) of the social groups within its reach. Few architectural projects manage to achieve this ambition. One that does, is the shelter that Pamplona City Hall decided to build for homeless people in the region.

Politically and socially speaking, some may question the project's rationale. What is in fact the best way to deal with homeless people in our cities? Can this homeless shelter be considered an unjustified benefit, built with public money? Or is it a fundamental contribution to helping the disadvantaged and unprotected? Whatever the case, from the perspective of the architectural programme and the associated sociological notions (architects always present their own particular vision of society), architect Javier Larraz seems to have approached this rare opportunity in the best possible way.

The practical aim of the building is to provide accommodation and meals for the needy. In strategic terms, however, there was an opportunity to do far more, and that is reflected in the way the programme of requirements has been interpreted. The building has been conceived as the home the homeless do not have and the functions were arranged as if the shelter were a big house.

The centre is functionally divided in two. The larger part is given over to meals and other ad hoc services, while the remaining area houses a medium-term for the city’s homeless. Although this differentiation is not evident in the building’s appearance, the two sections can function independently; there are two main entrances, located on the longitudinal facades of the building.

The ad hoc service area occupies part of the ground floor and the entire first floor, providing a total of 18 double rooms, corresponding bathrooms, an occupational therapy room, a dining area with space for 48 people, recreation rooms, a locker area and an administration area. The medium-term shelter provides nine double rooms, general bathrooms [are the bathrooms located ensuite to the bedrooms? No, at any case] and recreation rooms. The design of each level is similar and is arranged around a nucleus of services and facilities. The corridor around this nucleus offers access to the different areas located along the facade of the building, where they get natural light and direct ventilation.

Formally speaking, the design is discreet. The building does not stand out in terms of volume and form, or in the materials used in its construction. Instead, it tries to “silently” integrate via simple and recognizable orthogonal forms, an attractively human scale and material homogeneity. Being located in a suburban area of the city, it was also important to protect it from unwanted intrusion. As such, the use of black metal panels and strips covering the entire facade is justified, both for functional reasons (the material is very hard-wearing) and for aesthetic purposes (providing the desired homogeneity).

The clean rationality of this project is a pragmatic but warm and cosy answer to the lack of a familiar shelter and sense of home experienced by the homeless. Even if it looks like a hostel, it feels like a big community house. In the words of Larraz, this project was “a careful exercise of containment on a number of levels”, not only in terms of space and design (in the rational way the areas were distributed and the simplicity of the project, with no room for formal sophistication or trendiness), but also in terms of money and time. The building was constructed in a record time of six months and at a cost that is a testament to the capacity and creativity that architects have to possess nowadays in order to continue working in their profession: 870€/m2, for a total area of approximately 1,000 m2.

Despite the more technical and pragmatic issues, the project also involves an important social responsibility, which includes the creation of a bond between the homeless, the institution itself and respective physical space. To help inculcate respect for the help they are offered, the homeless are involved in daily chores that help maintain the building (cleaning, washing, gardening, painting), thus consolidating the viability of the council initiative.

Shelter for the homeless, 2010

Architect: Javier Larraz

Client: Pamplona City Hall

Location: Avenida de Guipuzcoa, 3 – Pamplona (Navarra) Spain

Info: www.larrazarquitectos.com

A10#38 - Out of Obscurity - "Franjinhas", Lisbon

2011-03-22T16:00:00.000-07:00

Out of Obscurity - "Franjinhas", Lisbon (1967) _ Nuno Teotónio Pereira & João Bráulia Reis

Iconic buildings are not the sole preserve of contemporary architectural discourse. At many other moments in history, there have been (as there will always be) linguistic/stylistic approaches that led to the creation of emblematic buildings and to a break with prevailing ‘fashion’. These are difficult moments for critics, who almost feel obliged to express controversial opinions and take up extreme stances.

It is up to the architects who design such projects to take on the difficult task of convincing the necessary people (the client, local authorities and so on) to go through with the challenge of building something that everyone knows from the very start will be supported by some and criticized by many others. In many instances, the controversy surrounding such ‘epic projects’, which are more political than architectural, is in time forgotten, leaving the (physical) work itself to show whether the supporters or the critics were right.

In Portugal, much like the rest of Europe, the 1960s was a period of intense social and political strife, and in the case of the arts and architecture, that strife led to certain deviations from ‘pre-established’ norms. There is no need to refer here to the achievements of the modern movement in architecture (from Le Corbusier’s ‘five points’ to Bauhaus functionalism), but it is interesting to realize that the success of certain projects that came after this period is mainly down to a knowledgeable analysis and interpretation of the values and the technical and material possibilities that modernism had produced.

This is the case with the Franjinhas building (literally translated: ‘Little Fringes’) in Lisbon, which was designed by Nuno Teotónio Pereira and João Bráulia Reis and built in 1967. Locatednext to the Marquês de Pombal roundabout in the modern part of the city centre and housing six floors of office space and three (ground floor + 2) of shops, it is one of the capital’s emblematic buildings and a retrospective icon of democratic Portuguese diversity (which would only formally be instituted seven years later with the Carnation Revolution).

In an echo of Cerdà’s Barcelona plan, the building forms the corner of a city block, defining it not in a straight line but in a harmonious curve. Of course, its most recognizable feature is reflected in its name: the reinforced concrete sun screens (fringes) create an image that is more rhythmic and certainly more fun (from the architect’s perspective) and more functional (from the user’s perspective) because they protect the interior of the building from direct sunlight, than many other constructions of that era. The use of concrete for this purpose is certainly debatable, as it does not allow any visual link between inside and outside. However, owing to their location and spacing, the sun screens act much like windows.

In fact, using this material for non-structural features was unusual at the time. Its nowadays widely appreciated roughness and ornamental poverty were not so well received by the conservative Portuguese society of that time.

This prize-winning building (it won the prestigious Valmor Prize in 1971) shows that good architecture is timeless and can be considered contemporary, even forty-three years after it was built. Its material and spatial qualities (open spaces, circulation core and non-structural facades) allows various uses and adaptations over time – something considered essential in the construction of any new public building nowadays. An example of this was the recent use of part of the building as the campaign headquarters for the current leader of the Portuguese Social Democratic Party.

A10#38 - Urban Renewal, Porto

2011-03-16T10:40:00.000-07:00

Urban renewal, Porto _ FA Arquitectos (arqta Rosário Rodrigues)

The debate about urban renewal has become considerably more intense in recent years in most European societies, and Portugal is no exception.

Many strategic issues have been raised and discussed (from the renovation of run-down and obsolete buildings, questions of urban image and mobility to models of social and financial sustainability and the political impartiality of those adopted) and certain measures have begun to take shape. In Porto, things started to move when the city was a European Capital of Culture in 2001 and ten years later there has been some progress in making urban renewal one of the city’s main priorities. Porto Vivo - Sociedade de Reabilitação Urbana (SRU) is the public body responsible for optimising efforts and centralising decision-making.

Although many of the measures implemented have not been without opposition, and although studies often do not get beyond the drawing board, there are cases where something tangible has been achieved, as in the case of the Cardosas block, which is located at the southern end of the city’s main avenue, Av. dos Aliados.

The poor state of the buildings was abundantly clear: 60% of the area was uninhabitable and in the other 40% only six (!) flats had residents. In addition, the interior of the block had been for years filled by mostly unused illegal construction that served no public interest.

The aim of the project was clear: renovate the public area and buildings and in so doing stimulate new physical conections with the surrounding area, increase the amount of quality housing and provide underground public parking in a part of the city where it is a rarity.

Lot by lot and building by building, an analysis was undertaken in an attempt to assess the state of each individual part, its needs and potential, and it was the results of this study that determined the final strategy of the project. Only the main building (the old Palácio das Cardosas) which defines the north side of the block and is to be turned into a 5-star hotel, was excluded from the project implemented by the team of architects coordinated by Rosário Rodrigues.

The decision to turn the inside of the block into public space and to create shops to attract people was the decision with the greater urban design impact. It required doing away with the “closed” aspect of the block, demolishing one or two buildings to create pedestrian passageways between the street and the inside of the block and ramp access to the underground car park.

The overall aim is to create a sense of continuity, highlighting local materials and an image recognised by the city’s inhabitants, focusing on the idea of "urban acupuncture" instead of a riskier or more drastic tabula rasa approach.

A10#38 - Tower Bilbao

2011-03-16T10:31:00.000-07:00

Iberdrola Tower, Bilbao (2008 / 2011) - arch. César Pelli

An adverse effect in Bilbao

When they started building what will be the Basque Country's tallest building back in 2008, its urban impact was not easy to fathom. No notional or rendered model, however honest or sophisticated, could transmit the scale of concrete, steel and glass currently rising skyward in Bilbao, alongside the city’s most famous icon, the Guggenheim Museum.

Anchored by the River Nervión and flanked by two other recently-built star-buildings (a university library by Rafael Moneo and the main building of the same university designed by Álvaro Siza), the 37-storey, 165-metre tall tower will house the head office of the Spanish electricity company Iberdrola as well other company offices.

Bilbao is situated in a valley and its urban fabric can be viewed from the city’s surrounding slopes. This visual permeability has always been one of the most fascinating things about the city, which seemed to be protected and measurable with seemingly defined limits. This reduced horizontal scale was always in harmony with the (vertical) scale of the buildings in urban areas. However, the project designed by the Argentine-American César Pelli has inverted this historical trend to reveal another kind of city-shape.

Almost twenty years after the construction of Gehry's museum, the cityscape has changed again. From now on, it will be difficult to look at the museum without seeing the tower and vice-versa, and it will be impossible to climb the slopes that surround the city and be indifferent to the radical alteration to the city’s urban scale and skyline.

A10#37 - Winery Centre, Logroño

2011-01-11T14:47:00.000-08:00

Wine Ambience

Architect: IA+B (Iñaki Aurrekoetxea + Alex Laskurin)

Olarra's new Winery Visitor's Centre is a truly inspirational space. Created within the atrium of an existing industrial building the new Winery Centre turns wine tasting into an experience that addresses all the senses. The powerful concrete structure provided a perfect setting for the design by Iñaki Aurrekoetxea and Alex Laskurin (IA+B architects). Their goal was to create a playful relationship between the existing grey concrete walls and beams and the new programatic additions, by enhancing the inherent qualities of the materials, shapes and shadows.

The relatively simple program occupies two levels and has a total surface area of 1.000m2. The ground level houses an exhibition area, a degustation space and a retail area, while on the upper floor, a wine tasting area, a small conference room and several office spaces are organized around the hexagonal void. In fact, the entire atrium has an hexagonal shape, but this only becomes apparent in this central void. Here, a metallic staircase links both levels beneath a glass structure composed of various segments which evoke the garnet colors of red wine and generate a very special ambience and light quality. The rich contrast between the translucency of these glass prisms and the opacity and strength of the building skin provides a warm and comfortable environment. While on the top floor, natural diffuse light enters from pre-existing openings bathing the space in a bright white light, on the ground floor the intensity of the wine-coloured glass – and the lack of natural light – creates a more dramatic mise-en-scène for the ritual of wine tasting.

The intense chromatic experience and the pleasant spatiality of this project intuitively make you feel that what you really need right now is a glass of fine red wine.

A10#37 - Education Centre, Porto

2011-01-10T10:01:00.001-08:00

Education Centre, Porto

AVA's solution to a range of programmatic and topographic questions is an interplay of volumes.

The educational reforms implemented by the Portuguese government in recent years are reflected in the physical restructuring of school buildings and facilities. Although the bulk of expenditure has been focussed on the second and third levels of compulsory education (for pupils between 11 and 18 years of age), primary and pre-primary schools (for children between 3 and 10 years of age) have also seen improvements and, in many cases, new facilities have been built. Work on some of these schools, renamed 'Centros Educativos' (Educational Centres), is now complete. Centro Educativo das Antas in the city of Porto, designed by Carlos Veloso and Rui Veloso of AVA architects, is part of this rebuilding programme.

The building occupies a plot in the recently redrafted Antas Urban Master Plan, in a part of the city whose urban fabric has been radically transformed since 2004 by the construction of a new football stadium for the city's biggest team and, above all, by the demolition of the old stadium (the main field and training pitches). However, because this operation is very recent, the character of the surrounding area has yet to be defined. Its heterogeneous nature is pronounced and there are many as yet unallocated tracts of land, stone walls guarding centuries-old farms and buildings of different scales, styles and ages.

Inevitably, the lack of any kind of urban references is one of the primary characteristics of the project. Another important initial fact is related to the plot itself, as there is a six-metre-height difference between the lowest and highest point. A third important parameter relates to the specific nature of a school for children of this age, where operational, spatial and material functionality are essential pre-requisites.

In order to deal with these factors, some of which were physical and concrete, and others that were more subjective and undefined, the architects decided to divide the project into various independent but inter-linked volumes. By choosing this option, they were able, on the one hand, to impose a hierarchy on the different types of space and classrooms (by grade and functions) and, on the other, create interstitial exterior spaces on a pleasantly human scale. The formalisation of this structural scheme depended, somewhat Lego-like, on the spaces defined in the programme and the relationship between them.

The main entrance is situated at the highest level, facing west, while service access is on the opposite, east side, at the lowest point of the site. This separation in terms of elevation, was also useful for functional clarification. All of the more technical areas (general facilities, kitchen and refectory, storage) were placed on the lower level, alongside the library, which is “distanced” from the neighbouring road thanks to the intelligent creation of patio on a lower level. All the classrooms and the administration areas are on the top level.

The openings to the exterior are clear in their intention and follow the same compositional logic as the buildings themselves: the aim is to create tensions between filled and empty spaces, between light and shade, allowing for multiple variations and interpretations throughout the day. As such, on would perhaps expect that the type of windows would follow this principle and be recessed in order to create a greater three-dimensional sense. However, this did not occur; the facade now looks rather like a painter’s canvas. This aspect, combined with the all-over colour (an obviously artificial green), which lends a cheerful and homogenous air to the structure, makes this complex a curious architectural exercise, where the initial idea – the interplay of volumes – is not lost, even when adjustments are made to satisfy the needs of the project, the client’s wishes and the architect’s own vision. However, there are two aspects that should be mentioned, given their impact on how the space is used and the visual appearance of the project.

In terms of space, and from the perspective of those using it, the patios created are intelligent and welcoming; however, the separation between the private (patios) and the public (street) area has not been defined using the architecture of the building. The railings that set the space’s boundaries (particularly on the main south facade) are the only elements that separate them physically, which, overall, reduces the effectiveness of the project. The other issue is the apparent disregard for the visual impact of the equipment on the roof. At a time when technical requirements are becoming increasingly demanding, their integration with the final architectural result should be a priority.

Oris#66 - Pedestrian Bridge, Covilhã

2011-01-05T14:19:00.000-08:00

simple architectural gesture, huge urban impact

At first glance it really surprised me... But not the aesthetical aspect of it, rather the powerful idea and concept behind the urban scenario. The Pedestrian Bridge over Carpinteira stream in Covilhã, Portugal, it's one of those particular interventions with a very clear vocation of (re)shaping a specific territory and (re)adjusting in time its general image. Without being a mega-structure itself, it clearly acts as part of one in the sense that it represents an effective physical addition - like an arm of a body, like a leg of Archigram's walking city - to the existing urban panorama.

Located in the mountainous area of Serra da Estrela, this countryside portuguese town stretches over three big promontories divided by two deep valleys - Goldra and Carpinteira. This singular and hard topography has a great impact in the way the city grows and the way people actually lives. In recent years this expansion is being made to the outskirts of the city center, far away from these promontories, which is generating real mobility problems.

Thanks to some European funds for urban rehabilitation the portuguese government created a public program named Polis in the year 2000. Since then it has been possible to think on solutions to improve connectivity and enhance the overall circulation, particularly the pedestrian one. In the specific case of Covilhã, a masterplan by architect Nuno Teotónio Pereira proposed the creation of bridges, escalators and public elevators in order to “flatten” the city, facilitating connections and improving quality of life. This Pedestrian Bridge designed by lisbon-based architect João Luís Carrilho da Graça is the first visible result of that strong conceptual idea.

It features a 220-metre-long horizontal bridge with a simple structure based on a steel U-section. This high-rise but light structure is supported by four big columns: two rectangular central ones that clearly intersect and blend with the white/grey metallic bridge span and two cylindrical ones, at either end of the bridge, cladded with local stone that will in time blend with the surrounding landscape. These last two also contain the stairs that connect the bottom of the valley with the bridge upper platform. The “interior” passageway is totally cladded by dark wood panels, giving the necessary comfort to the users.

This minimalist, almost innocent curved line is the representation of a very ambitious idea of connectivity and interdependence. Very often, theory and practice are dismissed but here it was possible to reach a healthy combination between concept (for an entire territory) and reality (of a project within that same territory). This abstract architectural gesture was a firmly response to a complex and generic social/political program and it helped to reveal the identity of this specific place. The ability of Carrilho da Graça in giving a positive aesthetic answer to a civil engineering typical construction it has to be enhanced and reinforced.

A10#36 - Cruise Terminal, Lisbon

2010-11-20T10:33:00.001-08:00

Cruise Terminal, Lisbon

Carrilho da Graça's harmoniuous yet autonomous pristine white building is a pragmatic answer to urban complexity.

The Lisbon Cruise Terminal competition was one of the major architecture and urban events in Portugal this year. Firstly the huge scale of the program on a flat, 70.000m2 riverside site within the limits of the historic city centre. Secondly, the present city council's ambition to make urban renewal along the riverside a priority during its term of governance.

Organized by the Lisbon Port Authority (APL) in cooperation with the city council and the Portuguese Architects Association, this international competition re-opened an important dicusssion about the potential of such spaces to become urban catalysts for the 21st century. In the case of Lisbon, no similar debate has taken place since the 1998 World Expo.

The competition brief called for a terminal building covering some 8.000 square metres and capable of receiving and processing three to five cruise ships simultaneously; parking for 350 vehicles; space for 80 tourist buses; and a waiting area for 50 taxis. Along with these functional aspects, the urban spaces, conections and landscaping were also to be given careful consideration.

The winning proposal by Carrilho da Graça provides a very efficient and pragmatic solution. In essence, it consists of a compact and harmonious building situated in the centre of the alloted area. The reason for its siting seems to be purely functional - the middle point is equidistant from all sides - but it also separates it from its imediate surroundings, the Alfama neighborhood. The bus and taxi stands are distributed around the periphery, close to the main road. Car parking is situated aboveground, in a disused dry dock.

Other proposals were also singled out by the jury. While some took a similar approach in the sense that all efforts and energy went into the building design (3rd place design by spanish architect Vazquez Consuegra and 5th place design by Zaha Hadid), others tried to create a more dynamic urban landscape, with stronger images and bigger forms and shapes (2nd placed Aires Mateus & Gonçalo Byrne and 4th-placed ARX Architects).

Regardless of the formal and conceptual design approach, the social impact of the terrminal will provide a case-study in riverside development in Portugal and lead to new analysis, debate and methodological approaches. A scenario with an immeasurable social, cultural and economical impact could be just around the corner. This competition was a healthy sign that efforts are being made.

Cruise Terminal Competition, 2010

First Prize: João Luís Carrilho da Graça

Client: Lisbon Porth Authority

Info: www.jlcg.pt

Oris#64 - The Truffle, Spain

2010-09-04T12:47:00.000-07:00

An echo of several histories

The Truffle it's not just a small, remarkable building on the spanish west coast. It's a conceptual construction based in a process-oriented thinking (like a scientific research) that was able to mix a one-of-a-kind experimental intervention with a very specific on-site construction.

The program was simple enough to put all effort and fun (they usually go along for the architects...) in the earlier conceptual phase. No worries with perfection on shape or form, no need for an exhausting detail work. The driven force was architect's ability to think on a story and write the analogous storyboard. It's one of these rare moments when architecture becomes cinema or writing and a construction is compared to a movie or to a novel. Because as these, when you start the process (construction work) you don't know how it's going to be the end (final shape of the building).

In fact, there was no (traditional) architecture project here. Anton Garcia-Abril, principal of Ensamble studio, wanted to create a(n) (architecture) synthesis "using different aspects of nature: the mineral, vegetable and the animal." And he programmed a working system based on cronological "happenings" that allowed the creation of an interior protective space, a small cabin in the top of a mountain looking out over the Atlantic ocean. This was the goal, but no architecture drawing was made to predict the result...

To begin, a hole was dug in the ground and 50m3 of straw bales were placed in it to define what, in theory, would be the negative space of the cabin (the interior space). After that, concrete was poured into the hole to cover the straw. This was made without any kind of structural reinforcement or defined formwork. The third step consisted in dugging away the surrounding earth in order to expose the block and reveal the external shape of the building, an amorphous and almost organic body.

To explore the interior and to create the entrance, a great view to the sea and to allow a future inclusion of a fireplace, some corners were sliced off, revealing the straw previously placed there. Arrived to this point , when the mineral (concrete) and the vegetable (straw) were already accomplished, it was just missing the animal part to understand Garcia-Abril's intention of "reproducing nature through architecture". That's when Paulina - a young calf (!!) - was invited to eat the nice food that was inside the block. During a year that was her place and meal. And meanwhile the straw was disappearing, space started to be revealed and ambiguity appeared for the first time: the rocky aspect of the outside clearly evoques the natural world, while the interior protective space talks about a more artifical athmosphere. It's interesting this promiscuity between nature and artifice, especially when materiality and the system used to built both "faces" of the building (pouring concrete) was exactly the same (in the exact same time). This processual authenticity gives to the building an intense phenomenological reading and launch solid bases to wider analizes.

Accordingly to the architect, his programmatic reference was the Cabanon (1952) of Le Corbusier, in Cap Martin, France. Its dimensions, internal organizational and its "aura" are visible in the comfort given to the interior, from the design of the furniture to the well-mesured openings.

We could also find references to the aspect of the work in some brutalist "ouevres" or in Peter Zumthor's plastic use of concrete, but nothing similar come to my mind when the discussion is about architecture methods or processes. It's notable the logical, almost scientifical approach and the huge capacity of a small building to make echo to different fields of art, from different epoches and styles. It mixes the organization of a laboratory with the surprise of a non-programmed final result, remembering the freestyle and brightness of land-art, the strong image of brutalism and some organic experiments.

A10#35 - Portugal Architecture Tourguide

2010-09-04T12:37:00.001-07:00

A10#34 - Stadium, Matosinhos

2010-07-25T06:41:00.000-07:00

Custóias is a civil parish in the town of Matosinhos, in the Greater Porto region. Although it has only 20,000 inhabitants, the place is known throughout the country for its high security prison, built in 1974. It is not exactly a top tourist destination, it has no cultural activity to speak of and its peripheral location means it attracts little investment. In territorial terms, it is ‘sliced up’ by major motorways linking the city of Porto to Portugal’s industrialized north. It was thanks to the construction of these roads that it was possible to build this small stadium for the people of Custóias. The old football pitch was located on land that was expropriated to build one of these motorways, which forced Matosinhos city council to promise local people a new municipal stadium. Curiously, the plot chosen for the new stadium is right next to one of the walls of the famous prison.

Guilherme Machado Vaz, a young University of Porto architecture graduate was responsible for the design. The facilities are essentially those common to most football stadiums: a sports field covering 9000 m², seating for around 1000 people, four changing rooms (so it can host two consecutive games), technical and administrative areas, a bar, public toilets and a ticket office.

To help resolve the different types of privacy required by these areas and the circulation between them as efficiently as possible, the architect exploited the natural slope of the terrain. The decision to create three distinct functional levels – horizontal platforms – was the most important in terms of the end result and image of the project. Direct private access to the stands is located on the highest level, the pitch itself is at the intermediate level and the various support services and the main public access to the stands via large ramps that define the northern area of the stadium, are located on the lowest level,.

This subtle altimetric scheme, apart from supporting the functionality of the building, also allows the creation of an almost sculptural form that does not need to be ‘punctured’ for simple functional requirements like access. Its monumental, imperforate character, which makes it look as if it has been ‘sculpted by a knife’, was one of the aspects the architect highlighted in his description of the project. The material continuity, the 'trimmed' corners and the structural balance that allows the main entrance to be clearly marked are small but intelligent linguistic/formal tricks that Machado Vaz employs to perfection and that are in keeping with the well-known style of the Porto School.

Football is a mass cultural phenomenon without parallel in Portuguese society and, as such, it would be no surprise if this project were to become a source of future inspiration for many other small stadiums throughout Portugal.

Custóias Football Stadium, 2009

Architect: Guilherme Machado Vaz

Client: Matosinhos City Council

Address: Custóias, Matosinhos

Info: www.guilhermemachadovaz.com

Photos: Leonardo Finnoti

A10#34 - School business

2010-07-25T05:02:00.000-07:00

The Portuguese government’s Parque Escolar project is a huge operation that aims to transform 332 of the 477 state upper-secondary schools in Portugal in the short space of seven years (between 2008 and 2015), spending around 2.5 billion euros in the process.

In response to the current global economic crisis, the Portuguese government established a set of strategic measures called 'The Investment and Employment Initiative'. It is against this background that the Parque Escolar project should be analysed and understood for there is no other circumstance that would justify spending just seven years renovating what took over 100 years to build.

As such, the project raises two delicate questions. First, whether it makes sense to change the entire school infrastructure without also altering teaching programmes. In other words, shouldn’t thought be given to teaching models at the same time as we think about the ‘forms’ in which teaching takes place? Second, how are the professionals involved, in particular the teams of architects, chosen?

While the first issue has been debated over recent months on national television, and even in parliament, prompting strikes and protests on the streets, the second has been a taboo subject in the political mainstream, highlighting the still marginal importance of architecture and architects in Portuguese society.

What has become clear since the launch of the first pilot phase involving four schools and the second one involving 75 (the third phase in which 125 schools will be renovated has just started) is that projects have been awarded directly to certain architects without any form of public tender or pre-selection. Some architects are responsible for ten schools; others are in charge of three or four schools.

The Ministry of Education, citing the urgent nature of the project and national interest as the reasons why time cannot be wasted on public tenders, has distributed the projects as it sees fit. The Association of Architects said mea culpa, admitting that while it has always supported the use of public tenders for projects of national interest, it was ‘aware’ of the specific circumstances of this programme.

The first news to filter through to the public domain - almost a year ago - was a front page headline in a national newspaper claiming that the ‘Portuguese State paid architects over 20 million euros with no public tender’, which rang alarm bells and raised doubts. Not enough to make any difference at the time, however. The architects 'fight' is now taking place in the blogsphere, where a petition asking for a different approach is circulating. And the Architects Association has finally decided to took abroader view of things, clamouring for public tenders now that the programme has reached its final phase.

Depicting their actions as a positive measure in the fight against unemployment and the economic crisis, the Portuguese Government has gone against the best practice that it has always defended in relation to the use of public tenders and in so doing set a bad example of how to manage state assets, which, when all is said and done, belong to all of us.

(info: www.parque-escolar.pt)

A10#33 - Youth Hostel, Serra da Estrela

2010-05-31T15:16:00.000-07:00

Located in Portugal's highest mountain range, Serra da Estrela, the Penhas da Saúde youth hostel is one of the most recently refusbished complexes in the Portuguese youth hostel network.

To the old existing youth hostel was added a timber-clad, red roofed building with 20 rooms, a lounge and several other facilities. This new sculptural volume is a contemporary interpretation of local architecture and reflects a new turist concept combining low cost accommodation, slow and relaxed travellers and magnificent landscapes.

Penhas da Saúde Youth Hostel, 2006-2009

Adress: Penhas da Saúde, Serra da Estrela, Portugal

Price per night per person: bed 10-13€; private room 28-45€

Info: www.pousadasjuventude.pt

Architect: ComA

Photography: NGPhoto

A10#32 - Nursery School, Pamplona

2010-03-20T10:03:00.000-07:00

Nursery School, Pamplona, 2009

Architect: Javier Larraz

Info: javierlarraz@telefonica.net

Photos: Iñaki Bergera

Cheerful integration

Designed by Javier Larraz, the recently finished nursery school in Pamplona, is a good example of how to create interesting spaces via manipulation of scale, control of light and a careful use of colour.

Understanding that a nursery school should be cheerful and suggestive in its spatial relations and material uses, Larraz attempts to clearly set a hierarchy of the project's different areas, the distinct spaces involved and how they relate. The formal design is very simple and functional (four parallel blocks are differentiated by their function, scale and relations with the exterior) and the image the building conveys is one of serene austerity and human-scale dimensions.

These formal characteristics are enhanced by an appropriate use of materials and their respective colours and textures. On the outside, the standout features are the use of a grey basalt stone and a coloured metal panelling. While the basalt helps the building to blend in with the wintry grey clouds that cover the skies of Pamplona for many months of the year, the vertical metal slats control the amount of light entering the building and create a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere. The soft tones used for the building echo the surrounding vegetation in a clear attempt to integrate the building with its surroundings.

Inside, the strategy is one of continuity for common areas and differentiation of four programatic spaces by way of colour (yellow, green, brown and cream), so that the children can distinguish between them easily. All the furniture, which was especially designed for the building, is white with the exception of the hanging lamps in the central hall.

The sobriety of the colours used and the precision with which they are applied make this a clear example of simple and functional architecture, where the protagonist is not the building itself but rather the people who use it.

A10#32 - Temporary Market, Madrid

2010-03-19T15:22:00.000-07:00

Temporary Market of Barceló, Madrid, 2009

Architect: Fuensanta Nieto, Enrique Sobejano
Info: www.nietosobejano.com

Photos: Fernando Alda

Translucent Temporariness

Inaugurated last December, the new Barceló Temporary Market has for the time being replaced Madrid’s Central Market, whose complete and radical transformation can now begin. The reborn Central Market will form part of an enormous complex comprising a sports hall, library, car parking and green public recreational spaces. Both projects were designed by Madrid architects Fuensanta Nieto and Enrique Sobejano.

This market costing five million euros, covers an area of 4086 m². It was designed to be temporary and, despite its strong presence and overall image, its construction (using translucent polycarbonate sheeting) confirms this.

Six interlocking volumes of varying form, height and geometry, contain the retail areas. A sinuous covered walkway connects the six market halls and a seventh orthogonal space on a corner of the square, which houses various ancillary facilities, warehouses and loading and unloading areas.

The homogeneity of the project is material rather than formal, although the market stands out from its surroundings on both counts. During the day, the opaque polycarbonate emphasizes the geometric and formal abstraction of the building. After dusk, thanks to the translucent nature of the same material, the building glows with the light from inside the volumes.

It must be said that at first glance, this does not look like a temporary building. Perhaps because of its integration with the surrounding area, perhaps because of the clean and homogeneous nature of the complex or the generous spaces it provides, this building runs the risk of becoming eternally temporary, despite its limited material lifespan.

Arquitecturas incompletas: como se desenha em Lisboa e como se actua em Caracas

2009-09-26T12:13:00.000-07:00

A arquitectura portuguesa é, de um ponto de vista processual, lenta. Lenta por tradição, lenta por ideologia.
Nao interessa proferir nomes, porque todos os temos na cabeça... Sabemos quem sao os pais da nossa cultura arquitectónica actual, sabemos quem foram os nossos professores na faculdade, sabemos o contexto histórico, político e social em que a arquitectura se desenvolveu em Portugal ao longo dos últimos anos.
A cultura de "resistência" que a caracteriza é sintoma de teimosia. E ao mesmo tempo, de comodidade. No entanto, esquecemo-nos que a arquitectura move-se - hoje - em terrenos muito mais amplos que a simples arte do desenho e refugiamo-nos invariavelmente na pureza de uma ética que parece ser só nossa, de uma moral académica que se perdura no tempo e consequentemente, no espaço.
A finura de um traço, a insistência neste e naquele detalhe, a repetição de gestos e gostos sao valores que adquirimos desde o primeiro momento. Por mim falo, mas genericamente o constato.
Desenhar em Lisboa parece ser sinónimo de exorcização de fantasmas alheios ou de condutas dissonantes, embora já tenha a voz gasta, pouca memória e surdez própria de pessoa idosa. Nao tem arriscado escrever diferente e nao parece querer aproveitar o cansaço da velha idade para se alimentar com novas ideias e novas formas de pensar a disciplina.
Para desenhar Lisboa de uma forma mais complexa e menos previsivel (mais interessante, portanto) o discurso tem que ser multidisciplinar, culturalmente diversificado e crítico.
A artesania que ainda caracteriza o pensamento e acção do arquitecto em Lisboa tem que dar lugar a uma densa e apertada rede cultural que obrigue a sociedade a evoluir e que nos obrigue a assumir a arquitectura nao como um símbolo da resistência, mas como uma simples e muito interessante forma de comunicarmos uns com os outros.
Cedric Price disse um dia que "o diálogo será talvez a única excusa ou razão de ser da arquitectura." E dentro desta prespectiva, registe-se que muita da (admirada) arquitectura produzida em Portugal é muda, intrínseca e inabalavelmente muda...

A realidade de Caracas é outra. Aqui, a arquitectura nao tem nome, exceptuando honrosos casos...

Na capital venezuelana, reino bolivariano e chavista, metade da população, cerca de 3 milhões de pessoas, vive em assentamentos apelidados de informais, ou seja, áreas essencialmente urbanas sem qualquer tipo de planeamento ou legislação que as abranja. É nesses espaços que crescem as chabolas, os barrios, as favelas...

A imagem urbana gerada por esse facto tem tanto de assustador como de poético. Assustador porque é impossivel dissociar a imagem do seu conteúdo real, ou seja, é impossivel separar o significado do significante, e poético porque a intensidade dramática e o contraste entre a teia de aranha desses asssentamentos e a cidade formal é das imagens mais poderosas que o Homem, ao longo do tempo e no seu conjunto, foi capaz de criar (involuntariamente?!) até hoje.
Os assentamentos informais tornaram-se, quer queiramos quer nao, numa situação normal, do dia-a-dia, num dado concreto que nao adianta menosprezar ou ignorar.
As ferramentas utilizadas para lidar com esse facto prendem-se mais com a arte política, cultural e social que propriamente com a arte do desenho. Por razões mais ou menos fáceis de entender (nao me vou alongar sobre elas), o design aqui é a última etapa de um longo processo.
Em complexos espaços urbanos, onde o uso, significado e pertença sao debatidos e contestados permanentemente, nao adianta aos arquitectos proporem soluções radicais, com cheiro a "tabula rasa". Há que admitir que, em certos casos, há problemas sociais que nao requerem soluções espaciais. E há que ter coragem para assumir que pode haver aspectos do foro social e político que ajudem a resolver determinados problemas espaciais...
O entendimento deste facto obriga o arquitecto a ser outra coisa muito antes de ser arquitecto. Obriga-o a ser um activista social e politico, com uma visão muito clara dos problemas da sociedade e da cidade em seu redor. Tem que partir de si a identificação dos problemas, o estudo de possíveis soluções, a mediação com os diversos agentes e, em última instância, a autoria da proposta arquitectónica.
As palavras de Cedric Price poder-se-iam aplicar aqui de novo, e desta vez com um registo bem diferente...

Ambas as visões que acabo de descrever constatam realidades e maneiras de encarar a arquitectura - por parte dos seus próprios profissionais - de forma completamente distinta. Enquanto a arquitectura portuguesa assenta em bases já sedimentadas pelo tempo (e comprovadas espacialmente), a realidade caraquenha (ou de qualquer outro assentamento urbano "informal") apresenta demasiada instabilidade para poder ser lida de forma genérica e abrangente.

A análise da primeira é tautológica. A da segunda, é pontual, pessoal e muito específica.
No primeiro caso, e embora alguma coisa pareça estar a melhorar (aguardo, por exemplo, com alguma expectativa o texto introdutório do Pedro Gadanho no seu Habitar Portugal 2006-08, que promete ser, segundo o próprio, a prova do início de um more exhilarating scenario…) é inevitável continuar a ler e a sentir o peso das contradições que a vai sustentando. Ou seja, quando o discurso (que tem a mesma idade que a democracia) nao bate certo com a prática... A inocência e depuração evocada (renderizada ou maquetizada) em qualquer projecto ou encomenda privada desenhada em Lisboa nao revela consequência com a moral social e localmente enraizada proferida em qualquer discurso ou lida em qualquer memória projectual.
Ao invés, no segundo caso, a especificidade teórica e a realidade social/politica está de tal forma presente que se parecem sustentar a si próprias, relegando o design para uma fase posterior, talvez secundária, e a prática (a obra) para uma consequência de um sem fim de lutas e tomadas de decisões mais que complexas, extremamente desgastantes.

Em ambos os casos, a arquitectura revela-se incompleta, amparada pelo seu próprio peso e á espera de oportunidades (e vontades) que temos tardado em procurar. A riqueza de uma tem sido a lacuna da outra… Será que se pode aprender algo com isto?

A10#29 - Social Space, Bilbao

2009-09-23T12:22:00.000-07:00

Galindez Enbankment (see also #22), 2009
Architect: ACXT
Info: www.acxt.es
Photos: Aitor Ortiz

Social Space

The second phase of the construction of the Galindez Enbankment in Bilbao has just reached its end.
After the first phase (see A10#22) it was already possible to talk about the project’s capacity to create social spaces for the people of Bilbao; now that is fully completed we check on its socially-oriented approach and its aesthetic.
There is clear continuity between first and second phases. Throughout, the main objective has been the consolidation and rehabilitation of a severely degraded rocky embankment and all the elements and spaces obey the logic of the triangular topography. The only major change is the introduction of a new material: a gold-coloured metal sheeting that gives a “shiny movement” to the project as a whole and emphasizes the artificial/natural duality.
Another aspect now thrown into relief is the huge scale of the intervention. The embankment, which previously served as a real physical boundary to the post-war residential district further up the hill, has now been fully regenerated as an open and attractive place where the habitants are free to walk, run, play, linger and live.
One of the goals of this second phase is undoubtedly aesthetic, not only because of the introduction of the new material but also because of the new views and perspectives that have been opened up. It is clear that this design has made an effort to respond to the needs of the citizens of Bilbao.

A10#28 - AIC, Bilbao

2009-09-20T15:33:00.000-07:00

AIC _ Automotive Intelligence Centre, 2009
Architect: Javier Pérez Uribarri + Xabier Aparicio Ortega (ACXT Architects)
Info: www.acxt.es
Photos: Aitor Ortiz

Speed Metal

The Automotive Intelligence Centre (AIC) is a publicly/privately managed institutional complex that attempts to bring together in the same space a number of different R&D&I companies associated with the automotive sector. It is located on the Boroa Technology Park (Vizcaya) and is eminently industrial in nature, based on principles that reveal a clearly functionalist ideology.
The complex is divided into three buildings. Two of these are used for development units (blocks) with laboratories and small production workshops and the third (the main one) houses the research units of a number of different companies, laboratories for common projects and the entire social part of the complex: auditorium, training rooms, rooms for cooperation projects with universities and management offices (placed above the entrance, at the head of the complex). Nevertheless, the building as a whole has a rather unitary appearance, thanks to a large silver-plated roof with aerodynamic shapes inspired by racing car prototypes.
Due to the location and the topography of the place (a flat-bottomed valley) and the low height of the constructed volume (urban development regulations), this roof is visible from its nearest surroundings. In this way, and in order to obtain the intended image of continuity and uniformity, it was important to incorporate successfully all the equipment and machine rooms inside the complex. To achieve this, central patios were used with access from the first floor (on which the offices are located) as well as others at the foot of the main façade which can be accessed from the ground floor (laboratories) and are protected by a green fold in the terrain.
The powerful external image of the complex, in which the only materials used were silver-plated sheet metal (kal-zip assembly system) and glass, are reflected in a logical manner in the interior, especially in the large central street that crosses the entire space. Cold, prefabricated materials, when applied in a systematic manner and allied in each case with small details of comfort, are capable of creating environments of high architectural and sensorial quality.

A10 Annual 2008/09 - The architectural triumph of post-industrial Bilbao

2009-07-27T08:35:00.000-07:00

Bilbao is the visible head of the entire group of populations among the Basque Country that, during the last twenty years, have been largely growing concerning their urban, environmental and architectural qualities. This is not only due to political decisions and actions that may have occurred during this short period of time, because since quite early – probably since its foundation in the year 1300 – the city of Bilbao has tried to gather conditions to develop as an economically and culturally strong and skilled region.

Its geographical location is one first aspect to highlight: the city was established right where the Nervíon river – that springs from sixty kilometres south – s no longer sailable to any larger ship, just twelve km from the coast. This fact helps to guess which economic activity people there would dedicate themselves to for centuries – the maritime commerce.

As time went by, and with the reinforcement of the maritime activity, Bilbao (and the whole province of Biscay) revealed itself, during the 19th and the 20th centuries, as one of the major industrial and seaport areas of Europe. The dynamism of its mining and siderurgic industries and naval construction were proportionate to its population in times of real wealth and abundance.

However, the golden times allowed by the industrial revolution quickly ended. The 1980s brought crisis and affected the all-powerful industrial corporations of the region. The estuary itself, the major partner over hundreds of years, decided to “get revenge” from the continued exploitation to which it was subjected and went over the land, destroying everything in passing. This natural catastrophe, along with the serious crisis felt in 1983 (year of the tragedy), resulted in an intense search for alternatives.

This forced change was seen as a unique opportunity by the ambitious Basque responsible politicians. The concept of urbanity won, during these years, strength never dreamt before. The town that lived with its back turned to the estuary until those days decided to embrace a huge project: to conquer the dirty and insalubrious ground that the naval industry had abandoned and transform it into a dignified space of urban living. It was time to rebuild the city and radically change its image.

It was with that purpose that, in 1987, the Town Hall of Bilbao, after having drawn the first General Plan of Urban Ordination, decided to create an entity able to impel the development in these new areas of interest. A company of public capital was then formed, Bilbao Ria 2000 (Bilbao Estuary 2000), a major character of the urban revolution seen in the last 20 years. The shareholders of this company, being exclusively public entities – the Spanish State represented by the Society of Promotion and Soil Equipment, the Bilbao Port, the Basque Railway, several Basque Administrations, such as the Basque Government, the Court Deputy of the Biscay Province and the Town Halls of Bilbao and Barakaldo – and, therefore, without any interest or theoretical economic profit, allowed and continue to enable an uninterrupted investment, powered by the incessant game of buying and selling. It is also important to highlight the support given by the European Union to this program; currently about ten percent of the fundraising for Bilbao Ria 2000 comes from Brussels.

Spain had just been accepted to the European Union (1986) and Bilbao, historical and politically turned to Europe, to the detriment of the capital’s centralist sovereignty, tries immediately and in parallel to catch the train of modernisation.

The Plan’s “touchstone”

“To recover degradated zones or industrial declining areas of the metropolitan Bilbao, contributing to a balanced development and as improvement on the urban cohesion” was the challenge then. Bilbao Ria 2000 is responsible for coordinating and executing these tasks “that integrate urbanism, transportation and environment”. The aim is very specific and it is well defined: to create “sidewalks, new neighbourhoods and business areas where high quality architecture is presented as one of the key factors of this renovation”. [1]

These will be the theoretical groundwork to understand the intentions of such an entity, but, in practice, how did this thesis sustained itself and “rebuilt” the future of this city and region?

Ten years after the creation of this plan the building it is said to have changed everything in the way cities are thought and planned was inaugurated. The Guggenheim Museum of Bilbao largely divulged, discussed and perverted, was, without a doubt, the “touchstone” that was lacking to start considering the plan one to be studied everywhere, with multiple awards, distinctions and public rewards - proper honours of an urban project of high quality and efficiency. Only one building, a titanium lined masterpiece, has managed to put on the map a city that was going through its biggest crisis ever. And perhaps of that so, the success has been so great…

Two aspects entirely connected to the Guggenheim are, from my point of view, essential to understand what goes on in the city of Bilbao nowadays. The first one has to do with the need (but also with its adjacent high risk…) of drawing the attention to the capacity of a project – Bilbao Ria 2000 – and to its implied ambition. The public entities involved in the whole process understood, since the beginning, the urgent need to draw as much as possible, the attention of everyone, from the habitants to possible tourists, including the media. The plan would only be accepted and embraced if there was a first practical example of undeniable value and quality and would only work if the investment was capable of creating a new investment; that is, if it was able to support itself economically.

A second crucial aspect is related to the choice of locating the building which final decision was given to Frank Ghery. Apparently irrelevant to the situation, the truth is that the relative and spatial location of the Museum is of extreme importance to establish a boundary and, simultaneously, a connection between old and new Bilbao, between the consolidated city and the one that is appearing.

Several times, this project has been viewed as out of context… But, if we are able to see the building as a piece of an enormous puzzle and if we take a look to the city as an amalgam of unrepeated events, we shall easily understand that the physical starting point for the renewal and expansion of the city could only be that one; the place where everything started, the ultimate sailable part of the Nervíon River.

Gehry was not only asked for a building; he was asked to understand the borderline between an industrial past and a future of services and cultural offer; he was demanded the capacity to, with only one gesture, manage to convince a society that betting on urban, architectural and environmental quality was the way out of the crisis that was devastating them. And Gehry made us understand (as Heidegger so insisted half of a century ago) that “…a boundary is not that at which something stops but, as the Greeks recognized, the boundary is that from which something begins its essential unfolding”.[2]

Managing the success

The task that followed was the most unpredictable of all that the responsible ones were faced until today: to control the euphoria generated around the most emblematical building of the second half of the 20th century without losing sight of the essential goal of the plan.

In order to do so, it was important to work two aspects complementarily: if on one hand it was necessary to continue the efforts to grow the internationalization of the city, of its culture and people, through strategical partnerships connected to cultural tourism, on the other hand, it was urgent to begin introducing significant improvements in the mobility system – fundamental concept of the current societies and essential paradigm of our time. But if the first aspect was thought to have medium/long term effects, the second one was considered to produce immediate and profound effects.

In the last 15 years, a great part of the underground outline of Bilbao was conceived and executed (one of the first interventions of Norman Foster on Spanish territory [3] and that currently holds 36 stations functioning, five being built and a range of about 12 km); it was implemented the surface tube, a common tramcar, that permits an easier circulation inside of the town; and nowadays the whole heavy industrial inherited railway structure is being modernized (it is even foreseen the burying of every urban railway, in order to minimize the visual and environmental impact caused by them). The new airport inaugurated in the year 2000, a work of the architect Santiago Calatrava, is another symbol of this revolution.

These improvements in mobility that answered, mainly, the needs of the inhabitants, allow now to, step by step, attract to Bilbao not only the tourists that travel curious of taking their picture next to the Guggenheim, but also the ones that know that the region has something else to offer, including architecture...

Expanding the “recipe”: the star system architects

The first stage of the process seems now concluded: the strategic plan was approved by the civil society, thanks to the international success of Gehry’s Museum and to the efficacy and modernization of collective transportation; and the investment seems not to give in to the economical/financial crisis that is rising at the moment across Spain, thanks to the autonomy of the Bilbao Ria 2000 society.

These are, without any doubt, the factors that continue to allow, nowadays, the expansion of this project: a strategic based planning, a continued investment independent from political bureaucracy and a conscious and flexible management of the same plan.

And, in fact, through these same organizational principles, we have been observing in Bilbao a true urban and architectural crusade. The town is now placed in a second phase of development, in which nothing escapes from an attentive analysis and everything can be a target of transformation and improvement.

A similar situation can be found in Europe, for example in Hamburg, in Germany, which through a project named Hafencity (www.hafencity.com) an increase of the useful space in the centre of the city, around 40% is foreseen, thanks to a public/private investment around 6 billion Euros. There as here in Bilbao, the great majority of the land belongs to the city hall, which permits an initial management quite easily. What comes after follows the common philosophy of great investments: the town hall gives in the lands to private entities which will be responsible for springing up the change.

Several fronts are fought simultaneously and some big names of the architectural star system are hired:
In the area of Abandoibarra (in front of the urban river, by the Guggenheim) there are several luxury buildings being constructed, an 150 metres high tower drawn by César Pelli, the new library (designed by Rafael Moneo) and the new head office (designed by Álvaro Siza Vieira) of the University of Basque Country (UPV).
Plans for Bolueta (south neighbourhood of the town) are being made; Barakaldo (town placed 6km north of Bilbao) is transformed through the new Congress Centre (BEC), new public places are created, a new football stadium designed by the architect Eduardo Arroyo (NoMad) and a wide residential pole is being thought.
A revolution is being prepared for the Zorrozaurre Island (which used to be a peninsula...) thanks to a fearless master plan, designed by Zaha Hahid (whose train station of Durango – small town in the surroundings of Bilbao – is already being constructed).
A new football stadium – 5stars by UEFA – of the Athletic Club of Bilbao, a project of the local studio ACXT is being designed, as well as the first work on the new island, a private hospital (IMQ) by the Catalan architect Carlos Ferrater.
Squares are remodelled (Zabalburu) and degradated zones are improved (Galindez and Ametzola). Constructions are built where the space used to be empty (Miribilla) changes are made (Department of Sanity of the Basque Government) and what already existed is amplified (Court Library of Biscay).
The city, previously a permanent naval dock, is today a big dockyard of high relief architectural works, of unpredictable duration but with an astonishing impact.

The popularity of architecture and the small architecture studios

This search, apparently incessant, of known architects with given proves to work in the region will allow us to conclude that, even though this investment is only possible thanks to the careful planning and management carried by Bilbao Ria 2000 , the persistence on the same generates a controversial effect without an end. The popular character that the architecture has gained in the last years, concerning the public opinion and the non-specialized media, creates an unbearable anxiety on the responsible people. It’s the other side of the coin of the called Guggenheim effect. It is not only about searching for quality; it is also about electing the ones that are known by the great public.

And not few times we see that such bets are not always the best, because they lack a specialized critical voice. Many of these referred projects were attributed directly; that is, without a previous contest. This leads to an unfair competition between the ones at the top and the ones who are half of the way. Mentioning this, I do not intend to underline the wickedness of the system. I intend to highlight a fact that, from my point of view, is extremely important and should be taken into account: as bigger the competitiveness and the concurrence, as greater the chance of success of the winner project; that is, any project is always better when compared and confronted with others…

To begin with, the most affected by this popular wave of architecture will be the ones who don’t have a granted place in the media that means the small studios. And, in fact, that’s what occurs the majority of the times. However, in this region, the credibility of architecture is so vigorous that even the smaller studios have been favoured by this stream. I have happily checked that numerous works of great architectural value are produced by local studios that, until now, didn’t have any kind of international-levelled expression – sometimes through public contests (that are still in a great number, even if only to smaller dimension works), other times, through private ordering. They all have a clear idea of this matter: opportunities have been coming along and now they are taking profits from this global investment in architecture in the city but, at the same time, they don’t want to restrict themselves to some physical boundaries and remain “local” - they do intend to diversify their work. If, on one hand, they want to try to “clean” the system, not to be injured by it, on the other, they don’t want to exclude themselves at the beginning. It’s a game worthy to be played and largely divulged by the qualified and specialized critic.

Even though the Guggenheim – without any doubt the first highlighted element of Bilbao Ria 2000 and whose success led to the development of a second stage of the plan – Architecture and Urbanism have never been used as an innovation engine, a touristic appeal and a way to promote a city and a region, as it is today, by this society. Buildings, parks, bridges that “regenerate” the town are multiplying, and it is this global picture that attracts and draws people’s attention. If not for this, how could we understand the announcing of the second Guggenheim Museum in the province of Biscay, only about 40 km from the original one? [4]

[1] www.bilbaoria2000.org
[2] Heidegger in “Building, Dwelling, Thinking” (originally published in 1951)
[3] The British architect was the responsible for the group of tube stations only in the Bilbao’s City Hall.
[4] This new building, announced in September 2008, by the Guggenheim Foundation and by the Court Deputy of Biscay, should be placed near the natural reserve of Urdaibai. It will be given an initial investment of 100 million Euros by the Basque entity and the responsible architect will be known through an invitational contest.

2009-07-26T11:57:00.000-07:00

“Os arquitectos sorriem ao ver a sua obra acabada. Mas sabendo que os arquitectos têm bastante pouco sentido de humor, o que os faz sorrir…?
Sorriem, por acaso, pela agradável sensação de terem conseguido a sincronia das suas obras com a racionalidade do mundo; pela naturalidade com que as suas pequenas construções se incorporam no marco criado pelo Construtor do Mundo? Ou, pelo contrário, riem-se do artificial dos seus actos, do absurdo daquilo que nos rodeia, das suas pequenas obras que se incorporam no caos já existente? Sorriem, vaidosamente, ao sentirem-se possuidores de uma verdade que, pensam, outros desconhecem? Ou sorriem com o cinismo daquele que já sabe que tudo é inútil e que todas as pedras deste templo que foi construído cairão inexoravelmente?
Sorriem, os arquitectos, como anjos ou como anjos caídos?”
(Mansilla+Tuñon, 2G nº27, 2004)

ARQUITECTURA, FILOSOFIA E ARTE
Breves notas para uma redefinição da noção de cultura arquitectónica

Qualquer semelhança entre a esquematização deste texto e a prática processual arquitectónica não será pura coincidência.

Contexto

A Mente. A ciência. da Arte.
B. Construir. Matéria.
Futuro? A liberdade!
Abnegação? Interrogação! Tudo!
Livros. Cheiros…
M. Pensamento. A… Ilusão. Não!
Espaço. Aberto. Sentimento. Emoção…
Vida!!

A Babilónia. A de todos os dias.
O atractivo mundo físico e a vontade de ver como cresce aquilo que cresce.
Porque cresce? Como se produz o seu crescimento?
O efeito borboleta.
O eterno ciclo de tudo. As influências e o devir. Deleuze e a sociedade contraditória do sujeito de mobilidade coerciva.
3 Leis da Física (ou: sobre a dinâmica das coisas)
1_ Não podes ganhar o jogo. 2_ Não podes empatar o jogo. 3_ Não podes sair do jogo.

Conceito

“As ciências que têm que ver com o cérebro e com a mente não se podem separar das preocupações filosóficas… Quem se interessa pela condição humana é um grande filósofo.”
(António Damásio, em entrevista a El País Semanal de 11Nov.2007)

Partindo da definição de filosofia como uma actividade intelectual que pensa e questiona tudo aquilo que nos rodeia, importará realçar que qualquer actividade humana, e saliente-se aqui a palavra qualquer, transporta consigo um pensamento, uma consciência e uma vontade que nos identifica e que é a essência da nossa visão sobre o Mundo. Ter a consciência da necessidade de possuir uma visão “consciente” sobre as coisas (a arte só é arte quando é reflexo de um pensamento consciente e racional; pelo menos, desde Duchamp…) é condição indispensável no trabalho do arquitecto. De facto, só se poderá agir de forma plausível com a realidade exterior se possuirmos, no momento da acção, uma clara e desperta “intencionalidade na vontade.” (1)
Trata-se de um jogo de aparentes opostos:
Questionar…

“A interrogação é como uma faca que rasga a tela para se ver o que está por detrás.”
(Milan Kundera, "A insustentável leveza do ser")

…para poder, por temporários momentos, retirar pequenas mas saudáveis e necessárias conclusões (simples construções pessoais do Mundo).

? → !

Espaço + Matéria

A arquitectura admite o mesmo tipo de jogo simbólico no que concerne à sua linguagem específica. Avaliando os conceitos espaço e matéria de forma simples e imediata será fácil entender que quando nos referimos ao primeiro falamos de tudo aquilo que não é palpável, que não é cheio, que não é massa – é vazio; e que quando nos referimos ao segundo falamos exactamente dessas coisas: do palpável, do cheio, da massa – do construído. Os dois juntos dão forma física ao Mundo; tê-las em linha de conta de forma autónoma seria admitir que a vida humana não poderá ter sentido tal como a conhecemos e/ou concebemos, pois ou tudo estaria deserto ou tudo seria um turbulento caos urbano (em muitos sítios é, de facto, esse o seu aspecto físico, mas seremos nós capazes de imaginar uma generalização de algum de estes dois estados…?). São estes portanto, mais dois termos antagónicos que dependem, invariavelmente, um do outro.
Se analisarmos, porém, estes mesmos termos de um ponto de vista mais amplo, num plano onde a filosofia e a arte se chegam a tocar, tentaríamos estabelecer certamente alguns outros paralelismos e comparações. Poderíamos considerar, porventura, a matéria como algo pertencente a nós mesmos, ao ser humano, e ao que de mais valioso ele possui: o seu cérebro. Deixaríamos nesse instante de nos referirmos apenas ao meramente físico (produto humano) mas estaríamos a entrar num campo muito mais volátil e disperso (o nosso interior cerebral e suas infindáveis capacidades imaginativas). Desse ponto de vista seria então fácil fazer corresponder a matéria á zona mais espessa do cérebro e que é, simultaneamente, a maior responsável pelo processamento de toda a informação que a ele vai chegando: a massa cinzenta. Esta massa, ao conferir e instruir a informação recebida, está a dar forma, peso e consistência a essa mesma informação, está a materializar um sem número de dados e a torná-los legíveis e eficazes para a nossa própria existência – está a torná-los significantes. A este mecanismo atribuímos comummente o nome de racionalização.
Para a compreensão do nosso sistema cerebral não é suficiente, porém, analisar o processo que consegue transformar as informações; é preciso inteirarmo-nos de onde vem essa informação, ou melhor, como é que nasce esse dado informativo. E é através da junção das respostas a estas duas perguntas (Como é que nasce? Como se transforma?) que conseguiremos, nesta analogia concreta, justificar o nosso momentâneo afastamento disciplinar.
Um dos grandes logros do neurocientífico António Damásio (com quem iniciei atrás uma das partes deste texto) foi exactamente ter conseguido mostrar o papel central da outra parte do cérebro a que nos estamos agora a referir: a emoção. Através dos seus estudos na área da inteligência emocional, para além de demonstrar que não é possível a acção humana sem a existência de uma simbiose entre estes dois elementos (independentemente da profundidade ou leveza que possam adquirir), reiterou afincadamente a ideia de que qualquer processo (de novo a insistência na palavra qualquer…) tem início através de uma dada emoção e é a partir da informação que ela (emoção!) possa ou não conter que se poderá atingir um nível diferente, para não dizer superior, de conhecimento, quando tal informação for processada na parte racional do cérebro. No entanto, quando isso se verifica, a emoção primária não é eliminada, apenas se transforma/desenvolve para um estado mais elevado de consciência. O dado a reter é então este: não é possível actuar sem que a emoção não interfira num qualquer processo de racionalização, pois são elas que dão inicio a esses processos.
Ora, esta sensibilidade emocional do nosso cérebro é, vistas assim as coisas, de extrema relevância operativa, pois poderá ajudar a entender determinadas posturas, atitudes, formas de ser e de actuar do ser humano e, para o que a este artigo diz respeito, ser alicerce da redefinição da noção de cultura arquitectónica que aqui proporei.
Retomemos a questão inicial da passagem simbólica da reflexão sobre a forma física para a forma mental humana. Porque ainda não está esclarecido o papel do espaço sob esta nova perspectiva. Baseando-me naquilo que acabou de ser dito, poderei explicitar de uma forma menos intrincada aquilo que acabo de constatar…
O espaço, em termos físicos, é, como referi atrás, sinónimo de vazio. Em arquitectura confundimo-lo, muitas vezes, com a noção de lugar. Em outras ocasiões atribuímos-lhe variadas denominações: falamos em zero, mencionamos o nada. Normalmente, para distinguir entre umas e outras recorremos a imagens: evocamos o deserto, o cosmos infinito, a imensidão do buraco negro... etc. Porém, a dificuldade revela-se quando não conseguimos traduzir em imagens aquilo a que nos queremos referir. Quando não conseguimos materializar o… nada.
Nestas situações, criamos, invariavelmente, metáforas e alegorias. Mas esse é o papel da nossa racionalidade... transformar (dar forma) a conceitos abstractos, que chegam ao nosso cérebro em forma de sensações. Dou como exemplo a existência de uma enorme quantidade de palavras (que usamos diariamente) que, embora tenham o seu concreto significado teórico, na prática, no real palpável, não têm tradução. Foram metaforicamente criadas pela racionalidade humana para explicitar uma dada sensação ou emoção. Enquanto que a razão trabalha sobre algo já adquirido mentalmente, a emoção parte directamente da realidade exterior. Esta é a sua grande responsabilidade e, ao mesmo tempo, sua grande prédica. Não afirmo que as emoções partam do nada ou do vazio para se criarem…, afirmo sim que são elas as primeiras responsáveis pelo contacto do Homem com o Mundo/Natureza ao seu redor. De que forma poderíamos interpretar isto do ponto de vista da prática da arquitectura? Terá sentido esta anunciada relação entre o espaço físico e as emoções humanas?

Futuro (ou Obra)

Interpretar estas relações de uma forma directamente consequencial para a arquitectura seria extremar uma posição cujas bases são já de si bastante discutíveis. Ao fazê-lo estaríamos a centrar o discurso num campo abertamente filosófico (e, diga-se, de influências existencialistas…) que nos renegaria do papel prático da questão.

Dessa forma, o que me interessa, como arquitecto, realçar e concretar é:

1_ O importante papel das emoções no primeiro contacto com a realidade exterior sobre a qual iremos trabalhar. A tendência do Homem moderno em ver a razao como algo superior á emoçao é um dado cada vez mais questionável. Acredito que só sobreviveremos neste mundo global se conseguirmos entender o valor deste segundo aspecto e a importância moral que ele possui.

2_ O valor metafórico que adquire o espaço = vazio como elemento estrutural do conceito e forma arquitectónica. A imagem que idealizo é uma escultura de Eduardo Chillida. O espaço – tido como elemento estructural de um projecto de arquitectura – é utilizado, por este escultor espanhol, como elemento central da vida. Ou seja: espaço = vazio = vida!

3_ A importância de equilibrar as diferentes fases do processo de arquitectura. Tendo em conta as primeiras percepções espaciais (e sabendo que iremos (re)formar através da matéria), tentar perceber, caso a caso, qual deve ser a nossa aposta qualitativa. Este tempo inicial de qualquer projecto adquire um valor incalculável... Ainda que corra o risco de ser excessivo, direi mesmo que sem um conceito inicial forte nao se faz hoje um projecto de arquitectura válido.

4_ A necessidade de possuir – antemão – alguns valores interiorizados (ainda que estejam no nosso subconsciente), pois serão eles que irão Ver e Sentir a realidade exterior. A esses valores denomino de Cultura e Educação.

(1) Esta expressão é recorrentemente utilizada por Manuel Sérgio em “Para um novo paradigma do saber… e do ser”. Ariadne Editora. Coimbra, 2005.

A10#27 - Church, Bilbao

2009-07-21T11:34:00.000-07:00

Church, Bilbao, 2008

Architect: IMB Architects

Info: imb@euskalnet.net

Photos: Luisán Garcia

From the urban and cultural viewpoint, churches are, as they have always been, one of the main symbols of power, influence and representativeness of a people. The connotations of expression and symbolism of religious practice have remained intact over the centuries and today, as before, designing a church is a challenge to which many architects aspire. And this aspiration is based on the fact that this requires the fulfilment of a dual premise: the need to meet the requirements of a programme and respond to the demands of a client (as is the case of any project) and to successfully materialise something which is intangible and personal: faith and beliefs.
In the residential district of Miribilla, to the south of Bilbao, the church is not located in a central position within the urban grid nor does it have the presence of a Gothic cathedral. But, just like any other church, its shape and expression must allow it to be identified unequivocally within the urban landscape. The challenge presented two years ago by the Bilbao diocese to the Bizkaia-based architects Gloria Iriarte, Eduardo Mugica and Agustin de la Brena (IMB Arquitectos), was imbued with that necessary and appropriate spirit of austerity and presence.
The most determining aspects of the project where the shape, topography and orientation of the site. Almost all the fundamental concepts of the design have been conceived in accordance with these precepts.
The most visible point of the location is the vertex formed by the crossing of the two main thoroughfares that run along the edge of the site. Almost all the spaces of the project have been laid out around that point, fundamentally by the obligatory orientation of a church in which the entrance has to be placed to the west and the altar at the eastern end. Due to the existing perspectives and downward sloping topography, the elevation of the building at that point allowed the building to occupy a prominent place within the existing outline of the surrounding buildings. That singular element has been materialised in a glass prism, supported by a light metal structure.
Another aspect in which that element plays a crucial role is in the entrance of light into the interior space, even into the underground floors. By causing a fissure in the volume that formally defines the site, this prism takes on the role of the essential distributor of light by flooding the main space of worship (on the ground floor) with horizontal light and by allowing the illumination of the parish offices (on floor - 1) with vertical light.
Inversely, the artificial light of the building interior illuminates the glass prism diffusely, helping to express the image of the church towards the exterior and in particular towards the main avenue of the district, located to the south-west. The different colours and geometries of the glass panes are a three-dimensional interpretation of traditional cut-glass windows and reflect the optimism of the architects in their materialisation of the liturgical character of the church.
An identical arrangement has been made on the northern side of the building. By taking advantage of the courtyard created in order to illuminate a number of the parish offices, the horizontal cross has been generated with the help of artificial light from the interior, strengthening the function and character of this building from the exterior.
The distribution of the programme also reflects the shape and topography of the site. The main entrance, situated at the highest elevation, communicates immediately with the place of worship. From this elevation, access is provided by a flight of stairs to floor -1, which contains a number of parish offices, and to floor -2, on which a car park with access from the lowest elevation of the terrain, is laid out. The intermediate elevation coincides with the elevation of the most visible vertex of the site, for which it has been possible to create a direct entrance (which is also used as an emergency exit) to floor -1.
Over recent years, IMB architects have brought a number of high-profile buildings to a successful conclusion in Bizkaia, such as the Provincial Library (2007), the Ametzola Station and Elevators (2008) and the extension of Bilbao City Hall (in progress), with which they took part at the last Venice Biennial. Nevertheless, the positive manner in which they have developed this project should be highlighted. Their meticulous work both on the design of the layout and in the volumetric definition, has produced coherent results at an urban scale and the creation of a warm but intense internal space.

A10#26 - Science Park, Granada

2009-07-21T11:22:00.000-07:00

Science Park, Granada, 2003-2008
Architect: Ferrater + Jimenez Brasa Architects
Info: www.ferrater.com; www.jimenezbrasa.com
Photos: Aleix Bagué

The Parque de las Ciencias is the result of a competition held in 2003 that was won by architect Carlos Ferrater in conjunction with Jimenez Brasa Arquitectos. The programme required the creation of almost 50.000 m2 of exhibition and educational spaces dedicated to science. The location of the site was a primary consideration in establishing the premises of the project and for the subsequent development of the proposal. Located on the banks of the River Genil and on the outer limits of the more consolidated part of the city, the building interacts, through the different orientations and heights of the various parts of its roof and skylights, with the Sierra Nevada mountain range that surrounds Granada. Great care was required when designing the sections, as this was the only way of controlling with some degree of precision the innumerable variations in the planes of the roof.

A second way in which the surroundings influenced the design is evident in the ground floor layout. The formally independent volumes containing the various elements of the programme are connected by internal streets that are a clear, physical extension of the exterior. These internal streets are a valuable “in-between” space. They mediate between the exterior (public thoroughfare) and the interior (private spaces) and at the same time they separate the various exhibition and educational rooms.
In response to the programmatic requirements, the architects decided on a low, two-storey building. To prevent this marked horizontality from turning the building into something massive and monumental, it was then broken up into independent volumes. The resulting fragmented geometry together with the scale make any formal reading of the entire building almost impossible – a desirable effect in this case.
The material used for facades and roofs is the same throughout: white fibreglass-reinforced concrete panels supported galvanised steel profile structure. This uniform materiality neutralizes the fragmented geometry and gives the building a unified and coherent appearance.
A similar coherence can be found inside the building. Light, which enters from the skylights, and the wood used to line the walls of the different rooms, are warm ‘materials’ that complement the sophisticated geometry of the building to form a cohesive ensemble. The polished concrete floors and plasterboard false ceilings reinforce this sense of visual continuity.
The interplay of geometry, context and materials is the most interesting aspect of this project and a good reflection of the theories and work of Carlos Ferrater. In this and other projects, such as the recently completed Edificio Mediapro or the pioneering Jardín Botánico (both in Barcelona), Ferrater has successfully explored today's fragmented metropolises, extracting from this analysis the basic rules for the conception and construction of his own buildings.

A10#25 - Architects Bank, Bilbao

2009-07-21T09:36:00.000-07:00

Caja de Arquitectos Office, 2008
Architect: Eduardo Arroyo (NoMAD Architects)
Info: www.nomad.as
Photos: Miguel de Guzmán

Any bank entity we might know presents an undeniable physical tendency: all of them require a clear separation between the public area and the private work places. On this fact was centered almost the entire conceptual effort of the NOMAD project for the bank of the Spanish Architects Association – the financial institution of the Spanish Architects known as Arquia - in Bilbao.
As any other bank, is located on a ground floor of an existing building. The entire program, instead, was organized in two levels: the public area and the main offices are located in the ground main floor and the more private spaces, like a meeting room, some file rooms, a coffee room, the toilets and some storage, are situated on the basement floor.
On the main floor the separation between clients and workers is made by a borosilicate glass tubes vitreous wall, a material that belongs to the pharmaceutical industry and is commonly used as small rehearsal tubes in any research laboratory. Because of its convex shape it provokes an intensive visual distortion, which generates privacy and allows lightning transparency at the same time. Eduardo Arroyo – principal of NOMAD Architects – has given here a bright solution to the main problem of this project: how to allow natural light to enter the offices without giving clients an open view to these spaces… And at the same time showed that working with materials that are not specific from the architecture field can generate opportunities rather than disciplinary conflicts. The geometry of this glassy wall was determined by the position of three big isolated pillars, which were incorporated in the working spaces and hidden from the public’s view. The distinction between spaces is also enhanced by the use of different colors: black on the public area and grey in the working spaces. These two “realities” are just communicated in two points: on the public service counters and on the access to the stairs that lead us to the lower floor. These two color tones also contribute to the intense mystery that is given by materials, shapes and geometries used all over the space. Another aspect of this design is the neutral and minimalist aspect of the single front of the bank. A single opaque door flanked by two small bamboo gardens – that allow us to shyly see that there is something on a lower floor – is the only thing we can perceive from the street level. This option has to do with an idea of flexibility of spaces and its inconclusive image and also with the desire of provoking doubt and curiosity in others – a persistent aspect of NOMAD design and theory.
Aware of the architect’s growing responsibility in ‘building’ a better world, but without ever losing the academic spirit of someone who likes to experiment, this group of architects managed to acquire a relevant position in the Spanish scenery, thanks to a perspicacious way of understanding our contemporary reality. Questioning instead of accepting everything as a supreme truth is vital for the success of any project. Through the questions: What is a bank?; What is it for?; How does it work?; How should it work?; and Why does a bank have to look like a bank?; they managed to find some good answers to a programmatic and spatial problem. The metaphor of using a transparent material that does not allow us to see clear through it it’s an intelligent way of getting two problems solved at once and also a technique to create an apparent approximation between clients and bank workers.

A10#25 - A new Guggenheim in Bilbao

2009-07-20T10:20:00.000-07:00

A new Guggenheim in Bilbao: an example of economic regional investment based on the branded tourism strength

In July 2008, the Housing and Public Administration Department of the Spanish Central Government turned about 500 million Euros to the Basque Autonomous Government to finance the ‘Institutional Agreement of Economical Acceleration’; that this province had recently internally signed. This deal, viewed as necessary due to the slowing down of the economy, has as a main goal to dynamize and increase the public investment in order to accelerate the economical activity and assure new jobs. In general, the aim is to guarantee the most significant foreseen development projects in the period of 2008-2012.

About two months after signing this agreement and after the state assurance on the financing, the Regional Government of Vizcaya announced the intention to build a new Guggenheim Museum in the region. In the same communication Urdaibai, a natural park about 40 km from Bilbao, was presented as a probable site for the museum. It was referred that the responsible architect would be chosen through a restricted contest and that the initial fund available given by the Basque Government, would be of 100 million euros.

Several economical conclusions could be taken from this new investment. Tourism is, thanks to Gehry’s museum, one of the main sources of the city’s income. It needs a strong push given by the regional government, due to the complaints from the hotels’ representatives of the city, which were growing since the ‘Guggenheim effect’ had lost its initial strength. Usually, the typical tourist who visits Bilbao is the one who stays for only one night in a hotel, because the city is quite small and easy to discover on foot in just a couple of days. This is clearly one of the reasons that explain locating a new museum outside of the metropolitan town. That way, the tourist is guaranteed to remain longer in order to move from one place to another (by renting a car or buying a bus ticket), not at an urban scale, but at a regional one.

The investment could also fulfil the necessity of creating employment, as a project of this scale is able to generate jobs for hundreds of people in a short period of time. It equally works at a company level, as well as at a realtor one, due to positive expectations that are created from a possible expansion of the business and housing area. However, this high investment is only possible thanks to an indispensable ingredient: the existence of a brand recognised by all, easily marketed, profitable and with an apparently unquestionable value and quality like the Guggenheim Empire. As so, building this new museum has nothing to do with culture, art or architecture, but with an inevitable political answer to a generalized financial crisis.

Pasajes Diseño - Persuade, Bilbao

2009-07-16T15:24:00.000-07:00

Persuade: un espacio de creación y conexión
Katsura Arquitectura
Fotografía: Aitor Ortiz

En un mundo contagiado por el vértigo de la velocidad, por la demencia de la cantidad y por la exasperante falta de calidad, que bueno es saber que existen espacios donde uno se puede rever a sí mismo.

En las ciudades de hoy en día es cada vez más difícil encontrar rincones así, llenos de alma y personalidad, lugares que permiten que tu mente se separe de tu cuerpo y que veas más allá. En eses lugares regresamos, invariablemente, a los tiempos de las grandes ideologías, a los tiempos en que la palabra creación significaba arte y no comercio y en que el término conexión significaba poesía y no consumo. De hecho, parece que estamos pisando territorio casi inexistente en el siglo XXI. Pero sí, aún existe, aún es real…
Persuade - creación de Rosa Orrantia y Paúl Ziarsolo con la preciosa ayuda de los arquitectos vascos Luís Domínguez y Roberto Iparraguirre (Katsura) – es, en ese sentido, mucho más que una tienda. Es un lugar con historia (“acogió primero una ferrería y más tarde un almacén de loza, permaneciendo después adormecido, durante décadas…”), un laboratorio de ideas, una mezcla de culturas y influencias, un espacio abierto a la creación y a la busca por el sublime, a la conexión entre personas y entre ellas y su entorno. El objetivo de la propuesta arquitectónica era ese: trasmitir esa bella amalgama de tiempos sobrepuestos, al “limpiar el cuerpo del espacio, al curar sus heridas, al inundarlo de blanco y de luz y al prepararlo para acoger a los amigos”, nos confiesan Domínguez y Iparraguirre. Y adelantan: “Bueno, también ropa y muebles…”
Abierta desde 2005, a Persuade ha sido ya otorgada el prestigioso Premio a la Moda (en su 5ª edición) de la Escuela Superior Felicidad Duce (Barcelona), consagrándola, de esa forma, como una de las mejores Boutiques de España. Y es que aparte de toda esta intensidad casi teatral, mágica, imposible de describir en palabras o imagines, Persuade cuenta con piezas de ropa y muebles de los mejores diseñadores del mundo como Junya Watanabe (COMME des GARÇONS), Issey Miyake, Dries Van Noten o Bernhard Willhelm.
Imposible quedar indiferente y pasar desapercibido. Entrar en Persuade es una experiencia, una aventura, un reto... no aconsejable a personas egocéntricas y con miedo de conocerse a si mismo y a los demás y altamente recomendable a todos aquellos que comparten la idea de que la vida es para ser vivida intensamente, de forma tranquilla y de espacio… muy, muy de espacio.

A10#24 - Cultural Wood, Tarragona

2009-07-15T16:05:00.000-07:00

Cultural Wood

San Atilano’s Church Rehabilitation and Conversion, 2008
Architect: ACXT (Ana Morón, Jaime Díaz Morlán, Eduardo Aragües)
Info: www.acxt.es

The project to rehabilitate the baroque Church of San Atilano in Tarazona (Zaragoza, Spain) and convert it into to a cultural space uses wood in two different ways. Visually prominent throughout the space, wood softens the abstraction and coldness of the white lime plaster used on the walls and ceiling. It is also used to give versatility and flexibility to a space that hosts a wide variety of events – exhibitions, conferences, public presentations - and consequently requires constant spatial adjustment.
The first task facing ACXT architects was to solve the high level of humidity that had attacked the existing fabric. They did this by replacing the light coat of porous limewash with a coating of a white, dehumidifying lime plaster which helps to keep the walls dry. Their solution for the floor was to create a ventilated underfloor chamber.
The next step was to redesign the spatial distribution of furniture and circulation Movable elements were inserted, which act as limits for the services installed under the floor and also divide the space up and make it more suitable for its new role.
Another interesting aspect of this design is the way the 20 cm-wide planks of dark Iroko wood have been laid. In the entrance hall, for example, gaps in the panelling let us see what is behind, while on the ceiling the gaps allows daylight to penetrate in a strictly controlled way.
With this project – inaugurated last October – Tarazona inhabitants have gained a cultural landmark and recovered an old forgotten church.

A10#23 - Young Basques, País Basco

2009-07-15T15:39:00.000-07:00

Update: young Basques

The Basque economy is healthy! This is the main conclusion of several studies of the region and its people. Basque companies and enterprises are starting to look to Europe as an opportunity for investment and growth and a remedy for isolation.

After a period of deep crisis in the industrial sector, Bilbao, the Basque Country’s largest city regained its vitality in the early 1990s with major projects like Gehry’s Guggenheim and Foster’s Metro. Nonetheless, the effort to show Europe (and the world) that this is a good city to live in continues.
A pleasant riverside has been ‘in preparation’ since 2000 in the form of Bilbao Ria 2000. Foreign architects of the likes of Zaha Hadid, Alvaro Siza, Arata Isozaki or Cesar Pelli are being courted. But local architects still have a lot to offer, witness the six built projects presented here which are the work of nine young Basque architects currently achieving visibility and social importance. Their appearance on the Basque architectural scene deserves the attention of the specialized media and, above all, more opportunities to say what they think and to leave their mark on the region.

Etxebarria building, Bilbao (2007), IA+B architects - Iñaki Aurrekoetxea
Photos: Aitor Ortiz

Unless you are looking for it, it is very unlikely you will notice this recently finished office building. Its black and white geometric facade is not startling enough to catch the attention – not that this is necessarily a bad thing: in fact, quite the opposite.
The calm interior spaces and the central patio are the building’s main attraction. The typical floor plan has 770 m² of continuous, diaphanous space organized around the patio and the vertical circulation core. The atmosphere generated by the wrinkled texture of the patio’s green-coloured glass facade contrasts pleasantly with the black and white geometrical interior. And that is one of the best things about this design: it takes account of those who have to be there ten hours a day.
Bilbao based IA+B architects are currently working on the rehabilitation of Alhóndiga-Bilbao with Philipe Starck and also designed the 5-star Hotel Domine in collaboration with designer Javier Mariscal. (www.iab-arkitek.com)

Biodiversity interpretative museum, Busturia – Biskaia (2008), IA+B architects, Iñaki Aurrekoetxea
Photos: Aitor Ortiz

This project concerns the renovation of a 15th-century tower and a 17th-century palace and their conversion into the Urdaibai Biosphere Interpretative Museum and Biodiversity Museum. The architects’ starting point was total respect for the pre-existing buildings. Thanks to the local topography, they were able to put the entire museum programme underground. The path inside the museum begins with a big ramp that breaks up the terrain and finishes at the top of the tower, from where there are great views of the surrounding landscape. (www.iab-arkitek.com)

88 social housing units in Zabalgana, Vitoria-Gasteiz (2006), ACXT architects - Iñaki Garai + Inés López
Photos: Aitor Ortiz

The capital city of the Basque Country – Vitoria-Gasteiz – is growing rapidly. The metropolitan area has doubled in the last few years and investment in construction – especially for new housing – is still exponential. Spanish economic indicators are not what they were a couple of years ago, but every month sees new developments start in the area around the city centre.
This project is a critical exercise in planning one of these new neighbourhoods: the Zabalgana area. The masterplan proposed a typical urban layout in which each block had its own interior private space and the only public space was the front sidewalk. Architects Iñaki Garai and Inés Lopez tried to invert this logic, closing the internal facade as most as possible and opening up the street frontage. In so doing they turned this internal area into a semi-public area and have created a very ingenuous and photogenic Niemeyer-like building. (www.acxt.es)

Frontón, Atallu – Navarra (2007), Iñigo G. Odiaga and Marta A. Pastor
Photos: Aitor Ortiz

This project is located in a small town in the Navarra region. It is surrounded by mountains and the landscape is dotted with curious vernacular houses. The programme is unique to the Basque Country and Navarra: the Frontón is the place where the Basques play Pelota – a game involving a small ball and two perpendicular walls of specific dimensions.
The building consists of two volumes: the pavilion where the game will be played and an administrative block.
The architects Iñigo Odiaga and Marta Pastor are part of VAUMM – Architecture and Urbanism, a young San Sebastian team. (www.vaumm.com)

Basque government sanitation department, Bilbao (2008), Juan Coll-Barreu
Photos: Aleix Bagué

This public building is a rather controversial social piece. Even if some people dislike the way it stands out from its neighbours, it is a great example of how architects can overcome the normal constraints of building in the centre of a consolidated city.
The theme of the ‘skin’ is not new. What is surprising in this case is the fact that every single pane of glass is different. Moreover, each element of the assemblage was made by a different company and brought separately to the construction site where it was assembled by specialist craftsmen.
Coll-Barreu architects are a well-known firm of architects from Bilbao. Principal architect, Juan Coll-Barreu also teaches at the Architecture School of Madrid.
(www.coll-barreu-arquitectos.com)

Persuade - store interior, Bilbao (2005), Rosa Orrantia and Paúl Ziarsolo (owners) and Luis Domínguez and Roberto Iparraguirre (architects)
Photos: Aitor Ortiz

This is no simple store selling clothes and furniture. Rather it is a refined environment where you breathe the air that the owners, Orrantia and Ziarsolo, want you to breathe. Everything in this fit-out was thought out in detail in a continuous exchange of ideas between clients and architects, craftsmen and technicians. The owners believe that ‘opinion is more important than trends, people are more important than fashion. More than a shop, this is a laboratory of ideas ... where it is possible to find a variety of styles and trends.’
(www.persuade.com.es)

A10#23 - A five-star light sculpture, Porto

2009-07-15T14:58:00.000-07:00

A five-star light sculpture

Porto Palácio Hotel Main Entrance, 2006
Architect: Pedro Balonas (Balonas Projectos)
Sculptor: Pedro Cabrita Reis
Info: www.balonasprojectos.pt
www.pedrocabritareis.com

The Porto Palácio Hotel, one of the top five-star hotels of the northern Portuguese city of Porto, was completely renovated in 2006.
Pedro Balonas, the architect responsible for the renovations, was conscious that a hotel with this class needed more than glamorous interiors and individualized services to beguile its clientele. A dignified design and a well-proportioned main entrance were also required.
The problem facing the architect was that the high-rise hotel is awkwardly situated behind a four-storey commercial building, so that from the street there is no direct view of the lobby and its main doors or of the path leading up to them.
The resolution of this problem came when Lisbon-based sculptor Pedro Cabrita Reis was added to the design team. He proposed a 15 meter-high metallic structure, painted in different colors and illuminated at different points. This structure extends the ground floor of the building out to the street and tempts people to cross the space, even if they are not headed for the hotel. It creates and architectural space that leaves one in doubt as to whether it is private or public.
This duality is particularly evident at night when light becomes a physical material. Lights embedded in the metallic structure illuminate the space, creating an open aesthetic matrix and a hybrid environment that can be appropriated by everyone.

A10#22 - Urban Intervention, Bilbao

2009-07-14T14:07:00.000-07:00

Urban Intervention, Bilbao
Galindez Enbankment (phase 1: 2004-2007; phase 2: 2008-2009)
Architects: César Azcarate and Ana Morón _ ACXT
Photos: Aitor Ortiz

Given its visual impact and social ambitions, any survey of the many urban development projects undertaken by Bilbao’s City council on the outskirts of the city would no doubt include some reference to the enormous embankment that serves as a boundary to a post-war residential district. All such municipal projects, including those in Ametzola, Bolueta or more recently, Zaha Hadid’s plan for Zorrozaurre’s peninsula, have three basic objectives: to ameliorate the urban space of outlying districts; to improve accessibility of these areas by eliminating physical barriers; and to reduce social segregation by upgrading living conditions to the same level as those enjoyed in the city centre.
The specific aim of this intervention was the consolidation and rehabilitation of a severely degraded rocky embankment that forms a physical barrier between the low-lying main street and the district it serves. In addition, a new square was to be designed next to the foot of the embankment, turning a traffic-dominated area into a more pedestrian-friendly space.
The design by César Azcarate and Ana Morón, employed inclined triangular planes of different materials to remodel the embankment. The choice of the triangle seems to be related to the formal freedom afforded by this shape. The topographical complexity of the site obliged the architects to abandon two-dimensional drawings in favour of a more manipulable, three-dimensional system - a series of points in space that create an open, ‘aesthetic’ matrix that could be adapted and moulded to the existing terrain.
All the elements and spaces follow the logic of the triangular topography: the stairs linking the different levels; the sitting areas and larger horizontal planes (Pau Casals Plaza and a games park); the urban furniture, etc. Here, geometry was the guiding rule for the treatment and design of spaces.
The choice of materials seems no less logical, in the sense that they “feel” inevitable: the existing black rock itself; the green vegetation; the multicoloured flowers; the plain grey, oxidised green or brown of the concrete that underpin the character of the terrain; the water that covers two big triangles in the Paul Casals Plaza… In addition to these, there is another basic element, even more symbolic and intangible: light. By night, light seems to reconstruct the silhouette of the hill as spotlights illuminate certain areas (triangles) of the embankment, while during the day these highlights are forgotten and the entire intervention seems to speak equally.
Due to project management issues, the construction work occurred in two stages, eighteen months apart. The first stage entailed the construction of Pau Casals Plaza and part of the embankment nearest to it. The second stage, currently in progress, encompasses the entire northern part of the embankment. In this area some of the triangles will be clad in gold-coloured metal sheeting in order to emphasise the artificial/natural duality.
Already this project has successfully conquered the existing physical barrier and created new social spaces. As such, it is more than a simple regeneration of a degraded space: it is a wide-ranging landscaping project which interprets a disused space, converting it into a dynamic and habitable place for the people of Bilbao.

A10#21 - Housing, Bilbao

2009-07-14T09:31:00.000-07:00

Housing, Bilbao
84 public dwellings, 1996-2007
Architect: Eduardo Belzunce, Luís Diaz-Mauriño and Juan Garcia Millán
Pics: Aitor Ortiz
Info: luisdiazmaurino@gmail.com

‘The adequate transition of scales, the painstaking treatment of boundaries, adaptation to the topography and the creation of spaces that cannot be looked upon as a merely a street, a square or a private garden, but as a collective space in which to develop neighbourly relations…’
Thus the European 4 jury, who awarded first prize in the urban design competition for Mina del Morro, an area halfway between the centre and the outskirts, to young architects Eduardo Belzunce, Luís Diaz Mauriño and Juan Garcia Millán.
The work initiated at that time has only just been completed now, almost 12 years later. The Basque Government, which was responsible for managing the post-Europan process, imposed a number of urban design constraints, thereby significantly altering the original urban plan and delaying completion of the project. Instead of the open public space envisaged by Belzunce/Mauriño/Millán the space between the blocks has become a piece of fenced-in private property.
Even so, and to the delight of the over one hundred people who now inhabit the 84 new dwellings, the spatial qualities and site interpretation praised by the jury have been maintained. The space generated between the six fragmented volumes which the architects describe as lying ‘scattered on the slope with fluvial randomness’ is quite exceptional, offering peace and serenity. The buildings are well proportioned and on a human scale. The six long, staggered volumes, painted dark blue, and the empty spaces between them, are part of a small, coherent ‘community’ where everything works well together.
Another aspect worthy of celebration is the organisation of the programme. The staircases are located on the upper part of the sloping terrain from where distribution is arranged entirely by means of an external corridor. Horizontally, the whole programme is freely distributed parallel to this corridor, so that the houses seem to flow down the hill.
Cautious work has been done on the roofs too. The architects designed them as a fifth facade, freeing them from the usual necessary but unsightly technical installations. In the process, they did not neglect the spatial quality at street level; resolving one problem hasn’t led to the creation of others. Just the opposite in fact: the formal plasticity of these six fragmented blocks is enhanced by this solution and makes us want to discover, step by step, the delightful spaces surrounding these residential structures.
However, there is one disappointing aspect. Because of the fence, visitors cannot enter the ‘in-between’ urban space, making it impossible to create healthy links between inside and outside. Although this is a social issue, the solutions lie in architecture and urban design. The assimilation and incorporation of the concept of a hybrid, changing and non-determining space into our architectural sensibility would make for a more human and democratic architectural practice. It would represent architecture’s ultimate obligation and original dream: to promote different and better solutions to the existing ones. It would have been a well-deserved ‘gift’ for this architecture.