… non hai
osservato, camminando nella città, come tra gli
edifici che la popolano taluni siano muti,
ed altri parlino, mentre altri ancora,
che son più rari, cantano?
C.F. Moller win the competition for the new Kristiansund Opera
July 13, 2010
C.F. Møller Architects just won a shared first prize in the competition for the new KristiansundOpera and Culture Centre. The other first prize in the competition goes to the Norwegian firm Space Group in collaboration with the London firm Brisac Gonzales for their project "Silencio". KristiansundOpera and Cultural Centre will house Norway's oldest opera, dating back to 1805, which every year arranges the Opera Festival Weeks - Norway's largest and most comprehensive presentation of opera and musical theatre and one of Scandinavia’s largest opera festivals. The vision of the new Opera House is to create a cultural power centre in Kristiansund, the capital of the region of Nordmøre, west of Trondheim – a landmark to the entire region.
Khan Shatyr Entertainment Center, Kazakhstan. The tallest tensile structure of the world
July 9, 2010
The Khan Shatyr Entertainment Center was officially opened last night in the presence of President Nazarbayev and heads of state in a grand ceremony, with a performance by the Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, timed to coincide with the President’s birthday and Astana Day. The Center represents a major new civic, cultural and social venue for the people of Astana, bringing together a wide range of activities within a sheltered climatic envelope that provides a comfortable environment all year round. The tent-like, cable-net structure is located at the northern end of the new city axis and soars 150 metres from an elliptical base to form the highest peak on the Astana skyline. The building encloses an area in excess of 100,000 square metres within an ETFE dome, with dramatic views over the city and the Steppes beyond. Contained within it is an urban-scaled park, along with a wide variety of entertainment and leisure facilities, including retail, cafes, restaurants, cinemas, and flexible spaces that can accommodate a varied programme of events and exhibitions. The different levels form undulating terraces, the uppermost terrace forming a water park.
The Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SSE) – designed by OMA as the new home for China’s equivalent of the NASDAQ exchange for hi-tech industries – topped out at 246 metres. The building is remarkable not only for its height: with a raised podium suspended 36 metres over a public plaza and projecting 54 metres from the tower base, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange has one of the largest cantilevers in the world. SSE officials, Shenzhen Mayor Xu Qin and Shenzhen Vice-mayors Lu Ruifeng and Chen Yingchun, joined Pritzker Prize-winning architect Rem Koolhaas of OMA at a ceremony on 26th June at the construction site. Koolhaas commented: "We are extremely happy and honoured to have the opportunity to create here a building that can be both subtle and staggering at the same time." Façade construction has already begun on the tower’s 46 floors, and the building is scheduled for completion in August 2011.
Foundation Gabarrón Cristobal Award to Álvaro Siza
June 17, 2010
The Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza Vieira was awarded the International Prize for Plastic ArtsFoundation Gabarrón Cristobal 2010, who wanted to distinguish "the teachings, the international relevance and poetic inspiration" of his work. The jury’s award highlights the fact that Siza makes architecture “transparent and respectful of the environment where it fits, "praising its ability to develop a “poetic feeling to every building, by working with space and light." Proof of this highlights, is the building of the University of the Basque Country, which will be completed this year, the Meteorological Center of the Olympic Village in Barcelona (1992), the Galician Center for Contemporary Art in Santiago de Compostela (1993), the Rectorate of the University of Alicante (1997) and the Foundation Serralves (1999). The award, which reaches it´s ninth edition this year, had 31 candidates competing in various countries.
ARCHITECTOUR.NET
On-line Journal & International Contemporary Architecture Database anno IV/4th year, I semestre/1st semester, n. 1/2010
ISSN 1974-4552
Essays
Your own contemporary architecture itinerary
