#19 Jan/Feb 2008

News and observations

• Zaha Hadid's Nordpark cable railway in Innsbruck (AT)
• In Athens (GR), the New Acropolis Museum nears completion
• Urban Center in Turin (IT) hosts tours of once neglected, now transformed industrial sites
• Update: Serbia
• Modern interpretations of old buildings in Brussels (BE) and Stromness (UK)
• and more…

New projects

• A team of international and local artchitects has won the competition for a 'City of the Environment' in Santomera (ES)
• Antwerp (BE) is embracing itself; a 1200-metre-long bridge by the THV NORIANT consortium will finally close the ring around the city
• Hungarian firms win competitions for Pécs, European Capital of Culture 2010
• CAKMAK architects' In Vino winery complex in Modra (SK)
• Carlos Mourao Pereira's sea baths in Lourinha (PT)
• With their design for a distribution warehouse in Staffordshire (UK), Chetwoods Associates prove that a business park can actually be green

Svatopluk Sládeček: Unofficial architecture

Svatopluk Sládeček, who has been running his New Work studio since 1995, stands out among young Czech architects. His work represents an original architecural strategy in the Czech Republic - instead of following the example of Western designers, he draws his inspiration from the tradition of the Czech periphery (the world of city-yards, farming land, industrial districts, kitsch conversions), transforming tired architectural motifs into contemporary projects. Jan Kratochvil interviews him.

New buildings

• Behnisch, Behnisch & Partner's spa baths in Bad Aibling (DE) offer wellness to everyone
• Ton Venhoeven's fire station in Den Helder (NL) reasserts the heroic status of firefighters
• PK Arkitektar's apartment building for handicapped youngsters in Hveragerdi (IS)
• In their apartment building in Paris (FR), Beckmann-N'Thepé bring concrete facades alive
• Promontório's river aquarium in Mora (PT) is helping to launch the local tourist economy in the Alentejo region
• In his design for a housing project in Zagreb (HR), Hrvoje Njiric politely exploits a market-ruled context
• With his wooden villas in Pirogovo (RU), Totan Kuzembayev traces Constructivism back to its Russian origins
• In Ditzingen (DE), Barkow Leibinger used the client's own technology to create a classy gatehouse
• Manuel Ruisanchez's library and Sagrada Familia community centre in Barcelona (ES)
• Brigitte Métra's first solo project is a cultural and sports centre in Dole (FR)
• In Scharans (CH), Valerio Olgiati designed a house without a roof for artist Linard Bardill

Flourishing facades

The term 'explosive growth' has never been more appropriate: in the past fifteen years or so, roofs and facades all over the world, from Tokyo to Chicago, have started sprouting mosses, plants, flowers, shrubs and trees. These 'green roofs' and 'living facades' are regarded as technologically innovative but in reality they are nothing new. After all, according to Greek historiography, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon (near present-day Baghdad), a botanical and architectural artwork counted among the seven wonders of the world, were built as long ago as the 6th century BCE.

Focusing on European countries, cities and regions

• Does the self-willed historicism that seems to hold Islamic religious architecture in its thrall lie in the religion itself? Christian Welzbacher investigates the architecture of Euro-Islam
• Photographer William Brumfield's pilgrimage to the most obscure corners of Russia
• Everybody is familiar with Rome's ancient architectural masterpieces, but what about modern architecture? Giampiero Sanguigni presents a critical tour of 21 projects
• Profile: rising Bulgarian stars I/O
• Home: Peter Jannes' contemporary wooden house in leafy Grobbendonk (BE)

Buildings from the margins of modern history

Roman Rutkowski & Lukasz Wojciechowski take another look at the observatory complex on Mount Sniezka in southern Poland (1959-1974). Designed by Witold Lipinski, with Waldemar Wawrzyniak, it is still a fascinating piece architecture and a stark contrast to the usually gloomy building production of the Communist regime.