#3 May/Jun 2005

News and observations

• OMA's Casa da Música in Porto (PT)
• Living in a BOKLOK - IKEA Architecture is coming your way
• Oscar Niemeyer designs a new landmark for Potsdam (DE)
• Luxurious new mountain resort on the Obersalzberg (DE) fails to mention the gloomy history of its privileged location
• Resurrection Church in Kaunas (LT) resurrected
• Update: Wallonia (BE)
• Daimler-Benz and Porsche build spectacular museums in Stuttgart (DE)
• Innsbruck's Tyrolean Architecture Forum moves into restored Adambräu building (AT)
• and more…

New projects

• Jürgen Mayer H.'s competition winning design for a refectory in Karlsruhe (DE)
• Church and presbytery in Györ-Kismegyer (HU) by 3H
• Art and architecture merge in EEA's residential 'Russian Avant-garde' towers in Moscow (RU)
• OAAH propose a prize-winning pavilion bridge for the Expo 2008 in Zaragoza (ES)
• 3xNielsen's new Museum of Liverpool (UK)
• Regional Arts Centre in Letterkenny (IE) by MacGabhann Architects
• Studio Archea design Antinori winery in San Casciano (IT)
• 4a architekti start building their 'e-gate' office complex in Prague (CZ)

MCA: Cucinella's preferences

'More with less' is the dictum of Italian architect Mario Cucinella (1960), who founded MCA in Paris in 1992 and opened offices in Bologna in 1999. Two years earlier his Irish wife Elizabeth Francis became co-director of the firm. Luigi Prestinenza asks him to name names.

New buildings

• The architecture of Marc Barani's villa at the Cote d'Azur (FR) reinforces the contrast between man-made geometry and natural forms
• GFZK2 Gallery space in Leipzig (DE) by AS-IF seems unassuming but contains spectacular flexible spaces
• Anne Lacaton and Jean Philippe Vassal apply their 'lots of room for little money' credo to social housing in Mulhouse (FR)
• Romuald Loegler's Opus Film offices in Lodz (PL)
• A cool exterior contrasts with warm interior spaces in Claus & Kaan's Forensic institute, The Hague (NL)
• Guest house with music room in Pajottenland (BE) by Paul Robbrecht and Hilde Daem
• Bertleff and Balan display courage and innovation in the design of a bookstore in Timisoara (RO)
• Francis Soler's winning scheme for the Ministry of Culture in Paris (FR)
• Intriguingly complex appartment building in Winterthur (CH) by Fickert & Knapkiewicz looks like it has been there for ages

Focusing on European countries, cities and regions

• The Socially Supported Housing Act, launched in 2001, is having a positive impact on comtemporary architecture in Croatia. Four exemplary projects.
• In the Swiss canton of Ticino architecture is in a state of stagnation, writes architect and critic Diego Caramma. He evaluates the causes and effects of this situation and suggests a way out of the apathy.
• Zurich is the new architectural hot spot in Switzerland. Axel Simon is your tour guide.

Buildings that already get their share of media attention

Herzog & de Meuron's University Library in Cottbus (DE) took twelve years to get built. In the meantime the architects had moved from the proverbial Swiss box to a curved building that has undeniable similarities with a famous Ludwig Mies van der Rohe project.