#32 Mar/Apr 2010

News and observations

• JDS's Holmenkollen ski jump, Oslo (NO)
• Troia: a long, unresolved love story for the Portuguese
• Architectural competitions in Bulgaria
• Update: Dutch water dwellings
• Avala TV Tower in Belgrade reconstructed (RS)
• Small buildings take over Riga (LV)
• and more…

New projects

• Student housing, Athens (GR) by João Prates Ruiva & Raquel Maria Oliveira
• Art pavilion, Palanga (LT) by Paleko ARCH studija
• Square, Ibiza (ES) by Alday and Jover architects
• Office building, Nicosia (CY) by MCA

Emre Arolat: Being serious

Emre Arolat has a thriving, internationally recognized architectural practice – yet, when he observes developments in the market, the media and architectural education, he is not very optimistic about the future. 'Even today I am uncomfortable with the pace of architectural production.'

New buildings

• Rehabilitation centre, Arnhem (NL) by Koen van Velsen
• Museum extension, Istanbul (TR) by NSMH
• Public square, Cascais (PT) by Miguel Arruda Arquitectos
• House, Černín (CZ) by HŠH architekti
• Housing, Cerredo (ES) by ZON-E arquitectos
• Office building, Moscow (RU) by Sergey Skuratov Architects
• Barn-house, Wingene (BE) by Compagnie-O
• Cultural centre, Carlow (IE) by Terry Pawson Architects
• Park, Jūrmala (LV) by Substance
• Housing, New Belgrade (RS) by re:a.c.t studio
• Apartment building, Tallinn (EE) by Martin Aunin & Lauri Laisaar

Full colour

Although the use of colour is something of a Cinderella in architectural education and architectural theory, in everyday practice no one can ignore the effect of colour in buildings and cities. Whether it is the monochrome architecture of Richard Meier or SANAA, or the multicoloured buildings of Sauerbruch Hutton and UNStudio, everyone, architect and non-specialist alike, has an opinion about colour. After all, the use of colour is not just about creating optical spatial effects (e.g. making something look bigger or smaller, more conspicuous or less visible, uniform or differentiated), but also about psychological effects.

Focusing on European countries, cities and regions

• Anne Isopp scrutinizes Vienna's recent production of subsidized housing (AT)
• An architectural tour of Upper Silesia (PL)
• Update: 3h architecture
• Home: Don Murphy's SODAE-House in Amstelveen (NL)

Buildings from the margins of modern history

Gijsbert Friedhoff struck the final chord of traditionalism in the Netherlands with the former Taxation Office in Amsterdam, a massive governmental edifice with an imposing brick facade that, even in the 1950s, still dared to challenge modernism's preeminence. Although the monumental work earned a poor reputation in its time, Hans Ibelings revisits and refreshes perspectives on this stately turning point in Dutch architecture.