#39 May/June 2011

News and observations

• The National Library of Latvia, Riga (LV)
• Two new subway stations, Malmö (SE)
• BIG wins five competitions so far this year
• Update: new squares
• Stefano Boeri presents BioMilano (IT)
• Reality check: Kastner & Öhler department store, Graz (AT)
• and more…

New projects

• Conversion of Halles Alstom industrial halls, Nantes (FR) by Franklin Azzi Architecture
• Faculty of Engineering, Nicosia (CY) competition winners
• Office building, Višegrad (BA) by MIT-arh
• Library, Bressanone (IT) by Michel Carlana, Luca Mezzalira & Curzio Pentimalli
• Football academy, Luleburgaz (TR) by DDRLP

Hans van der Heijden: Unfashionable ordinariness

Hans van der Heijden heads the Rotterdam practice biq together with Rick Wessels. Swimming against the stream of the neomodern and supermodern tendencies that have long predominated in the Netherlands, biq has secured a position for itself with an architecture that prioritizes the everyday and the ordinary.

New buildings

• School, Torre Pacheco (ES) by Huma Arquitectos
• Office building and supermarket, Athens (GR) by Kokkinou Kourkoulas Architects
• Two houses, Rybnik (PL) by jojko+nawrocki architekci
• Health care centre and square, Badalona (ES) by Jordi Badía
• School, Lille (FR) by Tank Architectes
• Management school, Skolkovo (RU) by Adjaye Associates
• Chapel interior, Sarajevo (BA) by Adnan Pašić
• Music and conference centre, Pécs (HU) by Építész Stúdió

Malleable metal

Although metal made its entry into architecture at the end of the 19th century – in imposing station roofs, in the Eiffel Tower, in Art Nouveau ironwork stairs and balconies – we continue to associate steel and aluminium first and foremost with the rational modernism of the 20th century. The skyscrapers of Mies van der Rohe, the furniture and prefab facade panels of Jean Prouvé, the high-tech architecture of Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers… However, during the past ten years or so, that quasi-industrial character has ceased to be axiomatic. More and more, architects are discovering (or rediscovering) the craft-like qualities of metal.

Focusing on European countries, cities and regions

• Jure Kotnik analyses the boom in kindergarten architecture throughout Europe
• A tour of Murcia (ES)
• Home: Annet Hof and Herman de Kovel's relaxed-modernist bungalow, Rotterdam (NL)

Buildings from the margins of modern history

Raine Karp's Linnahall concert hall in Tallinn (1976–1980) is one of the most advanced buildings of the Soviet era in Estonia. According to Triin Ojari it is unique both in its seafront location, and in its architectural concept.