#50 Mar/Apr 2013

News and observations

New projects

Architecture in action

CUAC Arquitectura and Sugarplatform conceive a pavilion made entirely from recycled tetra cartons in Granada (ES)

New buildings

Focusing on European countries

The Scottish Government will launch a new Architecture Policy in the spring of 2013, which follows the previous one dating back to 2001. What has been achieved in the meantime? And how has it affected architectural debate and practice? In 2014, Scotland will have a referendum about independency. Whereas the United Kingdom is trying to remain outside the EU as much as possible, independency might be a chance to get in for the Scots. How will this affect education in architecture? A lot is happening in Scotland. In this issue, we highlight these emerging practices and trends, such as a new contemporary vernacular, participatory architecture, rural housing and urban landscape. Ian Gilzean (Chief Architect of the Scottish Government) and Karen Anderson (Chair of Architecture & Design Scotland and founding partner of Anderson Bell Christie) jointly edited this special edition on Scotland.

Material smarts

Section deals with current trends and relationships in technology and materials. In each issue, A10 chooses one project to be the subject of a more in-depth analysis, exploring the connections between concept and result, innovation and use, corporate and social identity, and so on. In this edition, discover everything about the largest composite-clad building in the world, the new wing of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam (NL), designed by Benthem Crouwel Architects.

Discovering the new in Dublin

In A10 #50 we present the first instalment of the MI Tour Guide, a collaboration between A10 and MIMOA. We asked our readers and the online community at MIMOA which exemplary or innovative, hidden or spectacular buildings in the Irish capital should be included. Participants submitted their favourite picks to the MIMOA website. The final selection of projects was contributed by A10 correspondent Emmett Scanlon, who guides us through Dublin's best new architecture. Download the full MI Tour Guide now!

New residences

Townhouse by XTHBerlin, Berlin (DE)

Buildings from the margins of modern history

An expressive concrete satellite observation station stands on the edge of an arboretum in Szombathely, a town in western Hungary, only fifteen kilometres from the border with Austria – the former Iron Curtain. The building belongs to the Gothard Astrophysical Observatory, and was designed by Hungarian architect Elemer Zalotay, who was 36 at the time. The in situ concrete structure is seen by some as one of the best examples of expressionist late-Corbusian concrete architecture in Hungary. The question remains whether this sculptural edifice, which from the southern perspective is also reminiscent of an airplane taking off, was once built with intentions beyond what the official description would have us believe.