Europan invites young architects, urban planners, landscape architects, designers, artists, researchers and students from all over Europe to take part in the great European discourse on urbanism and architecture. Back in January 2009, Europan launched its 10th edition seeking proposals with innovative ideas, developing ambitious urban projects within 62 cities. There was 56 winners among 2,429 entries. We are focusing this post on the winning proposition for an urban development in the city of Oslo by Eriksen Skajaa Architects.

All images by Eriksen Skajaa Architects

Songdo International Business District (IBD) is being developed on 1,500 acres of reclaimed land in South Korea along Incheon’s waterfront, 40 miles from Seoul and just seven miles from Incheon International Airport. Developed by Gale International and Korea’s POSCO E&C, this master-planned metropolis is a model of sustainable, city-scale development and innovation.

The Gateway Center, which is defined by six office towers over three city blocks, will be become one of Songdo’s premier office complexes. The heart of the city’s business district will consist of the Gateway Center and the three adjacent blocks to the north that make up the International Plaza.

The six towers of the Gateway Center will create a striking silhouette in the emerging New Songdo City. Although the towers are essentially square in plan, they are clad in undulating and flowing reflective glass surfaces that will clearly mark the gateway into the New Songdo City.

The U-Bora Towers development is a signature style offered by Andrew Bromberg of Aedas to the important financial center of Dubai that is straddled between the East and West. The design has given equal attention to its three different uses - office, residential and retail podium, in order to maximize their opportunities and viabilities within the site’s context.

The architecture offers something to everyone and complimentarily balances its three major components of office, residential and retail in order to maximize the sites vibrancy. As Business Bay will become the one of the prime commercial centers in Dubai and the Middle East, the prominence and convenience of the U-Bora Towers will become a valuable asset to the diverse and dynamic region.

The design of the complex is generated by the response to the site condition which primarily entails residential lake side frontage, which stays low to maintain a suitable residential scale and offers prime lake views. On the other hand the office tower maintains an urban commercial response in a form of a sculptured, Grade A office tower which forms an urban anchor by sitting itself on the corner of the busy intersection. The juxtaposition of the tower and the residential block also achieves the maximum viewing vantage for both the office and the residence. Finally the lower residential built form is punctured with a lakeside urban gateway and various access stairs, these rejuvenates the urban fabric around the building by drawing the people to the podium level landscaped garden which acts as the lung for the development.

The Unity building is a mixed use scheme with 15,000m2 of office accommodation, shops and parking plus 161 residential units situated slightly to the North of the Liver Building and enjoys spectacular views of the Mersey and the Wirrel beyond.


The building dissociates itself from its urban surrounding, with its non-monolytic form, an unusual treatment of the façades, and the oversized volume that tops the building, and is easily discernable within the cityscape.

Situated in the Croatian coastal city of Rijeka, the new Zamet Centre is a multi-purpose comunity edifice,  hosting, mainly, a 2380-seat sports hall, the local community offices, a library, and 13 retail/service spaces.

While the third of the sports hall’s volume is embeded  in the ground, the rest of the Centre has been fully integrated into the surrounding landscape.

The building’s main architectural elements are ribbon-like linear stripes stretching over the entire site in a north-south direction,  functioning at the same time as an architectural design element and a zoning element that forms a public square and links between the park on the north and school and B. Vidas street on the south.

The site of this mixed-use project is situated within the urban extension related to the long and diffuse conurbation of the Adriatic coast.

The building lies upon a rectangular lot along the east-west direction, bordering the sea. The project’s location and functional requirements could have been perceived as disadvantages at first sight.

The morphological aspects of the site, stretched along a longitudinal axis with the presence of a very high building bordering the southern side. The program called for the use of the ground floor for equipment and services for the cinema, resulting in the need for a completely free connection to the ground.

Photographs by Alessandro Ciampi