A Review of the Winners at the World Architecture Festival (part 2)

A Review of the Winners at the World Architecture Festival (part 2) - page 5

Saturday, 07 November 2009 05:43

Page 5 of 5

	Future projects experimental Mobile Performance Studio by dRMM
	With very different kinds of projects in this category, the winner we selected was the Mobile Performance Venue, submitted by Various Architects office. This is a project that uses an inflatable skin to create a striking image for temporary events. It is designed straightforward in application and there is a well-defined demand. The jury also recommended the Timber Stadium designed by dRMM, not specifically because we wanted to see a wooden stage, but because it reminds us of the need to think of new types of applications for this material – and about everything from the ecological point of view.


	Future projects masterplanning Our city - our urban spaces by Entasis
	With 12 high quality works, the category was won by the project ´Our City - our urban spaces´, from the office Entasis. This is a work of revitalization of the Carlsberg manufacturing area in the city of Copenhagen, Denmark. The proposal shows an original approach to preserving old spaces while creating an urban plan, tying in the road network of the city with the area of the former factory. The resulting empty spaces gain new use and new spatiality, but keep the scale of the traditional city block. The plan includes the construction of towers to create a landmark district - citing as an example San Gimignano - and several architects from around the world have been invited to make new outstanding buildings. The jury also commended the Grangegorman Masterplan for the centre of Dublin, Ireland, by North American office Moore Ruble Yudell Architects.


	Future projects competition entries Szentendre Cemetery, Hungary by A4 Studio
	Several projects of planning scale in new cities arround the world, specially in eastern countries, were submitted in this category. Some were too superficial and focused on iconic elements. A couple of proposals – an office and apartment building in Teheran, Iran, for example, and the Tianjin Historical Museum, China - tried unsuccessfully to incorporate local elements to define contemporary buildings, Two metropolitan parks for Chinese new cities complete the selection. The winner, working in the well-known tradition of cemeteries such as those by Asplund and Scarpa, was the Szentendre Cemetery in Hungary. The architects used references including Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Wagner to create a sympathetic environment for visitors and for those wishing to say goodbye to loved ones. Everything is done to create an atmosphere of consolation with allusive architectonical elements, like paths, trees and topography, producing a landscape for meditation. Death is a solemn subject, but the project suggest ways to make it an experience related to the earth.A border of 30 meters surrounds the new cemetery, and a ceremonial path ritualises the walk from the entrance to the ceremonial roofed area.