January 15

Yearbook Survey 2009 #6
Last year’s best according to THE PLAN

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This is the sixth part of our survey on the best of 2009. Today we present you a response from THE PLAN, an Italian architecture and technology magazine. Here’s their selection from the best of last year’s architecture. More responses are coming next week, so hang around.

(When not specified otherwise, all images are courtesy of THE PLAN)

What do you think of the past architectural year? are there any topics your magazine focused on the most (and why)?

2009 has been a demanding year for everybody, even for architects, who may have suffered the general crisis even more than other professional categories. These are the moments, though, in which to stop and reflect in order to find new ways of development. Quality becomes vital from every point of view, and this is positive. These are occasions in which the working slows down, but creativity and intellectual commitment grow. New challenges open up. THE PLAN dedicated its 035 issue, the June/July 2009 special, to Latin America. For us studying South American architects and their projects has been a beautiful experience: their approach is far from the European one, intellectually more free and definitely more creative from certain points of view. Latin America will have a central role in the international scene in the next years, not only in architecture. Read more

December 16

Breath of life installation @ Maison Hermés, Tokyo

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Until January 19, the windows of Maison Hermés in Ginza will be animated by an unusual breath of life. The building was designed by Renzo Piano for the French brand in the Japanese capital and is famously made with glass bricks.
The amazing installation, featuring the maison’s foulard as an absolute protagonist, was created by Japanese designer Tokujin Yoshioka.

Maison Hermès Window Display
Duration: Nov 19, 2009 ~ Jan 19, 2010
Location: Maison Hermès (Ginza5-4-1, Chuo-Ku, Tokyo)

December 9

ARCHITETTURA “DI FACCIATA”
The underground car park by mag.MA architetture

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(Drawings courtesy of mag.MA architetture, photos by Alberto Piovano, texts by mag.MA architetture and by Ester Baia)

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sketch

The 105-place car park, on two below-ground floors, is near a small historic town centre. The railway separates it from a few houses perched above the sea on a ribbon of coastline. At this point the railway line runs above the promenade and is characterized by high supporting walls, embankments and an underpass through which vehicles coming off the main road can get to the shore. Read more

December 1

PLATFORM 3.17 – L’Aquila: la casa ritrovata

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November 27

ExternalReference Architects @ ModaFad 2009 fashion show

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(All materials courtesy of EXTERNALREFERENCE ARCHITECTS, photos © la fotografica)

Reinventing applications for existing materials
Whenever you design an installation for a public event you have to contact materials suppliers in order to build it and, if you have no budget, the best you can do is to borrow something that you can give back in good conditions.

In our case, the company who provided the materials gained huge visibility for a very low cost. It is indeed quite easy for a Beer Brewery to lend 2500 plastic beer crates to build an installation having in return its name showcased everywhere at the event and in the media. Read more

November 4

Lahore through the eye of a Lahorite
On materials

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(Text by Aresha Gul)

Street_scene_of_Lahore_1890s

Old Lahore Street scene, 1890

There was a Lahore that I grew up in, and then the Lahore that I live in, though I am now living away from it.

Till my 10th grade I studied in Queen Mary College, established on 10th December 1908 (by consort of the reigning British Monarch, King George V). I can still remember my class. During lectures I often found myself dozy, outside the temperature could reach 45 degrees, yet the classroom was cool without any air-conditioning, only with two big ceiling fans hanging from long rods and running at slow speed. The moment I would get out of the class, the heat would almost slap my face and I would run home, where an air-conditioned room waited for me. I used to wonder at this strange paradox – how come my school was so cool during the afternoon while my home needed air-conditioning? I came to know the answer to this conundrum thanks to my later Fine Arts bachelor’s degree.

QMC
Queen Mary School in Lahore

My city, Lahore, is a historical city dating back more than 1000 years. The Queen Mary School I referred to is just an example and it was built during the British Empire over the subcontinent. The city is full of gardens and monuments; architecture is definitely the icon of Lahore’s glory. Read more

June 5

Estudio en Verde by Selgascano Arquitectos

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[Read the Italian version of this post]

(All photos © Iwan Baan)

Acrilic. Polyester with fiber glass. Wood. Concrete. And Trees. These are the materials that build this amazing office, designed by Selgascano Arquitectos in Madrid. The project purpose was to give the architects the privilege to work en plein air and, from Iwan Baan’s photos, we can say that José Salgas and Lucia Cano hit the mark.

selgas_cano_office_23641

The outcome is a structure, built just below earth level, that looks like a modern cave and have a low impact on the surrounding landscape. The office is a white and yellow open space with a strong expressive power that must be an ideal source of inspiration while working. Read more

April 21

FMGxtreme_Lab – (re)inventing natural stone

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December 22

FMG Showroom by Cherubino Gambardella at Cersaie

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At Cersaie, an international exhibition of ceramic tiles and bathroom furnishings, FMG Fabbrica Marmi e Graniti presented Nature 2.0, a new range of natural stones, born from the courageous union of nature, experimentation and aesthetics.
FMG chose two firms in contemporary architecture to present this project. In Bologna, the space usually dedicated to FMG and IRIS CERAMICA (PAD 26 Stand A188 B189) was interpreted by Francesco Librizzi, with a literally monumental work: the re-enactment of a laboratory orogeny, to make the contemporary covering materials’ ambitions to build a new architecture themselves visible.
But the real heart of FMG’s new look is located in Fiorano Modenese. Here Cherubino Gambardella re-designed the showroom, choosing the obelisk as the leading and marking element. The shape is repeated ad-libitum in the exhibition space, an exceptional setting to express and “explode” Nature 2.0 in all its power.

Read more

 

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